My Relationship with Cycling

Needless to say for those of you that know me I have a lot of free time on my hands right now. In the past I would have spent all day working on getting stronger by going for a run, doing yoga, riding my bike, going to the gym, etc. But as of late I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to do those things with the intent to get stronger. A few weeks ago I rode 60 miles and I was really beat by the end. Last weekend I didn't even take my Pinarello down off the rack. In Houston I had the MS150. I had a whole host of friends who wanted to ride. I knew the regulars on the bike shop rides. Here I don't have that. I don't think I'm sad about it because there a lot of other things I'm working on that fill my time. I guess I just wanted to acknowledge it. I have changed. My goals have changed. My life has changed. I am different and cycling has taken a backseat to other things. Don't get me wrong I still love it. I will always love it, but I just think it's interesting how it has evolved.

I have a friend who is just getting into cycling and it reminds me of myself 4 years ago. Keen eyed, ready to devour all the details about bikes, envious of expensive components and lighter frames. But now none of that really matters to me. I'm considering fixing up my steel frame to be able to ride longer distances. I told him that I haven't ridden with a computer in over 2 years and he was shocked. I explained to him that the numbers stopped mattering to me. It doesn't matter how fast I'm going or how far I ride because every ride is different. It only matters now that I keep up, stay with my friends and enjoy myself. I will always love riding so the number of miles willl just keep piling on whether I count them or not. My speed and strength will ebb and flow with my lifestyle but I will always love riding. Nothing else matters. So I stopped thinking about the numbers.

And yes I think of it as a relationship with cycling or with my bike. I usually think of my bike as a person. They are a part of the trip, experience, ride. I think I mentioned that my steel bike is named Frankenstein. And I just picked a name for my Pinarello, Amico. Who knows maybe when I get all my ducks in a row I'll pick some new crazy ride to do and start training again. I got wind of a 140 mile ride to San Diego in July and I am tempted...

First Crash

Yea. I crashed. Like a serious jarring downfall. This isn't like I just stopped and fell or slid and fell. I was going at probably 16 mph, we started going downhill and I hit a crack in the road, one that only fits 700c x 23 road tires and then lots happened to where I felt like I was flipping and falling. I would describe it like catching your edge on your snowboard and tumbling. Not just falling on your ass, but you do a roll or two and get disoriented. I was on the ground for about a minute or two thinking "Oh Sh!t I broke something." and not wanting to move. When I finally got my self together I felt OK except for a giant pain in my chin, but I looked left and suddenly realized that my friend was on the ground too. But she wasn't moving. That "Oh Sh!t" was worse.

I called 911 and she started to come to. We got her out of the road and it took her about 15 minutes before she remembered crashing. She refused to go to the ER, but the ambulance gave us a ride to the nearest train and she arranged with a friend to drive us home. After a shower, some water, ibuprofen, and the 5th Element she felt better and we felt like her brain was out of the danger zone. I still gave her a call a few hours later to make sure she was really OK. She was. =)

Luckily her bike was unscathed. Mine however, did not fare so well. Both shifters are out of alignment, stem and bars are too. I need new tape and my bars are scratched. My brake shifter is broke but still works. I think duct tape will be the solution for now. I think my rear wheel is out of tru but I haven't assessed. Everything else seems fine. I need to do a crack inspection too. =(

I have various cuts and bruises all of which are making my shower experience not fun. My sun sleeves are done, but luckily my clothes and phone were saved from damage. 

The group we were riding with was great. They were super helpful and supportive while we were deciding what to do with ourselves. I'm glad my first crash didn't lead to the hospital. Two visits in two months would have been horrible. 

Cycling Friends

This next month is leading into more training for this year's MS150. I get to lead my company's team this year so in turn I am making some more cycling friends. Always good to have. I think I've maxed out my number of solo rides for the rest of my life. I always think I will have a good time, but it doesn't really end up that way. I mean I don't end up miserable, but it's always more fun with someone to talk to and help you keep an eye out.

