Race Across AMerica, day 3

Today we started out of Cortez Co, and quickly moved through Durango. The race has become very exciting as the very competitive pace is set by Janet, but we know that the other women are very close behind. As I understand it, the first three women are within 1 hour of one another. On a 3000 mile race, that’s awfully close.
Today’s weather is beautiful and warm, much warmer than it was yesterday. Navajo country was amazing to drive through visually but quite hard on the riders as they fought through rain, extreme heat and wind. Today must be a relief in comparison.

What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes an Interesting Story

I spent a few days out in Palm Springs, to ride a desert area and try to get used to the climate as part of training for the Furnace Creek 508.  Though most of the training was uneventful, there was one ride where a few things went awry. I should have had a lot more water and Endurox BEFORE I went out; that was my main error. But hey,  what doesn’t kill you, makes for an interesting story. And this kind of failure is an important learning experience for me.

Training in The Heat

I got out  late in the day, but it was just as well: how else can I know if I’m ready to stand the desert heat and dryness of Death Valley unless I just go for it? Well, I sure did. I got out at around 9:30am, by which time it was already 102° F. The ride out to Desert Hot Springs by way of Indian Canyon was rather intense. The speed limit is around 50 mph, but thankfully most of the way, there a good shoulder. The wind was intense once I turned west. That wind tunnel there is my least favorite thing to ride, which is why I rode it. I don’t remember the road being quite that rough, but wow, Desert Hot Springs roads are rough. It was tough being out there all by myself, mostly because I felt very unprotected from cars, but I seriously needed to train like that.  Most of the ride was OK, but at almost exactly mile 40, I got exceedingly hot. My head was burning up inside my helmet. I checked the top of my head to make sure it wasn’t actually on fire. Then I realized that I had gone a bit too far on the road I was on: I wasn’t exactly lost, but I was disoriented. Then the nausea set in. Okay, I recognized this as Heat Exhaustion. It’s so true that knowing the problem is often the first step towards a solution. Thankfully, I came across a grocery store, a Ralph’s with a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf inside. I went in, sat down and had ice cold water (great idea), bit of a frozen soy latte (bad idea) and  bagel (good idea). Then I realized that I had my iPhone on me and bang, knew exactly were I was. I was lucky that day to meet some very nice strangers; the girls at the Coffee Bean counter were very sweet. I chatted with them for a little while, partially to figure out where in the Desert Cities I was, and partially to see if I could hold a conversation coherently. I also chatted with a local guy who rides and, quickly figured out what happened. I seemed alright so I went on; after all, I only had another 15-20 miles.

Only? Yeah, um ah, no. I went on to ride in some of the worst heat-plus-wind-plus-dry I’ve ever experienced. I’m usually not one to slow down or pull over, but I did both several times in these last miles. It was 112°. The goal then was to make it the rest of the way, on my own, but safely. It was one of the toughest 60 milers I’ve ever done. But I did it on my own, and safely; in spite of everything, I did alright. I had a massage the next day with a skilled local; this helped to flush out any toxins and prevent a whole world of pain. I can’t begin to talk about the benefits of a proper massage after an intense workout.

I’m happy to see that I’m changing as an athlete, as I get older; I’m getting a bit wiser, in that I’m reading my bodies’ signals better. Rather than just pushing on (which is my instinct), I stopped to evaluate myself.  I realized that “Plan B” was in order: getting into the shade somewhere, with my bike, drinking cold water. “Plan C” consisted of taking a cab back to the motel. I’m happy that it never came to that, but was willing to make that happen, if necessary. This shows a maturity and discipline in my training that I didn’t have fifteen years ago.

