Cycling and Others

Today I rode to Charlton Flats. It's getting very hot now and the sun is burning me even with tonnes of spf 60+ sunscreen. Each time I get back from a ride, I get an extra tan line - which if planned and executed strategically, can be made into a gradual tan smear (instead of a horrible line). Still, I don't want to have uneven colors on me as well each time you get tanned, it's actually skin damage. So I got arm and leg coolers which look ridiculous but I have to wear them. Of course, I don't want to look THAT ridiculous so I wear arm coolers one day and leg coolers the next. Today I put on my leg coolers and had to explain to some ignorant cyclists that they are not leg warmers. There were many cyclists on the 2. I passed an old woman cyclist, then I felt that she had to keep me in her sight. And after several miles, the awkward moment when you are overtaken by a 50+ years old woman happened. As I looked at her wrinkled cottage cheese legs, I wondered where the power came from. After awhile, she couldn't keep it up, but I decided not to pass her since we are close to the rest stop. I then rode on to Red Box and from there to Charlton Flats. This was my first time riding to Charlton Flats. It had beautiful scenery especially in the beginning.

Random fact 1: I just realized that I am double-jointed. Apparently only 1% of the population is. I can rotate my shoulders and elbows a full 180 degrees and make my thumb touch my forearm (it feels very normal, but it does look quite odd because I've never seen others doing it). And people who are double-jointed are very unresponsive to anesthesia. No wonder! I woke up hallucinating during my wisdom teeth removal operation. And when I removed my big toe nail I needed 3 shots instead of the typical 1 shot of anesthesia. I wonder if there are any advantages to being double-jointed? hmmm

Random fact 2: When it comes to dating, I just realized that I have very high standards. Actually I don't think they are high standards, it's just that not many people meet that standard. Anyway, I met this guy who was fit, smart and quite good looking (and when he smiles he looked like Jude Law). And he was very very nice to me. So I decided to give him a chance and in the process give myself a chance. Not a good idea! I got so annoyed at him I nearly killed myself. He agrees with every single thing I say and I am always correct. If I love myself that much I can just look at the mirror all the time. I want someone who's not afraid to state his own opinion and who can challenge me, is that too much to ask?! Apparently so.

I can't wait to go home. I plan to cycle 5 times a week. I will be taking my little brother or sister on my 'recovery rides' :) And when I get home all exhausted and starving, I shall eat mum's awesome cooking. I will have so much fun surrounded by people that I love. I've already told mum about this, so she'd be doing what she likes best, cooking for the family aka me, and I will be doing what I like best, eating her delicious cooking :D

Damn! My left knee hurts so much from cycling. I may have to cut my ride short tomorrow :( I'm getting my bike professionally fitted.

Cycling Report 7/1 - 7/7

I shall write in chronological order.

Last Sunday I went up Mt Wilson. As I was going up Angeles Crest highway, I saw a bumper of a mustang hanging off the edge of the cliff. Before long, there were police blocking off the left lane and what looked look flame retardants on a long stretch of the blocked off lane. Then all was well and I continued up the climb. Actually, I can't remember much of that ride since it happened awhile ago (aka 6 days ago). But I can't forget this. While I was descending Mt Wilson, I saw what looked like a huge furry brown dog dashing across the road. Then I realized it was a baby bear! One moment it was crossing the road, the next it was by the foot of the cliff and the next it was climbing the cliff like no tomorrow. I'm surprised they are so fast and so good at climbing. It looked really scared. I was equally scared but also in awe. I was glad that I was descending, because where there is baby bear, there is bound to be a mother bear. If I had been ascending I'd be doing an astonishing 6mph and that would have been a easy chase for the mother bear. Ha, it's ironic cos I go to Yellowstone to see bears without any luck, and now I see a baby bear in my backyard. If I was 2 seconds later I'd have missed it, 2 seconds earlier there would have been a collision - hence it was perfect timing!

This Wednesday I did the backside of GMR with the club. I don't know why they always like to do the backside, I prefer the frontside cos you finish the climb early on. And I really can't feel the grade difference between front and backside. I think I don't have much endurance....after just a short climb, my whole body becomes tired and it just doesn't want to do anything anymore. I have to have strong determination to keep moving at a 'fast' rate. Anyway, I started the ride out with a lady but I soon 'dropped her like a hot potato'. There was also another girl whom I rode with 4 months ago, at that time we were pretty much the same speed. But now I am without a doubt miles ahead of her. However I still can't keep up with the guys - it kills me! Yet, when I was coming back, there was a bunch of guys whom I don't know, but who must have seen me cycling who stated to me 'you are strong.' Hmm I don't think so. If I was a leisure cyclist just doing it for fun, then I'd be fine with my strong performance. But since I want to be serious, I'm not happy at all at my mediocre performance.

