Weekly ride to Grizzly Peak

Distance 15.6mi
Moving Time 1:19:50
Elevation 1,348ft
Avg Speed 11.7mi/h
Max Speed 27.3mi/h
Heartrate 187bpm avg / 246bpm max

Last week I couldn't get up to Grizzly Peak because of over-training. Glad to know that today, that I was able to get up to Grizzly Peak via La Loma without any stops for a breather. So after taking a 4-day break, the best thing about the short, productive ride was my hairdo. I posted this on Facebook with the caption below.

You be the judge. 1930s hairdo = 2014 bicycle helmet hair.

And, during my weekly ride up to the peak, I pass this one house off Grizzly Peak in Berkeley that reminds me of an L.A. home in the hills - another, "You be the judge." Same architect?

Left Berkeley Big House = Right Los Angeles Big House

My first unofficial century ride

Distance 102.2mi
Moving Time 7:20:30
Elevation 4,636ft
Avg Speed 13.8mi/h
Max Speed 36.2mi/h
Heartrate 180bpm avg / 247bpm max

Thanks, Hugo Sosa, Angelica Sosa, Angelica Reyes Sosa, Jeff Adamus, Rachel Sandoval Carl, and Jeff Akeley with today's Del Norte training ride. A great 73-mile ride, which I was able to tack on my ride to/from Del Norte BART Station for a 101.2-mile ride - my first unofficial century.

Unfortunately, the only picture I have is of Ben giving me a sample of how the foam roller is effectively used (this was before today's training ride). While he rolled over kinks, he would ask what pain level (on a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being most painful) I was experiencing. He first started on my calves and hamstring - no problem, 3 or less. Then he started on my quads, this folks is where OMG was discovered. I thought I was relatively stretched out in that area. OMG the least amount of pain was a 7 and when Ben kept rolling up, I quickly felt 10s and then when he asked, I responded, "I can't remember the pain scale anymore!" Just my luck, I have a deep massage scheduled for Monday afternoon and a foam rolling session on Wednesday.

Art thinking that he was experienced with foam rolling

Happy Birthday, Bill - we rode 61+ miles

Distance 63.0mi
Moving Time 4:47:32
Elevation 3,225ft
Avg Speed 13.2mi/h
Max Speed 34.2mi/h
Heartrate 185bpm avg / 246bpm max

I felt much better today, Friday, March 21. I rode with Bill Harwood who turned 61 today and Woojin Lee. We were excited to start our ride off to the Bay Bridge and then, as we approached the gates to the East Bay span - what is this? Gates still locked after 7:00 a.m.? With sad faces for a few seconds, we turned and headed to Tunnel Road. Yes, I felt better, but still not at my best. The Bay was still overcast and fogged-in, so I couldn't get any lovely view pictures. When we finally got to Grizzly Peak, I was so drenched, it was as if I had just taken a shower with my sweat pouring down my face.

We headed towards Orinda BART to meet Ben Connelly and rode a bit through Orinda's old town, when all of a sudden I hear a voice all to familiar to my ears. Joy Goto was driving her mother around for errands - what a joy to bump into Joy. From Orinda, we ended up in El Sobrante for Bill's birthday lunch at a Thai-Vietnamese restaurant, which was actually quite good. After stuffing ourselves, we finally headed back to the Bay Trail and home for Bill's birthday celebratory 61+ miler.

Bill, Art, Ben & Woojin

Art, Woojin & Ben

Short ride means ...

Distance 15.5mi
Moving Time 1:18:35
Elevation 810ft
Avg Speed 11.9mi/h
Max Speed 23.0mi/h
Heartrate 210bpm avg / 247bpm max

I kinda, sorta pushed myself and over trained. As I finished the first graded section to Grizzly Peak, I was out of breath and my legs felt like jello. Rather than chance getting an injury had I continued my ride to Grizzly Peak, I decided to head down hill and ride the flat roads of Berkeley and Oakland. Especially since a 61-mile route had been planned for Friday. I know that I shouldn't feel discouraged, but I was frustrated and I had to remind myself that I had already logged-in over 775 miles since I started training 7 weeks ago.

Thank you, Brian - The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation

Brian, many thanks to you for your very generous donation, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and I appreciate your support!

Welcome back, Bill

Distance 23.6mi
Moving Time 2:03:12
Elevation 2,175ft
Avg Speed 11.5mi/h
Max Speed 35.1mi/h
Heartrate 171bpm avg / 246bpm max

I was about to forgo training today, but I got a message from Bill and decided to squeeze in a short, steep ride. Boy, oh boy, oh boy - I think my quadriceps and all four gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minims, and the tensor fasciae latae muscles (all 4 together known as the buttocks) were all working overtime today because I gave them only one day of rest from the weekend ride. Of course I'm over dramatizing how these muscles ache, but doing that makes for a better read. I will definitely rest tomorrow especially since my chain kept dropping when I changed from a higher to a lower gear, not too safe when going down hill. So off to Tip-Top tomorrow for another tune-up.

