Thursday, November 29, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
End of summer riding
Hi all - I got incredibly busy with work, so had my last oval race on July 17, did my last road race around then, went to the Society for Mathematical Biology annual meeting, came back, and have been super busy with this math research stuff ever since. However, I have not been off the bike all this time! I still ride almost every day! Just not every weekend for fun.
Here is a few photo highlights of the past few months:
When I returned from the SIAM Life Sciences meeting in San Diego, I had missed most of Bike Fest.
However, I caught the very last weekend and on Saturday I went on the "City Pool Ride", which was a ride to as many city pools or swimming areas as we could make in a day. I rode the San Mateo because I had just did her up and then hadn't been riding:
Yeah. Awesome. Then, in September I went to the ICCAI in Ottawa, the capital of Canadia. This conference was exciting because I had done a little research before about what hotel to stay at. I found this hotel, the Minto Suites, which boasted on their website that they had complimentary bike rental. (WHAT?!) I called, and they verified that this was true. Read their website!!
So I booked a room, and at 1 o'clock in the morning when I rolled up in a taxi cab, this sight greeted me:
Just so you can see this hotel by daylight, here it is again:
So, the last day of the conference, Andre and I took a lovely bike ride along a trail between Ontario and Quebec:
Then, in October, these Christopher Columbus replica ships came to town, and Carly and I took a bike ride out to check those out. I took the cyclocross bike, because the season was looming:
In fact, I went on one pseudo-cross training ride with Velo Femme teammate Mary, where we just went on a trail ride (I think I got in 40 miles), but at some point along the GAP trail we practiced mounting and dismounting our bikes. But, when I rolled up to the parking lot at 8:45 on a Sunday morning, what did I see but soon to be Ironman-Tony's truck parked out there:
Also, I got these really cool lights that makes laser bike lanes:
Except when I went to actually use them 3 days later I believe the batteries died and I've been too lazy to replace that, so this is a toy to play with in the future.
And that was my fall. By mid-October I took the fenders and stuff off the cross bike to get it ready for cyclocross racing!!!
Which has started. I feel my experiences in cyclocross racing merits another blog post (or two or three...), but here is a teaser:
And my teammate Mary raced hard and hit the podium in a field of 13 women this past week, which WAS SO AWESOME. I will repeat myself about that in my future cyclocross post.
Here is a few photo highlights of the past few months:
When I returned from the SIAM Life Sciences meeting in San Diego, I had missed most of Bike Fest.
However, I caught the very last weekend and on Saturday I went on the "City Pool Ride", which was a ride to as many city pools or swimming areas as we could make in a day. I rode the San Mateo because I had just did her up and then hadn't been riding:
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| Bikes by this little pool fountain thing |
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| There she is. Check out the Ducky tours. |
I would like to remark that a guy on this ride took his pet snake along, which he took out at this fountain. Someone called the police!
Then, on Sunday, the final day of Bike Fest, I "competed" in a Golden Girls Alley Cat. My teammate was the fantastic Sarah R., and we spent about half the time sitting at the casino bar drinking chocolate martinis. It was fabulous. Here was a picture that we needed of a library:
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| Bike in front of the library. 3 points! |
Yeah. Awesome. Then, in September I went to the ICCAI in Ottawa, the capital of Canadia. This conference was exciting because I had done a little research before about what hotel to stay at. I found this hotel, the Minto Suites, which boasted on their website that they had complimentary bike rental. (WHAT?!) I called, and they verified that this was true. Read their website!!
So I booked a room, and at 1 o'clock in the morning when I rolled up in a taxi cab, this sight greeted me:
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| I took a picture before I hit the bar! |
Just so you can see this hotel by daylight, here it is again:
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| Plus, you can tell this is in Canada here. |
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| That's where the Elsinore beer is brewed. |
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| Andre doesn't know I put a picture of him on my blog. |
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| In Quebec, they speak French. |
Then, in October, these Christopher Columbus replica ships came to town, and Carly and I took a bike ride out to check those out. I took the cyclocross bike, because the season was looming:
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| The Nina, the Pinta, our bikes, and Pittsburgh |
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| Someone was out riding much earlier than me. |
Also, I got these really cool lights that makes laser bike lanes:
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| Flash |
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| No flash |
And that was my fall. By mid-October I took the fenders and stuff off the cross bike to get it ready for cyclocross racing!!!
