Team In Training :: Training for Tour de Tuscon

tour de tucson - weekend

the team in training tent at the finish line of the tour de tucson

The official ride is tagged as 111 miles but my odemeter only reads 109 so...whatever...it was long.

111 miles on a gorgeous saturday
the ride times are posted at the event site (i am down in the 3200s)
the pasta party the night before had Bob Roll as the guest speaker

all my images are posted over at flickr—some sent directly from the cell phone during the ride (although not as many as I would have liked)

thanks to everyone who helped me raise over $5200 for the Leukemia Society to find a cure.

Taper weekend

Rode our last group team ride yesterday. About 27 miles. Many of the groups took some short breaks at Starbucks and Peets. We followed the ride with a potluck gathering and lots of info for next week.

Today, Sheila and I rode 50 miles. Werode out the front door, down Alma and then down Monterey Highway. Straigh, flat and about 20 miles to Morgan Hill. We went past downtown Morgan Hill to the Starbucks. We sat and had some coffee then took off to come home. Instead of making the left back out to the highway, we decided to cross the street and then cross again. Once across the first part I promptly fell over on the bike. My butt and left knee are bruised. I unclipped the right foot but was doing a really slow turn left and lost my balance. Ouch!
We then went back down Monterey to Cochrane and over to Coyote Creek trail for a couple of miles and then back out to the highway. Rough road and lots of cars. Almost home and we decided to add another five miles to make the full 50, so we continued down Willow to the Los Gatos creek trail where we just did a short mile and a half. Turned around and then home. Yay 50!.

The rest of the week is supposed to be restful - short easy rides to save up the energy for Saturday.

84.2 miles of pedaling

Long, long, long ride.

84.2 miles of longness. Painful numb butt longness.

The day was gorgeous, I was strong and this was our longest ride ever and our last long team ride - since the century is in 2 weeks. Next week we do a taper ride and a potluck gathering to celebrate.

Today we ventured down Santa Teresa through Morgan Hill and into Gilroy then over and around Uvas and Calero Reservoirs—we've done this part of the ride twice before. The we continued back towards Morgan Hill and up the wall - Sycamore Hill. I had to stop halfway up—this is a short but steep hill and if you start too fast you are screwed! Finally to the top where Kristi and Coach Jan were cheering us on to spit on the hill. A brief shot on the inhaler—exercise induced asthma is a bitch! and then on to do another loop into Gilroy and back around Uvas Reservoir—again! After the rest stop at the reservoir - with great support from our honorees and thier families and finally down McKean along Chesbro Reservoir and at last to Almaden.

The headwind was strong along various parts of the ride—so the fact we were pacelining really helped.

The last 4 miles were long, long cause byt then my butt hurt.

Coming into the end rocked—only a couple of minutes behind Sheila's group, I came in with (did half the ride with) the faster half of our ride group.

This was an awesome ride, gorgeous weather, good company and I was feeling strong today. 13.5 average speed overall (with rest stops and hills)

30 miles: Coyote Creek

A bit short of 50 but after the 53 yesterday and then coming home and cleaning and cooking and then entertaining at our Halloween Party for several hours, I was whipped and Sheila is still sick. So we took it a bit easy, did 30 and will try to ride to work a few times this week.

53 miles: Buddy Ride Saturday

Skipped the official buddy ride today. Instead I joined Sheila's team and did a long ride - 53 miles. The idea was 50 miles Saturday and 50 miles Sunday.

The route was Cañada down to 92 and back, then into Woodside and over whiskey hill to Sand Hill road to Foothill. Down Foothill all the way until it turns into Stevens Canyon and down into the park all the way to Mount Eden. Turn around and go all the way back to Woodside road and up and over to Cañada and back to the car. Whew!

Riding to work a bunch

Rode to work twice this week. 28 miles each way and 2 hours a day of time in the saddle. Good stuff.

76 miles :: team ride

over hill, over dale.
through rain and wind.
up and down highway 1 we rode from Santa Cruz Natural Bridges to San Gregorio and back.
A slight detour off one side road - we climbed a mountain and back down to 1.