Also I've all of a sudden joined a big group of people that like to ride every weekend! So awesome. I am glad and looking forward to the new group of friends.

Sun & Ski Sunday Spontaneity

This morning I decided to try a different ride to change things up. Sun and Ski Westheimer hosts a ride from their shop to downtown and back. This is a 15-16 mph ride that caters to cyclist that want a chill ride after a hard Saturday ride. It was great. Everyone was friendly and I learned everyone's name. It was intimate; there were only about 7 of us so we all got to talk with each other. The leader used to be in the special forces and he had some GREAT war stories. I also met a woman who had lived all over the world including Indonesia and England, but yet I could have just thought she was a southerner through and through.

Mid ride we stopped at Catalina Coffee shop, which was a quaint little place off Washington. They had great prices and good food. The atmosphere was wonderful; artsy and daring. What a find. I have to go back.

Great ride. So much fun. I didn't even realize we had gone 25 miles. I met some awesome people and this definitely encouraged me to get stronger. And why did we all get together?

Because of bikes.

I love bikes.

Bike Barn Ride

I have mixed feelings about the Bike Barn chain, but they put on free weekend rides so I went to check it out this morning. The ride was pretty cool. It was a 24 mile ride starting in Rice Village, going through the Heights, Downtown, Med Center and back up to Rice Village. There are a few over passes, so you get a little bit of elevation change and some great views of downtown.


What was great is that everyone there was a seasoned rider. About 25-30 people this morning, so you could easily find someone to talk to and ride with. I am not so fast, so I stuck to the back as to not get crowded and then ended up catching some red lights. I spent most of the ride with 3 others. Luckily two of them do this ride every week and knew the way well. I had trouble sticking to them sometimes. It was good for me to work hard and keep up. I was dependent on them for directions. So pretty good workout.

It really showed me how my skill had decreased and how out of practice I was. I was slow to clip in, forgot to bring electrolytes(oops), and was tired by the end of the ride. I forgot to turn on the computer, thus I have no idea what my avg speed was or how fast I was going at any time. I think that was good actually. I didn't think about speed and just focused on my form and keeping up with the group. I do know we finished in under just under 2hrs. Next time I'll try to stick with the pack and not lag behind.

Met some nice people. One was a Hanszen '79 graduate now Psychiatrist. Meeting people is half the fun sometimes.

Out of Shape

Yesterday I realized the full meaning of being "Out of Shape". Of course I'd been pretty flabby for most of my life. A 12 minute mile had always been a struggle for me, but now I know what it feels like to be "out of shape" after having been "in shape". And it feels bad. I once peeled through 6 miles in 20 mins but now it takes me 25. I don't even want to know what my 5k time has increased to.

It's time to pick an event, sign up, and start training again. Luckily it's August and awesome Fall weather will start up soon. Yay.

Ithaca

So this past weekend I took a flex trip to go see my brother who's doing his PhD at Cornell. It was a good weekend. I love the 4.5 day work week that comes with traveling. Fridays are practically half days and low stress, so it makes the weekend feel long and relaxing. I can't remember the last time I felt that I had so much time on my hands I didn't know what to do with myself.

Anyway, there was plenty to do in Ithaca and the town has already grown on me. It takes about 10-15 mins to get anywhere you want to go, and you can pick from star gazing to farmers markets, to downtown. It's that small and complete. You can walk down the street to get food and ride your bike out your front door. I didn't do a good job taking pictures, so you'll have to be satisfied with photos from google images.

I think the visit did a good job stabilizing my mental health. I liked the small community feel, the intelligent conversation and the green culture. Not to mention being able to ride out the door for a good hilly ride.

