SF Kinda Weekend

Looking at the jetstream for Seattle this past weekend I decided to get out of Dodge. Thursday I had dinner with Di Di who just left MSFT for Apple (one of my favorite companies). The contrast in cultures to hear her describe it was something of great fascination; moved from intimidation and bullying to support and nicities. To hear her describe it, well... she wishes someone would just tell her the truth or f-off. I think she is experiencing culture shock to say the least.

Friday was about cycling and remote working. I had a great bike ride with a dear friend Chrisandra who is a yogini and a writer for Yoga Journal. We cycled for nearly 5+ hours in glorious sunshine in Marin County. Barely getting home for a dinner date with two chaperones (who set me up) as I proved once again that I can still intimidate men (and very successful men). I certainly wasn't looking radiant (or so I constructed that reality), didn't place much effort into the adventure because I think I'm not ready to be attractive yet or think that men should like me for my mind (yeah right - who am I kidding). Enough on that topic.

Saturday was yoga at Chrisandra's class and an adventure to the Berkeley Hills to visit with a Matrix Alchemist. If you need to ask, you won't understand, but needless to say it was intense, exciting, inviting and purpose setting.


Sunday was Yoga at the presence of Jamie Lindsay. WOW. It was the first time I had done Headstand as a vinyasa between poses (basically the flow you use between poses). This guy is a genius and brought me to another state of consciousness with all the spine movements and gyrations. I felt a harmonic buzz resonate in my body after the 2 hour class. Following the class and some grub, a spin to the Headland in Marin across the Golden Gate Bridge, brought me into complete bliss for the weekend.

Getting home late Sunday night...
I had to jump into a busy, busy week with my first meeting starting at 8am this morning.
Woooo Hooooo!

Memorable Places

I was just asked by a well respected colleague to comment (for his blog) on what makes meaningful place. I share my thoughts (or a couple of sentences) below:


What I think brings meaning to place is the innate emotion a place can resonate, evoke or awaken within our soul. Its has more to do with experience as defined by our anticipation of the place, then the experience of place and finally the reception or the place's ability to leave us with a lasting memory of it and thus the ability to carry it forward in story. I think a place can be meaningful when its uncomfortable too, yet those aren't necessarily something we seek in a commercial sense, but ok and sometimes necessary for public spaces.

Peninsula Cycling & The Bike Savior

So Zana, Sile and I went to pre-ride the masters champ course yesterday out near Port Orchard. The blessings of good weather, good cheer were great beginnings to a nice ride. Meeting Zana at the Brem Ferry landing we loaded her bike on top my A4. Ya see they have this rule about height on ferries; if over 7 feet they ding ya another 15 bucks. So... with her sweet orbea on top...I now TOWERED 7 feet and a couple of inches. I told the fare taker that I'd take out the seat. Reluctantly he said "okay - lane 6". The ferry dude, directed us to the side where we had to REMOVE the seat post with 3 minutes to go before boat departure. Now Zana's MONDO seat post was not happy about coming out and neither was the ferry dude who watched us and his watch - counting down the 3 minutes. Stuggling to get her 3 foot seat post out of her frame (I kid you not) they screamed at us to hurry as the ferry wanted to leave.

Ugh...
I rushed, I sweated, I strained....
Until finally a gentlemen RAN over and extracted the seat post.

THEN
We raced to our seats, hopped back in the car...

THEN
They guided us to the high bay space (with clearances in excess of 20 feet) on the ferry where only half the deck was filled.

WHATEVER!
So, once we reached Bremerton, we unloaded the bikes and Zana went to put her seat collar back on, the bolt broke in two. I raced into town for whatever bike shop I could find (using my google text and nav system) and met Fred Pakas, a 70 year old dude running a bike shop (if I may call it that) in downtown Port Orchard. This guy was a blessing. Passionate about bikes, bike racing and anyone who says the word bike. Fred got us going again, wouldn't take ANY MONEY, so I said make it a donation to your cause!....but check out his bike shop; and these images are not photoshopped!

that would be the front door in the distance...


here is Fred surfing for the 5hex bolt in his 5hex bolt box, yet he is searching for the perfect length. Visit Fred in Port Orchard if you get a chance... he is 70 and still races. Was a Junior Champion and talks about bringing love to cycling and youth like the good ol' days. God Bless Fred!

