Holiday Fun

Santa was good this year!

Cezanne got me some surprises and some stuff I knew she was getting me. Actually, I knew she was getting stuff from www.competitivecyclist.com for me, but I just didn't know what.

I'm actually surprised I had the willpower not to check my competitive cyclist account and look at the last order, because then I would see exactly what was ordered! Cezanne used my account for 2 reasons. The first is that you can "save items," so I had about 8-10 saved items that she could easily move into the "cart." The second is that competitive cyclist automatically gives me a 10% discount on all items at check-out. This is something they do for all active duty military. Awesome. Thank you!

Below is our little set-up at our apartment in D.C. Yup, that's our Christmas tree to the right, all lit up!


Below is handsome Mr. Bono!


And it was over to Jon and Jen's in Annapolis on Christmas morning for some present opening and food! Jon makes some killer scones. He gives credit to his time as the Superintendent's Supply Aide and getting the recipe from the Sup's cooks.


The kids had tons of gifts! If I were Jon and Jen, I might have tried to keep some wrapped and saved them for next year! That's Santa Papa Jimmy (my Dad) on the right of the picture.


After all the ruckus the one common calming (say that 3 times fast) thing is a movie. This quickly settles the kids down.


I got my new favorite t-shirt for Christmas. This was one of the surprises (because it wasn't a saved items). It's an "Alpe d' Huez" t-shirt by Twin Six and it's awesome. Thanks babes!


Meghan is playing with her toy camera and Cezanne is showing off her cute dimple! Oh, and she's showing off one of the new sweaters I got her.


And below is Nathan loving up on Bono. We went to Annapolis again a few days after Christmas and Bono was a big hit with the kids. Meghan and Nathan loved hugging him and Bono was a good sport. Cezanne is also showing off her bling in this pic!


And last, but not least, the Holidays offer a time to reunite with friends. We had a great highschool crew reunion of about 10 of us. We started out at Turtle's house. He was in from Los Angeles. He's below in the beard.

From there we swung by Kyma on our way to Ram's Head. It was my first time in Kyma and the owner is a friend. When the owner, Nick, saw Screech (a lot of nicknames here) and I, he called us over and ordered us a round a what we wanted (we picked Yuengling) and then unfortunately ordered each of us a shot of Yagermeister... ugh...

So, it was my first shot in probably at least 4 years and I'm glad it was Yager over a lot of other stuff.

So, that was some Holiday and Christmas fun. Next up is New Years. Of course, we're driving in to Annapolis for that one, but it's going to be pretty chill.

I'm thinking of riding my bike back from Annapolis the day after New Years. I think I have a good/safe route mapped. It's about 57 miles. Our place is only 35 miles from Annapolis, but I have to bob and weave and come in to DC from the north instead of from the east because of the roads. We'll see.

Navy Bowl Game

Navy lost to Wake Forest, but it was still a good time.

I took the metro down to RFK and met up with my brother Jonnie and his son Carter. Jonnie was able to get us tickets to the "Brigade of Midshipmen" tailgater which was in the D.C. Armory (pic below). It was REALLY nice, complete with DJ, live band, eggs, sausage, danishes, bagels, waffles, french toast, roast beef being sliced to order...

Jonnie and I were joking a little bit about our concert going experiences at RFK and we were figuring out where we usually parked for them. We saw a few Grateful Dead concerts there while in Highschool as well as one Dave Matthews Band concert which we were guessing was in 2000.

I was able to briefly meet up with Squeak, Todd Benke ('98), Josh Greene and Eilis. I got to hang out most of the game with Nate (Rodenbarger). His Dad had a box, so Jonnie, Carter and I spent the first quarter watching from our seats (pic below) and then the rest of the game in the box. Thanks CAPT Syd!

As an extra bonus that day I saw my ex-wife :) She and her cousin were walking by where we were tailgating. It was awkward, but cordial and nice to catch up with what her cousin was up to.

Indoor Trainer = Lame/Outside Riding = Bundle up

Tonight feels nice.  I'm full (but not stuffed) from dinner, I'm blogging, Bono is taking a nap, and Cezanne is wrapping presents and is excited about Christmas!

