First Time Up Angeles Crest

Last Sunday I went up Red Box on Angeles Crest for my very first time. It was a 46miles ride - the longest I've done and by myself. I thought since this would be a day of firsts, I should seize the moment and use my clipless for the first time too. I put on my leg warmers to protect myself from the chilly morning, but more importantly from the many expected inevitable falls.

Going to Angeles Crest from my place requires lots of turns and with a memory such as mine I was quite proud that I remembered the route. Soon I reached the base of Angeles Crest highway. To Red Box it was going to be a 13miles climb. Thankfully, unlike Chantry this was not steep and in fact had some sections that were quite flat. During the ascent, I passed an old lady cyclist who was slow but going methodically and steadily which was very admirable (she was also the only lady cyclist I'd see the whole day).

In total, from my place to Red Box I stopped 3 times to have some energy bars and water. During the last time, I lost balance with one foot in the clips and fell - it hurt a little but my leg warmers protected me quite well. However, when I started pedaling I realized that the saddle was now off centered by about 30 degrees. I brought everything with me, spare tube, lever etc but did not bring the bike tool. So I had to borrow. Unfortunately, there were no other cyclists going up. Fortunately, I only have about 2miles left to go to Red Box where I'm sure lots of cyclists would be taking a break. Yet the 2miles seemed like eons long when I had to sit and pedal in a very awkward position.

Finally I arrived at Red Box where I fixed my saddle, refilled my water bottles and used the bathroom (or rather hole in the ground). Then I started the much anticipated descent. When I was going up, I saw that cyclists going down were pedaling to increase speed so I thought I'd give that a try. I descended on the heaviest gear and pedaled hard. Soon I passed a section which was foggy and misty - that was awesome! I felt like I was in an untouched land exploring it to my hearts content :). Before long I reached the base of the 2. I thought I did it in 15min, that's 52mph! hm probably not right. I was thinking about this and was supposed to make a left, but I saw the turn rather late and a car was behind me going slowly unsure of what I wanted to do. Of course, I could not signal cos I still cannot ride with one hand on the wheel (I most likely can, but what can I say, I'm a chicken) so I decided to double back at the next intersection. However, I cornered too tightly and didn't have time to clip out and hence, the second inevitable fall happened. After I released myself from the tangled mess I saw that my bike chain had fallen off. Oops...I had absolutely no clue how to put the chain back on. It was just way too tight. There were no other cyclists going down so I couldn't ask them for help, nor do I want to call for help unless it's absolutely necessary - it's simply silly to not know how to put on a bike chain. So I laid the bike on it's side and inspected everything, suddenly something moved which released the tension (the derailleur). Phew, I got the chain back on and tested the shifting before beginning my ride home.

I was exhausted when I got home. I showered, relaxed on my bed and unknowingly fell asleep. But I'm so happy to have done many firsts in one day, to have accomplished what I had planned to do and to have learnt by myself how to put a chain back on. :)

I really enjoy cycling, not just for the outdoor fun, the exercise, or the speed but also the culture where cyclists can naturally struck up conversations and are willing to help each other. I'm always happy and humbled when I meet people who are considerate and open even if they don't know me. I'd like to live in a place with more of such people where I'd feel that I am a part of the community. To think if more people are considerate of others, then wouldn't the world be a better place to live in!?

Everclear - Wonderful

'...close my eyes and I count to ten...make everything be wonderful again'

Yellowstone

Over the labor day weekend I went on a 5 day camping trip in Yellowstone NP. We left Pasadena early in the morning to fly to Salt Lake City. On the way to the Long Beach airport, I unwittingly avoided a car accident. We were on the freeway when I overtook a red beetle, moments later the cars in front of me suddenly stopped. I stepped on the brakes hard (to it's limit) and narrowly missed the car in front of me. Then I heard a bump at the back. Did I just get hit?! Thankfully not, the beetle stopped in time but the car behind him did not. If I had not overtaken the beetle than I would have been rear ended - phew!

After we landed at SLC, we went to get our rental car. The compact car that we have booked wasn't available, so the sales person said that we could rent a mini van instead at the same rate. Driving a mini van?! That's high fuel consumption and bulkiness without the power, do I look that stupid?! I told him that we cannot take that one, what are the other options. Then he decided to show us the Mitsubishi Endeavor which we gladly agreed to take at $20/day. It only has 5000miles on it - practically new! In terms of handling it's quite smooth but for sure less powerful than my Saab.

