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the rest of the weekend

Monday, April 16th, 2007

It was a good weekend, but man am I tired!

Got in over 162 miles of biking last week, and my biggest week ever was 163! And of those 162, a Saturday 35 mile ride involved 39 MPH headwind (up at the girls weekend), and a Sunday 75 mile ride involved rain (back down here and out through Rancho Cucamonga). Just keep pedaling…

Also got in 5 days of running last week, for a total of about 28 1/2 miles, which is also a pretty big week for me — 7th biggest ever, it looks like.

Swam this morning. It started off a bit rough. I just wasn’t feeling it, and was just going through motions. My mind wasn’t in it. Zoned out even more and started the main set: 6 repeats of 100 yards on 2min 10 sec, with the second 50 of each faster than the first 50. Well suddenly I noticed my time was about 1:55 on these! I’m usually around 2 min/100, so that was good. Then I got to the next part of the main set: 6 repeats of 100 yards on 2min 10 sec with each 100 faster than the one before it. Well the first one was on 1:54 and I thought I was in for trouble hitting faster and faster times, but I did it! 1:54, 1:53, 1:50, 1:47, 1:45, 1:41… so basically I was able to do faster than my goal IM pace (1:49), and I never felt like I was going too crazy fast (except on that last one).

Had a pretty cool Saturday evening. I was up at the ST gal thing still (I ended up leaving that night as I just needed to sleep in my own bed and by my own boy) and ended up meeting Mike part way there to get the bike case from a girl who had gone up through my house but found another ride down the next day. I mentioned I was going to do a bike fit with Dan that evening, and so he ended up coming back up with me. Dan is sort of THE bike fitter. He designed the main certification for fitting triathlon bikes, and was a huge part of developing tri bikes in the first place! So this was definitely a cool treat (and Mike hopes to take his class, so wanted to see him in action)! Since he was busy this weekend, he was only going to do a 10 minute “no foreplay, no cuddling” fit (it can take 2-3 hours for a first round). But he loves his work, and we got in a groove, and an hour and a half later we were wrapping up! And my bike already feels much better, and I have a few adjustments left to do on it (getting a different stem, for one). Man I’m lucky I was able to do that.

Posted in biking, mike, Planet X, running, swiming, Training Thoughts | No Comments »

gals of slowtwitch training camp

Friday, April 13th, 2007

Ok, so I’m not really a trifuel trader… I actually post on trifuel, but very rarely on ST. However, the gals training weekend is in my backyard (about 1.5 hours away) so I decided to go. I’m there now — it’s Thursday (yesterday) through Sunday. Up in Valermo where Dan Empfield (of Slowtwitch and QR and tribike fame) and Mark Montgomery (who was a pro) have a great setup of housing and training routes and food and everything we could need.

Lots of girls and bikes and exercise… So far a run yesterday, a bike this am, a swim this afternoon, and some possible plans for a run this evening. And Emilio DeSoto (of DeSoto tri clothing) bought us all lunch. He brought some clothes stuff and we get to check it out later.

Oh and on my ride today my bike was still having chain issues and hopping a bit. Emilio was able to fix it though! He said it sounded like it could be a tight link or one slighly off (since it was a new chain and new cassette) and by just putting lateral pressure on it fixed it, and it was great the rest of the ride! So the ride was good.

Good times

Posted in biking, General, Planet X, running, swiming | 2 Comments »

another attempted ride

Sunday, April 8th, 2007

Here’s Mike and me ready to go out for a ride (click for a bigger version)!

The ride ended up not working as well as we hoped… and the 4 hours turned into about 35 minutes when we realized my chain was not happy — Mike had shortened it that morning, and the pin in the new link hadn’t gone through all the way. And we were out of pins… so the ride turned into a trip to a bike shop and a movie out. Blades of Glory is funny!!

Oh, and Mike did well at CA 70.3 — 4:37 (after a 4:35 goal). So that was great — he had forgotten to take into account how long the TA is, and as a first race really getting back into it, I’m definitely proud of how he did!

Posted in biking, mike, Planet X | 6 Comments »

cold hard truth

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

I’m frustrated. Enough that I asked Mike last night if there was a Lemon Law for bikes. Ever since ordering the PX bikes it has seemed like a fairly big hassle. Getting all the parts took a month (to the day) longer than we were told when we gave a credit card number, and that set me off on a bad foot.

Some issues to date:

a small scratch on the frame, and no resolution with PX
not getting the bolt for my cranks with the bike, and then not actually getting it until a month from the original expected bike arrival date (although we emailed them about it immediately – they kept saying they’d ship it with Mike’s cranks).
Mike picked cranks not in stock, being told it would be no problem to get them. Not only was it hard to get them, it was hard to even get info about when they might be available or how much longer we’d have to wait. I kept being told “I’ll look at it today and get back to you” and then having to call again later. I soon gave up calling and Mike started, and was able to get somewhat better results. This didn’t help my company impression as I felt you have to be male to get anything done.
very very inaccurate time estimates on everything, and never getting updates on delays
missing pieces when the bikes finally did ship: a crank bolt, tubes, brake cables, only one set of rim tape when we’d gotten 2 bikes (turns out I wish they forgot all of it as the strips that came with the wheels do NOT stay in place and are being replaced anyways after 2 flats as a result).

