It has been over a month since I updated!! Not Good!!!!! I have been really busy though. First - I HAVE MET MY MINIMUM FUNDRAISING GOAL!!! WOOHOO - Super excited because now I can actually spend more time on the bike and less time trying to get money. The main reason I haven't updated in way over a month is because of the fundraising. I spend the majority of my time getting items, promoting and organizing two huge yard sales and then relisting on craigslist and meeting (or should I saying waiting for that never show) people to buy the leftovers. I also did two home parties and a yoga fundraiser as well. I am so glad that part is done.
Back to the training - Back at the beginning of September I completed by first 51 mile ride with a significant climb in it. The ride leaves from Reedley and heads out and up to the Sandcreek store. I did it! Only one fall the entire day, on a restart on a hill. When I got home my sis dug two hug pieces of gravel out of my knee - should have got a couple of stitches -oh well! Now I will have an awesome scar. :) The next weekend I was in LA to visit family. The following weekend I missed the ride because of a migraine from HELL!!! And the last weekend in Sept was spent doing yet another fundraiser – mixed in with a complete emotional breakdown. (I won’t go into details but I was a mess and ready to throw myself off a bridge.) The finally we get to the month of October and what happens – the weather changes and I get sick – so I miss yet another ride. During this whole period I was able to keep going to my personal training sessions with my coach who turned the sessions into interval sessions – so at least I was on my bike. Road time for the entire month of Sept was less than a hundred miles – ouch!
So now we get to October 10, I finally get to meet up with the team for an organized ride we were doing out of Exeter. The 4th annual Cycle the Sierra put on the by Southern Sierra Cyclist group as a fundraiser for a couple charities in Visalia. The team was doing the metric century, roughly 72 miles skirting the foothills and up to a couple of big climbs and back. I was excited to get started again and was doing great till we started the first “little” climb of the day at about mile 4. I did the first little part fine but the exertion caused me to start coughing hard. Hard enough that I was starting to gag and choke. The coughing was slowing me down some much that I couldn’t keep a good cadence going to climb. So I stopped to catch my breath. One of my coaches then stopped to check on me and suggested that I do the shorter 42 mile ride instead because there was no way I was going to be able to do the climbs for the day. Relieved that I wasn’t going to die – I turned back and did the 42 mile route. It was a flatter route with only a handful of little short climbs – that had a little bite to them. I met a couple of really nice guys on the course who I ended up riding with the entire day. Did the route and in finished at about 12:30. On the flat smooth roads I was maintaining 16.2 easily. That felt great! The average speed for the day ended up being 13.1 or so because of the nasty, potholed roads. Tulare County needs to seriously invest in some road repairs. Nash, one of the guys I was riding with said that the roads were picked to make it feel more “tour de France” in style. The French can keep their cobblestone roads!! Overall it was a great ride for me.
Back to the training - Back at the beginning of September I completed by first 51 mile ride with a significant climb in it. The ride leaves from Reedley and heads out and up to the Sandcreek store. I did it! Only one fall the entire day, on a restart on a hill. When I got home my sis dug two hug pieces of gravel out of my knee - should have got a couple of stitches -oh well! Now I will have an awesome scar. :) The next weekend I was in LA to visit family. The following weekend I missed the ride because of a migraine from HELL!!! And the last weekend in Sept was spent doing yet another fundraiser – mixed in with a complete emotional breakdown. (I won’t go into details but I was a mess and ready to throw myself off a bridge.) The finally we get to the month of October and what happens – the weather changes and I get sick – so I miss yet another ride. During this whole period I was able to keep going to my personal training sessions with my coach who turned the sessions into interval sessions – so at least I was on my bike. Road time for the entire month of Sept was less than a hundred miles – ouch!
So now we get to October 10, I finally get to meet up with the team for an organized ride we were doing out of Exeter. The 4th annual Cycle the Sierra put on the by Southern Sierra Cyclist group as a fundraiser for a couple charities in Visalia. The team was doing the metric century, roughly 72 miles skirting the foothills and up to a couple of big climbs and back. I was excited to get started again and was doing great till we started the first “little” climb of the day at about mile 4. I did the first little part fine but the exertion caused me to start coughing hard. Hard enough that I was starting to gag and choke. The coughing was slowing me down some much that I couldn’t keep a good cadence going to climb. So I stopped to catch my breath. One of my coaches then stopped to check on me and suggested that I do the shorter 42 mile ride instead because there was no way I was going to be able to do the climbs for the day. Relieved that I wasn’t going to die – I turned back and did the 42 mile route. It was a flatter route with only a handful of little short climbs – that had a little bite to them. I met a couple of really nice guys on the course who I ended up riding with the entire day. Did the route and in finished at about 12:30. On the flat smooth roads I was maintaining 16.2 easily. That felt great! The average speed for the day ended up being 13.1 or so because of the nasty, potholed roads. Tulare County needs to seriously invest in some road repairs. Nash, one of the guys I was riding with said that the roads were picked to make it feel more “tour de France” in style. The French can keep their cobblestone roads!! Overall it was a great ride for me.
I am still dealing with some physical issues on the bike. I still experience numbness on my left hand in my pinkie finger. Apparently I am compressing the ulnar nerve – which is not good and if I don’t remedy it soon I could have some major damage. I am also experiencing numbness in my toes. All ten go numb starting from the pinkie toe in to the big toe beginning around mile 20 or so – depends on the amount force I am putting the pedals. Then by mile 35 or so the numbness is turning into sharp, burning, pain. It feels like the circulation is being cut of slowly to each toe by the twisting or tightening of a string- yet my toes are not constricted at all. If anything, my shoes might be too big. I have enough room in them to have an extra set of toes. :) The pain goes away almost immediately upon standing. I really need to figure out what it causing this and fix it. I can’t do a century when I can only tolerate 50 miles at the most. The pain is too severe to ride through – it just intensifies with each mile. I stop, the pain stops, I start up again and the pain is back within a mile or so with the same intensity as it was when I stopped.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the really long update. I will try to keep it more current!
