This One’s a Blowout

My alarm went off at 6:30 for a 7:30 ride. Half hour to get ready and a half hour to get there (or so was the plan). At 6:32 I checked the weather reports looking/hoping for rain. By 6:35 I’d determined that the ride was not, in fact, cancelled due to some injury/freak weather occurrence/pity on my sick feeling self. Around 6:58 I re-dragged myself out of bed. Hey, there were still 32 minutes in which to get dressed, eat, buy a bottle of water, and drive to the start point…totally doable. The throat swelling hadn’t really abated, but i was bound and determined to get at least one ride in on the new crank and seat setting. At least that’s what I told myself after I finished a mental guilt trip of how bad I’d feel if I missed knowing that everyone else showed up. So I pulled on the winter weather gear (yay!) and rolled out around 7:05. Thankfully the start for this ride wasn’t too far from the house!

The ride started out pretty rough. My paceline group was feeling pretty good so early in the morning and were ready to take off on the first little climb on Route 9. My snuffly, snotty self was having issues processing the 32 degree air; hard to warm up the air if you can’t breathe it in. Pair that with cold toes and the sensation that someone was shoving needles into the tips of my frozen fingers and I was damn uncomfortable. By mile 2 I’d decided I couldn’t hang with an 18mph pace on the flats – I just couldn’t process enough air and felt like I was hyperventilating. Thankfully, our group was super small on Sunday, so Ron volunteered to stay back with me (after sprinting up to let Devan know, of course).

And that’s pretty much how the first half of the ride went. Ron and I hung back, cruising around 14-15mph (except on the hills. And on the devil false flats.). Eventually I must have crossed some exertion threshold, and my fingers and toes magically thawed in the space of 20 seconds. Weird how that happens; freeze for an hour and then instantly get warm. Not that I’m complaining. We rolled through the first 15 miles up to the rest stop pretty uneventfully, thanks to the fount of cycling advice that is Ron’s brain. Seriously, if you are new to cycling on the team chat this guy up! Not only does he know a ton of good techniques to help you get more for your effort, he’ll keep you distracted from the cold (and, in my case, lack of breath). Interestingly enough, Ron and I showed up at the rest stop at the same time as the rest of our ride team. Apparently they had pulled back a bit after that initial speed burst.

I scarfed down a couple shot bloks and two pieces of fruit, then forced myself to drink a good half bottle of water before hitting the road again. It’s really challenging for me to remember to drink on super cold days, even though I know that it is key to preventing bonk. Anyway, Coach Devan’s team headed out together and tackled Mount Eden (yes, of hill repeats fame) in good time. We regrouped at the top and then made plans to meet at the bottom again. The descent was a bit scary for me. There were a good number of blind or partially obstructed (Oohhh…driver’s ed word there) turns, and I freaked out just a little the first time my tail shimmied in gravel. But, I made it to the bottom without injury – I just took it a bit slower than the rest. One day, I’m convinced those will be fun again.

The last half of the ride was pretty challenging. I was riding with the full team, so I had to push it up to an 18-21mph pace for a good while (or so it seemed). I hung with them for a couple miles at least, but really ended up in more of a chasing position. Somewhere between the rest stop and the descent on Mount Eden, my body had chilled again and I just couldn’t push enough oxygen through to keep up. By the last 5 miles, we’d reigned the pace in to 13-14, and I was able to hold my place in line (feeling completely and utterly burnt as I did so).

And then, just as our paceline was cresting 20+ mph on a descent maybe 3 miles from the end of the ride….BOOM! The loudest popping noise I can remember (near my immediate person anyway), and a horrible smell of burning rubber. I yelled for a “MECHANICAL” inbetween curse words while simultaneously trying to slow down and stop my front end from careening off the road. Yep, I had a blowout. (Seriously, every time I convince myself the cycling-gods don’t hate me, especially on descents, something like this happens!) I managed to get stopped and off the road without taking out the paceline or any innocent bystanders. Yay me!

Our awesome roving SAG showed up within 2 minutes of pulling off the road. After inspection we found that the tire was not only flat, but that there was a giant rip in the sidewall from whatever the heck I’d managed to run over. Thankfully, I carry my patch kit (and other tools), knowing that even if I don’t know how to apply them, someone will be able to help me as long as I have that materials. Thanks to Chris, Devan and Ron, we had the tire patched, pumped and reinstalled in almost no time. I so appreciated the help too. Between the cold and the 25 miles, my arm strength was utterly sapped. We rolled out again to finish the last 5 miles basically uneventfully (unless you count the maniac who tried to run me over on the Route 17 on/off ramp).

