Friday, November 27, 2009

commuter bike

I meant to do a blog about my commuter bike in January when I started riding it to work but I just never got around to it. Wednesday on my way home, a guy rode up beside me and complimented my bike, but then he rode with me and asked all kinds of questions about it and told me he wanted to build up a really similar bike for his girlfriend, so I told him I'd finally do this blog this weekend so he could show her pictures. I also hit over 1500 miles of commuting on my bike this week, so that's 2 good reasons to finally do this blog.
When we got the bike, it looked like this. It's a Raleigh steel framed mixte made in Japan. We replaced pretty much everything and now I have a great commuter bike.
I have Sram front and rear drum brakes built into the wheels, so even in the rain I have great braking power. I never thought I would ride in the rain, but I have quite a few times this year and most of the time it's actually fun.
The rims are from Velocity and made to look like teakwood, Nic built the wheels for me. I get a lot of compliments on the teakwood rims, no one can tell that they aren't actual wood.
The saddle and the handgrips are from Brooks. I also have a good light setup since I ride to work at 5 am to swim sometimes. My front light is a really bright Light & Motion Stella 200, I love it, it's small but it lights up the road really well on the highest power. I can lower the power to save the batteries for riding at dusk or on better lit streets. I just use bright red blinkies on the back, but they work really well too.
My ride to work is 6.5 miles each way, the ride to work is mostly downhill with a few uphills, but the ride home is mostly uphill. This bike is really heavy (51 pounds!) for riding uphill, but I like all the components so it's worth it.
The Sram S7 internally geared hub is cool because I can shift while stopped and I don't really have to worry about dropping the chain. Because of the hills on my ride to work I need gears, and it's fairly common to have to stop on a hill. The only drawback is this hub is heavy and it's a lot of what makes this bike weigh 51 pounds.
This bike is for commuting to and from work so I have to be able to carry stuff and these Transit Metro panniers have been perfect for me. Some days I have them jam packed full of stuff for work plus lunch plus swimming stuff for before work and running shoes for a lunchtime run.

After 1500 miles of commuting so far this year, I feel like this bike is really reliable and comfortable and I still really enjoy riding it. When I take a couple days off from riding I always miss it.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving morning I ran the Turkey Trot and Jeff went for a ride with Mark, Pieps, Adrian, and Paul. I ended up running with Vickie and Kim who are both way faster than me, but wanted an easy run. I had a great run, chatting and laughing with them, saying hi to other friends we saw along the way, and hearing more of Vickie's Ironman stories. The weather was beautiful for running. I ended up finishing almost 3 minutes faster than last year and after the run Vickie said I could have gone faster if I had "really tried" instead of chatting and laughing my way through the 5 miles. Maybe she's right, and if so, that's kinda cool. Either way I had a great time.me, Kim, and Vickie, my Turkey Trot running buddies

After the run, it was time for the annual Tri Zones Thanksgiving Champagne Toast (although we've had LOTS of champagne toasts this year) This is just one of many many reasons I love Tri Zones.
Coach Tracy giving the toast
Tri Zones Champagne Toast, photo by Tom Marek
Kristen bragging about somehow getting a big pespi cup full of champagne

After running and riding, Jeff, Connor, Katie, and I went over to Patti's for Thanksgiving dinner. Paul was cooking so we had really been looking forward to this. Chef Paul finishing Thanksgiving dinner preparations
Priscilla, me, Adrian, and Jeff waiting patiently while Paul tells us what everything is.Pieps and his Thanksgiving dinner
Some of Paul's yummy food
Jeff and I wanted to get something for Paul for making Thanksgiving dinner for us, so we got him this knife that Mark said he would really like. This morning on Paul's facebook page was a picture of the leftover turkey breast with his new knife. I'm glad he likes it, I know Jeff and I really enjoyed his dinner. Everyone except me ate 2 big plates of food, I really wanted a second plate, but I just couldn't do it, I was already really full after just one plate.
After dinner everyone was sleepy and Adrian suggested a Thanksgiving walk before dessert. We took all the dogs and walked around the neighborhood and the nearby school where Mark and Adrian found some broken kids bikes and raced them around the parking lot! Jeff took pictures of this craziness, but he's having trouble getting them off his phone, hopefully he can get them because I'm sure they're hilarious!