Finally stopped to take in the view

Bill the power house - I couldn't keep up with him.

Gorgeous panoramic view of Inspiration Point in Tilden Park

WOW ... what a challenging ride

Distance 62.5mi
Moving Time 4:24:18
Elevation 3,757ft
Avg Speed 14.2mi/h
Max Speed 37.4mi/h
Heartrate 190bpm avg / 247bpm max

What a ride today with Facilitator: Mark Smith and Co-leaders: Mary Beth McSwigan, Kas Neteler, Kathryn Chess, Dan Hertlein, Bob Golden, Anthony Sprauve, George Harrison, and Hugo Sosa. What a group of hubba, hubba riders - EYE CANDY! But I digress ... with the exception of almost freezing my (fill in the blank) this morning (I didn't think I need to dress in layers today - so wrong) the beginning of the ride felt like a piece of cake with the first rest stop at 15 miles at Starbucks in Hercules and then our second stop for lunch at 35.8 miles at R-Rags in Benecia. Mike the Monster had trouble with his front wheel - it was wobbly. Mike's problem got worse after we crossed the Carquinez Bridge and got into Vallejo. Mike made it to Benecia where I (and Mike) learned that some of the spokes had gotten loose, thereby making the wheel imperfect. Heck, who knew, I didn't know that the spokes had a purpose.

So, what kicked my a - -, was the non-stop riding from lunch back to Orinda BART 26.7 miles with a lot of steep climbing. The significant grades came via Alhambra Valley Road to Pig Farm Hill which goes from 165 feet to 830 feet over about 5 miles and then more steep climbing on San Pablo DAM Road. And, to think, I thought before the start of today that I would add 20 more miles to today's training ride by cycling back home over San Pablo DAM Road. I didn't.

South of San Francisco

Distance 47.2
Moving Time 3:52:18
Elevation 3,996ft
Avg Speed 12.2mi/h
Max Speed 34.4mi/h
Heartrate 146bpm avg / 246bpm max

My cousin pushed me to go beyond my comfort zone with hill climbing and descending. Riding uphill, anytime he could he told me to lower my gear and increase my cadence, and when speeding down hill, let my body do the turns and break ahead of the turn and, and, and - as mentioned on the Thursday ride, a lot of information to take-in for a newbie. Yes, I'm still consider a new rider :)

The best thing about today, more action shots.

Peter and Felipe of CDV Vineyards - Another huge donation

Many thanks to Felipe and Peter for your very generous donation, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and I appreciate your support!

I also share a beautiful statement by Felipe ...

"to those that have gone before us and those that live with whole and full hearts! "

A mini successful training ride

Distance 29.7mi
Moving Time 2:49:23
Elevation 2,877ft
Avg Speed 10.5mi/h
Max Speed 33.8mi/h
Heartrate 150bpm avg / 247bpm max (yes, a new toy)

My cousin took me on a training ride up Tunnel Road and through the East Bay hills. The ride into the hills was almost the same path that the Del Norte group took this past Sunday. I'm happy to say that I did not feel the same pain in my back going up Pinehurst Road that I did when I rode with the Del Norte group. I think it had to do with the adjustments that Arthur made to my saddle height and taking our time. So nice to have a pro riding with me and helping me with biking techniques to ride more efficiently. Arthur did take the downhill rides quite fast. He tried to show me what I needed to do with the bike, my body, legs when riding downhill - way too much information - but I'll get it eventually. Even though we rode up and down steep hills, I wasn't as hungry on this ride as I have been on others. Granted this was a shorter ride and we we didn't take a break at the 15-mile mark.

Feeling the results of yesterday's 80-mile ride

While I'm thrilled with accomplishing my first 80-miler yesterday, today I was a bit sluggish. John and I took my mother to the gym where I did my 7-minute workout, followed by 40 minutes stretching on the foam roller. That felt like a well-deserved full body massage. After our workout, we drove to Costco for a quick trip to pick up a couple of items and $300 later - what the heck did we (really I) put in that cart? John joked that the cart was filled with AIDS/LifeCycle items ...

I pushed for 80 miles today

Distance 80.4mi
Moving Time 5:54:12
Elevation 3,671ft
Avg Speed 13.6mi/h
Max Speed 38.7mi/h

Facilitator: Hugo Sosa and Co-leaders: Angelica Reyes Sosa, Jeff Adamus, Rachel Carl, and Jeff Akeley led a fantastic training ride today, which started from El Cerrito Del Norte BART station's parking lot (as always), but since BART doesn't start early enough I decided to cycle to the meeting spot this morning rather than drive. Cycling to/from that particular station added 16 miles to the training ride, so why not ride for 7 miles more to hit 80? Why? 'Cuz the hills today kicked our donkeys (cleaner word used). Actually are donkeys cleaner than our a--es? Nevermind.

