Turning a Good Ride into a Great Ride

While you are out training for the Tour Davita, logging all those hours in a seat gives you plenty of time to think about…well, EVERYTHING. Visualizing a great ride and visualizing riding to your goal is a very important element of riding. Any seasoned rider will tell you 90% of the ride is psychological. Pedaling through the hard spots and staying focused on your goal will definitely help get you there.

The other 10%, after training enough to acclimate your legs and your cardiovascular system, is a science. I figure any of us can easily ride 20 to 30 miles without much difficulty at this point. The younger guns could probably push even farther just on sheer energy and stamina. The main point that the pros stress over and over again is CADENCE. Cadence is the difference between finishing a ride and actually enjoying a ride without killing yourself. A cadence of 90 to 95 revolutions per minute (RPM) is the point where your muscles will utilize glycogen stores for energy and will not overtax your system. If you can stay in this zone, you should be able to ride as long as you want. You are avoiding moving from aerobic energy to anaerobic energy that builds up lactic acid. Lactic acid causes your muscles to fatigue and eventually become sore.

I use a little computer that attaches to my bike to measure my cadence. You can pick these up at any bike shop.

 

Zoobie Doo Finds a New Home

After passing fliers and contacting local animal shelters, noone came forward to claim our “hot” dog, Zoobie Doo. Zoobie was taken to the vet and found to be about a year old and in really good health, except for an eye infection that was easily treated. We placed an ad in a local hospital classified page for a “great dog looking for a great home.” Zoobie was adopted by a chiropractor and his wife and their 11 year old daughter. They got a great dog. Zoobie is laid back and happy and doesn’t have to worry about getting too hot anymore!

Not the Easiest Ride…

Today was an unbelievably eventful ride!  I rode with our local bike club and took off with 30 other bikers for a 40 mile ride.  We were pacing between 16 to 17 mph.  Things were going really well when I got a flat!  My group pulled over and had that tire changed in a flash.  I was so impressed with the teamwork that this group has.  Before I could clip out of my shoes, one guy was pulling off my tire, one guy was preparing the new tube, and another was preparing the CO2 cartridge to reinflate.  We were able to identify some steel from a radial tire that had cut my intertube.   Within a couple of minutes, we were up and pacing again and I was thinking how great this group was and how painless the flat tire was. 

Well a couple hundred yards down the street, I blew ANOTHER flat!!  Sorry to say, but a few cuss words left my mouth.  But once again, the team pulled together and set on changing the intertube with lightning speed.  Before we could get the tire back on the bike, I blew ANOTHER tire!!  Three in a row: unbelievable.  I definitely got a new education in tire maintenance.  The tire itself had a cut in it and the patch kits came out. 

Patch in place (and me very nervous), we took off again.  We rode about five more miles to a coffee house, where we caught up with the rest of the group.  As we walked in the shop, we found one of our older riders laid out on the floor.  He was pale and shaky.  Apparently, he had not been feeling well for the past few miles and had gotten light headed and had numbness in his arm.  We kept him comfortable and started cooling him down while we waited for the EMS to show up.  The heat can definitely affect even the best riders. 

Awake and alert we saw our fellow rider off and continued on our ride.  Ten more miles down the rode, a fellow rider broke three of the spokes on his wheel and catapulted himself over his handlebars.  Thankfully, he was ok except for a few scratches and probably some sore muscles that wouldn’t show up for a few hours.  Having had enough surprises for one morning, I was really ready for this ride to be over. 

But the fun wasn’t over yet…into the last five miles of our ride, the skies opened up and we were drenched!  Not a day I want to repeat any time soon.

Sprain, Scratch, or Crash

Along with the joy of riding comes the pain and frustration of getting there. One of my least favorite preparations for bike riding is pumping the tires. Getting enough air into those tiny little tires is a workout in itself. Riding without the proper tire pressure can really affect your ride.

And if you think you can get through training without a sprain, scratch, or crash, you probably aren’t training hard enough!! Sharing war stories and showing off the latest injury is an important part of any ride.

Riding Buddies

This evening was a ride with two of my fellow Tour mates, Gaylee Garroutte and Tiffany Hetherington.

 

Finding time to train can be VERY challenging. In between holding down a full time job, fighting traffic on a daily basis, trying to keep the family and the house together, and sleeping, there is not much time or daylight left for riding. It definitely takes a commitment to get out there at least three times a week. These gals have been great and make it fun.

Meet Zoobie Doo

We headed out this morning with full intentions of doing a 50 mile ride. Mother Nature intervened with some scorching temperatures and cut us back a bit. We were able to finish 35 miles before the heat just became unbearable (at 10:30am!!). There was very little wind, but when it blew, it was so hot, it just felt like a car exhaust blowing in your face. When we made it back to the car, the temperature was reading 106 degrees! The weather man said our heat indexes were up to 110+.

Houston has several bike clubs. Most bike shops sponsor a club and it is a great way to get motivated and ride with some bikers that can really challenge you. The club we rode with today had over 300 people show up for a regular Saturday ride. I thought that was VERY impressive.

 

 

 

We rode way out of town to get to some less traveled roads and some more challenging hilly terrain. Unfortunately, it was lots of farm land, and that meant few trees (aka SHADE), but it was beautiful nonetheless.

 

 

 

Here I am riding along, definitely seeing more cows and hay bales than cars!!

