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My first solo Christmas, in many years.

This Christmas was very different as it was my first solo. As many of you know, Brendan and I are no longer together. We are best friends and I will still be racing for Siren, though. We've just decided to make a transition as we've both grown.

For the holidays, we each spent it our own ways. I went to NM with Dave - our dog that many of you know, the black duv - my beautiful Karmann Ghia, and Carbonita - my fifty-five. We visited family and I was able to have a wonderful time with them.

It started at 230 am when I left Idyllwild last Friday. My heater on the Ghia wasn't working, so I bundled dave and myself up in down and gave myself plenty of time to make it to NM. I was rocking out and got to Tucson by noon. Then, unpredictable things always happen; my generator went out on the interstate north of Tucson. Fortunately, I called my brother who was immediately on his way - did I mention what an awesome family I have. Dave and I had plenty of time to wait, so we took a really long walk, an equally long nap, and had lots of play time at the exit where we broke down. My brother and mom got there just in time when it was starting to get cool and dark.

We stayed the night in Tucson and spent Saturday morning driving to NM. What an adventure! Sunday, my dad and I started on the tune-up and generator replacement for the Ghia. It's so much fun working on the car with my dad. We get greasy together and poke fun at each other. We ended up fixing the heating, replacing the generator, adjusting the timing, fixing my window crank, adjusting my wonky headlights, adjusting the valves, and just giving the thing a general tune-up. Then, for Christmas, my little brother (not so little really) installed a stereo in the black Duv that brings to your attention how outdated (by 30 years) everything else is on the car.

For Christmas we had a full house and it was the first time I'd seen my parents new house. They've moved out of the house where I grew up to get out into the country a little and have a fresh start in a smaller place since their kids have all moved out. My two brothers and two of my sisters were there with all of the beautiful nieces and nephews in tow. It was quite a site, but welcoming.

My beautiful Nieces singing and playing the guitars together.

My troublesome nephews climbing under the tree to see what Santa brought.


While I was there, I was able to get in a ride in the Lincoln National Forest. I had forgotten how raw the trails are there and it was pretty grueling getting up dry canyon - nonetheless worth it all as it was very beautiful.


Drive up to Cloudcroft after the ride

Then, before leaving town, I made one more trip to the mountains with my mom. She has a friend, Mary, who may not live much longer and spends the days in bed on oxygen. Mary followed me on the Tour Divide and asked my mom to make sure that she met "Siren Mary" as it was very important. Mary is an independent lady and said that she's never known a Mary that wasn't feisty and told me how she was threatening people around her that weren't nice. She told them that she would haunt them when she passed. What a wonderful lady, her son is freaked out!

Last night Dave and I made it back to Tucson and will spend the weekend here unwinding before we head back into the Idyllwild Snow. We even hit snow on our way here last night, but now my heater and defroster work, so it wasn't bad. We've learned through all of this that we can do anything! I'll head back to Idyllwild this week and get back on the trainer - we've got a season to prepare for and a roofrack to find!

Mary, Dave, the black Duv and Carbonita

Killer winter rides, slow time on the blog.

Looks like right now is a slow time on many blogs. Don't be fooled, it's a good time for ridin'. I've been a bit relaxed in the blog, but... not on the bike!

The last couple weekends have been great epic rides. Gyan came up from San Diego (and a few friends from Orange County) a couple weekends ago and we shuttled Palm Canyon. Just because it's a shuttle, doesn't mean it's easy, as it was surely an all day great ride with lots of work. Gyan has a great writeup with lots of photos.

Then last weekend, we went out and rode with a few locals for another beautiful epic. About 5 hours of singletrack with lots of fog.

Now... snow! It hit, about a foot deep last night. Surprisingly, the karmann ghia did amazing (I know, I shouldn't be amazed.) It's rear wheel drive, but with the engine right on top of the wheels, it just plows through. I saw a lot of jacked-up-california trucks spinning out as I cruised right by. I bought chains for her, but haven't had to put them on yet.

I've got a few days of work, then next weekend should be good as I'm driving to NM to see family for Christmas. I can't wait. I'm bring Carbonita and planning to get in some good weather rides (I'll bring a camera - our point and shoot broke again!) I've just gotta bear through this week, but it's passing quickly.

I hope everyone is getting in some good riding and if not... do it!

Adios and have a good holiday.

Tagged again

Okay, Jeni tagged me again and I've been thinking about this one. I'll do my part by sharing some stuff about myself, but I've run out of people to tag.

