What a beautiful ride!

Hi all,

Well as promised, I'm posting more often. This past week I was able to get out 5 times for a total of 85 miles; the longest one was about 25 miles.

On Sunday, I went out in the evening for a longer ride down to Uvas Dam and Chesbro Dam... the same ride I did last weekend, but in reverse. It is amazing what views you see when you go in the opposite direction. This time I paced myself and did not get the urge to ride along some of those that are training for the Tour de San Jose (or California). It felt great the whole way and encountered some great hills along the way (in fact, there was one that was 14% grade and boy were my thighs burning, but they felt good on the way down). That's my motto... Just wait until you get to the top! All in all, this was my longest ride yet. I finished 44.2 miles in just under 3 hours (2:57:30 for those analytical ones out there) with an average 14.9 mph and a max of 35.2 mph.

As I was riding along the dams I was just imagining how beautiful it's going to be when we are along the coast and seeing the Pacific Ocean.

So, I will not be posting for at least a week since I am heading to Denver on business and then to the CARRA business meeting at the end of the week, where I'll see Mel (or Dr. Balboni). We'll get in some cross-training while we are there.

Talk to you soon and happy cycling.

Dwight

RECAP of June 19-20 Adventures and weekday training

It has been a while since I have posted and the data from our rides are piling up on sheets of scrap paper. So first let me recap last weekend's numbers. Joyce already described our humbling attempt at Old La Honda on June 19, here are the stats from my gadget: 10.6 miles over 1 hr 14 min, avg 8.8, max 25.6 mph. Max altitude 1236, trip +1299, -1304, (total climb to date 8823), max grade 18%!!!!!! avg grade 2% - this has been zero for every trip we have done so far, so you can see Old La Honda is steep!

The next day (June 20) we had a training ride with Jerry. I was a bit nervous my muscles wouldn't work after Old La Honda (and they were still sore from climbing the dish). Joyce and I made plans to go to the farmer's market before the ride and we bought some delicious strawberries and other locally grown produce, then we headed for Canada Road. We rode a new route this time from Edgewood Road up Canada to the Sawyer Camp Trail. We rode that trail, which we have done twice before, and we could see our progress. It is mostly flat but then has a somewhat steep climb over the last mile or so. The first time we tried it I had to walk part of it, the second time I made it but stopped a few times. Well, this time we had already ridden 12 miles or so and I made it to the top without stopping and didn't feel like I was about to die! Then we had our adventure for last weekend, we RODE OUR BIKES ON THE FREEWAY!!!! Jerry says this is legal but is was very scary. (I heard from some other riders this weekend that he has taken others on this route as well, maybe he knows what he is doing :) He had a method to his madness. Apparently some of our CCC ride includes riding on freeways in Southern California. Good thing he told me this after I signed up, I don't even like LA freeways in a car! In any case, we survived the brief ride on the freeway (only went to the next exit). Then we rode through places like Belmont, San Mateo, and Redwood City to get back to our cars on Canada Rd. It was a beautiful day and the scenery and company was great, overall an excellent ride, and Jerry even commented on our smiles at the end of it all. We rode 25.3 miles over 2 hrs 22 min, avg 10.6, max 34.4 mph. Trip altitude +1875, -1765 (MOST CLIMBING TO DATE!!!!), max grade 18%, average 1%.

Although I feel that my progress is slow, I can definitely see that I am improving and that is very encouraging. Joyce is also making progress and she continues to zip right by me on the uphill climbs then I speed by her on the downhills trying to make up for my snail's pace and gain some momentum for the next hill!

Since we are serious athletes now, or at least posing as them, we did a bit of training during the week as well. We did take June 21 off and then hit the gym on June 22 for our first attempt at weight training. What were we thinking? Here we were at the new Stanford gym with all these fit, young Stanford students. We stuck out like a sore thumb. Of course the fits of laughter when Joyce couldn't get the crunch machine to move or when I couldn't even figure out which way to sit on the machine didn't help. Oh, and I never realized how bad my balance is until I tried to do lunges and couldn't do it without falling over! My labmate and friend, Mike, had volunteered to show us how to use the different machines, hopefully he can still show his face there :) Even though we had the machines set to the lowest possible weight for most (10 pounds) it was still a struggle to do 2-3 sets of 10 reps. The next day my legs and back were quite sore and remained so for a few days.

