Who Am I? I Am A Banana

So I've come a pretty long way.

2 years ago I was eating KFC once a fortnight.

(image via www.vitamin-ha.com)

This week, I bought VEGETABLES and FRUIT with the plan of eating it MYSELF.

It was such a change that my husband made a point of it at the checkout.

"It's so great that we're buying fresh food and it's not all mine."

I ate a plum last night and have 5 bananas in my abode.  I've never had so much fruit in my abode EVER.

(image via funtozz.blogspot.com.au)

Also, this morning I didn't have a coffee because I wanted to see whether I bonk less by drinking a non-diuretic drink before cycling.

(I haven't been drinking much on the bike because I'm worried about needing to pee and my husband thought this might be due to all the coffee I drink).

WHO AM I?!?!?!

I Am A Banana!

P.S.  Is it me or is it impossible to type banana first go with the correct number of nana's?

Ku Ring Gai National Park in Autumn (West Head & Akuna Bay)

Today we did West Head & Akuna Bay (of the Ku Ring Gai National Park).

I hadn't done West Head before - I'd heard 2 things about it:

1.  When you turn the corner at the end and you can see the big hill, it is customary to swear.

(I swore, my husband didn't swear, but he laughed hysterically.  Which is sort of the same thing).

2.  The view is awesome.

Not my picture.  My pictures didn't look this good.

(image via kanga-tours.com.au)

West Head wasn't that hard.  Even the big hill.  It felt like some rolling hills.  Not a huge deal compared to Akuna Bay.

(Yes, I know how ridiculous this statement sounds to people that don't ride - I cover that later).

I had done Akuna Bay as part of the Bobbin Head Classic which I wrote about The Night Before My First 80km and My First 80km.

I remember Akuna Bay as being one unrelenting very steep hill and was quite scared but excited to do it again.

My husband had not done it but he is a hill climber (enjoys the hills) and it was exciting to have him experience it - even though it mostly means watching him ride away from me really really quickly while I ride in my granny gear (lowest gear) very very slowly.

It's weird, Akuna Bay felt like hell on the Bobbin Head Classic ride, but today it felt fine.

Perhaps it was the espresso I had before the climb.

Or it was my second time so it was no longer an unknown..

Or, 1 month has made a huge difference in my fitness.

I was talking to my husband and saying how weird it was, like it feels hard but it doesn't feel like I'm getting destroyed any more and he said that's the kms on the bike => base fitness.

Things I Am Glad About

Having glasses to protect my eyes from the wind (I got pretty teary on the descents).

Having gloves to cushion my hands from the bumpiness going fast down the descents.

Now I think riding big hills (eg. Ku Ring Gai National Park) as excitingly scary but fun.

Toilet Tip

P.S.  There is a public toilet at Terrey Hills here - which was my SAVIOUR..  As it's a pretty long car ride up to Terrey Hills (a good place to start the Ku Ring Gai National Park rides).

It's near the tennis courts.

(Terrey Hills shops on Booralie Rd is a good place to meet).

I Am A Cyclist

So yeah, what's with my "West Head wasn't that bad, it was just some rolling hills"?

I am very conscious that I'm already starting to sound like a "cyclist".

I used to think my husband was nuts.

Now I am also nuts.

We are nutty together.

And it is so much fun!  :)

Tips for Bunch / Group Rides & My Pimped Commuter Bike

First off, today I pimped my commuter bike.

I felt like my bike was quite daggy in that it wasn't really a purposely black bike, but it also wasn't really personalised in any way.

I discussed my polka dot plans in a previous post.

While googling for pictures, I was inspired by this blog post by Oh Joy pimping up her helmet.

(which, happened to be a blog that I love and have been following for a while):

(via ohjoy.blogs.com)

She had trouble finding a polka dot helmet, so she bought some white circle labels and stuck them on a black helmet.

Being a crafty person in theory but a "perfectionist / not quite skilled enough to enact the vision" type person, sometimes my crafty ideas don't come off too well in real life, but I thought, hey, labels, I can do labels.  That doesn't sound too hard.

And it wasn't.

I went back and did the seat stay as well as it looked a little bare at the back.

I found the labels on ebay.

So, yeah, I'll keep you updated on how they stay on the bike, and whether they will shortly become grey dots...

Tips for Bunch / Group Rides

So, I'm at the stage where there is one Saturday ride I can keep up with comfortably (mostly due to the leader keeping the pace nice and steady at around 25 km/hr), but the other group rides I go on can be quite challenging to stay with the group (as most road cyclists like to ride around 27 km/hr).

I did a ride yesterday that was a bit harder than I usually do and it was good because it reminded me about the aspects I need to work on.

I need to work on recovering after climbing.  I tend to lose the group coming up out of a valley and then I cannot get back on the group.

After talking to some of the group, I got some tips.

1.  Stay at the front of the group.

(via www.adelaidecyclists.com)

It is much easier to ride at the front of the group.

This can be intimidating because as a slower rider, I didn't want to slow down the group or break up the group, however, it is actually much, much easier to ride at the front.

There is less "rubber banding" / stretching of the group at the front (every time someone slows down, this effect sort of gets bigger and bigger as it goes down the group).

And when you start at the front, with the hills, as a slower person, then you can drop backwards through the bunch (as the stronger riders overtake you) without completely dropping off the bunch.

Then, at the top of the hills, when everyone is slowing down and a bit unorganised to let everyone catch back on (ie. not back in the 2 lines yet), try and get back to the front of the bunch by going around the right.

2.  Change gears when the person in front changes gear.

(via cyclinggrannygears.blogspot.com.au)

If you find a good wheel to hang onto the back of - someone who rides a steady pace and communicates well, you can use their gear changing as a tip about when to change gears.