I rewarded myself for finishing the ride on a wobbly, ripped tire without falling with a nice breakfast (brunch?) in the area and a hot shower when I got home. Apparently I’ll have to get new tires installed this week before I ride again (stupid money-sink bike). If anyone in the area is really bored, feel free to volunteer to come install them for me! And so my fall-free season continues…

MotionBased Data – Los Gatos High Ride (minus the last 3 miles where I turned the thing off after the blowout and forgot to restart it, and minus the heart rate data because it was too damn cold to put that thing on in the parking lot that morning! So don’t forget to add those miles on, dangit.)

Total Time (h:m:s)	3:10:35	5:52 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	2:12:04	4:50 pace
Distance (mi )	27.27
Moving Speed (mph)	12.4 avg.	29.3max.
Elevation Gain (ft)	+1,927/ -1,845

My Muscles are Revolting

Originally drafted 11/25 and magically not posted until now

No, I am not freakishly deformed (although the elbow is not particularly pleasant to view)…I just came back from a week off to do hill repeats with…dundundun…no cold weather gear! I know, some of you are reading this from the North East snowstorms thinking “what do these California people know about cold anyway?” Well, I think it is precisely that prejudice that made me think I could do yet another ride in sub 50 degree weather with nothing more than a pair of bike shorts and a long sleeved jersey…which, in turn, contributed to my leg muscles having a full on revolt after about an hour of riding. California isn’t supposed to be cold dangit! I am not a “winter jacket at 60 degrees” wimp yet!

Overall, hill repeats went well. Rather than doing our typical trips up and down Mt. Eden, Coach Don had us venture out the other direction and do a longer, rolling climb instead. I think it was intended to be a reward for showing up on a holiday weekend! The ride was nice; rolling hills, a stream, wildlife. Scenic. The kind of route that makes me wish I rode with a camera (but heck, if I can’t buy leg warmers…what are the chances I’ll bring a camera?). We did have to brave 5 wooden bridges, which were especially torturous on the elbow (10 really, since the route was an out-and-back), but other than that it was an enjoyable – albeit cold – trip.

I did have a bit of a scare on the return. Keep in mind that I am still pretty shaky on descents. My accident was on a downgrade, and this ride was the first real trip downhill I’ve had to do since then. Things started well. I got into the drops OK, and was pretty comfortable supporting my body weight on the crappy shoulder. I think I topped out somewhere around 25 mph (I know…I used to be such the speed demon…give it time), when I hit a giant seed pod from one of the trees in the middle of the road. Now, these pods are pretty large – probably 6 inches around – and are bright orange to boot…but my reaction time was slow and my front tire plowed into the thing. The bike shimmied and fishtailed, and I had a vision of flying over the guardrail (I was right next to a silver traffic railing over the stream), but ultimately I was able to stay in control. Woohoo!

And that was what put my muscles into full-on revolt mode. The cold weather plus that little shot of adrenaline, and I just couldn’t stop shaking. My legs started vibrating and no amount of long, deep breaths, counting, or logically explaining to myself that these things happen would make them stop. I managed to pull into the parking lot at the park and unclipped without issue. After a quick chat with Ron, I decided that I am probably not genetically deficient at biking and the cycling gods probably don’t really hate me. And the best way to prove that would definitely be to take the optional trip up Mt. Eden. Avoiding things doesn’t make them less scary, and there aren’t many bike trails that don’t have some kind of hills.

Only half the team set out to do the last (only) repeat (hey – Coach Don did make it optional), and I’m proud to say I was able to do the entire trip up without stopping. We recouped at the top and were chatting about spin class when we spotted the rest of the team rounding the last bend. It was definitely cool to see everyone voluntarily challenge themselves – even after initially planning to opt-out. One of those “Go team!” moments, for sure.

An uneventful descent, one dropped chain, and 4 miles later I was back at the truck and en route to Chipotle. Mmmmm Mexican food that I can honestly say I earned. Guess the season really has started! Gear clinic on Thursday, I promise to have all the winter pieces for the next ride.

FYI – The Garmin did make the trip. Distances and times to be updated once I get the darn thing outta the truck!

Update 12/11 – Woot for Data!
MotionBased Data: Hill Repeats 11/25

Total Time (h:m:s)	2:06:45	8:11 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	1:33:48	6:04 pace
Distance (mi )	15.45
Moving Speed (mph)	9.9 avg.	34.9 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)	+1,517/ -1,519

A Rich Man’s Sport

I already know what you’re thinking. It’s been almost two whole weeks since you were cleared to ride, and there have been no freakin RIDE POSTS since then. Annoying, right? Well, that ends today! Let’s do a quick rundown (ridedown? I think not). I finally got the bike set up on the trainer a week ago Thursday. Put on ye ol’ bike shorts, busted out the clippy shoes (which are hell to walk in on hardwoods), and hopped on the bike. And by hopped on, I mean struggled to fling my leg over the top bar and then struggled again to get clipped in. The climbing block that we bought makes the stupid bicycle tall!

