Climb. Descend. Repeat.

During the week, I've been dutifully working out on my own, either attending Spinning class, lifting weights, or running with my buddies. But, the cycling coaches strongly encourage us to attend a mid-week session on "hill repeats", to make us stronger for climbing.

The formula is simple: find a hill with a good ~1 mile climb, ride up to the top and return, and repeat several times. Well finally I attended my first hill repeat session, on Mt. Eden Road in Saratoga. Not only was it at 7am, but just my luck, it was lightly raining for my debut!

I was feeling kind of lost since I'd never met for this before, but finally I found our knowledgable leader, Vijay, and he showed me the way. When we arrived at the base of the hill, we found another teammate, Audrey, already there and having completed a couple of repetitions already. AND, she had rode over from home. Tough chick! :-)

The climbing was perfectly hard: not painful, but challenging and long. Vijay led us through the paces, mixing it up by climbing in different gears and cadences. I usually like to descend fast, but I was spooked by the rain and wet roads and took the curves pretty slow. I thought Vijay said we were finished after 3-4 climbs (I've lost count!), but he twisted our arms with "just one more" so we ended up doing 5-6 rounds.

Here's our course map, below. It's nice -- not much traffic, pretty, and peaceful. I can even attest that it's nice in the rain. ;-)

These are my people

Here's another look at the (motley?) crew that I ride with: This is at a rest stop in the middle of a hill climbing fest, along Mt. Eden Road in the Saratoga hills. At the far right is our ride group's coach, Kevin. He's a cycling animal!

A nice little climb

After yesterday's infernal long ride (more about that soon), I needed something less punishing. A few friends and I are interesting in making an assault on Mt. Hamilton Road, which is an old country road in east San Jose climbing up to the iconic Lick Observatory.

Don't worry, I didn't ride to the Observatory! Not today, anyway. But maybe by the end of summer. Today, we just road a nice 10-mile loop that climbs part way up Mt. Hamilton Road. It's really a nice road for cycling: not too much traffic, not too steep, it just climbs for a long, long ways.

I'm having fun experimenting with different mapping methods and used Gmaps Pedometer to draw this:

Pretty Picture of a Deluge

Last Saturday, our ride was supposed to be 50+ miles from Los Altos to San Mateo with a climb up to Skyline Blvd. HOWEVER, when we got to Woodside, it started raining pretty hard. It was my first time riding in a rain storm. It's not very fun. Even though I had a waterproof jacket, your face gets constantly blasted with road spray and grime from fellow riders' tires. The worst part of all is that it's very hard to brake on a bike in the rain! I had to give my brakes the "death grip" to keep from running into fellow riders or past stop lights.

Sensibly, we turned back at Edgewood Road in Woodside. As we were riding back, we passed the TNT Run team, which was also out at Woodside. That's what caused the rain! It always rains on the run team when they go to Woodside!

I painstakingly created this pretty picture of our route. I hope you like it!

What Nick Said

I've been meaning to write up last week's ride, which went really well for me. But before getting around to it, I discovered that my coworker Nick (an Ironman) has joined the Cycle team, and wrote a beautifully illustrated description of our ride. So go check it out at his blog and see his pretty topo map of our route!

Bizarre Love Triangle

Did that title catch your attention? What Triangle am I referring to? It must involve me, my bike, and a to-be-named object/person. ;-)

Actually, that was a song played in my 6:30a Spinning class this morning: Bizarre Love Triangle, by New Order. It brought back fond memories of the 1980s, and it's a great song to spin to, also. These techno-dance songs have such a strong bass beat, even an arrhythmic white boy such as myself can find a groove.

It made me think of a new idea for exercise classes: classes finely targeted by musical genre, e.g.,

• Hair Metal Spinning
• Gothic Yoga, a la Goth Talk.

Ah, the things one thinks of while suffering in the gym!

Monte Vista Ride

Here's a map of last Saturday's 47-mile course. You can zoom out and see all the miles we covered, and look at the elevation map at bottom. The biggest hills were at the end -- Mt. Eden and Pierce Road.