 

 

 

Another thing that is so important with all of this heat is staying hydrated. As one of my friends described, “Think of your body as a radiator, and you need to keep adding water to make sure it doesn’t overheat.” Always, always bring plenty of fluids with you. I usually add a sports drink that has electrolytes as well.

 

Today I brought my hydration pack (it fits like a back pack and carries a large amount of liquid) to ensure I had enough. It comes with a tube that hangs off your shoulder. That way you can just grab it and drink without stopping or picking up a bottle. I usually leave it in the freezer overnight so I have a slushy cold drinking water the next day…and something to cool my back as I ride.

 

Below is my demonstration of the hydration pack system. Notice the sun rising in the back…we tried to beat the heat, but it was already 84 degrees when I left my house at 6 am!

 

 

 

Apparently we weren’t the only ones who were hot that day. When we got back to our cars, a poor lost black Lab came running up to us. The asphalt was so hot the dog was whining and jumping from paw to paw. We gave him some water, which he drank thankfully. As soon as he felt the cool air coming from the car, he jumped in! He was panting so rapidly and appeared so overheated, we were afraid that he wouldn’t make it out there in the heat much longer. There were not any neighborhoods around since we were pretty far out in the country. He is a beautiful dog with the friendliest and calmest personality. We tried to get him out of the car a couple of times, but he wasn’t budging.

 

 

 

Needless to say, our new friend came home with us. He cooled down and made himself at home. We have some flyers out in the area where we found him, and have contacted the area animal shelter, but no luck finding his owner as of yet. He found us at Zube Park (pronounced Zoobie), so his unofficial name is Zoobie Doo!!

Thanks Everyone!

Wow! I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and the sharing of their experiences.  Keep the comments coming, you guys are awesome!  It has been really fun.  Whenever I visit the clinics, people come up and ask me how my knee is doing or tell me how proud they are of me!  Is this how Paris Hilton feels???

Back in the Saddle

Hooray!!  I am finally able to get back on my bike.  I took a 12 mile “test drive” to see how my pulled tendon would hold up…and so far so good!

 

I never knew how good building up a good sweat could be…until the ability gets taken away from you.  The other thing I noticed was how good, happy, euphoric it feel to be back to training.  Although I am one of those people who really DREADS any kind of exercise, I really get a boost from my endorphins when I do.  I definitely have a better day and don’t let the little things get to me when I have exercised.

 

Something I really learned from this experience is how important stretching out before and after biking is for decreasing injuries and increasing flexibility.  I found out tendonitis (which is what I had) can largely be avoided by maintaining good flexibility.  Now I say this out loud:  “I believe that stretching will help prevent an injury.” I commit to stretching at least 5 minutes before a ride.  I start my ride with a slow pace for the first 5 minutes to warm up.  I end my ride with at least a 15 minute stretch. 

 

My problem area happened to be the illiotibial (IT) band.  It is the tendon that runs on the lateral aspect of your upper leg from your hip to your knee. When this tendon becomes inflamed, it can cause alignment problems in your knee and any swelling in the tendon is pulled down into the knee socket by gravity.  The result is a knee you can’t bend… and PAIN!

 

Ready to get back in the saddle, I waited until 7:30pm, so that the temperature could drop below 100 degrees, and then I took off. I am very fortunate to live in an area that has a lot of nature around it.  One of the rides I take is through a university campus.  It is situated on a lot of wooded land and backs up against a beautiful bayou.  Along the ride tonight, I got to see two does with their two little fawns drinking out of a pond.  As the big orange sun was setting in a cloudless Texas sky, I watched an array of ducks, herons, and pelicans playing and eating in the bayou.

Rain Ride Photos

Below are some photos from our “wet” ride. The first one is yours truly, Mary Jo. You can tell by my expression that I am less than amused about riding in the rain.

Here are the other 2,000 nuts that didn’t seem to notice it was raining…

And finally…Gaylee, totally soaking wet, cheerful and hopeful as ever, enjoying a snack after four hours of riding!

 

Until next time…Happy Riding everyone! We are on the countdown to the Tour Davita!

Special Guest Post!: Part Two

The first ten miles my legs were burning so badly, and I was not even close to being able to do the same speed as Mary Jo . But I made it to the first stop at the 10 mile mark, and was thinking I am dying! How on earth am I possibly going to be able to complete this??? But we ate a banana and drank some Gatorade (FYI: Did you know that there is such a thing as Pickle Juice Gatorade? Very interesting.), and we headed back on our way.

Well, to my surprise the biking started to get a little easier, and before I knew it we had come to our next stop again. Then we were on to the last leg of the ride, which was about 15 miles. There were some hills that were a little tough to get through, but do-able. And I was just so proud of myself, because by the time we pulled into the mall parking a lot again I was tired, but I still felt like I could have gone farther. I just couldn’t believe that I had done it! Me! I – a rookie – had ridden 31 miles on a bike, and I wasn’t dead! SOOO exciting!

<!–[if gte vml 1]> <![endif]–><!–[if !vml]–>After the ride was done and I got off my bike the tired hit me. My legs were exhausted! And I was disgusting between the rain and the sweat; I was very gross. Lovely picture huh ?! But I had done it! And I am super proud! Three cheers for me!

So my next goal will be 40 miles…then 50…then 60…yikes!