When I Bike, I Always Carry…

I was always a bit of a girl scout; always prepared (to fend for myself). So of course like any good cyclist worth her salt I always carry a descent bike repair kit, consisting of:

• 2 tubes
• Air pump or CO2 canisters
• tire levers
• a good multi-tool
• a 15mm wrench, if I’m riding with bolts, instead of quick-release skewers
• ID + money
• water bottle (with either water or supplement drink in it.)
• cell phone

But practically speaking, this is not quite enough to get me through a ride over 2 hours. After that, I need food, I need more sunscreen, and I probably need to find a restroom. So for most of my rides, I carry my “consumables case”. This is essential for me to stay on the bike and ready for action. I highly recommend this for any girl on a bike, but particularly for those gals who put in the long hours, you’ll probably need this, or something like it:

1. Action Wipes – I used to hate carrying around baby wipes because of the smell, but when I need to re-apply sunscreen or chamois butter, I need to clean my skin with something; it is absolutely essential in order to prevent saddle sores, pimples, and general skins problems due to bacteria. Enter Action Wipes. Action Wipes allow you to clean up and reapply, but smell and feel much nicer than baby wipes. In addition, they can be washed (I put them in a lingerie bag, hang dry), and reused a few times; just a couple a spritzes of the AW Sports Spray on a clean wipe, and you’re ready to go again. I’m very pleased to say that Martha of Action Wipes is Sponsoring Team Osprey for the RAAM. Right now, Action Wipes is having a contest, in which you can win a ONE YEAR Supply of Action Wipes: details here!

2. Sunscreen – Time to re-apply. I found out the hard way that applying sunscreen every two hours is absolutely essential in Southern California. All it takes is one time without it, to damage skin and risk skin cancer. My latest sunscreen is a Los Angeles based company which uses all organic ingredients: Coola (SPF 45) . The other sunscreen I like is a dusting powder called ColoreScience (SPF 30) which works nicely when I just can’t deal with any more goopy stuff on my skin.

3. Chamois Cream- I like Assos, but I’m searching for something without parabens. My guess is that the next Chamois cream I will try will be Beljium Budder, IF I can find it. I carry it in a small cream pot.

4. P-Mate – Why? Because I like to wear bibs. Because I don’t like port-a-potties, but I have to use them. Because I like getting rest stops done fast. P-mates have changed my life in this way. ’nuff said.

5. Energy drink powder – If you’re on the road it’s easy to find water, so why carry extra weight? I carry extra powder, and mix it as I need it. As I’ve said, Endurox seems to work well for me.

6. Food- Sure, I could probably find food along the way, but while riding I prefer to eat things I’ve tested and know will not upset my stomach: most energy bars do. But one Luna Bar in Lemon Zest, works for me, so I always have one around for “emergency rations”.

These are my consumable essentials; I can’t imagine going out for a 3-6 hours ride without all of the above.

Food and Weight: “What Do You Eat?”

For most of my adult life, I’ve weight around same weight: 115-125 lbs., with “extremes” of about 105 (due to illness or injury) to about 130 (due to “the pill”). I am about 5 feet, four inches tall.

I hear you quietly judging me. Yeah you. You’re thinking “she’s too _____” This part is for you. The rest of you may move on to the next section.

According to everything I’ve read, that is suppose to be a normal healthy weight. Yet when I was in my twenties 110 lbs was “a little chunky” to be a dancer. It seems that nowadays, 120lbs is too slight to be an athlete.

Objectively, I kind of laugh at both ways of thinking. At least now I do. There was a time when what others thought of me and my body influenced me and the way I ate, but as I got older I realized something important. Generally, if someone is bringing up my weight, either too heavy or too light, it usually is a reflection about how they are feeling about themselves. I used to think this was more of a female thing, but I have found that both sexes can behave in this manner. The FACT is, I’m normal. I’m exactly within all normal limits. I even have 25% body fat, which is normal for a woman who exercises regularly.

But I find how people react to normal female body size, to be  a VERY interesting thing. I think it probably has something to do with American culture, but I’m no Anthropologist.

WHAT DO YOU EAT?

Life is an Experiment, and My Body is the Laboratory

I play around with nutrition and food. I admit that I’m always trying to get my best nutritional bang for my caloric buck, so occasionally I’ll try something new, to see how that works. For example:

I was a strict vegan for about 1 1/2 years.

I avoided wheat and rice for one year.

