Jenny's Team in Training Adventures

2010-01-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, I've really not been doing so well updating the blog have I?!

Today we did a lovely ride from Poinsettia train station down to Torrey Pines and then back, with a little loop in between. I decided to move up a group and it was really fun to ride with the B3 team. I was a bit slow on the hills, but they were really sweet waiting for me and lots of fun to hang out with.

We rode 46 miles and did 2k feet of climbing.

It always takes me a little while to get adjusted to riding with other people, I'm a pretty nervous person as it is, and riding close to someone takes a lot of work. The wind was so strong that I was able to ignore my nerves in order to save energy!!

This was basically a repeat of the ride we did a couple of weeks ago. Last week I managed a similar mileage out in east county, which was interesting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T10:54:00.000-08:00

Quick 11 mile ride, 800 ft of climbing. Feel really energized after sprinting!

Went down through presidio park and then went up and down the ocean beach bike path to hotel circle and then back down to ocean beach, then back up through the park. The smell of thanksgiving was truly intoxicating in Mission Hills! I was like the bisto kid!

I'm thankful for

Great weather
Wonderful bike paths
Lovely husband
Fluffy cat
Team in Training for helping me get on my bike a bit more
Wonderful friends

Right then, I'm off to get some dinner going! Have a wonderful day!

Back again!

2009-11-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd keep myself honest by blogging about my training. My bike riding has become sporadic and I've not kept it up, so I decided to sign up for another program with Team in Training to keep me riding properly. I've not ridden with other people for months, so its definitely time to get back out there riding.

I already managed to bale on the first week of training around Fiesta Island, but I did manage a ride this weekend.

Stats for week 1 : 20 miles and 700ft climbing. A really beautiful ride around mission bay and then harbor island and back home again. I'm resolving to make sure I do at least 1 ride over thanksgiving weekend of 30 miles or more.

I'm so lucky to live in a place where its warm and sunny even in late november!!

Here's my fundraising page for anyone interested. I'm trying something new this season, I'm making cakes for my fundraiser, and as you can see, its going pretty well!!

Death Ride 2008! This time with weather!

2008-07-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

We got up ridiculously early and made our way to Markleeville, getting on the road by 5am! It was a real thrill to be speeding down the road in the dark, following a trail of blinking red lights trailing into the distance!

We started up Monitor Pass as it started to get light, and quickly enough, my team-mates were doing what they do best, peeing behind a bush! So I continued my ascent very slowly, taking a moment to look at the flowers. I was surprised to find that it was a lot darker than I had realised and my camera still needed a flash.

We carried on with my legs complaining bitterly, and the view opened up to a breathtaking panorama of the valleys below.

Its hard to complain when you have views like this! The wildflowers were so stunning, they really took my mind off things.

Slowly but surely we reached the SAG at the top and stuffed our faces with bagels and clif bars. A quick stop at the actual summit, where we discovered my saddle was so loose it had nearly fallen off!

Spirits were high as we started a fantastic descent. It is really one of my favourite parts of the ride, there are no tight turns, just sweeping wide turns, I thought maybe I ought to slow a little as I was at around 30 mph and I looked down and my speedo showed over 45mph! Wow, what a rush!

We ditched our lights and most of our clothing. I was very happy later that I'd been my usual self and decided to keep my vest!

We started to worry a little as Christine, the downhill queen, was not behind us, and we quickly discovered she'd got a flat. It was wonderful to see Dianna, her boyfriend Aaron, and Tom had made it and were looking chipper and doing great.

We started back up and Fern was really suffering, I was very happy to continue going nice and slowly and pacing myself.
Here is Lisa storming up the hill. She really got in her groove, as she slowly disappeared up the hill with Diana. We stopped briefly for a rest and the potty, and were in awe of the boys that were running up and down and filling up everyone's bottles.

They were really enjoying themselves, and so encouraging!

Snaking along Monitor Pass, the ascent was made harder by seeing it all ahead of us, but when we looked down to where we'd come from we realised we were doing pretty well!

I had time to get my picture taken, look at beautiful views, and take a picture of the funny looking lettuce sunflowers.