Nearly Moving Pictures

I've searched far and wide for pictures to show that I'm really out there pedaling down the road to earn your support. But first, let me introduce you to my ride team. This is the crew I ride with: Coach Kevin, Dave, Darlene, Reid, and Yogesh. (I can't ID the rider at far right.) We're at a rest stop on our 35-mile ride from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. This it our rest stop at the turnaround point on Canada Road at Highway 92. We have a great bunch of volunteers for SAG (supply and gear) who refresh us and cheer for us on our rides.

And here's a picture of me (at far right) dressed up like a biker, savoring a banana. We do more than eating, I swear! I guess we ride so fast that the only pictures available are of us at rest. :-)

Fundrai$ing Milestone Achieved

Last week was the first time I rode 50 miles in my life! That's a milestone; I'm halfway to my ultimate goal.

Coincidentally, my sponsors and I achieved a fundraising milestone, too. I've raised more than half of my $5,000 goal for the season! Thank you!!! I'm not resting on this achievment, however. I'll keep talking to people about this program and looking for support for the rest of the season. Check back any time at http://www.active.com/donate/tntsvmb/jbusco to see my current fundraising total.

To appreciate what TNT has accomplished since its founding, I include this description that I just received:

Since TNT’s inception nearly 20 years ago, 320,000 participants have raised more than $750 million to help the Society fight blood cancers. TNT is the world’s largest endurance sports training program, helping athletes of all levels to run or walk a whole or half marathon or participate in a triathlon or century (100-mile) bike ride.

--Team in Training newsletter

The Cardio Room and Its Instruments of Torture

Negative Feedback

When it's too dark or too rainy to ride, or when I want to take the kids to swim but need to get a workout, I head to the YMCA and the "Cardio Room". They have exercise cycles such as this It simulates riding a real bicycle quite well. As with most exercise machines, you can pick all sorts of programs simulating hills or random terrain. But by fair the most diabolical program is the "Dynamic Heart Rate Control" one. By grabbing the handlebars, the machine measures your heart rate. And, if it decides you aren't working hard enough, the screen scrolls this message: "Heart rate is too low. Increasing resistance." I hate that message! I got it a lot last week, and the bike increased the resistance so much I could hardly pedal. These machines have a mind of their own, and seem kind of sadistic.

Halfway There (the Easy Half)

On Saturday we rode from Santa Teresa High in San Jose
to Gilroy (nee Bonfante) Gardens. I can't believe I did it! The day started out chilly and windy, so I slipped on arm and knee warmers and our group headed out in a tight paceline. That way, only one of us had to fight the full wind at a time. With head down and working well as a team, in about an hour and a half we popped out on Highway 152, which runs between Gilroy and Watsonville. Whoa! I was surprised to ride right in front of "Gilroy Gardens". It's kind of scary to be riding a bike along the highway, especially when you have to ride two abreast to rotate the leader in your group. You have to look for a reasonably wide road shoulder, and hope that some crazy distracted driver doesn't encounter the group.

Not surprisingly, after fighting the wind for two hours, the ride back home was much easier. Santa Teresa Boulevard goes all the way from San Jose to Gilroy! That's one long road. I was feeling pretty studly as I lead the group up the final hill to Blossom Valley in South San Jose. I was riding with a high cadence and a good speed. Wow, I'm strong! (I thought.) It was only when I had to stop and go back for our teammate who had a flat tire that I realized we'd been riding with a strong tailwind. Tailwinds, like slight downhills, make everyone feel studly. :-)

That was it: 51+ miles in a little over three hours. It didn't feel too bad, but it was definitely challenging. It's intimidating to think of riding twice this distance, but as I learned from the marathon training program, I have faith in TNT.

Songs to Ride By

When I'm going for a long ride by myself, I throw caution to the wind and listen to my iPod while riding. I'm not taking risk for risk's sake, but it's hard to resist having a musical companion along for solo rides. I try to be careful, I don't turn the volume up loud, but this is my guilty pleasure.

