Lunchtime run

No HR monitor, no footpod for speed/distance; I didn't really plan to go throughout the morning, but I did have all I needed -running clothes and shoes. For the first time a couple of months I got out for a lunchtime run.
What a revelation. I felt warm (not hot) September sun, heard birds, watched clouds and glided through a 4 mile lunch run today. How fast? Who cares; it was a great crosstraining, and the route includes 1.25 mile uphill, turnaround and back down. It was great to run, sweat, and stretch. So simple, no bike, water, tire pumps. Just a great reward.

Dailard Outdoor Adventure weekend

The fathers of Ralph Dailard Elementary School held our Second Annual Dailard Outdoor Adventure on Saturday 9/27 to Sunday 9/28.
This free event started at noon Saturday, with Dads and kid(s) arriving at the school campus and registering, dropping off tents and equipment, the heading over to hike up Cowles Mountain; later returning for an evening hot dog/hamburger cookout, free play, movie projected on the outdoor wall of the school, before heading back to our tent city set up on the multi-use soccer field next to the school.
Once again, my Emma, now age 6, hiked all the way up Cowles Mountain and back down (bringing a great deal of the mountain dirt with her).
The DADS set up a perimeter around the camping area, and within, we pretty much let the kids do what they want. Lots of running, chasing, playing on the gym equipment, yelling, laughing and plain old fun.
There were 400+ kids and DADS this year, and we are already planning next year's event. One lesson - need more cocoa! Next year Owen will be at Dailard; I'll need a much bigger tent. Sleep was partial. It would have been possible to get up and break camp early Sunday, in order to ride with the CAF/QMDC on Oceanside/77 route, but instead Emma and I had a leisurely morning coffee/cocoa, then helped clean up the campsite as the DADS and kids woke and headed home over the course of the morning. Emma and her friends even picked up a trash bag and cleaned up leftover cups, cans and water bottles on their own, before I dismissed them for some more playing.
It was a great time for me and my sweet little girl.

No elimination Wednesday
The Chargers played the New York Jets on Monday Night Football this week, so XX1090, Home of the Chargers Fans and The Scott & BR Show, moved the weekly Tuesday morning elimination to Wednesday this week.
Carl, Mike, Nina and I were all glued to our radios at 6:45, hoping for the phone not to ring! Unlike previous weeks, when there was a call to an Immunity holder and another to the Rider getting cut, this week there was no pre-show setup call - the call was made live on the air...
But there was no answer; the phone number was not in service. Scott and Pratty talked about and tried different variations of the number and area code - still no answer. We all learned that the call was to a 619- number. Both Carl and I have 619- numbers...

However, BR made the executive decision - no completed call meant no elimination this week! This leaves 4 riders, with 2 weeks to go, and only one rider able to win the chance to join the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge ride from San Francisco to San Diego starting on October 18th! Good thing we're doing all this exercise, our hearts are still pounding!

