Final Training Ride - Mt. Tamalpais

One week to go for the ALC8 ride - we did our last group training ride on Saturday - climbing to the East Peak of "Mt. Tam" at an altitude of 8500 feet!! This is by far the most spectacular ride I have done in my training season. The day was perfect. Company - Dan, Geoff and Andy (training ride leader), some German tourists (in a Jeep) - was perfect.

Our approach to Mt. Tam, and the first 50-60 minutes of climb was through dense fog - with very little visibility. But, that just made the whole ride even more dramatic. This is when we hit the first ray of light about 1000 feet from the East Peak!



The views from the East peak were breathtaking! Even more so, when it took and hour and half to reach the top : )




The climb down Mt. Tam led us to the "Alpine Dam". This downhill was just one of the most exhilarating experiences - the speeds were approaching 35-40 mph, the roads were bad, windy, and many-many hair pin bends. Just perfect!

A cold morning for riding!

I have zoomed passed this path day in-day out, and only today I realized the beauty of this spot!

GG-bridge, originally uploaded by flickr.

on the GG-bridge, originally uploaded by flickr.

Marshall Wall

Last weekend of back to back rides took me to a very difficult hill called "Wilson Hill Road". Here is a picture of the T-intersection looking at the hill from the side that takes you to Marshall Wall. So once you reach this intersection the options are not the best - either way you are done ;)


Just before we left for the Marshall Wall ride, the ride leader gave us ample warning about the difficulty of this climb, and also told us that we will never encounter a climb like this with a 15-16% grade or almost 40-45 degree on the actual ALC ride to L.A!! To which, a sharp rider responded "why are we doing this then!!", ride leaders response (paraphrase) - "she did not put a gun to our head, we volunteered for this training ride" :)

She was right, indeed this as tough a climb you will see North of Golden Gate Bridge. My singlular aim was to reach this Wall as early as possible to beat the sun. I made it! Began climbing at 10:30 am, and I had one of my best climbs on this training roster. Lucky for us - the winds were mild, though it was still super hot by then.


I was so caught up in the climb, Wall was kicking my ass, that I almost missed the top of the wall - but still managed to hoist my flag on the top (almost) and take some pictures!!


The best part of the Ride!! The intense climb was followed by a 10 miles of rolling roads along the water - sea breeze never felt better or more needed.

Heart

Recently, a colleague (initials GB, first time I met him) here at Oracle stopped by my cube after looking at a flyer, that I have stuck to my cubicle wall, announcing the fact that I'm doing the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

He said an interesting thing to me regarding "clarity" about why I'm doing this ride.

Every weekend I get together with fellow riders and embark on 40-80-100 mile rides. We all talk a little, stretch for the ride, get our riding instructions from the ride leaders. And, I always felt great during this ritual, but I could not come up with a word as to how I actually felt? I think the word I was searching for - was "clarity".

I look at other riders - some suffering, some very much older than me, some volunteering their time for 20 weeks of training when they could do a second job or simply enjoy their lives. I figured they all have a very big "heart". That's when I realized that I have to do more and better than the San Francisco Aids Foundation asks me. So every day I get up I give my best shot to become a champion rider - so I can support and motivate my fellow riders now and on the actual ride. I want to raise as much much money as I can, since me and my friends have worked very hard to build a good life, and it is time for some action.

A close friend of mine (initials - PM) recently motivated me for my effort, and hurled praise at me for actually doing something like this. Frankly, it took me a long time to do this. I have always been enthusiastic and passionate about racing - the need for speed, and hitting and working out at the gym. So, I figured what really stops us all from doing something like this - we have to connect our passion to a cause - then we will be in auto-mode working hard to support whichever cause we hope to support. So I encourage all of you to try this!

Bill Gates, besides all his money :), is a geek, and he probably reads as much literature on Malaria as an Internal Medicine doctor. That's how he remains passionate about his cause(s).

I'm a convert!