Wednesday June 23 was my cat Li'l Bit's first chemotherapy treatment and I decided to work from home so that I could keep an eye on her. Joyce and I had a ride planned from campus so I decided I would ride there from home to meet her in the evening. That ride is essentially flat and should have been a warm up for me. However, I really struggled with the rest of the ride. We took off from the parking garage and did the Alpine-Portola loop. It is typical for me to lag behind Joyce but today I was so far behind she would stop and wait for me. I felt like my legs were made of lead. I think it was from the work out the day before, which tells me I need to keep working out at the gym! After we did the loop Joyce was begging for more miles so we went around campus instead of back to the car. If it weren't flat I would have committed mutiny! Overall the ride from campus was 20.41 miles over 1 hr 44 minutes, avg 11.7, max 38.4 mph (Joyce yelled at me that I was going ot fast as I zipped by but I was afraid I wouldn't get up the hill if I didn't maximize the downhill before it). Altitude max 559, trip +902, -908, max grade 7%, avg 0%. Add 7 miles for my total since I rode in from home. Fortunately I hitched a ride home from Joyce, otherwise I might have slept in the office that night.

For our final weekday exercise adventure we had the choice of going back to the gym or walking the dish. Although it was quite warm during the day Thursday but it cooled off nicely. The last thing I wanted to do was use those damn machines again, especially since I didn't want to be too sore for my big ride Saturday, so I convinced Joyce to walk the dish. It seemed a bit easier than our past attempts so again we can see the progress.

That's it for now. My next post will describe this weekend's adventures! (are you on the edge of your seat?)

Wow! It's been almost 3 weeks since my 1st post!

Well, as you can tell from the title, I'm not as diligent as posting as my fellow cyclists are. I have great intentions and tell them I'm going to do it, but then something always comes up (ie. like email). I'm making a commitment to post at least once a week, probably on Sunday, about my previous week of riding...

So, last week I got in a total of 113 miles over 5 days. I was pretty excited to get in 5 days of riding since I was in Toronto to see my brother graduate with his doctorate in Theology (that's a story for another blog).

My long ride on Saturday was 38 miles down in the South Bay (Almaden Valley to Morgan Hill). I went from my house to Uvas Dam and made a large loop back to Chesbro Dam and then past Calero Reservoir. Time-wise it was 2hr 38mins with an average of 14.3mph. I don't an altimeter like Dr. Gadget (hi Mel), but there is a website called MapMyRide, that I will go and checkout. There were a couple of long climbs (not like Old La Honda), but good enough. On the way out, I was feeling good and riding with a group I met. In fact, I was feeling too good and went out too fast (about 1:10) ... On the way back, I did not feel too bad, but the wind... Oh the wind... Let's say it took me a while to get back and to keep mentally motivated to finish! But I did it..

It is a beautiful area down in the back hills of South San Jose and Morgan Hill.... One lane road with cyclists going both ways all day long... Very nice... I do it again!

Well, until next week... keep cycling!

A humbling and momentous day!

Well, unlike two weeks ago, Mel and I were able to train 5 out of 7 days this week! That's a first for us, especially with work, so we did pretty well in terms of keeping a few hours a day committed to exercise. As Mel blogged earlier, last Saturday, May 12, we had a leisurely, flat ride around Shoreline on the Steven's Creek Trail and then further north to the Palo Alto Baylands. It was a relaxing change of pace. On Sunday, May 13, we went directly from Stanford campus to do a nice loop around Palo Alto, Woodside and ending up in Redwood City!! We went through many new areas and made up the route as we rode along. It was a bit more challenging as compared to the previous ride, and we were rewarded with dinner at Tzielan's house for grilled meats and veggies! Then we played with the kids and Mel happily signed out to Tzielan after a long week on-service.

A HUGE motivating factor for training this week, which pushed me to really work hard, was brought about because I finally sent out my first batch of announcement emails, telling family and friends of the bike event. I had been keeping it quiet for some time, just testing the waters to see if I could carry through with the biking before I decided to really participate in the bike ride. After the committment of buying the bike and the weekend warrior type bike rides that Mel and I were already doing, I finally decided to sign up and register for the California Coast Classic last month. Now, with the emails out there and the fundraising started, it is definitely a reality now, and we have to TRAIN! I received a lot of encouraging and supportive emails from friends and family, which was really heart-warming. :) Thanks everyone! Don't worry, I'll keep at it!

