What a Fall!

Weekly women's only ride tonight. We had a great turnout with twenty women. About 12 of them had never ridden with us before, or only once before. So, J.D. split us into two groups. I was sent with the experienced riders and I happy to report that I kept up with them. Vicki did the check-in at the designated location and we continued on.

I was following along and suddenly was surprised by a left turn. I still get a little turned around in this area, so I thought I'd made a mistake again and stuck with the group. Suddenly, I follow a bend in the road and looming in front of my face is the hill. Now I know what everyone refers to as the hill that I usually avoid on this route when I ride with the smart ones! Well, I'm here now, so up I go. I had no momentum and had not been preparing my energy or heart rate for a climb like this. I finally manage to get to the top and am huffing and puffing and grateful for a break in the shade where everyone is gathering.

We decide to do another loop, but take the smart route and thus avoid the hill this time. We get to the police station and everyone is regrouping and gabbing. I'm ready to go, so I start the pack off which means I can take full advantage of my gravitational advantage down the hill and really attack the uphill. I do so and then stop at a usual regroup intersection. Apparently I was alone in thinking it was time to regroup, so I'm quickly passed. Trying not to fall behind, I jump back on my bike and take off. Up the first hill that slows me down, I fall behind two other girls. At the top, I stop for a water break and there is no one behind me. I wait for a bit, and then decide if I wait any longer I'll really be behind. As I crest the next hill I have not caught up with the entire group and as I look behind me I see Janet and Vicki starting up the hill. Come to find out, Vicki thought I'd fallen back and doubled-back looking for me. Janet proudly announced that I had been leading the group.

I hung back as one of the new riders had trouble clipping in and rode sweep to keep the group from leaving anyone behind. Eventually, I was alone in the back and enjoying the ride at a little slower pace. I approached a stop sign where Elizabeth, another new girl, was stopped. I slowed and confirmed she was okay. She actually was catching her breath and waiting for me so I wasn't alone. She was ready to go, so as I confirmed the intersection was clear, I clipped back in and was about to pedal on.

Just then, a car came at me from the left. He must have been behind a bush when I looked. I quickly grabbed my brakes and came to a stop. As I did so, I hadn't unclipped again, so as the bike and I came to a stop, gravity worked it's magic and over I went, fast and hard! It was a no speed fall, so I saw it coming in slow motion. The only reaction I had time to do was put out my hands to catch me. Crash! I was stunned. Elizabeth quickly set her bike down and ran over to give me a hand and pick me up off the ground. I was embarrassed and yet thankful that this time I could report I had "correctly" fallen to the left so my derailleur and gears should have been protected. As I stood my bike up, something was off. Sure enough, I bent my handlebars. I shrugged and we headed back to the shop.

It was only about a mile left, and there isn't much you can do on the road for bent handlebars. I just adjusted how I held the bar and made the ride back. My left hand hurt and my chest hurt, but mostly, I was near tears at the thought of having to buy new handlebars for my new bike, already. At the shop, I announced my silly fall and pointed out the damage. At this point, I also discovered some road rash on my left shin. J.D. said the bar could be popped right back out no problem. When I took off my gloves, I discovered two bruises forming on my left palm already and a point where I had clearly caught a rock, but the padding of my gloves had saved me from true gashes. If there had been any speed to that fall, the damage would have been much worse.

Safely at home, I discovered a bruise forming on my chest too. I truly took the brunt of the fall on my left hand and my chest with my handlebars between the road and my chest. It's a lesson to learn. I'll be paying more attention to those stops from now on. Hopefully my handlebars can be fixed and the bruises don't last too long.

Goals
Today's Miles: 13.5
Total Miles Achieved: 583.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: -0.4

Enjoying a Routine

Tonight, Vicki, Erica and I were headed for the typical Tuesday night Bullis Park ride. Erica called to say she didn't feel like finishing up the hill to Bullis Park, so she was going to meet us at Specht store. I got to the park and told Vicki. She said, "well we can meet her down there too." I quickly changed and we headed down the hill for a flatter start.

This was the first time I've taken a wheel out of my bike. Truth be told, Pete took the wheel out and put my bike in the Jetta for me this morning. As I drive to our starting point, it occurs to me, I've never put a wheel back on and I've only heard about how to do it, never closely watched. As I pull out my bike, I ask Vicki to watch me and check my work as this is new to me. She comes over and helps and I realize not only is it easy, but it's pretty hard to get it wrong.

We head out down Obst Road and off to the bakery. I'm pacing Vicki and we had an average speed of 13.3 mph and an average cadence of 70. Not too shabby, but of course, that's with only 59 feet of climbing, and 83 foot descent over 3.7 miles.

The challenge for the ride was that I had to ride without the Camelbak today as we decided to wash it and it was still wet this morning. It doesn't sound too bad except that on the Schwinn my arms were too short to physically reach the water bottles in the cages, so I had to rely on the water on my back. I realize tonight that I haven't actually tried reaching the water bottles on the shiny, new, blue bike. I take advantage of the brief pause at the bakery to rehydrate.

We head up to the school where we discover Amman Road has recently been littered with fresh gravel. Our tires push their way through the gravel and we pause to determine if we continue on down Amman, or double-back. We decide to get to the top of the hill and see how far the gravel goes. We peer down the hill and it appears to go on as far as we can see. The smart decision is to turn back and not risk the high speeds of the downhill, or try pushing up the next hill through this gravel. I'm disappointed about turning back, but I do knowing that it is the smart thing to do.

As we head back toward the bakery, Vicki pulls away. I decide she doesn't get to do that and I took off on the chase. I managed to catch her and found myself pedaling at 23 mph to do so. I only held this speed for a quarter of a mile, but it was still fun to manage to catch her.

We're pedaling along Obst Road again on our way back to the cars and I'm thirsty. I decide there is no better time to try to grab a water bottle and drink while pedaling than on this ride along this stretch. As I focus on the act of grabbing the bottle, opening it, and drinking it all without dropping a bottle on the ground, I stop pedaling and rely on coasting to keep me rolling. I then somehow manage to close the bottle and get it safely back in the cage without dropping the bottle. I did lose quite a bit of speed as I did so, but I think it was a success for my first attempt. I'll have to work on improving that, but at least now I know I can do it.

We only rode for ten miles and did it in less than an hour. There's something to be said just for the consistency of riding.

Goals
Today's Miles: 10
Total Miles Achieved: 570.4
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: -0.4

Tony's First Training Ride

Today's ride added a new member. Tony Ralf, our fearless leader at the MS Society office in San Antonio has accepted a challenge to actually ride the event this year in memory of his sister who suffered from MS for fourteen years and lost her battle with cancer last month. Tony has asked Pete to help coach him and get him trained for the event. He hasn't been on a bike in 42 years and now has ten weeks to train for the 160 mile ride. Good thing he's in good shape to start with!

For his first ride, we decide he needs a flat route with options to cut it short, if necessary. He says he's competitive, so that may work in his favor. I know how rough my first rides were and will be impressed if he completes the 20 mile route Pete has planned for him.

I start out and show the group the way. When I come to the first intersection where we turn, I stand in the intersection and wave the group through so they don't have to stop. Vicki picks up the job at the next intersection and I repeat the exercise at the third. At this point, we're about three miles out and Pete and Tony have fallen off the back a bit from the group. I wait for them and save them the stop, then jump on my bike and take off. I decide this is my chance to push myself, and take off at a fast 19 mph in an effort to catch Erica. I manage to finally catch her and am ready to slow down the pace. Apparently, she's ready for the same, so we find a comfortable pace between us.

The group regroups at the next intersection and confirms the planned route. A few miles up the road, we point Erica to the turn for the shorter route as she has an appointment she needs to get back to town for earlier in the day. Pete and Tony planned to take this turn as well, so Phil, Lloyd and I head out to catch the girls on our way to the pie place. The guys allow me to set the pace and hang within a close distance. That is, until we hit the hill that slows me down. They pull away as I shift away and huff and puff up the hill. Just then, we find the girls have stopped to confirm the route and we're all together again. The guys keep on rolling and Vicki, Christina and I form a mini pace line along the last stretch to the pie place.

We arrive at the pie place for our break and go in for a drink, snack, pit stop and some cool air. As we're sitting there sorry that Pete won't get any chocolate pie today, we begin to contemplate the possibility of carrying a piece back to him. Just then, we see Tony and Pete pull in to the parking lot. I'm amazed at Tony's determination!

After a sufficient break, I head outside to stretch a bit before getting back on the bike. The group comes out and we hit the road again. I hang back with Pete and Tony as the group hits their higher pace. I'm enjoying the ride and occasionally hang close enough for a bit of idle conversation. As we approach a downhill, I allow my gravitational advantage to take over and break off the front a bit. I make the turn onto the next road and pause for a quick Gu break. We continue along Gin Road, one of Pete's favorites. Suddenly, I hear "on your left." I respond, "thank you" and turn to look at the voice that sounded familiar but I couldn't place. To my surprise, there's Lloyd. "Where did you come from?" He explains the lead group missed a turn and went a mile out of their way, but made the turn onto Gin Road further out and was just beginning to catch up to us.

As a group, we took a break at the church and then cut it short when we discovered our group couldn't all keep it church parking lot appropriate, or at least cut down the volume as the parishioners began to arrive for church. The group stayed pretty close together until we arrived at the hills. Trying to motivate Tony, I mentioned that the first time I attempted these hills, I was on the Schwinn and managed to ride all the way up both of them, granted super slow, but I pedaled up them. At the top of the second hill, I found some shade and waited for Tony to make it up the hill. He walked it a bit, but was ready to jump back on the bike as he crested the hill.

