One catharsis at a time please

When I was in high school, there were a group of guys who had a band and they put out a couple of tapes (yes -- tapes). They were older and cooler and oh so deep and affected (come to think of it, I might have been out of high school at the time, and the band had graduated a while before. Anyway. . .). At the end of one of the tapes there was an untitled song and I was hanging out with the coolest of the band members and he told me he'd named it Cat Hair Eulogy. "Cat Hair Eulogy?" my starry-eyed-self asked. He explained that the song was a catharsis for him and . . . well hence the name. And then, later than night, we did some kissin' (sorry you had to hear that, Mom. If it's any consolation, I'm unlikely to make out with another guy, well, ever). Yesterday I went for a ride and was thinking about the cat hair eulogy.
If you're thinking about having some catharsis of your own, I recommend finding one form at a time. Example:
1) Long Bike Ride,
2) Crying
3) Throwing up OR
4) Singing loudly
Notice the disjunctive statement. It's not terribly cathartic to do it all at the same time.

Last week we were supposed to have a ride out in Winters with lots of hills and orchards and whatnot. Then we had a storm. I went out to do a similar ride because I'm in desperate need of hill-training. Here's what I found:

Remnants of the storm. I'm glad we weren't out there. There were several areas that had been marked as flooded. And several downed tree branches. This week, however, was lovely, and a good reminder of why I like to ride:

Spring blossoms and lambs:
How cute is this little guy? I stopped to try to get a photo here and the lambs skittered away. The photo below was actually an action shot. It's hard to tell, but the little guys are following the momma around trying to suckle, but she's on the move.















For those of you who know the area, I rode from Steady Eddy's, out to Gibson, did not turn on Steiger, did not do Cantelow, but went out Pleasants Valley Road to 128 and climbed up to the damn Dam (hi Jana!). It was windy and chilly, but felt good even when I was watching my speedometer hover around 12 mph on an upslope. So it goes.
Here's how it looks at the top of the dam hill:
Check out the rocks here -- you know what this means? This mountain tipped over. Sort of makes me want to take some more classes. Maybe I could just read books.

Here's what I look like at the top. Not too torn up. Especially considering that I haven't climbed a hill in . . . a while. Notice the Colorado jersey from my Mom:

I also am slowly starting to figure out how to use my heart rate monitor that is too fancy to make any sense of. Whoever thought 'the more functions the better' does not understand the vibe of someone who can't make sense of her staple gun. I was able to get it to record my heart rate, which was fun and informative to watch, and I also got the calorie counter to work. 40 miles, 3 hours, and 2300 calories. Then I left the monitor on for a little while while I did some other stuff and when I finally took it off, it was at 2700 calories.
This morning I went to the gym and forgot the heart rate monitor. It's not so fun anymore.
"They" predict no rain for next Saturday -- we have a great ride and a big hill planned for next weekend.

Good news and bad news

Good news: my favorite late winter/early spring flowers are coming out. I don't know what they are. I'm not very good at identifying flowers. My lovely friend Melis is like a bird/plant/flower encyclopedia. If she took it upon herself to read my blog, she might help me out. Alas, she does not.
These flowers (whatever they are), smell amazing. I cut some and brought them into the kitchen. Though they might need to go into the fridge or outside overnight. They are quite fragrant. I used to buy them at the Davis Farmers' Market and put them in the kitchen of my (small) apartment. I had to close the door to the kitchen or the whole house would be overwhelmed. I'm hoping my gigantic (ha ha) house will absorb the smell.

Good news: I had a few minutes today to trim back some flowers that grow up, bloom, die, and then start growing up again from the bottom. The top, however, is left as brown, dead spires that need to be clipped. My back yard is showing signs of spring.
Here they are in their 'trying-to-evolve' state.
And this is after the clipping:
The small greens at the bottom are the new flowers. I tried to do the same surgery on the daisies. I love daisies and I'm always so excited when they start popping up -- they have a ways to go though. I wish my backyard were self-executing.

