加载中…My First Century Ride
(2013-08-03 01:49:03)
标签：
roadcyclingcenturyride娱乐 |
分类： 70后的生活 |
"I did
it!"
2013
Marin Century (www.marincyclists.com/)
Standing
at the cross roads of Skyline Blvd and Tunitas Creek Road,
I knew I just accomplished something that I had
longed for: a century ride. Well, almost.
I still needed to bike down the Kings Mountain
Road. But I had done that many times before.
If you are not a cyclist,you probably don't know what a
century ride is. It's 100 miles (or 170 kms).
Typically it involves climbing and descending steep mountains and
rolling hills. It's not uncommon that a cyclist will have to ride
100 miles with elevation gain/loss of anywhere from 7000 feet
(2000+ meters) to over 10,000 feet (3000+ meters) on just two
wheels and sheer determinations.
Little did I know what I had signed up four years ago when I moved to Palo Alto and picked up this hobby.I had never
planned to ride a bike again. Grew up in China and learned how to
ride my dads giant fixie (biking jargon, meaning one fixed speed)
bike since when I was eight years old (I was too short to sit on
the saddle, but I found a way to ride it anyway),
I had gained "biking experience" for over 20
years before moving to US. Biking never occurred
to me as a hobby nor a sport. It was merely a way of ground
transportation and that was it.
But I was both jealous and inspired when each morning I was stuck in the heavily congested traffic at Charleston Road and saw SO MANY students on their bikes to the schools. There were even some adults and grey hairs. They swam through the traffic like all the cars were invisible. Then I realized that my company is only 6 miles away and it seemed too much for me to spend ridiculous time - sometimes more than 45 minutes in the rush hours - to commute.Riding a bike seemed to be very logical and
economical.
So,I went to a bike shop trying to get a cheapest
used bike. You see, I still considered a bike as a transportation
vehicle. Something I _have to_ pay for. I got a 10+ year old
mountain bike from Stanford Cardinal Bike shop
for just a little over $100. And I immediately
thought, wow, this is expensive! It's over 600
RMB and this is the most expensive bike that I've ever
owned!
And I biked to work every day.The bike chain was quite
rusty and I can't really shift any gear. So
technically it's a fixie although its supposed to be a 14-speed. It
was all steel and perhaps 35 to 40 pounds (30+ kgs) heavy. I would
not know the difference anyway as i never owned a mountain bike in
my life. And I didn't care. I always sweated like
hell after riding it, which I thought its a perfect way of working
out.
Until I met a group of road cyclists for a group ride a couple of months later. A friend introduced me to this group, and we met at Los Altos Outfitter for "an easy ride around the loop". Boy, I had no clue for what that really meant. People showed up and they all wore very fancy clothes (later, I learned its called biking jersey and shorts). Fancy gloves (I had thought to myself, the weather is really not that cold, why gloves ?!).Fancy shoes
(when they walked, they walked like ducks and the shoes were
noisy.). Most importantly, their bikes looked
drastically different then mine: shiny, colorful,
etc. I was the only one who wore T-shirt, long
jeans and a pair of sneakers. Oh, a 1995 or earlier version all
steel fixie mountain bike. Last but not the least, I quickly found
out that I was perhaps the oldest guy in the
group.
So we started riding along the Foothill expwy.I
started sweating like hell when we passed through Page Mill road.
It was a tiny rolling hill. All but me easily crossed it. The group
leader waited for me. I made a joke on myself to hide my
embarrassment and kept pedaling harder and harder.
I pushed myself to 120% and barely followed the
group tail to the Sandhill Road. Then, my chain
fell off. Eventually it was fixed and I continued to bike. The
longer I biked, the clearer that I came to realize that I was an
alien in this group, or a sheep among the wolves, or a mummy
emerged in 21st century, or a Cal grad alone in a Stanford party.
I didn't know how I actually managed to finish
the Loop that day after so many embarrassing moments and long waits
by my generous group mates (another biking jargon among cyclists in
the Bay Area. It is generally referred to the
loop connecting the Sandhill Road, Portola Road, Alpine Road).
It was both magical and tragical. To some extent,
a little comical, too.
The group went to a group lunch after the ride.The
group leader said to me bluntly, "Your bike is a piece of crap.
Where did you get it?" Instead of answering this depressing
question, I asked him, "Do you have any plan after the lunch?
Can I ask you to do me a favor to pick a new road
bike like yours?" I guess he wasn't prepared for my impulsive
proposal. But he definitely can see my furor about the crappy bike.
So he nodded. Long story short, before dinner I rode my new 2009
Schwin 21-speed all carbon fibre road bike home. I also upgraded
the pedal, the saddle, added a few accessories and clothes and a
bike shoes and dumped the fixie mountain bike right away.
