Fumble Fingers

Decided to cook up "the world's best lasagna" tonight for dinner. After browning the meat I drained the fat from the bottom of the skillet into a precariously perched glass jar. One wrong move sent boiling fat all over the stove, dripping down onto the floor and much to Makiah's delight, saturating my just cleaned kitchen floor. She's still licking the stove as we speak - I need to do a little better clean job.

Apparently my little TT bike jaunt took a little more out of me than I had anticipated. Speaking of which - I ran into a rare occurrence - 8 Byrne ladies in full kit strutting their stuff through the UW area. According to inside sources they've been training together a lot this year - which means great competition in the peloton!

I was gently reminded today it's been since ... October?! Since I've been in the aero position and put some time in the Adamo saddle. Thank goodness I gave it a dry run today versus Sunday. I love to TT though - getting in the zone and pushing your body to the limits produces an amazing natural high. It hurts so good. :)

Spooky

We just had a tenant come into the office warning us that one of their employees had been attacked by a man who flew out from New Jersey and has been stalking her for the past three years. Apparently he has no fear and found her at the rep theater - and accosted her in front of hundreds of people on Sunday. Right now he sits in jail but their office is super spooked because he could post bail and then harass her again.

Never a dull moment at the office. Just when I thought we were done with the drama with the bankrupt tenant, the gold painted office and the massive Craig's list issues - along comes this.

The Olympic Nightmare

I remember as a little girl, watching my dad run in the Olympic torch lighting ceremony as it made its way through Eugene down to LA for the 84 summer Olympics. I watched on our huge wood paneled TV as athletes competed for the ultimate prize - to be crowned an Olympic champion. Mary Lou Retton stands out in my mind - Connie Carpenter and Rebecca Twigg as well. It sparked a notion in my mind that that was my ultimate goal - I wanted to be a part of something so extraordinary and meaningful.

Maybe it's from growing up in America and having a certain view on the world - but up until recently I always believed if you worked hard enough, were talented enough, played your cards just right - then you could possibly be a part of the Olympics. In a way mass media is to blame - creating a HUGE hype around the games and idolizing athletes like gods. But in my mind, I always looked up to those athletes as super stars who through some fate were able to demonstrate their amazing ability for the world to see.

However, as I have gotten older and wiser, this Olympic dream and taking part of a very selective team of uber-athletes seems somewhat jaded. Knowing several people who have tried desperately hard to make the selection process, and even giving the talent pool selection process a go myself - I have burst the illusionary bubble that surrounds the games. I'm not taking anything away from the athletes who are blessed enough to actually make it there - they have actually made the impossible a reality. But I'm questioning the selection process to get there and think the planets have to be impossibly aligned for one person, out of nation of millions of people to show they have what it takes to compete.

What sparked this recent outlook? A nice little article on cycling news regarding the recent World Cup champ Katheryn Curi Mattis who scored a win in Australia.

This is long - but really worth the read.



Katheryn Curi Mattis (Webcor Builders) took the biggest win of her career on Sunday in Geelong, Australia, when she became only the second American women to ever win a round of the UCI World Cup since Dede Berry first won ten years ago in the World Cup's inaugural round in Sydney. But even with that win, Mattis' chances of representing her country at the Olympic Games have not improved.

Mattis is one of the top female riders in the United States of America, but was not one of the top five American riders in the UCI rankings at the end of 2007, and therefore was not named to the "long team", which is USA Cycling's pre-requisite for Olympic selection.

"I had a really good year last year and finished it off with a third place at the Tour of Ardèche in France and then raced hard at the world championships," she said of the build up to her biggest victory to date. "That gave me a lot of confidence going into the off season. I did a lot of great training; we had a lot of good weather in California."

Clearly, Mattis is on form and heading for a strong season, but even if she had been part of the long team, the win in Geelong would not have given her an edge over the other five women on the long team list – Kristin Armstrong, Amber Neben, Tina Mayolo-Pic, Mara Abbott and Christine Thorburn. Mattis was reluctant to speak about the selection procedures, saying "I am not currently on the long team, let's just leave it at that".

USA Cycling changed the selection procedures for the Olympic Games this year, introducing the "long team" concept as a way to allow riders to tailor their season leading into the Games rather than fighting all season to make the team and then going into the Games fatigued.

Andy Lee, spokesman for USA Cycling, explained to Cyclingnews: "The long team allows riders to pre-qualify for the Games, based on the UCI rankings as of December 31, 2007. The top five riders in the UCI rankings were named to the women's long team". Lee was impressed by Mattis' results, but explained the situation in regards to selection for Beijing.

"It's a phenomenal win, it's a great result for her, and probably the best result of her career," he said. "She's had plenty of good results – in Ardèche, Redlands – and clearly is a strong rider, but as it relates to Olympic selection, it won't do anything for her due to the long team aspect of the rules."

Even if Mattis had accumulated enough points to make the long team, her World Cup win wouldn't have gained automatic selection, as the criteria state that only European World Cups qualify riders for the Olympic team. "It's based on European World Cups because typically the fields are weaker in the non-European races," explained Lee. "The European World Cups are more indicative of the talent you'd see at the Olympic Games."

Selection through the World Cups is not the only way the women compete for the final three spots which will take them to Beijing. They can also have placed top three at the 2007 world championships in either the road race or time trial, or win a 2.9.1 category race prior to June 2, 2008.

The procedure is a labyrinth of clauses and exceptions, but ultimately the positions on the squad will be at the discretion of the selection panel. The panel includes some high-profile ex-Olympians such as Jim Ochowitz and Alison Dunlap, who have the power to either choose or drop an athlete.

Even former World Champion Kirstin Armstrong, who fulfilled one of the automatic qualification criteria with her second place in the 2007 World Time Trial Championship, could still be dropped from the squad should the panel decide that her form is not up to scratch as the event draws near.

Lee admitted that no selection process is perfect, but said he felt that this year's procedure was working well, and that most of the ahtletes were satisfied with it. In regards to Mattis' position, he said that it's more a factor of the small number of spaces available to women at the Olympic Games. "The strength of our women's road team is phenomenal, and when you've only got three spaces to fill, it's hard," he said. "Three is the maximum number of spots we could have gotten [for the Games], and if we could have more spots to fill it would only increase our chances of winning."


I think I may have shifted my focus a bit - the world cup circuit is suddenly way more appealing. The selection process seems more about the battle of the fittest, not who made it through an elaborate network of guidelines and notions.

That's a hilly chilly!

Participated in the 36th Annual Chilly Hilly ride yesterday, along with 4,000 other biking enthusiasts. I woke up early - 6:30 (on a Sunday!) to make the early ferry, along with 1,550 other bikers. Half way up Dexter, I realized I forgot my bib number. I got in a little TT practice and huffed it back home, then back up Dexter cruising right on the ferry. Phew! It was packed!