I never thought I would be doing Yoga, Pilates or BOSU ever - I was stubborn about only doing weights training. It was not until I started preparing and increasing my riding distances that I realized that I have neglected working on my cardio and core part of the body. To become a good rider it is imperative that you have a strong core. It is your core (abdominal muscles together with your back) - what the legs depend on to keep moving strongly and steadily. Once the core gets tired - the body starts to lack the riding form, and this is how you get injured.

Also, I intend to be a fast and strong rider besides doing long century rides. So I gave pilates, yoga, and BOSU a shot. I can now say that I do these every morning religiously!

I have found that BOSU is particularly good on knees and ankles. So people who have trouble running on concrete pavements, I feel like stopping people - especially while living in the city, should give it a try. You will not get a 100% jogging experience but you will work your "cardio base" and through stabilization effort build your "core".

Here is a video demo of BOSU:

How+to+Do+a+Plank+Combinations+With+a+Bosu+Ball -- powered by http://www.livestrong.com

Enzyme Wars

For an endurance athlete - the VO2 max value - the maximal oxygen consumption value sets the ceiling for high sustainable work rate. It is a measure of his performance engine!! This is where Lactate Threshold (LT) and enzymes come into picture - greatly influencing how much power this engine is able to deliver.

We all have experienced muscle fatigue while running, pumping weights - it is due to the lactic acid produced by the muscle, and if this accumulation goes unchecked the decreased cellular pH may cause muscles to shutdown.

Most of the energy (ATP) required for endurance work comes from the glycogen stored in the muscles. Endurance work causes this glycogen to break down (glycolysis) into glucose again through enzymatic reactions not requiring oxygen.

Glycolysis results in two pyruvate molecules that are like a leaf floating in the river, they have no say in the metabolic direction to take!!

This is when the enzyme wars begin!

Two enzymes pyruvate dehyrdrogenase (PDH) and lactate dehyrdrogenase (LDH) compete for these pyruvate molecules. If the mitochondria is efficient, then PDH keeps shuttling the pyruvate into the mitochondria, where it further breaks down through oxidation to yield high ATP per glucose. If PDH can't keep up then LDH starts to win - the pyruvate gets converted into lactic acid, and as enough of it accumulates the body begins to approach the Lactate Threshold, and the engine slows down!!

So, as a whole, the body - heart, liver, kidneys, and the circulatory system should be very healthy so that this increased production of lactic acid can be quickly taken back from the blood, and converted back into pyruvate or resynthesized as glucose (in the liver).

I'll stop now, I'm approaching LT ;) ...

Back to Back Big Rides

This past weekend was a big one for all the training that I have been doing both out/indoor. I went riding both Sat and Sun, and finished strong after doing 95 miles each day. woohoo!!

Beginning the day ...


First ride was a real challenge - we not only had one of the toughest climb going up Willson Hill Rd in Petaluma. A steady climb of 25 minutes at slow speed of 6 mph :( I tried my best - but the sun kept beating me down. I plan to ace this hill soon!! The descent was fast and quick - straight into a Lunch Cafe. I have never felt comfortable doing any physical work on a full stomach - but I gave the Eggplant/Bell pepper sandwich an opportunity!. Soon after lunch we were back on the saddle, and there was a 5.5 mile climb on the backside of Willson Hill. The climb was not as tough but the entire 5.5 mile was an exposed road - not a tree in sight!. I was warned beforehand.



I was out again on Sunday for ride number#2 for the wknd to China Beach State park and Lucas Valley Rd. Even though it is called Lucas Valley Rd, it is to trick you - it actually becomes a hill soon. So here I was climbing another hill for the first time, and it took every ounce of my energy. But the descent was through some of the most beautiful Redwood Trees, and I also passed "Skywalker" ranch - owner - George "Star Wars" Lucas!

Who benefits from this ride and why donate?

Today, India, China, and most countries in Africa face challenges in fighting HIV/AIDS that are much different than those faced in more developed nations with a large HIV+ positive population like in San Francisco. You would be surprised to know that India has one of the largest HIV+ populations in the world. But, no matter where the human suffering is the same due to HIV/AIDS.

