First DC Ranch Ride

Ok, so enough is enough. I've been getting some riding experience on my bike with a 10 mille route around my house. However, with the new addition of a bike rack on my truck (another biking expense) I've been itching to take her (my bike) out on a more scenic route. Last Saturday was the day. My wife was headed out of town for a girls weekend in Vegas and she needed a lift to meet her friends at 7:30am. Therefore, I needed to head out early if I was gonna get this ride in. No biggie, again with summer heat, it's the best time to get a run or ride in. I decided to bring the bike out to my favorite running route, DC Ranch. I've conquered the hills on foot, and I wanted to give it a go on a bike. I got out there at 5:30am. I've learned that there is far more prep in getting ready for a ride. Check the tires, don't forget the helmet, the gloves, the shoes, water bottles, glasses, Garmin, and oh...don't forget to strap in the bike. Alright, down to business, like I said I've only been on flat terrain around the house. WOW, what a ride. Number one, can't beat the surroundings. Unlike on foot, the bike adds a headwind and provides a little coolness in an otherwise sticky morning. The first half mile is flat, provides a nice warm up. Then the real fun begins in the form of a 4 mile descent. This provides the adrenaline rush/fear that was a whole new experience for me. Looking down at my Garmin, I saw that I was hovering in the 25-30 mph range. Going off what I read and felt natural, I pushed my butt back on the saddle, put my hands on the drops and folded in half for aerodynamics. What a rush! However, looking ahead it occurred to me that ANYTHING could send me face first over the handle bars and provide a nasty case of road rash, or worse. However, I kept my eyes focused on the road ahead and decided to enjoy the ride. In this case, what goes down, must go up. I've never done hills on a bike, but have seen cyclists struggling up these hills on previous runs. Well, I now know why they look like they are struggling cuz as much as these hills suck on foot, they suck even more on bike. However, I choose to look at it the same ways I look at hills on foot. They are gonna make me a better runner/cyclist. I have a feeling that once I get to know the bike gears better, these climbs will get easier, but I can say that this hill kicked my ass! Let's cut to the chase, great ride! Challenging but great ride! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1724 ft Location: Carefree, AZ Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 08/16/08 Up/Downhill: [+492/-495] Time: 06:36 AM Difficulty: 3.3 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 8.98 miles Time: 0:32:02 Speed: 16.8 mph Pace: 3' 34 /mi Heart Rate: 145 bpm (Avg) Calories: 613 203 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 169 - 188 0h 00m 1%  0.25 mi Zone 4 150 - 169 0h 16m 51%  6.62 mi Zone 3 132 - 150 0h 11m 34%  3.27 mi Zone 2 113 - 132 0h 04m 14%  1.24 mi Zone 1 94 - 113 0h 04m 12%  -0.20 mi (none) out of range 0h 01m 2%  0.31 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 4' 27 +0' 52 13.4 -3.4 124 +49 ft 2 2' 58 -0' 36 20.1 +3.3 139 -78 ft 3 3' 01 -0' 33 19.8 +3.0 150 -108 ft 4 2' 52 -0' 42 20.8 +4.0 150 -55 ft 5 7' 37 +4' 02 7.9 -8.9 135 +3 ft 6 0' 00 -3' 34 5160.2 +5143.4 149 -63 ft 7 4' 09 +0' 34 14.4 -2.4 -- +62 ft 8 3' 43 +0' 08 16.1 -0.7 152 +53 ft 9 4' 17 +0' 42 14.0 -2.8 159 +128 ft 10 3' 53 +0' 18 15.4 -1.4 157 +59 ft end 3' 10 -0' 24 18.9 +2.1 147 -52 ft Versus average of 16.8 mph