Winter in DC and actually, winter in San Diego, requires riding indoors.  Riding indoors in San Diego is exclusively a factor of the length of the days (sunset drops all the way to 4:45pm) and riding indoors in DC is a combination of the length of the days (mainly) and a little bit because of the cold.

I used to be better about riding indoors.  It seemed I was doing it a lot during early primary season out in San Diego.  I used to watch the Presidential Primary debates and usually rode on the trainer for about 1.5 hours.

Now I can barely muster an hour.  It's more psychological than anything I think.  Below is a pic of our new place and me on the trainer!  I still have the bright neon shoes!

Below is another angle!  I have the towel there to wipe off the sweat.  One change from San Diego on the trainer is that I have a fan blowing on me while I'm on the trainer now.  It keeps the sweat to a minimum.

Riding in the winter in DC is serious business.  Serious because of how the cold cuts through you.  It's Assos clothing to the rescue.  Below is the main winter outfit I've been sporting.  Cezanne thought I look funny so she took a picture of me getting ready to brave the 30 degree weather.

I only wore the balaclava for the first 10 minutes of the ride, then it became too hot, even though it was about 29-30 degrees out and the wind was gusting over 20 mph.  I also wear winter shoe covers which I hadn't gotten on by this point.

You can see the shinier wind-blocking material on the front of the blue winter tights that ends just below the knees.  The jacket has it too, on the front of the arms and the front of the chest/abdomen, but it's harder to see. 

So, the winter will go on, the temps will only get colder, and my goofy, bright, tight winter outfit will continue to be worn.

Army-Navy

There's something special about the Army-Navy football game, even if you aren't a fan of either one of the teams.  Too bad it's been a little lopsided lately.

Cezanne, Ryan (my brother-in-law) and I went to the game yesterday.  We all decided to go simple and just make a day trip about it.  That was the easiest way since we wanted to leave our dogs at home and not worry about having someone look after them.

We drove up and met Ryan near the house Cezanne owns in Philadelphia.  We took the train then subway down to the stadium.  Security was a little tight given the President was there.

Cezanne and Ryan below.

Cezanne and I below.  I really need to work on getting some Navy cold-weather gear so I can show my team spirit!

The stadium below.  If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see the Military Academy cadets on the left and the Naval Academy Midshipmen on the right.  Ah, the memories.

Below is the President switching sides at halftime.  He is walking with the Naval Academy Superintendent and Defense Secretary Gates.

No stop to Philly would be complete without a Philly Cheesesteak.  I'm not an expert and I don't want to start a cheesesteak war (although I'm sure there is one waging), but below is a pic of the best place to get one.  Cezanne, Ryan and I stopped by after we got back to the cars.  It's only about a mile and a half from her rental property.

It snowed on our way home, the first I've seen it this year.  It made for slow traveling back, but we made it in one piece and Bono held it with no problem. 

A beautiful day and a Thanksgiving pic

Few people know about my love of coffee like my wife Cezanne.  I often mention to her that I can't wait to get to bed because it means I'm so much closer to that exquisite morning cup of coffee.  This will eventually end up in my going to bed at 7pm...6pm...3pm...right after breakfast (when I'm retired). 

What makes the best cup?  Peets brand and fresh ground.  We don't have a grinder these days, so typically the closest we get to fresh ground is the first day the bag is open.  It is interesting to note the difference between that first cup and cups from the same bag 2 days or more later.  It's just so much better that first day.  TOMORROW IS THAT DAY!

Instead of getting Peets (Major Dickason's) from the local Giant grocery store I decided to order Peet's Holiday Blend since it was really good last year.  It arrived in the mail today, a whole 2 pounds of it.

I also have what Cezanne calls, "a fear of weak coffee," so I typically add a little extra grounds beyond which is the normal "dosing."

Thanksgiving was really special this year.  We got the whole gang together, Mom, Dad, all five of their sons, their wives, their children.  It was such an enjoyable time.

I spent most of my time in the kid's room making sure they played nice and enforced the ever important "sharing" concept.  They know that one well!

