For someone who loves biking (and is attempting to write a blog about biking), there hasn't been enough bike love on this blog yet. Well, this all changes now. On Sunday, I took my beautiful Bianchi Via Nirone out for one of my go-to rides, the Paradise Loop around the Tiburon peninsula.
I almost always go over to Marin for my long rides. There are plenty well paved roads and the hills provide excellent climbing and impressive views. Riding in San Francisco is full of potholes and train tracks and it takes many miles of sh*tty riding to get to some good roads south of the city. From my house, this ride takes me through SF (including the Panhandle, Golden Gate Park and the Presidio), over the Golden Gate bridge, down through Saulsalito, along the Saulsalito bike path, over the Corte Madera hill ("baby Corte Madera") and around the Tiburon Peninsula.
The northeast side of Tiburon has some pretty awesome rolling hills with great views of the bay, Angel Island, and the city. (No, I'm not talking about New York.) The entire route is littered with bikers of all types. Note to self: write a post about the various types of bikers in San Francisco.
In total, the Paradise loop is 46 miles with 2,500 feet of climbing. For my level of riding, that's a very doable but challenging ride. Gets a good number of miles in but doesn't take all day. Check out the full stats on the ride via Strava.
Sunday's ride, however, was definitely more challenging than most due to less than ideal weather for riding. It was around 40 degrees (very cold by bay area standards), cloudy, damp and super windy. Wind on the Golden Gate bridge is amplified around the towers, and it almost pulled me off my bike. Scary stuff! This was the ominous view from the Marin side of the bridge.
For comparison's sake, here's a photo of my friend Drew and I from the same spot when it's clear skies. There is a long climb up from Saulsalito to the bridge, so I almost always take a quick break at this spot on long rides.
I don't think I would have normally made it out for a ride, but I made plans to show a friend from work the route. He (Dan) is training for the Boston Marathon in April, so I can only assume he is a very fast runner and now have proof that he is also a great biker. His goal for 2012 is both to run 1,000 miles and bike 1,000 miles. Awesome, right? Hopefully, we'll be riding a lot more together this year.
Anyway, neither of us dressed warm enough for the weather, so I came home to frozen fingers and toes. Ouch!
Later on Sunday, I ended up catching some nasty stomach bug which left me glued to
Working out while sick:
The traditional medical view I've heard is that it's okay to continue to workout if don't have a fever and all your symptoms are "above the neck" - ie. headcold/runny nose, but if you start feeling chest congestion or other "below the neck" symptoms, you should lay off the exercise for awhile.
The stomach flu is an entirely different beast, and I felt like I was in no condition to keep moving. I prescribed myself nothing but chicken noodle soup, saltines, ginger ale, water, sleep, and these to get better.
More than anything, I think it's important to listen to your body. If I'm feeling well enough to continue to exercise, usually it makes me feel better. I'll just take it easier and and gradually scale up the intensity until I feel back to normal.
Update on triathlon pre-training:
On Wednesday, I made it to the gym to test out my prowess in the pool. I've never been a big swimmer, but I do know how to swim from years of swim team as a kid and life guarding as a teenager. I'm excited to get into the pool more as I train for this triathlon, and wanted to set a baseline for my swim fitness. I set out to tackle the 0.92 miles of an Olympic triathlon. Here are the things I learned.
1) 0.92 miles is long. 61 laps long. It took me a total of 38 minutes to complete. Definitely some room for improvement, but I was pretty proud to finish the whole thing.
2) I am terrible at counting laps. I just bought this watch in the hopes that I can use it to count laps in the pool. Any advice to count laps?
3) I need to research some swim workouts. I think throwing a little structure and few goals into swim workouts will really help me improve.
4) One pieces are the most flattering swim suits on women. I think the torn lining of 2003 lifeguard suit really bring out my best assets. So to speak, I need a new swimsuit. Triathlon training is simultaneously giving my wallet a workout.
5) In conclusion, swimming is a fun, relaxing and heart-pumping workout. I also weirdly enjoyed smelling like chlorine the following 24 hours.
Hope you had a fantastic week as well. I'm about to go enjoy some San Francisco sunshine and head out to my company's holiday party tonight!
Until next time kiddos. Cheers-
Jackie
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