I met up with my friends Emily and Kristin and we ventured along Bainbridge Island with weaving and unpredictable spandex clad crowds. It was fun being part of such a huge event. I met some man who flew all the way from San Diego to be a part of Chilly Hilly. Even some dude from Europe showed up.



You'd be riding along, turn a corner and see a sea of neon with weaving cyclists trying every way to get up the hill. Some people would be whistling as they cruised up in their granny gear, others huffing and puffing and some just giving up and walking.
On every hill - I saw at least 4 pulled chains, 2 women walking their bikes, and a slow moving tandem moving slow and steady up steep gradients. Children lined the route selling baked goods and bottled water to the thousands of bikers cruising the streets. I stopped at one - at the crest of Baker Hill and chatted with them for a little while as I waited for my friends to join me.

The sun even popped out at the end of the ride - making it less Chilly.

I got home in time to take my nephew Coleman on a walk into Fremont and cruise by tons of early spring flowers.



It took us a while to get to Fremont not only because we stopped to smell the flowers along the way, but also because little Coleman doesn't like to hurry at all. It was great spending time with him.



We even stood under the rocket.



And then Uncle Ryan joined us and we walked the rest of the way home - tuckering out not only Coleman but Makiah too. Makiah is probably still fast asleep on the couch as we speak. :)

Slippers?! In February?!!

Today was one of those picture perfect early spring/late winter days with warmer temps and cloudless blue skies. But does 50 degrees really warrant shorts and flip flops? Not one, not two, but three people walking at dusk with bare feet? Brrr!

But I would trade freezing my tootsies off any time for another day like today! Everyone and their mother were out enjoying the sunshine today. I met the girls down at Leschi for a late morning ride and we pedaled until the mid-afternoon. Amazing!

Ryan headed up to Index and did 7 pitches with some friends. Hopefully you were able to get outside and at least soak up a little bit of sunshine today!

Tomorrow I brave Chilly Hilly - and as long as it doesn't rain - I'll be snapping some sweet photos of the various enthusiasts I meet along the way. :0

I think I just vibrated my arms off from power washing all afternoon.

I know, I know. I just increased my global foot print. Does it help that I only did a half -ass job?

Amazing weather today - hopefully it will last throughout the weekend. Funny - the weather people called for scattered showers all day today and I've barely seen any clouds in the sky. I love when they are absolutely wrong!

Back to the routine

I uploaded a ton of photos to my facebook today and noticed every single one of them had to do with snow. What an amazing winter it's been! Luckily I got to share some of the most beautiful vistas with Ryan - and we share memories to last a lifetime.

I woke up early and headed to the gym this morning. It feels like it's been a while since I've been in a regular routine with weekly workouts and then weekend hammerfests. But I'm sure I'll get my fill in the next couple of weeks.

My bro and his nuclear family is in town for the weekend. Coleman got all riled up last night with uncle Ryan. It's fun to get a 4 year old all hyped up and then leave him to his parents. :) I'm sure they'll repay the favor a little later in life.

The Absolute BEST granola, EVER!

I think I have perfected my homemade granola - so I thought I'd share it with you. Since you can spend up to $5.69/lb on tasty handmade granola at the grocery store - I thought it was high time to create my own. And for a few bucks - you can have the best granola in the world and know what you put into it.

So without further delay....

3 c rolled oats
1 c walnuts, chopped coarse
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c slivered almonds
1/4 c sesame seeds
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/3 c veggie oil
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c honey
1 -2 c dried fruit (the best combo in my opinion is TJ's dried white peaches, apricots, and blueberries.)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 325. Mix oats, walnuts, coconut, almonds, and seeds together. Heat the oil, maple syrup, and honey in a small saucepan until warm, pour over nut mixture and toss to coat. Spread the granola evenly over a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes, until the granola is light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in the dried fruit. Let the granola cool to room temp. Loosen the dried granola with a spatula and store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

Yield - 7 cups.

There you have it - my gift to you. Hopefully it will inspire the hippie in you!

Getting wound up....

Every year it seems like the race season can't start soon enough. The lucky Californians start their short sleeve and short action long before us PNW can even think about shedding all of our layers. Early season races show who's on form and did their homework and extra credit over the winter. Take Brooke Miller for example. She moved to Ohio, the land of the frozen, trained her ass off despite the sub freezing temps and shipped off to Cali only to start sweeping some sweet winter wins. An inspiration for sure - but is making me anxious to test my winter dedication. But for me it's only a test - I look forward to the warmer spring and summer temps to really demonstrate my ability. That competitive side sure rears its head when you start viewing pics and seeing the passion that lives on cyclists faces - they're already enjoying what I love!

With my last downhill adventure unfortunately out of the way - I'm ready to take on the cycling season with gusto. I feel amazing - physically and more so mentally than I have since I started racing. Last year's injury taught me so much and I'm ready to apply my honed skills to reality. Good times, good times.

Tired legs, fatigue sets in - yep, we're headed home

Wow - what a weekend. Yesterday topped it off with blue skies and still some powder to be found on Vail's back bowls. I tallied 4 face plants but Ryan took the cake with a two flip end-o as he attempted to jump a cliff for the 4th time that day. Camille and I had gone the super speedy groomer route - waiting for the boys down at the lift. Only to see Ryan come around the corner disheveled and covered in snow. Hopefully Josh caught it all on camera - we'll find out after a quick download. ;)

We also treated ourselves to a nice dinner last night at Golden Eagle in Beaver Creek. Yummy game and tantalizing sides - I had the duck and Ryan had an Elk loin. Topped off with a nice bottle of wine - good company and great service. What a perfect day.

Tomorrow is back to reality - with race season starting in a few short weeks. I had a crazy dream last night. I imagined I was at a race and not even close to being ready. My tires still needed to be pumped, my water bottles needed to be filled - but miraculously I pulled it off and was at the start line without a hick up. Maybe I'm questioning if I'll be ready for the season? One thing's for sure though - I'm not injured and ready to give it my all.

Ryan's calling for me to help pack the skis - more soon...

Day Two...

Sitting cozily by the fire, listening to Ryan and Josh banter back and forth about disgusting things that bring you back to grade school - ah, the life. And they weren't kidding when they said at Beaver Creek you're not exactly roughing it.

