[Tania]

@Henry 120105 wrote:

Tania:

You might want to consider attending one of the many women-lead (ond usually women-only) rides at Phoenix Bikes. They also do mech skills training with women instructors. There’s one tomorrow night.

https://www.facebook.com/events/106986469645154/

Henry

If my schedule frees up, I’ll certainly think about volunteering to either lead the ride or teach the class.

[Tania]

I agree with a lot of what cvcalhoun wrote. However, a lot of the reasons are what Dirt calls “the big BUT” (I may be paraphrasing). As in “I’d love to ride my bike more BUT…” and many of the reasons, while valid, aren’t necessarily actually true for many women. They just think they are.

For example, I was absolutely afraid to bike on the road. For YEARS, I said “that’s crazy talk.” Now I love it. What changed my mind? Biking with a few forum members who road bike every day – they chaperoned me for a few rides, I felt safe and became confident enough to do it on my own. Now the only reason I don’t road bike more is because I get completely lost. I’ve finally figured out how to use my garmin courses thingy so that “but…” excuse is gone.

I do completely agree with the safety concerns about biking solo after dark. And it really, really pisses me off that I feel I can’t (shouldn’t) continue biking home in the winter after dark by myself because some dude is a jerk. (That’s the forum-friendly version of that sentence.) I’m trying to find ways around this, specifically finding ride buddies home. Or maybe half bike trail, half road route home. I’m also pissed off that I even have to CONSIDER finding a different way home all because I’m female. 😡

Additionally, I started biking more because of group rides. I didn’t feel like I could deal with a mechanical issue on my own etc etc etc (a long list of buts). I’d love to see more loosely organized commuter caravans tailored to women (or at least billed as being a casual, beginner friendly pace) as I think that might help bring more women into biking. Yes, we have lot of coffee club rides and are exceptionally welcoming to newbies but you all look intimidating with your kits and fixies and Dread’s scowl (said scowl didn’t stop him from doing everything he could to help me the day my rear wheel died and for that I am forever grateful btw). You’re all awesome, but I can see how someone might be a little nervous joining you.

Just my thoughts as I procrastinate actually doing any work.

[Tania]

@Subby 120057 wrote:

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the replay of Kill Bill here – especially cool to see when folks split off, hopped in, etc.. Also fun to watch the Social Ride move around.

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/?utm_source=strava_activity_header#344901055,L26HFDC6iBTc84gUXruJFElIihSQdYoUNK2LFOS8ixQNB4wUCzqMFF8RjRQ5So0UOUyNFO1NjRTJX40U72iNFF1pjRTCjo0UiJ2NFBOmjRSXro0USrqNFKfBjRSR0I0UVdGNFFLfjRS+6Y0U8u2NFML5jRTu/I0UIhOOFG4UjhTfFI4U1yqOFCBejhQgZI4UInSOFHV9jhQngY4UsoWOFLKMjhS3lo4Uz7GOFK3EjhRrzo4UDNeOFGkKjxSpOY8UTp2SFA==

This is awesome! And you can totally tell where and how often we stopped for food.

(Taking at least part of the social ride up Jay Miller was totally my Very Bad Idea…)

[Tania]

@sjclaeys 120020 wrote:

We were certainly grinding out those final miles.

Major respect for that!

[Tania]

Social ride!

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9228933

[Tania]

As payback for nominating him KB Social Ride leader, jabs made me the Helper Monkey.

We both plan on riding from start to finish (starting and finishing with the main group) so anyone who wants to bail on the full ride is welcome to join up with the social ride. He’ll be posting the route later but we’ll both be checking out phones periodically and will have Find My Friends installed (that might be iPhone to iPhone specific though).

You can message either of us though during the ride and we’ll tell you where we are or where we’re heading.

We’ll also have extra sunscreen, first aid kits and Advil. Although I may lecture you about the dangers of mixing Advil with endurance events before giving you any.

[Tania]

So I do competitive weightlifting and bike commute really as a means to avoid metro AND help me stay within my weight class. Plus, coffee clubs like everyone else said. Because, PIE.

