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century ride

Today was the day that I completed THE long ride before the MS150 - the century ride. I was nervous prior to the ride for the following reasons:

1. I only rode one ride this month -- it was 47 miles AND I wasn't performing optimally.


2. The last century ride i completed was about 2 years ago.

I even have proof of completion! Ok, ok. It's not EXACTLY 100 miles but CLOSE ENOUGH. It might as well have been with the monsterous head and cross winds we experienced. it IS over a METRIC century!

However, I was in great company. Many thanks to Tom, Brittany, Alicia, Wade, Mario, and Brett for the conversation, "CRACKS!", and allowing me to draft at the back of the paceline. Cycling really is a social sport and it's a great motivator knowing that we were all spinning for a common cause.

The ride itself was not as bad as I envisioned. During the last century ride I completed, I was shaking and weak at mile 87. This time around, I felt great the whole way, managed to keep a nice cadence, and was able to carry on a conversation for MOST of the ride. I even got a chance to enjoy the beautiful Texas countryside.

The only downside about riding through Houston at this time of year is the tree pollen. I have pretty bad allergies to those elements. So bad that when I was in college, one of my peers called me "Allergy" because of my puffy eyes. I digress. I was sneezing for a good part of the ride, especially in the oak infested areas. So towards the end of the ride, I thought, "Wow, my forehead stings. I think I'm sunburned." I get into my car, look in the mirror, and discover hives all over my face and neck. You'll notice in the group picture above that my face looks really pink. It's a nice combination of cardio flush and hives.

After completing this ride, I think I'm ready for the MS150. Well, I better be! The MS150 is less than 2 weeks away. Let's all hope for a nice tailwind to push us to Austin. :)

two step

i have to admit that i had a pretty bad attitude after my inaugural ride for 2008. it's a downer when you're riding alone and not performing optimally! however, things are definitely looking up!

ride one: 38 miles. average 13.2 mph.
ride two: 40 miles. average 15.6 mph.
ride three: 50 miles. average 17.2 mph.

it's a good feeling, especially with the weather coming around. i felt like superwoman after the ride. strike a pose.

it also helped that i dusted off Lady Colnago and took her out for a spin. i love that bike!

the "E" in my myers-briggs profile type really needs the social aspect of cycling. it was good to ride with friends again. according to my buddy alicia, we need more girls on the bike!

and of course, keep new friends but keep the old. it's my newest cycling buddy, mike!

even out bikes got acquainted. surlylicious, meet lady colnago!

let's all hope for no rain saturday AM!

back in the saddle

And so it begins.... again. I've registered for the 2008 MS150 and the training started last weekend.

The Good:

• Reunited with my riding buddies!
• Welcome back country roads
• The therapy of riding

The Bad:

• December 19, 2006 was the last time I rode!
• A slowwwww average MPH
• Dying legs

38 miles. 2000+ calories. It's good to be back.

the 2006 ms150 CONQUERED!

After (only) 3 months of training, I completed the MS150 this past weekend! I have to say, this ride was one of the most physically challenging feats I have accomplished in a long time. What a great feeling....

The weekend started with me getting only 2-4 hours of sleep on Friday night. I went to bed at 9 but I was just too excited to rest my mind. 4 am came around, I hopped out of bed and my parents drove me out to the starting line at Rhodes Stadium in Katy, Texas.


This is my mother waking up dark and early to see me off. Isn't she lovely? Wow, what great genes! ;) My father is taking the picture and felt quite camera shy that morning.


My dad was also feeling cheesey that morning and told me to pose with my bike. Take note of the smileage.

I lined up with many other Team Chevron members at the starting line at 5:30, 1.5 hours before the official start time. People usually follow that comment with the question, "Are you crazy??? Why not just start from a neighborhood or gas station near by?" Why? Because! It's a great time to meet your fellow team mates, take pictures, and be on Chevron TV!

See, Chevron TV.... And I am not standing with very good posture. After the final edit, I think I took up a good 45 seconds of the 4:33 minute montage.