After the walk we all had chocolate trifle for dessert-yum!
Bo and Pieps
Connor and Katie had a great time playing with Bo, but I don't think Mark's chihuahua Wienie Man (yes, that's really his name, no wonder the poor guy has "little dog complex") appreciated having 2 more big dogs in his house all day.
Jeff and Katie
Mark and Connor, Connor was really interested in Mark's apple

Sunday, November 15, 2009

"Irongrid's" (and my) Austinacious Weekend

Ingrid came to visit this weekend to have some Austin fun and fill me in on all the details of her Ironman Florida race. Friday night we went to the Red Licorice Events "birthday party" Ingrid was a little disappointed that they didn't have cupcakes from Hey Cupcake since it was a birthday party and they have cupcakes at all their races. Ingrid says you can't have a birthday party without cake! We were however really impressed with the blender bikes! They were putting lots of tequila in the blenders and having races to see who could blend a margarita and drink it fastest to win prizes. Ingrid and I opted out of that since we hadn't eaten dinner. They also had very discounted sign up for all the 2010 Red Licorice races at the party. Ingrid and I had talked about doing a relay again, like we did at Cinco Ranch in 2008. We went back and forth about whether we wanted to sign up, but I finally told Ingrid, "if Kim can't run we can get Cassie or Del to do it, or David or Matt, or someone from Tri Zones" Ingrid said "ok, we have tons of options" and she signed us up. So team "Straight 'n Sour" (a play on the Sweet 'n Twisted tri that Red Licorice does every summer) will be racing at the Champions Tri in March! We were a little disappointed that we didn't win any door prizes at the party but we hoped we were just saving our luck for the Texas Tri Series party the next night.

Saturday morning we met Sandra and Nicki to run at Brushy Creek. As soon as Sandra saw us she said "Irongrid congratulations on Ironman Florida" Sandra is a writer so she's really good with words and Ingrid loved the new nickname!
"Irongrid", me, Sandra, and Nicki at Brushy Creek

Sandra, Nicki and I were running 10 miles and Ingrid did about 5. It was a great run except that my left quad kept hurting more and more as we went on, Sandra finally talked me into walking the last mile just to make sure I wasn't making anything worse. I wasn't happy about that, but I know it was the right decision so thanks Sandra!

After the run Ingrid and I planned to go to the Mellow Swap, but while looking up the times I found out the Austin Bike Zoo was making "pedal powered ice cream" so we decided to check that out first.
Ingrid with the Austin Bike Zoo's butterfly bike
We got there and tried some pumpkin ice cream made with coconut milk-yum! Jeremy and Sachi from the Austin Bike Zoo were really nice and they even let us pedal to make some ice cream.
I pedaled for just a minute since I was a little worried about my quad from the run.
Then Ingrid pedaled, and pedaled, and pedaled! It only took about 15 minutes total, that's faster than my electric ice cream maker can go!
You can see the set up pretty well in this picture. The coffee ice cream that Ingrid made was awesome! So yummy and much more frozen that most ice cream when it comes straight out of the ice cream maker. So we say pedal powered ice cream definitely wins over hand cranked or electric made! Ingrid is now obsessed with getting/making/or buying a bike that can blend and/or make ice cream!
The Mellow Swap was next, Ingrid got these great new sunglasses and I got a new running skirt.
We also got to meet Elliott of Austin on 2 Wheels fame, he was at the Mellow Swap with his Violet Crown Bikes. Elliott is really active in the Austin cycling community and I have read his blog for awhile now but hadn't met him until today.

