No wii for me yesterday.  I had weightlifting class and I rode home ....almost... I forgot my lights so I had to be picked up about 1 mile away.  I still rode 7 miles, so that's good.

 

Have you ever taken your car in for something and had the mechanic say they "couldn't duplicate the problem?"  Well, that's been the saga of me and my bike.  I'll ride it and it will feel like something is rubbing.  I'll spin the wheels, check the brakes and I just can't figure it out.  Josh has adjusted the brakes for me and checked it all out and nothing....  Meanwhile I am the SLOWEST of our group.  I pump and pump but I can't keep up.  It's been driving me crazy...

 

Well.... last week Joshua rode my bike home when I was sick and when he got home he said it was the worst ride ever!  We have the same bike, but mine is the girl version and I have the big booty seat.  He said he thought it was the seat, but then he still had trouble when he was standing up.... 

 

I am absolutely paranoid about the Tour de Poway on Sunday.  It will be the hardest ride I've ever done and I just can't afford to work any harder than I need to....so last night Joshua and I made one last ditch effort to check the bike out ourselves.  The wheels were a little off, so he trued them, he adjusted the brakes and today we shall see if it makes a diffference.

 

Otherwise, I'm stopping by the bikeshop tomorrow to see if they can work a miracle by Sunday.....

Ooops.... I took some unexpected time off with a stinkin cold. What's up with that?  Everyone I know has been coming down with a strange cold....in September??  That's an odd time around here.  It must be because school started.

 

Either way, I ended up taking a week off the bike.  I took my scheduled days off and THEN got sick.  I never intended to take a whole week off, but here's something very interesting....

 

When I was riding I was gaining weight.  I tried not to get all crazy about it.  I found it kind of humorous.  I knew I was eating better.  I knew I was exercising 1-2 hours per day/5 days a week.  I planned to just wait and see what happened.  And then I got a cold and lost 6.5 pounds!!  I'm not sure how that happened.  I ate horrible food.  Seriously!  I ate ice cream, pasta, oreos, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter toast....  I didn't eat big giant amounts but I certainly didn't count calories.  I just couldn't muster the energy to go to the grocery store or cook, so I ate what was easy and when I did go to walmart for more cold medicine...somehow the oreos jumped in the cart, along with the ice cream.  Granted it was the no sugar added/low fat chocolate mint chip, but still....it was ice cream!!!

 

I was truly terrified to get on the scale yesterday, but then it was five pounds down.  Hmmm.  Ok, maybe the cold medicine dehydrated me.  24 hours later, no cold medicine and I'm down another 1.5 pounds.  Strange! 

 

The only thing I can think of is that I am no longer sore so maybe I finally flushed all the lactic acid and extra water retention out of my body. 

 

All I know is that I'm back to work and I'm riding home tonight and I'm ready for the crazy scale to jump back up now that I'm doing the RIGHT things.

 

Craziness!

 

For the most part I felt fine all day.  My legs felt more stiff than sore and I had to keep finding reasons to leave my desk because my legs felt twitchy and I couldn't stand sitting still.  I even resorted to moving files for my boss.  I looked forward to my ride home because it was my short 6 mile ride to accupuncture day and I didn't have to be there until 6:30.

 

So I went to my weightlifiting class and breezed through it.  The teacher created a program for me and now I'm ready to go.  It's mostly upper body and just a few leg things until my legs get used to the ride home.  One leg excersize is already being tossed....My accupuncturist said no more calf raises.  My muscles are already too tight and it made my foot worse.

 

So I hopped on my bike, ready for a nice leisurely ride and whoa baby!!  I was sore!!  Good thing I wasn't in a hurry.  I loosened up a couple of miles into the ride and I enjoyed myself but boy was I slow and I definatley used lower gears than normal.  The ride ended a block or so early when my chain came off.  I decided to just walk it so that I didn't have to take the bags off and put them back on.

 

Today is a rest day because my cycling buddies and I are taking a bike maintenance class at REI.  I'm thinking it's probably a good thing I'm taking a rest day.  Sunday beat me up more than I realized. 

 

I am still completely loving my rides.  I look forward to my journey home more than I ever did when I drove.  I feel good and I feel empowered.  I'm glad that I'm saving a little gas and in my heart of hearts I know that this is a turning point for me.  I know that I have found something that I truly enjoy and that I will continue to add more cycling and less car driving to lots of activities... but there is a downside... Right now it's hard.  I'm exhausted at night and I don't really have any time to do other things.  Once I get home it's dinner, dishes, prep my bags for the next day, pack a lunch, ice my foot and go to bed.  I need a full eight hours of sleep and that's more than I used to get.  I kind of feel guilty about all the extra time I'm spending on myself and I worry that I'm not keeping up on housework and other things in my life and yet.... I'm not willing to change it.  I just have this feeling of "this too shall pass."  I think I need to stick with it, adjust my schedule and in time it will get easier. 

Bike the Bay, Walk the Bridge... haha.  Ok, so the ride was really called "Bike the Bay," but I figured that the title I came up with more accurately represents how I approached the ride.

 

Unfortunately I didn't start the day out real well.  I woke up feeling awful.  I had horrible cramps and it was like my body was in overdrive.  I was cold/clammy/sweaty/anxious and short of breath.  It was the oddest thing.  I got winded just on the short ride from the car to the beginning of the race and then I got anxious because I was so out of breath....  At that point I think I was battling a mental and physical battle. 

