Other Side of Chalk Hill Road

aka_Kim:

My husband just informed me that I've probably given you the wrong impression. He says I go the easy way on Chalk Hill Road and that coming up the other side of Chalk Hill Road is the difficult part. He says the Wine Country Classic comes up Chalk Hill from the other side. So I guess that pretty much tells me how out of shape I am if I can't even do the easy part without great difficulty. Anyway, just wanted to let you know because I didn't want you to have a better opinion of my athletic prowess than is justified.

When I first started, I remember having to walk up 3-4% grades! Even getting over the freeway overpasses seemed hard. Later on I LIVED on a 22% grade and I would ride home up it. It does get way easier. Clipless pedals are a must.

Biance Babe:

I'm right there with you! I'll be so glad when I don't have that panic that sets in when you realize you've already shifted to your easiest gear and you have no more left! :confused: At least not on the tiny hills it's happening on now!!

Sounds like this sport rewards time - with time we'll get it! :)

Grasshopper:

You said it! How long have you been cycling? Do you find when you shift into your lowest gear that you pedal real fast but don't seem to get up the hill any faster and you just seem to be almost standing still? It seems like that is what happens to me.

DoubleLori:

I too, have been finding the overpasses difficult and I am glad to hear they will improve. Actually, there is one overpass that I have to go on to ride into the next town to visit my sister and I have noticed that that one has gotten a little easier.

Bianchi Babe - Hey, easy side of the hill, hard side, who cares. When I started riding about 10 years ago I couldn't ride even little bumps in the bike path without gasping for air, now I gasp for air on Mt. Diablo. It does get easier. And I'm impressed with anyone who makes the decision and the effort to get fit, so don't worry, I don't think I have the wrong impression.

You don't necessarily want to shift into your LOWEST gear on every hill. (That's why you have so many gears on the bike.) Find the gear that enables you to keep your cadence (pedal revolutions per minute) similar to what you ride on flatland (should be at least 80rpm and preferably higher), and that allows you to keep your heart rate from going too high. A cycle computer with cadence attachment and a heart rate monitor can help you get the feel for it.

aka_Kim:

You've given me hope. I can see a future ahead even if it isn't right away.

DoubleLori:

I hear what your saying and it actually makes sense to me. My husband was complaining that I hadn't shifted into the lowest gear going uphill last weekend and the reason was the very one you mentioned! Do you think the cadence/heart monitor device is necessary at a beginning stage? Because I was kind of thinking that first I would get used to riding. Then try the straps on the pedals and then graduate to the cadence/heart rate monitor. I'm still trying to learn how to get on and off the bike without clobbering myself. My husband just looks at me and shakes his head. I don't why its so hard to get on and off the bike. Maybe because this is the first speed bike I've ever had. If they gave out clutz awards I'd win it for sure for the way I stop and get off.

Bianche Babe,

sorry I didn't reply to this sooner, somehow I missed it! I've only been riding for a month. All of this is completely new to me!!!! We're learning together - ha!

This weekend I had to ride in the gym both days - it was POURING rain!! I think I watched too many wet road falls on the tour this year - I'm scared of wet roads!

Good luck with the hills and happy riding!!!

I've ridden many miles in the rain and I've never fallen, but then I wasn't trying to go 35-50mph to win a race. Just go easy on the turns and you will be fine. Make sure you have good rain gear, and having a rain bike with fenders really helps! (You get far more spray from the wheels of an un-fendered bike that you get actually falling from the sky.) An old clunker with fenders from a thrift shop will help you stay fit in the rainy season.

I was caught in a monsoon like rain storm at Kiawah Island for the last 2 miles of one of my long rides. I just got tickled! I had to look out of the top of my sunglasses (it was sunny when I left) to see anything. I did play with my brakes to get used to how they feel in the rain -- once I pumped them a few times they seemed to catch. I'm sure you just shouldn't go too fast & give yourself plenty of time to stop in advance if possible. :D

I've had that same feeling going up hills before. I hate when I get the gears so easy, I'm like a hamster in a wheel. LOL I just switch back to a slightly more difficult gear if I have the energy -- sometimes at the end of my long rides, I'd rather spin than push. :D

Grasshopper:

After watching the tour this year I decided I wouldn't ride in the rain either. Or at least not until I can handle my bike good enough in fair weather and I think I have a long ways to go yet. We've been cycling for the same amount of time. when I was a kid my parents got me a bike for my birthday but they didn't know bikes were supposed to be fitted to you and neither did I so it was to big and I rode down a hill and fell flat on my face because I wasn't strong enough to put on the brakes. It was a manual bike with brakes that worked by pedaling backwards. Although I never really grew into the bike I did manage to learn how to work it so that by the time I was 12 I was riding for miles and up hills that would intimidate me now. I was known as the bike girl back then because I was the only person who rode a bike so much. Most people had horses. But once I got into high school I gave up cycling and now that I'm trying to get back into it, its turned into a whole scientific thing! It just amazes me and makes me wish that I had kept up with it.

DoubleLori:

I'm glad you mentioned having a fender bike for the rain. Don't know when I'll be riding in the rain but if and when I do I shall certainly remember what you said.

Hibiscus09:

I liked your analogy about a hamster in a wheel. It really hits home. I feel like when the cycling is that easy on the hill though that I am actually getting more tired than if I go up a gear. I'm not sure which is the best way. My husband says the lowest gear but I think I will reserve judgement until I read the women's cycling book. I have been reading some really old books that my husband had from high school and part of it made sense but my husband said the part that made sense to me was no longer true and it was outdated material. So I guess when my book comes today I'll really start learning things the right way.

