Oct 19-25 Halloween Party

Vampire Amanda

The girls

Micheal Jackson and his deadly doctor

Witches brew

Mummy fingers

Eye balls

Vampire Jim

Back to reality on Tuesday after our mini vacation up in Big Bear last weekend. Pretty uneventful week but busy,I did a couple short work outs at home during the week and rode the Mtn bike out at the Santa Rosa plateau on Fri afternoon and i headed out to Vail lake Sat morning and did 2 laps of the 12 hr course coming up in Nov.Fri during the day we spent running around getting things ready for the Halloween party that the girls were planning for Sat night.We picked up our costumes of course we are all being vampires this year.The party went well the girls did alot of cooking and tony and i helped decorate the house, mostly everybody that was invited was able to make it so all was good, great friends ,good conversation and some good costumes as well.Our neighbors also were having the second annual block party that night so we went over and visited for a short period of time and brought some sweets for them try out.Sunday after a little cleaning up Amanda and I went out to Moreno Valley and picked Taylor up from a birthday party she was at and we headed over to the punpkin patch in Yucaipa for more Halloween adventures.Taylor played some games went to the petting zoo and went thru the corn stock maze . Last week before the time change i guees i'm going to have to join the gym or start running again.

MTN Biking Heaven Oct 12-18

Great week of mtn biking unfolded with a short one hr ride around the power line roads in Temecula on Weds and a short ride at Simpson park in Hemet after work on Thurs, i got to try out the new nightrider lights awesome they really light up the trail. Friday morning i meet up with Richard from work at the Cranston fire station and we car pooled up to Hurkey creek for some single tracking nice and warm out good 17 mile ride and allot of fun playing around on the rock sections, we ended up riding for about 2.5 hrs before Richard started to cramp up.

great views from Hurkey Creek

Friday afternoon Amanda myself Beth Karla and Tony headed down to the bull pen a local sports bar to watch the Angel game it was allot of fun but the Angels lost with a calamity of errs, after that it was still early so we went over to the country bar the Stampede for a while to give Beth a chance to check out the local cowboys. Sat morning i got out around eight on the road bike for a couple of hrs meet up with Amanda and Beth afterwards for a bagel.I picked up Taylor and hung out around the house the rest of the day.Sunday morning we were up early to pick up Amanda from work and up to the cabin in Big Bear for sun/Mon, once we were their Amanda needed to take a nap after working all night so i got out on the mtn bike up around the back side of snow summit and road for about three hrs great day nice and clear with perfect temps.

Big Bear lake

Fall colors

Monday morning we were out on the bikes for close to two hours riding along the lake around snow summits trails and into town for some lunch. Overall a great weekend great weather great views and great company.

Nice and clear up in Big Bear on a Monday morning

Cant beat that smile, these little vacations are addicting.

Weather is changing Oct 5-11

This week was pretty uneventful easy three days at work.My training is going thru some changes since the time and weather is changing, the goal is to concentrate on eating healthy losing hopefully ten more pounds and work on upper body strength and overall better fitness along with being more flexible. The idea is to do activities like tennis , running, swimming, weightlifting, hiking and continue riding the bikes. Only did one short road bike ride after work this week its getting dark so early now and allot cooler in the evenings. I have been keeping up with the 30 min work outs and home.

Friday morning i got out on the road bike and made it up the the top of the Santa rosa plateau nice and tough climb, that night Amanda and I along with Karla and Tony headed down to Del mar fair grounds and went to there haunt night attractions it was pretty good the horror house was the best along with the haunted hay ride.

Saturday i got out again for approx 2 hrs on the road bike cool and windy in the afternoon.

Sunday the plan was to get in a short hike in out at the plateau then watch the Angels play Beth and Amanda's Mom came over for breakfast and the game , thanks to the hottie red head for a great Sunday morning breakfast.The Angels game was nerve racking and awesome with there late innings heroics, congrats to them. Go Angels .After the game i went and picked up Taylor for the afternoon, we went to lunch went bowling and spent some time at the punpkin patch in Yucaipa good times by all.

So Cal Fat Tire Epic looking good before the leg cramps.

Ups and downs 9/27-10/4

This week was pretty low keyed with a few ups and downs, with the fat tire epic happening on Saturday I decided to take it easy this week and I only did a few short mtn bike rides on Tues/Thurs thinking I would be on the bike all day Sat, well that plan didn't work out.I really didn't feel well all week not bad enough to think I was getting sick just kinda tired, I was up early on Sat morning headed out to Vail lake the weather was nice I felt good on the start and was riding a comfortable pace not to hard knowing it was a long race, overall I was about mid pack and happy with that. I keep thing about one hour into it that I should be drinking more heed and taking electrolytes capsules but I just couldn't do it I was not bloated, the only I could drink was water.Well about two hours in I felt the the bonk starting the legs were already tired on any little hill that came up, so I tried to keep drinking but to no avail on one climb heading back to the camp ground I could feel the legs getting ready to cramp up and they did left hamstring and right calf at the same time not fun painful and difficult to get off a bike and try to stand up during this episode I'm glad nobody was close enough to witness this event it was pretty ugly.Well that ended my race I coasted back to the pit area and tried to recover, bummer I was disappointed that I could not finish.Time to reassess my plans, I think my mind is stronger then the body, these events look like fun and I think it would be awesome to be able to finish long distance races with a respectable time but I currently don't have the conditioning to pull it of right now, I don't get enough long rides in during training to improve my endurance oh well back to the drawing board.

That afternoon was fun Amandas friend Beth came over and we all headed to the driving range , Beth just bought a set of pink breast cancer awareness clubs.Beth lost the putting contest so she was buying the first round of drinks at dinner and I learned I have a wicked slice with my golf swing.Off to BJ'S we went good food and good times had by all.Once back at home we all played a few games of wii which the girls picked up last week.

Sunday the plan was to pick up Taylor at noon in Beaumont and head to Palm Desert to take Andrew out to lunch for his birthday.We went to Islands we all had a good time it was good to visit with him it seems like thing are going good, Taylor was real happy to see him. After Andrew opened his cards we headed to the mall to look for Halloween costumes no luck but but Taylor surprised us by saying she wanted to get her ears pierced today, this has been a ongoing saga for a bout a year or so.Congratulations to her she pulled it off with only a couple of tears and a few minutes of looking pretty pale, we thought she was going to pass out or get scared and chicken out again.On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream So this week had some ups and downs bummer about the race but good times with Andrew, congrats to Taylor for over coming her fears and Amanda for spending time with us.

Congratulations to Taylor on her ear piercings