Pizza Throwdown!!!

So last week we did a pizza throwdown versus my mom and dad. Pretty awesome, love pizzas, relatively inexpensive to make and very tasty and can be healthy too. Got a rad pizza stone from Sarahs brother Luke for my secret santa and am always excited to get to use it.

Our pizza was this:
Plain Pizza dough from Trader Joes
Corn
Avocado
Bacon
Mozarella Cheese
Traders Red Pizza Sauce

gotta have wine and beers with pizza!

Parents Pizza was:
Herb Pizza dough from traders brushed with olive oil
Artichokes
Grilled Onions
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Ricotta Cheese

The two challengers!

Pretty sure we had the best pizza! They were both awesome, fun to make pizzas for sure. Bobby Flay may be knocking on my door for a challenge soon, and I say as always to something like that….come see me!

Calm between the storms….kind of

Well it has been a crazy week here in not so sunny socal. We have had some crazy rains, winds, and even tornados just a mile or so from our apartment. I have managed to still get in rides here and there, only missing a ride yesterday. I refuse to get on a trainer, actually sold mine yesterday. The CX bike has been so useful with the bad weather we “rarely” get here. I dont have to trash the Soloist or Yeti out there, and can just go for it whenever with the trek cx. Very awesome.

So heres my short ride report for this afternoons ride:

So today it was stormy all morning, and throughout the day at work. The skies broke around 130pm and I left work around 230pm. Pretty excited as I drove him, despite the windy conditions. Roads looked somewhat dry too! Got my skinfit gear on, klima baselayers and vento jacket and legwarmers, neighbors looking at me like im a lunatic as I charge down to the garage.

Get out there and head down warner towards PCH, against a solid 20-30mph headwind. Trying to spin at about 14 mph was a chore. Once I got down to the beach path turning 90 degrees and having it as a sidewind felt awesome, even with it torquing the bike all over. It was a challenge, and I was outside riding my bike and warm, im not going to complain! The conditions of the roads/trails was not the best, sand all over even seaweed at certain points, sand blowing all over and in my ears and eyes. It was survival at the beach for sure, but I pushed down south to Newport, and headed back into some semi-headwind, making 15-20 mins of hard big gear interval basically.

I took a re-route down through Huntington in some traffic but was flying with some tailwind. This route adds some miles but also adds a little stop and go. I ended the ride with a crazy headache and into some more brutal headwind. I am super happy to have gotten out in the crazy weather, and will do it again if I got the chance!


Thanks to the CX bike, I am able to get out in the nasty conditions! Love that.

Followed up the ride with a beer and turkey burgers topped with avocado/pastrami/swiss on fresh baked kaiser rolls with some broccoli. Nice rainy day cooking, always the best end to a ride!

Maxwell Daily Reader – January 8

Last year for Christmas, my brother, Will Hudson, bought me a copy of John C. Maxwell’s The Maxwell Daily Reader. And I LOVE it. Every morning, I read the short entry related to leadership, and pretty often, it really makes me think. Today’s entry is no different and I definitely want to share it because I think literally everyone could benefit from putting it to use:

JANUARY 8

POINT OUT PEOPLE’S STRENGTHS

People often make a mistake in personal development when they focus too much on their weaknesses. As a result, they spend all their time trying to shore up those weaknesses instead of maximizing the strengths they possess. Similarly, it’s a mistake to focus on the weaknesses of others. The self-proclaimed “experts” who spend their time telling others what’s wrong with them never win with people. Most people simply avoid them.

Instead, we need to focus on finding people’s strengths and pointing them out. Most people have strengths they rarely get to use. Those strengths may be job skills, knowledge, general abilities, personality characteristics, or other attributes. I once read an interesting fact based on research, saying that every person can do at least one thing better than ten thousand people. Think about that! You possess an ability that can’t be matched by anyone in your town or neighborhood… or in your college or university… or in your company or maybe even in your industry.

Have you discovered that ability? If so, you are probably well on your way to pursuing your life’s purpose. If you haven’t, wouldn’t you love it if someone came alongside you and pointed it out? How would you feel about that person? I bet you’d be pretty grateful.

Why not try to become that person in someone else’s life? When you do, you just might be helping others to discover the thing God created them to do.

