Tony Grove TT

First off, thanks Justin for putting this blog together! It is fun to read and be apart of your cycling experiences. It has been a few years since I have done the Tony Grove Time Trial. I had done this 3-4 times previous to Thursday night and I was very familiar with my previous times from the years past. It was easy to remember my times because I just could not seem to break the 32 minute mark. So needless to say It has been my goal to break the 32 minute mark. I was determined to break it below 32 minutes and not more than 32. There was a great turn out with 22 guys. Because I have not been TTing this year I was about 4th to start. I plugged the ipod in and went for it. Quin Bingham was behind me 30 seconds which totally helped me keep a fast pace. I felt pretty good, but was not sure what my time was going to be. I felt good about holding QB off til about the last half a mile. When he caught me we pushed the pace side by side gasping for air as we were both in the red. As we crossed the line out of breath, the only thing I knew I had going for me is that QB didn't put more than 40 seconds on me so I figured I had rode a decent time. I was very pleased to find that I had a new personal record for that course 31:36. Casha and the girls were so good to cheer me on and take pictures along the way. I was very happy and pleased to feel good, and set a new PR.

Day off

Usually, I have been riding my bike to work and doing a lunch ride on Tuesday and a long ride on Saturday. This week, I took today off (Friday) and about 10:30 headed out to do some hills. I've been trying to do more hills this week to prepare for LOTOJA - which is only 12 weeks away! I've decided to "race" it this year and so we'll see how it goes. Need to get my weight down to 156 and then I'd be a machine. Anyhoo, I set off from our house in Scripps Ranch and headed east linking up with hwy 67. The day way sunny, had some good tunes, and I was feeling pretty strong. I put my heart monitor back on today so I could actually see if I was pushing hard or not. Two and a half years ago, when we first moved to San Diego, I drove up to Ramona to look at possible housing. On the way up, I discovered this really twisty steep road that was in a wooded and hilly area. Since then, I've been wanting to ride this piece of road. So today was my day. As I was saying, I just felt good and alive and really wanted to do this loop. I told Abbie that I'd be back in two hours so I needed to make good time. I made it to Ramona in a little over an hour so I figured instead of returning on the hwy that I'd try this road that I remembered. And as I recalled, it was fantastic! I finished off a powerbar and started making the decent back towards Poway. The road was smooth and the cars were few. I don't know. Today just felt really good on the bike. Maybe because the whole time I was thinking, "It's great not to be at work today."