Gordough's was next, I knew Ingrid had been looking forward to it all day. Gordough's is a doughnut trailer on South Lamar, but that really doesn't describe the gooey yummy goodness that is their doughnuts at all!
Ingrid created her own doughnut topped with peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers, and grilled bananas. Look how happy she looks! and that was before her first bite!
I had the "funky monkey" with cream cheese icing, brown sugar, and grilled bananas. These were SO good! Definitely worth completely negating any health benefits from the 10 mile run I did that morning!
That evening was the Texas Tri Series party. This was my first year to complete the series but I had heard the party was really great. We were not disappointed.
Drew and Nicki at the party
All the tri series finishers got a tech shirt, socks, and a big metal finisher award- very cool. They had lots of beer, wine, and appetizers.
Julie and I at the party
They had a cool slide show of people from all the races going, we all loved seeing people we knew on the slide show. We all saw each other on the show and they had the cutest picture of Tom and Carolyn too. Dinner was salad and lasagna and they had cake for dessert! Ingrid was so happy to finally get her cake after Red Licorice didn't have a cake!
Ingrid, Annette, and Kim with their cake. Kim didn't really eat 2 pieces, I saw her give the big one to her husband!
They gave out awards for volunteers and tri series winners. Julie won her age group and got this award, behind it is part of the finisher award we all got.
They gave out tons of door prizes. Ingrid, Nicki and I won shirts, Julie won a visor that she really wanted, Nicki also won a pair of shoes and I think everyone won a water bottle or two.
Nicole and Sandra
The grand prizes were 4 entries into all the Tri Series races for 2010, that's worth between $600 and $700! Julie's was the second number they called, she was so excited that Dan said "now that's the kind of excitement we like to see when someone wins!!" When she sat back down I was hugging her and so excited for her! Then they called Ingrid's number!! Really? Wow Ingrid won too! I was so excited! She went up to give them her name and when she came back I hugged her and she said "When they asked my name I said your name, so YOU won!" I asked "Really? Are you serious?" She said "YES!" with the biggest smile on her face! I gave her a huge hug and said "I love you Ingrid! You're the best friend ever!!" I think I even cried a little! Later Ingrid told me "I was wishing in my head 453, 453 (my number) because I really wanted you to win, so when they asked me my name I just said your name" WOW! How many people can say they have a friend like that! What a selfless thing for her to do for me! I really hope karma repays Ingrid big time!
me, Dan of Jack and Adam's and Julie. Texas Tri Series 2010 here we come!!! I think my hands are still shaking in the picture from all the excitement!

Ingrid and I had planned to ride on Sunday morning, but I did a test ride around the neighborhood to see how my quad felt. It didn't go horribly, but it didn't go great and Ingrid informed me "you are NOT riding today!" So instead of ride then brunch, we just went to brunch at Chez Zee. Ingrid was craving creme brulee french toast so she got that and eggs sardou- yum! I got a crabmeat omelet-yum!
Ingrid wanted to make sure the leftover boxes were in the picture as proof we did not eat all that food at once! What a great weekend!!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Run for the Water

Today was race number 3 of the Austin Distance Challenge, the 10 mile Run for the Water. Proceeds from the run go to The Gazelle Foundation, which funds projects for clean drinking water in Burundi Africa. Gilbert's (founder of The Gazelle Foundation) story is pretty amazing.

I didn't have any real goals or expectations for this race since Coach Tracy says I should still be recovering from Longhorn and since I knew I would be up really late watching my Iron friends on Saturday night.

I got up after less than 5 hours of sleep and got to the race site just 15 minutes before the start, I like to get to races early so that is by far the latest I have ever gotten to a race. Immediately I found the Tri Zones tent and Elizabeth. I had read somewhere that she planned to take the run pretty easy since it would be her longest run ever, and at the time I thought maybe I'd try to run with her. I suggested this to her and she seemed happy to have someone to run with.

I headed over to the porto-potty line and it was long! I was still in line when they sang the national anthem! That has never happened to me before. By the time I was heading to the race start I figured I had lost my chance to run with Elizabeth, but she was waiting for me! Cool! We walked to the back of the crowd and less than a minute later we started. I hadn't looked at a course map at all but I had heard most of the run was west of MoPac so I expected hills- and there were hills! Lots of them!

This was my first time to run with Elizabeth but it worked out perfectly. I love to talk while I run but sometimes I just can't do it and at times today was one of those days. It was super humid- the air actually seemed almost liquid! and my allergies have been bad for a couple of weeks so I expected some asthma issues and my breathing was definitely not great today. But Elizabeth likes to talk while she runs too so I got to hear lots of stories about the South Tri Zones team training (I belong to the North team) and about her family. We had a great time and we went slow enough that my not so great breathing wasn't a big problem.

Even though there were lots of hills and we weren't running very fast and my breathing wasn't great the run went by really fast. I think I owe that completely to Elizabeth! I think our finish time was about 2:08. At the finish Gilbert high fived or shook hands with all the finishers- very cool!

Distance Challenge race number 3- completed!

Virtual Spectating for Ironman Florida

My IronFriends Kim, Ingrid and Cassie just before the start. Photo by Nicki DuBose. Nicki posted this picture and "Houston girls are ready for their big day" about 10 minutes before the race started. I loved seeing it!!!

On Saturday 7 of my close friends and a few other acquaintances did IronMan Florida. For anyone who doesn't know an Ironman Triathlon is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run!

