Saturday, May 23, 2009:

Coach Marc decided on a 55 mile ride starting at his place followed by a BBQ.  He invited the SNJ team as well as the Montauk riders to join us.  It was a blast.  It was good to ride with my Montauk teammates again, and we’ve all pretty much decided to keep in touch over the summer and get together both to ride and just to socialize.

Coach Marc plans great routes.  He took us back up into the Sourland Mountains, only this time we climbed up the back side of Lindbergh and came down the hill to stop at Peacocks.  The back side climb was challenging as well, but the downhill on Lindbergh is preferable over climbing up that hill.

We did a climb on a road called Long Hill, very appropriately named which Marc told me later was a lot like Spooner will be in Tahoe, only shorter.  I’ve heard so many things about the Spooner climb at mile 80 in Tahoe.  I hear the grade is not too bad but it goes on forever or at least for 6-8 miles and, of course, it’s at mile 80 or thereabouts, so it’s going to be tough.

I noticed my legs were not screaming at me as a result of me raising my seat, and I think I like the change.  I also moved my seat back about ½ inches and I’m not sure I like that change as much as it causes me to rest differently on the saddle.  It’s something to get used to before I make a final decision on whether or not to move it again.  I do think I need to raise my handlebars a bit though, as I noticed I was leaning a little too low.  Overall, though, I think I prefer the sizing changes.  In addition to the leg extension changes, the seat adjustment allowed me to bend a little more at the hip causing less strain on my lower back.  I have no residual soreness or tightness today in my shoulders. I think that with just a minor adjustment on the handlebars I’ll be much more comfortable on the bicycle.  I finished the 55 miles at a respectable 13.5 mph average for me, slightly faster than my normal averages, so I think I'm OK.

The Montauk team told us about the pouring rain during their century ride last Sunday and how the victory party was a bit anti climatic, and I felt bad for them for that.  They wished us luck at our event in two weeks and everyone agreed on a reunion ride and a get together sometime for the end of June.

We turn our bikes in to the trucking company this coming Thursday for the transport to Lake Tahoe, so the few short rides I’ll get this week by myself will be it for my training.  Next week, since I don’t have a second bike will be mostly gym work outs just to keep me flexible and then on 6/4/09 I’m off to Tahoe for my very first century ride.

I feel good, I feel ready, and I feel nervous.

I want to say “Thank You” to everyone who donated money to help me meet my fundraising goal.

I will be blogging again at the latest once I’ve completed my event on June 7, 2009.

Tahoe here I come!

Saturday, May 16, 2009:

85 miles, actually, it was closer to 87.  We travelled up through Ravine Lake, then into Peapack and Gladstone where we climbed up the monster that is Fairmount.  Then we headed toward Round Valley again, and this time I actually rode up to and around the lake not suffering any bicycle breakdowns or bad weather.  Coach Allison put Hunter on the route at mile 77, so I was a bit nervous most of the day wondering if I would finally make it up Hunter. 3^rd time’s the charm was my mantra all day.

The Southern New Jersey TNT team joined us this weekend, as most of our Montauk team mates were well on their way for tomorrow’s Montauk Century.  The weather was predicted to be stormy and I was hoping that it would hold off for them for the duration of their ride.  Even with the SNJ team joining us, we were a notably smaller group of riders this week.

I was fighting off an ear infection and had been on antibiotics all week, so I was feeling a little tired at the beginning of the ride, but I was excited to be doing another 80+ miler.

We started out in our normal location in Basking Ridge with a short detour around a town fair that was also scheduled for May 16^th.

The SNJ coaches were very different from our coaches.  A bit more involved in pace lining and keeping together as a group.  I learned quite a few new things from Coach Frank from the SNJ team and from Gene who is also in training to be a coach for TNT.  I never used my big chain ring so much as I did on this ride.  Frank had me switching into the largest chain ring to catch up with the group, when I was well below 20mph.  I found this worked quite well and will have to experiment more with this technique.  Frank wanted me to power up most of the hills, and I had to explain that powering up a hill was not happening at this stage of my training.  I was happy to make it up the hills without my heart rate going into zone 5.  Frank also suggested that I raise my seat as he didn’t think I was getting full leg extension on the hills.  Coach Natasha had recommended this several times during the season, and two bicycle shops said that they though my seat was sized correctly.  Coach Allison recommended I not make major changes this close to my event, and Coach Marc said he thought past the sizing guidelines that most of it came down to personal preference.

