ALC 5 Training progress 2/11

It has been a month since I signed up for AIDS/LifeCycle 5. Many thanks to all of you for your generous support.

I got my first road on Chinese New Year eve (1/28); it's a goldish-brown Cannondale R700. I love it and enjoy riding every time. In these past 2 weeks, I've put on 100 miles on it, woohoooo... a century, a milestone!

Due to my so called flexible but actually crazy working hours, it's very hard for me to do consistence group/road training during the week. As a result, I go to the gym and do the spinning class plus weight lifting (which I've been doing for the past 2 years, I'm at the Gold level now).

At the meantime, I try to find time and do some road riding, either with friends or just the loop at the Rose Bowl. During my first ride on 1/31 at the Rose Bowl, I fell from my bike, because I was not used to the new clips on my shoes. Yes, I had a minor injury on my left knee, bleeding to be specific (ouch...ewe...) but I'm doing OK now. With the help from Dionne, a friend and a newbie like me with the ALC 5, I learned some cycling tips and played with the gears.

Sometime it's so hard to wake up early and ride under the cold weather in the early morning. But when I think about the up coming ride in June, and all your support, I manage to kick myself out of the bed and get ready for some training before work. You all are my momentum to keep moving forward which I truly appreciate.

On 2/4, I rode with my friend David, an ex-AIDS Ride rider. It was my first ride on actual busy road. We road from Pasadena to Sierra Madre, a total of 24 miles. It wasn't too bad for a newbie; just have to watch out for traffic. I realized how important it is to share a road with the cyclists when you're driving. When you drive, you have the car to protect you, but when you ride, that's not a lot of protection.

On 2/5, I went to a Bike Workshop in Santa Monica. Learned how to change a flat tire! Woohoo, I did it, but I'm so not looking forward to put my knowledge into action.... hahaha.... well, if it happens, at least I know how to fix it and no need to call AAA. It was nice to ride for 10 miles with other newbie in Santa Monica, a bike-friendly city.

Today (2/11) I joined the Long Beach team for a 30miles ride from LB to Newport Beach. It was great! (But I'm tired, so I took a nap in the evening....). Learning how to ride in a group is very important, as you not only take care of each other, but also motivate each other. Riding on the PCH is kind of dangerous at certain points, but overall I had great time. If you have never been to that part of town, you should, nice beach nice city, but watch out for all the cyclists, man, they are fast! I'm planning to do a ride in the West Hollywood area on Sunday (2/12). Will share the experience in my blog.