Riding up to Oakland's regional park was another reminder of our East Bay gems - just gorgeous even in on overcast day.

Chris and Jessi at Robert Sibley Park 

Art, Angelica, Chris, Jessi, Jeff, and Tanya (Rosie the Riveter)

Angelica almost in action

Chris done with action

Pray tell, what do we have here? Yup, another "couldn't get my clip out of the pedal" because the front part of my left shoe got locked into the front wheel and scraped my knee. Huh? Yup, my sentiments exactly. If you use your imagination, the photo looks like an alien without eyes, ears, or a mouth - just a red nose and a black hat. This happened at the top of a hill. And, when I fell an older gentleman shouted my way to make sure I was okay. How could I say otherwise? Of course I was okay - at least that's what my ego said. Since I was only a few blocks away, I rushed as fast as I could with misaligned front breaks and handle bars to Tip-Top and Jake resorted my bike to its original beauty -- AND, and I still got in my 80.4 miles and mended my bruised ego.

Orinda to Dublin

Distance 52.6mi (includes 1 miles to/from MacArthur BART)
Moving Time 3:45:21
Avg Speed 13.7mi/h
Max Speed 34.9mi/h

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I've got this wonderful feeling ... yet, again, another fun ride today with Facilitator: Mary Vencill and Co-leaders: Aaron Lewis, Steve Wedgwood, Don Brown, and Arjan Bok. We were a big group today with a few more fast riders who I appreciated training with because that challenged me. I missed a turn early on in the ride - many people were following me until I missed the turn, but I got back on course. After our first break, I ended up riding with a group of about 6 people including Arjan Bok, Ali, Seth, (I think) Steve Wedgewood, and Sean, who was always way ahead of the pack. Also riding with us was Carlos Gonzàlez, a good friend from the 80s - we saw each other at the first rest stop. How odd we didn't notice each other in the beginning of the ride. Must have been the helmet, sun glasses, and the thing-a-ma-jig that covered my neck and head (which you can see around my neck).

I can't believe the beauty we have here in the East Bay. The ride out of Orinda was good, but once we started back from Dublin, we were pretty much riding through Chabot Regional Park. Just gorgeous! I did stop a bit to take in wonder that nature has to offer, but I didn't want to take too much time to take pictures lest I lose my place in the group. There were many, many long rolling, steep hills which were all great for training.

Carlos and Art

Seth, Ali, and Sean

Seth, Ali, and Art

Yesterday was a day of rest to get ready for today. John and I did end up going into San Francisco for a mini- reunion and had a thoroughly wonderful time. Joseph Gonzalez, Jason Hashimoto, Michael Thomas met at Toad Hall and ended up at Mama Ji's - great Szechuan restaurant in the Castro.

Another short but hard ride from Oakland to the Bay Bridge to El Cerrito to the Berkeley Hills to Home

Distance 40.9mi
Moving Time 3:18:05
Elevation 1,404ft
Avg Speed 12.4mi/h
Max Speed 33.6mi/h

Cyclist Rep Meredith Slater asked that I send her pictures in my Windvest, so I share them with you. Cyclists who hit the $3000 fundraising minimum by March 15th win the official AIDS/LifeCycle Windvest! So I have a couple of selfies (one on the Bay Bridge - but the bridge is overexposed) and one that John took. I have you to thank for helping me get the vest on January 31, only 5 days after I registered for the ride. I'll have another post dedicated to the $5k and $10k incentive kits fashion show. Thanks so very much to everyone who donated, we accomplished $5k on February 3rd and $10k on February 13th.

Today's training was short, but a hard ride towards the end especially going up steep long hills to Grizzly Peak. In case Martin Dishman, makes another observation about a gap from the starting point to the ending point, this was a full loop starting from home and back.

Individual training and appreciating each ride

Distance 26.6mi
Moving Time 2:06:27
Elevation 1,263ft
Avg Speed 12.6mi/h
Max Speed 31.1mi/h

I'm finding on individual training rides, I have the freedom to cycle anywhere, so I'm not always looking at a route map. But if not for the AIDS/LifeCycle group training rides, I wouldn't know some of the trails/paths I'm riding. Today was a short ride because, because, because of life.

While training is of the utmost importance to be able to enjoy the ride in June, I still have responsibilities like Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging. Seriously folks, I appreciate the loves of my life giving me the support and time to train, but I gotta get back home, at least during weekday rides, to get lunches and dinners ready - and I do have day-to-day obligations.