-25 Ways to Win with People

POINT OUT A GREAT STRENGTH OF SOMEONE IN YOUR LIFE TODAY.

Holiday Season riding and stuff

Well it has been a busy holiday week. First christmas for Sarah and I as a married couple, wasn’t much different than before in terms of what we did, but it was definitely awesome, always fresh and fun. I got over a mean cold a week ago and was happy I kicked it pretty quickly, for me its usually a 2 week plus thing when I get a head cold.

Training has been going well, and I am happy to be changing some things up, and in general am alot more motivated to do well in races this year. I have added a few things to my training diet wise. First I am testing out some Genr8 Vitargo for longer training rides, mostly on the MTB, and so far I really like this stuff. Second, I am using a green food formula called Perfect food. This stuff is great, and I have got Sarah using this in our almost daily smoothies. I am also doing protien/green/fruit smoothies in the AM, after rides and gyms and I am noticing some better recovery. Also, I am using Sport Multi-V’s daily.

I am doing most of my weekly rides in the early AM, 530-700 before work to get in some road miles. With help of some good cold weather gear, skinfit and craft, I am able to get out usually somewhat happy and put in the miles (usually hovering around 40-45 degrees). It also helps having my dad to do these morning rides with! Also am getting in the gym/yoga atleast twice a week and incorporating core/weights/some aerobics into my training. It is going to pay off I know it. And since Sarah was stoked I was going to the gym again she is on it too, and we have a good time playing butts up and whatnot, and she is a good coach and knows tons of drills and workouts from her volleyball playing days so she helps out a ton w/her gym knowledge.

Right now with daylight savings I am just going to hang with this schedule, and get in long rides on the weekends and the very few holidays, and make it work! I am still just loving riding the bikes, think about riding all the time, the addiction is growing!

This past week I was able to get in some good rides, still battling a nagging hammy issue, likely a mild case of tendonitis. But I have been adjusting and fidgeting with my bike fit, and as soon as I have enough cash I am getting serious pro fits on my bikes, I know that will help a ton. These last couple weeks I’ve been able to get in some good 10+ hour weeks, all of quality work. I can’t wait until I have more daylight for some longer weekday MTB and road rides!

In the 7 days ending 2009-12-20:

	activity	#	time	miles		km		+ft
	Cycling (Mountain)	1	4:35:00	35.0	(7:51)	56.33	(4:52)	6000
	Cycling (Road)	3	3:36:00	78.0	(2:46)	125.53	(1:43)	900
	Gym/Core	2	2:00:00
	Cycling (CX)	1	1:21:00	20.5	(3:57)	32.99	(2:27)	600
	Total	5	11:32:00	133.5		214.85		7500
averages – sleep:8

In the 7 days ending 2009-12-27: activity # time miles km +ft Cycling (Road) 4 6:04:00 115.5 (3:09) 185.88 (1:57) 2150 Cycling (Mountain) 1 3:52:00 35.3 (6:34) 56.81 (4:05) 5130 Cycling (CX) 2 1:44:00 24.3 (4:16) 39.11 (2:39) 950 Gym/Core 1 1:00:00 Total 6 12:40:00 175.1 281.8 8230

[csv]

So on the training front I am doing good, and loving every part of it. More rides with buddies like James, Luke, Slater, Eric, etc. will only continue the fun, and pushing my limits cause Im lucky to have all these strong riders to train and ride with.

Sarah and I are finishing off this amazing year by heading down to Cabo tommorow, and seeing James and Beth finish their year by doing something truly amazing, getting married! I wont be missing the cold mornings, gonna have these days off the bikes and will enjoy it with some beers and margaritas and good times with my wife and everyone, and be ready to hit the bike hard again when I get back in 2010!

Experience: Beachwood BBQ

Sarah and I have been here three to four times previously, seriously becoming our favorite place for food and beers. We usually only eat out about once a week, last two weeks have been this place. If you haven’t heard, they have a rotating tap of about 20ish beers, 70% ales and 30% stouts but nothing set in stone, always have some awesome beers. Their food is also the real deal. We met the owner/head chef last night and the guy is rad, their service is always solid and super friendly. Gotta give this place a plug cause its awesome, just waiting for the Pliny the Younger the may have in a couple of months or so….