Cycle Oming in Sonoma

Just got back from 4 days of cycling in Somoma and doing 3-4 hours of yoga a day at Terra Bella just above Glenn Ellen. I met 14 amazing people this past weekend; each teaching me something about their lives and at the same time something about mine. I soon realize that everyone has something to teach us; we just need to listen. There is such richness in a community that shares your passions, especially those with the same tenacious curiosity resting within you.

Why I like Yoga

In Yoga, we talk about "the mat" as a place we resolve, learn, expand, gain. Here is one of my lessons on "the mat."


Crawling in my toasty studio this morning, I felt the heat of yesterday lingering in my studio. I put on my meditative flow tunes, and with my breath moving in and out with each pose I saw the temperature inch up a little higher. I realized yesterday that my body is changing; my arms defined by the movements, my hamstrings becoming more like bows at rest, AND, I like it.
Yoga has shown me that there are no limits except for the reality I may construct. I thought I could never reach my toes (past reality); now I go past them and lay my chest on my knees (conscious reality). I thought I could never put my hands in prayer behind me (past reality); now I go beyond and can wrap my arm behind my back and grab the foot of my folded leg (conscious reality). Yoga clears the mind so you can just produce what is possible; you don't think about limitations you just create the possible. I now "be" the new reality, in my bike racing, my business and my relationships.

Summer in Seattle (almost)

Yeah...
I was suppose to race in Wenatchee this weekend. Yeah, it was going to be 90 degrees in Seattle today. Hmmm that = 100+ in Wenatchee. Hmmm. Me thinks I'll hang in Seattle, bike for 4 hours, take a nap on the porch, have a bbq at the lake house and blog about it so all those suffering souls east of the mountains may think better next time!

Bad Mind, Bad!

I have these sudden instances of worry (like all of us). For example, yesterday a client had one of those pregnant pauses after something I said and my mind begins to play with that pause;

MIND: I'm off (my game), client thinks I'm off, Oh I was really so off, now they are going to tell people I'm off, heck they are going to convince others I'm off, gosh I was off and its going to affect future business on how off I was.

CONSCIOUS ME: WAIT!
Bad Mind, Bad, Bad, Bad MIND! Stop it. Okay mind, that was a nice little trick, spinning me in all those wonderful ways. Not now I'm not going to fall for that one. Elevate yourself... yeah, that's it - no need to spin there.

Suddenly, when I realized I triggered MIND, I tell myself to rise above. Get conscious of where my mind LOVES to take us... Oh those gloriously mind satisfying places of spin, spin, spin of worry. Ya see... the mind LOVE to take you to the past AND the future... it never likes to play in the present... heck its no fun in the pure reality of the present moment for Mr. MIND.

I've taken MIND to obedience school often in the past couple of years; Sit! Stay! as it was like a rabid puppy that needed to chill out. Now, its learning to be a faithful pup at my side... fetching any ball I toss it and bringing it back to my feet. Good Boy, Good Boy!

Today's Youth

I spent some time with a 17 year old kid last night. He seemed pretty pessimistic, as his days prior to graduation are spent gaming for hours, working at the video store and lamenting about its better to game than sleeping because sleeping is too boring. He also said to me that his past friends (at school) were treating him like an outsider. He also said he didn't know what field he wanted to pursue because he couldn't imagine doing something (one thing really) for the rest of his life. Wow the sense of time (or lost) at such an early age.

Okay I said...
STOP.

First off dude, if you want friends (other than those in your game) you need to invest time in developing relationships. Secondly, your career is what you make of it and to see it like a static video game is to be blind to the dynamics of life. I told this young man... "look, if you think you can control life like the predictability of a game, you are missing the game itself." I then said, "Life is like the best video game that challenges you, excites you and is forever changing." Most of all I told him "we can't control life and wouldn't want to!"

He looked at me, with a respectful eye...
Left my home with his mom with what appeared to be some hope showing on his face.
Then told his mom this morning that I was wicked cool.
Hmmm.

If only I would listen to my own advice...
No need to control life...
The big globe just spins on and on and on.

The Older I Get...