Today I did GMR-39 loop with a ride to Mt Baldy village. In total 58 miles. It's one of the hardest rides I've done and it was pretty epic. I started out the usual having parked at the bottom of 39. Soon I reached GMR, the climb was pretty good. I didn't feel very tired and I rested at the top of GMR and used the makeshift restroom. A couple of guys came and they asked me where I'm headed. Once I told them that I'm going up to Baldy village, one of the guys wanted to go too, but didn't succeed in convincing his buddy. That may have actually been a good decision on their part. I happily rode away on GRR. I had about 3/4 bottle of water left and I thought it would be enough till Baldy. Not so! It was HOT. By mile 2, I was already feeling dehydrated and wanting more water but I know that I should be more frugal. By mile 5, I was out of water and not very happy. By mile 6, the cyclists in front of me turned around - I assume they were out of water and didn't want to climb anymore. A thought crept in my head for me to turn around too. It's a descent to the store on E-folk. But I wanted to complete what I started and there was 'only' 6 miles left. So I pedaled on. I was feeling quite sleepy and tried to stay focused. I wondered if I could follow some animals to their water hole. Then I thought about asking some cyclists for water, but I was pretty sure that they were in the same situation. I rode as fast as I could to the water stop at Baldy. The last part was great because it was a descent - but I used all the energy I had left to stay focused. And finally, I reached the water station. Drinking water felt so good. There was a cyclist there who started talking to me, I opened my mouth and realized that I couldn't speak properly anymore from the dehydration. Anyway, he also had the water problem and he and his friends filled up their water bottles at the store on E-folk. That is only 18 miles away! I rode 28 miles on 1l of water....soon his friends came and they were highly dehydrated, they were the guys whom I had passed earlier and thought about asking for water. I'm glad I didn't. One of them said to me 'you passed me so fast like I was standing still' - haha, but they were standing still, they were resting in the shade! I rested about 20min by my water savior. Another cyclist came who wished me a safe ride home - which I really needed because as soon as I got back on the bike, I felt like I wanted to fall asleep again. The fact that it was such a hot day didn't help the slightest. Then as I was descending on E-folk and on 39, wind started to pick up. It was mostly sideways or head on - never tailwind. And it was so strong to the point where I thought it was going to pick me and my bike up along with it. I think my bike at 10.3 kg helped me to stay grounded. In total it took me 4h 44min excluding 30min rest. I think I have burnt 2700 calories from cycling. I consumed 2 cliff bars, a waffle and a powerbar - total 870 calories on top of what I normally eat in one day. It looks like I'm having a negative calorie day. I have to eat more otherwise all this effort would go to waste!!

Confused

I am very confused and sad. I don't know if I want to move to Germany anymore. Like I mentioned in my previous post, the main reason why I want to live in Germany is because people there are more straightforward. Yet, there are at least 2 small towns in the US that offers the same thing (and people are also genuinely nice).

The other reason why I want to live in Germany is because it's surrounded by other countries, and travelling is so easy - I love to experience and learn about different cultures, their beliefs and practices. Yet, having being to around 6 states in the US, they are pretty different too. So here are some things about Germany that I really don't like. Germans are known to be more racist and less accepting of different ideas and values. For instance, when I was relating to the old German guy from DASF that a friend of mine who is applying there was asked for his high school transcript. The German guy said, when you apply just give it to them, and have them translated. I asked, translate into German? He said into English. This assumption is very rude. And them being less accepting of change or new things is reflected by having rules that must be followed or things that must be done a certain way. I love my freedom and the ability to do whatever I want. Driving around especially in the middle of nowhere helps me to feel free. Yet with 80 millions people living in Germany in an area half the size of Texas, this can't be easily done. The thought of living in this cramped country is suffocating. I've also learnt recently that Germans smoke A LOT - I hate smoking and dislike people who smoke because 1. I get headaches from cigarette smokes and 2. I think people who smoke are inconsiderate in that they are making others around them smoke passively. As well, I have to learn German - which I have to confess that I totally suck at.

