Thursday, September 13, 2007

no race, but i will measure

I am a bit sick, so I didn't go to Hellyer for the points race tonight. That e-card really says it all. I think I was so tired from Saturday and Sunday that I was a hotbed waiting to incubate any virus. Lucky for me, lots of people were sick at my work, so by Monday night I felt crappy. But I am starting to feel better after my 16 hour sleep marathon! My pee looked like lemon-lime Gatorade when I awoke cause I slept for so long without even getting up for a sip of water.

Well, I measured, and my quads are holding strong at 60.25. I think that they will start to shrink pretty soon as I stop doing sprint workouts. I wonder how much they'll shrink....this will be very interesting.

I think I will re-cap some of my season goals. Thinking back to last September, I have made great accomplishments. Below are some of the goals that I achieved, and a couple I did not.
  • Ride no-hands. This took me a VERY long time to learn because I have a bad sense of balance. I was very, very happy when I could finally do this and told everyone I knew.
  • Get up out of the saddle. Yes, that sounds dumb. But 1 year ago I couldn't get out of my saddle at all while riding. Now I know how to do this while going up hills (which can make going up hills a lot easier!) and while sprinting. This took a long time to figure out, but happy I can finally do it.
  • Drink my water while riding. Last summer I was in a constant state of dehydration, so it is very good I can grab my water bottle, now from both cages.
  • Walk my bike by only pushing the saddle. I feel totally bad-ass now that I can even go around turns.
  • Ride the rollers! This also took a very long time. I spent a long time with my roommates holding my handlebars. But now I go for 35 minutes without bumping the door frame.
  • Finish a race (without crashing).
  • Tuck on the downhills. Michiko taught me how to do this. Except I am a pussy and keep my hands near the breaks, not on top of the bar like her.
  • Try out the track.
  • Of course, there are a bunch of other things I learned, but these were my actual goals last September.
Some of my goals I did not accomplish. These are:
  • Ride a century. My first attempt ended in the ER...so I still have yet to ride the full 100.
  • Corner not like a grandma. I don't think I corner like a grandma anymore, but it is still something I need to work on a lot more, so I am not checking it off the list yet.
  • Take off my coat while riding. I can go no hands, take off arm warmers in a unique fashion with one hand on the handlebars, but I still can't take off something over my head.
  • Learn to descend well. I am 10 times better than I was, but still need to work on this a lot more.
In addition to the ones above, I have a couple I am going to add:
  • Try cross and riding in the dirt!
  • Learn to ride on the black line on the track, even when i am going really, really fast.
  • Learn to do standing starts better-- so I don't skip my wheels and swerve all over the place.
  • Do one of the motorpacing sessions.
  • Drink water during a race. This is important. I still haven't done this. (Well, you don't at track races. It is no biggie for a 40 minute crit... but, that Berkeley Hills road race was a long race with no water.)
  • Ride the rollers no hands. Maybe that is a bit ambitious, but I want to try.
  • Figure out better positioning in the crits
  • Go to LA and ride the velodrome there. I think they have women's only days on that track and it'd be fun to road trip there to try it out!
  • (I'd also like to try out those arrow bar things-- just cause I think it'd be neat to try them.)
Of course, I would like to generally improve and get faster, but I try to make skills my concrete goals because that seems more meaningful to me improving as a bike rider. Corner and descending, though, is certainly my #1!

11 comments:

place_holder said...

why did you have to pick the lemon-lime flavor? (alright, good it wasn't fierce grape) now, how am i supposed to refill my bottle during a long ride?

i don't think nasa stands for National Arrownautics and Space Administration.

recover fast, you pussy!

Carol G said...

You a bad-ass, Beth. Congratulations on meeting so many of your goals.

Hey, if you do go to L.A. to try out their track, how about making it into an all-women road trip? How fun would that be?!

Hope you feel better soon.

Unknown said...

Year's not over yet! Still plenty of time to get that century in! Hope you feel better soon.

Itinerant Rick said...

Lots o'accomplishments. Way to go! Still a couple of centuries this year. Tour for Woodside (high) is a week from Sat., one in SLO the weekend after .... so you can still get that goal in this year. Or not.
Just relish all you've done, have fun, and do some recovery. Next year will be waiting.

WarrenG said...

Tahoe Century is next weekend. If this sprinter can climb Donner Pass anyone can. Should I go with a 90" gear or the 92"?

Velo Bella said...

I'm glad you got the card. I hope it made you feel better.

We missed you last night. It was one of those nights where the women were kicking ass.

Velo Bella said...

and your goals are awesome

X Bunny said...

wow--berkeley hills with no water!

for some people, that would a goal accomplished!

place_holder said...

buy me a glass of lemon drop with ketel one, and you are in for a century anytime.

chatterbox said...

Good goals, and good work this year! I'll have to get the story of your century attempt some time.

The good news is that if you work on cornering, your descending will also improve, so you can kill two birds with one stone!

Grey said...

it's kind of fun once you get so used to doing everything on your bike that you occasionally realize you have no free hands. i have, for example, been riding with a cup of coffee and decided to make a phone call.

let me know when you're going to race cross. i'll show up and heckle.