We drove to Graton, where we parked our car and went for a ride over Cherry Ridge and into Occidental.  We added a bit extra by heading out Bitner and then back down Coleman Valley.  We then rode back over Graton Road and back to our car.  It was only about 20 miles, but quite hilly.  The weather was beautiful and very dramatic with big clouds drifting through the sky.  

Claire and I went out on Monday for a nice casual loop.  We took it pretty easy and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  It got a little windy as we headed out to Duncan’s Mills.  We stopped for a couple of Americanos and a pastry at the coffee shop in Duncan’s Mills.  We sat out on the patio where we ran in to Steve from West County Bike Shop in Sebastopol.  We chatted a bit about life and the bike business before we headed on our way up towards Occidental.  

It is Friday, and the shop is going crazy. This does not help my training at all. I have been coming in at seven the last couple of mornings and working until six. Like Claire always says, “We need to make hay while the sun is shining.” I did get out on Monday and did the Sweetwater Loop from my house, and then went out for an hour long run over the Scenic Loop. I rode my cross bike with my 700×37 Acrobat tires. They make the bike weigh almost 27 pounds. Sweetwater was not so fun considering I was riding a 36×23 low gear. It took 1 hour and 34 minutes. My run took exactly 59 minutes and 50 seconds. I had to hustle at the end to keep it under an hour. I think I was still a little tired from the Grasshopper on Saturday.
I went out On Wednesday morning with A2 and did the RD’s Loop. It has been years since I have done that ride. I was on my fixed, but was feeling pretty good. A2 is still riding along in his Converse High Tops. It is going to be scary when he gets some real shoes. I was planning a run later that day, but, as A1 like to say, “The Hub happened.”
I have 72 days till The World’s Toughest Half, and 148 days till the Vineman. I had better get some more running in. I don’t know what kind of time I will have for swimming before The World’s Toughest, but I can probably fake my way through that part of the race. Anyway, I had better get back to the shop.

Well, the first Grasshopper race was yesterday and it went better than expected.  I didn’t get home from Sack-of-Tomatoes until 1 am the night before, but I didn’t feel tired the next morning. I rode to Occidental for the start of the ride, which was a nice way to loosen  my legs up.  There was a bigger crowd there than usual, probably around 200 or so.  I think the nice weather really brings the racers out.  Last year there were probably only a little more than half of that many there.  Last year was pouring rain the whole way.  A1 met me in Occidental for the race.  He did this race last year in the pouring rain, and was enjoying the warmer weather this year.  We both agreed that it would have been better if it was raining and windy, but you can’t have everything.

Well, it has been a good week of riding, with a little running added in. I got out for about 20 with Claire on Monday. We did our favorite loop. On Tuesday I rode home from the shop on my fixed gear. I took the hilly route over Canfield and Pleasant Hill. (The map of my commute route home is slightly different since it doesn’t show the bike path from Graton to Forestville.) On Wednesday I met A2 for a ride over Sonoma Mountain. On Thursday I ran for exactly and hour. I felt very heavy during the run. My calves felt good. I was going to ride this morning, but took the morning off so that I could come into the shop early. Tomorrow is the first Grasshopper race. It is a 50 miler, which I will write more about later.

I commuted in the boring way on Friday. It was threatening rain the whole way, but I didn’t get a drop until a couple of blocks from the shop. I rode in on my Miyata track bike, which is one of my favorite bikes. I almost had a little mishap on Martinelli Road when I forgot which bike I was on. I was adjusting my helmet a bit and sitting up riding no handed, when I decided to coast. Anyway, the cranks threw me forward and I just managed to catch the bars with one hand, otherwise I would have gone “ass over tea kettle”. I took the bike path almost the entire way, with the long stretch of Stony Point at the end.

Well, I agreed to meet A2 at the shop this morning for a bike ride as long as it was not raining. We agreed on 7, which meant that I needed to leave the house at 6:30. That might be easy for some people, but… I heard a couple of sprinkles on the roof of our house at 5:45, but got up and out the door anyway. A2 was waiting at the shop, ready to go. So at exactly 7:05, we walked out the door. At exactly 7:06, it started to sprinkle just a tiny bit. We had planned on heading over Sonoma Mountain and the such, but changed our minds and decided it would be best to stay a little closer to the shop in case it really started to rain. Here is a map of our loop. It was almost exactly 25 miles. You will notice that we went around the Cypress/Poplar loop an extra time, and added in Pepper Lane. The down pour started right before we turned on to Roblar Road. We were both in great spirits, and rode back to the shop in the pouring rain with big smiles on our faces.

Mathilda and I commuted in on our trailer and bike this morning. Mathilda is very tired since she had to stay awake for an hour and a half. It was a great ride, except for breaking a spoke heading up 116 into Forestville. I had broken a spoke a couple of weeks ago in the same wheel and hadn’t fixed it, so now I have two broken spokes. I hopped off the bike and loosened a couple of other spokes to make it rideable. I realize that most of my wheels are over 10 years old, so they may be starting to wear out.
I am trying not to get greasy today. I have Jim taking care of all the dirty work in the shop. I will keep him busy with flat fixes and rack installs. A1 is also here today. I have a set of wheels that I need to finish up, but otherwise my work load is light.

I got on the rollers for a little over an hour this morning. I should have gone out on a bike ride yesterday afternoon, but I just didn’t have the energy. I pumped up the tires on the bike and even filled my waterbottle before doing a deluxe tune-up instead. Anyway, I did go down in the basement this morning, which was very chilly, and rode for about 70 minutes. I did my usual workout of 5 on 3 off, ect… here is a graph of my heartrate. It was a great way to start the day.

I had to force myself to go out for a run today. It was very, very windy out there. I decided not to do my usual Cypress/Poplar loop since they were doing some construction on the road. Instead I did this nice loop. It took 1 hour and 3 minutes, my average heart rate was 155 bpm. I would have rather gone out for a ride, but alas I had no bike at the shop today. Tomorrow I will try to get out and hopefully it will be less windy.