The drive from SLC to Yellowstone took around 6hours and we crossed the state borders from Utah to Idaho and then to Wyoming. We camped at Grant Village Lodge campground. Each campsite was huge with it's own car park, picnic bench and fire place. They have showers there too which was an absolute necessity given that I cannot seem to go a day without showering. At an average elevation of 8000 feet, it was freezing at night and in the early mornings (below 0oC), my +20oF sleeping bag has helped me a lot.

We hiked around 8miles each day. During these hikes and car drives, we saw countless geysers of different shades of green and blue and tinges of yellow and orange. After seeing so many I got quite bored of them - ok, I wasn't super excited on seeing them in the first place. But such cannot be said about animals. We were lucky enough to see 7 different kinds of wildlife. We saw bison, elk, moose, marmot, canadian geese, a huge snake and wolves. The one that I liked the most was the bison. Bisons are so cute with their huge unblinking beady eyes. As well, the fact that they wander slowly on the road without giving a damn about traffic just make them appear so ignorant and hence more adorable (I can't exactly explain the correlation here). We saw a huge snake in the middle of a trail during a hike, I was really excited to see one - it was the largest I've seen in the wild! On the last day, while hiking in Teton NP, we saw some movement off the trail. On closer examination, it was a moose with her calf! They were very close to us at perhaps 5m away. Their huge ears were pointed in our direction and they remained alert yet motionless. My friend stepped closer to take a photo, to the point where the calf ran away. Apparently mother moose with calves are aggressive and can attack humans - oops...

West Thumb Geyser - Yellowstone

Bison wandering on the road

Moose with calf

I really wanted to see a bear. There are two species of bears in Yellowstone, Grizzly and Black bear. Completely different techniques should be employed when one encounters each species. If a Grizzly becomes 'interested' in you, you should back away slowly while speaking calmly to it, if it attacks, then you should use your bear pepper spray, if it continues to attack, then you should get down into a fetal postion and play dead. However, if you get challenged by a Black bear, you should make yourself seem bigger and shout at it. Yet it's hard to distinguish between them because unlike it's name, Black bears are not always black and in fact come in all colors. The determining factor is the presence or absence of shoulder humps (Grizzlies have them, Black bears do not). I suggested that we get bear pepper sprays since our lives may well depend on it. The plan was to carry one each in case the person carrying the spray looses their mind upon seeing a bear and runs away leaving the rest of us defenseless. So we went to the general store to hunt some down - it costs $50 each! At this price I'd rather take my chances against the bear! In any case, we didn't get to see a bear which was rather unfortunate or perhaps fortunate depending on the outcome.

A couple of mornings I got up early and drove to see the sunrise against the Yellowstone lake, the view was majestic and the colors were nothing short of amazing.

Sunrise over Yellowstone lake

Admittedly during the time there, I missed the comfort of home especially when it came to using the communal showers and the freezing nights and mornings. But I knew that all would be worth it in the end since it's the experience and the fond memories that we keep. And looking back - I was right :)

Chantry Mission Update 01

This morning we went up Chantry and I'm glad to say that I have accomplished my goal of reducing my time down to 30.5min. I'm starting to control my breathing a bit during the climb. As well I've realized that being on the smallest gear to being on several gears harder really does not make too much difference in cycling difficulty yet a noticeable difference in speed! As I was descending Chantry, I felt so carefree which makes me very happy - I haven't felt this way in a very long time :)

Next mission, down to 28min by the end of the month.

The Cars - Drive

This is such a beautiful song - and perhaps the saddest I've heard.

3 Months Anniversary

The past couple of weeks I haven't been working well, for some reason I'm not particularly motivated. Actually make that the past 3 months since my horse riding accident. If I'm to graduate in 1.5 years, I really need to get my act together and do work! Get results, write up papers, publish them and go to conferences. My research is going well. I've been very lucky so far (ok I did put in quite a bit of thought and sweat). Now all I have to do is finish up. I think the main reason in my lack of motivation is that I can never seem to be able to get up early! When I get up at 7.30am, I'd arrive at work at 9am and every time this happens, my whole day would be ruined. If I get in earlier then I have much more motivation for work. There is something special about mornings :D

It's been 3 months since my horse fall, my back is getting better and better and I've been walking around without my back brace. My posture is SO good now - very straight with chest forward. That's one good thing coming out of this accident!

