Tales of a Novice Cyclist

I woke up this morning and first thing I did was to take a look at the narly cut. My first thought: “it looks like I got bit by an animal.. or a shark!” ha! The wound is still open but I think it finally stopped bleeding. Now, instead of blotting the wound with peroxide with cotton, I’ve resorted to just pouring it over the leg and leaving the wound to bubble/fizz. Yuk!
And my knee is worse today. Ugh… I guess that means that I can’t do the double metric with 8500 ft of climbing during the Cool Breeze. Grrr…. I’m staying off the bike for 1 full week to give it time to recover. I can’t go in the water to swim since the cut will get worse, I can’t get on my bike because of my knee, the only thing I can do is to take walks in between my cube life dayz…

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Today’s ride with Agoura got me a narly cut on my leg from the front gear. I probably needed stitches since it’s still bleeding and open right now (10 hours later…), but I’m hoping that it will stop tonight. Hopefully? I’d take a picture and post it, but it’s NOT a pretty site since it’s still open! A woman couldn’t clip out and fell over when we all stopped at a light. We pulled over to get her patched up, then a guy got dizzy and collapsed while crossing the street with our bikes. Then I lose balance while holding RL’s bike and get the narliest cut I’ve ever gotten. Sigh… Plus my knee is being funny again. I’ve been stretching the crap out of it which I think has helped, but I probably should have just stayed home today to avoid all the hassel. Grrrr…. I was going to ride tomorrow morning, but I will be smarter and stay off the knee for the rest of the week. I hope the narly cut will be better tomorrow morning… This one is definitely going to take at least 4 weeks to heal since it’s big and deep… :(  Iodine ointment and peroxide, iodine ointment and peroxide…

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Back from the Rat Race, and finally now starting to recover.

Drove up with Bean there and back. 12 hours. Longest drive ever. But it was good company. 10 days of flying really drained me! I didn’t bike or do any type of cardio. Just fly, eat, sleep, fly, eat, and sleep. Woodrat Mountain is a beautiful place to fly though. And the competition was an amazing experience (including my first tree landing, the stress of flying in a gaggle of 50+ pilots, learning to use my GPS finally, experience of seeing how competitions work, etc…). I didn’t make goal a single day - which really irritated me. But it is what it is. I’ll do better next time. Being surrounded by so many phenomenal pilots made me want to become a better pilot and a better competitor. I was hoping that there wouldn’t be so many women, so that I could get a ribbon. But darn it! There were 12! =( But at least I didn’t come in last. Whew! 6th… Top 5 got something… Hopefully, next time, there will only be 5 and I will be one of them? Wishful thinking? My goal in my next competition will be to make goal at least one day during the comp. Rat Race next year for sure. I may go check out the Nationals, Monarcha, and Worlds as spectator or wind tech just to see how they are. Now, I’m back to the real world. I did a Ventura-Santa Barbara ride with the BBKings last Saturday. I think that was the most beautiful ride ever… Here are some pictures of the Rat Race. Too neat!

On our way through Mt. Shasta

Metal cow along I-5

One of the first tasks… everyone writing down the waypoints!

launch at Woodrat

Gaggle Fun. Can you find me? I’m on a white and orange glider…

The Chu in a Tree

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I did it! Up to the top of Rock Store in under 20 minutes! 19 minutes 47 seconds or so.  Yeah! My heart rate was almost 180 during the last 5 minutes of the climb.  Huffing and puffing so hard that I thought my heart was going to come out of my throat.  Not a good feeling.. but I did it!  I think the key was that I was really conscious about pulling up on my pedal strokes instead of mashing down all the time. This helped me spin faster and climb up the hill more efficiently, I think.  I also took it really easy on my warm up to the climb.  Ahhh….  Not sure if I can do it again in under 20 minutes. Well.. maybe.  Next goal will be to try to do it again. Hopefully, it’ll be easier the next time around. =)

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Another scorcher today, but I’m determined to climb up Rock Store in under 20 minutes, DAMN IT!  And today wasn’t the day…  I tried… but didn’t make it.  I started my ride at 6:30 in the morning - perfect temperature. Wore my new Specialized shorts - which btw, are pretty comfy. But I think they are just as comfy as my Giordanas and Zoots. Eh!  Doing the same route 3 days in a row at the same time, you meet some of the same people. I met Brian, David, and Frank.  No women.  Many of the female cyclists that I’ve met on this route has been super-serious.  =\  Where’s the fun and the jokes, ladies?  But I guess that’s how they roll, and they can keep rolling. ha!

I started my climb today at a pretty good pace, and was thinking that maybe I’ll be able to get up to the top in under 20 minutes.  Few guys passed me, of course, as they always do. But I managed to keep one of them in my site for…1/3 of the hill at which point I started to bonk. UGH! Out came the gu and several water guzzles while I tried not to swerve around the road.   I actually was able to see the top with about 6 minutes left til the 20 min mark, and thought that I could make my under-20min goal.  I pushed it up the last few hundred meters, heart rate went up from 160 to 175, huffing and puffing, stood up and pedaled as fast as I could, but no cigar. D’OH!@#$!$$#!#@!!  Sigh…. David was at the top and told me that if I did the hill 2x/week, it would become easier and I’d become quicker going up.  I’ll do it 3x/week and see if I can climb up it under 20 minutes in 2-3 weeks.  We headed out to Hidden Valley and back instead of the beach since it would have been too hot by the time we headed back over the hill.  Not to mention, I would have noodle legs by the end of this ride since I haven’t done the long distance since I got sick.

