First Few Rides around New Home

I was going to post this a few days ago, but didn't get a chance to finish it off - here we go...

I shall carry on from where I left off from last time. I went to a LBS to get my bike checked out and fitted. The owner is an old Russian guy and is quite a character, amazingly straightforward, critical yet funny. He said that I put the bike together nicely and that I have mechanic potentials (lol that was a shocker). And complimented the bike, especially at the price I got it for :) He then fitted me on the bike. He made the bike very aero and taught me some techniques, including having elbows at 90 degree angles. Apparently I have a nice seat with a curve on my back unlike many other cyclists. There were rides leaving the shop on Saturdays and I asked if I could join. He said sure, if the weather is good and so we were to meet and ride on Saturday morning.

When I got back from the store, I took the bike for a spin around where I live. I was anxious because it's so so hilly around here. I went down the huge hill where I live and felt that I was going to tip over. In general the bike feels better than my old one. Especially when I stand up to pedal - it is so smooth and seems to move with me unlike my old one which felt very jerky (this might be due to the bike fit too). I finished the spin and was going back home when I missed my turn and was now at a 3 way stop sign. I was waiting for cars to go so that I could make a U-turn. But every one of the cars told me to go first. This is in stark contrast to Australia (lots of roundabouts instead of stop signs), where they never waited for me even if it was my turn to go and I have heard of many stories about drivers running cyclists off the road. Anyway, so off I went back towards the hill where I live. I think the gradient is over 13% ahhhh. I was shifting down and realized that there were no more gears left....gotta get used to the compact crankset!

On Friday, I decided to go for a ride around the area. I'm not supposed to do hills (says my coach), yet it's hard to map a flat ride without hills given it's the bay area. So I ended up going on Canada rd (quite flat), then climbed King's Mountain rd (that seemed like a never ending climb with an average gradient of 9%) and descended on Skyline blvd (a good but bumpy descent). The view was so beautiful around here - all dark green and lush and lively unlike the LA area. On my way back to the carpark, I was at a busy intersection. I signaled to turn left and behold, cars slowed down for me to pass. Once again, such a move would go unnoticed by Aussi drivers.

On Saturday, I was pretty excited to be riding with other people. I drove to the carpark behind the bike shop to meet up with the Russian dude and the others. I waited for a while, but no one showed up. So I found another ride. It's a ride with a bike shop in Pleasanton. Pretty far drive but I wanted to ride with others. That was a 30 miles ride including some climbs. There were only three of us on the ride including the ride leader. The other guy is quite fat but has lots of leg muscles. His ego seemed rather damaged when I could climb faster than him...I don't see how he would think he could be faster than me on the mountains with all his mass. I was still thinking about what happened with the Russian man, because knowing him (after an hour), I knew that he would not not show up. So after the ride, I went over to the shop to say hello. Apparently he was waiting for me inside his shop.....while I was waiting for him inside my car....and since I 'didn't show up', he didn't go ride. Anyways, I hanged out in the shop for a while, talked to a couple of other cyclists who were also hanging around. They told me some nice rides around the area and some clubs to join. The Russian dude then told me to contact his friend who is a cycling coach - he has coached Olympians and world champions.

On Sunday, I was supposed to do a long ride. But I was lazy and actually my legs were sore. So I just did the Bicycle Sunday ride on Canada rd (where the road is closed to traffic). I did 2 laps, admired the beauty of Crystal Springs and felt rather bored. Was going to do a 3rd lap, but sustained a bird poop...ewwww...so I cut the ride short. Upon return to the car and investigation in the mirror, there was nothing on me. It may have just been a wet leaf, less ewwww, but still eww.

I NEED to lose weight. In the holidays I was at 61 kg, gained around 1.5 kg while at home. During the last couple of weeks, there were no food temptations, currently at 58.5 kg. I need to get down to 56 kg by the end of March. It’s going to be easy I think. There are many areas where subcutaneous fat needs to be lost, for instance, tummy (0.5 kg), arms (0.2 kg), legs (0.5 kg), everywhere else (1 kg) and visceral fat too (1 kg). Right now I have 20% body fat or 11.8 kg of fat. If I lose 3 kg of fat, then I would be at 15.7% body fat. But by that time, I would likely have more muscles, so the actual body fat percentage would be lower.

