290.8 & Third Place dreaming.

LOL I would have made 3rd place. 
Oh well.  
But OMG!  Check out Mark 515.1 miles in 7 days.  DANG!   That 71 miles a day.  I was only able to do 41 miles a day.   

JUST FOR SHIT'S AND GIGGLES & REVIEW

The North Rim 250 mile challenges will be over tomorrow on the 31.  7 days to ride 250 miles.   Well I got the worst cast of Bronchitis ever and am really suffering and the antibiotics are not helping.  So short story I would have not been able to do it anyway.  So I'm going to use the 7 days of riding I did to see were I would have ended up, just for fun and thinking of what I accomplished make me happy.   So on...

50 miles  12-14-2017
55.3 miles 12-15-2017
30.1 miles 12-16-2107
33   miles  12-17-2017
41.2  miles 12-18-2017
30.3 miles 12-19-2017
50.9 miles 12-20-2017

Seven days of riding 290.8 miles.    So yeah I would have got it, hell I was 40.8 miles over.    I guess I'll buy some confetti for my self and say Whooo Hooo!   Coffee!! What the Hell was I thinking!   $50 gift card goes fast.  Coffee last forever.  mmmmmm

So the whole year of 2017 I rode a total of 4,495.92 miles.

In 2016 from June 2016 to May 2017 (the first official year)  I rode a total of 3,096.78 miles.  
In 2017 from June 2017 to May 2018 ( the second official year) I have road so far 2,888.8 miles done and 207.98 miles to go and another 5 months of good riding.  

I have put a grand total of 4,604.35 miles on my bike.  And on both bikes total mileage is 4,984.58 miles.  So 15.42 miles more and my grand total of miles will be 5,000.00 miles, sense 4/2/206.

So as soon as I get over this hacking and not being able to sleep at night, I'll be back on track.  Being off the bike for 7 day sucks. :(   

400TH POST!!!!!!!

Below are pictures from my more memorable rides.  If you can't see were I am in each picture, I assure you I am. 
















Ahh this was a awesome ride, who knew that only cyclist had the power to part the sea.  It was kind of muddy, the fishing was great, the mud tasted salty.  But it was some great memories.  This was only 2500 miles.      

This one to.  At one point the mountain exploded and holy shit we had to ride our ass off, lava and hot steam right on our ass.  We eventually were able to veer off and get out of it's path, but talk about heart pounding.  It was a great 1700 miles ride.

What? You don't believe me.    

BUMMER

Arrrggh!  Big bummer. Took my self to the Dr for the cough today and I ask her about riding my bike.  She said no bike riding. So guess what I can't do my Black Cat Window Painting Ride. Ugh!   Murphys Law, I swear.   I'm going to be on Steroids and some other fun stuff.... not and doing the riding will not help them drugs do there job and the last thing I want this to turn into is walking pneumonia.  Bleh.   So I gave the group all the information they need if they still want to do it.  And if they don't that's ok to.  I'll try again next year.  
So yeah that me in the picture, not happy and grumpy that my bike is just sitting.   If you guys do manage to do the ride have fun be safe and remember to have coffee afterwards.        

THE MANY FACES OF SUFFERING IN 2017

Ah the lovely faces I made thought the year.   I failed to put in freezing my ass off, but it sort to similar to any of the faces here.    No pain no gain.    My favorite one is the wind one.  LOL   

NO GO

Yeah so no cycling.   
If you wondering this is a real cat and her name is Luhu. Officially she is sad cat. 
This cough is my pay back for not wearing my mask in the cold air.   Ugghhh.     
So I'm probably going to not make the Friday ride either.  But I will make in on the 30th, even if I'm still coughing and hacking. 
So I'm just going to hack this up as a rest period.  
 

45 MINTUES OF RACQUET BALL

This looks really fitting for how I feel.
I did 45 minutes on the court and yeah.   No cold air, but holy molly I was not at the top of my game.   But I got my legs to shut up, so it was worth it. 
There is a WOW ride tomorrow so I'm going to go, I signed up for it already.  

And for the visually impaired riders you will be glad to know that I ordered a bib for myself.  Amazon people.  $29.95.  I can deal with that.  On other site this exact same one retails for over $150.00 giver or take a few dollars. 
 

WELL CRAP & COUGH

Aggghh!  Woke up and the back of my throat is not sore, but it's raspy like I have a mild case of bronchitis, I'm coughing and hacking and no I can not ride like this. 
Oh this cat is just sneezing, but it kind of what I feel like.
And riding in the chill air, well it's kind of a no brain er for me.    416.2 miles in 11 days and I'm happy.
But secretly I hope this clear up soon.
The last time I was has Bronchitis was  2/22/2017.  
I think some Racquet ball might be in order to make my legs calm down and at least I won't be in the cold air.  
  

