April Fools Day!

Well, the CCC is no joke and today was a reminder of that. We had our first training ride with Jerry Kruse and we learned just how far we have to go. We rode ~20 miles along Canada Road and into Huddart Park. Our average speed was 10 MPH with a max of 29.8. Like yesterday, it was quite breezy today. At first we were riding along leisurely, getting some pointers from Jerry. After riding on Canada from Edgewood Rd. to Route 92 and back, we headed down to Woodside Rd. and tried a little climb in Huddart Park. It was a beautiful place to ride but I was struggling. We didn't make it all the way to the point Jerry had planned to go because I was begging for mercy! Needless to say I was humbled. I cannot imagine 4000 plus feet of climbing, what have we gotten into? Oh well, as Jerry said, now we have a reference point. To total climb for today's ride was 1000 feet. I really want a new computer with an altimeter, I think that will help us in our training. Joyce did great keeping up going up hill and would lag behind going down because she would ride her brakes. I think we will even out on the CCC. She will pass me going up the hill and I will zip by her going down the hill :) This week we will try the climb again and hopefully get a little farther (if we don't get lost trying to find the route).

After our torture, I mean, lovely tour through the beautiful countryside, Joyce and I did something we don't need to train for- we ate. I was craving Korean BBQ and we had it at a Korean BBQ Buffet in Sunnyvale. It tasted great, especially the short ribs. I might have eaten just a little more than I should have ;) No more buffets this week, right Joyce? We also stopped at the bike shop and bought some Cliff Shot energy gel and Cytomax powder to mix in our water. Now I am sure we will do those climbs without breaking a sweat :)

Now for a quick note on my other rides over the week. On Thursday March 29 I rode 20 miles along the Stevens Creek Trail/Shoreline/Baylands. My average speed was 11.6 MPH, the max got messed up by interference, it read >30 but I didn't go down any hills so I know it can't be right (another justification for a new computer with an altimeter). As Joyce mentioned, we also rode Saturday March 31. She rode ~20 miles and I rode 22 miles with an average of 11.6 MPH. The breeze was quite challenging, and we obviously need to work on our cycling maneuvers & etiquette (see Joyce's entry).

In addition to working on climbs we also have to work on building the miles each week. For the week of March 25-31 I rode 72 miles. Let's see what this week holds (got 20 in today). I definitely need a break tomorrow but hope to get some rides in later this week.

Enough rambling for now, check back later this week for an update.