Tales of a Novice Cyclist

Bonked… after only 35 miles.. WTF…. So, I decided to do the gold ride on Saturday morning.  I was a bit hesitant to do the gold ride (because I’m so slow…), but surprisingly, I actually managed to keep up with the others on the gold ride.  Yea!  Could it be that I’m actually getting a tiny bit faster?  We started out at B of A in T.O., rode to Westlake through Lost Hills, to Las Virgenes, then right onto Mulholland (NOT Rock Store! Maybe some day…), over the hill toward Troutdale, out to Kanan, up the Kanan climb, back to Agoura Road then back to T.O..  Wow, just writing down the route sounds tiring.  But to my delight (;-P), I was actually okay after the ride.  Of course, I tried to practice clipping out on my bad side again, and like a dumb idiot, I fell over.  AGAIN. GRRrrrr….  This time, I got a nasty cut from the chain ring on my calf as a souvenir. Double GRRRR….   Anyways, 35 miles, 2 bottles of water, and 3 gu packs later, I was STILL standing! woohoo!  Little did I know that about 30 minutes after the ride when I was trying to get some lunch, I was going to completely bonk out.  I couldn’t do anything else for the rest of the day. NOTHING, NADA!

How am I supposed to do a 100 km metric century if I’m bonked out after only 35 miles?!!??@!!@#!@#?! Lord help me….  I’m so lame.  When will I start getting better?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Well, I fell over after my ride today with RL. I was trying to see if I could click out on the other foot and safely put my foot down instead of my usual side. I quickly discovered that I couldn’t. Just as I was about to put my foot down, the bike fell over to the other side where my foot was still clipped in! D’OH!! Why did my bike fall over to the other side????!@#!@#!#! I was all ready to lean over to the opposite side. That’s all I had to do. Just lean over to that side and put my foot down. My foot was free to put down, but NO, the bike starts to fall to the OPPOSITE side. WTF! As soon as I felt the bike start leaning to the opposite side, I knew it was over. I tried to unclip my usual foot, but TOO LATE! My other foot because was at the 12 o’clock position instead of the 6 o’clock position, which made it hard for me to unclip. Next thing I knew, I was on the pavement with my foot still stuck in the pedal. Call me a moron, idiot, moronic idiot…. D’OH! :-\

My homework over the next 2 days is to sit on my bike at home and clip in and out on my uncomfortable side 50 times. My gears were also skipping today during my ride, so I think I will clean the chain on my bike too - another homework task. Hopefully, that will help prevent any more falls like this one.

Oh yea, and my saddle is STILL not right. I adjusted the angle on my saddle down a bit to see if that would help. I rode around in a circle around RL’s street just before my fall, and it seemed better. But we will see on my next ride…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I went for a short ride yesterday evening just to Hidden Valley and back to test out the pedals and riding position. Let me say that I LOOOOVE the Speedplays! I should have been on them from the beginning. I probably wouldn’t be having any knee problems then. D’OH! My knee felt okay. I woke up with the knee just a tiny bit sore. It wasn’t hurting though which was the main thing. I started taking some glucosamine, so hopefully that will help with the knee. But now, my bum is hurting again. Before the bike fit, the seat was just fine and dandy. I was sitting right on the sit bone, NOTHING else was touching. Now, it’s not quite right anymore. I need to readjust every 4-5 minutes! How am I going to ride 100km on this saddle? Sigh… I guess I have to keep playing with the saddle position again. VERY VERY frustrating. Why can’t it just be easy? !@#!@#$@!#! I just want to ride for 100 miles without being too sore… :-[

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

So guess what! I managed to score a pair of used X2 Speedplays for only fifty bux! I was all set to purchase them from Performance Bikes, because they were 20% off. They sure look nice here, right?



Speedplay X/2 : “No-look entry, super low cornering angle, incredibly lightweight, knee-saving float. That about covers what you need in a road pedal and the X/2s have it all. The unique double-sided entry means youll be the first one off the line every time. Cornering angle: 37. True center-of-axis free float. Weight: 198g/pr. Compatible with 3- and 4-hole mounting patterns”

Sounds really nice, right? They are $174.99 at Performance (ouch!). But I was able to pick up a used pair with cleats for for only FIFTY bux! I hope they don’t break… :-] I’m going to get some cleat covers for them to prevent wearing of the cleats when I walk around. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s just another expense??

