Oh where oh where has October gone, Oh where oh where can it be??
I'm too dang busy right now I suppose. Anyways, back from more travels to the Bay this weekend.

First I want to back-track a few weekends - October 14th to be exact. On this day I completed my first century ride - The Best Buddy's Hearst Castle Challenge. You'll be happy to know I made my goal - I rasied over $1,500 and was able to bike a full 100 miles along the beautiful Pacific coast Highway 1. This has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. In fact, my own personal list right now contains three places including Palionessius on the island of Kalymnos in Greece, Cinque Terre in Italy and Highway 1, Big Sur, California. I could sit here and write a novel about the route and it wouldn't do it justice. So instead I'll talk about the ride...

So I borrowed a hard shell bike box from my co-worker Harold. I decided (being an empowered woman) that I could take apart my bike myself. I almost succeeded. Unfortunately, the guys at my favorite bike shop down here (Black Mountain Bicycle) didn't sell me a proper pedal wrench. I had to bring in the frame and have them remove my Speed play pedals. Ah well. I succeeded in tearing down the bicycle, packing in the bike box, carrying down a flight of stairs, loading into a Nissan Sentra, unloading at long term parking, loading on to shuttle and checking into Southwest air, with the bike. Woo Hoo! I felt strong! I took the 1.5 hour flight on Thursday (oct. 12) up to the Oakland Airport - ahh beautiful Oakland - where Ally picked me up. We loaded the bike box and supporting three pieces of luggage (it takes alot of gear to bike!) into her Honda and drove to San Francisco.

We headed to North Beach for some carb loading at my favorite Italian place in the City - Ideale. SOOO good. From there we headed back to Ally's house in Russian Hill and carried the bike and three pieces of luggage up to the third floor where she lives. I was able to get the bike completely put back together in under an hour! Woo Hoo! The only thing I couldn't quite get was the aero bars. Oh well. We drove the bike to Kevin's in the hope that he could do it and were briefly accosted by a drugged out bum on the street who asked Ally to run over his toes. Luckily we survived, but Kevin was unsuccessful in his attempts to install the stupid aerobars.

On Friday we both awoke pretty perky and excited and walked to work for a half day of work - woo hoo! It was good to see all of my old co-workers in the City and I probably spent half of the morning talking rather than working. We left around lunch and went back to Ally's to retreive out gear and Ally's trusty Honda. After a brief stop at Subway for lunch, we were on our way! We decided to take the coastal route (17 to Santa Cruz and then to the 1) down to Monterrey, but ran into a lot of traffic. It was beautiful nonetheless and we were happy!

We got to Carmel to the Chateau Julien (a quaint little winery) to pick up our race packets for the next day. Just as we were walking up, Russell, Katie and her Dad, Jim pulled up. Good timing! We then all drove back to Monterrey to our hotel to unload all of our crap. That night we met up with some of Katie's co-workers in Carmel at a quite Italian place - I think it was called Il fornio or something like that. It was delicious, but I was TIRED. After dinner we quickly retreated back to the hotel and were in bed by 9 (the first time in years).

The alarm went off at 5 am. I don't do mornings, but I was excited so we bolted up. It takes awhile to get everything in order (i.e. bike shoes, outfit, helmet, water bottles, bike tires, all that jazz). Once we were ready we headed back to the Chateau Julien for the free breakfast. The breakfast was yummy - it was dark and cold and everyone was still half dead. Good times. After a brief key scare, during which Allison thought she locked her keys in the car, we were ready to go! We headed to the starting line where the first lady (Maria) and Arnie's son Charles gave the official go ahead to begin.

What can I really say about the ride? I had the time of my life! So much fun. I biked with Allison the entire time. We sang, we talked, we were silent. We stared at the ocean. IT was great. The first break was at 18-miles. We were golden. We also ran into Russell there (hence the picture below)
After the 18 mile mark, the riding got tough. We started to hit all of the hills. Still very fun though. Our music library included everything from Frank Sinatra to Tesla. Good times. WE kept clipping along down the coast along the 1. At times it didn't even seem real. All like some sort of movie set. The ocean and cliffs were right there. Our next stop was at about 42 miles or so. We were still feeling pretty good. At this point though my neck and back where a little achy. I didn't have any Advil so of course I approached a cute boy at the rest stop and asked him. He was nice enough to give me his last two. Ally and I downed some food and gatorade and we were ready to be on our way! We were still going along pretty good up to the next stop at 62ish miles or so. Up and down, winding here and there is how it goes. SO much fun. ON the downhills you just crouch down on your bike and let it rip. I don't know how fast I was going, but Ally's computer registered 39 mph on some of the downhills. I can only assume (since I was riding with her) that I was at about the same. There is nothing like riding down one of those hills on a windy and narrow road that abruptly ends on one side to some massive cliffs above the mighty Pacific. Absolutely breathtaking.

After the 62ish mile rest stop the going gets tough. You hit a massive double hill starting around mile 75 or so and continuing to about mile 85. You climb almost 1,000 feet, drop about 800 and reclimb another 800 feet (steep). We were tired. At one point we reached a false top (thought we were at the top) then turned the corner and were climbing again. It was fun nonetheless. Good thing we both have a granny gear. I don't think I could have done that hill without it. Here is the picture we took at the false top after 80 miles or so! (look how happy we are that we think we are at the top!)
After the monster hill we were good. Ally got a bee in her glasses, which caused her to crash into the cliff. When I stopped to see what had happened, I got off my bike and realized I was shaking and completly unsteady. This made it a bit un-nerving racing down the hill. Needless to say we stopped at the final aid station at mile 85 so I could get some sugar. I was good after that. The final 15 miles were gentle rolling hills and we were busting it out pretty fast - rolling right along. At some point you can see Hearst Castle ahead in the hills and we were so excited! We finished up the century in a bit over 8 hours. According to Ally's computer this was just over 7 hours of time on our bike (an hour or so was spent at the 4 aid stations and posing for stupid pictures)... We were ecstatic! When you get done, there are wonderful hot portable showers where you can stand in pure bliss and steam for a few minutes. After getting cleaned up, we treated ourselves to a free massage - also very nice. Then is was time for the party!

We took the party bus over to Hearst Castle ranch where the fun begins! All you can eat, all you can drink - private concert (this year was Third Eye Blind) and we got to meet celebrities such as Carl Lewis and California's First Lady - Maria Shriver. Excitement. Because I was so dehydrated, I got sauced in no time. I left the party after the concert at 9 or so, center piece in hand and new hat from our friendly bike mechanic. We rode the party bus back to our hotel in San Simeon where I passed out by 10 in full clothing. Great. I also missed the karioke. It was a great day!

We woke up the next day and had a huge breakfast and then drove up with Russell, Jim and Katie back to Carmel to retrieve our bikes and Ally's car. It was a fantastic weekend. Once we got back to SF, I was able to tear the bike down and repack in record time - hurray!!

Anyways, this bike event gave me confidence that I can complete the bike portion of the Half Ironman in March. WOo Hoo! If anyone is interested in taking part next year, let me know. I definitely plan to bike Best Buddies again!

After the century ride, it has been back to the grind. I've started up my strength training regime again. I'll describe it in more detail later, but as of now, it is 3 phases - each phase has four weeks assuming you complete lifting on 3 days per week. I am on Phase 1, week 1. After I complete the 3 phases, I plan to ramp down to 2 strength routines per week. There simply won't be enough time with all the endurance work I need to complete to stay on task for this thing.

Well, I need to get back to work. I will write more later. I have a funny story from the gym last week. Hope you are all well and happy training! :-)