I really should be working right now. It's not as if its the weekend and I can sit around in my PJ's browsing the web all cozy like with my laptop. No, I'm at the office with various files open in the background that I should be working on. Instead I've been giggling delightedly over the latest posts on Fat Cyclist, a blog I discovered this week thanks to a blurb on one of my favorite sites, Pioneer Woman Cooks.

I am still very new to cycling and very rough around the edges, and it is great to read about someone who has a biking persepctive years in the making. Elden, the site's creator, has been blogging about his passion for cycling for almost four years now in a very funny, tongue in cheek voice.

So far I've loved his posts on "So You Want to Be a Cyclist?" in which he perfectly sums up the purpose of bike shoes- "...You’ll be pleased to know, then, that cycling shoes are in fact the most special-purpose footwear you will ever own. These shoes, combined with special pedals, actually lock you to your bike, making it so you theoretically can pull up on the pedals as well as push down on them. In reality, of course, their main purpose is to entertain your fellow cyclists when you fall down at a stoplight, hopelessly tangled with and pinned down by your bicycle...."

And I am absolutely IN LOVE with his (somewhat playful) conclusion that junk food is the perfect biking fuel. I totally agree that if I could rig a cooler up to my bike I would bring ice cream to every Saturday practice. I can't tell you how many times I've shelled out $1.20 for a Clif bar or some such and wondered if I wouldn't be better off with a $.65 Snickers...Of course it would probably melt into a peanuty chocolate puddle in my jersey pocket. A delicious peanuty chocolate puddle, but probably not the easiest thing to eat at 15 mph.

When the blog has failed to reduce me to a childish fit of giggles, it has succeeded in moving me to tears. The blog's humor is tempered by stories about Elden's wifes battle with breast cancer, which is perhaps another reason why this webpage resonates with me. He has been successfully using the blog to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation for fighting cancer, raising over $97,000 so far.

It has been a joy to read, I highly recommend checking it out in your spare time.

This week we will be making up lost time by heading back to Malibu for 60 miles. I have been promised at least one big climb, but I'm not complaining. I have grown to love Malibu as an exceptional biking location, hills and all!

"Of course it's hard. It's supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. Hard is what makes it great."

-Jimmy Dugan, A League of Their Own

Today's Ride Canceled

This morning our ride was canceled due to rainy and wet conditions. Coach Dave called around 6:15am, and I was torn between disappointment at not being able to ride, and excitement over being able to sleep in. It felt kind of like having a snow day and not having to go to school. Hopefully it will be nice out tomorrow and I can get some riding in!

Benefits of a Bicycle Tee

2008 TNT Video

A friend just sent me a link to this great informational video about TNT. I love the woman who says "There's no choice, you just do it," and the 62 year old guy who competes in an Olympic distance triathlon. People from all over the country get involved, for all kinds of reasons. And it really is a life changing experience.


Thank you again everyone for being so supportive, I couldn't do it without you!

Back to Malibu 55.5 miles!

Last Saturday we returned to Malibu for a pretty spectacular 81 degree, sunny, not a cloud in the sky kind of day. We met across from Pepperdine University, again at Malibu Bluffs Park, and had a lovely 11 mile warm up heading north on the Pacific Coast Highway. All of this was familiar, and even those first few notorious hills I greeted with a smile. In the past I have scoffed every time one of the coaches told us that hills get easier with practice, but you know what? They're right. Malibu this time around was considerably easier than it was in December (note that that is easi-er, not easy), and we even threw in a 5 mile uphill canyon detour.

This week I biked with my mentor Greg, an attorney who is also riding his first century at Solvang, and Brad, the FedEx guy/Jazz DJ. Around mile 12 of the 55 mile route we reached Encinal Canyon, our detour up a 5 mile hill. Luckily only the very beginning was particularly steep, after that it was a pretty gentle upgrade. Judging by the number of other cyclists I saw winding their ways up and down the hill it is a very popular cycling spot, and with good reason. As you slowly travel upward the canyon takes you through pine trees and farmlands, with views of the beach down below.

Ready to tackle the hill!

There were rich smells of pine, rosemary and woodsmoke, birds and crickets chirped from the underbrush, cars were few, and I was in the company of my fellow cyclists and the great outdoors. It was a really wonderful, peaceful ride, even adding in the fact that I was BIKING UPHILL. For FIVE MILES.

Here's me taking a really stupid picture of myself.