We bumped into Christine at the top, she'd got going so quickly we didn't even see her! That was great news!

The descent was again a lot of fun, we definitely had a lot of fun and got really cheered up, and it was wonderful to see Rick, Melissa and Joanie cheering us on. We pressed on as we were keeping a good pace, but had to stop at this spectacular view of the river.

The next fun was Ebbetts Pass. I think I learned a new variety of swear words, and added to them myself on this pass. This was a lot harder than I remembered, although I was chuffed with myself for not bursting into tears this year!

We continued up brutal switchbacks and steep climbing for miles until we finally made it to a lake near the top.

I was really happy to accept a twizzler and have a bite of the lovely mojo bar I'd picked up at an earlier sag, then fern showed up and we descended.

I didnt really notice at the time, but you can see it was really starting to cloud over. I was very happy to get the cloud cover at the time.

It was great to see DJ at the bottom, he seemed to be doing pretty well, although he was a bit shaken up by Ebbetts. He was ready to tackle the other side and we waved him off!

We continued the grind up the backside, suffering as we pedalled. I managed a gu and knew we were cutting it a bit fine and needed to really keep on plugging. I made it to the top with a smile, and saw Phil with a binbag on. How odd! I very quickly realised it had been raining, and huge drops started to fall. These were followed by big chunks of ice, hurting my face and hands and everywhere they hit me. I decided to shelter under a tree.

Fern caught me up and was shivering uncontrollably, and a nice lady gave her a bin bag (but didnt invite us in!!) and we continued our descent very carefully. You cant really tell from these pictures, but there were rivers running down the road, our most technical descent, which is very tricky in the dry was just becoming lethal.

We walked around the hairpin bend as it was just too dangerous, and had to stop a couple of times because my brakes stopped working altogether.

I was determined to make it to the lunch stop at the bottom, I'd seen no SAG vehicles or any kind of support, so we slowly made our way down. I was glad, they had shelter and soup and we started to warm up, and Christine and Phil caught up with us too.

At this point I realised there was no way we were going to finish a 5th pass as we were going to miss the cutoff. I was very sad, and it was really hard to come to terms with, but we had to stay safe, and it just wasnt safe to descend Ebbetts any quicker than we did.

Thankfully fern was laughing at me so much I cheered up a lot, Phil and Christine made it to the lunch stop too. Lisa and Dianna were too shaky to continue, and thankfully a very nice man gave them a ride.

There was no hope of rescue for us, so we continued on to where Rick and Joannie were and I regretted not giving them a change of clothes just in case! It was fun to see them though!

We quickly got back on the road to Markleeville, and were pelted on again as we rode, but we warmed up in the rain and I was very happy to get to Turtle Rock and have a beer and something to eat.

All said and done the ACE chicks managed 87.4 miles and 11800ft climb. Not too shabby!!

We enjoyed chatting with Chuck and Doug, who finished the 5 passes and were just beaming. I met some people from Sacramento and then started to get a bit miserable waiting for DJ. He finally arrived, victorious, and we set off back to the hotel. I cant believe he managed to make it down Ebbetts, safely and fast, then he managed to make the cutoff and ride the 5th pass. The rain didn't clear until he made it up to the top for his pin and his ice cream! What an amazing guy!

It was an amazing experience, the whole team just did wonderfully, Chuck, DJ, Tom and Doug did brilliantly, getting all those 5 passes, the Ace chicks did their best, and we really missed AJ who was sick that day and couldnt ride with us. Get well soon, AJ!

Death Ride 2008-Leading up to the big event!

2008-07-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here is DJ, with our bikes in the truck. We drove up on the Wednesday night/Thursday morning, just in time to pick up our race packs for the Death Ride and start to get really excited!

We then had a really nice relaxing afternoon in lake Tahoe, while DJ had a massage, followed by a delicious italian dinner with lots of wine/beer.

I was very relieved when Coach Phil announced our tune-up ride would be starting at around 9.30 am as we were pretty tired!

We got up and drove over to a lake, and enjoyed a spectacular ride up to 'Blue Lake'. We were captivated by the beautiful wildflowers, and the stunning scenery.

