Summits and Smiles

Saturday workout: 1 hour of yoga and 3 hours of cycling (27.13 miles)

Today was amazing. After a nice long week at work P and I were able to embark on our 3 day weekend. What better way to start a weekend than by climbing a mountain? Climbing a mountain on a bike.

Today I was able to cross something special off of my list. I rode my bike up Mt. Palomar. P and I did one of the premier California bike routes and it was SO much fun. Just because I can’t race for the next few months (more realistically most of 2012), doesn’t mean that I can’t set goals, train for them and then tackle them head on. I won’t lie. I’m really proud of P and I. He was the only person on a mountain bike (out of 50+ cyclists) and pretty sure I was the only one not in clipless shoes, on a dedicated modern road bike, with more than 12 gears. Sometimes you just have to enjoy working with what you have.

I know that some day it will make more sense to get a fancy road bike… but it wont be easy. My bike and I have a serious connection.

We started the day with yoga at Lulu, Shannon from the Ragnar team made it this week, she was REALLY good at yoga. I have a long way to go, but every hour I spend on my mat I feel my body getting stronger.

Post yoga it was time to carbo load. IHOP was in order. I don’t care what anyone says, if you look past the old folks and the cheesy decor, IHOP is totally decent.

I had the healthy menu blueberry pancakes and eggs. For something like 550 calories it was a ton of food and a perfect meal to have before a 27mile bike ride.

We wanted to get started on our ride before noon to beat the cold that we knew would quickly set in at the 5000ft summit. Off to our super classy start point…

Harrah’s, Escondido

The gear.

The goods.

The goal.

Success.

We shared some granola bars at the summit in a little cabin/restaurant called Mother’s Kitchen and then headed back down. I spent 13 miles free wheeling and had perma grin the whole way.

Descending a mountain on a bike is 1000x better than hiking down. Except it’s cold, really cold.

Post summit Pho dinner 🙂 it was Phil’s first time.

My Garmin gave me a 1500 calorie burn for the trek which made me one very happy girl.

Happy Days 🙂

It’s a weekend for climbing mountains, reaching for goals, running races and being our best versions of ourselves, I think. I’ll be thinking good thoughts for everyone else and their dreams <3.