Looking back on it now that I’ve had a couple of days to reflect, I would say the emotion I’m feeling towards that particular hill is a crazy sort of fondness. It was a long, slow trek, but large swaths of it was just me, my bike, the beach waaay down below, and sunshine. I felt very proud of myself when we reached the top. It is reassuring to know that that hill is longer than anything they have in Solvang.

Woo hill

After a brief break for water and snacks, we flew down the winding and exhilarating Mullholland Dr. I reached a top speed of 31.3mph, and while that is fun, it started to feel a little dangerous so I backed off a bit. When we finally got back down to the PCH the air was full of that briny freshness you only get on the beach.

The mountain view when reached the top of our hill.

We kept going another 8 miles or so, past Neptune's Net to the picturesque Mugu Rock, before turning around for 22 miles back to Pepperdine and our cars. It is amazing how your perspective changes when you know that you can bike more than 50 miles in a morning and you can bike uphill five miles without stopping.
After reaching Mugu the whole ride back seemed fun and while not exactly effortless, significantly more manageable than it was in December. Malibu is a wonderful area to ride in. From the scenery to all of the short up and down hills, it is just plain fun.


I feel like I have reached a great point in my training. We're more than half way to our event, I have acquired a bunch of awesome fancy biking equipment, I feel pretty comfortable with my new shoes and pedals, I'm working out a lot, hills are a little easier, and from here on out I need to keep building physical and mental endurance, and enjoy exploring Southern California with my team. (Which is pretty easy to do considering that it is 80 degrees here and -3 everywhere else in the country.)

Brad and Greg enjoying the ocean view at Mugu.

And Happy Inauguration day everyone!

Next week we will be doing the Palos Verdes Route again!

Indoor Cycling

Kimberly Fowler, owner of YAS-from a magazine article

I went to an indoor cycling class Wednesday evening. If you've never heard of indoor cycling, aka spinning, you probably think the idea is a little strange. Why would you take a class to sit on a stationary bike for 45 minutes, surrounded by 40 sweaty strangers? Well, for one, it is an amazing cardio workout. A basic spin class has 4 components

1. sprinting-going as fast as you can at a low resistance
2. getting up out of your saddle at a much harder resistance
   
3. jumps-being up out of your saddle and moving back and forth
   
4. climbs-seated but slowly increasing your resistance over a few minutes

Now throw in a motivating instructor, the adrenaline that comes with working out in a group, and some pounding rock and roll and you have a little bit of an idea of what indoor cycling is like. For more info check out this article from the New York Times.

The first time I went to a cycling class was in high school with my good friend Arika. I don't think either of us knew what we were in for, and both of us hated it. It has only been lately, as I have started century training, that I decided to give it a second try. I am so glad that I did. I go to a studio called YAS, Yoga and Spinning. It's an awesome studio that has a bonus of being pretty close to my house, and having classes at convenient times. I've been doing yoga there on and off for awhile, and the spinning class is just as good.


Last night was Alice Cooper night, though the music is up to the instructor- disco, classic rock, Beatles, Dance mix...whatever the teacher's in the mood for. I think I push myself harder in that 45 minutes than I do in any other workout all week. It's very empowering, and when my legs are flying, endorphins are flowing, and sweat is pouring I feel like my whole day is much improved.

If you're in the Venice area, I would highly recommend giving YAS a try. If not, see if you can find indoor cycling in your area.

Another inspiring video

You may recognize this billboard, it features Rick and Dick Hoyt, famous for competing in over 65 marathons, 206 triathlons and hundreds of other events as a father-son team.

When I first joined up for Solvang, a fellow TNT member sent me this link with a warning to make sure that I had tissues ready-

Watch here

Palos Verdes-53.8 Miles

Last weekend I was happy that our meeting place was only 1.9 miles from my front door, at the now familiar Del Rey Lagoon Park. This meant that I did not have to wake up at 6:15am to pack up my car, eat breakfast, and drive to a distant location like Malibu or Griffith Park. Instead, I woke up around 7, unhurriedly ate a PB&J, packed everything I would need into my jersey pockets, and biked over to the park. This also gave me 1.9 miles to become successfully reacquainted with my new bike shoes and clipless pedals.


We started off our meeting with a brief tire changing clinic. We formed teams and attempted to recall our previous lessons on how to remove, replace and re-inflate our tubes. This is something I definitely need to practice on my own. I would hate to be out on a ride by myself, far away from all of the very capable and mechanically savvy people on my team, and not be able to change a tube. I don't think that knowing how to fix a flat 'in theory' will be quite good enough when the time comes.