The Rules: List 6 random things about yourself that most people do not know, then tag 6 more people and post their links.

1. I started riding my honda cb50 when I was 7. My bicycle pretty much went out the window then!

2. In High School, I moved across the country and signed myself into a school in Washington State - and totally got away with it.
3. On the divide, I took a nap in a ditch for a couple hours, once the film crew left me for the day.
4. When I was 12, I got "lost" in the mountains and spent the night out on the trail to walk out in the morning to helicopters and search and rescue calling my name.
5. I was a photojournalist for a little while and got to fly in an aerobatic airplane pulling 3Gs (loop) while photographing which made the mirror in my camera stick - and I didn't puke!
6. I've almost perfected a handstand.

Way to Rock, Ian.

Wow, what a great weekend on the bike! Temecula was such a good crowd and Ian came through with an stellar performance.

I didn't fare so well. I felt a little congested Saturday morning, but still wanted to give it a try. I went out strong and won the dam climb - fifty bucks in my pocket there! But, about 50 miles in, I started feeling pretty tired and sore. I could feel that I was fighting off a cold and didn't want to go down that road. I decided to stop after lap 6 (60 miles) and just enjoy the company in the pits. My excuse that I rode from Canada to Mexico this year, got me off the hook for this one.

I wasn't sure where Ian was, as I hadn't seen him all day. I checked out the results and Ian was on the same lap as me and in 2nd place for the beginners. So, I stayed in the pit waiting for him to come in and pushed him back out as quick as he came in. He was riding strong and consistent. What a great first race. When he came back around after lap 7, we told him what place he was in and that he had to go back out. Ian rolled in from lap 8 right around 8:00, which didn't leave him time for a 9th lap. His classification might have been a little screwy, as he wasn't announced for the podium. He would have won the beginner category, but we're still waiting to hear what happened with that. Anyhow, congrats to Ian on a super stellar performance. I'm so proud!

And, thanks to Todd, Brendan and Dave for being great support while also kicking butt in the 5 person open category on singlespeeds. It was good to see everyone out there.

Temecula, here WE come!

Next weekend, I'll be racing a local 12 hr, my first one in a looong time. I'm excited to get out there and try to go fast again. It will be a fun race as I'll be pitting with lots of friends.

My co-worker, Ian, who is truly a moto guy, somehow got sucked into it too. I guess, the constant lunch harassment was just too much. Ian had a road bike, which he used to gain fitness and lose weight, but now he's realizing how much fun it is to shred it on the local trails. I could tell he got psyched about mountain biking, so I've gone out with him a couple times and I think he's gonna kill the beginner class at Temecula. It's his first mountain bike race ever and he's just diving into the solo 12 hr. Whoah.

Brendan will be joining up with Todd, Dave, and a friend of Dave's to do a singlespeed team. I raced that course once on a ss and it about killed me. Good luck to you guys with about 1,400 feet of elevation gain per lap.

We'll all be pitting together and I've heard there will be some good competition. It's supposed to be pretty warm during the day, which means the night shouldn't be too bad. I'd rather have heat than cold anyday.

Wish us luck and we'll see many of you at Temecula!

Also, if any of you didn't get our Fall newsletter, shoot us a line and we'll add you to our mailing list. You can check it out here.

RE-Connected...

This weekend, I had some mental clarity that got me reconnected in a couple ways!

I was thinking yesterday, how the whole world seemed quiet for the last week and started looking around at a couple blogs. There were new entries on lots of peoples' blogs that I didn't know about. The world had been turning without me for a couple weeks. Turns out my rss to email subscription was on the fritz!! No wonder, things were quiet. I've remedied that one and sorry Scott that I missed your wedding pic.

I also got reconnected on the bike and it felt GOOOOOOD! I went out for a ride/hike with Dave and Brendan in Garner Valley, near Butterfly peak. We've never explored out there before, so it was new territory - accessible from our front door. Since I've been home, we've been shreddin' super techy stuff, for some reason, and the guys have been hammering me into the ground. Well, getting out to butterfly peak was lots of dirt roads and double track, and finally, I felt at home on my bike again. We won't talk about who hammered who, but MAN it was good. It feels so good to just be able to ride hard. We also had to hike for a couple hours with our bikes overhead, as it was an exploration. Thanks guys for a good weekend! I grabbed the pic above from Dave - he's got more on his blog.

Lastly, I got home to some good juju from a friend of ours at Sabrosa who builds some beautiful bikes. Thanks JRH! Life is goin' good with the world turnin' again.