So this is my post of honesty (I made it on their forum as well). I waited since we are on their Tyros team, but right now Mike and I are not sure if we will stay on the Tyros team. Although we love the people we’ve met through the forum, we really are not sure right now if we’d recommend the company. Talking last night, it seems like all we’d say is that they are great bikes and ride really well, and that the company is very helpful on figuring out the size you need and getting your order made. But that you need to be ready for a much longer delay in getting the bike than you are told, and be ready to do a lot of leg work on your own to get all the pieces together (despite ordering a full bike kit).

The other team members and folks are fun people… that is part of why it has taken me a long time to even post about this. But at the same time, it’s been about a month since our last contact with PX where we expressed that we still weren’t very happy (esp with the delays in time and the scratch). I feel we’ve given them time to address our concerns, but nothing has happened.

I think my main complaint would be the customer service: not getting called back after PX said they’d check on something and let me know. I actually gave up on calling them as I felt I was bugging them (when I just wanted to know what was up with the components we were missing) and Mike ended up taking over calling since he has more patience than I do for what I consider professional incompetence. And that is sad since the great things we had heard was one of the 2 main reasons we picked PX bikes. At this point I feel they no longer care about our concerns, and Mike has quit telling me to be patient and coming up with excuses for them.

So yes, I love the bike and how it rides (when it makes it through a ride — in 4 rides I’ve had 2 interrupted by flats caused by the wheels and one by a brake issue). But I’m less than impressed with our contact with the company, and I’m disappointed in the number of hurdles and the lack of response from PX on them.

Posted in biking, Planet X | 5 Comments »

weekend tri-lights

Monday, March 19th, 2007

The bad:

shortened the Saturday ride due to time constraints
missed the Sunday ride completely with getting the new bikes (mine and Mike’s) more ready and doing tons of new house errands

The good:

Got into a karate class (although I don’t find I’m missing it much any more) and got movies on DVD of a bunch of my forms, so I can use them to refresh my memory.
Got in about 20 miles ON THE NEW BIKE! It rides beautifully! It doesn’t feel like anything is attached to the pedals it is so light, and I flew on it! Even with a headwind for the slight downhill direction and being on a slight uphill the return trip I held a good pace. And Mike was beside me on his bike, and time with him is also good
Saw a hockey game Saturday night (tri related since it was with the tri club ) and called a friend I haven’t talked to in a while just to learn HE IS ALSO AT THE GAME. So we met up at a break. Amuzing since my first hockey game ever, and about the 3rd time I’ve ever called the friend.
Got many errands done — including a bike rack for the kitchen! Man it looks hott with Mike’s Cervelo and PX and my PX on it! I’ll have to post a pic once I have one. Oh, and also got some new biking gear, which is always fun
My swim felt nice and comfortable this morning, and I was holding a better pace than lately!

Posted in biking, Life Outside of Tris, Planet X, swiming | No Comments »

mmm shiny

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

Yay! The new bike fits! Finally having the bottom bracket bolt and an hour when the fitter guy was in the bike shop, the frame is a good size for me! Basically all he did was look at me on a trainer and say “if I was going to fit you to that bike I would be able to get a good fit”. So now I can actually take it out on a ride!! I can’t wait… well, I guess I’ll wait for the brakes to be connected, the steerer cut, and the aerobars trimmed down. Maybe.

Click here for a bigger version.

Posted in pics, Planet X | 9 Comments »

longer and shorter than planned

Monday, March 12th, 2007

Yes, both in one ride. Started out with 80 in mind as Mike had to get to work and the time change stole an hour. We started out together as usual, each armed with nuun and a bar and a gel. It was nice out, and I even opted for the tank jersey. Mike took out his PX for the first time to start getting it dialed in since he is racing in a few weeks!

We split for a while, and then met up again for the path along the beach. I mentioned thinking about extending the ride a bit, and he said it might be good. After it (around mile 40) we planned to split for the day so that he could get home and to work soon. We did, and around mile 50 I decided to “not think, just do” as BBB tells me. So at mile 60 I turned around and went back down the path 10 miles to make it about 100 miles total.

But those 10 miles! Headwind, and pretty strong. I was feeling it, and the bar long gone sucked down the gu at 71 as I turned back. The first few miles felt easy and fast, and then the wind changed! So it was more headwind… and too much for me. I called Mike to find out where the nearest convenience store was as I was fading fast. I couldn’t see any from the path, but he knows the area better. Turns out I couldn’t see any since there aren’t any :-/ He had also bonked near the end of his ride and realized I had nothing left with me and had worried, so he wasn’t surprised to get the call, and offered to meet me at the one street the path crosses with whatever I wanted. I was still about 10 miles from it, but it was still 10 miles sooner than I’d get anything if I waited for home, so I took him up on it. I arrived to a smiling face complete with a bagel, coke, nuun, cold water, and gel!

