cool breeze - august 19th

[tprevost]

that'd be fine w/me but we may lose others who are not into hills!

T~

[Brandy]

that'd be fine w/me but we may lose others who are not into hills!

T~

Good point.

[Brandy]

Looks like the earliest that we can roll that day is 6:30 a.m.

[bcipam]

Uh 6:30???? Well I may not be able to start with you guys but hopefully I'll catch you on the flats. Probably the earliest I can start is 7:30, 7 if I really try hard to get out of bed and there is no traffic up to Ventura. But as time draws near we can talk about it.

I realize I may be scaring everyone off with all the hill talk. Brandy I would bet you won't notice the hills so don't fret or worry. If I can recall there are only two fairly significant hills and again for Brandy she will fly right up and hardly notice then (Brandy your issue is going to be downhills so practice those). With my size (yes I admit I'm too "fluffy" and need to lose alot of weight) hills are a struggle although I don't hate them, physics just says I will be slow going up and fast going down.

I do want to keep things in perspective however. As a veteran I consider this ride to have some hills. But the ride also has alot of flats. It's pretty 50/50 hills vs. flats which for most centuries is pretty good. For a newbie, and I think I did way back when, this ride may be hilly and tough in spots. There are 3 maybe 4 long hills (the one into Summerland I recall seems to be the worse) but they are all doable. Just get out there and ride (and I need to take this advice as well) and you'll be fine. All you guys are in great shape. I'm the one that needs to worry!

[tprevost]

Pam,

What are you talking about???? Worry Schmurry, you are in great shape! You didn't even blink at the 42 miler last week and there's 11 weeks between now and then..... just do what you're doing and add a few hills and you'll be just fine.... (see, now the tables are turned!)

Plus there is something to be said for all that experience ya know.... since it's all mental!!! (ducking)

Tracy

ps. It sounds like you need us to give you a wake up call huh? Or, maybe we need to give you a reminder call the night before to go to sleep!!!

[bcipam]

OK so let me tell you about today and you'll see why I am already whinny...

I rode over to the BCI Club ride start. I had planned on helping out with the Newbie ride. Well not really that many newbies and lots of other helpers so I got talked into doing the "blue" - long ride. It was 43 miles and flat. No problem like you said, I did 43 last week without a problem and felt good after.

Well here's the problem - a Club Ride is another animal. Since the ride was flat, it started out fast. The slow folks were averaging 18 - 20 mpg. I burnt out in less than 10 miles and had another 33 to go! I finally fell back into a slower group and another woman and I pretty much did the ride together. She was much slower than I but probably a good thing, it kept me from burning out even farther.

We made it to the coffee stop OK but I had a bad "stand in line" experience (remind me to tell you someday about the guy in line with the cell phone.... grrrr I wanted to kill him!). Most everyone left by the time I got and gulped my ice tea. So back to riding with the slow lady. Since we were on our own we modified the route a bit. Parts of this ride was gorgeous (alot of running along the cliffs above Newport Beach) other parts just miserable. We joked about the fact this was the "anti-newbie" ride. Lots of heavy, scary traffic. We finally made it into Back Bay and stayed on the San Diego Creek trail but the woman wanted to show me another trail and I took it but realize, oh wait... I'm riding away from the staging area not towards. "Oh" she said, "Yeah I rode from home and this path takes me close to my house..." Getting hungry, bonking and cranky, I took my leave of her nice little trail and started back in the direction I needed to go. Around 12:45 I finished my ride (but still had another 6 miles home) . Ended up doing just under 62. I finished absolutely wiped out and done. I'm thinking it was the heat more than anything. I just don't like hot weather. I rather have it in the 40's than the 80's.

Anyway- have a way too go to be ready for Cool Breeze but I have time. I just need to get out and ride. And thankfully Cool Breeze is always, well, cool. Temperates usually no higher than 70.

Right now I'm trying to get all my housework done cause once I sit down... I ain't getting up!!!! Wayne is suppose to call me about doing a MTB ride rtonight and as much as I enjoy his company and like to ride with him, I will have to beg off. My legs are finite for the night!

BTW tomorrow I'm kayaking int he morning and then leading a cub scout troup on a hike int he afternoon. Doesn't that sound like fun????

[bikerchick68]

bcipam... weird how going out hard has such an impact huh? And NOTHING worse than bonking... or even getting near it.