Slightly before we got to the turnaround point, it started raining. It was sprinkling for a little bit and then it turned into full blown cold and windy rain.
Yuk!
But we pressed on and I completed the full 76 miles! Yippee.

70 miles!! don edwards to palomares to calaveras and back: again

Today Sheila and I rode 70 miles!

yes. 70 miles! (actually 70.68 - but who's counting - me!)

We did the buddy ride today, except we got there late so we picked up directions that the coach left and made our way on our own. Sheila was great and rode a little slower than normal so I wouldn't have to ride by myself. We rode through Newark and over to Niles and to Niles Canyon road. We turned and climbed Palomares (same route as 2 weeks ago from this point). The first part of the climb was as hard as last time. The rest of the climb seemed shorter than last time. Perhaps because we had done it before.

The ride down was fun. Still scary because it was so steep. I rode a lot of it in the largest ring and hardest gear - pedalling at 27 mph. Cool!

Then down along the road next to 580 - long, slightly graded and evil - and finally to Foothill and along to the park. A brief eating break and on we went. Passed by a lot of fast men on large bicycles.

Then through Sunol and under 680 to Calaveras. Then we headed up the Calaveras climb. Seemed easier than last time. Sheila broke another spoke and tried to fix it at the summit. From the summit to the real section that goes downhill was long and needed to be over faster. This section fools you. You think you are descending and go downhill, and then next thing you know you are climbing hills again. At this point I am thinking, I am tired, I want to be done and out of this place - one road in, one road out.

The descent was awesome and at one point I was going albout 35 miles an hour.

The last 17 miles were hard and boring - basically working our way back from Milpitas to Newark and the Don Edwards preserve. On the way I struck up a conversation with another cyclist and ended up misreading the directions. I put an extra mile on the bike and I had to turn around and go back and get back on track. Finally made it back to the car and off the bike. My fingers went numb and for an hour afterwards i still felt like I was moving - but I rode 70 miles!

Only 39 more and we have the distance of the Tour de Tuscon. Yikes!

calaveras-palomeros ride :: 58 miles

today I rode 58 miles. on the bike for 7 hours. up lots of hills.

we met in milpitas and rode out calaveras/237 and turned towards fremont. We rode through milpitas, up some hills and through a bunch of neighborhoods. we rode by the Mission San Jose in fremont and one of our group got a flat so we all stopped and waited for that to be fixed.

elevation diagram of our ride

it was quite chilly and foggy and we were crazy cold. we stretched to try to stay warm and finally the folks fixing the flat tire joined us. I think we were waiting for about 45 minutes. Really slowed us down.

we rode on until we hit alvarado-niles rode. We did take a little bit of a detour in order to hit a park parking lot with a porta-pottie. at the point we got back on the rode, we split into two groups. up to this point we were practicing pacelining, but from this point on, the roads were narrow and there would be lots of hills. we rode down niles until we hit palomeros at which point we all dropped down in gears and began climbing. this is a 5 mile (4.7) climb up a twisty, turning road. the first portion was difficult (steep) and I had to stop once to use my inhaler. After that point, it was much better, not as steep. Gorgeous twists, side canyons, tree covered stretches. I was riding with Maria and we left Carol and Peggy behind. All the other groups were way ahead of us.

About halfway up, our awesome SAG - Louise - followed us for awhile in the car with music blaring. What a boost! We finally reached the top and stopped in the shade, only to look up and 25 feet ahead, just over the crest, was the rest stop. The view was awesome (pic coming).

After eating some of my pbj and some of the bananas, Maria and I headed off. The other half of our team left just after we arrived and we left just after Carol and Peggy arrived. The best part of the uphill is the cool downhill after. Long downhill, over 30 miles per hour. Exhilarating!

Once we got down the mountain and through some more neighborhoods - farms into subdivisions, and we were in pleasanton. My lord - pleasanton is far away and we just rode there. the worst part of the ride was next. not hard hills, not tough climbs, just a 14 mile stretch of road fronting 580. slight rise and elevation making it difficult - looks flat but isn't so you have to work and boring ugly. finally we finished that section and turned towards sunol. we rode through some more neighborhoods and then along the park that is near sunol - where we had another rest stop. this time with porta-potties - Yay!