During the work week, we went out for a late afternoon ride on Tuesday, May 15. I left a little bit early (accidently leaving behind some clinical responsibilities in the wind, as I carelessly left the first year fellow alone with a new patient and didn't even bring my pager along...sorry Michal! Must work on this work-life balance thing. Anyways, Michal, our soon-to-be second year fellow, did great without me.) On that day, we had quite an adventure through the streets of Mountain View and Palo Alto as we rode through streets that are familiar to me only by driving! We were in traffic and bike lanes, one with the happy motorists who loved the sight of two slow, timid bikers in their lane during the rush hour commute. It was indeed an experience. It was also the first time I had ridden when it was semi-dark, and I got to use my little headlight! Needless to say, I think I went pretty fast for once when it got dark and I was pedaling home as quick as I could! Mel did a great job leading us through traffic though, and it made me nervous at the thought of future riding with the clipless pedals. I was already making precarious starts and stops in traffic since it was more pressured on the road than when we ride on trails.

We then walked the Stanford Dish on Wednesday, May 16. (I should make it sound more athletic by saying we HIKED the Dish.) It was the first time we went up there and the views were pretty. I did break a sweat a little bit, but it wasn't like the crazy bike rides that we had been doing before, so I was really surprised the next day that I was so sore! And in different places than usual! So, the cross-training is a good thing. Now instead of the thighs hurting, I have shin splints and soreness everywhere from the waist down! The other little kicker here is that Mel had to leave for a vet appointment, so I decided to walk back to the office from the Dish through the lovely Stanford campus. That was not a good idea, since the lovely Stanford campus is quite huge and I walked for another hour just getting back to the medical center. I saw the residential areas of Palo Alto, the frat houses, the dorms, the quad, the law area, until finally the nerdy science area came into view and I was so happy. At the end of the day, I could barely hobble back to my car on my blistered feet and had to use the elevator in the parking garage. I'm not sure if this experience is leaving me feeling physically stronger or what, because I feel like an achy old lady most days.

We went out to the Dish again on Friday, May 18:

Initially, I thought that we should run, or at least, jog to the Dish, but I was lucky I wasn't crawling on my hands and knees! We were both so sore and the downhill steps really hurt! We only made it back to the entrance because it was getting dark, the trail was closing, and we didn't want to be the last people on the hill.

On Saturday, May 19, an exhausted and sleepy Mel picked me up from home and we went off to Woodside, determined to do a little piece of the infamous Old La Honda Road. Everyone who bikes in this area is always talking about Old La Honda...an old windy road that brings you up to Skyline. When Mel and I say that we are beginner cyclists, people keep bringing up this ride: "Have you tried Old La Honda yet?" It has become a goal, an aspiration, an objective that would someday mark the pinnacle, the summit I dare say, of our biking dreams. Mel had pooh-poohed the thought of trying it so early, but we wanted to do something new. After pointing out that we could turn around and go back at any time, she reluctantly agreed. We went out from Woodside through Old Mountain Road to reach Portola and Old La Honda. I would say we were in the granny gear within 10 feet of starting the climb. We were in the easiest gear a quarter into our trip. But we kept going! It was actually very beautiful...peaceful, tall Redwoods, quiet, very woodsy...interrupted by the gasping sounds of painful inhalation and exhalation as we pushed ourselves up. I was drippy with sweat and it was getting in my eyes (gross!). We had initially stated we would go 800 feet up, but we were quite good and made it to 1000 feet, with several stops and a shot of Gu on the way.


We had decided to reach our turnaround point when we saw this thin, wiry man, in his 60s, passing us (of course, we had seen probably 10 other cyclists pass us by already). He shouted out words of encouragement and said we were 2/3 of the way there and that we had completed the hardest part already! We were quite happy and pleased with ourselves since it was our first time on Old La Honda, but decided not to go the entire distance since we were already tired and still have a training ride with Jerry on Sunday.


