K is for "Keep Pedaling"

Yesterday I participated in my second century ride. But this one was not a 100 MILE century. This was a METRIC century; 100 km - plus a little bit extra. My friend that I did the Solvang Century with back in March came out and spent the weekend. Yesterday we participated in Cruisin' the Conejo. The route took us around the lake in Westlake Villiage, through strawberry and artichoke fields in Oxnard, and past the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. It was another great ride. We both rode well, enjoyed the scenery and cool weather, and most importantly, we a good time of fellowship.

I took the picture below while climbing a hill near the Reagan Library. During the climbs I had to keep telling myself, "KEEP PEDALING" "DON'T QUIT". The following picture is my friend and me (I'm on the right) at the completion of the ride.

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Solvang Century 2008

Ready to go!

Woooo Hoooo! We did it! 100 Miles. (Acutally it was closer to 104.) The weather was beautiful. (Thanks to everyone that prayed) It started a bit chilly. My hands were numb for the first 45 minutes but it really wasn't bad. We did have a little wind but not like the "scary" winds I dealt with during some of my training rides. Fortunately, the strongest winds were at our back and worked in our favor.

We rode through some gorgeous countryside. I'm so used to city life, I tend to forget California can look like this.

Beautiful California landscape

Since I had never riden a century before, I had no idea if I had trained enough. Well, my training really paid off. I rode extremely well, especially on the climbs. I'm convinced the training dvd's I used with my indoor trainer prepared me for the tough climbs. As I've previously mentioned, the climbs scare me. Not because they can be slow and painful when hammering so hard. Rather, because I still have difficulty getting my feet out of my pedals. My constant fear when climbing is that I'll run out of strength to push the pedals and have to put a foot down. I've fallen twice previously in such situations. I literally look ahead up the hills for places that would be better to fall should I not be able to get out of the pedals quickly enough. So I press on and try to at least make it that far. I won't say the climbing was easy on Saturday, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I anticipated. I did really well. I passed a lot of people on the climbs which surprised me. I kept hearing the voice of Chris Carmichael (the training coach on my dvd) saying, "This is just like climbing." I laughed and 'answered' him saying, "This IS climbing."

Rest Stop #1

It was very special to ride with my friend. I use the word "with" loosely. We often separated and met up at the tops of hills or at the rest stops. Even still, it was a blessing to do this with him. He and I used to ride a lot together. Back in 1988 (yes, you read that right. 20 years ago) we rode from San Francisco to Los Angeles together. Except for portions of 2 of those 8 days, it was a wonderful trip! So riding together once again was very special. Crossing the finish line together was such a joy. And how wonderful it was to have Julianne, Lily, and my sister, Ellen cheering us on at the finish.

Completing this century ride less than a year after my health concerns came to light made this quite a significant accomplishment for me. I am so very blessed to have had the support of my wife through this. When I thought of giving up after coming home scared from a dangerous ride in strong winds back in November, she talked me into not giving up. (Thank you, Sweetie!)

Here are some details from the ride:

Solvang Century 2008

Start time: Approximately 7:00 a.m.
Finish time: Just before 6:00 p.m.
Actual riding time: 7 hours 30 minutes
Distance: 104 miles +/-

1988 San Francisco to Los Angeles

2008 Solvang Century

Against the Wind

With less than a week before the big ride, I thought I'd get in a few miles today on the bike. I intended on doing 31 miles but cut it short at 23 due to the wind. Now that I'm home I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts.

Notes to self regarding bicycling in the wind:

1. Know that prior to a ride, when you see the tree tops gently swaying in the distance, that means it's a flippin windstorm on the bike!
2. Pray.
   
3. When the gusts strike, hold on tighter.
4. Pray to not be scared of a little wind.
   
5. Practice getting out of your pedals faster so you can get a foot down when a wind gust decides to send you over.
6. Pray some more.
7. DON'T do it.
8. Did I mention prayer?
   
9. Stay on the indoor trainer next time.
10. Plead with everyone you know to pray for good weather for next week's century ride.

