San Jose

So we're starting to meet fellow La Rutans, I'm sure the bike shirts and shaved legs give it away pretty quick. Andy from Golden Colorado, is returning from 2005. He's got a friend down here who has confirmed what I thought from reading internet weather - it's gonna be wet. Supposedly it has rained every one of the last 60 days and is wetter than 2005. Andy's buddy rides with a Rohloff hub in Colorado and thinks that might have been a better choice for me!

LAX

I don't know why people 'dis cycling attire as being tight/inappropriate/funny looking when every Mexican chic in LA wears pants tighter than my cycling shorts, without having an appropriate exercise regimen to underpin the trend.

 

After another hour in lineup land, I slept for a while on the floor while some couple argued incessantly next to us. I woke up, boarded the plane, and slept through till breakfast.

 

There was a Dali Lama lookalike on the flight (is it ok to call any monk a lookalike just cause they have the same outfit?). He was in first class which seemed odd, but the good thing about being a monk without possessions is that your little carry on satchel and no other luggage sure makes airports seem easier.

 

I had a little Costa Rican grandma next to me on the flight, she couldn't figure out the seatbelt so I helped her out with that. Only downside was that the rigors of flying seemed like more than her years could handle (either that or it was the crappy breakfast) and she got sick. I think she was only 4'11" tall to start with, when she was slumping over in her seat to rest more it seemed like she was hardly there.

Today's Motto

If two wrong's don't make a right, three wrong's probably won't either. What a day.

AC/DC

This has a whole new meaning to me now, and for that I'm forever grateful that Brian Johnson and Angus Young have walked this earth.

How can anyone not like AC/DC? Back in Black rules.

Acclimate or die!

I've had problems with the heat at La Ruta in the past... or maybe that's just my scapegoat for being inadequately prepared? Regardless, I'm going to try to "warm up" to the task a little earlier this year.

I did a trainer ride at my parent's house today, and felt relatively strong. I went to bed last night feeling muscle soreness all over, but my body seemed to fix itself up fairly well over night. The big problem with sustaining a respectable power output on the trainer was that I decided to turn up the heat to 24C, then proceeded to ride for 2.5 hours with a jersey and turtle neck on. I also did 30 minutes on a stair stepper, carrying a 25lb backpack 1/6th of the time, 10lbs of weight 1/6 of the time, and just sucking wind for the remaining 2/3.

It was a great workout; I went through 6 water bottles in 3 hours.

My house is now set to 22C for the remainder of the week, and I'll arrive in Costa Rica 3 days before the race. Hopefully the heat won't be such a shock to the system this year!

Endurance Ride

2 "La Rutans" - Jon Nutbrown and I, plus 3 others who just wanted to punish themselves (Craig Stappler, Shawn Bunnin and Brian Bain), met up at 9am at Cadence Cafe for a ride along the railroad tracks out to Cochrane, with the plan of branching out from there.

Shawn, who openly advertises his aversion to long bike rides, turned back about a 1/3 of the way to Cochrane (I emailed him for amusement upon my return home to see what he thought of a longer ride...).

The rest of us made it out to Cochrane and had a session of solving the world's problems at Cochrane Coffee Traders before heading out to my new favourite field rides. Brian left from Cochrane because, strangely, he had "things to do" other than bike riding??

As we went west, the day seemed to stay warm and sunny. It seemed like everyone agreed that the field route was neat, and I was happy to "conquer" the downhill that got the better of me last week. In fact, the downhill was a total non-event. Modern mountain bike technology is not to be under appreciated.

After passing through Cochrane for supplies, we rode up Retreat Road and back on Township 262. We debated riding more "new" route, but we were getting cold and low on fuel, so took the direct route home, which was definitely the right decision.

After stopping at Craig's, then my mom and dad's place, we ripped down through the Northwest on the route I'd perfected during the better part of a decade riding to various stages of school... and pulled into the driveway at 6:00pm. Not bad for a 9am start!

Big rides call for big dinners - Italian pasta joint was calling us!

La Ruta pep talk

I have to admit that recently I haven't been feeling quite as pumped about La Ruta as I had been in prior years. I've been bike commuting, and riding huge on the weekends, but never did it appeal to me for the last few weeks to do any sort of mid week training rides, intervals, what have you. I don't know really why it's been that way, I just accepted it as it was.

Tonight Marg Fedyna did a talk at Bow Cycle about her experience at the race last year. Seeing the slideshow, hearing her recount the stories, talking to all the other "La Rutans" there, and the La Rutans in the making, I got totally pumped on the whole idea again. The DVD of La Ruta 2006 had a clip of me in a 3/4 bonked, supremely overheated, trudgingly slow and in a thoroghly burdened state pushing my bike up some monster hill. I think I could feel the heat of the equatorial sun on my back right there on a dark Friday night in Bow Cycle...

Call me crazy, but all that's been in my mind since is - Oh glory I can't wait for the suffer fest to begin!

Thanks Marg!