Saturday, February 21, 2009

It's a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

Just like Mr. Rogers sang, it is " a beautiful day in the neighborhood" - this neighborhood of course being the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Southern Spain.

Today was another epic day - a new route that Andy calls "The Kirkwood Express" - not sure why, but after spending a full month with 15 guys, anything that involves wood or phallic fruit is sure to have some secondary "guy" meaning. Looking forward to a girl's night out (after a night with my boyfriend, of course - let's make sure there's no mistake about priorities!!).

The ride today featured nearly 8k feet of climbing and was glorious - my favorite ride so far. Just the right balance of climbing gradients and descending - quiet, empty roads, spectacular views and BONUS - warm sunshine! I have the silliest tan at the moment - need to let the upper 1/2 of my face get some sun before I get home!

After the ride, I headed out for a short transition run - I brought my camera along and took pictures of the flowers in bloom.

Tonight we say farewell to one of our campers and Monday, I lose my roommate, Richard. Bummed to say goodbye and will definitely miss riding w/ these boys. It's a good thing I get in all this socializing because it's a solitary training road from here on out. I'll keep these new memories and experiences and let them fuel me thru the year. If I can climb these mountains, I can climb any hill back home.

As we drove home from the Pico de Veleta climb yesterday and I was just drifting off to sleep, a Wyclef song came on - the lyrics are all too perfect for those of us Ironman folks...

"See you have got to understand, I can't work a 9 to 5, so I'll be gone 'til November"

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