In the Balance:My Trek to the Cape

Well, I am on the bus writing this long-hand which I will later type into the computer at home. Yesterday I rode from Boston to Cape Cod – 104 mile trek with my friend Andi. She lives on the Cape so we have a lovely destination.

I haven’t been doing as much riding as I need to be doing to prepare for the Harbor to the Bay AID ride on September 20th. (I have been busy teaching riding.) So, I was a bit worried about this ride which was about 30 miles shorter than the September ride but still over a hundred miles.

In fact, I hadn’t ridden in over a week and a half. I took nothing but my riding gear (stuff to change tires, phone etc.), a pair of underwear in a plastic bag, and a folding toothbrush. I was worried I would poop out after fifty miles. I was also worried that it would rain.

As luck would have it, the weather held until we got to Andi’s home, showered and were making dinner. We were blessed and probably the fact that we both carried all of our rain gear in case helped too.

At about mile 75 I was quite tired but a stop and ice cream helped me push through it and I felt better than I had expected to all in all. We made a few substantial stops and ate a ton. For instance, we had second breakfast! This is so unusual for me who doesn’t even eat first breakfast half the time. Even with the stops, we got there around 5:00 PM having averaged close to 14 mph.

I know the intense training I did early in season in preparation to race, paid off even thought I had been off the bike for over a week (except for short – very short – rides to and from the Bicycle Riding School). It made me away that my overall fitness is pretty good.

My partner recently commented that we tend to take our fitness and riding ability for granted. I think he is right.

I was recently in the market talking to another riding friend and telling her I was worried about the Harbor to the Bay ride. She said, “Pata you know in your heart you could do that ride tomorrow if you had to.” I thought about it concluded that she is right.

However, this has not always been the case for me. (At one point I was 220 pounds and very out of shape.) I feel lucky to have found “exercise” that I love and that feeds my soul. I have to remember that I am blessed in this regard and that not everyone enjoys health in the same way I do at this moment. I need to remember that although this level of fitness requires work, the payoffs are great in terms of my emotional, physical and spiritual well being.

In the next six weeks before the ride and thereafter I need to make more time to ride. I owe it to myself. It keeps me balanced and although it is easy at times to get imbalanced and stressed out trying to meet the demands of others – it is worth the effort to create a balanced life with time for myself and my bike.

Mt. Wachusetts "Hill" Climb

Here I am on the top of Mount Wachusetts. We were whimps and drove to base of the mountain and then rode up it. (Instead of riding the fifty miles to the mountain and fifty home.) The mountain was a good climbing (and descending) challenge and we were there before the road was open to car traffic on Memorial Day. I made it up the mountain, but there were times that I really wished I was on the Luna which had the triple!

Bicycle Riding School Faculty at Work

Here Susan and I are working on fixing knee and elbow pads for our beginning riding students. Part of teaching riding is maintaining the fleet of bicycles as well as the equipment. Luckily, we work well together and have some fun in the process.

Teaching Bicycle Riding

One of the things I do is teach beginners to ride bicycles. The students are mostly adults who, for a variety of reasons, never learned to ride a bicycle. I work with a Susan who has taught over 2000 people over the course of twenty years. It is amazing and humbling work in many ways.

It has made me think about riding differently in that I have had to articulate what, at this point in my life, comes naturally. It is a complex maneuver to start riding a bicycle from a stopped position. Not only do you have to push a pedal down but you have to kick off with the other foot and hold the handle bars steady. This is not an easy task for a new learner, especially if it is an uphill start.

Probably my most important task in teaching a new bicycle rider is to encourage and coach. Usually, there are reasons why an adult didn’t learn and often this is accompanied by fear. So, I do a lot of cheering and singing and yelling, “way to go!” I also teach students how to balance on a bicycle, use their pedals, change gears, stand up, look around, remove one hand from the bars, and hold their line.

I do more advanced teaching of pace-line skills with a women’s ride I help lead, but it is the beginners who are the most rewarding. Often they feel like learning to ride changes their life. They feel accomplished and many times they have overcome fear and embarrassment to do so. I am blessed to be able to share this process with them.

The Lantern Rider

I got up at 5AM and left the house around 6:30 to ride to my first race. It was a crit – which just means it was a course that goes around and around. Fifteen laps to be exact, each lap just under a mile. I went to my parent’s house which is about five minutes from the course to use the facilities (there are none at the race site) and to shed some of the warmer clothing I had needed so early in the morning.

As I entered the race course, I looked over to the woods and out came a coyote. He looked me straight in the eye and I passed him on my bicycle and he went along his way. Coyote is one of my animal totems and I felt like he was saying, “Don’t take the race or yourself too seriously, girl! See the humor and have some fun.”

I was one of the first people to show and rode around the course a couple of times. A few other women riders who I knew arrived and we rode the course together. This actually was a mistake for me. I had already warmed up by riding to the race and I just tired myself out a bit by doing more laps. Oh well, live and learn.

