I was looking through some old photos on my computer a couple of days ago and I came across a few pictures and a video of my first ever road bike ride. In honor of “Throwback Thursday,” I am publishing said video. Since I currently have a free wordpress account and not a fancy premium one, I don’t have enough space to upload a video directly in this blog. So, dear readers, please click here to view the video on youtube. You will note that I am not saying much in the video. This is for obvious reasons:
the Red Rock loop is full of climbing (i.e., it is hard!).
I am annoyed at SAT for recording me in my hour of pain.
I am annoyed at SAT for talking, laughing, and just generally being annoying.
I am annoyed.
You may also note that I am wearing sneakers instead of bike shoes that clip into the pedals; this is, again, for the obvious reason that I would have fallen on my face and broken my neck had I had “clip-in” style shoes and pedals. I had enough trouble maneuvering my bike up and around and down that darned loop.
So, there you go. Digital proof of how I was tortured during my introduction to the sport of road cycling. Sigh.
This weekend featured 2 new “firsts” for me, plus a return to my “last-resort” method of training: indoor bike. So many words, so little time, so let’s begin!
Yesterday, my SAT and I embarked on a new type of adventure: the multi-disciplinary outdoor fest. We decided to hike up Bridge Mountain, which is one of the most popular and beautiful hikes in southern Nevada and is situated in Red Rock Canyon. Most people who climb Bridge Mountain drive their high-clearance vehicle (HCV) up the 5 mile gravel road to the trailhead. That gravel road is appropriately named Rocky Gap Road, for it is indeed VERY rocky. I am not sure which is faster: driving up the road or hiking up the road. There are many sharp twists and turns along the narrow road that necessitate good driving skills, a cool head, and patience (for high speeds are well nigh impossible). I was eager for my SAT to hike Bridge Mountain because I knew from personal experience how fun of a climb it is. Along the way to the summit, one will see the rocks change color from grey (limestone) to red and cream (sandstone). There is also a hidden forest near the summit as well as a beautiful stone bridge or arch (thus, the name “Bridge Mountain”).
Whilst discussing the idea of hiking Bridge Mountain, my SAT smirked and suggested that we do Bridge the “correct” way: (mountain) bike up Rocky Gap Road, hide our bikes at the trailhead, then hike up.
“It’ll be SO much faster going down Rocky Gap on our bikes and besides, we have to do this the proper way,” my SAT declared.
“Proper according to whom?” I inquired.
“To anyone hard-core,” he asserted.
“How long do you think this will take?” I asked.
“Let’s say 2 hours….wait, no, probably more like 1.5 hours for you,” he calculated.
Oh joy. A 5 mile mountain bike climb, which is something I rarely do, for almost 2 hours. To add incentive, my SAT invited a friend (Mike) to join us who knows the route up to Bridge AND who is even less experienced than me on the mountain bike. I reluctantly agreed to this endeavour and yesterday morning, we got on our bikes and started pedaling up the rock and boulder strewn road.
Honestly, that was one of the hardest things I’ve done on the bike. My lack of expertise on the mountain bike was most evident when I had to negotiate my way uphill through rocks and gravel. I was going so slowly that I lost my balance (and patience) several times. All the while I was huffing, puffing, and fearing for my cardiovascular health, my SAT was smiling, laughing, and doling out words of encouragement.
“Pedal HARDER!”….”Why are you just standing there?”….”GET BACK ON YOUR BIKE.”
(Ok, he DID say some nice things too, like how well I was doing and how far I’ve come. Of course, my state of mind during the entire climb was such that I decided that SAT now stood for “Sadistic Apathetic Trainer.” I think the word “sadistic” is apparent enough; the “apathetic” was my adjective to describe his attitude to my pain during the climb).
Mike wasn’t saying much either on the bike ride up the climb and had to admit he did not make HIS wife do things like my SAT was making me do. Take note, my SAT.
We finally got up to the trailhead, heaved in as much oxygen as we could, then stashed our bikes off the trailhead:
The hike up to the top of Bridge Mountain was beautiful. Perfect temperature and gorgeous views.
(Our goal!)
(My SAT and I on top of the bridge.)
