9 posts tagged “cycling”
Bicycle!
Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle, bicycle!
Remember when you were ten, and you woke up on Christmas morning, and there was a bicycle under the tree?
"Bicycle!" You said. "Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle! Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicycle!"
That's still how I feel today. I went out today and rode my new bike on the trails at Golden Gate Park. I flew through them. Most I know from running. But I've never gone so fast on them before. And I felt like I was fucking good. I was moving, going fast, uphill. I bounced down hills with wooden steps set into them, and across rocks the size of railroad ties. I went head-over-the-handlebars, once, v e r y s l o w l y. I was riding what amounted to single track along a steep hillside along Fulton, heading towards the back side of the Conservatory, when I hit a fallen log hidden in deep grass and (then) over I went like the minute hand of a clock. It was mystifying to me, how I kept moving like that.
11Flip1
I'm already envisioning myself in Xterras. Flying.
I can has sprint triathlon:
Meanwhile, Harper spent the previous day riding in the Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge, where she climbed 10,850 feet over the course of 100 miles. I was really proud of her, she worked so hard for this, espcially considering that two years ago at this time, she was suffering from a back injury so debilitating that she could hardly walk, to say nothing of ride, for more than a year. All-around, a pretty damn good weekend.
My race is this weekend, and nightmare scenario number one is getting a flat 1. To that end I went to Sports Basement yesterday evening and got some new tires, and put them on last night before dinner. It was goodbye to my old Continental Four Seasons, touring tires that have taken me upwards of 2,000 miles, and hello to shiny new Continental 4000 Grand Prix, racing tires. Red racing tires. 205 grams.
1. Actually, I guess it's number two. Number one is getting eaten by a shark. Silly, I know, but I saw Jaws at a formative age.
Show us something you did, made, saw or bought this past weekend.
Today I ran 8 miles through Golden Gate Park out to the beach and back. This followed yesterday's brick, when I swam about two miles and then biked another 32.
As I've oft-bemoaned over the past few months, 2006 was the year of Living Fat. It was good and bad. I worked hard, made more money than I ever have before, played hard, ate hard, and generally let my body go to pot. (Sorry, bad pun.) I put on about 20 pounds, maybe 25. When I went to see the doctor in December, my oxygen saturation was 96 percent, and he, essentially, scolded me. Harper scolded me too. It was a far cry from where I was in mid-2005, when I could go out and ride my bike 100 miles in a day. I was chastened.
And so starting that month, I began running regulalry (I sporadically exercised throughout 2006, but sporadic exercise doesn't get you any further than none at all.) It fucking hurt. I couldn't even go two miles to begin with without having to stop and walk. January wasn't much better, but at least I wasn't slugging along at ten-minute miles anymore.
Technology saved me. My Nike + iPod Sport Kit, and later, Garmin Forerunner made running interesting. Charts! Graphs! Music! Data!
I could get feedback and track my progress instantly. I can view my rides and runs in Google Earth. I can train with other runners in New York. I can download other runners' and cyclists' routes here in and around San Francisco to my wristtop and fucking race them. Race them!
....
I am not ultra-fit yet. I am just barely fit, I'd say. Nonetheless, I've dropped ten pounds since February 1, and my body fat percentage is now hovering at about 18-19 percent. I shudder to think what it was on December 1, or January 1 for that matter. Yes I could have done it without the $600 worth of electronic gee-gaws. But the gee-gaws have certainly made it more interesting.
And this morning when, for the first time, I rounded the corner on JFK drive with "No Cars Go" playing on my iPod, and looked out and saw the motherfucking Pacific ocean, crashing and heaving about in the morning sun, it was one of the most glorious things I'd ever seen.
This weekend, I swam two miles, then jumped out of the pool and ran a 10K. The next morning I got up and rode a tough 35 miles, and drank beer on Monday. Tonight I'll swim 1.59 miles and tomorrow I'm running the workout below at a track. I think I'm finally in shape, but holy crap, I don't know that I can keep this up through the end of June.
Unbelievably, the hardest part is the fundraising. If you'd like to help, please click here to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and help me reach my goal of raising $3000.
Tomorrow's Run:
1x1600 @ level 3 (60" R)
2x800 @ level 3 (90" RI)
3x400 @ level 3.5 (90" RI)
Run alternating up/down steps 1.5x*
4x200 @ level 4 (2 min RI)
5x100 @ level 4 (2 min RI)
*Completing all of the steps on both sides of the track counts as 1 time, 3 sides counts as 1.5 times, 1 side counts as .5 times, etc.
Not to be outdone, be sure to see The Treadmill Bike, and it's sweet jumps. Unfortuntely, Vox hates WMV files, so I can't post them here.
This morning afternoon while we were eating breakfast at Squat and Gobble, twenty or so naked bicyclists rode by on Haight Street. Old, tatooed, and flapping in the wind.
I love San Francisco.
