More about Santa Cruz

It's seems that when traveling to races, things never quite turn out as planned.

Packing

The Plan: Pack early--as early as last weekend, make a list and check everything was packed. Adam would pack the bikes on Wednesday evening. Leave for the airport at least 3 hours before the flight departs.

What really happened: I did make a list.  I did start packing Thursday am for a Thursday evening flight.  Then off to work for the morning.  Made a mad dash to get packed when I got home, while also exercising the dogs, doing laundry, and getting the house ready for Adam's uncle to stay for the weekend. Adam was working on getting the bikes packed when I got back from work and had done no packing at all!  I guess my packing procrastination has rubbed off on him.  Adam asked if I wanted to put some stuff in the bike case. Of course! Everything gets all packed up with my list checked and Adam is packing the bikes into the car (less than 3 hours to departure now with the clock ticking) and he realizes they are really heavy.  We weigh one and it is 58lbs!  Bikes fly for $15 on frontier, but if they are over 50lbs, it is a $75 fee.  We frantically took stuff out and redistributed and got one under 50 and my fat mountain bike to 52 and hoped they would let it slide (they did).  In all this my mountain bike shoes got left behind. We get out the door with less than 2 hours to departure and some rush hour traffic to deal with.  It was a little stressful, but we made our flight.  After all the rushing, our flight left 30 mins late.

Lodging

The Plan: Rent a quiet, private cottage in the redwoods for a fairly affordable rate.

What actually happened: We arrived at our cottage late--11:30 pm PST.  We pull up and there is another car in the driveway.  And lights on and people in the house.  We see a sign that points for us to go upstairs to a small studio.  The vrbo page never said it was a shared cottage.  We go in and it doesn't look at all like the picture online.  To top things off, the detergent used on the sheets is one that makes me break out in hives.  I try to cover most of my skin and replace the pillow cases with Adam's t shirts and that helps mostly.  We are both really tired but can hear the people below us talking, moving around, etc.  I actually was taking it all pretty well.  Probably because I was so tired. In the morning Adam spoke with the owners and they said they would refund us the money (for the next 2 days I think), and I booked a room at a bit more expensive resort.  Good thing we moved because the people below had a baby that regularly wakes up and cries.  What's a few more dollars to sleep well at night?

Traveling with the Bike

The Plan: The plan was for my bike to fly in the box and be fine when we put it back together.

What actually happened: When we got my bike at the airport, we noticed that one of the clasps was open and so was the case.  Adam checked quickly inside and my bike and wheels were in there so we figured it was ok. The next morning he was putting it together and there was something wrong with the front brakes and the cable connected to my rear shock looked like it had been cut.  $15 to fly your bike, how many $ to fix it?  So, we discovered all this right before I was going to preride the course as well as the fact that I did not have shoes to race in.  So, instead of preriding the course (this would have been a huge help!) we went to 2 different bike shops that said they didn't have time to fix it, then went to Spokesman Bicycles.  While they couldn't fix it right away, they would get it fixed for me to race.  They were so helpful and gave so much advice--about the course, mountain bike maintenance, they even took a quick look at Adam's cleat position and gave him fit advice.  If you're ever in Santa Cruz, this is the shop to go to!  I had to get some new shoes--obviously not ideal, but it was the situation I was in, so I got what they had in my size and hoped for the best. Adam put the cleats on, but they must have loosened up during the race--I noticed they were sliding around when I got home. Perhaps why I was having trouble clipping out (and then falling over) and why the shoes felt so different.  

I really liked Santa Cruz--it reminded me of Eugene a little with the laid back feel and college town atmosphere, but of course with the beach/surfer scene.  It is someplace that I don't think I would want to live but it is nice to visit.  It was really nice to have so many locally owned coffee shops and restaurants.  We even went to a sandwich place that had good gluten free sandwiches.  And it was nice to see so many trees.  We have some trees where we live in CO, but there are not very many and they are not very big.

Saturday, I did a short swim to test out the water.  I knew it was cold but the shock of the cold took me by surprise.  I'm so glad I did the swim Saturday because it didn't feel as bad on Sunday.  After the swim, Adam biked up towards Big Basin Redwoods State Park while I drove, with the plan to run at the park.  The park was beautiful!  I could've run for hours in there.  I felt like I was flying along the trails past all the large trees.  Of course with a race on Sunday, I had to keep it short.  Adam posted pictures in his blog, I'm too lazy to put any pictures in this one today.

Sunday was race day of course.  A few things I forgot to include in my race report:

• Towards the end of the bike I saw a bobcat.  I was all by myself at the time and saw him (or her) walk across the trail in front of me.  He turned and looked at me, then ran into the bushes.  At the time I thought it was a mountain lion, because I didn't know any better and was obviously a little scared.  
• Last year I had so many problems with blisters from my shoes and ending up with bloody feet on the run.  I raced in a new pair of shoes--the Pearl Izumi Women's ISO Transition (with no socks of course) and had no blisters!   Even running through mud and in the rain.  Such a relief to have race shoes that are light, fast to put on, and most importantly--don't make my feet bleed.
• Tuesday after the race, I noticed some of my scrapes were a little itchy.  I swam Wednesday morning and then I broke out in what I thought was hives in several places on my arms, legs, back, shoulders.  I spent most of the day wondering what it was that caused the allergic reaction.  Usually I get hives from dyes/perfumes used in laundry detergent or soaps that come in contact with my skin.  Nothing new on Monday or Tuesday. Could it be something I ate?  Nothing really new either.  The pool?  When I looked more closely I noticed most of the big patches of the "hives" were near where I had scrapes or bruises.  Hmmm.  Then my teammate Kathy who raced Santa Cruz said she had poison oak from falling in the race and it all made sense.  So, now I am covered in red itchy bumps.