Team In Training :: Training for Tour de Tuscon

Santa Cruz

After yesterday's heat, we wanted to do an easy ride today. Sheila suggested going over to the beach. It would be cool and we could do something easy. In one of my cycling route books there were a couple of rides over in the Santa Cruz area. We decided to do the Aptos one...It was cold and foggy when we got over there.

The ride started out ok—down the hill to the beach, along the beach—it got bad when the road then went straight up the hill. This is less than 2 miles into the ride. We were still cold and not warmed up to do hills. It was awful. I had to walk up the last part of the first hill. The map gave a 7 mile out so we took it after climbing more hills to get back to the car. Of course by then we were warmed up. But this was supposed to be an EASY ride.

We got in the car and drove to the start of the OTHER ride in Santa Cruz. Labelled easy. We started at Natural Bridges and rode down West Cliff drive, through downtown and the boardwalk area. Past the boardwalk and the rides and around to cross over the river. We crossed and rode around the beaches until we hit East Cliff drive. We rode this along the cliffs and through really cute neighborhoods. We continued up some hills, down some hills, around the beaches and finally down a long hill into downtown Capitola. We stopped there and ate — peanut butter and jelly, apples, pretzels and trail mix. Then we turned around and rode back. Still foggy, still cold. Wore my coat the whole way.

This ride took forever but was only 21 miles. It was quarter of five by the time we got back to the car. It took us over 4 hours to ride both parts of this ride - plus a drive from Aptos to Santa Cruz.

I had not intended to lose my whole day doing this....yikes!

Canada Edgewood

Today we had a team ride. Canada road at Edgewood down to 92 and back. Then from Edgewood down Canada into Woodside. We turned at Woodside, then up Whiskey Hill road to Sand Hill and then Portola down to Alpine. Alpine to Arastradero.

enjoying the rest stop, awesome watermelon and teammates
On Arastradero we stopped at the preserve for a planned rest stop. From Arastradero we went down to PageMill, up the PageMill hill and turned into Foothill - which at that point is actually Junipero Serra. This went on and then we crossed Sandhill and the road became something else. We rode through Menlo Park / Atherton into Redwood City and back to Edgewood. By the time we got to Edgewood it was super hot (95 degrees in Redwood City according to the paper) and we had a 2 1/2 mile climb to go. I had to stop partway up the hill and then went a bit further but had to be SAGed the rest of the way up it was so hot. I finished the ride by riding from the crest of the hill back to the meeting area at Edgewood and Canada.

Another shot from the rest stop
Highlights from the ride—we practiced pacelining for most of the ride so we kept a moderately easy pace that we all could do. THis was fun!
I led several of the lines up the hills on Canada.
We stopped several times to regroup at the top of hills, grab a bite and stretch.
We practically had a party at the rest stop with the pretzels, gatorade and water and the awesome watermelon brought to us by our honorees. These folks rock!
There are too many stop signs in redwood city for a decent bike ride.
Naps are good—2 1/2 hours of dead sleep after a stretching, a shower and lunch.

Mentor Group Dinner

(pic 1- Tricia :: pic 2 - Ed and my nose :: pic 3 - Sheila and Linda )
Our mentor group gathered together this week for dinner. Our honoree, Ed Halk, also joined us. We had good food and conversation—comparing cycling stories and tips for better training. Suresh joined us late, Sheila left early and we missed Dennis.

Week 5

Rest on Monday.
45 minutes of hard intervals on the Precor Ellipse on Tuesday.
Yoga on Wednesday.
Nice ride on Foothill with Kiersten on Thursday.
Yoga on Friday.

Good week.

Yard Sale:: Day 2

Up again at 6 to deal with the people who come early and lo and behold they never showed. It was cold and overcast from the fog that had rolled in and we had slower stream of people than saturday. Made less money but sold some big things as well.

After it was all done we went to eat with Rose and her new SO. Mexican food and lots of water.

Around 6, Sheila and I went out to Coyote Creek and rode the whole trail. It got dark on us and I had about 4 miles to go as the sun was going down. Had to remove the sunglasses—which is bad since they are prescriptions. So either way I couldn't see and almost wiped out a couple of time. Made it back as the sun disappeared. Just in time, but really pushing it.

The Yard Sale:: Day 1

So we decided to have a yard sale to raise money for our commitment and donate the money to the Leukemia Society.

All week I culled through the house making piles and for the last two or three weeks have been going through my CD's and ripping to MP3s the songs I liked from the CD's I wanted to get rid of.

Friday I had an offsite for work and came home early—but not really early enough.

Sheila was already moving tables out into the driveway and moving stuff up from the basement. Ispent time moving some stuff up and dragging things outside. I made chocolate chip cookies to sell and bagged up about 60 cookies. By 11pm we had everything pretty much setup, most things priced. Then I started making signs and then we drove around and out them up. Came home, priced more, got more stuff from the basement, went through the closets again and finally went to bed around 2.

We got up at 6, moved tables out, got a box for money and hung up TNT tshirts.

People showed and were buying by 7:15.

We made a lot of sales on Saturday—waves of people. Very few lulls. We shut down for the day at 2 and went and got some food. Then we saddled up to ride and met Kiersten and Trisha at Edgewood/Canada for a short (15 mile) ride with a couple of hills.

Collapsed into bed around 11.

To work and back

Rode to work this morning and then home this evening. 13.65 miles each way. Traffic, a few underpasses and over pass grades and a lot of stop lights.

My route goes from home, to Lincoln, to Park, through the Rose Garden district and back into Santa Clara behind the university to Lafayette. Down Lafayette—the scariest part, under the railroad tracks, across Central and then over 101 (thank god no exits or freeway entrances) and then on to Agnew. Left on Agnew and pick up the San Thomas Aquinos trail out to Alviso to the baylands trail. Turn from one trail to another to the park and dump out on Carribbean to yahoo!.