I was really happy to capture the beauty of the lovely lupins by the side of the road, but there were many more spectacular flowers everywhere!

We were quite worried by the smoky air, but only now do I realize how hazy it was with all the wildfires that were going on.

The ride continued up and down some rolling hills, ending up at the beautiful Blue Lake.

There were some interesting sights, including this joke bathroom which some of us fell for!

I saw Phil resting on a rock, and I thought we'd be enjoying a nice leasurely break by the lake, but the mosquitos were everywhere and we were getting bitten to pieces, so we made our escape pretty quickly!! Notice the forced smiles and the 'take the photo-quickly' expressions!!

We then made our way back to Minden and had lunch and a leisurely afternoon. We were happy to see a pizza place right next to the hotel so we had our carb loading dinner then tried to rest up before our super early morning the next day!

An 87 mile tour of san diego!

2008-07-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful ride! After such a lot of hills, 87 miles and 3700 ft climb was just lovely!

We started off in Solana Beach and rode up the coast to Torrey Pines, you can see how foggy it was! Very muggy. I wondered whether I was happier with humid or hot, I didnt have to wonder for too long, we set off along miramar and up Pomerado Road through Poway and it got hotter and drier and that was pretty intense too!!

We had a nice stop at macdonalds, sampled their giant iced coffee, then made our way through escondido and around Bonsall, coming across the
Pardee Nursery. We stopped to take a photo to send to Wes, apparently he's not big into trees, so he'll probably be a bit bemused by the photo, oh well! It sounds like he's on the mend, and we're all thumbs up to that!!

We then made our way to Oceanside, got a killer paceline going on the bike path, then sped our way along to Swamis for a quick rest stop and then back to Solana Beach.

It seemed rude not to stop for pizza and beer at pizza port!

So thats it, we're all starting our journeys up north to the death ride, for a short ride on Friday, then the event is on Saturday. Wish us luck! Hopefully everyone will be able to get over their nerves, enjoy the scenery and have a really fun day!

Palomar repeats!

2008-06-30T07:08:00.001-07:00

This one's for you, Wes!! We wanted to show our support to wes with a thumbs up, Chuck very kindly took the picture, and stopped and took lots of pictures of us on our way up palomar. We were very pleased on the way home to read that wes is starting to improve and to respond a lot more, which is wonderful news!!

We started off very happy with the early start, it was a beautiful morning, and our first time ascending the east of Palomar, we were treated to almost empty roads, and beautiful golden sunshine and fantastic views!

For our final heavy training week we set about doing palomar repeats. You can see from the green line that there was a lot of climbing! I was hoping we'd manage three repeats, but the heat was too much, so we managed one east grade and one south grade including a ride to the observatory, then we managed a few rides down to the dip in the shade on the way to the observatory.

I got in 10, 270 ft of climbing and 70.8 miles, hopefully enough to get those 5 passes done in two weeks!

Our thoughts are with Wes

2008-06-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

I'm sure I speak for everyone on the ACE team when I say my thoughts are with Wes for a speedy recovery from the nasty accident he had on Sunday.
Please see Matt's blog for updates and to leave comments

Phew what a scorcher!!

2008-06-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

Wow, today was hot! Thanks Phil for changing the location of our ride!

We were suffering with the weather around the 90's on Soledad so I cant even begin to imagine how hot it was up at Rincon and Palomar!

We struggled up Soledad's 5 faces a few times, including the 17% Pacifica then went through La Jolla Shores and up to Del Mar for a very well earned coffee break!

Upon reaching the top of Torrey Pines hill, most of the team decided to wind things up, we split into a group going down Gilman back to the parking lot, and a silly group going up Via Capri. Guess which one I picked!!

I thought I was going to throw up, but I made it to the top and was very pleased to see Rick, Tom, DJ and Coach Phil waiting for me. I threw some water on my head, gathered my thoughts, and decided to try and get a bit more climbing in before calling it a day.

I made it down Nautilus, a detour around Windansea beach, then to Cardeno. Phew. My Garmin still only registered 7800 ft climbing, but I'm hoping it will register as 8k when I download it! I also managed 70 miles.

