The 2009 Plan. It's on!

Ok... after A LOT of thinking... A LOT of waiting (for my foot to come around) and a bit of indecisiveness I have finished up my 2009 racing schedule. I am definitely taking a different approach this year.

does anybody know where this is?

I will still be racing in some Xterra races and plan on getting to nationals, but I will be trying some new things. I really want to see how good of a runner I can become and also after being so focused last year on my Xterra goals I just want to have fun. This might shock some people who probably thought I would be gunning for another race in Maui this year... but that's not going to happen. No Worlds for me this year. Being so focused all of the last year on one goal definitely did a bit of damage on me mentally. I was totally burned out at the end of the season and am just starting to get the itch to race again. I have gone to Maui for Xterra Worlds 3 years in a row, I had a good race last year, so I am going to skip this year and save my $$$ and time... and sanity. I'll be back in 2010 and ready to do work.

Here's the schedule. It could still change a bit if I find some more trail races to do but as of right now it's the plan.

3/7 - Counting coup Endurance MTB (44 miles)
3/14 - St. Patty's day 10k (tradition)

Big Training Weekend

3/28 - XTERRA Chanoko Xduro- 21km (trail run)

3/29 - XTERRA REAL

4/5 - Carlsbad 5000 (road 5k, never done one before)

4/25 - 24 hours of Adrenalin - Hurkey Creek - 8 hour mtb race, 2-man

5/2 - Xterra West Cup - A Race!

5/9 - Xterra Malibu creek 14 miler - trail race
5/16 - San Diego Century

5/30 - Honu 70.3

6/14 - Xterra Snow Valley - B

***Start Running Focus***

7/4 - Scripps Ranch Old Pros 10k

7/11 - XTERRA Sugarbush Xduro- 20km (trail run)

8/15 - Pikes Peak Ascent - A Race!

8/22 - Bulldog 50k

9/26 - Xterra Nationals - A Race!

I will also be running the San Diego Track Club's Dirt Dog XC series. I think this is the best local racing.... hands down.

My "season" will officially end after nationals on 9/26 but I am considering a couple more fall/winter races and also plan to try some cyclocross.

Possibilities:
10/11 - Chicago Marathon

11/15 - Catalina Eco Marathon

12/6 - Xterra trail running worlds

That's it for now. Training is going well this week. This week is all about recovery. I have gotten a couple of runs, a swim, and fun off road ride. I have a big ride coming up this weekend and then next week it starts. My 2009 campaign will be officially underway! I'm going for it. As the days passed this week I began to get the "itch" now that I have it all down on paper. I know I have been putting a lot of miles in on the bikes, but I have not felt like I have been in full-on training mode yet... just kind of going through the motions. Enough of that. I am ready to kick my own ass on the trails and roads... we'll see about the pool!

Oh yeah... for 2009 I also started another blog. I know we barely keep up with Vo2 maxxed with how busy we but this one takes almost not time at all.... and I want to see if I can try a new (or just different) beer each week.

JW' Beer of the Week

putting in the miles...

A pretty good contrast to last week's ride... that was on the trails and in the sun. Saturday's long ride was in the hills, on the road, and in some rain!

Another big weekend on bike. The weather was kind of weird all weekend with rain in the morning and then clearing to sunny skies.

On Friday morning I got up looked out the window and it was dry so after I was properly caffeinated and suited up and headed down to the garage. My plan was to get 90 minutes on the road before work. When I opened the garage door the ground outside was now wet and it was drizzling. I hate riding on the road in the rain, and I try to stay off the local trails when they are wet because I don't want to shred them up.

So I took out my single speed mountain bike. Gordon converted my Specialized Stumpjumper into a SS for me a couple of months ago... it's killer. And when it's wet I don't mind taking it out because it's easy to clean up. So I headed out for the local neighborhood trails in San Elijo hills. There is pretty extensive network of trails (trail map) that for the most part hard packed sand and hold up to the rain very well. There is also a lot of climbing to do out there and I got myself into some spots where I could barely turn over the gears... and pushing a 32x16 doesn't help. A tough workout for sure.


On Saturday I got in my long ride. Again I woke up to damp roads but decided to stick with the plan and hit the streets. I got in 4+ hours with plenty of climbing. Luckily I ran into Matt about 3 hours in as I was kind of hitting the wall. Riding and talking with him got me through it and I was able to finish strong.