Redondo Up and Back

Many of the QMDC riders participated in a Double Century Ride this weekend, up to Redondo Beach on Saturday, overnight hotel, and back from Redondo Beach to Solana Beach on Sunday. Some of us couldn't make that time committment, I had to work on the stairs in my long-paused California room project on Saturday.
A number of people had said they planned to meet in Solana Beach Sunday, but in the end only John, Nancy, Dan and I met there with the intention of riding up the coast and meeting the QMDC peloton on the way back down. We had our first flat in the parking lot, the stem lock came off John's tire and it deflated. My one spare tube, out of my seatbag was inserted in record time, but it quickly flatted. John, I swear it was new when I put it in there! Fortunately, John had another tube and soon we were on our way. We plowed up the coast making good time but not too fast, as our plan was 50 up and 50 back, or less if we met the peloton coming south. We had some good work getting up to and partway through Camp Pendleton, a strong rider named Blair (in the middle of a 500 mile week) joined us there. Good thing, too, because John had another flat. Disdaining tire levers, Blair quickly peeled the wheel and tube off the wheel. An examination of rim tape and inside of the tire revealed no punctures or foreign objects, and we were soon rolling again. The notable northerly wind had already started, and it was getting hot. I'd already been through 3 bottles. We next made it to San Onofre where Tina had CAF SAG for us. I grabbed some gels and a bar, filled a bottle with water and another with hydration. We thanked Tina, she thought that the combined CAF groups 1 & 2 were an hour and a half up the road or so.
I started to feel the first effects of cramping by the time we were close to Dana Point. Before heading up hill at 45.5 miles, we all decided we might have missed the other group heading south, and Dan needed to get back for an event. With cramping a likelihood by now, I was ready to agree. We turned around and made our way back down. Nancy's pedal came off the spindle entirely, fortunately it was just threaded, maybe installed backwards, but I was able to put it back on to continue. By the time we got back to Tina at San Onofre, I really needed more water, lunch and gels, and lo and behold the peloton joined us! Tina had a Happy Birthday sign for Mike Henderson, and Todd and many other friends were there. After a good break, we set off again, with the benefit of many more riders to push through the wind. The regular northerly coastal wind had shifted to southerly - we got headwind in both directions this day. I had a decent pull in Camp Pendleton, but by the time we reached the usual little hill coming into Carlsbad from Oceanside, the cramping was full on, just like the week before. I told the group I'd ride back on my own - Mari offered to stay and help but there was nothing she could've done without a car for me to ride in! I just kept rpm low, drank lots of water and took some more gels, and coasted home. I ended up riding just more than 96 miles today. It was a great if tiring day!

Spinning at Sporting Club

I got out of the house and to Spin Class early for once, able to actually warm up properly. The class size dwindled over the summer, with back to school, and changed work pace affecting a lot of folks who used to attend. I set up next to Mike H in the front row - and stayed there the whole time, since the bikes don't move. That certainly wouldn't be the case if the bikes were real!
Jessica led us on a spirited class of extended 2 minute climbs ending in 30 second sprints. Everyone really pushed through, in preparation for the upcoming Redondo Beach double century and the 600+ miles from SF in October. It felt good to spin, since I'd been missing lots of time off the bike. At least the intensity of spinning makes up for some of the lost saddle hours.

In Studio with Scott & BR!

This was an earlier-than-ever rising for on Elimination day. We met in the dark outside the Sorrento Valley studios of BCA Radio; Nina with the Immunity Pump, Brent, Mike, Momo, Carl and I with Jim Carbaugh, last year's winner of the XX1090 CAF/QMDC contest. How did poor Jim get roped into a 6:00 am rendezvous like this? No mind, we were all in good spirits, nice to see each other off the bike.
Shortly, Mike the Intern came out to gather us and bring us inside and we trooped through the sparkling new digs, into the studio; bright and high-tech at 6:15 in the morning. 6 flat screen TV's adorned the wall, and Scott & BR greeted us warmly, eying treats that Momo and Nina had been nice enough to bring. Scott we've, of course, all met before on our Sunday rides, but never BR - he's a big dude, as one might expect of a former Chargers star linebacker. Also got to meet Jack 'The Crow' Cronin and John 'Pratty' Pratt the producer, how cool to have faces to go with the voices I know so well since the contest began.
Soon enough though, it became intense as Nina got to sit with Jim in the safety zone, while the rest of us sat in the hot seats, ripe for elimination. After a round of recap about the contest, and chance for each of us to say hello on the air, Scott told BR that the eliminations would be done by Pratty drawing names from a hat! Billy Ray protested that it was no way to choose based upon all the miles logged by those who had come so far. So, Scott decided to change it up. One name would be drawn from the hat, and that person would join Nina in the safety zone, while the remaining 4 would decide things in the usual way for The Great Friends - a game of Pyramid! In retrospect, the questions were pretty easy but at the time, with the microphone in your face and live on the air, they seemed hard (the ticking clock sound effect didn't help). Momo and Brent were teamed up, as were Carl and I. In the end, I think we went three rounds with Carl and I winning by a few points. This was so hard; Brent and Momo are good friends and deserved to win, but that's not the nature of the contest. By 7:00 am, we were done and headed off for - a day of work, and facing the next round of elimination, with no more immunity to be won...

