Racing, bbq'ing and hanging in S. California

Just finished up a healthy full 10 or so hour drive. Car is unpacked, its time for bed, and I'm wide awake. Probably still running on the psyched adrenaline from the weekend, or the evil empire starbucks I had in Cedar City at 7 pm. Either way I'm psyched.

But back to the re-cap:

So the hubs and Erin arrived safely in the OC disorder to round out the team roster for the weekend. On Saturday, Erin decided to get after it and go for a little run with Johnny G and Jen's running group. When the hubs and I rolled up to the post run breakfast, Erin responded to my question about the run with one word: "soul crushing." But it was fun times nonetheless. We did some smack talking over gluten-full bagels before the hubs, Johnny G., Jen and I headed out on a little ride in Santiago Canyon. It was awesome. Capped off the ride with a swim/shower in the local pool. And when I say shower I mean rinsing off in the shower at the pool. No shampoo. No soap. And I stuck with that shower program all weekend. I need a deep condition now. For my hair too.

We finished up the day with ceviche in Laguna and more meat products off the grill back at casa Johnny G. Jen and I cheffed up some serious salad from the valhalla Persian market in the OC disorder. This market ruled. I filled my cart with what would've been $100 of produce and other items at Entire Paycheck--but it was not even half that! I was in luff.

On Sunday, Erin and I headed to the race at Manhattan Beach. I had been planning on doing this race because it was on the NRC calendar. However, sometime in the past few weeks or so, they decided to un-NRC the race. I think it was a money deal. Whatever, who cares. There were still 60 speedy women that lined up--though any real presence by the big teams was lacking.

Erin and I picked up teammate Gwen (who totally rallied to do the race on a borrowed bike) in DISNEYLAND and then spent the next 5 hours trying to figure out how to park in Manhattan Beach. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying. We connected with teammate Lins who provided Gwen with a bike to use for warm up. It takes a laid back person to warm up and race on a bike that is not theirs. Gwen wasn't even able to GET the bike till minutes before our race. Lins and I were sitting on the start line wondering how to stall. Luckily Gwen rolled up just in time for the gun to go off.

The race was decently fast--but nothing was able to stick. Lins and I each won some primes and Lins and Gwen were awesome at covering the moves. With 2 laps to go, Suzy Pryde from Jazz Apple took a serious flyer. Lins totally buried herself to reel it in. On the last lap, I stupidly closed the rest of the gap and then got kind of swarmed on the backstretch. There was a huge crash--I felt a handlebar hit my hip and then I heard a scream and heard that crunch of metal. Major bummer. I didn't get stuck behind it or anything, but it did shake me up a little. Ultimately I just had lame position going into the final hairpin turn and was somewhat spent from closing up the gap. I ended up 12th in the field sprint with Koryn Rivera--a junior rider--taking 1st. I wasn't super psyched with my result--but I had a lot of fun racing with Gwen and Lins and totally LOVED the fan support I got out on the course.

Johnny G and Jen made sure I had some bacon-wrapped steak from the previous night's bbq for good recovery. If you think I'm joking you'd be wrong and if you think I was still wearing my shammy when I consumed said red and other white meat, you'd be right.

After the race, we had a romantic walk along the beach (all 5 of us) on our way to Wahoos for some fish tacos. Since I needed to take a shower, we headed over to the neighborhood pool in the OC while "re-hydrating" with some delicious Brazilian rum-type concotions. More bbq, more yum yums, more cocktails and lots more laughs.

This morning, I went for one final spin in the OC disorder. We had a team coffee session before all the kids headed off to work. The hubs is actually staying in the OC disorder to do some collaborating with Johnny G's company on some super secret important stuff. As Johnny G and the hubs were leaving to go to Johnny G's office together, Jen remarked "Oh look, its bring your buddy to work day!"

Post-weekend thoughts: if things don't work out with science, Johnny G could have a very rewarding thought slight less lucrative career as a soigneur; Erin is an awesome friend and still makes me delicately guffaw like no other; why does Jen come out with some of the best lines ever? The hubs just plain rules in any environment, at any time.

It was an awesome weekend. The best part about racing these out-of-state races is no matter how the racing goes--the people around you always make the trip such a fantastico experience. I feel damn lucky to have such wonderful humans that bounce into my orbit!