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well I decided to take another break day. 
Took a walk in the park with hubby. 












       Some really beautiful, but very deadly Fiber cap mushrooms.  So do not pick this mushroom or touch it.

 Hmmm looks like this tree had some growth on it, fungus? None of the other threes had this. 

Hubby taking a water sample to examine.

Algae, to be looked at later. 

END OF THE YEAR.

  Well I really do need to take a break today.  My legs are like go go go, but I'm starting to feel it, my little flags are going off.  So if I'm off my goal, big fricken deal.  8 months is still killer.   As long as I keep moving forward that's all that matters.  And another thing I started to get a sore throat from riding in the cold air.  So more riding = doing what is right and taking a break.   Pushing your self hard is good, but people can push them selves right over the edge and when you do that, guess what your off the bike and your not riding, because your recovering.  So it's all about balance, ride, push your self hard and knowing your limit so you don't hurt your self.    In 5 years of cycling I have only hurt my self once and that was doing to much up hill riding at once.  My lower back seized on me.  So what did I do?  I am now a member with NS Fitness and am working on building my core strength.
My sprinting has really suffered at the end of the year, before I could maintain a high speed for a lot longer, right now LOL I can get up to 25 mph, but I'm struggling.  That can be worked on.  And did I mentions doing 10 day straight of cycling make your thighs feel 100 bigger than they really are. Holy shit, I feel like I'm walking around with barrels.   I always in awe of people who can do 65 to 75 miles a day continuously.  Me and my meager 33-40 miles with occasional 50 mile hick ups. Yeah I'm not there yet. 
I managed to ride 391.5 miles in 10 days.   So if I were headed across the Untied States and could maintain this it would take me 10 months of riding. Yeah!
Well I'm a little confused, the scale told me I gained weight, I must have lost weight and gained muscle, because I grabbed a pare of pants randomly, put them on and was like oh this one has a hole in the pocket....?.....Oh geee these are my size 12's.. Whaa...?    So like Wow!  That is why I'm having a wardrobe malfunction, everything is supper lose. 

 I'm planning to get back to the gym, soon and start hitting the spinning class like I wanted to, but like I said don't want to over do it.  I still got 10 months of work out time with the Gym.  :)   

 I'm really excited to what 2018 cycling adventures.   I really hope the WOW group does another ride at Turtle Bay, that was really fun.  But this time we'll all be a little more careful on the way home.   If anyone is hard core it's Billie.  Riding 8 miles with a broken wrist and bleeding from her accident.  But she's all fixed up and back out there.  I was happy to see her again.

Got to ride in really strong wind with the Friday Group ride, that were I ate most of my minerals, yum.  Bleh.  I really wish I had taken a picture of my face on that day, it look like I had a mud mask on.  When I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror I scared my self.  Yikes.   Then I rode in even stronger wind, OMFG!  No dust, instead flying sticks, which I got hit in the face. Ouch.  

I did 645 miles in September.  That was really cool.  

Riding with the Firday Group Ride is the most annoying group to ride with.  There this one guy who just keeps talking and tell everyone what to do.  Geeee.  He buys me coffee and then cracks really bad jokes.  Why to I keep going back.   LOL  Just kidding.   

As for the weather with no rain this Christmas, when we got our comfort bikes back in 2013, that winter was exactly the same as this winter, no rain.  Then 2014, 2015, 2016 was normal with rain and all that jazz.   So 2018 should be blustery.   

As for Christmas it's going to be really mellow.  Were not having a traditional Christmas dinner we've got Salmon and Salmon heads.  So it's going to be Salmon Cheeks for dinner.   

Merry Christmas from the Grinch. LOL     I've this in the back of my car window.   

   

TIP FOR TRAINING BY YOUR SELF FROM THE ARCHIVES!

I thought I would repose this one just for fun.  It's before I joined a cycling groups.  I added some old pictures of me.  And mind you I was riding on my Diamond Back Comfort bike like this.  LOL  I was using a comfort bike like a road bike.   Don't get too jealous over my cycling cloth. LOL  

Who knew that in 2013 my hubby and I would turn to the Cycling side.  It's been a wild 3 years of self discovery and great adventures.  

I'm been heeing and hawing over joining a cycling club, it's not too terribly expensive $10.00 a year.  But so far the best trainer I've had is my self.  