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| Ready for cyclocross!!! |
Which has started. I feel my experiences in cyclocross racing merits another blog post (or two or three...), but here is a teaser:
 |
| Cyclocross!! |
And my teammate Mary raced hard and hit the podium in a field of 13 women this past week, which WAS SO AWESOME. I will repeat myself about that in my future cyclocross post.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Race Report: Mapletown July 22, 2012
Sunday was the 5th road race of the Abra series in Mapletown, PA. The course was 39 miles of mostly rollers, 2 larger climbs with a total of 2,000 feet of elevation. Riding this should be no problem, unless I spent the race trying to keep in line with a group slightly faster than me.
Kamden said she'd work with me (Yeah!!), and I put new handlebars that weren't an enormous man size on my bike just in time. We rode up with Jon and Kyle, who just got a sweet new road bike and was competing in his first bike race! The three of us (Kam, me and Kyle) went off together, as Cat 4 women and Cat 5 men were starting together. We started the ride, and at the first hill most of the cat 5 men took off. The two girls from Dynamic Physical Therapy that Kam and I wanted to beat stayed back at a slower tempo, and we stayed with their tempo. As Kamden articulated, "In a bike race, it's not about your finishing time but your finishing place". Halfway up the hill I heard a chain drop, and later up Kamden said to me, "I think Kyle dropped his chain!". We lost him that way.
My new handlebars felt great! Cornering was amazing, and the tempo that the Dynamic girls were setting was definitely rideable. We were all working together, and made the first hill. We were on a roller at about mile 20 between the two larger hills when I just started to feel awful. I wondered if I was dehydrated (it was a very hot and brilliantly sunny day) or needed nutrition, so I slowed down, ate my reserve gel and drank almost an entire water bottle. Then I was dropped from the girls a little bit, but not at an unbridgeable distance, and started trying to make the bridge. My knees and feet started screaming. I just felt awful. I heard Greg's voice in my head telling me, "Relax". So I relaxed, but my legs felt so awful. I started moving around on my bike seat, and the bike just felt bad. The urge to rip my feet off my pedals and get off my bike overwhelmed me, and I made myself stay on it with a promise of "18 more miles!", a doable distance, just finish it.
I made it up the steep climb alone, watching the gap grow in front of me, and once I started descending all I could do was stand up and stretch my legs. Once the climb flatted out, I was just sort of riding, sort of stretching, and absolutely feeling uncomfortable. At this point Kyle caught up to me. It turned out his bike was stuck in the big ring! He informed me that making those climbs in the big ring was really a difficult experience. We were at about mile 26 when we met up, and we rode together for the next 10 miles. Part of the time I drafted him on the downhills, stretching my legs out, and tried giving him help in front on the uphills, but probably half the time we were also chatting. It made a lot of sense that he caught up because I know Kyle to be a really strong rider, and the big ring explained why it took him so long which had been confusing me.
At some point I was in front on a climb and my legs were so miserable and my bike felt so awful that I started crying. Kyle asked me if I was okay from the back and I just shook my head in an "I'll get through this and finish" way. At around mile 36 we were climbing and another rider was off his bike stretching his legs. I'd spent the last 16 miles resisting the enormous temptation to rip myself off my bike, and seeing this was worse than someone talking about rivers and waterfalls when you really have to relieve yourself, and I succumbed. I got off my bike, mid hill, and started stretching next to the guy. Kyle just kept going, which was good because I felt at this point I was slowing him down, and also because you can't stop mid hill in your big ring.
I got back on my bike, and I did feel a little better, and it made the rest of the race easier to cruise in. Stacy rolled up to me in the car and asked if I was okay, and I explained that I was fine (I was hydrated, I had nutrition, and I had fitness and energy), my bike just felt awful and I wanted to finish at this easy pace. Every time I rode by marshals or spectators and they started cheering and saying crap like, "You're almost there!", I got so unhappy because that wasn't the issue. The analogy I made in the car was that it was like getting a blister in your running shoes 15 miles into the marathon and finishing anyways, but not wanting to make it worse.
