Pro Cycling

I've decided to get into pro cycling. The reason why I'm doing cancer research is so that I could help people. Yet, I want to do something for myself too. And I really want to take the time out to get a taste of pro cycling. I don't want to be too old or on my death bed wishing that I could have done this - so why not do it now?! The plan is to graduate and work for 2 years and have some savings for a 4 years (or until my maximum potential is reached) career in pro cycling, after which time I'd go back into industry.

I'm very impulsive and there have been a lot of things that I really wanted to do for a short period of time but later on, changed my mind. However in this case, I've been entertaining the pro cycling idea for some weeks now, and the desire is getting stronger. I think what was really stopping me was that I don't know if I'd be physically suitable for this. Yet, my first bike ride was up GMR and I've ridden up Mt Baldy ski lifts. And there hasn't been a single person who hasn't been impressed with my cycling (although I generally take such compliments with a grain of salt). As well in running, which I've been doing on and off for 3 months now (due to injury) I got top 28% in my age group in my first half marathon. I think my ride up Big Tujunga with the club yesterday finally convinced me.

I had done this ride 4 months ago with the club and I remember it been quite tiring. There were 2 other girls who also went, one was faster than me and the other slower. This time when I went up, I was surprised that the climb was over so soon and I didn't feel that I had a good workout. The same 2 girls were now way behind me. They thought I've been training hard, nope, a long ride on the weekend and 2 runs during the week - definitely not enough training by anyones standard. So I think with proper training and dedication, I should be fit enough.

In terms of cycling skills, which I still greatly lack. I can now drumroll....drink from my water bottle while cycling. As well, I'm working on climbing out of the saddle to increase efficiency as well as to help with the saddle problem. I suck at climbing out of the saddle, after just a few strokes I could feel lactic acid build up. So I got a trainer at home. I plan to train on it for 30 min (especially working on climbing out of the saddle) on days when I'm not doing a long ride or runs.

On a very unrelated note, I received my first A+ in Caltech! My final course here - a pretty nice finish :)