Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Unfortuantely I don't have any pix to share , but at least I am being timely about posting another blog!

I recruited Joy to do both training rides with me this weekend. She gets the benefit of doing longer weekend rides in preparation for the longer races at the expert level. I benefit from a great training partner who helps motivate me to stick to my schedule. it's a win-win situation!

I switched Sat and Sun's schedule around a bit so that my friend Marc from Ottawa could do some MTB'ing before heading back to the Great White North on Sunday. Marc borrowed Greg's hardtail (noticeably lighter than Marc's bike back home as he commented during the ride). We hit up Crafton (one of Marc's favorite local rides from his days at ESRI). The ride was fun, Joy and I got a good ride in (we did a couple repeats while Marc chilled and took pix of some mountain bluebirds, but we were FREEZING! My toes were offically numb! I am in big trouble over the holidays in upstate NY and Indianapolis if I get cold in Redlands!

Sat night included a rally over to Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga for some rapid Christmas shopping. We did the majority of our shopping at REI, and tried our best not to just buy everything for ourselves. After REI we grubbed at Red Robin. Had a glass of cab sauv and a turkey burger! YUM. Good fuel for the next day's ride.... We rallied to Border's where I officially bonked after searching around for more gifts. We managed to make it over to the Gap to buy some adorable clothes for our niece and nephew. We also came to the conclusion that once we have kids of our own, we wont be providing Gap clothes for them until they stop growing (unless other people buy it for us of course!)

Sunday's ride was great and not as cold, but I was happy I had on my Smart Wool bike socks! Joy and I both chugged some Emerg'n C (Greg and Joy were both coming down with a cold again) before heading out on our 5 hour road ride. We headed out towards Riverside and happened to run into some folks Joy grew up with. Tito and Zack. They asked us to join along and we ended up picking up another rider (former road racer), Toni. The three of us ladies realized that we would be great training partners and have some upcoming plans for some local tough chix rides. During the final hour of the ride, all Joy and I could talk about is what was for lunch. I proceeded to Chipotle for a yummy lunch after the ride.

Greg and I capped off the weekend with some more shopping and officially experienced burnout, coming home with very few items. However we are mostly finished! We have a bunch of boxes to ship out at the post office today. Thankfully the post office is right across from work!