Anyway, I train 5 days a week, two hours a day. And I’m not farting around at Planet Fitness – it’s a lot of volume and total load. The two biggest things that let me maintain this type of schedule are sleep and food. It’s a struggle foodwise – like I said I have to stay pretty close to my weight class since I’ve qualified for national/international comps at this class. On days you’re feeling extra slow/heavy/spent, eat more. Specifically carbs (carbs are your friend! I hate this low carb nonsense).

This past week I started a new and intense training program and it’s kicking my ass. I haven’t ridden at all because I know I won’t be able to maintain both. Maybe next week or week after when I acclimate to the program a little more. Maybe not.

I drink a lot of water (also helps me maintain weight a little better). I don’t really worry about electrolytes. I’ve experimented with it too – tried Nuun (tastes nice, but no difference in training output), Osmo (WAY too much salt, I drink 4L a day on average and even then I was so thirsty after this!), and coconut water. I kinda like the coconut water for the 2 hour training sessions. I use a powdered form and it’s got enough sugar to fuel me plus a ton of potassium. I think it’s hard to get enough daily potassium. For biking it’s just straight water although for Sunday’s Kill Bill Social (all day in the sun), I may use Nuun. Can’t hurt.

And then sleep. You mentioned you’ve got a young child so that’s going to be hard for you. I need 9 hours to recover from lifting, if I don’t get it I’m really slow the next training day. I sacrifice pretty much my entire social life for sleep. I think I mentioned this previously, but I take magnesium before I go to bed. Most people are mag deficient and I swear by this. If I’m feeling extra beat up (pretty much the norm this week), I take a little extra. Not too much, or it can have a…uh…cleansing effect.

There are many, many times where I’m just feeling too beat up to ride or to lift. I’ve learned to obey my body: when I’m feeling like that, I rest. And I do mean rest – no “active recovery” or anything like that. 100% chill out couch time.

When I do commute, I may push it a little riding in (downhill) but when I actually do ride home (rare, because of training schedule), I absolutely do NOT hammer it. I want to be able to ride/lift the next day. There’s no point going hard if it means you can’t complete your next endeavor (ride the next day, lift the next day, get out of bed, whatever).

Sleep and food. These are you two most important recovery tools.

Now, having said all that – you may want to get some blood work done just to be sure nothing else is going on. You said you were ok during FS but are having trouble with the same mileage now. It’s likely the heat and new baby/lack of sleep but it can’t hurt to get it checked out.

[Tania]

@AFHokie 119889 wrote:

I ride twenty miles round trip and the first month or so kicked my butt. The two-a-day workout is what really got me in the beginning. Additionally, I had to rethink that the ride is not just a workout, but also transportation…if I rode as hard as possible every time, I’d wear myself out before the end of the week.

Try riding every other day, or Tuesday/Thursday with a weekend ride. If you find you feel fine, add another day; say M/W/F, but give your body those rest days.

I’ve also found not enough sleep will really affect how worn out I feel as well.

Keep at it, but listen to what your body tells you.

This.

My commute is 14 miles each way and I have the option of only riding one way per day which makes it less taxing. You’ll eventually find your optimal pace for efficiency – my ride home is almost entirely uphill (Custis and then the false flat of the Westbound W&OD) but I’ve figured out how to ride it without coming home and just collapsing on the couch with aching legs – which is absolutely how I felt the first month or so. I don’t even feel like I’ve ridden now (even though my mph pace has really improved).

Also, be sure you’re eating enough!

[Tania]

Jabs – totally agree.

I just try to adjust my ride expectation a bit. A MUP means there will be kids and dogs and pedestrians etc and they really have the right of way so I expect to have to ride a little more slowly and be patient. And that’s cool, it lets me look around, enjoy my ride and chit chat with other trail users.

Some people just seem to be in a hurry to get where ever it is they’re going 10 seconds before than everyone else. But they’re clearly much more important than I am.

