Its looking a lot like Portland outside today so Im taking a day off the bike. Misty, foggy and fir trees is my view at the moment. Yes indeed very much like home.
The Posta Zirm Hotel where we are staying has an extensive "Wellness Farm" with various saunas and pools. Im getting my bod a much needed massage this afternoon. For now Im enjoying a leisurely morning; usually its breakfast at 7:30 and on bikes by 9, today folks sauntered down to breakfast after 8 and lingered over coffee while we waited to see what the weather was doing.
We have been pretty lucky with weather so far (fingers crossed!) and we are now half way through the tour. I think Ive ridden myself into fitness where my body is feeling pretty good and strong. Im still figuring out how to avoid getting chilled on mountain passes. There are refugios at the top and a lot of times the support van is there too so its easy to spend too much time snapping pics, grabbing a bite and some souvenirs. We stopped for lunch at one yesterday after a 30km climb from Brixen (good morning legs!)
Im taking tons of pics. The vistas are incredible and the towns are quaint. We rode through the Landin valley yesterday on our descent off the passo Erbe. They speak a different language there than the rest of the region
After a 20k section of highway riding we arrived in the heart of the Dolomites.
The great thing about touring on bike is that you are going slow enough to really take in the scenery. Like this milk shed I saw when I stopped on the climb yesterday
I love riding in the morning, and watching farm sprinklers. It was very hot a few days ago and I giggled as we got sprayed while riding past a field, refreshed by the cool breeze
On our approach to Stelvio (climbing over to Bormio, first time) we rode past Lake Awesome for several km on a lovely bike path
The beautiful vistas unfold slowly on the bike and come with some feeling of accomplishment, whether its riding just a short, flat distance or up a huge mountain. I brought myself here with my own body to experience something truly unique and special.
Climbing Stelvio was truly epic. If you have a chance to do it on a blue-bird day absolutely go for it. If its cloudy or raining forget it. It is a slog.
The traffic was pretty terrible, even on a Monday. One of our tour members went down trying to avoid a headon collision with some moron trying to pass blindly. Fortunately our colleague seems to be OK except for scrapes and bruises.
It is a beautiful climb. Ill post more pics to my facebook when I can sync my camera (the ones there are just from my phone) The numbered switchbacks begin at 47 but there are 49+ some climbing out of Prato allo Stelvio. The climb faces incredible glaciated peaks and ascends through a forest before toping out on the exposed top 24 switchbacks.
The wild flowers were beautiful. There were mountain streams everywhere. One cascading several hundred feet into the canyon.
There were tons of motos and cyclists. Few of us spoke the same languages so we just kind of smiled and waived. I was encouraged by an italian couple. A german woman said 'you have done well' as I was completing the last 10 switchbacks.
I turned on my gopro to film switchback 1 and cried. I almost gave the finger to switchback 3 that kicked up to about 12% for a short pitch
I was surprised at how easy 9% began to feel after 15k. My average speed was somewhere between 6-7km/hr . Yes kmh.
I dont think I got any pics at the top really, I was completely disoriented and trying to buy souveniers and eat before i froze. I ended up not descending because I was simply fried. The descent was beautiful from the van.
We have the most amazing breakfast at our hotel. I have been warned not to get used to this level of luxury ;) I dont know what several of these fruits are called, even in english!
After our awesome breakfast we headed into the garage to assemble bikes. They had music piped into the garage. We listened to the Pointer Sisters as we wrenched
Checking out everyones bikes was fun. For instance, here we have the wheels of Alejandro, "The Mexican" and Dan, world champion in masters cyclocross. 34 vs 23. Can you guess whos is whos? ;)
I have a feeling I will be offering one of them a very large sum of money to ride their bike once we hit the climbs
We went out for a really nice mellow ride around the valley to spin the legs out. There are a ton of bikeways around Innsbruck. Some how cars, street cars (tracks!), bikes and pedestrians all comingle here. The 2 lane roads here are narrower than our 1 lane roads in the states yet we didnt get harassed by any motorists. There was some pondering about why people in the US have a problem sharing space on the road when we have so much.
After our ride we headed to a local pub for beers and watching the Tour. The Tour is broadcast from 2-5. Its exciting being in Europe to watch live, but it would be a bummer to be living here, since Id probably be at work while it is on. So I guess we dont have such a bad deal in the PacNW watching it in the morning before work!
