I am back to blogging about my cycling adventures with Sadie the Hill Slayer! I have missed having a place to record my thoughts about cycling and life. I am not putting pressure on myself to be anything other than a casual cycling blogger. This is more a journey for me than anyone else. Eventually I will move all the Solvang century posts over here as well.
This week I did three rides, but the first one doesn't count because it wasn't done on Sadie. Jacki and I rode around Irvine on the hybrid bikes (Trudy and Shirley) on Memorial Day. I wasn't feeling at my best so the ride was designed to cheer me up. It worked (that and homemade pizza).
Work has been kicking my a*s since the century in Solvang and while I have continued to exercise it has been hard to be consistent on the bike. I have been trying to take "stolen moments" of time where I block out a morning from work (I have only been able to accomplish it a few times) to ride Sadie. I find when I do this during a long stretch of work days (21 straight was my personal record in May) that I feel more like my cheerful self and less like Sybil.
I haven't perfected 25-30 miles routes that depart from home yet, but on Thursday I decided to ride to Cook's Corner and back; a route I am very familiar with. It was the first ever big "hilly route" I did during my weight loss riding. I remember being so proud of myself to be able to climb those hills in the fall of 2008. I also remember having to stop twice to eat something because I was so weak and had little endurance (and was existing on reduced calories those days).
It is 22 miles round trip and is all gradual uphill on a bike path and flying fun on the way back. I felt strong and happy and once I got close to Cook's Corner I got it in my head to try my hand at Modjeska Canyon, a challenge route I had to opt out of because of my knee during the century training. Modjeska is a road that has two places to get onto it. Karen had told me one time to come at it from the farther down the canyon, so I rode further along Santiago Canyon Road to the other side. It started out easy enough on a very narrow two lane road (no cars on a Thursday morning) with lots of farms. Once I went over a little bridge the fun began. The climb was memorable. It was incredibly beautiful and steep and long and hard, but Sadie and I did it. The views at the top were worth it! Honestly the scariest part was coming back down to Santiago Canyon--it was very steep and I felt a bit shaky. The rest of the ride was fun and I felt so much happier the rest of the day! It was 28 miles with 2000 feet of climbing. One of my favorite things about this route is the smell of eucalyptus along the way. Heaven!
Today I did another route close to home. I really had wanted to ride with the TNT Alums since this is the first Saturday in forever when I could, but I didn't get home until 12:30am and we have another huge work event tonight and I needed to get some sleep, so I opted to ride alone once I woke up. I did another tried and true route where I take the bike trail to Aliso/Wood Canyon and ride down into the canyon and then come back up Wood Canyon by Soka and back again. Nothing was remarkable about the ride except I had pig squeal brakes so I was trying not to brake as much as possible which is hard coming back down Wood Canyon! It was 23 miles and 1167 feet of climbing. It was a great ride and now I am ready to face this very important day at work. Yes, I wiped off my rims and I think the pig squeal is gone.
Our winter season officially ends next weekend and I am hopeful to have a much more "normal" summer. I have vowed to take at least one day off per week no matter what. I MUST find a better balance between the job that I love and the things I love doing for fun!
I am
thinking about all the TNT folks who are in Lake Tahoe for "America's
Most Beautiful Bike Ride" that happens tomorrow. Some day I would like to do that century--I
have heard many wonderful stories (and a few not so wonderful ones
too). GO TEAM!
Cheers!
