Still not a "real" cyclist, but...

Last Sunday's non-race proved, once again, that my cycling skills leave much to be desired.  However, I have worked on them, really, and there have been small tweaks and moments here and there recently that "up" my would-be cycling chops, in my eyes at least!  And I do think that, year after year, I have improved on the bike, but incrementally rather than by the leaps and bounds that I would prefer.  So far, this year has been the year of the solo rides.  Because I'm still a bit self-conscious about my slow pace, I hesitate to join group rides.  And, because Michael's knee continues to sideline him from riding, my go-to partner from last year has been conspicuously absent on most of my longer rides.  I have found, however, that there is something relaxing about meandering along on the bike.  Perhaps this is why my speed isn't improving too much - I often tootle along rather than try to grind my way through a ride.

Still, I've hit a few milestones in recent weeks that I consider movement, inch by inch, to being a real cyclist one of these days.  First of all, I finally peed on the bike.  I know, too much information, and I'm not about to wax poetic about the experience or include details every time it happens, but being somewhere in the El Sereno part of Los Angeles and not a good stop in sight, the best option seemed to be to just pee on the bike.  The other milestone was my long ride today - 48 miles and about 4,900 feet of climbing according to the Garmin (so probably 46 miles and 4,500 feet, but whatever)!  Like my long run on Thursday, I was dreading this ride, and then before I left, I told myself how lucky I was to head out on a nice Sunday ride.  It was long and hot and slow, but mentally, it puts me in a good place as I think about the Vineman bike leg.  The route, Lower Big Tujunga up to Angeles Crest, is familiar from two rides in 2012, but this was the first time this year I'd ridden it and the first time going it solo.  It is a hard but wonderful ride as it feels so far away from Pasadena or Los Angeles but is easily accessible from the front door of our house.

I'd like to imagine that I looked something like this:

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It was a long slog to the 2 (Angeles Crest Highway), especially with all those moments when I thought that I was almost there to only be disappointed as the road continued up, up and up.  I was happy to finally make it to the ranger/pay station - especially because I had a surprise in the form of Michael and Gus and Milo who had driven to that meeting point, making sure that I arrived safely and also trading a cold bottle (of water) for my empty one.  That was a nice break, but after refueling and stretching, I was ready to head on down.  I had survived the hardest part, and the descent was 9 miles of sheer fun!  Although a group of Porches passed me by on the climb up, it was early enough that there wasn't a fleet of sports cars or motor cycles zooming down, so that made the trip down, down, down much more enjoyable.  

In REAL cycling news, the Tour has started, and I missed today but definitely enjoyed the end of yesterday's stage which included some unfortunate bus manoeuvrings and a crash that involved some of the top sprinters - these were unrelated, by the way.  I love Phil and Paul who said that the bus situation was an 'embarrassment' for Corsica and also repeated what they say for every single stage "We've never seen anything like this!".  But a bus getting stuck - they probably haven't.

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I'll probably miss more of the Tour this year than I would like (sad that I didn't plan my summer around watching TV from 4:30 - 8:00 am every day for 3 weeks), but Michael just sent me an excellent live feed from Australia that will probably be my go-to source when I can't see the stage.  Or maybe when I can!

Speaking of the Tour, after enjoying the Road ID commercials for much of last summer, I finally broke down and bought one, thanks to a hefty coupon that I had hanging around the house.  Seeing as I do run and ride alone for the most part, it's probably not a bad idea to have something with my name and at least one emergency contact number.  While I can/should include that information no matter what, I never did, except for my driver's license when biking.  So, I'm now more or less identifiable, should a mountain lion attack me on the JPL trails.  Hmmm...  That seems like cold comfort!

Summer sports nirvana

In addition to fresh fruit, sweet tomatoes (which are a fruit, I know), lazy afternoon naps, summer reading, and road trips, to me, summer is also the time to enjoy the "wide world of sports".  After the annual drought that follows March (when March Madness ends, of course, and then we suffer through NBA playoffs and spring baseball), June brings a multitude of choices in terms of events and sports that I happen to enjoy.  This year, of course, is an Olympic year, so that means that our choices just quadrupled about 10 times.

So far, it has been plus/minus in terms of the individuals and teams that I am supporting, and my dedication in June wavered quite a bit.  While I celebrated that Nadal won the French Open, triumphing over Djokovic, he recently took an unexpected exit at Wimbledon.  That was so disappointing, and I probably won't follow much of Wimbledon from here on out!  Then there's the NBA, which I love to hate.  Really, all I wanted this year was for Miami to lose, which did not happen.

So, this brings me to today - July 1 marks the beginning of what I am calling "sports nirvana".  We caught some of the Olympic trials yesterday, and I started this morning with the Tour de France.  Even though some people question whether this will be an exciting Tour this year (Andy Schleck is out; Contador is banned; some riders are more focused on the Olympics rather than the Tour), I don't care.  It's the 99th year, so how could it not be spectacular?!  After watching the stage this morning, which had an exciting end, I switched the channel so that we could watch the Euro Cup final between Italy and Spain (currently, Spain is up, 2-0).  We missed ALMOST all of the tournament since we were on the road and just couldn't follow it, but catching the final game?  Why not?! 

If I keep up my Tour de France viewing, I might be sorely tempted to invest in one of these:

You can read all about this exercise bike here.  Somehow, I don't think that our family budget includes a $1500 exercise bike, so chances that I'll be watching the Tour while riding my Tour exercise bike are slim to none.  

Plus, I really should just get my butt on my own damn bike and ride!

Speaking of that...  Lest it seem that I am turning into couch potato as I keep up with the Tour and the Olympic trials, I have my own plans for the summer of sports nirvana in Boulder on August 5.  Depending, of course, on wildfire and other conditions in the state.  Seeing as Boulder 70.3 is exactly 5 weeks out, I am finding myself more nervous and excited and have seriously started to question my sanity and my ability, but I have also started to ramp up my training in a big way.  While we were on the road, I managed to keep up with my running, and I did not totally abandon biking and swimming for those two weeks.  It was, however, great to put in a 2-hour ride yesterday in the saddle followed by an easy 4-mile run.  After my bike frustration from a few weeks ago when the chain kept dropping, Sunshine has behaved beautifully, and I've been more than happy on our recent rides together.  This is positive, because I have many more miles to go before August 5!