Chantry Mission Update 01

This morning we went up Chantry and I'm glad to say that I have accomplished my goal of reducing my time down to 30.5min. I'm starting to control my breathing a bit during the climb. As well I've realized that being on the smallest gear to being on several gears harder really does not make too much difference in cycling difficulty yet a noticeable difference in speed! As I was descending Chantry, I felt so carefree which makes me very happy - I haven't felt this way in a very long time :)

Next mission, down to 28min by the end of the month.

The Cars - Drive

This is such a beautiful song - and perhaps the saddest I've heard.

3 Months Anniversary

The past couple of weeks I haven't been working well, for some reason I'm not particularly motivated. Actually make that the past 3 months since my horse riding accident. If I'm to graduate in 1.5 years, I really need to get my act together and do work! Get results, write up papers, publish them and go to conferences. My research is going well. I've been very lucky so far (ok I did put in quite a bit of thought and sweat). Now all I have to do is finish up. I think the main reason in my lack of motivation is that I can never seem to be able to get up early! When I get up at 7.30am, I'd arrive at work at 9am and every time this happens, my whole day would be ruined. If I get in earlier then I have much more motivation for work. There is something special about mornings :D

It's been 3 months since my horse fall, my back is getting better and better and I've been walking around without my back brace. My posture is SO good now - very straight with chest forward. That's one good thing coming out of this accident!

I've been anticipating on going up Chantry for some time now to see how good or bad I've become. This morning, to mark the 3 months anniversary of my accident (just a coincidence :D) I got up at 5am and left the house at 6am for Chantry. It was still rather dark outside and there were only a couple of cars on the road. I was so excited to get back into the game and going alone made me quite anxious but also thrilled at the same time. In addition, it's so nice to head out early in the morning!!

The climb up to Chantry was a test in itself. I met two middle aged cyclists who were going at the same pace as me - slow. Finally we arrived at the gate, they did stretches while I drunk some water and cleared my nose. Going up, I dropped these two guys pretty fast and I felt that I was doing very well. However, I do need to control my breathing as often times I don't feel tired from cycling but more tired from having to take breathes so often. My lower back also started to hurt... Anyway, I thought I could narrow down my previous record of 28min and 32sec because I was pushing hard from the beginning (started hyperventilating :P) but I looked at my watch, it had been 28min and the end was not in sight, then at 29, 30, 31...I cannot believe this but I took 32min WTH?!!! I felt cheated, defeated and frustrated in myself. In short, I was very disappointed. Descending my hands nearly went numb from using the brakes (this is the first time I went on a long descent like this and by myself so I was quite tense). I was still thinking about why I was so slow and mustn't have been paying attention and missed the turn at Sierra Madre and got all the way to Foothill. I rode on Foothill for a bit and realized that the traffic was just too crazy and doubled back.

During the ride, my lower back hurt, but my neck area and shoulder blades also hurt. I think I was too crammed on my bike. This was because in my attempt to decrease the pain from you know where, I moved my saddle forward so that I could rest myself in the groove. But clearly that just made me sit more forward resulting in a crammed and awkward sitting position. Actually today it didn't hurt very much, I think it was because I applied the lubricant not just on the chamois but also on myself (very important). When I got home, I was exhausted. I took a shower and collapsed on my bed - which was really nice :)

I'm going up Chantry again next week before my Yellowstone trip - mission 31min. Hopefully before soon I'll get back down to 28min and increase speed from there. By the end of the year I'd like to go down to 24min - 4 months to achieve this (the clipless pedals will help me)!!!