Showing posts with label climb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climb. Show all posts
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Crazy Is As Crazy Does
There may not be a force on earth strong enough to fix my cycling skills in time to race Mt. Tam next weekend, but I signed up anyway. Haha... Wish me luck!
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Mt. Tam Calling
Oh, Amy? Here........... It's for you............... Oh, it's no big deal. It's just Mt. Tam.
Climbing Mt. Tam was a lofty/unrealistic goal Billy and I set for ourselves back in 2012 when we first started riding bikes more seriously together. That year we ventured to do a few slightly less leisurely rides like climbing up to Skyline and riding the American River Trail from Sacramento to Fair Oaks to visit my parents.
We have hyped Mt. Tam FOR-EH-VOR. We watched youtube videos. Discussed getting our brakes changed. Went back and forth about tentative dates. And thoroughly psyched ourselves out completely about this 12 mile climb until finally Billy got it out of his system the day after Thanksgiving 2013. I remember him skype-recapping this experience with mixed emotions (smiling and swearing and smiling again...).
Since returning from France I've invested even more time in the saddle alongside Billy and dreamed of making the Mt. Tam trek... to the point where it seemed like every time I crossed over the Park Street bridge I heard Mt. Tam whispering my name in the wind... "Amy! Amy! Come ride me!" Ha! Maybe I built it up a little too much??? Well you can imagine my surprise when an impromtu Saturday morning ride with a friend who races for Dolce Vita turned into a group ride up to the *tippy* top of Mt. f#$^*ing Tam! OMG
So....... I get off BART at 16th & Mission Street to meet my new *fast* female friend who I had been emailing with all week about doing a long-ish endurance ride (3 hours/50 miles-ish, but I was thinking easy, maybe Tiburon loop or something like that). Uhhhh.... First thing she says to me is "Did you get my email?!" I was like "I'm sorry I didn't" thinking to myself "Well, *that's* because you were in bed like a granny at 8pm last night," so..... She was like, "Well, Mei - [Ding! Bright orange synapses fired full-speed strava signals to my pleasure center like I'm about to meet a celebrity... ALL HAIL! Mei, queen of San Francisco segments!] - invited us to join her on the Bespoke ride, but they are taking off from Pac Heights in fifteen minutes." Well, ignoring every alert my body was sending to go ahead and abort this mission I jumped on her wheel and we jammed up the wiggle to meet the group.
When I squeaked up on my ten-year-old death-metal-bumper-stickered Specialized tank to 20 geared-out astronauts in their fancy pants kits straddling some of the nicest bikes I've ever seen I looked like such a newb and - I tell ya - the oops-I-pooped-my-pants smell coming from my worn out spandex didn't help much. About ten seconds after we arrived, Justin, the apparent leader of the pack started to explain the route. He never actually said "Mt. Tam". Oh no. While he dropped names like "Pantoll" and "East Hills" and "wait - did he just say Alpe d'Huez - what?!?" I focused most of my attention on keeping my breakfast down...
We took off and, oh you know, just that feeling when you are all the sudden on a group ride and you have to quietly ask your friend if he was talking about GOING UP TO THE TOP OF MT. TAM!?!?!
LOL
Once we started climbing we didn't stop. The road just kept going up. For an hour. Between expletives I managed to cough questions at cyclists passing me by about how much further it was to Pantoll. They just laughed or told me to not worry about it or pedaled faster to clear the stench. I couldn't even believe it when I arrived at the top, though - I gotto say - can't beat the view!
While the rest of the group rode down to Stinson Beach and back, I climbed at a conversation pace the rest of the way from Pantoll with a few other ladies who agreed that tacking another .5 miles of vertical climbing was insane (but not Mei - no way!). Haha! The three of us split up about half way down the hill and my new friend (who turns out is the sweetest woman in the world - and she speaks French!) picked up lunch and a coffee together in SF. I didn't get home until after 4pm! What a beautiful ride though. Oh man. Though I was overwhelmed and beat, I actually don't think I've ever felt better.
Climbing Mt. Tam was a lofty/unrealistic goal Billy and I set for ourselves back in 2012 when we first started riding bikes more seriously together. That year we ventured to do a few slightly less leisurely rides like climbing up to Skyline and riding the American River Trail from Sacramento to Fair Oaks to visit my parents.