Good news: I went to the gym this morning and had a fabulous workout. Taught kinesis at 6:15a., then taught abs at 6:45a. After that, I got on the fancy new elliptical machine (I'll try to get a photo one of these days) and then did this crazy workout that I found on a fitness blog (the "Muscle Endurance Workout" not the crazy pull-ups). Truth be told, however, I don't know what all of it means and I was scared to do one or two of them, so I did MOST of this workout.
Then I went out to my car and ate the banana I'd brought with me. Then I went back for Darcy's pilates class. It's a fabulous class. The last time I had a Thursday off, I went to it as well. Darcy's a great teacher and I love how she explains things. If you miss her at the Rec Center, check out these pilates classes (and if you want to get me a gift certificate for these classes, I won't mind a bit). I've had a lousy day of eating since I got home from the gym. Can't quite seem to find an appetite for anything. Maybe I'll spend a little time cleaning the kitchen and seeing whether there are easy-to-prepare foods in there.

Good news: I got home and did some gardening (above) and then got an email from a friend I rarely get to see saying she was free this afternoon and did I want to meet. I was free too. Hurray!

Good news: I saw this in the parking lot this morning:

Bad news: I'm so free today because my agency just found out last week that California's furlough applies to our office. We had previously been told it would not apply. Then suddenly it does apply, so our chairman closed the office today and tomorrow because if we're not getting paid, he's not making us work.
Bad news: That's a 10% reduction in pay.
Bad news: There is no 10% reduction in workload or deadlines.
Bad news: There is no 10% reduction in mortgage payments.

Good news: My kitchen smells like spring flowers.

Have you seen the movie Milk?

Maybe you should. It comes out on DVD on March 10. It was phenomenal. Bring tissue.

Last night, Sean Penn won an Oscar for his performance as Harvey Milk. Rober DeNiro introduced him, saying, "How for so many years did he get all those jobs playing straight men?" I was touched by his acceptance speech.

Am I Bummed or Relieved? Hmmm. . .

I got up at ten after 5 this morning ready and willing to head over to Winters to put up road-markers and get ready for a 9:30 a.m. ride. At 5 it was a little rainy and breezy. At about 5:23, Joaquin (who organizes the Benchmarks) called and said it was pouring in Davis, windy, and getting windier. He called the ride off. It's been a while since I've had a good ride. I'm hoping to get some bike-time this week, but here's how it looks:

Sunday
Feb 22

Rain / Wind

57°
52°

80%

57°F

Mon
Feb 23

Rain

62°
49°

80%

62°F

Tue
Feb 24

Showers

62°
42°

40%

62°F

Wed
Feb 25

Few Showers

59°
45°

30%

59°F

Thu
Feb 26

Few Showers

61°
43°

30%

It's sad not to be able to ride much, but there are some steep hills on that ride and coming down them would have been scary. A friend wrote and sad she was thinking she would ride uphill and walk downhill. That doesn't sound fun either.

Now I'm awake and it's 6:30 on a Sunday morning. What to do?

Benchmark preview

Come on! Sunny and warm today -- lovely really. Probably 63-65 degrees with light clouds.
I spent about 2 hours in the gym this afternoon -- and tomorrow we have our "Benchmark" ride in Winters. You remember this ride, right (we did it in February, March, and April)? It's the one with "three" hills that goes on and on. We do it in some form every month until the NCAC, and then we have a 'benchmark' for our progress.
It's a rain or shine ride. Looks like: heavy on the rain, not so much on the shine.
An hourly look at Sunday, Feb. 22:
Sun
Feb 22

