Mission Impossible Accomplished

This morning I was supposed to join my club on a ride to Crystal Lake, but I didn't feel like riding with the club today (although I'm sure that if I'd gone, I'd have enjoyed it). So I slept in. Since I was on a lazy streak, I thought I may as well be on a greedy streak too. So I got out of bed and gobbled down half a bag of sour cream and onion chips. Needless to say soon after I got grossed out by the fat and the residue onion taste in my mouth. So I used trustworthy Listerine which killed the onion taste and burnt my mouth in the process.

Since I was loaded with carbs, I did the impossible today - I cycled 10 laps around Rose Bowl. I needed to get rid of the crap from my body, as well, I wanted to see how long I'd take to do 10 laps. Time 106min, or 17.5mph...I hope to join the peloton ride someday before I leave California. They do 10 laps in 60min, but I could use drafting which reduces energy expenditure by 30%. Hence my time would be 74min. If my calculation serves me correctly, this means that I could keep up with the pack for 2 laps before being dropped mercilessly.

On a side note, I didn't know there are legitimately funny Americans out there - this guy defies the stereotype. http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/09/29/an-open-letter-to-assos/

On another side note, I just received a call from my mum's cell. I thought it was my mum calling, but it was my little brother (6 years old) on the phone, he decided to talk to me, found my number and dialed it - I'm smitten.

First 1/2 Marathon!

I did my first half marathon today! And in the process, I discovered the secret to running.

This morning I really didn't want to do the marathon. I was supposed to get up at 5am since the marathon started at 6.30am. Instead I slept in and was grumpy thinking wth I have gotten myself into. But of course, I have to do it since I promised myself I would. My training runs were normally 6.6 miles (or half the distance) in 1 hour 9 min and by the end I'd always be exhausted. So I thought that the best time I could possibly do today was 2 hours 20 min which is still crappy. As well, with 6 hours of sleep and my body feeling rather stiff and tired from cycling the previous day, I knew that I'd just suck more.

I rather unwillingly walked to PCC where the marathon starting point was held. It was so crowded. While waiting to start the marathon I talked with this nice lady and she taught me a breathing technique. Inhale 3 times in short bursts and exhale 3 times in short bursts. People always tell me to breath in deeply and slowly but it never worked for me. This new technique however worked wonders! Even by mile 9, I was still fresh and felt like I just started running. Thus I conclude that the secret to running is in the breathing. Pacing of course contributes too. I run with the nice lady cos her expected finish time was 2 hours 10min. If not for running with her, I'd have knowing myself, gone out strong with nothing left at the end. During the marathon, I didn't have to stop to walk (I stopped so many time on my training runs) and at the end, I sprinted to the finish with a time of 2 hours and 15 min. The announcer called out my name out of 4 other people who were also crossing the finish line and told me to smile for the camera which I found quite amusing.

All in all, a great first race. So lucky and glad that I chatted with that lady, if not for her I'd have not only died out there but also gotten a bad finish as well. After the race, I knew that I could have done better, shaving off 10 min shouldn't have been a problem! Next time! Goal (quite conservative) = 2 hours.

Amgen Tour

I went to see the Amgen Tour of California stage 7 this morning. We rode from Incycle, San Dimas via Mt Baldy road to Mt Baldy high school. I haven't done this route before but I knew that it'd be steeper than GMR. Driving there I was pretty nervous - I'm still not that comfortable riding a bike (but I'll typically get comfortable after a few seconds on the bike). There were tonnes of cyclists and they were all wearing jerseys with lots of logos and were mostly amateur teams. I thought crap, this is gonna be bad, they will be much faster than me. But going up Mt Baldy, I passed a few of these guys. Mt Baldy road is quite treacherous in that it doesn't look steep, but you can definitely feel it (apparently there are sections of 12% grade).

I tried to talk to some of the amateur team cyclists, but they were rather unresponsive, all they can do were stare from afar, wtf. I conclude from this that they were simply snobby. Note that this only applies to amateur team cyclists, they think they are on top of the world and are so good - BS, I'm faster than some of you, and don't be snobby with your carbon bike and thousands of dollar wheel sets while I can do better with my humble aluminum bike. I think this is where arrogant cyclists stereotype originated. I'm glad there are still nice and humble cyclists out there, I talked with some of them during the ride and while viewing the race at Mt Baldy (I also met up with some club members).

The Amgen race started at 12 noon at Ontario and arrived at Mt Baldy high school at 1pm (predicted time 12.30-12.45pm). There were tonnes of police cars and support crew etc. Then we saw the 15 men breakaway, I was busy taking photos but apparently Chris Horner was in there. I wonder where was Jens Voigt. Awhile later, the peloton came. They were fast! I'm surprised to see that they don't look that physically different from say some recreational fit cyclists. It's probably all in the training and the internals such as the hearts and the lungs.

At the end of the day, the snobby amateur team conclusion that I made earlier in the day did not disappoint. I had to cycle back down to Incycle but there were so many turns so I had to ride with the others back down (I opted to take my camera instead of my smartphone - so smart). I asked to join some of the amateur team cyclists for the ride down, they said sure. Some other cyclists asked to join too because they were not certain how to get back either. We descended very fast, I hit 40mph at some point. I definitely did not want to go so fast, but I need to be close to these guys. Anyway, I finally caught up with them. The cyclists who were not part of the team slowed down for me while the snobby team cyclists speed away. I was quite shocked but I should know by now that some people's words are just BS. I was very thankful for the guys who rode back with me and they were very impressed with my climbing especially given I've been cycling for a total of 8 months. I've also gotten many other compliments during the day like how I didn't even break a sweat while climbing (so not true!) and they always ask how long I've been cycling for. Anyway, still quite tired, tomorrow will be my first half marathon - I'm 100% sure that I'd suck.

Rascal Flatts - What Hurts The Most

Gotta love country music

Shinedown - Breaking Inside