Thanksgiving Pancakes/Lars and the Real Girl

I guess the idea of getting stuffed off of pancakes before a huge Thanksgiving dinner doesn't rank up there on the "good ideas" list...but...

That was the breakfast I just had.  Cezanne only had one pancake although I always try to convince her to have half of one of mine and when she says no, I just eat it all.  We used to get the "buckwheat" pancake mix from WholeFoods, but we recently tried the whole grain mix from Trader Joes (I know, you're on the edge of your seat...).  They're really good!

This time around we put banana, strawberries and blueberries in them.  Excellent.

No breakfast would be complete without a cup of Peet's coffee.  The first pot after opening up a fresh bag always tastes the best so today's pot really hit the spot.  Major Dickason's is the kind we get out here since there are no Peet's stores where we could get "Arabian Mocha Java."  Most of the grocery stores have French Roast, House Blend and Major Dickason's.  I did order a couple of pounds of the "Holiday Blend" from Peet's and it should get here next Wednesday.

Cezanne and I are excited for Thanksgiving.  We are all going over to my brother Greg's (near BWI).  There will be about 12 adults and all of Jon and Jen's little ones (4 of them!).  We recently dropped off an oversized chair at Greg's and saw my Dad for the first time in over a year!  

We dropped the chair off because it was a match with the sofa we had the moving company drop off at Greg's.  That sofa didn't fit into the apartment we are renting!  It wouldn't make it through the door no matter how hard the the movers tried to "bend" it...

So, they took it back and the next week they delivered it to Greg's at no additional charge to us!  I've had that sofa since my days in Jacksonville.  It was my first real furniture purchase after I bought my house in Jacksonville.  In some ways it doesn't feel like that was 7 years ago, in some ways it does.

We recently restarted our Netflix subscription since we got settled with a new address.  We started watching "Lars and the Real Girl" last night, but didn't make it through the movie.  Usually it's Cezanne falling asleep, but this time it was me.  So, we finished the movie this morning.  It's a great movie.  It is weird, about a guy (Ryan Gosling) who is anti-social, but orders a realistic doll and pretends she is real.  The whole town goes along with it and it winds up being a little touching, but definitely not sappy.  It has an independent feel.  2 thumbs up.

My other most recommended film/documentary is "Long Way Round."  It's the best film I saw last year.  It's a documentary of Ewan McGregor and his buddy driving their motorcycles around the world.  It comes in 3 DVDs with several episodes on each one.  The episodes are each about 40-50 minutes, so they are quick watches.  I didn't think Cezanne would be particularly thrilled with the choice, but she actually really liked it.  We found ourselves getting excited for each new episode.

Below you can see Bono chilling on Thanksgiving morning and a scene from "Lars and the Real Girl."  She's in a wheel chair since she couldn't walk...

And you can see we still have a little organizing and cleaning up left to do in the apartment.

Cezanne's Birthday!

Yesterday was Cezanne's Birthday.

It started out with banana and blueberry pancakes (same as today).

The first part of the day was a little rough for me.  I was going to my first Cat 4/5 ride and skills clinic (I call it) at Hains Point in D.C.  First off, every road I tried to turn down was blockaded and when there was an open road, it was quickly closed off by a cop turning in front of traffic and turning everyone around.  

So, it took me over 45 minutes to go 6 miles and there really was no traffic, just detours.  I showed up late and the ride was just getting underway.  Hains Point is on the Potomac, just across the way from Reagan Airport.  It was 28 degrees F with winds gusting to 35 mph.  Not fun.  I've been fine on rides in the mid 30s, but this was a whole new experience.

It wasn't too bad when we had a tailwind and were actually riding.  We stopped a few times and the leader explained wind, drafting, echelons...  then we rode a little more then stopped to do bike handling drills, like picking up standing water bottles off the ground and putting them back down while riding...I left before the ride/clinic was done.  I left partly because I was shivering and partly because although I respect people wanting to learn and get better at tactics, etc, I just want to ride at this point and that's not what we were doing.

The day got better from there!  Cezanne's brother came down from Hagerstown with his Great Dane and we all went to the dog park.  Then we enjoyed Chipotle for lunch, relaxed, then Cezanne and I went out to dinner for her birthday!