Now these hills are not like Austin at all. Think a mixture of the Bechtel challenge and Austin city hills. Then double the height of those hills. There was also one really really steep hill. I didn't go on that one but it was there inviting me to. All the other hills were manageable, just tall. My brother's friend lent me his Felt, which thankfully had a triple chain ring. His lab mates took me out for a 20 mile ride complete with a tall hill and some nice flats. It was a good ride. Before that was pretty crazy tho, I had a flat the day before while riding the bike back to my brother's apt and then two more flats before we really got on our 20 mile ride. 3 flats! on my back wheel! so now I'm much better at changing flats. Woo!

BP MS 150 2010

Sweet. I do have to say this year's MS 150 was sweet. The first day started out with clouds a little bit of rain, but most importantly a tail wind. I breezed through the first 20 milesto the first Accenture rest stop in a little over an hour. Awesome.

After that Andy and I caught an ExxonMobil paceline and we took off flying. We were probably going 25-27mph. holy hell. I couldn't stop my heart from beating like crazy, but I also couldn't stop smiling. That was amazing.

If you're not familiar with pacelines, here's how they work. I usually average 15 mph on my bike by myself. So you can imagine how fast you can go when all the wind resistance is eliminated.


Unfortunately I could only keep up for about half an hour or so. Andy took off with them, but my heart couldn't keep it up. So they flew away and I made it to lunch around 10 or so. Saw Alex, saw Raza, Dan, John, Fabrice and a Matt. The rest of the day went ok, jumping on and off people's wheels. There were more rolling hills than I expected. I lost of a lot of other people, so spent most of the ride by myself. Eventually I caught up to a group about 30 miles out of La Grange, so that was nice. I would have like to have the chance to really get to know my team better. Then we could have ridden together, but at the time it seemed like we were all at different speeds.

Got into La Grange around 3pm I think. Don't remember. I do remember that it took me about 6hrs on the bike to get through 95 miles. Pretty good. When I do a century, hopefully I can get a better time.

In La Grange, hung out, met people, showered, ate a lot, slept as best I could. Next year I will bring games or something fun to pass the time.

Next morning 830am start. Decided to take the express route this year. Last year was just too much pain and I still have those chain ring scars. Got through the first 30 miles pretty ok. Didn't get to meet up Alex like planned because of my late start. Was about 25 mins behind the guys and my front derailleur was giving me problems. I had the Bike Barn guy check it out, but he was like, it's fine...What?! then why can't I shift right!? I dunno it worked 30% of the time, so I tried not to shift out of my big chain ring.

Anyway after that I was tired and ready to be done riding. It wasn't fun anymore and I couldn't pin point my unhappiness. Got to the Accenture rest stop through a nice paceline cause the wind turned and was pushing us back. Picked up Ashley and we made it there fine. Saw Theresa and Candy. At the stop we met Danny and John. Decided to leave the stop and make the rest of the way together. ACCENTURE PACELINE! That was amazing! I was so happy. No wind, I could rest up my legs. Got some Guu gel in my system and we were flying.

I think we were going 16-17mph in a 5-10mph head wind. Sweet. Why didn't we do this before? That's when I figured out what was missing from before. Why I was bored and tired and not caring.

I was missing friends. They made all the difference. Working hard together for one goal. I haven't had that in a long time. That's what this weekend needed more of.

I think we got through the last 20 miles in an hour and half. or something fast like that. At least it didn't even seem like an hour cause we were having fun, picking up people along the way. First we saw Matt and then Jenna. We conquered the last of the hills together and all of a sudden we were rolling into the capital. We didn't look quite like Caisse d'Epargne above, but I think we were close to it. Danny had a helmet cam so hopefully he got some cool vid of us.

Rolled in at around 245pm. Covered about 67 miles in a little less than 6 hrs. Whoop. Next year will be the challenge route and definitely more team pacelines. Laura asked me to take over co-captaining next year with Debra, so that will be fun and hopefully we'll get a bigger team out next year. And we'll all get in one big paceline.

WHOOP!