The ride down Rocky Gap Road went much faster than the climb (obviously!), but I still had to brake most of the way down, as I kept on gaining speed when I wanted to go slower over the rocks and boulders in my way. However, we all made it down safely and before the sun set.
(SO HAPPY to be DONE.)
In contrast to yesterday’s beautiful weather, today was quite rainy and cold. I still had a considerable number of miles to ride for the week and it wasn’t looking good for a long ride today. Despite my lack of adequate rainy weather gear, my SAT and I set out for a bike ride anyway. We were only a few miles into the ride when we both decided to turn around and go home for the following reasons: 1) every time we turned a corner, our tires would direct streams of water into our shoes. Cold, wet feet do not a comfortable ride make. 2) My saddle (seat) is one of those fancy cut-out ones to alleviate pressure. While I cycled, water from the wheels would splash up the cut-out and onto my butt area, making my cycling pants feel like a spandex sponge. I could feel myself squeezing water out of my chamois (the padded part of my cycling pants) whilst sitting and rotating my posterior during each pedal stroke. 3) It was just plain cold and miserable.
We arrived home and immediately shed our sodden clothing. I resigned myself to a long session on the indoor bike in the gym. Better than nothing, I suppose. I hope tomorrow is a sunnier, drier day!
(Just arrived home and not impressed with the precipitation.)
Happy New Year, my devoted readers! 😉 I hope that you all enjoyed the magic of the Christmas season with food, folks, and fun. As outlined in my last blog post, I have been riding more with other people and that has made my suffering, er, training, more bearable and even enjoyable. I did my first group ride in Death Valley on the weekend – without my SAT! – and it was a lovely day getting to know new people and seeing scenery from a different perspective (I’ve been to Death Valley before, but only by car). We started cycling from Furnace Creek and that ride was the first time my Garmin cycle computer registered a negative elevation:
Here is a pic of the desert in Death Valley between Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells:
Another variable I introduced into my training regime was the podcast. Amazing! I downloaded a whole bunch of podcasts onto my phone and have been enjoying various shows and stories on topics ranging from current events, the history of cinnamon, and pop culture quizzes. One trivia gem I learned whilst listening to a podcast: when pooping, dogs align their bodies so that their head faces north and their bottoms face south. Moral: when hiking or going into the woods, always take a dog with you! I’ve found that the miles fly by when I listen to interesting facts and anecdotes, which is both encouraging (“I’ve already biked 20 miles!”) and entertaining (“I wonder if humans align themselves in the same way as dogs when relieving themselves outdoors….”). Ah yes, the lofty and philosophical questions of life with which I occupy myself during a bike ride!
Happy Christmas week! I hope that all of you are enjoying your respective holidays and partaking in as much holiday food and drink you can endure. Last week was memorable in a number of ways, including, but not limited to quality time with family, eating/drinking/cooking/baking/repeat, and burnout. Ah yes, it was inevitable: too much alone time on the bike equals burnout. I wasn’t riding my bike with friends and I was trying to adhere to my dang training schedule all by myself. I had a chat with my SAT last week, who reminded me (again and again) how imperative it was to ride WITH OTHER PEOPLE. He suggested that I take the rest of the week off in order to clear my head and take advantage of the time with our visiting family, then reassess how I feel about riding. Well, since I’m not totally stubborn (insert SAT’s rollicking laughter), I took that advice and merrily went about enjoying the rest of the week bike-free.
Yesterday, I felt rested enough and fresh enough mentally to restart my training regime with two friends. We went on a nice ride together (37 miles, to be exact) and I came back home refreshed and….smiling. Shocking, isn’t it? Today, those same friends and I did some interval training. What is that? Basically, interval training can be described as short periods of work followed by rest. The main aim is to improve speed and cardiovascular fitness. We followed a route that consisted of 10 short climbs; we started by coasting down the first hill, then climbed up the next one as quickly as we could….then we coasted down the next hill, then climbed up the next hill as fast as we could….and so on and so forth. Here is what that looked like:
Since today was a cold and windy day, the hill sprints were very effective in warming us up. Once in a while during those hill sprints, I imagined my SAT chirping encouragement to me. I’m still not sure if that inspired me or annoyed me.
Tomorrow will be my rest day, mainly because I have plans to go hiking with some friends. Have a safe New Year’s celebration and see you in ’15!