But today we attempted and succeeded at roughing it. We thought two days of lift serve would be too taxing for the legs - pumping too much lactic acid through them and making us suffer. Instead we decided skinning up from 8,000 feet to 11,050 feet would be fine. Um - did someone forget we came from ski, I mean sea level? So at about 10,000 feet, us Washingtonians were suffering as Walker, Mr. Durago-I'm-a-pro-24-hour-mountain-bike-rider-genetic-fanatic skinned up the mountain and broke trail for the rest of us. You could climb about 10 feet before feeling like you would pass out of exhaustion. We eventually made it to the top - huffing and puffing praying with each step up hill we'd ski down some killer powder. And that's when we started roughing it - the snow was crusty and icy underneath - which was very conductive to side slipping down the hill. Not to mention it was windy and about 12 degrees. Chilly! And I'm not talking about the gourmet cuisine in the Spruce Saddle Lodge.

We were very stoked to run into the cat track the runs by Beano's cabin between Grouse Mountain and Strawberry Hill. And you bet we hit up the Dusty Boot for beers and a burger for $6 - the best deal in the Creek.

Tomorrow we venture to Vail to check out the fur coats and trendy side of Eagle County. Not too many double blacks to be had - but with over 5,000 acres of ski-able terrain - we should be able to find something to challenge us.

"No, no! I don't want the Beaver Creek map on my balls!" Josh shrikes to Camille. You can bet there's more stories to be had and pictures to follow...

The Creek

Four pairs of skis - check.
Four pairs of boots - check, check, check and check.
Four pairs of poles - check.

Downhill jacket - check.
Nordic jacket - check.
Ski socks - check.
Advil for the morning after and the ski hangover - check.

Ready to have a good time laying fresh tracks and getting the heart rate going - check.

Good material for the blog later - check.



Jealous? Check.

Can't wait to spend an evening with my sweetie and then whisk away to Colorado for a nice long weekend of snow play with friends.

Hitting the gym later today for some iron pumping and then following it up with a roller spin. It's super nice out today though - I think I'll opt for the outdoor experience.

I'm on chocolate overload right now thanks to Valentine's day! Where's my will power when I need it?

The Early Season BURN

Even as I sit here, my legs are slightly throbbing and I can't drink enough liquids to adequately recover.

I had forgotten this portion of the season. Where the anticipation for the rapidly approaching racing begins and every interval seems to count toward gaining as much fitness as humanly possible. Fatigue from pushing your limits starts to settle into the muscles and you begin eating like a horse. Gone are the days of lazily getting on the bike and just putting time in the saddle. Now days are filled with meaningful purpose and missions to accomplish with each stroke!

Mr. Firm Handshake

Today I encountered a bone breaking, hand splintering hand shake from Mr. Craig's-list-I'll-take-your-ugly-cabinet man. The mail man called it when he saw me helping Mr. Handy man load up the putrid cabinet into his truck, "another case of Craig's list, eh?" Yeah, except this one nearly broke my hand.

My question is this - when someone has a death grip - are you supposed to squeeze back? Or do you play lame dead duck and give a limp shake? I tried squeezing back too and he squeezed harder. My hand still hurts.

Maybe it was his way of saying, "thanks for the piece of junk to pile my junk in."

And in that case, you're welcome. Very, very welcome.

I opened the flood gates....

I had a few odds and ends remaining to get rid of from the abandoned suite at work and decided to list them on Craigs list for free. I've found it's the best way to get a complete stranger to come and haul away your junk. I posted about 4 adds yesterday at noon and by 3pm had about 50 responses. A quick check this morning and I have over 70. Wild.

Forget ever having a garage sale again.

One guy took a presentation board for his 13 year old son in attempt to continue to connect with him.

Another lady from Redmond drove over after work and picked up the heavy press board book cases. She had just moved from Ashland and ditched all of her furniture down south.

Maybe I should see who the freakiest responder is and give the free stuff to them. At least it'll make for some entertaining stories.

I was WRECKED yesterday from the weekend. It's been a while since I've put in close to 10 hours of riding on the weekend. I need to up the stamina I think. Today - more hill intervals. Sweet!

Pooped with a capital P

What happens when you put 5 hours in the saddle with tempo and interval work thrown in the mix? One tired puppy, I tell you what.

As of this morning I was indecisive about what ride to do. I contemplated heading up
North to meet with the Broadmark fellas for their fixie ride, meeting up with my friend Peter, or heading south to Leschi to meet up with the Avanti ladies. I left the house bright and early at 8 and made my decision on the trail - ladies it is!

Only 4 of us showed - Linda, the ever faithful weekend ride leader, Annette, trekking from the east side and Liz, Mrs.-I-wore-too-much-clothing-today. I should talk - I walked out of the house this morning donning full on STP Fred clothing (sorry Fred) and installed my aero bars last night to really pull off the act. At least my holey booties matched! We headed south into the head wind and eagerly trailed onto the Garage fellas rear wheels as they strolled by. Funny how the guys are in zone 2 but my heart rate is in tempo sitting on the back and being whisked along. (It can't be all that skiing - it can't!!!)

The gravy train stopped at Coulon Park where we refueled, dumped and picked our route - up toward Tiger Mountain via the McDonald's Hill and May Valley. Let the pain begin! I just wish long hills and low traffic wasn't as much of a journey to get to. It would be awesome, in theory, to live on the east side and access all of those rides instead of having to slog out a good hour one way to get there. But I stayed home from skiing this weekend for a reason - to re-enter the biking pain cave.

And re-enter I did - time and time again. It's been a while since I've thought, "I could just stop doing this right now." Especially when climbing! The hills in Spain were just as long - if not longer. Is it the lack of sun? Does Vitamin D somehow make the pain and suffering that much better? But right when I start thinking, I can't do it - I remember, other people feel the same way and you have to be stronger and physically and mentally push beyond it. The stronger the mind - the stronger the rider. Why hello old doubtful friend - I missed you and am going to kick you right back into the cave you came from! And suddenly, I got into my rhythm and finished the climb with a smile, not a grimace, on my face.

It's funny how the simple act of riding your bike allows you to visit a range of emotions you don't run into in many other sports. The endurance factor is huge - how long can you stand pushing beyond your limits, or what you think are your limits, and pull your body inside out to complete a ride? Can you stand it 2 more minutes, now 5 more minutes, now 30 more minutes, etc.? I know your crotch hurts, your legs feel like lead, your back is sore, you feel like your tongue is hanging on the ground. But just think how good it will feel when you stop in 4 hours! Congratulations, pat yourself on the back. You have just reached what I call quality training.

And the best part? It repeats itself tomorrow. :)

Cactus time!

Have you ever participated in your local caucus? Interested in being more of a part in this years election?

Well you'll get your chance this Saturday if you live in Washington. Check it!

http://seattlest.com/2008/02/06/because_washing.php

One man's junk=another man's treasure

Friday mornings rule. Not only are they my off day from the bike, but I usually wake up a little earlier to bake something to share at work. I love the quiet alone time I get in the mornings - with the only stress being which type of tea to drink today. Today's treat - tasty Bran Raisin Muffins.