Posted from runtracker.runnersworld.com

Open Letter to Myself

Dear Bill, Ok, your 2 years plus into running and you struggled with a simple 5 mile run. Maybe, you should reconsider this whole running thing. Seriously, at 2.5 miles in you hit a wall...are you kidding me. Your heart felt like it was going to explode, your legs felt like cinder blocks, and you were sweatin like a sinner in church. Speaking of sweating, your running at 8pm at night and it's at least 96 degrees and 50% humidity....you're not very smart. Wouldn't you much rather be at home on the couch watching the Olympics? Again I ask, "Why are you doing this?" I write this as reminder to myself that not every run is magical. As a matter of a fact, I seem to remember this exact same feeling around this time last year. Summer running during monsoon season in AZ....SUCKS! It makes you question your ability, your heart rate skyrockets cuz it's trying twice as hard to cool your body in the humidity. "Why do you do this?" Well you do this because you LOVE IT. You do this because you couldn't when you were younger. You do this because it's easy to find an excuse not to, but harder to drag your ass out that door. You do this because of the friends you've met along the way. You do this because not everyone experiences the sunrises and sunsets you've seen in the past 2+ years. You do this because not that many people can or will or want to. You do this because you can, and you know that for every crappy run there are 2-3 AWESOME runs. Push through, cooler weather will be here soon! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1407 ft Location: Paradise Valley, AZ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 08/11/08 Up/Downhill: [+59/-59] Time: 08:53 PM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 5.00 miles Time: 0:46:00 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 12 /mi Heart Rate: 158 bpm (Avg) Calories: 755 174 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 169 - 188 0h 09m 20%  1.25 mi Zone 4 150 - 169 0h 30m 65%  3.18 mi Zone 3 132 - 150 0h 10m 22%  1.07 mi Zone 2 113 - 132 0h 01m 2%  0.08 mi Zone 1 94 - 113 0h 00m 0%  0.02 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0%  0.02 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 16 +0' 04 6.5 -0.1 140 -19 ft 2 9' 06 -0' 06 6.6 +0.1 155 -16 ft 3 9' 05 -0' 07 6.6 +0.1 162 +3 ft 4 10' 06 +0' 54 5.9 -0.6 164 +7 ft 5 8' 17 -0' 55 7.2 +0.7 167 +16 ft end 9' 43 +0' 31 6.2 -0.4 169 +9 ft Versus average of 9' 12 min/mile

Posted from runtracker.runnersworld.com

My new baby...a whole new world!

Right off the bat, I have to apologize to anyone who is offended by people who refer to inanimate objects as if they were human life.  I'm about to do just that.  

Many people have described me as having a zero to 60 personality.  Yeah, their right!  After about 5 months of spin class, tons of research, and numerous conversations with individuals with experience, I pulled the trigger.

I'm proud to announce that on August 2nd 2008 at approximately 11:30 am a new addition weighing in at somewhere between 15-17 lbs entered my life.  That new addition is an '08 Specialized Roubaix Expert Ultegra road bike.  She is blue and silver, carbon fiber, with all ultegra parts.  In a word she is beautiful!  

As with any new addition comes a whole new world of uncertainty.  As I said before, I have done my fair share of research on bikes and cycling.  Coming from a running background, I'm here to tell ya...cycling is VERY intimidating.   It is a very technical sport with a language and set of rules unlike anything I've ever experienced.  However, there are many aspects that remind me of many of the things I love about running.  Things like a community with passion and commitment for the sport, things like a strong sense of community, things like a love for outdoor activity.  

With that said, my zero to 60 personality is at about 70 right now.  I've done everything the books and magazines recommend.  I made a VERY LARGE investment in a bike that will meet my competitive needs for the next couple of years, I've purchased the apparel (yes, this includes bike shorts...hello world here I am), and I'm beginning to learn the lingo.

Many of my close friends have even heard the story of my first fall.  Yeah, I wish I could tell ya that it was downhill at 30 mph....unfortuantely, it was sitting still at a stop light.  Long story short, the biggest challenge of learning to ride...clip in pedals. 

Alright, let me discuss briefly the goals behind this latest zero to 60 decision.  I now have 2 plus years of running experience....I LOVE IT!  What started out as spin class, afforded me a great cross training for running (I found it greatly helped my endurance), combine that with the beauty of the outdoors and how can I go wrong.  I love pushing my body to the limits and I'd like to begin to be competitive in the sport of cycling and from there, I'm thinking of a sprint triathlon sometime in '09.  I can't think of a bigger challenge for your body than 3 sports at once...ok here comes that zero to 60 mentality again.  Yes, I know I'm sick, but there are far worse addictions life.   

Guess this blog just became a running/cycling/triathlon blog.  Hope you enjoy...I know I will.