I even gave up coffee (and all other caffeine) for one year. Boy, I’ll never do that one again.

Through these experiments (et al.), I was able to glean a few things about myself.

This is the answer to the question ” what do you eat?”, which is a question I get a lot. No, I’m mean,  A LOT.

I’m a foodie. Food must taste good. I mean it. There is NO excuse for bad tasting food, except in super duper caloric emergencies.

Garbage in, Garbage out, meaning, if I eat a lot of bad food, I just don’t feel as well. Conversely, The more nutritiously I eat, the better I feel.

Coffee is the water of life. Ok, maybe not quite that, but I have found that not drinking it does not make me sleep better, however drinking this delicious beverage does make me feel good. And it tastes good. And, to be quite honest, it connects me with my New Yorkerness (it’s a cultural thing). Studies go back and forth about coffee; some showing benefits, others show the dangers of overuse of caffeine.  I don’t think it’s all that bad for me as an athlete, as I have found that it helps me in recovery, but that’s just what works for me. Then again I treat coffee with the respect it deserves; after all, it is a food, and a precious one at that.

I should NOT eat anything with (cow) dairy, as I seem to be lactose intolerant. I’m OK with goat cheese.

Fast food makes me really ill.( Remember “Supersize Me?” )

Eggs are easy to digest. (Omega-3 eggs are a good way for me to get Omega-3 in my diet without pills)

Organic and/or Kosher can taste much better.

Generally, a sandwich isn’t a sandwich without tomatoes.

I will sometimes throw on extra calories with lime ice pops and vinegar & salt potato chips; I’m not recommending it, it’s more of a rebellion against all things nutritious, which I sometimes need.

I feel more alive and even keeled when I eat lots of leafy greens and fruit.

Potatoes, turnips, and other root veggies also agree with me.

Lemon and vinegar is also a big part of my diet. I seem to tend towards a high acid diet for some reason; it actually settles my stomach.

Too much pasta or bread doesn’t work for me.

Oatmeal is yummy.

I make chocolate chip cookies that aren’t that bad for me. Yum.

My riding supplement is Endurox. Sometimes I’ll bring along a Luna Bar (Lemon Zest) Carbboom, or Sports Beans. Sometimes I bring actual fruit.

I like fish, and can eat tuna sandwiches every day for many days in a row, if I must.

Red meat and chicken are OK one or two meals a week. Any more than that just seems to mess with my digestion.

I like bacon (and pork, in general) but don’t digest it well. Fortunately, I LOVE veggie bacon, and even turkey bacon.

Soy yogurt smoothies are AWESOME just after a ride.

That’s what I eat. Mostly.

Here’s what I’ve noticed about how my body behaves with regards to caloric intake:

No matter how much exercise I do (meaning even if I’m expending 8,500 calories in one day), I can only top out at eating about 7,000 calories. I can only eat so much, which is why I sometimes plan for the fact that I will lose weight during certain points of the season.

My metabolism fluctuates with the amount and type of exercise I do.

Changes in my eating OR exercises habits take time to catch up to one another.

About gaining, losing or maintaining weight: No one of these is any easier than the other. Any of these can be hard to do in a balanced way.

Kudos to all who acheive their goals, whatever they are.

Girl Meets Bike’s “Rules of The Road” for avoiding accidents

Check you bike for Safety, before you go out - Short list: Skewers, brakes, tires, gears, seat height. Carry a repair kit.

LL, double L, double L rule

Look before you Left – If you are riding on a bike on a road, before moving even just a few inches to your left, look to your left for faster passing traffic. This is a simple concept, but is vital to adhere to, for self preservation. If you don’t, you’ll likely collide with traffic, which could be a car or a bike. I promise you, neither is pleasant, and you will lose in the battle of momentum.

RR, double R, double R rule

Right is Rear- And when things go very bad, generally Right is Right (correct). When you need to slow down in a hurry, squeeze your rear (right) brake first (unless, you are British) and then your Left (unless you are British).