I'm still working on getting rid of the stuff a tenant abandoned in a suite from the office - and it's working out pretty good. Piece by piece I've sold each thing on Craig's list - the best invention since sliced bread, btw. The new tenant is moving in a few weeks - so the pressure is on. I've made multiple trips to the reuse computer store - dumping off several monitors, computers and parts. We know each other by name now.

This weekend I'm biking! Yes, you heard it here first. I'm actually letting my skis sit in the corner of the living room to collect dust and dusting off my TT bike. Good times!

Dreams

I had an earthquake dream last night. Strange. I remember reading about some tremors detected in May Valley area a couple days ago - maybe that sparked things?

Anyways, in my dream I thought it was strange how windy and stormy things were until I realized I was in somewhat serious danger and decided to hit the deck in my kitchen. It wasn't until a few minutes later I realized we had a 6.7 magnitude quake.

Maybe I should stop watching the news - they had a crazy tornado hit the southern states and destroy everything in its path.

Other than that, I slept like a baby.

Picture UPdate

Sorry for the delay - here's some photos of the travels we've had the past couple weeks.



Makiah snuggled up in the -11 degree temps at our cabin in Mazama a few weeks ago.



Goat Wall that we skinned up to get a killer run in before skate skiing. Makiah made the trek too!



The view from Goat Wall looking West up the Methow Valley.



Our cabin buried under a shit load of snow.



We had to dig out a spot to park the golf - they only plow the road. Tight squeeze!



The best run Heavenly had to offer - the Fire Break Run which dropped about 2,000 vertical feet.




And last, but certainly not least, Mr. Mullet Man with cool jeans and Mrs. Camel Toe. Unfortunately we were already on the bus before we realized we just had to take their picture. :)

Bittersweet

Tonight kicked off the first true intervals of the season. I think it's now safe to say I have entered into the realm of pain for the season - although tonight was a cake walk compared to the months to come. I say that because I'm new and fresh to the pain of interval work - after a nice long oasis from them. As I spun higher and higher rpm's, I reveled at the fact I can and have pushed so much harder to go so much faster in the peak of the season. And I just need to remind myself, I'm slowly approaching that glorious time of gut wrenching pursuit work and putting it all out there - something I feel passionate about.

To reward myself - I'm spending time in the kitchen, slowly cooking one of my favorite treats - caramelized onions. For some reason, I've been keeping it secret from my blog readers that I've spent more and more off time in the kitchen - delicately preparing savory foods and enjoying every blissful moment on my feet in the kitchen. Ryan calls me domestic - but I don't take offense. Home baked granola, fresh pasta, slow marinated tomato sauces, soups, slow cooked pulled pork, the list goes on. I'm starting to find it harder and harder to settle for anything less then the best when it comes to food - especially dining out. Thankfully we both exercise our brains out and we're rewarded by performance - you are what you eat, right? I'm sure as soon as race season settles in, I'll find less time to spend in the kitchen, but hopefully won't compromise the goods and whole foods I'm putting in.

Anyways - sorry to get off subject. All I really meant to say was intervals started tonight and felt good.:)

A friend of mine is starting a new site - and I'll be posting to it shortly.... more to come on that later.

Powder Days

Headed South to Lake Tahoe area over the weekend with my sweetie. We had some old airline tickets we had to use up from last year. Unfortunately United has few direct flights from Seattle - other than Denver and San Fran... so through the myriad of schedules and destinations - we settled on Tahoe for only a $11.97 charge after all the change fees.

We asked around to find out if anyone had been to Tahoe before and got a bunch of blank stares. (Warning number one.) But we heard they were getting hammered with snow and Heavenly boasts the "highest snowfall in the US". (Warning number two.) Traveling there took awhile - from Seattle to San Fran, hop on a puddle jumper to Reno, then ride the bus up to the mountains. We arrived late Friday night and took advantage of the $2 beers in our hotel casino. Bad idea - the next morning this so called light weight had a screaming head ache and we were going skiing? Luckily the hotel boasts free breakfast - or pay the $2.99 (warning number three)... let's just say the food combined with the hangover didn't sit well in the old tummy tum tum.

Nevertheless we headed up to the mountain - unsure of the best spots to ski but ready to explore. Tahoe sits at 7,000 feet or so and the top of the mountain is 10,000. We whisked up the mountain to be quickly greeted by alpine/hurricane force winds. The blues were really greens and we immediately discovered how low angle and easy the runs were (not to mention we didn't see the lake once!). The snow was good - and we quickly found the double blacks and did laps - narrowly missing a collision with one skier and having a good time. I'm starting to get really aggressive on my tele skis and it feels good to go fast!

Around 3:30 we called it a day and headed down to the lodge to drink a $8 beer (that's worse than the Sonics!). We watched as a huge line formed for the free shuttle - which took about 2 hours to dissipate. Apparently the gondola, which is how the majority of the people off load down the mountain, was closed due to the winds and everyone was funneled to where we were hanging. Once the line died down, we hoped on the bus - only to be sardined with skis, poles and smelly people down the mountain to a transit center. Fun times! We made it back in time to walk through the blizzard like conditions across the street to some of the best food Tahoe has to offer.

That night it snowed 3 feet. POWDER!!! But the kicker? They didn't open the gondola until noon the next day due to avalanche control. On that low angle? Seriously? Wow - we were not impressed. :) Once we did get up the hill powder was abound and we skied our brains out. We made a wise decision to head back to the Mott Canyon area - where it was actually steep and had some of the best runs of the day.

The previous day, near the lift, the bottom was nice and flat. I approached it on day two with the same speed - FAST and quickly met 7-8 moguls. Next thing I know, my knees are nearly pumping into my chin and I some how pulled it off - with two tele turns at the bottom showing some style. Ryan and some other guy watched as I came in hauling ass - with a terrified look on my face of failure. Talk about an adrenaline rush! I doubt I could repeat it!

The end of the day came quickly and we headed for the final run out the Fire Break, an off piste run through the trees with endless powder. You basically get one of the most enjoyable and long runs of the day - going from 9,000 to 7,000 at the base of the gondola. It was great and we even got to see the lake!

We then watched part of the Superbowl in a bar across the street, walked back to the transit center, narrowly catching the last bus to our casino. Trucking skis, boots and poles back to the hotel would have been rough! Maybe we should have gambled that night? All bets on black!

