Train-n-Tri: The Results are in and I.....

The results are in and I made all my goal miles for the National Bike Challenge!!

But I took the long way about it today.

I needed 30.5 miles to get my 1700 miles in.

That's the miles I said I would cycle for the National Bike Challenge.

http://train-n-tri.blogspot.com/2013/05/national-bike-challenge.html

Yeah, I even put it in my blog that I would ride 1,700 miles for the National Bike Challenge, even though the previous year I barely made 850.

But I did it.

And I thought you might enjoy my recollection of how I got through the last 30.5 miles.

Well, first of all, I was lucky and I had today off from work. I didn't take any teaching work on and I didn't have any clients. I did have a client's training plan to finish, but I did that AFTER my miles. I didn't do any laundry or clean anything at my house. I did feed my animals (3 cats and 1 dog), but I didn't put out any effort to feed anyone else living in my house (16, 21, 49). I figured the living humans could take care of themselves. I made a grocery list, but I didn't shop.

So I got dressed in most comfortable bike shorts.

That would be my Terry Bella Shorts.

Yep, that's them above. And after today it is obvious that I need a new pair because I have outbiked the ones I have.

After putting on my shorts I slathered my "lady" parts with Aquaphor.

Yes, those are finger-gouges in my Aquaphor. But Aquaphor in strategic places gives me a great base for all my bike mileage.

I hooked up my Garmin 910 and the heart rate monitor that goes with it and I prayed. I prayed because I really don't know how to use it yet. I just turn it on and I turn it off....and then all the minutes between my start and stop are calculated, even if I stopped at a red light for 5 or so minutes, or I stopped to take a pee in the orange groves, or I stopped to get a turtle out of the road...

I just keep it on because several times before I have turned it off when I stopped and then I would TOTALLY FORGET to turn it back on until about 5 miles later. That's how long it takes for my brain to remember - 5 miles.

And today I needed every mile to count.

Okay, I know this is sideways and probably too small to read anyway, but it's okay. It's the NEW way to figure out your heart-rate. When I was training for my personal fitness trainer certificate we were taught two ways to figure out your heart rate...and this is NOT one of them.

But I want to be open minded about it.

I keep hearing this is the NEW way, so I figured out my NEW heart rate and....

I'll report in a different blog.

But I was thinking about this today while I rode my bike.

I put my $20 in my Altoids container along with a few mints and stuck it with my nitro in my bento bag.

If you don't know why I have nitro, this is why...

(Prinzmetal angina (also known as variant angina, angina inversa, or coronary vessel spasm) is a syndrome typically consisting of angina (cardiac chest pain) at rest that occurs in cycles. It is caused by vasospasm, a narrowing of the coronary arteries caused by contraction of the smooth muscle tissue in the vessel walls rather than directly by atherosclerosis (buildup of fatty plaque and hardening of the arteries). It occurs more in younger women.^[1])

^{Yes, Thank you Wikipedia....}

^{I hardly ever have an episode, but carry my nitro (just in case)..

Then I grabbed a couple of SunRype bars from my stash and stuck them in back jersey pocket for my nutrition for my 30.5 mile bike ride.

And because I wanted to try the new heart-rate zone (which I am not convinced of) I put on my Keen bike shoes because they are always my LOW-KEY shoes and not my race shoes...

I swear I took a picture of my actual feet in these shoes, but my toenail are so bad right now, my camera on my phone must have rejected the picture.

I decided to ride Sarah, my road bike, today. She is an easy ride and I like cruising on her. I pumped her tires to 110. and checked her Bento Bag to make sure all my "necessities" were in there.

Then I took off.

It was kind of warm and I rode around my neighborhood for about 5 miles. It was around 11:30 a.m and I was getting hungry.

I stopped under this tree by the Victoria Country Club and called my guy.

I was HUNGRY!!!

"Are you still at work?" I asked. It was around 11:30 and I had ridden 5 something miles.

"No. I just left," he said.

Talk, talk, talk, talk....and we agreed to meet at the

in about an hour...but he would call me when he was close.

So I took off to get some mile in.

Best case scenario - get all my 30.5 miles in and then eat lunch with Robert at the Greet Street Grill and he can take me and Sarah home in his car...or

get a lot of miles in and eat at the GSG and then slowly pedal home for the last of my miles.

Pedal on I did.

Down Victoria Avenue.

Until I hit a detour.

I was detour through Casa Blanca.

This all brought back lots of memories of when I was a kid and my mom would NOT drive through Casa Blanca because she was afraid of being shot.

Even as a teenage driver, I avoided the area because of racial tensions.

Today I rode my bike through the detour area and I never felt scared or threatened.

That's what a change of times or riding on a bike will do for you (me).

One of my favorite parts of today's ride was at the intersection of Adams and Lincoln. I was stopped at the intersection in front of a fire truck, so I pulled myself way into the crosswalk to get out of its way in case they needed to turn right.

All of a sudden I hear, "Well, hello there."

The CHP officer on Adams is talking to me.

I wave.

"Ah, you would be way safer if you were behind the white line...just like regular cars are...." the CHP officer droned on from his car way over on the other side of the road.

I turned and looked at the BIG fire truck behind me and shrugged my shoulders. Really, my bike wheel was about 1 1/2 feet over the crosswalk line. And I thought I was in the safest place for me. I could see everybody and everybody could see me. But I guess the CHP guy needed to be in control.}

So I slowly backed my bike up until my rear tire was almost touching the bumper of the fire truck.

When I turned my head to look back I couldn't even see the driver of the fire truck anymore.

I prayed that he would remember I was there in case he got a call before the light turned green.

Light turned green and I was pedaling thinking I really wanted to get off a street with a lot of traffic and onto a less traveled route.

I picked Cleveland Avenue. But it is not very bike friendly. Look where I am. And ohoh, there is no place to push a button to go across. I had to sit there and wait four about...I don't know how long, but I drank a good bit of my bike bottle before someone pulled up behind me and then the light turned.

Then I continued on road such as this (no cars and lots of orange trees) until Robert called me and said he would be at the Greek place in a few minutes.

I hightailed it there and when I got there I was at 21 miles.

I chained my bike to the railing in front with my helmet strap and we went in and ate.

It was good.

While we were eating I joked that I should write a "ride and review" column for the local newspaper. I could just ride my bike from eatery to eatery, well, eating, and review the food and how easy it was to lock my bike up in front of their local, and their tolerance for my stinky bike clothes.

Then Robert got in his car and DROVE home and I still had to (and mean, got to) ride my bike home for 9 miles.

Once I got home, I did have to go around the block once, but I managed to log my 30.5 mile.

I am happy to report that I did get in my 1,700 miles that I set my goal as (twice as much as last year).

Yes, the official NBC says I have MORE than 1,700, but I am going with my calculations.

A while back I got an email from the Inland Empire Biking Alliance asking me to join their NBC Team (I had been riding as a solo person), but I was happy to jump on their team.