The San Francisco AIDS foundation (SFAF) is doing groundbreaking work itself, and through its global beneficiaries. They have raised $52 million since 2002.

Pangaea Global AIDS foundation is one of them. Pangaea was founded in 2001 by SFAF in response to the global imperative to expand access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment in resource limited setting and mid-level economies. It has public, private, and in-country partners to strengthen infrastructure and systems of care, and to develop new treatment capacity and treatment-based HIV prevention as required.

To give you some perspective - the Yunan province alone accounts for 25% of all reported HIV+ cases in China. Pangaea’s decentralized model that integrates with the existing systems of care is helping to extend HIV/AIDS care from counties to townships and villages; in India one of the unique challenges is the very large hidden and mobile population.

Having lived in India, it is my conviction that every work we do, implementing and improving these infrastructure and systems of care, will have a global impact.

Cheese Factory Test.

With almost a month away from the ALC8 ride, the climb to the cheese Factory in Petaluma, CA is a fairly good measure of testing your preparedness and endurance! I did this ride two weeks back and I was a little humbled by the hill but finished it stong. The ride to Cheese factory is full of hill along the way and by the time I get home it is almost 85 miles!!



The Cheese factory hill is a challenging one, it’s about 1.2 miles of 8% and has several false summits. After the hill there is a 2 mile ride out to the Cheese Factory itself, an oasis with toilets, water and food that’s in the middle of no where.

Grade is a measure of how tough a climb is and I usually measured as the "rise over the run", i.e the altitude climbed over a given horizontal distance. A hill becomes very challenging as it starts to approach 12%.

The past month - I have been able to overcome bronchitis and everything related to it to feel much better about doing this ride come June!

It is now on to fundraising - what this ride is all about !!

What's been going on so far.

Finally, I'm on my computer and dusting the blog, which I created a month back, to write some of my experiences so far preparing for the upcoming ALC ride. The 545 mile ride from San Francisco is all about endurance, its not how fast you can ride, but riding day after day. Its all about reaching a training phase where you can get up and ride 80 miles on a Saturday and Sunday, and your body and mind both say "yes" to riding again on Monday.

California, has been under drought for past couple of years. Interestingly the much needed rain arrived about a month back, and there has been few weekends that have been dry. It has been a little frustrating and I'm sure I'm not the only one. But there have been other activities that needed to be taken care off and kept me occupied on the wet weekends.

So far cycling and physical training has all been about understanding the mechanics of effective riding, my physical limits and boundaries. Areas that needs improvement. So a lot of statistic and knowledge to cram in. I learned some criticial components about competetive cycling and have been applying to use where possible. Some of these are:

• Breathing techniques.
• Pedalling techniques.
  
• How to climb hills
• Innovative technologies.
• Physical conditioning (I would never mock Bosu, Pilates, Yoga! ever again)

My training rides so far have been from my house, in the Marina area of San Francisco, across the Golden gate Bridge to either Fairfax or Larkspur, that stretches beyond the rolling hills of Camino Alto. I have a great bike, but it is all about techniques I mentioned above, and will - while conquering even the smallest hill. So after first month of riding I'm very glad that I can now easily to this rolling hill ride of 42 miles without feeling dizzy after the ride ;) I cover some beautiful stretches of California during my rides, and I hope I can share them soon through pictures. But, this past month I thought it was not a good idea to have a distracted mind as I was learning a lot of new things and getting used to my bike.

I lucked out in learning a lot of techniques from a very good tri-athlete, Dario, who happens to be my neighbor. He has been very patient and a greater motivator in getting me to ride across the hills on my own now. We have not been able to do any riding this week, as it has officially been chest-infection week here in San Francisco!! I feel pretty bummed about not been able to take my bike out for almost a week now. Can't wait to get better. But on the brightside I got this blog going!

In the coming weeks my training needs to be at least 12-14 hrs/week. So I would have more to share, since there needs more to be done. So I would be back to tell you more about some new techniques that I learn - mostly Bosu and Pilates ;)