friday fun times: marin century recap

so a lot's been going on this week, but not as much as what happened on saturday. we rode 106 miles again y'all! i felt better and stronger this year. weather was also substantially cooler than i recall from the past couple of years.

we kept running into our friend, sue, who i think summed up the whole experience quite nicely. she gave us permission to use her post.

My lessons from today:

1) No matter how much you inwardly make a deal with yourself during a hill-climb that you will throw in the towel and take a SAG wagon back to the start, they are inevitably nowhere around until you get to the top of a hill and are already feeling fine again.

going up a hill early in the am.

2) During the middle of the century ride, when the crowd has thinned out, feel free say "Hey Cow!" and "Hey Goat!" and "Hey Peep!" to cows and goats and birds that peep. If a roadie rides past you while you are doing this, he won't notice... he won't even look at you, because he is very serious.

serious early riser roadies.

3) The grass, for cows, seems always greener (or tastier) on the other side of the fence.

top of marshall wall

4) Skunks smell pretty bad when they are hit by cars and their guts are showing.

5) It's not a great thing to mouth breathe when you ride through a cloud of gnats.

6) Great friends will encourage you and applaud you and cheer you on no matter how long you are taking - thanks, Sean, Tracy, Bill, and Melyssa! You are all awesome.

7) Drink something caffeinated in the morning before one of these. Then have some caffeinated things with you - GU is really good. OR... you can experience some super sweet male chivalry when a guy gives you one randomly.

8) The last 10 miles of a century somehow take longer than any ten miles you have ever ridden in your life. And no, saying loudly "WHEN THE HELL IS THIS GOING TO END??!?!" is not going to make it end.

9) No matter how much mental chatter you have going on about quitting a thing like this (if you are not injured, etc), it is generally awesome to finish it. And in this case, some of the easier miles were at the end. By the time I could have quit, I had actually already ridden through all the hard stuff.

10) It is a great thing to ride through the country and stop every once in a while and hear how quiet it is.

11) It is also a great thing to ride by a pasture where several cows have gathered and one leans back his head and lets loose his "MIGHTY YOWP" - Mooooooo

"

12) Quail running across the street are pretty cute.

fin

fotos courtesy of the marin century peeps and butter bill's fb page.

have a great weekend y'all. mine is full of "century legs" and bike camping with the ladies of leisure!

500 miles in july?

so over on google plus (psst, we're there, check us out!), there's a little event going on. below info from the event page:

July is TdF season -- but it's now also (and much more importantly) the running of the Inagural #bikecommutercabal 500 Miles In July Challenge!

Can we ride 500 miles -- each -- in July? Let's give it a shot!

All the miles you ride count, not just commuting miles, so let's get out there and roll!

has been interesting to see how many miles i really do put in. i was gone for three days this week, so unable to put any miles in (although 20 miles backpacking should count for something!).

riding hiatus

i forgot i basically ride 6-10 miles a day just for commuting. that's not counting going out, running errands, bike parties, test riding and of course, riding around on the weekends, and during the week. ok, so i guess i ride a lot. and that stuff adds up riteqwik.

i don't have a bike computer on this bike, but i have a spreadsheet in the cloud that's keeping track of this stuff.

i'm training for the marin century. third year in a row. second one where i am attempting 100 miles. i have been training whenever i can get a spare minute. i counted backpacking as cross training. but if i have a couple of spare hours, i'm firmly planted on the brooks saddle trying to break that sucker in. for the record: ouch. first time i've been researching chamois butter type stuff. interesting to talk about hoo ha with the inevitably male bike shop staff.

according to spreadsheets and simple maths, i need to average 16 miles a day in order to hit 500 miles by end of july. i'm not where i should be, and i suspect that's from the three day hiatus. so tonight is a butterlap to make up for some miles and then two rides scheduled for this weekend.

if you told me four years ago i'd be backpacking as cross training for riding 100 miles in one day, i would have told you you were crazy. maybe i still am, but it's my reality right now. pretty fun i must say. no gym membership needed.

joanie's resting, i am not.

while i was bike parking last week, joanie decided to take a rest along a wall for her closeup.

the other day someone asked what the ride is called that i am doing on saturday (there is also a populaire to point reyes that day as well). it's called the "cinderella classic" and takes place in the east bay. unfortunately, the skies look grey and wet for that day. while the ride is rain or shine, i am not. it is a female only ride and the metric century we're doing sounds pretty mellow. i am doing this in preparation for riding the marin century (100 miles again!). this saturday's ride is with my alumni group! how exciting.

friday fun times: foggy summatime!

welcome to summer in SF! where it's not sunny, but foggy, cool and windy with grey pea soup hanging low in the sky.

this is a little video i took the morning after the century ride. i woke up on the opposite side of the bridge. so while this may look like it's taken from chrissy fields (to some), it isn't. this place is also easily accessible by bike from the city. don't have reservations? go anyway during the day!



enjoy your hot weather and if you want to cool off after a bike ride, come and join us here in sun-deprived sf!

marin century 2011

this weekend while ade was encouraging you to get off the interwebs and on the bike, i was already a few hours into my 2nd century, the first one to be 100 miles. 100 kilometers no more. here are some pictures.

the beginning


base conditioned ready.


good morning 1011


a moment of peace. and cows. and signs.


marin's haystacks


who's rad?


finishers.


soma saurus!


post-century meal


don't mess with this meal!

and then i woke up to this. it was pretty amazing. calmed the screaming thighs down.

it was good to run into so many people from butterlap, and from the sf bikey community in general. we are awesome! i look forward to doing more rides and becoming a stronger rider as a result. i've come a long way in a year, but there's so much more to do and so much farther to go. that means more time in the saddle, and that is never a bad thing.

much love to all of you. happy tuesday.

i'm not nervous, i'm not nervous...