OK... as to Cool Breeze... here's my take on it. This was my 4th century ever last year. Yes, there is climbing. BUT, the climbing is do-able. The key is to pace yourself, NOT going out hard with the pack or trying to keep up with someone stronger (which as mentioned CAN burn you out... you definitely should ride with stronger people to get stronger but NOT on your first century ride!). Some of the climbs are steep. From what I recall the climb up San Marcos Pass I think it was called was the toughest section. That being said, I rode it with a double. If you have a triple and just spin your way up it slowly you'll be fine. I DO recall last year a whole group of women who were walking their bikes. They were complaining that they were told this was a relatively flat ride. Remember that climbing is all about what you're used to. If you climb regularly this is gonna be a breeze (yeah, pun intended) if you ride ONLY pancake flat stuff, it'll be a challenge. So yes, you should be doing some climbing. Hill repeats are great for building strength... But, if you climb and are able to ride at least 50-60 miles, I would say this is completely do-able. It IS mental. If you believe you can do it you will. Will you be tired when it's over? Yep. Will you be equally elated? Yep. Will you celebrate with a glass of wine, beer or mixed beverage of your choice? If not, pass me yours!

[tprevost]

Okay, here's my training ride for Cool Breeze....

This is the main hill... note that it keeps going up past the bridge at the very tip top...


here's another shot from the bottom - the road I ride on is the one that follows the freeway on the right side


and here's the back side coming home... the overpass you see is near the top of the 'return hill'


There are 40 miles of this stuff but this is the most difficult hill... anyone want to join me, I'm going to ride it on the 19th unless its still very very hot out!

Tracy

[Ninabike]

Hi Tracy, That's a pretty neat hill. Maybe even I could do it!!

Pam, at least you went riding today! I didn't even ride. I spent my day getting my computer up and running at home - had to go out to Staples to get "stuff", etc. That's the reason I can access the TE site today. Normally, I have problems getting on line on the weekends.

Pam, any ride, compared to last Monday, just doesn't "stack up". We had a great ride, great company, AND a great leader!! The heat is the great equilizer too. I am going to try and get some hill training in because I would really like to do the Cool Breeze. I do feel guilty that I didn't ride today though.

Have a good weekend,
Nina

[tprevost]

Nina,

Of COURSE you could do that hill! Its a long slow one 2-3 miles at about 6% but it has a great shoulder and plenty of places to stop.

Pam, on my ride today I went a little bit faster than my normal pace (and I was still slowing bc68 etal down!) and I could tell that I wouldn't have been able to keep it up for 40 miles even though I can normally comfortably do 40+... so we ended up doing 26 and it was a great ride! I wanted to push a little so I could improve; I probably should've pushed more but it was starting to get pretty warm so I figured I'd err on the side of caution! So, if I were you on your ride today, I'd be whining too! Just think how comfortably you could've done that 60+ ride at your own pace! You're selling yourself short woman!

Hills are my friends, hills are my friends, hills are my friends.... my new mantra

Have a great evening everyone!

Tracy

[caligurl]

Well here's the problem - a Club Ride is another animal. Since the ride was flat, it started out fast. The slow folks were averaging 18 - 20 mpg. I burnt out in less than 10 miles and had another 33 to go!

*GASP* the SLOW people were doing 18-20???? *GASP*

then what does that make me????? lol i can't do 18-20 on flats! downhill... but not flats!

i don't get the whole "go as fast as you can" right at the beginning of the ride! what about warming up? (not that i could do 18-20 even warmed up!) but why do they want to risk burning out like that? but then... i have a negative connotation of club rides... egos clashing... etc! so i guess i see how that happens!

i think everyone is going to do fine at whichever length ride they choose to ride for cool breeze! some will be faster... some slower.... but everyone should ride a ride that makes them happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(so BC.... you and bigK doing cool breeze this year?)

[bikerchick68]

I'm not... not sure about BigK tho... but that is my 20 year high school reunion...

[Brandy]

Pam...that club ride sounds nuts. In fact, the more that I hear about club rides in general, the more leery I am about trying one! You have over two months, plenty of time to train and you know that you don't need to try to ride at a pace like that at Cool Breeze. We're all going to do great!


Tracy...your pictures freaked me out until I saw the line that said the road runs next to the freeway...WHEW...you skeered me, I thought you were riding on the freeway!

[redhot3368]

HI!! I also signed up for the Cool Breeze. I will be doing the metric.
I just finished my first metric at Ojai this past weekend, so I want to do a few more metrics before doing a century.
From what I can tell, most of you are doing the century..
anyone doing the metric??
Thanks!
karen

personal e-mail is redhot3368@yahoo.com

[Brandy]

Karen...you should shoot for the century! If you've already done a metric with the same amount of climbing as the Cool Breeze Century, then you'll do fine...especially since it's two months away! Plan to ride with us