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"!! :)

Hill Climbs in the Rain

Well, I asked for it in my last post, and we got it! RAIN!! There were at least 10 - 15 people who showed up at the usual meeting place, Monta Vista Park in Cupertino. Surprisingly to me though (only because they were already out and it wasn't raining too hard - maybe a light sprinkle), some people decided to back out of the ride. Even Coach Patrick, who had a "training hangover" from yesterday, decided not to do the ride today. I think Coach Don also scared some folks when he said that the hill was going to be pretty dangerous since it was wet and going downhill could be pretty scary. Oh well, risk management right? :o)

I suited up, put on my golf rain jacket and off I went. There were at least 7 or 8 riders who decided to ride. I took off ahead of everyone and told Coach Rick, who was leading the ride today, I would meet them at the bottom of Mt. Eden. About half way through the 3 mile ride to the bottom of Mt. Eden, I hear someone call out my name and it was Coach Rick. He had caught up to me and told me that 2 other people backed out of the ride and that he wasn't sure how many others were still going. He asked me if I still wanted to go and of course, you all know what I said! :o) I mean c'mon, we were already out, already wet so why not! Coach Rick and I went for it.

When we got to the bottom of Mt. Eden we waited and 3 others from the team showed up. The funny thing is that it was only coaches and/or mentors and then me. Yup, I was the only participant on the ride! It was very cool of the coaches/mentors to keep me company while I trained on my most favorite hill! :o)

The rain started to really come down and it was pretty "interesting" coming down the hill. One of the mentors, Butch, got hit by a falling branch (albeit small branch, but still could cause some problems) while coming down Mt. Eden. Ok, is someone trying to tell us something? We decided to only go up and down Mt. Eden 3 times instead of the scheduled 5 times.

Fighting the hill and the rain at the same time definitely takes a lot out of you. Oh well, still a good workout as it was about 1 hour and 10 minutes of cycling for today, only about 12 miles and total climbing of about 1150 feet. Not bad for a wet Sunday morning!

It would have been so much easier to back out of the ride and go home. But when I think of the actual century coming up in February, I need as much saddle time and training as possible. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to do more hill climbs! The coming weeks will bring longer training rides so I want to get as much in as possible. Let's hope it helps!

A Wet Saturday Ride

All week, the forecast for this weekend was rain, rain, and more rain. But we were to show up rain or shine. Unfortunately, we had no shine the whole ride. It was a 32.9 mile ride starting from McKenzie Park in Los Altos. Route was Foothill to Page Mill to Alpine to Portola (this looked familiar...sorting ride at the beginning of the season) to (I missed 3 miles because I missed this turn to Mountain Home to Woodside to Whiskey Hill to Sand Hill) so I went directly from Portola to Sand Hill to Santa Cruz back to Alpine to Arastradero to Page Mill back to Arastradero to Foothill and back to McKenzie Park.

I started out the ride with two other teammates, Henry and Mike. At around mile 10, while going up Alpine, I remembered from the sorting ride how I was having a hard time getting up this hill so I decided to attack it with a good pace. Henry and Mike decided to keep a slower pace. Either that or they wanted to make me feel better! I know Henry and Mike are both stronger riders than I. Thanks guys!

Nevertheless, I kept my pace and ended up riding the rest of the trip on my own. I was getting soaked and kept thinking, man, now would be a good time to have a rear fender! :o) Being wet didn't bother me, but when I stood up to climb and then sat back down, that's when it was obvious how wet I was! :o)

As most of you know, I just started cycling so obviously I've never ridden in the rain before. I've ridden a motorcycle in the rain before, but those tires have much more contact than these little road tires on my bike. Oh well, I was having fun either way. Luckily for me, right before the ride, I decided to put my golf rain jacket in my bag just in case. It definitely helped!

Coach Patrick and one of the mentors, Arielle, caught me on Foothill (about 3 miles to the end) and we all road back to the parking lot together. Surprisingly, the parking lot was not as full as it was when we first started. Apparently, some other team members and even coaches called it quits! In some ways, I'm glad I ended up riding by myself so that I didn't have anyone to tempt me to quit! I probably would have. Instead, I just kept thinking, I better peddle faster so that I can be done faster! I was pretty happy with my ride, going 29.86 miles (see above - missed 3 miles due to missing a turn) in a little over 2 hours and soaking wet!

Once again, TNT has allowed me to do something I've never done before and that's ride in the rain! Not only did I get soaked, but I also got pretty dirty. The bike needed a bath so I cleaned the bike as soon as I got home today. Now I'm ready for hill climbs tomorrow! I hope it rains!! Just kidding!

Spinning on My Own

I guess I just can't get enough of this Spin stuff! I got up early this morning and decided to go to my own gym. I did about 45 minutes on the Spin bike (I'm actually starting to like this) and did some light weight work (ie: biceps, triceps, shoulders).

I've had my own health issues to deal with but a recent physical resulted in some pretty good numbers for me in some areas that I've traditionally had a hard time controlling (sugar levels). The only issue that is kind of out of wack right now is my blood pressure. Oh well, nothing some pills can't take care of! :)

Yesterday, my doctor had me do a stress test. First time I've done this and the doctor said I did pretty well. He doesn't see any issues with me training for and completing a century ride! Right on!

Weekly Spin Class

This week's class got rescheduled to Tuesday. I felt better after what turned out to be a tiring weekend for me. We had a very good turnout this evening. I guess everyone is realizing that the century ride is fast approaching!

Coach Peggy had us doing, "3-2-1, turn it up", 1 or 2 minutes later, "ok, back down." Then, 1 or 2 minutes later, "3-2-1, turn it up", 1 or 2 minutes later, "ok, back down." This went on for the whole hour. In other words, turn up the resistance and then bring it back down, etc...Coach Peggy was making us do this to make it tough on us to get in a groove! She accomplished that!

Another good workout and getting closer to earning another $100 from Coach Peggy! :)