I was taking my bicycle into the shop for its last maintenance this week, so I decided to have the seat raised, and I marked where it had been.  If I hate it or it hurts my legs too much to make the adjustment, I’ll move it back down.  I’ll be riding some short 20 milers during the week before next weekend’s ride, so I think I’ve got some time to see if it helps me.

I made the whole ride at 12.3mph average.  A little slower than normal, but the hills were very challenging and I had been feeling a little tired at the onset of the ride due to the antibiotics.

I made every single hill including Hunter at mile 77 and was feeling quite pleased with my progress.

Coach Allison & Coach Marc said that we’d start tapering next week and probably only do a 50-60 mile ride for our last team ride next Saturday May 23, 2009.  Coach Allison told me she thought I was really ready for Tahoe and that made me feel really good.  I have really improved tremendously since that first training ride back in January.

I’m wishing all my Montauk teammates a successful ride and I’m starting to get both nervous and excited about Tahoe being 3 weeks away.

Saturday May 9, 2009

I was so happy that the rain held off, I was not looking forward to riding 80 miles in the rain.

Coach Marc sent out an email broadcast to the team on Thursday to prepare us;

“We have a great ride planned.   We will be doing some of our favorite roads and we will be adding several new roads as we head out to Ringoes.  So like they say go west young man go west. We will bike across a one lane bridge as we enter Neshanic and flee market country, climb into the wondrous Sourland mountains and all their legends,  ride along the ridge and come down into Unionville winery and then out to Ringoes.  We will start our return on a longgg straight away rt 514 / old York / Amwell where we should have a traditional tail wind so enjoy.”

It really was a great route, beautiful countryside, lots of horse farms, lama farms and as for that tail wind; it blew the other way and became a headwind.  I was riding with 3 of my teammates on the Montauk team for the whole day.  We had a great time.  Next Sunday is their event, so this ride was my last long ride with them.  I wish them success, and I know we’ll keep in touch and run some short fun rides during the summer so we’ll get to see each other.

They called me “hill girl” all day, and threatened to get me a cape.  I laughed and felt good about that all day.  I was feeling good at mile 70 when we hit Lamington, so I tore out over the rollers and maintained a 15.8mph - 18mph pace for the 4 miles approaching Liberty Corners.  I have only done the hill at Liberty Corners once before, and it’s a monster.  I’m not sure whether I just had nothing left from the Lamington roll, or whether I psyched myself out when I made the turn and remembered the climb, but about ½ up the hill, I had to stop, drop and walk a bit to get my heart rate down.  I beat myself up pretty badly over that, but got back on the bicycle well before the top to finish slowly but surely.   So much for “hill girl”?!

I finished in 6 hours and 19 minutes or an average of 13 mph for the whole ride.  This is real progress for me since that first training ride in January when I averaged 6.5 mph for a 10 mile ride.  I think I’ve got my food and hydration regimen down pretty good, no bonking, no headaches, and no stomach distress at all. I even had leftovers which made me laugh, but gave me something to eat when I finished the ride and returned to my car. 

Our Lake Tahoe kickoff meeting is on May 21, 2009 and that’s when we pack up and leave our bicycles to the trucking company for transport to our event.  Next Saturday is our last long ride before Tahoe.  I’ll have to do a lot of work at the gym after the 21^st as 2.5 weeks of tapering is going to be too long for me not to be riding.  If there’s a downside, it’s that we don’t have the weekend of Memorial Day for one more 80 mile ride and I don’t have a 2^nd bicycle to do an 80 miler on my own.

I’m starting to get excited and a little nervous about event day. I know I’m well trained.  I would have never thought I’d be feeling this confident six months ago when I signed up for this adventure. 

Sunday’s ride is cancelled due to Mother’s Day, and my next ride is a short one this coming Wednesday.  Coach Allison is the ride coach next Saturday and I’m hoping she goes with the long ride instead of a shorter one.  She seemed a bit concerned that another long ride next Saturday would put us at 3 weeks of 75+ miles, so next Saturday’s ride will be a surprise for me.  Whatever Coach Allison brings, I’ll be ready!

I cancelled my ride today because my puppy had to have knee surgery.  I picked her up on Friday and she was not able to walk on all fours, so I needed to stay home with her to make sure she could get around.  Prognosis is good, and she’ll be good as new in about 4 weeks.