Elves and Gods and Witches, Oh My!

Followers!  How was this week??  Fairly good.  Still beat.  Tired from work and a never ending schedule.  Lots of late nights at work.  Working out with Manny. Date nights. Friend nights. My life is full.

Work is not so bad, but it is wearing on me.  And through that it does affect my ride.  How?  Well, I am tired a lot and stressed at work so that stress translates to my body tensing and being pooped.  However, work pays me to do what I love.  And it supports the fun things I get to do in life.  (Last week I went on a date night to see Totem.  Seeing that show reminds me of why I love my job at SW). And SW gives me the money to keep Blanch in good working order.  So, here are a few notes about work.  Though it is stressful, they gave me tickets to raffle off for my fundraiser party this coming Friday!  And I got to be in the construction area while they were running cars on Manta, that was really really cool!!  Oh yeah, and I work on the water and take boat rides to a performance venue.  How fun is it to enjoy beautiful San Diego weather on the water with rouge Sea Lions pooping in and out and around.  However, right now as I proof my blog before publishing, I feel like there is an earthquake as thousands of Los Tigres Del Norte fans pound thier feet on the staidum floor (my office is under a stadium in our concrete bunker we refer to as the "cave").  Still cool though, free concert music while I work (though I am not a fan of Mariachis). :)

The tickets SW gave me to raffle off.

Manta!

The boat ride from Viva to the office.

My week was great!  I had a few good workouts with Manny.  We moved on from barbells and weighted machines to free weights and dumbbells.  Big difference!  But I am feeling great!!  And I enjoy our hour or so together three/four days a week.  He is a great friend and I enjoy the time we spend together.

I also had a nice week with Jose.  We had movie night to catch me up with Captain America and Thor so we could go to a midnight showing of Avengers the next night.  Avengers was soooo good!  Go see it.  You will love it.  We also had a couple of nice date nights.  Followers, I am dating a pretty fantastic man.  I am pretty lucky to have him in my life and I enjoy the moments together that we have.  Including all the hot moments.  No really. I was his tester to try out his habanero salsa.  My tongue was on fire, but the salsa was delicious! And word to the wise, wash your hands from the oil before peeing! :)

Saturday Morning.  Time for Elves and Witches and Gods, Oh My!!  Early morning and it took a lot to get out the door.  David surprised me with an egg McMuffin, just what I needed to start my day.  We prep, get ready and ride out.  We are all fairly close to the start of the pack.  We start in UTC and wind up in Rancho Santa Fe.  Narrow windy roads that you can get some good speed on.  I am leading a small pack of people.  It is nice and beautiful.  Logan is right behind me.  I look back twice and see him both times.  The next time I look though, he is gone.  Hmmm, he must have slowed down.  I get to a long stretch and look behind me.  No one is behind me.  Maybe I missed a turn.  Well, keep going because your route map is matching the street names.  I get to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (love CBTL!!) and get a coffee.  Where is everyone.  Well, here they come.  Minus Logan.  Turns out that Logan hit the side of the road and went over his handle bars.  He was fine, but I never even heard him scream.  He was cut up and a passerby brought him and his bike in (very nice of the stranger).  Logan is out for the rest of the ride today.  I am glad to say he is OK as of today (Sunday). So now we take off again.  We start uphill and a few others take off.  It is just David and I so we pull over and wait for Tammy.  The three of us keep similar pace and it was great to ride with them.  We rode through Elfin Forest (MY FAVORITE!!) and laughed the entire time.  I had a blast.  We talked and BS'd and just enjoyed each others company and time together.  We get to Wendy's for a lunch break.  I set my food outside and stupidly walked inside for a fork, low and behold a crow stole my chicken nuggets!!  Oh well, they were only 1.50 so I just got some more.  Ironically enough, a bird shit on me later on; is this a bad bird day??  Off we go for the three witches.  The three witches are three small hills with the same elevation as Torrey but with some flat places for recovery.  We plowed through them easy peasy, Tammy, David and I, laughing the entire time.  I had such a great time riding with them.

Quick pee and water stop and we are off again on SR 56 bike path.  That is such a nice little bike path.  I rather enjoy it.  It goes through some nice tree and old farm land of San Diego.  It was tranquil, again, just Tammy, David and I laughing the entire way.  So much fun!!

Then the infamous Torrey.  I took it on the best I could and I must say I was pretty damn proud of myself.  I took it on with hardly any issues. Never used my granny gear so that was nice.  I just rode, and peddled, and said good god quite a few times (I can only assume that this is the god portion of the ride title).  It was a quick ride up and now for the final stretch back to UTC.  The ride was 68 miles and 4250 elevation gain.  It was one of the more fun rides I have done to date.  Definitely in my top three.  Good fun times with some great people.  Suzi rocks for planning out a great route with just the right amount of everything.  Thanks Suzi!!  And I really am liking Suzi.  She is such a good motivator and you know she fully understands why we ride.  Her heart is in this for those that we help and I am lucky to have met such a kind person with a big heart :) 

David, Tammy and I (the guy who took this picture cracked me up as he eluded to the rather interesting position Tammy was in. Cool guy off the side of the road :))

I got home and showered and changed (I was filthy!!). I went over to Jose's for Carnitas!  They were great.  Lots of good friends and good food.  We all kicked back a few beers and ate some good food and enjoyed the night.

Now followers, a confession. No more drinking for me till this ride is over.  I was BEAT yesterday and could not maintain my alcohol.  I think the exhaustion, calorie depletion and overall tiredness of my body got me really drunk really quick.  And you know what, I made a complete and total ass of myself last night.  I am truly sorry for my actions and behavior last night and am upset with myself for some of the things I said.  I needed a beer and wanted to relax and have a fun time.  And I did.  The party was great.  I just let my mouth go and unfortunately, had one too many drinks for that release.  So to you, follower, I am sorry and want to apologize for my dumbass.  You are one of the best things in my life and I was a fool.

Today, being hungover, I take a day off from riding.  I take a moment at home with myself to reflect on my life and what is important to me.  This ride, my family, my friends and my relationships are most important and will not be sacrificed or neglected to each other or work.  It is a balancing act and I am the tight rope walker at the top making sure I keep balanced.  Tao, Zen, keep me at peace and present.  We have our bumps and today is a bump.  But I now have a clean house, organized home life, personal items prioritized for tomorrow to tackle and a nice humble kick in the ass.

Followers, this is hard.  This ride, the time commitment, the toll this is taking on my body.  And for what.  Why am I doing this to myself and pushing so hard, sometimes at the sake of relationships, friends, work, etc.  I am not sure.  I am the happiest I have ever been.  I miss my friends whom I cant see due to me working out and training.  I miss my family whom phone calls are short with so I can ride off.  I look forward to when I have time again.  But you know what.  I wouldn't change this for anything.  I am saving lives, and if it displaces me for a little bit to be part of the greater good of what this ride is.  So be it.  I would not change this for the world.  I will change some of my time commitments, priorities and focus on relationships (all of them).  But followers, thank you for being there for me and being part of this adventure!


Till next time,
Keep Peddling!!