Where did you ride in April? Post by 4/28/2013

On Wednesday rode from La Mesa via. Hwy 94 over Honey Springs Rd. thru Lyons Valley and back 49 miles and great day to roll thru our beautiful back country!

just finished 40 miles on Glendora Mtn Rd with around 5,000 of elevation gain. my first ride up there. The perfect ride.

Tour de Mesa ride! It was a beautiful day for a ride!

I took the 2 hour hour route, past Sunset Cliffs, to watch the San Diego Lions Australian Rules Football team play, a mile away from my place! Took the 3 hour route along the coast through Carlsbad, home!

I was lucky enough to have the time to ride the first stage of the Tour De California this past saturday. Beautiful day for a ride, cool and cloudy at first, but the sun started to come out just as I got up the hill to Ramona. Stopped in lovely Santa Isabel for a piece of pie (I have type 2 diabetes so can only have those types of dessert on long rides). After a delicious piece, I went up the Mesa Grande grade, nice climb up, but the downhill to lake henshaw is a spectacular tree covered serpentine descent wheee! The big challenge was next up palomars east grade, 11 miles of straight up hill, long and hard but rewarding because you have earn your downhills. 14 miles and 4800 of feet of descent on switchbacks, just glorious! But that all ends as you look up the ominous climb that is Cole grade. By then it had gotten abit warmer and the old legs were feeling the distance (about 80+ miles) I was slow but steady. Now all I had was a pleasant ride thru Valley Center back to Escondido and home. I was tired and hungary after 108.4 miles( and 8 hrs), but ooh so satisfied.

Worked on the hills. Did the Party Pardee Metric Century out of Ione, CA on Sat for a 4150′ elevation gain. Then on Sun rode the Pope Valley loop around Lake Berryessa for another 2500′ elevation gain.

Well, I ran the Carlsbad 5000 All day event , which is running five 5Ks (different divsions) all in the same day. This Saturday, a group of us our doing the Tour De Pizza Port. I’m dropping a car in Solana Beach and then biking up to Oceanside to meet the group. From the train station we bike through Pendelton to Pizza Port San Clemente, then returning through Pendleton to Pizza Port Carlsbad, then onto Pizza Port Solana beach, then the push to Pizza Port Ocean Beach! total miles from Oceanside start is 82, but with my start in Solana Beach, I am thinking it will be clsoer to 100 for me!

I knew April was going to be a challenge for me on the bike. It all started April 6th with a mountain bike event called Counting Coup 44 miles and almost 9,000 feet of climbing, I have been focusing on road riding for double centuries the last four months so my mountain bike skills suffered. Let me just say I was scared on April 6th. But, looks like my training paid off. I finished in under 7 hours(this was a dream) and I took off an hour and 24 minutes off my time from the last time I completed the event. I crossed that finish line and I burst into tears, because I could not believe what I just did. I really wanted to do the Hemet Double Century on April 13 th, but I figured it was best I recover from the mountain bike event and not push the envelope. That was hard to do because I have been pushing and pushing to prepare for my spring events. So on the 13th I went for a casual solo ride to just focus on my climbing skills and taking it easy. It was only 40 miles on my road bike but it was great for my soul. Sometimes the body just needs to take a break.

Rode from the Vallecito Stage Coach Park in Anza Borrego along the S-2 and up Banner grade to Julian. Only 29 miles, but against the wind, and with kids. Awesome day.

From Milford, NJ to Easton, Pa. and back four times

I rode down the unsealed, dusty Upper Daintree Road, as it followed the Daintree river, into cattle country. A thick fog rolled through the valley. Cattle and horses trotted beside me, as the sun started to poke through, and the mosquitos got busy in the rising heat. My six foot frame was upon a borrowed, medium, ladies comfort bike. Safe to say not many bikes trek down this road.

I’ve been continuing with the training mileage and did my long ride Sunday. It was a very misty, damp, cool day. I rode from Point Loma to Del Mar into Ranch Santa Fe and back. I didn’t ride the full number of miles I wanted but traded seven of them in for Three Witches and Torrey Pines LOL Great day on the bike!
http://app.strava.com/activities/48841469

Lake Miramar with 2 kids, one in extension bike and the other inside a bike trailer. Total length of the convoy close to 13 feet (imagine the trouble with U-turns). 2 times the course makes it 10 miles, short distance but the added weight makes it a hard-core training. Plus side, you have cheerleaders supporting all the ride!