Of course, the downhill descents are my biggest fear at this point, so I took time to get into the hardest gear with the largest chainring in the front, and off we went! It took 10 minutes to go down what took us 1.5 hours to go up. I was so scared--my legs were shaking uncontrollably, my hands squeezing the brakes were cramping up, and I still felt I could tumble over and fall at any second. I hated it, and could not be happier when we made it to the bottom. I guess I'm not into the speed of going downhill, which seems to be everyone else's favorite thing. When we went downhill, we were elated (first, at being alive and second, of the big accomplishment). I put my head down on the handlebars and hunched over, glad to be alive, and waiting for my legs to stop quivering, when a friendly voice shouts out, "Did you make it to the top?" We look, and its that same guy we met halfway up the mountain, who had already gone all the way up the mountain, across a ways on Skyline and down on 84, making a complete huge loop and then going off again in the opposite direction on Portola! Behind him, we saw another cyclist finishing the loop who we also saw climbing up on Old La Honda. These were people practically twice our age! Not only did we not go all the way to the top, we did our out-and-back so slowly that these two middle aged men were passing us again for the second time that same day! I just couldn't believe it! Mel and I were saying that we need to move to the Midwest or something so we could be the skinny athletic ones there, because people are just way too buff here. Needless to say, our elation of our first trip to Old La Honda quickly turned into awe and disbelief. Mel has the exact numbers, but we only rode around 10 miles, but most of it was climbing. I'm still shaking my head over the thought of that old dude. It was a day of highs...and lows...literally, figuratively, physically, mentally...it made me want to go home and nap under the covers as I should be doing on a Saturday afternoon!!

Biking and Scratching

I haven't been very good about blogging and keeping track of our training. Joyce and I are getting a bit nervous about training, will we really be able to do this? We are trying to get more rides in and hopefully we will see a difference soon.

We rode Saturday May 12 along the Steven's Creek Trail and the Palo Alto Baylands. Joyce woke me from a nap and I really wasn't motivated to ride but I managed to wipe the sleep out of my eyes and meet her at the Steven's Creek Trail. Joyce put a few extra miles in going to the southern end of the trail while waiting for me to get myself together and to the trail. It was a bit windy but generally flat. I didn't record the numbers but we rode about 20 miles, average ~11.9 MPH, max was in the mid-20s, altitude ~ +200, -200 (I really need to start recording these numbers before the next ride, what good is a gadget if you can't quote it?)
I was glad that Joyce motivated me to get out and ride, if it weren't for her I am sure I would have continued napping. Plus it was a pleasant ride, no big struggles, some nice scenery (although the dump and waste treatment area are a bit stinky).

I left my bike at Joyce's that night so she could bring it to campus for a ride on Sunday after I was done rounding. We rode from the Stockfarm parking lot up Alpine to Portola and Sand Hill. We then took Whiskey Hill to Woodside Road and then headed back to campus on Alameda de las Pulgas to Junipero Serra. At the entrance to the dish we headed back through campus to our cars. We would have kept riding but we had dinner plans at Tzielan's. We rode 22 miles in 1 hour 46 minutes. Our average speed was 12.4 MPH, max 33.4 MPH. Our max altitude was 467 feet, the trip altitudes were +987, -977. The average grade was 0% (as with all of our trips so far), the max +8%.

After a quick shower I headed to Tzielan's and enjoyed the BEST kabobs ever (Joyce and I have learned that everything is the best after biking). We then played with Vienna and Tyler until it was bedtime. We slept well too!

Today I finally went to my doctor to discuss my poison oak. It has continued to spread and is driving me crazy. I can't stop scratching, and I know it is bad to scratch. My doctor thinks I need more prednisone, I didn't take enough last week. I decided to try it, hopefully I won't get too psychotic. Joyce took a picture May 12, here it is:

Joyce says it looks like lichen on rocks. Thanks Joyce :) I do have to wonder if people see me and worry I have some contagious skin disease. I think they are safe, so far only David got the rash and he pulled pinkie and me out of the bush so that is not too surprising.

This evening we went for another ride. We wanted to try something other than the Baylands, especially since there is not much climbing. We rode south on Steven's Creek Trail, up Grant -->Cuesta-->Foothill Expressway-->Arastradero-->Page Mill-->Foothill-->Arastradero-->Charleston-->Middlefield (after a few u-turns trying to figure out which way to go) and then home. After all that, we only rode 19 miles over 1 hour 35 minutes, with an average speed of 11.9 MPH, max 29.3 MPH. Max altitude +218, trip altitudes +542, -546. Max grade 12%. I think our speed was decreased a bit because of all the starts and stops at lights and stop signs.

