Farewell Ride

Today we had a "farewell" ride for one of my team mates, Naomi who is moving to Baltimore. Ex-mentor Jay organized a really fun 58 Mile mile bike ride along the beautiful coastline including a stretch through La Jolla that I hadn't done before.

Riding were Naomi, myself, Jay, Amanda, Tonya, Mark and Coach Rick. Here's a photo we took somewhere in La Jolla.















Notice the cool America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride jerseys that Naomi, Jay and I are wearing. They may be "cool" but they are the warmest jersey I've ever worn. They'll make a nice winter season jersey.

We had a nice long stop at Coach DJ's house in Crown Point. He put out quite the spread.
DJ Sag where we had the classic "no means no" incident that will live on forever.

Along the ride, we would occasionally all yell out, "Naomi, Don't Go" to guilt her into staying.

One of the highlights of the trip was heading into Pizza Port at Mile 53 for some pizza and some adult refreshments. We had to leave our bikes outside which made everyone nervous as we didn't have any locks. Look at the pile up.




















We hung out for over an hour and let me tell you the final 5 miles back to our respective cars was quite an adventure. I was apparently doing a little swerving along theway. At one point Jay and I were in the front cracking jokes. When I started quoting Cheech and Chong he just started busting up. We were both laughing so hard, that Tonya, who was riding behind us called us Wiggles and Giggles. Too funny.

We had a great time.

Training Log June 23 - 29

Monday: 40 min lap swim

Tuesday: Bike to work day

Wednesday: 35 minute lap swim

Thursday: Nothing

Friday: Bike to work - 19 Miles

Saturday: Nothing. So lazy

Sunday: 56 Mile bike ride.

Train Ride

I made my first Alumni bike ride today with the Team. There is a group of about 150 people comprising the TnT cycle team alumni. The group is very active with several weekly rides coordinated by the membership.

Today was scheduled to be the "graduation ride" for my Tahoe cycle team. The program was to climb up Palomar Mountain, a local 6,100+ high mountain. The scheduled route takes you from sea level all the way up to the top of the mountain. Supposedly a very brutal climb. Unfortunately, the ride was canceled as the weather forecast was predicting 100+ degree weather.

Instead...Coach Rick organized a little train ride. A group of 14 of us met up at the Solano Beach train station and took the Amtrak up to San Juan Capistrano and cruised the coastline all the way back.

The coast was a lot cooler than inland but it was still plenty hot. I actually felt a little nauseated about halfway through the trip and was glad when we pulled over at the San Onofre Campgrounds to sit in the shade and refill the water bottles. As an added bonus, there was one of those outdoor showers and I took good advantage of it by soaking my head and jersey to cool down.

Somewhere around Carlsbad, a marine layer moved in and we got instant relieve. The layer provided good sun cover and the misty air was almost like riding in air-conditioning.

At the end of the ride we hit Pizza Port for some pizza pie and a couple of pints. I think I'm going to enjoy hanging out with these guys.

More Yosemite Vacation Photos

Here are some more photos of the two days Christine and I spent in Yosemite after leaving Tahoe.















Lake Tenaya















The kid at Olmstead Point















Yosemite Sunset at Tuolome Meadows















Lower Vernal Falls

This one was taken on the "Mist Trail" on the way up to Vernal Falls. The trail is a steep climb adjacent to the falls. It is called the Mist Trail because the spray of the waterfall soaks you to the bone on the way up.















Mist Trail Rainbow















I think this is Granlee Creek

Christine and I visited the local mountaineering shop in Yosemite Valley that specializes in climbing. I got a little light headed looking at all those ropes, carabiners, harnesses, hammers and climbing shoes. Gear always affects me like that. I had to use remarkable restraint to not dive into another $3,000 hobby. I was talking it over with the sales guy and he explained the various levels of mountaineering. At that advanced level it is a very complex activity. But...at the most basic level, it's just climbing rocks, aka bouldering. Necessary equipment? Hands and feet. I got those. It's actually really fun. Could this be the start of a new hobby???? Hmmm.















Lower Yosemite Falls




















Bouldering up to lower Yosemite Falls




















Bouldering up some random hillside on the way up to Vernal Falls

One of the many highlights was getting a little up close and personal with some of the local fauna. Life must be pretty good for these guys as they were completely comfortable with people around. Except for the bear, who was on the verge of charging at any minute ;)















Bear Territory















They ain't lying

Saw this guy near Lower Yosemite Falls while looking for a nice creek to soak my extremely sore legs. This was taken two days after my century ride and after an 8-mile hike and my dogs were barkin'.
















The 8-mile hike was to Merced Grove one of the three Sequoia groves in the park. It is the smallest and least visited but we decided to check it out. We were on Two Bridges Trail which ironically had no bridges on it? Go figure.




















