Tien Chiu

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First Spinning class

Had my first Spinning (gym-type, not handspinning) class today.  I was NOT prepared for it!  We spent virtually all our time out of the saddle, although I spent some time sitting down because my quads weren’t yet strong enough to stand the entire time.

Physically it was quite challenging ““ all my training to date has been endurance training, meaning long, low intensity work.  I ride for hours at a time, but rarely get out of breath.  So an hour of short, high-intensity work was a HUGE challenge.

But a good one.  I think I’ll be back for more.  Hopefully my legs will get stronger and it won’t be so difficult.

Meanwhile, I’m having a root canal tomorrow, which I hope goes well, but which may impact my cycling this weekend.  We’ll see.

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Markleeville Death Ride training update

Went riding yesterday with Lorri Lown of Velo Girls, who is going to be my cycling coach this season.  It was really helpful ““ she pointed out a couple problems with my form, gave me advice for how to practice cornering, and a couple of mini-exercises I could do while cycling.  She’s also going to work with me on losing weight once I get back ““ I’m currently at 150 lbs and would love to lose about 20 lbs.  That may or may not be realistic before the Death Ride, but 10 lbs certainly is.

We agreed that it doesn’t make sense for me to start a formal training plan until after I get back from Ghana.  So for the next three weeks I’ll be on my own, working at building a “base” so we can jumpstart my training when I get back.  I’ll have five months of solid training time between now and the Markleeville Death Ride, and Lorri thinks that should be enough ““ even allowing for AIDS Lifecycle, which will take place the 2nd week of June.  (It will take about three weeks for my body to fully recover from the stress of AIDS Lifecycle, which is 585 miles in a week, so requires quite a bit of energy.)

Plan for the next three weeks:

  • Weight training 2x/week (probably Monday-Wednesday)
  • Spin classes 2x/week (probably Thursday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday)
  • 1.5 hour ride on Saturday
  • 2-3.5 hour ride on Sunday (gradually increasing)

Also, before I leave Lorri is going to do a power test on me with the CompuTrainer, so we’ll have a baseline before I start formal training.  Every eight weeks she’ll do a test for me, so we can track my progress.

Lorri said she was “very impressed” with my cycling fitness after a nine-week hiatus (“much better than I expected”), so I’m pleased.  We did a 25-mile, rolling hills/flat ride, in about two hours.  I averaged about 13.5 mph over the entire route, which is not too bad.  I still don’t think I’m a fast rider, but Lorri swears I’m not a slow rider either.

On the whole I’m very pleased with the ride and with the prospects for Markleeville ““ one of the things Lorri said was that my fitness level was probably higher than my cycling self-image.  When I started, I was a slow rider with a tendency to injuries, and then of course the last three years has been all about injury rehabilitation ““ well, the knee is finally back at 100% capacity, and I’m actually a fairly decently-trained cyclist, so perhaps she’s right and it’s time to really see what I’m capable of.

I’m looking forward to working with Lorri ““ I decided to switch coaches this year because I felt that I needed more mentoring/skills development than Curtis would be able to give me (he lives in South San Jose so it takes me two hours just to get down there).  I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to get that from Lorri, so I’m pretty psyched.

More on the training regimen once I return from Ghana.

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Just registered for the Markleeville Death Ride…

…or rather, submitted my application to register.  Sometime in March they’ll do a random drawing and select 2800 people to ride.  Hopefully my name will be on the list; if not, I’ll have to wait until later and purchase a ticket from someone who isn’t riding.

I have mixed feelings about the Death Ride this year.  I don’t have much time to prepare, due to my Ghana trip, it’s a huge time commitment, and (more importantly) the ride is at altitude…I get altitude sickness starting at around 7,000 feet and the Death Ride mostly takes place between 6,000 and 8,000 feet.  This makes me wonder seriously if I’ll be able to do it, even if I’m physically ready otherwise.

