kimstrong

I never realized how goal oriented I am...Time to set a new goal.. unfortunately i haven't riden my bike since Aug 24 th when i was in Philly...I started a new job and am trying to adjust to my new 40 hr a week schedule..not sure about this waking upo early stuff! So fr things at work seem to be going well...hope hey coninue down that path.... i keep making up reasons as o why i'm not exercising right now -- new job, new shedule, i'll wait til next week, etc...so I did decide that next week I need to start running again...it will help w/ soccer! And unfortunately a g=friend of mine was diagnosed w/ breast cancer, so we are doing the Race for the cure in her honor! but before that, there's the Austin heart association heart walk. i'm trying to get a team together.. we have a great name: "Sgt Strokes Holey Hearts Club Band" and the t-shirts will be awesome! So that's my next goal, recruit members for Sgt stroke's and the heart walk and then do the race for the cure...aybe I'm still recovering from that 70 mile ride, maybe I'm, just trying to get back in the swing of things, but, life goes on and i'd have to say I feel like i'm doing well

Ok, now to write about the ride. The week before I was getting nervous about the hills. I wasn't sure if I had trained enough and how big the hills were. So I spent 2-3 hours looking at the route map, google maps and a topo map to figure out the elevation hanges. Finally figured out it was a 5% to 7% grade. Then I had to compare those hills to the grades in Austin. Like my coworker said, had I spent the time riding some more hills, instead of trying to figure out the elevtions I would be ok. All in all, I figured the worst I could do was a hike w/ the bike. I mapped the route out in my gps mapping software and transferred it all to the gps, spent an hpur packing my bike into a box. Decided it was worth the $100 to ride my own bike (especially since it had a granny gear that would help me up the hills) instead of borrowing a bike from my friend. Off to Philly. what a beautiful area. The next morning we drove to Easton, PA and I kept evaluating the hills...Dang there are a lot of hills, but if I get my momentum up, I can easily make it up and over them..note the key word is momentum. Morning of the ride...got near the area w/ 30 mins to get to the start, but parking is a nightmare! It was also colder (65) in Philly than it has been in Austin, good thing I had my disposable arm warmers w/ me (long socks w/ the toes cut out)! Diane and I were joking about doing the 100 mile ride. So we strated at the end of the 100 mile ride pack figuring the fast 70 milers would start first and by the time they all passed us we would be ahead of the slower 70 milers. Then we debated about doing just the 45 mile ride. We had signed up to do the 60 mile ride but it was change to 70 miles. so we kept telling the SAG (support and gear) vans to come pick us up at mile 60! At the start of the ride it was like the first sprint where your lungs start to burn. My heart rate was easily in the 160 to 165 range (I usually ride in the 145-155 range) seemed we kept going up hills! Finally a down hill! I went to check my miles per hour and my bike computer was on the wrong screen, so in my attempt to switch it, The computer flew off into the weeds! oh well...I turned around but couldn't find it. The gps had flown off earlier, too , but I had retrieved that! Lots of turns on the route, PA doesn't have long straight roads like Texas does! All the roads wind around the old farms! the countryside was beautiful...tall trees, green pastures, silos, ponds, cows and barns! Wish I would have taken pictures, but oh well, I'll go back and drive the roads one year. Finally made it to the 20 mile mark and a rest stop. Diane kept handing me food to eat..."you're not eating enough Meyer" she would say.So I ate and did a gue shot...energy gel stuff that tasted horrible. The next 115 miles had the long hills I was worried about. So far, I hadn't had any problems going up the hills, they weren't easy, but they were managable. Then problems wth