Training Intensifies

Since my most recent post, I have escalated the miles in my training. In the aim of assuring myself that I can perform a century when asked, I successfully completed a 60 mile ride, followed two weeks later by an 80.

Next weekend I push for a century.

Observations along the way:

The first 5 miles are hard, sure, but the last 10 miles of the 80 were excruciating. I stood and coasted down hills to stretch my ornery glutes and quads whenever possible, and, on the return leg of the Los Gatos Creek Trail, the one section after the Los Gatos Creek Park where it starts mildly downhill and flattens out, perfect to blast on and lose a wheelsucker, well, I would've been grateful for another wheel.

Fear of immobility is an effective motivator. All I need to do in order to summon yet another unseen reservoir of energy is to imagine the impossible dreams of my mother and my fears of sharing the disease that rendered them so.

When physically spent, small acts of thoughtfulness can bring me to near tears. Came home drained after the 80-mile ride to the smells of my girlfriend cooking a steak dinner.

First Training Ride for Bike MS: Waves to Wine

This past Saturday I completed a 40-mile ride in preparation for the Waves to Wine ride. It was the most miles I'd ever spent in the saddle and gave me a good preview of the grades and conditions I'll experience during the ride.
When I first moved to the SF Bay Area, I didn't know of any good routes. A bit of searching on the Internet led me to Ken Lee's site (http://www.rahul.net/kenton/fun/bike/). I rode one of his other recommended routes later that month, but rain, tire issues, hiking and other forms of exercise and entertainment had kept me otherwise occupied.

I still was on a bike near-daily at lunch, and have been bike-commuting fairly often, but the opening of registration for the Bike MS ride made me realize that I had but 4 short months to get myself ready for 175 miles in two days.

The most I'd consecutively ridden was 31 or so miles with my friends Jay and Pete back home. My legs had felt fine afterwards, and they weren't sore the next day, so I knew I could do a longer ride.

Starting on Park Blvd in Palo Alto, across El Camino from Stanford campus, the route wound up into the hills with a good amount of steady but not too steep climbing. This continued pretty much all the way up Canada road and onto Skyline Blvd. The view of the Crystal Springs Reservoirs was pretty nice, and I wished I could hop off and go for a swim, as by that point, I was halfway done with my ride.

I missed signs for the bike detour around the closed portion of Skyline Blvd, as the Lower Crystal Springs dam (which Skyline crosses) is undergoing repairs, so I ended up a little lost in San Mateo on Bunker Hill Drive, which was a decent climb. The other side, though, was an insane -16% grade, with stop signs in the middle of it for cross streets, which was a bit hairy. I still felt lucky I didn't have to climb up that way.

The way back to Palo Alto on Alameda de las Pulgas was pretty tranquil, even with traffic and some small climbs. I did end up getting lost in Stanford's campus, but I asked a professor who happened to be cycling by for some directions.

Overall, I was pretty impressed. While I wasn't as fast as I wanted to be, I finished the ride without any leg soreness. However, my nose wouldn't stop running and sweat in the eyes may be an issue, but I'll find ways to solve those problems. I felt like I could've ridden longer, and my legs still aren't sore.

Time to find a longer ride!