It was the first Ironman for all 7 friends. I felt terrible because I couldn't go to Florida and spectate in person, but I knew I could at least watch online and follow everyone's progress. I got up at 6:00am and started getting the computer set up. I opened the Ironman live video site and set it up to show up on our TV. Then I opened an Ironman checkpoint athlete tracker window for each of my friends and acquaintances. Carolyn, Vickie, Cindy, and Kenneth all also had GPS tracking systems, so I opened a window to track each of them. I also opened Facebook, the Tri Zones forum, and the Kickrunners tri forum. Yeah, all that stuff was open on my computer all day, 17 hours!, but after just a little while I knew exactly where everything was and I could see how anyone was doing at any time.

I watched the swim start and tried and tried to look for my friends but didn't see any of them. I could see when each person finished the first half of the swim on my checkpoint trackers. And Jeff and I cheered out loud each time someone came out of the water to start loop two. Jeff had to go to work so I was alone to see everyone finish the swim and start the bike. Everyone did so well on the swim, I was especially impressed with Cassie's swim, I couldn't believe how much she's improved since last year! I actually got to see Carolyn come out of transition on the live video- very cool! The bike is where the GPS tracking systems really helped. I didn't get any updates for Cassie, and Kim for the entire 112 mile bike. Nicki posted a picture to facebook of Ingrid on the bike and she looked great! Photo by Nicki DuBose

Because Carolyn, Vickie, Cindy, and Kenneth had the GPS trackers I could see where they were for most of the bike course, they didn't work perfectly but it was SO much better than nothing! Kendra came over shortly after everyone started the bike. We caught Vickie and Kenneth on the live video at one point on the bike. We were constantly switching between all the windows to see updates on everyone. Tracy got a few updates from Tom and we saw those on the Tri Zones forum and Nicki posted more updates on Facebook. I posted updates on facebook for friends who wanted to know how everyone was doing, but didn't have time to dedicate their day to virtual spectating.

Kenneth was off the bike, in a blazing fast time and onto the run first. Ingrid was next also with a blazing fast bike split! Then Cindy came in, Vickie wasn't far behind her and Cassie wasn't far behind her and then came Kim. Carolyn's GPS tracker stopped working so we got a little worried about her, but Tom and crew drove out on the course to look for her and then updated us that she was fine, he fixed the GPS and soon Carolyn was finished too!Carolyn on the bike, photo by Nicki DuBose

It was so fun to know that everyone was finished with 114.4 of their 140.6 miles! Jeff came home from work while everyone was biking. We tried and tried to see our friends running on the live video, but we never did and after just 8 hours they cut to the finish line and never went back out to the run course. We watched Carolyn, Vickie, Cindy, and Kenneth's GPS trackers and watched for checkpoint updates for Ingrid, Cassie, and Kim.

Kenneth was first across the finish line and Jeff decided he was going to take a picture of Kenneth crossing the finish line on our TV, but he just missed him! We saw him on the video/TV but Jeff just didn't have the camera ready yet. We expected him at just over 11:30 and he came in at 11:25! WOW!

So when we knew Ingrid should be coming soon Jeff got the camera ready and I think he sat ready to take the picture for about 30 minutes! but he got a great picture! Ingrid's time was also just amazing at 12:37! We all know she's a machine, but I didn't think she'd do her first Ironman in just over 12 and a half hours! We were all screaming and cheering and I called Ingrid to leave a message to tell her how excited we were for her!!
Next was Cassie and again I was amazed at how much she has sped up since last year! Last year she finished the Longhorn half iron in 8:04 and this year she finished Ironman Florida in 13:56, that's just crazy improvement! Or as David Lynch would say "horrible sickness" We got her name in the picture but missed her face, so sad since she had the biggest smile crossing the finish line!Cassie just after finishing, photo by Nicki DuBose

Kim was next and considering she was finishing law school, studying for and taking the bar exam and training for an ironman this summer, I'm impressed she even made it to the starting line, let alone finished in just over 14 hours! Wow!
Cindy came in just a few minutes later looking great! and wearing her Tri Zones gear!
Vickie came in a few minutes later, it was so much fun to see her finish after training with her and seeing in person how hard she has worked this summer!
Carolyn was expecting to have a long day and there were at least 10 Tri Zoners following her progress when she was on her last loop of the run. When she had less than 1 mile to go our live video feed went out!! The Tri Zones forum and facebook lit up with posts like "OMG the live video just went out!!! Carolyn SLOW DOWN so they can get it fixed before you finish!!" Unfortunately the video never came back but at least Carolyn had the GPS tracker so we knew exactly when she finished and with 30 minutes to spare!

It was so much fun to virtual spectate! The only thing that would have been better was actually being in Florida for everyone. It was so much fun to hear Mike Reilly say "You are an IRONMAN" to my friends!