Falling into place

Things are falling into place. I'm hurriedly preparing for Cycle Oregon which is in 3 weeks. I ship my bike out next Friday, so that needs to be in order and my legs need to mostly be in order in...1 week. lol.

So 3 weeks ago I bought a new saddle and have been trying to get used to it. My first 60 mile ride on it didn't go great. It was bearable, but at the end I felt like I had bruises on my bones. Then two days later I rode and still had major bruises. Today I felt much better and mostly forgot about saddle pain which is awesome! That means I didn't have any pain. Albeit I was climbing at times so I probably only spent about 70% of the 2 hr ride in my saddle, but I'll take that. Saddle, check.

New cassette! Kevin and all his preparedness convinced me to get a new cassette. So I bought a SRAM PG-1070 11-28. Compared to my 12-26 it felt really good, especially on these hills. Luckily my shifting and chain seemed OK with the new cassette. I didn't have time to make adjustments to the derailleurs but it felt just fine. I'll check chain length later. Cassette, shifting at 90%.

I still need to play with my seat height and cleat position. My right knee was hurting, so I moved the cleat back a few millimeters and that helped a lot. No pain now, but my knee doesn't always click back into the kneecap. I'm thinking that my seat a smidge too high or too low. Seat height, cleats, at 70% complete.
Shoulders are alright but towards the end of my 25 miler today I was starting to feel pain in the middle of shoulders. I had to consciously lift myself up and that helped, so I'm not sure if that was due to poor form or being too crunched on my bike. Stretch, reach, 50%.

I think one more good long ride and a few more short ones will definitely help me get my adjustments close to good enough. I was contemplating bike fit, but I think I'll be alright without it. The hills here have made me stronger and mentally ready for what lies ahead.

Strava. I finally joined Strava. After about 2 years riding without a computer I think I was ready to see how I have been doing. Mostly I wanted to understand how certain hills feel and compare them to the grade. This way I will also be mentally prepared for the climbs on Cycle Oregon. Note: 4% grades are fine. 6% is slow but doable. 8% not fun and slower. >10% sucks balls.

Now the question remains, how will I train after my bike gets shipped off? I'll have a whole two weeks without my baby. So two plans. Plan A: Finish building that beater bike and use that for training. Plan B: Lots of Yoga. I'm gonna try for plan A but really it might not happen cause this bike is bare bones. The plus to doing lots of yoga means that I will be more prepared for yoga teacher training which starts the weekend after my ride. But really I would like to have my beater bike up and running so I can use that to get to yoga class which is gonna be 4 miles away.

I love bikes.

Climb up Latigo Cyn

Last Saturday I joined my new friends Steven and Walter at Cynergy Cycles to ride up Latigo Cyn Rd with a bunch of AIDS Life Cycle participants. Latigo Cyn is a 9.5 mile climb with an average of 8% grade. I didn't know I could spend that long going uphill. After a mile I was breathing at a steady pace and on my lowest gear. I couldn't have talked most of the way and my concentration was in an out as I tried to just make it around each turn. As I got higher and closer to the sun I got hotter and developed a headache. Maybe it was the altitude. I ran out of water 6 miles away from the next rest stop, but at least the descent was a cool one.

Parts of the ride felt like I was on a route professionals might do. Like those roads in the mountains that you see on the TdF. There was a small descent in the mountain and I was going so fast I had to break on the turns. They were steep and sharp. I didn't know what was coming next so I had to play it safe and go slower than I really wanted. I felt a little pro. Even though I was going really slowly. Lol.

Mountains are great.

LA

Well friends I have moved to LA. And it is amazing.

The city is so dense and the weather is so nice that the best minds, skills, and entertainers flock out here. I found a yoga studio that teaches inversions beyond my comprehension. The yogis are so strong I don't know how I will ever get to that level.

The coaches are abundant. I've already been solicited to join a triathlon club and obtain coaching to complete my first tri.

I've already met a flock of aspiring actors and musicians. Humble in that they hope to make it big but are conscientious of life so that they don't forget to enjoy it.

If you love people. Come here. They are so diverse in mind, body and soul because half of the people that live here are from somewhere else. They are all taking life step by step and the directions are so varied that you find a new opinion around every corner.

Anyway back to bikes. I've decided that once I find time I'm going to build my fixie.