hill loop part deux

I'm really getting excited by the fundraising stuff. I've started working on a couple of designs for t-shirts that are really cool, I'll have links for them up once I get them finished.

Today's Ride:
Link:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390471
Description:
well, today I decided to do the same ride as yesterday, I wanted to see if I could do it any faster (plus it's a good intense workout without taking up much time) I felt a bit better at the end; good enough, in fact, to go do some hard yard work (dug a 4 foot hole in the back yard... don't ask) anyways, here's the data, I think it was a bit faster than yesterday, but I had the auto pause working today so I'm not sure

Team in Training

Ok, you might have come here from my team in training page. If not, let me tell you a bit about it.

Team in training(www.teamintraining.org) is the biggest fundraising method for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society(www.leukemia-lymphoma.org). They're working to beat blood cancers. The way it works is they train me for an endurance event (hey, cancer treatment is all about endurance, it makes sense): I've chosen to ride in El Tour de Tucson. In return I'll be helping them with their fundraising. It's been a personal goal to ride a century, so everyone wins.

So that you can follow along on my journey, I'll be posting data from each of my training rides, as well as other information on the program. Now, here's the part where you can help. On the sidebar, I've posted a link to my donation page. Every little bit helps, and it's tax deductable
Today's ride:
Link:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/383417
Description:
I really just wanted to get some time on the bike, there were a couple of hills where it got pretty intense, and I was pretty drained when I finished. I had planned to do like an hour, but didn't really have it in me. I guess I know where I'm starting from.

Looong ride today

So I'm pretty much starting over with the whole ride blog thing... Haven't really been riding since I got the dogs, but I made a deal with rick to ride the cochise classic... the big one... 252 miles... Anyways, we're going to do about 2000 miles getting ready, and the first ride was today

This was also my first group ride, even though it was only the two of us. I have to say, riding with someone to break the wind (heh heh) really helps... like a lot. so we rode about 20 miles, with some good elevation... on one of the hills we made it to 40 mph... on the downhill. I have to say, I need to work on my climbing... at one point I had no choice but to stop on an uphill: it was that or barf. Anyways, I'm going to go lie down now.

Lessons Learned:

1. There's no way in heck I'm keeping up with Rick, he's a former marine NCO
2. roller( coaster)s might be named that because they can make you almost throw up
3. no dairy products before rides... no matter what I normally have for breakfast

Route:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/az/tucson/227091355

Ok, it's been a while since I posted, but I did do some pretty good rides... and some not so good ones recently. I did two 20+ mile rides on the 11th and the 13th, and then my bike has seemed to break... constantly. I've had three more blowouts... and had to come home... anyways, the good rides are below.

I also managed to pick up a rack & trunk, and a computer... more info to follow

6/11 20.17
6/13 21.32
6/20 18.37

Lessons Learned:

1. stuff breaks... fix it and get back on the bike
   

well, monday I did another commute in, on the way I blew a tire in front of the middle school that's on the way... I was sitting there changing a tire, looking weird, so I tried to go as fast as I could. Turns out that's not such a good idea: apparently you actually can put the rear tire back on a bike the wrong way... as I found out. It's not so good for riding, if you can't take your feet off the pedals quick enough, you crash... ask me how I know. So after that, I told myself I needed to hit the bike shop near work to pick up a spare tube... yeah, didn't happen. On the way home, at exactly the same place on the road, sure enough, the tube went again. Of course, I have no spares, and there's a bike shop next to my house, and one back at work, and I'm stuck in the middle. Yesterday I spent the night recuperating from a 2 mile walk home (god my knees suck).

Ending the post on a high note, I just did almost 17 miles (damn, google earth just wouldn't give me that last .23 of a mile) and I feel really good. I'm going to try for 20 tomorrow and see how it goes.

Lessons Learned:

1. 1 spare tube isn't enough if you don't like walking
2. biking really does help your knees... mine feel really good right now
   

Clipless at last

No riding today(I'm still a little sore from yesterday... I'm calling it a recovery day- light climbing as some cross)but, with my bonus from work, I was finally able to get my pedals... they're crank brothers quattro's, which are freaking awesome.

Yesterday, after getting the new gear, which consisted of pedals, shoes, a new stock of inner tubes, and a pair of Mr. Tuffy strips (hopefully they'll save me some flats) I was going to ride down to the little park south of my apartment, then I started riding. What. A. Difference. After tooling around the neighborhood, I finally made it out to Guadalupe, and I just kept going. 15-ish miles later (my longest sustained ride) I was almost home, and stopped at a light. I had my left foot unclipped, and leaned a little on the bike. Losing my balance, I tried to take my right foot off the pedal with predicable results. The cleat did it's job and I just ended up pulling myself over. The biggest thing I hurt was my pride. In the end, I picked myself up, clipped in and rode the rest of the way home.

After cooling off I realized that I was out of some of the most basic foodstuffs (damn but I really can't start the morning without my cheerios) so I rode down to the far Fry's. I got there fine, and again, I was only a mile or so from home and the same thing happened. This time I was so flustered I had to walk over to the corner (from the left turn lane) and settle down.

What's interesting though, is talking to other riders about this... it's kind of like initiation into a club... everyone falls when they go clipless, and everyone says it's worth it. Damn but I agree


Lessons Learned:

1. You really can pull up on the pedals when you're accellerating hard
2. don't lean toward your unclipped side
3. Clipless adds a whole new world of stability to your riding... you can push the bike around much more with your feet

Pictures:
all tucked in... those are the new pedals on it
a close-up of the pedals... you can see how aero the profile is

a top view... the big blue spring is what makes the mechanism work
Side viewThis is what my new shoes look like... they're all shiny so I get hit by cars less


And the sole: having a hard, stiff sole keeps my feet from getting sore on long ridesa close up of the cleat, the surrounding hard plastic makes walking really wierd
This is what it looks like mounted up
and from the front

well... I've gone a week and I've managed to post most of my rides.

Last night was pretty uneventful so I didn't really mention it... other than I got lost looking for the bridge from Greenfield over to Val Vista (the turn I missed the other night that almost got me creamed). I think all in all it was around 11 miles. AND I felt really good after the ride... some of which I blame on the honeystingers... damn this stuff is good (just rocket chocolate for breakfast before a 5 mile ride... not so much).

Today I managed my second bike commute, again, pretty routine, I can't really find a direct bike route... traffic isn't really fun, but I do have a wide shoulder the whole way.

I've started a google map thing, since the MAG map is this horrendously large PDF file... it takes so long to render it's damned near useless... even on my machine(doesn't say as much as it did a year or so ago... but I'm kind of attatched to the quirky little processor). anyone that's interested can check it out here. I hope it ends up being useful to someone else... but don't blame me if something's wrong.

Tonight I think I'm going to go take a spin around to find that bridge if there's one there... could be pretty cool, an easy ride since I already rode a bunch today.

maybe some good news tomorrow(two words crank brothers)
Lessons Learned:

1. Rocket Chocolate honeystinger bar <> good breakfast (sorry... did SQL all day... stuck on that syntax... deal with it)
2. honeystinger ginsting = no need for soda in the morning