the route started happening..it seemed like just when I would get my momenttum going I would have to slow down to make a sharp a turn and after I turned the hill would start! This happened several times. People ahead of me started jumping off their bikes...when I realized my heart rate was at 182, I yelled to diane in the distance "I'm bailing!" thus I hopped off the bike and started walking up the rest of the hill. When I got to the top D was waiting for me...what a friend..she was kicking butt on the hills and she didn't have the old lady gear! The granny gear is supposed to make it so you can easily spin your pedals and make it up the hills...at least that's what I do in Austin! One big hill down 2 more to go before the next rest stop. Another hike w/ a bike up the next one..think this was the one that D decided to walk up, also, we joined 4 other bike riders in the shade of a building while we caught our breath. back on the bike..a bit easier after the break, we made it to the top (w/ a small hike) At the top of a previous hill, some of the residents where out cheering w/ cow bells. What a difference that made, really helped to get ya to the top! 5 more miles and 1 big hill to the rest stop. Of course I don't have my odometer so I have no idea where I'm at and the route I entered into the gps doesn't want to work either, so whenever I ask D how much longer her answer was "5 more miles" those where some long 5 mile sections... finally a sign that said rest stop 1 mile. On the hill (yes another one..there were way to many to count) there was a little girl in a devil costume, like the devil that is always on the mountain stages at the tour de france..I might just have to do that when the livestrong challenge comes to Austin, it sure cracked me up! We took a long break .. we were now at mile 35.. halfway finished and all but 2 big hills completed. I'd remember the devil on the hill or the rest of the ride...I wouldn't let him get me. I also kept thinking of the 49 people whose names were on my back who were either fighting cancer or had fought or had lost their battle to cancer..this hilly ride had to be easier than that! So I just kept peddling. no pain in the shoulder, so that's good! Turned a few more corners and went up a few more hills, had to hikesome, too, but oh well. Finally at mile 50! just an easy 20 mile ride left. Refueled the body and got back on the bike. soon saw a sign that that said 5 more miles to a rest stop! whoopie! STOPPED at the last rest stop. kinda annoying cuz they were starting to break things down, "hey we are still here and it's only 3, cheer us on!" When we left D had trouble w/ her chain , since mile 40, her gears broke and instead of having 16 speeds, she had 2, made it easier for me to keep up w/ her. of course I kept urging her to break the chain so we could SAG, but that didn't happen...oh well, when the chain would come off we would get a good break, but also get dirty, greasy hands! the last few hills were like Austin hills, long where you could spin up them. By now there wasn't anyone directing traffic at the stop signs and stop lights, another annoyance...it wasn't 4:30 yet, the time the course was closing, and this is a CHALLENGE, so there will be us slow pokes, make us feel special! About 2 miles from the finish, we see D's husband (Brad)on the side of the road taking our pictures, he somehow makes it back to the finish.. cool to see him and the kids cheering for us! Go thru the finish line, no big deal...I was psyched to have finished, annoyed by the lack of support on the last 20 miles, thrilled to have been able to do another ride w/ Diane (I miss her a lot), and HOT and sweatty. Chug a bottle of water, towel off some of the grime, then Brad shows up and hands us a beer...mmmm Beer. Great ride, ended up raising almost $1500 for Cancer. Felt great to get back out there and realize I can still do it. I still have a ways to go, but hey..I had a stroke and open heart surgery! I would like to see how to start a ride called SPOKES for STROKES...one of these days! thanks for everyones support!