Anyways, apparently there was another girl in the race who Kyle later said we dropped really early on who caught up to me at this end stretch. She never actually passed me (I don't think I would have let her if she tried), and at the finish line she said to me, "You need to work out some strategy with your team!". (WTF?!). When I crossed the finish line, I barely saw the camera but mustered up a grin:
But, I finished. And, as this is my first season of bike racing, my race goal is always to learn something big, and I definitely learned something. I'm going to get the ball rolling to get my bike fit, and I'm going to slowly work on breaking it in.
It turns out Kamden beat those girls and came in 2nd overall HOLLA!! (the girl who won stayed with the cat 5 man pack) so I was thrilled. I cooled down, and stretched, estatic to finally be off my bike. We waited for the podium, and they made the announcement that they were going to start with Cat 4 women. Kamden quickly started working at getting her race number off, and I was helping her, and we had just got it off when they called my name over the loudspeaker. Shit! I was standing there in my sports bra, with my bib shorts around my waist, holding Kamden's race number in my hand. How did this happen? Well, it ended up there were only 6 girls in the field. So I got this glamorous picture of victory:
At home Sunday night, my legs were so sore. And Monday morning I woke up with sore shoulders and aching all over. I have never, in my entire life, been this sore from a bike ride. It just confirms that the change on my bike is one I need to both do something about (i.e. get a fitting), and also work up to getting used to. My old bike set up I had worked up riding in, so my body was accustomed to it. At this distance, at that elevation, and at the pace I rode at I should not be sore and aching.
So, in the words of Greg Flood, "Never make any major changes on your bike before a race".
Kamden said she'd work with me (Yeah!!), and I put new handlebars that weren't an enormous man size on my bike just in time. We rode up with Jon and Kyle, who just got a sweet new road bike and was competing in his first bike race! The three of us (Kam, me and Kyle) went off together, as Cat 4 women and Cat 5 men were starting together. We started the ride, and at the first hill most of the cat 5 men took off. The two girls from Dynamic Physical Therapy that Kam and I wanted to beat stayed back at a slower tempo, and we stayed with their tempo. As Kamden articulated, "In a bike race, it's not about your finishing time but your finishing place". Halfway up the hill I heard a chain drop, and later up Kamden said to me, "I think Kyle dropped his chain!". We lost him that way.
My new handlebars felt great! Cornering was amazing, and the tempo that the Dynamic girls were setting was definitely rideable. We were all working together, and made the first hill. We were on a roller at about mile 20 between the two larger hills when I just started to feel awful. I wondered if I was dehydrated (it was a very hot and brilliantly sunny day) or needed nutrition, so I slowed down, ate my reserve gel and drank almost an entire water bottle. Then I was dropped from the girls a little bit, but not at an unbridgeable distance, and started trying to make the bridge. My knees and feet started screaming. I just felt awful. I heard Greg's voice in my head telling me, "Relax". So I relaxed, but my legs felt so awful. I started moving around on my bike seat, and the bike just felt bad. The urge to rip my feet off my pedals and get off my bike overwhelmed me, and I made myself stay on it with a promise of "18 more miles!", a doable distance, just finish it.
I made it up the steep climb alone, watching the gap grow in front of me, and once I started descending all I could do was stand up and stretch my legs. Once the climb flatted out, I was just sort of riding, sort of stretching, and absolutely feeling uncomfortable. At this point Kyle caught up to me. It turned out his bike was stuck in the big ring! He informed me that making those climbs in the big ring was really a difficult experience. We were at about mile 26 when we met up, and we rode together for the next 10 miles. Part of the time I drafted him on the downhills, stretching my legs out, and tried giving him help in front on the uphills, but probably half the time we were also chatting. It made a lot of sense that he caught up because I know Kyle to be a really strong rider, and the big ring explained why it took him so long which had been confusing me.
