Alc 2009

[ClockworkOrange]

Cheers Trek for explaining.

I am now in even more 'aweness' than I was before, in fact I must increase the amount I was going to sponsor her for.

Like so many others, I wish I had discovered riding many, many years ago.

Thanks again Trek.

Clock

[Trek420]

Is "aweness" a word? Well it is now

Everything I know that let me to do this ride before I learned right here on TE Yeah, there were club rides and official ALC training rides and I even led training rides one year ...

But the stuff that really made it work ... right here on TE. This is still the best place in cyberspace for women (and some men) cyclists.

Long live TE. Other than UK & Dr. Duck is there anyone else on the board doing the ride this year and are we gonna have a TE tent section?

[ClockworkOrange]

Is "aweness" a word? Well it is now ...............

Awê-ness noun. The name of an annual charitable awareness-campaign of which the highlight is a youth-rock festival


And I thought I had introduced the word into the English language.............

Clock

[ACG]

I am riding, I am number 1220. This is my fourth ride. I am riding with a very good friend who has wanted to do this ride for a long time now.

I just wrote a great request for donation letter. I'm doing a mass mailing now. I even got the aids lifecycle, watermark on the paper! I'm so excited to do this again. Best of luck to all in the TE family

Here is my letter:

At some point in your life you realize there is more than your little circle of the world. This is why I ride. I ride the AIDS lifecycle, 454 miles, to see outside my circle. I ride across a desert to know there is more to life. I ride behind my friends to feel a semblance of togetherness. I ride in the morning to see my home in a new light. I ride at my age to show my daughters that someone over 45 can do anything they can do. I ride every day to keep something familiar in this ever changing world. I ride on holidays to feel the freedom of an empty street. I ride with extra tubes to know that if I fall I can ride again. I ride and I ride and I ride. And if I could do anything right now, I’d be ridding. I ride to breathe deep. I ride to stand tall. I ride to fall hard and I get back up to prove that I can. I ride because one day I felt like seeing the world. And I continue ridding because I haven’t seen it all yet. With two wheels moving fast and my legs pedaling hard, I ride to experience something more than myself. I ride to live.I will ride the Aidslifecycle ride from May 31 to June 6 so that people with Aids, people of all colors, all religions, all ages can live with Aids. Please donate to my Aidslifecycle ride. You may use the website link highlighted on the form attached or use the form and mail it in.If nothing else wish me good thoughts and prayers May 31 to June 6, while I ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
With much love, Audrey Urquidi

[Trek420]

So there will be a TE tent section, yes? We have 3 on the ride so far.

[uk elephant]

Hi ACG! What a great letter! Inspirational! Hope to meet you on the ride...

I have finally gotten back into training. December was a bit of a wash-out with Crohn's problems and then the Christmas chest cold. The chest has still not recovered, but the rest of me has so I thought I had better get started. Cycling to work every day and now that I have moved to Wales that means 4 miles each way with a killer hill on the way to work. And with all this rain, it is turning almost into a triathlon event as the path is flooded in one bit and if the water rises any more I'll have to swim across it! I have also joined the gym here at work and have been for a swim every morning (since yesterday ). Also planning to join the pilates class tonight and the yoga class monday nights. And I may alternate swimming with gym work some days. Longer bike rides will have to be week-ends for now until it gets lighter out so I can see where I'm going when I explore new roads.

[melissam]

*Peeks head up*

Stats? Did someone ask for stats from the ALC? Well, I happen to keep track of just about everything while I ride, so I have stats for ALC7 (2008)!

Between my Garmin 305 and Shimano Flightdeck, here's what we have:

Total Mileage: 542.95 miles
Total Elevation Gain: 24,311 feet*

*elevation gain - your climbing feet may vary: Garmin Edge tends to overestimate. Not only that, but my Garmin didn't charge properly the night before Quadbuster, so I only recorded 2454 feet of climbing for Day 3.

Want a breakdown by day? OK!

Day 1: Cow Palace to Santa Cruz
- 81.67 miles, 5378 feet elevation gain
Day 2: Santa Cruz to King City
- 106.18 miles, 3976 feet elevation gain
Day 3: King City to Paso Robles
- 65.40 miles, 2545 feet elevation gain* (Garmin wasn't fully charged that day)
Day 4: Paso Robles to Santa Maria
- 98.03 miles, 4391 feet elevation gain
Day 5: Santa Maria to Lompoc (Red Dress Day)
- 43.17 miles, 2227 feet elevation gain
Day 6: Lompoc to Ventura
- 86.90 miles, 3838 feet elevation gain
Day 7: Ventura to Los Angeles
- 61.60 miles, 2047 feet elevation gain

Yes, the back-to-back-to-backness had me concerned too. During a typical training week, I rode my bike 6 days a week, trying for longer rides on the weekend, and jumping on the trainer for 30 minutes to an hour on weekday mornings. I also trained for endurance rather than speed. I felt great during the AIDS/Lifecycle ride; my legs didn't feel tired until Day 6.

I believe we had a tailwind for most of the ride. My average speeds were fairly high for me -- in the 15-16mph range. I certainly wasn't the fastest one on the course, but I had a great time and looked forward to riding each morning, which was my training goal.

If you're interested in more details, I recorded my training and the ALC Ride itself pretty faithfully on bikejournal (mmann964). Let's see, I started at the end of November, 2007 and continued thru May, 2008. The Ride itself was June 1 - June 8.

