Did you ride your bike tonight?

Well Theresa is in Minnesota and Karen is preparing for an overseas trip.  I hope the rest of the Chicks got a good ride in.  No stopping for beverages tonight, unless it's a quick draw from your water bottle on your bike.

Minneapolis is a very bicycle friendly town.  Maybe we can all take a trip out here for a Bike ride.  Theresa found some great new trails to ride on with cyclists of all types riding all types of bikes.  I think that because the winters are so cold and long, that when the weather turns nice people are out enjoying the parks and outdoors.   Theresa and her sister went to Minnehaha park for a hike along the Mississippi river and shared the trail with many cycling groups.  It's seems like the area has many off road bike trails people use for commuting to and from work. 

We came across a stairway down to a cross street from one multi-use path that had this metal gutter mounted along it.   Hmm...for skaters?   Wait I've seen a lot of hikers, dog walkers, runners and cyclists, but no skate boarders, it must not be as big here as it is in California.  Then we realized it was for cyclists to transition from the path to the road.  No they don't ride it down, but they do guide their bike down while they walk the stairs.  We met a girl on a Trek bike (women's specific - hey maybe I need to get them to sponsor our team) who was a bike commuter riding her bike back and forth to work 8 miles each day.  You know Theresa had to ask all the questions.   She normally just carries her bike down, but to placate Theresa, she showed how the rail is normally used.   I think she should be one of our honorary members.

 

Well we hope to get a good ride report tonight. 

Cheers

Well we finally had the ride and we earned it.  This Monday all chicks were in attendance and we rode the trail to Sand Canyon and then to Tia Juana's for happy hour. http://www.tiajuanas.com/  Finally had our margaritas, and nachos and queso and fellowship.   Our total mileage for the evening did turn out to be about 10 miles. 

Theresa's husband, Steve decided to tag along, I think because he heard a rumor that Karen might be riding without clothes.  But alas we were able to find something besides her white dress pants to wear.  Funny she remembered her bike and her helmet but left her clothes bag at home.

Becky rode on her new bike.  She was as excited as a kid getting their first bike.  She certainly has left the training wheels way behind.

Suzanne has a new nick name, Angel.  She was so sweet bringing everyone Angel baseball goodies.  Theresa and Karen are looking forward to the ride report from Wednesday as they will both be traveling.

Today's safety lesson is to remember that the front left lever is for the front wheel brake.  Always be cautious squeezing it and avoid doing it abruptly without using the back brake as well or you may be thrown over the handle bars.  Not that any chick would ever do that.

This weekend is the OCW/BCI bike rally and a 30 mile ride for those of us training for the Fall OCW Amtrak century.

See you on the road.

Chicks riding fast ---------------------------

Yes, it was a fast one tonight.  I won't bore you with the musical bike situation, but we got Karen on a road bike and it was fast!   I think we may vote to keep her on a mountain bike so at least we have a chance.  We ventured out of the safe zone and took the trail to Sand Canyon to meet up with our Strawberry Farms trail. 

The chicks got some experience merging into and out of traffic and spending a little time on the road. We remembered to drink water and keep hydrated.  We had very few stops and ended up with an average over 13 miles per hour even with our stops.  Great Job!

Karen says, "It was fun, but I was a little nervous."  The gearing and breaking is a bit different but definitely you can tell with the acceleration after you slow down or stop.

As the summer picks up we notice more and more people out enjoying the trails.  Means we have to keep our wits about us and try to keep a steady line. 

Next up is pace lining.   Ok after a Margarita ride.  Really, we are going to do that ride, I promise.

Here is the training schedule for those of you that plan to do the Century in September:

Week	Monday	Wednesday	Weekend
1	12	15	24	18-Jun
2	15	12	26	25-Jun
3	12	15	29	2-Jul
4	15	12	30	9-Jul
5	12	15	35	16-Jul
6	15	12	40	23-Jul
7	12	15	50	30-Jul
8	15	12	55	6-Aug
9	12	15	60	13-Aug
10	15	12	63	20-Aug
11	12	15	70	27-Aug
12	10	10	40	3-Sep
13	AMTRAK		86 Miles
14	8	5	off

See you on the road.

Holy Howling Coyotes

No the sirens going by weren't coming to Theresa's aide, even though she had an unrepairable flat on her back wheel.  (Chicks get flats too). But who would have imagined that the fire truck noise would rile all the coyotes on the river bed?   We had seen a coyote pair before and we are always treated to views of birds, but this was definitely more of a pack.

Not that Theresa got to see it since she was walking along the road waiting for her ride from Pat who went back to get the car.

Everyone is really getting faster and smoother.  It was a quick ride to the Back Bay turnaround and back.   Chris and Pat didn't even seem that they had completed a 24 mile ride the day before.

Since we are going further without stopping, it is important to remember to drink water while you are riding.  As we move to longer rides on the weekends we will even need to plan on eating during our rides.  Make sure you have a water bottle on your bike that has a top that you can can easily drink from.