I leave in 2 days for Philly. it's finally raining in Austin, so not much riding going on. Not sure if it would really help or not anyhow... The first time I rode the ms 150, I met this girl Kristi who had just come home from tracelimg all 7 continents and she was hoping on the bike for the first time that year to do the ride, so my motto is, if Kristi can do it, I can do 70. Of course Kristi was in her low 30s and hadn't had a stroke 9 months prior, but she was not in what I would call good shape. She did the same thing the next year. I'm going to take it one rest stop at a time and hope I can at least do 50-60. Once I get that far, I'm sure I can finish, but if I have to sag, oh well, I at least did what i did and that's pretty damn good considering I couldn't walk on my own 9 months ago. Since I'll be riding with a good friend, that should make things better.

Well bike riding when it's 104 outside, isn't my idea of fun, so i've been slacking a bit. time to get serious...feel i need to be able to ride at least 40 miles before aug 24, that's over 1/2 the distance...then I can fake the rest. Good news is that I was ale to figure out the grade of the hills on the livestrong challenge bike ride in philly and they are like some of the 'easier' hills here in Austin...so if i have to walk up the hill it won't be that bad! i'm thinking of the ride as five 14 mile rides...if I would spsend more time on the bike than figuring out how fast/slow i can ride and still finish in the 8.5 hours, I probably wouldn't have a problem w/ the ride, but I can't really ride at work, so to procrasinate, I work big math problems! kinda scary! My stroke survivor bike jersey came in last week, it looks awesome! Can't wait to where it on the ride. time to go back to procratinating... --kim

i've been riding and doin really well, just haven't updated things here! busy finding a new job and working on rehab... But, here's what i've done bike wise: my trainer had me out on the road trying to maintain a high cadance...it ws frustrating at first but i'v finally figured it out. Found out my coworker for the past 2 years wants to start road biking, so that's cool. we've been out a couple of times. She's a good bike rider and it's nice to have someone else around. She's enjoying learning more about the bike roads in Austin, so its a win/win situation. I made it through a 32 mile ride 2 weeks ago. I was so pumped! now if i can double that for hte ride in philly...which i know i can since it was 95 when i did the 32...Then the nx weekend did REAL hilly ride...only went 22 miles, but there were some good climbs on it...of course nothing like the tour de france, but to me they were tough. time to run! have a great day

i had the best ride Saturday morning! I was visiting relatives in Fredericksburg and decided earlier that week to see if there were any bikers or routes to go on. Found a great website w/ maps and that lead me to a listserve for the area. so I ended up meeting w/ 4 other riders from Fburg and we went on the route i was hoping we'd go on. I explained to them that I was slow snd they said they'de wait (think they were kinda excited to see some new blood). on the wey out of town, it was really weierd seeing Fburg from a bike versus the back of my grandparents car! I would go visit my grand parents every summer for a week, so I kinda new the town. I was able to tell stories about old f-burg to the guys who had just moved there recently. on guy John, hung back w/ me on the first part of the ride..good thing, cuz i had a flat and had used my last tube the night before when I broke the stem on a tire. So he changed the flat...I don't think I've ever had anyone change my flats! I'm usually the one to be changing the tires, so it was weird to let him, but I also knew I'd get frustrated w/ my left hand. the other 3 guys finally realize we weren't behind them and they came back. I then rode w/ Joe. it was so nice of them to take turns hanging back w/ stroke. When we got to the point where Joe and I were going to turn around, we decided to go a bit further and do an additional loop..Turns out we ended up going by the one room school house where my grandmother and her sisters went to school. too cool! When we were riding bck I think Joe was impressed w/ the stories I was able to tell about my grandparents. I showed him their old house, etc. Then I had another flat!! Joe thankfully had a tube. it was an incredible ride. great scenery, great memories, great conversations and great new friends! Wish i lived closer to Fburg!

i set out to ride for at least 2 hours...ended up riding 2 hrs 15 mins and 25 miles! its amazing how mny extra miles you can add on when you weave around the neighborhoods. went into 2 different areas. need to find a group to ride with...but i'm never sure if my arm will make it or if i'm fast enough...right now i'll keep riding by myself.

i found that if i have a destination or a planned route, i can get through these training rides. i'm really misssing my old riding buddy who move to philly, so i'm trying to come up w/ new things to keep me going on the bike...so this past saturday, i made a swimmeet my destination... I knew if i did 3 laps around a neighborhood, then wove my way to the swim meet that i should be on the bike 1.5 hours. it was supposed to be an easy ride and it was until i realized the pool was in the hills! i then had to do a brain workout to figure out the route w/ the lowest grade..almost any street i took was going to be up hill! I made it to the swim meet, found my friend who had a change of clothes for me. watched the remainder of the swim meet, then she gave me a ride home. Highlights: not getting too bored w/ the 3 loops, averaging over 10 mph and seeing 2 professional bike teams on the same route!

the next stationary bike activity my trainer assigned was to "fake" hills...i started in the lowest gear, pedaled for 2-5 mins then shifted to the next higher gear for 2-5 mins, then shifted up again. wassupposed to do this for 60 mins...i made it 35 then realized i had a 10 am appt at work. the stationary bike bores me.. even when i have a tv show on!