Westchester Parkway

Unfortunately this morning I needed to be at work at 10am, so I had to cut my ride short. I got up around 6:20 and checked the weather. The temperature was 58.9F, and as I watched it actually started to go down. I was glad I wore a long sleeve shirt under my jersey when I got out there in the wind! I don't think I got anywhere near the goal of a 30 mile ride, but it was nice to get out there and get my heart rate up. Biking over to the Westchester area is about 3.5 miles, which took around 15 minutes, and then I just sort of biked around the neighborhood until 8am when I met up with the team. I enjoyed the area, there are some really nice roads, and some hills that would be good to practice on. The TNT triathlete team was also meeting off Westchester Parkway. It was nice to see so many friends from work out there having a good time.

During our team meeting we went over mid week fitness, and how to pace line, which is basically riding behind someone to cut down on wind resistance. Haven't exactly practiced that yet, but hopefully in the next few practices I'll get the hang of it (and not go careening off into a bush.) Coach Dave also recommends getting 2-3 hours of some sort of cardio exercise during the week in between practices. Last week I got up early almost every day to go use the elliptical machine in our gym, and do some weight training. I've been stuck at work pretty late the past couple of weeks, so getting an early work out has been essential.

Next week-Thanksgiving! I'll be out of town and bike-less in North Carolina. I'm bringing some running shoes, so hopefully I'll be getting some exercise.

Fundraising-Pie Day!

Like most offices, R&H has a pie club that hosts monthly pie days. (If your office is behind the times, why don't you start one?) Usually everyone pitches in a few dollars, and votes for pie based on the offerings of the local Marie Callenders bakery, leaning heavily towards apple and key lime classics. (Every month my humble cry for 'blueberry!' goes unheeded.) However, this week the Piestapo was generous enough to lend me their time, taste buds and donation jar in exchange for beautiful homemade pies. As a friend put it, " Pie Day-Now with 100% more good pie karma!"

Sarah, my roommate, made her now famous Chocolate Bourbon Pecan pie, while I returned to a childhood favorite, Chocolate Chip, which is really just an excuse to make a giant pie shaped cookie. We also threw in an Apple Sour Cream with Streusel, and Peanut Butter Cream pie with Peanut Butter Cup Topping.

And if that wasn't enough, there were several delicious pies donated by fellow pie lovers, including Cardamon Pear, Chocolate Caramel Banana Cream Pie and Pumpkin.

Thanks to everyone's pie baking (especially Sarah's heroic 2am peanut butter cream), hungry stomachs, and generous donations, I raised over $100 towards my TNT goal.

Marina del Rey Loop-25 Miles

Here's everybody at the top of the hill near the end of our ride.

Last Saturday we met at Playa del Rey Lagoon Park to begin our 25 mile loop around the Marina. This was my first occasion using a route map, and it was nice to get used to it on my home turf. I bike around the Marina quite frequently. It's flat and very convenient to my house, and I love biking so close to the Pacific. The weather was lovely, though I'm glad we were out there early. The recent forest fires that have been raging north in Santa Barbara and south in Anaheim caused very smoky air in the city for the rest of the weekend. You can see the smoke in the distance over towards the Malibu mountains. By 2 that afternoon everything was grey and overcast.

The ride was great. We went down the Ballona Creek path for a couple of miles, and then looped around the Marina twice. I rode most of it with Audra and Doug. I was very excited to bike back into the parking lot where we started. I felt very accomplished...only to discover that we had four more miles to go! Up hill and into the wind! I was definitely struggling a bit near the end, but I made it to the top of the hill with a smile on my face. There's nothing quite like making it past the hard part and realizing you've really accomplished what you set out to do. Doug gave me a lot of advice on when I should be down shifting so I don't waste all my energy fighting wind or inclines. Usually I just keep my gears on one setting. I've never done endurance training before so I've never really had to worry about saving my strength and energy.

After making it back to our cars (again) we headed over to The Shack for the tastiest tuna sandwich and Corona I've had in a long time (I think at that point even my taste buds were tired). I also got a free TNT hat for raising over $250 in the first couple weeks. Thanks again to everyone who has donated, all of the support I've been getting is wonderful. I feel like I'm off to a great start so far and I hope to keep up this momentum.

Next week I will be baking pies to raise money at work, and we have a ride on Westchester Parkway, 30 miles.

Ain't it a beauty

Hmmm, I wonder what is in this box, it seems awfully large....


IT'S A BIKE! Isn't it lovely? My mom (who is amazing) has loaned me her bike for the season, and she and my step dad (who is also amazing) had it shipped all the way from Ohio. Thank you guys so much! I can't wait to take it out for a spin.