Concerning Phones:

I carry a phone on me to check the time and in case of an emergency's, that's it.  It is not connected to the web, so when I break I don't get distracted.  I see so many people in the park looking down it crazy.   I do feel if you want to have a good work out, put it down and away.   If you mind is distracted, your not focusing at the task at hand.



Concerning the route: 

Try to go four a route that is away from traffic or has very little traffic.  You want to become very familiar with your route, down to the pot holes you might run into.   Why?  Because familiar is going to keep you safe and your going to know what to expect.  If I break down, I can easily walk home from, their is also two places I can buy cliff bars and what not (if I need it).
  If I decided to take a different route each time, I would be putting my self at risk.  If I break down, how far would I have to walk, home?  Is my phones going to be able to connect.     Case in point, When we bike to Paradise being in the hills causes our phones signal to go dead.    So if I'm out in the boon docks and have a dead signal I'm up a hill with out a boat.  Another thing that is very important is if your going out by your self always tell a friend or family member what you are doing, were your going and how long you are going to be gone.  So if you don't return in a timely manner, someone will come looking for you.     Falling off your bike sucks and if you are unable to call or get help that double sucks.  At least you will know that if you have told somebody what area you will be in, your sore and in pain, but at least you know someone will be looking for you.      

So make sure your route has:

• Areas with access to water
• Access to a store or stores.  If your phone dies, you'll be some were where their is at least a phone.
• Is close to your home.  If your going to walk, walking 4 miles is better than walking 10 miles.  4 to 3 miles is my limit, after that I have to call for back up.  This is just in case. But other wise call for help. 

Once you find your ideal area to ride in,  you won't feel like a fish out of water if your bike breaks down or your phone falls out of your hand and hits the pavement. 







When I ride by my self I only carry 2 water bottles, 3 to 4 cliff bars, $5.00, phone and camera.  That's it.   Now if I were to do a group cycling ride in the future I would carry more, but by my self I want to go light.    As for equipment for repairs, I been really lucky, I have had only one flat in one full year, and this is because I'm sticking to the same route. 



MY TIPS ON BEING YOUR OWN TRAINER:

Well first of all you save $$$$.   Cycling trainers are not cheep. $300 to $400 a month.
You should be pushing your self and motivating your self. 
 This goes hand in hand with weight loss, let me explain.   If you need someone to coach you in weight loss and stick to the plan, you'll do good as long as said person is helping you.  But take the person away and most people not only stop all the healthy tips, but gain the weight back double if not triple. 

With cycling & losing weight you got to be the driving force in your goals, because if you are the create of your own momentum. You are the one that has to keep you pushing forward and the more you push forward the better you do.   Exercise and weight loss go hand in hand, it's really impossible to not talk about one with out talking about the other, but for now I'm going to stick to the cycling part.

•  I ride two day's then break.   However if I'm feeling really good I ride three days and break.  I let my legs decide.   If they talk to me and are antsy I ride, if their dead and silent I don't ride. I listen to my body.  If I hurt my self I won't be riding.  Smart riding is better than no riding.
• I have areas though the park that are my cool down areas and other areas were I push my self.  
• When I ride fast, I have a mental picture of a faster rider behind me just out of sight and my mental projection is I can't let him/her pass me.   
• I drive other cyclist batty.  Yes I will use other cyclist as a challenge, but only if they do not want to be past.    If I sense that they don't want me to pass them, I will use that as a moment to test my endurance on going fast.   What can I say it's fun.  
• Toward the end of the ride I do 0.5 or 1 minute of hard core sprint.  Out of breath sprint.  Heaving sprint.  
• I practice hill climbing in 2 to 6 reps.  Depending how I feel. This is a very steep grade.
• I push my self harder going up grades than I do going down grades.
• Drink lot's and lot's of water.
• I eat 1/2 of a cliff bar every hour.   
• I stand up on the bike and stretch.  
•  

Cycling is all mental, your mind will give out before your body does.   The trick is to train your self to recognize and over come what your brain is telling you.  Your body will let you know when enough is enough, were as your brain will tell you right away, nooooo.   Control your brain, control your ride.  
     And on to the next ride.  :)

                        