Started with a Cask poured Firestone DBA, totally different from my usual and awesome!

Definitely stoked about some Alesmith IPA

Some mussels with some amazing beer infused boullion, we all loved them

especially my sister Nicole

Brisket Sandy, Sloppy Joe, and Smoked Ham Sandy

We all shared, some awesome awesome stuff

Nicole and Sarah and their weisbocks

I got Sarah hooked on the rings

On a sidenote, this is a partially bike driven blog after all….
Got in a solid CX/road mix ride this morning on wet road and under stormy windy skys. It was motivating and I’m stoked on riding and the new season right now!

Married Life and the Holidays

Everything is awesome as far as being married. I love coming home to Sarah and having her there, its awesome. We have kept pretty busy! Our thanksgiving was great, we had an awesome time at Sarah’s brother Luke’s wedding, cooking some awesome dinners and having great beers, and have been getting in some good gym sessions together.

Sarahs first bread baking expedition results….SOLID!

looking out over the HBizzle

they had HUGE cookies and milk, instead of cake!

Also, we have got the apartment fully outfitted with a christmas tree we decorated up, and a ton of lights out on the balcony. I drive down our street and know my balcony is the best, and can easily say I know how Chevy Chase felt in National Lampoons Christmas when he was all on top of the decorations and having the best place, its the Xmas spirit right?

On the training front, I am keeping my log on attackpoint of all my workouts. All the cool people are doing it and it is a cool way to keep track of everything. I have been hitting up 5:30am rides with dad, its so cold but so good and a great way to start the day, and get some solid training in (these rides arent slow thanks to pops). Also, this December I am getting back in the gym, and thanks to James and Sarah I have a ton of instruction to keep me on track and know what im doing in there. Damn its totally different in the gym, I have been sore for the last two weeks, but I know all this will pay off in my cycling, especially all the core work.

On the supplement front, I have been on a roll, ordering up some solid ingredients for some intense performance smoothies. I got Sarah on the bandwagon so we split these every morning. I have purchased some Perfect Food green powder (recommended by Slater, and if he is taking it I should be like lance in no time), Genr8 S2 for training and recovery, and a huge tub of Whey Protien Mix. The perfect food stuff is intense, and must be accompanied by some fruits to mellow out the intense cow/grass/earth flavor. Its all about getting healthy, feeling good and fighting off all the stuff going around out there right now.

Here is a little snapshot story of our dinner last night:

Cracked the Avery Dugana I have been saving, real mature!

Sarah doing her me impression, way cooler….seriously!

Oh yeah, 3/4 pound patties….MONSTER burgers and potatoes!

I’m hoping to ride this weekend up in the Santa Anas with James and start getting in some cold but definitely needed long base miles on the mountain bike. We are monitoring the weather, hoping for a dry saturday up there….dont think its gonna happen. If not it might be the first trainer session of the season!

a big last 3 weeks…Married!

A quick little recap of the last three weeks, it has been pretty fun and awesome. The weekend after Storm the Beach James headed to HB to pick me up and we headed out to beautiful Bakersfield to race the cross race out there. It was easily one of the coolest CX courses I have raced, a little bit of everything. We only headed out there for the Saturday race (they also had one on Sunday) and the field was pretty mellow and smaller in size compared to the races I have been doing. The start was fast and I found myself about mid pack, worked my butt off to stay about there and finished in 12th place.

Sunday I woke up early and headed down to SD to get out on the mountain bike with James, and earn our beers for later. Awesome ride around lake hodges chasing James around on his new bike, nice cool fall day. We put in a few hours and headed back, and got ready for the bolts game and began working on our two growlers (Autumn Rye from HBBC, and Booya Steez from Port in Solana). It was a great day of football and beers and fun for sure.

on our way…

to another bolts win! dueling county brews

Monday began and marked wedding week for Sarah and I. Things went pretty fast, we squeezed in a dinner over at Slater and Monique’s before Slater went off to boot camp, finished a lot of wedding planning and stuff, and got out there Friday. Wedding day began with my brother, dad, and I all heading out on the road in Temecula for a couple hours. Evading casino tour busses, and crazy drivers, we made it back and got ready for the wedding and pictures. The wedding was absolutely awesome; the weather in Temecula was perfect, amazing all our friends and family were there with great beers (thanks James) and some awesome wine. I won’t ever forget that night for the rest of my life, I am truly lucky to have Sarah as my wife!

temecula ride with bro and dad

rehearsal dinner at temecula creek inn

wedding time!

just married!!!