The more I learn about my body... particularly as things get off kilter and I need to pay attention to myself. So this past week my education was in SI joints (sacroiliac joint) which is where my pelvis attaches to my sacrum. Now I didn't even know or think there was a connection there (yeah I'm not a doctor but sometimes play one) and for some reason I figured the tailbone comes off the body and was connected like the rest of my spine (floating with discs and ligaments) and this little joint wasn't a joint but just part of my pelvis.
WRONG. So my lesson....
This little joint (best to my PT's knowledge) is where many people have disfunction from sitting too much, weak back muscles, etc. For me it got a little misaligned when the muscles of my back went into LOCK DOWN. Yah see... When the muscles like the QL and the Psoas contract (and go into spasism) on the back side, it locked my sacrum in the forward position...


AND, when you go to be homo erectus...
It basically yanks your spine from the back side and you scream OUCH!..or oh, oh, oh, oh... as I did thinking you blew a disc or something. So on Tuesday evening I was quite happy being as Diagram #4 (post race) illustrates, then on Wednesday morning I was figure #1 (Post Child's Pose) and Thursday Friday I was #2. Today I'm happy to report that I'm back to Diagram #3-4 as my muscles have returned to rest and relaxation and normal function....SO, you know me I had to do hill repeats today. Yes! Kitty (my yoga teacher) tells me that muscles lock/spaz just as they are getting strong. Hmmmm. I like Kitty.

Child's Pose

Tuesday night I rolled my BMC on the track at Pacific Raceways to do the surgefest bike race of the flats with the master's men. Oh, boy I thought... I just need to hang on. If I can make it for 30 minutes with the pack that would be victory (as I could define it). With my heart popping from my chest on the first two laps I hung on and it suddenly felt easier. With two laps to go and 40 minutes into the race... I said to myself, I'm going to make it and through the final turn, I gave my last burst of energy calling upon all the muscles of my lower half to hammer and finish high in the pack. Victory!

I climbed into my car and raced home stopping at whole foods for a big slab of salmon, salad and a pocket full of hemp seed granola and chocolate chips (my treat on those "you deserve it" events).

Crawling into bed, I fell a sleep with a smile on my face.

The next morning, still full of joy...
I jumped out of bed at 5am and I sauntered into my yoga studio to engage in my daily 1.5 hour practice to the entire CD of Krishna Das. 40 minutes of getting down on my dawg, I moved back to childs pose. Oh know I thought....I can't get out of this pose.

Getting worried, I rolled over with a shortness of breath as it seemed like some evil monster had full grip of my lower spine - both hands mind you. I laid still for 10 minutes and thought I should need to extend my spine. Using my wall ropes I elongated and it did nothing but make my breath shorter. I tried to stand errect. No luck. I hobbled into my house knowing I had a full day of meetings.

Got dressed and stood much of the day (as it seemed better).

At 3pm, I called my yogini, Kitty (also an acupuncturist) and said I need to see you. She called her brilliant massage therapist/medicine man and the two of them received me at 5pm yesterday evening. Giovanni worked on my for what seemed like 2 hours. My body was worked as he read my body and its movements as a world class tango dancer. He moved with grace and my body just received. Then, he departed with my body vibrating with moving energy and blood like I was floating. Kitty gave me water and let my body rest for 1.5 hours. She returned working pressure points where my muscles thought they needed to be in fear mode and locked. They soon relaxed. Then she stuck needles into those same muscles and vibrated them deeper into my lower back. She then put mugwort on the needs (probably 15 of them) and set them a blaze - yes on FIRE!

Now I don't know about you...but not being able to see that someone is lighting your back on fire and that you will be okay takes much trust. The heat was amazing, warming, healing. The smell... well not so fun.

At 12:30am, I got home crawled in bed.
I woke this morning able to get out of bed without pain. I'm not 100%, but I can move.

So what did I do?
Well, Kitty suggested with all the opening and freeing moves I've unleashed in my spine over the past three months (with her great one on one work with me), then the intense bike ride pushed all the stress into these muscles that are not use to the abuse. They got scared and locked up; full of lactic acid.

I also think I'm trying to do too much.
I'm listening....


Today I chill.

Heat

To fully feel summer in April is wonderful. I rode my Eddy up to 6,800 feet with full sun and an average temperature of 78 degrees. What is not to love about Tucson. I think I'll do it again today.