The support crew also had potatos for us and bananas and yellow watermelons. gatorade, water and pretzels rounded out the fare. These folks are awesome! Sheila was there with coach jim - she had had a blowout and broke a spoke but it was fixed enough to ride on. Also the first half of our group was there - only 5 minutes ahead of us.

we ate, bio breaked, rested a bit and then headed out again. Down, around curves and finally into Sunol and through the street fair they were having. Crossing the road, past entrances and exits to 680 and onto Calaveras.

The road was pretty straight for quite awhile, a few rollers. Beautiful between the hill ranges. I wish we had stopped a few times for me to take some pics but by this time my butt was hurting and I really just wanted to keep going. The road eventually starts to rise and then we really started climbing again. For the most part I was able to keep a pace near or over 6mph - which is slow for experienced riders - but faster than I have been previously. We kept a steady pace and I needed to stop once - about 2.5 miles into the climb. I really had to stretch and fix some bunchy shorts. The climb follows a road that turns into a single lane hugging the side of the hill. We saw several motorcyclists, lots of bicyclists and few cars going in the opposite direction and even fewer going ours. We were totally alone and Maria was great at keeping me focused. I kept my breathing in check and didn't need the inhaler. When we finally got to the rest stop it was awesome. We were sort of at the top and surrounded by beautiful golden hills dotted with california oaks.

I was so focused on eating and getting water - and ice - I forgot to take pictures. We hit the rest stop at about mile 50.

After a few minutes we took off and started to get some downhills. But this section was not the easiest - fake out downhills only to be confronted with more climbing. Hard to predict which gear to be in and tiring. Butt hurts. We passed the Calaveras reservoir - awesome - and finally hit the downhill out of the canyon. We were going pretty fast - so feathering the brakes and holding on tight we had to stop at a stop sign at the bottom of what is referred to as the "wall" by folks taking this road the other direction - so it is pretty steep.

After the stop sign it was cake, 34 mph downhill into downtown Milpitas and finally after a couple of lights, back into the parking lot.

7 hours on the bike! - I had no idea of time on this ride - I don't ride with a watch and my cell phone was in the case under my seat. I just pedal and eat and drink and go where they tell me. the bike computer recorded 5:17 of actual riding time.

58 miles.

Pretty awesome!

week of September 20

tried to plan this week in preparation for the team rided on saturday. I did intervals on the precor at the gym at work on Tuesday. I did squats and lunges on Thursday and rested some this week.

windy coyote

Rode the full length of Coyote. Went out late in the afternoon after a morning of rain. Very windy going from the south end to the north end but the wind at died down a bit coming back so I didn't get the benefit of the speed from a strong tailwind. Bummer. It was slightly hard because of the wind and because of being tired from the ride on Saturday - but we got the mileage in.

almaden valley :: buddy ride

Did the Almaden Valley and Uvas, Chesbro and Calero Reservoir loop again today as a buddy ride. Met a few folks, coaches Karen and Matt. We all started together and then as we moved into our own speeds, most of us rode alone most of the way. I cut a few minutes off my time and tried to do better on the hills.

My asthma kicked in on the first hill and the second, really long climb, I had to stop and use my inhaler. I need to figure out the technique where I don't let my breathing get out of control and away from me. Other than the first couple of hills, the rest of the ride was great. It was cold and I never really warmed up—except for the hills. Had to wear my jacket the whole time.

traveling this week

traveling most of this week so no cycling until saturday. due to late planes, layovers, delayed flights, sitting on the runway for hours, canceled flights and not getting into my destination until the middle of the night, the one day I have to catch up and do some exercise in the hotel is gone. oh well....

26 miles around town

Rode out from the house, down into Santa Clara and around on Market street, then backtrack to Monroe and over to Bowers then across 101 onto Great America out to Alviso and then back on the San Tomas Aquino trail to Lafayette and home where I promptly fell over on the bike before I could get unclipped.

I have a few scratches and bruises from falling into the bushes and on the driveway but otherwise unscathed.

