Brick Work Out 1

So yesterday I did my first brick work out (or at least that is what Erica calls it). That is when you do two events back to back. Yesterday I did a 45 minute spin class and then ran with Erica for two miles! We finished off our work out with a few reps of dips, pull ups, squats and the rowing machine in the weight room. It actually felt pretty good.

To be fair the spin class yesterday wasn't that hard. It was more of a cardio past paced spinning class than a heavy uphill class. None-the-less after the class Erica and I went out a did two miles straight on the track. She said that we did the two miles in well under 20 minutes, which for me a very very good. I've never timed myself while running before so I feel that this is as good a place to start as any. I have also been working on my breathing while running due to the fact that I get so many stitches when I run. It really gives me something to focus on while I am pushing through the pain. I kinda like it; it's like thinking of puppies when you are getting a bikini wax.

I also found that the run I did yesterday was the least painful run I have ever done. Usually when I run my legs feel very heavy and that I am just pulling them along, but no so this time. Maybe it was because my muscles were already very warm at this point. Maybe I am better at running after doing other things than just cold? It is something to think about.

I think that my mental attitude about running has also changed greatly. I had a conversation yesterday with my co-worker Laryssa about running- recall she has finished 5 marathons including the Boston marathon in under 4 hours- she told me that she actually doesn't like running at all. Sometimes she even hates it, but that she keeps doing marathons as a way of challenging herself. This concept completely blew my mind! The thought of disliking running, but choosing to do marathons is a crazy concept. I had always figured that people who run love to run- just like how I love to swim. I mean I really love to swim. It is a time for me to just turn my body to autopilot, stare at the black line on the bottom of the pool and think. It is also a great time to work out aggression/ problems. All of that completely surmounts that fact that it just so happens to be great exercise. Lastly, I just feel great after swimming- unlike with any other activity.

So keeping in mind that Laryssa doesn't really like to run all the much yet still manages to have finished 5 marathons puts me in a mind set that in fact I can do this running portion of my triathlons. Hell, if it doesn't require the need to love running to want to do it I can get on board with that. I will never love to run, but can I get to a place where I can get through it without wanting to pass out on the the track right then and there? Probably!

And then there was a little thing called a 10k

These are NOT what my legs look like...yet :)

So yesterday I did the unthinkable... I went running- on a track- by my own volition! Hell has officially frozen over and it is all my fault.

Okay, so I went running- it was terrible. Every moment, if I could think over the din of my body screaming 'WHY God WHY!', I was thinking 'Why the hell am I doing this?'

Will I ever over come my hatred of running? Laryssa says: yes, my mind says: maybe and my body says: no and stop trying....

Any who, this was my work out:

Four 400 meters at a jog with two sets of stairs in between each 400.

Four 100 meters of lunges

Four 400 meters with a 200 meter of walking in between

Four, 15 second, 20 second, 25 second and 35 second chair poses with my back against the wall and my tights at a 90 degree angle.

Lastly, two sets of sit ups holding a 6 pound weight, sit ups with legs raised and moving the weight from side to side to work my obliques, leg raises with my legs straight and NOT touching the ground at the bottom, and reverse crunches were you curl you legs towards your chest but when you bring them down you don't let them touch the ground- 15 of each.

I try before I start to do a workout that I hate to set limits for myself. Such as 'today I will do everything in sets of X', like yesterday in sets of four. This helps me push through some how. It gives me the mentality that if I start one portion I MUST continue until I am done with the amount that I set for myself. Without strict rules when doing a workout I find that I flounder and end up slacking off.

I also really like to us the carrot/ stick method for doing work outs. Like if I push extra hard I can skip doing some part of the workout as reward, but if I slack off then I am punished by having to do something I really hate. Hench the whole reason I am running three times this week. I could have pushed through the run after the ride we did on Sunday- but I was just plain lazy and didn't feel like it. THAT is not a real reason to not do something... so my punishment is running. Sadly, it probably always will be.

This 10k that I will eventually do after my swim and bike is going to be a killer, but I have to practice and practice for it if I am going to finish it!

Like I said after the failed run on Sunday: "Get me in a God Damn pool!"

