Monthly Archives: April 2012
Ducati 1199 Panigale Unveiling Party
Yesterday around our house was all about Ducati.
Eurocycles of Tampa Bay hosted the new Panigale unveiling at the Salvador Dali Museum. They were also doing a ride over for anyone that was interested in joining in, which would be starting at their location in Tampa and ending over in St. Petersburg at the Dali Museum.
The Doc was down for this experience so he spent the day getting his baby ready to go (washing, waxing, and who knows what else). This would probably be a good time to add that The Doc and I have an open relationship. It is me and him…and him and the Ducati. I never get jealous of his relationship with the that fiery red Italian. I understand how relationships with motorcycles go 
The event was great! Of course there was everything centered around the Panigale but we also got free admission to the museum and were able to walk around and see all the art work.
Oh, and some lucky bastard guy won the bike last night. There were 200 raffle tickets for sale for $110 a pop. The winner got…The BIKE!
So our day in pictures.
Meet at Eurocycles for the ride over
Sea of Ducs
Head of to the Dali Museum (for this I hopped in a friends car and took lots of pictures of the ride over):
There was "a little" rain along the way. And by a little I mean traffic on the interstate slowed down to a crawl but it did clear up when by the time we arrived! And you can see The Doc, he is in the white helmet on the right side in the lead.
Ducati Parking
Ducati's, Dali Museum and Palm Trees
Me and Colin aka, The Doc
Waiting for her skirt to be lifted!
There were lots of flashes going off when this picture was taken...BUT OH MY THIS BIKE FELT GOOOOOOOOD!
Another Thursday, Another Race – Oh How I Love Thee Sailing
Some people call this day of the week Thursday but not me, I call it Sailsday!
I kid, I’m not that big of a dork! Well I am but not to that level
The wind forecast yesterday was slated to be blowing around 8 knots during the race and it ended up being more like 11 to 12 knots. Why hello breeze, mind if we sail around you for a couple of hours?!
And what a race it was! I know I say that pretty much every race but oh my, this was crazy!
I’m about to get some sailing terms on. Here is a link to US Sailing, it goes over some terms I’ll be using. We sail on a J35 (35 feet long), even though the US Sailing link goes to small boats, the terms still work for the J35.
For the most part, it was the usual kind of race. Sometimes you run into glitches, like lines getting “a**holed” (this means that as the line is running through the car, it gets knotted up, we call it an a**hole), or someone falls overboard. Just kidding about that last one, kind of, I have only seen it happen on our boat, once a long time ago.
Last night, we had something slightly bigger happen. We were coming around a marker, the boat was heeled and most of the crew was up on the high side. Then there was me, I was on the low side working the *Topping lift so we could get the Spinnaker up. As I was grabbing the Topping Lift line to raise the spinnaker pole, the Boom Vang snapped completely off the boom and hit the deck! From where I was standing, this happened RIGHT NEXT TO ME!
Holy sweet mother, so on top of the fact we were rounding a race marker, raising the spinnaker then have to get the jib down, the Boom Vang fails. Luckily, we can sail without it attached at the boom (but it will be fixed shortly). We ended up finishing 4th overall in our class for the night. But all things considering, not too bad!
There were some other minor sailing things but nothing out of the ordinary to share. The Boom Vang was the main excitement for the crew.
Here are a couple of pics from prior to the race. It is hard to get pics during the race and by the end of it, my phone was in the red and it wouldn’t let me take one (come on Galaxy, you are better than that!).
The Friday workday is almost complete. Then it is time for the WEEKEND!!!! On top of the Ducati Panigale unveiling tomorrow night and mountain biking Sunday morning, we have now added sailing to Sunday afternoon.
Come on weekend, you were made for fun 
Hope you guys have a great one as well!
