8 posts tagged “training ride”
So Saturday was my third, and final, official training ride for the AIDS LifeCycle. It totaled 108 miles (my very first century!) and took the entire day. It was definitely challenging as the afternoon brought 100+ degree heat and a relentless headwind that didn't let up for hours. The ride took pretty much everything I had. However, I'd do it again in a heart beat. It was a lot of fun to ride with the people I met and the overall experience was great.
I've said it before but I'll say it again: only amazing people ride charity rides. I haven't met anyone whose less than that awesome friendly person you want to hang out with yet. It doesn't matter your age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identification: you're instantly amongst friends on these rides. Everyone cares about everyone else. I was riding with a group of about 10 riders on Saturday and one gal started to bonk pretty hard near the end - so we all stopped and hung out while she ate and drank to regain energy. Sure we could have been home fifteen minutes earlier but it was a lot more fun to talk and encourage her than to just ride those last five miles without her. It's an honor to ride with these other riders and roadies and I can't wait to witness the actual ride.
In short: I'm about as ready as I can hope to be for June 1st. I've raised almost $3,000 and I've pushed myself harder than ever before on my bike. I've never ridden a century (100 miles) in one day and I've never climbed Mt. Diablo before yet I've done both in the past month. It's great to know that even after my injury I'm still in shape and able to hold my own on the bike.
Thanks again to everyone whose supported me (verbally, financially, emotionally) throughout these incredibly trying past few months. It means a lot to me. And yes, I know you know that already - but I'm going to keep saying it. Thanks.
So yesterday I went on my second ALC official training ride. I'm definitely getting into the game a bit late - and it's been a bit rough on my body - but I got out there and rode 85 miles yesterday. It was just over 7.5 hours on the bike and a solid 12 hours from time leaving my house to time returning to my house. I'm not entirely sure but I think that's a one-day record for me.
I got an excellent night of sleep last night and awoke to a lot of muscular soreness and a bit more soreness in the knee than I'd like. I've been icing/ibuprofening in an attempt to keep the swelling/pain down. I think it had to do with seat position as I had to jack my seat up a good half cm to get better leg extension - I think that was what was causing the pain - too much bend in the knee. Towards the end of the ride the pain had alleviated with the seat height increase.
Anyways - I'm in good spirits and feeling nervous/optimistic about the ride. I was told that this 85 mile ride we did was way harder than any day on the ride - so I'm optimistic.
Also, in other excellent news: With all of you amazing people's excellent help I've hit my fundraising goal / minimum to ride! Thank you /so/ much to everyone who has donated. I've raised $2,760 so far - which is a pretty staggering number.
I've got a few mix CDs I'm going to try to pump out this week and one or two prints left to deliver.
For those who missed the Facebook message I had sent out:
Donate $100 - Get a custom mix cd (hour long one-track seamless mix style)
Donate $150 - Get a matted print (your pick from prints.nontent.net)
Donate $200 - Get one of each
http://www.aidslifecycle.org/2004 is the donation URL. I still have another week or two (I believe) to raise funds - so if you've been meaning to or have had plans of donating now is the time!
So I went on my first ride with the Cal Cycling club today, which was fun. There are a bunch of really awesome guys and gals on the team. They are /definitely/ seasoned bikers. Their 'standard' pace was faster than mine and I had trouble keeping up at a few points. Regardless, I had a great time, introduced myself to some cool people and got in a nice, brisk, 20 mile ride.
Also: Standing while climbing hills is /the shit/. I never mastered this skill as a child so I've had to consciously teach myself / practice it during each ride. While I wasn't able to keep up with the seasoned racers of the club during either the hill climbs or descents, it definitely kept me from being totally left behind.
I might attempt to do the Saturday ride with them, but I'd have to go with the n0000b group, it seems.
60 miles is a lot of pedaling. A lot. of. pedaling.
Just got back. Took a long, extremely hot, shower and drank a nice lactose/sugar/preservative free (read: so fucking disgusting I wish I never bought it. What the hell was I thinking) protein shake. Had a great time, practiced better pedaling technique / standing while climbing hills / maintaining a specific pace. Even though I like to think of Marin as "flat" I guess with all the hill climbing it still would not be representative of the Waves to Wine ride. So 70 miles of flatter seems A-O-K right now.
Anyways, as much as I'd like to collapse in exhaustion and wake up in the morning nice and refreshed... It's time to go wander on up to the CS Lab and get this project finished up.. or at least stay there for 6 or 7 hours and make a very valiant attempt.
Hear me body, hold together.
So today I tried a new ride, which meant staring at google maps, assuming it would work out, mapping it, and giving it a go. All in all it ended well, but it would have paid to do a drive through first.
Here's a map of the ride I did today, although I only went out to Martinez (a friend ended up driving me back) since I didn't leave until the afternoon. The elevation profile for my ride today shows a total climb of just over 3000ft (each way), which looks (and believe me, feels) like a lot. By comparison, here is the elevation profile for Day 1 of the Waves to Wine ride. No 1700ft climbs. The greatest climb is about 600ft, which should be doable. While the total elevation gain is similar, it's broken into fewer climbs. I appreciate this. A lot of the road looks flat, too. Day two is even flatter [this is good].
So in a perfect world it would've been a great ride. As it ended up, I chose the wrong roads to descend after ascending Grizzly Peak. I tried to pick the quickest roads to Wildcat Canyon, but ended up picking the steepest narrowest roads to get there. The road I was following on my way down ended up changing from a two lane, to a one lane, to a gated horse path covered in gravel. Walking my bike through that was amusing.
Regardless, after I got onto Wildcat Canyon the ride was just a lot of long, gentler, hills. It was definitely a challenging ride. The most disappointing, and amusing, part of the whole ride was finding a small farmer's stand by the side of the road. It was hot, I was hungry (and thirsty) and was hoping for any kind of fruit or juice to consume. At that point I would have even entertained eating lettuce. But what did they have? Peppers. Spicy peppers. Boxes and bags of peppers. It felt like a cruel joke.
Anyways, as I neared Martinez the hills leveled out, so I got a chance to practice biking on flat ground. It was strange using less energy and going so much faster. Hills in this area feel absurd. The only downside to the ride this weekend was all the hill climbing irritated my knees a bit. I may have to take it easy next weekend and let them recover fully. I'm taking my bike in on Friday to see if it's a fit issue.
Anyways, classes commence today, so it's time I turn in for the night to get ready to learn.
And filled with trees.
The Ashby hills are steep, btw. Lungs. Burning.