Solamar again, this time with the observatory!

2008-06-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

This week seemed even hotter, we started off from Solana Beach at 7am and it was warm. We made our way to Escondido, the Del dios climb was hard as we knew how far we still had to go. But once we started up Lake Wolford Road, spirits were high, Christine was kind enough to help coach Phil with a push and we were looking forward to our first sag at the lake. We met the wonderful B'ones, who were cheering us on the whole day.

Things were going well although we really suffered on the lower slopes of Palomar. It seemed hot and humid and was really hard to keep sane in the heat. Thankfully the Bones were there every step of the way, at the bottom of Palomar, then twice more to give us water and lots of cheers. Poor Diana was really suffering, but she did really well and we all made it up to the top, rode up to the observatory and stopped for a delicious lunch at Mothers Kitchen. Our spirits were high, and we tackled the miserable Rincon Grade and had more snacks at the school and things were getting better and better.

It was an extremely long day, getting back to the cars at 7pm, but we were all very proud of our achievements, 108 miles and 11,000ft climbing! There were only 5 of us, but Tom was unbelievable, doing a repeat, then coming back for Diana, Christine and Diana did great, finishing with a smile despite trepidation, and coach Phil was as kind and patient as always!

I also saw lots of pretty flowers, the lupins were all out to greet us and there were some other beautiful flowers to catch our eye and take our minds off the climb.

Solanomar finally!

2008-06-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

This week we finally managed to take on the challenge of the 'Solanamar' ride, starting in Solana Beach, riding through Rancho Santa Fe and then up through Escondido and then past Lake Wolford and up Mt Palomar.

The flowers had changed again, it was a very warm day by the time we made it up to the mountain and we suffered on the lower slopes.

Our intention was to make it to the observatory, but it was all I could do just to make it to Mothers Kitchen. There's always next week! Tom and DJ made it up there for us!

Unfortunately Dianna was the first to start suffering with a bad knee. I'm hoping she feels better next week. Paul really suffered with the heat but made it to the top of the mountain.

We had a really fun downhill cheering at the Race across America folks going up the mountain, then we started our long slog back to Solana Beach.

Rincon Grade was really stifling and hard work, we struggled up the hill and were really happy to see Rick waiting at the school with snacks.

This rejuvenated us and the heat started to ease off and we got a good clip going past lake wolford. We got to Kit Carson park for more snacks, then could start to 'smell the hay in the barn', which was great. Poor Christine was really suffering by this point and had to call it a day at Del Dios highway.

Wow, what a day!! Congratulations, ACE team!! We were honored to have a new member join us, coach DJ. My totals ended up being 99 miles, 10,000 ft climb.

Tahoe 2008!

2008-06-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Americas most beautiful bike ride really lived up to its name this year. We had a wonderful trip. We had a good practice ride, where we made our way towards the Death Ride passes and stretched out our legs, then had a good pasta dinner.

We were up bright and early with a 5am breakfast, ready to ride at 6am in the parking lot. I had my camelbak all prepared with jim's photo and was all ready on time.

We made our way up the treacherous Emerald Bay switchbacks and were rewarded by a beautiful view and lots of cheering

Here are the cheerful Paul, Fern and Christine

We then made our way down a very fast hill and along to the road to Truckee. The river was more beautiful than ever, so we stopped to admire the view and take a few pictures.

The sag stop at truckee is pretty ugly, but it was nice to see our co-ordinator, heather cheering us on and giving us pretzels!

We also passed by the legendary squaw valley, site of the olympics about a million years ago

Just as we started to get a little tired and hungry, we realised we'd made it to the beautiful kings beach. We grabbed our sandwiches and rested on some rocks to eat them. Here is the legendary coach phil enjoying his lunch with Dianna.

Paul entertained Christine, Lisa and Fern while they ate!

We also saw a really cute dog all dressed up in a TNT tee shirt, bless.

We continued our journey around the lake and came across a really picturesque spot and stopped to admire the view again, and then took our pictures and tried not to fall down the hill!! Looking over the lake at the other side it was amazing to think that we'd come from there!

