Three Flats and A Snake

It was too good not to blog about this. My friend Debbie and I went for a bike ride on Sunday. First, she was about a half hour late because when she walked out to her bike to load it into her car to drive over here, her rear tire was flat. With no spare inner tube, she took it to the bike shop down the street and had them change it for her. I had to pump up my tires which were very low due to disuse.

We hit the trail. About 1.5 miles in, I spot something small, black and wriggly in front of me. As I tried not to swerve and just keep riding, I realized, "IT'S A SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" OK, it's a snake the diameter of a Twizzler, but "A SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" Thirty seconds after I recover my breath, Debbie slows down saying, 'I feel paranoid but I think I hear my tire.'

Oh, her tire was just fine. Mine, on the other hand, had two big punctures in it. Flat number two. Part of me was expecting to see a snake fang buried in the rubber but, fortunately, that was not the case.

We started to walk back somewhat dejectedly when I realized that I had all the necessary bits for a tire change. Why do I lug these things around if I'm not going to use them?

So...

We are women, hear us ROAR! We changed the tire! On a road bike! With a little bitty hand pump to pump up the new inner tube. Considering I hadn't changed a tire on my bike in two years, I was pretty darned proud of the two of us.

In celebration, we turned our bikes around and rode.

When we got back home, we had a nice glass of water and then it was time to say goodbye. As Debbie wheeled her bike out to her truck, I looked down at her front tire.

It was flat.

Ride Like the Wind, Bullseye!

Remember that ambitious training plan where I was doing something every day of the week? Well, two weeks later, I've mostly stuck to the plan.

Last Friday was my first venture back into the 50 m pool. I need to work my way up to swimming 400 yards continuously and it's a lot easier to do that in the bigger pool. There's nowhere to stop in the lake and hold on to the side. Last year, I had trained to swim 400 yds freestyle straight but, when the actual day of the race came, I found myself breaststroking for about half the distance. Even though I had been in the lake before, being in the lake with 50 other women all swimming in roughly the same direction at the same time was very different and disconcerting. My goal this year will be to minimize the amount of breaststroke that I do and maximize the freestyle. Oh, and not lose my goggles and not swallow too much lake water.

Last Sunday was my first 'long' ride of the year - 11.3 miles. That's about the distance of the triathlon bike leg. It was wicked windy for more than half the ride. I swear I was in my lowest gears and was still moving at a snail's pace. Still, I stuck it out by looking for a landmark that wasn't too far off and saying to myself, "Just a little bit further, just to that post/tree/hole/turn." It felt really awesome to finally turn and have the wind at my back.

As for running, I tried my first interval workout the Sunday before last - running a minute and then walking a minute. This actually pushed my total running time down. Will try this again this week.

At the end of the week, I'm off to the East Coast for five days to attend a conference. In addition to all my work stuff, I'll bring my running shoes and my gi. Training doesn't stop just because I'm traveling.

Giving In

This afternoon, I thought it would be a brilliant idea if I headed out and took a nice bike ride. The weather was beautiful. I hadn't been out on my road bike since late November last year and it was high time that I got back in the saddle. The boys were set. M was busy in the garden planting tomatoes with little P as his trusty assistant. D was watching the As play the Giants in a pre-season game.

I pumped up the depleted tires and headed out. Crunch. Not the sound I was hoping to hear. The gears were grinding a bit after the almost four months of disuse. I hoped that riding would work the kinks out and I was right.

Then, I ran right into It - The Headwind that Would Not Die. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Say, was that three feet I just moved forward? Pedal, pedal, pedal. Still not moving very far. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Say, this isn't very much fun. I'm struggling against the elements, my ears are getting cold, I can't really appreciate the scenery because I'm trying too hard to get moving.

"Quit whining." I thought to myself, "Keep going."

Two seconds later...

"Hang on. I came out to have fun. If I'm not enjoying myself, why am I still out here?"

So I turned around and coasted back home with the wind at my back.

Sometimes, you just need to give in, quit swimming against the stream and go with the flow.