My bike was trashed after the ride. So Saturday afternoon while Beth was at yoga I cleaned all of our bikes... in sun.


tools for cleaning: bucket, brushes, hose, rags, and beer. Dale's Pale Ale.


Sunday... my birthday and more weird weather. It rained a bit early so this time I hit the San Elijo trails on my Epic and did some more exploring and found some new single track which was pretty technical and fun. An hour and 45 minutes later I was back at home, fueling up and getting ready to run. The plan was to run for an hour... my longest run in 6+ weeks. I decided to run in San Elijo lagoon because of the soft surface and because it's one my favorites places. The run went great from a foot pain perspective but I was full-on bonking at the end... but I pushed through. I can't wait to start ramping up the running volume again. That starts next week... slowly.

the ride. more climbing.


birthday beer. i earned it.


After Beth and I had our workouts in the books for the week we headed for some brunch at the Beach Grass Cafe. It might be our new favorite spot. After that we headed home and just lounged around all day. Beth cooked me up and epic b-day dinner. She perfected her chicken tortilla soup recipe... a Vo2 maxed post is in the works.

So that's it. I am another year older, happier than I have ever been, training is coming around. Things are good.

2009 Planning...

First a little training update. This week has started off solid. Beth and I had Monday off of work so we hit the roads for some riding and I was able to get out on the bikes Tuesday and Wednesday morning as well. This is the last big week on the bike before some recovery. I am stoked to see things coming around. The climbs are getting easier, I am using bigger gears, and feeling good. Even with the extended down time and not really riding too much until the begining of January I already feel stronger on the bike right now then I was at this time last year... and the power number are backing that up. Weird. I guess more proof that rest (forced or not) is good.

I also had a great run after riding with Beth on Sunday. Better by the day!

Monday:
Bike: Road ride with Beth. 3 Hours, 44.75 miles
Run: Mix of running on grass, track, turf. 31:30, 5 miles

Tuesday
Bike: MTB on Local Trails. 1:30, 13.2 miles
Yoga: 1 hour Hot yoga

Wednesday:
Bike: Big Gear work. 4 x 10-12 min climbs. 1:39, 22.97 miles
Swim: Mellow swim in work pool after work. 37 minutes, 2000 yards

power graph from the Big Gear session. (yellow power/green cadence). Not very interesting. Just doing work.


Thursday:
Run: 6 miles easy in the AM before work mostly on dirt path and some sidewalk. Foot continues to improve and I am itching to hit the trails and hills.
Strength: hit the gym at lunch. lifted heavy upperbody, tons of core, and myrtl routine.

the run.

So it's started. I have finally started to plan my 2009 race season. That's right we already over halfway done with the first month of the new year/season and I don't have a plan. I have has some ideas, but no official racing or training plan. Most of the reason I have waited until now has been my foot injury and I am stoked to say it's still getting better by the day. I had solid 5 mile run on Monday and another 6+ yesterday morning.

I guess I could have planned while my foot was healing but I didn't want to have anything on the horizon... nothing I was training for. I wanted to just focus on getting healthy and healing in order to be able to the train the way I want to, which is going to involve a lot of running. So while I have been training quite a bit and getting on the bike a lot I have not been focusing on any races. It has definitely been kind of weird. Last year at this time I was locked in on the Xterra West Champs in Temecula and getting ready to go for it on the Xterra USA series.

The lack of focus has been kind of nice and I have been kind of treating it like an extended offseason which will hopefully pay off and prevent the late season burn out I experienced last year.

So what are my plans???? Trevor and I are working on them and coming up with a plan. I have so many ideas and races I want to try so I really need to get it together and come up with a realistic plan. I have a lot going on in my life outside of racing/training including a wedding to plan and get ready for. So from a training and life perspective this life will be way different than any one before it.

Hopefully I'll have it all figured out by next weekend.

another week of riding...

Week two of my "bike bootcamp" is done and my foot is feeling much better.

First the foot... I got my second run of the week in on Friday. I had an appointment in Mission Valley and had a couple of hours to kill so I hit the tready at 24 hour Fitness. It was really hard to succumb to running on the treadmill when it was 80 degrees with blazing sunshine. I just really want to play it safe with my food and on the 'mill I can pull the plug if it starts to hurt and not have to walk back to where I started. The run went well. 4 miles progressing to 6:15 pace. I am just going to keep taking it slow while paying a lot of attention to the foot.

