Lompoc...Day 10

In the double digits! I had an awesomely scenic run today up from Lake Cachuma to Camino Cielo over looking Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands. Nice and steep, like 1500', took me 65minutes to get where it didn't climb anymore. Then 45mins to get down and my quads were so jelly, I wanted to walk, but it hurt just as bad, so I continued to run.

Yes, I stopped in Solvang again, and got a fantastic cookie. Dipped in dark and white chocolate with a raspberry filling, brilliant. And a loaf of cinnamon bread to take home to Jen.

Evening swim was fine, legs tired as I looked like I was towing two anchors, not legs...

I leave tomorrow after a 2h ride and 1h swim at lunch. I plan to get to Redding or so before dark, we'll see. I also want to find a Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond or somewhere that has this HoMedics massage chair thingy that Sara bought. It's awesome. I've got a 115w plug in the car, that would be so nice for the drive. Massage cushion, compression socks and water...I'd be Golden, CO.

Thanks Leanne for the swim comments, I think I know waht part of my catch to work on. I have a pretty big dead spot there. Aside from that, my left arm crosses the center line a wee bit. Thanks to Chris for taking a look and giving me some pointers.

My new TT helmet...

Lompoc...Day 09

Yikes, today was 71degrees! I slept in (8am) and had a leisurely breakfast and before I knew it, it was time to go swim. Only lap time today is 11:30. I got my 3k in plus some above and below water video with Chris & Sara. Haven't seen it yet, will post for all to laugh or nitpick. Good swim.

Afterwards, ate a little and headed out for a run. SUCK! Legs were dead tired and super heavy. Made it 40mins. Apparently, it's okay to walk in town with rifles...two teenagers/early 20s were walking down this multi use path (were I just passed a family and little children walk) with fucking rifles...I have no idea if they were shotguns/pelt guns or what, but WTF?

I got back just in time to go out with Sara and Chris' sister, Cathrine for a short easy spin out Ocean Ave to the coast and back. Nice 80min spin, again, legs pretty dead. Home now, icing the abs and what not. I want to get the video posted up and view it myself, should be fun.

Some videos of my swim today...

Lompoc...Day 08

The best day so far! Sunny and 65degrees. My route headed to Figeruoa Mountain...the same way as my ill-fated attempt last week. I made it this time. There was a slight snag once I hit the dirt (clay) part of Happy Canyon. It wasn't quite dry enough yet to ride on. In CCX fashion, my brakes became gummed up and my wheels no longer rotated...I walked for a half mile of so. I didn't care, it was sunny and warm! Here's a view from the start of the dirt. On the other side of the ridge in the background is Santa Barbara/Goleta area.

Once back on to pavement I stopped at the first stream crossing to wash off my bike, cleats and shoes. Took about 15mins to wash everything off with my booties, but my bike was now cleaner than when I started. Now on to the rest of the climb. At this point, you are all by yourself, no one is around. I didn't see people until I started to descend. At one point climbing you can see all the switchbacks to get to the top, like 5 or 6 of them.

Once at the top, you have awesome views of the backside of the mountain into the valley, even snow covered peaks. I got up to the top in about 4 hours, 48miles into the ride. The descent is super fast and took about a half hour and as you get off the hill, BAM! There's Wacko Jacko's guard house and brick entry way to the Never Neverland Ranch.

Here's some views of the decent into Solvang valley and Los Olivos.

By now my chain was super noisy after getting covered in clay and rinsed off with water so I stopped by Dr J's in Solvang to rap with those guys and lube the chain. The one guy, Dave, used to live in NoPo and made the astute observation that NoPo and Lompoc are the same. And gentrification is stuffwhitepeoplelike. I think Lompoc beats PDX out of liquor stores per capita.

I ended up in Solvang, again, hit the bakery, again, but this time had a "Sandra Bernhardt" - almond pastry with chocolate frosting. Pretty good. And a double Americano got me going out Alisal Road to Hwy 101, down to the 1 and back to Lompoc.

Followed the 105mile ride with 56min t-run damn near the whole way around the city. It's that small, at least the grid portion. Went to the Mexican Cart in the market parking lot, tres tacos, tres dollares! Damn good! Goes well with my Heineken Lights!

In the last eight days, I have ridden almost 500 miles!

Lompoc...Day 07

The first seven days of my ten day Lompoc training camp are done. I'm tired and want to go to bed. One last long ride tomorrow, headed to Figeroua Mountain again, this time, it's 65 degrees and sunny for the forecast. Should be close to 7 hours, and again I have choices to make it longer and shorter depending on the time. Leaving early, so day light shouldn't be an issue.

