Spinning in the New Year

After being on vacation and only riding some flats, I must admit that I kind of missed hill climbs and spin class! Pretty sick, I know! Well, my mind changed after Coach Peggy told us that we were going to work harder during the new year! Oh great! I was working so hard during the first set of sprints that I broke my spin bike! :) Really, I did. I moved over to the next bike and caught up to the group.

Coach Peggy had us doing sprints, climbs, and jumps! Tough class, but what cracked me up was when Coach Peggy said, "Ok guys, since the rides you guys will be doing will be longer, I am going to start making these spin classes a bit tougher." Tougher? I thought we were already at tough? Oh well, I'll be back for more! There is still about 4 of us who have attended each class and is close to earning our $100 from Coach Peggy!

Hit My Goal...Again!!

I am absolutely amazed! To all my friends and family! You guys rock! You guys are the best! Together we surpassed my fundraising goal of $7,500! WOW!!! As many of you know, I set my initial goal at $5,000. I thought it would be difficult, but I blew that away in only one week thanks to all of you! Many, many, many thanks to all of you who are not only helping to support me in my journey, but for helping to stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives! Like I said when we first started this journey, "Together We Can Fight". http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/tdps10/hdeguzman

Long Sunday Ride

We were given an extra day to recover from New Years as our next long ride would be on Sunday, 1/3/10! We started out the new year with a nice 58 mile ride starting in Milpitas. I was a bit nervous since this would be by far my longest ride. The last time I rode with my new team, I had cramped up at mile 10. That was not fun and I didn't want that to happen again. We were to be ready to ride at 7:30am. Well, put it this way, I was out in Milpitas by around 6:30am! I was excited and nervous! :)

It was frickin' cold! Excuse my language, but it was very, very cold!! The coaches kept saying not to worry because we wouldn't be cold for very long. Yeah, I guess they were right. We were warned that we had two big hills to get over, Palomares and Calaveras. It was a nice little 15 mile warm up before getting to Palomares. We were all getting psyched to go up our first hill, when we heard, "FLAT!!!" One of our teammates got a flat on his rear wheel right before getting to the hill. As a team, we all waited for him to get his wheel changed. He was having some challenges so we cooled down pretty quick! We saw other teams from our TNT team go by us. After about 30 minutes, we were finally off. Time to attack the hill! One thing that came to me while climbing with one of my riding mates, Henry, was I said, "Hey Henry, you know, I don't think I would ever do a ride or climb like this if I wasn't with this team." The funny thing was that he agreed with me and he has been riding for a long time! I guess my point is that it's thanks to this team that I get to experience this! I love it! Not only am I loving the riding part, but it's all for such a good cause. I never lose site of why I signed up to do this in the first place. If you're wondering why, check out my website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/tdps10/hdeguzman .

The best part about getting to the top of Palomares was seeing my wife, Laarni, and my oldest daughter Hana. Yup, they volunteered to support our first of 3 rest stops. It was so cool to see them. They, along with the other two volunteers were cheering us on! I've never done anything like this in the past so I have nothing to compare to, but I am absolutely amazed at the people who volunteer their time to support us and provide us with great food so that we could refuel! Now, I can say that my family has volunteered to support us on our ride! Awesome feeling!

Ok, as much as it was tempting to get in the van with my family, it was time to go. We had a nice little decent to get to the bottom of the hill. There was 8 of us in our little mini group but we ended up breaking up in two smaller groups of 5 and 3. One of our teammates was feeling a bit sick and cramping so he took it easy. The rest of us charged ahead and even though I haven't ridden very long with these folks, we did a pretty good paceline all the way to the next rest stop at mile 38. Same deal, different volunteers, but great food and fuel! Oh, and a bathroom too! :)

Next hurdle...the Calaveras hill. Our coach told us to just go at our own pace climbing and then we would meet at the bottom of the hill. I tried to keep up with my climbing buddy Henry, but after a while he dropped me. He was chasing one of our other teammates Barry. He took the lead up the hill, followed by Henry and then me! Not bad for someone who was on a slower team just two weeks prior. I owe it all to the hill climb repeats! Now I know what everyone was talking about when they said that climbing Calaveras could be frustrating because once you think you're starting a decent, here comes another hill! I had to crack up a few times because it started to get pretty funny! I actually enjoyed it. My new bike was working really well! Whenever I "hammered" it, the bike just responded and seemed to move so easily and fast!

We got to the bottom right before our final decent and we waited for the rest of the team. It was all downhill from there! I followed Coach Rick to the bottom and all I can say is that we were flying! We hit speeds of 42 mph! I'm sure there is a lot faster out there, but man, that felt really fast!! Coach Rick even said that he was impressed with how fast I was going! We made it back to our cars and all I could do was yell! I was sooooo pumped up finishing 58 miles and I still felt like I had more in the tank!

The best part of the ride....no cramps!!!! I'm getting better! Can't wait until next week's Old La Honda ride...68 miles!!

Happy Holidays!!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! This year, the family and I decided to go down to Southern California to spend some time with my brother and his family. But, I had to bring the bike with me to keep up with the training! With a van full of kids, luggage, and presents, the trusty ole steed had to go on top of the van on a bicycle rack! I hope she'll be ok!

