For sale

Thought I would post this for all those loyal followers of my blog...it is also listed on ebay. If your interested let me know....just leave a comment on the blog with contact info.

This is my full-carbon Elite Pro Joule road bike. It is 55cm and was built in 2007. I absolutely LOVE this bike but I have to sell it and I am bummed to see it go.
-Easton EC70 bars (with flat top)-carbon
-Easton EC70 stem-carbon
-Easton EC90 superlite full-carbon fork
-Chris King headset
-Dura-ace cranks (175), shifters/levers, brakes, rear and front derailluer (10 speed)
-Thompson seatpost
-Specialized Toupe Ti143 saddle
-Dura-ace front wheel

-Even comes with a Powertap Pro (I have the computer interface and software). This Powertap is several years old and is the wired version...works great!

Like I said, hate to see this go but it needs a good home. I have ridden it for the last two years, it has never been crashed, and rarely seen the rain or wet roads. One thing to note is that it does have my name painted on it near the seatpost...it is very small and you can easily cover it with a sticker or even white electrical tape.

The SLO life...

Today brought a bit of a change in weather...sun and now snow! Still a little chilly but blue sky and nothing but sunshine.

--Nothing but land
I just had a ride on the schedule today and, honestly, I had an amazing time. Traffic free, country roads (that have been very well maintained lately...way to go SLO county!), friendly farmers, and, above all, nothing but the quite sounds of nature, which is just what the Dr. ordered. I even turned the ipod off just to enjoy the "silence" of the day. I left the casa around 10:00 and set out to ride peachy cyn...an awesome road that actually reminds me a lot of the riding that I did in Tuscany years back. A little bit of climbing and some fun, twisty roads.

The whole ride I was thinking to myself that this is what I have been craving and needing. There are certainly perks to being in S.D. but my heart (and Jessica's) is certainly in SLO. I love the slow pace and the friendly nature of the people. People are just so happy here and genuinely appreciate being able to call this place home. Deep down this is my speed and I pretty sure we will be calling this place home once again not far down the road.

The rest of the day I am relaxing, visiting some friends, doing a little work and getting the pup some exercise with that amazing invention, the tennis ball. Some more training on tap tomorrow but more than anything this week is about recovery. This is the perfect place for me to realize what I love about the sport, to get TONS of sleep, and to generally be relaxed and happy.
Hope all is well out there. Have fun!

What?! Snow!?!

I am sitting here in Atascadero (San Luis Obispo North County)at my folks place and it is DUMPING snow! Seriously, I came up here to train and to get away from the hectic scene down south. I think the snow is very cool and it is certainly a change of pace, just not sure if I need this much change =) I am seeing a trend here...everytime I leave San Diego and head up north I get stuck in a snow storm. It's not like I am traveling to Tahoe or something. I am basically on the coast (as the crow flies the ocean is only 10 miles away)and I am not at elevation. Hmmmm, not sure what this means but I am going to roll with it.
So, nothing I can do except enjoy the novelty of it all. We are only about 1000 feet up so pretty low snow levels but in about 5 minutes I can be 1000 feet lower and just be getting some light rain. Truthfully, I really wanted to get in some good riding up here but it looks like I will be confined to the trainer this week (the exception being tomorrow as there is sun in the forecast). I am sure people are thinking that I can ride in the rain...well, I certainly could but I rode in the rain so much when I was in college I am kind of over it and, honestly, it just isn't worth it when I have such a flexible schedule these days.

This is really the PERFECT place for a training camp. The house is isolated and away from busy roads, crowds, etc so I am surrounded by complete silence. The bed and house is amazingly comfortable so I can completely relax when I am not training. As far as training goes, I have a sweet 50 meter pool within 5 min., AMAZING traffic free roads where I can ride for 5 hours (with a lot of climbing) and only see a handful of people and NO stop lights (okay, a few stop signs), in the house there is a treadmill, weights, stretch cordz, hot-tub, and the list goes on.
So, aside from this snow I am in a training mecca and I am looking forward to putting in some work.
I took the weekend off from training. The past 3-4 weeks have been filled with training and I needed a mental and physical break. So, today I am feeling much more refreshed and ready to roll.
I hope all is well out there. Have fun!

New Skinfit blog post

There is a new post on the Skinfit blog...check it out!

Getting it done...

The past few days have been packed with training. Okay, well, Wednesday was a little light with just a noon masters session...I switched some days around b/c I was feeling pretty tired after Monday and Tuesday. Thursday, I woke up early to try and beat the rain, which I did. I got in 3 hrs on the mountain bike and followed that up with a fartlek run off the bike. I felt really good on my run. All the core work, strides, running drills are paying off. I haven't done any really hard running/workouts but I feel pretty smooth and light on my feet, which is good since it is only February. After a little grub I got in a strength session and capped off the day with a massage. So, a very solid day yesterday. Today, I logged a morning masters swim and I will do my long run later this afternoon after some rest and work.
This weekend is kind of up in the air as the weather isn't quite cooperating. It looks like Sunday will be fairly nice so that will likely be my long ride day (with a lot of climbing) and Saturday will be another masters session and a hilly endurance run.

I am excited about next week. After my ride on Sunday I am heading up to San Luis Obispo for a week long training camp. I love it up there...the training is amazing (especially the riding) and it is beautiful. I have been itching to get away from "city life" and there is no better place than San Luis Obispo...no crowds, quiet, beautiful scenery, great accommodations, friends, family and the list goes on. Jess is going to join me up there next weekend just in time for Valentine's Day.
That is all I have to report from S.D.
Have fun out there!

Nice weather and good training...

Training has been easy with such killer weather. After a solid Monday with time in all three sports, I set out for another day of training on Tuesday. I started my training day with a swim at the Coronado long course pool...a little over 3k with an emphasis on drills/form. Then after a little work I knocked out my run along the bay. It was a run centered on more drills and strides...basically, a warmup before I did my strengthening. I am starting to get some running legs, which feels good.
Today I am hitting noon masters for a little dose of sunshine =) and then riding some local mountain bike trails for a few hours. It will no doubt be a good day.
I am itching for a little roadtrip up north for some different training. Not 100% on this but I have the itch so we might make it happen.
Enjoy the day and have fun!

The weekend and a great monday...

--Not a bad view

This weekend was kind of weird in terms of training.
On Friday, after a swim in the Coronado long course pool(so nice!) with Jess, a trainer workout and my first tempo transition run (I was moving pretty good...kind of surprising), my buddy Tom and his wife Amy came out to S.D. and stayed with us.


-View from the pool deck. Makes the workouts a little more tolerable...just a little bit though ;)

On Saturday morning, Tom and I got up at 5am and drove up to meet James so we could carpool up north for our long mountain bike ride. We planned to get in 4 hrs or so with tons of climbing. After about 2 hrs of climbing and then some descending we had to call it a day b/c James' bike "exploded." Well, kind of "exploded," but either way it basically stopped functioning. So, our long ride turned into a not so long ride but we did get in 2 hrs of climbing, which was solid.

-Tom at the top of the first climb
Then Sunday turned into a my day off. I was really tired so Jess and I just sat around and then caught the superbowl. A mellow day for sure! I planned for a day off today so I just flip-flopped sunday with monday.
Today I got up bright and early and knocked out a good masters session and then Tom and I head out for a mountain bike ride with plenty of low cadence climbing. In about 30 min I am off for a run on the bay and then Tom is heading back to AZ. So, the past few days have been fun and I did manage to get in some training.
This week is loaded with workouts and I am looking forward to it.
Well, off to enjoy some more sunshine along the waters edge =)