Saturday 12/11/10 - Los Gatos Ride and Nutrition Clinic



Coach Patrick talking about "gas"

 On today's schedule was about a 32 mile ride in Los Gatos. It was the team's first real ride together in our individual ride groups.  But first, we started the morning with a little nutrition clinic.  As Coach Patrick told us, it's important that you have enough "gas"...after a little bit of ribbing from the group and after a ton of laughs, Coach Patrick changed his wording to "fuel".

As training rides begin to be longer, participants are going to need to figure out what types of "fuel" work best for them.  Bottom line, as we train, our bodies need water, calories, and salt.  There are so many ways to getting that from plain water, to Gatorade, to Heed, to Cytomax, to Clif Bars, to PB&J sandwiches, to all kinds of stuff on the market.  This was the time to experiment and to figure out what works best for each person. I remember last year going through a bunch of stuff before finding what tasted right and what my body responded well to.  I know use Heed in my water, Shotblocks for Electrolytes, and PB&J for protein and calories.  I'll also eat bananas to help keep the potassium.

On to the ride...we had 3 of our group's 6 participants show up for today's ride.  But we had some special guests join Coach Colin and I as well.  Ruth, our SAG (Support and Gear) Captain, joined us for today's ride.  As a SAG Captain, Ruth is responsible for ensuring that we have volunteer drivers on the road to follow each of the groups to ensure their safety. They are only used for emergencies and not to take a participant back because they need to try and make it back early for any other reasons...like a date or something!  :)  Then our very own Mike Wu joined us as well.  Mike is one of the team's Honorees.  An Honoree is someone who is fighting or has fought a blood cancer and is there to keep the participants inspired.



Here's Mike having a blast as usual!

 Mike is an amazing man. He tells us all the time how because of our fundraising efforts, we have helped to keep him alive.  In fact, his story is truly amazing as he was near death at one time and because of shear hope, grit, fight, determination, and of course some good medical care, Mike is riding with us today...and he's a strong rider by the way!  Every time Mike decides to ride with our group, I am so inspired since here is a man who I know really appreciates the meaning of life!

At the top of Pierce Road at Mt. Winery

Our ride brought us from Los Gatos to Cupertino, up and over Mt. Eden and then we had an "optional" route.  After going up Mt. Eden, we could make a left on Pierce to head back towards Cupertino, or we could make a right turn, which meant a climb on Pierce and then over to Hwy 9.  Coach Colin said our team was ready to make the right turn.  It was tough but the participants made it up!  Here's a picture right in front of the driveway to Mt. Winery to prove it. 


Our descent took us down Hwy 9 into Saratoga.  We headed back towards Cupertino and then made our way back to Los Gatos.  The participants said that they were definitely tired, but felt good.  I love seeing the participants not only challenge themselves, but have a lot of fun doing something that they've never done before.  A lot of these folks have never ridden this many miles before...and the fun has just begun!  Congrats to all!



Team "C" (temporary name until the team comes up with its real name)

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