Barb Howe diary: Big birds and bruises

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The week between NMBS #2 and NMBS #3 turned out to be more eventful and busier than I had planned. This was due in part to trying to keep up with Wendy Simms and her boundless energy. Wendy sat out the cross country race due to a cold, but that didn't seem to slow her down at all during the week.

We started off Monday morning with a two hour easy spin around the Solvang area. On the way out, we stopped at Ostrich Land and checked out the ostrich wares. You can buy everything from feathers to eggs (full or empty) to ostrich oil in the gift shop. I seriously considered buying an egg (full) equal to two dozen chicken eggs. I figured the egg could feed several people for an entire day starting with a giant omlete for breakfast, a fritatta for lunch, a souffle for dinner, and angel food cake for dinner. After that, you'd have to start taking cholesterol medication.

Since my jersey pockets are much smaller than an ostrich egg, I was spared the egg overload. On the way home from the ride we stopped again at Ostrich Land to feed the big birds. I think the birds liked Wendy's helmet as they spent much more time looking at her head than mine. I wouldn't want to be chased by ostriches, they're really big, kinda scary looking and ornery. We followed the feeding of the big birds by loading up the Honda with both of our stuff, loading up ourselves with burritos and heading south to Santa Barbara. In Santa Barbara, we met up with Bella Jen Tilley and her boyfriend Ryan for some shopping and more burritos. Wendy was on a mission to eat as much Mexican food as possible as it's not readily available all the way up in Nainamo (http://dessert.betterrecipes.com/nainamobar.html ). Ryan graciously offered Wendy and I couch space in his house, and since a comfy couch is hard to resist, we took him up on the offer.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent logging road hours on the mountain bikes. I'm not a huge fan of the road riding on mountain bikes, it just feels so slow. Of course it helps to remember to add a bit of air to the tires, 24 psi is not ideal for riding on pavement. Jen led two great rides in the hills around Ventura, we covered over 90 miles in two days on fat knobby slow tires.