Fall has arrived in Marin.

Fall has arrived in Marin.

Fall in Marin may  not be like the frigid Colorado snows, or the vibrant Vermont foliage, but it is fall for us Californians nonetheless. 

What is fall in Marin?  It is marked by a slight chill in the air which is complemented by the warm sun.  It is a remarkable combination, a brisk wind and a balmy cloudless day.   The views are so spectacularly clear, you feel like you can cut the definition with a knife.  The bay is aquamarine and the trees are evergreen.   The air still lingers with a damp, pine and eucalyptus essence.  Everything about it makes you crave pumpkin spice and warm vanilla sugar.  And then there is the wind.  The wind makes you want to take up a slower, more relaxed sport.  A sport that doesn’t tend towards high wind resistance.  A sport that doesn’t require you to break the speed and wind barrier thus creating the wind chill factor of a descent.  A sport where you feel the warm sun, and not the cold breeze.  Speed walking anyone?  No, I tried that and it just looks silly.  I will stick to the cycling thing, but maybe drink a chai latte after my ride just to inhale the fall spirit.

You know you are in the off-season when…

1. You can start rides late, when you want to and the duration you desire.  Long or short, it is your ride on your time.

2. You can listen to Willie Nelson on the ride, a violin concerto, Taylor Swift, Enya, or whatever you want because you need no further motivation.

3. You can stop and take pictures of the view, check at the passing banana slug, count the points on the buck leaping by without worrying about ride time.

4. It is completely acceptable to plan your ride around coffee shops, bakeries, and farmers markets.  The rides involve cappucino, pastries, and a tour of bakeries. 

5. You can choose not to ride if its too windy or too cold or too cloudy…

6.  You can choose not to ride if its too clear and too beautiful out to spend in the saddle.  Instead, you opt for a walk and the pool…

7. If its raining, you can decide not to ride because you don’t want to get wet, don’t want to get your bike dirty, or just because you don’t want to.  And if you do?  Go for it.  You can clean your bike when you want…or not.

8. You don’t have to ride, you can run, do you yoga, row, or you can mountain bike, cyclocross, or use those silly elliptical machines in the gym (but who would want to do that instead of being outside).  The options are endless, and they show you how much you really like to ride a bike…

9. You don’t need any data from your ride…no heart rate monitors, no power meters, no altimeters, no measuring of any kind… Yet, if you are like me, and are a little OCD about data, you bring them anyway… Ha.  Just try not to stare at them!

10.  You start avoiding the “fast rides” and start riding with a more mellow crowd that is about chatting, cruising, and eating muffins.

11.  Maintenance can happen later, this time is about you, your relaxation, and your time.  Do what you want, but you will find that doing what you want causes you to want to do what you aren’t supposed to be doing—riding more!

12. The words “laps”, “intervals”, “repeats”, “threshold” are no longer in your vocabulary.  Instead, you have replaced them with “cruise”, “tour”, and “eat”….

13. When you find yourself saying, “so this is what normal people do on the weekends…”

14. You can stop by and have brunch at that cafe you always ride by and wonder who has time to have a brunch when there are miles to be done.  I am not going to say I have done this, but I have considered it. 

15. You can step outside of your comfort zone and try cyclocross, mountain biking, or go to the velodrome for your first time.

16. People ask you what your goals are for next season, and you respond, “Next season? What?”

17.  As much as you take pride in taking your “off-season”…on a perfect, bluebird day, you see fellow cyclists rolling down the bike path, and you get a twinge of jealousy and want to shout out to them, “It’s off-season!  Get off your bike!” But really, you just want to join them… instead you keep walking the dog down the path.

18.  You realize why running is time efficient, but it is slow, and involves impact.  Why run when you can ride a bike?

19.  You remember why you don’t like cross-training, or triathlon.  I still haven’t convinced myself to get back in the pool!

20. You can’t wait for training to begin!

Best ride of my life.

Yesterday I had the best ride of my life.   Have I said that before? Yes.  Will I say that again? Absolutely. 

However, yesterday was the best ride of my life.