Week 3

Week three was a bit of a mash up. I took off more time than any other week, due to Father's Day, but I also ramped up my work outs the days that I did actually train. So not bad. On the plus side however I did find the joys of morning swimming and on the negative side I also realized that I need to run more. So this coming week I decided that I must run at least 3 days out of my training week and I need to start to make that a mandatory thing. What is going to keep me from my goal of doing an Olympic length tri from start to finish without stopping will most definitely be the run! So I need to just force myself through the pain.

On a side note, my co-worker Laryssa does marathons (5 in fact- very impressive!), she said that eventually the pain that comes with running will go away. And that even when she doesn't run for two or three weeks her body starts screaming at her when she starts again. So in the mean time while MY body is screaming (and might I add very loudly and adamantly) at me I have to just trust her and hope one day it stops.

Joaquin-Miller Ride

Yesterday we went on a very mild ride into the Oakland Hills that over look the 24 and 13 freeways. It was a beautiful day and we didn't set out until 5 due to the heat.

We also had a few new characters join us on our ride. Kindly, Erica's brother, Brian, came along so that we didn't get lost on this new ride and my new co-worker, Laryssa, also joined. It was nice to ride with a group of new people. Brian is training for triathlon nationals and it was great to have him around to bounce questions off of. At this point any and all tid-bits are useful! He was a very good sport going slow and being patient with us :)

The Joaquin Miller Route is a 30 -40 minute mild up hill climb. It really was quite mild after doing the 3 bears a few weeks before! I think that Brian was worried that if he took us on to difficult of a ride we wouldn't make it all the way! :) But it think that it was a good ride to test out my new bike and use my new clip-less shoes.

But on the way we ran into the goats again and of course to Brian's chagrin we HAD to get off and feed the goats a bit. He also kept telling us that the wired fence was probably electric- even though it appeared to be made of plastic. None of us however believed him until Erica kindly tested the theory by accidently getting shocked while feeding one!

Erica and Laryssa feeding the goats and testing the theory of conductivity

From there we emerged on Skyline which gave us some amazing views of the whole bay area. Too bad it was a bit foggy that day or else we would have been able to see all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge!

Not bad guns huh?! ** On a side note YAY new bike and new shoes!**

So after we got to the top it was a very nice ride down the backside of the mountain. Luckily for me it was a mild ride that day since many a thing went wrong! First on the way up my contact decided to take a little trip around to the back side of my eyeball.. now for those of you who don't know I have really bad eye sight. And if I would have managed to loose my contact I would have not been able to see much on the ride back. Okay, fixed that eventually, but then on the way back going up a minor hill I accidently unclipped my right shoe. Which was not good cause then I couldn't clip back in while going up the hill.... uggg. Luckily I was almost at the top so I sorta had to just scoot up the hill with one foot clipped and the other pushing along. A very sad sight to see indeed. Lastly, you remember how when I was practicing with my shoes and pedals for the first time and I had only fallen once? Well my second time came on this ride. Happily we were on a bikes-only part of the ride so no fear from cars when I fell. Some how my chain became derailed and as I was looking down at it and unclipping my right foot my bike just sorta started a slow descend to the left. I was able to sorta get my left foot unclipped, but not in time and I just fell to the floor. Really more embarrassing than anything else. Erica of course was right there with the video camera to capture it all on film. What great friends I have! Ha!

Well at least all of those calamities are out of the way! Good riddance!

After that the ride finished uneventfully- sadly however somewhere earlier in the week in a moment of total insanity I suggested to Erica that we should run after the bike ride. We tried to go for a 3 mile run- which I just couldn't bring myself to do. Not that I was too tired to do it- I just don't have the drive to run and push myself through the uncomfortable part of running. I need to really work on that- so more running this week. The only way I can get over it is by just forcing myself to do it right? ::sigh:: I STILL hate you running!

Morning Swims- my new bestest friend!

I guess in the 1930's thats what type of "sports" women were allowed

to do at the Hearst Gymnasium!

Thursday I woke up bright and early for a morning swim again- and let me tell you it was an awesome swim! I have recently tried to explain this phenomenon to people: of when you just have an excellent workout and the amazing high it gives you for the rest of the day. THAT workout was this morning swim.

For the past few weeks, especially with running, I feel like this training has been an uphill battle all the way. Nothing has come smoothly and I have never had the "in the zone" feeling while working out. Thursday swim was a final break through moment.

I got in the pool at 7:20am and started the workout that I had set out for myself.

It started with:

Four 100 freestyle each with a 20 second interval in between. These were at a quick pace to get the heart rate up enough so so that I needed the full 20 seconds to catch my breath.

