Tales of a Novice Cyclist

New Bike BABY! Yea! Orbea Diva, full carbon frame, full Dura-Ace, Ksyrium SL wheels, FSA compact carbon crank set, 27 cassette in the back. I am READY to CLIMB NOW! I finally took the bad girl home and rode it around for a few minutes yesterday. The bike rides SOOOoo smooooooooth… I didn’t want to get off the bike. But it was clear that I needed a proper bike fit so I needed to stop. I will do get fitted for the bike tomorrow…

55 miles with the BBKings on Sat morning. Woohoo! I’ll ride hard… Maybe I can manage to do 100 this weekend.

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We got back from Big Sur a couple of weekends ago. No biking… :-\ Just flying and good times. =)

And Mur’s first high flight at Big Sur… happy happy happy~~~!

Beautiful coast…

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It’s been a week and a half and the Dama STILL hasn’t shown up…  where where where!!!  I hope I get it before this weekend… :-\

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I think today was my quickest ride ever! I haven’t ridden in about 5 days.  Out to Malibou Lake and back in under 90 minutes.  Not bad…  One thing to note though - there were a lot of bugs… gnats (is that how you spell it?).   I felt them hitting my face when I was descending down some hills.  Pretty disgusting… Because I was pedaling so hard, my mouth was open. YIKES…! yes, I think a couple went in.  GROSS…  Must make sure to keep my mouth CLOSED when riding in the hills.

My Diva will arrive on Thursday.. woohoo!! =)

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New Diva ordered! Woohoo! I demo-ed the Diva on a quick 10 mile loop yesterday.   It rode just like the Orca except I was a tiny bit more upright in the position.  Women’s handlebar, angled stem, Dura-Ace  groupo.  I figured that since it fit without swapping out any parts, it is a better choice over the Orca… although I did like the Orca and its colors better especially the gold/bronze one, I would have had to change out the handlebars, stem, etc.. to make it fit better. I rode the throw-up blue color Diva to see if the blue would grow on me.  It didn’t… it did match my shoes, but nothing else! Ha! So white was the color of my choice.  It will be here next week! ooooOoOOoooh….  I can’t wait! I will have to name it.

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My new Shimano custom fit shoes finally arrived today! Quite a process to get fitted for the shoes. They heated the shoes in a heating box, then vacuumed the shoes onto my feet for 5 minutes, let cool, then they were ready to ride. I haven’t ridden in them yet, but they were comfy so far. The inside of my toes were not touching the side walls of the shoes like my Sidis… :-\ I’m not too crazy about the color though - white with pastel blue accents. I haven’t worn these colors since I was in junior high school! But I will be sportin’ it now. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll take it for a quick spin tomorrow or the next day. Going to demo the Diva on my next ride. Rode the Orca yesterday… Rides like a dream… Each time I ride it, I like it more and more - no clunking noises, oh-so-smooth shifting, rolls over bumps like it was nothing, dampened vibration, faster ascend and descend, and so light… I better get a bike that will match the white/blue shoes.

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Blue skies… It doesn’t stop. Everyday this week - blue skies. I went to the park and laid on the grass for an hour during my lunch break and daydreamed about biking, flying, kiting, and biking. New bike, new wing, more gear… Sigh… Here is a picture of the sky today…

Toes are still numb… I’m demo-ing the Orbea Diva on Saturday. I’m going to ride the Orca and the Diva back to back to see which frame I like better…

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I normally hate shopping. It really annoys me. All that wandering around, looking for something to buy. I just think it’s a complete waste of time. That is… unless it’s shopping for gear! Biking stuff, paragliding stuff, kites, boards, clothes for flying, cycling, swimming, you name it. Other than that, all other types of shopping just bugs the heck out of me. I’d rather go to the beach. Ha!

So, today was the first day of my quest for the perfect bike shoes. I CANNOT have permanently damaged nerves on my toes. I even thought, “What if they turn black like when people get frostbite, and the doctor has to cut them off!” Yes, ridiculous, I know. But hey, what else am I to think? I can’t feel the ends of my toes! That’s serious, right?

One hour later, I decided on customizable sole Shimanos - special order since the bike shop didn’t have them in stock. When the Shimanos come in, I’m also going to give in and get customized orthotics for the shoes so that I can be sure that the shoes FIT PERFECT. NO MORE winging’ it… I’m going to throw down! And since I’m throwing down on the shoes, why stop there? I was almost convinced into just throwing down for the Diva tonight. Sigh… I had some restraint there though. I need to think about it some more. But I have a bad feeling that I will be throwing down for the Diva VERY VERY SOON…. You only live once…! I am leaning toward the white. No blue, purple, or pistachio green. Just white. That way, I don’t need to worry about matching my outfit with my bike. HAHA!

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So, I went to the doctor again yesterday about my numb toes. It looks like cycling has damaged the nerves on my big toes - thus the constant numbness. GREAT! I lucked out with a female doctor who was actually also in sports medicine. MD,MPH, whatever that means.  She had the exact same watch as me and D - which gave me a clue. She also knew about cycling as she was familiar with different cleat systems and shoes, and basically told me that I either needed to stop cycling altogether (NOOOOOOoOOO!!!), or start adjusting things on my shoes and cleat … again! It never ends… Just when I thought I had everything perfect,…  So, I will need to dump my Sidis (maybe Mur will take it since she is the same size and still has strap-ons), and get another pair with a bigger toe box - maybe Shimanos.  Here I go again.. First the knees, then the butt, then the shoulders and back, now the feet and toes…

I definitely don’t want permanent nerve damage on my toes… Good news is that the doc said that the nerves will repair itself, but it will take a very long time. I just need to be patient and don’t do anymore damage. If they don’t come back in a few months, she will put me in a “nerve study”????? :-\ I don’t wanna be a guinea pig….

I guess I won’t be riding the century at Wildflower. Maybe I’ll just do the 50 or 75. I definitely do NOT want permanent nerve damage…. grrr….

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Biking, kitesurfing, good friends, great laughs, good wine, plus hot tub. What more can I ask for? Maybe throw in a paragliding flight in between, I guess.  And yes, the narly 30+ mph gusts during the bike ride was not too enjoyable. BUT the main thing is that we rode!

RL, D, and I took Susanna and her brother out to Hidden Valley and back - quick 20 miler. Santa Anas were hitting, so we tried to get an early start. But by the time we were on our way back, the wind was probably gusting to 30+ mph. Err… I was white-knuckling my handlebars really tight, while RL was yelling through her turns that were banking so steep due to the high winds. Good thing she didn’t fall over. She would have killed me. haha!  I thought I was going to eat it a few times, but just kept pedaling.

A quick kitesurf sesh in the afternoon, great dinner with RL and D, and great wine, hot tub dip with great wine and friends, a fun movie and great wine.  Did I mention great wine?

Granted, I did wake up with a slight hangover this morning…, but all worth the company, the sports, and the good times… Good times…

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