While we were trying to decode the menu and read the beer list our very cheery waiter dropped by. Our tour leader Larry was the only one who could really communicate at all, but we did hear him say "happy hour" We told him we wanted some bier, "happy hour!" and promptly 7 glasses of the house bier arrived. We couldnt quite figure out what to eat either, Larry got bratwurst and we all decided that sounded good too. Happy hour! Oh, and then little stands with pretzles (bretzels) arrived! I dont know why I have yet to move permanently to the land of bier, sausage, cheese, chocolate and pretzels.
We all were cat napping during the tour and I was beat by the time I got to bed around 10:30. I slept till 5 and tossed and turned before falling back asleep. I woke up later and found out it was 12:15!
Crap! I had missed amazing breakfast!
And its 12:15... i wonder if I also missed the ride too? Double crap!
As Im collecting my groggy self there is a knock at my door. Jim and Claire tell me they are riding in 15min do I want to come? I mumble a yes and try and get myself together. Claire gives me a mojo bar so Im not riding on a totally empty stomach and I grabbed an apple in the lobby. Feeling thoroughly disoriented and groggy I roll out for our first little hill climb ride. Forgot the garmin. Cant find one of my arm warmers or my camera. Yes I just woke up.
We again wove through little towns around Innsbruck, mid day today was a little greyer than yesterday but the roads and vistas are pretty incredible
A lot of these types of scenes rolling into little towns
Figuring out which way to go next
A canyon along the road
The ski jump from the olympics! It was all lit up in green the first night we rolled into town, pretty incredible.
I hobbled along in my groggy state with the help of more food from Claire and the kind assistance of Dan who stayed with me OTB. The stats on todays ride was around 32miles and 2500ft I think.
The sun had come out while we were riding and we got to see the mountains when we left the pub!!!
These are the mountains we will hopefully be climbing over when we depart on Sunday. I say "hopefully" because if the weather is bad we will go around. And because I really havent thought about what it will be like to climb 1500m in 24km (thats about 4500ft in 14miles) Ive been fighting off a cold for the last 2 weeks, hopefully my little sleep in this morning helped.
I havent been online nearly as much as usual and Im really enjoying my social media diet. Ill still continue to share but really the only thing Im keeping up with is my twitter feed (Tour gossip, mostly).
Blogger is too smart for its own good. It knows Im in Austria so it changed my interface to German.
I cant speak German but I can try if you like.
Im very tired and disoriented. My computer says its 2pm but my phone says its 11pm and my body is not sure what on earth is going on. I just ate a large pizza and some schwarze bier. Im now noshing on some ritter sport and (oregon) hazlenuts. I do so love this part of the world.
We're staying at the posh Penz Hotel in Innsbruck for the next few days and I will take advantage of their FREE WIFI (score!) to make some updates and share pics. Apparently we will be visiting some very remote places later in the tour so I have to take advantage of modern conveniences like interwebs and ATMs while I can.
The flight was long but turns out I didnt need to be entertained. I sat next to an older gentleman, Manny, from the bay area who works in airplane manufacturing. His background is chemistry which he has been using to produce some good wines in San Diego. He talked of leaving the corporate world to pursue wine making and food/wine pairing with his wife. It made me think of my sister. I told him that sounded like a great idea. Also the flight had Hunger Games on the on-demand movies. Score again!
6 of the 10 riders are here. Im rooming with Claire and I also met Greg, Dan and Alejandro tonight. Tomorrow will be bike building after breakfast, fingers crossed again that everything is functional after its flight across the world.
Weather is rainy and 15C Afternoon showers have been common lately, hoping for some good rides between now and when our tour starts on Sunday to get the legs warmed up. Alejandro is rocking a 34 in the back. Makes me feel pretty nervous about my 28, but its what i got!
After 8 months of physical preparation I sit in the San Francisco airport awaiting my departure to Munich Germany. After an 11hr flight I will hopefully arrive to find my smiling tour guides, bag and bike all without hassle. Fingers crossed! My flight here was pretty uneventful except for the kid screaming like they were possessed. Yikes!
