On

Ugh it's another one of those weeks. It feels like I can't get to the grocery store to get anything healthy to eat, I'm not getting enough sleep and I am cranky-pants and exhausted.

My 'sh'edule has worked its way to being FULL one week, then I'm off a week. This week is on, with something after work Monday-Wednesday. Then Thursday I should ride. Friday night sit, then just spin the wheel all weekend with errands and balancing time with my babay and training. It definitely starts to feel like things are out of control. Also work is picking up for the Summer.

Positives:

• Completed circle skirt and box pleat/accordian pleat skirt this week in Apparel Arts.
• Made a new sloper to reflect the two inches I've lost off my waist and hips since January!
• Started drafting a contoured waistband skirt, only a couple more exercises before I make two skirts out of fashion fabric. I have plenty of ideas!


• The Pelican looks great and on trend with neon accessories for Spring.
• I like the new short reach SOMA HWY1 bars
• Took the Rivet saddle  out for a 90 miler Sunday, I think I like it. Still needs more testing.
• Love the way the Swift Industries tool roll looks on the Pelican.

• My legs felt good on the bike this morning.



• I can highly recommend drawrrrring Lucha Libre masked models at least once in your lifetime.

The music at Dr Sketchy's last night was really really great, had some help from Pamela Palma and Jesse Mullan this time around. The Frida soundtrack is fantastic. Still loving the Lumineers. Especially 'Slow it Down'. The new Bowie album is taking a while to grow on me, 'The Stars (Are Out Tonight)' is a goodie. Rodrigo y Gabriela play some mean acoustic guitars, of course their cover of Stairway to Heaven is amazing.

I endeavor to take a deep breath before talking this week. Everything is too close to the surface and unfiltered shit just keeps pouring out of my mouth.

The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake * 5:12 AM - April 18, 1906

Every part of Marin seemed to sparkle like gemstones last Sunday. Usually the light from noon-3pm washes everything out, the colors get flat and dry. Not on Sunday. The sky was very very blue all day long and the landscape reminded me of France in the summer, with every shade of green imaginable put to good use. Olives to acid to red greens.

One of my teammates pointed to the grass on the hills which appeared to be 'swirling' from the wind. It was a day during which I enjoyed looking at the landscape and the changes of the road. I felt like I experienced a valley and wondered whether the road on which I was riding had once been a stream or well worn path from travelers in the distance past. I looked forward to where the road would rise and we would ride over the hills that I could see in the distance.



We took our turn from the Point Reyes Petaluma road onto Nicassio Valley, then turned left into Rancho Nicassio.

 

I went into the store there to see about getting a salty snack. The charming man at the counter asked another passing cyclists about her ride, and she told him that she had just finished. He asked me about our ride and I answered that we had been through Point Reyes Station and we were on the way back to the city. While paying for my snack, he showed me a book that had had a pot of coffee spilled onto it but that he could not bare to throw away because it contained stories written about San Francisco.

He asked me if I had time for one of them and preceded to read me a story, written by Jack London, about the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906.

Jack London wandered around the city taking notes about what was happening as the fire spread. I was captivated by this southern gentleman reading to me about the desperate folks hauling trunks full of all their belongings from neighborhood to neighborhood trying to escape the fire. Some workers buried their trunks. Refugees had gathered in 'the grass' of Union Square because it had been deemed a safe place, until the fire banked the square on three sides. An employee from a hotel had been tasks with numerous trunks from guests and was looking to pay $1000 for horses and a cart to get them to safety. There were no horses for hire.

He read to me for about ten minutes. I am very grateful to my fellow southerner for reading me a wonderful story out in the middle of glorious green rolling hills.

Normally, the stretch of Nicassio Vally road back to Sir Francis Drake sucks my very soul dry of all happy thoughts. I don't like it. It goes up and down over and over and it doesn't make any sense. But this time it felt different.

Two training rides/week

I bumped up my training rides to two last weekend, a Headlands 35 miler with 2400' of climbing and a 55 mile ride out to Fairfax and back with 4600' of climbing. At least these are the stats according to Ridewithgps. It's good enough for me.
 
My friend Kacey and I enjoyed a foggy one Saturday. There was nothing at all to be seen in the Headlands and we were on top of the ever changing tone of fog horns as we popped over the GG bridge. Believe it or not there were tourists out on rent-a-bikes.


We did the loop and took McCullough road back to the roundabout. Now I know why people ride out through the tunnel to Bunker road, McCullough is a-bitch-of-a-never-ending climb. I could feel my legs at the end of this ride for sure.

I was able to cut out patterns Saturday afternoon, yay! I had 3 flared skirts on the chopping block: Princess flare, A line and bias flare.

Had a Saturday night work function that kept me out past a decent bedtime. 5am sure did come early.

The Cat 2 folks wanted to get us over the bridge early due to a race, 6:30 is indeed the earliest I have ever ridden over the bridge. Even SFR events tend to start later than this.

Since I had been sick the previous week and trained Saturday, I opted out of the full 75 mile ride. That was smart on my part because I was exhausted afterwards. The rest of Sunday was a wash on the bed watching Mad Men & Game of Thrones. I was too tired to even nap properly.

My team training recommends starting two training rides/week in April and I'm glad that I am doing it. This weekend was a crash course in what the 7 day ride will be like and I hope to survive without my crankypants.

Yesteday was pretty tough, I could have slept all day. It does make me wonder if I'm overtraining or if this is just what happens when the levels get bumped up. (Tuesday my legs feel fine and I feel rested so there you go). Recovery is an interesting process.

Last night night in Apparel Arts was all assembly line, all night. I pinned together all 3 skirts, then banged them out on the sewing machine. They all fit really well, if not a little too big now. I am drafting a circle skirt with a smaller waist to see if I'm on the right track. I am pretty sure that my waist has narrowed by 2 inches since I started class in January. If the tape measure is to be believed, I have also shrunk 2 inches in the low hip. Bike riding changes your body for sure.

Tonight is Dr Sketchy's 'April in Paris'!

March mileage= 400
Fundraising= $3850

Donations gladly accepted here: http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/AliceStribling

Have been feeling poorly

Enjoy some photos.

Big Rock on Lucas Valley Road.

Babycakes before Cirque du Soleil.

Some ladies at Viva Las Vegas. The Satorialist happened to be there.



We're drawing April in Paris at Dr Sketchy's on Tuesday. See ya there!

Also, if you care about changing a neighborhood landscape for the better, please consider reading about Polk Street improvements and signing this petition.

Sign here: http://tinyurl.com/cuwyoyj