It's intesresting to hear what plays randomly while I'm out on the road, and to ponder the synchronicity between where I'm riding and what is playing. Some recent examples:

Cresting a hill and about to descend at high speed

I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass, Nick Lowe. I hope not!

A long, low-speed hill climb on Pierce Road in Saratoga

Come as you are, Nirvana. Hardly!

Just starting a 30-mile ride, with my legs already sore from the long ride the day before

Life in the Fast Lane, The Eagles. A good omen!

Anyway, it gives one something to think about. Something other than numb toes, sore butt, sore neck, ...

Hills are NOT my friend

I did quite a bit of riding last weekend -- about 35 miles each day. That really seems like a lot to me, though perhaps by the end of the season it will be routine. I remember in my TNT marathon training that 10 miles seemed like an intimidating "double-digit" run, yet by the end of the season it was nothing.

On Sunday I rode up to the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, up Pierce Road. Hill climbing is very hard! I was sweatin' up a storm, standing on my pedals and wrenching on my handlebars to throw myself up the hill. It was a joy to pause under a big oak tree at the entrance to the winery before a wonderfully fast descent down Highway 9 to downtown Los Gatos.

One thing I've realized in the many miles and hours I'm spending on a bike this season -- you can get a tougher workout on a bike than you can running. When I'm running, eventually all the pounding on the legs becomes too much and you need to stop, and probably take the next day off, too. But with cycling, there's no impact, and it's all about extracting every last ounce of energy from your big leg muscles. So, you can just keep riding until you're completely exhausted. Or puking. Yippee! (not)

A Thousand Words

First photo! Cheers! Sorry it's not an "action shot", though you can barely glimpse my bike on the back of the silver Volvo. This was in the morning, as I headed off to my first Team ride on a rainy day.

As soon as pictures start to come in from our TNT road rides, I'll post some of those.

No Spacing While Pacing!

Last weekend's ride was the first one in "ride groups". Based on our time trial results, we've been assigned to small teams of riders of about the same speed. Our groups is nine riders strong, including a volunteer coach and mentor, who help keep us in line.

We learned the protocol of riding in a "pace line". That's where the riders follow each other in a line, with the front rider plowing through the wind resistance and the others cruising along behind him. The lead rider keeps it up for about a minute, then drifts to the side and lets the next rider have a turn at lead. The ex-leader gets to drop to the back of the line and enjoy some hard-earned water or snack (PowerBar).

This was something I'd never done before, and it was fun. It requires a lot of concentration to maintain a steady speed, so you don't fall behind or run into the guy ahead of you. And when you're in front, you don't want to get so excited with adrenaline that you pull away and leave the rest of your "train" behind!

Good stuff. Unlike when running or riding solo, there's not spacing out while riding in a pace line!

A Runner with True Grit

Even though I'm a cyclist now, I still run Thursday mornings at 6am with my old Team in Training run team crowd. Last Thursday was a "dark and stormy" morning, and as I drove to Campbell Park I was secretly hoping the run would be called off and I could go to the nice, warm YMCA to work out.

But, waiting for me in the dark and empty parking lot was good old Steve, my running partner of five years. He was the only one to come out in those conditions. I greeted him with a friendly "I didn't think you were so stupid as to come out on a morning like this". We didn't stand around long as standing in the rain is even dumber than running in the rain, so we took off into the darkness.

What followed was a great one-hour run in the steady rain. It was filled with great conversation about anything and everything -- music, news, parents, kids, ... I felt great the rest of the day.

Even though I'm a cyclist, I have to respect runners like Steve. We cancelled a bike ride because the roads were wet (not raining), and yet runners don't let the elements stop them. True grit.

Must Control Testosterone

Last Saturday, we rode our 12-mile Time Trial course again. Unlike the previous week's wet conditions, the weather was awesome this time! Spring is here?

Since I was familiar with the course and the conditions were perfect, I decided to push things a bit. It didn't help my restraint to be surrounded by so much spandex and carbon fiber! I know this will come as a shock, but with men, sometimes (adrenaline + testosterone > good sense).