In all, we had a great group ride. Tony had an amazing first ride and I have no doubt he will be ready for this ride in ten weeks.


Goals
Today's Miles: 28.5
Total Miles Achieved: 560.4
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: -0.4

Increasing the Cadence

This weekend's goals are to have a good Sunday ride and to increase my cadence. We had a good group again this morning. I managed to not get passed by anyone as I went up the hill at the beginning of the Woman Hollering Creek ride. It was more than my new bike. We got fairly spread out coming out of the parking lot. We were all together to cross the highway and I still focused on getting up the incline and warming up.

Once I got to the flat part of my "warm-up" section of the ride, I tried to begin focusing on my cadence. I'm trying to get it up to 80, but for now, I'm happy with an improvement to 75. I've thought that I had an average of 70, but now that I have a hand-me-down Garmin which stores my data, I've learned that my average is a bit more in the mid 60 range.

The low water crossing was still a bit scary, especially with the rain we've had this week. As Pete begins the descent, he turns and hollers something at me. I see his lips move, but the wind is whishing passed my ears, I can't hear a word. I hit the bumps and strengthen my grip on the handlebars. I make it up the hill with less effort than I remembering it taking last week. At this point, I try to catch my breath and struggle to do so. I keep pedaling and try to watch my heart rate, but listen to my breathing too.

I begin to struggle with what I should be focusing on. I need to breathe. My coach has told me to focus on increasing my cadence. My heart rate is not falling. Erica and Phil are pulling away from me as my speed drops. I'm suddenly feeling like I'm stressing out and don't know which way to focus my energy today. Just then, I start to notice that on top of the high humidity this morning there are a number of small bugs I'm pelting as a ride on. I can feel them hitting my arms and my face. I look down at my sweating arms and see the bugs sticking to the sweat. I know... it's an attractive sport. Meanwhile, my feet are feeling wrong today. I feel like I'm trying to roll my feet outward on the side each foot, my right one more than the left.

After a quick break for the seven mile stretch, we catch up with Dad, Erica and Phil just as Tom (who started late) catches and passes us. I've calmed down and gained my composure and am now focusing on my cadence. For the next three miles, I have a consistent 72 which had me moving at 14 mph. I struggle a bit with cadence as I climb the next hill, but I'm getting tired and I know the half-way breakpoint is approaching.

We get to the pie place and head inside to cool off and dry off. I get my Diet Sunkist and lay out my gloves and Camelbak to dry. While we rest and take our turn in the facilities, the rest of our group - who started later than us - catch up, so we lengthen our stay. I decide to head outside and stretch before we head out. Turns out, that stretching did me some good. The first stretch of road as we head out from the pie place is rough and hilly. I'm the first one out and I manage to hold a fairly steady cadence. It slows a bit as I climb the hills, but I quickly recover.

I struggled again to switch from the big ring to the middle ring again as I climb the big hill in this section. I managed to keep moving without losing much speed and had to switch into the small ring since I couldn't get the bike into the middle ring. But, I made it up the hill without stopping and the gear shifting issues only caused me to sacrifice cadence a bit going up the hill.

Four and a half miles later, I was in a rhythm with my huffing and puffing as the pedals went round and round, but I needed a quick break to straighten my toes, relax my feet and clear my nasal passages. Dad and I stopped at a shady spot and took care of business. For the next three and a half miles, I managed to average a cadence of 71 at 12 mph. Looking at the graphs, my cadence and speed were fairly flat lines. That's good because it means I was consistent rather than peaks and valleys as I tried too hard or rested too much.

The next section of the route, the wind was picking up. I managed to lead the way for awhile and yet still had a cadence average of 69 and my average speed only dropped to 11.3 mph. I'm surprised to see both of those numbers so high considering the wind and that I didn't have my usual wind breaker, a.k.a. Pete, in front of me. My right calf starts to get tight and feel like it might be about to cramp. I stop in some shade and reach for a Pickle Sickle. They say pickle juice is the miracle potion for cramps, so I grab a shot before getting back on the road. It truly tastes like a dill pickle. Boy does the sodium go straight to your head. I quickly chased it with some water and then got back on the road.

The last five miles have some hills that are a challenge. The road surface is less than desirable and the highway crossing can be a challenge. Add to all of that, I've ridden 30 miles so I'm tired. I quit focusing on my cadence and just thought about the road ahead of me and the rest of the route. We had a dog come out of a yard at us part way up a hill and that made me lose any speed or momentum I had, so the rest of the hill was a struggle, but I made it.

At the end of the day, my average cadence was 67. Not ideal, but an improvement. Average speed was 12.3 mph. According to the Garmin, I burned 2,597 calories. I feel good about the ride. I'm happy about how I handled my struggles today. I need to work on less stops and continue focusing on my cadence. We have plans to eat well tonight in preparation to have a good body for a strong ride tomorrow.

Goals
Today's Miles: 34
Total Miles Achieved: 531.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: -0.4

Friday Weigh-In

Another Friday morning, and another weigh-in. The good news is I'm now down half a pound from the original weight. The real question though, is that half a pound from cutting my hair. But looking at my numbers, it's one and a half pounds from last week's weight. That sounds to me like it's more than the lost weight of the hair. Here's hoping!

Interesting that I begin to see some change the week that weather doesn't allow me to ride as much during the week. We'll see how things go on Monday after two long rides this weekend.

Goals
Today's Miles: o
Total Miles Achieved: 497.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: -0.4

Bike MS Kick-Off Party

Tonight was the kick-off party for the Bike MS ride I'm working toward. It was a great evening! A fun opportunity to hear about some of the logistics of the ride in October. A chance to see some cycling friends in street clothes. A chance to connect with some of the people in the area who struggle with MS. A chance to talk to riders on other teams who you don't see very often and share stories of recent training rides, swap stories, and learn potential new routes.

The turn out was amazing! They planned on 500 people and apparently there were quite a few more as they actually ran out of food. We heard from Chris from S.A.P.D. about why they ride. The story is a moving one about one of the local police dispatchers being diagnosed with MS. She is a neat woman and I fully understand why so many people ride for her.

Then our team captain, Chris Shaw, spoke about how MS has changed his life. Chris is quite the hammerhead and rode his first MS 150 (now Bike MS) for totally selfish reasons - to get fit, improve his cycling, and lose some weight. He told us how although he doesn't have MS, no one in his family has MS, and none of his close friends have MS, yet MS has changed his life. He has learned what it means for those who suffer with MS and how they struggle every day. He has learned to limit his whining and complaining while he rides as he has it easy on a daily basis. At least he is capable of riding in the Bike MS each year.

As usual, Pete and I were there armed with cameras capturing the evening. Tony accepted a challenge to ride the event in memory of his sister who died three weeks ago after suffering from MS for twenty plus years, and being diagnosed with breast cancer, lung cancer, and finally brain cancer which she was not able to beat. Everyone who rides has a story and a reason for riding. Some are stronger than others, but sharing the stories sure helps to remind you why you ride and at least for me allows me to reconnect with my reason for riding. There are so many people to ride for and that is a grim thought to me. I ride for my friend who prefers to silently struggle. I'm glad I can be an ear when things are rough and eyes when he's struggling, but not complaining about it. I give him grief at work when my legs are sore and I don't want to keep running around the office. I need to remember that he is in pain every day and struggles to walk some days. Talk about a wake-up call to check my whining at the door! It's also motivation to continue my training and I feel more driven to complete this challenge for both of us.

Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 497.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: +1.2

Weather Lessons

Hurricane Dolly is beginning to approach the southern Texas coast and is causing some questionable weather to roll in. Pete has taught me the benefit of weather.com and the hour-by-hour forecast. We may actually be able to hold off the rain this afternoon, but the wind is predicted to be 17 mph.

I swing my Mom and Dad's to change into my bike clothes. Seeing how strong the wind is, Pete agrees to start from Specht store today rather than the park so we don't have to ride uphill into a 17 mph headwind. As I drive the four miles to the parking lot, big rain drops begin to fall. Not a big rainfall, but some big drops that if the clouds truly open up we could get drenched quickly. By the time I reach the parking lot, the drops are no where to be found and I can't even figure out which cloud they came from.

I had started to psyche myself up to not ride and now I'm almost disappointed not to get rained out. We walk our bikes across the parking lot and hit the road. I decided to try the route backwards. Erica pointed out she prefers the route this way because you get more of a warm-up before heading up hills and that's much more my speed. Pete takes the lead and tries to help me through the cross wind. Sometimes I keep on his wheel and in some spots (usually where there are no trees blocking the wind) I fall off the back and then push myself to catch up.

I begin to feel the effects of today's weather as I ride. I didn't think about it and left my bike clothes in the car while I was at work today. Suddenly, the heat in the chamois of my shorts is burning me from the saddle upwards. Meanwhile, the bottoms of my feet are beginning to burn. It's then that I realize it's not my riding, it's not the new bike, it's the heat my gear absorbed all day long sitting in my car in the 98 degree temperature. But, I can't decide what is bothering me more. All of that, or the pain in my hands. The palm of my hand between my thumb and forefinger on my left hand hurts and the heel of my thumb and palm on my right hand ache.

We decide to stop at the bakery and rest. I hope to cool off a bit and get the feeling back in my hands. Pete and I discuss if we should continue on or turn back. I decide we can make it the whole way and push us to the school. Once we get that far, we're half way and can make it the rest of the way. I knew we had some climbing to get to the school, but it's a slow incline, so I just keep pedaling and we get there in no time.

