What am I thinking???

Well, I've gotten a taste of what I'm in for and I have alot of work to do before I'm ready for the Death Ride in July. My friend Casey and I were supposed to go for a ride yesterday, but he came down with the same cold that everyone else has been suffering with, so I was solo. I decided to do a local ride since I have the Santa Monica Mtns. in my back yard and I need to start working on my climbing skills.
I left the house at 9 bundled up for the worst. It was COLD out and looked like it might rain. Not very inviting, but my cycling buddy Erin called me a wimp so I had to go just to prove her wrong. I headed out Agoura Rd. and took my time getting to the 2 mile climb past the Rock Store on Mulholland. This climb is beautiful, but winding and steep with an 8% grade. The base of the climb is at 754 ft. and the top is 1820 ft. It's quite popular with cyclists, and there were a fair number of them out there despite the cold. It's also a favorite of the cafe racer set, and those guys scare me as they come tearing around the turns on their japanese motorcycles. Fortunately there weren't too many of them yesterday. I think the wet roads probably scared them off.
I made it to the top and felt pretty good. I made a stop at the lookout but the view was completely covered in clouds. There was some blue sky peeking through, so there was a light promise of the day warming up some.
From there I continued on to Kanan Rd. and hit the stop sign at the same time as a Ferrari club. There were 6 to 8 of them out for a morning drive (race) through the canyons. All the cars were beautiful, and all of them made a point of tearing out across Kanan from the stop sign.
Once I turned onto Kanan and was just starting the first descent my front tire went flat. Thank god it happened there and not during the fast downhill just before Kanan hits PCH. I pulled over and took my time changing it. Found the problem spot and used an empty gu packet to cover up the whole in the tire. Guess it's time for new ones! I love the feeling of self sufficiency. I'm getting where I'm going on my own power, and solving the problems encountered right there on the road. Not exactly survival skills, but at least I didn't have to call Jim to come pick me up.
Continued on Kanan all the way to the beach. I've never ridden that canyon before, and I thought the traffic would make it a bit scary, but it was really a nice ride with lots of terrific views of the ocean and alot of fast downhills. I'm getting braver with the descents, and am comfortable now with 35 to 40 miles an hour, as long as I don't think about what would happen to me if my tire blew out.
Hit PCH and made a left turn to head south. My plan was to take Latigo Cyn. back up to Mulholland and home, but I really needed to find a bathroom at that point, so I went a bit farther south to the 76 station at Corral Cyn and took a short break. Bought a cliff bar and some water, rearranged my clothing situation since the sun was now out and it was quite a bit warmer, at least on the beach side of the mountains.
Once I had refueled and reorganized, I headed back up the coast for Latigo. This is a LONG 8 mile climb to the first summit with a grade that averages 6%. It starts at sea level (61 ft.) and tops out at 2137 ft. I've only done this once before, and that was when I was doing alot of consistent riding. My memory was that it wasn't that bad, just long.
Well, I haven't been riding consistently lately, and not been doing much climbing at all, so by the time I got to the first summit I was DONE. And the worst part was that I thought the first summit was the ONLY summit, so when I started the downhill and then discovered I had to start climbing again I was very discouraged. Psychology has SOOO much to do with climbing, and at that point I wasn't feeling particularly positive about anything except the fact that I just wanted to go home. Also, the weather had gotten REALLY cold again, and the clouds were quite dark.
I finally made it to the REAL summit and headed for home. I hadn't bothered to put my leg warmers back on so my legs got quite cold. I'm sure this contributed to them feeling like lead weights when I had to start spinning again. My right knee was also starting to ache from the cold. But at this point I just wanted to get home.
I seriously condsidered just stopping, sitting down at the side of the road and giving Jim a call to come rescue me. But then Erin's wimp comment would rear it's ugly head and I knew I had to finish what I started.
More short climbing back up Mulholland to Decker, then the fast downhill into Westlake. Fortunately the last few miles are nice and flat bike paths so I was able to spin out my legs and cool down. By the time I got home I could hardly move.
Total ride time was 3:42, but I left the house at 9 and didn't get home until 2. Total ascent was 6961 ft. Total descent was 7021 ft.
A long day, and now that I'm looking back on it I can say that it was a good accomplishment. But if you had asked me yesterday I would have told you that I never want to do that again!

First Ride of the Year/First blog of my life

Well, this whole blogging thing is new to me so please be patient. I'll try not to bore you to death. I've started this as a way of tracking this year's training for myself as well as for those who actually care enough to want to read about my rides. I'm going to start carrying a camera with me so I can show you what I see when I'm out riding, and hopefully that will up the interest factor.
I'm getting ready to do Aids Lifecycle again this year (yes, another 545 miles!) as well as the Death Ride in July. If you want to find out more about that you can check it out at: http://www.deathride.com/ And as training for THAT ride, I'm going to attempt to finish all three stages of the "King of the Mountains" challenge. More info on that can be found at: http://www.planetultra.com/KOM/index.html
I know you're all shaking your heads right now and wondering why no one has called the van to have me picked up. But I have to have goals for the year, and if they're not difficult to achieve then what's the point???
I went for my first ride of the year today. Not a long one, only 23 miles on a route that I ride frequently for training, as it has a couple of pretty good climbs and lots of nice rolling hills. There also isn't alot of traffic which makes a huge difference in the enjoyment factor. I rode out through Hidden Valley, which is one of the best kept secrets of L.A. as far as I'm concerned. Once you get to the top of the first hill and start your descent, you find yourself in a valley covered with horse farms and cattle ranches. Miles of white fencing and fields of green (for now!) always makes me feel as if I've landed in Kentucky somewhere. The first big ranch on the right belongs to Rupert Murdoch and has got to be the largest ranch in the valley. It's a very beautiful and scenic ride through the valley, and at the end is the second big climb. It's not long but it's pretty steep and winding, and I was definitely winded when I got to the top. It's been awhile since I've done alot of consistent riding, and I could feel the difference. I wasn't as strong getting to the top as I was by the end of training last year, so I have some work ahead of me. It's a LONG fast descent from there into Newbury Park, and from then on it's mostly rolling hills all the way back home. The weather was fairly decent when I left the house, but by the time I got to the back end of the valley it was socked in fog, and by the time I got home I was FREEZING. I hadn't really dressed for THAT kind of cold, so I was very happy to get in the front door and get warmed up. All in all, for the first ride of the year it wasn't too bad. Being out in the cold like that always reminds me of being a kid outside playing. We don't do nearly enough of that as adults. I don't know why. But the feeling of coming inside after running around out in the cold is the best. The only thing missing is hot chocolate waiting for me on the counter.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!