I got my legs spinning for few minutes, clicked through a few gears, and quickly realized something was wrong. My right hand shifter thing kept getting stuck inward. On the upshift, this was fine; I could just push it back out. When downshifting though, I seemed to get these weird half-shifts, where the big bar came in and out but the little bar stayed stuck in. (I’m sure there are technical names for these parts, but damned if I know them). Still, I kept at it for a full Friends episode, trying to find that place on the saddle where my hiney is actually comfortable and trying to get used to that spinning motion again. The weight bearing on my shoulder/elbow wasn’t too bad, but the angle at which my left arm sticks out is dang weird. By the time credits were rolling, I had determine my bike needed to see the inside of shop. The shifter issue was driving me batty.

Two days later I took the beast into Palo Alto Bikes for repair. A quick inspection showed that my problem was “likely unfixable”. Apparently the shifter things is part of a whole unit that they can’t really pull apart to repair. The shop guy offered to try to bend the piece back straight, but if it failed I was looking at a $200-250 repair bill to replace the part. Eeeeep! To remind you, I had just replaced the rear derailleur on the bike the week before my accident at a cost of $200. $450 in parts in six months?? I really need to get this under control – the entire bike only cost $1400! (Seriously, who knew cycling was for the rich?) Twenty minutes later I received a call from the shop that everything was fine; the shifter was fixed. Woohoo! Only, after testing, it’s not really fixed. The plastic piece can be bent forward for a short amount of time, eliminating the clicking issue…but after a few shifts it reverts back to it’s normal (aka screwed up) state. Sigh. For now, I’m trying to just deal with it. Maybe Santa will bring me a new shifter (or a new bike?!) for Christmas! Hint hint.

So I brought my oft-abused bike home and planned to hit the road for real this week. I get everything ready to go, only to realize that I don’t own a helmet. At least not one without a giant crack in the middle. Well, crap. Off to Performance we go. I pick out the helmet that I want only to find that the Campbell store only has Mediums in bright-ass red and blue. Now, I try not to be overly matchy-matchy with my bike gear, but come on! I am peach/pink colored with red hair. My bike is silver, purple and black. In what world does electric blue match this?! The sales guy is awesome however, calls the Mountain View location, and secures me a white and silver helmet in my size. Woot! I head over Monday and pick up my new Giro Atmos helmet (which, conincidentally kinda matches my bike) at a 15% discount…plus reward points. Mind you, the thing still ran me well over $150 post-discount. As Charles said, “Well, it’s more incentive for you not to fall anymore.” Like I ever intentionally fell? Thanks hon!

Helmet in hand and bike in psuedo-repair, I was out of excuses (ahem…reasons) not to ride. Wednesday afternoon I suited up and hit the road. For real. And while the ride was ultimately successful, I can’t claim it was too exciting. Being that it was my first time out in months, I confined myself to a few trips up and down my street followed up by an exhilarating spin…around the block.

I did discover a few things on my ever so short trip. For one, I can’t easily switch my “default clip out foot”. I’ve always clipped out on the left, and I thought that with that being my bad arm, it might be easier to start out on the right each time instead. No go. My brain thinks about clipping out on the right, and then executes a left foot de-clip. Oh well, it was worth a shot. My overall comfortability and confidence on the road were pretty low; possibly lower than when I started fresh (after 12+ years of no riding) back in May. I’m sure that will get better the more I get out, but I was dang slow coming off stops and even going around turns. Sigh. Additionally, the vibrations from the road are definitely less than comfortable on the arm, most especially the elbow. Hopefully strength training and some additional rides help this out – and quickly! I’m going to try and hit up the pacelining clinic on Saturday and see how riding goes with actual people around on actual roads. Wish me luck!

The Collarbone’s Connected to…

Damn near everything, as far as I can tell. Yes, I know it doesn’t rhyme or make for a good song (the everything-bone?), but you’d be amazed at the things you can’t do while keeping your shoulder area immobilized! With that in mind, I’ve put together a little list – I like lists in case you couldn’t tell – to enlighten you on the ins and out of this craptastic injury so that you’ll be should it (god forbid) ever happen to you. And so I can vent…you know you miss my posts!