Unfortunately, those 15ish miles of bonking were too much for my gut, and it was not so happy to have food added to the sloshing water, and I called it a day at 92 miles. But I did hydrate better than the last time when I did 101 miles with 2.5ish bottles… this time it was 7 bottles! Oh yeah, it ended up getting WARM! The high at our place was 96 for the day, so I’m sure that played a part in the long hard ride being so tough for me.

Oh and Mike says the bike felt good. Only issue was that the seatpost slipped a bit. But it felt sturdy and handled better than he expected for a TT bike, and he was generally pleased.

Something else Mike didn’t tell me until we were in the car on the way home… the headwind only got stronger the next 7 miles I was facing, and after that turn it wasn’t too bad to home. I’m glad he waited to tell me, since I didn’t let the wind stop my day, but I stopped because, as he said, why keep going at that point? We know the mental part isn’t my weakness…

Posted in biking, nutrition, Planet X, Training Thoughts | No Comments »

rides past and race hopes

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007

On the bike front, still waiting on a few pieces so there really hasn’t been much progress since Valentine’s day. Hopefully the final piece will arrive later this week and I’ll have cranks that are attached!

Tough ride for me this weekend. But it got hard before the ride ever started: with 2 FULL days at Disneyland with the nephews! So I was walking around, standing in lines, and carrying a 4 month old or a 2 1/2 year old at times. My shoulders and back were definitely sore from that, and getting on the bike I could already feel my legs were stiff. The great thing about having someone to ride with is that I just got on and rode anyways. So after a bit of a late start Mike and I did a loop I’d never done before (which is hard on him since then he has to come back at turns to make sure I know where to go — thanks Mike!). It went through Diamond Bar and Chino Hills, then through Carbon Canyon. It went to the Santa Ana bike path, up PCH, and up the San Gabriel path. From there we took Arrow Hwy back home as we were out of time. Total miles: 101. Yes, another at 101. I think just shorter than the other 101, but still pretty close to a longest training ride ever!

That’s the basics of it, but the part that sticks with me the most is WIND! Oh. My. Gawd. Headwind on the Santa Ana stole a lot of my speed, and it was at just the angle where I knew it would be there for PCH as well. And on PCH in Huntington Beach there was even rain! And right as it was raining, a lense popped loose in my sunglasses, and there was a sign that the road was closed to bikes, find a detour. Of course Mike was ahead, and all I knew was that I should stay on that road. And I figured he had — either not seeing the sign or not caring (turns out he never saw it). But I didn’t want him to have followed a detour sign and be waiting to make sure I had as well. Plus this was about 3-5 blocks from where I got hit by a bus training for IM AZ (although luckily it didn’t hurt me but just made me wipe out onto the sidewalk). So with that and how bad Californians drive in rain, I wasn’t in the mood for riding through a construction zone with no shoulder and signs saying to keep out. So I ended up on the bike path between the beach and the road, which meant with lots of people. Called Mike, and he did come back and I got back on PCH and the ride continued.

Finally I got to the San Gabriel with Mike a bit behind (as he stopped at a store to grab a snack for in a few miles and told me he’d catch me). Ahhhhh…. I felt a bit of that tail wind as I got on the path, and soon was cruising easily at a faster pace than I’d gone much of the day. Mike did catch me, and passed me, and I was back to chasing him. And then a few miles later… yup, you guessed it. The winds changed. My tailwind was now a head or side wind yet again. Mike was going to come back and let me draft if the winds picked up again, and a few times I expected to see him heading back. My knee started getting a bit sore, and I was definitely getting tired. Finally at about where we planned to meet up (but a bit earlier than I expected him to get back to me) I found out the winds had helped him much of the path… I was just behind where they were getting a bit unsettled. He’d had a tailwind for some nice easy fast sections in parts where I had a break from wind. Oh well… guess I just have to ride faster next time!

We made it to the top of the path, and back over to where I live. We passed Incycle about 10 minutes before the tri club meeting was going to start, but just kept going the 20 minutes to get home – we decided it was going to get cold enough that we’d rather be a bit late and not in damp biking clothes. And we did make it back in time for part of it.

Oh, as for my hydration on the ride… it sucked. I made it through like 2 and a half bottes in the 7ish hours we were out there (including stopping time). Oops. There were just sections I didn’t want to let go of the handlebars as I was being blown around!

As for the race hopes… last night I sucked it up and filled out the Kona Lottery application. I’ve never done it before, but I feel lucky this year. Plus since Mike has good hopes of qualifying, I’ll probably be there anyways. So I might as well race! We’ll see if anything comes of it though.

Posted in biking, Ironman, Planet X | 2 Comments »

another step closer

Thursday, February 15th, 2007

Last night Mike and I had a great Valentine’s date of working on getting the bikes built…

Where by “we” I mean Mike is doing most of it and I’m learning, helping where I can, and taking pictures!

Posted in pics, Planet X | 4 Comments »

UPS tracking status = delivered!

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007

About an hour after I left Mike’s office this morning (he kicked me out saying the bikes would be a while and etc) our bikes were delivered! At least he is getting punished, too — he’s not allowed to open the boxes til tonight and with me

Posted in Planet X | 2 Comments »