Beans: Pappalecco

Still one of my favorites.  What's not to like? A espresso, a buffalino, and the LA Times.  I wonder what it'd be like if  San Diego had a city paper...

Addiction

So I'm addicted to Strava... I know it's silly, but it seems to motivate me.  Rationally, I know that everyone is not on Strava, but it still is satisfying to be ranked in the top ten on some of the local climbs. Beside it's SMART right?  Specific, Motivational, Accountable, Responsible, and Touchable...

Anyway, the riding is going well.  I'm stronger than I have been in a long time.  And the new gig is fantastic.  I'm getting some more balance by starting up the artwork again... good times.

The new Team has also been a lot of fun, a good group of guys, some really strong riders.  Next weekend is San Marcos, one of the first races I did when I got back to California.  We'll see how it goes.

Wednesday Back

Some big rides over the last couple of days.  

Yesterday was a 90 mile circuit down to Chula Vista, near the Olympic Training Center and up Honey Springs. I took the ride up Otay Lakes Road pretty slowly, Honey Springs  however... It wasn't a great time, but somewhat respectful. I tried to keep my heart rate well below LT, and was demoing a new bike - a Jamis with a  compact crankset; as such I managed a PR up it.  Honey Springs gains nearly 1900' over 6.9 miles, making it an average of 5.2% grade.  A bit of pain.  After a quick stop at the store I headed down Lyons Valley and then looped back up Lawson Valley.  Lawson Valley dead ends, well not truly, Lawson Valley has a spur that heads back up to Skyline named Mark Lee.  A good portion of Mark Lee is dirt, it's a bit steeper 7.5% for 2 miles.  It was a bit damp from the weekend's rains.  It was a tough climb.  91 miles w/ 7200' climbing.

Today's ride was the Arnie Baker ride.  There were several heavy hitters on the ride, of course Josh and Todd were there, and Mitch showed up.  One of the Kelly Benefits guys showed up as well, he finished 2nd on the third day of San Dimas  over the weekend.  I think he won every sprint.  The ride up 94 was fast... I put in some work at the beginning and then Mitch and Josh cycled through.  Ken, from Kelly, set the pace for a good portion of the climb, after we crested the steepest portion of the climb there was a bit of a break and so I moved to the front and started to ramp up the pace... a mistake.  It managed to drop one, but Josh, Mitch, and Ken came around pretty easily.  

The second half went much slower for me, but I have to say I like the compact.  The sprint down Mexican Canyon went well, but I jumped too early.  Had a good gap, but Ken closed it and won the two up sprint with Todd... he is pro after all.  Here the compact didn't work quite as well...  Cramped up pretty badly on the way home, but had a good talk with Arnie about possible reasons.  We'll see if they work next week.