At some point I was in front on a climb and my legs were so miserable and my bike felt so awful that I started crying. Kyle asked me if I was okay from the back and I just shook my head in an "I'll get through this and finish" way. At around mile 36 we were climbing and another rider was off his bike stretching his legs. I'd spent the last 16 miles resisting the enormous temptation to rip myself off my bike, and seeing this was worse than someone talking about rivers and waterfalls when you really have to relieve yourself, and I succumbed. I got off my bike, mid hill, and started stretching next to the guy. Kyle just kept going, which was good because I felt at this point I was slowing him down, and also because you can't stop mid hill in your big ring.
I got back on my bike, and I did feel a little better, and it made the rest of the race easier to cruise in. Stacy rolled up to me in the car and asked if I was okay, and I explained that I was fine (I was hydrated, I had nutrition, and I had fitness and energy), my bike just felt awful and I wanted to finish at this easy pace. Every time I rode by marshals or spectators and they started cheering and saying crap like, "You're almost there!", I got so unhappy because that wasn't the issue. The analogy I made in the car was that it was like getting a blister in your running shoes 15 miles into the marathon and finishing anyways, but not wanting to make it worse.
Anyways, apparently there was another girl in the race who Kyle later said we dropped really early on who caught up to me at this end stretch. She never actually passed me (I don't think I would have let her if she tried), and at the finish line she said to me, "You need to work out some strategy with your team!". (WTF?!). When I crossed the finish line, I barely saw the camera but mustered up a grin:
But, I finished. And, as this is my first season of bike racing, my race goal is always to learn something big, and I definitely learned something. I'm going to get the ball rolling to get my bike fit, and I'm going to slowly work on breaking it in.
It turns out Kamden beat those girls and came in 2nd overall HOLLA!! (the girl who won stayed with the cat 5 man pack) so I was thrilled. I cooled down, and stretched, estatic to finally be off my bike. We waited for the podium, and they made the announcement that they were going to start with Cat 4 women. Kamden quickly started working at getting her race number off, and I was helping her, and we had just got it off when they called my name over the loudspeaker. Shit! I was standing there in my sports bra, with my bib shorts around my waist, holding Kamden's race number in my hand. How did this happen? Well, it ended up there were only 6 girls in the field. So I got this glamorous picture of victory:
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| Jackie Libby - THIS is inappropriate. |
So, in the words of Greg Flood, "Never make any major changes on your bike before a race".
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Tour de Handlebar
It is a great Saturday in July when you wake up, turn on the Tour de France live coverage, and your friend Becca comes over for brunch, mimosas, and some handlebar taping action:
Brilliant! We had a potato, pepper and tomato frittata and watched Bradley Wiggins clinch his Tour de France win with a gnarly fast time trial performance.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Awwww, yeah!
This is what bike racing is all about:
Winning pastries.
But, seriously, tonight at the track I won this, and what was remarkable to me about this win was that halfway around the lap I was at the back of the pack and a couple of kids were sprinting for it. I guess the true beauty of an attack is when they don't know you're coming until you're accelerating and coming up near the line, and they're slowing down.
Extra bonus: I was going so fast over the hill I caught up with a breakaway that was riding strong and not slowing down at the hill every lap.
Brief progress report from the Bud Harris Track, before next week when my attendance will become splotchy thanks to summer math conferences. Coach Suzanne really had me focus on my pedaling, and either the focus on better pedaling and form, or my new tires, but I was going a little faster in places. Such as on the flat, when I would typically be going 23 MPH I noticed I'd be going 24. Or over the little hill, when I'd typically slow to 19 MPH, I'd be going 21.
Plus, I feel great from a couple days off!
But, seriously, tonight at the track I won this, and what was remarkable to me about this win was that halfway around the lap I was at the back of the pack and a couple of kids were sprinting for it. I guess the true beauty of an attack is when they don't know you're coming until you're accelerating and coming up near the line, and they're slowing down.
Extra bonus: I was going so fast over the hill I caught up with a breakaway that was riding strong and not slowing down at the hill every lap.
Brief progress report from the Bud Harris Track, before next week when my attendance will become splotchy thanks to summer math conferences. Coach Suzanne really had me focus on my pedaling, and either the focus on better pedaling and form, or my new tires, but I was going a little faster in places. Such as on the flat, when I would typically be going 23 MPH I noticed I'd be going 24. Or over the little hill, when I'd typically slow to 19 MPH, I'd be going 21.
