Rides weekend Oct 29/30

[westtexas]

It's been beautiful here lately - no snow or rain (ever I think and certainly not in the near future). My first experiences with "cold" weather riding (40s and 50s in the a.m. and 60s by afternoon). Definitely loving the shoe covers with wool socks and invaluable fleecy knickers. Trying to figure out when to wear a jacket right now because even though I'm always freezing cold, the jackets just make me sweat more and then I'm cold inside my jacket (but they do block the crazy wind we have, which is nice).

Just 20 miles yesterday and 25 today. Had to work this weekend and I have a couple of intensive care patients in hospital. I had to put one to sleep yesterday and that was hard, so I just rode a little bit to find my happy place again. Today I was constricted by time because I had to be back at the clinic to check on everyone. But I did ride a new route which is nice. My colleague with whom I have been riding is trying to get me into racing so I might be in some discussions this week with potential training partners (can't be him, even though he's a great coach, because he's on a trike due to a broken hip last year). Kind of exciting!

Also mostly just happy because I have finally found the source of my last 10+ years of bad stomach issues. I've got celiac disease apparently and I think I also cross-react with dairy. This is week 4 for me being gluten free and I've lost 6 pounds and couldn't feel better. Very very happy.

[ivorygorgon]

I completed the Death Valley Ultra Century (144 mile route). It was absolutely stark and beautiful. On the way down from Hell's gate we saw a shooting star. We stopped for a minute just to look at the stars. Gorgeous!

[zoom-zoom]

Raced my 4th ever cyclocross race. Didn't finish in the front of the pack, but each time there seems to be more people finishing behind me than before. Last week I think I was 6/7 women and had 3 people behind me in the C field, this week I was 6/9 women and had at least 10 people behind me. I also managed to navigate (on all 3 laps, even) a hairy s-curve downhill section that was taking out people far more experienced and skilled than I. This is the top of the hill, I think on the 2nd lap:


I totally friggin' love cyclocross and it's something I wish I had discovered in my 20s (instead of my late 30s). It's so friggin' painful and hard and awesome and fun. I'm bummed that our season only has 2 more races (though I think I will have to try snowcross, this Winter).

Can you see the love? This is what my friend Patti refers to as "BikeFace":

[rubysoho]

great photos zoom-zoom!

[redrhodie]

I didn't ride yesterday, but did the 25 mile lbs ride Sat. It was a good sized group, especially considering some regulars were away at races. I suppose everyone wanted to get out before the storm. It was pretty nice weather still, just a little windy on the way back. From the storm, we ended up with no snow, but the wind blew down lots of branches.

I wasn't going to ride at all on Fri, but wanted to test out my new PI Amfib tights. I was afraid the knees would be too tight, since I got them in S, rather than my regular M, but the knees were fine. Unfortunately, the crotch was not. Ouch. Need to figure out a different short for underneath, or these are up for grabs. I got the non padded ones, but they seem to push the chamois of the shorts into me.

[Owlie]

Great pictures, Zoom-zoom! And I like the jersey.

Makes me want to at least *try* 'cross. One day.