Before I went out on my ride, I took the bike back to the shop and had the handlebar stem replaced. The one on the bike was too long and I was having to reach and twist to shift or use my dropped brakes. The fit is much better. I practiced riding low while I was out.

44 miler :: almaden valley team ride

Almaden valley, down past Calero Resevoir, Uvas Resevoir and Chesbro resevoir. We did the same loop Sheila and I did on Monday, only the other way round, which was much easier. This ride is really beautiful.

There are a few hills that go for awhile and were tough, but the majority of the ride was rolling. Several sections I rode alone with a coach or mentor—like having a private coach. Pretty cool. Felt pretty good at the end too.

shoreline with kiersten

Easy 1 hour ride - 14 miles. Focused on keeping my speed up close to 15mph. Rode with Kiersten and then she left me at the 10 mile mark. The last 4 miles back were into the wind as the sun went down.

yoga for athletes

Worked out with a new Yoga DVD. Yoga for athletes with tons of emphasis on poses for cyclists. Good way to counter all the hunching and motions from the bike. Did that section then the whole regular strength building workout.

uvas reservoir :: 20 miles

Rode out in Morgan Hill today and did a beautiful loop that swept around Uvas Canyon, Uvas reservoir and Chesbro reservoir. Mostly rolling hills, although at mile 3 there is a steep, sorta long hill. Anyway it seemed long. It was hot, at 100 degrees by noon, but there were shady spots and it went fairly quickly. This is a nice loop that I bet is better earlier in the morning or later in the year after it gets cooler and greener.

Coyote plus Anderson Lake hill

view of the reservoir from the top of the hill

view of the valley at the edge of morgan hill, from the top of the hill at anderson lake

Rode the full length of Coyote Creek trail. Added on the extension out and up the killer, twisty, steep hill to Anderson Lake. I had to stop a couple of times to get my breathing under control. Hy..per..venti...lating. Dizzy. But beautiful at the top. Then back the whole length of Coyote and then added on a 4 more miles. Almost made it to 40 but had a hair appointment as a hard stop to get home for. I ended up doing 37.5 miles.

Friday after work

Ride from home down to the 87 bike trail to Santa Teresa. Turn around and come back. Light, easy even if it was full of exhaust and views of the highway. Reminder: don't do this route again.

Quick after work

Rode the rolling hills of Foothill from Bicycle Outfitters at Loyola Corners to Alpine and back. Nice ride, good workout, not too long. Rode with Kiersten and then off to grab dinner.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Week 2 :: Time Trial

Our ride today was the Alpine Road loop. Only 12 miles but hills and a final long 3.5 mile grade up hill the last part of the ride. This was the hardest 12 miles I have ever ridden. I suppose in a couple of months it won't seem so bad but it sucked! I kept asking why I was doing this as I was going up hill very slowly - pretty much going nowhere fast. But then I remembered our honorees and what they have all dealt with or are dealing with right now and I pedalled a little more and finally made the end.

Easy riding

30 minutes easy before work today. More like 45 with the stoplights. It was hard not to keep going because I was just getting warmed up.

1st day photos

our honorees talk about their leukemia

photos from our first training session

Day 2 - Coyote Creek

We rode for an hour today, down at Coyote Creek. We got out by 9:30 but by the time we were done it was starting to be really hot. I ended up only doing a little over 10 miles in the hour. That is pretty lame. I need to keep working so I can get faster. Sheila went about a mile or two longer than I did. Coffee afterwards. I ordered a new little camera to take with me on rides. Much more reliable than the Pencam and better quality and megapixels than the old 1st generation elph.

First training ride

We had our first training ride today for the fall TNT season. Kickoff was Thursday night and it was incredibly inspiring. The ride today was relatively easy—except for one long giant grade of a hill that was rough. I'll get there eventually. Am in pretty good shape for the flats but the hills...

We did a tire changing clinic as well and everyone had to remove a tire, take it off the rim, remove the tube and then put it all back together again. Fun.

We ended up doing a total of about 16 miles with some hills around Foothill Expressway, Arastradero, Fremont and Concepcion over in Los Altos. Not too bad.