[Tania]

@jabberwocky 119784 wrote:

I just think its ridiculous to truck along in the left lane expecting people people in front of you to yield when they probably don’t even know you’re there.

On almost every ride on the WOD/Custis, as I’m about to pass and am signaling with my left hand and looking over my left shoulder that I’m about to pass: WHAM! There’s a cyclist overlapping wheels (or just about to) with me. I’ve almost touched their bars a few times with my outstretched arm.

I now just assume there’s a ninja biker right behind me. And again, on pretty much every ride, someone from behind me passes ME as I’m passing (after having called the pass) someone else.

I bike to avoid aggressive drivers who are in a rush to get wherever they’re going. Sadly, many cyclists aren’t any different.

[Tania]

I asked this very question to a close friend a few years ago. She is a 20 year veteran police officer in Montgomery County. Here is her response (slightly edited to remove anything personal):

Quote:

OK, here are my suggestions:

I would highly recommend biking over running, especially when it is dark out. You are harder to grab and make a harder target biking over running. I would deck the hell out of the bike and you with light. Remember, dirt bags want to blend in. If they grab you and you have lights everywhere, it’s harder to hide. I would also recommend you buy something like this
http://www.womenonguard.com/-strse-144/keychain-alarm/Detail.bok anything you can press and release and it keeps yelling. Again, loud and bright equals pick another victim.

There are two types of “tasers” there are tasers and then there are stun guns. Please check with VA law as you may not be able to carry either. I personally would not suggest either.

As a taser deploys, it shoots 2 darts into a suspect. If you miss with one probe, the circuit is not complete and it doesn’t do anything. Also, people wearing heavy clothing on it doesn’t work either. A stun gun you must hold the device again the suspect, so you have to be very close to use it. And, the bottom line on both devices is that, unlike in the movies, as soon as you release the voltage, the person acts normal again. We use them to get hand cuffs on people so they are compliant while be tased. Trust me, as soon as you let off the trigger, they start acting stupid again.

I would recommend carrying this instead of a taser: http://www.mace.com/personal_defense/mace-10-pepper-foam-large.html foam mace. Unlike the old type where you had to worry about wind direction etc, this stuff just spray on their face or chest area. The foam sticks and causes then to start crying and not being able to see. For you, that buys you time to bike like hell….

[Tania]

It’s a little crowded around 8am on a workday, but likely nothing like what you experienced yesterday!

I’ve only biked out of the city via 14th Street/MVT once and I just asked someone by the Washington Monument which way they were headed and if I could tag along. Thankfully, they were nice otherwise I’d probably still be biking in circles around the airport.

[Tania]

I rode in that way with consularrider last week and we actually bailed off the sidewalk a little over halfway between Maine and Independence and just took the far right lane up 15th Street. There were a few other cyclists with us and that meant we could avoid the heavy tourist foot traffic right there by the monument. So we didn’t even use the cycletrack.

https://www.strava.com/activities/331910940

I’m usually in such a good mood though after riding in that the pedestrian traffic through there doesn’t really bother me, I just go slowly with one foot clipped out and take in the view. Plus the peoplewatching is top notch.

If you want I can meet up with you Wednesday am. I can’t say I know the way by heart but I think I can get you where you need to go.

[Tania]

Only a few rides in but here are my luddite impressions (I say luddite because I’m not sure I’d feel the nuances of a nice wheel set even if it rolled over my head)

They’re smoother. This could be because my 28 tires on such fat rims look like 32s. I’ll be picking up 23’s this weekend.

It’s possibly mental, but climbing is much easier. I’m small, so a pound+ off total climbing weight makes a difference. We’ll see if that’s really true on tomorrow’s butt early hills ride.

You can REALLY feel the difference going downhill – I actually felt a little out of control (and got a little scared) barreling down two sisters this am.

[Tania]

@Steve O 119151 wrote:

Although her exact intentions are constantly hidden behind a fusillade of “no comment”s, I hereby appoint kayakcyndi as Senior Advisor Emeritus to those who are interested in organizing the social ride.

*cough* JABBERWOCKY *cough*

[Author]

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