The past week has been gray, cloudy, and rainy. If I were typing this from the Pacific Northwest, that statement would mean nothing, as most days would be gray, cloudy, and rainy. However, I live in the desert and I am accustomed to enjoying dry, sunny days and being the envy of my friends and family around the country. It is not surprising, then, that I have felt lethargic, fat, and old this week. My cycling has been less-than-inspired and I would rather do almost anything than get my butt on my bike. I suppose I can try to see this as a life lesson: perseverance will lead to success in whatever endeavour I choose to pursue. Case in point: I just tested for my first degree black belt in taekwondo this weekend and am pretty proud of that accomplishment. That took three years of consistent effort and energy, despite how I felt on any given day. Now I can enjoy the fact that I’ve attained a certain level of competency in that martial art.
(Some days, I think I would enjoy cycling more if I could punch it.)
Eye on the prize, even though I don’t always enjoy the process. On a brighter note, raising my handlebars a wee bit has greatly helped my sore neck and shoulders. I still have soreness in those areas, but it’s definitely more manageable and does not occur in the first hour of riding. I may have to get a shorter stem and get my handlebars raised even more, but for now, I’ll continue observing my body while I ride my bike with this new measurement in place.
I’m approaching the end of my third week of training and I’m currently wondering if I can actually do this. Some days have been easy to get on that bike and pedal, while other days have proven to be more difficult. I still don’t LOVE riding my bike, although I like the IDEA of doing something as big as a double century. (I do enjoy the massive amounts of food I can eat without guilt!) One factor that is leeching out any joy in riding my bike is the neck and shoulder pain I am constantly experiencing. Typically, I feel pain about an hour into any ride. I’ve been stretching on and off the bike and starting to research solutions; so far, the most obvious solution is to figure out if my bike fits me correctly. My SAT and I will probably get me to a professional bike fitter in order to see if I am correctly aligned and pedaling efficiently. If I feel pain an hour into a ride, I can’t imagine what I’d feel like after 15, 16, or 17 hours (my projected time for completing a double century).
That is a painful thought. So….let me think about something more fun. I was going to post another “Throwback Thursday” article yesterday, but got distracted by work and other stuff. Better late than never, right? A handful of years ago, my SAT and I were in London and when I researched online for things to do, I found a bike tour company that seemed fun. I booked our bikes and we enjoyed a really cool tour of the main tourist attractions while getting a bit of exercise. It was fun to see the tour buses get caught up in traffic while we rode around obstacles and accessed places the buses couldn’t go because of their size. 🙂 The bikes we rode were these big, cushy cruisers and since our route was pretty flat, the biking was easy. It’s funny for me to think back on my past and recall more bike moments than I remember having!
(Photo 1: me on my bike. Photo 2: trying to run through the wall to get to Platform 9 3/4 in order to catch the train to Hogwarts and see Harry Potter!)
Since it is Thursday, I thought I’d post a few pictures of bikes from my past in honor of “Throwback Thursday” (a.k.a., #tbt on the internet!). During our long ride in Yuma last weekend, my SAT and I were sharing stories of our first bikes and describing those wondrous pieces of machinery that got us around in style in our respective formative years. The first bike I owned was a pretty nifty blue BMX that I rode everywhere (I know this because my bike sported “BMX” on the frame). I didn’t go fast, but oh, the independence that I flaunted whilst pedalling that blue BMX!
(Blurry, but it gets the point across. I think I was about 6 years old here.)
I graduated to a white, girls’ bike that accommodated my growing height and girth. Perhaps not as cool as my BMX, the white bike more than did its job in getting me from point A to point B. I remember being quite fond of the front reflector, for some strange reason (maybe because I have a penchant for shiny things?).
(I had no sense of style back then. Please excuse that! I think I’m 8-9 years old here.)
When I turned 10, my big birthday gift was a 10-speed Raleigh. I can’t find any pictures of it, either online or in my photo albums, but rest assured that I was darn proud of it and rode that adult bike like the big kid I was. I had that bike for years. My first real adult bike was one my mom gave me; she had a CCM (Canadian low-end brand) ladies’ mountain bike that she sort of-kind of-not really learned to ride. She eventually got fed up with her lack of skills, so she gave it to me. Again, I can’t find a photo of that bike, but here is a similar one from the Canadian Tire website (current retail price is $199.99 CDN):
(The above is a photo I took with my phone of the website. I don’t have the technological know-how to do anything fancier than that.)