Ok, so it may seem that I'm saying all the bad things about Germany, but the fact is that I was very optimistic and tried to think of only the good things. And I thought that I have made my decision about going to Germany so why think negatively?! However after finding out that I had generalized way too much about American people, I'm seriously having second opinions. I'm still going to go to the Berlin conference in a couple of months, I'll see how I like it there first hand. This is also meant to be my job finding opportunity. But if I don't like it there, I'll just look for jobs here. Which opens a whole can of worms in itself, cos I really don't know where I want to live in the US......so bloody confused.

Second Conference - Virginia

Last week, I went for a conference in Virginia Tech. It's situated in Blacksburg, a small town pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So it's a bit hard to get to there. I flew to Charlotte airport and drove 3 hours up to Blacksburg. I'd arrive pretty late, so I wanted to be inconspicuous on the road. My reserved ford focus was not available so they gave me a Mustang! I associate Mustangs with cheap show-offs and it certainly attracted attention. So just like that, my plan to be inconspicuous went up in flames. As I was driving, I felt like I was in 'no country for old men'. A bit scared. If it was a good drive then I'd be ok, but the stupid thing had no power (I thought it's supposed to be all about power). On the freeway it didn't seem to want to go over 70mph. And when climbing a hill, speed dropped fast - pushing the gas pedal lead to at least a 3 seconds delay, so just like in cycling I anticipate hills when driving this thing. And while descending, speed accumulated fast - dangerously. I was listening to the radio to keep myself from dozing off, but the stations were all country music (which I like but it does not wake me up) and at one point, the only station that was in reception was a religious station, where the songs had God, savior and Jesus in them and later the host was discussing the bible....I arrived at the hotel at around midnight and was exhausted. Spending a whole day travelling is so tiring and such a waste of time.

The next day I registered for the conference, they gave each of us a BPA free water bottle. This was to be used for water filling stations around campus, they had filtered water and had a digital count of how many plastic bottles have been saved from landfills by using them. I love this. Anyway, fast forward to my talk....

My talk was in the morning, in my session there were 4 speakers, I was the third. I arrived early to upload my talk onto the central computer with the help of a volunteer. After I was done setting up my presentation, the girl who was volunteering came back to ask me where I was from 'because you are so pretty'. I don't know if this is advantageous in the research industry, cos I think it just makes me look stupid. At the end of my talk, I was answering a question from an old professor, I'm pretty sure he just smirked at my answer. My talk went pretty good. There was some problems with displays due to transfer from mac to pc, I'll convert everything to pdf next time. I'm pretty surprised, because as I was waiting for my turn to talk, my heart was pounding, however as soon as I got up and began talking, I was completely at ease. This is certainly a good practice run for my upcoming more important talk.

During the conference, I tried to go to talks, but if I wasn't interested in the topic to begin with - it just gets so boring to the point where I had to catch myself from falling asleep. It's very one dimensional. I like poster sessions more, where there was a huge selection of topics and I can ask questions. I love asking questions. There was a guy who was presenting something that I used to work on, so I asked him a few questions. He was pretty rude and acted like my questions were rudimentary and trivial - actually I don't think he even took the time to listen to them. Later he found out that I was from Caltech - the change in expression was priceless and everything I say was now analyzed word by word and so meaningful.

I talked with some of the company representatives at the booths. The companies were DASF, Dew and P & F. They all don't do pharmaceutical research. Apparently from insider information, the big companies are all waiting for each other to make the first move and once they make a profit, the others would follow suit. There was a guy at DASF who worked in both Germany and US, I asked him what are the differences between working in these countries. He told me some differences but said that he was amazed people in both countries just love to work, they'd work over time just cos they love what they are doing! He was so excited when he said this. Perhaps it's just me, but the thought of working over hours does not turn me on the slightest.

I had a few hours to spare so I went for a hike to Cascade Falls. It's listed as a must visit for anyone in the Blacksburg area. The hike was indeed very beautiful, much better than what LA can offer and comparable to NZ. I went on the lower trail, jumping over rocks was fun. But soon, I got extremely bored, yet if I stop and look closely around me - nature is so fascinating in itself.