Getting ready for the start
Cruising out in bay prior to the race start (you can see the yacht club in the background behind the sail boat)
And the last of the race pictures
* Topping Lift (compliments of Wikipedia) – A topping lift may also refer to a line on the front of the mast used to rig the spinnaker pole. It is used to trim the pole to the proper height when hoisting the Spinnaker.
Camping, Canoeing and Ducati Panigale Unveiling
Life is getting busier over here!
Yesterday I made our reservations for some camping and canoeing for next weekend!!! Woot, woot out on the river! So excited! The river and springs we are going to are suppose to be some of the best scenery in Florida, as well as very challenging paddling. I say, BRING IT ON!!!!
Pretty soon it will get to be a little too hot to camp here. Florida heat, no ac, borders on a very unpleasant camping experience so we need to enjoy it while we can. I have camped as late as Memorial Day weekend (which we are tentative planning a camping trip for this Memorial Day weekend!!) and as early the end of July. The July trip was pushing it a bit but after a couple of beverages was able to fall asleep sans heat Not to mention it was about 2 hours north of Tampa at the springs so the cold water helped A LOT!!!
Before we hit the river navigating our canoes around vicious Florida alligators, we first must go to the museum. The Salvador Dali Museum that is. This weekend The Dali is hosting the Ducati 1199 Panigale Superbike Unveil Party. It is an invite only event and of course, The Doc and I will be attending!
There is special “Ducati Parking” at the museum for all Duc riders. With that said, there is a group of Duc owners all getting together to ride over to the event. I don’t know how many are in the group but what I do know is I cannot wait to hear the sweet, sweet sound of all those Ducati’s together.
I keep making the joke I can ride along on my FJR. I get evil stares from The Doc. Looks along the lines of “How dare you silly woman suggest something so absurd”. It makes me laugh.
It is going to be a two wheel kind of weekend. We got the Ducati deal Saturday and then we are going to be hitting the trails again for some mountain biking! Seriously, the weekend can not come fast enough!!
Adventures In Cooking!
I really enjoy cooking and am working on getting better at it. Some meals are awesome, others, well, let’s just say there is a pizza place 5 minutes from the house
I’m not the kind of cook that can make up awesome meals on the fly (for the most part). I need a recipe to follow, at least the first time I make it. After the first time of making something, I can stray away from the recipe and mix it up a bit. I always print out a recipe, then as I am making it, I write notes off to the side of the print out so next time I make it I have some suggestions and whatnot.
With all this said, I am a food blog junkie. I love seeing different recipes and trying them out. Last week I came across this great HEALTHY food blog SkinnyTaste.com. I really like this site because Gina does a healthy twist on everything. There seriously are not enough days in the week for me to try everything that I want to try on her site!!! Buuuut, I have printed out several recipes and have them lined up to try out.
Last night was recipe one: Chicken Rollantini with Spinach Alla Parmigiana. My version looks nowhere near as good as her’s but I think it is because I took a picture with the camera on my phone and not the SLR camera Yeah, we are going to go with that reasoning!!
So here it is in all it’s glory. This recipe is AMAZING!!!!! I highly recommend trying it out.
Chicken deliciousness!
2 Timing Sunday
Two posts in one day…two workouts in one day…I’m just two timing it over here!
This morning I did a 5k training session, the last day of my Week 3 Spark People 5k Your Way Rookie Running Training Program. This workout was Walk for 3 minutes, then jog for 2 minute. Repeat 5 more times. (Total workout time: 30 minutes).
After this workout, finished up the F1 race that was in Bahrain (Damn you Vettel for winning!) then it was off to brunch to meet up with one of The Doc’s friend from high school. Brunch was at a yummy place called La Creperia Cafe. I had the turkey with brie crep and holy sweet tastiness it was beyond delicious.
Once we were done gorging ourselves, we came home to change then head over to McKay Bay Wilderness Park for some outdoorsy workout action. The Doc was doing his interval run/walk workout, while I kept it as a simple walk since I did 5k training earlier.
