Post 90 miles

Rode 90.82 miles on 4/7/2012 here are some pics:

To be honest, I love the Palos Verde hill route. It has a great view, challenging, and is FAST. Not to sound mean, but its very motivating passing roadies on this climb. It made me want to push even more. At a certain point though I just zoned out and was just straight out mashing on this route because the view was amazing, and the descents were soooo rewarding. My favorite parts though had to be those S turns! I felt pretty legit haha. I'm honestly surprised I was able to cycle 90 miles because I was mentally and physically drained at around 75 miles knowing I needed 15 more miles. Those last miles burned every leg muscle but Foster the People - I Would Do Anything for You most definitively helped me muster the rest of my willpower and strength.

Tour de Cure ... come at me bro! I'm ready

~luggedsteal

Bike Rule #6: Free your mind and your legs will follow

90.82 miles || avg 15.6 mph || max 32 mph || 534.62 miles

Training Update!

So I've been training pretty consistently with this schedule: Tuesdays ride as hard and fast for 45 min+, Thursdays ride at normal pace for 45 min+, and on Saturdays are my long rides with no time limit. So starting from February, my goal was to slowly increase my last distance by 10 miles until I reach 110 miles. So then the following weekend, I will be thoroughly prepared for my 100 mile ride at the Tour de Cure. Here are a bunch of pictures I have been taking with my camera phone:

 Old photo but me and my hommie Albay were biking in Pasadena and we were all like hmm that building looks legit lets take a pic of it ... and BAM it just so happened to be Pawnee City Hall!

 At the time, I thought 42 miles was a lot and painful.

 What I usually bring on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Boombotix is legit

 My packet for the Tour de Cure!

 This was a REALLY rough and brutal ride. I was at the point in my training where I realized I had to ride rain or shine. On this day, it was raining, windy, cold, and dirty as hell. This ride made me realize I needed to start packing gels and cubes because near the end of this about 50 mile ride, I was dying of hunger.

 This is honestly my favorite part of the ride! Some of you guys probably know what I mean.

 Serious mode! Don't worry, I only used 2 gels and 1 packet of shot bloks for a 66 mile ride.

66 mile ride continued. This was on March 24, 2012 and I'm chilling at the pier rehydrating.

 I bet you guys recognize this!

 Wet and cold! I've honestly gotten used to early morning rides. The benefit of riding around 6 or 7am is that the cross and headwinds are minimal compared to 12pm and on.


Now we are to last week with this photo. So my intention for riding to Santa Monica Pier was to do roughly around 70 miles. It was such a pain getting there only because the route I had chose had level 3 and level 2 hills (in cycling tours they rate hills 1-5, 5 being the easiest). Man I really had to dig deep in order to push on to the top. I really have a new found respect for professional cyclists. I will admit that going down hill was sketchy. I was cadencing around 25-28 mph EASILY. It's only sketchy because I'm riding brakeless and the streets are wet in the morning. Seriously considering getting hoods and rocking a front brake.

Any who, biking to Santa Monica overall wasn't too bad after those Palo Alto hills. I just hate the drivers in Santa Monica. There was a truck driver on PCH who honked at me for a solid .5 mile. The best part was that I was going just as fast as all of the other cars AND it was a 2 lane street so he had the option to pass me! SMH! When I arrived to the Santa Monica Pier, I was really glad I chose that place to bike to. Very scenic. I got lost on my way back to Long Beach. Long story short, I ended up doing 82 miles that day -_-

82 miles || avg 17 mph || max 34 mph || total 443.8 miles

Cycling Kits!

So I pulled the trigger on a LAFixed Kit that I've been eyeing for a while. It's based off the styling of Repoman and honestly, I really like it. Now Citygrounds is coming out with there cycling kit and I always vowed that I would buy my local bikeshop's cycling kit if it EVER came out. And to make matters worse ... the Fyxo cycling kit, the one that ever made me consider getting one, is finally being reissued!