Little Known Facts and Random Observations about Broken Bones and Such:

• Collarbones are involved in basically every movement you make, and you will never appreciate them until one of yours cracked in half. Want to reach that toilet paper on your left? Nope! Think you can put on a shirt alone? Try again!
• Along that same vein, adult jeans and other leg coverings should come with a velcro option. It is slighty better to have coworkers wondering what the heck you ate as you moan and grunt in a work potty stall for 20 minutes than to actually ask them to button your pants for you. Slightly.
• You can’t wash a recently surgerized arm while it’s still healing. Annoyingly, you cannot wash/lotion up the non-broken arm alone either since you won’t be allowed or able to move the other side.
• Showering with a trash bag on is challenging. The things are like soap magnets making it impossible to rinse.
• Your body creates extra skin when it swells to 3x normal size without you ever realizing it. You then get to shed then new skin like a molting snake when the swelling goes down, much to the disgust of other humans and to the delight of dogs everywhere.
• There is no exfoliant known to man that will remove the now-dead skin in one sitting. Even if you spend $30+ on it.
• Fingers that once resembled sausages look more like shriveled, hyper-elongated raisins once the swelling goes down. In good news, these newly desiccated appendages can fit my shiny new engagement ring (just don’t look too close or you’ll be offended by the flaky skin textures).
• The white part of your sling starts to look brown after very few days when worn basically 24 hours a day. Whoever decided a sling should be white, even in part, should be beaten. Severely.
• Literally anyone you meet is authorized to ask you “What happened?” if you are wearing a sling. It’s kind of like being pregnant (or so I’ve heard), except it is accompanied by looks of horror.
• Answering a terse “Broke some bones” or “Bike accident” is not a sufficient answer to these queries. If you made eye contact, expect to the entire story, in detail – even to the gas station guy.
• The sole exception to the above rule is your company CEO. People like CEOs really don’t have time to do the pretend sympathy bit and will run away quickly upon a sling sighting.
• Everyone and their mother will promise you donations to your fundraising after hearing the “horror story”, How many will actually donate is still TBD.
• These same people all think you are crazy for daring to get back on a bike after such a fall. Obviously these people have never tried cycling!

Enough bulleted lists pretending to be real content for one night. I’m getting better at this one handed typing, but am still frustrated at my “desired blog posts” to “typing tolerance” ratio. So many ideas, such a tired right hand! I should hopefully have injury progress updates ready for tomorrow though…keep your fingers crossed!

So…What Happened?

OK, time to try typing this up before so much time passes that I can’t remember what happened. Note that all typing is still one-handed and may, in fact, suck. I’ve started and restarted this thing about 10 times and have finally settled on an FAQ-style entry to try and minimize my desire to type way too much and get hurt quickly (yeah, right).

Why Jamie is Busted: FAQs

• Q: WTF happened to you?
• A: I was descending from the top of the first summit (plateau?) on Stage Coach Road. I swung a bit wide on one of the banks right only to see a car/truck/vehicle-of-doom coming up in the middle of the lane. I swerved right and slammed on the brakes. Luckily, I missed the car…unluckily I hit enough gravel to cause me to skid out of control.I wobbled a bit, thought I would pull out of it, and then just laid the bike down (with me attached) in the middle of the road. I remember my head bouncing off the pavement – yay helmets – and my teeth cracking together. With the adrenaline kicked into high gear, I magically unclipped, pulled myself and the bike out of the road, and threw myself in the pokey-ass grass whimpering.
   
• Q: What was going through your head when you fell?
• A: In order:
  “This is gonna huuuuuuuurt…”
  “OW F@#K”
  “Get out of road…bike out of road…hope bike isn’t hurt”
  “OW!!! Side of road full of pokey things!”
  “Mother flipping thing best not be hurt!! I just got that bastard back! $200 Down the drain” (you have to imagine mental muttering)
  “Owwww…teeth hurt. Hope they aren’t cracked. Wonder if anyone has a mirror. That would totally ruin wedding pics”
  “Someone should stop my Garmin. Gonna ruin my ride data. Too far away…can’t do it”
  “This should hurt more. Something is wrong…”
  “Wonder what I’ll title this post”
   
• Q: And then what happened? Were you alone?
• A: Riders from another cycle team stopped to help. I remember almost nothing about them other than the one guy who sprayed the road rash with antibiotic stuff (and some of them had reaaaaally bright jerseys). My team was ahead of me, so Devan’s team got to the site first. The very awesome Wiki Wiki’s huddled around me to keep me warm, and did a very good job of preventing me from giving in to the rising panic. Love my TNT crew!
  I understand that people rode away to find cell reception, called SAG, called an ambulance, and possibly called Charles. 45-ish minutes later weird men (aka fire fighter EMT types) were cutting off my jersey and armwarmers (sigh), installing a collar on my neck and strapping me to a board. I fully understand why the dogs resent those plastic collars now BTW.
   
• Q: Where did they take you?
• A: Stanford ER. There was some concern that I was bleeding internally, so they upgraded me to a “Trauma 2” and took me to the closest spot (which was still a good 45 minutes away). No, there were no sirens. I’m pretty sure Coach Keith was hitting up the driver or donations though.
   
• Q: Did you lose consciousness?
• A: No, but I did crack my helmet.
   
• Q: Did you cry?
• A: Not when it happened, although I did whimper, whine, moan and yell quite a bit. When they told me on Tuesday I was off the bike for 10 weeks? Yep. Such a sad panda.
   
