More Training Tales

May 24 - 55 kms
May 29 - 60 kms
May 30 - 30 kms
Jun 3 - 21 kms
Jun 5 - 100 kms
Jun 6 - 70 kms
Jun 12 58 kms

It amazes me that I now think of 60 kms as an "average" bike ride... and it amazes me that the the thought of climbing the 4th Avenue hill no longer defeats me... and that I can now climb it in my second-to-lowest Granny gear instead of the lowest. Small victories count, you know.

The long, back-to-back rides on June 5th & 6th were really tough. On the first day, my butt started to complain around the 40 km mark and was definitely unhappy as I pulled into our home driveway (almost 6 hours in the saddle)... on the 2nd day, it complained as soon as I set it down on my bike seat. Pretty much what I can expect on June 20 I suspect.

There seems to be so much more to remember now that I've added "efficiencies" to my biking. Take clipless pedals... why they're even called that when you have to "clip" in and "clip" out, I'll never understand. At any rate, they are supposed to improve my riding efficiency by 30% so I've learned to use them - sort of. Sometimes when you go for a long stretch without slowing or stopping, it's easy to forget that you are "clipped" in. I have to say that it is a really awful feeling to come to a stop on your bike only to discover that you can't move your feet from your pedals and it becomes a race between unclipping a foot and the ground rushing up to meet you. This is particularly disconcerting when you have an unexpected and sudden stop. There is so much to think about and I tend to think in this order: "DANGER!! NEED TO STOP! Gear down, unclip, steer.... oh, damn... BRAKE, BRAKE, BRAKE!!!" I actually spend time running the words "brake equals unclip" in my mind...

I have finally started to follow H's advice as well when it comes to pedaling. Better to "spin" on a lower gear than kill your muscles on a higher one. This sounds logical but for some reason, I had it in my brain that the faster I pedaled, the more tired I would be... I am now happily pedaling along faster using lower gears, saving both my muscles and my knees.

There is lots of other gear involved too. I have a Cateye to tell me how fast I'm going and what time it is. I have a Garmin heart monitor to tell me how long I've been biking, how far I've traveled and what my heart rate is. I have a bell (although mostly I just yell at people who get in my way) and I wear cycling gloves and a helmet of course.

I found myself in quite a predicament on my last ride. Clipped in and riding up the back of UBC, the top of my head got itchy. Of course since I was wearing a helmet, I couldn't scratch the spot. I did what I thought was logical and stuck my finger through one of the holes in the top of my helmet.... my finger got stuck. So here I am, riding along, clipped in with my finger stuck through a hole in my helmet. I'm sure all the Gods were laughing at me... I know I was.