A Gorgeous Morning Ride

Rushing to meet up at 7:30 am
Suppressing the guilt at having to wake up and drop off the kids early
Sitting in the morning traffic
Waiting, waiting for the lights to change
Don't want to be late, hate to be late

Pull up in the parking lot
Load up bikes
Drive to start of ride

Breathe

Brisk morning air
Leaves turning color, here and there
Sunshine peeking through the trees
Wind blowing
Hills rising and then falling
Heart rate rising and then falling
Losing my breath and catching it
Following and leading
Zooming down a hill, without a brake or a care in the world

A smile as wide as the sky
A charge to last the rest of the day

Dawn Ride

I got up this morning to squeeze in a bike ride before work. The stars aligned just right so that my brother, who is staying with us, could watch the kids before he headed for work since M is off at 6:40. I was out the door at around 6:35 am. Still not quite light, but not pitch black anymore. I headed for my familiar 11 mi out and back with a little loop thrown in the middle. It runs right along Alameda Creek, into Coyote Hills Regional Park, along the San Francisco Bay and back home.

I saw no other bikers on the trail. A few walkers were sprinkled here and there, but I was cruising on my own. It was cold and, though I had thought ahead and dressed in layers, my hands and feet got chilly. No matter. It was time to pedal. Usually, I'm watching out that I don't run into somebody else. It was liberating to just go for it and have room. Not that I'm going at Tour de France speeds but still...

As I rounded the hill to head back home, I saw the sun peeking over the hills, a bright orange-red slice in the sky, and I smiled. This was totally worth it. In that moment, I felt like I could have ridden on forever. But it was time to get back to the kids, get ready for work, get going.

The good feeling stayed with me all day.

Learn by Doing

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -Confucius

This is exactly how I learn.

A couple of weeks ago, I was shown how to adjust brakes on a bike. Today I adjusted both the front and rear brakes of my road bike. They were super-tight, pretty much on a hair trigger, touching the rims all by themselves. I suppose I could have taken the bike to the shop, but, hey, why not be adventurous and try it myself? The first wheel took a long time, lots of back and forth, loosen this, tighten that, squeeze this, rotate that. Finally, I got the brakes just the way I wanted them. Then it was on to the rear wheel. Much faster. More efficient.

It's cool to learn to do new stuff.

The Kindness of Strangers

I took my brand-spanking new road bike out for its maiden ride this morning. Just a short one, I thought - no more than 15 miles (was actually 11 miles), just in case something goes awry. Sure enough about 7 miles in, I hear this horrible rubbing/grinding sound that's coming from my rear tire. Gulp. Should have brought my tools but I didn't. Now what? It appears that the rim is contacting the brakes even when they're not being applied. I decide to ride home the rest of the way. Another mile later, I spot another rider ahead of me who looks like he's toting gear and ask him for help. About five seconds later, I've got three guys all looking at my bike, figuring out that the rear wheel is not true, adjusting it as best they could on the spot and suggesting that I (a) go back to the bike store to get it trued, (b) travel with tools and (c) go clipless. They wish me well and I'm on my way again.

Whew! Bless them.

Just A Bike

I've owned a mountain bike for the past 12 years. Perfectly happy. Then I signed up for my first triathlon. Suddenly, the temptation to get a road bike has hit. 'Cause of course I've got the money to spare (yeah, right). But who knew that there were so many options: there are race bikes (fairly clear), pilot bikes (for flying??), triathlon bikes (also clear, I think, something about fancy handlebars), touring bikes (for Italy?), commuting bikes (with room for FastPass), cyclocross bikes (??), and track bikes (I'm assuming not for a running track). Then there are all the different materials: carbon, titanium, aluminum, steel, gold, silver (OK, I'm kidding about the last two). Did I mention the price range on these guys? Perhaps it's best that I just not go there.

Jeepers, what happened to the days when choices were simple? Now I feel like I need to navigate my way through reviews and test rides and side-by-side comparisons and shop visits. It's just about enough to make me say "Fuggedaboutit!"

Oh Mountain Bike, all is forgiven.