Saturday, November 5, 2011

A Chilly Ride

This morning I went up Angeles Crest with a couple of cyclists. They are quite experienced and have been in some races. As we were nearing the 2, I realized that it had become harder to push than before...I had a flat damn! I told the others to go ahead without me while I change the tube because I feel bad for them to wait on me, but they stayed to help. My tire is notoriously tight and they each tried but had a hard time removing it. I tried and I took it off the wheel quite fast - don't know why, must be because I've done it twice before and/or because of my strong hand muscles :)

Now that I have a speedometer and cadence meter I can keep track of how I am doing. During the initial climb, my cadence was around 70rpm, then after Clear Creek it had decreased to 60rpm. Apparently the optimum cadence is 80-100rpm. I will shift to lower gear next time and try to build up my cadence.

It was a cool day and going up I wasn't particularly tired but I was still quite slow compared to the other cyclists. At Red Box, we decided that we weren't go up Wilson cos it was too cold. I was ok either way, I'd like to finally do Wilson but I know that the descent would literally freeze my fingers. It would have been so true, because the descent from Red Box was already super chilly and my hands felt like cold water has been splashed on them and left there to freeze. Thankfully, it warmed up soon. We didn't descend as fast as I had liked, we were doing around 30mph (I did 32mph last time). Based on their experience I'd think that they would go faster, maybe they were going slower to accomodate me which was thoughtful of them.

Although I felt that I did badly in the climb, they said that I was very good at cycling for doing it for just 4 months. One guy said that I have good form and have great potential in cycling. All I have to do is adjust my seat and get professionally fitted. He also recommended me to later get a cycling coach! I'm surprised that experienced cyclists think that I am good at cycling, I've been told that I must be a natural at endurance sports, that I must be very fit to ride up GMR etc. Of course, being new at this I can't really tell how good or bad I am myself. I'm happy that I am good at cycling and I'm not sure where this comes from because I've always been terrible at sports growing up. I guess it was because they were mostly or actually exclusively sports involving balls. I never get the big deal about chasing around after a ball - it's all so futile and pretend to me. So I was never motivated to do the chasing game and I have been known to score for the other team. Along with cycling, I've also been told that I am natural at horse riding. So it seems that I'm good at what I like doing - which is always nice!

When I got home, I went for a hot shower and it felt so nice after the chilly descent that I didn't want to come out :)


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