When we neared the finish line, we all lined up to wait for the rest of the team and Coach DJ did his best to try and entertain us and keep our mind of beers at the finish line by doing an impromptu cheerleading session and a cartwheel! When the rest of the team arrived all smiles, we made our way in a very impressive double paceline. This is the first year I've done a century where everyone has finished. Not just finished, mind you, finished smiling, then gone to the party after and closed down the dance floor! Tahoe 2008 was really one to remember. It was also wonderful to know that the people that rode that day rasied $8.5 million to fight blood cancers.

My Tahoe ride is dedicated to Jim Garland

2008-05-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

I had some very sad news last week, my friend James' dad died of a very rare form of Lymphoma that was in his brain. He fought against it for 8 months, but he lost the battle last week with his family all around him.

The least I can do is dedicate my ride to him and to know that hopefully some of the money that I raised will go towards advances so that things like this will be less common and there will be more treatment options and recoveries.

More training!

2008-05-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't really take any photos on our Saturday ride, it was pretty short and sweet! We did 42 miles and then ate pizza and cakes and talked about our event next weekend.
We're all very excited to be going up to tahoe!

Since we missed out on a climbing ride, I met up with Lisa and DJ and we rode up Palomar together. It started off a little chilly, and then was positively arctic when we got to the top. Thankfully mothers kitchen was there with a truly outstanding piece of apple pie for me and hot chocolate all round!

We then rode up to the observatory and back down the mountain. I'm so glad we did this as it warmed us up a bit for the descent. We enjoyed a beautiful descent down the east grade, then immediately regretted coming down that way as we had to contend with crazy traffic on the road back to the south grade. Oh well, something not to try again!!

No solamar yet!

2008-05-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, thankfully our coach realised that Solamar might be a bit over the top for such a hot day!! We started off at kit carson park and then up Palomar. Things didnt go too well, paul broke his seat post, Nancy was suffering from a cold and then Joannie very suddenly discovered that V8 juice didnt agree with her!

I had a good day, although I had to try to persuade everyone to 'think cool thoughts'. Unfortunately lisa also lost her car keys so she had to get a lockmith out.

Not our best day, but we all tried really hard and everyone is really improving. Christine was so fast she was a blur, and Dianne is really getting faster both on the uphills and the downhills.

Thankfully the wildflowers were still there to cheer us on, the Lupins are looking particularly spectacular this week.

May 10th ride- Tour of Poway, Ramona and Julian

2008-05-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a ride! We really pushed ourselves this week and got some real miles in! It was a perfect day, great weather, everyone smiling, brilliant pacelines, and we all cheered each other on to finish. Most of us needed a bit of encouragement along the way, but we had a great day and were very proud of our 97 miles and 7000 ft of climbing!

The first pictures are of beautiful bandy canyon, which looks like it got a big hit with the fires, and the other pictures were at the bottom of mussey grade. What a lovely view!

Thanks so much to Kim for helping us out at SAG. The out and backs seemed so much easier knowing there was a PB and J at the end of the road!

Having said that, I think Old Julian Highway was my lowest point, I realised that I was just riding up the road to ride straight back down again! I was really close to turning round, but I made it to the end and past the camel farm and some twitchy looking turkey vultures!

Update on last few weeks

2008-05-13T21:04:00.001-07:00

Well there's good news and bad news. I didnt take any pictures on the 3rd may as my car was broken into on the Friday night, so it was all I could to just to rush and catch up with the team and try and do as much of the ride as I could!

The previous week was fun though, Tom Heatly brought the warm weather back with him for our Palomar ride. We did 71 miles and 8,500 ft of climbing, which we were all very proud of! The ride was a beautiful one, with the wildflowers at their peak. We stopped off at the lovely Lake Wolford in both directions for a break.

After the ride we all had cupcakes and celebrated Phil and Christines birthdays with Pizza and Beer, which was a wonderful way to celebrate, and finish off a great day!

Our first time up Palomar!

