100 Miles This Weekend

Yesterday I had a score to settle with Mines Road in Livermore. It was the ride I intended to do three weeks post car accident. It was on that ride that I realized I was really hurt, that I was a friggin' idiot for thinking I could do a 110 mile ride after a "minor" accident. I bailed from that ride last April.

The accident is behind me, the claim settled, may Allstate rot in hell. I digress.

The club had a Mines Road ride. 60 miles total, to the Junction and back. I hadn't ridden more than 40-45 miles in a year. I had to do it. I did it! I bailed from the club pace, because I brought along a couple people for whom that pace wasn't sustainable. It was more important to me to complete the ride than to go hard.

Around 40-45 miles my back got tight. Then...I felt great! 60 miles, done! The curse was broken.

Then I went out today with Becky, and we did the Skyline-Chabot-Redwood loop. I fucking bonked something fierce. I guess I hadn't taken in enough calories after yesterday's ride. I thought I had a respectable breakfast. But I was cold the first two hours, and I think my body expended a lot of energy trying to stay warm. Coming up the last mile or two on Redwood up to Skyline, I had nothing left. No energy. I was getting spacy. Someone passed me, and I sent a message up to Becky to not wait for me, since I knew she had to get back for a client.

I got to Skyline and was shaking. I told myself, "It's about five miles home. Mostly downhill. You can do this."

I shook and shivered down Joaquin Miller road, thinking I was going to fly off my bike on the descent. I made it to the liquor store, where a man in a turban was arguing with a strung-out looking woman over the price of a carton of smokes. I quickly paid for a candy bar and went outside, only to realize the candy bar was gray and had to be three years old. Fuck it, I thought, I need to eat it fast, and I didn't want to go back inside for that scene.

Somehow I made it home. I couldn't get warm or stop shivering. I took a shower and ate some protein. Nothing worked. Finally I wrapped myself in the down comforter and passed out for two hours. I was wobbly for several hours afterwards.

45 more miles done, though not well.

Back to back rides will make me stronger, if I do them more intelligently than I did this weekend.

Regardless, it's nice to feel like I am capable of distance riding again.

Foggy, soggy and slow...

Rode alone. It was cold and got colder.

Route: Pleasant Valley, then zigzagged my way through Emeryville (and psychotic drivers who don't signal!) and took the Bay Trail to Richmond. Through the ghetto, then checked out my old house/neighborhood, crossed San Pablo took some road up to San Pablo Dam road (way cold, saw my breath!), then up Wildcat Canyon through Tilden, out Shasta Gate onto Grizzly Peak. (Very Thick fog, drippy fog!), dropped down Claremont, took College back to Pleasant Valley, then Grand to Lake Merritt, and home to a hot shower .

Distance: 42.13 (finally cracked 40!)
Avg Speed: Slow as fuck, or 12.8 (I think I was bonking the last 10+ miles and did nothing about it)
HR Avg: 153, max HR this ride 180 (that's above 95%, bad Jen!)
Time: 3:16

Realization: Yes, I lost last season/last year. This year/season, I will be able to ride, but it is essentially lost in any meaningful sense of the word because it's going to be about rehab. Getting back to where I was before the accident. I'm slow on hills, there's no denying that. At one point, I nearly cried because I was doing 3.5 mph up the hill in Tilden. So sad. I once cruised that at 8-10mph.

At least I have two legs, right? I can still walk and ride a bike.

I was totally wobbly and making poor decisions towards the end. Need to eat and drink more. Breakfast plus one Hammer Gel doesn't tide you over until 4pm. Especially since my calorie expenditure said I burned 2098 calories.

Cracking Thirty

My 2007 Cycling Season Got Started This Week!!!

Monday:

1:08 ride time
13.8 miles
no other data available
route: Start at Marty's in the Oakland Hills. up Snake, left at Skyline, Down Claremont, Up Old Tunnel, back on Skyline drop down to Marty's.

Tuesday:

1:15 ride time
14.9 miles. (if I recall correctly)
forgot my average speed
SAW MY HR MAX!!! not good!
route: Up Park, left on Mountain, up Colton Blvd, Snake to Skyline, right on Skyline, down Joaquin Miller, right on Mountain and drop back down Park.

Wednesday:

2:53 ride time
38 miles
avg speed: 13.0
avg HR 146, max HR 175 (92%)
route: leave from Mark's on Delaware in Berkeley, ride surface streets paralleling BART tracks through El Cerrito, ride on road then parallel to I-80 East, take San Pablo Dam Road which becomes Camino Pablo, then becomes Moraga Way, right to the town of Canyon, then take Pinehurst (accidently typed Pinehurt, which would be appropos!) up to Skyline, drop down Old Tunnel, ride through UC Berkeley campus, and take city streets back to Mark's.


fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!!!

I teach tomorrow, so I will be riding indoors. Then off to Tahoe for the weekend, so maybe this it for the week.

Little Things Make Me Happy

This rad jersey is rocking my cycling brain right now.

100% of the profits go to support Team in Training, which y'all know I just completed a season training with TNT.

So what more can one ask for? A stylin' jersey featuring my favorite beverage, and supporting a worthwhile cause? Right on!

I just ordered mine!

Shifting Gears

I gave up cycling.

Okay, I lie.

After the Tahoe Century, I was looking forward to "getting my life back". I took a weekend off the bike. I hated it.

I then revisited my relationship with the bike, now that I didn't have this goal of completing a Century, or any other events. I could ride just for fun now. Instead, I decided to get serious about it. I decided to stop riding and start training. I wanted to get stronger and faster. Maybe with an eye towards racing next season. But more immediately I wanted to get my Century speed under six hours.

While part of Team in Training, we had a Head Coach. He gave us calendars with our training mapped out for each month. I completely ignored them, thinking "Oh, I'm already doing way more than this...".

Depending on who you might ask, I was perhaps overtraining.

So I decided to work with that same Head Coach, this time as a paying client and get a program more tailored to my cycling goals. (Those goals included several more centuries this year, another Double, and my four-day 500 mile bike trip). I'm working with Wenzel Coaching and Coach Roger to improve my cycling abilities.

It's only been a couple weeks, but it's shaken up everything in my cycling world. I now wear my Heart Rate Monitor (HRM, for short)
whenever I ride (or do any exercise), I've tested for heart rate max. I've taken, gasp!, rest days!!! The most challenging tweak of all has been backing off and riding with a lower heart rate, and as such, slower and with less intensity. Coach Roger promises that in about six weeks I'll see the benefits. Supposedly, I'll be able to be stronger at less intense paces, maintaining a lower HR but becoming stronger in those lower zones. Previously, I spent much of every ride over 80% of my max HR.

Oh, and the other kicker: no spinning and get out on the road more. I don't mind so much road time, in fact, I enjoy it. I do miss the social aspects of spin class. I ride alone now. And if I'm working out at lower HR zones, I need to stay riding alone for a while, so I don't give in to hammering, the allure of the chase.

I'm going to give it a whirl. I hope it works. That's what I've been up to on the bike....

A Blog About the Bike

during the Davis Double
Originally uploaded by jenworth.

Et Voila!

My new blog dedicated to my cycling adventures.

Friends have endured endless chatter about my cycling obsession. For those who have read or listened, I thank you.

I'll try to contain it here, and leave Climb High
for the non cycling aspects of my life.



For those who care to read on, enjoy!