In chatting with some friends about racing a comment was made about how fun it is just to push yourself and see how you can do in a race. The competition aspect is "fun" and not a yardstick to stress yourself out over. Competition has been hard for me as long as I can remember. Usually Ive been totally focused on winning. I would train so hard and put a ton of pressure on myself to hit that one small mark. I rarely if ever enjoyed the journey. This started in the same way. I took on a grueling training schedule that made me cranky and irritable. The trip became a millstone around my neck. Then I changed my thinking a few months ago, when I was telling a friend what I wanted to do next summer and he said 'why wait? what about this summer?' Indeed, why wait? So I let go. I decided I didnt have to climb every mountain or ride with the big boys on my trip. I wanted to have fun. My body has come a long way and Im sure it will do amazing things, but instead of being stressed about performing to a certain expectation Im trying to just focus on enjoying the entire experience. I knew my body was going to change in the last 8 months. What I didnt expect was how my mind changed as well. As crazy as things have been there has been a settling of sorts around what Im really wanting out of life right now.
Ive brought along several amusements for the flight. A book my sister gave me, some geek magazines. I also brought my GoPro manual thinking I might actually read it and play with the camera a bit. And Im making playlists. I figured these climbs are going to be LONG so I may need some inspiration. Heres a peak at my "climbing 1" playlist. haha! a peak! :)
Incubus - Megalomaniac
NIN - Perfect Drug
Pearl Jam - Leash
TVoTR - Red Dress
Linkin Park - Bleed it out
STP - Naked Sunday
Lady Gaga - Scheisse
Ozzy - I dont wanna Stop (my theme song)
Rick Astley - Never gonna give you up
Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight
So here I sit at the threshold of my big adventure. Heading off alone to a foreign land where I have no comprehension of the language or customs, to ride what professional cyclists call the most difficult climbs in the world 3 years after I started cycling. I am at moments excited but right now mostly nervous. My thumbs are in danger of being picked raw. I have completely overpacked like an obsessive mother with 5 kids. This is going to be awesome, terrifying, upsetting, thrilling, new and exciting... a real bonafide adventure.
So, sorry I didnt blog my whole BRP trip. Theres tons of unedited video, pics to be uploaded, etc that just havent happened. Thats life. I guess I know to reign in the amount of video I take in the Dolomites. I think Ill be doing more point and shoot action there
So its a month from my trip to the land of the Giro. I received my packet in the mail yesterday with all my trip prep goodies!
Maps! Foot! Cat!
Perhaps now would be the time to learn some Italiano. Nah. Ive got a 13hr plane ride to do that.
This packet contains all the maps and descriptions of our daily riding. Its thick!!!
Thats a lot of maps! Ella is intrigued
The toll of training has become very apparent. Ive been fortunate so far (knock on wood!) to have only minor issues physically but I have totally hit the wall mentally. As I said to some friends today I have not just fallen off the training wagon. Ive fallen off and been run over by a semi.
I knew something was up on the BRP ride when I fell to pieces at the simple act of someone else (Brent) taking care of things for me. How much had I been carrying on my own? I hadnt even realized how exhausted and strung out I was. I dont want to ride on the road, I dont want to ride in the cold or overcast weather. I really just want a hug. Fortunately I got some needed hammock time in this weekend
Ommmm
I have noticed myself becoming increasingly more irritated. Yes the weather sucks, but it seems to be an especially problematic thing for me this year (because Ive been riding in it since November most likely). Ive been more short tempered and more volatile.
Today I experienced some seriously flagrant road rage unlike I have ever been subject to before. It made me furiously mad. I am a believer in the Law of Attraction, and while I dont claim I brought it on myself I think I'm attracting more of these events lately.
So Ive basically stopped training. Yes, going to Italy in slightly less decent shape is a bummer, but a bigger bummer would be forcing myself to train these last few weeks and end up hating my bike. Nothing would be worse than going on this trip Ive been preparing for this long and be miserable. Im having a hard time motivating myself to ride and freaking out about losing my fitness level.
Clearly, I need more hammock time.
I have decided priority #1 for Italy is to enjoy myself. If the weather is putrid do I really want to ride, or would I rather take the van that day and rest my legs? Do I really care about grinding up every last famous climb? I know a big part of me will be saying 'but Jenn, when will you ever have this opportunity again !?' It will be interesting balancing Ego and Id, well, as usual :)
So Im trying to be gentle and remind myself that its pretty damn silly to be fussing over my 'performance' on a luxury bike vacation. The fact is in 15days I will be off work for TWO MONTHS!!!