• Q: How fast were you going?
• A: I’ll letcha know as soon as I hookup the Garmin.
   
• Q: Did the driver you almost hit stop?
• A: From what I undertand, Yes. I’m pretty sure I bled on his jacket too – oh well. Supposedly he was pretty nice and quite worried. I never really talked to him.
   
• Q: Rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10.
• A: Bite me. I heard this question no less than 50 times in one day, and the answer had apporximately no bearing on whether or not they gave me anything for pain.
   
• Q: So, what was wrong?
• A: Many hours and many xrays and morphine shots later, it was determined that i had a “nondisplaced ulnar fracture and a nondisplaced clavicle fracture” aka a busted elbow and collarbone, where the bone didn’t break all the way through.
   
• Q: How do you treat that?
• A: In th ER? Torture. They claim to give you pain killers and then twist your broken arm in unheard of directions while you scream and squeak like a little girl – also known as putting on a splint. Then they stick said 20-lb plaster arm of doom in a blue sling around the neck to “relax” the collarbone. LOL.At Kaiser the following week? Surgery. They starve you, make you wait an extra 3 hours, and then slice open your arm to install pins and wires.
   
• Q: Why surgery?
• A: To stabilize the broken piece and prevent it from floating around your elbow and mucking up all the nerves and whatnot. Yes, there are better medical terms for this. No, I don’t know them.
   
• Q: So they gave you good drugs, right?
• A: At Stanford they kept pain controlled with morphine. Before they let me go home, they gave me something that sounds somthing like demerol. This allowed them to further torture me by making me feel so loopy in the head that walking around the ER to “let them know if anything else was broken” sounded like a good plan. Since then, the Kaiser docs have plyed me with Vicodin, which I take only as needed.
   
• Q: But drugs are fun! Can I buy your leftovers?
• A: Not when they make you overly naseuous. For some reason painkillers seem to make me sick. Trying to throw up with a busted collarbone is stupidly painful. Oh, and you are approximately 50th in line.
   
• Q: What was most the embarassing thing about this ordeal?
• A: Well, I can’t share the worst one, but walking through a crowded ER in nothing but a sports bra, biker shorts and a sling is something I hope never to repeat.
   
• Q: So how are you now?
• A: Meh. Pain varies day over day. I’m no longer in the evil plaster splint; just an ace wrap. I got my arm staples out this morning and got the go-ahead (directive) to start flexing the arm often. ASAP. New xrays show the collarbone IS displaced, or busted-through, which just means more time to heal. I’m headed back to work tomorrow and get to practice the super-fun art of one-armed driving, On the bright side, the last of my scabs finally fell off. YAY!
   
• Q: Will you be in Honolulu?
• A: Yes, to cheer on my kick-ass TNT team!
   
• Q: Will you ride a bike again?
• A: I’d be on one now if I could only move my arm or turn my head to the left. I’m sure it’ll be scary for awhile, but I know I can do it. Current target is winter team for Solvang, assuming my collar is healed up in time for the kickoff.
   
• Q: Oh, and how was the ride before the crash?
• A: Overcast and drizzly, but otherwise not bad. I ate too much at rest stop one, which hurt a bit later, but I conquered all the hills that I actually made it to – something of which I was quite proud.

OK the arm is dying, so that’s all for now. Thanks again to everyone for their messages, and sorry I haven’t been able to answer them all yet. I swear I’m trying!

Stranded

This post actually changed names in my head four times before I started writing it. Now none of my cute/catchy titles seem to fit, but I wanted to list them out anyway (entertainment value?)

• Now I Know how my Car Feels
• Shannon was Still Worse
• Down for the Count
• Thank god for Coca-Cola

I write this post today from my house, stranded with no mode of transportation other than my own two legs. Well, theoretically I could rig up some sort of dog sled system that utilizes the wheeled cooler…but that sounds like an awful lot of work, and my dogs are kinda lazy. Moving on. As of today, I am out one bike, one car, up 6 bruises, and down (likely) a few hundred dollars. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Calaveras ride Saturday morning started out much the same as any other. We rolled out around 8:30am, feeling good and enjoying the cool morning air. After a quick pit stop around mile 12, Team TBD was back on the road and ready to attack our first climb – Palomares. Just looking at the route sheet, I knew the ascent was going to be tough. Our hill repeats on Mt. Eden are a whopping .7miles up each time; Palomares looked to be almost FIVE MILES long. Holy owie! We all downshifted into granny gears and tried to keep up the chatter as we started to climb.

Surprisingly, our team stayed together pretty well for the first couple miles. Everyone was talking and joking, and the overall mood was pretty upbeat. After the 12th or so “just around the next corner” joke…it ceased to be quite as fun. Still, I’m proud to say, despite the rising temperatures and demoralizing, deceptive turns, our entire team made it to the top in the saddle – and very close together. It was one of those “gah coaches are evil or obviously insane, but we CAN do this” type moments. This euphoria was to live about halfway down the descent.

