Week 3

Soon after I woke up Saturday morning I realized this is a four-day weekend. There's the President's Day holiday on Monday, then Tuesday is a teacher's prep day or something at the community college, so classes aren't being held. With the extra free days, I almost decided to postpone my 25-mile training ride, then I remembered there's no telling how the weather will turn from one day to another, so I'd better not count on good conditions for the rest of the long weekend. My penalty for stalling was that it started raining about half-way through my ride.

The Bellingham Rain Festival at Depot Market Square

It was a good ride anyway, thanks to Moe at Kulshan Bikes, who adjusted the position of my saddle and put a shorter stem on the handlebars, making it much more comfortable. Too bad to get all wet and muddy just after a tune-up, but that brings me back to my old winter-commuter clean-up routine.

I rode a familiar sight-seeing route from Ferndale to downtown Bellingham, along the waterfront trail to Boulevard Park, then on to Fairhaven. On the way back I stopped at The Woods Cafe in Boulevard Park, which is when it started raining, no doubt as punishment for my espresso and pastry break. I stopped at Depot Market Square just long enough to take a photo, noticed the "no bikes" sign and didn't want to park elsewhere to walk through the market. So I made it a quick ride home, with cold, wet feet.

According to plan

Here it is, the second weekend of my training plan and I'm still sticking to the schedule. The weather is taking a turn for the worse this weekend. It's been cold, clear and windy, and Bellingham had some light snowfall, though it's missed Ferndale eight miles northwest. But now it's clouding up here too, and we may get our turn next week, or at least some very nasty, cold rain. The grocery stores have brought their potted primroses and spring bulbs back indoors - a better predictor than the groundhog.

Last week I took my bike in for a spring tune-up. Next week I'm going to have a check-up on the fit, probably not the most elaborate professional fit you can get, but I expect to replace a few components to bring the handlebars back to an easier reach.

Also, thanks to the Affordable Care Act and my mother's money, I now have medical coverage and will be having some preventive-care testing done in the next couple of weeks. At my check-up last week, when the doctor checked my blood pressure, pulse and heart-rate, she said, "Yep, you're an athlete." Shucks. My weight has gone up by about 15 pounds since I stopped working and commuting 65 miles a week by bicycle, and it's about 25 pounds more than the summer I rode the Seattle-to-Portland in 2007. At a bit less than 145lbs it still isn't enough to be a health problem, but it's getting to the point that my old clothes don't fit, and it's hard to find things that fit comfortably and look good. Actually, my stretchy yoga and bicycling tights are the only pants that feel comfortable, but they're not looking so good any more.

I couldn't resist a couple of shots of the new woodpile developing at the base of the auto bridge across the Nooksack River (the old pile was at the base of the railroad bridge).

Spring Training Kick-off

This weekend is the official start of my training program for the Red-Bell 100, a ten-mile ride each day. On Saturday I rode a twelve-mile loop over rolling hills northwest of Ferndale. The morning was foggy and overcast with temperatures around 38F. This time of year the scenery is a bit dreary - lots of muddy, mown fields and bare blackberry vines, but there were eagles overhead, herons rising from the marshes, and flocks of white trumpeter swans browsing in the corn stubble.

It's not a bad idea to bring a map along if you're meandering around in this area, because it's easy to get mixed up. I rode out of town on Main Street, turned left on Douglas Road and rode a big curve on farm roads that eventually turned into Olson Road. I crossed Church and Thornton Roads then headed back home via Olson and Douglas again, circling around so much I can't really Google-map it.

Now I know how much I've missed the regular one-mile hill-climbs I did when I was commuting. I had some trouble with some of the hills, and even had to dismount and walk up the steepest bit near the top of one climb on Barr Road. But then there were also a couple of downhills where I bent down over the handlebars and coasted up to 35mph without even trying.

I can also see I'm going to have to get the rest of my life in order if I'm going to stick to my training schedule. After my ride, I had to scramble to get to the laundromat and back before the last bus home. And I'll need to get organized about meal-planning, shopping and cooking before I get to the phase in my training where I'm getting hungry every three hours.

The summer I rode the Seattle-to-Portland, by the middle of June I could eat a gallon of ice cream in a week and still lose weight. This year I'm resolved not to do that. Since my ride is supposed to benefit disadvantaged local kids and third-world subsistence farmers, it seems really wrong to let bicycling be an excuse to eat like a glutton.

Not sure yet what Sunday's ride will be - there is a possibility of snow.

More training

Well, here's a breakthrough of sorts.

