"Click"

That's what the body did yesterday.

The base period finally came to a close with the end of my rest week (10 hrs) yesterday...and an emphatic ending it was. Only three rides. 1, 5, and 4 hours. 4 of which came yesterday...with some near-hypothermia and crafty descending in ice, it finished up. By LA standards, yesterday was cold. In the valleys, it was a low of 32. 32! In LA! Unheard of. Despite the temperature, it was still sunny and clear. I layered up, and felt nice (aka: overdressed) at the lower elevations, so I took to the mountains. I was fine until about 5000'. Then the ice started and the sun disappeared and it had to have been in the 20s. Ouch. It was okay on the ascent, but coming down...argh. Amazingly, i'm not sick. I've thrown myself in some pretty sickness-inducing situations, but remain unscathed. Getting sick before base begins...that's the way to do it.

So today there was a race. MLK Crit. I didn't go. My rationale: If I went, I'd be doing it for the money. It's an unsanctioned race. The team didn't care if I did it. No one would. I probably would have made at least my entry back ($1000/10 deep), but gah. Is it worth it? Too early (8am start time!)...anddddddddddd....tooooooooo cold. It was 38 this morning...when I probably would have been "warming up" for the race. Plus, a guy up north broke a femur in one of these "Early Bird" races. Femur! That's the one that's reallly realllllly hard to break. Bummer for him, man. People (particularly SoCal-ers who aren't used to the cold) do strange things in adverse weather. I'm no exception. So I sat this one out.

In cheerier news: The band I go with had a show last night at the Alex Theatre. Great show. Massive crowd (2000 people?), and not a single empty seat! I'd never experienced that before. Amazing. But...the best part...one of the bass players from another band looked strangely familiar....



And they gave The Dude a beeper.


and a bass, apparently! Incredible guy. Even his mannerisms were spot on! I was in the presence of greatness. Wow, I'm still buzzing. Jeff Bridges himself could not have done it any better. The man IS the dude, but with slightly fewer years (and lbs) and with a knack for music. Imagine that man in a Creedence cover band. fuahhh.