I was dying to ride my new bike. The weather has been lousy and my schedule way to full to allow it but I set a goal to ride my bike to work today. I work half days on Fridays and it is casual dress day as well so I thought it was a perfect time to do it. It had been raining and the forecast called for raing. Keeping hope alive, I prepped all my gear the night before in hopes of getting an early start if the skies were clear. I set the alarm for 5:30 am and rushed to look out the front door. Clear enough. Suited up in my skin-tight padded bike shorts, dorky looking helmet, sleek new biking gloves and long-sleeve biking jersey and headed out the door.
I had planned my route the night before from a bike transit map I ordered. There are several obstacles to traverse on my way to the office including getting across Mission Valley with Interstate 8 smack in the way. The route I chose took me about a 2-miles east out of my way to be able to get to a road with a bike lane that got me across the Valley. The trip was pretty dodgy in parts when my bike lane suddenly disappeared when a car lane merged in from the right and I ended up in no man's land. Not great when you are speeding down a steep hill going 25 mph. I was very careful and just stopped when I need to until I got a clear path. Overall the trip was 9-miles each way and took me 45-minutes. A very reasonable commute that I will definitely repeat.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Carlsbad Half
Christine and I did the Carlsbad 1/2-marathon today. It was brutally cold in the morning so I was glad to have my long sleeve shirts and Ireland-found gloves to walk in. There was incredible traffic and we showed up at the start line just as the race gun went off. No time to stretch. Not good. We had both set a goal to try and complete the race at 3hrs flat. This is my second 1/2-marathon. My time for the Rose Bowl one in December was 3hrs 8mins. I didn't push too hard on that one so I was confident I could improve my time, although 3 hours was pretty ambitious. To hit that mark, I needed to average a 13.43 min/mile. I can regularly cruise at 13.30 so I thought it was possible.
No stretching means that we started out more slowly than I would have liked in order to loosen up. I had also left my GPS watch on "bike" mode so I had to struggle with changing the setting while on the move. We warmed up after a mile or so and then tried to pick up the pace. We tried to make up time and were going at around a 13:20 min/mile pace for a large portion of the race. Around mile 9 or so, I started to run out of steam and my speed really started to slow down. I think pushing too hard early one really just wore me out for the last few miles. The last mile was an incredible slow 16:50ish min/mile!
Final time was 3hrs 6mins. It is still a respectable time for a walker but there is definitely room to improve. A couple of things that I will change for the next race:
1) More sleep! 5 hours of sleep before a race is not enough
2) Eat more on the course. I was lazy with my gels and lost energy on the way
3) Remember to eat salt on the course. I was trained better than this
4) No biking the day before. It was only 10-miles but my legs were tired out. I tend to put a lot of miles on them.
Next race is probably San Dieguito on February 10.
No stretching means that we started out more slowly than I would have liked in order to loosen up. I had also left my GPS watch on "bike" mode so I had to struggle with changing the setting while on the move. We warmed up after a mile or so and then tried to pick up the pace. We tried to make up time and were going at around a 13:20 min/mile pace for a large portion of the race. Around mile 9 or so, I started to run out of steam and my speed really started to slow down. I think pushing too hard early one really just wore me out for the last few miles. The last mile was an incredible slow 16:50ish min/mile!
Final time was 3hrs 6mins. It is still a respectable time for a walker but there is definitely room to improve. A couple of things that I will change for the next race:
1) More sleep! 5 hours of sleep before a race is not enough
2) Eat more on the course. I was lazy with my gels and lost energy on the way
3) Remember to eat salt on the course. I was trained better than this
4) No biking the day before. It was only 10-miles but my legs were tired out. I tend to put a lot of miles on them.
Next race is probably San Dieguito on February 10.
The next big thing...
is my new bike! I'm now the proud owner of a 2007 Lemond Versaille road bike. Christine and I tested a bunch of different models and brands while we searched for the perfect bike do our next TnT event. We are going to be riding our new bikes 100 miles at the, (and I quote) America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride. Take a look at this Map. Crazy. We looked at a lot of brands including Giant, Trek, Specialized, Scattante, and Bianchi. I also looked at Fuji and Schwinns. The Lemond was the one that I liked the best and it was on sale. Not bad when you can get a $2,100 bike for $1300. It's purty...see
I picked it up late Friday night after getting "fitted" by one of the bike technicians at the bike store. First step was to buy pedals and shoes. It's important because the height of the shoes and the position of the clips affects the position of the rider on the bike. Next step is to adjust the height and lateral position of the seat. Then they look at the position of the rider in relation to the position of the cranks. It's best to have your knee be 1 tiny centimeter behind the crank to be in the optimum driving position so that you don't waste energy pushing out on the pedal when you should be pushing down. The final step involves positioning of the handlebars and sometimes swapping out the top stem so that the rider isn't so stretched out reaching for the bars. Of course with so many variables, one item affects the others so it ends up being an interative process. After about an hour, I was all set but it was too dark to ride!
Christine and I got to the bike store way too late so consequently, she wasn't able to get fitted on her bike. I was pretty bummed because we had planned our first ride at Lake Miramar the next morning. Sadly it was not to be. So we ate some pho.
I took my new baby out for a ride on Saturday afternoon. I had planned a ride around Lake Miramar because it is pretty flat and is exactly a 5-mile loop. Geared up and took a ride. It was awesome. The bike is so fast and light. Spec says that it is less than 18 lbs! Damn, my dumbells at home weigh more than that. Using the clip pedals and shoes took a bit of getting used to but not too bad. 5-Miles came too soon so I decided to take another 5, making a total of 10-miles.
Good times.
I would have kept going but the next day was the Carlsbad 1/2 marathon.
I picked it up late Friday night after getting "fitted" by one of the bike technicians at the bike store. First step was to buy pedals and shoes. It's important because the height of the shoes and the position of the clips affects the position of the rider on the bike. Next step is to adjust the height and lateral position of the seat. Then they look at the position of the rider in relation to the position of the cranks. It's best to have your knee be 1 tiny centimeter behind the crank to be in the optimum driving position so that you don't waste energy pushing out on the pedal when you should be pushing down. The final step involves positioning of the handlebars and sometimes swapping out the top stem so that the rider isn't so stretched out reaching for the bars. Of course with so many variables, one item affects the others so it ends up being an interative process. After about an hour, I was all set but it was too dark to ride!
Christine and I got to the bike store way too late so consequently, she wasn't able to get fitted on her bike. I was pretty bummed because we had planned our first ride at Lake Miramar the next morning. Sadly it was not to be. So we ate some pho.
I took my new baby out for a ride on Saturday afternoon. I had planned a ride around Lake Miramar because it is pretty flat and is exactly a 5-mile loop. Geared up and took a ride. It was awesome. The bike is so fast and light. Spec says that it is less than 18 lbs! Damn, my dumbells at home weigh more than that. Using the clip pedals and shoes took a bit of getting used to but not too bad. 5-Miles came too soon so I decided to take another 5, making a total of 10-miles.
Good times.
I would have kept going but the next day was the Carlsbad 1/2 marathon.
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