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.