Ran through Edwards Park late in the evening.

Total: 5.27mi Run

Breaking the Vicious Cycle

A great article from the Seattle Weekly:

It was another fun race, but I finished the worst yet. With just over 2 laps to go I moved up to the top 5 right before a hill. Unfortunately I expended too much energy doing that and 15 guys passed me immediately. I was pretty much done after that and actually fell out of the head pack and probably finished about 35/50. It was crowded again and the speed was fast, only about 15 seconds slower than last time.

I am starting to think that there is no way I can place in these types of races where sprinting skills are the key to winning. I think I might be much better on mountains and at time trialing.

Total: Seward Park Thursday Night Series; 12.1mi Race; 25.6mph; 28:20; position: 35/50?
Total: 22.35mi Bike Ride (to/from Seward Park)

I went for my second ride with the Cascade Bicycle Club today. We headed northeast from Gas Works Park. The ride itself was pretty easy in difficulty in terms of speed, but there were a couple of good hills. The leader of the ride took us to the highest point within Seattle proper which is on the corner of 28th Ave. NE and NE 85th St. (click on map to zoom in; note: this is not an interactive map because I didn't think it was that great of a ride to apply it). We also took a loop around Sand Point Country Club which is pretty swanky (good thing we weren't kicked out for trespassing).

Total: 28.1mi Bike Ride

My second time at the race track--i.e., the Seward Park Thursday night cycling series. It was hotter and the pace was faster than last week. This time, there were two 'bells' during the race which signify that you could get a point and $10 if you win the next lap. I made one failed attempt to win one: I wasn't even in the top 10 for that lap. With 5 laps to go, I was way in the back of the pack. With 3 laps to go I started moving up--and it took all my willpower to do so--but again ended up missing the mark by the end of the race: I finished maybe in the top 15 out of perhaps 50. I wish that every cyclist would get a placement, not just the top 6. On the other hand it's an incentive to move up.

Total: Seward Park Thursday Night Series; 12.1mi Race (15 Loops x .8mi); position: 15/50?; 25.7mph
Total: 21.89mi Bike Ride (to/from Seward Park)

STP: Seattle To Portland Classic 2006

Thanks to a comment by a user and encouragement by my girlfriend, I ended up doing it. I knew that it was going to be difficult and it was; at the same time, I found out that I could ride much faster and longer when riding with a group. I also discovered that you don't need to spend a lot of money on a bike to compete with the big boys.

I only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep but felt OK when I left the starting line near Husky Stadium at 6:30am on Saturday. There were so many people there (9000 registered riders) that someone was always in front or in the back. I started riding at a medium speed (17-19mph) for the first few miles. Soon we were on Lake Washington Blvd. and then Seward Park. I was going to stop for a pit stop there but the line to the bathrooms was too long so I kept going. Here's the bad part about not getting enough sleep: I don't remember too much after that. I can usually visualize the route I ride almost as if I had been holding a video camera all along, but this time my memory failed me. I remember riding alongside a straight road lined by offices and warehouses south of Renton--that was right before we got to the first food stop at REI in Kent, where I ate a banana and a peanut butter/jelly wrap. From there I don't remember much of anything until we got to Centralia 75 miles later, except for a couple of conversations I had with riders, tagging along with a couple of groups of riders that (temporarily) passed me, and stopping at two more food stops.

I have to say that riding fast with other bikers was the most fun aspect of this ride. First of all, I rode my old VolksCycle that I purchased on Craigslist for $30 last year. This Japanese (I originally thought it was German) workhorse will not give up and will not break down. I took it instead of my Six13 because I hadn't yet received a shorter stem for it that I ordered a few days before the ride. Given the long distance, I wanted to be comfortable on the bike, and the (at least) 25-year old Volkscycle fits me perfectly.

Even though it weighs about 23 pounds, I was able to keep with other riders who had bikes worth thousands. I'm glad I got the Six13 however because I've noticed I can go faster on it, especially on hills and sprints. Just this past Thursday I was barely able to keep up with the pack during my first race. So I think the only reason I was able to keep up with most, but not all riders who were going fast was because my speciality is long distance a la marathon running.

Map created by GPSVisualizer.com

Tracks: - 20060715-141206 - 20060716-133620

I think I stopped two more times and then made it to Centralia by 1:30pm. I immediately bought a spaghetti dinner for $5 and relaxed for a few minutes. The last quarter of the ride was rough on the legs. I then got my bag which I left at the start line (it was dropped off in Centralia by a truck) and set out a tent in a field on the grounds of a community college. The town itself is very small and it didn't look like there was much there besides the college, houses, and a couple of stores. There was a small beer garden nearby where the Tour de France was being shown and I hung out there for a couple of hours. Somehow it got late really fast and I went to sleep before sunset.