Now for the riding. I am loving the mountain bike right now and have put in some solid hours off road. I hit the trails 3 times this week. One of those was a night ride at Lake Hodges, which was killer. Gordon organizes this bi-weekly ride and there was a crew of 12 of us. We stopped for a beer half way through and then finished up the ride (@ 10pm) in the parking lot with another beer. Good times and definitely a ride I am going to try to make regularly.

On Saturday I headed an hour north to meet Ryan at Trabuco Canyon for some course recon. We are both racing (riding) Counting Coup in March and we rode some of the trails in the race and also some of the Vision Quest course. We really couldn't have asked for a better day. It was in the 70's and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The ride was good and tough. I felt good all day and actually felt like I was getting stronger as the ride went on and higher we climbed. I wasn't nailing it on any climbs... just keeping it steady and building the base... getting strong. The ride was awesome.

Let's just say we climbed a lot here are the stats from my Garmin.

Time: 3:26
Distance: 26.42
Elevation gain: 11,036

Sunday was yet another day on the bike. I only had 90 minutes planned but I felt great and the weather was awesome. So I stayed out on the roads for 2.5 hours, just cruising.

photo from my ride... this is where I stopped to take off my arm & knee warmers. I was sweating my face off... yeah it's been that warm.


2 week summary.

Week 1 (1/5-11): 17:55
Swim - 3 swims - 6000 yards
Ride: 139 miles (71 road, 68 mtb)
Run: 0
Strength: 4 sessions (3 weights/core, 1 Yoga)

Week 2 (1/12-18): 16:06
Swim - 2 swims - 4200 yards
Ride: 116 miles (61 road, 55 mtb)
Run: 7.22 miles (3 miles track, 4.22 miles tready)
Strength: 5 sessions (3 weights/core, 2 Yoga)

Totals:
Swim: 10,200 yards
Ride: 255 miles (132 road, 123 mtb)
Run: 7.22 miles
Strength: 9 sessions (6 weights/core, 3 Yoga)

Test run, more prep, & rest

On Tuesday afternoon after work I headed up the La Costa Canyon High School for a test run. I figured it was time. My foot had been feeling much better thanks to Dan and the rest I have been giving it. I was contemplating doing this run on the track, trails, or tready. After some good advice from GZ I decided to hit the track.

I am not going to lie... I was nervous. I love running and miss it and was afraid that once I started running the pain would come back immediately. Fortunately I was wrong. I ran and easy 3 miles on the track in just of 22 minutes. I started very slow and built into the run. I could feel some discomfort in my foot nothing even close to where I was a week ago. I am sure this is pretty typical after not running in a month. The true test was going to be Wednesday morning and how it felt getting out of bed. Again it felt good, a little tight, but no pain. Good signs. I have another ART appointment Friday morning and I am hoping to give the foot another go this weekend.

I had planned on starting my training phase when we got back from the east coast. Obviously with my foot this was not going to happen. So I am trying to make the best of things (after being a kook and feeling sorry for myself). I decided to use January as a "prep" month and get my body really ready to start working by 2/2. My goals for this phase are just to put in a lot of miles on the bike, all at low intensity with plenty of climbing, get back in the pool, and get strong.

I have been getting in the gym 2-3 times a week for strength/core sessions since mid November. I have been making some gains which I am stoked about. Over the last couple of years I have not cut back on cardio enough to see any significant improvements in the gym. That's definitely not the case this year and that has me really motivated to keep it up. I have also made a commitment to get to hot yoga 2 times a week. I am loving it so far. It's like a combo sauna session and gnarly core routine. I can't wait to see what consistent yoga can do for me.

As much as I am hating not running my foot injury may have been a blessing in disguise. My body is feeling good (other than my foot). All the time off over the holidays really allowed my body to rest, heel, and get somewhat out of shape. So with heading into my 4th season of training I am probably starting the freshest I ever have with no residual fatigue from last year. Alan Couzens (Endurance Scientist) has a great post on the this and Matt referenced in a a post well.

In years past I was always too scared to let my fitness slip too much or stay out of the pool for tool long because I would forget how to swim... and loose fitness. The foot injury and the xmas vacation forced me to rest. I couldn't run, didn't have a bike, and there is no way in hell I was going to search out a pool. Other than a couple of spin classes in Philly with Beth and some strength sessions I really rested... maybe for the first time in 3 years.

I have learned my lesson. When we came back from vacation and I got back on the bike I was a bit out of shape. Anything over 90 minutes was hard, but my strength was good (due to rest). Same thing in the pool. I was out of the water for a month and my first swim went great and believe it or not I didn't forget how to swim.

