Happy Exhaustion...

So, things have been going like crazy for the past while... 

Wednesday - Gastown Sprints! 

Headed down to Pub 340 - the sketchy sketch bar on the corner of Cambie and Hastings.... haha. Honestly, I was terrified. Not about the bar... the race... I mean, this is a race made primarily of messenger couriers. People who ride 9 hours a day... Moses, the coordinator, is trying to get others into it, like roadies and crit racers to expand it out but so far mostly couriers. So Claude writes my name down anyway... and despite me tending to be frightened of the unknown, it's really just that first point of unknown and then I tend to do alright. I mean, it's only about a 30 second sprint and everyone there is so hammered, they won't remember how you did anyway. Nor do they really care... 

It went well. Really well. I don't know how many girls usually go to these sorts of things - how many tend to race this sort of thing - but I think this time there were about eight. I'm sure they were missing a whole bunch because eight seems small. We raced a couple heats of four girls as qualifiers and it was quick and amazing. I got my bike set up, hopped on, waited for the countdown and gave'r. It's probably under 30 seconds but you get your legs going so fast that you barely get to that point of 'okay this hurts' when it's time to stop. I just don't feel like I have the cadence to do this sort of thing. Or at least that's how I felt going in. You just get to the point where you can no longer spin any faster. Which can be very frustrating if you're behind. Apparently, the first ten seconds is the crucial time. After that, you're just holding. So I guess as long as you get a good start, you'll be fine. 

Anyway, I went in, full tilt and, while trying not to feel egotistical it's a little thrilling to see, in huge letters on a big screen in total video game writing: "Linnaea Wins." Haha. 

After the heats of qualifiers, they cut down to head to head - just you and another person racing your brains out. Sudden death style. You get bumped, you don't race again. It was pretty sweet. The winner was Louise, who is apparently a super intense and awesome racer... she was pretty impressive. She and I were supposed to meet in the finals - her having the fastest time and I had the second fastest but the race brackets had a mistake so there we were in the semis. I felt like Roddick up against Federer. And we all know how that goes... Although these days there seems to be a chance of a comeback... Hmm...

Thursday - Arnie: "So, are you guys going to Martini's tonight?" Me (looking at Claude and getting a shrug in response): "Yeah, I guess so..."

Hung out with the bike boys and Claude over at Martini's, a restaurant/bar. Interesting conversation. Emerald City is never a disappointing drink... Afterwards I think I just jetted around town on my bike... a vague recollection of heading down to the Drive... perhaps to try and pick up a wooden salad bowl I had stashed at a friend's house. I really should start writing these things down sooner after I do them... shoot. 

Friday - James: "Polopolopolopolo*?!" Ha. 

So graceful and picturesque... and Danger Bay...

Headed down to Crab Beach after work to watch the couriers play polo. Got some sweet shots, laughed a lot, was a bit impressed. Got terrified because some of them are so bloody aggressive! And when you're fooling around on a bike, it can be sketchy. Ha. James and Claude both jumped into the games, which was very admirable. I wish I had the guts and the talent to do it but no dice... But then, I for sure have the 'oh god please don't die' feeling every time they almost crashed into each other. Felt a little motherly. :p "Honey! Not so close, not so close! Oh dear!"

The second part of the evening was spent watching and waiting for the couriers to do a race called The Alleydog. Essentially, there were checkpoints all around the city with different parts of a veggie dog - relish, mustard, dog, bun. You had to race around, get these things, bring the completed hotdog back to Crab Beach and stuff it in your mouth and first to down it was the winner. The interesting part was that first was first, second was second, I think third might have been third and the rest were just entertainment for everyone to watch you scarf down a hotdog as fast as humanely possible. And Claude wonders why I didn't want to do it?  Hmm... :p 

Kind of my favourite picture from this set... awesome.

Saturday - Me: "I don't even know where Spanish Banks is..." Kyle: "Me either." 

Got invited by Mike "The Basement Troll" Shellard down to Spanish Banks, which is at the end of the peninsula on the way to UBC. Very cool place. Hung out a bit after work to do a little work on the Green Machine. She's getting prettied up bit by bit - new cables, adjustments, new back tire to match the front but needs to be worn down and dirtied up like when you buy a new pair of running shoes... very nice. Next step? Replace the rusty headset to make sure my steering doesn't seize up or fall apart. I don't know which would be worse... Biked down to the beach with James and Kyle. I think we alternated between sprinting with/past each other and coasting/trackstanding. Also, am now starting to do the leg over the handlebars instead of back over the seat to get over the bike but I still feel like a bit of a poser doing so... so I try not to bust it out too much... even though I feel pretty cool (read: like a 'younger sister who's allowed to hang out with her older sister's friends' kind of feeling) doing it. Haha. Oh, but before we got there, we stopped in at Kyle's where his girlfriend (well, practically wife - they're now 'common law' haha) Sheena was hanging out and got to show off her new batch of tomatoes. So exciting. I'm psyched for her because I totally went through the same thing two months ago. She's taking over a space in the back garden and going to grow a huge crop of them. Exciiiiting!

Watched a beautiful sunset with Mike and his friends then headed back towards Kits Beach for a bit of sustenance at Vera's Burger Place, where apparently, "You can't beat Vera's meat." Go figure. Their description for the veggie burger was: "It's a veggie burger." Obviously not catering to that crowd... ha

After that we headed back up to pick up Sheena and go to their friends' place for a domino/Singapore Sling party. Pretty fun. I've never had a Singapore Sling but they were delicious! I ended up having to leave early because I was the only one working today. Bah. 

Kyle looks oh-so-not impressed, James slightly more impressed... haha

So now it's Sunday and I'm exhausted. I should go to bed so I can get up and run in the morning. Still waiting for my contacts to make it here from Ontario because I'm on my last pair and Dad shipped them a week ago. C'mon Canada Post! Oh, and picked my first cucumber off Luke the Cuke... it's going to be good in tomorrow's lunch... yummeh! 

Quotes du Jour: 

"If one speaks or acts with a cruel mind, misery follows, as the cart follows the horse...

if one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows, as a shadow follows its source..."

"Affection can withstand very severe storms of vigor, but no a long polar frost of indifference..."