"i'm not nervous, i'm not nervous" is the mantra i keep telling myself. but yes, i am. i'm doing the marin century for the 2nd year in a row, but instead of doing 100k, i'm doing 106 miles. i'm not getting any younger, ya heard?

last year my "training" regimen consisted of going up to twin peaks a few times, some rides in marin, and lots of butterlap. after riding in 5 year old pumas with toe cages and while nearly at the top of my monster hill, i conceded defeat. only to see the top of the hill when i pulled over. ugh. i felt so OFF that whole day, and riding in the heat was something i was not entirely used to. this year i have some new fears, some new shoes/pedals, and some new riding partners. i've been going on longer rides more frequently, starting with a small tour to SC, eventually going up and over 6k + hills, including the seven sisters (whoa, that was fun! the crappy roads into mill valley, not so much...).

i resolved after last year to try clip-ins, and i finally got the shoes a couple of weeks ago. i've almost fallen twice, and totally fell once while on my block. so the fear of falling over is one new fear i have. another new fear i've developed is descending. i didn't used to be so nervous about it, but i know why i'm more reserved this year than in years past. that's another topic for another time...

am also trying out different eating styles, different bars or should i have trail mix? what sort of energy drink should i get, if at all. my legs hurt, i should get a massage. do i like heavily padded shorts, or just liners? (btw, so far the liners seem to agree w/ me the most...). and don't forget the skorts!

i never thought my foray into biking for transportation would lead me here, but it has. and i love the challenge of it! i'm embarking on something i never would have thought a year ago i would do, much less five years ago. overcoming obstacles and challenges makes you stronger. amirite?

i'm not nervous. i'm not nervous. ok, maybe i am, but i'm enjoying every second of it, except maybe the clammy palms. saturday!! please come now!

may your bikey starfish stay warm

hopefully your bikey weekend travels take you somewhere scenic, similar to where the tall one and i went during memorial day weekend.



or, in the alternative, at least make you very tired and trying to stay warm in the little sunshine that is left at the end of the day. these were my riding partners after alpine loop one day.



enjoy this weekend everyone! life is beautiful.

Got mojo?

A quick thanks to Clif Bar. A lovely lady from their team sent these nomnomies snax for the three of us in SF for our fantastic accomplishment (well yes!!) at this past Marin century.
♥Gracias L!!

DIY Enforcement

In the summer of 1988 I was driving along some of the back roads of Ensenada, Mexico. I noticed a lot of homemade Stop signs at the intersections of the less populated parts of town. This sign, found at the side of the road during the century we all just completed, reminds me of them. Gotta say, I like 'em!

We made it!

Just in case you were wondering. Total of 7 of us (us 3 +4 guys) completed our very first Marin Century 100K.
That is all for now, we will probably do a little recap soon. Cheers with Marin brie cheese!

At the half-point check, in Petaluma, Calif. Woot woot.

Cross-posted.

Century ladies

While you are reading this, we are busy riding the rolling hills of beautiful Marin County in the 2010 Marin Century. +I'm probably actively looking for the next coffee stop.
♥See you all next week!!

What's up Marin, here come the city dwellers triplettes de San Pancho attack. Wheeeeeee

so, how'd ya do this week?

i proposed a question on monday to see if you would try to trick that voice in your head that tells you "no, i can't," to flip it and ask, "why not?"

the past couple of weeks i've been taking page street home, as opposed to "the lazy," (aka the wiggle) as coined by a friend of the blog. i don't think the camera phone does that hill justice, but, meh, you can sorta see why people avoid taking it in large numbers.

and just last night was butter lap. i've had a little bit of a cough and crapola allergies lately, so breathing has been rather hard. and breathing is sort of important while going uphill. and last week i had some tire chorro and wasn't able to complete it even though i had started it.

enough with the excuses and other issues i told myself. i have got to finish it this week, and that's that. august is only getting closer, ya know?

on my way to the ferry building, the wind was so strong i almost got knocked into another bicyclist. he was rather kind about it, and we both just went sort of slow down market street since the wind was relentless the whole way.

the little voice in my head kept nudging me telling me i didn't have to do butter today cause it was gonna be hard.

you know what? it was hard with the headwinds, sidewinds, everywhichway winds. but then if i hadn't i wouldn't have been able to see this along crissy field:

or this at the 2nd stop:

hard, but still did it. so worth it. and...after work i love just riding along the flats looking at the bridge in the distance, watching it wax and wane as i travel around it. its firey orange never ceases to amaze me with its stunning beauty sitting majestic among the headlands greens, ocean grays and skies blue.

and yah, that is why i am glad i flipped it.

so, dear readers, on this day being sunset of the week, i wish you a happy great weekend. may it be full of riding and bikes and stuff. ;)