Tour de Houston

This morning's weather proved to be cold as ass and quite windy, so I decided to go for the 40 mile route instead of braving the 70 miler. That is a decision I am quite happy with. Picked up Teresa, and we made our way over to City Hall for the start. The first 24 miles were COLD and WINDY. Pushed us back pretty easily and on top of that we had multiple stops for traffic lights, so we couldn't use our momentum at those points. Drafted Andy at some points. That helped. Overall the wind made for a pretty tiring ride, but an awesome tailwind on the way home. Fell over at one of the lights on my elbow. No scrapes, maybe a bruise.

Didn't really keep track of time and forgot to reset my bike computer so there's no knowing what my average was. Oh well. It was cool riding through downtown and San Felipe. Wish it would have been warmer, less windy, and on a new bike. But what can you do? Just take what the world gives you, get angry and then get even.

Afterward I ate some pasta and went running at Terry Hershey with JPai. It was a good change from riding TH, and hoofing up those hills instead of flat running was different. Probably did 2-2.5 miles? No anger there. Just really tired.

Puddle for the Ducks

First organized ride of the year!

Damn do I love this stuff. Today I popped out of bed at 5:15am. Yes, 5:15am on a Saturday. It was awesome. Got my oatmeal, bike gear, hooked up my Saris trunk rack, hitched my Jamis to it and we were a go.

I wanted to do this ride cause it was relatively close to me and I have heard good things about it. Plus its for ducks. Who doesn't like ducks?

Riding was good. It did two things: solidified my decision to get a new bike and gave me a good gauge of how much training I still have to do. A couple weeks ago I took my Jamis out and felt pretty good on it...like why am I blowing so much money on a new bike? This one is perfectly good. But today, like clockwork, my back started to hurt right around 30 miles. And then my seat had fallen back and stretched me out for a good 8 miles...further pain. I'm praying that with my new bike I'll be able to get a perfect fit. I didn't get to try the size out in the store cause they didn't carry it. I just tried one size up and knew it was too long, but still ride-able like my Jamis.

Not to sound like I don't like my Jamis. It has treated me well, taken me hundreds of miles. Enabled friends to ride with me. But we don't fit as well as I thought we would.
Now some of you out there might say, just get a shorter stem. Well the stem on my bike is 0 mm. It basically clamps the bars to the fork. So the only solution is a smaller size. Plus carbon will be a plush ride...and maybe the stiffness will help my performance.

There were a lot of Specialized, Trek, and Scotts out today. It made me miss my Scott. I miss how it used to sing that hollow aluminum sound that made me feel like I was going fast. Funny tho I didn't see the model I had out...I guess not too many people bought the Speedster S20 in 2009? I did see one Blue Pinarello FP3 and a good handful of Cervelos - R3, TT bikes, no soloists.

So I was ambitious and signed up for the Metric century thinking it was 62 miles. Cause 62 miles I've done before. My best time was just under 5hrs - including stops. But this ride lied and instead it was really 70 miles. And they wanted us done by 1pm. We started 7:15, 730ish. So I was thinking ok, if I book it - I can make it just in time. But then, the wind came out. haha. So instead I took the 46 miler and made it back by 11am. So it was just about 4 hrs including stops - just over 11 mph. merp. Not a good time. I even drafted in and out as the wind got gustier. I need to bust my ass in the coming months if I want to ever make it to averaging 15mph - with stops.


On a happy note, I love my Castelli Mito Jersey. This was my first cold ride and it kept my body warm throughout. Although my arms were cold in and out. It was still warm and soft.

Bike in the Heights

Today I was supposed to join the ACN team for a ride in the Heights, but I missed them. I was kind of discouraged cause I don't know the area all that well, but decided to explore by myself anyway. I was pleasantly surprised. The area is pretty biker friendly. They have lots of bike paths, some sidewalks designated for bikers, and lots of signs to direct you where to go. Although there were a lot of points where I had to stop and watch for cars, Heights Blvd was a great straight away with few lights where I could sprint my heart out.

Not sure if I would go back because stopping and starting really annoys me, but maybe when I get used to riding with cars I'll feel different.

Time: ~1hr
Distance: probably 10-12 miles