Tales of a Novice Cyclist

I’m so sore all over… all over except my legs, that is.  I went to the gym (one of the nicest gyms I’d ever been to) and ran on the treadmill for about 5 miles.  .   I guess having not run for years will do it to the body. I felt okay while running on the treadmill so kept going, thinking “Malibu tri is about 4-5miles of running”.  Then got on the bike for about 45 min. Then did about 300 crunches along with some stretches afterwards. Of course, I felt really good after the workout.  Next morning, back, shoulders, abs, hips were all sore.  Legs were fine though! I guess cycling has conditioned my legs to take it.  Glad that I didn’t add on the swim after the bike and run.  I probably would be a mess today.  And today is day 2 after the gym workout!  Today or tomorrow will be a bike workout.  I guess I’ll have to get into the water for a swim workout at some point…

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This weekend, Mur, Eagle, and I flew all the way to Utah for some epic flying.  Needless to say by the title of this post, we were SKUNKED.  All the hauling of our wings and gear, and didn’t even fly a second.  Eagle’s nest was a nice pad, with a great launch and landing just in the backyard - LITERALLY.  It was a nice, relaxing weekend, but I wish we had flown.  Oh well.. we may trek over to Marshall this weekend.  Maybe I’ll get up to 8 grand again.  I’m also thinking about entering the Rat Race.  Maybe…. maybe not…

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Since I haven’t really ridden hard for about 2 weeks, I decided to leave work early to do a quick ride out to Malibu Lake and back.  Man, I am OUT OF SHAPE! Seriously. Usually, I can do this loop with only 1 bottle of water.  Today, I almost finished both bottles.  My legs were burning - which is good… and bad, I guess.  Good that they weren’t cramping, but bad that they were burning since they usually don’t burn on this loop. I was able to do this loop without a burn no problem before.  Sigh… I guess I’ll ride again tomorrow to try to get back into shape. Need to start running and swimming too…

O, and I was o-so-greeted by a swarm of gnats just before sunset.  Lovely… DRATS!  I think I ate a mouthful today. GROSS…! I gotta remember to keep my mouth closed on the downhills. Ha!

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Mondays are horrible, isn’t it? I just had another dream weekend. It seems as though every time I go back to work on a Monday, my weekend just seems like a dream.

I spent the weekend at Marshall and Santa Barbara, getting more acquainted with my GPS and flying tasks. I had my best flight ever, getting up higher than I’d ever flown above launch and longer than I ever had in the past. Except for the landing into the bushes, it was too much fun. I couldn’t completely figure out the GPS thing completely, but flying the tasks was more fun than I thought it would be. I met few other paragliders at the clinic as well as Deanster and Josh who gave us tips throughout the entire weekend. I even managed to get a quick 1 hour ride in at 6am on Sunday morning. =) And also managed to sell my car for whopping $700. ha! That’ll either go toward a Flytec 5030 or a pair of Hanwag boots for flying…

Scoping out the launch

Taking off

Enjoying the view

Thermaling with Frank

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Wow, I haven’t written in a few days. Lots of things in the past few days. All except cycling. Ha! I haven’t ridden in over a week because I was giving my ankle a rest. So, out of the 3 things from my last post (new ankle, car, and mountain flight), I managed to get 2 of them. Ha! Lucky me…

Last weekend was another dream weekend - extended with a couple of days off from work. Mur and I went up to Lake Isabella to tow, but it was HOWLING wind, so couldn’t fly. Of course, I DIDN’T bring my kitesurfing gear since I couldn’t fit it into my p-wagon. Grrrrr…. BUT now, I can! I finally broke down and got a Toyota Highlander. It will fit ALL my gear plus enough room to sleep 2 people. Yayeyeyey~ We came back to Santa Barbara from Lake Isabella for a mountain flight on my new wing. (It rocks btw!) Of course, since the wing is white, I already have dirt on it. doh… maybe I can wipe off the dirt? maybe? and keep it as white as possible as long as possible? Mur and I both had great flights off of Alternator. Then I took her to the beach to show her how to fly a kite in the afternoon. TOO light to keep the kite in the air, but she insisted on trying to fly it. She ran like a horse to get enough wind speed to try to keep it in the air. Ha! I wish I had my camera to take a picture of her running down the beach with the gigantic kite attached to her. Too funny…. What else… We took walks on the beach at sunset, drank wine, hot tub, nice food. Another dream weekend… Now, back to reality of work this week. DOH!

My ankle is finally feeling a little better so this weekend will be a cycling weekend. Maybe a couple of mountain flights, but we’ll see how the conditions pan out. Off to Utah next weekend for some “sick mountain flights” supposedly. Woohoo!

Blown out at Lake Isabella

Edna Valley Pinot Noir…

BFF’s

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So,.. it looks like I have a sprained ankle.  DOH!  I somehow injured it while kitesurfing last week.  I don’t recall anything particular… but I guess something happened.  I thought something was a little off, then noticed the green bruise and some inflammation around the top of the foot and ankle.  Funny, it didn’t bother me at all when I did my 4500 ft of climbing on Saturday…. :-\  But then again, I probably made it worse since I noticed the inflammation only yesterday.

And my good ole Acura Legend…. has been acting up… “Check Engine” light came on on Friday, and the transmission feels a bit off.  Not shifting right and randomly powering down at odd times.  It did last quite a long time.  249K miles.  Sigh… so off to find a new car to haul all my shiat….