Today was a struggle after yesterday wiped me out. 2h ride, 1h swim and 1h run. Didn't eat much after the ride yesterday and not much again today. Had pretty good malto gut rot yesterday. Planning on more water and solid food for tomorrows ride. Will follow up ride with 1h run as well. Good times.

7 Day Block ended with these totals...nothing impressive on the bike since the weather has kept my miles down and my watts up, so I am more than pleased.

Swim Distance: 15, 500 yd (5 swims)
Bike Distance: 390 mi (7 rides)
Run Distance: 30 mi (5 runs)

Lompoc...Day 06

Again, Mother Nature had nothing to do with me and wanting a good ride today. There were other forces of nature against me as well. will just briefing touch on the bad, because it was sunny for several hours and I had the best tailwind ever for 2 hours...that just meant things were about to change. The first road I tried to take to circumvent HWY 101 was closed...and really closed - like it had a swamp/marsh already growing over it! No worries, 2 miles out of the way and some extra climbing. I'm good, weather is still nice. Back on 101 with a sweet tailwind. Flat tire, no worries, patched it and went. Pretty quick change.

Seems like every time I was curious to where I was at, I'd stop, pull out the map, look and go only to find the next turn less than a mile away. Didn't get lost, per se. Headed out of Santa Maria the headwind started. I knew this was going to happen so I was prepared and was having a "good time" until my next road closure. Except for the dog that chased me! I peaked out at 1150 watts sprinting away from the bastard. It's hard to sprint and change gears fast enough on a TT bike. It's hard to see, but there is a massive washout ahead. I tried to skirt around it by looking for a shallow and narrow bit of the stream. Not a good idea, cleats are filled with sticky clay and there may be quicksand, so I gave up. 40mph for miles back the turnaround point that took me 45minutes into the wind. Some very nice vineyards out here though.

Back on track and moving at a snails pace with this headwind. There was a bit of climbing on Foxen Canyon Road, which is a sweet road (without the wind) so I was looking forward to maybe getting to 15mph downhill. Downhills weren't long enough. About this time I was looking to see if I had enough time to get home in the light. It was looking iffy. Once I got to Ballard Canyon Road (the last 7 miles into Solvang, the same road ToC TT finished on) I knew i wasn't going to make it. Almost 5pm and 6h into the ride. This downhill actually was nice, less wind (sheltered a bit) and nice road. Can't imagine the speeds the ToC guys were managing. Insane. I call Chris and Sara for a ride. Chris rescued me in Solvang, had to pry me out of the bakery... 6h25m and 90miles averaging over 200 watts the whole day. It was all I could do to keep moving forward and not fall over. Bike it pretty good in high crosswinds and headwinds I'm beginning to find out. It needs some bike love today before I ride, in the rain, again, but only for two hours. I was late getting started because the pool didn't open until 8 and I had a 3.9k swim to get in. Good swim. Bagged the 60min run after the ride, abs a bit dodgy at the moment.

Lompoc...Day 05

I guess this is only day 5 of training, I did arrive on Sunday (technically day 06). Remember that mental battle I won yesterday, it got me in trouble, almost, today. Score is now 1 all. I woke up ate two breakfast burritos and drove to Solvang. From there Figuroa Mountain via Happy Canyon is 3+ hours. The skies were a bit dark in the hills and still 20mph+ winds from the SE. Nice easy spin to the start of the climb, then came some hard core down pours. I pushed through the first, pushed through the second, now I was soaked (had a clear jacket on even) and I had just crossed the cattle guard as the road turns to dirt, soft dirt, soft wet dirt. The water goes nowhere, I mean, just runs off the hillside down the street or gully...I can see how it floods here, a lot. So, anyway, last downpour, bike is sinking in the mud, I called it. I was cold and wet and for whatever reason, I felt defeated. I rode back to Solvang with my tail shivering between my legs. It got sunny once I was off the hill. If I hadn't been so determined to get up Fig today, I prolly could have had a great 5 hour ride in the valley somewhere... oh well.

Once back to Solvang, changed and got a phone call from Chris B in Tucson. He's doing well and training hard. He said there might be some 60 male pros at AZ...good luck boys! He also invited me down, if I need some more training. Maybe Jen and I can swing down there for spring break and I just stay there til the race... If I somehow ink my new job by then, that's totally the plan. Maybe even if I haven't!! I also had a fillo pastry with butter and raspberry filling - so F'ING GOOD while I was watching Levi rip the legs off everyone at the ToC TT! Man, he was flying today! Also, as bad as this is, bought a RRC trucker hat...in black with lime green logo :)

Alas, I gets no photos cuz me left me camera in Lompoc...bummer.