I enjoy the meditative state that I experience while riding. When I'm not thinking, "How the f--- am I going to get up the hill?",  "When does this f---'in hill end?" and "How much more time left until I'm f---'in done?" I start to meditate. I first correct such statements with, "Climbing these hills gets easier after each training ride.", "I feel wonderful when I finally get to the crest of the hill" and "My, my, this ride seemed so short." These long periods of training gives my mind the freedom to focus on the now and my surroundings - very Zen.

Oh, and yes, a new toy - Strava for iPhone; hence, the new map and graph.

How much fluid does one need in one hour of training/riding?

Last Friday, I tried to determine my fluid needs for training and the 7-day ride. Because I had not done the test correctly, I did the test again today. You can check Friday's post for details on how to determine your fluid needs. I weighed in at 153.5 lbs before the vigorous exercise, which was a spinning bike, and after 1 hour, my weight was 149.5.

What does this mean? 4 pounds of insensible losses and sweat. I will need 4 x 16 ounces = 64 ounces of fluid per hour of training. You shoulda seen that puddle of ... under the bike.

I carry two 24-ounce water bottles while I train. The fluid calculation as mentioned indicates that I need to consume the water/electrolyte mix in both bottles and then some basically every 12 to 15 miles. During my last few training rides, I've been drinking an equivalent to 1 bottle every rest stop. WOW 64 ounces! That seems much, but I'm sure on hot days, I won't have any trouble finishing my required intake.

Way to go supporters! Because of YOU, ...

we have donated $16,735.00 in only 5 weeks. Thanks so very much.

Fun facts on donation milestones.

Our donation goes towards supporting vital services such as prevention, care, gay men’s health, syringe access, substance abuse & mental health, education and advocacy. To read more, see San Francisco AIDS Foundation Fact Sheet.

The costs associated with medical care and treatment for a person with HIV are about $20,000 per year. Access to life-saving drugs, clinical trials and state-of-the-art treatment helps those with the disease live a longer and better quality of life. AIDS/LifeCycle will help those living with HIV/AIDS gain greater independence and get the treatment and care they need. Prevention services geared towards high-risk populations will ensure that future generations will not experience the same level of loss that we have faced in the last two decades.

What to do when you've trained in the rain

So what did I do after riding in the rain for almost an hour? Well ... shopping - for cycling stuff. The best buy was changing out my tires and saddle (the old one was soaking wet) for a better ride and performance for the Jamis Satellite comp 54cm Blue. I share the photos of my purchase. The post is more for the cyclist enthusiasts.

The rain did stop us ... Castro to a little bit

Ride Time: 55:02
Distance: 10.91 miles
Average: 11.90 mph
Fastest Speed: 21.30 mph
Ascent: 614 feet
Descent: 573 feet

I was so looking forward to a 72-mile training ride with Facilitator: Joseph Collins and Co-leaders: Buz Miller, Chuck Louden, Lee Hawn. About 40 of us were so ready and we did ride out at 8am with a bit of drizzling and then the ride was stopped about 20 minutes into the ride, shortly after I was almost hit by a driver running a stop sign - IN THE RAIN. When training was called off because of the unsafe conditions cold, windy rain would pose for us on the Golden Gate Bridge, a group of us decided to go on (Jose (Pepe) Sanchez, Terry Beswick, James Casad and Andrew). As you can see, not too far. But still kinda, sorta had fun biking in the rain and being wet and feeling puddles in ones shoes with each down stroke.

AND, why, oh why didn't any seasoned cyclist ever tell me that when one rides in the rain you get a simulated enema with the water splashing, not on, but almost into the crevice of your derrière - what a feeling!

See I was in the rain ...

Even the rain won't stop our training ... Orinda to Blackhawk

Ride Time: 3:17:17
Distance: 47.6 miles (includes biking to MacArthur BART)
14.07 avg
35.95 Max

Thanks so much East Bay Wildcats!

I wasn't sure we'd be cycling this morning since the weather forecast called for thunder showers around 9am, but we forged ahead with Facilitator: Mary Vencill and Co-leaders: George Head, Steve Wedgwood, Don Brown, Greg Nichols, Susan Fish, Arjan Bok, Dawn Tso. Monster Mike, again, took the lead and following him and trying to keep up with his pace was a good challenge. In our last leg, Arjan kept up with Mike and I trailed each and every time. We finished as the weather stopped giving us its sunshine and started pouring rain 2 minutes after returning to our starting point - what luck.

Thank goodness Mike offered me a ride, which I quickly accepted. When I got home, I rushed into Tip Top and Richard cleaned my chain, gave my bike a quick tune-up, adjusted my saddle height for a better bike fit, tightened my clips - how lucky is that?! I also talked with him about getting a new saddle and better tires. No need to make the change before tomorrow's 72-miler, so I'll get the new stuff installed Monday and I'll be a better, faster, smoother rider - oh, yeah!