I know many of you are experiencing very wintry weather this week, which oddly enough is directly related to the record highs projected for Southern California. I don't want to gloat about my climatic good fortune, but our Saturday ride was pretty spectacular. The day started off rather brisk at 50 degrees, but there was bright sunshine and a promise of a high in the 70's. Luckily most of my biking accoutrements are designed to be taken apart and crumpled up into a pocket. My awesome sky blue Cannondale jacket, for example, has sleeves that are attached by magnets. Pretty nifty, no? I did find that as the ride progressed and the thermostat rose I began removing layers.

From Del Rey we biked south through Redondo and Manhattan Beach. The beginning of our ride was a pretty flat 15 miles through residential beach communities, with many stop signs and street lights for me to practice clipping in and out of my pedals. I am proud to announce that I only fell over once the whole day! (Though to be fair there were a few more very close calls.)


From there we began climbing a bit, to make our way up to the Palos Verdes area. We were met with tall pine trees, verdant landscaping, million dollar coastal homes, and as we climbed slowly higher in elevation, absolutely stunning views of the ocean down below. (The name "Palos Verdes" is Spanish for "green sticks.") I have noticed that when I tell people that I am a cyclist, the trend is for many of them to ask "Have you been to Palos Verdes yet?" I now know why it is such a hotspot for cyclists. Really, I don't think I've been on a prettier bike ride. It is comparably to the famed Amalfi Coast in Italy.

Here's my mom and Mags hiking the Amalfi coast.

And here's a picture of Palos Verdes I found online.

It was in this area, around the half way mark of our ride, that we hit the hardest part of the day-Palos Verdes Drive East. It is a 1.9 mile hill of switchbacks that reveal gorgeous ocean views as you wind your way to the top at Marymount University. Our route slip marked the hill as being 1.5 miles, but when I reached that distance the hill just kept going up up and up. So I was chugging up this hill, alternately staring at my 'cyclocomputer' as my speed went from 6 to 5 to 4.5 mph, and watching the 'miles biked number' creep up oh so slowly in .1 increments.

Here's part of the hill we climbed.

And I discovered another advantage to having clipless pedals-I knew that with my level of fatigue, and the incline of the hill, if I attempted to stop it would simply be beyond me to figure out how to unclip my foot, stop and balance without tipping over. Not only that, but getting started again would be virtually impossible! So even though it was tough, and at times I really, really wanted to, I knew that I just could not stop going. It also helped that every so often another biker would zip past me going up the hill. When we reached the top, there were several other cycling groups relaxing after the challenge of the hill, and enjoying the beautiful sunny weather and the amazing views.

See that road down there? That's where we came up from.

I'm told that the more you do hills, the easier they become. I'm still waiting for the easy to kick in. However I am comforted by the fact that every time I'm feeling a bit daunted, one of the more experienced cyclist tells me "If you can do that hill, you can do Solvang." (And then I hear Brad say cheekily, "Yeah but at Solvang it's 70 miles and then a hill like that.")


The ride back down the hill was ridiculously fun. The switchbacks were great to zip around, the views were once again, stunning, and it was such a relief to know that the hardest part of the day was over! The remainder of the ride was backtracking our route, with lots of downhills and flat terrain. We had a brief break at a 7-11 where a couple of my teammates got ice cream sandwiches, and I tried a Vanilla Flavored Electrolyte Gel Pack thing which tasted kind of like cake icing....which is really not appealing after 35 miles on a bike. The last ten miles or so seemed to be the longest of the day. I was ready to be home, showered, and back into my pajamas. We made it back to our starting point around 1:45pm, making for a ride a little over 4 hours long. There really is nothing like having lunch, a shower, and chilling out on the couch after spending the first half of your day doing something so rewarding and exhausting.


I have noticed that every week I return home less tired. The first time I biked to the farmer's market (was that really a year ago?) an easy 12 miles total, I just crashed. My legs were sore and I was mentally and physically exhausted. But now, I can manage 53.8 miles, and while I was definitely tired, I was not so beat that I felt incapacitated.

Next week-back to Malibu and more hills!

Clipless Pedals and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am hopeful that this upcoming Saturday practice will be a little easier than last week, not just because I am back into the habit of exercising every day, but also because I am the proud owner of new SPD (Shimano Pedaling Dynamics) clipless pedals and an amazing pair of shoes to go with them. All of this is thanks to my uncle Don, fellow biking enthusiast, who not only generously set me up with some awesome biking gear, but also took me out on the road to test it all out.

