Tales of a Novice Cyclist

2 weeks off from biking and I can really feel the difference in the weight gain! I think it all congregated around my belly and the jello butt that I think I’ve developed from sitting on my butt all day at the office 5 days/week.  Sigh… More motivation to keep biking and as often as I can.

I think I’m riding another century in August - the Cool Breeze Century that will be local. So I can’t slack….!

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So, today was my first day back on my bike since I’ve been sick. Instead of riding with the BBKings this morning which I expected would had killed me from the 1 hour Mulholland climb back up from the beach, I decided to ride with Agoura this morning and take it easy?! I decided to ride the long route since I wanted to get 100 miles in today and tomorrow. (Ha! I laugh at this thought now…) Rock Store to Decker to Hidden Valley over Portrero then back to start. Uhhh……right…!

I started with the group and kept up just fine. I was actually surprised that I was able to keep up. Not the last one this time surprisingly! I was even feeling good about myself - having taken 2 weeks off from biking, then first day back, I was able to keep up with the group. We even hit the Rock Store climb and I felt good at the bottom of the hill. I continued to drink my water and my Cytomax mix (a new one for me… I was out of my Nuun tablets, so decided to try this powder). Then just after the first 8% grade turn about 1/3 of the way up, I started to bonk! What the…. my calves started to feel like there were needles poking them and I started feeling lightheaded, so I got off my bike, then… UGH! I tossed my cookies over the side railing. Actually, my oatmeal and blackberries that I had for breakfast. First thought = WTF… I’ve done this hill gazillion times, I shouldn’t be bonking, much less throwing up from climbing this hill!

So, I sat on the side of the road for a few minutes trying to get myself back together. Another cyclist stopped to ask if I needed anything. I told him to tell the group ahead at the top that I was turning back because I just threw up. I texted RL to tell her that I was turning back, then descended back down. About 15 minutes later, the law prof that started the ride with me came back down to check on me. And he told me that the guy who cllimbed up to tell the group that I was turning back told them that I was “on the side of the road, throwing up with ‘morning sickness’”. Ha! Very funny, considering that is impossible!

Now I’m home and trying figure out what exactly made me throw up. Could it be that I haven’t ridden in 2 weeks and Rock Store was just too hard of a climb? I didn’t think so… Could it be the Cytomax mix that I was sipping (that stuff is really sweet, btw)? Could it be that I didn’t eat enough for dinner last night? Combination of everything? I want to say that it was the combination of Cytomax and not eating enough last night… but who knows. Before I got sick, I was actually considering climbing up Decker from the Westlake side, because I had done an 18% grade at Cold Canyon while on my ride down Piuma a few weeks ago. With all the riding that I was doing, I was feeling confident enough to push it up Decker. Well… Not anymore… My Cytomax packets are now in the trash can, and I’m eating a bowl full of pasta and tofu immediately… Maybe I can do an easy ride tomorrow morning with RL.. maybe go up Portrero.

Sigh… I guess I’ll have to start building my endurance back up… again. Very frustrated that the Rock Store hill kicked my butt this morning. I will be back very soon…

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So, I’ve now been off my bike for 2 weeks? UGH.. I feel like a whale.  After coming home from work, I’ve been just staring at my bike.  Then a couple of scratchy coughs… Then right back into bed with my laptop.  Today, I actually felt better - only coughed about 10 times? X-P

Contemplated going to 24hr fitness for a jog on the treadmill, but never made it this evening… Maybe tomorrow morning… If not, I’ll try to get back on my bike after work.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  Hopefully Maybe?

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No bking, no exercise, no nuthin…  Just couging up a lung.  I’ve been sick for the past week and am JUST now starting to feel a little better.  Still coughing up a lung-ful.. but at least, I don’t feel like I’m dying this morning…

I’ll give it one more day, and I’ll  get back on my bike.  Sigh… this sucks…

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Finally, a picture of the camel! RL, Robb, Skinny B, and I went up to Rock Store and down Decker last week. What a great ride.. It’s nice to ride with people instead of alone all the time. I even managed to take some pictures along the way. Piuma climb was the next day. Piuma - my favorite route… Then we went to the training hill to kite our wings…

Rock Store

Heeeeere camel camel camel…

Piuma

Training Hill Fun with Ty: Ty wearing my vest with fuzzy hood

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So, I finally broke down and got the Garmin Edge 305 last night. I got it from A-Man, so got a great deal.  Always so hard for me to pass up a great deal…..  Do I really need the 305? Errr….  Will it help me get faster? Not sure about that one.  Will it help me find my way back to start if I get lost?  Not sure about that one either…  I can hardly figure out my Garmin 76S, let alone another GPS/bike computer…  Sigh… we’ll see.  Tonight, I will try to run at the gym and see if I can go more than a mile before I give into the huffing and puffing from the run… =\

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It was still HOT as HELL on Monday, but I wanted to ride… I needed to ride. So I zoomed home from work, let the refrigerator man in, then went for a quick ride out to Malibu Lake and back - a quick 20 miler. And then when I got there, my time was unusually quick (probably the tail wind), so I decided to tack on a little climb up to Rock Store and zip down Decker for some added speed and fun! All along the ride up past Rock Store, I was thinking “it’s HOT as HELL again, what the heck am I doing climbing up this hill alone, it’s HOT as HELL… good thing I’m not going too far. I think I brought barely enough water.. I think I did..I think I can.. I think I can… etc…” Once I reached the top, I finished my 2 bottles of water, put my short sleeves on (just in case it got too cool zipping down Decker), and continued on toward the 23. I crossed Kanan and looked to the left by Malibu Wines and “Huh?” It’s a hot air balloon just off the side of the road. LUCKILY, I HAD my camera with me (a-HA!!!). I was SO HAPPY that I took my camera. =) Here’s what it looked like.