I didnt particularly want to get out of bed, not having had the most restful night, but it was time to get some breakfast before our Grand Depart from the Holiday Inn Express in Waynesboro. The sun was shining and it was a little brisk, perfect bike riding weather. We gathered necessities, like water and nyan cat.
The HAMMER twins Scott and Brent
the power of NYAN compels you!
While we were loading up the van a few women also checking out were checking out our spandex. Chatting with them I found out they were driving the parkway. When I told them we were riding the parkway in 5 days they looked somewhat astonished.
"Is it all downhill from here?"
*grins* "Nope, about 47,000ft of climbing"
About 7 miles later we found our way to the BRP. L-R: Kevin, Scott, me and Brent. Photo taken by Tom
This was before anyones butt started to hurt
And so we rode. It was exciting and beautiful. The climbing started promptly at mile 1. The weather was sunny and cool with some fairly wicked head winds. After the first 10 miles we regrouped to chat about how we would like to ride the trip. The consensus was generally everyone ride their own pace and work out SAG support as needed. I know I dont enjoy riding when i feel like i have to keep up so this was fine with me.
We had a small snafu with our SAG that day and Kevin and I got locked out of the van. Fortunately Tom, our awesome SAG driver, anticipated our predicament and cut his ride short to come back and check on us
Disco Tom to the rescue! This happens a lot
Tom (Disco Tom) is Scott's uncle and a generally all around awesome dude. In his early 60s, he just did the entire 470 mile BRP RAAM style (no breaks, except a few cat naps) last October. He was telling me about an upcoming adventure race he has in the next few weeks on the trip. He also had fond memories of the Disco era. You can get your fill of water, food and the BeeGees in Tom's SAG van. Tom's considerate attitude and BRP expertise made him a really awesome SAG driver for our trip. We were super lucky!
The last 20 miles of the day featured a 12 mile, 3700ft climb from the lowest point on the BRP to the highest point in VA. The mountain in the distance is the destination, the bridge is the lowest point and a few miles before the start of the climb
I decided to treat the climb as a mini Stelvio Pass, which I will be riding in July. So I stubbornly stayed in my 21 gear all the way up, reserving my bottom 2 gears for the Italian climb, which will climb an additional 2300ft and top out at 8000ft. I was rewarded for my stupidity, I mean, badassedness, with two fairly sore quads at the end of the day, but I was able to shake it out mid day 2.
Almost there
Get a load of those 1-litre water bottles!
View from the top!
It was pretty darn cold up there! I hadnt thought about that in my short sleeves. Fortunately on the descent Brent and Scott (the hammer twins) who had finished an hour before Kevin and I came looking for us in the van. I got a vest to descend the last few miles with to Peaks of Otter where we stayed right on the BRP at this awesome place!
The Peaks of Otter!
Brent really took care of me on this trip. Its great to have a speedy, considerate friend up the road from you to prepare clothes, recovery beverages and drugs for you to come home to.
Hammer time! Not to be confused with EPO time.
We headed to the thriving metropolis of Bedford and had dinner at the Bedford Social Club. I got a steak that ended up providing my lunch for the next few days. We also stopped in the local grocery store for some snacks
date night dinner specials are.. inspiring ??
CHEEZY POOFS
We all pretty much passed out after our first big day on the road, after some ice cream of course.
Wow the internet on my computer! Welcome back to the future.
Our grand BRP trip was aborted on Day 4 amidst truly awful weather conditions and the threat of thunderstorms the next day. One brave rider soldiered on but I was fine to quit (more on that later). I had hoped to blog about each day as we rode but besides lack of internet access I was pretty tired each day and wanted to spend my spare moments taking the experience in rather than sitting in front of the computer.
In the end it was 3 days of great riding and 1 day of not so great riding. I learned a lot about my body. I learned a lot about what motivates me to ride and what doesnt. When we planned this trip out months ago I was gunning for 500mi/50,000ft to prepare for the Alps. During this trip it became clear to me that numbers dont motivate me, enjoyment does. It made me realize that there are probably going to be days in the Alps when I dont ride, or SAG out, in favor of riding at an enjoyable pace taking in the experience.