I'm feeling better and we keep on rolling to the next parking lot. We take another quick break and now I'm all smiles for the rest of the ride. Coming from this direction, the long incline that I always slow down on is waiting for me and this time I'm going to gain speed as I'm going downhill. In addition, I have a weight advantage that makes me gain on everyone as I go downhill. The last third of the ride is all down hill. I sit in the top gear and pedal now and then to keep myself moving at a good clip. (I still haven't perfected looking at the Garmin for my speed and I haven't pulled the data yet to know my average speed down the hill.)

We got back to the parking lot. I successfully have found yet another way to shorten this route. I think I'll have to do at least the 19 mile route next time we head out to Bullis Park. We managed to not have any rain and the wind didn't totally kill us.

Goals
Today's Miles: 9
Total Miles Achieved: 497.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: +1.2

Breakfast Lesson Learned

The plan today was to meet Erica and Vicky at the bagel place. I woke up famished, so I grabbed a yogurt drink before I started to get ready for the ride. We headed out on time (with some pulling by Pete) and got to the bagel place right on time. We seem to have made getting ready, loading the truck, preparing water bottles, and getting out the door a science.

We have our bagels with cream cheese and head out to Bullis Park. There's a lot of other cars and bikes at the park this morning. We're almost ready and in shock, Vicky says to me, "Only one water bottle?" I chuckle, point out that I have the Camelbak on and then say "Yes, my knees are too fat and rub against the water bottle on the up tube." I don't think she really knew how to respond to that so off we went. As I swung onto the bike, my butt was not happy. I could suddenly feel where the saddle was yesterday morning. My body is not happy about getting back on the bike. I holler out, "My butt hurts!" I continue to whine the two blocks to the stop sign and no one lets me quit or turn back.

Once we're at the stop sign, it's down hill and Pete and Vicky roll on. Guess we're actually doing this ride today. I grab my gears, get into the big ring and enjoy the downhill. As we pedal the mile straight away passed the soccer fields, I keep up with Vicky and we chat as we ride. This is new for me! I'm usually too slow and too tired (unless we're going down a hill) to gab while I pedal. I attack the creek crossing and discover that's not really needed on this crossing. I sure needed it every time on the Schwinn.

We turn the corner and I keep on going as this road is the long slow uphill that slows me down every time. I manage to keep Vicky in my sight almost to the end of the road, but lose her towards the end. She keeps on going passed the usual rest stop and I stop for the break with Pete and Erica. We don't stop long and head off down Amman Road (known for its big rolling hills.) I climb the first hill on Amman Road and suddenly feel my bagel in my chest. As we come to our turn, I pull over and stop. I announce "I'm going to lose my breakfast if I climb another hill."

We had just turned onto Persimmon Hill which is, you guessed it, a hill! I quickly decide to send Pete ahead to catch Vicky and announce that Erica and I will go straight on Amman Road and meet them at the school. Pete agrees and takes off in pursuit of Vicky. Erica and I rest and chat about breakfasts for a bit as I try to will digestion to work. I decide I'm ready for the one more hill on Amman Road and get to the school for a rest while we wait for Pete and Vicky to catch up to us.

Erica had forgotten what that last hill was like. We find a spot to pull over and wait. Just as we pull in, we look up and there comes Vicky around the corner. She tell us we cheated, but doesn't slow down. We holler that Pete is chasing her and she says "he hasn't caught me yet." We continue to wait for Pete as we had agreed to meet him here. As he approaches, we holler that Vicky is ahead of him. We're laughing and enjoying the ride as he kicks it back up and continues his chase.

Suddenly, Erica and I realize we're getting left behind, so we jump on our bikes. I take off moving as fast as I can without being in a full sprint. We all regroup at the bakery and learn that Vicky had decided to push herself and see how far and fast she could go. Pete only caught her because she'd stopped at the bakery. As we roll on, Vicky and I pass two men on their bikes. That's worthy of a cheer and a high five at the stop sign. Unfortunately, that was short lived as they pass us a couple miles down the road.

I try to match Vicky's cadence and decide to just keep up with her speed instead. I manage to keep up with her all the way to the store. I'm getting tired and now wishing that I had thought to have some Gu at the bakery. My little toe hurts on my right foot and I decide my toe nail must be too long and make a mental note to trim that tonight.

We head back out and find the headwind, again. There's always one somewhere. I'm feeling tired and decide that I'm doing well to finish without leaving my breakfast on the side of the road today. I pedal on and don't push myself to keep up. At the turn for the final stretch and uphill, Erica waits for me. We take a few minutes to catch our breath and decide that we're fresh and ready for the climb back to the parking lot. I take the lead and manage to climb at a reasonable pace, especially for being so tired.

I managed to cut the 19 mile route down to 14 miles. I learned a lesson about breakfast. There is something to be said about having only half a bagel. In addition, there was minimal commute time from breakfast to the ride start this morning, so not only did I eat too much, but I hadn't had the normal drive time to digest. I'd rather learn these lessons now than in October.
Goals
Today's Miles: 14
Total Miles Achieved: 488.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: +1.2

Woman Hollering Creek on the Shiny New Blue Bike

I was super excited to be doing a more "normal" distance ride (for me) on my shiny, new, blue bike. Pete and Vicky reeled me in though and told me we should try the 35 mile route on the bike and add mileage in a week or so. Ok, sometimes I'm a little overly excited. I just know that I need to double my comfort mileage and I need to defeat my Sunday sluggish ride issues.

I'm still a little slow up the starting hill. No warm-up time on this route, even though it's a short hill, and I'm just not ready to push up yet. I do take it a lot faster than I normally do and I was with the group well before the light to cross the highway turned green.

Now it's time for the long slow climb the width of Randolph Air Force Base. This is one of the most boring parts of this ride for me. I don't know if it's because it's a long straight with no scenery, or if it's the constant incline for the 3 (or so) miles. At any rate, I manage to get through and I'm not as tired as I have been in the past. I needed a quick stop to fix my Bento Box. The clouds are still fairly thick this morning, so I put my sunglasses in the Bento Box. It was too much weight and my Bento Box velcro straps were not tight so it was sliding around and scratching my leg.

We take off and I fall in place behind Pete. I'm enjoying the scenery and taking time to get a better feel for the gears. I see a bend in the road and ask for confirmation that this is the low water crossing. It is, so I get myself into the big ring and get ready for the attack. I tell Pete to go in front of me. As I start down the hill, I'm on the attack, but I'm gaining on Pete. I gain speed and start to feel some of the bumps in the road that I haven't noticed before. Suddenly, I'm ready to close my eyes and hope for the best. But, I can't do that, I tighten my grip on the handlebars and keep on rolling as scenes of Tour de France crashes flash in front of my eyes. I quickly shift to the middle ring and start climbing. The shifting isn't smooth, but it's not as rough as the Schwinn. I manage to pop up over the hill with a gear or two remaining and I'm not that behind Pete. Erica catches up and asks me how I liked that hill. I believe my exact words were, "That hill scared me to death!" Apparently she still doesn't like downhills. I know that I have to get used to it and I'll only do that by hitting the hills and getting more comfortable with the speed and the angle of the descent.

After our next break, I take the lead and pedal for a comfortable speed and cadence. I don't know what that speed or cadence is yet, so I'm going for comfort. I feel like I'm really moving down the road - definitely a higher speed than I've ever moved down this road. We turn the corner and find the headwind. Pete quickly comes around and takes the lead to pull me and Erica through the wind. We stop at the speedway for another break and Pete tells me I was moving back there.

I manage the overpass well and even get up the hill where my chain got locked last week. I start to get tired and ready for a quick break, but I know we're within a mile of the pie place and a cool break. I figure we'll catch up with Vicky and the rest of the group at the pie place. To my surprise, we roll in and there are no other bikes parked outside. Wow! We must not have been moving as much as I thought we were. Of course, all of my little breaks add up too.

We break at the pie place, hit the restrooms, cool off on seats larger than a bike saddle and watch the time. We managed a restful break with calorie intake and emptied bladders in 20 minutes. We gear back up and as we're ready to take off I remember I have my cleat covers on still. Oops! I quickly pull these off, drop them in my jersey and we're off.

I feel much better as we head out today than I did after the 45 minute break last week. Pete coaches me on an attack for the next hill as there isn't much of a downhill from which to gain any speed. I shift for the attack, watch him and start my attack as instructed. As I'm ready to shift rings, I can't. I try again. Nothing. I'm quickly losing speed. I try for a lower gear rather than a ring change and realize that I'm creeping to a stop. If I don't switch rings now I'm going to fall over. I unclip and get my foot on the ground before gravity took over. As Erica passes me, I tell her I can't change rings, but I'll get there. I look at the bike and it looks fine. I try to change gears and suddenly realize I wasn't pushing the button hard enough to switch rings. Now that I'm in middle of the hill and at a complete stop, I switch to the small ring and push the pedals to make sure it's comfortably in the small ring. Just then, Pete doubles back to check on me. As I tell him what I did, he shifts the gears down a few for me and I'm ready to chug my way up the hill. I made it and learned a lesson on thinking about your shifting! Erica is impressed that I didn't fall and I'm happy that I managed to figure it out myself.

The rest of the ride is uneventful. I feel good, but we were still slower than the other riders who started with us. I need to strengthen my core and the endurance of my butt so I can stay on the bike for more than seven miles at a time. I'm improving though, and I can feel that and it feels good. Vicky beat us to the truck by an hour, but made use of the time by working on her turns. I'll have to make it a goal to keep up with Vicky in the coming weeks.