After watching one of the best upsets ever - we always root for the underdog so we were stoked! we headed to the hot tub and were quickly met by some New Orleaners. They were sipping Wild Turkey - smoking cigars and cigarettes right in the tub. No worries though - right before they got out there, Ryan was reaching for this beer and accidentally dropped it in the tub. :)

The next morning we opted not to spend another $140 on lift tickets and walked into town. All of the sidewalks were still buried in snow but we managed to make it the mile into town without getting hit on the interstate. As we boarded our 1:30 bus back down to Reno, we saw the greatest Tahoe couple ever. Decked out in frayed designer pocket jeans, neon jacket and sweet mullet hair, complimented by his blond hair, leopard print wearing, camel toe sporting lady - you bet we took some photos! I'll upload some soon....

Hope you had a good weekend too. In two weeks we head out to Colorado for another fun adventure!

Grrrrreat news!

The daffodils in the flower beds at my work are starting to sprout. You know what that means - this winter will end eventually and usher in warmer, wetter temps loaded with bike racing and intervals. What more could a girl ask for? :)

Saw the Decemberists last night at the Moore. Um... pretty much kick ass. It also reminded me I need to go see live music more often. It makes you feel soooo good! And I love watching people do what they are passionate about. Check them out this video and then imagine the music turned up so you couldn't hear yourself think and a dancing stoked crowd all around you. Good times, good times.

You probably heard it here last....

"Interstate 90 normally carries about 7,000 trucks a day. The economic cost of closing I-90 is $20 million a day, according to WSDOT estimates."

Yes, it's closed again. But only after another avalanche buried three cars in the Westbound lanes!

"By late today, crews had detonated about 850 pounds of explosives in an eight-mile stretch east of Snoqualmie Pass and have removed the equivalent of 200,000 dump truck loads of snow."

Got snow?

Even better headlines though - this makes 90 sound like a cake walk:

Route 20 avalanche strands 75 people in Diablo

Don't worry - they have helicopters on the way to drop off supplies. Whoa.

Speaking of real winters...

I-90 has been closed all day due to HIGH avalanche potential. They closed the highway from exit 34 (North Bend) Eastbound and at exit 106 (Ellensburg) Westbound. Crazy! Ryan and a bunch of people were trying to rally up to Alpental for the night - but apparently it's too dangerous. Wild stuff!

I was a good girl and opted to stay home, regardless of the potential powder fest to ride. (Pat on the back with a smile.) If they had been able to go up - I'm sure it would have been one of the best inbound ski days of the year!

My indoor roller ride went well. I spun my brains out, sweating all over my yoga mat and listening to some poor 700 pounder on Dr. Phil say he's scared and doesn't want to die obese. They chartered a plane for him to go to Hollywood and showed footage of him seated in one of the rows - his entire body was wedged between two rows in first class. Nothing like a little motivation to keep the heart rate up.

A REAL winter

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest, where winter weather is getting more and more unpredictable than ever! Only three winters ago, we had a record low snowfall - closing all of the local ski resorts for weeks and reaching temps of 60 in the city during the month of January. Last winter was decent - I recall only being forced on the trainer 3 times or so. And this this winter? Well this winter I have embraced what mother nature is throwing at us and taken full advantage of growing up with planks attached to my feet and mixing it up with a new found love for Nordic skiing.

Curious, I googled "benefits of Nordic skiing and cycling" and came up with a few hits. (Ah the beauty of google where you can make anything you want true, depending on how you ask it.) And to be honest, I just came across some fascinating stuff and will report back soon....




Taken from the following link: http://home.hia.no/~stephens/skiphysi.htm

We knew it'd be cold... but -11? Seriously!

But we had no idea just how cold it was until the following evening.

Ryan and I went to the cabin again on Friday. No new snow had fallen over the past week so we got to take our skiing stuff into the cabin and get the heat going. The interior of the cabin had completely frosted over and everything was frozen. Even our CD player refused to work until we warmed it up a couple of degrees. When it's cold outside - that can only mean one thing - Dance Party 2008! We danced to three entire CD's before calling it quits and crawling inside our double wide sleeping bag.

Even Makiah slept on the bed with us all night - and in the morning it wasn't as warm as I remembered it the weekend before. Would having one less person inside the cabin really make that big of a difference? Apparently! We headed out to recon the area and figure out some new downhill loops nearby and ended up skating the morning from Early Winters and then skinning up and skiing Goat Wall.

And it was at Goat Wall, after skinning up a couple hundred feet, that we ran into some ice climbers. One of them, Larry, owns the Mazama Country Store, and said the past three nights they've had record colds. Try -11! Yep, that's the reason we couldn't get warm. Burrrr!

Sunday we woke up to a warm cabin - the high pressure system had finally run its course, allowing for low pressure to come in through a series of storms bringing with it about 4" of new fluff. Daytime temps were mid-twenties; balmy compared to Friday! We headed back to Goat Wall and did a lap and then did a couple hours of skating on our way out of town. Ryan and I were so tired that we could barely make the last 4k of the loop! Makiah was too tired from skinning with us the previous day and only made it on a 4k loop. All in all - a great weekend of fun in the snow!

Next weekend - TAHOE! A break from the snow and then Beaver Creek... 2008 is shaping up to be a pretty kick ass year!

Before Aero Bars

Check out this old picture - I think it was from either Nationals or possibly the PanAm games. Jerry Baker is yelling splits at the team pursuits.

Craigs list

Craigs list rules. That pretty much sums up what I've been up to all day.

We had a tenant file bankruptcy and the employees took everything of value to them and left the big stuff for us to dispose of. Luckily we didn't have any red tape and hassle to reclaim the space by WaMu. Since we're the landlord, we get first dibs on the material as a means to recover lost rent. So I snapped a few photos and started posting them on Craigslist. Within minutes I had quite a few responses and nibbles. A few hecklers, but for the most part serious buyers. I meet with most of them tomorrow.

Hopefully we'll get things back and get a new tenant in the space within a month. Know anyone looking for office furniture? I've got tons of desks and chairs priced to move!

The winning Sonics

Attended a Sonics game last night against the Houston Rockets. The Sups maintained a 10 point lead over the Rockets and things were looking great until the final 4 minutes and things just fell apart. The inevitable happened and they lost - which brings their stats up to 12 loses, a NBA Franchise record. Way to go guys!

Seriously though - sounds like they need to invest in some mental training and work with some Zen doctors to get their heads on straight. They dominated 3/4 of the game and then things just fell apart. Bummer.

Kevin posted some amazing photos from the LA world cup on his flicker site - check them out....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kspiegel/

I'll take sunshine, thank you!

Today was one of those mornings that you hope to remember for the rest of your life.

I'm officially back in love with Seattle.

Rode early this am with Peter and Shawn up to Woodland, a suburb just outside of Edmonds. From there we watched as the moon dipped down behind the snow capped Olympics and watched the sun warm the colors across the Puget Sound. Oh what a sight.

