Love your bike, part II

I have already written about how much I love my bike, but this post is about tough love. On March 7, 2010 I went to San Diego to once more take part of the Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego, on his second presentation.

Of course, I registered for the century, 101 miles with about 4157 ft of ascent on a beautiful course around San Diego, outstanding organization, and this year offering a 53mile and a 32mile courses. And, of course, it was raining the whole course. Sorry, no pictures this time, the Iphone was in a plastic bag.

Instead of skipping to the shorter courses, I tried to complete the century, as it was the only one to offer a challenging KOM segment that killed my body last year. Unnecessary to say I paid for my audacity. The ride started under pouring rain, with 10 minutes delay waiting for the Amtrak train to pass, with all riders soaked to their underware. The extent of the damage was just felt at the first stop at mile 15: my computer had died, and I was uncontrollably shivering at lower efforts. I even took a wrong turn going into the shortest ride, when I decided to continue the daring enterprise.

I happilly did the KOM segment: 6.75 miles, grade 3%-12% (averaging 5.2%), total vertical of 1,858 feet, in 1:10:37, still very slow for a real ciclist, but about 20 min faster than last year (of course because of multiple rest stops...). But right after the KOM I noticed that my breaks weren't working properly, and when I had to stop with a flat rear tire, I saw my break pads were almost complete worn down, probably because of the sandy wet course.

At mile 67 I had to stop, as I was going to face more downhills, and I couldn't trust my breaks. That, and I had to wait for an hour in the rain for my wife to come to pick me up. At least I was able to complete a metric century, and do the KOM once more.

Now I know why, even if it is fun, the pros don't like to ride in the rain. And my love for biking killed my computer (now working again after drying for a week), my break pads (switched to higher quality ones) and my drivetrain (now switched to a real Shimano Ultegra).

My tough love to myself upgraded my bike, and taught me new lessons. Waiting for the next year's new lessons...

Chinese Thigh Destroyer

One week after Surf City, I had a busy weekend on February 7-8, 2009. With the rainy forecast, it was exciting and exotic to have a Saturday bike ride followed by a Sunday 10K race in Chinatown.

I can tell I have learned my mature bike riding skills in group bike rides. After buying my bike in April/08, I only did long rides in fun crowded groups: City of Angels Fun Ride (35Miles) and LA River Ride (70 Miles). That was why Firecracker Fun Bike Ride 20 Miles was attractive, over a well-known course to me. I rode about 5.9 miles to the course and back home, increasing the total mileage.

Because of the wet previous night, just about sixty riders came to the start, but it never rained during the ride. It was a blast to run over wet and muddy streets, with police motorcycles closing the streets. At the finish I had my first Chinese post-race meal. I took the opportunity to get the race packet for the next day’s race.

That afternoon I slept extra two hours to ensure recovery.

Next morning I came to the start line with tired thighs and mildly sore hamstrings, and I knew it would be hard to achieve the goal time of less than 50 minutes. The course had a surprising uphill over the first two miles, for what I was not prepared. Total number of runners for the 5 and 10K was more than five thousand, mostly students, making this event a huge party with strong smell of tiger balm. It was drizzling, creating a cold start and a muddy course.

I can say I had the best views of Los Angeles, running on Elysian Park around the Dodgers Stadium. All runners should come at least once to have pictures, but be warned about the uphill. Afraid of creating an injury a week before Sarasota Marathon, I had to slow my pace in the ascent and descent.

Finish time was 53:05, not bad for all my concerns during the race.

That afternoon I slept extra three hours.

Pictures: I am getting better on the Iphone!