Is that my shadow?

Pat Gray and I closed down the town last night at my favorite restaurant. Sad to say but my head was killing me the next morning when I boarded my flight to Tucson this morning begging my window companion in 1D to close his blind as the light was painful. Landing around noon, nursed back to shape, I found my shadow!

I know, I know....Seattle has lots of shadows today, but they don't have mount lemmon!

Walla Walla SR

A few FIRST to note:
a) my first race of the 2008 season;
b) my first CAT 3 race EVER;
c) my first stage race (SR) of 2008;
d) my first multi-day race event;

All those FIRST should absolutely moderate my expectations for doing anything but trying to hang on during the first climb of the road race. I certainly realized that I have GOOD endurance (finishing before the cut off and riding nearly 40 miles in the wind pulling a few development squad members who just didn't have experienced legs to pull in the wind) HOWEVER, I did learn that I have NO QUICK POWER to deal with surges or the blistering pace of a very fast CRIT on Sunday after 3.5 hours in the saddle on Saturday.

So the stages - 7 mile TT with a good little climb and a blistering fast down hill with speeds of 39 miles an hour (with a good gusty cross wind to push my disc like a sail - if only I could tact on the way up). There were some lessons learned - namely, make sure your bike is fully functioning before you mount it (front derailleur issues).

In summary....

Racing is a lot of work; preparation and the anticipation. But the post mortem and comradery with team mates and other racers is precious. It opens up a lot of discussions that are relevant to life; the unexpected consequences of flats and victories (big and small). Most importantly, racing teaches me that if I think I can do something, I can. If I don't think I can hang on, I won't. I need to be present in what I can do every minute of the event, not thinking about falling off and the disappointments, but the shear joy of running hard and giving your all in each moment.

Yeah...
I love racing and its symbolism of life. I love racing my bike and doing so many other things in life as I find balance is the key to my contentment. I love the passion people have for this sport and its many disappointments, yet we mount our saddle and do it again and again.

Next race; Wenatchee.
But a little altitude and massive climbing training in Tucson this weekend. I will need to work on power.

I'm fast...wait!

Yesterday in Walla Walla was magical. Staying at this wonderful B&B in the surreal wheat fields around the town, I found zen. I used this as my base to do my training rides, tour some wineries, then find great food. Waking at areus in walla walla gave me so much peace, that I had no desire to check my emails until Monday morning. Hmmmmm.

But I must tell you about my ride!
So Saturday morning, I have a lovely little breakfast, suit up and head out to Waitsburg (this amazing little town in the middle of now where; actually between Clarkston and Lewiston on the Lewis and Clark trail (now isn't that cute? - I digress).
I head out for the 38 miles race course with 2600 feet of climbing. It was a brisk 55 degrees, puffy clouds - oh and wind; lots of wind. My ride out I was FLYING! Looking down it was 27 mph and uphill was nearly 17-18mph. I'm thinking... I'm so fast, I'm so strong, hell yeah! Woooo Hooooo! My heart raced at this new found fitness; a rocket I was. I had visions of riding off the front in this race. I managed to miss a turn and went about 5 miles further...

THEN, reality set in.

HOLY CRAP, what a freakin' head wind. I finally pointed my bicycle back toward Waitsburg and if I could have tacked on those roadways with the 35mph+ head wind I would have. The wind was so awful, my ears began to hurt with the noise. My speed declined to 11-12 and in some cases 6mph as I struggled to just stay upright. 20 miles in a fierce headwind was a killer and I cursed the course. I thought, if the headwind is like this in two weeks, and I lose the peloton, I'm headed to the wineries and putting my feet up at the spa. Hmmmm. Here are some pictures from my experience this weekend. I had the place to myself; no LCD's, no wifi, no cell service, just me, the yoga studio, my yoga mat, the birds and the endless view of wheat fields. I can't wait to go back when the fields are in full height.

bubbly fountains outside the yoga studio.
A place to watch the world go by....

View from my bathroom; notice the cool agrarian life beyond the modernized yet tasteful zen foreground.