We went to 1789 Restaurant in Georgetown and it was awesome.  They have a dress code, so I had to wear a suit.  I can clean up when I need to.  It was a great night!

Long time no post...where to begin

One of the toughest things about writing a blog entry after not writing one for a while is knowing what to post, especially when so much has changed.

I'm writing this entry mainly to satisfy my Mom (one of my 3 readers) who says she doesn't want that creepy mustache picture to be the first blog entry anymore.  It's also for you JW!

The story of the cross-country trip will have to wait for another time, but Cezanne and I are mostly settled into our new apartment in Northwest DC (near the National Cathedral).  The finishing touch will be our new sofa to be delivered this Saturday (the one we moved from San Diego couldn't/wouldn't/didn't fit through the door.)

I've been on 2 Sunday rides with the National Capital Velo Club (NCVC) which have been fun.  It's a quick 2.5 mile ride down Wisconsin Ave. to Georgetown where they start the ride.  The feel is a little different out on the East Coast.  "LT Andy Baldwin" from "The Bachelor" fame was riding with the group the first time I went.

I was riding the metro to work, but thanks to experiments by Cezanne my 1 hour plus commute by metro will now be turning into an 18-22 minute drive.  I love it.  That's not bad for commuting in D.C.  I hope it continues!

So we've been to a couple of Navy Football games already and we'll be going to Army-Navy.  The below pic is from the Navy-Temple football game.  I thought it was a cool sunset.

The rest of the pics on this post are of the apartment we are renting.  We decided to go with NW DC because we liked the neighborhood and the apartment the most.  I'll post pics once is fully moved in to.

Bono is chilling below.

Cezanne hard at work before the movers arrived...

The bay window...

So that's it for now, a mini update and the "mustache" is no longer the first post!

A cool beard becomes a creepy mustache...

So, I'm sitting here with something on my face that Cezanne hates. She can barely look at me without shaking her head.

One of the great things about going on leave or not having to be at work for a while is the freedom to not shave and then once the beard starts itching too much, to do something goofy with the hair.

Usually I shave the beard into a goatee (spelling?). I'll be honest, I think it looks halfway decent. I've never shaved it into a mustache though and I think there was really good reason for that. The pictures will tell that story.

Above is about 2 weeks worth of growth. It started getting itchy, so I wanted to shave it today. I shaved most of it...


And above speaks for itself. Definitely creepy. Cezanne told me not to go to any playgrounds while I have this facial hair. I agree, but I'll go everywhere else and be proud of it, kind of. It's probably coming off tomorrow morning.

Of course, the creepy grin doesn't help the creepy mustache.

I'll be putting up a post of the cross country trip this weekend hopefully. We got a lot of good photos and have a lot of great memories.

SDBC "A" Ride

Today I rode with the SDBC "A" Ride instead of going with the "Bs."  

I was 3rd around stud loop and 1st in the sprint to the Solana Beach sign.

It was a good time.  Wound up averaging exactly 20 mph for the 46 miles, about 1-1.3 mph faster than the B ride usual averages.  I guess the A ride was a little smaller than normal today.  Someone said there is a time trial tomorrow.

I was running late as usual, but I got to UC Cyclery just as the As were rolling so I hitched on.  Cezanne helped get my water bottles ready.  It's funny, I did 46 relatively hard miles on a bowl of Kashi GoLean cereal and a big cup of coffee...probably not enough fuel.

Above is the beautiful view rolling south along the Coast Highway between Encinitas and Cardiff.  This picture was taken this past Tuesday.  It was really windy today, coming from the northwest, so it was quick coming down this area.

A guy in a UC Cyclery kit basically pulled us along around 32-35 mph for this entire stretch (probably 3 miles) until the sprint.  He pulled off and looked back to see who was going to pass him gunning for the sprint.

After the sprint some guy said I got a 2 bike length gap on him and he couldn't close it down.  So, I've got decent form going into the cross country road trip and driving 10 hours a day :) 

Above is a pic of Bono's new bad habit.  He's taken up smoking cigars!

Bono loves sticks and he happened to find a pretty thick one.  It's currently sitting outside our front door for him to pick up when we go outside.  He looks for it EVERY time we go outside.

