Category Archives: Exercising

On Sunday I rode the 100K Strawberry Fields Forever bike ride. The route cuts a gorgeous swath through Santa Cruz County over roads both urban and rural, through fields of strawberries and lettuce, past sloughs and ocean, redwoods and eucalyptus, with a stop at Gizdich Ranch where pie and a live three-piece band sweetened the day.

Midway through the ride, just before lunch, there are two HARD hills. The grade on the first must be 15%, and it maintains that for longer than I care to think. I nearly broke down and joined the parade of people who were walking their bikes up those hills, but pride kept me mashing the pedals and sucking air like an old horse.

Pride’s a sucker’s game. The effort I expended on those hills sapped me: when I got off the bike at lunchtime, I saw black spots in front of my eyes and felt dizzy, and near the end of the ride, going up Hazel Dell (a moderate climb of several miles duration that I’ve done on shorter rides without problem or stopping), I stopped three times to rest before continuing. Pride be damned.

I didn’t buy a jersey, but here’s an image from the club’s website.

Jersey for the Strawberry Fields Forever XX ride, 2009

Claudia Comay and I drove to Santa Rosa yesterday, bikes strapped on the back of her car and ready to ride in the Santa Rosa Cycling Club’s Wine Country Century, but the rain made the prospect just too unbearable, so we turned around and drove back home. Oh well. Better luck next year. Unless this strange weather continues. 🙁

I rode the Chauncey’s Century yesterday, a 100-mile trek from Gilroy to Los Altos. The route was relatively flat, but the headwind in the last 20 miles was brutal.

For nine of the last 20 headwind-cursed miles I helped pull the pace line, but then I was dropped when I couldn’t get back on the line after one of my turns as leader. That was a relief: even though I had to contend with the wind without a buffer, I got to ride the remaining 11 miles at a more comfortable MPH.

Key word in the preceding sentence: “more.” My shoulders and neck were in WAY greater pain than usual, and my right hand was definitely numb. Comfortable I was not.

But no matter. Another benchmark done. Whoo-hoo!

My odometer, showing 101.15 miles

Yesterday I finished the 64-mile route of the 2009 Tierra Bella with a numb right hand. (And, yes, aching shoulders.)

It was a beautiful day: poppies and lupine sprinkled the green hillsides, the sun was shining and the breeze was gentle, and the motorists who drove past us on the road were friendly. The ACTC support–from bicycle racks to nutbread–was excellent.

Here’s the patch.

I just finished the 65-mile Cinderella Classic. My aching shoulders! I’m not in as good shape as I was this time last year. Hmmmmm . . . .

Maybe I ache more because I forgot to wear a Cinderella Disney pin this year. 🙂

Here’s a picture of the patch they handed out at the end of the ride.

I washed my bike yesterday. She deserves it!

Yesterday I biked 62 miles—100 kilometers—with my sister and her husband. We did the Cañada loop and then circled around the reservoirs. When we got back to the parking lot, my total was still a mile short, so I went round and round the lot until I hit 62.13 miles. Here’s the proof:

My legs and lungs felt fine; I went up and down the hills OK. But around mile 40, my neck and back and butt started hurting. Even my arms ached by the end!

After being the slowest person in the group ride up Bailey Road in Gilroy last Saturday, I bought a new sprocket cassette for my bike. Now, instead of slogging up hills with 34 cog teeth on the smallest front chain ring and 26 on the largest back sprocket, I’ll have 34 on both: a 1:1 ratio. That should be a heck of a lot easier on my legs.

The latest killer hills—in Gilroy’s Cañada loop—were, indeed, killer. I did them. But by the end of the twenty-nine mile ride, I was dizzy and depleted. I had to sit on the bathroom floor for a while after my shower, building up enough oomph to get dressed.