Goals
Today's Miles: 35
Total Miles Achieved: 474.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: +1.2

Friday Weigh-in

Another Friday and it's time to step on the scale. I didn't go grocery shopping on Monday, simply because I didn't want to. That meant that we haven't had some of the healthier foods in the house that we should have for the home cooked meals that I planned. So, we ate out a few times this week and had the less healthy frozen or boxed meals for dinners.

The good news though is that I am down from Monday's weigh-in. The bad news is I'm still up from my original weight. It's a see-saw. We've decided to cut the fried foods out of our diet now. I don't eat a lot of fried foods anyway, but cutting out the little that I do have should help. I've managed to avoid them all week, without a challenge.

Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 439.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: +1.2

First Ride on the Shiny New Blue Road Bike

Today was my first ride on my shiny, new, blue, road bike and it was the weekly women's-only ride! J.D. wasn't able to make it, but we promised to have the ride without her. We had a good turnout with ten women. Pete did a quick de-brief and the girls rolled out. I felt like I was doing a lot of adjusting trying to get the feel for the bike along the access road.

As we begin to roll through the neighborhood, the girls at the front of the pack stop and check the intersection (as there are a lot of stop signs on this stretch of road) and when it's clear, they holler and we all roll through. However, some woman in a a Texas-sized truck decided she needed to yell at us for not all stopping at every sign. Of course, this happens right as I'm stopping at the sign because I hear a truck approaching behind me. She continues to yell at us and tell us the rules of the road as she rolls through the stop sign (never coming to a complete stop) and turns right in front of us (not using her turn signal.) Just then, my heart monitor goes off telling me my heart rate is too high. I start to try to move through the intersection, but my foot slips on the pedals and I don't get clipped in and the padding of my shorts gets caught on the nose of my saddle. As if I wasn't shaking already on this new bike.

As I pedaled along the long straight-away of Fleetwood, I felt like my feet were not lining up on the pedals correctly. Interesting. I may need to have my cleats adjusted again, but I'll wait until after a longer ride this weekend and see how that goes. I may just have bad form on this bike right now as I get used to the new geometry and feel. I'm used to watching my speed and cadence pretty closely. With the new bike, I'm over the handlebars, so looking at the Garmin to see any of my numbers requires me to look directly under me. That's more than a simple glance off the road. I'm riding too tense and too shaky to look away from the road for that long.

Goals
Today's Miles: 10
Total Miles Achieved: 439.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: +2.4

Shiny New Blue Road Bike

Pete and I headed to Bike World after work today to get my shiny, new, blue, road bike! I was running late, so Pete and Tom were already deep in conversation by the time I arrived. There on the rack was my new bike waiting with me and reserved with my (well, okay, Pete's) name on it! Tom grabbed the bike and we headed back to the trainer for the fitting.

I did a quick change to my bike pants and bike shoes while Tom put my pedals on the bike and switched the stem from a 60 to a 90 cm stem. He took off all of the tags and we were ready for a fitting. I climbed up and he determined, rather quickly that the seat needed to come up a bit. Then he checks the alignment of my knee caps over the pedals. It's amazing to me what goes in to getting a comfortable fit on a bike.

I pedal for a bit on the trainer and learn the shifters. These are different from the gear shifters I have on the blue Schwinn "comfort" bike, yet not quite the same as the ones on the demo bike I rode last week. Then the bike is off to the mechanics for a quick once over inspection. Pete gives them the sensors and part to the Garmin for install. I pick out some simple silver water bottle cages and hand those over to the mechanics. The three of us then head over the the bag section of the store where I pick out a simple "Bento Box" for my cross tube. This will allow me to keep my cell phone, Gu, and electrolyte beans within reach for while I'm pedaling. A must on the longer rides!

While that was all getting installed on my bike, I sent Tom to get me a box of the Jelly Belly electrolyte beans. I've decided these are the best electrolyte replacements for me. I headed over to the clothing section and picked up another pair of gloves. I haven't used my original gloves in some time and last weekend I discovered it was because they are the wrong size for me. So, I'm giving Erica my original gloves and I needed a second pair. I've decided two pairs of everything is a minimum so I don't have to do bike clothing laundry every day!

The bike was given a clean bill of health, we paid the bill and Tom loaded the bike into the back of my car! I'm now the proud owner of a shiny, new, blue, road bike.

Goals

Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 429.9
Financial Investment: $1781.14
Total Weight Loss: +2.4

Bullis Park - Final Ride on the Schwinn

Tonight we joined Vicky and others for a ride from Bullis Park. My last ride here was on a Sunday and I dragged a bit as I had sore legs from climbing a lot of hills the day before. I wanted to try this route again before I got the new bike so I can see how I perform more fresh on this route. My hope is this will allow me see the improvement with the bike and not just in my performance from being in better condition for the ride that day.


Seven of us rolled out and I enjoyed the downhill start and the long flat stretch. It's a nice warm-up before the constant uphill climb on the rough surface. Sure enough, we make the turn and I slowly lose speed. That's okay. This time I'm ready to just keep on grabbing gears. I have an idea of how much of a climb it is and how far it is to the next rest stop.

As I'm plugging along, Pete and one of the riders catch up with me. This rider is gabbing away. I've developed a bit of a pet peeve for people who just gab away as you struggle, breathless up a hill. I try to tactfully encourage her to pass me and move on. Instead, she just pulls in front of me and keeps on gabbing. I try to interject in her rambling about her struggles with a "oh, like I do every day?" comment, but that falls on deaf ears. Truth be told, I don't think she paused long enough to hear me say anything. Pete manages to finally encourage her to keep on pedaling as I get on her wheel and I'm free to finish the climb with my own thoughts.

We regroup and head out on Amman Road. This road is known for it's big rolling hills. I rode the road once before, so I'm ready. Vicky reminds everyone of the hills and encourages us to gain our momentum as much as possible to help us up the hills. I manage to do a pretty good job and feel good about it. Then I hit the last uphill. I think I've done well, and suddenly, the hill extends even further. I have to shift down to the small ring and the bike takes awhile to do so, and I lose quite a few gears. Oh well.

Becky and John wait for me at the intersection. As I crest the hill I wave, and they make the turn and head on. Once I make the turn, I focus on catching my breath. Once I have, I pick up some gears and work on trying to catch up with the group ahead of me. I pull into a small town and see a speed limit sign of 20 mph. I look down at my bike computer and I'm pedaling along at 15 mph. So, I'm not speeding, but that's impressive on this heavy bike! I have a huge grin as I try to take in this tiny town. I blow past a side road and notice what looks like Becky and John down that road. Oops! I pull in to a parking lot just as Pete and Laura catch up with me. "Was that our turn?" Pete, "I think so."

I cut through the parking lot and head down the road. My right calf starts to knot up a bit and I unclip as I coast along and try to stretch out my calf. It doesn't seem to be enough, so as I approach the next intersection I pull over and get off the bike. I walk around in a couple of circles and begin using my bike to stretch out my calf. Pete catches up with me and points out that we have to keep moving if we're going to make it back to the car before dusk -- and before the parking lot gets locked.

I head out and Pete warns me that there are some uphills ahead of us. I've never been on this road before, so he wants me to be ready. I decide that I should grab the big ring and pedal my heart out while it's flat so that the slowdown on the uphills doesn't slow my overall progress. I keep pedaling as hard as I can and occasionally manage to grab another gear and kick it up a little more. The uphills are nothing when you're going that fast and have that many gears available to you. I keep up the attack and as I approach Specht Store, I see the rest of our group in front of me. They must have paused to wait for us and then given up, but maybe not and I really did nearly catch them.

Of course, it's at this point that I now have a nasty crosswind. I realize I was able to book it on the last leg of the ride because I had a nice tailwind. I grab a comfortable gear and try to keep pushing to the main road. There is no chance of actually catching the group in this wind. Not for me on this bike. We turn onto Blanco Road and get ready for the uphill to the parking lot. I know that I'll have to use my low gears, but I can make it. I pass Laura going up the hill and just keep on motoring my way up one beat after another. Just then, my cell phone starts ringing. I'm not stopping in middle of a hill even though I'm sure it's Vicky. Pete went up the hill ahead of me and was pulling in to the parking lot about then anyway.

As I near the parking lot, I see that the park guy is there waiting to lock the gates. Oh boy! Pete is loading his bike, so I roll in and jump off my bike. We need to get moving so the guy can lock up, so I grab my gear off the bike and pull a Swedish Chef as I start throwing my gear into my car. I barely change my shoes and I'm ready to go. Just then, I hear Pete try to start the truck but it won't turn over. Ugh! He decides the truck won't start, so we shift the gear and bikes to my car thankful that we brought two cars to this ride.

I feel I did much better on this route today. I'm happy with my performance and now I'm ready for a road bike!

Goals
Today's Miles: 14.5
Total Miles Achieved: 429.9
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: +2.4

Plan for a New Bike and Monday Weigh-in

After much discussion and running the numbers, Pete and I came up with a new plan for how to get me into a new bike this week. This may be a hard one to explain, but hopefully the true benefit of a road bike now rather than six to eight weeks from now makes sense to those who have been following my trek.

We will keep the Madone 5.1 on order and patiently await the 2009 model announcement and shipment in mid to late August. This will allow me to have the bike I want, with the derailleur and gear set I want, and not have to spend additional money on tweaking the bike. In the meantime, I will get the bottom of the line Trek road bike 1.2. This bike is an upgrade from the Schwinn "comfort" bike I've been riding. And for what it's worth, the bike is a pretty blue!