After a quick rest stop at the Palomares summit (thanks SAG!), our team set off down the backside of the hill. I’d heard that this was a pretty fast descent, and was really looking forward to topping that darn 35mph mark. Rolling down the hill went something like…32
…34
…35
…OW Mother @!#@!#!!! (bug to the forehead at 35 mph. That freakin’ HURTS! No wonder my car always makes that unhappy “bonk” noise when big bugs smack its face.)
…37 – almost there!!
…39 – oh I’m so fast!
…Zero. Stupid shiny new Garmin flew off right at the 40mph marker. Had to stop, reverse (in the highest, most painful gear ever) and spend a full 5 minutes hunting. Thanks much to Gloria for finally locating the thing – before it managed to be squashed by oncoming traffic!

And so, with the best part of the descent behind me, I got back on the bike and tried to get up some speed. Somewhere around 32mph, I had to slam on the brakes again! I narrowly missed hitting a baby spotted bambi, which would have been bad for him and as well as me (not to mention the fact that Mike Squirrel-Bane would ever let me live that down…assuming I survived!). Again came the mental comparisons to a car – I mean who ever heard of a bike hitting a deer?

Compared to the five preceding miles, the next ten were all but boring. The ride from the bottom of Palomares to rest stop two was interrupted only by a potty stop at a hotel, and a dropped chain on the way out. Oh. There were those soul-sucking “flat tire” (aka false flat) miles which, in the full-on sunshine, all but crushed the remainder of my spirit. Hooray for riding a whopping 10mph and wondering the whole time why the hell it feels so hard! Temperatures had risen significantly by the time we hit that second rest stop, and I was definitely feeling a bit…wilted…in the heat. I scarfed down a full four pieces of watermelon, drank an absolute ton, and got ready to head out again.

The paceline started to fall apart by the time we hit Calaveras – even before the hill. I think everyone was tired, and there was absolutely no cover from the sun. Those 6-8 miles were punctuated with a lot of “gap” calls as people’s energy levels wavered in the heat (not to mention distance). We did manage to get it pulled back in line and hit the Calaveras climb together.

Calaveras was tough. I had to stop once to loosen my shoes, as my feet had swollen with the heat and sweat, causing them to go completely numb (not a fun feeling). I got back in the saddle, determined to finish the damn hill on the bike. Everyone had really spread out on this climb, which was probably better for me as I needed to count in my head to keep my breathing steady (weird, but true). The hill has minimal tree cover at best, so the entire 4ish mile ascent was a combination of super slow pedaling in the shade followed by a quicker cadence in the sunny patches – speeding up to the next piece of shade. I thought I was going to pass out on the bike from the heat, just as I saw the blue tent of rest stop three.

I gave myself an mental shove, and all but crawled into the rest stop. Food and drink were helpful. I had no idea how much I adored Coca-Cola until that first swallow at the top of the hill. Seriously, it’s the best thing ever. Soda, oranges and a couple well-placed ice cubes, and I started to think that maybe I could finish this ride afterall. Gloria and Gloria both decided to stop the ride there – I’m sure the heat was a big factor in their decision – but with newly filled (and iced) water bottles I was determined to go on.

My muscle control wasn’t great coming out of the parking lot. I dropped my bike (and half of me) into the dirt trying to get back on the road, but rationalized that it didn’t count as a fall, as my top half hadn’t really gone down. Hey! Only my one leg was even really dirty! My brake hood was seriously jacked up, but everything shifted properly, so I felt OK to continue the ride. Little did I know…

What no one really tells you about the Calaveras climb is that you still have a good ways to go up even after the rest stop. You do this entire hill, take a break, only to have more hills to climb. So mean! I was trucking along slowly in the very very hot sun, when I decided I needed to unclip and grab a drink. I found a shady spot, stopped and sucked down half a bottle of water before deciding that I could and would finish the ride. Heck there were only maybe 3 more miles of these mini climbs! Coach Keith and I took off again, complaining casually about the newly paved road and its inherent mess of gravel which was pelting us from pretty much all angles.

And then I was done. I was riding along, convinced I’d make it the entire way, chatting and whining, when fate intervened. I tried to turn the crank and went down hard on my left side in the middle of the road. I couldn’t unclip, couldn’t explain what happened. I just knew my foot had hit a brick wall, and something was wrong. Further inspection revealed that my rear derailleur was now sticking up in the air and had gone through my rear wheel spokes. Awesome. A few minutes and minor amounts of fiddling later, it was determined that the part was broken and I’d have to SAG out.

