Lazy rider

I've been bad. I didn't ride last week because it was suppose to rain. It didn't rain, but I was mentally prepared not to ride, so I ended up not riding. This weekend was the same story. I had intentions to ride on Sunday morning for at least a couple of hours, but alas, no ride. I need to get back on the bike because June is fast approaching.

I am planning on sending out massive amounts of e-mails requesting donations, so hopefully I can get closer to my target goal of $3000.

If you haven't donated yet, www.tofighthiv.org/goto/agalvan

Monday Ouchies

I had minor little pains throughout the ride but nothing to write home about. Later in the day, I felt my legs sore and I was really dehydrated. The following day, I can feel that my back was a little sore too. I guess all that "high altitude cross-training" really didn't work. Or it might be because this was probably the hardest ride I've done so far: the ride had two hills. And the dehydration was probably because I'm bad with hydration and it was sunny. I'll have to get better because it's only going to get warmer leading up to June.

My goal for this upcoming weekend will be to do a ride over 60 miles. I think I can repeat this past Saturday's ride and tack on another 10 or 15 miles. I might hurt a little more afterwards, but I felt like I was able to do it.

Valentine Ride to the Beach

You might have noticed that there was no post last Saturday. As I mentioned in my last post, I was in Canada "cross-training" in "high altitude". Ok, so I was snowboarding and the mountain wasn't really that high. But I'm sure all that snowboarding helped my bike riding a little bit, right? Right? Whatever.


Though I'm not that big of a fan of Valentine's Day, since Monday is the big V-day and since Darin and I were riding to the beach, I thought it was an appropriate title to describe today's ride. As you can see from the picture above, it was a really beautiful day. It must have been in the upper 70s and sunny. And we rode along Santa Monica Beach for a little bit, stopping only to take some pictures and then in Santa Monica to rest and eat a bagel (with tons of cream cheese).

See us pose? Darin is wearing his green outfit that matches his bike. I decided to mix and match so that it seems like I'm wearing another outfit. And just in case you were wondering, I'm pointing at a paddle boarder. Look how clear the sky is. Gotta love living in socal.

Since it has been pointed out to me that I've actually never taken a photo of myself riding my bike, I had Darin take the above photo. Kind of a weird photo, huh? It looks all warped and I can guarantee that the water was not that wavy.

So riding on a bike for 4 hours, my mind has a tendency to wander. Here's a little example of what goes through my mind:
"6 miles? I can handle this."
"Wow, I'll have to get to 80 miles a day. I can do it."
"I wonder what I should eat after my ride. Pho sounds good"
"Oooh, pretty"
"Woah, there are some crazy drivers out here"
"I wonder what I should blog about today"
"I should blog about some of my thoughts, like..."
"15 miles. Not too bad. Wait, I'm only like 1/3 of the way. Oh dear"
"$3,000. I hope I can raise that much."
"Pho might be too warm for today...Oooh, Chinese food. Yumm!!!"
"I'll be so lean by the time I ride in June. Yessss!!!"
"Oooh, pretty"

Darin still had my phone, so he took this picture of me from behind. I've never seen myself like this from behind. Kinda weird. I never noticed that little red dot on my bike pants before. And I look really different from Darin. But overall, not too shabby. :)

And to end today's post, my post ride meal. I went a little crazy when I ordered food. Delicious!!! And plenty of left overs. Yay!!!

(This picture was taken at dinner time, so I was already eating left overs. Yay!!!)

Valentine Ride to the Beach - The numbers

Total miles: 49.6 miles
Ride time: 3h 26m 57s
Average speed: 14.38 mph
Max speed: 39.53 mph