I know now that rest is key and you actually won't lose all of your fitness or feel. This is kind of a long post for me with no good photos, but coming to this realization is HUGE for me. My homeboy Jim Vance has been trying smash this idea into my head for years and I kind of blew him off a bit and Trevor has tried to convince me of the same thing. I like to train... and train A LOT and I still will but there will be more rest and recovery in my plans. I had a good year last year but I think I had a lot of junk miles/yards in my plan, especially on the bike. I could have taken out some of those "recovery" rides and just rested and could have possibly been stronger/faster.

ok that's it... but coming to term with resting is going to be huge for me in 2009 and will definitely be part of my plan of attack.

My focus for the next couple of weeks is going to be to heel, ride, swim, and get strong. Hopefully I will be rolling 100% by the first week in February.

First week back.

First things first.... Beth loves to "hate" on my "uniforms". My "uniforms" are basically the clothes I lounge around the house in after getting out of bed, at night before bed, or any other time I am just chillen on the couch. Most of the time my "uniform" consists and sweatpants and cut-off sleeve t-shirts and Beth loves to joke and post photos. Well check Beth's new morning uniform. Sweet. She's letting herself go already!


As usual the first week back from vacation was rough. Luckily we had the weekend to relax a bit before getting back to the daily grind on Monday.

Since I still can't run I planned a week filled with a lot of riding, some swimming, and some strength sessions. I just wanted to ease back into things and was pretty bummed on still not being able to run to start the year and 2009 training. I was definitely lacking motivation to train on all fronts. The only sessions I looked forward to were the strength sessions in the gym.

Monday was my first day back in the pool in month. I swam at lunch and actually felt pretty good. I kept it short getting out of water after 35 minutes and 2000 yards. I was supposed to go to a spin class with Beth on Monday night but after getting out of work a little late I blew it off. On tap for Tuesday was an early Masters swim and then a trainer session in the evening at home with Beth. Well I blew off the swim and opted for more sleep.

Before work on Tuesday I had my first appointment Dan Selstad for another assessment of my foot (3rd opinion). He said he definitely found a couple of things that could be contributing to my foot pain. I had my first ART session which included work on my foot and calf... and it hurt... in a good way. I left hoping that Dan's magic would work.

When I got home on Tuesday evening Beth was ready to get on the trainer and knock out our scheduled team trainer session. I really didn't want to do it but I changed and got on my bike next to Beth in the garage. I think I lasted 5 minutes (maybe). I just had no motivation or desire to grind away on the trainer for 60+ minutes. So instead a grabbed Red Hook Late Harvest Autumn Ale out of the fridge and worked on our mountain bikes while Beth knocked out the trainer session solo.

Honestly at this point in the week I was getting pretty down on myself due to my very slowly healing foot. Not being able to train 100% and not being to plan on any races was killing me. I need to have a goal to work towards or else I feel like I am just going through the motions and anybody who knows me knows that I like to train hard and am usually pretty focused.

Wednesday morning I was up early with plans to hit the trails before work. My foot was pretty sore from the ART on Tuesday but I headed out anyway. I ended up having an awesome ride. My local trails are probably in the best condition I have ever seen. So the ride changed my attitude a bit and was kind of turning point for me. I even knocked out another swim session at lunch and my foot was slowly loosening up and starting to feel better.

By Thursday afternoon my foot was feeling the best it has since I hurt it a month ago. I had another appointment with Dan on Friday and he did more work on my foot. After work on Friday I went to a hot yoga class with Beth and loved it. I used to go to yoga occasionally before starting triathlon and always liked it but have never found the time to fit it in my schedule. That's going to change. I want to start getting in a couple yoga sessions a week and see how it changes/build my strength and flexibility.

I was pretty stoked to get out on the bike this weekend and got in a lot of good riding. Part of the reason was the weather in Socal was perfect... Mid to uppper 70's and not a cloud in the sky. I headed out on the road early Saturday morning and knocked a hill 3 hour ride and met Beth at B&L we finished our rides together. Later in the afternoon we head out to Lake Hodges for a mellow spin on the mountain bike with some of our friends. Beth continues to blow me away on the mtb. She's charging some pretty technical stuff.

Our ride around Lake Hodges.


