Monday, March 26, 2007

best 25th bday present ever

  1. Getting up at 6:30, biking to the mormon temple, and showing Fred my new-found cornering ability. He even said...."This was the best training session yet!" (That's because I am a mature woman now at 25!) or......
  2. Starting jury duty for a murder trial. :(

Sunday, March 25, 2007

let's go gunnar!

Apparently that is my new nickname.

Today was my second day of the bay area women's bike clinic. One of the instructors was giving me an awful lot of help (Thanks Cheryl!!!), especially on my cornering which was oh, so close, but not quite there. Anyway, at one point, I was the only one doing the drills and she was yelling "let's go gunnar" and then some of the women watching were cheering me along also saying "go gunnar!" It was awesome having everyone pulling for me, especially by my new nickname. Who needs a name like Beth, when I can be known by my bike! (my bike is a "color of the month" 9/30/05- orange glow over sterling silver She's beautiful!)

Saturday, March 24, 2007

i totally biked with an olympian!


Well, i believe that title is a bit over-stated...but i went to this clinic put on my bay area women's cycling. Nicole Freedman, Olympian in 2000, taught the clinic and it was awesome.

I think my favorite comment was about leg warmers/arm warmers for sprinters. In the off season arm warmers get tight and leg warmers loose; during racing season leg warmers get tight and arms warmers loose. I may have to re-contact my high school trackies to start my company "AG Jeans" (Athletic Girl), which will feature a cut with a small waist, but big thigh/butt .

Sunday, March 18, 2007

musings on the tandem

Fred and I have been going out on the tandem for the six weeks I have my cast. It is nice I can still go on the road, but not so fun being on a tandem. Some people love it; I am not one of them. We look like such a funny pair - white bearded man in front and girl with cast in the back. Here are some thoughts on the tandem. I wish there was a tape recorder on the tandem because we definitely sounded like an old married couple.
  1. You have no control. You can't shift when you want, coast when you want. You just get to peddle. And that really sucks when the person in the front decides to soft peddle all the way up Redwood Road on the way back.
  2. Tandem riding breaks up relationships. A couple on the Yellowjackets told me that tandem riding is a strain on relationships. This is true. Usually when you get annoyed, you can just speed ahead. Not so with tandems. You are stuck. And all you can do is beat them in the back with your cast arm.
  3. Regardless of the bike being a custom frame, it is wobbly going downhill in the back. The people in the front just don't understand!
  4. You know you have a problem when you keep make competitions like "who can clip in first after a light" just so you can beat someone who is 64. I won.
  5. People love tandems. Everyone waves and is happy to see you on the road.
  6. You feel like a total bad ass passing people uphill on the tandem. Like that California Triple Crown jersey we blew by on Dublin Grade. That was sweet.
  7. Whatever Fred says, he totally over-inflated the tire when we were changing the flat, popping the sidewall. He says it was getting blown while going down Dublin Grade to begin with, but we all know he totally popped it by over-inflating. Then he did a cool trick with a dollar bill in the between the tube and tire, under-inflating, and then we went real slow 5 miles to Dublic/Pleasanton BART. So we didn't get to do Calvares.
To be honest, tandem riding gets better and I started to like it (a little) by the end. But I can't wait to get my cast off and reap havok on the road bike again!

Sunday, March 04, 2007

check out these lugs

today i went to the handmade bike show in san jose with jim. let me say, you know you are a bike dork when you can spend 6 hours looking at bikes. i think i fell in love about a thousand times. check out these pictures; they certainly don't give anything justice. we saw a 19 lb tandem. and a 9 lb uphill time trial bike (built up.) crazy. lucky for you a lot of my pictures didn't come out.

no way - a bike made of bamboo!

this is by the same people who made my bike. awesome, eh?

Thursday, March 01, 2007

roller fun

Casts suck. That is all there is to say. They smell and they are itchy and annoying. And I can't ride my bike. I am trying not to lose too much shape, so I have been going to spin classes, riding the tandem with Fred on weekends, and been attempting the crazy thing called rollers.

Rollers are scary. You are basically riding your bike on cylinders -- kinda like that log running. Except you are on a bike. I've been doing it 2 days a week outside my house in front of tree at 6 in the morning. Fred comes over and has to hold my handlebars cause I am in a cast and have even worse balance than normal. It is pretty embarrassing. Especially when people going on their morning walks with their dogs walk by and see some girl balancing on this crazy things with some guy with a white beard holding her upright. Anyway, even in a couple of weeks, I can tell I am getting smoother and am able to better balance. But, man, who created these things? It is crazy!



Here is a picture of them, except I don't look this happy. In fact, I look terrified.