Super Awesome Wife Weekend

Well before I get into the details of what turned out to be a great Labor Day weekend some praise is due to Mrs. CAthlete who proved once again this weekend that I sure lucked out when she decided that I was her one and only. Allow me to explain. On Saturday we spent a majority of the day up at Del Valle (more to come on that later) and then at Jen's suggestion we stopped by our LBS to look at the end of season sales. I had been over at the other shop near our apartment on Friday and noticed that there were some great deals on road bikes. I didn't see anything in my size but seeing the deals was encouraging. So on Saturday we stopped by the store in Livermore but I was a bit discouraged because the only thing in my size (60 cm) was a Madone 5.0 and it was clearly out of my price range. I spoke with the owner for a while and he answered all of my questions about the bike and did a great job explaining everything. The whole time I kept looking at Jen waiting for the "well that bike is too expensive" look - AND IT NEVER CAME. Well I convinced myself that she was just being nice and waiting until we left the store but after getting fit for the bike and riding it around a bit I still hadn't received the look! We left the store and the first thing out of Jen's mouth was "Well, this probably isn't what you were expecting, but I think you should get that bike". EXCUSE ME? HUH! I SHOULD DO WHAT NOW?!?!??!?! - Needless to say I felt like I was falling in love with this wonderful woman all over again. This one small event that was taking place after a series of events was making a huge impact on my way of thinking - I needed to make my wife feel extra special more often, I needed to appreciate what I had, I needed to be thankful for all the little things that are easy to take for granted, I needed to be happy that I am able to get up early in the morning to work out, and I needed to stop worrying about little things that I can't do anything about anyway. The closure of the Bay Bridge led to Jen changing our plans for Saturday, which led to our being at Del Valle, which led to the suggestion that we stop by the bike store, which led to my new bike, which led to my realizations.

Saturday - Rented a canoe with Jen at Del Valle
Total Canoe Time: 2.5 Hours

Saturday morning we got up, got some breakfast, stocked up on lunch supplies for the cooler, then headed up to Del Valle to rent a canoe and have a fun day. We were up there fairly early and there were no crowds to speak of. We were able to get a canoe and we headed out on the reservoir at around 10am. We didn't bring our lunch with us but we did bring some snacks so after we reached the end of the reservoir we stopped in a nice shady spot and had our snack and Jen swam for a bit. I had forgotten how much fun canoeing is and we both had a really fun time - this was something we decided we needed to do more often. Once we were back at the docks we turned in our canoe and headed over to have our lunch. Sandwiches and beer - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - we hung out for a bit and relaxed before heading back towards town and the bike store. That evening we rode our bikes over to the Sports Bar for dinner and drinks.

Sunday - NEW BIKE, NEW BIKE, NEW BIKE, NEW BIKE, NEW BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Madone 5.0 - ultegra components - bontrager race lite tires - one happy happy man

Sunday was supposed to be day two of our weekend of fun hiking and events but instead it was to be the day of the new bike purchase or as I like to call it - The Day of the Super Wife. Jen had been looking forward to our big hike weekend for quite a while and now my bike purchase was screwing up those plans. She was being a good sport about the whole thing but I could tell that she was disappointed that the day was not going according to plan. My day was a mix of emotions - I was elated about the new bike but at the same time felt bad that it had upset our plans. Nothing gets me down quite like a bummed out or upset Mrs. CAthlete so needless to say I was in a strange emotional state.

Monday Bike 28 miles solo
Total Time: 1:49:35
Avg MPH: 15.4

First ride on the new bike - I headed out around 7:45 on Monday morning for my first ride on the new bike. It is one smooth cruising machine - I was able to cruise along at 19 or 20 mph at what seemed to be an easy effort. I saw a few other bikers out riding and rode with another guy for a bit (well, I passed him and he rode behind me for a while). About a third of the way through the ride I got my first flat tire; fortunately Jen had suggested I ask the guy at the bike shop to show me how to change a tire the day before so I actually knew what I was doing. I had it changed in about 20 minutes and was back on my way. About 100 feet down the road I wasn't sure if my computer was working or not so I stopped and checked it out for a second - it seemed to be working so I started up again but slowly. For some reason I turned to the left and realized I did not have enough speed to make the turn - then slowly, ever so slowly, I started to fall. Although it happened in a matter of seconds to me it seemed like I could have eaten lunch on the way down. I remember thinking - oh shit! This is happening - this is happening to meeeee! I should move my right foot all the way over to catch me, nope that won't work, oh well, here comes the ground - WHAM. I made the mistake of trying to reach out to catch myself instead of just absorbing it with my shoulder so my hand and wrist hurt for a few minutes after the fall; thankfully all I ended up with was a sore hip bone and a bit of a bruise (on my hip and mentally). The remainder of the ride went well, no more flats or falls, and I got home just in time to meet up with Jen and Maritza before going to breakfast. The bike ride was awesome and the new bike is great - the only thing I thought was a bit strange was my average mph - I thought I had been going a bit faster than that the whole time but I am new to the computer and maybe just need to get used to the way it tracks your time/pace/etc. I'll be sure to take it on a ride with Jen and her Garmin to check the accuracy of the distance and mph.

We ended the day with a nice ride up at the Sunol Regional Wilderness - it was nice to get out and do something together to end the day.

Tuesday Morning Swim
Total Distance: 750 y/m
Time: 14:34

Alarm went off at 5am today and I was up and out the door at 5:07 - my shorts, shirt, shoes, and pack were waiting by the door which makes the sleep to up and at 'em transition much much easier. I was up to the gym and in the water at 5:25 and got in a good 750 leaving me with about 7 minutes for the steam room.

So now we begin a nice short work week and we are headed into Birthday weekend (Jen is turning another year wiser and more beautiful) which should be a lot of fun.