So I came out to my Aunt and Uncle’s in suburbia for the weekend, and brought Linus.  They live 15-minutes down the road from my station, so I thought it would be an easy ride in tomorrow morning at 5:30am, instead of the hour long, traffic-dodging white knuckle commute I’d been braving from San Francisco last week.  Also, being out here really gave me the chance to relax, refresh myself and study free of distraction this weekend.

I did a 31 mile bike ride on Friday and the same 31 mile loop today.  It felt so good to get back out on the bike, and this loop is perfect.  Not much traffic, nice pavement, wide shoulders and bike lanes, plus it’s got nice rolling hills and a four-mile, long slow climb through Palomares Canyon.  The Palomares Canyon climb is PERFECT for me right now- I need to build strength and endurance on the hills, and it’s long enough and not too steep to really work me.  It also winds through a few wineries and you have a great view at the summit (although my one beef with the route- not enough freaking places to sit and rest!!) at the top.  Plus, I made friends with the fruit stand vendor parked at the bottom of Eden Canyon Rd on the route on Friday, so today he had a chair and cold water waiting for me when I arrived :)   Talk about an amigo.  Even refused to let me pay for the apricot and strawberries I noshed.

My route, with elevation:

31-mile Palomares Canyon Loop

31-mile Palomares Canyon Loop

So why am I calling this a “spa” weekend?  Well, each day when I get back from riding or running, I’ve treated myself to a suntan and swim in the pool.  I even brought Linus in for a dip, although he hated it.  :P   Linus does NOT like to swim!!  I think stems back to when Earl threw him in the Saco River behind my parent’s house when we were visiting them in North Conway.  So yesterday I cajoled and cajoled, but Linus was having none of it.  He wouldn’t even chase the ball into the pool!  Dog Failure.

Here he is, saying “get me the heck out of here!”

Linus in the Pool!

Linus in the Pool!

and here are my swollen, post-ride feet, enjoying a refreshing dip:

you can see i am already starting to get a bike-shoe tan :)

you can see i am already starting to get a bike-shoe tan :)

I didn’t wear a bike shirt these past couple of rides (it’s tough to get yourself back into the spandex mindset after a year off the bike- I did the spandex shorts but wore a plain old cotton T-shirt), so I was lacking pockets and didn’t bring the camera.  I plan on doing the same ride Tuesday morning after my 24-hour shift, and then bringing Earl on it this weekend coming up.  Maybe when Earl comes he’ll have pockets for the camera- or, I *might* be mentally ready for spandex by then.  We’ll see.  Our fourth of July plans are to do the bike ride Saturday, then attend the “bring your own meat” block party on my Aunt and Uncle’s cul-de-sac.  Also, I plan on bringing Earl to party down at this cool looking divey-type bar I rode my bike past in downtown Sunol.  We love places like that- they remind us of Steinhoff’s in Lake Placid, where we used to go during ski weekends at Whiteface and also where we spent New Years 2008!   Sunday we’re going to hit up the Alameda county fair, which should be a blast.  I adore county fairs, so I’m really psyched.   In fact, I’m really looking forward to the entire weekend- seems like such a classic, American way to spend the 4th of July.  My aunt already picked up the fair tickets, so we are ready to go!  Perhaps I’ll even have good news by then re: job training status to celebrate.