This was a really awesome experience. Im excited to share my thoughts, photos and video over the next few days as I blog it out. A lot, though, cant be captured in words or pictures. Like any grand adventure you really just need to experience it yourself.
Today the fellowship assembled at Scott's house to prepare for our trip to the Mountains of Mordor.
No wait, that isnt right. Our trip through the Appalachian Mountains via the Blue Ridge Parkway. At least I got the Mountains part right. Tomorrow we will go from the lowest point on the BRP to the highest point on the BRP in VA. So kind of like Mt Doom, but not quite. We will meet the real Mt Doom later this week. Tomorrows climb ascends some 3400ft over 12miles at mile 60/85. We have about a 7mile ride to get to the BRP from our motel.
There was the ceremonial mounting of the bikes... on the car
Thus began our road trip. 4 valiant riders and 1 valiant SAG driver / rider packed with our gear and more wheelsets than Saxo Bank's tour bus.
Our drive to VA was stalled by a gnarly tractor trailer accident that deposited something large on the road. Im sure its a piece of that kids space ship from 'Flight of the Navigator'
The typical road trip shenanigans ensued, or maybe not so typical. "We never had anything like that when we were kids!" said Brent as Kevin was setting up a wireless hotspot with his smart phone. At one point there were 2 laptops, 3 phones and 1 tablet on the network. Siri may have been responsible for us missing our exit to interstate 81. And Brent was playing doctor
We arrived in Waynesboro about 8pm and got dinner at a local italian joint. Chilaxin before we headout to ride bikes like a mofo in the AM. It will indeed be, Hammer time
Hello from warm and alternately sunny and monsoonlike western NC!
I arrived here on Saturday. Here is a lesson in how not to acclimate.
1. Sit on a plane for 7hrs
2. Sleep 12hrs
3. Decide to go out for a ride at the crack of noon in weather 30+ degrees warmer with humidity 80% higher than the weather youre used to. Oh, and some alarmingly bright orange thing beating down on you from the sky.
4. Go ride hills. Immediately, with no warm up. And make sure its some of the most ass kicking hills near the house too.
5. RIde with people who can kick your ass on a good day and lament your pathetic state.
Easily the worst Ive felt on the bike in a long long time. The last time I rode with my pal Brent was over a year ago. I was chunky and seriously slow. He had to push me up the climb we were doing together. I was so eager to show him how bad ass I have become riding hills all year in Portland!
Guess who had to get pushed up the hill?
Guess who had molasses legs?
Yep. At least I know what not to do when I arrive in Italy!
I apologize for the lack of pictures in this entry. I upload them to Facebook which doesnt talk to Blogger because Google doesnt own it (yet). Google+ is like a desert with some tumbleweeds rolling by so i never post there, but it looks like Ill have to start if I want to easily share photos here. We will see how it goes. For now
We headed out to the Nantahala Outdoor Center to spend some chill days in the forest before heading up to VA to start the ride. Formerly an Olympic training site for water sports its somewhat of a summer camp for grown ups. We stayed in a neat little cabin above the river. We heard bull frogs at night! And saw some dirty AT hikers! Good times
Monday, eager to redeem myself, we headed out again for a ride from the NOC. Legs were feeling a lot better (turns out warming up helps) and Brent took my GoPro. For the first time someone would be getting video of ME on the bike! This was exciting
This was also exciting, but in a very bad way
Brent was a bike courier. And a semi pro downhill mountain bike racer. Clearly, the one with the bike handling skills, complete lack of fear and defiance to flip off someone coming at us at about 65mph,. 6" from his elbow.
So after nearly dying we had a really beautiful ride through the gorge and up a nice steep little hill, after riding a long a river with a lot of waterfalls. That video is coming later, still working to cut it together.
Today while running around doing some last minute errands before our drive to Waynesboro VA tomorrow we stopped into Motion Makers. They had this sweet Mavic wheel set on sale. A sweet wheel set that was over a pound lighter than the one I own. Well, I was talking about getting a lighter set for Italy anyway, so why not try them out on the BRP. Lucy is very excited to show off her NEW ruby slippers (See FB photo album above). Once again she has matchy matchy red hubs. On top of a fantastic price they also gave me an awesome padded wheel bag! Thanks guys!