And then I rode home, after stopping and grabbing a tea, and froze my digits off. You know it's cold out when your powertap stops working.

But that view - that view still puts a smile on my face. I just wish I had my camera.

Weekend Predictions

It's not looking good locally to do some biking this weekend. I know it's a little early to predict - but with possible snow showers/sleet forecast for the weekend, who would seriously in their right mind pedal in that kind of weather? Why fight what mother nature is dishing out and use it to your advantage to get in some snow play in the mountains?

That just cleared any doubt I had in my mind about going back to the cabin this weekend. :) Bring on the back country and skate skiing! Seriously though, should I be that worried that I'm not putting in massive amounts of suffer fest during the weekends and instead enjoying every sweat pounding minute of climbing mountains? I know I'm getting in a killer workout for several hours at a time - how can it be that different than riding all day? I guess we'll find out once race season rolls around.... (but at least I know my sanity will be in tact!)

98103 - (wunderground.com)
Tues 37
Wednesday 41
Thurs 39/29 30% chance of snow
Friday 39/31 20% chance of snow
Saturday 40/35 60% chance of snow

Sounds like some killer riding conditions - not! I fully support you lunatics that kit up though and put in the mileage. I've been there - it takes a certain breed.

98833 - Mazama Time....
Tuesday 22/-3 Sunny
Wed 21/3 Sunny
Thurs 22/15 20% chance of snow
Fri 21/11 Partly cloudy
Sat 25/12 40% chance of snow

Thank you snow angels, thank you.

20 Skyline "Mini Vacation"

Unfortunately we brought our camera this weekend sans the battery, which was left in the charger in the living room at home. So no photos! You know what that means - something EPIC was bound to happen....

After 5.5 hours of driving, we arrived to a winter wonderland in Lost River. We had heard it snows quite a bit in Mazama, but we had NO IDEA our cabin would be encased in snow and 5 foot banks would line the driveway. First order of business - dig out a spot to park the car. Only one car can shimmy down the roads at a time so we went into digging over time to make a spot. Ryan did the majority of the work while Josh and I got the cabin lit up, plugged in the radiator and schlepped our gear inside.

This was our first time to the cabin in the winter - so we weren't sure what to expect as far as heat goes. It was chilly those first few hours - but after we tucked ourselves into bed for the night, I remember waking up sweaty and wondering who turned up the heat? Thank goodness our cabin was nice and toasty! Night time lows were in the teens with day time highs were mid twenties!

The next morning we got up, made the obligatory Krusteaze wheat and honey pancakes and bananas and some tea and headed out to do some back country skiing. At first we thought we would drive to the point where we could park down Lost River Road, which turned out to be about .10 miles from our cabin. So we piled back in the car, geared up and headed off directly from the cabin. We ended up skinning for about 3 hours straight - only to climb out Hart's pass area and up a crusty icy sketchy slope. Unfortunately the snow was shit - and we had made more tracks without much elevation gain, which meant a long slow skin back to the cabin. All in all we sweat our asses off for 5+ hours. We got in maybe a dozen turns. Well more like Ryan and Josh got in several turns - I chickened out and snow plowed the entire crusty way. Actually, I take that back. I made about 5 turns - and adorned three face plants! (Accompanied by giggling like a little girl the entire time.) I like to make things as easy as possible and with grace.

We returned to the cabin and had an amazing chili aroma - we planned ahead and put some ingredients in the slow cooker. It was a perfect way to make up for some bunk skiing. Josh brought some scotch - which was used as a dare during our heated game of "Asshole." The rest of the night was spent recouping from our long skin.

Our plan for Sunday was skate skiing. On Thursday night Ryan went and bought skate skis, poles and boots and Josh rented some at REI Friday night on our way out of town. Since the Methow has the second largest network of skating in the US we decided to give it a whirl. We drove down LRR to Mazama, went to park where you usually do in the summer, when all three of us simultaneously realized we were driving on the groomed trail! Ryan stopped immediately, and Josh and I jumped out to push us out of the tracks we had quickly sunken into. Luckily no one saw us - but how embarrassing! Just across the road, was a huge berm hiding the dozens of cars in a parking lot. Whoops. Now we know. I'm still shaking my head while chuckling.

We quickly found out the Methow Valley Nordic costs $20 per day per adult for access to their groomed trails. You mean we have to pay $60 to ski on a trail some jerk just drove through? Ha! Luckily we forgot our wallets back at the cabin so we sought the free trails - and dog friendly ones to boot! Makiah happily jogged behind Ryan and I a full 8.3k! It was a killer workout. REI only rents super duper racer skis and they were a little difficult to try skating on - but Josh rallied and made the most of it! Ryan of course picked it up and was skating circles around me in no time. He's the most amazing off the coach athlete I have ever met. Inspiring for sure!

Back to the cabin we went, ate lunch, packed up and headed home around 3. It took us about the same time to get to Mazama- a long five plus hours. Ryan thought it was worth- especially for his "mini vacation." He needed it too - on Friday his company let go 1/2 of their field workers as a means to cut back. Crazy! We're already contemplating going back this next weekend.... and after reading the ride reports from fellow teammates about freezing their asses off and doing indoor trainer rides - I think that 5+ hour drive doesn't sound that bad after all!

Hope you had a good weekend...

Jennie Reed Rules

In case you didn't read - Reed won gold in the Keirin this past weekend at the LA World Cup and silver in the match sprints. Way to go Jennie!

Whenever I lack motivation and need a little boost, I often visit Brooke Miller's blog. She's a talker that one - but living in Cleveland, and still maintaining a pro training plan throughout the winter - this chica is tough! For instance, the other day there was still some ice on the ground leftover from our little mini ice storm, it was cold out and doing 2 hours zone 2 outside didn't sound that appealing. Good thing I visited Brooke's site - she was saying how excited she was that it was 31 outside and balmy. I can only imagine how rough it is to train in one of the midwest states during the winter and just how much trainer time you really have to put in. It was just the attitude adjustment I needed and in minutes I was kitted up and in the saddle.

It has been nice to supplement the training with some backcountry skiing and skating. When it's raining at home and chilly - it's nice knowing I'll still get a killer workout on the slopes by my own demise. Endurance sports rule.

Ryan bought a skate ski set up last night without ever trying it before. I think he'll like it though - he played hockey for 20 years and I'm sure he'll be skating circles around me the first go.

Still cleaning up the abandoned space at work - I can't believe how much useless shit these people had! I mean seriously, who needs 50 stainless steel coffee mugs and plastic mugs with your logo on it? Anybody in the market for some swag? Maybe I can use those as primes! Just teasing.

Great Group Discussion

Around 16 ladies showed up last night for our track meeting and we made some head way! We came up with some solid solutions to some of the issues I mentioned in my previous post and also came up with some new ideas to improve track racing overall.