We started off our honeymoon last Monday, and headed straight for Sonoma. We brought our bikes (her road bike and my cx bike) and had no plans for the whole week. It took us all of maybe one hour in Healdsburg after checking in to get down to Bear Republic Brewing Co for some food and beers. I had a couple tall special Imperial IPA’s they had on draft and a Rocket Burger, Sarah sampled some other beers and we really liked the place, complete with bikes and random stuff all over the place. Love it!

bear republic brewing!

Tuesday we made a rad loop around Sonoma, Alexander Valley, Geyserville, and a lot of Sonoma, truly beautiful and very cold! We came back relaxed and then toured around, and ended up in Santa Rosa in a little brewco called Russian River Brewing! I had my fill of three tall Pliny’s, Sarah and I got some awesome food and some shirts and gear. The place was awesome, full of old guys with fanny packs, ponytails, guys with brewers books and little coolers for bringing home fresh beer, all beer connoisseurs! Awesome crowd, Sarah and I loved it; I wish I had this place across the street from us in HB.

working the saw

west dry creek road with changing fall colors and Sarah

Alexander Valley

Flying Goat Espressos at the Jimtown store

ponytail, gone to pee coaster, and beer making book = RAD

sarah amazed by the Pliny foam rings!

Wednesday we headed out and ended up being on the bike for a solid 4-5 hours, climbing Pine Flat Rd. to the top of the mountain, elevation 3,200’. Sarah totally sucked it up, conquered the climb, we were both so stoked, saw some awesome scenery, nothing we see down here in the OC. Deer, quail, chickens, squirrels, wildlife galore, rainforesty tree covered roads, abandoned old chimneys from old log houses, a smashed neon orange gecko in the road, etc. etc. We fueled up with some cider and espresso at the local general store outside of town, got some good food, and did some awesome wine tasting at some very cool wineries, super nice people (totally not used to that), and an amazing dinner out, all dressed up at a cool little converted restaurant in Healdsburg.

zen tree pose to summon power to the top

at the top, everyone can come see us

wine in our room at HH

Lambert Bridge Winery

the Ravenous, amazing food and surprise beer menu including Pliny!

Thursday we headed for part 2 of our honeymoon trip in Carmel. We stayed at an awesome place called the Highlands Inn, complete with a awesome real wood burning fire place in the room, and a balcony that looks over the ocean and Point Lobos. Thanks mom and dad for treating us to this, truly awesome.

not a bad view, sarah loving the robe

This part of our honeymoon was super mellow, no riding, but a lot of tourist stuff, hit up some awesome places. We did wine tasting at a couple places, drove south to Big Sur, hiked in and around Point Lobos National Park, had beers at this rad pub called the Running Iron, got all sorts of good food, good time reading and talking and it was great. Truly a perfect honeymoon.

sarahs new sweet tooth love

running iron at about noon

Point Lobos, super windy and cold, we loved it

butt shot

sarahs favorite new store!

Hopefully I didn’t bore anyone with our honeymoon stuff and not so much beer and riding, but Sarah is after all the most important person in my life, and one that fuels my fire for beer and riding, so that’s how this all relates! And I’m pretty sure 4 people read this blog anyway!

And so back into some CX racing through December, more bolts football and awesome beers and no real plans but to have fun and enjoy the cold weather! Wish I could be on a honeymoon though all the time…great girl, awesome beers, scenic riding…what more could you want?

Storm the Beach RR

So this past weekend was spend solely in San Diego/Carlsbad area. Saturday morning woke up and headed down to Carlsbad really early to meet up with James for a short road ride. We started at dusk and it was chilly! Took us atleast an hour to warm up, and after pulling a load of lazy triathletes down PCH for the last hour we were back. We got our stuff and headed out to Camp Pendleton to meet up with the Celo Pacific crew for some CX course building. We took our instructions and spent the next few hours setting up cones, tape, and designing some portions of the course. We did a little recon of the course and then headed out. Finally I got to check out Pizza Port (in Solana Beach) with James, Beth, and Gordon and have some beers and watch football. We had some of their Double IPA and Swami’s IPA. Definitely a cool mellow place, and as with most sweet brewery/restaurants in the San Diego area, I’m hooked.