My first “nice” bike was a 1996 Norco “Tango” (Canadian brand) and according to bikepedia.com, it weighed 25.1 pounds/11.4 kg. It felt pretty light at the time! I had the 15″ frame (smallest one), which fit me really well, and rode that bike to (grad) school for many years. Click on this link for all the specifications.
(Going to class!)
There you go. That is my bike history. It was a fun little jaunt down memory lane and it’s amazing to see how far bike technology has come over my lifetime! Readers: what bike stories do you have?
Four things make biking difficult for me: 1) Wind advisory headwind. 2) Extended climbing. 3) Not eating enough food. 4) Gray, cloudy, overcast days. I recently experienced 1 and 2 in my little bike tour a couple of weekends ago and lived to tell the tale. Today, I was a victim of 3 and 4. The only thing I ate was my normal breakfast (oatmeal with raisins and soy milk). Many trainers, including my SAT, can not emphasize the importance of eating often and enough before, during, and after a ride. I thought that I could get away with not eating more this morning because I wasn’t planning on a big ride (only 15 miles today). Halfway into the ride, I was starting to feel slow, fat, and lethargic. Overcast days don’t sit well with me; living in the desert has certainly spoiled me with sunny days almost every day! I’ve noticed that cloudy days dampen my mood and lower my energy. In any case, I felt “blah” and was very happy to arrive home (and eat something!).
I got to ride in Yuma, AZ this morning for the first time ever and it’s super flat. I’ve never ridden almost 10 miles in less than 30 minutes before; that’s right, SuperCyclist = Me! My SAT and I are here in AZ to visit my parents for the T-day weekend and since I’m not planning on stopping my training, we brought our bikes along for the trip.
The weather today is great: sunny, warm (hit a high of 70F/20C when we finished our ride), and not too windy. We had a great little tailwind on the way out (“I am invincible! I am amazing!”) that we had to pay back going home (“What is this madness?”). Stopped for a few photos of the big sky and an expired tarantula (my SAT wanted me to pose with my face beside it, but I was too creeped out by its bent, hairy legs and the ants feasting on its sad carcass to indulge my SAT’s ridiculous request).
Photo 1: Big sky. Photo 2: Creepy crawly carcass. My shoe provides perspective. Photo 3: Dorkiness personified.
Tomorrow, we may actually ride to the US/Mexican border. That would be kind of cool. And yes, in case any of you were wondering, I enjoyed my ride today! That’s TWO rides in a row. Of course, cycling on flats is a novelty for me and hitting an average speed of 22-23 mph is unheard of, at least for yours truly!
Today marks the halfway point in my first official week of training and I feel compelled to write about my ride yesterday because of unusual feelings I experienced. While I like riding my bike, I don’t LOVE it. There have been many times when I endured a ride for the sake of getting a workout or for burning off all the baked goods I consumed that day. I do try to look at whatever scenery is passing before my eyes, but since I’m still a relatively new cyclist, I feel that it is more prudent for me to watch the road instead of the sights around me so I have a better chance of staying ON the bike.
Yesterday, I confess that I felt…enjoyment. Appreciation. Fun. It was a lovely day and I was biking past Red Rock Canyon, which is one of the most beautiful places around. My legs also felt good and I was testing new cycling shoes (a.k.a., “Penguin Shoes”) that were comfy out of the box. (Louis Garneau CFS-300. Cute, yes?)
I made it a point to look around me and to see the different colours in the sky and mountains. I breathed in fresh air and felt gratitude for the use of my limbs. I even pushed myself a little bit to sprint up hills a wee bit faster than my normal turtle pace. I saw a cycling acquaintance who stopped to ask how my training was going thus far and I was able to answer “good, so far” without any irony, sarcasm, or regret.
When I arrived home, my SAT eagerly asked “so….how was it?” I said that I had a good time. I think I shocked 5 years off of his life with that answer. I proceeded to eat, shower, and roll my legs (I think that may be my new addiction!) then basked in the glow of a ride well done.
