Training for ACL5

oh i feel fine today. just a little sore more from sitting on saddle but not actual muscle soreness. and my right wrist hurts a little when i rotate it, but that's sort of my gimp wrist that i've injured before and acts up from time to time when i use a mouse.

yeah, i do wushu. :) hmm dunno if i'm gonna get bike shoes or not. i actually have toe clips for my bike, but i wasn't that comfortable on a bike to begin with so the LBS just took them off for me and said i could put them back on whenever i got more comfortable.

liksani

"yeah, i do wushu. :)"
oh right, I do Aikido. gals, liksani is flexible. My knees can't do those low stances anymore :(

"hmm dunno if i'm gonna get bike shoes or not."
I highly reccomend them, ask the gals here for reccomendations. You're on a looooooong ride, your feet will thank you for the support. Plus you get more power into the bike.

"i actually have toe clips for my bike, but i wasn't that comfortable on a bike to begin with so the LBS just took them off for me and said i could put them back on whenever i got more comfortable."
uncomfy how? :confused:

oh just uncomfy in the general sense of not being on a bike since elementary school? and i wasn't used to having the seat set where it was since my vague memories of a bike in elementary school was with a lower seat. ;) tho that could be my crappy faulty memory too. yeah i somewhat abuse my feet... poor feet, they're happy i stopped doing long distance runs tho they'll be sad when i start up again.

Think I'm going on the velogirls south bay ride on Sat and the ALC CAT2 ride in Sunnyvale on Sunday. Any of you guys going to either? :)

after to much rain, I got back on the bike and rode Canada road, with some of my fundraising teammates, week before last, and the Tiburon mini loop last Sunday. The Camino Alto hill was a challange and comming down the other side was hard.

I"m at the gym twice a week and doing cardio three times a week.

Amidst all this, I'm battling the inability to sleep all night, and signifigant job stress, but may have turned the corner on that thanks to the pharmaceutical industry. I wish I could be unemployed for six months!

Ride On!

liksani, sounds like you're getting more comfy on the bike?

"...i wasn't used to having the seat set where it was since my vague memories of a bike in elementary school was with a lower seat. ;)"

Sounds counterintuitive but you're often more comfy with the seat higher.

I imagine in Wushu as in Aikido you move from the balls of your feet, right? You don't turn kinda rocked back on your heels. That's so your feet are aligned with your knees are aligned with your hips are...also gives you more power at least I think it does plus it protects your knees.

Same thing on a bike.

You pedal from the balls of your feet for the alignment and to get all the power available from your legs. At least that's the way it feels to me.

Sometimes to do that you have to raise the seat a bit.

What you want to see is at the bottom of your pedal stroke (6 o'clock) your knee should be straight but not locked with the pedal at the ball of your foot. If at 6 o'clock your knee is bent...you may want to raise the seat a bit to "take the slack outa your leg".

Does that make any sense? So if you're feeling like the seat is low, next time you ride watch or have someone check for you at that 6 o'clock position is your knee bent? Are you pedaling from the ball of your foot? If not, may want to play with some small adjustments to the seat.

One of the many good things about clipless or toe clips is they keep your foot in that position.

"...yeah i somewhat abuse my feet... poor feet, they're happy i stopped doing long distance runs tho they'll be sad when i start up again."

but they'll be happy with the rest and with the strength for your "cycling muscles" so keep ridin' :)

I have to work Saturday :( So i won't make the Cindy ride :( I will look into the South Bay Sunday ride.

Shadon, sorry to hear that work sucks. That's why I'm glad for the day off today. But trust me, I wouldn't wish unemployment on anyone. Hope it gets better soon.

: Hill Slug slimes into the forum :

It's been kinda quiet on my end. I changed jobs which was a good thing. I kinda stopped riding, which is a bad thing. I started back up this week, good thing. I had some conflicting calendar issues with the ALC ride, so I had to withdraw, bad thing. I am able to to the NorCal AIDS Challenge, good thing. So now I'm slowly getting back into the groove. I do plan on riding the Cinderella, and may even have a couple other friends ride it too. Since I'm now a corporate citizen, I won't be able to come up too early on Friday before the ride, so I probably won't be able to meet up for dinner.

It's good to be back....:)

: HS returns to work :

Hill Slug, howdy stranger! Let's see if I can keep track we have a good thing, bad thing, good thing, bad thing, good thing, bad thing lastly good thing, right? oh I'm lost....well be that way, make me change my footer.

Welcome back, now get back to work.

HS- Wondered where you were all this time. Sorry to hear about ALC5-, but maybe next year!