Trees are big

One had fallen down leaving a huge hole where the roots used to be.















There are a ton more photos. I'm going to eventually get them up on flicker to share.

Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. We really enjoyed ourselves in the limited time we spent there. This was an impromptu visit, but next time we are going to plan to spend a lot more time exploring.

Tahoe Century Ride

I'm a bit late in reporting the details but on June 1st I completed my very first century ride, "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride" in Lake Tahoe. I trained for and completed the event to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as part of their Team in Training (TnT) program.

I had been sweating the weather in the week beforehand, as Tahoe had been frigidly cold and there had been non-stop thunderstorms in the week before the ride. The heavens smiled on us and we had A-mazing weather for the ride. Lows were in the mid-50's in the morning and the highs were in the mid 70's during the hottest part of the day. Perfect.

Here is a map of the route.




















The ride is advertised as 3,500 feet of climbing but I suspect it is closer to 4,500. Every bike computer our team has showed more than 3,500 feet of climbing. Here is a graphic showing the elevation gains and falls of the route.

The ride is called America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride for a reason. It is a spectacular loop around Lake Tahoe and a very well organized event. There were astounding views around every bend and at the crest of every hill. I found the course to be very doable. The ride was the culmination of 18-weeks of intense training and so the order of the day was to enjoy ourselves.

My team was very well trained and everyone was able to complete the event. My immediate group, the B3's, was very strong and we were constantly passing up other riders with our pace line. We averaged a little over a 14 MPH pace for the day. It was all about enjoying the ride as we weren't going for time. I found it strange that our team was one of the few that rode in pace lines. Only two of the sixty or so TnT groups we saw rode in a pace line. Weird.

Each of the TnT groups wore essentially the same uniform of black bike shorts and the Team colors jersey. With so many riders, it is difficult to easily tell who is in your group especially at the start when we were all bunched up. To alleviate this, each of the groups had a unique "helmet topper". Being from San Diego, our team had a pair of sunglasses fixed to the tops of our helmets. The Sacramento Team had a tomato, DC had a model of the Capital building, New York had and apple, Georgia had a Peach, etc. Every rider I encountered was very positive and courteous.

There were two major climbs along the course, Emerald Bay and Spooner Summit. Emerald Bay is short but very steep but was on Mile 11 when we were all still strong. There were lots of wheezing people on the way up but our Team was able to make it up with little problem. One of my teammates, Mark, joked that he wanted his money back as he was promised a challenging climb.

I think this one was taken at the top of Emerald Bay.






























Team Photo at top of Emerald Bay

We also took time to stop and take group photos in a couple of other locations including at the Olympic Torch in Squaw Valley where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held.
















The following Team Photo was taken after luxurious long lunch at King's Beach.















The Mighty B3's

Spooner Summit was a constant 9-mile grind uphill around mile 80 which seemed a little cruel. I did a quick self assessment and felt that I had plenty of gas left so.... Attack, attack, attack. I kicked that hill's butt. It was a pretty tough climb but I just powered up the hill passing people left and right. All those standing climb exercises in spin classes paid off. Oh, I spoke to Mark at the top of the summit and he no longer wanted his money back.















Exuberant at Spooner Summit

The reward of a steep climb is the screaming downhill afterwards. I had hooked up with Thomas, who is a very strong rider on the ACE Team, and we both had fun pushing hard, sprinting down the mountain. I got my speed up to 42 MPH on the way down. It felt great to really turn it loose.















On the road somewhere on the Lake




















Official Ride photo = $30. What a racket.

One guy in another group of my Team, broke his front derailer at mile 14 and did the rest of the event on his small front ring. He had full control of the back derailers but was stuck in his climbing ring on the front! He was OK on the climbs but had to do some crazy spinning on the flats to keep up. He had to spend most of the day drafting behind the rest of his teammates to not get left behind.

All the San Diego riders gathered about 3-miles before the finish line and rode in 60-riders strong in a double pace-line and crossed the finish line together. It was a very special moment. Somehow, possibly due to fatigue, I managed to not take a single photo of myself with my medal or at the finish line. You'll just have to trust me.

I rode the 1/2-mile or so back to the hotel and after a short rest and a quick shower, it was off to the Victory Party to load up on the food. Amazingly, we got a big group out on the dance floor whooping it up to the likes of Kool and the Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band and other disco favorites. I had my first beer (ok, several beers) in a month and generally had a great time. As typical, they had to kick San Diego off the dance floor at the end of the party so a bunch of us continued on to Cabo Wabo, a local casino dance club and kept going for another couple of hours. Really fun.

TnT comprised ~1,800 of the ~3,400 total riders and raised over 8.5 Million dollars for the event. They also raised 12.5 Million at the Rock 'n Roll Marathon in San Diego the same day, so 21 Million total. Not a bad day's work.

