Frustrated Friday

I had planned last night to wake up early and train this morning. Something frustrated me a little bit yesterday, so I woke up at 4:55 am still a little cranky. I thought about going back to bed and just scrapping it. I'm so glad I didn't. No, cycling didn't erase the crankiness, but it did help a little. Endorphins are cool!

Day - Friday, 11/30
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 14.0 miles
Ride Length - 1:05:01
Avg Speed - 13.0 mph
Avg Cadence - 78
Avg Heart Rate - 139
Time in zone - 01:00:17
Time below zone - 0:04:44
Calories burned - 828
Total Training Distance To-Date: 315.6 miles

Wobbly Wednesday

So I haven't jumped up on Clyde since last Saturday's awesome ride. Today, my knees complained about it, but I still put in an hour while burning through some junk on my DVR. Time to med-up on Aleve and stretch some.

Day - Wednesday, 11/28
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 13.0 miles
Ride Length - 1:03:21
Avg Speed - 13.0 mph
Avg Cadence - 80
Avg Heart Rate - 134
Time in zone - 0:55:55
Time above zone - 0:00:02
Calories burned - 753
Total Training Distance To-Date: 301.6 miles

Mountain View and Mount Eden

Hullo - I did an official ALC training ride today. I zip-carred down to Mountain View and it was awesome. The weather was great, the people were nice and the ride was fantastic. Getting up over Mount Eden was difficult and invigorating. It is a pretty much steady climb that lasts 7/10 of a mile. But I didn't bitch out. I kept pedaling at a constant rate and made it up. It was incredible. The last part of the ride was pretty flat so we jammed sort of speedily which was great.

Day - Saturday, 11/24
Ride Type - ALC On-Road Training
Ride Distance - 31.6 miles
Ride Length - 2:16:42
Avg Speed - 13.8 mph (this is another good improvement)
Avg Cadence - 78
Avg Heart Rate - 153
Time in zone - 1:19:17
Time above zone - 0:55:56
Calories burned - 2068
Total Training Distance To-Date: 288.6 miles

Cross Train, Cross Train, Cross Train

One of the things I continually hear about is the importance of cross-training in preparation for the Ride. About how important it is to put in time in other physical endeavors beyond just my ass in the saddle of Clyde. So I'm trying to work that in early.

Today - I succeeded in spades. I went with my brother-in-law for a 9:30 a.m. class at Yoga Loft (<-- link). I gotta tell you - my chest and shoulders have always been a bit tight, making lunging twists opening the rib cage a bit challenging. Well, sitting on the bike and NOT doing much yoga have not helped. I have to get a plan to incorporate more yoga. A friend put it well last night pre-turkey. She was saying "spending all the time on my bike in flexion, I crave extension" which is very very important for balance for your body overall. YOGA YOGA YOGA. :)

And then me and my brother went to Sports Basement - which I LOVE - shopped a little and then went to John McLaren Park (<--link) in South San Francisco and knocked some tennis balls around for about an hour and 15 minutes. Neither one of us was as good as the last time we messed around but, it was more exercise, more time outside and some fun time spent with my brother. So all around- good!

So I feel like I successfully met my goal of cross training at least for today. Now I've got to go pack up my gear and get ready. I've rented ZipCar for tomorrow and will be on the road by 9:30 am headed to Mountain View. We have a ride tomorrow, rolling out 11:00 am for 33 miles. Should be a bit of a challenge, especially with my left knee cranking out a little bit post-tennis.

Ambitious Wednesday

JT rolled up to my front door on her "city bike" ;0) at 6:15am today and we put out the Lake Merced Loop. CHILLY CHILLY CHILLY. Thank god I found some running tights and that I also purchased sleeves last weekend. Um - and now I understand the need for toe covers. I hate that I will have to visit Sports Basement this weekend. Yeah, not really. I freaking LOVE that place.

Day - Wednesday, 11/21
Ride Type - On-Road Training
Ride Distance - 20.9 miles
Ride Length - 1:40:37
Avg Speed - 12.5 mph (this is good improvement)
Avg Cadence - 84 (this rocks!)
Avg Heart Rate - 148
Time in zone - 1:01:56
Time above zone - 0:35:38
Calories burned - 1435
Total Training Distance To-Date: 257.0 miles

5:00 am - Not so much fun...

So here I am - up at the ass-crack of dawn again to get on my trainer. I have to say that although I am proud of myself for increasing my frequency of mounting Clyde (get used to it, I'm going to make lame sexual references to my bike from time to time...why else would I have given it a dude's name?); however, the early early morning stuff is not so much fun. Again, since I'm on the blackburn, I have limited data to report back out but I'm going to wear the heart rate monitor and see if I can at least use that feature independently.

Day - Tuesday, 11/20
Ride Type - Indoor Training
Ride Distance - 11.5 miles*
Ride Length - 1:00:38
Avg Speed - 11.5*
Avg Cadence - 77
Avg Heart Rate - 140
Time in zone - 0:54:17
Calories burned - 785
Total Training Distance To-Date: 236.1 miles

*This is an estimate, since the speedometer/odometer are on the front fork and therefore cannot measure when I'm in the trainer. I extrapolate the speed and distance based upon distance covered, avg mph and cadence from the past few rides. IE - last ride was 1453 calories, 21.1 miles and 70 avd cad. This ride was a little more than 1/2 the calories, about 1/2 the time and 10% increase in cadence....ergo - the speed estimate and then use that against time for the distance estimate. Anyone got any better suggestions? I'm open (beyond possibly moving my sensors to my back fork?).

