California - "Hollandaise"

I mean it "like Holland", not the sauce. Or the Netherlands, technically.

It always seems drizzly there, overcast, with sudden bursts of brilliant sunshine.

Today, California was Holland.

I woke up with a splitting headache, something I normally never experience. I took some Tylenol, a full dose even, and prayed it'd go away.

While I was waiting, I ate.

I also felt some pretty deep fatigue. Maybe not as much as on some other California trips, but pretty deep nonetheless. My lighter weight has helped with the longer rides, my "sleep with the hoodie" has helped me wake up each morning very warm (and not sick at all, at least until this morning), and I pretty much took yesterday off.

Riding a lot, though, still tires me out, and today I felt pretty tired when I woke up. Sipping coffee, reading the paper, I felt a bit woozy but started to gather myself. When I noticed that I could look around without wincing, I went and helped do some bike stuff.

My pet project ended up being modding my bottle cages so they'd fit better on the bike together, so the bottles would sit a little more securely in the cages. I filed the mounting openings a bit, filed away part of the cage where the front derailleur clamp has an "interference fit" with it, and put everything back together.

Result?

Good. Not great, but good. I left it alone. Ultimately I need a bottle cage that holds the bottle 10 mm below the lower mounting bolt. Right now the cage supports the bottle bottom 15 mm below that mounting bolt, 5 mm too much. The cage has to hug the bottle, like most carbon cages. It can't hold the bottle from below, like most aluminum cages, because there isn't room for material to curl under the bottle.

Any ideas appreciated.

For hours we hemmed and hawed, working on bikes, checking weather, wondering if we should ride. I wasn't feeling that great and I didn't want to end up sick just before a race.

Oh. Right. I should have mentioned - I registered for a crit tomorrow. 0.6 mile course. Uphill just before the finish. A California version of Bethel. A nice little break, a little test for the legs. So I didn't want to kill myself today on the bike. I wanted my legs to get that swollen, full of energy, haven't been riding too much feel to them.

So I ate.

Believe it or not, at least as of this morning, I've gained some weight since I got here. Now, this morning may have been an anomaly (I don't consider myself to be a particular range until I have three readings in said range), but I hope that it melts away when I return to a lower intensity workload type of life.

Finally the local missus showed up and "encouraged" us out onto the road. You know, the, "It's almost sunny out, why aren't you guys riding?" kind of encouragement. She was right, you know, and we decided to go for a shortish ride, a little over an hour.

With grim anticipation I kitted up in two long sleeve jerseys, a wind vest, and a rain jacket. Knickers, booties, long gloves, and a warm head cap completed the outfit.

My host looked with bemused astonishment. He, too, had gathered knickers, jacket, and vest, but only had a short sleeve jersey and arm warmers.

Who was the one used to the warm California weather?

Feeling very unflahute-like, at least as far as I was concerned, we headed off on the damp roads as my legs doth protested. I had to force my legs to move in circles, the muscles feeling like crunching concrete, but after a bit my legs started feeling a little more elastic, like, um, elastic concrete. Phew, kind of.

My booties and knickers made me feel a little better than not. More flahute-like, less wimpy.

An hour later, after checking some map things, we were at the top of Double Peak Park, shrouded in fog, visibility limited to maybe 100-150 meters. We'd gained 1450 feet in the climb up there, and I'd shed my rain jacket on the way.

Of course, the way back down chilled us pretty quickly and we stopped to put our jackets back on.

I tried to keep things mellow, making some efforts here and there. I wanted to keep my legs warm, try and get blood circulating to all the new sore places I had, and get blood flowing to carry around whatever healing stuff it carries around.

Tonight I'm making some pasta, sauce, and having a lot of veggies. It's just me and my roommate, with the rest of the household all out. So maybe a little Monsters, Inc., first followed by some Giro stuff. The former for my roommate, the latter for me.

Note: I just woke up, the whole household here but now asleep. My unbearable fatigue had caught up with me, and after watching Monsters Inc, the extras, part of the bonus disk, and then Salvodelli take pink on a mountain stage, I remember very little else. So I just staggered over to the computer, checked over the post, added this, and am heading upstairs. Less headache. More blood circulating.

And more of that unbearable fatigue. Legs feel like they're busy rebuilding. Hope things are good tomorrow.

Good night.