BIKE!!!!!!

This was the awesomest ride I have ever done. It was also one of the hardest because of the hills.
I did around 79 miles total and it took me 5.5hours...

I usually do my long ride (that substitutes a long run) on Sunday but tomorrow is LA Triathlon and I do not know which roads will be closed and I would like to go and watch so I did it today.

I found a book called Bicycling Los Angeles County in store last week and really liked it. I did not buy it but instead went to see whether we have it in a library and we did, so I borrowed it yesterday. It has over 30 rides ranging from few miles to over 70. This ride I did today was #1 in the book and it said that it is also the toughest in the book. Ok, so lets see. Well it was pretty tough but it was awesome!!!

First 30 miles were at Pacific Coach Highway (it is not a real highway, it is only called that), which is basically what name says- PCH hugs the beach. My roommate has told me that their club goes there very often and that one can see dolphins ofter. I however did not see any. Maybe they were there but since I do not wear glasses...
I did around 10 miles alone and then these 3 guys passed me so I politely asked them whether I can draft off them and they let me. It felt so awesome. There was one pretty long climb and I almost died because I did not want to loose them:) They were chatting and stuff and I was dying...But then they went a different way (they went to do some kind of a bad-ass climb. Hm, no thanks, I almost died on that small one so cannot imagine climbing 5+ miles with you.) I did another 5 or so miles alone and than a group of 8 cyclist joined the road right in front of me (they basically cut me off). So I was like, one more biker, they won't even realize, so I just drafted behind them without asking for next 2 miles or so until they took another road. But I had only 5 or so miles left on PHC so no problem.
Next 40 miles were in Santa Monica mountains. It was incredible. I wish I brought my camera. But I will go there again so then I will take pictures. I hate stopping during my rides or runs. I do not think that it is "professional" and it somehow makes me feel that I am not serious enough. But I need to bring the camera because climbs and views were incredible.
I felt so bad-ass doing all that climbing. I felt very good and strong. But I was getting tired by the end. Now that I see the ride profile I understand why I felt like crap around mile 60 :))) It was up and down. And a lot of bikers and motorbikers. Almost no cars.
At mile 70 I joined PCH again and it was all flat until my apart from there.

I was hungry and tired. I ate and I wanted to eat more but I felt my quads getting sore so I knew I should take an ice bath. The problem with my ice baths is that it is around 3 miles away. So I had to force myself to climb the bike again and ride there and then back! But it was worth it because I felt much better after ocean ice bath. I could not go swimming though because waves were too high so I just stood waist-deep in the ocean.

I got home and ate some more. Well that's what I have been doing the whole afternoon since I came back...