^_^
So how am I feeling right now? Very nervous. Worried I wont be able to keep up. Wondering how the hell my body will react to what we are doing. Hoping we wont get caught in a spring monsoon. We were advised by someone who did this ride a few years ago to get Valerian root to help with sleep. Why would you need help sleeping when your banging out about 10,000ft of climbing / day? I guess your body gets too exhausted to sleep.
0_o
Maybe Ill try some Valerian root tonight.
I cant make any promises but Ill try to blog a little about it at the end of each epic day, or at least tweet a bit and/or update Facebook. I will say that after our encounter in the gorge Im very glad the max speed limit on the BRP is 45mph.
To Waynesboro and beyond! (beyond being south to Cherokee NC, the end of the BRP)
Turns out my suffer fest wasnt as suffertastic as I anticipated, but last week with 16,500ft of climbing over 230miles was a pretty big suffer fest. So much so that I felt sick on Monday and also didnt ride Tuesday. I think I found my limit.
Training has given me the opportunity to experience a lot of truly awful things. Like my entire weekend being a blur of biking, feeding and being unable to sleep Sunday night. Despite being exhausted my body ached and I couldnt fall asleep. I just hurt all over. Yikes.
Tonight I got to experience another new awful. During races and intervals I have experienced what its like to push really hard - gasping for air, feeling pukey (or even puking a little), being light headed and feeling like Im going to fall off my bike. Until tonight I had never experienced what it was like to be on the verge of hyperventilating
Thats what happens when you go from 0 to 33mph in 20seconds.
I thought I might have an asthma attack. I couldnt get a full breath and it was freaking me out. Even if I focused on full breaths during the 20s pushes I found myself unable to breathe completely in the 40s of rest between. I managed to stay calm but it was a really unsettling feeling.
Ive said several times that I dont like training a this intensity. Unlike when I was obsessed with the trumpet in high school and would practice daily for hours I am definitely not obsessed with the bike. Im training so I can do this bike tour in Italy.
Dont get me wrong, I do enjoy many things about training. Ive made a bunch of great new friends so far this year, I discovered I love working out with other people, I love how strong I feel on the bike and having big muscles ! And being able to eat whatever I want is pretty great too. Im continually in awe of what my body is capable of, and really need to give my mind more credit for what its capable of enduring, too!
I guess that is whats meant when people say to enjoy the process, not just look to the end goal. Im vey goal oriented so its easy for me to get lost in the drudgery of training. 20second intervals are one of those times!!! I hope these Wednesday night torture fests will give me the cardio boost I need to make it up Stelvio Pass!!
The real question about Stelvio is... will I push myself to ride nonstop up the 48 switchbacks to the ski resort at 9000ft, or will I stop to take pictures? Maybe thats what the GoPro is for.
This week Im endeavoring to make myself hurt. A lot. The theory being that doing this in a short term, controlled manner will up level my fitness. I bought my first do-rag on Friday. Im channeling the Hulk!
Yeah. Pretty much.
This morning I did my usual Tues/Thurs workout class at 5:45am. *cue Rocky theme* Today was one of those days I call texas hold 'em. We dont do a set number of reps, we do things till we're told to stop. So we squatted, kettel bell swinged, planked and push up'd until we were told to stop. I really really hate planks.
Tonight I did sprints on Mt Tabor. I imagine myself pulling off this epic move in a race where I take off at the bottom of the hill and sprint to the top, crushing my competitors. With my teeth bared and eyes bugged out I give a Xena worthy yell as I burn across the finish line like a rocket. I look so fierce small children nearby start to cry.
With this in mind I set off on my first rep. I am the champion! I realize at about 30s into my 60s sprint that this really sucks! I manage to get about 2/3 of the way up when my legs give up and Im sucking air like a vacuum. After an hour of repeats like this Im tired, but saying to myself 'well I didnt puke so I probably could have gone harder'
Which is when I realized theres something a little screwed up about being disappointed with my workout because I didnt barf. Im tired but not totally decimated. My glutes hurt. We will see what the next 2 days of workouts bring. Probably a lot of whining ;)
Have I mentioned that while I'm training for the Alps I'm also pursuing a major career change? So in addition to spending my days as an analog circuit designer I'm now learning the black arts of computer programming. Yep, I really know how to pound myself into the ground!