I spent over $1500 that day but I walked away
from the Performance Bike store in Mountain View
as if I just redeemed a free gift card.
Now I can ride with my head up!!!
YEAH!
Lets just say that I have learned a lot about road cycling in the past four years.My wife and I decided to own just one
car - not so uncommon among cyclists - so I have been biked to
almost everywhere as much as possible. I gradually increased my
biking distance from merely 20 miles to 30 and then to 40.
After I was introduced to the famous Old La Honda
and subsequently the famous and dangerous Skyline Blvd,
I was totally hooked. I started
logged longer miles on steeper and steeper roads.
At one point, I went down the
mountains at over 30 to 35 mph (50-60 km per hour) and felt the joy
that perhaps only skiers and hand gliders would have. That was, of
course, before I had two non fatal yet still scary high speed
descending accidents that I flew over the handle bar, one on Page
Mill road near Gate 3 of Foothill Park, another on Kings Mountain
Road close to Huddart Park. In both cases,
I miraculously didn't break any bone or feel any
brain damage other than some bruises and visible scars on my arms.
Thank God.
After having done a few rides close to 80 miles last year and early this year, finally I set my goal to the century ride as I felt now I am ready.
This morning, I got up at 6 am and started rolling at 7:10 am. I never felt so great. I knew it was gonna be a long day, so I tried not to pay attention to the time and just pedaled like normal.As usual, I went over millions things in my mind
quietly and checked off some mentally. And I
started writing a new blog in the air and smiled at the leading
sentences that I would use, while I sped through the morning breeze
in empty bike lanes from Palo Alto to Menlo Park to Atherton to
Woodside. I breathed normally when I climbed Kings Mountain and
noticed that it took me 2 hours to finish the first 25 miles. Not
too shabby, I told myself.
2 hours later,I found myself in windy San Gregorio
at the General Store, another 25 miles, mostly
descending, though. I quickly swallowed down a banana, a hard
boiled egg and some drink, and turned left on Stage Road towards
Hwy 1. This is a new route and a cyclist told me
its just 698 feet when he looked at his GPS. You
see, cyclists are very precise people. It's not 700 feet, not over
650 feet, not even 697.5 feet - it's 698 feet, no
more no less. I checked the map last night and
knew it is 15 miles from here to Hwy 1- if it is only 698 feet for
15 miles, it's a piece of cake.
For some reason,that 698 feet was probably not right
- I haven't checked the data online, but it felt more than that.
Anyway. I reached Hwy 1 at Pescadero, a lovely
seaside town that we camped before. Then I headed north amidst
chilly ocean winds blew from my left side and cars right next to me
driving at insanely 70-80 mph. Luckily, the bike
lane is wide enough, so that neither of us would bother each
other.
But I started feeling all the symptoms that any human body might have after five hours,60-70 miles riding on two
wheels and 3000 feet elevation gain/loss. Saddle sore. Low energy
level. Less focused on road condition. Knee pain. My mind seems
drifted to a thousand miles away. I was most definitely not writing
any blog in my mind. I just pedaled like a mindless robot. Keep
going forward. Sometimes jump out of the saddle to release the
saddle sore and gain momentum. At this stage, I
knew I had to leverage all my training rides in the last four years
to maintain my speed and keep it as a safe ride. I promised my wife
last night that I wouldn't risk my life for this ride.
Or any ride. I want and I need
to keep that promise.
After 90 minutes exhausted ride alone the Hwy 1,I
reached at the last climb - the Tunitas Creek road. I was here just
a week ago and had done this climb no less than six times,
I knew this mountain well. But
now I had biked over 80 miles and my legs were not as fresh and
energetic as they were in the past. Like a
commander waiting for the last battle to conquer the most important
mountain, I stopped at the heel of the mountain,
refueled my water bottles, checking all my energy bars and jels,
sipping water and soaking up some sun. I run into
two grey hair cyclists who were still great shape and we talked
about, you guess it, cycling. A guy perhaps in
his 60s said he experienced what was bonking (biking jargon,
meaning completely out of energy. It could be
fatal and in extreme cases, people die) like here at the Tunitas
Creek Road some 30 years ago. And I had such a funny idea after
hearing his story: wow. The mountain has always been this tough to
climb for the last 30 years. I guess this is the profession hazard
after working in fast-changing IT industry for 20 years:
we tend to assume everything should have changed
every year and that includes the mountains.
And I started climbing it.I was like the boxer who ate
the last half steak before the game - still determined with steel
will, but weak as a leave and I had no control for either my body
or soul - it didn't help that I couldn't find my sweat band last
night, so all my sweat went straight to my eyes, salty and itchy.