Random sitings… I also heard some crying coming from up the street (I thought I was hearing a ghost or something. Living alone, I get a bit spooked out, you know?) Well, I passed by a white car that was parked on the side of the road, and the lady was crying her eyes out, just whimpering, and crying. I was like, “ooooooki….I’d better keep pedaling fast away! I ain’t a therapist and need to finish my ride before dark!” And onward I went. I was hoping to get a picture of the brown camel, but I was pedaling too fast to beat sunset that I zoomed right past the ranch where I saw the camel. Oh well. Now that I know where the camel lives, I can take a picture next time. All in all, it was a great ride. Came shooting out of Decker at 32 mph. Waa-hoooo!!!

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Tonight, I decided to try out running. Since I did get the shoes with the intention of starting to run this weekend (I gotta get ready for the Malibu Tri, right?), I should do it NOW, right? So, I put on my running shoes and headed over to Westlake. Once around the lake should be okay. Or so I thought… What started out being a 4 mile run turned out to be a 1.5 mile run/walk. Man, I’m SOOOOO SLOOOOOOW. And this running thing is draining! I’m used to going at least 15 around the lake on my bike. Now, with my legs hitting the concrete, I’m a turtle! I don’t know how those marathon runners do it. I ran for 5 minutes and I was tired. So then I started walking. Then running. Then walking. Sigh… It’s going to be a looooong way before I can run 1 mile on the pavement. Weird - I was able to do it on the treadmill, no problem. Pavement must be extra hard on the body. Plus, my left knee started to ache after about 1/2 mile. Man.. I don’t know if I will ever be able to actually run 4 miles… depressing. :-\  Enough venting for tonight.

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It was HOT as HELL this weekend.  Nevertheless, Mur and I went on a 5 hour bike ride on Saturday.  Anticipating the heat, we started at 730am.  I took Mur up to Rock Store, down Mulholland, back up Encinal, and down Decker back to Westlake.  We hid 6 water bottles along the route the previous evening because we knew that it was going to be a scorcher.  Good thing ‘cuz we drank ALL of it.  I managed to drink about 150 oz of water and electrolyte solution. I think that’s a record for me.  I did have to pee a couple of times along the way.  We ate almost all the food that we brought with us.. and we brought A LOT.  But Mur started to bonk on her way down Decker back to Westlake.  I should have forced her to eat some more Gu. =\  Anyways, that was Mur’s longest ride ever - 42 miles.  Good for her! I was proud.   The rest of the day was spent napping even though it was blowing 20 at Leo.  Well,… Mur napped while I ran a few errands, fixed my flying helmet, tried to figure out how to hang some straps off my balcony to hang my paragliding harness. Then a dinner date and movie with Mur, as usual.

Sunday, Mur and I went up to Alternator because a bird told us that it was flyable.  Of course, when we arrived, it was OTB. =\   As we were about to pull out to go back down, Marty’s car battery died, so since we didn’t have jumper cables, Mr. MacGyver took apart some DC cables for radio charger, and made it into a connector, disconnected the van’s working battery, took it over to Marty’s car, jumped it with the wires made from the cables, and actually started the car! He did warn that the car might blow up, but luck was on his side and everything worked the way that he expected. Ha! Pretty impressive, I must admit.  Then we went surfing at Sea Cliff with Mr. MacGyver. It was pretty fun.  3 years of not surfing, and boy, I’m really out of paddle shape.  I did the washing machine under a couple of waves a few times which brought back some memories of the countless number of washing machine cycles I endured during my 1 year stint of trying to learn how to surf.  Mur, very new to surfing, did the washing machine a few times.  Her legs and arms flailing as a huge wall of white water approached her… I laughed so hard at one point that I couldn’t sit up.  I think she and I much prefer the wind sports - i.e windsurfing for Mur and kitesurfing for me.   All in all, a good time.  We will do it again next weekend.

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I went to the bike shop on Tuesday and bought a bunch of bike clothes.  I think I was stressed - about what? I don’t know.  When I’m stressed, I spend money on gear.  I should have stayed away from the bike shop, but no… I gave in and bought a pair of Zoot Ultra Cycle Shorts and matching top. There was MINIMAL padding on the shorts, so I was skeptical whether the shorts would work for me, but I bought them anyways.

I went up to Rock Store then down Decker and the shorts worked fine! yeyeyey!  Maybe I don’t need such thick padding on my bike shorts? So, I get to keep it and deal with the money issue later. Ha! Tis is life, I guess. I’d better enjoy my gear and toys while I’m young and can enjoy them, right?

On my way up to Decker, I finally saw the brown 2-humped camel that JF was telling me. I was so excited!  Of course, I LEFT MY CAMERA AT HOME! DOH!! I even looked at my camera before the ride, thinking whether I’d take pictures, and decided that I wouldn’t see anything fun.  Always not the case, right?  Errrggggg…

So, lesson learned: Always carry my camera on my bike rides… =\

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