CYCLING JOURNAL: February 2019

Thursday, February 28, 2019

36.04 MILES WOWING IT & A HACK FEST

So yeah this is me at the beginning of the ride. I thought 5 taking a five day break from being sick with the flu would be enough time to recover. I guess I was wrong. I headed out with the WOW group and I felt fine, but when I got to Nicalog I was really coughing my brains out. Made it to Anita Road and then got the stare from the other women. So I put my tail between my legs and headed home. Betsy decided to escort me home. OMFG! No matter what way we road we were headed into the wind it was a pill. And because I could not breath, it made it even harder. My legs were not happy in fact so much that I had to take a break at Brave, I felt exhausted.

Well 451.04 miles for February is better than no miles. The beginning of 2019 is rather bumpy.

Went to prompt care and guess what the nurse & Dr were both cyclist. I wish all my visits were like this one today.    They were both very nice, very informative and neither of them glared at me. Most of the time when I enter prompt care it starts off with a sneer and glare, then they bring up well you need to lose weight and be more active. When I open my mouth and say I cycle with a cycling group all I get it raised eyebrows of disbelief.   Like right lady you cycle with the way you look.
There was this one time I went in for a leg problem and omg the Dr and nurse were so rude. It's was like I was so fat and out of shape that they did not want to touch me.   Mind you this is when I was doing the long rides.    I could see her mind working, she was thinking, Oh god another fat chick who sits on the sofa and eats Cheetos and watches the Soaps.      So she had me lay back and do some leg movements.    The look on her face when she realized how flexible I was, was so funny. She could not believe what I could do. Like wait what, she this big, and I can do this with her legs and she not in pain.    I really think that she thought that she would grab my leg pull it to the side and I would be like OMG stop it hurts.    Nope.   After that her whole demeanor changed and she was really helpful.

The majority of the Dr I see are not friendly, in fact there down right rude and uninformative.    Oh well.

So what the verdict?   Take it easy. He suggested staying off the bike for about two weeks to recover from the coughy wheezy.   Lovely.

Getting ready to roll.

So yeah. 36.04 miles in but uuuhhhhgggg!

Sunday, February 24, 2019

JEALOUS METER LEVEL AT MAXIMUM!!

So yeah some of my riding group are going to Spain.
Cantabria & Asturias, Spain
Chico club Private & Custom bike tour Date: June 4-12, 2019 | Duration: 9 days / 8 nights | Start: Bilbao airport | End: Bilbao or Oviedo airport
I'll be doing my laps in Ch-iantabirea-ico & Ch-asturias-ico it's a far off shoot a a place called Spachino.

FEELING LIKE DEATH WARMED OVER WITH A SIDE OF RANCIED FRIES

Yeah this is what I felt like.   I caught the Flu and wholly fuck was it a nasty one this time. I've been sick before, but not this level of sick in a long time.   I was fine on moment and the next I felt like I was hit by a Semi Tuck.   There was nothing leading up to me being sick, no sore throat, I was not achy. I did have a slight headache, but hell when do I not. So having headaches is kind of the norm for me.

Well hell I was looking forward to the Friday group ride and the Saturday ride and then Whammo!   And the worst part it made my legs fell so antsy and restless to the extreme that it made me feel I needed to get on the bike. LOL   That was bizarre. So 2 1/2 days of hell.

Just for shit and giggles here is my sickness log since I started this Blog in 2016.

Fed 2017 Bronchitis. Coughing like mad, but not sick.
Dec 2017 Bronchitics. Coughing like mad, but not sick.
Oct 2018 Cold still able to funtions.
Nov 2018 Cold still able to function.
Feb 2019 Flu from hell. :(

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

REVIEW OF THE PASKENTA INSANITY LOOP.

So I road on a rocky dirt road with a Road Bike! Did it work Yes, was it super bumpy, Yes! Was is scary going down hill at 25 mph on a rocky road. Fuck yes. Now add the wind that was whipping the bike around my concentration level was at super alert. What was I thinking the majority of the way?
My tires are going to pop and I'm going to fly off the bike. As you probably already know my bike is a Diamondback Airen 1. Unlike a regular road bike that has very thin tires, my bike tires a bit wider and thicker so it make riding on gravel/sand a little bit easier.

This was my first long ride on gravel and it was very bumpy and jarring. The whole way going and back I focused on riding in the areas the other riders had used in front of me. Which was not that hard to see. I had to be very wary of areas that I was not use to a patch of sand would pop up and I'd had to go, Oh not going that way, there was also deep groves created from water and hitting those to fast was not good. You don't really how jarring the ride is until you get back on smooth pavement. There were some small areas were the gravel was not gravel but rocks. I'm really amazed that I didn't wipe out on this ride.

Oh and the realization of how strong the wind just hit me today on my WOW group ride. We did 25 miles and I was like holy fuck....(???) that was so fast. On the Paskenta insanity loop 25 miles felt like 45 miles.

Would I do this ride again with the wind. Hell yes. If I had it my way I wanted to keep going.

41.17 MILES & WOWING IT!

Great ride today with great women. It was a little cold, then it got warm then it was cold again.

Kathryn

Susan

Deciding were to go.

Becky.

Off we go.

Everyone was getting too hot so time to take off the ear warmers and arm warmers and some extra layers.

Cool shot with the airplanes in the back ground.

Taking a break.

Headed home.

Mmmmmmm

After coffee I kept on riding.

Monday, February 18, 2019

47.03 MILES & A FUCK HARD RIDE!!!!!!!

Back at it again today. And holy cow did I get my ass kicked. Joined the North Valley Ride Club to do the, get ready for this exceptional long title.
Presidents' Day Ride – Paskenta Loop – road/gravel mix.
Remember how I said the Pie Ride was windy........(LOL). Well this topped the pie ride. My average speed for the Pie ride was 13.3. My average speed for this ride was a whopping 10.9. It was a killerly fun and painful ride at the same time. Can this ride be topped? I'm sure it can.

Getting ready to take off to go to the meet up.

Mike getting ready to ride.

Lot's and lot's of people getting ready to suffer. There was a very (very) strong wind and it was cold.

Watching the water run off over the little hill.

AHHHHH! The wind caught my bike and tossed my water bottle. It was rolling at high speed and I was like don't fall into the water. It stopped. I need my water!!!!!

A gaggle of cyclist listening to John as he tells us whats going on.

Off we go.

The wind was fucking strong, and it was literally blowing the bike all around. I like going fast down hill, but dang with my bike being whip around and pushed it was kind of unnerving.

Man these to guys ruined every scenic photo I took. LOL

MOOO

John contemplating how he can ditch me.

Never ending road.

Beautiful Mountains.

Friendly faces.

Fucking hill from hell. Wholly shit factory. The wind was coming so strong through this little crest that I thought I was doing to die.

Taking a break. I should note that there is a fast group and a slower group. I was with the second slower group. The rest of the group was gone.

Yes this hill is going to be in my nightmares. Usually when I stop midway on a hill I can get going again. This was not the case. I stop and it was really hard to get going again. Seriously hard.