Wear Your Helmet – I wear my helmet every time I ride. This is not because of the way that I ride; I’m a totally awesome rider. No, I wear my helmet every time that I ride because of the way that other people drive and ride. Because the fact is, it doesn’t matter how awesome I am, getting hit from behind will vastly increase my chances of flight. I’m  increasing my odds of surviving that landing, BRAIN intact, by wearing a helmet every time.

Pay Attention – Pay attention to the traffic and obstacles on the road. When you ask most people about bike accidents, they always seem to just come out of nowhere (oooo, ghostbike). Well, if You are not paying attention to You on a bike, why should anyone else feel obligated to?

Be Visible & Predictable – You are far less likely to get into an accident with other traffic , if you indicate what you are doing to the traffic around you. Drivers will generally respect you as a cyclist, if you predictably stay six inches into the lane (except where to do so is not safe). At night, dusk and dawn be as visible as you can with plenty of lights (front & back) and clothing with reflective material.

Scan the Road- Constantly and consistently scan the road with your eyes for glass or other debris, moving objects right or left. Use your left ear to hone in on the traffic behind you, but remember that some traffic (like a bicycle, or an electric car) is all but silent, so still

Look before you Left, or Double L

My Donations Page Works Now

First, I’d like to apologize if my donations page crashed your web browser. CAF has kindly redone the page, so we should have no problems now.

Thanks to the people at CAF, my donations page is a go! Please help me support CAF by donating here:

http://cafadventurecorps.kintera.org/girlmeetsbike

Thanks to my twitter pal @dahveed1 for sponsoring my first 2.5 miles . Only 505.5 miles to go!

girl meets bike meets guitar hero = Girl Hero: the bike

Honestly, I like to have fun with my bike builds. I’ve been working on “the look” of my commuter fixie, and I finally came up with it. The Wheel stickers are Wheetags skullz. I couldn’t find anyone selling these in the city yet, so order them online directly, if you want them.

The bar pad is from the most awesome bike shop in the Los Angeles Zone. In West LA, a little fixie shop has just spread it’s wings and blossomed into the bike shop YOU would want to own if you ever opened a bike shop. It’s perfect it’s beautiful it’s friendly it’s LA BRAKELESS. More about them soon (I feel a bike shop review coming on, and I’ve got the pictures to prove it). But for now, back to me and the bike that they inspired.

Coincidentally, I’ve just been introduced to the game Guiter Hero.

So I had these stickers.

Well, here’s the result.

Crank tags

Money shot

close up 3/4 view

3/4 show side view

show side 2

show side

I know it’s a bit, well you know, but I love it! Somehow, I need to make these stickers permanant. I don’t often “show” my bikes, but I thought this might be fun to share. And now, I’m going to play some Guitar Hero while thinking about a bike shop review. B-bwna-naa!

I was wrong to change formats, staying with blog…

Ok, I admit it. The online magazine format does not work. I spent more time fussing about with the formatting and typesetting than anything else, which slowed down my article-writing time to approximately one second divided by zero. In addition, I’ve found out that people prefer this format to the magazine, given the same article. Well lesson learned. I’m quitting the new format and will just be posting here, so this will turn into girl meets bike, girl on bike.

I guess sometimes it’s best to stick with simple.

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be posting the articles I should have posted on girl meets bike. Sorry for the delay, but I guess like most bloggers, I have things to learn about what’s easiest for both reader and writer. Thanks to my followers for sticking with me.

Dura Ace Electronic 7900 First Look: Nice but want to be more Impressed

I love Shimano componentry; always have. As a person who knows that her bikes will always be around, I have the philosophy of “Buy once, buy right”, which includes a drivetrain that I will really enjoy riding. Enter my favorite, Shimano Dura Ace 7800. After having ridden the 7800 Grupo for a couple of thousand miles, I’m more in love now, than when I first saw them. So when I heard that Shimano’s new 7900 grupo was now electronic shifting, I was intrigued. I had to see it and test it myself. Mind you, I have yet to really ride it, so I have no idea how the brakes respond in a real world circumstance. I’ll reserve full judgement until I get a true test ride.