I rode a ten-mile loop this morning on some quieter roads in the Ferndale area. Starting roughly from the Post Office, I rode southish out of town on Hovander Road, to Slater Road, then to Northwest Drive, which I followed north to Woodlawn Cemetery, a bit past the intersection with West Axton Road. From there I took Paradise Road through a semi-rural-suburban area, and came out on Barrett Road to the freeway overpass back to downtown Ferndale, where I rode Main Street back to the PO. It's a pretty ride, with some small hills along the way, but nothing too challenging.

The big breakthrough is, after I got home I messed around with Google maps a bit, and succeed in creating a map, and posting a link, right HERE:

http://goo.gl/maps/di1Ul

This is part of my plan to ease in to training for the Red-Bell 100 century this spring. This route is also a pretty nice ride for any local beginning riders who want to get in better shape and work up to riding longer distances. I'll try to post similar rides as I continue with my DIY training program.

Pre-Season training

Around noon today the fog began to dissipate and a little sun and blue sky showed through, and I decided I'd better get out for a little ride while it lasted. I rode an easy ten-mile loop along the river to Slater Road, then back through Hovander Park. My front derailleur is jammed, so I've been staying in low gears and spinning faster, which is probably for the best at this point.

I've been very lazy since fall quarter classes ended, but that was my plan: to take it easy and let my body recover for a few weeks. I've been going to a weekly yoga class, and practice a little at home, though not as much as I like to think I do. I'm adapting the Team in Training training guide that we used for the Seattle-to-Portland ride back in 2007 to work out a training schedule for the Red-Bell 100 this summer.

I'm also planning to take my bike in for a once-over by a professional mechanic, and also for a bike-fit consultation, as I've been feeling that my Surly Cross-check is a little bit too big for me. I have about a half-inch of gap in the stand-over height, which I could live with, but I'm beginning to feel a little over-stretched reaching for the brake-levers. Before I bought the Surly I was riding a woman-specific hybrid which was starting to make me feel a little too hunched-up and hamster-like. Thinking that I was just getting stronger after six years of riding it, I decided regular, old-fashioned double-triangle geometry would be better. At first it did feel good to stretch and straighten out my spine, but now three years on I'm feeling some twinges and strain in my upper spine, between the shoulders, and pain in my hands and wrists. But it's close enough that I think some expert adjustments or replacements in the areas of the seat and handlebars will make it fit.

The Cascade Bicycle Club Red-Bell 100 is a century ride from Marymoor Park in Redmond to Boundary Bay Brewery here in Bellingham. It's a fund-raiser for World Bicycle Relief, a charity that provides free bicycles to people in rural Africa. The event also benefits the Major Taylor program which creates bicycle clubs and bicycle education and safety programs for local kids here in Washington state. A link to my fund-raising page is below, with more information about World Bicycle Relief.

Anna Silverfish - Red-Bell 100 - Red-Bell 100

Pink Clouds & Silver Linings

For several days last week Whatcom County had severe wind storms, not too much rain, but gusts of wind up to sixty miles an hour. At night sometimes the wind roared so loudly it drowned out the sound of the freight trains passing through town, and blew steadily for hours in the 35-45mph range.

But Tuesday, on my way to class, I noticed the air felt mild and soft, like spring. Buckets of tulips and daffodils have appeared outside the grocery stores. This afternoon the sun shone for a few hours, though there were dark grey clouds on the horizon. Mount Baker appeared pink and white before sunset.

So I registered for the Red-Bell 100, a century bike ride in late June, that starts at Marymoor Park in Redmond and finishes in Bellingham. It's a fund-raising ride sponsored by Cascade Bicycle Club, to benefit bicycle education programs for local young people, and World Bicycle Relief, an organization that provides bicycles to poor people in rural Africa.

That will be one item off my "places to go/things to do" list.

Oversharing? maybe

The purpose of this blog is to share my personal experiences as a middle-aged female bicycle commuter and recreational cyclist. Sometimes, especially in the winter when I'm not riding very much, I get preoccupied with weather reports or accounts of activities that are only indirectly related to cycling. Sometimes I've written about personal crises like getting evicted; and often about general life circumstances like going to school, job hunting or job changes, where bicycling has been an essential part of getting by and coping with changes.

At times I think maybe I get a little bit too personal or off-topic, but I'm concerned with basic, practical day to day realities. So one of those times might be coming up right now, just so you're warned. Here goes.

Along with the usual explanations beginning bicyclists receive about why you shouldn't wear underwear with cycling shorts, authorities usually suggest using chamois cream like "Butt Butt'r" to prevent chafing. To me this always seemed like a good way to make a big mess of an expensive pair of spandex shorts and I never tried it, but now that I'm over fifty years old I sometimes do feel a need for something to protect and sooth sensitive, delicate skin.

My recommendation: good old-fashioned KY jelly. Just a little bit because it seems to melt down and spread enough to lube a Trident submarine. And that's probably enough said.