The movers came yesterday, so our place is pretty barren, except for some clothes, the laptop I'm typing on, Bono, Cezanne, my bike and not a whole lot else.

Before lunch Cezanne and I enjoyed some time chilling on the patio (the patio furniture is staying for our tenant).  It is chilly today, but really sunny.  The above pic is of Bono out there chilling with us.  He loves sunbathing!

32nd in the bike...I'm bummed

The splits for the Mission Bay Triathlon were posted today.

The official time for my bike was 27:02 which was the 32nd fastest. I blame it on the equipment! :) The winning bike time was 23:18 with the 2nd fastest bike almost 2 minutes back at 25:04.

I wish I would have done a little better, but actually, despite the title of this blog, I'm not that bummed about it (okay, I was REALLY bummed for about 5 minutes, just ask Cezanne). Doing the relay gave me a chance to hang with Mike and Ricardo before leaving San Diego and an opportunity to do something fun.

This above pic is of Ricardo telling me about one of the other relay teams near us in the transition area. They were probably late teens and were really fired up! Ricardo said they were yelling at each other and firing each other up and once they handed the timing chip off to the runner the swimmer ran next to him through the transition area yelling at him for motivation.

Our team didn't quite do that...

Last SDBC (San Diego Bicycle Club) ride, for a while.

It's always nice to get compliments.

Over the past few months I've been getting more and more during my SDBC Saturday "B" group rides. It's been a fun few months doing that ride. I know it's not the "A" ride, but I don't care.

I've been having fun being off the front and in the mix on the race around stud loop and in the sprints before stopping at Java Depot.

I really haven't made any friends doing this ride, but I mainly keep to myself, so it's not a huge surprise. I have made a couple of acquaintances, guys that I talk to on the ride because we usually find ourselves in the same spots in the group at certain points in the ride.

I did what I think is my last SDBC ride 3 Saturdays ago. Over the past 2 months I think I've been in the best cycling form of my life. In our little "B" group sprint I was consistently coming in 2nd. I guess I was "getting noticed" a little bit because one day early in the ride one of the "B" ride matriarchs (a lady who races and is probably 5-10 years older than me) asked if I was going to win the sprint for her that day. Is that flirting? Anyway, I didn't win (but came in 2nd). And yes, I had to relay that story to Cezanne. She got a kick out of it.

So, long story short, in my last SDBC ride I lead the group up the climb before stud loop, was in the lead group around stud loop, bridged solo about 1/4 mile up to a lone breakaway on the winding El Camino Del Norte stretch, rested for a minute, then passed the lone breakaway and finished that stretch (which is a mini-race/sprint) in first. Then I was able to win the main sprint before Java Depot with enough room to look back 3 times to see if anyone was close. Finally!

Good times. Now I have to keep it going over the Washington D.C. winter and see what happens next year.



Above is a photo of what it looks like on Saturday around 10:30am outside of Java Depot in Solana Beach. Yeah, bikes occassionally fall over or someone knocks them over.


Cezanne and I have a storage unit since our place is about 450-500 sq ft. One of the big projects before we move was to go through everything in the storage unit and separate it into these groups: (1) give to Goodwill (2) throw away (3) shred and (4) keep.

We found my old P3 flight helmet which Cezanne put on. I couldn't resist taking a pic. I haven't worn that thing in over 5 years. We put the helmet in the "shred" category, but it broke the shredder (hahahaaaaahhaa! funny joke!)

Oh yeah!!!!!!! Look at that aero triathlon bike! :) That's a joke because most of the frame is square, not aero at all! But, I had to set it up to be as aerodynamic as possible, which meant (besides putting the Zipp 404 wheel set on) that I had to be as aero as possible. So I slapped some clip-on TT bars on, put my triathlon saddle on, and adjusted the seatpost up about 1/2 an inch and moved the seat forward from where my normal one usually is.

I'll have another blog post on the Mission Bay Triathlon when we get the full results, but I wanted to post this pic and say that I did a "relay" for this triathlon with Mike Francis doing the 500 meter swim, me doing the 15k bike and Ricardo Roman doing the 5k run. It was a "sprint" triathlon, the shortest they have, but I hate swimming and am not a big fan of running, so relay it was.