After work, repeat in reverse.

Keeping up

Did yoga on Monday and about 40 minutes on the Precor in the gym on Tuesday. Intervals in short spurts before guitar class.

Another long ride

Rode the whole Coyote trail on the new bike. Much easier than last week and less hot! Did the ride in about 2:30 hr. Not bad but I do despise the back half from where we park and Hellyar park. Very bumpy and short stretches.

los gatos to saratoga to cupertino and back

started the day today with a nutrition clinic - how to eat and ride and not "crash" physically. then off to the ride. 26 miles through los gatos to saratoga to cupertino and down stevens canyon road and up, up, up mt. eden. whew! what a hill. then down—more scary than up, fast and furious and a brief moment of panic at the speed and the curves and then reign it back in. the ride was superb, not too hot, with nice folks, great coaching and just a few kick butt hills.

awesome ride

truly an awesome ride today, with an intense hill and lots of speed coming down. great coaches and nice folk on the team.

nutrition clinic



coach jim

Ride to work

Decked out my new bike last night but not ready to actually ride it yet - new cleats and clip pedals that I need to practice in before going on the road. Last night I fell over in the trainer in my room. Yikes!

This morning I decided to ride to work - old bike - and rode about 17 miles in a long arc around San Jose to Alviso and over. Lots of bike route detours added an extra couple of miles and I missed one of the trail entrances that would have cut a bunch of time off. I was late for work.

This evening, I decided to ride home and pickup the trail I missed and see where it came out. The trail is part of the Sunnyvale Baylands trail system and is quite lovely—marshlands, lakes, cool water bird. From this trail I intersected the San Tomas Aquino trail that went under 237 and all the way out for about 4.5 miles back behind Great America and the Santa Clara convention center. At the end of the paved trail, I turned and a few blocks later, picked up Lafayette which I took all the way over 101 and into Santa Clara where I picked up Park. Park dropped me into San Jose, through the Rose Garden area and finally home into Willow Glen. Home. Dinner. Yum.

So total today about 32 miles split up by a day of work.

Birthday ride

We celebrated my birthday today by riding the full 30 miles —out and back— of Coyote Creek trail. We started at 9:30 am which wasn't nearly early enough. By the time we finished, 2 1/2 hours later it was 104 degrees at the car. Hot, hot, hot.

The first 15 miles—from Morgan Hill to Hellyer park—was fine. We were keeping pace about 15-16 mph. But most of the trail was slightly downhill. Going back was harder. Slightly uphill and much, much hotter. We had to stop a few times in the shade to regroup and by the end we were feeling dehydrated and toasty. Kiersten probably hit the worst and didn't feel so great afterwards. I had a new camel back and drank continuously so that helped, but it took several glasses of water, a cold shower and a couple of hours sitting in the AC to feel better.

This was our longest ride yet. Next time - get up earlier, take more liquids and stay out of the heat. But we did it!

Saturday comedy of errors

Today we decided to sleep in a little bit and skip the buddy ride. In retrospect, we should have gotten up and just done it. We lazily got coffee and perused the Biking Bay Area books and maps that I have to find a ride that would be sort of easy but have a few little hills. Finally we decided to go to Stevens Canyons and do a 21 mile ride.

Ha!

We didn't get started until 11 so by the time we got to Cupertino and to the park it was noon and hot, hot, hot. Sheila didn't want to go the route I had from the book so we rode into the park and up a trail. Within 200 yards, it suddenly turned into a straight up stell climb on a loos gravel trail. Well, we have hybrid bike which are fine on gravel and dirt trails but not mountains. I couldn't start cold going straight uphill and told Sheila to come back. The bike wheels were slipping out from under me on the way down and I had to wlak the bike a bit.

So we decided to try the route I had from the book. The parking lot we were in was lower than the road and required a brief ride up a short steep hill just to get to the road. Halfway up, Sheila bailed. "Too hot!" So we went back down the hill to the car, ate our lunch and decided to drive part of the route to scout it out for a later day, earlier in the morning. It's a good thing, it was all uphill and frankly there is no way we could have ridden this ride in the heat we had today.

After we at, we drove over to Shoreline and did the wimpy flat ride!

Alviso: My favorite place to ride most of the time

Alviso is the place to be.

After work :: Los Gatos Creek trail

Rode Los Gatos Creek trail tonight after work. I really wanted to ride to work this morning but I was so tired from riding yesterday evening I couldn't get out of bed in time to ride. The ride was good - but way too many people on the trail. Riding on the roads has gotten me used to not having to worry about running over walkers, runners, dogs and rollerbladers. I can't believe how many people run and walk with headphones on totally oblivious to people coming up behind them.

Corporate Matching

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored us so far! You all rock. Also - anyone who has sponsored or is thinking of sponsoring - don't forget to ask your company about corporate matching.

Information about Corporate Matching

Riding and going nowhere

I had guitar lessons tonight and didn't manage to get out before work this morning so I dragged out the stationary trainer and tested that out. Bike on trainer, tv on something that lasted and hour and away I rode—in place. Worked up a good sweat, managed to have a nosebleed and still rode for my hour. It was a good way to get a workout in even though it was dark outside. We move up to longer distances this weekend and up to 30 + miles next.

Skipped my training

Strength training day. Oops - I wasn't able to actually do anything today what with parents here for one last day and company coming over in the evening.

Alviso Sunday

We rode out at Alviso today. The schedule said ride for an hour - so we did the Alviso loop and then went out around the town to make an hour. Light ride compared to the day before but a little wind and extremely bumpy. Tested out the new camera.