Plus, I feel great from a couple days off!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Race Report: Tour of the Valley Criterium
This "Race Report" is actually false, because I opted to bail on the race and suck up my entry fee. I woke up early from a full night's rest dreadful of going out all day, racing, and ending my weekend exhausted with an enormous week of work in front of me. Lesson learned here: about my limits balancing cycling and research.
Instead, I opted to chill on the coach, eat Oreos, and watch the Tour de France live with Sita the cat:
Win.
Instead, I opted to chill on the coach, eat Oreos, and watch the Tour de France live with Sita the cat:
Saturday, July 14, 2012
The "RGB" bike
Here is the San Mateo, Thursday night at the top of the West End overlook:
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| Before shot!! |
Step 1: New tires. I love internet shopping. I spent a lot of time reading reviews, shopping online, and decided to go with Vittoria Rubino Pro III. However, it was $4 cheaper per tire to get colors instead of black. So the RGB bike begins:
Okay, well, this may look a little wild, but they ride great. I really needed new tires.
I bought matching handlebar tape to the blue, which will go on with the next step: new bars.
What's also noteworthy is that these tires are 700 x 23, and should be inflated from 100 - 145 psi. The old ones were 700 x 25 with a range of 87 - 116 psi. I inflated these up here to 115, and I could definitely feel the difference when I took a test ride to the oval. Also noteworthy is that changing tires out is super easy; I'm a little scared about operation handlebar.
Step 2: The 40 cm handlebars that I ordered on the internet came, with a diameter of 38.1 mm. I checked out the San Mateo, and noticed that they were 26.0 mm. Whoops. By this time, I had already exuberantly ripped the tape off:
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| I started ripping tape off as soon as my new bars came. |
I looked online, and it doesn't seem that 40 cm ergo drop bars with 26.0 mm diameter is an especially popular size, and there were none that I could find for a reasonable price with fast shipping. Fast shipping because I had a race on Sunday! Thursday at work, I started calling bike shops to see what they had, with a bunch of dead ends. "We have 42's". When I got in touch with Carl at Pro Bikes, he suggested that while they also didn't have anything in that size, perhaps I could get a new stem.
Picked up the new step, and operation handlebar was on! To remove the handlebars, first you remove the tape. Then, you remove the brakes and shifters with a 5 mm allen wrench:
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| Removing the shifters requires a tool. |
Once we slid these off, we removed the stem. Now was where we got into trouble again. When we put the new stem on, it ended up there was more space and we needed a spacer.
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| New stem on right: note the spacer above the stem. |
At this point, Becca and I got frustrated and just put everything on, leaving loose screws. Bike and I ran back to Pro Bikes to get a spacer, because there was nothing we could do without that piece. Carl totally had my back when I came in. He tightened everything, checked our work, and adjusted the brakes/shifters evenly. It was hard for me to tell what felt right, because it felt so good in every position! Amazing what a comfortable size bars can feel like! I left Pro Bikes with a bike ready for taping:
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| Thanks Carl! |
Becca really likes taping handlebars, and since she bought them for me for my birthday, it was very fitting.
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| Taping the new bars. |
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| There is special piece to put over the shifter/break thing |
Once the first handlebar was taped, we took a picture:
Can you see how much more lady sized the bottom bars are! (Use the tire for size perspective).
Then we were done, and I have a beautiful bike, ready for racing:
I love my bike!! I took it on an easy ride with Justin to get a feel for it, and it was amazing. We went up a few moderate hills, and I concentrated on doing everything Greg and Suzanne always tell me to focus on: even cadence, smooth pedal strokes (scrape mud!), relaxing my arms and shoulders, and NO knuckling the bars! The thing was, I could finally comfortably do all this, and I got better a couple hills in. The first hill, up to Brighten Heights, I felt myself wobbling a little at the top and noticed I was knuckling. By the time I was riding up Greenfield Ave, I focused on relaxing my hands and felt smooth the whole way up.
Ready to race!!
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