I rode strong throughout the whole course. I'm getting pretty comfortable with my bike now. The finish was a long gradual climb up Alpine Road, finishing in front of the Alpine Inn (that's Zot's to the locals). When I was 100 yards from the finish, within sight of the cheering support crew, striving to finish strong, something went haywire in my leg! It was the most excruciating cramp in my right calf -- I couldn't pedal with that leg at all. Upon further research, I suffered a pulled muscle, or "muscle strain" as it appears in the literature. It must have looked comical, after riding so strong, so slow to almost a crawl and limp across the finish line. But limping is what I did, and then hastily dismounted my bike.

It didn't hurt bad afterwards, but I have a big fat knot in my calf. I had Susan wrap it up with an Ace bandage so I felt like a real jock. The compression of the bandage was amazingly helpful. Today, things feel pretty OK, so I'll be back on my bike for a test ride soon.

Initiation of a Fair-Weather Rider

Last Saturday we had our "time trial" ride. Our coach told us

This ride will determine your ride groups for the season. This is NOT a time trial like they ride in the Tour De France. So leave your skinsuits, aero bars and disc wheels at home. This 12 mile ride has some rollers, a short hill on Sand Hill and a rather long uphill on Alpine.

We were fortunate that it wasn't raining Saturday morning, even though it rained all the rest of the weekend. But, because the roads were very wet, with lots of debris on the roads, our team cancelled the formal ride. How wimpy, I thought! We were allowed to ride the course on our own and submit a time to give the coaches an idea of how fast we ride. I was definitely ready for a ride, so off I went.

The course was familiar from a ride that I rode with my son and his friends last summer. Riding through a wet course was a new experience for me, though. The sound of the tires zipping over the wet roads, and the grit and dirt that gets kicked up all over your bike and yourself made me feel like a real biker! However, this area is real cycling country, with lots of elite cyclists riding these roads. So, when I was repeatedly passed like I was standing still, it put me back in my place.

It was a successful ride -- I put my miles in, and learned more about my bike and riding in less than fair conditions.

Allez!

Mass Socialization

Yesterday I rode in our first Team ride, from a park in Los Altos. There were a lot of new faces there: coaches, mentors, and participants. I met lots of new people, and thoroughly enjoyed riding with them. The big challenge will be remembering all the new names! One crutch I can use is our TNT web site, which has some pictures to go along with everyones' names.

As I had hoped, I'm already learning a lot on the cycle team. We went over hand and verbal signals that cyclists use to keep each other safe while riding in a line. I found that it's hard to use the hand signal "Stop!" on a bike, since you usually need two hands to brake! But I practiced that, along with much-needed practice clipping in and out of my bike pedals.

It was cold! I need to learn more about how to deal with the elements. I was pretty well covered up, but my toes went numb. I noticed that some riders use special "booties" for cold weather and will look into those.

We had a tire-changing clinic after the ride, and the coaches and mentors were really kind in walking me through "best practices" and sharing tips on dealing with inevitable flat tires out on the road.

Finally, we had bagels, coffee, and a panel to get to know our Honorees. Honorees are cancer patients who volunteer with the Team to share their stories and inspire participants to ride and fundraise hard! We had nine honorees speaking, and they ranged in aged from 11-50+ years old! Yes, that's right, we have an 11-year-old cancer patient in our program, and he rides with us! He's ridden up to 40 miles before. An impressive and cute kid.

It was a well-rounded and enjoyable day. I like it!

First Ride Butterflies

This morning I'm off to our first Team ride, in Los Altos. I didn't sleep at all well last night, and it wasn't just because of the wine I drank. I'm nervous and excited about my first organized bike ride, and I kept tossing and turning as I worried about oversleeping or forgetting some vital equipment. It's not good to be tired before the ride even begins! Better take a nap this afternoon. One of the things I'm looking forward to learning is "what to wear". Up to now, I've been a fair-weather cyclist. But this morning, it's 33F outside. Aye-yah, that's cold! I'm just throwing a whole bunch of clothes in my bag and will try to figure out the layering by watching what the experienced cyclists wear. Well, time to go. Allez!