And thank you to our TNT mentor Doug, who is a whiz and put it together for me. He's only been into biking for a year and a half, but in that time has done 4 or 5 century rides. I hope to be just like him one day haha.

Training Schedule

Coach Dave sent us our training schedule, and we will be meeting every Saturday from now until March, for an approximate total of 908 miles. We will be zipping all around West L.A., from Long Beach to Malibu, starting out with some flat rides, and gradually increasing to a 90-ish mile practice ride, with an elevation gain of 4000 feet. Solvang is 104 miles, gaining 5000 feet.

The only big hill I have attempted is the one next to LMU going south on Lincoln, and I made it maybe 1/16th of the way up before I burst out laughing and decided to walk to rest of the way. During our practice ride on Saturday I mentioned to a fellow teammate that I was wary of January 31 ride, listed as "Climb Mulholland." I've driven around Mulholland , and those did not seem like easy hills to me! However, he scoffed at my anxiety, saying simply, "Wait until you see some of the other hills on our schedule!"

Sunday no biking, 8 mile mountain hike instead

I went hiking with some friends of mine and learned a valuable lesson-be wary when triathletes invite you hiking. We went north up to Ventura country and Point Mugu State park. From there we hiked four miles up the mountain, and then four miles back down. It was great hiking weather, around 65 degrees and very windy. When we got up near the top of our trail I was glad that I had brought a jacket, the wind really picked up and the temperature dropped considerably. We wanted to start heading back down around 3pm just to make sure we made it by sunset, so a few people in our group (namely the triathletes I was talking about) decided to jog the rest of the rocky, steep, zig zagging trail to the summit. Hey, whatever floats your boat. I took a little break and enjoyed the incredible view and huddled with my fellow slackers. (And by slackers I mean people who had just hiked and climbed up rocks for the previous 2 hours...)


Making it back down was much quicker and easier. If someone had told me how steep it would be going up there, or how far we were planning on going, I think I would have stayed on my couch with a nice cup of tea. All of us felt rightly sore, tired, and proud of our adventure. It was pretty grueling, but the company of good friends, and the mountain views, were definitely worth it. There's nothing quite like the hot shower after spending all day outside, scaling a mountain, or the soreness in your legs when you're sitting on your couch, munching on some much deserved pizza.

First Team Ride-El Dorado Park-18 miles

I met up with the West Side team for the first time this morning at El Dorado Park in Long beach, about a 25 minute drive from my house. The park covers 800 acres, including 100 acres of nature preserve. There's an 18 hole golf course, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, an archery range, wild bird, lots of trees and shade, and abundant trails for bikers. We met up near the baseball diamonds, where our coach Dave went over bike safety and equipment and we had a chance to introduce ourselves.

From there we started our bike ride. We only saw a small section of the park, as some of the roads were flooded. Mostly we went in a one mile loop past some fishing ponds and an archery club practice. It was flat, and I had a great time going at my own pace while also getting to know my fellow bikers. Our team is comprised of all sorts of people, young and old, experienced and beginner, from engineers to elementary school teachers. I got to talk to almost everyone as we made our way around the loop. Some people joined up wanting to get into shape, some are looking for a challenge, still others have been affected by blood cancers and are looking for a way to help. All in all I went about 5 miles further than I ever have in one day. To get to Santa Monica, my usual weekend ride, it about 12 miles there and back. I feel a little sore and wobbly, but also very good. Go Team!

Later in the day, after returning home for a shower and a nap, I went out to Performance in Santa Monica to investigate these 'bike shorts' I have heard so much about. Basically, bike shorts are designed to be aerodynamic and cushy. Translation-tight spandex with built in padding where your tush meets your bike seat. After 100 miles or so, I have been told I will really appreciate that padding. After our 18 miles this morning I could already tell my little sweat pants were quite lacking in some areas.


Next week-another flat ride, this time in Playa del Rey, 25 miles, followed by burgers and beer at the Shack.

I went a little bit further today, out the the second kiosk. There are not actually kiosks along the beach, just public showers and drinking fountains. But as long as I've been here I've been calling them kiosks.

The bike path along the canal goes through the Ballona Wetlands, home to all kinds of beautiful birds. I love the contrast between this preserved bit of nature and the rest of L.A.


















Here's part of the crew team that practices in the canal and the marina, I think they're LMU but I'm not sure.






Miles biked 8.16
Soundtrack-This American Life "Enforcers"

Got up at 6:30 and biked out to Dockweiller. Since daylight savings last weekend its dark by the time I leave work, so I'm trying to adjust to an early morning bike riding schedule. If you know me, you know I don't usually do early morning anything. I'm trying to go a little further everyday. It was chilly but I warmed up pretty quickly.