Then it was time for me to drive back to the airport. I drove through Blue Ridge Parkway, it was absolutely beautiful. As I was driving through this amazing landscape and listening to country music - I was sure that I'd miss America. One of the main reasons why I want to move to Germany is because people there are more straightforward and not fake. Yet, the small towns that I have been to, Portland Oregon and now Blacksburg Virginia, people are genuinely nice and there is no pretense. Also people are respectable towards others. For instance, while driving, they'd change lanes if they are holding up someone and while hiking, they'd make sure that they don't get into other people's way. Not like most people in LA, who feels that their presence needs to be felt by the entire universe. My previous judgement of America being fake was definitely too general. So now I'm actually at a toss up between whether moving to Germany or stay in the US. It's not a good feeling to have so many options, because I always doubt whether I'm making or have made the best decision. Anyway, we'll see how everything pans out.

I forgot to mention that there are many tall, fit and manly guys in VT. It's so refreshing to see that there are NORMAL people out there - yep, I need to get out of here asap :)

Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks

Cycles of Life

The last phase looks like the most fun!

http://www.incidentalcomics.com/2012/05/cycles-of-life.html

Cycling and Bike Upgrade

Yesterday I rode 39-GMR loop (backside GMR) with the club. There were an A and a B group, A group is for fast riders, B group for slower. I joined the A group of course. Encouraged from last week's group ride, I tried to push myself more on this ride. Yet I still couldn't keep up with the guys. On top of this, there was another girl in the ride who seemed to have no problem! She's not even in proper cycling gear but do have huge thighs. Before this, the only girl in the club who is faster than me is the lady who complimented me, but she is a pro elite so I'm not going to compare with her - not just yet. The guys are faster than me, but there is a 19 or so years old kid who is even faster. He is trying to turn pro and he would always cycle back and forth waiting for us. I thought if I was at his speed I'd have no problem being a pro. But apparently and I quote 'Lesley Paterson would kick him in the butt in cycling'. She is a pro triathlete, not a pro cyclist! Ahh, so now I have to beat the guys and beat that kid before even talking about turning pro. As well, pro cyclists ride 400-500 miles per week, and 250 miles per week during off season. I'm not even doing 100 miles a week - how could I even possibly consider turning pro! After all these realizations it's suffice to say that I was rather upset with myself. I know I've got 2.5 years before cycling full time, but I need to start now to build a good base.

So I went for another ride this morning - I did the GMR-39 loop. Last month when I did it, it took me 2 hours and 50 min excluding rest. I was hoping to shave off 10 min today if possible.

At the start of the ride, I nearly got run over....I was inside a round about and a car was moving into it. Knowing how stupid LA drivers are, I'm always careful - so I watched him, sure enough, he kept on moving forward as I was riding past him. So I yelled at him, and that was how he stopped. I looked back at him to make sure he's not trying to run me over again. He kept on apologizing as he drove past. I nodded to acknowledge it. But saying sorry would not be bloody enough if he had crashed into me!

During the ride I tested out my new wheelset, tires and cassette. At a time when people pay hundreds to shave off a few grams, I just upgraded my bike and gained 400 grams....it kills me. It's the wheels that weighed more. I got these wheels for $130, apparently they are of $300-$500 quality. But they are so much heavier than my previous Maddux R3.0 wheels which came with the bike. I couldn't find the price for these, but with my bike being $1000, I can't imagine the wheels being more than a hundred. Long story short, I couldn't compare the weight of these wheels until they have arrived. I always thought that the more expensive the wheels, the lighter they would be. Anyway, I know that at this stage, I'm not limited by equipment, rather it's by my own abilities. I think I do like my new wheelset, it seems to roll well and is quite aero.

My upgraded bike

I also tried to climb out of the saddle more. It's still hard to do this especially on high gradients (when I actually need to climb out of the saddle). I'll keep practicing on my trainer at home. Speaking of which, now I realized why I was having so much saddle problem. While practicing on the trainer I discovered that I should sit backwards more, so the weight is mostly supported on the seat bones. The saddle pain is a lot less, yet after being on the saddle for a couple of hours it still hurts. As I got off the bike, I could feel blood flowing again - it felt so good...

Oh yes, I did 2 hr 36 min today, 14 min off from a month ago. Hmm I wonder why?! Perhaps it's a combination of me pushing harder, climbing out of saddle, bike upgrade (which may have slowed me down actually, not sure) and/or just getting stronger. :)