Whoo hooo! home from 99 degrees in Florida and it snowed at home while I was gone...

First, I arrived in Florida and discovered a cab company with a very familiar name and snapped a quick photo -



So, while the temps in Denver dipped below 32 degrees this was the view out of my condo window in Florida where I was for work this past week...



I even got one day off in the last 15 days and went fishing with the guys from work!



Please donate to my triathlon costs for my upcoming 1/2 IRONMAN! Enter tracking code TW0922 to ensure your donation helps me pay for airfare, bicycle shipping, uniform costs, race costs, etc.

Happy Anniversary Andrea and Rich!

Happy Anniversary Andrea and Rich!

Molholland and Ortega

Since I got out here, Laura was telling me, "you came all this way, you better get some rides in while you are here".

ok, she sent Sperry and I off to Monholland and Deckers...




This ride was really fun! Apparently this was the only place around to ride, we arrived at the Rock House, and didn't bother stopping for lunch, there wasn't enough parking for two more bikes, the lot was full! Likely over 100 bikes in the lot!

We headed up the canyon, after having the "Make it your own ride" speech.

We came up on a group of Harleys on the side of the road, and one took off in front of us. This just reminds me how much I prefer to be in front of a Harley rather than behind...

Eventually we left him space, and would catch up/drop back etc.

We hit the top, there is a viewpoint, and at this point there were more bikes! There was even a racer showing off his bikes, advertising for their sponsors no doubt.

We headed down and back up again, this time on the way up we were passed pretty much immediately... Just like you get passed on a track...

After, we headed down to take Deckers back up to hidden valley and back to Sperry's place. Apparently I missed a turn... So turns out we extended the Deckers part of the ride, which was fun for me, but Sperry got stuck behind a couple cars...

Eventually I turned back to see where he was... I ended up passing him going the other way! He managed to find a spot to turn around, just about the time I did... We passed again! This time I waited at the pull off...

The guys at work took me out Tuesday for a lunch ride...

Santiago Canyon, and the Live Oak canyon were easy riding...

Monday I got into work, the guys here were chatting it up, Ortega.... You can't leave California without riding Ortega.... So here it is:

I missed this ride Thursday at lunch because I had to get a new tire. I didn’t think I would make it the 1080 miles home with the same tire I rode out with… Headed out to Ortega after work, then headed back up to Sperry’s for dinner and catch up with Andrea...

Iron Butt?

What a ride!

Last you heard about leaving town was Portland...

I took a quick trip to Lake Forest for a few Tiger team meetings, and introduced a couple guys on my team to a bunch of guys on the California team. They had a good time... We visited the 'yard house' this place has over a hundred of beers on tap, it takes a few minutes to review the list before your decision.

I got back late Thursday night, just in time to pack for the next one! I was headed back to California, some time to visit with Sperry and some time to visit with Andrea on her 20th anniversary with Rich. This time though I headed out on the bike. This is ordinarily the type of ride I take the Goldwing on, but you realize this is California... There are tons of great rides out here.

With that in mind, I borrowed a bag from Karyn and strapped it onto the Superhawk for the ride...

Friday night right after work, I headed up 70 for a start to the 1080 mile trip to Thousand Oakes CA. I crashed for the night in Grand Junction, but (don't tell mom) not before the guy I was following hit something in the road. Of course second in line, it was dark, I got a piece of that too. With a short inspection of the wheel after slowing in Grand Junction, I determined no real damage.

First thing in the morning, I re-investigated and realized there was blood on my lower fairing, boot and kickstand...

I hit the road at 7 sharp (after a quick breakfast at the hotel with a group of high school football players out for the semi-championships...

I stopped at every state entry sign:
Utah:

Arizona:

Nevada:


It was too hot to take a picture of the strip in Vegas, it was over 104 degrees... Of course this was just the beginning of the hot trip in the desert...

California:



Yep, call Arnie, there was no sign entering the state of CA...

Heading through the Mojave was pretty hot, and no pictures for that part of the trip...

Arriving at Sperry and Laura's place at just after 6pm, makes for a long day... 12 hours on the road, only stopping when I needed gas, this is my fuel log:

Mileage	total	Fuel	mpg
35
160.7	125.7	3.39	47.4
130.3	256	2.99	43.6
89.4	345.4	2.54	35.2
127.5	472.9	3.76	33.9
112.2	585.1	3.4	33.0
126.5	711.6	3.39	37.3
142.6	854.2	3.47	41.1
130	984.2	3.84	33.9
99	1083.2	2.6	38.1

It wasn't an Iron Butt, that would have required over 1000 miles with gas receipts to prove it, and all within 24 hours... Not only did I forget to fill up before I left, I arrived at Sperry's 25 hours later...

A quick visit with the busy parents, and a nice dinner out for Sushi, Saturday was over.

Sunday we got a quick ride in up Monhuland drive, and back via Deckers... This was one crowded place. Apparently there is a fire up at 'the usual place' for riding. There were cops all over and even a race team showing off their bikes at the viewpoint...

Monday I headed into the office....

Portland

Well again, I can't edit Karyn's posts, but I do have the pix, so I'll toss a few in just for fun.

We stayed with Kelly
Thanks for letting us stay!

Saturday morning we headed out for some rock fishing and Crabbing, but when we arrived, we learned we wouldn't be dropping any crab pots, because the wind was going to pick up in the afternoon...



There were some impressive views before the seas got large... But I didn't manage to get any more pictures in...

We headed off to the wedding Sunday, which was fun, but we were just barely on the late side...


We had some time to catch up with old friends before the reception, the whole thing went very smoothly...
Even the cake:


Great weekend... I left most of the fish with Dennis and Kelly.

need a blog posting?

Okay, last weekend we visited Portland to attend a wedding and visit with friends. Tucker took all the pictures and has been out of town so there may or may not be a posting on this weekend for a while. We arrived late on Friday and drove an hour towards the coast so that we could go fishing in the ocean on Saturday morning! We caught fish, gave some to the newlyweds, some to the friend who let us stay at her house and even brought some home! It was a relaxing weekend.

On Tuesday I opened my email and saw THE email that I've been waiting for! I am officially on Team WILD (Women Inspiring Life with Diabetes). I am sooo excited. The first race for me to do with the team will be Oct 25th in Austin - the 1/2 Ironman, LONGHORN Triathlon! I was digging through some team photos and noticed a familiar face smiling back at me in the photos! Eustacia! A friend of a friend.... at any rate, she and I had talked about the team last fall and I had totally forgotten about it. She and I have a lot in common - motorcycles, outdoors, etc - and I totally forgot that we have DIABETES in common! I am really looking forward to the race and am on a training plan that should have me ready to do 55.9 miles of bicycling at sea level with 800 vertical feet of gain over the course - hahahahaha!

Today Tucker leaves on his motorcycle to head to California to work and see family! Hopefully he'll blog about his adventure along the way. I am just a 'tad' jealous... but excited to hear all about it! But I'll be hearing about it the same way you all will - blog postings (well, maybe an occasional phone call - I am the wife, after all).

I'll be reading the blog and hope you do too!

I'm also being added to the blog posting schedule for Team WILD so also check out http://teamwild703.blogspot.com/ to see what the team is up to and how the racing goes in October. (did i mention that I am excited!?!)

Ski season is coming....!

Saw this picture and remembered how much I miss my skiing friends.