It's not just uncomfortable for this to happen
when climbing, it could be dangerous as I won't be able to see the
traffic coming down. I had to stop once to wipe out the sweat.
And I heard someone behind me saying "The real
climb starts now! Jeez. What am
I doing here on a Sunday afternoon?" I turned
around and recognized it was a French colleague.
I called his name but then quickly told him that
I am on my last 20 miles, and he should feel free to bike away
before he even tried to start any conversation.
He did. Quickly he disappeared
in the woods when I focused my mind for one thing and one thing
only: don't fall off the bike and keep pedaling.
I used all the tricks and zigzagged through the
steepest 2 to 3 miles. It felt like forever but in reality it was
perhaps 40 minutes non-stop climbing. You can't stop because once
you stop, you can not really start riding as it
is too steep. Period.
2:30 pm.After having been on the bike for close to 7
hours, I am at the mountain top. Also my cell
phone has got full reception. It's all downhill from here, and just
a little one hour to home. Now all I need to pay
attention is the nails or broken glasses on the road - which I got
twice in the last two weeks when I commuted to work -and then I can
call it a complete victory. I called my wife for the first time
today and told her that I am almost done. Just another 15 miles or
so. Will definitely be home by 4
pm.
The rest is easy.
I maintained not to attract any metal or glass particles to my tire.I also successfully didn't fall off the bike on
the flat roads on the way home although it seemed harder than it
sounded after 100 miles. I even had some energy
left to play with my puppy Nala - she jumped up and down on me and
immediately licked my unusually salty legs all over the place
before I took a relaxing shower - and then, I pulled out my iPad,
pouring down the words that I have written in my head since 7
am.
It turned out that in the last 10 hours,its much
harder to forget all the 2000+ words that I've compiled in my head
than riding my first 100 miles.
I guess you can say that I am a lousy slow writer on a bike.
If you are not a cyclist,
Little did I know what I had signed up four years ago when I moved to Palo Alto and picked up this hobby.
But I was both jealous and inspired when each morning I was stuck in the heavily congested traffic at Charleston Road and saw SO MANY students on their bikes to the schools. There were even some adults and grey hairs. They swam through the traffic like all the cars were invisible. Then I realized that my company is only 6 miles away and it seemed too much for me to spend ridiculous time - sometimes more than 45 minutes in the rush hours - to commute.
So,
And I biked to work every day.
Until I met a group of road cyclists for a group ride a couple of months later. A friend introduced me to this group, and we met at Los Altos Outfitter for "an easy ride around the loop". Boy, I had no clue for what that really meant. People showed up and they all wore very fancy clothes (later, I learned its called biking jersey and shorts). Fancy gloves (I had thought to myself, the weather is really not that cold, why gloves ?!).
So we started riding along the Foothill expwy.
The group went to a group lunch after the ride.
Lets just say that I have learned a lot about road cycling in the past four years.
After having done a few rides close to 80 miles last year and early this year, finally I set my goal to the century ride as I felt now I am ready.
This morning, I got up at 6 am and started rolling at 7:10 am. I never felt so great. I knew it was gonna be a long day, so I tried not to pay attention to the time and just pedaled like normal.
2 hours later,
For some reason,
But I started feeling all the symptoms that any human body might have after five hours,
After 90 minutes exhausted ride alone the Hwy 1,
And I started climbing it.
2:30 pm.
The rest is easy.
I maintained not to attract any metal or glass particles to my tire.
It turned out that in the last 10 hours,
I guess you can say that I am a lousy slow writer on a bike.
(The blog was originally
written on 7/14/2013, right after my first long ride (it turned out
I only rode 90 miles!) Some
updates on 8/2/2013:
Two Century Training Rides Already
Done:
7/14/2013 - 90 miles, 8200 ft,
From Palo Alto to Hwy 1/Pescadero to Tunitas
Creek to King Mt to Palo Alto
7/27/2013 - 110+ miles, 9000 ft,
From Milpitas to Mt. Hamilton to Livermore to
Pleasanton to Fremont to Milpitas
Upcoming Century Rides:
100 miles, 10100 ft, Sat 8/3/2013, San Rafael,
CA
Map:http://ridewithgps.com/routes/
Map:
2013 Tahoe Sierra Century (www.tahoesierracentury.com/)
100 miles, 6800 ft, Sat 9/14/2013, Squaw Valley, CA
2013 Canary Challenge (www.canarychallenge.com)
100 miles, 8000 ft, Sat
9/28/2013, Palo Alto, CA
2013 Levi's Granfondo (www.levisgranfondo.com)
103 miles, 9400 ft, Sat
10/5/2013, San Ramon, CA
喜欢
0
赠金笔