The Ride itself was an amazing experience. But I see that I've already written a novel, so I'll leave that for another post.

Best wishes to everyone rockin' the ALC this year!

- Melissa

[Trek420]

Day 2: Santa Cruz to King City
- 106.18 miles, 3976 feet elevation gain
Day 3: King City to Paso Robles
- 65.40 miles, 2545 feet elevation gain* (Garmin wasn't fully charged that day)

You're kidding. I know you said the Garmin was not fully charged but Day 2 has more climbing than day 3? Day three has Quadbuster.

Day 2 always felt nearly flat to me (other than right out of Santa Cruz).

The headwind can be huge. But it's doable once you learn to ride your bike leaning over at 45 degrees As long as the wind does not stop while you're leaning into it it's all good

Day 2 is a great flat'ish century .... or so I thought.

That last hill on Day 2 is my favorite part of the ride. On the way up you can pause at the "summit" and look back to see almost the whole route. Then a sweet downhill ride and I always caught a tailwind into camp.

[Duck on Wheels]

According to official t-shirt logo stats, the 2.something miles your Garmin wasn't registering on Day 3 were darn near close to vertical. Even the stats you did collect kinda scare me I know some of those climbed feet are from rollers, but daaaang there are a lot of feet to climb out there! Yikes! But there's no chickening out now. I'll just have to keep on training.

[uk elephant]

It always sounds scarier in feet. And it's not all in one go, you do get some very nice flat and downhill places to rest up before the next bit of climbing.

That being said, I am nowhere near ready yet. Didn't make it up the hill to work this morning. My lungs refused. That chest cold I had at Christmas is back with a vengeance. But I'll get over it again and get stronger again. At least out here I'll get lots of hill training without having to go up and down the same hill all the time.

[melissam]

Trek,

My Garmin ran out of juice before Quadbuster, so I shut it off for the rest of the day. The bummer was that I couldn't watch my heart rate when climbing Quadbuster, and I didn't pace myself very well on the climb. Oh well, made it up the hill without losing my breakfast, but it was close.

Anyway, I'm not sure where I came up with the elevation gain # for Day 3. 2500 feet sounds like a lot before we get to Quadbuster, but it doesn't sound like it's enough for the whole day.

Oh, and you're right about the crosswinds -- there were plenty of times when we were all leaning into the wind just to ride a straight line. But it was fun! And when that tailwind kicked in, it was AWESOME!

Everyone,

I agree with UKE -- it's hard to judge how hard a ride is by looking at its numbers on paper, unless you have similar numbers for your daily rides. Even then, there's still a lot of variables -- are they steady climbs or rolling hills? How steep are the grades? Etc.

I'm having the same sort of heart attack moments when I look at the Death Ride stats -- what the heck have I gotten myself into? The good news is that I'm training with maillotpois' TnT group, which has had amazing success in getting people ready to complete all 5 passes of the Death Ride. All I have to do is trust the process and do the training. Piece of cake!

As far as the ALC goes, it can be a very enjoyable ride if the weather cooperates and if you're trained for it. Can't control the weather, but you have plenty of time to get ready for an awesome ALC8!

Keep up the great work!

- Melissa

[ClockworkOrange]

Hi Eli

Have just been reading all through your website etc. I so enjoyed that, all about your family and travel and some lovely photos.

I think it's brilliant doing the ride again but as you said, all in a very good cause. I will definitely make a small donation but not until 25th, when I get paid.

BTW many thanks for your Christmas card and enclosure.

I am really in awe of anybody riding over 500 miles!

Clock

Hi Eli

I didn't forget and a couple of days early!

Not much but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

Keep the training up, especially around wet Wales.

Hugs

Clock

[uk elephant]

Thank you, Clock!!! And a donation is far better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

Edited to add: I can now make it up the hill to work at least. Still a lot of training left to do, but I am slowly getting started....

[uk elephant]

Finally gotten out on a couple of decent training rides. Today, I did a ride in the morning on my way to work. 15 miles in beautiful wintery landscape. Had to take it a bit slow on the back roads which were not cleared or gritted yet. I am definitely getting my climbing training in around here. Just downloaded my garmin data from the two rides. Each was just under 20 miles, with over 1700ft of climbing! Puh!!. I must admit, I had to walk a few of those feet, but I am definitely getting stronger. Need to decide what to do about my bike, though. It needs a full overhaul after two winters of riding through salt, grit, mud and flowing rivers whenever the bike path flooded. It needs new wheels, new chain, new cassette, new cog and new rear deraileaur apparently. Not cheap. But I need the bike in good condition, not just for alc, so I suppose it's worth it.

[ClockworkOrange]

Hi Eli

Hey, you are doing so well, what part of Wales are you in?

When my partner completely overhauled my bike, wheels, 9 speed cassette etc, for the London Bikeathon I did last year...........yeah, an itsy witsy 25 miles, I bought most items on ebay from an outfit called Woolly Hat Shop. They were terrific, when I ordered my 9 speed cassette, I ordered the wrong size chain and it was no problem for them to change it for me.

It's always a bonus having a telephone number where you actually get to speak to somebody and not just a machine.

Also they sell via Amazon, so it is worth checking out prices.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sram-PG-980-.../dp/B000VSWCZ2

or direct on

http://www.woollyhatshop.com/

I am sure if you contacted them direct and asked for a good deal, they might come up with a good price.

Clock