 

I calmed down a little bit while we stood around waiting for the beginning of the ride.  It was fun to see all the different groups and the cool jerseys.  We marveled at those who were riding the "fixies" and the beach cruisers.  We needed every single one of our 21 gears. haha!  Finally the ride got started and we were off.  We barely got going and we hit the beginning of the bridge.  No time to settle in and relax.  I didn't even make it up the entrance ramp.  It was a sharp turning ramp.  It was even hard to walk it.  Then I was huffing and puffing and freaking out in my head.  "What the heck?  I can't even make it up the ramp?"  I caught my breath and rode some more and stopped again.  Mentally, I think it's easier to stop the second time.  It was like I was defeated.  I was so upset and so worried.  I kept walking, but I was going over every possible scenario.   Could I quit?  How would I let Candace and Jane know?  Would I be able to live with myself if I quit?  Physically, could I possibly go on?  I honestly thought I was going to puke and cry and pass out all at the same time... but I kept walking.... and then finally I got back on my bike and started riding and it was EASY!!!  I mean seriously.  Granted I got back on when the slope wasn't so bad, but I was still shocked at how easy it was to pedal...  I finished up the slope of the bridge and then calmed down as I rode down the other side.

 

By the time we made it to the first pit-stop (about 3 miles into the race), I knew I could continue on but I still wasn't feeling real good.  I took some ibuprofen at the pit stop and Jane gave me a shot blok.  I drank some water and had the pit crew adjust my seat a little bit and we were off... A few miles later I finally started to shake it off.  Candace gave me another shot blok at the next pit stop and I was finally able to stomach the idea of food.  I ate a couple orange slices, a piece of banana and more water....and from that point on I absolutely loved the race.  I made it up every single hill and I had fun. 

 

At the first pit stop Candace was frustrated with herself too and said she was going to do the ride next year and she was determined to make it up the whole bridge.  I said "have fun, I'm never doing it again.  I'll be lucky if I finish this one."  (you should know, I'm generally miss I can do anything!!! so this was totally out of character.)  By about 15 miles I knew I would do the ride again....

 

But during the last couple of miles Jane looked up and saw the bridge and she said "do you see that?"  and I said "Yea, it's that ugly bridge" and we burst into a fit of giggles.  I may have been enjoying the ride, but I hadn't befriended the bridge yet.  Give me a few days and I might be able to look at it and remember that I did indeed conquer it....even if I walked part of it.  Just wait until next year.

 

And here's my little shout out for Shot Bloks!!  They are made by Cliff bars and they look sort of like little jello blocks.  I think they help replace electolytes or something like that.  I've experimented with what to eat before, during and after a ride and these really are my favorite.  At first I didn't really like the idea of them.  They seemed like empty calories, but for me they work!  I can't deny that I feel so much better when I eat a couple of them on the long rides and I truly think they saved me yesterday.  So of course, I bought a few more packages after the ride so I wouldn't have to get handouts from my friends.  (I still don't think I'd eat them, just to eat them...still not so sure about the whole empty calorie thing...)

My biggest fear while riding my bike is.....hills.  They absolutely kill me.  I purposely choose routes that have less hills or more manageable hills and that's why I've been a little fearful about the Bike the Bay ride on Saturday.  In order to build a bridge across water, it has to rise above it.  There's no way to cross the Coronado bridge without climbing a hill. 

 

Yesterday I got the brilliant idea to ride down to the Lake to meet my cycling buddies.  It seemed easier than riding to Jane's and then going through all the effort to load my bike in her car.  After all it's only a short 4 mile ride and it's mostly downhill, right?  I remembered there was a hill leaving campus and another hill at the beginning of the ride, but then it was all downhill.....right?  So I took off.  I was a little nervous, but then I went up both hills pretty easily.  I never even considered stopping and I didn't even say "I'm gonna die."  I just kind of giggled to myself because it was so easy.  Then I got to go down, down, down.....lovely breeze.  Wait, what is that up ahead?  Another stinking hill?  It looked huge.  How could I forget about it.  The closer I got, the smaller it seemed and sure enough I pedaled right up.  Then another down, down, down.... and what?  another hill.  By this point I am totally laughing at myself.  How could I have forgotten all of these hills.  It's probably a good thing I forgot, because I might not have tried it and I'm oh so glad I did!!!!!  I loved every minute of that ride.  It was hilarious.  I laughed at myself and surprised myself and I finished it up with 12 miles around the lake.  All said and done I rode 17 miles yesterday!!  Good thing I have a meeting today and someone is giving me a ride...I think my legs might need a rest day.

We had a great weekend.  Hubby ended up being home the whole weekend so we took advantage of it.  We ran all of our errands Saturday, including a trip to the bike store.   I got a back rack and a shoulder bag/pannier that hooks onto it.  I like the bag much better than the backpack!  I'll try to take a picture when I get it all loaded up tonight.

 

Then on Sunday Rick, Josh, Bre (Josh's new girlfriend) and I took a picnic and went for a ride on Coronado.  It was so fun.  The weather was a lot cooler down there by the beach.  Hopefully we helped Rick get the cycling bug!  They installed the folding pedals on his bike while he was home, which makes it much easier to get it in and out of the truck.  We also went on a couple of rides and now he knows he can ride much further than he realized.  And....he's just a wee bit competitive.   I can't imagine that he'll let me push too much farther ahead of him. 

 

Yesterday Rick went back on the road and I attempted to go on a nice long bike ride by myself.  I ended up doing about 40 minutes and half the distance I planned.  I forgot my gloves and my hands were killing me!!!!!  The bummer is, the gloves were in the back of the car the whole time!  If I'd known, I would've doubled back and then continued on.  Oh well.  It was pretty hot and I still got a great workout.  I'll just have to attempt the ride another day.

 

I'm really starting to see how much my life has changed.  I didn't spend the weekend sitting around watching t.v., napping or eatting.  We got a lot done, I rode a lot and I still feel rested and happy.