Image above taken from www.extremeinstability.com

Training & Health Update

Training Update
It's been quite a while since I've talked about my cycling training so I thought I'd do an update. I'm officially committed. At least financially. I paid my entrance fee for the Solvang Century due to take place on March 8. That leaves about five weeks left to train. The best time for me to get in my workouts has been early in the morning before work. Getting up at 4:30 a.m. is not an ideal time for outdoor cycling. Thanks to my indoor trainer, I've been getting in the miles. Since November, I've logged almost 500 miles which consists of both indoor and outdoor miles. I'm currently riding about 75 miles per week but I need to build up my long distance weekend rides though. Two weekends ago I did a 23 mile loop. Although it wasn't a long ride, I felt strong and my speed had substantially increased. I don't want to be overconfident, but I really don't think 100 miles will be too difficult come March. My only concern is the hills. From my understanding, there is quite a climb around the 75-80 mile mark of the century ride. Hopefully the climbing interval training I've been doing is preparing me well enough for this. Ideally, I'd like to head up to Solvang in advance and drive the route in order to mentally prepare.

Getting used to the new bike has been a little challenging. Being vertically challenged, I require a bike frame on the smaller size. A smaller bike frame therefore means a shorter wheelbase. Although I'm short, I wear a size 11 shoe. Big feet on a bike with a shorter wheelbase creates the problem of overlap. When my foot is forward in the 3:00 position and if I attempt to turn the front wheel, the wheel hits my shoe. How did I find this out? When I fell trying to keep my balance by turning the front wheel while at a red light. There's nothing like the feeling of dumping your brand new bike on the pavement with onlookers gawking at you from their vehicles resting at the traffic signal. A scraped knee and a helping of humble pie later, I was up and off again. My two additional falls (not the same day) I attribute to getting used to (or not) my clipless pedals.

Health Update
My weight has stayed about the same. As of this morning I'm at 187. I think since my last update I'm down about 6 more pounds. I allowed myself to enjoy holiday goodies so I basically maintained during that time. I'm trying to be down to around 175 for the century ride. 12 pounds in 5 weeks is attainable if I stay as focused as I had been. Also, my blood sugar levels have continued to be good, even with some of the sweets I allowed during the holidays. My next hemoglobin a1c check is in March and I'm confident that all will continue to be well.

Another health issue of mine over the years has been that I suffer from sleep apnea. It was determined in my initial sleep study which was done about eight years ago, that unbeknownst to me, I was waking up over 100 times per hour. Since I have lost around 120 pounds, I thought a new sleep study was in order. The new study was conducted on January 5. I had my follow up appointment with my physician last week. I was told that now I wake up about once an hour. Once! From over 100 times per hour to ONCE. Can you tell I'm excited? The doctor told me if this were an initial study, he'd say I did not have sleep apnea. He said I probably no longer need to use my cpap machine unless I feel I need it. This was great news.

Having lost 120 pounds, going from diabetic to non-diabetic, and now no longer having sleep apnea in less than a years time is a wonderful feeling. I am looking more forward than ever to completing my first century ride.

What's New

I notice it's been a while since I've posted anything. Things are good but I have felt a bit quiet. So without any specific topic, I guess I'll just mention what's been happening and what's coming up. And of course, my accompanying thoughts.

Probably the biggest news thus far, Lily is walking unassisted! This is so exciting. And yet its kind of sad. We've had her home three and a half months and this little one is growing up SO FAST. If you have not seen Julianne's post on this, go check it out. Lily also has five new teeth coming in at once. Do I need to tell you what this is like? Overall, she's doing well. This is week is definitely better than last.

At work this week during our monthly coach meeting, we had a small memorial for a coworker we lost a few weeks ago to his battle with cancer. Several people got up and had pleasant memories to share and someone even sang a song in his honor. It was very touching. As a Christian, I found it sad though, listening to what people expressed. Everyone had high hopes and wishes that he was in a better place. Yet no one seemed to have any assurance that this was the case. I could only assume that many of them had no security of this for themselves as well. The whole reason for Jesus' life on this earth was to take our place; to restore our relationship with God through His own sacrifice. The whole message of the bible is that of our need for redemption, and Christ's fulfillment of that need on our behalf; that upon our acceptance of His finished work on the cross, we could KNOW where we will be upon our own inevitable time of passing. If the message is true and if we place our faith in Him, we have no need to hope or wish.