Sunday morning I woke up at 4:45, but was really 3:45 since I forgot to set the clocks back. So I spent the morning before heading down to O-Side signing up for traverse, booking some travel, and other various stuff, including fantasy football! I got my stuff and headed down to the race venue, more volunteer hours working the gate with James from 6:30-9:30. We definitely dealt with our fare share of grumpiness and bitterness, which is to be expected, since most of the difficult ones ended up having “zoot” or “usat” stickers on the back of the cars as they pulled or should I say blasted off….oh triathletes. After we got done with the volunteer stuff for the club, we hung out at the B&L tent, warmed up, and watched some racing.

I decided to just race the Mens 3/4 race instead of the Mens 4 I have done the past two weekends. Its 10 mins longer and the competition is better. I am not out to win and using this as some good training and engine building to add to my offseason relaxing and base building. So I positioned myself probably in the 2/3 back from the start line, not ideal, as I wanted to be in the front half of the group but whatever. Start was fast and super dusty, and this course was pretty awesome and different than the last two I have done, in that this race is mostly flat without alot of technical corners, but alot more sand, running, and climbs! Our race was 5 laps, and I battled from the start, actually my weakest part of the course was the flats post climbs and technical sand areas. Suprisingly the run ups, sandy runs, and short steep climbs and sandy descents were my areas to gain ground. I always got caught and couldnt make up any ground on the flat sections that compromised 3/4 of the course. I just need to remember this is all just training, and a hell of alot of fun despite how tore up I feel at the end. My race ended with a sprint uphill finish and I held off a charging SDSU racer at the tape to take 17th/35.

Late dismount coming onto the beach!

Need to work on my flying mounts too!

Rad photo of me and fellow celo rider Dan Breyer following
thanks to Celo member Jeff S. for the photos!

It was the coolest race day I remember in a long time. The race was so awesome, perfect weather racing right on the beach, and watching the elite race and having beers with Jason, James, Beth, and other Celo guys after our race was all the more awesome. Stoked to have picked up a cowbell to get rowdy with, hope I dont annoy the hell out of Sarah with it at her next triathlon! haha

Hops, Brats, and Tots

Dogfish Punkin, and Raisin Punkin Muffin from good day cafe down the street.

So this week has been pretty eventful, have had alot going on for sure. Chargers got beat in a pretty pathetic MNF game last monday. Sarah and I got some DJ planning and song choices for the wedding (2.5 weeks away!!) going with my friend Vince (our DJ) on wednesday.

Taco Time and a fine halo fan!

This Znows place is awesome, gourmet ice creams, even a dozen 21+ alcoholic flavors!

Thursday night we went to the “art of the brew” which is a beer tasting event at the HB art center in downtown HB. It was pretty awesome, Oggi’s, Brewbakers, BJ’s, and HB Beer Co. showed up with a couple beers each and various snacks for everyone. Hands down BJ’s had the best beer with their Tempest IPA, and there was some good pumpkin and bock beer by the others. Oggis dissapointed by being the only one to only bring one beer to the event, a “light lager” of all things too, but atleast they brought cheese sticks….not.

enjoying some initial Tempest IPA foam..

After the we all had a good time at the beer tasting we headed to Bella Terra to check out the Race Across the Sky movie, about the Leadville 100 bike race with Armstrong, Weins, and others. It was a really cool movie, especially being solely mountain bike focused. I really like it and its up there in my top 2 mtb movies with 24 solo now!