Bedtime, 8am swim, 10am ride for 110miles or so...see link in previous post. Actually, skinny cow ice cream sandwich first! Bitches!

Lompoc...Day 4

Today was a bitch to say the least. Nothing like wanting to spin "light" for three or four hours and not being able to do it. How you ask? With a 20-30mph sustained headwind on a rolling uphill road. Sitting here eating my salad with chicken, pears, cheese and salsa, I reflect on that moment that I was about to turn around...glad I didn't. Mental battle #1, 1-0 ME! Did I mention it was rainy too? So, yeah, 2h30m later I reach Solvang, should have been well under 2 hours on a normal day. Single digit speeds averaging 190watts. It's the least I could do to keep upright and not fall over and go 6-7mph and 200 watts. The sun poked through and the wind didn't stop. I rewarded myself with a brilliant cinnamon roll from the Danish bakery and a coffee! With a tailwind, I made it home, for a not so easy, but not hard 4h ride today, 55ish miles.

I started the day with a 50min run after calibrating the Nike+iPod thingy...needless to say, I did it wrong as it said I ran 10:30miles. I'll need to do it on a track and not use Gmap to mark off 400meters. Sarah said they are track nazis here when school is in session, like locking the gates and kicking you off during school hours. Crazy.

After returning home from the ride soaked and muddy, I cleaned off the Kuota and ate. I'm eating dinner now after an easy swim. Swim feels better now after more than a few days off. I can't take more than 2 days off of the pool before it goes south, at least the feeling of going south.

Chris is looking at my bike since it was making noises again. Front derailleur is hitting the big ring and there is too much slack in the cables after 300+ miles on the bike so far. I'd be in bike shops every other day if it wasn't for Chris. I owe him big time, both he and Sara. Really good people.

Now I need to stretch some and go to bed. Early swim, Figuroa Mtn and the ToC TT!!!

This is the ride I plan on for Saturday's long ride...check it.

Lompoc...Day 03

Today was the first of several LONG bike days. I was looking at a 7 hour ride and the weather wasn't looking very sunny. It turned out to be just fine with plenty of sun breaks and break of other nature as well.

Chris and I rode out HWY 1 to 101 to Refugio Beach. A nice 90mins later we were somewhere close to the top before it turned to gravel. We were int he clouds somwhere between 3000' and 3500', Broadcast Peak was somewhere up a head at 4000' My bike was making horrible noises and I couldn't figure it out as well as skipping gears. The descent was very cold. We were at 4 hours now. I fooled with the rear derailuer and started to ride - snap - there goes my chain. A brand new SRAM 1090 chain broke!!! WTF? Now what? Luckily, two ladies who were showing other cycling camps around the area gave me a lift to Solvang for a new chain. Took nearly an hour, but I was on my way back to Lompoc. Two hours later I arrived just before dark. 90 total miles.

No transition run, I'll do it tomorrow. I wanted to go to SLO and see a mass finish of the ToC, but oh well.

I got my flight to Abu Dhabi this morning finalized...holy shit, I'm flying half way around the world for a job interview!

Lompoc - Day 2

I hate it when my posts disappear...

Yesterday was my first day in Lompoc. Not exactly sunny, but warmer. Easy 90min spin to Surf City and back - deadpan flat. Easy swim at the aquatic center for $2! Easy 20min run with Jen. We then drove to Santa Barbara and had dinner with a college friend she played hoops with, Brooke.

Jen flew home this morning and I swam/biked/ran in SB. Nice swim in a 50m pool followed by a 4h15m ride out Lake Casitas. The ToC goes out this was for stage 6, two KOMs on the ride. Almost made it Ventura before I turned around. Then a nice 45min run along the beach, into a bird watching area and then out/back on the pier...

Shopped at Costco for some food on the way home and took a shower...

I'm staying with Chris and Sara, two Canadians, who are very nice people. Both are very accomplished professionals. Im eager to learn some new tricks, especially watching how and what they eat.

ToC Prologue

Here's some photos for ya'll...

TSL bikes with PowerTap discs!

Doug Ollerenshaw getting on his matte black De Rosa.

Levi making the last big turn in the prologue...

Big George taking the"High Road" to glory...

...SWASS Like Me!

If Mix-A-Lot was a triathlete...this is what he would be pimpin'