Saturday, March 27, 2010

Goodbye Mr. Illness, Hello Mr. Rain

On Monday the 15th of March, it became apparent why I had so much difficulty on the group ride the day before (aside from the wind and distance). Mr. Illness decided to set up camp in my lungs and because of squatter’s rights, I’ve had a hard time kicking him out. I managed to struggle through the workweek fighting a fever, severe cough, and chronic fatigue. I then spent last weekend in bed watching DVD’s. It’s a shame too because for the last two weeks the weather has been stereotypical for California. Simply beautiful.

Today marks the first full day of Spring Break in my neck of the woods. I’ve been looking forward to a week in the saddle (shirking all other responsibilities like cleaning my apartment) pending Mr. Illness finding somewhere else to live. Zippy and I made huge plans too, including a trip to Monterey for riding, shoe shopping, and just spending time with a good friend. However, things often don’t work out as planned. The forecast for the coming week includes rain starting Monday and continuing through the week.

Because of the impending bad weather, I decided to hit the road today and enjoy being outside while it’s nice, even if that meant coughing and hacking my way through a short ride. This is exactly what I did.

Regardless of the hacking, I felt really good through the entire ride, even while battling the wind that caught me off guard a couple of times. I got pretty toasty about halfway through and stopped to remove my warmers despite having not put on any sunscreen (or having bothered to shave). It’s a real shame that this weather can’t last my entire vacation.

I’m feeling a 35-40 km ride coming on tomorrow.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Out of the Comfort Zone and Into the Fire

Today I embarked on my very first group ride (not including charity rides). I met up with five other riders and headed out for a flat and easy 50 mile ride in the Delta. Having never attempted a ride of this distance, I was a bit apprehensive. Worse, I was riding with much more experienced riders. Not only that, but they were people I had never met. I was more than a little nervous. However, my normally crippling shyness was obliterated once I actually arrived, as they were all very friendly and encouraging.

One big bonus of participating in this ride is that rider #5 was actually in a car following behind us and providing SAG. This alleviated some anxiety regarding technical issues and the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to ride the distance successfully. It also made me feel like a bit of a rock star.

We rolled out at about 9 am. At first, I didn’t have any issues keeping up, but I think the pace was a bit slower than what was originally planned. The morning was brisk with a light breeze that soon turned into a nasty crosswind. I normally avoid wind so this was a new experience for me. However, riding with a group allowed me to use the other riders to my benefit. Regardless, I about pooped out half way through the ride and couldn’t get my groove back. It wasn’t at all a concern with cardio (or the fact that I have asthma), but more that the muscles in my legs decided they’d had enough. It didn’t help that I kept thinking that my seat was too low and my knee was causing pain at one point.

At mile 35, the other woman in the group and I decided that we’d switch out so her husband could ride and we drove the remaining miles back to where we parked. Despite my botched attempt at 50 miles, I feel somewhat accomplished by the 35 miles I did ride since the last time I was on the bike was two weeks ago.

I’m now looking back and troubleshooting my ride. Why was I “too pooped to pop” after only about 25 miles? I have a lot of work to do before I’m ready to attempt a metric century or successfully ride the LIVESTRONG Challenge. Strength and endurance need to be gained, more weight needs to be lost, and I need to acquire some hill climbing skills.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Riding the Karma Train

I suppose you could say that the last couple of weeks have been busy at work. Weekends, not so busy out of necessity, but busy because it’s the start of the local racing season, which has meant that I’ve gone to three races over the last two weekends.

There isn’t a whole lot to tell about the races aside from the fact that those pro women are tough, especially Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Ger) from HTC-Columbia. They’re tough in a way that when a powerful crash takes down 10+ riders in the middle of the peloton, many of them take it just as the men would – they jump right back on the bike and continue. I have some newfound respect for them.


On my way to the race this morning, I was driving along a route that I frequent on my bike. Ahead of me was a group of three cyclists at the side of the road seemingly having some sort of difficulty with a bike. I wondered if they needed any help and recalled a time that I was in almost the same spot when I had a “technical” problem out in the middle of nowhere. Several cars passed me and not one person bothered to slow down, let alone ask if I needed help even though I was alone.

Having been raised to believe that I should help others when I can, I decided to stop to see if they were okay or if they needed any help. They seemed pleasantly surprised that I’d asked. They said they had everything under control (seat adjustment), thanked me, and I went on my way knowing that I just scored some points in the good karma race.

Maybe the next time I’m stranded on the side of the road, someone will be kind enough to ask me if I need help.