Let's give it up for the letter "V".

I'm no vegetarian, let alone a vegan. But some co-workers turned me onto the Breakroom, a teeny vegan spot in downtown Oakland, and I've become an addict. The hearty bagel is killer, and the potato skin sandwich really grows on you if you give it time (you must approach it with no preconceived notions). They won't take your order if you're on your cell phone. There's a sign that says so.

But what's funny is that I've been turned onto another vegan spot: the Manzanita Cafe on Adeline. So after I met up with Carol, Morgan, Beth, and Alicia for intervals and speed drills at the Port of Oakland on Thursday night,Carol, Beth and I rode to Manzanita and chowed down, vegan- style. How healthy is that?! There's basically only one meal; you can get the whole thing, or smaller versions of it. And you can bring your bike inside!

Track clinic #2 for me at Hellyer Velodrome on Saturday! That's a grimace, not a smile. We did more races, like "Italian pursuit", where your team of 6 (?) pacelines to catch the team that starts on the opposite side of the track. Everyone does a lap at the front (you get to retire after your lap at the front). But you're sprinting the whole race, so the people in the back of the paceline are sprinting for longer. Of course, I was in back (why did the other girl get to start at the front?). I was gasping "gap!" pretty much the entire time, to get my team to slow down so I could draft behind the guy in front of me. I was dying, especially after speed drills on Thursday at the port, and speed drills in Friday's spin class. Not the best training strategy, I guess. But one more Saturday clinic, and I'm eligible to race at the track! Then again, I'd need to go buy a track bike to race, and I was thinking my next bike would be a cross bike (in cyclocross, they race for beer!). Dilemma!

Sean came down to the track with Mel and me, to cheer us on, and he was wearing a jacket with interesting random "fashion patches" of velcro on the front of it. And nothing screams "functional clothing" like velcro (or a cyclist, waking suddenly from a nightmare about some ride gone awry). Here's what happened:After all that sprinting, I was going to take a nap to prepare for today's ride. But instead, I stayed late at Marla and Eric's, playing Settlers of Catan with them and Dan, and drinking lots of wine. My legs were totally shot this morning. We were headed to LiVermore (OK, that's not really a "V" word, but it's the best I can do) for a 60 mile ride on Mines road. It was the very same ride I did with Jen, my first ride ever (last March, in fact), the one where I got stung by a bee on the tongue because I was terrified of the descents and forgot to close my mouth. I had not been back since. But I eventually warmed up, got an 8-minute lead on Himgan (he'd waited at the top of a big hill for Andrea, Becky, and Fred), who gave chase. He was unable to catch me until we'd reached the flats at the end of the ride. Yay! I ache. I feel like I need another day to recover....