Today marks the official start of my training and I am not sure if I am resigned to my (questionably sane) idea, scared of it, or revealing my extreme ignorance and naivety in going ahead. Last weekend’s mini bike tour experiment was more to see if my psyche and butt could handle 2 back-to-back long rides. Admittedly, the tour was “pushing it” for me at this point in my training journey. It is cool, though, that I did it; despite the physical and psychological pain, my body is capable of grinding out a lot of miles already, albeit at a modest pace. However, now that I am mostly recovered, I am going to start training in earnest, if not with enthusiasm, with the assistance of an actual double-century training program that maps out the number of miles per week. I am using Bicycling magazine’s program and beginning with week 4 (out of 16). I am not starting at week 1 because my base cycling level is stronger than that (case in point: I survived a bike tour last weekend! According to my mileage last week, I would be starting at week 14 today!).
Week 4’s total mileage is 135 and today is scheduled to be a recovery-paced day of 11 miles. (Mondays are typically recovery days while training because the weekends are for long, difficult, arduous, painful rides.) The rest of this week mandates ride lengths of 16, 19, 20, and 53 miles. Not too bad. Since this week is Thanksgiving week, let me take a moment to be thankful for this training plan:
(clears throat): I am thankful for this training program — especially this week — because it will serve to mitigate the thousands of calories I will consume at Thanksgiving dinner.
I am also thankful that I have short rides this week.
Apparently, serious cyclists do a short, low-intensity “recovery ride” the day or two after a big effort. Mine was yesterday and I think I need to recover from THAT ride. Legs are stiff and sore and my mind was screaming at me to stop hurting myself. The ride was one I’ve done many times before and is a mellow 25 mile “breakfast” ride (i.e., early in the morning). I think my average speed was a good 5 or 6 mph slower yesterday (and I was actually TRYING to pedal!).
I’ve never trained for a physical event; the only thing I’ve trained to do was to learn the piano and endure years of school to get to a professional level. (Yes, dear readers, I’m a pianist and teacher! Perhaps I’ll post pictures or audio clips as proof soon.) One would think, then, that discipline, mental fortitude, and persistence would be easy for me to practice, but it is not. I don’t like physical pain, I’m inherently lazy (when it comes to feeling pain from exercise), and I’m not a huge fan of sweat. Oh, I’m impatient as well. I want to be good NOW. Unfortunately, it turns out that I’m easily discouraged by what other experienced endurance athletes (like SAT) already know: to get stronger, you will be weaker. Exercise and training is about breaking down muscles in order to build them back up stronger. I know that this endeavour is a long-term deal, but right now, I just want to bake cookies and read a book.
I am alive. I know I am alive because I can feel the soreness in my legs, arms, neck, and lady bits. My SAT and I successfully completed our mini bike tour this weekend, powered by Hammer gels, many french fries, and Krispy Kreme donut holes. Despite the physical, emotional, and mental pain of this weekend, I have to admit that eating as much food as I could, junk or otherwise, was fun.
Official 2-day stats: 180 miles (290 km), 9193 ft of climbing (2800 m), many Joshua trees viewed, 4.5 hours to ride 37 miles (59.5 km) in 30mph (48km) headwind.
Now, the details. Dear readers, feel free to skip ahead or leave this page now.
Saturday November 15, 2014. Beautiful day without much wind. We left home at 7:30am, thinking that would be an early enough start. Of course, by mile 8.3, I got a flat tire, thanks to a little bitty cactus needle. SAT fixed the flat, but the new inner tube had a large hole in it as well. What to do now? We decided to head over to the nearest bike shop a mile away and buy some more tubes (it was 10 minutes to opening). Finally! After that hour delay, we were on our way to the M casino, our first stop. I decided early on that I would treat this day’s riding as a series of 5 little rides; that would be a lot more manageable, psychologically, than thinking of the 101 miles as one ride. Arrived at the Arco gas station beside the M casino at 10:28am and enjoyed a gel, fig bar, and some chocolate milk. I felt a bit tired at this point but wasn’t deterred (yet) by the miles coming up.