Yes, this means I will have two bikes by October. However, it allows me a staged improvement, an opportunity to make mistakes on a less expensive bike, and will allow me to keep one bike upstairs on the trainer and the regular road bike in the garage ready to hit the road. Trust me, hauling the bike up and down the stairs is not fun and I only did it once, Pete did it all the other times for me. This also gives me an opportunity to be more understanding when (I mean, if) Trek doesn't ship the bike until the end of August, rather than the middle of the month.

In other news, it's Monday, so it's weigh-in day. I'm beginning to think Monday weigh-ins are just to discourage me. Today I am up 2.4 pounds from my original weight. I don't know what the explanation is. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary today. Maybe it's because we went out to eat Sunday night instead of having a smaller dinner at home. Who knows. I'll keep on working on it though. In addition to our dessert once per month (unless we're on vacation), we made the decision this weekend to cut fried foods out of our diet. We'll see how that goes. One thing at a time is the only way I can do it, so I' just keep on keepin' on.

Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 415.4
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: +2.4

Elmendorf Ride

The San Antonio Wheelman ride today was the Elemendorf route. I've heard this is a flat route and J.D. frequents the rides out here, so I decided we should give it a shot. In addition, part of the route is what we'll ride from breakpoint two in October, so it never hurts to know some of the road.

I like the way the ride leader started this ride. He made a point to say he'll be checking license plates to be sure no one gets left out on the road. He also provided his cell phone number to everyone should they need a pick-up, once he finished his ride, he'd go out and pick-up anyone who needed it. He started the ride based on the new average speed rules and everyone was off.

Starting from the somewhat gravel parking lot was rough. Then it's uphill to the highway. Once you cross the highway and get on the side road, it's uphill again. What is it with these routes that start with uphills? We signed up for the 41 mile route, but had been told it was worth doing the 44 if we could because the roads were better. I was enjoying the countryside and the small town feel and couldn't imagine what bad roads they were talking about.

We must have crossed the county line, or something. The road suddenly got bad. Actually "bad" may be an understatement. I suddenly was so focused on the bumps, holes, and cracks in the road that I couldn't enjoy the countryside. I actually squealed a bit in fright during a downhill as I saw a jagged edge in the pavement that I didn't see any way around and appeared bigger than I could safely roll over. I managed to squeeze over behind Pete and get beyond the hazard safely.

I've noticed a trend the last few weeks that I'm not happy with. I seem to struggle on Sunday rides. I struggle to get rolling. I struggle to get those wheels moving. I struggle to find the energy to keep moving. Today was no exception. It doesn't help having slow and hard starts going uphill, but I can't blame the slow Sundays on that. This is something I need to focus on and find the solution. I now have two and half months to solve this. I cannot have a bad Sunday ride in October.

We finally made it to an intersection that Pete called "decision time". We could turn right and call it a 21 mile day, or we could turn left and continue on for the 41+ miles route. I said, "no, I want to go the 40 miles." So we turned left. I kept hoping the road surfaces would improve, and honestly, they did... a bit. The surface that was used though is still a rough ride. About a mile down the road I said, "Can I change my mind?" Pete did not seem surprised and agreed. We took a quick break and turned around.

We decided this ride was long enough, and I was ready, to begin trying butt butter. I know! What on earth? I'll allow it to the product people to explain:

Chamois BUTT'r is the number one choice for cyclists who use a skin lubricant and chamois cream to improve riding comfort. Chamois BUTT'r prevents the uncomfortable rubbing and chafing that most cyclists experience when sitting on their saddle.

I promise, if you sit on a saddle, with your legs constantly moving up and down for more than 30 miles, you will decide giving this butt butter thing a chance is worth any sacrifice. When Pete rode the Bike to the Beach event in 2006, he turned the pedals 42,000 times over the two day ride. Once your shorts are on, you really don't notice a difference, but it does feel different pulling on your shorts with this goop on the chamois pad as you yank on the shorts.

At this point in the ride, I was seriously aching. Every point of my body that touches the bike hurt! I was cursing the bike every inch of the ride. The shocks in the front fork (part of the frame from the handle bars to the front wheel) were causing my shoulders to jerk up and down. I've never had my shoulders ache on a ride. Partly from the stress of watching the road surface and partly from the non-stop jerking of my arms up and down, my forearms began to ache and burn. I was leaning on my hands, so the palm of my hands burned. My butt had all new pains (despite the butt butter.) And the bottoms of my feet were burning in pain, and no pulling on the pedals was relieving that pain and ache. I was glad I'd made the decision to turn around when I did. I was relieved it was only me and Pete riding together today. I had to stop every three miles (and sometimes after only two miles) just to get off of the bike. A brief three to five minute break and I could get back on the bike and pedal a little further. Pete was very patient with me, but I know it was rough to keep stopping after such short distances.

I was relieved when we hit the highway. There was a new surface and finally, the ride smoothed out a bit. Unfortunately, it was too late in the ride and much to short of a distance because I blinked as we went over the river, and we were back on a rough surface again. I was watching the distance and knowing we were getting closer to the truck when there was suddenly a hill in front of us. Seriously! I don't recall going down this hill, so how could there be an uphill? I was angry and determined and forgot my pain. I just kept pedaling and downshifting as I needed to. As we were nearly at the top of the hill, Pete says, "You've been really consistent up this hill. Steady speed and now you're at the top. Catch your breath." I did feel a sense of consistency, but as soon as I was done being angry at the hill, I went back to my whining about my pain on the bike.

As luck would have it, there was a second "final" uphill to get to the truck. Good grief! Now I'm pissed and just want to be done with this ride. I manage to anger my way up the hill again, although slower than the last one. As I crest the hill and begin to catch my breath, I try to take in deep breath. Instead of catching air, I get a big gasp full of sweat and snot. Now I'm hot and sweaty, in pain at every point on the bike and quite literally out of breath and frantically gasping for air. I know the heart monitor jumped a few more beats as I struggled for air. A quick calming thought and I managed to catch my breath as the truck came into sight.

We rounded the offramp and rolled into the parking lot. This finish was a new experience for me. Usually the hammerheads are long gone by the time I roll into the parking lot. This time, since we'd gone for the shorter route, they were still loading up their cars and some even rolled in right behind us. There was no cheering as I rolled in today and I was content to get off the bike, grab some cold water, load up, and drive off.

On the ride home, Pete and I debrief a bit about the ride. He says, "you weren't having fun out there so it was worth turning back." It's fair to say that I did not have fun on the ride today. He hit the nail on the head with that one. I wish I had realized that while I was out there pedaling. I don't know that it would have changed anything, but I do think I wouldn't have been quite as frustrated with my performance. At any rate, I suffered through and survived. I found yet one more reason why I should get a real road bike. Not what I had hoped to accomplish today, but a good lesson to learn.

Goals
Today's Miles: 22.3
Total Miles Achieved: 415.4
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: -0.0

Woman Hollering Creek - 35 Miles

Saturday morning rides are usually my longest for the weekend. This weekend I'm hoping to change that. But, we'll start with a new "longest ever ride" record for me. We picked up Vicky and Erica and carpooled over to Judson High School. From there, we met up with a couple of other riders and a group of seven of us headed out on the route.

I really like this ride, but I really hate the start. It's an almost immediate uphill to get to the traffic light to cross the highway. Once across, it's another steady incline. Once you're about three miles in, the ride becomes much more reasonable, but by then, you're good and warmed up!

Erica hung tight with me and Pete. Tom was long gone ahead of us. Laura seemed to bounce between us and Vicky and Rita. Vicky is a steady 14 mph rider. I'm not there yet, but hopefully can maintain that speed with her soon. For now, I still motor along at my pace until I get there. That's about what the bike will let me do. I managed to attack the big hill after the low water crossing and even though we went straight (instead of turning for the shorter route), thus going further up the hill, I made it at a faster speed than I have in the past. I was cheering as I crested the top, then paused to catch my breath.

This route shares some common roads with our normal Cibolo route. It was interesting to not really know where I was and then suddenly know exactly where I was. Vicky and Rita waited for us at the speedway, and the six of us attacked the overpass and crossed I-10 together. We only went another mile, or so and my chain came off as I was trying to shift to the middle ring. I tried to fix it while on the bike, but discovered that it not only came off, but got lodged in between the gears and the bolt. I couldn't even pedal around. I said "my chain is locked," then slowed down and stopped (pretty much in middle of the incline.) To my surprise, the whole group stopped with me. They could have at least gotten to the top of the hill. We quickly fixed the chain and we were back on our way.

At the next intersection, everyone waited for slow poke me as I'd fallen behind getting up the hills. I took a quick second for a Gatorade break. Meanwhile all of the gals were gabbing away. I was ready to go and felt like I'd been holding up the group, so I said "I'm ready when you are." No one but Pete and Vicky noticed, but they both told me to head out if I was ready. So, off I went. I heard the gabbers suddenly realize we were rolling, fumble to put away water bottles, and get clipped in to roll out.

We arrived at the break point (on this route referred to as "The Pie Place".) I was a little embarrassed that we'd stopped for a break only a mile and a half before reaching the break, but I've never ridden the route before, so I couldn't have known. We parked our bikes, and went in for a break. It was nice to cool off, have a clean restroom, and get a cold drink (and a bit of Pete's pie.) With five women, we stopped for 45 minutes though! I cannot take that long of a break on a ride.