30 MILES & A CRAZY DAY!

  What a crazy day.  We started out our ride by passing some teenagers. One of them thought it would be a good idea to scream at the top of her lungs just as we rode by.   Chris and I were like meh.   I yelled back nice try.  She look pissed that she didn't scare us.   Chris did his usual 8 miles and waited for my by 1 mile.   On the way home we had to pass them again and they were still very grumpy.   Chris and I chuckled.  Chris stayed home and I went back out and me being so nervous about dogs off the lease.   There were two pit bulls running off the lease with out anyone in sight, I was so distracted.  I almost caused a cycling crash with another cyclist who was going fast.  I started to hear him yell  Whoa! Whoa!  Whoa!  Then at the last minute I was SHIT!  We missed each other by inches.   Whew!   That was heart pounding.   Lesson learned don't get distracted by dogs on a blind corner.   The other dog incident was still fresh in my head.  But something kind of refreshing happened when I pass the girls again, she apologies to me.   I accepted and complemented her on her hair. 
Oh there's more.   As I was going around the park I noticed a toddler on his own bike peddling along behind his mom.  Aww how cute.   Well as I was headed back up to horse shoe lake I spotted him.  Now I came to a complete stop, because he was so shaky, his mom was directing him were to go, but I thing he just got nervous, because he was all over the place and he almost crashed into my bike.  That would have had to rank in the cute bike crash category.  He managed to get control of the bike and peddle his way to his mom.   And around I go, back to riding in circles.  At the two mini hills or terror, that is were I can really feel it in my legs.   And then on the way home I came around a corner and a family was playing base ball with a wiffle ball.  Again I was in the offensive, slowed down and got to the side of the road.  Next thing you know I have a wiffle ball flying at me.  Then the kid decided to run right in front of the bike.  Yikes I was not expecting that.  A kids a little larger than a squirrel.

Well I was suppose join the WOW group today, but I sleep in.   Opps. 

So it's day 10 of riding & 8 days left. 
207.98 miles left to get to my goal.  

So by right I should be able to do 25 miles a day and get to my goal.   As for the gift card I'm not going to go for it, because you have to be a Stravita and well it's not happening.   So I'd rather be satisfied with riding 3,096.78 miles in 7 months.     I do believe I accidentally said 6 months opps.   It actually 7 months.   June, July, August, September, October, November & December.   But for me that still hella good. 

NOT GIVING UP

I literally had to do battle with Garmin to get it to accept my password and users name.  But dang Garmin really.    Well I'm in.   Now even thought Stravita is way too creepy for me and is not going to let me use there sight for free, I'm not giving up.  Once I have the Garmin fully activated I'm going to look for another sight that might offer the real free thingee.  There is one called Wahoo, so I have to look into that.  Once I find one then I can connect the two and be on my way.    
I was suppose to do the WOW Fitness ride this morning guess what I slept in.  I don't use a timer to wake up, I just tell my self to wake up and whalla I'm up.  Nope not this time.  Opps, doing a ride with hubby right now.   

STRAVA NO GO!

 The Strava free trial is not free, it's $59.95.  Read the fine print, if I sign up for Free Trial I'm going to be billed
They need my credit card.
And for some reason they need to read my e mail as like in open my mail and read it.  They wanted my pass word to my email too. 
So um yeah No.  
I'm charging the Garmin, so if I sign up with them I hope there note going through my mail.  Let's see what happens.  

43.7 MILES & THE FREEZING FIRDAY RIDE

 Holy crap was it cold outside.  It was 40 to 42 degrees and when your moving on the bike it's make it even more chilly.  Burrrrrr   Great ride today with the Friday Group ride.    But I guess I was peddling crack. To keep warm I'm wearing the cycling shorts I'm not suppose to be wearing under my long cycling pants and it causes them slip down.  So apparently I was peddling crack.  Maybe I should get the jersey below.  LOL  

No I did not lead the pack, I stuck to the middle of the pack, toward the middle of the ride we headed into a slight head wind and I was starting to feel the burn, the slow ride thought Hamilton city was nice, I was able to recover as we headed back to Chico.    Riding on Bidwell Ave and just before we turn off on Rose Ave or as I like to called the Road from hell, it really bumpy sort of like really bad coffee.   A lady was playing with her Golden Retriever on a blind corner as we came around the corner she threw the ball off of one of those Chuck it toys that allows the owner to throw the ball further than they could if they toss the ball by them selves. Well she threw the ball and the dog zoned in on the ball dashed right in front of everyone.  WHOOOAAA!   Scary, luckily no one fell off there bikes and the dog didn't get hit.    Don't play with your dog on a road, if a car came around the corner that dog would not have a chance.  The cyclist were able to scatter, a car would not.   Oh well. 

Thank you again John Wiesinger for the yummy coffee.  Yeah I'm crazed cold coffee and I'm sitting there freezing.  LOL  


 When we stopped for coffee all of a sudden you realized how fricken cold it was and we were all sitting out side.   Warm coffee shop is for losers.   
Well If I could remember his name I would mention him, but I can't Uhhhhggg.  But a really nice guy on the ride gave me a Garmi Forerunner 205/305. THANK YOU!  Now I can connect to Stravita (spelling intentional) There is a picture of what it looks like below.
I will be assimilated, I will use Strava ~ Stravita. 