1 am

53° F

Precip:
80%

4 am

53° F

Precip:
90%

7 am

52° F

Precip:
80%

10 am

56° F

Precip:
80%

1 pm

57° F

Precip:
80%

4 pm

58° F

Precip:
80%

7 pm

55° F

Precip:
80%

I'm not quite sure about this. I don't like riding in the rain and cold -- there's an 80% chance that it will rain. But I do know that I'm not really in a position to flake on it. I agreed, against my gut feeling that it is going to suck, to meet the crew leader at 6:30 a.m. in Winters (a 35 minute drive away) to put up signs to mark the route. What?? You agreed to what?? Yeah. Dummy. So I have to be there at 6:30, and then by 9:30, I have to decide if I feel safe enough ride. I'm not one to hit the highways riding slick, skinny tires. I know this makes me wimpy to some people, but I'm willing to live with that.
If we (I?) DO ride, I'm a little nervous. Last year, I rode a lot of these hills with my big cassette that purported to make riding hills easier. This summer, I took that cassette off and went to a small one. Makes climbing hard, but riding more fun. Or so I think.

I'll try to remember to pull out my camera here and there tomorrow. Wish us all luck.

Today, however, I spent a couple hours at my new gym. It was so fun. The fancy elliptical a quick weight/ab routine, and then an hour in the kinesis room. I found a little video of kinesis on you tube if you're curious:



(Hopefully that will work.)

Jana and I went through the basic routine, and then we both practiced doing the intermediate routine (and I practiced teaching it). So fun -- but now I'm just a few shades past spent. Still looking forward to the potential ride though.

Round up of the last few weeks

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. A couple of rides, a fund-raiser, some wine-tasting, and some sitting around on the couch reading my book. Phew. I got a photo or two, but nothing all that exciting. I thought I'd post some of them and maybe think of clever captions later. Ha.

Ride a couple weeks ago (pre-rain storms). Check out Janelle's hair coming through the helmet.


Jeff and Dave so excited to finish (Jeff more than Dave, I guess). Mark and Dave (another Dave) celebrating ride's end.

Allison showing off her moves to Mindy's "husband" Steve.
Me and Kris.
Me and Jen:
Jen and Kris (yes, there were other people at this party).
Jill and Emily. Emily provided the music. Mary sang some Abba with her before whisking away to Tango, and Jill did a duet as well -- though I'm blanking on what song they sing. It was a Carpenters' song, I'd wager.
KC and Jen, saying goodbye, not Jen eating KC's collar, as it looks.
Me and Emily after some wine-tasting last weekend. It was lovely out there, if cold and muddy. How cute is that vest? Melissa's mom sent it to me for my bday -- it's a Smartwool vest and quite warm and cozy. Hmmm. When I put on that vest, I thought it looked kind of cute and made me look curvy, but now that I see the photo, I look gay and bumpy. Hmm.
Must get new mirror.
Muddy vineyards at Bogle.
I forgot to take many photos at the party (ahem, Jill -- where are your photos?), and I forgot to take photos at the "Port and Chocolate" event at the Sugar Mill. This weekend there is a rainy "Benchmark" ride for NCAC. We get to mark our progress. It's going to be a good starting point for a lot of us, because he haven't been able to ride much due to rain. Imagine how much improved we'll be by March when we do it again!

Update

Here's the ad. Gives you warm fuzzies, huh?

Too bad Utah is Pretty; I will miss it

Sometimes when I get really mad at someone or if they offend me, I decide right then and there that I will never talk to that person again. Generally, my resolve dissolves when I realize it is not practical to never speak to my brother or my cat again, e.g. I stay mad for a while, hold a grudge for longer, and then generally let it go. One of the things that I neither like nor understand about myself is that I'm not terribly forgiving. I can forgive small infractions and those things that people do because they're human -- especially if whatever it is doesn't really affect me all that much. But when I feel offended, betrayed, or wounded on a more profound level, all bets are off.
Rather than turn this blog into a confessional, I think I'll just write what I intended to write. I read an article about the lovely state of Utah and its anti-gay legislature/majority populace. And the newspaper that published a full-page ad comparing the gays to druggies and hookers (huh?) [I haven't seen the ad yet]. Then I started to wonder what the heck is wrong with people. Then I wondered if maybe there really IS something wrong with being gay and that's why the people are throwing the Lord's smiting around. [Seriously, Utah. Maybe if you could just explain why you hate the gays so much, I could figure out if maybe I should add 'being gay' to my reasons for the self-loathing I already do. The least you could do, Utah, is keep the hatred to yourself. California loves the gays. Don't you watch T.V.?]