These are my buddies Tan and Wendy. Wendy and I both started cycling at the same time and also graduated from Bauer College of Business. We had great fun on training rides and getting used to being on a bike.....



This is my other buddy, Abbey. She is STONG and makes killer cookies! We totally killed the first day together!


Fellow Cougars -- Wendy, Steven, Sebastian, Oscar, Anabel and yours truly.


Grr hills....

The first day was 82.6 miles to the overnight stay at the La Grange fairgrounds. I had so much fun and surprised everyone I've been training with (myself included) when I arrived at about 12:15 with Abbey! Kiet told my coworkers who were volunteering that I probably wouldn't roll in until about 2 pm. I found that I my endurance and speed had significantly improved during the last few rides. I think what happened was my body was finally back into shape (after being inactive for so long) and was ready to turn it up a notch. It also helped that I had gone on a century ride the weekend before the actual MS150.

I felt quite strange in La Grange. I was so exhausted but couldn't sleep -- even at night. I think it was a combination of 200+ people in a 20x20 foot tent snoring (had one person scream in their sleep) and thoughts of WORRY running through my mind. I was anticipating the ever-dreaded BOUCHER PARK!

I also knew I had to eat but was just so tired that I didn't feel like eating all of the awesome BBQ that our AWESOME volunteers cooked. You wouldn't have guessed that by looking at the picture of me below chowing down on a plate of BBQ.



Speaking of volunteers, I think 1/2 of my group at work came out to La Grange! It was so awesome. Kiet, of course, was there being the team captain. My supervisor and 3 other coworkers came out as well! One of those coworkers is also my pedal partner who I rode the MS150 for. He also spent the whole weekend before the ride preparing and smoking the great brisket. He also spent the night in La Grange on Friday AND Saturday night. I wish we had gotten a picture together.

Now let's talk about the 2nd day...... Ok I'm done talking. I don't ever want to remember the pain I felt that day ever again.

I'm just kidding. The 2nd day was exceptionally challenging and painful but in retrospect it was a lot of fun. Total mileage for the latter half was about 74 miles but with 20x more hills. I took a look at the topographical maps and the first day looked like this _______ while the second day looked like this __MMMMMM.

I must say the second day was much more scenic -- especially through Boucher Park via the Bechtel Challenge route. How about those infamous hills through the park? Wow. Just. Wow. One right after another. Real steep going up and real steep going down. I think going down the hill, we hit about 45-47 mph? Going UP the hill is another story. The speed of going down the hill would take me about 65% of the way up then enter the burning of the quads and gluteals. I was afraid I was going to fall off my bike I was pedaling so slow. I think I would have gotten off my bike and walked up the hill if Kiet weren't there to provide some assistance.

I found that cyclists are very positive and encouraging folks. If I was about to be dropped from a paceline during a training ride, a couple of guys would hang back and let me draft off of them until we caught up with the rest of the group. In the park, Kiet was rooting for me while trying to make it up the hill himself and was saying, "COME ON KRISTINE!" and I would hear other cyclists cheering for me as well, "GO KRISSY!!!!" When we got to the top of the hill we all cheered and let out a loud WOOO! It was so awesome.

The rest of the second day was painful as well, especially the rolling hill within the Austin city limits. It really gave meaning to the cliche, "So close yet so far." Despite the pain, I managed to meet up with the first group at 11:45! I was the first Chevron woman to finish! We all met up on the UT campus and then rolled in together for a great photo opp:


Hooray! You can see me.... I'm in the middle towards the left holding up my red pedal partner bandana.


And here is THE MAN, Kiet Tran! The founder, captain, coach and jersey designer for Team Chevron! Kudos to him -- Thanks for all your hard work, Kiet!


And I just needed more proof that I really did make it to the finish line!

So now that the MS150 is over, I'm feeling the MS150 blues. I actually have time to do all my work AT work now that no more people will be dropping by my desk to pick up their jersey. I'm going to try to maintain this healthy lifestyle and I'm actually going to ride in another charity ride next weekend, the Shiner B.A.S.H.