XX1090 Sportsradio in Studio with Scott & BR

The six remaining S & BR Cycling Team got an email from last year's winner Jim Carbaugh that our presence is requested at the XX1090 studios at 6:00 am sharp tomorrow morning.
Give us a listen and we'll see who will be left from our remaining team, Mike Henderson, Monique Beauchamp, Brent Reman, Carl Gregory, me and Nina. But, Nina won immunity this week, so it's among the other 5. It will be great to see them, but what about coffee...

Tune in to the Scott and BR Show on AM 1090 tomorrow to find out...

TheSix present Exceptional Athletes, Exceptional People

Today was the big day for TheSix's party/fundraiser hosted at Bondi Food & Beer in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. What an amazing turnout and response from our friends, families, QMDC Fundraisers, Ride Leaders, XX1090 Radio Contestants, Challenged Athletes and their friends & families. We had terrific results from our Silent Auction items, both donated and consignment, great interest and fundraising from our raffle items. Guests enjoyed Bondi's famous Aussie hospitality with delicious BBQ and Coopers beer. A wonderful and generous crowd remained for our raucous Singles Auction starting around 5:30 and rolling along until after 7:00; thanks to all the beautiful men and women who playfully joined in our efforts to benefit Challenged Athletes. For me, the day's highlight was hearing Ryan Levinson talk about hope; the hope that CAF gave him after he could no longer compete in triathlon; hope to open up new avenues of competition for himself and others that will follow him as he forges a path in ocean paddleboard.
Thanks to everyone for your support and passion.

The room is Spinning

My back was recovered enough by Wednesday to get to Spin at the Sporting Club at Aventine. Mike H was there as always, as were Kayvon, Jeffrey, Mike Mac, James, and leader Kris and leader Jessica joining, and some others whom I recognize but still know by name. Will I meet them before the end of training? I hope so.
I was running a bit late, but running is a kind of warmup so after a few minutes I was ready to start with some jumps/climbs. In the meat of the session, we did 10 sets of 1 min 85%, with a 30 sec standing sprint, then 30 sec recovery. It was hard, and due to almost no training, I could not sprint with much conviction, but I stayed with it as much as I could and definitely had a good sweat.

S & BR Rider Elimination

Today was another rider elimination, a dreaded 6:45 time before starting work and today we lost Todd Northup from the XX1090 Radio Team. By now, I don't want to see anyone left be eliminated, and would gladly trade places with them. But that's the way the contest goes, as Jim Carbaugh has said many times. It doesn't make it easier. Fortunately, Todd is Fundraising and I know he'll be in San Francisco with QMDC.
Ave atque vale.

Del Dios/Circle R/395 Loop

Today was my first day back on the bike for anything meaningful since early August. It was great to see everyone again, and at the start of the day I felt good, but expected a big challenge from the heat, hills, and distance. I was not wrong.
I felt pretty good, but had a persistent, loud but intermittent squeaking from either derailleur cogs that earned me a new nickname 'Tweety' from ride leader Kevin Lingii. I had a bit of back pain after hitting an immediate climb leaving SAG 2 in too big a gear, a twinge and pop that I knew would be troublesome for a couple of days, but not bad enough to force me off the bike. Thankfully, Mike Henderson had aspirin that he let me have, so I was able to roll on. Yeah and Thanks, Mike. The Oceanside bike path was it's usual torment, and I fell off my paceline group towards the end but caught up at the sortie point. But by the time I got to Carlsbad, my hamstrings and quads were threatening to cramp, and they did. I pulled off to the side and several folks offered to stay, but I told them to continue since all that could be done was to take in Gu, drink water, and baby it home. The last 10 or so miles of the day's 75 took me twice as long as it otherwise might have, but it was still a great day in SD. Kevin Davenport had strawberries, plums and Naked Juice he shared with me back at the finish, thanks Kevin!