Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Introducing Tumbles!

Hello again! I can't believe how long it has been since I've last updated the blog! There has been a lot of biking activity going on, so it's not like we haven't been training. In the past month, I have finally named my gray Trek 5200 bike...his name is Tumbles and he is friends with Mel's bike Pinkie (or Pepto). Anyways, all of us, Mel, Pinkie, Tumbles and I, have been working very hard at getting in lots of riding this past month.

Here are the various poses of Mel and Pinkie during our adventures:

Here's Mel recovering after a bad fall on to a rock in Huddart Park, Woodside. This is when the stranger with the dog put a bandage on Mel's leg. Despite the fall, we were still able to climb up to the entrance of Huddart Park and feel pretty good about it too.

Ahh...here's another typical pose of Mel and Pinkie...at a food stop in front of Robert's Market in Woodside. We have lunch, refuel with another bottle of Gatorade, and re-apply sunblock during these pit stops.

Although it may look like all we are doing is sitting and lounging around, this is actually the only time that Mel will let me take pictures while we are outside riding. Especially since I haven't mastered the skill of one-handed riding yet (both hands must still be firmly affixed to the handlebars at all times!), I'm not able to capture a lot of action photos. There have been many scenic overlooks and pretty views during our climbs, but I am usually trying to oxygenate heavily during those moments, and so, I cannot take pictures. This particular day (where we are both wearing short sleeves) came after a brutally hot day on the 4th of July, when we were just drenched completely in sweat. So, we thought we would be wise and wear short sleeves on July 7th. Although it turned out to be cold and misty, that day was a momentous day because we were able to ride 50 miles, our most ever in terms of mileage!! It was from Mountain View to Foothill, to Arastradero, to Woodside, Canada Road and back...our biggest loop ever!

Here's me at the turnaround point:

And here's Mel at the turnaround point...
After that 50 miler, the next weekend we tried to do two consecutive days of hard riding...in an effort to see what back-to-back days of being in the saddle would be like (after all, during the CCC, we'll have 8 continuous days on our bikes). The first day, July 14, we were in the East Bay at Niles Canyon in the Fremont area. We took Calaveras Road and rode all the way down to Milpitas. That was a gorgeous ride (unfortuately, no pictures), with a very decent climb. I felt rather good about it, was able to complete the climbing, and didn't feel too badly afterwards. We were able to complete 38 miles of riding, with about 2200 feet of climbing.

However, the next day, July 15, we met up with Jerry, Eileen, Greg and several other women in Tilden Park at Inspiration Point. We rode downhill Wildcat Canyon, wound up in Orinda. We went through the area surrounding Redwood Regional Park, which was really cool and beautiful...



However, after this beautiful stop, I met my Mountain of Shame on Pinehurst...I really hit a wall climbing up that hill, and felt so discouraged. I actually had to get off of the bike and walk up the rest of the climb, because I felt there was no way I could get to the summit otherwise. My legs were already tired from the ride before and I was just pooped out! I felt mentally drained as well, and as we were riding back "undulating hills" around Grizzly Peak after Pinehurst back to Inspiration Point, every single incline was a major challenge. All I was concentrating on was each stroke of the pedal that would bring me closer back to the car. In my head, I felt there was no way I could survive the CCC, given that on those two days, we had done the same amount of climbing and with fewer miles than the FIRST DAY of the CCC! That Sunday, we did 28 miles of riding with 2200 feet of climbing. (The first day of the CCC is 85 miles with 4000 feet of climbing.) I really was feeling down and at odds with my bike that afternoon after getting back to Inspiration Point...
That's Mel and me after the ride at Inspiration Point in Tilden. That was the day I named my Trek bike Tumbles, and was really quite upset at him for letting me down. In fact, he stayed over at Mel's place for the next week because we were not on speaking terms after that East Bay ride. He finally made it back home this weekend, and we are becoming better friends again, but it is still a tenuous relationship, especially after I fell into a prickly bush at Mel's place after failing to make a sharp left turn. We're going day by day at this point.

So, we have been getting in several rides (as documented in Mel's tables), and getting in some back-to-back days of climbing and some miles in. There's still, obviously, much more work to get done, and I need to get over last week's feelings of discouragement with Tumbles and my progress. Right now, I have to stop thinking about how daunting the first day of the CCC is, and just try to increase the miles and climbing. Mel and I have been working out at the gym, using the quad machines to improve our strength in our legs...I hope it helps! I weighed myself yesterday, and since February when I started my training, I have lost a grand total of ONE POUND!! After that, Mel and I went to McDonald's to celebrate my achievement (plus to get a Hello Kitty Happy Meal). We'll keep at it...