Sigh so many things I want this year! Although cycling kits ARE investments and I do ride a lot ... hahah somehow I need to justify buying something before I get it. Anywho I guess its more of a wish list than anything else. Although when I think about it now, these are the only cycling kits I'd ever wear because they don't look like stereotypical cycling clothing. PLUS I need options for when I do the Tour de Cure. :D I think i'll tackle the kits one set at a time! Shiit I should pull the trigger on a helmet too ... hahaha! If only money wasn't an option.

I shouldn't get ahead of myself, I have to first like wearing the LAfixed kit 1st.

Side note I rode ~10 miles in and around Pasadena one day and also 30.7miles on Feb 2. I struggled on the 1st half of the ride but I think my legs weren't used to biking in a very long time. I'm sooo behind on my 100 miles a month schedule, but I finally am getting adjusted to my working schedules and also sleeping so early. Hopefully I can rake in more miles in February!

40.7 miles || avg 18.9mph || max ?? mph || total 90.88 miles ||

Gear Ratio

So I've been contemplating for the longest time whether or not to change my gear ratio. I decided to take the plunge because well to be honest I haven't change my chain in about a year and half or so. So I figured it was time for an overhaul!

Comparing these two chains, the new one on the left, my old chain stretched prolly 1.5 chainlinks. Doesn't seem a lot but after I rode with the new chain on ... I should have done it months earlier. 

Here are a bunch of my chainrings I've gone through. Initially I started on 44-15 for the Irvine hills (the bottom chainring). Then switched to 48-17 (the chainring on the top right). Now I shall be rocking the 49t chainring (top left) with 2 fixed cogs I can flop on my Mack Hubs.

Officially on 49-17 with the option of 49-15

I changed ratios on 10.14.2011 and the thing I can say now is that man 49-17 is such a fast ratio especially on clipless pedals. I have yet to try 49-15 clipless but I am fine tuning my pedals until then. 

Ride 3:

11.9 miles || avg 15.6 || max 25.4mph || total 50.18 miles

I took it easy this ride. I consider this a recovery ride.

~Luggedsteal

Vittoria Wear

I love how well these tires wear down. Although to be honest, running a brake would be cheaper ... pfft fuck it! If you didn't know already, Randonneurs wear down in this order: black, red, threads, black, threads, threads, POP!

These were pics of my tires on 10.3.2011, but I've replaced them already. I usually get 3-6 months off Randos while riding brakeless. 

Ride 2:

21.68 miles || avg. 15.7mph || max 28.3mph || total 38.28 miles

Took it easy this ride, however my legs did cramp during a climb near the end of my route. I just literally had to forget about the pain and just harden the fuck up for the last mile.

~Luggedsteal

New Year's Resolution

So its 2012 and I decided to give myself some goals for 2012 that'll help push me toward my 100 mile ride goal.

1. Ride at least 1,200 miles by the end of 2012
2. Take more pictures
3. Complete a century ride

The 1st one is pretty obtainable in my head at least. That's at least 100 miles a month. I just want to stop giving myself the offhand excuses to not ride because of iffy weather. The 2nd one is because I was cleaning though my pictures and I saw I took 2775 pictures ever since my friend loaned me his Nikon D40. I want to be able to beat that number not because of quantity, but for quality. I look back at my photos and I noticed that I was consistently getting better pictures. So the more pictures I take, hopefully I can become a better photographer! Practice makes perfect. And for the last one ... my initial goal was to do a century ride before 2012, but I got busy with weddings and holidays! I've been off the saddle for too long and its time to refresh my biking spirit.

Anywho, starting strong with today's ride. Didn't take any pictures but I plan to document each ride I take from now on in my blogspot. Ironically, first ride and first fall in 2012! LOL I blame Long Beach concrete!

Ride 1:
16.6 miles || avg 16.4 mph || max 30.4 mph || total 16.6 miles

~Luggedsteal

Belmont Shore Pier: Revisited

About a 20 mile ish ride. Was testing out my new Citygrounds bottles. This ride was on 9.11.2011

~Luggedsteal