The race started a bit past 8:30 and we were off. I was with the pack but toward the back, which isn’t a great place to be. There was one woman who was squirrelly and unfortunately I was behind her. Around the second or third lap she almost crashed into another rider and to avoid getting involved in a crash, I had to go around them. As luck would have it, neither of them went down. But I was separated from the pack and never got back on. So, I rode most of the race time trial style, by myself.

At one point, I passed a fellow team mate who was struggling. I told her to get on my wheel and tried to pull her so she could rest. She couldn’t stay on and eventually abandoned the race.

At the very end, one of the team coaches came up and gave me a lead out to the sprint. I, being quite befuddled, wasn’t sure on which side to sprint past her and end up sort of muddled it up. (Turns out the side didn’t matter.) But I sprinted to the finish in the end.

I was determined to finish the race even if it meant I was going 5 mph (which I didn’t). I did finish and not everyone did. I was the last rider who finished. And lo and behold I got a prize. They call the last rider the lantern rider. That would be me.

I learned a lot in this race. I went into it knowing that this kind of race wouldn’t be my strength. I do better when there is terrain and some hills. But I learned that riding too much before the race isn’t a good idea; that starting as close to the front as you can IS a good idea; that you have to watch out for the squirrelly rider and stay way; and that I am a team player. In the end, it was a nice Mother’s Day gift to myself.

The Season is Upon Us (or Making Goals)

Beltane (May Day) just occurred reminding us that spring is here in full force. The weather in New England is slowly warming up and there are buds on the trees. It is a time of joy and playfulness. It is a time of beginnings.

For me, it is a time to really focus on my intentions for cycling this season. What do I want to accomplish? What seeds do I want to plant and what do I need to do to grow them?

Now deciding what I want to do and figuring out how to manifest my intentions are not easy tasks for me. It feels like there are so many options and possibilities, which is a good thing in that I am not limited, but it also creates a problem of choice. What races and rides do I want to do? How do I want to shape my training at this point? What are my racing and riding goals?

I know I need some short term goals and some long term ones. I know I need to think progressively. I know also I need to think holistically about the balance in my life and the things I need to do to be the best athlete I can – things like eat better and lose that ten pounds that is hanging around my middle.

I have a few short term goals. I’d like to try to do the Wells Avenue training race, especially if they have a women’s field. I am going to ride with the Cat. 4 team on Thursdays and with the Women’s Ride on Tuesdays. I am going to develop a weekly training plan so I at least have thought about the goals for the week. I am going to get back to doing my physical therapy exercises so my knee doesn’t hurt.

I have a few long term goals too but at this point they are a little unfocussed. I want to do two or three road races this season, although I am still not sure which ones. I think I am going to do a charity ride at the end of the season, which is over 100 miles. I may want to do one other century. There is a hilly one in July that might be a good choice. Obviously, I need to get clearer on these goals and then figure out the steps I need to get there.

I have been living in the moment in terms of my cycling, just figuring out what the next best thing to do is and doing it. Although in some ways this isn’t a bad approach, at this point I need more long-term clarity. I know it will be worth the investment to develop a specific plan, even if it evolves over time. So, I will make this my priority and my first short term goal and see what unfolds.

Bicycles as a Way of Life

Right now just about everything I do revolves around my bicycle. This is not a bad thing, although it is different for me. Over the past couple of years the bike has gained more and more prominence in my life, but now it has consumed it. It is not that I am unhappy about this turn of events – it is just interesting to note.

I am currently, training to race, riding for fun, teaching beginner adults how to ride and helping to lead a weekly women’s ride. I recently took a racing clinic that taught me the basic techniques and strategies of racing. I joined a Cat. 4 women’s racing team. It seems that I am either riding, preparing to ride, talking about riding or rides, teaching folks how to ride, or doing all the laundry generated by riding.

I am feeling like the thing I need to do now is really consider what my goals are for the season in relation to racing, riding, and my relationship with bicycles. I would like to do a few road races and am at the point where I have to decide which ones and how to prepare for them. I am considering doing a charity ride in September. I think I want to do at least one century ride in addition to the charity ride which is 125 miles in a day. I need to make a clearer training plan for the season. I also want to do some work on my bicycle. I need to change the cassette and chain. I’d like to do that myself with the help of my partner. I am also taking some classes to become certified in bicycle safety so I could teach that as well.

To everything there is a season. For me, now is bicycle season. I am learning and growing in many ways right now. I am challenging myself physically and emotionally with the racing. I am giving back to the community by teaching and leading rides. I am learning new things. I know though, if I lose the joy in cycling then it is time to reassess, for that is ultimately why I do all this. I love it. I love cycling. I love teaching. I love learning. Who would have thought that I would fall in love with a two wheeled machine?

The picture is of me in my new team kit. Although I like the design, all the red, white, and blue makes me feel like Little Miss Asian America! Yay for diversity!