Unplanned Day at the Beach

Today I had planned for another solid 5 hours of steady riding. I met up with Christian Vande Velde and we ventured on. I knew Christian had slightly different plans going into today, but I did not know they involved his friend's new boat, but once I was invited, I was in. Admittedly though, I did have slight hesitation in changing my training plan. It is something you have to go with though. If you never take a break from the training and don't let yourself make friends and be happy, training is no good.
After ending our ride at the beach, we were picked up by Micki (the friend) in the little "dingy" boat that is used to come close to shore from the big boat. We loaded in, bikes and us, and moved out to the big boat. This is a new boat for Micki, he got it on a major steal and couldn't pass it up. I tell you honestly it is quite immaculate. The boat has two beds, two baths, living area and kitchen. Then on top it has a table and plenty of room for sitting and enjoying life.
We had some good food and enjoyed some great conversation with Micki and two other friends of his and Christian's. We spent somewhere around 3 hours on the boat parked in the bay just hanging out, shooting the breeze. It was super relaxing and as Christian noted on the way home, it is so easy to forget about everything else in the world when you're out on the boat like that. Totally true.
After a short ride from the bay to the dock, we unloaded and headed back toward home in Micki's van. A few more facts on the boat though. I believe it was powered by twin diesel engines with a total horsepower close to 1300! Crazy. He put the throttle down for a bit and that big boat really moved. Oh, almost forgot, the best part of the boat was the garage; yes the garage! It is for the little "dingy" boat. There is a hatch that opens at the rear of the boat and the dingy fits in nicely and then the hatch goes down and bota-bing bota-boom, dingy stored inside the garage! Truly spectacular.

Thats about all for my day at the beach. Tomorrow I am back to work with a big ride into the mountains out west. Excited about that one, hoping I feel good. Ciao!

Picture 1: Christian after arriving at the beach... letting the wife know where he is!
Picture 2: The Boat
Picture 3: The Boat
Picture 4: The "dingy" coming to get us!