Then:

Four 100 freestyle kicking with a kickboard. Facedown in the water so that I could work on my streamlining and be in proper alignment. These had a 15 second interval between each.

Then:

Three 100 freestyle zipper/ high elbow technique swims with a 10 second interval in between. These were at a slower pace so that I could work on my glide and my bilateral breathing. Something that doesn't matter so much when you are a 100% in the pool swimmer, but when you get out on the open ocean you want to be bilaterally breathing so that you are not lopsided and slowly start to swim off in the wrong direction. It happens- easily in open water swims!

Then:

I did a 100, 200, 300 and 400 back to back. With only a 10 second interval in between each one. And that is where I got in the zone. It was blissful! I am NOT a distance swimmer and always was a 25 meter, 50 meter, MAX 100 meter freestyle sprinter. So I have really been working on slowing down my initial pace and just working on my arm technique- cause that is what is really going to pull you through the long swims. So doing a 400 meter at a good pace, finishing in 8 minutes and NOT feeling out of breath at the end is a good sign. That means that in the pool I am doing a mile swim in 32 minutes- which is a good baseline for me to start at.

I also ended up swimming 2,100 meters that morning- which is a good workout

Any who, I felt really jazzed after that swim and went to work on cloud nine :).

Later that day I also went to a cycling class. I am working up to having a Trifecta Day- which is where I do all three sports in one day (however not necessarily in order or back to back).

So Thursday was a good day for me to end my workout on. Friday and Saturday I am taking the days off and Sunday doing a long ride. I am feeling pumped again; that swim was the ego boost that I needed to keep me going! Whoot Whoot!

Learn-To-Not-Fall-On-Your-Ass Day!

Wednesday was my day to learn how to bike with my new pedals and shoes. I took the advice of the nice lady at Mike's Bikes and went to a grass field where all the people playing with their dogs could see me while I biked around attempting to clip in. Luckily I had only one fall and it was on the grass so it wasn't too bad. I am however still a bit wary about biking around in traffic with them, but I just have to dive in head first and go for it.

After I sorta successfully celebrated Learn-To-Not-Fall-On-Your-Ass Day I then met up with Erica for a run. We started with a medium jog around the track which turned into a little more that a 2 mile warm up. That's not bad for me! We then did reps.: a fast sprint for 200 meters with a 200 meter recovery jog. We did about six of these and called it a day.

During the warm up jog I did however have an epiphany. I realized that while throughout my life I have been very active and involved with sports not one of the sports I have ever been involved in required running! And the sports that I did that should have required running I participated in on the non-running side! Such as I used to play soccer- I was the goalie and I did do track and field- I did long jump and high jump! My other sports have included competitive equestrian, volleyball and swimming- all none running sports. This was quite the revelation to have and I guess sorta puts my running into perspective now!

Morning Swims- My new best friend

UC Berkeley's Hearst Pool at the old women's gymnasium

So I thought waking up at 6:20 to do a morning swim was going to be the worst idea ever and that by mid-day at work I was just going to crash from morning exercise and forcing myself to stay awake manually (i.e. NO coffee still!). But HOORRAH! I have found the joys of morning swims- and let me tell you they are amazing! It is like I have been awakened to a whole new world where I can work out AND still get home in time to cook dinner and have a little me time - which is highly essential for my sanity.

So my first morning swim was on Tuesday and after wandering around the UC campus for a while trying to find this gym I was finally in the pool by 7:30am. I didn't realize that the Hearst Gym was the old women's only gymnasium- ergo they had to make it look the most un-gym like possible, ya know to suit our womenly sense and all! It is a beautiful building totally done in the style of the late 1910's and 1920's of art nouveau and very well preserved. However, not what you are expecting to be a gym when you see it from the outside.

Inside it is a bit creepy and very sanitarium-esque. I do love the old signs that they kept about the place from the time when it was a women's only gym. Such as "MEN if you are here ring this bell for service". And the pool is gorgeous-I mean the pool is completely marble people! I have never swam in a full marble pool. It is pretty luxurious!

So of course I get there at 7:30 and they tell me that Tuesdays are the one day that they close early at 8:00 to do a pool cleaning. ::Sigh:: Oh well at least I got in a 30 minute work out and had the glorious revelation that working out in the mornings isn't that bad. And to boot I didn't crash mid day like expected even without the wonderful life sustaining fluid that is known as coffee.