So - here's the skinny:

Cat 3 ladies are in an odd position if we do not offer a women's only elite field - they are intimated of racing with the men yet need to improve their skills by racing with people better than them. (One woman was so frustrated racing with the men last year, she obtained a downgrade.) To lessen the gap between the recently upgraded cat 3's and the 1/2's, the cat 3's can still race on Wednesdays with the Cat 4's in a combined and separately scored race. The catch - they will be in restricted gearing (say an 81") and will not gain any points toward an upgrade. As an incentive to get the 3's up and racing on Friday nights, we are going to offer Cat 3 only primes. We thought this was the best solution to getting the 3's showing up regularly to Friday nights and still allow those who are timid of racing under the lights or who want more practice the ability to do so on Wednesdays.

We talked about creating a distribution list where we can check to see who's going to show up on Friday nights - but really we thought the onus is on the teams to get their teammates out there and participate. If this means offering more ladies only track classes to introduce the roadies to track then we have more than enough volunteers and able bodies to make it happen. Teams just need to pick a date that doesn't conflict with something already happening on the track and we'll make it happen.

We also talked about making Sunday's a regular thing - say showing up for the Woody workout and having someone take lead for the women. More time in the saddle on the track means the better you'll get.

And one of my favorite ideas - mentors for Wednesday nights. A few ladies already volunteered to show up - basically they would provide answers to new female racers. Things such as what to expect in the race, what to do in certain situations, race analysis, etc. The mentor would tell the registration table that they are the mentor that night and if any new people showed up to direct them to them. Hopefully with more support people will gain the confidence and take out some of the learning curve in making them competitive.

We did have a few teams absent from the meeting - and as a group we wondered how we can get more of them involved. That remains a little bit of an issue - but hopefully the word will spread about the awesome support people get at the track and they'll start showing up.

I may be forgetting something - I'm a little busy at work right now. A tenant filed bankruptcy and abandoned all of their stuff. I've been going through it all and recycling a ton of sales information. Apparently these people didn't believe in getting rid of anything (I've seen stuff from 1999!). Know anyone who needs staplers and office supplies?

Women's Track Meeting Tonight

I'm hosting a women's meeting tonight in attempt to pool our resources and get some commitment from the ladies to have elite level racing on Friday nights. I know, it's January and what am I doing thinking about track racing now when it's a summer sport? Well my hope is that we get enough women excited about track racing that they come out during the regular season and race.

It's been an ongoing struggle to get the ladies out at the track. Last season we had 33 category 4 women show up - definitely a record! But the leap to Cat 3 seemed to have an enormous crevasse between the two. Because we didn't have enough elite women showing up, we were forced to race with the men. Personally I find racing with the men an amazing workout and forces you to be on your game. But for a lot of the women out there - racing with the men sounded too daunting so they wouldn't show up. Two years ago I was the lone woman racing with the men at the end of the season. Three years ago we had women's racing on Friday nights and a solid group of 10 showing up.

What to do?

Putting my own ambitions and desires aside, having a women's field is important. Especially if they want to grow the field and the depth of the women. But having the ladies show up has been a struggle - it seems only a handful of women want to be competitive and strive to get better. I've found the only way to do that is to race with people who are better and stronger than you. Maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong angle - but there has to be some way to get our elite level numbers up.

At the same time, I'm happy racing with the men. At least I know they will have a field that is the closest to elite national size. There's a big difference between racing with 8 women of mixed ability and 18+ cat 3 men. Last year I tried racing in both categories but found myself frustrated with the disparity between the two groups.

Hopefully tonight we'll come up with some viable options and make them work this year. It'd be nice to give the ladies who just upgraded from Cat 4 a chance to race and get better in a cat 3 field. And maybe come up with some ideas to keep the national level racers happy as well.

If you have any suggestions - please let me know.

Apparently I've been in the dark

Super star takes the world by storm! Does anyone know more about this guy?

For those of you who thought the chicken was cool... check this out.

98833

We're attempting our first winter run at the cabin next weekend. In case you forgot, our cabin is RUSTIC. Meaning - there's no running water, the electricity is accessible from the exterior by running an extension cord through the window, there's an outhouse and absolutely zero heat.

And in case you're wondering - the forecast for the weekend calls for a balmy high of 24 and a low of 17.

Did I mention the Methow Valley offers some of the best cross country and skate skiing in the US? And with the Cascades at your back door - you can't go wrong with some back country skiing!

I'm saving up to build a real cabin already....

Weekend Wonder

Took my nephew Coleman (he's 4) to Snoqualmie for his first day on the slopes. He had a little anxiety when we tried to ditch him at the Kid's Corral and then again when we saw him later. We asked him if he would go skiing again, and without batting an eye, "No."



Coleman only last a half day - and slept the entire way home. We got back in time for me to do a ride before we were off to dinner with my Mom's new flame's family. They are really nice people!

That night Ryan and I went to bed by 9:30 to get up early Sunday morning and ski a blue bird day. It was amazing. Check out the views.







We got up to Crystal around 8:45am and parked. The initial skin was 2.5 hours all uphill. We contemplated a big tour or do some laps in the Cement Basin area. Due to the stability of the snow, we decided on the later and had 10-12" of untracked powder the entire day. I would say it was one of the best ski days of the year! When we got back to the parking lot the inbound skiers said it was one of the busiest days they had ever seen at Crystal. Funny, we only saw one other party the entire day. Yay for powder days!

A few more shots

This is Sonya, climbing in Arboli and kicking ass.



This was taken at Montsant during one of two rain days. The cave had some hard climbs in it - the easiest being a 7A. Which meant, no climbing for moi.



This is what happens to your hands when you climb on jagged sharp limestone for 12+ days.

A break from the funk

It's actually not raining outside at the moment.

Sorry about that previous post - I think that was some counter culture/ post relaxing vacation reality stress coming out. But it's peaked and I'm over it. :) Shoes.

Got an email from Suz asking the 1/2 ladies if they have a preference to ride with either the Cat 3 men or the Masters A/B field for the first few races of the season. Personally I'm happy with either group - it's a kick ass workout and simulates elite level racing the best. But more importantly, we only have 8 weeks to go before the local early season racing starts. I don't know about you, but I am STOKED to get some racing in. Be gone zone 2 doldrum! Hello intensity!

I can't wait to break my chicken legs out of their tights and show their ferocity to the world. :)

Just to cheer you up....

Not sure if I posted this here - but if you need a good laugh, here you go!

Did a 2 hour ride yesterday morning along the Burke and for the first time ever, I thought to myself, "I hate Seattle." Whoa. Things are getting serious.