2008-04-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

And it couldn't have been a better day, it was a little chilly and sometimes the breeze was a little strong, but it was lovely and cool. We started off at Kit Carson Park, wound our way through escondido, then past Lake Wolford and the casinos, then started the long climb up the mountain. Everyone did brilliantly, it was hard for those of us who hadnt done quite as long a sustained climb before but everyone made it all the way up the mountain and 14 miles of continuous climb.

There was a sneaky little extra of a climb up to the observatory, where we started to notice the rarified air a little more (all good training!!) but its a really fun downhill and got us ready for the long descent.

For anyone on the edge of their chair, we did a total of 8619 ft of climbing and 71.24 miles.

Thanks so much to Kevin for helping us with SAG and cheering us on. He even helped other cyclists along the way, giving one guy a lift back to Lake Wolford.

Hot like a furnace!

2008-04-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Here is fern resting up at Rainbow Market, it seemed to really sum the day up with the trippyness of it. Cooel!

We had a really hot day, but everyone did really well and tried their hardest. We were joined by our awesome coach, DJ who kept us smiling and cheered us on all day.

And thanks so much to Tom for helping us out with SAG. He really was wonderful, picking up tons of people to take back, and bringing us the most delicious rosemary potatoes. On a hot day its really hard to keep up with eating, but these were so delicious that we couldnt resist!!

We were treated to a lovely view of the flower fields on our final part of our ride, we were almost too tired to enjoy it!!

Congratulations to Christine in particular, who was really suffering but finished the whole ride with a smile!

Couzer Canyon

2008-04-06T16:51:00.001-07:00

Well, this week was another hard week, with 84.3 miles and 6700 ft of climbing. Quite a jump really, we did a few less miles than last week and an extra 3000ft of climbing! It took a very long time and we finally made it into the parking lot tired but happy!

The day's excitement started with us seeing a helicopter landing on the old 395 and nearly knocking some of us over with its force, we then wound our way up hill after hill, enjoying a lovely sag in Bonsall with the main team, which was nice.

We then started up the lovely climb of Couzer Canyon, rewarded with SAG at the top. As we enjoyed our PB and J's, we got to watch tom climb up an impossible hill, 'check his shoes' and then race back down. He's an unbelievable athlete and we're in awe.

More delights awaited us, the lovely Joanie rushed up champagne and rewarded us with a strawberry at the top!

Yay! Interstate 5!

2008-04-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

This week I didnt take any photos as I was being a bit of a grouch again. We rode 90 miles up the coast from UCSD to San Clemente, and we werent allowed on the military base because of the ironman, so we had to ride on the I5, which sucked.

It was an important training ride, to get our speed up on the flats and get some good miles in. I just dont really care for that ride, so I was a bit miserable.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of beautiful east county and getting some hills in. It seems to suit me better mixing things up with some hills, it gives me a chance to rest on the downhills, then work hard on the uphills, then it seems to be different muscles on the flat.

Everyone did really well though, the team spirit was there, so thats good news!

I managed to do a couple of spins this week, so I kept nice and fit.

Tour of Hidden Valley Road

2008-03-28T14:38:00.001-07:00

Wow! What a wonderful view we had on Saturday! It was a truly beautiful day, and wonderful to see the wildflowers. They are better this year than I've ever seen them, probably due to the rains. This whole area was burned by the fires, and we saw some sad sites, and a few people living in trailers next to their burned out houses. I guess the burn areas are looking really beautiful with new growth. I dont know if they specifically included wildflower seeds when they sprayed the hillsides with seeds, but it sure looks like it!

As for ride stats, we did 70 miles and 5000ft of climbing. Golly gosh it was our hardest day yet. As you can see it was blazing hot sunshine, about 30 degrees hotter than last week, so we all found it hard going riding in the heat. I think its good training all in all, but just not all at once like this!

My arm coolers did a good job of keeping me cool though, I kept pouring water on them and they will be with me for the rest of the season. Its a bit annoying our jerseys have black arms, but I think I'll be getting rid of the arms on mine soon enough.

The team were really wonderful and didnt mind waiting for each other, then we all pulled each other home along windy and nasty miramar road....

This week I just managed a couple of spins while watching david attenborough in the south pole and a lot of gory action in terms of seals and penguins.