This park was, well, diverse in scenery. It was great overall but we experienced several types of views. Here is a taste of what we saw:
Off-trail route
Power generation plant
There was also a boardwalk that took us through the mangroves. Sadly, this picture was deleted 
It was a fun, easy workout complete with mother nature cooling us off with some rain!!!
Time to enjoy what is left of the weekend!!!
I’m Just 5K-ing
There was a time in my life where every morning Monday through Friday started out with a 3 mile run before work. Saturday and Sunday mornings were out because I was usually too hungover to get out of bed, let alone run
That was circa 2005. Fast forward 7 years later and I am obsessed with running in a 5k race.
Now I am very active. I kite board, wake board, mountain bike, sail, yada, yada, yada but running, not so much. Grew up playing soccer and ran around for hours. Literally, my junior and senior years of high school I played both on the school and competitive teams. After school would let out, I would practice for a couple of hours for the school team, then hurry over across town for competitive practice which was also a couple of hours.
Truth is, I hated running back then. I loved soccer, hated running. Luckily my love of soccer beat out my hatred of running. When soccer ended at the age of 19, we had an on/off again relationship for years to follow. In 2003, while I didn’t love it, I did it…every morning for about 2 years. Then I stopped…
I of course found fitness other ways but running and I were done. I hated it.
Until about a month ago. As mentioned in a previous post, I went to watch a friend compete in a crit. In between the road bike races, they had races for runners. I don’t know what clicked in my head but I decided that I wanted to run a 5k. Since that moment I have researched upcoming 5k’s in my area, read numerous 5k training programs, and bought new running shorts (need some motivation there, all my other workout clothes bored me).
I did a lot of research to determine which 5k training plan would be right for me considering I am already an active person. In the end I decided to go with Spark People’s 5k Your Way Rookie Running Training Program. They actually have several program choices for 5k training, depending on your activity level when you start. This 8 week program I felt was right for me.
Just a disclaimer, I’m not a personal trainer or doctor. The ideas presented here are not meant to substitute doctors’ recommendations or that of a personal trainer.
This week starts Week 4 in the training. Walk for 2 minutes, then jog for 3 minutes. Repeat 4 more times. (Total workout time: 25 minutes). I also add a 5 minute walking warm up and 5 minute cool down at the end.
To make sure I keep with the right intervals, I downloaded Endomondo Pro app. The non-pro app is great but with doing interval training I upgraded to the Pro because that has where you can customize interval training. If you are looking for a good workout tracker, give this one a shot.
There are lots of activity options to choose from, including: Sailing, running, mountain biking, kite boarding, roller blading, cricket, you get the idea. There are a TON of things to choose from.
You can even purchase a heart rate monitor to sync up to the app but I’m not that fancy. I have my regular heart rate monitor…for now
I’ll keep you posted on how the training goes and what 5k I decide on running!
Diamonds Kind Of Day, Black Diamonds That Is
Today I hit the trails and I hit them hard! We hit up our favorite local spot Balm Boyette.
This trail system is fantastic. Great flow within the trails and lots of beautiful Florida scenery. The trails range from the easy Green’s to the challenging Black Diamonds.
I have been here so many times but there was something new to be seen…a sinkhole. Apparently, the earth got hungry and decided to eat one of the trails. It was kind of cool and creepy at the same time. The police tape around it was slightly concerning but still walked up to the edge and checked it out.
Trail being ate by a sinkhole
My absolute favorite trail here is a Blue called Canyon. It is one of the more challenging Blue trails. There is a drop that leads to a tight left turn hair pin. Today I almost made that turn, had to stop at the top and turn the bike to make it Next time though.
Hit a lot of Black Diamond trails today. North Abyss is pretty challenging. For the most part I rode every section but one drop, that one walk down lead to me having to walk up the climb due to lack of momentum. After that we hit up the Ridgeline trail, FREAKING AWESOME!
