Ride 4 Life

In May, riding a euphoric wave from our Clean Air Challenge ride, Team Aurora Bikealis signed up for the 120 mile Ride for Life charity ride benefiting colorectal cancer. The R4L is a 2 day ride from Anchorage to Seward.

It sounded good at the time, and we figured we'd all train hard and be in killer shape for the grueling first day climb over Turnagain pass.

But life, and in my case laziness, happens and our training didn't quite work out as planned. Only 3 team members were ultimately able to make this ride: Piper, Jeff and myself. Ally and Scout were both out of state and unable to join us (congrats Scout on making Captain!!!), but were in frequent cell phone contact cheering us on. Mama Lama had her hands full with our favorite monkey, and wasn't able to run support this time - but she was in our thoughts the whole way. My loverboy Rocky drove Jeff and Terri's RV - I thought camping would be just fine....but it was SOOOOO nice to have a warm, dry rig to sleep in.


The weather in Anchorage has been lousy this summer. Little to no sun and cold temperatures have become the norm around here, and the forecast for this trip looked pretty bleak. We packed for rain and I for one just assumed we would be cold, wet and miserable the entire weekend, but we'd get through it. Miraculously, a drop never fell while we were cycling, and the second day was downright sunny. Yes, it was hilly (they don't call it a mountain pass for nothing) and yes it was windy (should you really have to pedal going downhill to keep from stopping?), but it was a drop dead gorgeous ride - possibly one of the best I have ever been on.

Jeff at Turnagain pass - smiling hard after cruising up that 6 mile climb.

Piper stretching out for the next leg from Turnagain Pass to Ingram Creek

Twerp's one handed rolling self portrait - kiddies, don't try this at home

A little Video blogging along the way

This video is proves 4 things: Jeff doesn't really need handlebars, Twerp should keep her day job, Piper's helmet doesn't fit when it is on straight, and Alaska is one beautiful place.

Day 2 - Sunshine!


A quick clip as we pass the turn off for Kenai.

Victory! Bikes raised in celebration on the lawn outside of the SeaLife Center in Seward.

37:50:00 Moose Run Time Trial

This whole biking thing is spinning out of my control, and I'm just along for the ride. What started out as a way to get my rear end out of the classroom and into the gym, has morphed into an obsession that seems to have taken on a life of it's own.

OK. So I'm exaggerating. Again. But, really, this whole experience is evolving day to day, and along with it my aspirations.

I never thought I'd start racing. In fact, I explicitly told my LBS salesman that I was NOT planning to do time trials. Well, what do I know.

Today I raced my first TT. I finished middle of the pack in the beginner women division. 37:50:00 for the 10 mile sprint. Pretty flat, a few meandering hills. My goals for the race were simply to finish without crashing. I did that. I feel good about my finish. I was passed by a few people, and passed a few myself. I monitored my HR and kept an eye on my RPM. I kept my cadence above 90, dropping off gears as needed. I see now where increased work will allow me to work at higher gears without lowering my RPM. My legs were very fatigued the last few miles. More riding should help with that.

Anyhow. Nothing witty to share today. I'm just feeling good to have this first race of the year under my belt.

Damn - I'm not Superwoman Afterall

Things were going just fine. I was blissfully riding the stationary bikes at the club while I watched my favorite hockey heros pound the snot out of each other. I soon found that if I really pushed it, I could ride 10 miles in under 28 minutes. It became my goal to continue to increase resistance while staying under 28 minutes. Occassionally I would ride for an hour, and smiled away as the odometer clicked over to 20 miles. I was well on my way to riding the 400 miles by April goal I set in order to "earn" a new road bike.

But then I started hearing everyone talk about trainers, and of course I had to have one. I do love the thing, even as it tortures me. I've got it set up in the middle of the living room (what an understanding hubby I have). But here is the problem - the thing is too realistic. Suddenly, my miles have been cut in half even as I continue to work harder and harder. Damn kryptonite.