So I vow, from this point forward, to no longer ride the Burke for 2008 (between the U and Log Boom). I'm doing it for Seattle.

my own personal training camp

Siurana, Spain is located approximately 2 hours southwest of Barcelona in the San Padres Mountain range. It is accessible primarily by car due to its hilly landscape. Siurana was "discovered" by the rock climbing community in the 1980's and has seen a lot of development since. No wonder why - the village is perched atop a huge limestone crag and has thousands of bolted sport routes.


This photo was taken across the gully on my way to Arboli, a neighboring village. To give you an idea - a bird would probably only have to fly 1.5 kilometers to get from Siurana to Arboli but by bike it took 15k.

So why Siurana? In case you didn't know - Ryan's a climbing feign. Originally we were going to go to Thailand but due to the civil unrest and probably lack of cycling roads, we sought out another nice weather winter destination. (Not to mention this area is frequently by climbing heavyweights Chris Sharma, Piatxi Usobiaga, Graham, etc.) Toni, the owner of the camp site we stayed at, has won numerous world cups and has a nice little set up. He rents bungalows for 60 Euro a night, which sleep up to 4. Since we had 5, he gave us an extra mattress for free. Unlike previous Euro trips, this seemed like luxury. We had running HOT water, heat, a roof over our heads, etc. The only issue would be contemplating climbing back up the road to the bungalow or hitching a ride. (It was 6k from the main road from Cornudella de Montsant and gained about 500m of altitude.) Don't worry - I never hitched a ride. :)



This is the view from the road that travels between the campsite to the main village of Siurana. You can see the Montsant mountain in the distance and the windy road below. The best part? The roads were immaculate. They often hold the world cup indie races nearby (between Capafonts and Montral) and put down new asphalt quite often.

I mentioned there were 5 of us - Ryan, myself, Jesse, Sonya and Orion. They would climb all day and I would pedal several hours through the landscape. My companion was my trusty Kona. Everyday we would awake by 9, head to the cafe that served bocadillo fritta (egg omelette's with potatoes and zucchinis, sandwiched between fresh baguette bread smeared with tomatoes) and then they would head off climbing around 11am. Some days I would do a loop and meet them then attempt to climb, some days I would do a longer loop and come back to the bungalow and relax.

We had completely different vacations. I saw the entire surrounding area and they saw lots of rock.



This was my favorite village - Capafonts. It is perched in the middle of a small valley surrounded on all sides by rock formations and gullies.



From Capafonts I circumnavigated Montral - whose refugi is barely seen in the distance.



This is the view from the Montral village. Simply breathtaking.



Freshly paved roads that are barely wide enough for two cars to pass one another. Luckily I saw maybe 5 cars on each 3+ hour ride I went on. I saw maybe 5 cyclists total - half of which were mountain bikers. Honestly, I felt like I was stealing something. Everything was so clean - so carefully kept. No glass on the roads, no abandoned cars on the lands- the Spaniards know how to live.



I decided I could live here. So what if the roof caved in and there's no heat?



This is Ullemolins a terraced village on the 242 regional road.

Luckily climbers require rest days, which meant we got to head down to the beach and do some site seeing. It was warmer down there - about 12 C - but still chilly. I didn't think it was possible - but this girl managed to find boots to match her hair. Wow.



Now - back to climbing. As long as you were in the sun - you were fine. The moment you stepped out, freezing cold. But the views would take your breath away.



Ryan has been climbing for about 10 years now. (He'll probably correct me. :) He trained hard prior to setting off for Spain and planned his peak perfectly. He managed to flash at least 15 7A+ (about 5.12a). Um.... can you say, BAD ASS?



So you're probably wondering, what does flash mean? He basically walked up to the climb, with no prior knowledge, hung quickdraws as he climbed, and completed the climb from ground to anchors without falling once.



Yes, he's part monkey. But luckily not hairy like an ape.



The jaw dropping La Rambla Direct - rated 5.15a and repeated only by the worlds elite climbers. This is a view from under the climb - and the following gives you an idea of just how overhanging the route is. Other than the crack, I don't see ANY holds.



The guy hanging is jugging up a fixed line to work the upper moves. Because these routes are so long, often climbers will work the route in sections in order to master it. The hope is to be able to redpoint it - climbing from bottom to anchors without falling. This is different from an onsite or flash - because they have been on the climb before.

Of course we had to visit Barcelona on another rest day. Our mission - see as much of the city via walking as possible. Here's Gaudi's famous Familia cathedral - maybe it will help you understand the saying "that's so Gaudi!" He didn't really like details much - rrrrriiiiight.



We of course had to eat some tapas while there - but the Spaniards eating schedule is totally different from ours. Shops close in the middle of day from about 2-6 for a siesta and then they don't start eating till 11pm at night! By that point we were starving and couldn't wait to chow down on some finger food.

Because of this siesta, we would often find ourselves desparate to get some food right around 6. Corundella is the nearest village with groceries available and was a 6k drive down the road. So when we happened upon a supermarket on our rest day near Cambrils, we went a little wild. Between 5 of us, we spent 150 Euro on groceries.



Our favorite delicacy? Nutella and animal crackers. Thank GOD it's harder to find Nutella at the store. (But I hate to admit it, I found it at Fred Meyer's already and NO I did not buy any. ;)

Simply put - I have way too many photos to put up on one blog. These were just some highlights. My goal is to collaborate everyone's photos together and make them into one nice slide show. Our friends Ben and Danielle have a projection screen at their house and have graciously offered to host a showing. If you're interested in coming and seeing more of our adventure - please let me know!

Blurry Eyed and Fuzzy

So that's what happens to your vision when you wake up at 4:30 am in Spain, fly direct from Barcelona to New York, have a 4 hour lay over and then hop on a direct flight from NY to Seattle to arrive at 8:40pm PST. My math may be off a little bit - but I think we were traveling for about 24 hours. And it was worth every minute of it.

Luckily I have the day off from work today so downloading of the photos will have to wait till tomorrow. I miss that place already. The olive orchards, the whindy roads, the sunshine and rustic feel of the San Padres mountains. It's even been a little bit of shock not hearing Spanish every where - something Ryan and I plan on learning as part of our New Year's resolution.

Where to start? Simply put - that was one of the funnest vacations I've had. Roaming around seldom traveled mountain roads, seeing how minimally the Spaniards live, enjoying new foods and great company.

But for now, I think I'm going to rest my weary eyes one last day before getting back to the grind and reluctantly returning to reality. I still feel ultra relaxed and rejuvenated - and more than ever, ready to get back to the bike.

(Just to give you a taste - I put in 24 hours of riding, burning over 14,000 kj and climbing my heart out. The land is not flat - far from it. And what goes down, must come up, over and over and over again. More to come...)

Audios!