It was a ton of fun. We came in 4th out of the Male relays and 36th overall out of about 1500 participants. But to be fair, we did the relay, so we could go all out in our event and not worry about the other 2. We finished in 58:10. The individual results (for each leg) are supposed to be out by Wednesday.

Being the geek that I am I looked at last year's fastest bike time. It was 26:38 and by one of the male relays. The top 2 Elite male finishers did the bike in 27:45 and 27:46 to give them the 2nd and 3rd fastest bike of last year's triathlon. I did the ride this morning in 27:43, so we'll see how good that is.

I wound up averaging 22.3 mph and a 175 bpm heartrate for the ride, which I think is pretty good (especially with no warm-up). I had to ease off after the first third because there was a point about 10 minutes in when I realized that if I kept up the same intensity, I was going to eventually throw up (before the finish line). Nice. So I had to ease off a little.

More details and overall bike ranking to come on Wednesday hopefully.

Cezanne's Baptism

Yesterday was the big day, Cezanne's Baptism!

It's one of the many things we wanted to get done before we left San Diego. We found a really good priest in Father Andrew and that was a big reason for Cezanne feeling welcome in the Greek Orthodox Church. Leaving a great Church is part of the sadness of us leaving San Diego...along with the weather...the beautiful coast...the convenience of our place...the BIKE LANES!!!!

The ceremony started around 6pm. My favorite part is when Cezanne had to "spit on Satan" 3 times and denounce Satan 3 times. Usually in the Greek Orthodox Church, it's the babies who are baptized, so the Godparent has to "spit on Satan" on behalf of the baby. I've had that pleasure!



Above shows Father Andrew anointing Cezanne with the sign of the Cross and Cezanne's Godmother, Irene, looking on.

Above shows all of us, Brad (Irene's husband), me, Cezanne, Irene, and Father Andrew.

Cezanne didn't want me to post the pictures of her in her bathing suit, one piece by order of Father Andrew :) and getting the holy water poured over her. It was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" all over again, except the kiddie pool was replaced with a rubbermaid basin.

So, it was a really beautiful and meaningful day.

The art of finding the perfect spot for #2

Bono has been around for close to 7 years. They've been 7 great years. I guess he is middle-aged if you do the doggie to human conversion of 7 x 7 = 49 years old.

He has done a lot of pooping in that 7 years, basically all of which I willingly and purposely pick up (with special double ply bags from PetSmart).

However, instead of finding where he wants to go quickly, he decides to pace back and forth, back and forth for 6, 7, 8 round trips...smelling many spots, sometimes giving the squat pump fake, sometimes stopping and just staring at me.

He does this along the ridge on the side of our condo complex. He usually does it when I'm in a rush.

So here is a series of pictures of his pacing. Don't all get excited at once!





Below he finds the spot! The pictures end here :)

CT Scan Shenanigans

I have to get a CT scan every year or so to see if the testicular cancer is trying to make a comeback and sneak up on me.  Typically the worst part is drinking the Barium Suspension shake crap (that's a technical term) before the scan.  

The scan was scheduled for 7:30am, so nothing except water after midnight, the first Barium shake at 6am and the second at 6:30am.  I can usually chug the first half of the bottle before my body realizes what it's drinking.

The Barium helps the gastrointestinal show up on the CT scan.  Besides the Barium they also to Iodine contrast through an IV.  This leads me to the "shenanigans."  The guy who started prepping me for the scan was busy, so he told the "new girl" to get my IV going.  

After one try with no success (I didn't mind that too much), she got the IV started on the second try.  That's where the good news ended.  She couldn't twist off the tube you see below.  She tried and tried, but had to leave to get someone else.  There was no danger, just made for a funny photo.

For those that haven't had a CT Scan, they are fairly quick (at least the chest/abdomen/pelvis ones I've had are).  The Iodine IV contrast is a little weird.  Once they start it, it gives you a warm sensation all over your body and a metallic taste in your mouth.