On Sunday morning it was time to go offroad again and the goal was to get it done early before the Bolts game. Ryan cruised down from the OC and we hit my local trails in hopes of connecting my trails with Elfin Forest. It didn't work. We could not find the way but still got in a good ride with tons of climbing.




Ryan finishing up the last climb of the day.


After the ride it was time for the Chargers game. Based on Ryan's recommendation I picked up a six pack of Green Flash West Coast IPA.... I may have new favorite beer.




Beth still had some core work to get in during the game so I steered her clear of beer, chips, and dip and coached her through it.


I am so bummed the Chargers blew it. I know they could have pulled it out. At least I gotta hang with the little monster and my east coast homeboy Brett while they went down.

2008 Recap.

2008 was the best year of my life thanks to this little monster.


So here it is the olbigatory 2008 recap. I always struggle with these as there is always so much going on and each year seems to blend into the next. 2008 has been a big one for me and definitely the best of my life both in "real" life and my "sport" life.

The three things that made this year the best ever were getting engaged to Beth (best thing that's ever happened to me... in any year), my little brother and Courtney having my killer little nephew, Greyson, and my nephew Jake graduating from High School. All three things were pretty monumental in my family and definitely help me keep my life in perspective. As important as the whole "sport" side of my life is to me these things overshadow anything I did in spandex.

ok... with that being said. I will review my racing season which was also hands down the best I have ever had, and also the hardest I have ever worked.

Here were my goals for the 2008 season:
1. Win Xterra Southwest Regional Age-group title.
2. Be the top Amateur at an Xterra Championship race.
3. Get on the podium at the Xterra USA Champs
4. Get on the podium at the Xterra World Champs.

When last year ended I was stoked with finish at Worlds (2007) and filled with motivation. I chose again to focus focused solely on the Xterra points series. I did some other races along the way but they were all for fun or specific preparation for Xterra. I started my training for 2008 training the first weekend of December 2007 with my eyes set on the Xterra West Champs in Temecula. The build up was long and I was ready to race. I carried that momentum into the Southeast Champs in Pelham, AL and the East Champs in Richmond, VA. The back to back races in Alabama and Virginia were probably the best races I had ever raced up until that time.

Early season Results:
Xterra West Champs
1st AG, 2nd Amateur Overall


Xterra Southeast Champs
1st AG, 1st Amateur Overall


Xterra East Champs
1st AG, 1st Amateur Overall


After getting back from the east coast races I took a much needed break (introduction of TJ - Transistion James) and then started hitting it very hard on the bike. I put in some huge riding under the watchful of Cody. Luke joined me on a lot of these rides and help me make it through this phase without going completely nuts. I still owe him some beers for that. In early August Beth moved in with me and things were good. I raced in Xterra Snow Valley in Running Springs, CA after a week of hauling furniture and unpacking and finished 2nd overall finishing just behind my South African homeboy Conrad Stoltz.

That was the end of the Xterra points series for me and I locked up the Southwest Regional title in my AG with a perfect score of 250 points, which was one of my goals for the season.

After Snow Valley it was time to turn my focus to the Xterra USA Champs and Xterra Worlds. During my build up to Nationals I decided to turn my training schedule over to Trevor. I was just sick of thinking about it and I knew he could get me ready to do... and he did.

I had solid race at the Xterra USA Champs and finished the best I have there with a 2nd in my AG and 6th amateur overall. This was huge for me because I have never raced well there and having to deal with the cold and altitude. I was stoked but I know I could have gone faster.

Xterra USA Championships
2nd AG, 6th Amateur Overall


After nationals I was fried... mentally. I don't think I really let anybody know how "over it" I was except Beth. I was just over racing, working hard, and being so focused, but my body was feeling incredible. In the weeks leading up Worlds I had some of the best workouts I had all year and my body was firing even though mentally I was hanging on by a thread. If wouldn't have felt so great physically I would have probably pulled plug on Worlds and saved my money.

I made it to the start line of the Xterra World Champs and anxious to race and end the season. The Xterra World Championships were the highlight of my season and the culmination of a lot of hard work, determination, and sacrifice. I couldn't be happier with the result. It's still hard for me to believe that I was able to win a world championship in just 3 years of training and racing without any racing background. Obviously I couldn't have done it with out the help of Beth, my family, my coaches, my training partners, and all my sponsors. I'm very fortunate in these respects.

Xterra Worlds Championships
1st AG, 2nd Amateur Overall.


Post Xterra Season.