Much slimmer hood design, better for smaller hands

Index finger is on shifter button.

At the Shimano booth, I see that there is a test bike in a trainer, so I hope on for a ride, to see how it feels. The first thing I noticed was how easy it is to switch to a larger chainring; it was literally the push of a button with no effort at all. Niiice. The front derailleur placement happens automatically, so no more adjusting for trim. No more fussing around at all. Impressive. I was also taken with the design of the hoods, and marvel at how I could fit my small hands on and around the hoods, so much so that I wonder if this is a “women’s version”. No just a more aerodynamic one. There’s no cables under the hoods, so it allowed Shimano to play with the design a bit.

Then come two bombshells:
1. This full version of the electronic 7900 isn’t going to be available until January, when it will cost you a whopping $4000.00, not $2400-$2700 as I’d originally heard. That’s the price of an incomplete version of this grupo coming out sooner (in a few weeks), but you’ll probably want to wait until January, and not change out part of your grupo.
2. Battery life: Are you joking? 500 to 1000 miles between battery changes? Yep. For the many +100 mile/wk enthusiasts this would never do. Forget doing long Charity rides, like the nearly 600 miles, week long charity ride, AIDS LifeCycle. ….And where do I get the battery, and shouldn’t I have my bike mechanic check out the electronic system while he or she is changing the battery, and … WAIT a second, what does my bike mechanic know about electronics anyway?! The answer is most probably darn near nothing, at least not right now. There is the Achilles heel.

To me, that makes the Shimano 7900 grupo is like a Tesla car; sure I want one, but it’s too expensive right now without enough benefit, (or qualified mechanics to fix it).

I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind if improvements are made on the battery life (they should make it rechargeable), and as bike mechanics become more proficient in bicycle electronics.

Endtroducing… Lisa

I should have done this a long time ago. Hi, I’m Lisa.
girl meets bike
I’ve been on a bike since forever.

girl meets 1st bike

OK, so it’s a trike, but you get the point.
Riding a bike always meant freedom; that freedom manifests itself in new and amazing ways with each style of bike, each type of bike riding. Because I took dance class as a child (like many women) I’ve learned good balance, so cycling came easy to me.

Collage of girl on bike

I’ve dabbled in many areas from racing, to charity riding, coaching to fittings, wrenching, to clothing sales. I’ve loved it all, even through injury. I’ve loved road and tri, mtb and SS mtb, fixed gear commuting and track (and even BMX, though I suck at it).
I currently own seven bikes. That is B = (n – 1), where B is the number of bikes that I have, and n is the number of bikes that “I think I need”.
Yes, I ride them all, except for the one I want to sell, and the BMX.
I live in the mountains, but that’s OK, because I like climbing, AND going fast.
I’m naturally shy, but I’m from NYC and worked my way through college as a bartender, so I’ve learned to compensate intelligently, and in a friendly way, to get my point across.
I was a double major in Physics and Geology, and in Grad school I specialized in “Planetary Physics”, or, “the physical and mechanical study, and analysis of other planets”.
I also have a background in the fashion industry, and comic book industry (though that’s about a million years ago).

I have a high IQ; I no longer apologize for being smart, even though smart women don’t seem to be very popular right now (OK, political snarkiness alert). I still speak like a New Yawker, which sometimes embarrasses me, because I think it sounds less intelligent than my mother-in-law’s London accent. I realize that this my own brand of warped perception and stereotype, but there it is. That’s why my “new york tourette’s” sometimes offends, and my use of GRE words sometimes confuses, but I am who I am. I have no problem with curbing either language when asked.

I believe that these qualities and qualifications, allow me to take a look at the relationship between women and bikes in an empathetic, but scientific way. The results have been my articles and reviews on this blog, which will soon be in magazine format, with other contributors.

Since I’m shy and paranoid (paranoia is an endearing NY trait), that’s as much as you get about me, as a person.
Endtroducing, Lisa. girl on bike