Rando-crazy

On Sunday, it was like this. Pedal... x 1 million.

Up a hill to the bridge, out a path, wind, sun, up White's hill, out to Petaluma (mile 45), Petaluma to Valley Ford (mile 60ish), VF to Pt Reyes Station (cross my threshold of 75 miles into unknown possibly dark mental territory) to Pt Reyes Station (mile 86), and back onto familiar territory, race back to the bridge and over. And done.

• 124 miles/200 k
• Ridewithgps says 8887ft of climbing
• 12 hours, 16 minutes
• Well deserved beer, burger and flowers from my baby afterwards!
• Quite an accomplishment

I was very grateful to my riding buddy, Juliayn. We rode the entire day together, she was very kind to me during the dark times and we had a nice day.

I don't know what else to say about it, I'm still processing and recovering.

I took one photo of Juliayn photo-stalking the lambs:



And she took photos of me, her entire set is here. Also more photos of the ride from Vélocia.



In art news, some friends and I drew at Catherine Mackey's studio Saturday:



And we drew Vivian de Milo's Magic Tea Party Tuesday at Dr Sketchy's.



Pam Palma posted some great photos on flickr

The rest of my week is going to be all about recovery. I am very tired.

xoxo,
Moxie

"She's got moxie in spades"

I heard it on an Absolute Ru Paul drag race commercial and it may have changed my life forever. The definition has been running around in my head all week: The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.

I have considered changing my middle name to Alice Moxie Stribling.

But of course the more practical solution is to get this tattooed on my person. My logic is that when I'm tired of being in the saddle, I can look down and see it and think about what it is to face difficulty with spirit and courage.

This is who I want to be.

On Sunday, I rode 60 miles out to China Camp and back. I met friends in Mill Valley and we went through some turns that I'll never remember (good thing I have this), through San Rafael and out to the park. It's a beautiful place.



Monday in pattern making, I sewed up the pleated/godet skirt and holy crap I like it. It's very flattering and I'll probably make one in some for-real fabric.

I also cut the fabric for the seamed skirt, there are 4 front pieces and 6 back pieces, so this one is a little time consuming. My teacher showed me how to draft two more patterns to do over the long break (we're off for President's day).




Oh yeah, I got my hair cut. My stylist rocks.



Thanks to Mom's Body Shop, Olivia Olivier, and Dave Groeschel for having their annual $25 Valentine heart tattooing extravaganza. Dave is going to donate all the profits to my AIDS/LifeCycle fund. So awesome.





Sunday is the SFR Two Rock/Valley Ford 200k. I am embracing it.

xoxo,
MOXIE

On Tuesday night, we drew a Mermaid

Monday night in pattern making was eventful. I tried on the empire waist/pencil/kick pleat skirt that I drafted last week and it only needed one little adjustment, which is amazing.

Now I have two patterns that I like a lot: the yoke/slit and this one. I'm going to transfer them both to the heavyweight oak tag and sew a little something for myself when I have a hot minute.

I also asked my teacher to help with a shirt project that I started for my BF for his birthday in September. whoops. I got stuck when I had some fit issues, but now I can take another crack at it.

AND she had me draft an odd little skirt. A lowered waist/asymmetrical seam dealy deal. I don't know about this one. Maybe I'll like it.

Tuesday at Dr Sketchy's was much more photographically interesting than pattern making. We drew a mutha effing mermaid. You know, like you do.

One of our amazing volunteers, Andres, put this mervent together. Apparently there are many mermaids out there in the world, our lady Rachel is 'head mermaid' at Dive Bar in Sacramento. They have a 40 foot tank and the merpeople do underwater acrobatics...like every day of the week.

Rachel brought two really cool tails. The shape of her legs encased in the fabric and silicone was really fun to draw. So shapely and beautiful. Her poses were well thought out and quite lovely. I really like my drawings.






I've been sick so I haven't done much riding other than commuting. The SFR Two Rock/Valley Ford 200k is still on my radar for the 17th. I'm a little nervous, but I just made my plan. Again if I stick to 11mph average with quick breaks, I should finish within the time limit. That's slower than my usual average, so it's do-able. I also have a backup plan. My friend Diane is going to go out drawing in the area so that I can call her if needed. <3 !!

Also, here is an opportunity to support my AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising and get a $25 heart tattoo. My friend Dave's shop is having a Valentine's special, all profits will go towards ALC, which will then support the AIDS Foundation and Gay and Lesbian centers in SF and LA.

Mom's Body Shop

Yoke skirt fits like a dream. Aced the Populaire.

This week I'll go in chronological order.

Saturday I rode the SFR Populaire. I volunteered at the start, which meant getting up at 4 in the morning, and leaving my house at 5:30. Hello full moon. It is a bit creepy strange riding through Golden Gate park at the time of the day, but riding through the Presidio is a little different. It's wild and calming/still at the same time.

I was the first to arrive at 10 minutes to 6.

Note to self, maybe an hour is all I need for breakie, shower, whatnot before the ride. Also, no one seemed to arrive right at 6. Sleep is good.



My plan for the ride was to take it slow, I average about 12-13 mph. I figured that if I rode at 11, I would finish a half hour before our allotted 7.5 hours. The ride is 114k/70 miles. I had no knee pain! Going to the bike fitter when these issues arise is awesome.

I started out after most of the main herd, and rode by myself out to Pt Reyes Station. This was also part of the plan. I had no expectations to ride with anyone, 'keep up' or 'get dropped'. This was awesome for my brain, with no pressure to be like anyone else, I just rode for myself. What a relief.

The ride out to Pt Reyes Station was beautiful, we had golden light and a little wind and chill. My only regret on the ride was that I didn't stop to photograph the stretch between White's (shitty) Hill and Samuel P Taylor park. The hills on that section of Sir Francis Drake are uniquely shaped, with these strange rocks in the middle. My friend Diane put it best, she said they look like aliens dropped them from out of space into the landscape. So bizarre. At that time of the morning, they were truly bathed in the golden light of the gods, with strong dark shadows making them pop out of the green. Another note to self, invest in a small camera that is easier to deal with than my phone so that I can stop and document the lovely.

In Pt Reyes Station, I got my thing that got me my receipt to prove that I was there. Then I chatted up miss Kimber and we set off together for the second half of this expedition.

It was nice to have a buddy to chat with, chatting and telling stories makes climbing so much easier/faster.

Right, right so that was Saturday. I finished! It was fun. I was not completely wrecked and tired though I did get sick. It's likely asthma related so I'm taking it easy. Next up: Two Rock Valley Ford/200k on Feb. 17th.

Monday night in Apparel Arts I tried on my yoke skirt with the slit and it is super cute.

So 3 weeks in and I have a pattern that fits perfectly!! YES. I am transferring this one to oak tag and I'm planning on making a finished skirt soon. Also my teacher is going to help me with some issues I'm having on a shirt that I'm making for Bill. She rocks.

There is an AIDS/LifeCycle Expo this Saturday. I might do the Cat 2 ALC ride out to Fairfax Sunday. Not sure yet.

Here's a photo from the start of our brevet. There was a 200k out to the Lighthouse/Marshall on the same day. About 200 folks rode that day. Rob said SFR is the biggest RUSA club in the US. WOW.