Heading back out I discovered I needed to warm-up all over again. Lesson learned and now Pete will work on training time management on a ride. I slowed down for the second half of the ride. Not only did we have consistent rolling hills, but I was getting tired. We also had a headwind that couldn't decide which direction it wanted to go and it was gusting pretty bad at times. Plus, it was now late enough in the day that the sun was getting hot, and there isn't much shade on this route. We kept moving though and I knew we would get back to the truck... eventually.

As we neared the end of the ride (within half a mile of the high school parking lot), a grey Mustang pulled up along side me. I was confused and looked over. The woman driving the car had rolled down her window and she yelled, "You go girl!" I laughed and said "Thanks!" I was all smiles back to the parking lot. Talk about a great way to end a ride! I made some laps in the parking lot until my distance pedaled read 35 miles. I wasn't stopping at 34.6 when I was that close!


Goals
Today's Miles: 35
Total Miles Achieved: 393.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: -0.0

Ordering the New Bike

Made a call to Bike World today to order my new bike. After telling Tom the specifics of which model, which size, and which components, it was determined that my bike will not ship from the manufacturer until August 18th. Yikes! I was ready and willing to wait a week, or two, but not six to eight! Oh well, what can you do?

I'm excited to get the new bike and can hardly wait to be training on the right type of bike and one that will help me to get up the hills. Think we'll go in to the shop this weekend and talk to Tom to find out what my options are. I hate to think I have to wait and change bikes four to six weeks before the big ride.

I also weighed in this morning. The good news is I'm back to my original weight. The bad news is, I still haven't seen a loss.


Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 358.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: -0.0

Road Bike Test Ride

Holy Hannah! I knew just from looking at a road bike the ride would be different. I knew from previous test rides of a couple blocks that the bike would feel and handle differently. But I had no idea just how differently I would feel, perform and handle the bike on a road bike.


To give you an idea, here's some of the drastic differences:

• The angle you are at between the seat and the handlebars.
• The shape of the handle bars and the position of your hands.
• The shifting.
• The narrow and more stiff saddle.
• The width of the tires.

Saying it is a completely different ride is truly an understatement. I walked into the bike shop feeling a bit awkward last night. I geared up and then walked in with my pedals in a Ziploc bag. "Hi J.D. I'm ready to try that new bike." I cannot even explain how strange it felt leaving the house without a bike this morning and then showing up to the ride with my pedals in hand and no bike. The mechanic attached my pedals to the demo bike, we did a quick saddle height adjustment and I was ready to start riding. Pete and I did some laps in the parking lot and I decided the seat height was too low. I had it raised and we were off for the group ride.

I immediately started shifting and trying to find the right ring and gears to easily keep up with the group. For what it's worth, I didn't really need to work on shifting to do that. I just pedaled and the light weight bike allowed me to move faster at the same cadence and I was keeping up. I struggled to take a hand off the handlebars to point out road obstacles, so I tried shouting louder and hoping the rider behind me heard.

I left the group in order to avoid an intersection that I don't like. I just didn't want to try it on a borrowed bike that I'm so unfamiliar with. Pete and I continued on the route and I was amazed at how smooth a ride it was. Not only that, but when I needed to shift there was a big kerchunk and the jerked legs. Shifting on this bike just happens. You push the lever and you're able to maintain your cadence and speed without physically feeling the chain move on the gears. That's smooth!

The triathletes caught up with us at the usual intersection, but the re-group point is further out. I headed out to see how I did on the rolling hills and boy am I glad I did! Not only was I able to keep up with the triathletes, but I pedaled up a hill at 22 mph! That's amazing! I didn't get winded on the rolling hills and I didn't slow down either. Talk about a sense of improvement!

We had to head back so I could return the bike before the store closed, so I didn't get to tackle the major hill. I don't think it would have been much of a problem though. Pete kept me moving at a good clip so get us back in time. I had a bit of a struggle at an intersection as I had down-shifted to stop, then Pete told me we were clear to pedal through. As I cleared that intersection, I was trying to clip back in and watch the next intersection to be clear, Pete clears it and turns around (just as I begin to signal my intent to turn left) and hollers, "There's a cop behind you." I quickly stop at the stop sign and wave him through. Now I have to start in a higher gear than normal and turn left. I managed to get through and it wasn't as much of a struggle as I'm used to on my current bike.

I got back in time to return the bike. The mechanic took off my pedals and I was ready to go. We waited for the rest of the group to arrive and gabbed in the parking lot for a bit. The whole time, I'm dreaming about what a nice ride I had on this amazing bike. They say the metal of the frame and the components make a difference. Now I know just how much of a difference they really make. I'm ready to buy my new bike and take it home now, but I know I have to order it and wait a week or two. So for now, I'll continue training on my heavy bike.

Goals
Today's Miles: 8
Total Miles Achieved: 358.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: +0.8

Learning New Shifters

For the last month or so, I've been researching new bikes, in particular a road bike. I only want to drop money on a bike that fits me right and that I will enjoy riding for years to come. I don't want to buy a bike that I'm going to want to upgrade for next year's ride. I don't want to pay for the color of my bike, but I wouldn't complain if it was blue.

We've been stopping by Bike World and talking to Tom almost weekly. Tom has measured me for a bike and says the 47 cm bike is right for me. Because I've never ridden a road bike before, I don't know what the right fit feels like. I don't know what to tell him feels wrong for adjustments either. All I can do is rely on his training, knowledge and experience to look at the geometry of how I sit on the bike to determine that it's a scientifically right fit. But, some people find little adjustment from that geometry are more comfortable and work better for them. I don't know how to do this and I don't know that it's something that can be taught to you.

I've sat on a number of bikes and taken three of four out for a test drive. These test drives are just a quick four blocks out and four blocks back ride through a neighborhood behind the store. I don't know the neighborhood, so I don't wander far. I don't know the bike, so I'm careful where and how far I go. I don't know the traffic, so I'm nervous as I ride.

I have researched a number of brands of bikes and seem to keep coming back to the Trek bikes. On my last test ride, I rode an aluminum bike and one of the newer carbon fiber bikes. I quickly noticed a difference (which means I'm sold on the upgrade) between the two frames. Now I have to decide between different model numbers within the Madone series. In talking to Cindy last week, we learned that they have a demo version of one of the models in my size. She offered to let me ride it for my Thursday night ride this week. This means I'll be riding it for a route that I know and getting closer to the distance I would normally ride.

In preparation for this ride on the demo bike, I need to learn how to shift on these new shifters. The shifters are built into the brake handles, so you need to know what you're doing. You can shift both directions. There are no number indicators to tell you what gear you're in. You can even shift multiple gears at once. So, in an effort to learn, Pete volunteered to teach me on his bike.

Tonight he put his silver bike on the trainer. He put on his bike clothes and jumped on the bike. I held a GPS so I could see his speed and cadence and he showed me how he shifted. I watched how his cadence remained the same, but his speed changed. It sounds like a simple concept, but know which lever to push to get the gears you want took a little while to sink in. I finally decided on:

The longer lever,

puts you in a lower gear,

to go a lower speed,

up the long hills.

We'll see if that works for me on Thursday. For now, it's going to have to do. For tonight, Pete got a little bit of a workout just so I could play with the shifting on his bike. He sat there pedaling away as I shifted and moved gears back and forth multiple times.

Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 350.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: +0.8

Monday Weigh-In

I took yesterday off from riding. I had thought I'd kick butt and do a 20 mile ride, at least, three days in a row, but when the alarm went off yesterday morning, there was no pulling these legs out of bed! It's Monday, so it's weigh-in day to see how my progress was this weekend.

I step on the scale not expecting much, but hoping for a fraction, at least. I'm sorry to report, but I am up a pound from the last change. I shake my head, but try not to get discouraged. My legs are still burning and aching from the rides this weekend, so I'm going to assume I've built more muscle.

I've been reading more on nutrition and trying to make smarter decisions in my eating. It's not portion control, and never has been. I still eat small amounts, but now with biking, when I eat, I'm usually starving. I heard a report (somewhere) recently that eating more often helps to boost your metabolism. Well, I lost weight once before where I had multiple small snacks throughout the day every few hours. Maybe it's time I try that again. I'll have to schedule my snacks, plan on the snacks and go shopping for said snacks. Yes, I'm just that list driven. If I get a reminder pop at work though, I won't lose track of time and forget to eat my snacks. I'll make that next week's goal.

Goals
Today's Miles: 0
Total Miles Achieved: 350.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: +0.8

Bullis Park Stay Together Ride

The Wheelmen route today is the Bullis Park ride. I have yet to do this popular ride and have heard from a lot of people that it's one of their favorites (although Pete isn't fond of it) so I'm curious to try it. After the popularity of last week's stay together ride, J.D. decided to offer a stay together option for this ride also. Perfect!

We show up, sign in and I highlight my map for the 21 mile option. I assumed the stay together would be the shortest distance. Erica is there so we chat a bit and catch up. Becky, from the Thursday ride came up and said hello and confirmed we'd be doing the 21 mile route for our stay together. Keep in mind, my legs are still aching from yesterday's ride. A slow and steady short ride is about all I think I can do.

The ride leader gives the briefing and starts the ride based on distance rather than speed. This is the old way of starting the Wheelmen rides and I'm a bit confused. Sometimes I'm a bit more of a follower than a leader. J. D. rolls in and says "Stay together 34 mile route, follow me." So Pete and I begin to roll out. Becky says "Alison, you're doing 21 right?" I say, "Apparently not, no one rides slower than me though. You can do it. Come on."

I hear some confusion behind me, but I don't want to fall behind this early, so I keep rolling. Becky and group did not feel ready to try a 34 mile route. Erica stayed back and took the group on a 14 mile loop option.