This week was especially busy at work with some late hours required to meet a publication submission deadline. Add to that the arrival of spring rain downpours and Ive been a bit of a crabby girl lately. I think we in Portland have PTSD when it comes to rain; when it really lets loose (especially after an abnormally dry winter) we start threatening to move and building arks and rounding up our cats, 2 by 2.
Oh geez, really its not that bad!
And Im still feeling some effects from my IT band getting irritated last weekend. So here on the couch I sit. Fried from work, gloomy about the weather, paranoid about the miles Im not getting in this week and ready to just take a cab to the top of the Passo Stelvio. Oh, and I hate intervals. Screw training.
In a word, it sucks.
Thank goodness for daylight savings
Coming home from work tonight there was a break in the sky. It was around 6, now nearing 7pm and its still bright as can be outside. And not raining! This made me immensely happier and I had a sudden urge to ride my bike (followed by the 'but i need to rest' voice in the back of my head..) It reminded me of something important. Light makes me want to bike. If its light and especially if its sunny I have no motivation problems at all with getting on my bike. I was feeling sad about having to rest tonight because I knew riding my bike would make me feel better. Im glad to know that while Im having a momentary tantrum I still love to ride my bike.
This Saturday Im telling the rain to kiss my butt and heading for the Dalles with some awesome buddies. Im looking forward to putting in some long, hard, fun miles in the sun.
For now I am smothering my wounds with nut butter. And computational biology!
The rain returned this weekend. I got up at 7 and saw that the forecast predicted little chance of rain until 1pm. After checking the wind on Marine Drive wasnt gale force I decided to finish what I started last Sunday. Larch Mountain.
While I was getting ready I was thinking about similarities between mountaineering and long distance road cycling. I did some climbing a few years ago and have had a life long interest in wilderness survival skills. When preparing for my trip today I had 3 small pockets to carry whatever I would need for an 80mile trek. I stashed my jacket, hat and toe warmers knowing how cold the descent from the mountain would be. I took some extra food, my holy trinity of electrolyte tablets, mylanta and advil, and a small pump. Tire repair kit, an extra tube and a multi tool were in my saddle bag. Survival skills indeed!
Heading out to Marine drive I was appreciating the ride of my Cervelo after a winter of riding on my rain bike. I fell in love with cycling on my Specialized Sequia (Elite!) but having a really sweet carbon bike makes me want to take cycling home to meet my family and move in together.
Along the bike path I saw a heron!
No no, not a herring, a HERON. Like a heron hidden in the moon.
I enjoyed riding someone off my wheel further down Marine Drive. He latched on around Blue Lake park and yelled something before falling off into the dark abyss. It was drizzly but not really soaking wet. The weather kept most of the motorists off the highway so I had a fairly quiet ride out to the Gorge.
"Mountaineering is the only sport where you celebrate at half time"
As I headed up Larch the rain picked up. I had started to feel that inner thigh ache that comes with long miles for the first time this year. Its like a badge of honor! As I got up around mile 5 I noticed a lot of the snow from last week had melted, but at about mile 7 there started to be icy spots on the road. I wondered if it would be like this in the Alps. I also started to think about how much at risk I was, being up there alone in the cold, wet, slippery and little cell phone coverage refuge of the forest. I turned around just past mile 8 as the road got more treacherous and my gloves had soaked through from the rain I hadnt expected.
Annnd thats about enough. Turned around here
On the way down my fingers seared with pain. I was concentrating on the road, looking for iced over spots and gingerly picking my way across some snowy patches. My fingers felt like they were on fire. Once I got out of the snow I started slapping my hands on my thighs to get them to warm up. Fortunately the temperature was rising rapidly as I descended but the rain was still coming down pretty heavy, and all I had was a windbreaker.
Back down on the highway headed for town. I had 30miles to get home. With still another 10 of downhill to go I was a pretty miserable drowned rat at this point. I kept thinking of being at home warm and eating and pondered if i should stop and call someone to come get me. If i had a mechanical id probably be in a rough spot, but at least I was getting nearer and nearer to civilization.
Thankfully the rain let up when I got to Troutdale and was dry most of the way home. My lower back hurt from climbing and my upper back and neck hurt from tensing in the cold and lifting my head up to see while descending 20+ miles. I was ready for this ride to be over so I put my head down and focused on getting home.
81 miles later I peeled off my sopping wet clothes and had some pizza. Here's my route