Saturday in Oakland

Me and my friend/sis-in-law JT went out to Oakland to join an official ALC training ride on Saturday. Since I don't drive and I'm not all that familiar with Oakland, I'm having some trouble even with the ride sheet and Google Earth building the route map on the real map to post. JT had a hair appointment mid-afternoon. We got squeezed due to the ride starting a little late, some mechanical problems only about a mile into the ride from some other riders and some rather lengthy re-group stops. So we cut out before we got to Alameda and came back across to the lake and our starting point. The ride ended up being 21 rather than 35 miles, but we had the time to procure delicious sammies from the gorgeous new Whole Foods in Oakland and beat weekend Bay Bridge traffic such that JT was able to get back in time to get her hair cut. And her hair is awfully cute, so - all for a great cause. :)

Day - Saturday, 11/17
Ride Type - On-Road Training
Ride Distance - 21.1 miles
Ride Length - 2:05:22
Avg Speed - 10.1 mph
Avg Cadence - 70
Avg Heart Rate - 132
Time in zone - 1:23:11
Calories burned - 1453
Total Training Distance To-Date: 224.6 miles

Motivated Thursday!

I rode Clyde pretty hard. And I was up pretty damned early. But I feel great. It's just the burn-out I'll feel at around 9am that sucks. I gotta figure out the optimum food/fuel situation on these early morning training days - I think that's all it is - a "power rut". Learned I missed a damned nutrition seminar at Sports Basement last night. DAMN!


Day - Thursday, 11/15
Ride Type - In-Home Training
Ride Distance - 13.5 miles
Ride Time - 60 minutes
Commute Distance - n/a
Total Distance Today - 13.5 miles
Total Training Distance To-Date: 203.5 miles

Tuesday Training

I gotta get on the Clyde more often. So in that vein, I suited up and rode this a.m. WOO HOO!

Day - Tuesday, 11/13
Ride Type - In-Home Training
Ride Distance - 9.3 miles
Ride Time - 45 minutes
Commute Distance - n/a
Total Distance Today - 9.3 miles
Total Training Distance To-Date: 190.0 miles

Everyone? Clyde. Clyde? Everyone.

One of my brothers has been asking for pictures of Clyde and I have been remiss. So without further ado, to #1 brother and for anyone else who cares - meet Clyde:

Here's a full shot:
Another full shot:
This one came out whonky but it's the rear wheel secured in the Blackburn UltraTrak Stand:
A shot of my hot-ass shoes, cleats and X-1 SpeedPlay "lollipops"
Here's some branding on the rear-wheel stabilizers/struts:
Here's the big gear wheel and Gossamer crank shaft:
And now here are a few more, slightly more interesting photos. I like the curve of the cabling:



And now, I'm all suited up and going to ride this badboy this a.m. while I catch up on last night's episode of Heroes!! Sadly, as my speedometer/odometer sensor is on the front wheel and the front wheel is stationary during indoor training, I won't have as many fancy stats as from Sunday's ride. WAH! Ok Clyde - LET'S RIDE! :)

Ocean Beach and Lake Merced

Today I went on a ride with my new friend and cycling buddy Liz. She's a nurse/midwife and all-around cool chick that I met through my friends/sis-in-laws EPL and JT. She took me on a nice loop from our house (we live in the same 'hood, conveniently enough!), through the panhandle, through Golden Gate Park, up to Ocean Beach and along the ocean, around the Lake Merced Loop and then doubling back home exactly the same way we came. It was awesome. Below are my stats (compliments of my sweet new cyclometer (details in my gear info on the right side over there) and then a couple of pics I took. All in all - a GREAT morning. THANKS LIZ!!!!!

Day - Sunday, 11/11
Ride Type - On-Road Training
Ride Distance - 21.0 miles
Ride Length - 1:45:54
Avg Speed - 11.9 mph
Avg Cadence - 76
Avg Heart Rate - 138
Time in zone - 1:10:23
Calories burned - 1339
Total Training Distance To-Date: 180.7 miles

Thanks to GoogleEarth and powerpoint, here's a look at mine and Liz's route today:

A Waterfall in Golden Gate Park

Another view of the same waterfall...

A statue at Lake Merced

South on Sunday

Ok - the weather here is CRAZY good, especially considering it's freaking NOVEMBER. I hear people talk about 48 degree weather in NJ/NY and then I'm outside in shorts and a bike jersey in the 80 degree weather on my bike all morning. Some things just aren't fair! :)

But I got out and rode today. This ride kicked my ASS. Last weekend I did 34 miles, yet I did 7 then was off my bike for about an hour, then I did 20, off my bike for about an hour and then did 7 more. Today was less than that however it was all in one shot, only very short breaks for water and energy snacks. We started out on Canada Road (pronounced cahn-YAH-dah), went through Woodside, Portola Valley, Palo Alto and then back up through Woodside.

Day - Sunday, 11/04
Event - On-Road Training
Event Distance - 30.1 miles
Event Length - 2 hours, 17 minutes
Commute Distance - n/a
Total Distance Today - 30.1 miles
Total Training Distance To-Date: 159.7 miles

I love my Blackburn!

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Blackburn Ultra Track Stand.
It allows me to train indoors and will be a perfect solution when the weather turns grey and rainy (read: already is somewhat grey and rainy). I've already been on it a few times and really like it. This morning I got up bright and early (5:30 am), stretched, popped in a NetFlix DVD and hopped on and rode to no where!

Day - Thursday, 11/01
Event - In-Home Training
Event Distance - 9.0 miles
Event Length - 45 minutes
Commute Distance - n/a
Total Distance Today - 9.0 miles
Total Training Distance To-Date: 129.6 miles