A little Behind....

Okay, so this week I got a little behind on my blogging/ recording of training. However, I am going to do the best to catch you up on the training that I did this week.

To start, the running clinic actually wasn't that bad. I mean it wasn't fun- but it wasn't as painful as the first time I went running with Erica where we just did a few miles straight without stopping.

So the workout for the running clinic was so:

A warm up of a few stretches and lunges- nothing too intense and nothing to bring up the heart rate.

Then:

One 400 meter at a jog with a set of 4 stairs

One 300 meter run, 100 meter jog with a set of 3 stairs

One 200 meter run, 200 meter jog with a set of 2 stairs

One 100 meter run, 300 meter jog with a set of 1 stair.

That part was HARD - and I actually just ended up jogging the whole thing. I can't sustain that kind of a run and have anything left over for a set of stairs! It was a damn good set and one that I have to try again. When I am more fit...

We then moved on to a 1 1/2 minute plank followed by:

20 squat jumps and 100 meter sprint... we did this five times.

That actually wasn't that bad. Not that I am in any way a sprinter, but I am much better at bursts of energy then a cool down then a sustained long run that is slower.

After that we did 50 sit ups with a partner pushing us down and 50 leg lifts with a partner pushing our legs down. Those were great for the abs and was still feeling it even on Friday!

So that was the running clinic- not terrible, but still not on any level enjoyable. HA! I felt not triumphant- but good for getting through the whole thing and not being the slowest- until Erica told me that this teacher had let us off easy and that most trainings were harder :(

::Sigh:: What a total bubble burst!

3 Bears Panoramic

I know that it took me a long time to post this photo, but here it is! The panoramic shot from the 3 bears. The rolling hills of California just never get old! This was our pit-stop refuel break.

Week 2 Summary

So, I won't say that I completely failed on my week two training schedule.... but it definitely didn't go as planned. Life definitely got in the way last week. I am having a bit of a hard time trying to balance life and all of this training- and I have come to the horrid conclusion that I might have to start to do morning workouts. Not that I have anything wrong with getting up early, its just doing a morning workout at 7am and then going to work from 9 to 6, coming home cooking and doing everything else I am suppose to do sounds a bit exhausting! But I will be giving it a try tomorrow.

So, as you can see, I ended up taking the whole weekend off- Father's Day what can ya do? - as well as taking Monday and Wednesday off to buy groceries and to buy my bike. This week I definitely need to step up my game. Starting with running workshop today that Erica has tricked me into thinking I am in enough running shape to do.... Why do I let her trick me into such things?

I'll shamefully have to let you know how quickly I pooped-out during the practice tomorrow, that is IF I can walk to my computer....

New Bike!

So lady's and gent's I am officially the proud owner of a Cannondale Six Bike! Whoot whoot!

I went to the Mike's Bikes sale on Wednesday and scored myself an incredible bike for more than 50% off. It sure didn't hurt that it is a 2009 and right now it is currently more than half way through 2010!

But clearly I must have never been to a bike store that isn't a douchey NYC bike store- because this place treated me like a real person! Having all my previous bike experience be from NYC- and therefore I am now sufficiently scarred by bike store owners and fixie jerks- I was expecting not only a run around (that is pretty much expected in NYC) but also a bunch of jerks perpetually testing my "knowledge" of bikes and what is cool/ not cool in the bike world. (Clearly, as you can tell, I have some issues to work out in therapy with NYC and its biking culture...)

Luckily none of that was to be had at Mike's Bikes.

So three cheers for my new bike... as my wallet cries softly in the corner!

The specs are below if anyone is interested.

It is definitely more than just a beginner bike, but after riding it and seeing what a steal I was getting I figured that I might as well go for it. Since the 2010 Dolce Specialized were only selling for $100- %200 less.

After riding my friends Allez Specialized bike on the last ride and finishing with major upper back pain due to the handle bar being too wide for my shoulders and too far away from the saddle I decided that going with a women's bike was probably the way to go. Unless I wanted to completely replace the handle bars on a brand new bike- which just didn't seem worth it to me.

I did test drive a Dolce before buying the Cannondale, but it was a bit too upright for me- and not as aggressive as I would have liked the frame to be. I think after using guys bikes that have always been a bit to big for me I am used to a more horizontal feel. And the Ruby Specialized was just too expensive. So that I how I ended up with the Cannondale.