I could have cried. I had just talked myself back into this ride in the evil heat, and now my bike was completely out of commission. Our best guess is that an ill-placed rock flew up from the road and somehow lodged itself in the derailleur, which didn’t work out so well when I tried to pedal. Siiiiiigh. No one had cell reception where I fell, so Scott and Devan rode on ahead, promising to send back the SAG truck. I sat my scuzzy, dirty, sweaty self in the shade, debating whether or not to throw my bike off the side of the mountain, and tried to chill out (literally and figuratively speaking).

Mike came with the truck, and within minutes I was back in the starting parking lot. My poor busted bike was loaded into my vehicle quickly, and I just paced blacktop – fuming. Realistically, I know that there was nothing I could have done differently that would have allowed me to finish the ride; but it was so disappointing. The hard part was over! So frustrating. Patty swears that my anger at not being able to finish is a sign that I am now really a cyclist…some rite of passage sort of thing. Personally, I think the fact that I’m already jones-ing to ride again is a more tell-tale (and slightly more positive) signal. I just hope that I’m back on the road in time for Half Moon Bay this weekend! Charles is dropping the bike off tonight, as my car is apparently out of brake fluid and unsafe for driving. Yay fun. Anyway, I should know the extent of the repairs (time and cost wise) soon. Wish me luck!

MotionBased Data – Calaveras Ride 8/4/07
Distance: 50.15 mi

Time: 4:24:28

Avg MPH: 11.4

Max MPH: 40.4

Restart Your Counters

Originally intended for posting on 7/8. Who knew the Four Seasons would only have pay internet? So lame!

Saturday’s ride started much the same as any other. Coach Dave gave a great talk on nutrition (start trying things to find what you like? I’ve got a whole spreadsheet!), and we got our recommittment packets from Kate before roll-out. Ooooh…credit card number time…that’s a little intimidating! Coach Keith corralled the Tiki Tiki’s, gave a quick talk about the ride and safety, and we set out.

Overall – a great first half of the ride. The weather couldn’t have been better and our pacelining was definitely improving. There was a minor incident in which Mike somehow managed to run down a live squirrel that went something along the lines of…

“Did it get back up?”
“What, the dead squirrel? Ummmmmm not so much…”
“Damnit! Are you sure?!”

A team rename as “Team Tiki Tiki and the Squirrel Killer” was debated, but eventually shot down under the “too long” pretext. Plus we couldn’t seem to convince Mike to wear a squirrel tail on his helmet. Killjoy! Other than that (and some minor huffing and puffing – especially when Ed was pulling!), we rolled into the rest stop in good spirits.

With the Mt. Eden climb impending, I decided to go ahead and get my third fall out of the way just to make it extra challenging. (Hey, Ruth says I’m required to do three – and at least it’s out of the way before Honolulu!) Yep, in case you weren’t among the forty-ish people who got to witness my tumble on Saturday, the counter has gained another tickmark. Best part? I managed to do it with both feet unclipped, at a dead standstill in the parking lot. For no apparent reason. Sigh…

I did recover, and get back on the bike (which now makes a really cool double-clicky noise when shifting – yays back to the bike shop), just in time for our big climb of the day. Hooray! For the record, hill repeats definitely do help your strength, but don’t expect the climb to be cake if you ridden a good 20 miles before you get to it. At least not if you’re me. I huffed and puffed – and averaged a whopping 6.2mph on the way up – but I did make it.

I think the group was feeling a bit tired overall on the latter part of the ride, as our pace back was definitely slower than the pace out. Regardless, everyone was encouraging everyone else, and we all made it back to the start alive (albeit slightly bruised) and together. Good ride team!

In honor of Fall Three, I’ve updated the stats list:
Number of rides: 18

Falls: 3

Rides since last fall: 0 (but I made it to 18 before it happened dangit!)

Number of bruises left: At this point, even the bruise to my pride is fading…(melodramatic much?)

Miles traveled: 265.66 – I went with 132 from the last count and added all the cycle-computer records in since then.

Last up – a couple new food reviews, as it’s been awhile since I posted them.

Brand	Flavor	Rated (1-10)	Notes
Food
GU	Espresso Love	7	Taste like really weak, really sugared coffee (espresso flavor? HA! I should really make coffee for these people sometime.) I do like the fact that it contains brain happy-chemicals – aka caffeine.
Clif Shot Bloks	Lemon Lime	7.5	Solidified Seven-Up, without the bubbles. I like 7up, so I’m basically OK with this option.
Drinks
Viso	Strawkey	3	That one drink I forgot to review awhile back. Strawberry Lime flavor. Tastes diet, and really tart. I HATE diet.

I guess that’s about it for now. I have my ride stats at home and will put them up soon! Back to work!

Distance: 30.39mi

Time: 2:25:04

Avg MPH: 12.6

Max MPH: 31.9

No falls in over a week!