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

First Two Weeks of July-Making Progress

Hi there, I am trying to be better about blogging our rides so I am multitasking (hopefully my colleagues won't notice that I am blogging while sitting through our Tuesday meeting :)

We definitely have logged more miles for the first two weeks of July compared to June and we are improving but it has been slow. Both Joyce and I were a bit discouraged with Sunday July 15's ride. We were tired and sore from the day before and struggled with the climbs. We both had to walk up part of a steep hill, but we did it!!!!! Here is a table of our rides so far this month.



As we increase our miles and have come into the heat of the summer I am beginning to appreciate the early morning rides. I think both Joyce and I got a little over heated on July Fourth after starting our ride at 9 AM. It was almost 100 degrees out by the end of our ride. The next ride (July 7) we motivated a bit earlier and it was much more pleasant, AND WE RODE THE MOST MILES EVER IN ONE RIDE----50 MILES!!!!! See, we are making progress.



Hopefully Joyce will blog soon because she has some pictures from several of our rides. One of my nieces complained that our blog was boring so I am going to throw in a few pictures even though they have nothing to do with our ride!





Monday, July 9, 2007

Summary of Mel's June Rides

Hello everyone. It has been quite some time since I last posted anything. Talk about disorganization, I had been writing the stats down after each ride on scraps of paper but didn't always date them. Needless to say when I went to write them in my training calendar and get ready to blog, there was a ride I didn't know exactly when or where it took place so I had to guess based on miles and climbing. Also, I must admit I am still having issues with the cyclometer, the altitudes are definitely off compared toGreg's GPS readings and Jerry's cyclometer. For the rides over 2000 feet I am off at least 200-300 feet. I have asked Chain Reaction about this but they haven't gotten back to me. Also, a couple of times the max MPH is off, likely due to interference from something. I decided to put all of June's rides (doesn't include rides Joyce did without me) in a table for ease of reading. This is not as easy as I thought it would be. I tried converting the table into jpg, gif, bmp, and png files (the only types of files you can import into the blog) but the resolution was horrible and the table was blurry. I spent way too much time trying to improve the resolution without success. Then I tried to cut and paste the tables directly, again without success. Finally, I printed the table, scanned it in on someone else's computer and emailed it to myself. I hope that worked- lets see:


UUGGHH, it still isn't readable!!! But if you click on the table it is fine. So please, click on the table to see how hard we worked in June. FYI the exclamation marks in the max MPH row indicate the reading was off (not that you would believe we could reach 143 MPH!). Also, I am not certain which day I actually rode for the ride listed June 18. For the max grade, the ones without a +/- are positive.



I think Joyce may have some pictures from these rides and I don't have too much else to say except that I was very excited to change my cassette to a 12-27 (whatever that means). I did this on June 16 (the same day Joyce got her clipless pedals). The next couple of rides my chain was making strange noises and on June 23 my chain fell off, my pedals got stuck and I fell. We were riding up to Huddard Park and I fell over onto some brush and ROCKS!! It wouldn't have been a big deal if my knee and elbow hadn't been impailed by the rocks. I sat there in severe pain for a few minutes before getting up to inspect the damage. My bike was fine, my knee not so much. I had a large abrasion with dirt ground into it and blood dripping down my leg. Joyce proceeded to rinse my wounds with water and I was using a not-so wet "wet-wipe" when a man in a truck stopped to ask if we needed help. He offered to bring us a bandage and we wondered if he was really some psycho about to throw us in his truck and keep us captive for life. Then Joyce realized he had a dog with him so he must be ok :) He brought back some bandage and tape, and we were back on our way. We continued our ride up Huddard and while it was tough, it was easier than the last time. In fact, we got to the entrance of the park and were surprised to be done already. My knee was quite swollen and I couldn't ride for a few days (I could barely walk the next day). Then I got poison oak again! What is it with me and poison oak? I even looked when I fell and didn't notice any. Oh well, at least it wasn't as bad as the last time, although I still took some prednisone for a few days. It turns out part of the knee wound was pretty deep and will likely leave an ugly scar. It continued to ooze for more than a week and took a couple of weeks to stop being painful to touch. Now it is just itchy! Fortunately I had a flesh-colored bandaid to cover it for my nephew's wedding on June 30.



The month of June was tough for training because I was gone 14 days and my niece was here for 3 days. I tried to get some cross-training in, mostly using the elliptical at hotel gyms. There was a fire at the Stanford Dish and it has been closed since then so we can't walk the dish for now. Hopefully July will be a better month for rides. I promise more stats for our July rides soon.