Yesterday was crazy busy for some reason. I rode Sue to work at 8am and kept going up the coast. I stopped at the Pannikin for some coffee, did a little more and rode back. I rode up Country Club to the top of Mt. Soledad. The steepest way yet. Much harder than Via Capri.

I then jumped into the car and drove up to Irvin to meet Wayne Stetina at Shimano. It is so weird driving around here. Sometimes it seems like it is a movie. I was cruising through the Marine base, Camp Pendleton, over 90 and wasn’t really blowing by people. I don’t even know what radio station I was listening to other than it must of been from outer space. One minute Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode is on and then this country western song comes on, Tequila Makes Your Clothes Fall Off. It was pretty surreal. Southern California.

When I got to Shimano, Wayne was in his cycling clothes, which surprised me. And he never changed out of them. He commutes everyday to work. Pretty good.

I thought it was going to be a quick in and out trip. But, I ended up staying there a couple hours. Wayne and Jesse decided that I needed my shoes form fit, so Wayne personally did it for me. They are great. At least walking around on carpet.

I barely got out of Orange County without getting snarled in the Friday afternoon traffic. I hit some super slow stuff up by Laguna and then down by Carlsbad after going through Camp Pendleton. It took me only 50 minutes to drive the 75 miles up there. Pretty great average. It took me over an hour and a half to get back. And I think I was lucky. I could never live here just because of the traffic.

Today, out the door at 7:15 to meet up in Rancho Santa Fe at the bakery for a long Saturday ride. I might bale early since I”m racing tomorrow. I not sure yet. I have to jack with my bike some before Sunday’s race in in LA. Should be another crazy busy day. It doesn’t seem right to be so rushed on the weekends.

The traffic was moving pretty good through Camp Pendleton. The temperature was a little cold though.

I passed this auto carrier on the drive up. There is a AMG Mercedes sitting right behind this beat up bus.

This guy was following.

Wayne vaccuming my hot shoe on.

Pile of stuff I got up at Shimano.

I think I'm going to have to race my old shoes this weekend and test out the new ones next week. Here is a shot of my customized sole on my old Shimano shoe. Griffo tread.

I’m not sure why I’m dwelling on this so much, but I can’t believe how many miles I get and it is still way before I normally even leave to ride. These guys get going too early. But it isn’t too early if you’re racing at 9 am a couple times this week. I’m trying to get on that schedule. It’s not my body’s normal schedule for sure.

We drove over to Rancho Santa Fe and met Don and Sue’s friend, Brad at the bakery. We then rode over Del Dios Hwy. and I turned around after about 10 miles. I went back to the bakery, had a coffee and muffin and then headed over to the coast, a little out of the way North.

It amazes me how many people ride bikes out here on the weekends. I saw 100’s. Multiple 100’s. Individuals, packs of 50. Lots. It is nice being able to tag onto the back of a group any direction that you happen to be heading. I got behind a small group of 10 most the way to the coast. Easy.

I have to put new cleats on my shoes, mount cross tires on my clinchers and get my bike ready for the race tomorrow up in LA. It is going to be nothing like Oregon. This will be a desert race. But, I think I need the intensity that I’ve been so avoiding the past 4 days. I have nearly 350 miles the past 4 days. Like I said before, probably not the best for a short cyclo-x, but that is just too bad.

I heard some interesting news that kind of depresses me. The time trials that they are running up in Bend for Masters at Nationals aren’t being held at the Nationals venue. I haven’t confirmed this, but I assume it’s true. That is so wrong. I was wondering how they were going to close the course down in the morning to run those qualifiers. They aren’t. So, they are holding a 10 minute race on another course to decide how good everyone is to line up at the start of a different course? Maybe they should just do computrainer races instead on a simulated Nationals course. It would be about the same. Who wants to spend time riding a different course the day before their event? Not me. I’m wondering how many people are even going to be pre-riding that course? I thought it would be kind of fun comparing times from the different categories. Not anymore. They need to come up with a better way to do the whole thing.

Wayne Stetina is going to hate reading this, but historically, The USAC Nationals, in most all disciplines, are some of the least thought out, worst run events I go to. That wasn’t the case in Bend last year though and hopefully it won’t be the case this year.

I saw this Mercedes AMG in front of the bakery. I’d never seen one, even in a magazine. It has gullwings and the styling is unbelievable. I looked it up on the internet, 200K. New for 2011. I think you can put your name in for the wait list.

Check out the size of these front brake calipers and rotors. I think the rotors are ceramic?

My little group for the ride back to the coast. Every rider here was on carbon. And not one duplicate frame. Colnago, Specialized, Motobecane, Wilier, Orbea and lots of others. My ti Eriksen was the standout.