Laryssa's Birthday Ride

It was a BIG weekend for team Shut up & Sweat.

We kicked off the birthday festivities on Saturday with a 9am Laryssa- Liz swim lessons. It was nice and frustrating- just the way I am sure that Laryssa likes her swim lessons! We have been working on kicking, breathing and proper body alignment and even though it doesn't seem that way to her we ARE making progress. I WILL have her ready to swim come race season 2011 damn it!

After that it was a little R & R time until the big night where we caught dinner at Ryoko's near Union Square and then off to MJ's Birthday Bootie Mash Up at DNA.

Where we were doing a bit of this:

and this....

oh, and of course some of this:

You know, exactly the kinda of things you want to be doing til 4 am the night before a 30 mile ride that ends in a climb up Pinehurst!

Any who, we were all back up bright and early at 9 am to go to St. Francis's Fountain for a breakfast so huge that the waiter's couldn't believe how much we were consuming. They kept coming over to our table with orders and asking "Do these waffles with strawberries really belong at this table that already has hash browns, huevos rancheros, many sides of eggs, two cheesy-potato-egg-sour cream-concoctions and a milk shake?!". Oh yes they do!

Then off to Berkeley for our Sunday ride. The Pinehurst ride is Laryssa's nemesis just the way that Wildcat is mine. The first time we went on this ride Laryssa and I had only stopped drinking about 3 hours before the ride and it was brutal going up that hill. So of course it was the perfect ride to do on her birthday!

We had a few new riders as well: Erica's friend Sven, his friend Paulie, and Erica's boyfriend Darwin who cycles with us off and on.

All in all the ride went really well and luckily it turned out not to be too hot or cold that day. It was Erica's first hang-over ride and she was quite the trooper! It was also my first ride after a long night of dancing in heels- and let me tell you my knees did NOT appreciate that decision by the end of the ride!

While my knees might not have appreciated the weekend I sure was happy to have a chance to wear my favorite Pepto-Bismol T-shirt that was happily donated to me by Erica :)

Of course Laryssa had that Birthday Energy going for her so when it came to Pinehurst she powered up that hill and put us all to shame!

Her victory photo at the top!

That girl dominated that hill and can now proudly say that Pinehurst is no longer her nemesis! We all have to move on to bigger and better things eventually...

Darwin, happy to be at the top of the hill- he was a bit worse for a wear since his job has been working him 24/7!

After that it was smooth sailing down hill and off to a yummy Chinese dinner at Mandarin Garden- where we actually ate the restaurant out of food! HA!

Poor owner he had no idea what he was getting into by having us all eat there after a long weekend and long ride!

Team Shut up & Sweat good thing we aren't obese after all the food we consume!

For good measure, here's a video that Erica filmed while biking- very safe of her!