I know ... I know... in the long run its a good thing. But right now, I just miss my cape.
Damn Trainers

Pre Gladiator Days

Ok. So before I morph into a muscle bound, cycling gladiator I thought it best to document the early days of my evolution.

Currently on an evolutionary scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being a full on gladiator and 1 being a neophyte I would roughly estimate that I am a negative 2.

[side note to those who don't know me very well...no, I'm not really shooting for gladiator status - I'm just terribly unimaginative and watched the gladiator finals on the brain eater tonight]

Status of the pre-Gladiator
Bike - cycling is currently my strongest suit in the tri-sport closet. I am still slow, and need to build endurance for longer rides. But I enjoy it most. At present, I have one ride - a Novara Bonita hard tailed mountain bike. I put on studded tires in January, but have been out only once. Right now it is set up on my new trainer in the middle of my living room and the coffee table is cluttered with the Spinerval dvd's that arrived this weekend. I've become obsessed with getting a road bike this spring.
Status: typically 30 - 40 min rides, bike class with tri-sport coach on Thursdays, able to do Spinerval Ride Strong dvd today with appropriate effort (no cheating). Beginning to use heart rate monitor to train - but I don't quite have it figured out yet.

Short Term Goals: "No Slackers Allowed" dvd at least once a week, able to do 2 hrs on trainer w/o stopping, more biking outdoors

Run - One word: yuck. I have tried to like running at so many different points in my life I think I eventually gave up hope. Yeah...yeah...I know about the runners high thing people get if they just keep going. But I have never, never experienced this. That said, I am willing to really give running another chance. I don't know why. I just have this feeling that something has fundamentally changed for me. Perhaps its just Alzeimers.

Status: uh...not much. Had our first "run" class for the tri-sport course last Tuesday, but we just talked about Chi running. I did jump on the treadmill about 3 weeks ago after biking and did some run 2min walk 2min work. Best lesson I learned was to listen to my dang-nabit body when it tells me something. I stupidly tried to "work through" a....shall I say uncomfortable rubbing between my other set of cheeks and ended up with a nice and tender scab. [TMI warning - got to get the mensus/running thing straightened out.]

Short Term Goal: simply to be able to run a mile without stopping - no matter how slow I go. A nice bonus would be to begin enjoying running, but I'm not holding my breath.

Swim - ah yes, the swim. This is by far my weakest area. I don't detest it like the run, I just have no skill in the area. That said, it could very well be my area of greatest improvement this year. In 2005, it took me over 16 minutes to do the 500 yard swim in the Gold Nugget Tri. If you aren't in the know, let me make it clear... that is not just slow, that is nearly going backwards. The winning time was just over 5 min. The good news in all this is that it sets me up for incredible improvement potential this year. In 2005 I simply went for it and figured if I just flailed my arms a little faster I would eventually get there. This year, I have a swim coach. I met her today. I don't know her name, but I love her. If anyone can bring out my inner gladiator, it is her.

Status: To put it simply, I can't. At least not any measurable speed. Today I learned that your neck should be in line with your spine, looking down a the bottom of the pool. We worked on floating with our neck and spine in a neutral position, then worked on turning our body perpendicular to the bottom of the pool. She had us swim on our sides for 8 sec with the bottom arm straight out and the other at our side, then switch sides and immediately take a breath and continue (breaths in between as needed). Then we did the same thing in 4 second shifts. I actually did seem to feel my breathing relaxing. Still, I am incredibly winded just going to the end of the pool and back. I wonder how much of this has to do with my hyperventilating. I need to remember to keep my head facing down, not lifted out of the water so my hips don't fall and drag.

Short Term Goal: to feel less winded, to consistenly keep my head down, to be able to do a 100 without needing to gasp for air in the middle.

OK... wow...that is more information than I really need to write down. I for one am never coming back to read it. I guess I got carried away.
Damn blabbermouths.