Vacation Pics

Just a few random pics of vacation before getting back full-swing into the business of work and cross:

The crew at a high country lake above the Lake Tahoe area.


Hiking back out.


Staring and the big, fat, overfed trout at the fish bridge in Lake Tahoe City.



50 miles along the coast with bro-in-law. Trash cans and oil rigs are a nice touch, no?


Out in right center field before the game. We arrived early at the Angels/Yankees game to try to get a ball during batting practice. A few homers zinged over our heads, to the left, and to the right. At the end of it all M. Rivera of the Yankees tossed a ball up to us, but it sailed just overhead and to the guy one row back. No ball, but the Angels won in 10 later that night.


Sleeping on the street at the end of a long day at Disneyland.


Out on the rocks at Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach.

Posting Drought

OK, how pathetic is this. Been home over a week from vacation and no post. After cruising through a few fav blogs tonight the guilt became overwhelming.

So what's the deal with me? Immediately upon return from three weeks in California I found myself back in the office on just a few hours of sleep. I did, however, commute by bike (on the new Zank!) into work for the first time in New York. Yeah, I've been here over ten years. No sense rushing things, ya know. On the commuting front I was able to go by bike two out of the four days I worked this week. Once the kids get back to school I should have unlimited freedom to ride the bike into work.

I'm envious of all the talk about cross across the blogosphere. Everyone north of me seems to already have serious training or a race in. Cross in August? People, you make me sick! C'mon now, I need a little more time to warm up to this idea. Well, so tomorrow evening is the last circuit race here on Long Island for the summer. I think I'll get up early and put in an easy ride and then hit the "B" race later for some speedwork. Racing just hasn't held my interest this year. Don't know what it is. Just don't seem to have the drive to race, specifically. And it's just the racing. I've put in more hard riding/training miles than I have in years. So the drive to ride and push my limits is there. It's just the act of pinning on a number and going mid-pack nowhere that didn't seem to do it for me this summer.

Maybe, however, a drive to cross will kick in. I'm looking forward to going to more races this year in order to, at the very least, immerse in the scene a bit more. I've got the beautiful and functional new Zank to play on. The bike is a dream. Right now for commuting and training I've got on an old set of open pro hoops with some cheap-o white wolf clinchers. In all the setup works well and I just started this week with some low-speed drills. Off-on-ride...off, on, ride.... Slow and steady.

Gotta go walk the dog and get to bed. Meg, G, Zank, Solo, Jill, pals--I'm enjoying the blogs. I leave with the vow to write more consistently on this space....

Time To

go on vacation. I've been working the cross drills over at a makeshift course at my kids' elementary school, but I've gotta put all that sillyness on hold and transition into some heavy R&R out in California. Hopefully cooler weather and the buzz of cross season getting underway will greet me on my return.

Dismount....

Drills

Everyone says it's time to gear up for cross.

Meg says it.

G says it.

Atmo says it.

Zank's got pricey Euro tubs for sale.

....and I'm going on vacation. Sheesh. OK, I gotta squeeze in some drills. Got the new Zank magic carpet ride. Changed out a set of road wheels over the weekend and transformed them into cross clinchers for training. All is set. So, when the wife comes home today from work it's going to be out the door and over to the local elementary school for some grass work.

Really.

Cells

So we got the phone call today that the family has brought in hospice for our neighbor across the street. She's a woman in her late 40's/early 50's who's been living with the treatments and changes brought on by pancreatic cancer for the last couple of years. Two great kids, 18 and 20, at home. Husband who works hard and coaches in the community. Obviously the mother is down to her last few pages. Fucking cancer.

My wife and I heard the news just as I was strapping on my shoes to go out for an easy 20 miles or so this morning. The news made me feel heavy, and as I spun down the road on a familiar route I was thinking about my mother and the last days I spent with her while she was near the end of a struggle with cancer back in 2001. Such an intense experience to be with a person who is stepping out the door. Not so much sad, although there is that, but simply very full and weighted.

I can't recall a thing about my ride today. My computer recorded 25 miles, but my mind was on families and memories and the luck we have in getting to know one another, seeing a flag wave in the breeze, feeling our lungs pumping like bellows up a climb, and sweating against the warm, heavy August air.

Kids pulled in and out by the waves. Looking out to the horizon of the ocean. These are very cool things to be a part of.

Sore

I just started running (slow, ponderous crawl actually) in prep for the upcoming cross season. Yeah, I'm sore. But a good kinda movin' in the right direction sore.

And you know what the cure for sore is? Sleep. Good ol' fashioned sleep. For me the recovery drink, massage, stretch, blah, blah hoo ha just don't seem to do a thing.

I need to plop my ass down into bed early and get some z's. Let thy body heal itself, so sayith me.