I put them on last night at RL’s house. Or should I say, her husband put them on for me on my bike at RL’s house. He’s really handy - that Robb. Haha! I got on the trainer in their garage and spun for about 2 minutes. It felt good. No pain, no pressure on knees, no discomfort. It really does feel like your feet are floating on ice. But they are a LOT EASIER (at least for me) to clip in and out of than the generic Looks that I was previously using. But when I woke up this morning, my knee felt a little sore - just from the 2 minutes of spinning last night. RL said that I should just go see a doctor. But I’ve seen a couple of doctors, not “officially” but on the beach who said to lay off the knee, rehab with some exercises and take some advil. So, I’m going to wait to see if my knee really gets bad after my next long ride with the new pedals. We’ll see…. Too bad it’s raining today though. Maybe I’ll go for a swim and then yoga until this storm blows through… RL says that I need to do some weight-lifting. Maybe I will get some weights and tone up on my own since I’m too cheap to join a gym. Have I said that I need to make more money to support this biking hobby? :-\

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I went for a really easy ride last night with my foot taped up to test out the bike fit. Well, the pain in my left knee had significantly subsided but not gone away. But the right knee was now hurting. I woke up with both knees now hurting. WTF… I’m not sure what the bike fit exactly did. BUT, one thing good that came out of last night’s ride was that I was able to try out my girlfriend’s Speedplays on her bike and was able to feel how it could make the knees better. So now, I am looking for a set to try out for a few rides before I invest another $200 for a new pedal system. Man, this is getting expensive. Bike for $1200, shirts and shorts for $400, shoes ($150), new handlebars ($60), new stem ($30), installation ($40), pedal and cleats ($60), helmet ($100), bike fit for $200 (The guy charged me $200 instead of $120 because he spent so much time but didn’t solve my knee problem… does that make ANY sense?), and all other miscellaneous expense… And now, I need to get a new pedal and cleat system for another $200. Am I being too cheap now? But I guess other people spend more money on this hobby on better stuff… Sigh… I need to make more money…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

At first it was “oh my bum…” (the bum problem was solved with my new Jett saddle - I LOOVE this saddle!). Then is was my neck and shoulder. Then, it was my posture, too long of a reach, too big of a handlebar, too long of a stem, too flat of a stem. A few bike shops have even told me that I may need a new, larger frame. Full carbon, better components, etc… so I might as well buy a new bike, right? I’ve resisted all these temptations, but have replaced my carbon 90mm stem with no angle to an 80mm aluminum alloy that has a 16 degree angle, and a women-specific handlebar that has a shallower drop and shorter reach to the shifters. This brought everything closer to where I wanted my shifters, but I think I can still benefit from an even shorter reach, which means that I need a different stem with an even larger angle. After visiting 4 bike shops for the right stem, I’ve given up on this front as people have told me that it depends on preference. I also changed shoes from my generic Supergo cycling shoes that I got on sale to Sidi Genius 5s that I got on sale from Agoura Cycles. A few rides after I switched shoes, I started having knee pain! And it has gotten progressively worse. Even with my adjusting the seat forward, backward, higher and lower, and cleat position at different angles countless number of times, something is still off. But then again, what the heck do I know about cycling! :-\ One would say, “JUST GET A BIKE FIT ALREADY!” So, I finally did.

I decided to enter the Solvang Prelude metric century in November, which offered free entrance fee to the bike ride with a Pro bike fit with Randy Ice. So, I go in Monday evening to meet Randy for the bike fit, expecting to have all of my problems solved after 1 hour of fitting. Well, an hour and a half later, he did manage to improve my knee but didn’t completely fix it. He lifted my seat quite a bit, moved it back, suggested that I should bring my handlebars up higher with a higher stem, and get Speedplay pedals with as MUCH float as possible. He did tape up my left foot (left knee is the problem) to simulate an orthotic to make my foot more “supponated”(?). I will ride tomorrow to test out the bike fit…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

So, I just got my bike back from the bike shop.  I had them switch out my handlebars to a women-specific handlebar made by Specifalized.  I didn’t even know that there were women-specific handlebars made until I went to a bike shop called Cynergy Cycles in Santa Monica!  Same widths, but shallower drops so that I can be more comfortable if I go into the drops.  On my old ones, I always felt like I was going to splat right on my face.  I’ve tried rolling the bars forward and back, but still didn’t feel comfortable.  I was hesitant on getting the bars but I figured that it would make my rides more comfortable, so I did it.  I’ve already replaced the stem on the bike to bring the handlebars higher, closer to me, but I think I can still have it be a little closer.  After going to 3 different bike shops, 3 different stems, and having different people tell me all sorts of different things to fix my riding position including getting a bigger frame, replacing the stem, cranks,  new cleats, etc…  I’ve given up changing anything else on my bike for now and have just replaced the handlebar.  The new seat really helped too.  I LOOOVE my saddle.  I am riding tomorrow, so I hope it works!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