Let me know how you like your book. I have "The Complete Book of Long Distance Cycling" and another training book by Lance Armstrong. I've really learned a lot by reading them but I wouldn't mind having one written by a woman.

Hibiscus09:

I will let you know how the book is. I should get it this afternoon. What is the book called by Lance Armstrong? I saw one at Amazon that was written by him and his trainer and I considered buying it but thought I would read the women's guide to cycling first. Gene, my husband, said he didn't think Lance's training regime would be suitable for me because he thought it would be to intense for my purpose. But although I have no aspirations to be a racer or to pass up other cyclists that are ahead of me, a common competitive thing here, I do want to return to being as good as I was as a kid. Maybe thats not possible but I do want to be good. I think cycling is one of the best exercises out there. Its much more strenuous then most people realize. Guess thats why all the good cyclists, including Gene, are skinny. I was thinking that the training regime that Lance and his trainer put together would be good just as training no matter what your goals were because its a training routine. Did you enjoy Lance's book, aside from learning stuff?

Yes, I like it! I pick it up & read it on and off (even though I've read through it once). It's called "The Lance Armstrong Performance Program -- 7 Weeks to the Perfect Ride" by Lance Armstrong and Chris Charmichael (his coach). It is more technical and suggests a heart rate monitor for training. It definitely is for the more serious cyclist. I certainly haven't progressed to that point yet (LOL) but am going to get a heart rate monitor for training after I finish this MS150.

yeah, I get in the little gears and I feel like at any minute I'm going to start rolling backwards while I'm pedaling forwards!!!

My first bike was way too big too and I didn't know how to ride it. I was a horrible learner and I guess it bugged my dad because after the tires went flat from lack of use in the garage he convinced me that I broke my bike and we didn't have money to fix it! so wrong!

Hibiscus09:

Hmm sounds like I should read it after this book. People talk about straps, clipless pedals, and heart monitors but I think I will probably wait until I get more proficient at riding before trying the complicated things. You know a step at a time.

Grasshopper:

That is exactly how I feel and I thought I was the only one. Sometimes I'm pedaling so hard and moving so slow up those hills and I'm so tired and I get scared I'm going to roll right down the hill backwards. Of course, should that happen, I would never be able to control the bike or anything. I'm sure I would crash. Its nice to know someone else feels like I do. Are there many hills where you live/ride?

LOL guys! Put on the brakes if you start going backwards!! :D If you can think of it, of course! I was trying to get my left shoe unclipped out of the pedal today & it wouldn't budge -- it never dawned on me to try the right! :D

Hibiscus09:

I haven't actually rolled backwards but the possibility seems to be quite prevalent when your pedaling as fast as you can and your going sooooo slow that you could walk quicker up the hill.

is it possible? I hope that's not as dumb a question as it sounds and please tell me it's not possible or my fears become real. :)

Bianche Babe - I'd like to say there are huge hills her, but not compared to the ones you see. We do have hills and we do have some good size ones, but I'm not riding them just yet. I live at the top of a hill though so if I do roll backwards all my neighbors will see!!! :)

Travel west of Raleigh at all and you're in the foot hills. Probably the same "hillwise" as you deal with, but without the altitude/lack of air issues. I am hoping to ride the blue ridge parkway next fall. It runs the ridge line of the NC and VA mountains. I have a lot of riding to do between now and then!

Grasshopper:

I admire you for setting such a goal. The Blue Ridge Mountains are pretty steep. I used to live in Arlington, Virginia. I thought Raleigh was in South Carolina.

Nah, right smack in the middle of NC. :)

I use to laugh at cyclist tryingt climb the mntns - now I have a goal to be one of them!!! Funny how life can change isn't it!

Grasshopper:

You probably guessed my geography isn't to good. I have a good friend who lives in Columbia but I think that is in South Carolina. I've forgotten as we email more than we write anymore.

Yes, it is amazing how things change. I have always been a sedentary person yet here I am trying to gain skill in riding a bike and working out at the gym every day. Sometimes twice a day as I have two friends who want to work out with me. I may never lose those extra 20 lbs. but they will probably be the most in shape or physically fit 20 lbs. ever with all this exercise. Have a good weekend and enjoy your riding.

No, you can't roll backwards. You may fall over, but you won't roll backwards.

Double Lori - I didn't think so, but had to check! :) I asked BF the same question and he calmly looked at me and said that I should take up hiking instead or cycling. :D

B-babe - there's a lot to be said for a healthy 20 lbs!! I'm trying to drop about 20 myself. So far I'm 2 1/2 down and I'd already dropped the water weight. Clothes fit just a little differently. My problem is that I LOVE to cook and people LOVE to eat at my house. It's a slow conversion from chicken parm to grill chicken and veggies - but I'm getting them there (and me too).

Happy cycling!! OH!!!!!! I went on the ride with the two big hills I have to walk up - I didn't have to walk at all!!!! AND my over all time was up 1/2 mph. I went 5 less miles because of the heat but they were flat miles anyway, so I was shocked when I saw my time!!!

Have a great weekend!!

That's great Grasshopper!!! Good job getting up the hills -- you have an great weekend too!

Grasshopper:

Thats great. Congradulations. I got injured last weekend so I haven't been able to ride for a week now. But the injuries seem healed up enough now so that this week, barring any unforseen circumstances I will be able to start over and try again. That is good news about your clothes fitting better too. I haven't lost any weight and my clothes don't seem to fit any better but one of my friends said she thought I looked thinner. Guess that is what fat in shape looks like.