ouch

If I press this little spot on my quad, right above the inside of my knee, it hurts.

I took a "rest" from racing this weekend. And I am more hobbled this Monday than most. But its that sweet kind of tired.

What a long weekend.

I decided to get away a little this weekend. No plans, no meeting times, no obligations. Each morning I got up when I wanted and decided where I wanted to ride by nothing but circumstance and plain ol "what do I feel like?".

On Saturday I awoke to thick fog and drizzle. So I hung out for a bit with some bella blend and watched the emmas terrorize each other. There was laundry, dishes and bella work to be done and I did none of them. Just sipped yummy coffee and watched kitties.

Eventually I decided that I wanted to go mountain biking, but I wanted to do it in the sun. I headed out and drove near UCSC and it was socked in with drippy fog. I kept driving. The sun appeared in San Jose and a glance up at the hills looked good so I headed for Skeggs.

Once I got to Skeggs, however, the fog was raging. Skeggs was right at the meeting point of fog and sun which made it windy and eerie. So be it. Nothing better for a solo mtb ride than eerie creepy fog.

Solo mtb rides.

Not the smartest thing.
Especially for a woman.
Especially for a particularly clutzy woman.
Especially for a particularly clutzy woman who neglects to tell anyone where she is.

But sometimes thats what I do.

I like being alone. ...I think I actually need to be alone sometimes. Just me and my thoughts and my own selfish whims. No one to attend to or care about, but me. No one else's schedule but mine. Its nice sometimes.

And for a while it was. But then it started not to be. I'm sort of boring, I decided.

I was just heading back in to end my ride, when, sitting in the only spot of sunshine in the whole park, I spotted several roaring meese. They looked cheery and there was sunshine there. And so I glommed on to their ride for a bonus rip rouring fun little time down Manzanita. Damn, I love that trail. With the luxury of people around, I got to zipzip down it all retarded like. I think I was on the edge of disaster the whole time down and man, that made me smile. And seeing someone come back all strong after being hit by a car last year (Go Julie), well that made me smile too.

On Sunday, I missed the boat on a road ride I was going to do, and I wasn't about to spend another day with my boring self, so last minute decision was made to hook up with a ride I had seen on the TWW list. They are always fun. And the bonus was that Gin was going to put down the weights and the home theater stuff and the dozen other excuses he has for not riding, and ride.

Who could miss that? I headed out, did a loop on my own and then met up with the crazy TWW crew for a thank you may I please have another.

We ripped and railed and threw ourselves down vertical beaches. I have to admit that I got into the boy jousting with Gin a little. Just a little. It was a silly good time.

And near the end of the ride I was done. So done. I was so done that at one point on the long crawl home, a sheepdog came out and looked as if he was going to bite my ankle. And I pretty much didn't care. Moving, or speeding up, or caring, would have taken too much energy. Bite me.

I hurried home to take care of a little "family" emergency. But managed to capture a few moments with a beer and some sunshine on the front porch, and shot the shit with Brenty. He was so worried and anxious to get on the plane to see his wife. That man loves him some Jen. Jen's injuries aside, it was sort of beautiful to witness his concern, his genuine love. Its amazing how, once you find that love yourself, its so much easier to spot and admire in others.

There was no question that even though I was dirty, hungry and tired, that I was going to take him to the airport. Stat.

And so I did.


I arrived home a couple of hours later with just enough time and energy for a "how was your weekend" exchange with Michael before crashing out cold. As much as we missed each other, thats all we, each with our own adventures that weekend, could muster.

When I get off work, its straight home. We've got some make up time to cover, and I have this little spot on my quad, right above the inside of my knee...