After Worlds I took a solid week off and then started running quite a bit, and a lot of that was with Beth as she prepared for the Las Vegas Marathon. I also did a couple of mountain bike races including the 12 hours of Temecula as a two-man team with Trevor as the Skinfit/Matisse & Jack's Team. That race was hard and probably one of the hardest days I've ever spent on the bike.

I continued to run in preparation for the Xterra trail season and the Las Vegas half marathon. I totally fall in love with running again and it's all I really wanted to do. I had a weird race at the Xterra Topanga 15k Trail race where both of my quads locked, but was able to redeem myself with a PR of 1:13:50 at the Las Vegas half. I finished 4th overall, but more importantly I was able to watch Beth reach one of her goals. She had and awesome race finish as the 3rd woman overall with a time of 3:03:19.

The following weekend would officially end the 2008 season for me... and not really the way I wanted. I was stoked for the Xterra Crystal Cove 15k Trail race but went into it a little less than 100% as I tweaked my foot a bit in the week leading up to it. I know now I shouldn't have raced but I was a moron and definitely hurt my foot more. I ended up winning my AG and finishing 3rd overall but it wasn't worth what I did to my foot. It's still not right.

So that was it 2008 done. Best year of my life. I was able to reach all my goals and exceeded my expectations at Worlds. I couldn't be happier. I couldn't have done it with Beth and my family.

best parents ever and a happy son.


Thanks to everyone that reads this blog and leaves incredible comments. I definitely have a lot of fun with it.

I have so many people to thank... and I will get around to posting that, but this one is already to long and most people probably won't even read this far.

home sweet home and 2009 plans... and tons of photos

Well we're back home and very happy about it. The holidays were so much fun and we had a great time hanging out with our "new" families. We both took it really easy, slept a lot (me more than Beth), and definitely enjoyed all the holiday food and drinks. I was stoked I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with my parents, brother, courtney, and monster of a nephew, Greyson. The kid is awesome! I already miss my family.

Little G.


It was a long vacation and break from out normal routine which was nice, but it also felt good to get home on Friday, jump on the bike, and then hit the grocery store and re-stock the fridge and pantry with good, healthy food. It's 2009 and time to get back at it... well kind of.

3 hour Holiday Dinner. Great food, plenty of wine, and great converstations.


I am really struggling right now with what I want to do this year. My foot is still not right. I wake up and it's sore to walk on, and then it loosens up but does not feel good enough to run. I have done exactly one run since the Xterra trail race on 12/14 and then was just to test it out.... and the test didn't go so well. So as of right now I still can't run. I was hoping with all the rest over the holidays and with not running I would be ready to get out and run this weekend, but that's not the case. The only good thing is that riding doesn't bother it at all.

So I am finding it really hard to plan my season and training when I can't run. I has some lofty running goals this year and was really motivated to put in some miles but now my focus needs to change, at least for the next month. So I think the plan now is to put myself through a bike "bootcamp". I haven't done any focused bike training since the weeks leading up to Xterra Worlds in October so it's time. I still need to consult with Trevor for the exact plan but as of right I expect to riding a ton in the coming weeks and hoping that my foot heals and I can get back on track 100% in February.

Early Race Plans:
1.24.2009 - 12 hours of Temecula - 3-man Team
3.7.2009 - Counting Coup - 44-mile Mtb race

That's it. No running races, no triathlons. It's all up in the air right now.

With all that being said I did get in some solid riding over the weekend, even with the crappy weather on Friday and Saturday. Beth and I hit the road after getting home on Friday to knock out some of the travel junk. It hit the gym early on Saturday morning and then got in some mountain bike riding with Beth. We hit mix of wet roads and trails and it was fun.

start of the ridgeline trail. Beth killed it.


on/offroad ride with Beth.


it was pretty cold.... for southern california so Beth requested an americano stop.



Then on Sunday I met up with Trevor some mountain bike action. We hit my local trails and then went exploring. We found a lot of trails... with a ton of climbing. The ride shelled me! Thanks T.


I also have 2008 recap post in the works but I am being lazy about it.

Here are some awesome photos from a great new years eve. It was Courtney's b-day so we had a killer dinner and then a fun bar. Nothing major but it was a good time for sure.

Beth, me, courtney (brother's gf and baby mama), chris (my brother) grabbing a drink before dinner.


at the bar. same crew with addition of Britainy (courtney's sister). She set the whole night up. she's rad.


trouble.




soon to be family.


I made some new friends.


we love to party!


Beth really loves to party!