For those of you didn’t get to appreciate the day here in Marin, California, it was a flawless day.  It was October 24th and 80 degrees.  Crystal clear. No wind. What a perfect day for a bike ride. 

I left late, around noon.  It was a luxurious start to the day.  There was no hurry and no rush.  It was my day to get on the bike because it was flawless.  Maybe the ride was so great because it is the off-season, and riding is now a treat.  A special indulgence that I can allow myself.  Maybe it was that I was well rested, my legs are fresh, and ready to ride.  Maybe it is because it wasn’t running, it wasn’t yoga, it wasn’t power walking, and it wasn’t hiking.  It was fast, it was rhythmic, it was exhilarating, it was monotonous, it was everything road riding should be.  Maybe riding is just fun, and Marin is a spectacular place to live and ride your bike.  Maybe.

Yesterday was the best ride of my life and I could soak it all in.  Soak in the sun, the views and God’s creation.  I loved it.  Absolutely.  

Riding 4 hours by myself gave me the time to think of all sorts of things.  Life is a good on the bike, and the time to yourself is always nice.  Reflection and enjoyment.  Like I said, it was a good day yesterday.   

I think you should have countless “best rides of your life”.  You should have good days and you should have bad days.  Yet, you should also have “best days”.   This is what keeps us going on the hard days, this is what gets us out on a drizzly day in the the winter base training.  We can remember those days that you allowed yourself to only do what you wanted, and it was perfection.

Go and do it.  Have the best ride of your life.

Overboard.

I think I have the tendency to go a little overboard sometimes.  Sometimes?  Maybe. 

A few examples.

If you had seen my A+ Bug Collection in the 7th grade, you may agree.  My parents just had the opportunity to finally get ride of the thing, but it was keeper, let me tell you.  I had cut the glass to lay over the box I had made, and ever bug was displayed flawlessly.  There may be a reason that my parents have the nickname for me “Bugs”.

Then I moved on to the Science Fair in 8th grade.  Make rock candy?  Nah.  Acid rain display?  Nope.  I decided to do a Genome Project on mice.  350 mice later, I had discovered thier punnentt square on recessive and dominate coloring, and won the science fair. 

The science trend continued through high school and on to college.  It was Biochemistry, throwing in NCAA tennis, with Molecular Biology, Nutrition, and sorority.  Why not? 

I started playing tennis my freshman year of high school, and decided I wanted to take it to NCAA.  I took up running, and started racing.  I took up cycling, and started triathlon.  My first triathlon was a half-ironman.  I started bike racing.  In 3 months, I was a pro.  In 6 months, I was at the Olympic Training Center, and in under a year, I was in Europe for the US. Where will I be this time next year?  I hope Worlds. 

Crazy.  Impulsive? Nah. Overboard?  Maybe.  Driven?  Absolutely.

I take a goal and I run with it.  What may seem like an insane idea, spirals into a target, into a focus, and into a lifestyle.  I recently bought my first pair of MTB shoes.  Do I have a MTB bike or cross bike?  Nope.  But, I have officially taken the first step towards the dirt.  Will I go overboard with this one?  Probably not.  But maybe.

Even though I have ended up in this place because of cascades of reactions and catalysts throwing me into this incredible opportunity and career, I believe I have found where I belong.  I am no longer going above and beyond.  I am right where I am supposed to be.  I am Alison Starnes, a professional cyclist, and I am going to pursue this.

Going overboard?  Nah.  The science projects were overboard.  Cycling.  Nope.

Outakes.

From the pictures with Bob Cullinan, here are some of the “out-takes”.  So photogenic. Ha.

Did I mentiont that Bob is the best?

Apparently the hair gets in the way…

According to Steve Hed, I will need to cut my hair in order to increase my aerodynamic advantage… Tough luck, Steve.  I gotta keep the hair, but will consider tying it back next time.  He would cringe if he saw those TT shots of that pony tail flapping  in the wind…. Trademark, I guess. Now, the shoulders, that is a whole other ball game… 

Off-season continues. Sigh.

Yoga, run or indoor cycling class anyone?