As we hit the road, there are eight riders in front of us in two colums. J.D. and I are riding side-by-side and we're keeping up with the men in front of us. I look down and we're doing 16 mph and I'm keeping up with them. This is exciting (yes, it's a downhill, but don't tell that part). There is some debris on the shoulder and it's cool to watch the group point it out for everyone to see. This is my first time riding as part of a pack and I'm really enjoying it. J.D. coaches me as we approach a bend in the road that hides a short uphill and talks me through the shifting. It's nice riding with a personal coach and I'm lucky enough to have two!

Then we turn onto the next road and I slow down and see the other riders pulling ahead. Finally I turn to Pete, "why did I slow down so much as we got on this road?" He points out that it's a bit of a long, slow hill. Darn these hills and slowing me down! About then three riders pass us. I look and one of them is a kid, probably about nine or ten. Good grief! Now I'm getting smoked on the hills by a kid. Oh well, he has a road bike, he's a lot lighter than I, and he's probably been training longer too.

We get to the first meet-up point and J.D. and John are waiting for us. We talk through the rest of the route, and I'm not thrilled around the discussion of the big hill right after the next meet-up point. Apparently it's one you just have to motor up and you have no momentum to get you started. As we pedal on, I start to think through my options and my physical ability to motor up that kind of a hill today. We seem to be doing a non-stop slow and constant climb today and I'm getting worn out! I tell Pete I need another break, so we pause in some shade. I keep thinking we should get a downhill reward, but I don't know when or where! He talks me through the next few turns of the route and then gives me the option to cut the ride short and only do the 21 mile route. I truly think this is the smart option today.

J.D. and John waited for us at the next major turn. They had a much better pace than I did today and we tell them to go on and not worry about us, plus we think we're going to cut it short. Our route turns onto highway 46 at the bottom of a downhill. Sadly, that means you don't really get to enjoy the downhill and you have to watch as you come down and make it a tight right turn so you don't turn into a traffic lane, or cause an accident with a car that doesn't know what you're doing. There is little to no shoulder on this highway and there is a guardrail part of the way truly keeping our travel path narrow. Pete rides wide behind me to keep the cars a bit further from me so I don't get spooked by a car.

We turn onto Bulverde Road (or Bulvedeer as Mom calls it) and I'm beginning to enjoy the ride. It's flat and there are some nice yards and green scenery to enjoy. We've been passed by bikes and come across bikes going the other way almost all morning. The "morning!" and smiles and waves has been non-stop it seems. We pause for another break in the shade and some Gu and a couple cyclists pedal by and confirm we're okay as they pass. I tell you, it's a community. Everyone looks out for one another. It's the coolest thing.

We turn off Bulverde Road way too early, it seems to me and now we're on the dreaded Amman Road. I should mention this road is kind of fun to drive. You get to drive 50 mph and a couple of the hills feel like you're on a roller coaster as you leave your stomach at the top of the drop. That means it's a lot of rolling hills. Unfortunately, for a novice, exahusted cyclist like me, it's one giant uphill that just won't stop. I make it though and finally get to enjoy a bit of a downhill ride on the road that slowed me down earlier this morning.

As I enjoy this part of the trip, I know that I have to save some energy for the last bit of the ride. There is a bit of a climb to get back to the parking lot. Pete tells me to just maintain my cadence and I'll make it. Sure enough, it is a bit of a long hill, but watching my cadence, smarter shifting, and remembering to pull up on my pedals not just push them down, I make it. I maintain my cadence to catch my breath and make my way back to the parking lot.

We roll in and Erica is there waiting for us. We gab for a bit in the parking lot and then invite her over for lunch. I quickly call Mom to say there will be another mouth for lunch and let her know we finished a bit earlier than expected. Funny how that happens when you do a shorter route and the route is much closer to home.

I'd like to try this route again when I'm not so sore, tired, and exhausted from hills. But, it is close to work, so it's an easy evening ride.

Goals
Today's Miles: 21
Total Miles Achieved: 350.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: -0.2

Annual Fourth of July Fredericksburg Ride (Holy Hills!)

At the beginning of June, Pete realized the Wheelmen were having their annual Fourth of July ride in Fredericksburg again this year. Everyone loved it last year, so he was excited to go again this year. When I asked him about the route, he carefully told me it was a very hilly route and I wasn’t ready for it yet. I don’t think either of us realized that I took that as a challenge.

I’ve been working on hills and really trying to get my mileage up and my shifting knowledge better, so I could ride this event with him. A week or so ago, he told me I might actually be able to ride the whole thing, or at least get far enough that he could reasonably come rescue me. I dared to hope, but didn't count on being totally ready yet. I really wanted to improve on the hills more, but I needed another week of training and that can't just get added to the calendar.

We packed our gear, including some extra water bottles, and headed out for Fredericksburg. An hour later, we arrived in the square and signed in with the ride leader. We get our gear on and gather for the pre-ride briefing. The ride leader tried to brief us on the hills by telling us there were three large uphills, but they are rewarding with three great downhills. I decide to keep the reward in mind if I'm struggling up a hill. I had no idea how hard that would be.

The group heads out. We're on a side street and have some struggles with the group at a couple of stop signs and dealing with traffic, but then we're on the shoulder of the highway and on our way. The group is already pulling ahead of us and I'm not moving very fast as we're already heading up a gradual hill. I start trying to psych myself up. I knew what I was in for when I started this ride, so I need to get ready for the real hills to come. We take a left turn off of the highway onto a quiet country road that struggles to be a two lane road. The sense of being out in the quiet country is amazing. The challenge is the slow and constant uphill pedaling. It's so gradual that it appears to be a flat road, but it's not.

At seven miles, I announce to Pete, "I have never been this exhausted after only seven miles." He chuckles and shows me the GPS elevation map that shows a constant uphill climb since we started out. I feel a little better, but begin to wonder where is that downhill reward that we were promised. Meanwhile, I've become a pro at riding across cattle guards. This part of the countryside is littered with one area after another of free roaming cattle areas. We'd even been warned to watch for random cattle in the middle of the road. It didn't take but a crossing or two to learn to lift my butt off the saddle for the crossing. Then I learned if I'm near a need to shift, I should do so before the crossing as the crossing will slow me down a beat or two. You have to be sure to cross a cattle guard square on so your wheel doesn't turn and get caught in between the rails. I'd hate to taco on a ride! Plus, we have a friend, who is quite the hammerhead and she cracked a vertebrae when she tacoed.

We cross the highway and head off on the next country road. Ten miles into the route, my right knee begins to ache. I tell Pete, but keep moving. Pete's a little concerned as this is new and we're not even a third of the way through the route which promises to get more difficult. Another mile and Pete tells me it's decision time. If I go much further, I won't want to turn around and I'll be committed to the full route. Or, I can turn around now and it'll be a fairly easy downhill all the way back to the truck. I tell Pete that I'd rather continue on as far as I can and wait for a rescue than turn back and not get as much mileage as I can. I wanted to push myself and not quit early.

There is a quarry on our right side and an active mine on our left. I can't actually explain why, but the scenery reminds me of a summer when I was growing up and visited my grandparents on the Olympic Peninsula. The road is flat and I take some time to enjoy the moment and take it in. I laugh at a sign in the quarry "This is a left hand quarry. Stay to the left." Pete explains the truck reasoning behind the sign and the functioning of the quarry. The mine surprisingly warns you of active explosive, but is lacking in the usual "no trespassing" signs. The road begins to go down a hill. I look ahead and I can't see the road as it disappears. It feels like I'm going to ride off the edge of a cliff. I tell Pete to go ahead of me and he nearly disappears over the edge. I follow his helmet down the hill to the road I cannot see. This is the downhill reward! I can't see the bottom of the hill. The road keeps going. It's steep and I'm glad we're going this direction. I follow Pete and watch his selected path and where the wheels wobble. I glance down at my computer and see 36 mph, then 40 mph. That's it! I can't look at that any longer. I have a death grip on my handlebars and I'm flying along.

Suddenly, I notice the chalk marks on the road for our ride. There's an arrow pointing straight for the 34 mile route and a left arrow for the 50 mile route. Pete blew past his turn for the loop to make his route longer. We come to the breakpoint about 16 miles in and see a group of riders just finishing their break and heading out. We refill our water bottles, catch our breath and stretch out a bit off of the bike. Then we head back out on the ride continuing along the mapped route. Besides the fact that the turn for the 50 mile loop was a nearly impossible turn, Pete has decided to stick with me.

As we pedal on, Pete announces a deer in the road. I look up and there is a deer standing square in the middle of the road staring us down. I chuckle at how the deer is just staring at us and Pete says "what else are you going to call out?" Just then, the deer dashes across the road and into the greenery on the left. As we approach the spot, a baby deer darts out, crosses the road and follows mom. I smile and say "Bambi!" Honestly, that's so much easier than "Look! A baby deer." As the baby disappears, another one comes into the road and follows the first two. I excited cheer, "Twins!" By this time, we're passed the spot and the deer had completely disappeared into the trees.

This next country road takes us past some old homes and school houses. I am really enjoying the ride again. The scenery is enjoyable and the road is reasonably flat. I tell Pete I like this part of the ride. He's surprised, but I enjoy the flat road with the occasional slight incline, the scenery is great and there is plenty of shade as we ride along. I decide it's time for a quick break, some Gu, and electrolyte replacements. We find a mailbox in the shade and stop. The mailbox says "Happy Trails" on it and there are two short decorative pillars that make perfect benches. As we take our break, two of the cyclists on the ride (who did the 50 mile route) pass us. Then the car from the breakpoint comes by. All check on us and leave us to our break with promises to catch up at lunch.