Which reminds me, I was watching the following...



Andy Schleck is already so skinny and had to lose 1-2 kg for the tour?! It looked like he could possibly faint with each step. This video was great to gain a perceptive into the pro life....I want to train full time, work with the best people etc...one can daydream :) And 'I have Frank in the race, when there is a crash I always look to see if he is there....I don't care so much about myself, because I feel safe'...that is so sweet.

Leaving Home, Finding Apartment and Moving

After almost 7 weeks at home, I was sad to leave. I have said a few times before that sometimes I feel lonely when I'm by myself, I realize now that it's homesickness, because that 'loneliness' is not helped by talking to friends or doing exciting things, only by talking with or being with family does it help. I think my little sister has it figured out, she will go to uni in Perth and will most likely stay in Perth afterwards. 

Everyone went to the airport to send me off. Air NZ introduced a restriction of 23 kg for checked in luggage, which is rather annoying considering mine weighed 25 kg. So I put some things into my carry on luggage. During this, my dad kept on saying how bad the service is to the attendant. Idk what he can achieve by doing this (other than venting his anger) because 1. the weight restriction is placed by the airline and not by the attendant 2. talking badly to service people can have repercussions. The said repercussion indeed happened...For this airline, I could choose my seat for the flight from Perth to Auckland online, but not the Auckland to SF flight. I asked the attendant if I could choose my seat for the second leg. She said, yes, we will get to that. Soon, she printed out the boarding passes and asked whether aisle seat was ok, I said yes (that's what I wanted), although I thought it was strange that she didn't ask me to choose the seat myself. After I boarded the flight heading for SF, I discovered that she had put me next to the toilets, with people squeezed next to me, even though it was a half full flight! I thought it was ridiculous yet unsurprising, and indeed funny that people do such things. I asked the flight attendant if I could switch seats. I ended up sitting away from the toilets, on the aisle with spare seats next to me. And that was a pretty good flight as far as flying goes. Oh yes, I decided to try the low fat meals. I'm glad I did because they are the type of food that I normally eat, without all the fat/oil/salt. The quality of the food is good. If memory serves me right, one of the meals was a piece of chicken breast with beans, asparagus and baked sweet potatoes, cf to normal meal selection of either beef gravy or pasta. I think the special meals on the economy class, ie low fat, for diabetics etc are the same as these that are served on premium economy and perhaps even business classes. During the flight, I saw several movies, don't remember them much but I really enjoyed Horton hears a Who, funny and sweet. 

After the 32 hours of flying plus layover, I waited for 2 hours in line for customs, then I caught a taxi to get my car from the storage facility and to grab a few essentials from the storage unit. Walking into the storage unit was sad because I could clearly remember when my mum and little sister helped me to move everything in there weeks ago. I could also clearly remember thinking that I would be sad to come back here without them. Anyway, I quickly left the place and drove to my hotel, contacted a few apartments, then took the much needed rest. I looked at over 8 places. There was one which I always go back to because of their wooden floor. And what do you know, I'm living in it now :) The move was exhausting. There were so many things in the storage unit and they were so heavy. Carrying the boxes I thought I might faint. But as soon as I got everything into my apartment, suddenly I was no longer tired, perhaps it was a mental thing. Initially, I was going to get furniture from Ikea, but I thought perhaps I could get better quality pieces that would last longer and also look better. So I went to other furniture stores. I walked into one store and immediately saw a white leather sofa/chair. It looked great, simple yet classic. I just couldn’t stop looking at it nor get over it. It’s very expensive (supposedly a famous design), yet I knew that I had to get it. It's like how I knew that I have to live in this apartment (but without the guilt of spending so much money). I ordered several other things from them including a bedroom set and a bookcase. They will all arrive next week. 

I'm now sitting on a cushion on the ground, with my laptop on a makeshift table listening to music and admiring my new bike :) It arrived today in several pieces. I placed them together in about half an hour. Not sure how well they are put together. I will get it checked out tomorrow at a LBS and also to get it fitted for me.