Probably one of the best presents I could get from my wife, Laarni, was when she told me that she wanted to try and enjoy this new found sport of cycling with me! Yup, we found a bike shop near my brother's home in Chino that rented some nice Specialized (all carbon fiber frame) bikes. They also sold some nice cycling clothes. Laarni has always done well in the sport of shopping! :o)

Laarni had not ridden in over 20 years. Her first ride was around my brother's neighborhood, which by the way was very bike friendly since they had bike lanes everywhere, and she successfully pedaled for about 13 miles. The day after Christmas, we decided to head out on the Santa Ana River Trail. We went out and rode 22 miles. Not bad for someone who didn't know how to shift gears or use the brakes! It was a fun day. So now what, Laarni needs a new bike. Well, the great supportive wife that she is, recommends to me that I give her my bike and then I go out and shop for a new bike! WHAT? Uh, ok, I'll sacrifice and buy a new bike dear!!

Needless to say, it didn't take me long to find something that would work for me! Since we were down south, I looked around down there, test drove some bikes and even looked on-line. I found the new bike at a shop (Art's Cyclery, which by the way provides excellent customer service and has a fantastic shop) San Luis Obispo. Instead of driving home on hwy 5, we decided to go up 101 and pick up the new bike! I was ready for the new year on a new bike!! I feel faster already!

Totally Sore!! Last Hill Climb of the Season!

Ok, a little sore this morning from our 43 mile ride yesterday around the Almaden Valley. As I reflect back on the ride yesterday, I can only appreciate the beautiful area that we live in. Even though my focus was to keep up with my new group, I do remember that the area we rode in was very nice. We rode a loop around Almaden/Calero/Uvas. The only time I've gone in that area in the past was to play golf at Cinnabar Hills! :)

Today was to be our last day of hill climbs. The Coach said that since our rides are getting longer, we will no longer train on the hills. But, because the Coach doesn't want to deprive us from enjoying our favorite hill, he tells us that we will do Mt. Eden 6 times today! C'mon Coach, are you serious? I got sore just hearing him say that! Is this what I really signed up for?

Ok, ok, after feeling sorry for myself on how sore I was, all I had to do was look at the smile and determination on the face of one of my teammates, Kelli. Kelli is out there every weekend with us and blesses us with her presence.

Kelli was born with Cerebral Palsy but she does not let this stop her. She is out riding with us! Unfortunately, Kelli cannot use her feet/legs to pedal her bike. So what? Who needs feet? She uses her hands and arms to pedal her way! Yup, all the way up Mt. Eden too! Kelli is truly an inspiration to all of us and reminds us all on why we are out there. We are there because we all want to fight with her. Fight to find a cure for these blood cancers. It doesn't matter how busy we are, how tire we are, what our physical limitations are, what kind of bike we have, and whatever other excuses we may have, anyone can help fight to find a cure against Leukemia and Lymphoma! Go Kelli!!

Longest Ride of the Season...So Far...

It's early (7:30am), it's cold, and it's foggy! But TNT was out in full force in Almaden Valley in South San Jose. I saw Coach Patrick first thing and he asked me if I wanted to move up into a faster group. Wow, are you serious? ok, I'll give it a try! I was moved up to Coach Kristy's group.

Before starting the ride, we had a special guest (see pic to the right) named Johnny, speak to us about a team he created to ride in a TNT event one year ago. Unfortunately, he created this team, called Team Marie, in honor of his daughter who died a year ago due to Leukemia. Marie was only 28 years old and did not get a chance to fight this terrible disease for very long. Marie lost her battle with it only after a few weeks of being diagnosed. Johnny made us all honoree members of his team. Not only did Johnny come and talk to us about his and his daughter's experience, he spent the morning doing ride support for our team. In other words, he drove our route to ensure that no one needed a ride back. Johnny has done two centuries himself and would be with us today, but recent knee surgery would have to keep him from participating this season. He will be out there again soon!

Ok, let's start riding...uh, what's the rush, I kept thinking. We started going down south on Almaden Expressway and the pace was much faster than what I was used to. We were doing a loop and I was already getting tired just trying to keep up with the rest of the group. The day before, I had gone to a professional fitter to ensure that my bike was set up correctly. He noticed that I pedal using my toes and therefore, put a lot of strain on my calves. The fitter adjusted my cleats on my shoes so that I would use more of my foot when pedaling. He also told me that I needed to practice using my heels more while pedaling. Pedaling one leg at a time on a straight was what I was to do to practice. Well, when you're trying to catch up to a faster group, you kind of forget what you're supposed to be practicing. In the past, my calves would cramp up after maybe 20 - 25 miles. Today, my right calf cramped after mile 10 and my left calf cramped up at mile 15! It was pretty frustrating, but my ego would definitely get in the way as I hated knowing that I was the last one keeping the rest of the group waiting. Of course my new teammates were great and were very encouraging.

After the first rest stop, I refueled and thought about falling back with my original group, but Coach Kristy encouraged me to keep going with my new team and to not push myself. Ok, let's do this, I can keep up! So I did! The second half of the ride was much better for me and although my calves were very sore, I didn't feel like I was completely exhausted and had just pedaled for 43 miles. In fact, our team was able to smile and take a picture after the ride (see below). We'll see what happens tomorrow morning when we have more hill climbs to do! Can't wait!

Spin Class from Hell!!

Ok, Coach Peggy was not in a good mood tonight! :) She kept saying that if we were talking, that it meant we were not working hard enough! Boy, did people shut up quickly! She had us doing some rolling hills all night long. It was a tough workout, tougher than normal. I'm telling you these coaches talk and probably laugh at how much they love to make us work!! But we keep coming back for more. Coach Peggy told us that there is only 4 of us left who have made every class so far and in the running for the $100 in donation towards our personal fundraising. She was asking us if we were going to make it all the way through the end of the season, and of course, I said, "money in the bag"!! :)