Liksani- Now some tips for you. When you are pedaling uphill (and in general) practice pedaling with your heel DOWN as far as you can get it. It will feel strange at first, BUT this is the way to get the most power from your legs.

I learned this trick from my dear bike club buddies, and believe me, they aint no guys in a diner. Most of them have been riding 20-30 years and ride both here in the USA and in Europe.

It took me awhile to learn this stroke, but I am a stronger rider for it. Like I say, practice, practice, practice! Hills will get easier for you, I PROMISE!:) :)

Bike Goddess "Hills will get easier for you, I PROMISE!:) :)" yeah promises promises ;) :cool:

Seriously liksani, what BG sez.

The ride's not a race but BG rode every mile and was amoung the first to get in each day. I literally had to remind her to sloooow down, enjoy the ride, stop and watch the puppet show at rest stop 4.

I wanna be BG when i grow up :p

TREK- Get your heels down, and ye shall grow up! :p :p :p :p :p :p :p

For those of you who have done the AIDS ride and know David McDevitt's two-day Russian River ride, you'll be pleased that the event is returning this year. Positive Pedalers will be sponsoring this event as a replacement for the Jonathan Pon Century; in fact, it will be called the Jonathan Pon Russian River Ride.

The dates are May 13 and 14. I am not sure of the exact start location yet, though it will likely be in Sausalito. The destination will be Cassini Ranch in Monte Rio. Day two will likely be short ride to the mouth of the Russian River, hang a left and whoopeee! Ride down the coast, into Point Reyes Station, may include the Marin Headlands.

Pre-registration will be required, there will be a maximum number of participants (about 150), a registration cut-off date, and a fee to cover the cost of support, gear, two meals and camp rental. Riders will need to furnish their own tents.

It's a beautiful route and nice 2 day tour. I do not know yet if it's limited to ALC riders only, although my hunch is if it does not fill up others can ride. Check the ALC site or with one of your TE gals if you wanna go.

Last time I did this ride i got lost :cool: ;) so I hope to do it again just not the getting lost part. the take home lesson was "just because you see a rider ahead and they turn right, does not mean that I turn right"

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ian+river+ride

::surfs off to try to arrange overnight dog-care for Mae::

I helped lead a 30 mile training ride for the AIDS ride yesterday, I don't know my exact mileage, adding to and from BART and since I swept at the end I had to double back a couple of times it was probably 40.

Great ride, decent route and a great group. it was nice to take advantage of a brief window of good weather here.

Tut tut, looks like rain today and for the next few days. Good excuse for a rest day. Maybe get my taxes done. I have a massage appointment and will drop by and see Spazzdog too.

As I took BART out yesterday I thought "the hills are looking very green. Oh hills, we're in the hills, OY, gonna ride hills".

We had about a dozen riders and 5 ride leaders. We warmed up, I did the obligitory safety speach and we headed out.

The ride starts with a long but gentle hill, y'all know I'm not fast or good at hills but was complimenting myself that on my first long group ride of the season I'm "keeping up with the guys" then I look down.

Oh, I'm in my small chainring, usually on a hill like that I'd be in the middle on a low gear in rear deraileur. This is NOT a granny gear hill for me. Alrighty then, doing pretty good. Without really thinking about it I've geared down to stay behind the group. Could easily be with the faster pack.

Well, it is a Cat 1 ride after all.

One guy was clearly struggling so I hung back with him. He's got some serious structural issues with his knee, not just the brace he wears but each time he got off the bike I feared his ankle would roll, the muscles around his ankle are very weak and they are supporting one big big guy, well over 6 foot. So his right side is compensating and his right leg cramps up frequently....OY.

We talked about some things he can do about the ankle. bike fit of course but also....

I wear a knee brace that's a marvel of modern engineering, not on the bike but in Aikido. I made some suggestions to "prop up" the ankle, hung back behind him and gently reminded him to spin up hills not push a big gear to flush out the lactic acid that's cramping him up.

He's got two water bottles but no electrolyte, that's not helping either.

He said spinning helps. Ultimately he wisely accepted a ride back in about 6 miles from the end. Since I was sweeping I rode the last hill in alone and got a well deserved downhill into Orinda.

Another thing for the new riders is diet. You can't expect to skip breakfast or eat very little and go out and ride or train hard. At a rest stop we'd talked and seveal of the riders had either not had breakfast or "yeah, I ate a lot, I had a banana and coffee".

Well, no wonder you struggle hills ;-)

Haha, I swear I eat a ton. So that's not why I struggle up the hills. :D

liksani "Haha, I swear I eat a ton. So that's not why I struggle up the hills. :D"

it's all fuel :D