I got up at 4:30am and ate a very good pancake-and-scrambled-eggs breakfast. I was off by about 6am. It was pretty chilly outside (55F?) and it took me a couple of miles to warm up. The ride from Centralia to Portland was a little more scenic--more farms and open fields, but it didn't really get scenic until we crossed the Columbia River in Longview across a huge suspension bridge. Then it was boring again until about 10 miles from Portland where we could see Mt. Hood and the outline of downtown. By then, and actually a couple of hours earlier, it had gotten very warm and I knew I'd be sunburned because I didn't have any sunscreen on (didn't feel like stopping for it).

Throughout the ride, I tagged along with other fast riders and went even faster than the previous day. The difference between riding alone and with a group is tremendous. First of all, it's harder to push yourself riding alone whereas in a group you have competition. Secondly, the drag behind riders makes a huge difference and riding first in the group takes a lot more energy.

I was riding mostly solo the last 20 miles or so until I caught a couple of guys with about 5 miles to go with whom I rode to the finish line where there were lots of people cheering. I was pretty tired by then and drank lots of water, ate, and took a shower. I hung out in Portland with my girlfriend the rest of the day and the following day. Nice city!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the ride because my camera is too heavy to carry with me on the bike and I forgot to take pictures in Centralia and at the finish line.

In summary, this was a great ride: it was well organized, it was tough, and perhaps most importantly for me, it was a very good learning epxerience.

Total: Seattle to Portland (STP) Classic 2006 (07/15-07/16); 201.69mi Bike Ride; 17.4 mph avg.; 11:36:49 moving time; 9260 cal

First Cycling Race

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Seward Park Thursday night cycling series. Well today I tried it out. It was awesome! According to the schedule, there is a beginner's clinic at 5:00, but after getting there just on time on my bike, it turned out the guy who does it was out of town, but I asked the guys who were collecting forms and money if there was anything important I should know. They said to not make any sudden turns and hang in the back if I'm uncomfortable riding in groups. Nothing new, I knew that from watching the Tour de France. So far so good.

I rode the .8 mile lap a couple of times prior to the race to test it out. First there is a downhill for about .3 miles, then it's flat for about .3, then uphill for about .2. The hill is difficult. 10 minutes before the race it started pouring--that made me nervous 'cause it was still raining when the race started.

I hung out in the back. The pace was surpisingly fast but I kept up for the first 2 laps. By the 3rd lap I got dropped on the hill and was back about 100 feet, dead last! By this time it stopped raining but the conditions were wet for the rest of the race. Fortunately I cought up about 2 laps later, but then was dropped again midway through the race (15 laps x .8 miles). Again, I cought up 2 or 3 laps later and decided to hang in the group. A couple of times I got right into the middle of the pack consisting of about 25-30 riders total. I felt comfortable by then. The race "official" standing on the side of the road rang the bell at the start of the 9th or 10th loop. The first three people (I think) who finished the lap got points added that are counted in the season total. It's the same concept as the green best sprinter jersey in the Tour de France.

With three laps to go I was in the last third of the group. Just before the start of the last lap I moved up to the middle of the pack, and before the last hill I was in the top third. However, it didn't help me very much because right at the start of the hill a bunch of guys flew by me. I pushed as hard as I could and ended up probably about 15/30, but I really have no idea because you only get points if you finish in the top 6 or top 3 for the bonus lap.

I'm satisfied with my performance. It was very difficult and challenging, which is why I'll definitely do it again a few more times before the racing season ends in early September. A few "tricks" I learned: when going downhill, at least on this one which was moderately steep, I didn't pedal once I got up to speed but rather got into a tuck and coasted behind other riders. The tuck and tailgaiting helped my speed noticeably. However this maneuver can be dangerous, or at least you have to be cognizant of what everyone else is doing, because on one loop the front of the group sped up very fast at the bottom of the hill (whereas on other laps I was fine just coasting for a while afterwards) and I lost a few positions. Also, the hill is where the action was. I was very week on them and usually lost a few spots going up.

I'm looking forward to other races. This was a good first run at bike racing. BTW, my (and the peleton's) average speed was 23.7mph--that's fast for me!

Total: Seward Park 11.9mi Race (15 Loops x .8mi); position: 15/30?; 23.7mph
Total: 23.46mi Bike Ride (to/from Seward Park)

Vashon Island Extreme

Yeah, it was pretty tough. Let me explain...