Seriously, it is 2 miles of badass trails. If you click on the Boyette Link above they talk about Ridgeline. So many huge drops and climb outs. I had a blast on this. Literally, I felt like a kid at the fair riding the roller coaster. Up, down, up, down. The speed was intense and the “woooooooooooo”‘s were flowing! Half way through the 2 mile trail was a cute swinging bench so we sat there for a few moments to sip on some water and regroup.
After this we hit lots of other trails then decided to start heading back toward the jeep (which was still a good solid 45 minutes out and there were more trails to be rode between here and there).
One of those said trails is called Big Drop (cue in intimidating music). For the past 3 years this trail has taunted me. It’s about 25ish foot drop (seems bigger), then as soon as you hit the bottom and immediate medium sized climb up to another smallest drop then easy ride/slightly steep climb out.
My relationship with this trail has gone like this: Ride to edge, look, decide not to , turn around. Ride to edge, look, decide not to, turn around. Repeat that about a million more times.
Today though, after hitting Ridgeline and doing all those drops and climb outs, I decided Big Drop would be conquered. I rode up to it, scooped it out, turn around to get some speed and then….WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The speed, the rush, the feeling of finally conquering the fear of this Black Diamond that has haunted me for so long!
Today Big Drop was mine! So I rode it again just for good measure!! VICTORY!!!
Today, I came, I saw and I conquered!
The forecast for today, well for this weekend, has been severe storms. I thought for sure it was going to rain Thursday night for the race, it did not. Then today, well I thought for sure it was going to rain while we were out on the trails, it did not. I have concluded that I would be a horrible meteorologist.
We did hit rain though, on our way home after a very late lunch. Perfect to kick back, relax, sliding glass down open and enjoying the sound of the rain.
P.S. – I conquered BIG DROP TODAY!!! You have no idea how happy this makes me
And Today’s Sailing Forecast Is…
Rain!!
Rain to spice up the day!
Today was 40% chance of rain and it did not disappoint. The power went off at work for a while. Nothing like getting to goof off while the power is out
Only a few more hours until 5 o’clock hits and I can hit the high seas! We will see how the weather shapes up
Sail, Sail, Away and A Slight Case of Slackerness
I have been slacking this past week!!! Sorry!
Last weekend (starting on Thursday) was full of sailing me matey’s!
Thursday night race was SOO much fun. We had a great time out there. I got to take it easy this race and just hike. No jobs assigned to me (not that I asked for one though), just hike for Jesus. We had a newbie on the boat for the race so I took her under my wing and guided her for what to do and what to expect during the race.
I love when newbies come on the boat for the first time. Always fun to watch their reactions when we heel the boat. The best part (and my personal favorite) is the start box. So much craziness and chaos in there at times! I LOVE IT Newbies always get alarmed at all the boats fighting for the start line.
And to top it off, perfect sunset finish!
Perfect Ending!
Saturday’s sail was more fun and relaxed. The Doc and I had some of our friends out there and then a couple members of our crew. We set off from the yacht club down to the Skyway Bridge. Normally this trek takes forever, but we left the dock at 10am and were back by 5-ish. We made such great time because…
… the wind was honking ALL DAY LONG!!!! The wind was blowing and the beverages were flowing. Seriously, can’t beat it.
My own version of "King of the World"
My favorite shot of the day:
This is sailing baby!
Sunday’s race was more low key then Thursday nights. Usually the Thursday races, while fun, are the more “serious” races. Sunday’s are the more laid back, relaxing kind of races.
It reminds me back to my soccer playing days. If we were creaming a team, like up 9 – 0, we would all change positions on the field. I usually played forward or mid-field but when we were up, sometimes I would slip back into the goal or play sweeper.
That is how Sunday Races are. I got to work the main sail Sunday. It is so much fun doing that job, but it is very hard. You have to be precise. Considering it was only my second time on main, I think I did most excellently Still lots to be learned but I did catch on to a lot of things. Only way to learn!!!