Learning when to change gears was a big step forward in my cycling.  

It's actually the biggest thing that helped me climb hills, knowing to change (down) into the small ring at the front and (up) on the big cog at the back at the same time - so you're still pedalling at an equivalent cadence but at a gear suitable for climbing - BEFORE you hit the hill.

I used to change gears once I got on the hill, and then you can stop pedalling, and lose your momentum, or even worse, drop your chain and have to stop the car.

Intervals

Now that I need to train up before I can join other rides, one of the guys suggested interval training.

20 minutes at a 8/10 intensity rating.

Then 10-15 minute cruising speed.

Then another 20 minutes at a 8/10 intensity rating.

Apparently it's horribly boring, but it will noticeably help..

I only have 1 pair of cycling socks at the moment - that I luuuuuuuuuuuurve:

But for this training, I think I need more socks.... yes....

The Athletic - PDX Socks

LADIES TOPIC (DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU)

Ok, this is a bit of a personal post, but I feel like I have to write about it as part of my journey.

So, guaranteed every month, I couldn't cycle for 2 days because of my period.

(via www.dreamstime.com)

This was not me.

Mainly for 3 reasons:

1. Period Pain
2. Muscle looseness - hard to explain, but I feel like I can't engage my muscles properly.  Which is annoying when you're trying to do an exercise where you specifically engage your muscles properly..
3. Pads - they can be uncomfortable and feel insecure and since you don't wear underpants under the shorts, I was worried others would be able to see it sticking out (since in a bunch ride, people's faces are literally 1m away from your ass).

But the 2 days of non cycling was bringing me down because I am enjoying and putting a lot of energy into cycling 6 days a week.

Plus the weather starting to get rainier, I'm already losing days, making it trickier to maintain a routine.
(I still commute in the rain, but am not comfortable going out on the road bike in the wet).

1.  Pain I can manage with pain killers.  And exercise makes it better - despite that feeling really counter-intuitive.

2.  Muscle looseness - I go a bit easier on myself and let myself get away with a slower, shorter ride.  :)

3.  Pads.

I was speaking to the doctor about a range of issues and she suggested using tampons.

Which I suppose I am late to the party - even with all my dancing - I think most people use tampons, but it always seemed scary and foreign.

But I did it and it was amazingly freeing.

I kind of wish I hadn't been so scared of Toxic Shock Syndrome (which is still a risk).

But I googled lots of information about it so I felt like it wasn't really as difficult as I thought it was.

I think it's definitely much better now with the internet.  When I was a teenager it was really embarrassing to find information by asking people and there wasn't that much information around so it was hard to feel comfortable about your knowledge with a topic.

And I guess I never really thought about it / could be bothered doing anything about it.

So yeah, I didn't immediately go out horse riding on a beach, but I did run up and down the apartment stairs kicking my legs around.

(via www.thelifestyledblog.com)

It just goes to show at any age, you never run out of things to learn and try, even if you thought you couldn't do them before.

Apparently though, moon cups / diva cups are pretty good for cycling, but baby steps..

Fun Cycling Videos

Too cool!

Too cute!

Catania Bike Festival - backstage video promo from Catania Bike Festival on Vimeo.

Pimp My Ride

I've decided that instead of buying a third bike, I might just pimp up my commuter so that it's a bit prettier.

Reminder of what my bike currently looks like:

I was considering pink and/or white polka dots.

I think white polka dots might be the way to go.  It feels classic but still pretty and something different.  

Flair.  :p

Some inspiration for pimping my ride:

(image via le-21eme.com/)

(image via echointhecity.files.wordpress.com)

(image via www.yesandyes.org/)

(image via snail-bait.blogspot.com.au)

(image via www.bluoz.com)

WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

So exciting!!

Wearing White & Finding The Cycle Within

(image via delightfulcycles.tumblr.com)

So I wore a white dress to work today.

Tempted fate.

And fate delivered.

One flat tyre later, I decided I hate hand pumps.

Except I already knew I hated hand pumps.

Which is why I had bought a CO2 canister (as we use on the road bikes) for this purpose.

Except I couldn't work out how to get the CO2 canister working.

Because I'd never done it.

I got home pretty grumpy.

I get grumpy when I think I should be able to do something and I can't.

Got home and engineer husband helped me get it working.

The trick was I needed to screw the opening further onto the Shrader valve and then push quite hard against the valve.

Now I'm good again.

I love my husband.

He makes things good again.  :)

(image via holykaw.alltop.com)

P.S.  On the upside, I rode home pretty slowly (17km/hr) because I was so worried about pinch flatting on my low tyre that I didn't break a sweat.

Up until now, I didn't think I was capable of doing it.

(Yes, I know I can just cycle slower, but it feels strange to me.)

It also helped that it was so late by that stage, there wasn't much traffic.

I guess the next challenge would be to cycle that slowly in the morning peak traffic.

I will now share with you an interesting article that I came across yesterday that resonated with me:

"You see, the problem is that you want to keep up with people who you can’t keep up with."

http://pelotonmagazine.com/the-ring/wankmeister-the-ride-is-inside-you/

 "You’ve only been doing this a short time and you’ve seen dramatic improvements that most people never see. But you make the terrible mistake of comparing yourself to people who are far above your physical ability. This causes you frustration because you want to be as good as they are, which in your mind means “as fast.” I could tell you right now that you’re much better than most cyclists I’ve ever met but because you equate good with fast, you can’t grasp my meaning or you think I’m flattering you or you think I don’t get it."

Totally.

Basically, you must cycle (and probably do things in general) for your own intrinsic reasons and motivation.

But we all knew that, right?  :)