Dalai

My beautiful Paulette passed away peacefully this morning. Knowing it was coming doesn't make it any easier...

Heathpack 

So sorry to hear. I cannot imagine how difficult this has been.

My thoughts are with you from across the sea. I hope that you can find a place of peace someday soon.

Hermes

My condolences @Dalai.

“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home.”
Australian Aboriginal Proverb

Racer Ex 

Peace Dalai. I was thinking about you and Paulette last night.

shovelhd

God Bless.

LAJ

My thoughts are with you, Dalai.

sarals 

You and Paulette are in my heart, Dalai. Peace be with you....

revchuck 

I lost my sweet Mary on March 22 of this year. Tomorrow (August 3) would've been her 67th birthday. We were together 37 years.

Accept the grief, and also accept the love of your family and friends. And please accept a long-distance brotherly hug from me. Feel free to PM me if you want.

Peace be on you and your family and friends.

Rowan

Sincere condolences.

She lives on with you through your happy memories with each other.

I hope you find that piece of wilderness with your MTB when things have settled.

Dalai

Thank you all for the kind words.

So sorry to hear revchuck! Appreciate the brotherly hug. Right back at you!

valygrl

I'm so sorry for your loss Dalai.

happybday29475

I too am sorry for your loss.

YogaKat

Dalai, my deepest sympathies.

Bandera

I'm an elderly retired ex-bike racer content to just ride permanent Base Miles and plooter about the Hill Country in dignified obsolescence.
My Evil Twin Skippy, Not so much.

Rumor has it that Skippy may be back in town......

-Bandera

Heathpack 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but we're going to Scotland in September. It's for a work conference for me but we're adding a vacation to it & will be there 2.5 weeks.

I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out logistically what to do to get myself on a bike while we're in Scotland.

Shipping a bike is too expensive, carrying a bike as luggage is a PIA and necessitates renting a large vehicle which is expensive & impractical on the narrow roads, I was only finding crappy tourist bikes as rentals.

However, I'm pretty stoked because I found a great bike/situation while we're in the Highlands. Mountain bike rental from a shop 1 mile away from our hotel, a Juliana Furtado (which is the women's bike made by Santa Cruz and one which I considered buying when I was shopping bikes). Lots of trails that lead from this shop, for all levels. I'm going to hire a guide for 1-2 half days of riding/instruction. Apparently, the region we are going to in the Highlands is a huge MTB destination.

It should be really fun.

Now I just need to find a road bike for Edinburgh. The other area we're staying in is Ayr, on the southwest coast. It's near Galloway Nature Park, which is another big MTB destination. So hopefully I can get in another day on a MTB down there too.

valygrl

Ooo that is great Heathpack! It's way easier to find nice rental MTBs than road bikes. I bought the Santa Cruz 5010 which is exactly the same as the Furtato (other than paint color) and am loving it so far!

Guided destination MTB trails in Scotland sounds awesome!

Last night I met my coach at Valmont bike park for a private MTB lesson. we worked on a bunch of body position and skills stuff and I have some homework.

My sad news is, I am pulling the plug on my road season. I just can't risk a crash right now, with the second concussion stuff. Really sad about this, i will miss defending my masters crit championship and miss Steamboat stage race, which is our only true stage race all year.

Going to make the best of it by getting my MTB skills a bit better so I can enjoy a camping MTB trip with my best friend over Labor Day, and hopefully i'll get well enough to have at least part of a cross season. Really disappointing, but just seems like a better decision.

Heathpack 

@valygrl, that is too bad on your racing season but a smart choice I think. I didn't sleep well last night and had some TT intervals to do this am. I almost bailed on the workout because I was so tired but I figured I wasn't going to fall back to sleep so I might as well head out on the bike. Mid-TT interval, I came to a high-ish speed intersection and I mentally mis-processed the traffic light, I think I saw the green for the the cross street and thought I had a green. I went careening through the intersection at high speed and there was a car coming through. Its a huge wide intersection and we were able to avoid each other by a good margin, but the car was blaring its horn and the whole thing was pretty scary. So I just finished the interval and decided to cut this workout short. Seriously that was a little scary.

A little jealous of you having homework, I'm so clueless on the MTB right now. A friend lent me a book and I've been reading that some. But my biggest goal is to not hurt myself before I can get to my clinic up in Mammoth and actually learn something. There's also a free MTB skills clinic down in Malibu the first Sat of every month. If they hold that over Labor Day weekend, I'll go to that too. Then a little bit of instruction in Scotland. Hopefully, I'll start to get the hang of it after all that.

LAJ

That's sad to hear, @valygrl. You're a true master of that crit stuff, and I know it was tough. Sadly, we sometimes have to think past the bike, and realize being a functional human is sort of important too. Good call.

sarals 

@valygrl, oh, I know that's hard!! What LAJ said, too. Hard choices, but our health comes first. You'll be better next season, and you're still young. Hugs...
@Heathpack. I shoulda been a docta! You struck gold with that Scotland trip, I'm looking forward to seeing the reports!

shovelhd

VG I cut so many seasons short I stopped counting. Heal up and get back on it next year. Have fun on the MTB!

Hermes

@valygrl You are doing the right thing. Brain injury is something that must be taken seriously. I spent quite a bit of time with a neurosurgeon. He certified boxers for fights. You could not get a license for a year. My former Russian coach told me that they would take away racers license for 6 months after a concussion.

According to my neuro doc, none of us should have the first head trauma but absolutely not the second one and absolutely positively not within one year. Now that is probably being conservative and his job is to protect athletes.

And careful on the mountain bike. Riders routinely fall off of those and you do not want even a minor bump to your head.

This all really sucks but it will suck a lot worse if a bad condition that would resolve over time becomes permanent. Take care.

Trainer=good...blood flow, some sanity. maintain fitness, eliminate chance of head bump.

valygrl

Thanks guys. I'm not second guessing, just disappointed. I'm trying to make lemonade out of it and looking for some cycling vacations in fall/early winter to replace the racing I was looking forward to.

HP - glad you didn't get yourself run over, that is freaking scary! It's true a moment's lapse of attention and you can really mess yourself up. Or someone else. Like that dude who rear-ended me did. :/

Heathpack 

Cycling vacation destinations:
1. Los Angeles
2. San Diego
3. Santa Barbara/Central coast
4. Carmel
5. Napa
6. Tahoe/Reno
7. Sedona
8. Moab
9. Southern Utah
10. Or any one of a number of places in Colorado that you know more about than me

Or theres always Scotland.

shovelhd

11. New England

sarals 

I like!!