Eddie I. Maiden and Cute Goat on training ride.

When Marg Fedyna started my blog  for me a couple of years ago, I vowed to not be one of those people that write about every training ride they do, talk about the trail and weather conditions, describe how their right calf was twitching at mile 32, record their wattage, heart rate, milage etc etc.   

I don't think I have posted anything about a regular training ride before, since I can't imagine that anyone would find that interesting.   However, I  couldn't resist putting these photos on my blog.  Eric and I did a 93 mile ride from our house today and stopped to take a couple of pictures on Stage road which parallels Highway 1.  Isn't this the coolest statue you have ever seen?  I am sure the artist based it on Iron Maiden's Eddie.  How would you like to have this guy guarding your house?

La Ruta Lou and Eddie I. Maiden

This cute guy was checking us out while we were taking the pictures.  He lives at the house Eddie is guarding.

Sequoia 200 K and Guy Comments

A couple of weeks ago, Eric and I decided to sign up for the Sequoia 200 K to try to get some distance in before the Cascade Creampuff 100 and Ironbike in Italy.  This charity ride starts in Palo Alto and has 3 categories in addition to the 200 K.  There were 900 people signed up to ride a mellow 50 k,  a hilly 100 k, 100 miles, and 200 K.  Pretty inspiring to see so many people out on their bikes.  Since we will be racing 100 miles in the dirt at Creampuff, we decided to use our hard-tails for the ride.  

As we were passing some of the other riders on the climbs we started getting comments about the advantage of our "easy gearing" (even though we were clearly pushing a harder gear than the people we were passing).  This made me think of all the funny/stupid comments I have gotten from guys in races.  Many men are clearly not comfortable being passed by " A GIRL" and often feel the need to come up with unprompted excuses for why they are being passed or not keeping up. 

Here is my list of  The Top 10 Stupid Guy Comments:

10.   I am just stretching out a cramp (heard many many times during various races)

9.    I lost my water bottle 

8.    I'm bonking (answer to: Hello!)

7.    My shifting is not working....

6.   Angrily:  I just finished building this bike in my garage last night and something is not working right. 

5.   OH, I am just taking it EASY today (Answer to:  Hey, good job)

4.    I had 7 flats today

3.   Oh bummer, I just took a drink from my water bottle and now you pass me (passing a guy at the top of a hill and never seeing him again)

2.  It must be easy to go up a hill with that gearing (passing a guy on my mtb,  in my big chainring on the road while he is riding a carbon fiber roadbike)

1.   Riding a Mtb on the road is as stupid as playing tennis with a wooden tennis racket (comment from a guy we passed during organized road ride)