O, and BRAND NEW wing on Sunday - woohoo! I kited it for a little bit and flew it at the training hill on Sunday.  T’was very nice indeed… nice and crispy. can’t wait to take it up to the mountains! And of course, I didn’t bring my camera for pictures of the new wing.  GRrrrrr….  Next time.. Really. For sure.

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I tried to meet up with BBKings this morning, but I guess I was 1 minute late! I was dawdling with my ipod to get new songs loaded and left my place too late! Doh! So hoping to catch up to them, I rode as fast I could, even took a short cut to try to catch up. But never did.

But I decided to do the route anyways on my own. Always wanted to see how hard it would be. It didn’t sound too hard - up Rock Store, drop down Mulholland, and up Encinal. It was a bit chilly this morning - I shoulda worn my long gloves and jacket as my teeth were chattering coming downhill on Mulholland. BRrrrrrrr….. I was greeted by a beautiful dog at the foot of the Rock Store climb. I should have taken a picture, DARN IT! She was so gentle, sweet, and BEAUUUUtiful. Her name was Dreamer. She looked just like how she sounds. Lots of white fur everywhere,.. big white dog with lots of white fur. So much white fur that you could get lost in it… Her owner said that she was a therapy dog at UCLA, comforts the patients when they are sick in bed. Darn it, I should have taken a picture! I had even brought my camera and carried it with me in RL’s Bento box. I want a dog just like Dreamer…

Anyhoos, I didn’t run into anyone from my group on my route. I did run into Rich and Cindy from the CVC while climbing up Encinal. He invited me to ride with them, and I laughed - no WAY I could keep up with them. He suggested that I ride with Thalo who might be my speed… Shortly thereafter, I finished the ride, and swung by the restaurant to see everyone there. Talked to Linda and Turi, and a few others over some bagels. The ride actually was NOT BAD AT ALL. It was pretty easy. Well, maybe not easy, but not strenuous to the least. Climb up Encinal was pretty steady, easy. Climb up Rock Store was harder than Encinal, I think. Either that, or I’m actually getting better? Could it be? :-\ I’m not any faster though, I don’t think… The only thing that bothered me on the ride today was a sore bum while climbing up Encinal and numb toes… Yes, STILL numb.

Distance: 43 miles
Elevation gain: about 4500 ft
Average speed: 11mph
Top speed: 36mph
Time in saddle: 3 hrs, 42 min
Animals seen: 1 road kill skunk, 2 flattened lizards, 3 black beetles(?), 1 dead snake, and a bunch of birds that I don’t know what the name of them are. Just black and brown birds.. :-]

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I rushed to get to tonight’s ride group but I was running late, so decided to try to meet them at Westlake and Triunfo.  I guess I never caught up to them or they never caught up to me - hard to believe.  I started off by myself and ended by myself.  heh. They probably took a different route… O well.  So today was just me, my bike, and the road.  I saw a movie being shot on Potrero.  Of course, no camera with me AGAIN today, so missed another picture perfect photo opportunity. GRRRRRRrrrrr… I need to find a pouch of some kind to carry my BIG ASS camera with me.  If the Bento box doesn’t fit, I will go get a smaller camera…

Quick 20 miles to Hidden Valley and back.  Pretty easy.  I’m resting tomorrow to get ready for my ride on Saturday morning…  Hope I can finish at a decent time.

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I’ve been trying to bike for the last 3 days, but haven’t had the chance.  Either sleeping in too late or kitesurfing…. I’m not complaining, of course, but I gotta get on my bike, DARN IT!  Saturday is 4500 ft of climbing with the BBKings.  I hope I survive… I may just start earlier than the rest of the group and hope that I finish by noon…

Might need an adjustment on the derailleur - it’s not shifting as smooth as it did on my previous rides… :-\

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Like the title says, I Double-Heart Kitesurfing! I got the call from Mur - at 12pm, she says, “AHHHH!! It’s 20 at Leo!” So, I thought, “Shit, how am I supposed to leave?!!” After pacing all day and interviewing a couple of candidates for a position, I rushed out of work at 430 and headed to Leo. 15-25mph. =) Mur was still recuperating from the poison oak fiasco (what a nightmare - hospitalization, being on steroids for a month, not to mention the antibiotics and the side effects of the steroids) so hadn’t brought her windsurfing gear! She regretted on the beach while I cruised back and forth on the water.

Rigged my Synergy, went out for an hour before it got a bit gusty. I saw Ronnie on the water on 7m Waroo, so knew I’d be good on my 10m. And it also occurred to me that he didn’t fly his arcs anymore, and I wanted Mur to find a kite to learn on, so asked Ronnie about it. Deal DONE! Mur bought Ronnie’s entire quiver of arcs plus silver board. HA! GREAT deal.  We went to Ronnie’s pad to pick up the toys. What a nice place! I’m going to sell my place as soon as the market recovers….

Anyhoos, it was nice to be on the water.  Cold at first, but eh. I didn’t get to kite during the weekend even though it was stinkin’ hot.  Not 40 degrees, so it’s OKAY. FUUUUUUUN… Mur took some pictures too (they are coming sooooon…). I’m still looking for a tiny camera to carry with me on my flights, bike rides, and kite sesh.

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