I got home just before 10am to avoid being cooked out in the sun today.  I had semi-noodle legs by the time I got home.  I probably would need to work back up to 50-60 miles per ride again… =(

3000 ft of climbing today, 38 miles, 2 hours 45 min of riding, top speed at 34mph down Decker (waaa-hoooo!!).

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My planned 6am Rock Store ride became a 7am Rock Store ride.  And the heat was starting already!  The ride that normally takes me 1 hour and 45 min took 2 hours and 30 minutes this morning.  I drank all my water, ate my apple, a packet of gu in the 90 degree heat.  Good thing that I got back before 10am.  I was steaming by the time I got back.  The ride was good though, so maybe I’ll ride the same route again tomorrow but really at 6am tomorrow morning…

I bought a pair of Specialized shorts today from Cynergy Cycles.  Those shorts are normally $155! Dang… I paid $100 for them on sale, still cringing… but they seemed nice.  They’ve gotta be nice right? Afterall, with cycling shorts, you get what you pay for.  I’ll try them out tomorrow… I think these are the most expensive pair of shorts that I own. Ha!

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Hot as HELL again today! It was a sauna.  Seriously!  It’s supposed to reach 100 degrees by 10am tomorrow. It looks like another 6am ride to Rock Store and back tomorrow morning to try to beat the heat. I’m checking out Cynergy Cycle’s Anniversary Sale tomorrow after the ride.  Found these nice Specialized arm/leg warmers that I’m tempted to get.  Yes, it’s too hot for it, but I’ll need it in the fall/winter, alright?!?

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RL called me at 5:15am.  “Wake up,” she said. “See you at Bad Ass Coffee at 6. Click”.  At 5:30am, I finally rolled out of bed.  Literally, rolled out and slipped into my shorts and jersey. No washing the face, brushing the teeth, brushing my hair, nuthin’,  Ha! Who would know, right?  It’s not like I walk around with makeup on my face anyway.

4 of us, RL, her hubby, Brendan, and I, climbed up Rock Store at 6am. Yes, 6am. That Brendan is too fast.  I just said “bub-bye” as he whizzed by me.  I took my time, kept my own pace.  Finished the route with a great descent down Decker, and finished in an hour and 45.  We finished just as the the heat started rising.

That 6am ride is pretty darn nice. Nice temp, not too hot and not too cold.  I think I just may have to do it about tomorrow… and Saturday… and maybe Sunday too before the heat. =)  No riding in 100 degree heat for me…

Gorgeous views again today. And of course, no pictures…. =\

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I zipped home from work so that I could get a bike ride in. I decided to start from my place and ride to Rock Store, descend down Decker and back home. It was warm, but not unbearable. Filled 2 full bottles of water and a couple of Gu packets and I was off!

Gorgeous day today. I rode really hard… Probably because I couldn’t stand that I threw up on Rock Store on Saturday… I think that was the fastest that I’d climbed Rock Store. I was huffing and puffing by the time I got to the top because I was trying to push as fast as I could for the last 500 meters… Still didn’t make it under 20 minutes though. DOH! Dang it, I’m slow! Sigh… I’ll just keep training on that hill and hopefully, I’ll be able to make it up to the top under 20 minutes. Soon, I hope?

I also noticed that on my way down Decker, my GPS read -15%.. but only for a really short distance…. tempted to try the climb… maybe in a couple more weeks when I’m feeling more up to it…

On my way back, I saw the biggest spider I’d ever seen in my life. I almost ran over it as it was crossing the road. Big, Black, FURRY. Taratula, I think. Gross! The size of my hand. Serious. I screamed out a yelp, swerved around it (thank goodness there were no cars on the other side), and continued on toward Westlake. Yes, NO PICTURES. I was going too fast to stop and take a picture of the creepy crawler. Plus, the road was too narrow for me to stop anyways. But next time. For reals…

Got back just before dark at 8pm. Good thing it stayed light later… Gorgeous views of the mountain range, sky, and sunset. YES, NO PICTURES… Next time, for REALS! OKAY?

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Met up with RL today for a run out to Hidden Valley and back. I passed up her car and didn’t see her, so I figured I’d just go out on my own and come back. It was a beautiful day, and warm. Lots of horses out on the pastures. I’ve never heard so many of them heeah-ing. Is that how that sound? I looked at the hill at Potrero and decided to go back for RL and possibly do it on my 2nd time back. But RL had been doing hills all morning so was pooped. On our way back, RL and I sprinted on a straight-away, biggest gear, sprint all the way. YEAH! She was keeping up and definitely stronger. =)

I’ll do the hills on my next run. Hopefully, I won’t bonk out and throw up like yesterday… No Cytomax this time… maybe just a Nuun tablet.

I also took my bike to the shop to get adjusted. I keep sliding forward on my seat. Don’t know why… So B-man angled the saddle up half a notch.. hopefully that will solve the problem. I will see on my next ride… Oh! and I also bought these great Giordana Silverline shorts - ultracomfy around the waist. Cute… oh,.. and a black Pearl Kodiak jacket for paragliding/biking, a Castelli shirt that I think I’ll return,…… Every time I go into the bike shop, I spend too much money… Shorts, shirt, bike polish, socks, jacket, etc… sigh… But! I like my purchases… =) Must stop accumulating so much gear and gear accessories… BTW, disclaimer: this isn’t my actual butt… I wish…! This picture is just a stock photo. =\  Maybe in a few months? hah!

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