If you're like most people, you probably have no idea what 'clipless' pedals are. Clipless pedals require a special shoe with a cleat that clicks into the pedal, rather like clicking into skis. It is technically fairly simply to release a foot, a simple twist of your foot to one side and you will happily un-click. However, to a novice the slight delay that occurs as you roll up to a stop sign and think "Oh yeah, my feet are stuck," is ample time for you to demurely tip over. If you're lucky you will fall into a nice cushy patch of grass. If you are not so lucky, you will fall in front of a quite surprised little old lady. Learning to use clipless pedals is rather like learning to ride a bike all over again, except less cute because I am no longer six years old with streamers attached to my handlebars.


The advantages to this design are substantial if you are planning on biking long distances. For one, your feet are more stably planted. And two, you are using the strength of your legs on the upstroke of pedaling, not just on the down stroke. I am told that this will be extremely valuable on tough hills, and will help me conserve energy over the course of our rides.

Bottom of my shoe

I have been assured that every biker, even very experienced bikers, fall over a lot when they first convert to clipless pedals. I feel, well hardly confident, but a little better about using them after riding ten or so miles with my uncle on Sunday.

When we returned from our practice ride around my Uncle's neighborhood (where I started to get the hang of my pedals after the fourth time I fell over) my aunt Anne had a plate of chocolate chip cookies ready, a perfect post ride snack. Over a lovely lunch I tried to inquire if there was anything I could do to express my thanks for everything they had done for me. My aunt said simply "This is what family does," and smiled, and gave me another cookie.

Half way there!

It is really nice to be back in Los Angeles after all of my holiday travels. I flew into Illinois to attend my brother's graduation, and then drove with my family through 5 degree weather and a blizzard back home to Ohio for Christmas. Quite a change from our palm trees and 65 degree sunshine!


I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday and New Year. I had a very busy couple of weeks trying to fit in as much quality time with friends and family as possible, from making Christmas cookies with my mom (and then having our sweethearts eat them), going to see the Zoo lights with old friends, and snuggling up on the couch to watch White Christmas.


With all of that going on I had hardly a chance for exercise or biking. I did manage to make it to the gym a few times, but my priorities were definitely focused more on family than training. Compound the lack of exercise with the fact that I ate my weight in chocolate and pie, and I would say I was not prepared for our latest TNT ride.

Here I am in my swanky new cycling windbreaker, a generous gift from my Uncle Don, a long time biking enthusiast.

On Saturday I met up with the team at the LA Zoo in Griffith Park, across from the Autry Museum, where we embarked into a cool and cloudy day to explore the Glendale/Pasadena area. The ride was marked by expensive and beautiful homes, a couple of huge and challenging hills, and what would have been exceptional scenery if I hadn't been too darn tired to really appreciate it. The first ten miles or so were a breeze, (says the girl who thought 12 miles was a long ride a few months ago). I was warm with my new bike gear, and excited to be once again on a bike and out with the team. Then we got to our first big hill-La Tuna Canyon Road. 4.3 miles of seemingly never ending hill that had me thinking things that would have made my mom say "Elizabeth Lee!" if I had dared to say them in her presence. Luckily the top of the hill was our first SAG stop of the day, so I could catch my breath and temporarily ease my wobbly and untested legs.

At the top of La Tuna Canyon, refueling with a Luna Bar.

After SAG, I made the mistake of taking off my jacket, which I discovered is that last thing you want to do before careening downhill at 25 mph into the wind. I was quite chilly. From there we went along several wonderful miles of rollers, past the Rose Bowl, Suicide Bridge, and some absolutely stunning million dollar homes.

I thought at that point "OK, so I can do La Tuna, I can handle anything else this ride has to offer..." And then we got to the next big hill, Lida, which is about half as long, but at that point in the ride I was twice as fatigued. Luckily I had coach Sheldon behind me cheering me on, so I eventually, if slowly, made it to the top. From there I gave my breaks a work out as we raced down the hill to Chevy Chase Drive.

Here's Brad waiting at the top of Lida St.

This was mile 41 out of 50, and I could definitely feel the difference that a week of eating Christmas treats makes during a training season. I was pretty tired. Our route included one more hill like Lida St, but Coach Sheldon gave us the option of skipping it in favor of a flatter route, an option I gratefully took.


In the end, I made it safe and sound, if a bit shaky from fatigue. This week marked the half way point in our training season, and we've done half of our distance goal! Every weekend training session I am a little more amazed and excited about how far I can push myself. Hopefully next week I will be more into the biking groove, both physically and mentally.


Next week we are meeting back in Long Beach for 55 miles. Go Team!