Next stop: the Shell station in Jean, NV for a stretch break. My neck and shoulders were screaming “stop!” We’ve hit 46.2 miles now and it was 12:02pm. In my voice notes on my phone, I said that I spoke too soon at the M casino when I said I was feeling good. Only a few miles after leaving the M, I felt like crud and stayed that way until arriving in Jean. But, I must press on. SAT was doing a great job in shielding me from wind, traffic, and my own perverse thoughts (most of the time); he was chipper and cheery and I thought I heard him singing a few times. Honestly, at this point, I felt like Grumpy Cat does:
Our lunch stop was Primm, NV and we arrived at 12:59pm, hitting 59.1 miles. Most of this segment was on the I-15, but it’s not as bad as it sounds because the shoulder is wide enough for 2 cyclists to ride side-by-side. Of course, having semi-trucks pass you is a bit disconcerting, but our little rearview mirrors (attached to our sunglasses) helped hugely in warning us of potential dangers.
During the ride to Primm, SAT shared a typical SAT-ism: “I like seeing all the cars and trucks. They’re like friends on the highway.” Uh….if they were really our friends, they’d pick us up and give us a ride. I must have been feeling particularly grumpy and hungry at that point!
In Primm, food options are limited and expensive since we are far from Vegas (i.e., civilization). Buyer beware. We ended up splitting a Subway and cookies (almost $9!) and refilled our bottles for the next leg. I remember feeling happy that we have less than halfway to go….tally ho!
Nipton, CA, our second-last stop, consists of a motel, general store, and cafe. Originally founded in 1905, its claim to fame is its location right on the edge of the Mohave National Preserve (which is beautiful, by the way). After an annoying climb that ended on the overpass/turn off of the I-15 on to Nipton Road, we arrived in Nipton at 3:04pm. The descent into Nipton after the overpass was fun; we saw beautiful desert and mountains all while speeding down red paved roads. After grabbing some chocolate at the store, we started the last leg of day one into Searchlight.
(Left: after the climb up to the overpass. Right: Nipton General Store.)
The last 20-ish miles into Searchlight were a challenge, because it was cold,(getting) dark, and it was the end of the day. There was another climb, which in hindsight, wasn’t too bad, but felt like it lasted forever at the time. (Sunset during the climb to Searchlight.)
Finally arrived in Searchlight around 5:30pm. Checked into the El Rey Motel — old, clean, friendly front desk lady — then walked over to McDonald’s for dinner (treated ourselves to the premium burgers). We pretty much inhaled our burgers. Another SAT quotable quote: “I really think you should have dessert tonight.” I didn’t argue.
Left: sad to have to start riding again. Middle: our cheap, “nostalgic” room. Right: vintage bathroom!
Sunday November 16, 2014. The next morning came too soon. We heard the wind howling and were a little concerned about the implications of said wind. The high was 3C (37F). Cold. We wore everything we brought: wool base layer, jersey, sun sleeves, jacket, thick gloves, balaclava, headband, full thermal cycling pants, our “civilian” pants over the cycling pants. After another gourmet meal at McDonald’s (there are only 3 places to eat in Searchlight!), we hit the road. WOW. Normally, the 37 miles from Searchlight to the Railway Pass casino (our next stop) would only take about 2-2.5 hours, since a lot of it is downhill. It took us 4.5 hours due to the stupid strong headwind. That strong wind stirred up a dust storm that we had to wait out (only a minute). Ever wonder what it’s like to work harder going downhill than uphill? It is as dumb as it sounds. Kind of demoralizing. SAT did his best to provide a good wind block for me and yes folks, that there is true love. 😉 We reached the Railway Pass casino — I may have wept tears of joy internally — then decided to press on another few miles for lunch, since there was nothing that would accommodate bikes inside the casino. Del Taco was our lunch destination just off of Boulder Highway and it was glorious:
The rest of the way home was relatively uneventful, aside from me almost bonking the last 10 miles. BUT I DIDN’T CARE BECAUSE WE WERE ALMOST HOME. Upon walking inside my place and collapsing on my couch, I think my first words were: “It’s so nice in here….why did I ever leave?” SAT, on the other hand, was congratulating me and saying I should feel really accomplished. He also proclaimed that I have “real lasting power (endurance)….as long as I keep feeding you and watering you, you keep going!” I think I gave him the evil eye. He guffawed then shut up. That’s right, SAT, just keep your sadistic cycling thoughts to yourself.
reluctantroadie 