Hill Repeats

My biking sucks. Yes it's true. After racing for 7 years you would think I would be faster. I am. Just a little bit though. So I'm going to get faster. I'm getting direction in my training. 

One of the things I'm doing is hill repeats. A lot of my biking problems has to do with the fact that I can't/don't compare my bike times. I don't race my bike. I don't ride the same routes all the time. So hill repeats will help me be able to compare and improve.

Cannon is practically the only hill in Orange, so that's where I'm starting.

The first repeat I did on my first week was about 5:10. The last one on my second week was 4:15. HUGE improvement! I'm going to try to do this twice a month.

A Cyclist's Mother's Day Gift

I think most mothers would cringe at the idea of watching a bike race on Mother's Day. But I'm no regular mom.

Skyler got us VIP passes to watch Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California. Even though it meant driving out to Escondido, I was so excited to watch the race.

We packed up the car and headed out to the race start. It was a 110 mile stage, so we didn't see the start. We hung out at finish line village for two hours before the racers came in. They were expected to come in sooner, but it was near 110 degrees! Yes, it was scorching hot! Desmond was getting a little too warm, so we stripped him down and let him play in a nearby fountain.

Our passes got us entry into the Michelob VIP party. Food, drinks, TVs, and most importantly shade! We were just feet from the finish line too.

When the cyclists began coming in, people were banging their hands on the barriers to make noise. I thought Desmond would be scared, but he was doing it too! He's no newbie....this is his third professional bike race after all!

Spending the day with my family was exactly what I wanted to do, but the Amgen Tour was icing on the cake.