We pedal on and come to a grassy clearing at a bend in the road. Standing in the middle of the knee high grass is a deer and her twin babies. Mom is closely watching us as we pedal by. I wish I had a camera with us. We can come back in the car to capture the scenery, but the brilliant green grass with the three deer is a missed opportunity. It is amazing to me how close the deer allow you to pedal by without running off. We pass a neat fence. It's obviously made from the local branches of the trees on the property. I tell Pete to remember this because I want to come back and take some artistic photos of this fence. It seemed to just keep on going too.

It's apparently time for another uphill battle. This is truly only the second, and I suddenly remember there are supposed to be three of these sections and we're only 21 miles into the 34 mile route. Then my knee starts to hurt again. I try to struggle on, but now my bike won't shift into the small ring again. I start bargaining with myself to get to 25 miles. I get to 23.5 and wonder how I'll last another mile and a half, but I'm determined, so I just slow down a bit and try to take it easy. We head up another hill and I decide I can't make it to the 25 mile mark. We stop and talk through our options. Pete lays them out.

1. Continue on slow and steady with as many breaks as I need.
2. I stop and sit under a tree while he goes to get the truck.
3. I continue on at whatever pace I want, but send Pete ahead. He then doubles back when he gets to the truck and picks me up when we cross paths.

I think about it, stretch my knee and decide for option three. I tell him to go ahead and I'll pedal on at my pace. I promise to stop if I'm tired or it hurts too much and just wait for him to find me. I tell him if he gets to this point that he missed me and turn back. I manually put my bike into the small ring in an effort to help me through the uphills. We jump on the bikes and he takes off as I slowly make my way up the hill. I pass a few cows and he is out of sight. I pass a couple cows roaming the area and find myself talking to them. I'm getting tired and there's a hill. I decide to stop and take advantage of some shade. I'm not sure about my ability to make it up the hill. I try to get the cow to help convince me I can make it up the hill, but she just looks at me like I'm disturbing her lunch. I decide my knee doesn't have the climb in it, but I'm not ready to stop and sit under the tree until Pete gets there, so I put on my cleat covers and decide to walk up the hill. As I walk up the hill, a car passes me. I listen to how long he accelerates up the hill and realize that I'm nearly at the top and then I can jump on the bike.

Once I crest the hill, I jump back on. Surprisingly, the walk has done my knee some good and I feel fine as I pedal on. I begin to feel completely alone and enjoy the quiet, yet feel isolated from the world. I somehow have a weird feeling of calmness, yet uncertainty (not quite scared) at the isolation and aloneness. It was a weird sense of safety, yet total solitude. It's truly hard to explain, I enjoyed the moment, but was thankful that I knew it wouldn't last for more than an hour or so. I tried to take in the scenery and enjoy the time.

Then the road goes down hill. I'm afraid to take advantage of the speed and shift into my big ring, so I just coast along in the small ring. I find that I even gathered enough speed that I rolled up and over one incline without ever pedaling. That tells me I'm moving fast, even if the bike computers didn't. As I roll on, I notice the miles are beginning to tick by. When I'm not focusing on the distance, I seem to go a lot further. I've gone 27, now 28, now 29 miles! I'm now determined to go 30 miles. No problem! Now I'm doing the math, if it's a 34 mile route, I'm only four miles from the finish.

Then the next batch of hills appears. Oh no! This can make the last four miles a killer. And now I'm remembering that the three hill segments are supposedly fairly equivalent. This does not sound exciting, or doable to me. I head up the first incline and see the next bit of the hill. I know my knee doesn't have that much more climbing in it. I begin to look for a good, shady resting spot, but find it difficult as I'm closer to town and I'm getting into neighborhood now rather than random free range cattle areas. Just then, I see a Ford truck, but I can't make out the color of it because of how the sun is hitting it. I think, "it'd be great if this was Pete." Just then, the truck makes a left turn into the neighborhood and I see that it's a tan truck and not Pete. Deciding not to take my break in the beautiful grass of someone's front yard, I spot a dirt road with a tree and figure I can park my bike near the road so Pete will see it and go sit under the tree. As I pedal up to the side road, I see Pete in the Excursion crest the hill. As he rolls up, I get a huge grin and say "perfect timing!"

I look down and I've gone 30.75 miles. I'm happy with that, even though I haven't finished the route. Considering my sore knee and the fact that I couldn't have done this ride a month ago, I'm happy with completing all but four miles of the route this year. We load my bike on the truck and I take off my gear and grab some cold water. A big hug and we climb in the truck. We drive back into town and I get to see the route (from the inside of the cool truck doing the climbing) and I'm glad I didn't try to finish the route today. The hills are the steepest (or at least appear to be) of the route and it's a lot of one after another before you're at the end of the climbing. Yes, you have another great downhill that carries you into town, but I'll conquer this part of the route, next time. Pete tells me that one of the riders who passed us actually cramped on this section of hill. Proof that I made the right decision not trying to power through the pain.

We get back to Fredericksburg and meet the rest of the cyclists for lunch. Everyone is all smiles and glad to see that I made it. I learn that beyond the guy who cramped, someone had breathing troubles and called the ride leader for a pick-up along the route. I think I did well today. I didn't complete the ride, but I sure feel like I accomplished a lot. I know that I still have a lot of hill training to go, but now I know what hills are really like and what beautifully scenery I can see if I can conquer those hills. Pete tells me he's proud of me and that confirms my feelings of success. I'm thankful that he stuck with me for the route today, but I'm sorry that he didn't get his miles. He doesn't seem concerned, so I'll let it go for another ride. One of these days I'll be strong enough on the hills, a bit faster on the bike, and have more endurance for longer routes to be able to keep up with him so he gets a good training ride and workout in too.

We'll mark this down as a route to conquer at a later date, but it's a success today too! Also worth noting, I've now clocked more than 300 miles on my bike since I started this training adventure. That's an amazing number to me. I know it's nothing to those who can do 100 miles in a day, or even 100 miles in a week without thinking about it. But when you're still doing short distances like I am, 300 is quite the number!

Goals
Today's Miles: 30.7
Total Miles Achieved: 329.1
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: -0.2

Women’s Weekly Ride

We’re having strange random rain sprinkles today. The ride is questionable if weather will allow us to get out or not tonight. I work so close to the bike shop where we start that it just makes sense to stop by to try and ride. Sure enough, J.D. says we’re on for the ride. I purchase my electrolyte replacement snacks (I don’t count the food and drink intake in my financial investment tracking) and head to the bathroom to change for the ride.

When I come out, Pete has arrived with our bikes and is talking to J.D. and Cindy, the owner of the shop. I walk over and discover they’re talking about my recent bike shopping and research. Cindy is my height, and J.D. is a couple inches taller. Pete mentions that although Tom has measured me as a 47cm bike fit, I think I want to try a 43 because the standover is shorter as is the reach.

These two women, who know a lot more about bikes and have been biking much longer than I, are convinced that I do not need a 43. They started explaining the challenges of a 43, the frustrations of a two different wheel size garage, the unimportance of standover, etc. J.D. told me to watch how she leans her bike on the ride today. Then Cindy mentions I should do a test ride of the demo bike they have in stock. That’s exactly what I’ve wanted to do! The shop let’s you take the bike out for a test ride, but you only go a few blocks and back. I’d rather truly get a feel for the bike on a ten mile ride. So, we agree that next Thursday I’ll set out right at six so I’m back before the store closes at seven and can return the bike. It’s too bad only Cindy (not J.D. or Tom) knew this demo bike was at the store or that I could take it out for a ride.

We ended up with only five women for the ride tonight. We took it slow and easy. We watched a near miss car accident and held our positions at the stop sign until that was over and the cars were out of the way. No one else seemed interested when J.D. offered some hill coaching, so she sent the other girls ahead and worked with me on shifting from the big ring (using downhill power to start me up a hill) and getting into the middle ring at the right time. I actually passed two of the girls as I went up the hill! When Pete met up with us, J.D. started telling him how awesome I did on the hill. Whoo-hoo! I felt great.

Then it was time for the false flat and the bigger hill. I did it. I just kept on the attack and watched my cadence on the false flat. J.D. stuck with me, coached me through it and picked up the conversation when I was out of breath. Going up the last hill, she told me to attack it with the big ring. “WHAT??? There’s not enough downhill momentum.” She says, “Yes there is, give it a shot. You can do it.” So off I go. I had some gear problems and missed a couple attacks in my cadence, so I ended up going up the hill super slow, but I made it. We stopped to catch our breath and meet up with the girls that took off for a bigger hill.

I wore my new shorts today and tried one of the pairs of low profile socks. I'm liking the shorts so far. Sadly, I think this pair of socks is too low. Thankfully, I wore these socks only for a ten mile ride. There is a spot on my left ankle that is red and irritated. I haven't looked closely enough to know if it's a blister yet, or if it was a blister that I developed and popped on the ride. I'll have to be sure to wear higher profile socks for the longer rides this weekend.

It was a great night for a ride. The weather was cooler and the rain stayed away. We had a small group, so we all gabbed a bit. J.D. stuck tight and coached me through all kinds of things tonight. Pete was there to cheer me on and celebrate in my success. I get so much out of these little ten mile rides on Thursday nights!

Goals
Today's Miles: 10
Total Miles Achieved: 298.4
Financial Investment: $972.39
Total Weight Loss: -0.2