On a much lighter note, I've been able to get out on about two bike rides per week. In all, since I've been back into bicycling, I've been on half a dozen rides or so. In my most recent rides, I've been adding hills, which I had been dreading. I found myself attacking the hills with an newly found fervor crawling up the hills at a slow and steady pace. Yet with each hill I conquered, I felt good. My breathing was heavy, yet steady. And the joy of a five-and-a-half mph climb is the 35 mph decent! My rides have ranged from an hour to an hour twenty minutes and I could easily have gone longer. The bicycling, the weekday morning workouts on the treadmill, and my disciplined eating habits have brought me over the 100 pound mark for my weight loss. I've got anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds more to go, depending on how realistic the doctor's office charts are.

As I continue to build a base for my century ride next year, I'm progressing in my search for a new road bike. Having not been on a road bike in about 18 years, I'm having lots of fun doing research, and going on test rides. Cannondale hosted a demo event locally last weekend. I asked the guy helping me prepare for my test ride, "Before I get too attached to this bike, can you tell me what this one runs?" Casually, as if this is normal, he replied, "This one runs about five thousand dollars." I can't believe I test rode a $5,000 bicycle. Not a car, a bicycle! Sure it was nice, but my goodness. I shouldn't have complained...another bike I saw in a bike shop yesterday was on sale for $8,000. The bikes I'm actually considering are far less.

Finally, the time of year is coming again that we make our annual trek down to Palm Springs for the CMC Math Conference. I won't bore you with math details, so you can keep reading. Palm Springs is absolutely gorgeous in November. It's always a nice getaway. Traditionally, on our first night in town, we enjoy a dinner at Ruby's Diner and then head a few doors down to Cold Stone for ice cream. Having deprived myself of any edible pleasures remained self controlled and determined for the past six months, I have decided to reward myself for my progress and accomplishment. Not wanting to knock tradition, we won't deviate from our plan. Like a kid on Christmas Eve, I'm so excited about going to Cold Stone. Now I have to decide what I'll get. I'm leaning towards cheesecake ice cream with coconut, white chocolate chips, and fudge mixed in (the child's size of course). MMMMM. I'm bringing my bike to work it off so I'm not worried about a little pleasant indulgence. :)

Awfully Wonderful

So I started riding again. I brought my ancient bike in the shop to have it tuned up. I replaced accessories which have been misplaced over the years. How could I lose one glove? Where could I have put that pump? What can I expect having not ridden in almost six years. My gosh, has it really been that long?

I brought the bike home and gave it a bath. It's still in incredible shape. Perhaps the low mileage has something to do with it. My 1989 Trek 7000, a mountain bike set up for road riding, was clean and ready to go. So off I went. I've completed two rides so far, a 30 minute and 45 minute ride, both rather light. Everything felt awkward. Nothing felt smooth. My cadence was off, my legs were weak, my breathing was off, my shifting required retraining, and a plethora of other things. Any onlooker would call it an awful ride. But, It. Was. Wonderful! I thoroughly and completely loved being back on my bike. My second ride was a simple eight miles. I only have to build up to another 92 to prepare for my century in March! "Piece a cake, piece a cake." (As stated by Billy Crystal in Forget Paris)


My official training, based on Marla Streb's Century Training Program, will begin in early November. So I have until then to plug fun miles and get comfortable on the bike again. Eventually I'll need to do some group rides to get used to riding in a pack. Those around me in March will be glad I do this prior to the event. I found out the hard way what its like to knock over a fellow rider. (He actually left this incident out of his post. Maybe he forgot? Maybe because it happened while training instead of "the ride"? Maybe grace?)

Finally, please encourage me to NOT listen to those that are telling me that I need a road bike as opposed to my road-ready mountain bike for the century. I went looking yesterday. When did bikes get so expensive? I think the bike I did the San Francisco to Los Angeles ride on cost around $200. Sure it was almost 20 years ago, but still. The bike I was looking at yesterday (which is considered a mid-range bike) was $1499. WHAT??? Julianne suggested that I get a sponsor. She said maybe Subway will sponsor me if I say I've been eating their sandwiches as part of my weight loss program. Not a bad idea. Cause there's no way I can justify spending that kind of money. Not when I have a bike. Maybe I'll start saving. Now there's an idea.