The main reason I haven’t scratched from it is that I’m already committed to doing this year’s AIDS Ride…and this year will most likely be my last AIDS Ride, so if I attempted the Death Ride next year I’d have to do all that training over again.

(Why will this likely be my last AIDS Ride?  Mostly because it’s a huge time commitment – it’s six months of training for a week of fun – and also because this will be my fifth ride; there’s not much new for me and my interest has been waning.  I still think AIDS is one of the biggest issues for our generation, but there are other, less time-consuming ways of fighting it, and I’ll probably take one of those.)

I will definitely hire a cycling coach once I return in mid-February, either Curtis Cramblett or Lorri Lee Lown.

Mostly I’ve taken the last nine weeks off, so I’m probably in pretty poor shape.  Lorri and I are hopefully going riding on January 7th, so we can see whether we mesh well together and also for her to get an assessment of how I’m doing – I also intend to start getting serious about training, which means riding both weekend days and also doing some time on the trainer (or in spin classes) during the week.  As well as weightlifting, of course.

All this is going to take time, and that’s just a fact of life.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to work on the book and on weaving at the same time, but I’m certainly going to try.

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book, travel, cycling, other miscellany

So, I’m starting to think about the book again.  I had a major setback two or three months ago, which was the realization (after talking to the director of AIDS Lifecycle) that I may not be able to get the time with the director of AIDS Lifecycle or the directors of SFAF and LAGLC (the two beneficiaries) that I’ll need to write the book that I’ve envisioned.  My interest in AIDS Lifecycle is also declining, so I’m wondering vaguely whether it might not be better to pull the plug on the book project and pick a different subject on which to write.  I think the answer is probably “no”, but I’m still mulling it over.  It will be a lot harder for me to sell the book to a publisher if I can’t get the backing of the AIDS Lifecycle office.

That said, I’ve also sunk quite a few years and a huge chunk of money into the book, so I don’t think I can just walk away.

So, I’m mulling it over.

Travel-wise, I have gotten my new travel pack!  It’s the REI Women’s Grand Tour, and it’s a pretty nice travel pack – internal frame, adjustable suspension, rear/bottom access, detachable daypack for random expeditions.  I’ve ordered a set of packing cubes as well, to make packing up easier.  (During my SE Asia travels they were a godsend – I could unpack my pack into a set of eight cubes and know exactly what was in each one – and I could pack up in fifteen minutes or less without worrying about being able to find it later.)  I’ve also finished my typhoid vaccine (the last of my vaccinations), bought plane tickets, and sent off my passport and visa application to the Ghanaian Embassy in DC.  This weekend or next I will try to make it over to Berkeley and the Travelsmith outlet store, to see if I can find 2 pairs of pants that will travel nicely, dry fast, and not wrinkle.  I will probably buy clothes once I’m in Ghana, too, but I need something to wear for the first couple of days.

Cycling: It’s just about time to start training for the Markleeville Death Ride, and I’m meeting up with a potential cycling coach tonight.  It’ll be interesting to chat about her philosophy of training and get some insights into what kind of program she would set me up with.  I’m not sure if I’ll go with her or my last year’s coach.

I have now clipped out the worst of the mats on the Fuzz, and am continuing to brush him.  There are still quite a few mats to go, but I’m having trouble getting him to sit still while I clip them out – he’s starting to suspect something and move off as soon as I pick up the scissors.

I’m also going back to doing cycling long rides this weekend.  Between the candymaking and the rainy weather, I’ve been unable to get out for the last six weeks or so.  I’m not particularly unhappy about this – I needed the psychological break from training – but I do need to get back into the saddle, I think.

Have wound up 2/3 of the warp for my “production weaving” project and have settled on a set of patterns.  I’m going to thread it as a straight-up point twill (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, repeat) and use treadling and tie-up variations (which appear to be nearly infinite) to produce some vastly different-looking patterns.

That’s mostly it for today…onward ho!