Then I got mad.

Then I decided I'm never going to Utah again, ever.

Even though it's pretty. Even though it's on the way to Colorado where my family lives. (Maybe if you're from Utah, and you're reading this, you could lobby your legislature to split the state into two so that the pretty, southern parts of the state were still available to reasonable people.)

In case you haven't seen this yet. . .

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Day off

Today is President Lincoln's and Charles Darwin's 200th birthdays. In honor of, I have the day off work. I also took tomorrow off work. So this morning, I taught an hour of classes, then had a good 25 minutes on the fancy elliptical (I can't find a photo), then I did this workout [modified], then I went and got a banana, then I went to Darcy's pilates class. Phew! All that by ten a.m. Now I'm trying to reach my chiropractor for a little tune-up before my back crumbles on me.

I have been making a pretty strident effort to clean up what I eat and reduce what I eat and enjoy what I eat (not my strong suit). The effort is great, and I'm hoping that it will eventually pay off when I don't have to lug all 800 pounds of me up hill on my bike. Last weekend, I had a fast, flat ride on the trail and was able to keep up an 18-22 mile pace for all 22 miles of the ride. Perhaps that's just because I'm so incredibly rested after not riding for so long, but I'd like to also think that maybe as I get stronger and lighter, I will also have more fun on the bike.
So . . . here's to some good training!

This weekend is the Tour de California. Lots of biking going on in Northern California. Sacramento has the kick off this year (Saturday), and then on Sunday, the cyclists (including Floyd Landis [I bet that name went over well in elementary school] and Lance Armstrong) start in Davis and ride to Santa Rosa -- on the same road NCAC '07 rode over on Day one and the same road we still train with. It's a kick-ass ride. I'll try to remember my camera.

I have some photos from some rides and maybe some from my fundraiser -- I'll try to upload those soon. It's raining here in NorCal right now. We sure need the rain, and I guess I could ride in my garage. . .

Anyway -- a little anecdote from the gym this a.m. Maybe I'm a little judgmental (ha ha ha), but I can't quite get on board with this girl's aspirations.

I had a girl who's a senior in high school in my class this morning. Then I chatted with her on the elliptical afterward.
Me (after the typical high school-type chat): What are you going to do next year?
Her: Well . . . college.
Me: Do you know where?
Her: [Muffle muffle muffle], so I might just do 2 years of community college.
Me: So what do you want to do?
Her: I don't know. Are you a mom?
Me: No.
Her: I just want to be a mom. Have kids.
Me: Oh?
Her: Yeah. But you know, I'm going to go to school and get a degree. You know, you can't put your kids in school and you have to have a certificate or something to home school your kids.
Me: You want to home school?
Her: Kids are learning about sex in school. My kids are not learning any of that.
Me: Are you home schooled?
Her: No. You know, it's good to go to college because you have to have something to fall back on. If your husband loses his job, you have to be able to, you know, get a job. Really I just want to have babies. But you have to have that fall-back.
Me: do you have a boyfriend?
Her: Oh yeah. I have a boyfriend. [Like it was a dumb question and of course she has a boyfriend.]
---
Then we talked about why she quit soccer (it takes too much time, and games are on the nights she works at Jamba Juice and she's also in the church choir), how she wants to workout every morning before school, and I tried to explain to her what I do (she did not assume, however, that I go to court every day, so either she's never heard of a lawyer because she's busy reading, "Girlfriend's Guides," or she was just open to hearing what I had to say before assuming. You know, like most 17-year-olds).

Check out the Cover Boys!

The NorCal AIDS Challenge is getting some good coverage lately.

Check us out in Outword Mag -- see page 11 for the story.
I think we have another article forthcoming. I don't think our boys are going to be on the cover, though. That's riders Ken and Jeff -- Jeff is also on the Executive Committee and has been for the past several years.