We're stopping spin classes on a Thursday and doing hill repeats, so I'll look forward to seeing my team on mt soledad from now on!

More Rancho Santa Fe Fun!

2008-03-18T21:47:00.001-07:00

Look at all those smiling faces!! We had a great ride on Saturday. I had a really hard time, particularly when we started, I just felt a bit under the weather and very tired.

Thankfully it was a great ride and everyone did really well, we all made it up the steep via capri up mount soledad, which was great!

I also managed the usual spin on Monday and Thursday.

Climbing Demons!

2008-03-10T13:16:00.001-07:00

This week I did my usual spin on monday in front of a film, I managed a few laps with my mentee around fiesta island on Wednesday, then we had spin class on Thursday with Phil. Its always a lot easier spinning with other people, and it was extra fun as the whole team was together.

I couldn't believe how much difference a week could make in the weather! Instead of grey drizzle we were treated to blue skies and golden sunshine, it was even a bit too hot at times. We started from Mission Bay straight up Mount Soledad. Start as you mean to go on, I guess! We then made our way over to Ranch Santa Fe and did all kinds of loops and hills around there, we stopped off at this beautiful but deserted park for a quick bathroom break, then more hills.

Next was up torrey pines, followed by our last climb of the day up Soledad again. We made our way up past some unbelievable homes, a hearst castle wannabe, a japanese mansion. And of course stunning views!

We then made our way back to the car and realised that we'd managed over 4700 ft of climbing in only 55 miles! Way to go ACE team! That was a big step up from 65 miles and 2700 ft of climbing! I was in awe of everyone, we all did great. I think this is going to be a wonderful season!

Week 3-Tour de bonsall with more hills!

2008-03-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

This weeks training went pretty well. On monday I did spin in front of 'Lost in Translation' then I showed up to proper spin class at Hi-tech bikes. Gosh its a lot more intense when you've got a bunch of people with you. I must try to work harder when its just me.

On Saturday I started the drive up to Poinsettia train station in the drizzle, which wasnt a good sign. It wasnt actually raining so we rode anyway.

It was a really fun ride, bit chilly, you can see that despite the hill climbing, we kept most of our layers on. It was the kind of day that Brits would be very happy with, but Californians stay in doors with a hot chocolate and a book!

We managed 64.5 miles and nearly 3000ft climbing, everyone seemed pretty happy and our paceline improved significantly, which I was very happy with, as I got to draft of people in the chilly wind!

Its got to the stage where I need to crack open the oatmeal. The night before a longer ride I'll leave some oats in the microwave in some boiling water and they are ready to be warmed up for breakkie in the morning and they keep me going all day. Other breakfasts just dont seem to cut it, but the oats always work.

Tour de Bonsall

2008-02-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well this week I did well with Monday spin in the parking lot and Thursday got rained out but I managed to work hard in front of Sherlock Holmes on the telly.

Saturday we started off in Carlsbad and did a wonderful 58 mile ride up the Oceanside bike path and out to Bonsall. It was so green and pretty! Everyone did really well despite us getting a really good paceline out on the bike path and pushing ourselves hard.

We also seem to have managed to get on the Death Ride, so that will be fun. Well, it will be hard. I'd like to do it again and try and have fun this time, it was such a beautiful ride!

Welcome!

2008-02-22T15:45:00.000-08:00

I've decided to keep track of my cycling adventures in a little blog. Not sure how much anyone will be interested in this, but its good for me to keep track of things.

So I've taken up with the ACE team again, thats 'Altitude, Climbing and Endurance'. We started off with a wake up saturday, doing a time trial up our most notorious climb, Torrey Pines hill. A 400ft climb in a mile or so. Then we did time trials round fiesta island. It was a real fun group and I can tell we're going to have some good times!

The following week we tackled the '5 faces' of Soledad Mountain. 800 ft climb in total but we didnt go all the way to sea level. I was doing so well, I decided to try via capri, which was a shame as I went through a bunch of nails and ended up with a flat tire!!

Week 2 25 miles 3200 ft climb

I also managed to meet up with team-mate paul and we did a spin class in the parking lot at work. It was nice to have company as I usually get bored really quickly at home on my own.