Another Record Breaker

Yes again! Today up Chantry I decreased my time down to 29min!! :D Setting records all the time now....I know, I know, I get proud of myself very easily :) I went up Chantry with a very good cyclist. We approached Chantry very fast and I was already tired before going on Santa Anita. I rested a bit for the ascent up Chantry while he went up first. I did 14min at the 2miles point and I never really understand this, but if I have done 2miles and have 1.7miles left, then my total time should be below 28min. But I guess the second half always takes longer because I'm already tired. I was looking at my watch and realized that I might set a record today. Then my cyclist friend came down and encouraged me to go faster. He stated that I wasn't breathing hard enough (when I thought that I was already breathless) and that I needed to push harder (when I thought that I was pushing my hardest). This encouragement in the form of criticism really helped - I'm surprised that I could go from my heart feeling like it's nearly going to burst to seconds later feeling all normal again. I cannot deny that it was very hard but it's well worth it cos my time is now 29min. Still far from my goal of 24min by the end of the year - not sure how realistic that goal is now :P I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am in love...with cycling! It gives me so much pleasure and makes me so happy :) Sure, it can be dangerous - but one cannot live inside a bubble!

GMR-39 Loop

Last Sunday I did the GMR-39 loop. I parked my car at the bottom of 39 and began the ride from Sierra Madre, onto GMR then E Folk and finishing on 39. This was a 34miles ride, so not very long. From the start of the ride, I already wanted to use the bathroom :( I thought I would go behind the building at the top of GMR. So I tried to not drink too much water as well I was hoping that the water can be reabsorbed. Which was rather stupid cos I became quite dehydrated. Anyway, going up GMR, I was huffing and panting since the beginning, but I was able to keep a sustained pace without feeling that my heart would burst. I stopped a couple of times to have some water - I really need to learn to ride with one hand on the bar! Before long I arrived at the top of GMR. I rested there for a bit and chatted with a cyclist who told me some crazy cycling stories and shared with me some bike maintenance tips.

I then continued on my way onto E Folk, I like this part with the descents and the gusty wind. Once I wasn't careful and nearly went into the unpaved side road - that would have been bad! I was then caught up by a cyclist who asked if we could ride together. He was training for an Ironman challenge and had already ridden 65miles. We soon came to the reservoir at the junction of E Folk and 39. It was completely dry! Might be the rumored man-induced global warming effect or perhaps they were just rebuilding it. The ride on E Folk and 39 was easy with some nice descents. In total I did about 3hours on the bike and I wasn't too tired. Ok, I was tired but not exhausted :)

I have to say that sometimes I like to ride by myself. This gives me an opportunity to focus on cycling. As well, when I ride by myself - I get to meet and chat with random cyclists. It's a lot of fun hearing about their cycling experiences and telling them about my own humble beginnings in cycling and I always learn SO much from talking to others.

Secret Garden - Sleepsong

May you sail fair to the far fields of fortune...May you find kindness in all that you meet...May there always be angels to watch over you...May you bring love and may you bring happiness, be loved in return to the end of your days... :)

Chantry Ride and Ankle Sprain

Yes! I did 29.5 minutes up Chantry today, the fastest since my horse fall. I discovered that before I was slow because I was on heavier gears and they were often too heavy that my cadence was low. Now I have my gears on easy and I can maintain a high cadence. I'm pretty happy because my time had remained stagnant at 30.5min for quite some time. At the gates of Chantry as I was starting the ascent, I was going uphill and was taking too long to clip in and no surprise I fell off my bike. I landed on my back (or on my ankle) and sprained my ankle. My back didn't hurt - I think it was protected by the bunch of accessories that I keep in my cycling jersey back pockets. I got up and began the Chantry ride with no pain anywhere. However, when I got to work, I felt something wrong with my ankle, so I tried to move it around. And after that, the pain became progressively worse :(

Being the ever health conscious person that I am, I went to the health center. The nurse said that it's a sprain. She put on ointments to relieve the pain, wrapped me in compression dressing, gave me an ice pack along with plenty of caring advice. The nurses there always take great care of me and they certainly go beyond their job in doing so - but I like to be taken care of :) It amazes me how there are people in the world who are so caring and considerate yet others who are the exact opposite.....I hope my ankle will be ok for the ride this Thursday!!

Cycling and Fitness

I didn't do much cycling last week. This was because I went to rose bowl last last Sunday but was SO tired that I only did 1 lap and left. I thought it must be you know what was coming, but I waited for 5 days and still nothing. Then I realized that I must have been tired that morning from having had a bad nights sleep. I felt so groggy and like a chocolate factory (I eat a lot of chocolates) from not exercising for 5 days. So last Saturday even though it was the first day I went to rose bowl and surprisingly I had a lot of energy and felt that I could do more. I've been reading Joe Friel's cyclist's training bible and taking training strategies from there - you should go away from a workout feeling that you could do more, putting too much stress on your body and feeling exhausted from workouts is counterproductive. This is easy to achieve! I like the adrenaline rush after the ride not the exhausted feeling.

It says in the book that it's important to keep track of your progress, so I am getting a cycling log book. I wonder what I will write in there? Perhaps heart rates, speed and miles. I think I'll need a GPS and heart rate monitor. But these things are expensive and bulky to wear. Or I could get a speedometer but I don't want to add extra weight on the bike. So for the time being, I may just record how I FEEL during and after each ride instead (since 'training shall be based solely on feel' :P)

In any case, I am more interested in becoming healthier due to cycling and being fast is a way of proving that I am getting fitter (but of course being fast alone is always nice). So I decided to get a BMI scale to keep track of my body changes. The scale records your weight, % body fat, % total body water, % muscle mass and bone mass. I have the option of selecting either female or athletic female (+10h strenuous/aerobic exercise per week). I measured everything just then, 56.1kg, 17.7% body fat, 60% TBW, 40.9% muscle mass, and 2.3kg bone mass if I select female. However if I select athletic female it becomes 12.7% body fat, 67.2% TBW, 43.2% muscle mass and 2.4kg bone mass. Not sure which body fat I should read but both measurements are below the healthy limit for women. Yet for female athletes body fat is 14-20%. So perhaps I can call myself an athlete?! Wow...