Because there is wide variability in sweat rates, losses and hydration levels of individuals, it is nearly impossible to provide specific recommendations or guidelines about the type or amount of water you will need while riding.  It is important to drink before you are thirsty and plan to consume 3 to 5 ounces of water for every 15 minutes of a hard work out.

We hope that Becky is having a lot of fun on her vacation and will see her back next week. So the big question is do we do the Margarita ride on Wednesday or do an extension to Sand Canyon to get more miles.  Maybe we will take a Chick vote.

Chicks that train for a century ride

Well, Pat and Chris are committed.  This morning they signed up for the OCW Amtrak Century which is 100 miles in one day. Last year they volunteered for the ride working at the end greeting all the tired cyclists.  I know they were thinking....I wish it were me. Or, I think I could do this.

Pat and Chris in the bike lane along Bake Parkway.

Our twice weekly evening rides are a great start.  This morning we did the short Sunday ride with OCW, 24 miles. There were some rollies but not a lot of real huge hills and an awesome down hill coming back into Northwoods in Irvine.  It was a great experience riding with a small group, on the road and in traffic. We rewarded ourselves with lunch at the French Champagne Bakery (but no mimosas for us).  The ride is on September 10th. Just think ladies, it's only 4 times what we rode today.

Chicks ride differently than guys

You can tell by the smiles in the photo, chicks have fun when they ride.  They can be competitive, but it's really all about encouraging each other and waiting for all riders.  Tonight we rode the full back bay loop.  It was challenging because of the rollies and everyone was able to practice their gear changing on the hills.  We had a stiff headwind coming along the inside trail, but also enjoyed some nice downhills that we definitely earned.

 

Another thing that separates chicks from guys, is it's all about "color".  I remember when Pat was shopping for her bike.  The sales guy and I were looking for the best deal and a complete bike which had good components and would last her a long time.  Pat was looking for "color".  She compromised by buying a pearl white bike (notice the color description, guys would just say white).  She knows she can accessorize and add color as she wishes.

Then when we showed Karen a very lovely feminine bike, pale blue with white hibiscus flowers faded into the paint, her comment was I really don't like light blue.....  Even Chris admits that the lavender metallic color was definitely a draw in her decision.

I do have to tell you that I've officiated at a lot of bike races and during the women's fields, it really is more social.  They spend the first multiple laps of a criterium, talking to each other, before the challenge of getting down to the competitiveness of racing.  Even before the race starts you can hear them talking about nail polish colors they use as touch up paint for chips in the pain on their bikes.

Back to our ride..... after the last hill, coasting the final 1/4 mile, Becky said, "This has been my favorite ride so far."   So it was worth the drive to start there and worth all of the hills.

Some of us will be doing the Sunday OCW short ride from Irvine. 

http://www.ocw.org/RideCalendaraspx/RidesbyDay.aspx?Date=6/19/2011

Guests are welcome.  Also Sunday is the time to sign up for OCW's Amtrak century (100 miles in one day).  See Theresa or Pat if you are interested in signing up or training for this challenge.

 

Chicks that ride.....New Bikes

Great ride tonight everyone.  We are getting stronger and faster.  We did the strawberry farms loop in a quicker time than we ever had before. We missed Becky, but hopefully she is having fun times on vacation.  Guess who showed up with a brand new bicycle tonight.  An entry-level road bike...Scattante R 330 in a lavender metallic (Ladies specific design).   We all took a turn around the parking lot before the ride.



Chris and her new bike!

I don't know if she has a nickname for it yet, but now that means more shopping for accessories.   Maybe she is hoping for a bike shower.   Well we did do a toast with real champagne (after the ride).  It was a late toast to Pat's new Fuji as well.  

Pat is so strong and quick on her new Fuji, although we didn't find the "finding Culver" hill, Pat still led the pack up Jeffrey and over the 405 overpass.  I'm sure that is why we had such a quick overall time.

 Pat's Fuji is white and goes with everything!












What new bike are you dreaming of?

I'm putting together a Google Calendar of all our rides so you can plan for upcoming events.

See you on the road (or trail as the case may be).

Things you learn...

Well if you were at Monday's ride you got your free copy of the Trek Women's guide with a sticker and wrist band.  Yay!  We love schwag.  The guide has some great information on types of bikes as well as some helpful hints.  It even shows how to change a tire.  Wait, if you were at Monday's ride you got to witness a tire change in person as Theresa realized the tire she had pumped up the night before on the loaner bike was NOT holding air.

Our new rider, Becky, did fantastic.  You never would have known she had just started riding with us the week before.   Everyone stayed up to pace and worked up the hills.  We missed our Chris.

Some of us have decided to sign up for the Beach Babes Classic, July 24th in Long Beach.  There are 18 and 38 mile rides.  Something to work toward.

So in putting together this blog, I learned not to be surprised when you google "women on bike" images so I could pull some clip art for the header. Karen, Pat and Becky, don't try this at work, although I'm sure the HC filter will prevent the view I got being off the network.  Interesting what comes to some peoples minds when they think of women on bikes.

See you on the road!