the tao of cycling: the neuro 6.0

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

the neuro 6.0

I haven't grumbled about my cyclometer for quite some time,
mainly because I'd gotten it to a point where it would tell me how fast I was going, what my cadence was, and it would even keep track of my miles.
I was quite pleased with having it function like that.
I'd given up on ever accessing all of the other features it offers (especially after I sent the heart monitor strap it came with through the washing machine: very bad move) :

Digital Heart Rate with 5 Training Zones and Real Time Memory
Current, Average and Max Speed, Cadence and Heart Rate
Weekly Ride Time and Odometer
Altimeter with vertical feet/meters climbed and percent grade
Race Mode
50-Lap Chronograph w/Interval Timer
etc, etc

I was just grateful that I'd figured out how to see how many miles I'd ridden (although I didn't dare reset it, for fear I'd lose all my data, so each ride I had to remember the odometer number I began with, then subtract that from the end-of-ride number) and how fast I was going at any given time.
when I would say I couldn't use certain aspects of my cyclometer, people would ask what part of my cyclometer wasn't working; I would reply, oh, it all works, there's just an issue of operator error.
the operator error was that she (me) was too lazy-chicken-intimidated to put the manual-on-CD into the computer and dig through it to learn how to use the darn complicated thing that has 5 sub-menus to memorize for each push of each button.

until today.

this morning, I put on my bright red cape and blue unitard and learned how to use my cyclometer. ta-da!

watch out world, here I come.

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the Male Ego

The other day I was coming down a canyon in my drop bars (two years ago I would have said, 'what's a drop bar?'), working hard, when I came up on two guys who were also heading downhill but at a more leisurely pace. I passed them, said hello as I did so, and pulled back into the bike lane. a few minutes later they went flying past me, faces looking dead ahead, not a single bit of acknowledgment that I even existed on this planet let alone was involved in and enjoying the same sport they were.
I have to attribute this to the male ego. what else can it be? now I know we all have egos, myself included. and mine even shows its ridiculous little head once in a while, or perhaps more often. but the difference between mine and say, those of certain men on bicycles, is that I KNOW mine exists and I can LAUGH at mine. I know my ego was quite excited to pass those guys, and I could also smile because I knew if the men had really been working like I was, they would have kicked my butt down the hill.
I think I pissed them off.
and I'm sure I will be sharing with you much more of my thoughts about the male ego . . .

a little history

I was married, and I had a mountain bike which I rarely rode. we separated, I moved out, and four months later someone stole my bike. the next spring, 2005, I bought myself a new mountain bike. I rode occasionally, and in april 2006 I rode in my first century, the Cactus Hugger in St. George, Utah. I made it 54 miles on that mountain bike, and it took me about 6 hours. I think that included the rest stops where I prayed that someone would steal my bike again . . .
in june 2006 I started riding my mountain bike five mornings a week, a 45-55 minute loop that was intended to be all about exercise. and what I found was that I loved the quiet, peaceful morning full of bird chatter and barely breaking sunrises. by that fall I was hooked, and began considering the purchase of a road bike. I rode up emigration canyon for the first time that Labor Day of 2006, panting and plowing along on my trusty (heavy) bike, and a month later I was the proud owner of my own road bike: I had become a two-bike girl!
a 17-week-long "power camp" over the winter and a handful of new friends kept bicycling front and center in my life, and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was ready to hit the pavement. I rode my first century the end of april, when I again went to St. George and completed that Cactus Hugger. it took me about 7 hours, but this time I rode the entire 100 miles with about 9300 feet of vertical gain. woo hoo!
I started riding canyons around our area, emigration and millcreek, city creek, big cottonwood, little mountain and big mountain, and once--yes, only once--little cottonwood.
then in september of 2007, I rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, in the slightly infamous LOTOJA race. I rode, I did not race. and I completed the thing, crediting my good training buddies, the incredibly perfect weather, my support team, and an amazing convergence of all things positive in the universe.
I put in about 3500 miles last season, and as of today, july 19, 2008, I have about 1700 in, adding to it every day.
I have again signed on to ride the LOTOJA race, and my goal is to have just somewhere near as great a ride as I did last year. oh, and to have someone fun to talk with along the way as I got incredibly bored last year . . . star valley is still a nightmare scene in my biking memories . . .
and here is a picture of the machine that has helped me reclaim my life.