I've wanted to do this ride for some time now. I finally got off my ass and did it. I took the 4:40 ferry from West Seattle to Vashon Island. The ferry ride is only about 15 minutes and I was on the bike just after 5pm. I let all the cars pass first and I think that's always a good idea even though bikers get off first. Once you're on the road, it's not pleasant to have a 100 cars whiz by. As it turned out, I saw very few cars afterwards, even less so than on Bainbridge Island because you can only access Vashion Island by ferry whereas Bainbridge is connected to the Olympic peninsula via a bridge.

The ride at first was not very scenic at all. To make up for it, there were LOTS of hills. At the start, I was greeted by a 400 foot climb. From there, it was hill after hill. I actually didn't mind it at first but by about 35 miles I got pretty tired of it, but it was definitely a good mental (and physical) workout.

The west side of the island is not very scenic unless you own a house by the water. There was a very nice view of southern Puget Sound at the bottom of the island which was about 15 miles in. When I got there there was a ferry leaving for Tacoma. The boat was very small, I've never seen one like it. I looked it up and it's called the M/V Rhododendron.

Once you get to the east side of the island, the views get much better, but they still don't match Bainbridge Island or the San Juans. Now if you look at the map you'll see Maury Island to the east of Vashon Island. I didn't know it was a separate island until just a minute ago because the crossing was a small bridge and I don't recall seeing a sign. It was just as hilly there if not more so. At one point, I could see downtown Seattle.
Well, that's that. I think I'll do this ride again beause it's really good training, but it's one of those rides that's more fun with someone else. BTW, GPS Visualizer has an elevation profile input form and I used it for the first time today. Previously I just used my Forerunner Logbook software for it. They're not that different but neither one gives you the total elevation gain/loss. I did some research on the Web and found that Motion Based does exactly that plus a lot more (detailed statistics and many maps in one place). I set up a free account and uploaded this ride and the most recent one on Bainbridge Island. It turns out the total elevation gain for Vashon was +3120 feet (total elevation change of 6240 ft.); Bainbridge was +2556.

Total: 48.4mi Bike Ride (total time: 2:58:38; avg. speed: 16.3mph)

Well, I've been out of commission for a while. I'm posting/backdating four posts that weren't published the day of.

BTW, here are the totals for June:

I went kayaking today with my girlfriend. We rented our kayaks again at Aqua Verde. Previously we headed towards Puget Sound via Lake Union. This time we headed the other way towards Lake Washington. We were out for just over 2 hours. It was hot for Seattle (around 80) but it didn't feel that bad out on the water which is relatively clean around here compared to other urban areas in the U.S., so you don't have to worry about being splashed. This time we rented two single kayaks--the effort was greater and our arms were pretty tired by the end. And all the better because we couldn't find a better reason not to split 3 margaritas and a large Tecate in the restaurant upstairs!

It was my girlfriend's birthday so we got half off the rental price of her kayak, but we forgot to ask for a discount upstairs ;-(.



Total: Kayaking! (Aqua Verde to Madison Park on Lake Washington)

[Backdated on 07/10/2006]

Another stellar day weather-wise, so I went for a bike ride around Lake Washington. This time I was aiming for a full loop. I ate and hydrated myself pretty well, so I opted not to take a food and water-filled backpack with me which I thought might be a good idea based on my previous experience. It turned out just fine (I had two big Gatorade-filled bottles in my cages and an energy bar in the pack underneath my saddle). I stopped at Juanita Beach Park in Kirkland to refill a bottle and just past the I-90 junction to eat the bar. Otherwise it was smooth sailing although the last 10 miles were pretty hard as my legs started to feel considerably weaker.

Incredibly, I just missed the 100 kilometer mark! I could have ridden around the block a couple of times just to get it but I figured I'll plan a ride next time that will go over that. For example, if I went through Medina, I would have easily done it. I don't feel bad at all 'cause this was the furthest I've done. Now, I still can't figure out how the Tour de France riders go over 200km in one day and then repeat that day after day!!!

BTW, I will get Google Maps to work someday (it's really useful because you can zoom-in to a street level)! I'm including a snapshot of the route for now.
NOTE: 07/13/2006: It's working!

Map created by GPSVisualizer.com

Distance (km) 95.2 84.6 74.1 63.5 52.9 42.3 31.7 21.2 10.6 0.0

Total: 59.6mi (95.9km) Bike Ride; 2579 cal.; 142 lb.

[Backdated 07/10/2006]

I went for a late-evening run by Elliot Bay today. It was dark on my way back and it felt great. I haven't done a run that late in a while...

Total: 4.88 mi Run

[Backdated on 07/10/2006]