Other than sailing in my life at the moment, I have decided to run a 5k this summer so pretty much just training for that. The last time I ran 3 miles without stopping was 2005 when I would wake up every morning and run along the water before work. My mile run time isn’t all that great so I’m not going to post my time just yet
So right now, just trying to better my mile time and add 2 more miles to that, at some point. I have found in the two weeks that I started running again in the morning, I don’t want to throw my alarm clock against the wall. I actually wake up before it goes off, and I am excited to get moving.
I mix up my running days with something else. Monday morning and this morning I ran, yesterday I took the ole mountain bike out exploring in the area around my house. No trails but plenty of off-roading to get a good workout in.
Tomorrow morning I will probably go ride again then race time after work!!!! How is it Thursday already?!?!
This weekend we are going to hit up my favorite local spot for some mountain biking. Apparently, there is a huge sinkhole that has opened up along the trails and I want to check that out!!!
Come on Saturday, I need you in my life!!
Gone Biking!
Ahh, Monday, how I loathe you! Whoever thought the typical work week should be Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm, I would like to drop kick them. In my world, the work week should be Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm but still get paid for 40 hours. That is how it should be around the world. No idea when in time this whole 40 hour work week became standard.
Oh to dream, for now, I will work those 40 hours and day-dream of my weekends!
This past weekend was The Doc and I’s 3 year anniversary. We kept it low-key. Dinner at Pete & Shorty’s for some mini burgers (one of our places when we started dating). Oh, and he got me white roses, my FAVORITE FLOWERS IN THE WORLD!!!!
Saturday we did attempt 2 of Carter Rd for some mountain biking. Last time it ended with a broken chain. This time we would prevail.
From what I have been told, “The Fingers” at Carter Rd is the best place to ride and has the most technical trails to hit. Last time we didn’t make it to The Fingers due to the broken chain. So Saturday we decided to start with The Fingers then work our way back.
Yeah, not so much. We started out riding straight down the main trail but ended up hitting trails as we came across them. Last time I really liked Carter Rd, this time, I fell even more in love with it. The scenery is beautiful, the trails have great flow and they are so much fun. Random bridges just sneak up on you as you are heading down a trail. I’m a fan of bridges so this is right up my alley!
We made it the fingers and embarked on Finger 1, then Finger 2. I’m still a kid at heart and was hoping that it would say “Middle Finger” on the sign but it didn’t, it said “2nd Finger”. My inner 10 year old was crushed.
Aka, The Middle Finger
The 3rd Finger was my favorite. It was slightly technical but not as much as the first two fingers. Since they are single track “Fingers”, the trails starts counter-clock wise and come out in the same area as the start of the trail. With this set up, the mid-way point of the trail has a great shot of the water as you come around the bend.
3rd Finger View
When we came off of the 3rd Finger, The Doc’s chain was trashed, again. The master link was shot. We were so close to finishing the fingers. While he was trying to repair it, 3 other riders came off the 2nd Finger and rode up next to us to make sure we were good to go.
One of the riders started asking the The Doc about his chain and whatnot. Then made this comment, he was told by a pro that you should ONLY use your front brakes going downhill.
WHAT?!?
One word, ENDO!
Any of my mountain biking readers/followers ever heard to ONLY use your front break while going downhill?
After that conversation and the realization that the chain link was done, we rode back to the jeep on the mail trail head. Perhaps our third attempt at Carter Rd will allow us to completely ride The Fingers!
The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key. This upcoming weekend will not involve any trails but it will involve lots of sailing! Thursday and Sunday we have races. Saturday we are doing a play sail with some of the crew.
Play sails are the best. The perks of sailing without the stress of racing.
A 2011 Play Sail - look behind the boat. We drag a rope, take some rafts and enjoy the cruise behind the sail boat
A 2011 Play Sail - General Goofiness
Until sailing, I get to enjoy a week of island living on the island in Tampa. Been house/dog-sitting for this couple for about 7 years now. Pretty sweet gig!
View from the island living house!