It’s still 95 degrees outside today, so I was smart and went to yoga this morning instead of going for a bike ride. I was cruising on eBay (as I normally do for biking stuff along with other miscellaneous things) and the saddle that took me months to find was on sale on eBay for almost HALF the price that I paid for it! Of course, when I did look for the saddle on eBay, it was nowhere to be found. GRRR…. The original saddle that came with the bike was the Selle Italia XO Gel - which I swapped out right away. I sat on it one second and I knew it wasn’t right. Too stiff, too narrow, too hard for my bum! Being a novice, I decided to go with something wider and cushier at Performance Bikes:
Terry Women’s Liberator Gel Saddle

“Designed for long rides and touring when your position is a little more upright. A larger cutaway, additional padding throughout and a thin layer of gel under the cover provide exceptional pressure relief and all around comfort on longer rides. Wider rear”

Little did I know at the time that i would have been better off with something more stiff. The seat was comfy for the first 5 minutes, then I kept sliding down the nose of it. Bike fit experts have told me that this is because I was never fitted properly on my bike. (I haven’t yet been fitted, btw… I suppose I should get this done at some point.) I put up with the seat for awhile, always pushing back toward the back of the seat but eventually sliding down the nose during my rides. After each ride, I was very UNCOMFORTABLE down there. ugh! Finally, when I started riding with a group, I was persuaded to try a narrower, stiffer saddle. The first one that I tried was:
Terry Women’s Butterfly Tri Saddle


“You don’t have to sacrifice lightweight and a low profile to get in-the-saddle-comfort.”

This did feel more comfortable. A bit harder on my bum, but more comfortable. So I rode with this seat for a few rides. But after each ride, I was STILL not feeling right down there, and I found the back of my legs were touching the seat of the saddle. So, once again, I tried yet an even narrower, stiffer saddle:
Terry Damselfly Saddle

“Designed for women racers and sprinters who hear the call of the road above anything else.”

Designed for the women racers… hmm.. yea, me - a racer. okay… I tried this saddle which felt better than the previous 3, so decided to go for this one. But before I was about to purchase it, I’d heard about Specialized brand saddles where they actually measure your sit-bones to properly size you for the saddle. Interesting…. At a local Specialized dealer shop nearby, I got my sit-bones measured by sitting on top of a gel pad, and sat on a women-specific saddle called Jett. BINGO - this was the saddle! I knew the second that I sat on it. No discomfort ANYWHERE! If anyone has saddle problems, make sure that you go try out a Specialized saddle. It was very strange that I just knew from sitting the saddle for a few seconds. Now, 3 rides later, I LOVE my saddle more than ever! If only, I could have found it on eBay 3 weeks ago and saved a few bux. :-\ D’OH!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I suppose I should have started blogging when I first started taking up road biking to document how far I’ve come ’til now-which isn’t far at all so far. Better late than never, I say!

I’ve only been riding for about 3 months. When I first started, I rode alone by the coast on Pacific Coast Highway or sometimes in the Malibu Canyons. Then I sought out a local cycling group to ride with to have some company. I was always envious of people who rode in groups. That was about 1 month ago. I’ve found from riding with the group that I am REALLY SLOOOW, always bringing up the rear. My gear-shifting, my riding position, and possibly my bike might be jacked! So, I have spent the last few weeks and will spend the next few weeks trying to correct all of my problems. The group that I ride with is usually nice enough to wait up for me at different points during the ride, which is encouraging. But I am still REALLY slow and can’t seem to get quicker. I’ve picked up a lot of tips from other riders though through my group riding experience, so I am hoping to improve over time. I’ve just invested in a wireless cyclocomputer (which didn’t work this morning from some reason), to help me gage my speed. Little did I know that I should have bought one with a cadence meter as well… D’OH!… so many things to learn.

Anyways, I started my ride this morning at 8:30am with a group that I had never ridden with before. The group was “supposedly” the “slow group” which I THOUGHT was perfect for me. Oy…. I didn’t get back to my car until 12:30pm, and thought I was going to literally melt away into nothing. MY GOD, it was HOT! I don’t think I’ve ever sweated like that in my life. We started at Thousand Oaks and rode toward Malibu around Malibu Lake. I think it must have been at least 95 degrees. As usual, I was huffing and puffing, and bringing up the rear. (Will I ever get fast enough to keep up with the group?). I ate 3 packets of gu, a power bar, a packet of Clif shot blocks, and 4 bottles of water (which I think equated to about 90 oz. And I STILL needed more water. Maybe I’m just out of shape, it was either just too hot, or both. I think I suffered from mild heat exhaustion as it took me about 4 hours to recover from the ride. My body was tingling, I felt dizzy, I couldn’t stand up straight, I got tunnel-vision, etc.. Note to self - do NOT ride in 90 degree heat..EVER AGAIN.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!