That is it for now. Not much but numbers. Hopefully Joyce's blogging will be more entertaining.

Itchy and Scratchy

Hello, as I sit here waiting for Joyce to go have dinner I thought I would blog. I never did record our numbers from last week's ride but I don't have them with me. It was something like 22.5 miles, ~11 MPH, and ~1100 feet of climbing. Not great but at least we got out. That is more than I can say for the rest of the week. We had plans to hike and bike but I had a crazy week on service and was at the hospital late every night. Hopefully we will get rides in both days this weekend after I round.

Unfortunately I am suffering from a major case of poison oak. It has been almost two weeks since my fall and I continue to have new lesions every day. They are so itchy I can't stop scratching!!! Maybe if Joyce brings her camera on one of our rides we can take another picture.

This is a pretty lame effort at blogging. I promise more after I am done being on service.

I'll post too!

Hey all...
I haven't had a chance to post on this yet either, but I am also reallllly excited about the bike ride in the fall. My bike riding up until now has consisted of spinning class twice a week, but I'll get a bike next time I go home and start training when I go home for summer. A minor setback to spinning classes is a sprained ankle that has left me on crutches. I have a doctor's appointment for it in an hour, so we'll see what he says, but I'm planning on a quick recovery. Plus, you can start biking before running because it's not as strenuous on the ankle (thank God). As soon as I get my bike and start biking I'll get to put on here what rides I did and such... I know my dad just signed us up for a race in September to get ready... it's so exciting!!

Talk to you soon :)

finally, back to biking...

Well, after 3 weeks of no real bike riding, I finally got on the bike again yesterday. It's been a bit busy at work--so no riding, and I only managed a few times on the indoor trainer which really isn't the same as getting out there and biking in the real outdoors!

We have been trying to cross-train however, and this last Saturday (May 5), we went to the Arthritis Walk in San Jose:

That's Vienna giving Mel a work-out.

And look here...here's the next generation of CA Coast Classic riders! Maybe I can get some pointers from Tyler:


We did not make much progress today, unfortunately, since it was the first ride for me in such a long time and the first one for Mel after her big bike crash down the cliff (she had her bike checked out and it is okay, although just missing the magnet for the cadence meter). She had to work with some itchy legs throughout the ride...

That's some nasty poison oak!

In fact, I think we took a few steps backwards in our progress. We were slow and it didn't help things much that it was such a hot day today! I think I got a bit dehydrated, despite drinking up my entire Camelbak, which was about half full (so 1 Liter). We got too much sun today and we finished up tired and hungry. The climbs felt harder even though we had done them before and we just felt sluggish overall. We were again on Canada road, riding out past Filoli to the closed area of the road, then back again into Woodside, where we took a long break. Then, we rode into Huddart Park again, but could not make it all the way up to the entrance as we had done before. Well, something is better than nothing! We definitely need to catch up and will try to get in a mid-week ride this week.


At least I will have some new biking clothes to wear since Mel and I visited the Pearl Izumi outlet store today in Milpitas (we went after the ride: we chose between going shopping or taking a long nap, so we went shopping). This upcoming week:
writing and riding!

Finally... Dwight's Posting :-)

Hi all... Yes, it is finally time for me to post something... It has been weeks since I got the address from Joyce, so I guess I should post something about getting ready for the California Coast Classic.

First of all, I am thankful to Dr. Balboni (Mel) and Dr. Hsu (Joyce) for getting me involved in doing this ride in memory of Christiana. Words cannot begin to express how I feel about doing this in her honor! I know that we all will finish and have a great time and at the same time, raise money for a worthy cause.

So, not sure what to post or how long to write... but...

Today, I went out on my longest ride yet. I have been riding about 4-5x per week and averaging about 80 miles. Today I went out with a friend of mine, Virendra, and we did 36 miles (average 14.4 mph) in the Los Gatos / Saratoga / Cupertino area. We went up over Stevens Creek Canyon Road to Pierce road. I don't have the gagdets like Mel has to tell me how much I climbed or what the grade was, but I can tell you that my legs are sore. I will definitely take a day of rest tomorrow. Just to think that the 1st leg of the CCC is 85 miles (only 50 more to go :-)

Until the next posting ...