The CT scan day was a great one though.  After the scan Cezanne and I went to the Hash House for breakfast...awesome as usual.  The size of the pancakes NEVER cease to amaze me.  From there we met with our Priest, Father Andrew, about Cezanne's baptism.  We got it scheduled for Monday, September 29th.

It is going to be classic "my big fat Greek wedding" complete with the little pool and dunking in the water!  I love it!

Shorter days...

It's been a while since my last blog update. I know the masses have been on the edge of their seats. Well, let's say that probably about 3 readers have been laid back in their seats, not paying much attention.

It's been busy lately getting ready for the move to D.C. I owe a couple of blogs from my trip back to Annapolis and a funny CT scan episode. The trip to Annapolis was great. Got to spend a lot of time with family and get in some good and beautiful rides.

I had the difficult schedule of (1) dropping off my Mom at work at the Naval Academy, (2) stopping by Hard Bean for a latte (and sometimes a scone), (3) eating a relaxing breakfast while watching TV at my Mom's, (4) going on a "before it gets too hot" bike ride, (5) having lunch, (6) heading over to Jon and Jen's (bro and sister-in-law's) to hang out and play with the kids and get my kid fix and (7) have a nice dinner with family!

The days don't get much better than that.

Now to the subject of this post. Sunset yesterday was at 6:53pm, with today's at 6:52pm. I guess summer is winding down. Pretty soon with the shift to daily savings time it will be worse. Over the winter here in San Diego there is a period where sunset is around 4:50pm. That's no fun.

So yesterday I got in a nice ride on my usual route and got home around 6:55pm. Near the Torrey Pines and La Jolla Village Drive interesection I snapped the below pic.


It is a reminder of the shorter days and less time for riding.

I was following a guy on a Cervelo P3 yesterday. It was a nice rig complete with Zipp 606 clinchers. I passed him coming down Torrey Pines hill. I thought he might use the aero to his advantage, but I also figured the TT bike is a little harder to handle going 35-40mph with the odd tree root bump in the bike path.

He later told me that he takes it easy on the downhills unless it's a race since he already has 2 titanium plates in his spine. Good idea.

Palomar Ride with Toon

Toon (Mike Toribio) and I hit up Palomar Mountain for a ride this past Monday. We thought since it was Labor Day we should labor up a huge climb. I know, that was so cheesy, that's why I said it.

I call Palomar the Alpe d' Huez of California. I don't know how accurate that is though. It's about 7 miles at about 7% with about 13-15 switchbacks. That's a lot of "abouts."

We decided to set out early and meet at 7am at a spot about 20 miles from the ride. I promptly set my alarm for 5:15am, made sure it was set for the "weekend" and went to sleep. Turns out Monday is not on the weekend, who knew? I was up at 4:40am for a bathroom break and fell back asleep only to be woken up by Cezanne at 6:35am saying it looked a little light outside.

Ooops. Chaos ensued. A quick text message to Toon and Cezanne (being the little trooper she is) helped me get everything ready, including mixing my drink bottles with Accelerade.

Here is the ride below. We went clockwise from the red marker, a 2 mile warm-up before the climb.

This is the climb, all squiggly.

We actually had fun this time instead of crushing ourselves on it. This was Toon's 4th or so ride after coming back from deployment and he did awesome!

Here he is in his USNA get up, hydrating at the bottom of the climb. The Madone...freshly tuned up.


We were encouraged when we saw a lot of cloud cover, until we got within about 5 miles of the start of the ride. Here is a hot, long, steep stretch.

Beautiful curves. There were a ton of motorcycle riders out as we expected. No issues at all, we didn't get buzzed close once.

Here's Toon crushing it up the last couple of meters. He always has to be first. He sprinted when I took the camera out. Slimy tactic! Just kidding.

Now on to some sad news. Cezanne and I have been cleaning out the storage unit lately in preparation for the move to D.C. and every time I go I have to stare at what's become of my mountain bike. Sad. It still has mud on it from 4 years ago. Not joking. Back tire is flat, front one really soft, no seatpost, I don't know if it even shifts.

One of these days I'll get her cleaned up and riding again. Something about hopping on a 30+ pound bike isn't too appealing when you're riding at half that weight. But then again, I used to love mountain biking.