I rode 35 miles along Pecos Rd. in Phoenix. It was great!

Rode with my daughter on Saturday in a loop from San Gabriel through Lincoln Park in Los Angeles then out to Azusa, looping back to San Gabriel. Our first 40 plus mile ride in preparation for the century. My first “official” century. My daughters first year of serious riding.

i rode from Irvine to San Diego…87 miles…

I just finished a 2.5 day tour around the Big Island of Hawaii for a hemophilia charity fundraiser. 219 miles, 11,500 elevation up and down!

Rode from Torrey Pines to Oceanside and back with a great group of riders…helped navigate a few lost “ride for the cure” riders along the way.

Here goes. I rode 56 miles (2,100 foot gain) in my FIRST EVER Half Iron distance triathlon, HITS Napa, April 14. Flying on the downhills, working the uphills. Big deal, right? To me, it is. I am the slow fat 43 year old girl in the back. Not toward the back, THE VERY BACK. I know what it’s like to be last in a race. I was NEXT TO LAST of the Half Iron (full iron athletes were still out there) participants crossing the finish line, 9:27:46. I wanted to make 8 hours. Not even close. Know what? I finished. I was last of the Half Iron people coming out of the water. I didn’t quit. LAST coming off the bike into the run. I didn’t quit. I caught up with a nice lady, Shannon, and we stayed together on the run, even when she told me to go ahead. I was having fun and enjoying the scenery. My incredible husband was doing his first full, and because the bike route loops around itself twice (2 different loops), I got to see him three times on the bike (he blew past me the first time I saw him), and once on the run (out and back run). Shannon and I caught another two people, one stayed with us. When we got to the beautiful finish line, I let William and Shannon go ahead of me, so I was NEXT TO LAST at the finish. I didn’t quit. It was the hardest thing athletically I have ever done. I am primarily a runner, incredibly slow. I have completed 23 marathons, all but 2 in over 6 hours (average about 6.5 hours). I have had people, FRIENDS even, ask me, “Why do you bother?” and criticize because “slower runners drive up race prices, they have to keep the roads closed longer”. I have finally come to the point in my life when I don’t care what people think. I am not there for them. If the race course stays open for 7 hours, then I belong there. It takes a lot of heart to cross the finish line when nobody is there anymore, and they have taken down the timing mat (happened to me twice). I can honestly say right now that doing a Full Iron distance terrifies me. Most have a 17 hour time limit….I finished my half in 9.5. I have a lot of hard work ahead of me. One race, which will remain unnamed, states they have a 17 hour time limit, but it’s soft, athletes have told me they wait until the very last person crosses, which was over 19 hours last year, on a flat course. Doing a full century bike ride terrifies me. I have only gone 56 thus far. I suck at hills. However, if we don’t do what terrifies us, we are stuck. I have two mantras I use during races “It’ll come” (said to me by a swimmer at another triathlon) and “Relax”. I also like “Fall down seven times, get up eight”. I have held off signing up for this event. I have been driving my husband crazy asking about this event, asking about the hills. Worst case scenario? I don’t finish. The world won’t even. But I won’t quit trying. I have also lost 17 pounds thus far, and cycling has been a big part of that. I have fallen in love with the sport, and it will only get better from here. I realize this is long and rambling, but believe me, it’s from the heart.

I rode and finished the metric century fun ride by Sikad ng Bayan ( Pedaling for the Nation) which started and ended at Yorba Regional Park yesterday 20APR2013. It was a fun ride benefitting the housing program for the poor in the Philippines. Great SAG, great route and outstanding post ride lunch right there at the park! Felt great after the 5-hour bike trek.

I completed an 80 mile ride yesterday, started in PQ, climbed the three witches, all the way to Lakeside, climbed 52 and looped back to where we started. I kept repeating ‘Shut up legs!’