 What?  Huh.... were was I oh yeah blogging. 

Any hoo we saw Cranes out in the fields that was pretty cool.  

   Now I've got to make a Garmin Account & Stravita Account and start using this.  












Now this is the Ultimate Crack Peddling Jersey.  

                386.4 Total miles for the whole month of December.
               361.4 Total miles for 9 days straight of continuous riding. 

   I got 237.98 miles to go to get to my goal and I got 9 day to go.   

27 MILES

 Starting to feel it in my back calves.   But like I said soon as I get off the bike I'm fine.   Joining the Friday Group Ride tomorrow, so let see what happens.    I was able to do 27 miles today because I did 50 yesterday.   So technically I only have to do 29 miles till the end of the month.  But in order to get the Gift card I got to do 35 miles a day.   Starting on the 25th.    The ride today was a bit taxing, I was totally surprised that my average speed was 13.1, because I was going pretty slow.  Going up toward horse shoe lake there was a wind, not a strong wind, but enough and at Wild wood park even a stronger wind.

And at the park were they replaced all the picnic tables they also put new BBQ's pretty cool.   

 So yeah!  My 8th day non stop and did I mention that it getting really chilly.   While I was resting here I noticed a lot of activity on Monkey Face so I took a few pictures and ooo la la.  

 I really don't know what is going on, but there is feet and arm sprouting out from what appear to be two couples.  LOL   And yes there all making out except for the sad girl sitting by her self.  Awkward.   Shame on me... well actually I could not tell until I looked closer at the pictures.  It's two very hot couple make out sitting very close to one another.    And it looks like the guy off to the right is saying to his daughter let's go the other way, because they never did make there way to the spot.  

Yeah You caught red handed.   They spotted me. 
I should have yelled.  I know your MOM!   LOL  

IN SEVEN DAYS!

In Seven days I road 290.8 miles in 20 hours and 62 minutes and I burned 18,310 calories.   So here we go another 11 days to get to my goal & I'm going to still try for the gift card.  😜

50.9 MILES & HILL REPEATS

Well today started off pretty good, headed out the door at 8:30 to meet up with the WOW group to head off and do the Durham Loop.   On the way out there were a bunch of crazy guys on the side of the road yelling WOW!  I guess they must really like the word. ;)   
Road out as far as Smuckers  and got a large branch caught in my spokes.......it snapped my spoke.....uhhggggg!    
Darted over to Sports LTD and got it fixed.  So My speedometer is missing 6.8 miles.   So it should read 6.8 +44.1 = 50.9 miles.  So as soon as I got it fixed I was back out on the road making up for missed miles.    The ride was not that bad.    Now for the freezing part.   Headed out to do hill repeats and the temprature was dropping and dropping the coldest I recorded on my speedometer was 43 degrees.   Burrrrrrr
The group for the hill repeats was very sparse at most about 7 people showed up.  We did 7 on the first loop, well they did 7 I did 6, yeah you could say I was slow, but I was not beat.  I wanted to do another lap to make up, but the group was kind of grumpy so I was like ok headed off to the next loop.  Again I got 5 done and they got 6.     Sense I did not come with them I took off and did one more lap one the first loop to make up for the missed one.  Then headed for home.   
Really good riding day today.   Not only did I get to 50 miles I was able to do some hill climbing  and freeze my ass off.  I'm Holding on to a hot chocolate right now trying to return the warmth to my fingers.  

30.3 MILES & BURRRR

Great ride with hubby who looks like a Minion in his bright yellow shirt.   Decided to do only 30.3 miles today, because I'm doing the Wednesday Night Hill Repeats.  So tomorrow I'm probably only going to do 25 miles and then make up the rest of the 30 to 33 miles doing the hill repeats.    If you notice I am wearing two jackets the violet one is a wind breaker underneath a regular sports jacket.  Toasty warm.  

Spying on the work crew from the the Bridge of Casa doom.   They were destroying all the wooden pick nick tables and replacing them with cement ones.    








 No flooding this year like last year.  I posted last years pictures below. 

The guy was taking measurements of the speed of the water.  

Last Lap.  And looking at the over cast sky.  It was very chilly.  On the way home the wind started to pick up. 

My trusty companion.  Hard to believe my bike is a year old.  And it already has 4,45.85 miles on it.     So my average for each month for a year is 371.07 miles.

Spying on golfers.