We have hyped Mt. Tam FOR-EH-VOR. We watched youtube videos. Discussed getting our brakes changed. Went back and forth about tentative dates. And thoroughly psyched ourselves out completely about this 12 mile climb until finally Billy got it out of his system the day after Thanksgiving 2013. I remember him skype-recapping this experience with mixed emotions (smiling and swearing and smiling again...).
Since returning from France I've invested even more time in the saddle alongside Billy and dreamed of making the Mt. Tam trek... to the point where it seemed like every time I crossed over the Park Street bridge I heard Mt. Tam whispering my name in the wind... "Amy! Amy! Come ride me!" Ha! Maybe I built it up a little too much??? Well you can imagine my surprise when an impromtu Saturday morning ride with a friend who races for Dolce Vita turned into a group ride up to the *tippy* top of Mt. f#$^*ing Tam! OMG
So....... I get off BART at 16th & Mission Street to meet my new *fast* female friend who I had been emailing with all week about doing a long-ish endurance ride (3 hours/50 miles-ish, but I was thinking easy, maybe Tiburon loop or something like that). Uhhhh.... First thing she says to me is "Did you get my email?!" I was like "I'm sorry I didn't" thinking to myself "Well, *that's* because you were in bed like a granny at 8pm last night," so..... She was like, "Well, Mei - [Ding! Bright orange synapses fired full-speed strava signals to my pleasure center like I'm about to meet a celebrity... ALL HAIL! Mei, queen of San Francisco segments!] - invited us to join her on the Bespoke ride, but they are taking off from Pac Heights in fifteen minutes." Well, ignoring every alert my body was sending to go ahead and abort this mission I jumped on her wheel and we jammed up the wiggle to meet the group.
When I squeaked up on my ten-year-old death-metal-bumper-stickered Specialized tank to 20 geared-out astronauts in their fancy pants kits straddling some of the nicest bikes I've ever seen I looked like such a newb and - I tell ya - the oops-I-pooped-my-pants smell coming from my worn out spandex didn't help much. About ten seconds after we arrived, Justin, the apparent leader of the pack started to explain the route. He never actually said "Mt. Tam". Oh no. While he dropped names like "Pantoll" and "East Hills" and "wait - did he just say Alpe d'Huez - what?!?" I focused most of my attention on keeping my breakfast down...
We took off and, oh you know, just that feeling when you are all the sudden on a group ride and you have to quietly ask your friend if he was talking about GOING UP TO THE TOP OF MT. TAM!?!?!
LOL
Once we started climbing we didn't stop. The road just kept going up. For an hour. Between expletives I managed to cough questions at cyclists passing me by about how much further it was to Pantoll. They just laughed or told me to not worry about it or pedaled faster to clear the stench. I couldn't even believe it when I arrived at the top, though - I gotto say - can't beat the view!
While the rest of the group rode down to Stinson Beach and back, I climbed at a conversation pace the rest of the way from Pantoll with a few other ladies who agreed that tacking another .5 miles of vertical climbing was insane (but not Mei - no way!). Haha! The three of us split up about half way down the hill and my new friend (who turns out is the sweetest woman in the world - and she speaks French!) picked up lunch and a coffee together in SF. I didn't get home until after 4pm! What a beautiful ride though. Oh man. Though I was overwhelmed and beat, I actually don't think I've ever felt better.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Snake
Today, I set out to break my time up Snake (a steep 1.5 mile climb up to Skyline Boulevard in Oakland). My first attempt was just last week and I really went for it from the start, but then lost steam at the top (shooting for under 10 minutes I barely made it in under 12:30 - Oyoyoy!).
Today I was determined to try a new strategy. I held back the reigns for the first half of the climb (up to Colton) and then really let loose on the last quarter mile (after Thornhill). This strategy paid off as I shaved 45 seconds off my original time (11:34). This made me particularly happy because I'm now barely hanging on to the tenth spot out of all the women who have climbed that segment on strava (woohoo!).
I'm already pumped about improving my time next week. Here are my ideas!
