Friday night: RDJr. was up to his eyeballs in homework so I went to his place, whipped up an awesome meal of spinach, mushroom, green onion, and goat cheese quesadillas while he studied. We prepped our bikes for Saturdays ride and went to bed early.
KCOI/BLVD ladies are hot even when the temps are cold!Saturday: Woke up at 5:30 am for Tour de BBQ! Had to be at Boulevard Brewery at 7:00 am to meet the team and ride over to the start of the charity ride in all our green glory. It was truly a site to see: 15-20 of us all in green riding to the P&L as the sun rose over the downtown skyline. It was good to catch up with the girls (and guys) from the team and the chill of the morning quickly wore off by the time we made it to the first rest stop. The ride was well organized and, really just a ton o' fun. Honestly, it's hard to stomach BBQ and beer at 9:00 am. I tried a couple of bites of burnt ends and a sandwich at Okie Joe's, but we all passed on the beer.
After the 35-mile ride, I headed home, shower, quick nap, errands run (new yoga mat, towel and tank from Lululemon) and then home to make banana bread and dinner for RDJr. and I. He came over around 7 pm and we just lounged - watching "Catch Me if You Can" on TNT, hanging out in our comfy clothes on the couch, drinking hot tea. Sounds lame when I read it, but boy did I need the recovery!
Sunday: Another early morning! Well, 7:30 am on Sunday is EARLY these days. Boss Cross 2 up in Riverside today! I raced at Noon but I wanted to be hydrated, fed, and ready to go so that I had plenty of time to pre-ride the course and warm up. I got to the race at 10 am and rode the course for a full hour - mistake #1.
The course was AWESOME! So much fun!!! Three big climbs, two sets of barriers - with one of the sets ON a hill so that you had to jump them as you were pushing your bike UP the hill, then a short little landing at the top to re-mount before you were sent screaming down the hill with a sharp turn at the bottom! Oh, and there was sand. TWO sand pits and it was deep. The first pit was so deep and long that everyone ran it, the second one ... well, let's just say that was mistake # 2.
The second sand pit was a volleyball court, and before the race my teammate, Kat, tried to show me how to ride through it - instructing me to gain a ton of speed before, then shift down right before you hit it, pick a line and STAY IN THE LINE! I failed twice during practice so I thought, "I'm just going to have to run it during the race".
Lined up and GO! I was in second right from the start and quickly caught 1st on the top of the hill with the barriers. I stayed in first for a good portion of the first (of four) laps and thought "THIS IS AWESOME!! I'M IN FIRST!!" even managed to hold it through the first sand pit ... but when we got to the second, and I'm just about ready to dismount, everyone is screaming "RIDE IT" so I did and well, it went something like this ...
Still upright ... 
... and down! This photo just cracks me up! (Photo by Jon Peck)I had trouble getting up fast enough in the sand and fell to um, I think 4th. Rode hard and made it back to 3rd place in lap 2, but then I had some mechanicals when the bike would not shift down. This has happened before on this bike - last year Ashley rode the same bike in one speed (and of course, went on to win) because she could not get it to shift. So ... essentially I blew myself up because I could not get the bike to shift. Add that to too much of a warm-up (I think) and I fell, fell, fell to what I can only guess was 6th place - out of 9.
So what did we learn?
1). PRACTICE RIDING SAND!!!
2). Take the bike to the shop for a quick adjustment
3). Shorten the warm-up time
Finished the race with a BIG smile regardless, quickly grabbed the gear and left. There was still so much to do! Went home, mowed the front yard, quick shower, quick 30 min. nap, then headed to my first Bikram yoga class taught by my high-school pal, Jessica Johnson.
WOW! It's HOT! 100+ degrees hot! Yes, yes, I knew that going into it, but I had no idea that it would be ... so hot! The poses aren't that hard - I can't do all of them but that's mainly because I'm a runner and a cyclist and my hamstrings are tighter than a tuned guitar string. It will get easier I assume, and I plan to go twice a week for the rest of the month. Well, that's the plan now anyway. I did get pretty dizzy towards the end of the 90 min. session and had to sit down in the front lobby for 5-10 minutes before going to the changing room - where I sat for 3-5 minutes more before showering. I took a bottle full of Nuun but I'm almost thinking I'm going to need a couple of salt tabs as well. I didn't cramp, but I sure did sweat!!!
Yoga was followed by dinner at my parents house and a quick game of dominos - just the three of us. We were all yawning hard during the game and got a little silly about it, but that's my family. I love them and am so blessed that they are here in town.
Next weekend won't be nearly as busy ... I think. I bought RDJr. tickets to Widespread Panic for his birthday (back in August) so we'll be doing that Friday night. There is a cross race on Sunday but I'm not sure I will be racing that one. We'll see. After this busy, busy, busy, weekend, I could use a little break. Maybe get a pedicure. Maybe spend a little extra time in the pool. Who knows?
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