I've been anticipating on going up Chantry for some time now to see how good or bad I've become. This morning, to mark the 3 months anniversary of my accident (just a coincidence :D) I got up at 5am and left the house at 6am for Chantry. It was still rather dark outside and there were only a couple of cars on the road. I was so excited to get back into the game and going alone made me quite anxious but also thrilled at the same time. In addition, it's so nice to head out early in the morning!!

The climb up to Chantry was a test in itself. I met two middle aged cyclists who were going at the same pace as me - slow. Finally we arrived at the gate, they did stretches while I drunk some water and cleared my nose. Going up, I dropped these two guys pretty fast and I felt that I was doing very well. However, I do need to control my breathing as often times I don't feel tired from cycling but more tired from having to take breathes so often. My lower back also started to hurt... Anyway, I thought I could narrow down my previous record of 28min and 32sec because I was pushing hard from the beginning (started hyperventilating :P) but I looked at my watch, it had been 28min and the end was not in sight, then at 29, 30, 31...I cannot believe this but I took 32min WTH?!!! I felt cheated, defeated and frustrated in myself. In short, I was very disappointed. Descending my hands nearly went numb from using the brakes (this is the first time I went on a long descent like this and by myself so I was quite tense). I was still thinking about why I was so slow and mustn't have been paying attention and missed the turn at Sierra Madre and got all the way to Foothill. I rode on Foothill for a bit and realized that the traffic was just too crazy and doubled back.

During the ride, my lower back hurt, but my neck area and shoulder blades also hurt. I think I was too crammed on my bike. This was because in my attempt to decrease the pain from you know where, I moved my saddle forward so that I could rest myself in the groove. But clearly that just made me sit more forward resulting in a crammed and awkward sitting position. Actually today it didn't hurt very much, I think it was because I applied the lubricant not just on the chamois but also on myself (very important). When I got home, I was exhausted. I took a shower and collapsed on my bed - which was really nice :)

I'm going up Chantry again next week before my Yellowstone trip - mission 31min. Hopefully before soon I'll get back down to 28min and increase speed from there. By the end of the year I'd like to go down to 24min - 4 months to achieve this (the clipless pedals will help me)!!!

Back Progress and Such

My back is getting better and better everyday. I went on two 45min rides in the past week. The first was exhausting, I practically passed out when I got home (also due to the fact that I was doing or at least attempting to do some 'racing'), the second ride was less tiring. It felt very natural to get back on the saddle and I'm extremely excited for more rides soon :)

Let me recount what has happened...After learning about my horse riding accident my sister booked the next flight to come all the way from Australia to take care of me. Bix cooked, prepared things for me and cleaned up the apartment while I laid on my bed. I also convinced her to take me on driving trips because I couldn't take staying indoors any longer. It was very sweet and loving of bix to take care of me, although her efforts in caring for someone was put to the limit :P I rested at home for 2 weeks before going back to work. At work, a friend gave me an inflatable mattress which I laid on in my office for about a week before the supposedly un-puncturable mattress was somehow punctured. Since then I've been laying on my sleeping pad (from camping). I also asked people to help carry my bag or anything heavy for me since it seemed that my back would hurt if I lift anything heavier than 2 pounds. In the start it also hurt if I stood for perhaps more than 10min, so I was either in the lab or laying on the ground. As well, I got tired very easily and often took naps on the floor lol. I saw the ortho-surgeon again 5 weeks after the accident hoping that my back was nearly healed. Instead, from the x-ray the doctor concluded that it would take a total of 3 months to heal! Apparently because it was such a major fracture. I was quite down hearing that because having gone through over a month of not doing any outdoor activity it was getting too much, on top of this I think the muscles which I slowly built up over the past 2 years are degenerating :( But then again, I do need to give time for my back to heal properly because otherwise it would just be trouble in the future.

Now, 8 weeks have passed and I will be seeing the ortho-surgeon again next week. I think from the x-ray my back should be nearly fully healed. During the past two months, my two caring friends helped me with grocery, with laundry, cheered me up when I was down and kept me company - I couldn't have asked for more :) It's during times of need when you get a chance to know who truly cares about you.