Please don't hate me. I realize that many of you were experiencing the first snow falls of the year last week. I hope you know that I am envious of your festive snow covered streets! I would love to go outside in my winter coat and mittens and make a snow angel, and hang up Christmas lights in the blustery winter air. Instead, the high when I woke up this morning was 72. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the breeze was mild, and I went on a 34 mile bike ride in near perfect weather. Like I said, please don't hate me!
On Friday before our weekly ride, I was a little unsure if I would make it. I had developed a pretty nasty cold during the week, but I woke up Saturday feeling groggy, but decent. I met with the team in Long Beach for a planned 37 mile bike ride. My pace group went a little short, as Brad missed a turn off near the end. At that point I was feeling just fine about going only 34.5 miles. 
Before taking off we had a brief clinic about nutrition for cycling. We are supposed to get 300 calories an hour while biking, in mostly carbohydrate form so that we can refuel quickly. "Your brain requires glucose all the time. If blood sugar is not maintained...then you have serious symptoms of fatigue, disorientation, confusion and deterioration of performance." Yikes. (For some more great info, check out this article.) Coach handed out some Power Bars (PowerBar is a TNT sponsor) and some weird looking Clif Energy Shot Gel packs, and recommended that we keep one water bottle full of some sort of sports drink to help keep us going. I'm not too keen on sports drinks, it seems like a lot of them are composed of Yellow 5 and high fructose corn syrup. I did a quick google search and I'm pretty sure I can substitue a mix of orange juice, regular sugar and a dash of salt. Sounds healthier, and less expensive, so I think I'll give it a try next week.
I really enjoyed the particular route that we took this week. It was fairly flat with a couple of small hills thrown in. From El Dorado State park we meandered over to the Pacific Coast Highway, where we rode north all the way to the beginning of New Port Beach, before turning around to make our way back. The distractions along the PCH made the ride more interesting. There were classic car enthusiasts out for a morning spin, naval cruisers docked in the Marina, lots of chain stores like Best Buy and nautical themed restaurants with words like "Captain" "Wharf" and "Booty" in their names. When we got into the Huntington Beach area I enjoyed looking out upon the ocean full of surfers and sail boats, and wondering how much the beach front property must cost. At the half way point, we stopped across the street from the
National Cat Protection Society and my dubious sounding "Oatmeal Raisin" power bar proved to be pretty darn tasty. The ride back was a slightly slower repeat, but I was feeling really great at that point. My body was warmed up, I was learning a lot about when I need to shift my gears, and I was really proud of myself for doing so well.After practice I met with Coach Dave at the Redondo Beach Bikeology (conveniently next door to a Baskin Robbins....) for a quick lesson in bike parts. I have now added phrases like "compact double crank" to my vocabulary, and I feel much more comfortable browsing at end of the year bike sales. For some reason I had a lot of energy the rest of the day, I got all kinds of chores done. Maybe it was the post ride ice cream?
Next week I think we will be up north in Malibu, where I have been promised some interesting hills....
Posts
1 comment:
Along with the need for glucose, is the need for oxygen. To have enough usable oxygen, you have to have enough hemoglobin. Did you take your iron today?
Post a Comment