Originally posted June 18th, 2007 – Jamie’s SV Summer Cycle Journal

Saturday’s ride was great! It was cold – I second whoever noted “invest in armwarmers” – but the sun was out and the scenery was beautiful. As someone who mans a computer at work for 8-ish hours a day and then plays computer games for 3-4 hours per night, I really appreciate the outdoor time that training provides. Sunshine, fog capped mountains (or hills? foothills? I don’t really know my hill-like-structure terminology), tree smells…good stuff.

There was a pretty nasty headwind for a good part of the ride Saturday, and at least twice I thought I was going to be blown right off the road. I accidentally discovered the benefits of drafting, when I pulled out to pass someone that I’d been tailing. WOW, what a difference. It will be interesting to see how this “pacelining” business works in the future.

My left was calf was still complaining some on the hills Saturday. I still felt like I had to baby it on the way up the last hill, but I finished the whole ride without any major incidents – a success I attribute entirely to my pre-ride breakfast banana.

I went shopping *again* on Sunday, and managed to buy not a single thing on-sale at Mike’s Bikes. I did successfully purchase a second pair of bike shorts, which should ease the almost every day washing regimen I’ve been stuck with. The new shorts and I went for a ride on the Los Gatos Creek Trail near my house later Sunday night. All in all, I had a nice trip although there was some minor stress when I almost took out two wheel-chasing chihuahuas (eep!).

Some updates…

Number of rides: 6
Falls: holding at 2
Days since last fall*: 9 (I know – you’re amazed)
Number of bruises left: 4
Color of remaining bruises: mostly purple
Miles traveled: ~55 (guestimated with the help of google maps )
Permanent injuries: 0 – may stop tracking this one until the next “major incident” (Is it bad luck to already assume there will be a next incident?)

*It occured to me while writing this list that “Days since last fall” is a slightly deceptive metric, as it doesn’t take into account how many of those days I was actually on a bike. I mean, realistically, not riding for a week could highly inflate that number. So I’ve been brainstorming a better way to track…but thus far all my ideas are too complex (ratios …ew, math). Let me know if you come up with one.

It’s not easy, but I’m learning!

Originally posted June 14th, 2007 – Jamie’s SV Summer Cycle Journal

Well, here we are in week two already! I’ve been told by several people that keeping a journal of my training experience is a good idea, so I’m going to give it a whirl. At the very least, my friends and family will get a kick out of the training stories thus far!

Status update on training to date:

Number of rides: 4
Falls: 2
Days since last fall: 5 (woot!)
Number of bruises: 6
Color of remaining bruises: weird yellowy-brown
Miles traveled: No clue, as my cyclometer came without half its parts. Sigh.
Permanent injuries: 0 (although my left calf begs to differ)

So our first night of hill repeats was yesterday. In some ways, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. You don’t end up riding the entire hill every time, and the hill actually isn’t as steep as I had feared. I breezed through my first ride up, but think that I might have blown out most of my energy way too early. The second loop was a struggle, and the two bugs I swallowed did NOT help. Protein? Maybe. Tasty? Um no. I didn’t get quite as far on the second ride, but was still doing well (especially on the downhill part!).

I was actually feeling pretty good the third time up…right up to the point where I stopped being able to breathe. I just tensed up, started panting, and ended up having to stop and walk for a bit to catch my breath. Coach Devan gave me some good tips about posture and breathing, which I swear I will put to good use on Saturday. 🙂 It took awhile, but I made to the top of the hill – ON the bike. Sorry for making you all wait, but I did appreciate the cheers and kind words!!

Oddly enough, it was the descent that really kicked my tail. I was coasting along, pretty as you please, when all the sudden – BAM! My left calf contracted, and I couldn’t extend it at all. The whole thing just seized. I managed to get off the road and unclipped without falling (miracles never cease), and proceeded to hop around like a deranged chicken, yelping in pain. Coach Don pulled off and I added even more tips to my mental list** of “How Not to Permanently Injure Yourself when Cycling” while trying to stretch the leg back out.

It took a good bit of time, but I did manage to get back on the bike and get down to the starting spot. I really had to baby the leg for that part of the ride – it felt like it was going to seize back up any time I put much pressure on it. Anyway, after all that, I’m looking forward to repeats next week (oddly enough). I’ve learned a LOT already, and want to get back up there and give it another shot!!

Hopefully this calf will stretch back out before our ride this weekend. Thanks again to everyone with your tips and encouragements. See you all Saturday!

** Aforementioned mental list:
• Drink more water. Drink more water. Drink MORE water.
• Eat more potassium, calcium and other vitamins.
• Find energy drinks I don’t hate and start drinking them. Ditto energy foods.
• Helmet should not choke you
• Shoes should not cut off circulation to your feet
• PACE yourself
• Did I mention drink more water?