Special thanks to my baby, Christine who went above and beyond the call of duty. She got up at the crack of dawn to ride out to Emerald Bay at mile 11, before the roads were shut down, to take beautiful photos of us and carry our sweaty cycle clothes once it warmed up. She spent the entire day on the course supporting our Team including at mile 80 on Spooner.

Training Log - June 16-22

Monday: 45-min swim at the Tierra Santa City Pool. I arrived at the lunch hour and heard what sounded like a loud party going on. Put the trunks on and then step out to a pool full of about 30 ten year olds having a pizza party with a DJ providing the full gamut of Kelly Clarkson to Nelly Furtado. They were hilarious, jumping around dancing and singing at the top of their lungs. A funny moment happened when the DJ slipped in Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. No one knew the song and the kids just froze with puzzled looks on their faces. Too funny.

The workout was great. I hadn't done any real swimming in 3-4 years and was pleased to see that I hadn't forgotten everything. The technique, especially breathing needs work but I was pleased with my endurance.

Tuesday: Bike to work day. Small hitch, got another flat. I had a flat on Sunday and used my only spare tube to fix it. Luckily, one of my coworkers was still in the office and gave me a ride to pick up some extra tubes. On the way home, I got another slow leak and had to stop twice to pump up. Took me twice as long to get home and it was nearly dark when I got there. The perils of riding to work. Lesson learned.

Wednesday: I had another chiropractor's appointment during the lunch hour to deal with my nagging foot issue. It is definitely getting better with the therapy. I took a 4-mile walk around the neighborhood after getting home from work. It's been a long while since I did any real walking. Results weren't so good. I've lost a lot of speed and form since I switched main sports to cycling. I'm going to have to dedicate some more time to this if I'm really going to do the 1/2-marathons I have on my schedule.

In other news, I found the tiny metal sliver that was stuck in my tire that was giving me repeated flats. Hopefully, I've resolved the problem as I'm planning on riding to work on Friday.

Thursday: Snuck in another lunchtime swim session. Sadly no 10-year olds pizza party for additional entertainment.

Friday: Nothing today.

Saturday: Too hot. Went to the movies instead of working out :)

Sunday: 48-Mile bike ride from San Juan Campistrano back to San Diego.

Plotting

Well now that my event is over, I have all this free time. I definitely want to stay in bike shape and have a couple of other short term goals I want to accomplish in the time I'm taking off between seasons. The next big goal is to do a triathlon in April of next year. This is going to be another TnT event but official training doesn't start until late November. Some goals:

• Keep in bike shape
• Start swimming with an eye towards be competent before the Triathlon training begins
• Get dive certified
• Start walking again. Possibly start trying to do a little running
• Try a little Yoga
• Hike
• etc, etc, etc.

You get the picture. I have more interest in things than I have time. Consequently I'm in search of the perfect work out schedule. Right now it looks something along the lines of

Monday: Swim at lunch (45 mins)
Tuesday: Bike to and from work (approx 17.5 miles round trip)
Wednesday: Swim
Thursday: Bike to work
Friday: Cross train day: Weight lift, hike, walk
Saturday: Long Mileage bike day (minimum 40-miles)
Sunday: Rest day

This schedule has me riding 75-miles a week. I need to find a spot to fit in a long walk somewhere. Friday or Sunday may turn into long walk day.

I've also got a couple of events that I'm eyeing.

August 3 - San Francisco 1/2-Marathon
Semptember 6 - Big Bear 1/2-Marathon
September 27 - Lighthouse Century Ride
November 9 - Big Sur 1/2 Marathon

Back in the Saddle Again

Broke out the trusty bike again after a week of not riding. I'm really committed to staying in prime bike shape after all the hard work I put in over the last 4+ months of training.

Three of us took a 42-mile spin mostly along Pomorado Rd into Poway and back.

Here's a map of the route.












It was good to be back in the saddle again. The ride was pretty good although it was pretty warm towards the end of it and the wind always seemed to be blowing in our faces no matter which direction we were riding. I also got a flat in my new tire 30 miles into the ride.

Totals were 42 miles and 1175 ft of climbing.

Yosemite

We decided to forgo the extra day in Tahoe. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely here but I got a pretty good feel for it and drank in plenty of the sites during my 8-hr bike ride Sunday.

So it was sleep in day, a final team lunch and then come up with a plan for the day. We decided to make a trip into Yosemite for the two days before our planned camping trip with my friends. We got into the park in the late afternoon and contented ourselves with a leisurely drive. We stopped along the road at several locations and drank in the sites. I'll post a few photos when I have a chance to download them.

There were no accomodations in the park so we had to drive through. We were able to make reservations in one of the heated tents at Curry Village for tonight so we're heading back into the Park for a day of exploring. We plan to check out the Sequoias and then take a hike to Upper Yosemite Falls.

More later.