Returned home by 7:40 to a hot cup of tea and a roommate making frosting. She does that.



And in other news, go Obama!

Miles biked-7.18
Soundtrack-A Splendid Table (Nov 1, 2008)

Thank you Santa Monica Co-Op

I received a donation of a $25 gift card from the Santa Monica Co-Op. Thanks so much! It is going to go towards making pie near the end of November for R&H pie day, where I will be seeking donations from my co-workers. And who doesn't like pie?

If you've never been to the Co-op, they have a great selection of all natural foods, bulk spices and rice/flour/nuts/granola etc, and you can order your Thanksgiving turkey there. You don't have to be a member to shop.

Thanks Grandma!

Thanks Grandma D for being my first donation! You are awesome! I have a cosmo with your name on it.

Marina del Rey, Ballona Bike Path

After voting this morning I decided to take a spin down to the beach.
8:15am is a great time to bike down there. Generally I encounter a few other bikers, the Women's Crew team, and lots of water birds.

It rained around 5:30 this morning, and by the time I got out there the clouds were beautiful and the air was clear.

Miles biked-6ish

Venice, and what I did on Sunday

I usually get up Sunday morning and go for a pretty long bike ride, generally 10-12 miles along the coastal bike path. The path goes for about 22 miles from Malibu down past Manhattan beach. However this particular Sunday I woke up and discovered a flat in the back tire of my Trek Mocha 7.2FX . My gracious roommate gave me a ride to Helen's Cycles off of Lincoln to get a fix. They offer a discount for TNT members, and my bike originally came from Helen's, though I got my from a guy off of craigslist. While I was waiting I tried on bike gloves, finally decided on a pair of 'Attack Gloves.' I feel pretty hard core biking in them. My friend Scott suggested I bungee a boom box to the back of my bike and blast "Bad to the Bone" down the bike path.


From there I decided to take Venice to Abbot Kinney and continue onto to my original destination, the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. If anyone was wondering why I typically bike with a little white basket fastened to the front of my bike, it's because I'm a hippie and I like to carry home farm fresh vegetables. Haven't lost one yet. Though there was one morning my pumpkin tamale almost flew out of my basket in response to rough road conditions.

After loading up on purple carrots, sweet dumpling squash, garlic, onions, Arkansas Black Apples, and a skinny eggplant, I decided to wonder through the Santa Monica/Venice neighborhoods instead of taking a more direct path home. That's how I discovered that there are actual canals in Venice. Cute, no?



One of the things I have come to love about this city is how continually surprised I find myself. Los Angeles excels at hidden treasures and oddball landmarks. And most of them I would have never seen if I hadn't been out biking. The canals are delightful. Ducks swim about, families push baby strollers gently across bridges and every house seems to have a canoe or kayak tethered to their porch.


And I should really learn how to fix my own flats....

Miles biked-7.14

Welcome

Look, I already have a purple shirt!

A couple of weekends ago I attended a Team in Training (TNT) information meeting at R.E.I. in Santa Monica, and walked away inspired, excited, and signed up for the Solvang Century Ride in Santa Barbara. If anyone has seen the movie Sideways, it was filmed in the Solvang/Santa Ynez Valley area, so you have a pretty good idea of how lovely this part of California is. The century ride is a 100 mile bike ride on March 14th, 2009.

This is TNT's 20th year, and so far they have raised over $950 million dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS,) a national voluntary health agency dedicated to curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improving the quality of life of patients and their families. My goal is to help raise $2200 for this wonderful cause.

Here's how you can help-

-You can donate directly to me through the following link. I would love to surpass my goal by leaps and bounds. I have a few events in mind, like a breakfast bake sale, but direct donations are essential to reaching my goal. All donations are tax deductible.

-Send my info on to your friends!

-See if your work has a donation matching program!

-Sign up! If you are interested in training for an event in your area, check out Team in Training. TNT operates all over the country, training people for triathlons, biking events, and running and walking marathons. Trust me, if I can do this, you can too!

-Have any old books, cds, movies or video games collecting dust on your shelf? I am holding an online garage sale to sell pretty much anything with an ISBN# through my Amazon account. If you have anything in mind, you can ship it to me directly, or I can list it and you can send it when it sells from where ever you may be.

I have been inspired by numerous friends who joined Team in Training in order to compete in the Malibu Triathalon last September. I am incredibly excited about participating in my own event and doing my part for this wonderful cause.
There are so many great reasons to participate in a TNT event raising money for LLS, but more than anything I am doing this in memory of someone we all lost last summer to leukemia. It is my hope that through organizations like LLS, we can work towards a cure, and provide much needed support for those who are sick.

Thank you so much for your help and support! Check back often for updates on my training progress.