1. Climb with cleaner lines (cut corners smarter and make straight shots up the squiggles)
2. Use a nasal decongestant strip (an experienced cyclist recommended this to me for getting more oxygen into my bloodstream - still need to try it!)
3. Start attacking the hill from Shepard Canyon downhill (this is a little cheap as a tactic, but it will bring my average speed way up if I can get a running start into that first steep climb)
4. Sprint - slow to fast - sooner (Instead of gunning it and having to back off later, steadily build speed from Thornhill up to 15mph and then stand up to sprint all the way through Colton)
Ohhhh can't wait to do this again!
Today I was determined to try a new strategy. I held back the reigns for the first half of the climb (up to Colton) and then really let loose on the last quarter mile (after Thornhill). This strategy paid off as I shaved 45 seconds off my original time (11:34). This made me particularly happy because I'm now barely hanging on to the tenth spot out of all the women who have climbed that segment on strava (woohoo!).
I'm already pumped about improving my time next week. Here are my ideas!
1. Climb with cleaner lines (cut corners smarter and make straight shots up the squiggles)
2. Use a nasal decongestant strip (an experienced cyclist recommended this to me for getting more oxygen into my bloodstream - still need to try it!)
3. Start attacking the hill from Shepard Canyon downhill (this is a little cheap as a tactic, but it will bring my average speed way up if I can get a running start into that first steep climb)
4. Sprint - slow to fast - sooner (Instead of gunning it and having to back off later, steadily build speed from Thornhill up to 15mph and then stand up to sprint all the way through Colton)
Ohhhh can't wait to do this again!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Lakeside Bump
The day after my 32nd birthday, I went on a ride with Billy to get the QOM (queen of the mountain) on the segment Lakeshore to Lakeside Bump in Oakland and it's finally displaying on strava. Yay!
Because I've been nursing this turf toe I've been riding and swimming a lot more. I'm getting faster!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Summer Training 2013: Agility, Conditioning, and Core
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| Photo courtesy of Angelique Gutierrez |
Ladders x 4
-jog one foot in each square (f, b, r, l) l and r variation are just grapevine/karaoke
-run two feet in each square (f, b, r, l)
-crawl (f, b) - this is one foot in one foot out one at a time
-advanced crawl (f, b) - this is one foot in two feet out one at a time
-monkey climb (f, b) - this is one foot in one foot out together
-scissor steps (r, l)
-dorsey flex (f, b, r, l)
-alternate jumping in and out (f, b)
-alternate jumping in and out (f, b)
-jump both feet (f, b, r, l)
-jump right foot (f, b, r, l)
-jump left foot (f, b, r, l)
Stairs x 4
running*
-one step at a time
-two steps at a time
-right side one step at a time (x2)
-left side one step at a time (x2)
jumping*
jumping*
-one step at a time
-two steps at a time
*Relax and shake out your arms on the way down
Core x 3
30 toe touches
30 rowers
30 lay down to sit up switch arms to touch opposite toes
30 mountain climbers
Cool down legs, abs, and arms with foam roller.
Meditate 5 minutes.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Spring Training 2013: Agility, Conditioning, and Core
-jog one foot in each square (f, b, r, l) l and r variation are just grapevine/karaoke
-run two feet in each square (f, b, r, l)
-crawl (f, b) - this is one foot in one foot out one at a time
-climb (f, b) - this is one foot in one foot out together
-jump both feet (f, b, r, l)
-jump both feet (f, b, r, l)
-jump right foot (f, b, r, l)
-jump left foot (f, b, r, l)
-alternate jumping in and out (f, b)
Stairs x 4
Stairs x 4
running*
-one step at a time
-two steps at a time
-right side one step at a time
-left side one step at a time
jumping*
jumping*
-one step at a time
-two steps at a time
-right side one step at a time (x2)
-left side one step at a time (x2)
*Relax and shake out your arms on the way down
Core x 2
20 russian twists with 8# medicine ball
20 sit ups with twist and punch at the top
20 rowers
20 flutter kicks*
20 scissor kicks*
20 lay down to sit up switch arms to touch opposite toes
30 mountain climbers (or reverse mountain climbers)
*Squish the grape!
Cool down legs, abs, and arms with foam roller.
Meditate for 5 minutes.
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