Also, after test driving a bike that had ultegra gears... there really was no going back-shifting was as smooth as butter!

But I don't have the bike yet- they needed to bring my size in from another store. And I am having some serious separation anxiety. You know the kind where you stare at pictures of it on the internet or when you want to brag about it to other people, but no one even understand why the hell you spent that much money on a bike no matter how you try and explain that it is carbon with amazing gears.... ::sigh:: The with drawl is hard!

But I get it on Tuesday and then Wednesday I have to do a crash course in how to use my new pedals and shoes. Hopefully that does not turn into a literal crash course on the subject...

Also one of the employees at Mike's Bike suggested that I try them out first on a grassy field so as not to hurt myself or my bike if I do happen to take a tumble. Good points all around!

http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?ItemID=17502&Type=bike

Week 1 Summary

So this is how my first week ended up being in comparison to my earlier schedule. Not too bad, but definitely not as full throttle as my original schedule mandated.

By Friday I could barely walk down the stairs properly, so I figured that if I was going to actually do a ride that Sunday I needed to rest up. Basically the run killed me and I am NOT looking forward to the next one that I am going to do (i.e. this evening). I've figured that if the running is going to make me that sore I needed to start doing it earlier in the week if I have any prayer of doing my rides on the weekends.

Also, I was able to give up coffee for the whole week! Whoot whoot! But have recently fallen off of the no-caffeine band wagon. Having coffee on Monday was like having a religious awakening... god, coffee is good! ::Sigh::

On that note I have been pretty exhausted at work since I started training. I can't tell if it is because I am working out more and not sleeping enough or if it is more because I am a bit stressed out from work and trying to maintain my social life WHILE training. Hopefully I will stop feeling so tired all the time and thus be able to kick my coffee habit again.

I have also been very very good about my resolution to drink more water, but not so good about cutting down on the red meats. However, this grocery trip I did buy some beans and lentils (which I don't really know how to cook yet...) so hopefully that will get me started down the lesser meat eating path.

So this week taught me a few things: A. Exercise is tiring, B. Coffee is a gift from the gods, C. I am a totally out of shape runner, D. BUT I am in pretty good cycling shape for someone who has never done it before and E. There was no way I was going to be perfect on my first week and actually keep to the schedule I made.

So, keeping all of that in mind I think it was a pretty successful first week!

Wildcat Canyon and the Three Bears

Today was Sunday and the first day that I was able to walk successfully down stairs without looking like I had pegs for legs. Ever since that run on Wednesday my inner and outter quads have been killing me! So much so that my work has decided to give me the nickname of peg legs, since it looked like I had peg legs for the past few days.

Luckily I woke up today in not perfect shape- but being able to walk down the stairs like a normal human being sure was a plus!

Originally Erica and I were going to do a 30ish mile ride out in Pleasanton, but it was just WAY to hot for that. So we decided to do an easy ride early in the morning. Little did I know that the ride Erica was going to make us go on was any thing but easy!

She decided that we should do Wildcat Canyon and the 3 Bears and since when it comes to biking I just do whatever Erica tells me to do... at 9:45am we started back up Spruce toward Wildcat Canyon.




As you can see it was a pretty intense ride, but I am really glad that I had not seen it on a map before I did it or else I think I would have psyched myself out of it.

This time I had invited Andrew's cousin's husband, Eric, and one of his friends, Dirk to join us. It was really fun to ride with them and they definitely pushed us (or me!) to ride a little bit harder. Unfortunately they didn't stick around for the whole day- but it was fun for the part that they did join us on!

Riding down Wildcat canyon was awesome and you were able to have some amazing views. Once you got all the way down the hill and were trekking around the dams the hills (there are three of them hence the name the 3 Bears) were moderate- but with no shade. It was a full 85 degrees or higher, but with a nice wind at times and going back up Wildcat canyon was in the shade. For me, a So-Cal girl and someone who has lived in Thailand, I thought that the weather was perfect! And I got to work on my tan along the way! But Erica, and I think Eric and Dirk, might have thought it was a bit too hot to be riding.

The 18 or so miles around the dams were really beautiful and the path dumps you right out in farm and horse country. That was quite a treat to bike through those areas.

In front of some hay bales half way through the ride!