Walla Walla

So I blistered on to Walla Walla on Thursday because the weather in Seattle looked less than stellar for the weekend and I needed to get some training time/miles in. The weather here in the glorious wine region is sunny, chilly and very windy. OUCH, that ride today with 30 mph head winds was fun at the start (as I rode about 27mph) but on my return... ugh, it took me soooooooo long to get back at 12mph and I felt like a slug. Well, I did manage to get about 7.5 hours of training time in my bike these last two days. I also had dinner at the BEST restaurant in town; Whitehouse Crawford (parsnip perogis, thai basil muscles, arugla w/ humbolt fog - is this Walla Walla?). I made a reservation at WC when I'm back in town on April 18th... because it was that good. Oh, and I'm staying at this cool little B&B in the wheat fields outside of town with a spa and a HUGE yoga studio (pictures to come). I'm in HEAVEN!!!! So I get up and do yoga to the sunrise each morning as the cell phone doesn't work and the place doesn't have wifi; HEAVEN. Gotta go... I'm having dinner with owner of the spa who happens to be a fashion designer from Italia. Wait, is this Walla Walla?

Pro Gress

So I've held to my diet plan and I'm down a legit 2 real pounds and hopefully with more lean muscle mass. Work has been super busy, so workouts have moved to the trainer (mostly) as the weather here was basically winter in Seattle the last two weeks. So tempted to jump on a plane and head south... BUT, I'm headed to Walla Walla this weekend for a few training rides and to pre-ride the course of Walla Walla Stage Race. Using CalorieKing, to exactly construct my food days and sufficient nutrients these past three weeks have been very prescribed and calculated. I'm focused...except for those two glasses of wine past week...but I could spare the calories. My exact nutrients were as follows:

Hwy 1

So I left the city (San Francisco) on my love (Cervelo r3) headed for Highway 1 and north of Point Reyes. I stopped off in Sausilito at a bike candy shop where the owner threw on a new chain ring and chain as my bike was a little out of sorts after I put on a new wheelset and cassette.

I must tell you that after leaving sausilito and heading up the Camino Alta grade into Larkspur, Fairfax and eventually to the coast was an absolutely magical ride. I rode hard as I teamed up with a couple of folks interested in a hammer fest (as was I). I mapped my ride.

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80/20

Work is crazy busy...another project today (more work)...and only 3 hours of sleep last night. Hmmmm. I said I was going to slow down. Its odd how we just keep saying yes in some sort of odd fear that if we say no, work, dollars disappear or worse we don't get asked again. Fact is when I sometimes say no...People want me more and I become more valuable (law of scarcity).

But I must remember Pareto's law. 80% of the value comes from 20% of the work. I think I've done my 20% this week...heading to San Francisco tomorrow to enjoy the 80%. Econ lessons done for the eve.

Its all Math Baby!

So I committed myself to race the Walla Walla stage race in just 1 month. I determined that I'm 7 lbs over the weight I want to carry up the BIG hills of this epic (well epic for April) race. So I discovered that I'm 149 and want to be 142 at the start of the race without losing muscle. It means work. So based on my frame, I used a nifty online calculator to know that in 4 weeks to lose 7 lbs I need to consume no more than 1400 calories a day before exercise. Exercise permits a little more consumption, but the key is NO WINE! Ouch. So I played the math game for two days now (consuming almost exactly 1400 calories plus some extra treats for ride days). I also need to kick up the intensity of riding and distance while starving myself. My friends, its not going to be pretty. I was already very cranky today, tired and dreaming of a fine italian Amarone and chocolate. Just 3 weeks and 5 days to go! This is more difficult (personally) than the hardest math exercise I faced at MIT.

A year ago...

A year ago today there was a race; a dreadful day really. After racing my 2nd race of the season, I decided to do the weekend double, Mason Lake and Sequim. Sequim was where it all broke down. I fractured my collarbone and a couple of ribs. Oddly I have felt the need to sit out this part of the season either because work has been fairly demanding, or something in my consciousness via intuition says that I'm not to race until I feel comfortable in the season, the skill of the riders, etc.

Today I jumped aboard my beautiful BMC machine and did the Chilly Hilly twice (about 65 miles and 3800 feet of climbing). It taxed me physically but charged me emotionally. I rode with two members of another team that allowed me to feel the passion of riding again... as it was missing.

Time to now prepare for the season!
So far on the calendar is Elkhorn. Its a beastly race, but I plan to be ready for it.