This MS150 season has been great. I have learned a lot about myself, others and multiple sclerosis. Not only did I get personal satisfaction out of completing the MS150, I really felt like I made a difference for individuals with MS with my fundraising efforts. It was also pretty powerful when individuals in wheelchairs because of their MS came to the side of the road to cheer us on and thank us for riding. It was still cool when individuals were just at the side of the road cheering us on at all. I am thankful from this experience and feel like I have gained more from it than I have given. I hope that everyday we get closer and closer to a cure for MS.

i say, BURRR it's cold in here!

Brookshire! About 10 miles west of Katy -- past the part where I-10 becomes 2 lanes. That's like 1/3 of the way to Austin! QUITE the ways to go to ride 40 miles in the high 30/40-degree weather!

It was a pretty good ride. I didn't keep up with the paceline that averaged about 16 mph. I did, however, have a riding buddy -- Wendoline, a fellow new hire. We kept each other company while averaging 13-14 mph in the first half and slowing to 11-12 mph when we faced a strong headwind and some hills.

Wendoline had some pretty good times being the only true rookies out there. We practiced multi-tasking on the bike. I reconfirmed the fact that I have a hard time pedaling and steering while trying to get, drink from, and putting back my water bottle. Wendoline had similar problems, but they were accentuated when she attempted to multi-task while going up a hill. Good times, good times.

So just how cold was it? Take a look at my car's thermometer. I did not want to get out of the car. If you look closely, you can see raindrops on the windshield.



I reacted like any other Houstonian would to 41 degree weather. I bundled up like crazy! I wore 5 layers on upper-body: 2 long-sleeve tees, jersey, arm warmers, and a wind breaker. I also wore gloves, a ski mask, leg warmers, and skiing socks. On top of that, I put some toe covers over my AWESOME new silvery blue cycling shoes!



Even after all those layers, I couldn't feel my toes during or after the ride. I think it took a good 15 minutes for me to get the blood flowing to my piggly wigglies.

Well at least I didn't get lost or chased by dogs this ride. It actually was a very organized ride. I just hope it gets warmer within the month!

the worst ride ever!

*Le sigh*

I would have to say today's ride out in Hockley, TX (~40 mi. from downtown) was pretty disheartening for the following reasons:

• It was 30-something degrees. Must I say more? I don't think the cold affected me physically as it did mentally. Totally psyched me out and got me started on a bad attitude. I found it difficult to go nearly as quickly as I went the week before in Rosenberg where I averaged 16 mph.
• I got chased by dogs not once, but TWICE. The first time I was chased by two hunting dogs that circled my bike. I don't think I've ever sprinted so fast in my whole entire life. My cadence probably went up to 150 rpm. I wanted to spray them with water but I had no water in my water bottle. The second time I was chased by a dog that backed down when yelled at.
• I got lost not once, but TWICE. I was lucky the first time I got lost because a couple of other cyclists made the same mistake by missing a turn. Good thing because my map had fallen out of my pocket. I wasn't so lucky the 2nd time. Another cyclist and myself missed a turn which resulted in a 10-mile detour. THAT was the most discouraging part of the ride. The road to get back on track felt like it was a 45 degree incline (it really wasn't that bad) and there was a HUGE headwind. I tired so quickly and was relieved when a SAG vehicle found us. Ends up we were the only ones left on the road. I didn't finish the ride -- we still had 20 more miles to go! It's all good though.. I still rode for about 36 miles.

Anyhow. On a more positive note, I'm thankful for friendly SAG support. It's so great to have volunteers come out in the EARLY morning, far, far away in the cold. That's fantastic.

I also got "my" bike from this:

to this:

Hoorah for fold-down seats!

On ANOTHER positive note, as of Friday, I have raised $1135! A *HIGH FIVE* to my supporters! Thanks to you, I have reached my goal of exceeding $1000! (Don't let that stop you, my potential contributors!) I have received AMAZING support from my family, friends and coworkers -- it's a really good feeling. It's quite motivating and I will keep on keeping-on despite today's experience.

Hopefully it will warm up next weekend. I miss the 60s/70s Houston winter weather we've been getting. Cheers to a good ride next weekend out in Brookshire!