Also, this week I have been riding real early in the morning out on the road. It will be even easier once daylight savings comes this weekend too, but right now its a little chilly. I have my tail lights all hooked up on the soloist, along with my small niterider sol headlight. Also discovered that the garmin edge 705 has a backlight for the display which is definitely useful when its totally dark early. It does feel good to get the rides in early in the morning, but it really is tougher to get the blood flowing and get warmed up compared to my afternoon rides. This may only last for a while, hopefully too, until im back out on a jobsite in the early am instead!

lots of brats…

and tots…this week

Saturday was the Spooky Cross race in Irvine near the Verizon Amphitheatre. I entered the Cat 4 race and there was 80+ guys signed up to race, biggest category of the day for sure. Thank god I got a decent position maybe front 15 guys. The start I went out hard, and caught and passed a bunch of the guys in the first half of the first lap. After one lap I found myself just outside the top 5 guys. I had gone out too hard though, and was fighting my lack of aerobic shape for sure. I kept on pushing, had to really keep telling myself to go go go. It was also really dry, and even 10 minutes into the race I was dying for a sip of liquid. I eventually faded to 14th place in the cat 4 race, and was happy with the finish. It was a super fun course, I did really well over the obstacles minus a couple botched flying mounts, and did well in the sand pit each time, always passing people or catching people in it. Next weekend at Storm the Beach I will be racing the Cat 3/4, and likely will from now on. I would have this past race but the Angels playoff game was at 5:00 and Sarah and I couldnt miss it!

check it out…i got lucky number 7 too!

I will also be getting in some longer rides in hopefully, as my leg is getting better and feeling on and off. But I desperately want to get in some longer mountain bike fall rides, its what riding is all about, this time of year and solid base miles and good good beers! But CX is damn fun too!

dont forget the HOPS with my two fav IPAs…

and two favorite teams!

Angels Beat down, but riding and racing up!

This week has been full of fun riding after work, just short outings on the cx bike. I have been finding and exploring some new routes through the Bolsa Wetlands (although im pretty sure im not supposed to be riding on some of this stuff, just for soccer moms and bums), the central park has some great trails (where they run high school cross country, frisbee golf, and horse stables), and then some areas around HB around the beach where I can find some dirt. I probably look like a jackass practicing dismounting and mounting over telephone poles, and other stuff out in these parks! Its always fun doing something new, but riding and exploring and going fast all around my house is pretty fun.

A week full of weather filled riding leaves a muddy bike aftermath.

Friday and Saturday Angels were blowing it, although I made sure not to blow it while watching and cheering and yelling at the game, by having some solid beers! Beers you cant get at most liquor stores and bars, much less at podunk Stanky-Yankee stadium. Go Angels, we will come back, the rally monkey is in full effect I can feel it!

This Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin ale pack some serious Pumpkin Punch! Loved it, only a little splitting half the 22 though!

The Blind Pig IPA (Russian River Brewco) and the worst stadium in the world in the background.

Saturday was my first two ride/one day in a long time. I love it when I can get in a road ride with my dad and/or sarah, and then head out for a mtb ride after. Well it was foggy and socked in on the coast saturday, and me and my dad did a tough 25 miler. Got back and once Slater called went and met up with him and Monique at El Moro for a solid 1.5 hour ride…in the 90 degree heat!? What the heck. This heat definitely twisted my stomach in a knot preventing some proper rehydration with beers that afternoon. But it was a great ride, havent ridden with Slater or Monique in a while, and it was tough keeping up with both of them as theyre prepping for Maui!

SlaMo, their hollywood name

Coastal fog still around at 1:00pm

Recovery tacos always cure a upset stomach

I also went out for my first CX race yesterday at El Dorado park for the socalcross’s #6 race of the series. I entered the Cat 4 race, although when I get some fitness back I may be a Cat 3, right now and with my experience im definitely fit for a Cat 4. I was deep in the start but began working my way up immediately, going all out the first lap. After the first lap I worked myself to probably just outside of the top 5ish. I couldnt hold the pace, no time to recover like an mtb xc race, no downhills or non-technical times anytime! But I kept it up solid. My dad came out and Sarah was there too, James showed up early to watch me race I couldnt be a totally failure. I probably came in top 10, felt pretty good about my race, although for the first 5 minutes after i finished I was totally blown, feeling like my heart and chest were lead. It was definitely a new experience, and Im pretty sure Im addicted now. I even think I got Sarah to possibly race this weekend at the Spooky Cross Race in Irvine this saturday!

This sand pit can come see me

My Tom Boonen impression

I will be posting up on the couch tonight for a MNF matchup Ive been waiting for for weeks with some of the usual suspects in my lineup, including but not limited to Pliny the Elder, Ruination, and some Sculpin. Yeah baby….GO BOLTS AND HALOS!