What is also great about the ride is that there a long stretches of road that open up where you can bike up and down baby hills in a higher gear- which is always just such a great feeling! After a few miles in a really low gear it is nice to once again feel the resistance of the bike and really feel like you are in control.

But of course what goes down must come back up again... meaning Wildcat canyon. After getting up Spruce with sore quads and the bike around the dams I really was scared that I wasn't going to make it back up that mountain! But Erica being the great Jitensha Sensei (bike teacher) that she is was able to instill enough confidence in me that I was indeed fit enough to make it back. Besides, we had no other way of getting home! It was a BITCH of a ride back up- I am not going to lie to you. Especially at the end of a long ride. But some how we made it back up to Inspiration Point. And Erica was right in the end- this was a perfect ride to challenge me, but at the same time a ride that I was able to do, even when I doubted myself.

Of course we needed a photo op with the beautiful rolling
Cali hills behind us!

After Inspiration Point the rest were easy mini hills that you could get through with enough momentum and then the down hill along Spruce- that was just fun! At by the end of it we reached home around 1:45ish which rounded out to about 4 hours to do the whole thing. I needed to take some stops to refuel and rest, but I am not going to begrudge myself that since it was only my second time cycling!

All in all Erica, like the story of the three bears, was able to pick just the right ride for the day. Even though at times I thought she was trying to kill me!

I Hate you Running

Did my first day of running yesterday- and I still hate you running. Oh I hate you soooo much. We only did a measly 2.7 mile run and how sore I am today!

Erica sent me this uplifting image last night.

If only my relationship with running wasn't so antagonistic ::sigh::

Here is a photo of the AMAZING view from the top of Grizzly Peak, the end destination on our first ride.

Swim swim

Monday- after the bike ride on Sunday I am now determined to get back on track with my June schedule. Went swimming today for a full 30 minutes- which was not as painful as the first Saturday I went swimming- good sign. Tomorrow I will be doing 65 minutes of cycling- 45 minutes of which are a class and 20 are going to be on my own. I think that this will be okay after all.

Grizzly Peak and forays back in to swimming

Okay, so first post since I have started training!

To start I have already NOT stayed true to my June calendar that I created- but that wasn't completely my fault. Andrew's, my boyfriend, flight from the East coast was delayed a day- causing the already very short period of time that I could see him before he goes back to Thailand for 10 weeks even shorter. Consequently as a surprise he decided to stay til Saturday! YAY! But that also means that I didn't start training until Saturday mid-day. Oh well, that's life.


So Saturday I went to a public pool near my house (the Mission Pool- see above- is quite the San Francisco type of public pool!) to do a 30 minute swim, which was difficult. This was the first lap that I had done in a pool in a year and a half. UGG! It was hard getting back into the swing of things especially with all of those people at the public pool swimming all over the place. Finding my "swimming zone" was nearly impossible.

Any ways, after that I felt pretty down and out- thinking that I was way more out of shape that I had previously thought. Luckily, I had a moderate ride coming up the next day with my Hapa training partner Erica! And she was going to show me the ropes on how to cycle.



Sunday we decided to do a moderate ride up to Grizzly Peak in Berkeley. It is a good beginner ride because while it is constantly up hill til the top the grade isn't constant and averages around 4%. What was great was that I was able to use Erica's boyfriend's bike, a MUCH nicer road bike than I have, and she taught me all about gear changing and the concepts behind it. I am very fortunately to have someone so knowledgeable willing to train with me- or else I would be floating out in cycling never-neverland not knowing what the hell to do!

The ride was also very very beautiful and at the top we were rewarded with some incredible views of the whole bay area.


Here we are enjoying finally making it to the top- Erica (who has done this ride a few times) said that we made pretty good time in getting to the top in 1 hour.

Neither of us felt very depleted after wards either, so that gives me hope that not only are we in a better place than I thought we were, but we are pretty even as far as athletic ability goes.


Here is Erica on the way up :) We are still looking feisty and this was only ten minutes from the top! It was nice to know that the ride didn't kill me and that I wasn't sore after wards.

The way down was a pretty crazy ride. I don't think that I am any where near as comfortable with speed as Erica is- but maybe that will come with time... I took it a bit slow coming down. And scarily enough was almost cremated by a car backing out of their drive way! Ekk!

But to end on a good note we did see a whole hillside populated by goats on the way down and that was a pretty cool way to end the ride!