LOARD'S ICE CREAM TEAM IN TRAINING FUNDRAISER

NOW THAT THE FLYER IS IN PRINT... IT MUST BE OFFICIAL.... SO COME ON OUT AND SUPPORT OUR TEAM IN TRAINING FUNDRAISER AND HAVE SOME ICE CREAM. MIKE WILL EVEN BE SCOOPING SOME ICE CREAM. SHOOT BRING YOUR BIKES AND PSYCHO SANTOS' CAN LEAD A QUICK RIDE UP TO LOS VAQUEROS DAM... IT'S A NICE LIL SHORT CLIMB LIKE THE WALL AT DIABLO AND PIG FARM

HEATHER AND MIKE'S LONGEST RIDE

Here is a link to our garmin info of this route garmin
Today was a buddy ride for Team in Training. That is less organized ride with no s.a.g.
This weeks long ride was scheduled to be 55 miles in Woodside. I heard it's really pretty and a good place to ride, but Heather had a baby shower to go to in Livermore at 1 pm. Not enuff time to ride and then make it back and get cleaned up to go. So we decided to start our ride from the house and our goal was 50 miles. I didn't map our route but guessed it to be 50 miles and if it was short I would cheat in a couple of laps around the lake in Discovery Bay. Well to our surprise we hit 50 miles about 10 miles from home so we were golden, didn't have to add any miles. The route was mostly flat but had a few rolling hills and one steep climb up to Black Diamond Mines. Similiar to the wall at Diablo and the climb to Los Vaqueros dam. It was nice to see Heather's improvements. Last time we did Black Diamond Mines, she stopped twice on the climb. Today we had about 40 miles in our legs already and she went to the top without stopping. With just one days rest after climbing to the summit of Diablo.

The day started off ruff. We stayed up late last night watching American Flyers, an old classic movie about cycle racing. It's a must see if your are into the sport. We had no kids for a change, so I didn't prep the bikes at all... woke up at 05:30 to change out all our tires and clean bikes and lube the chains. If you notice the pictures I got Heather some cool new red tires.. I figured since she climbed Mt. Diablo so good that she deserved to be on a good fast light tire. But guess what? My pump was in my lil box at Loard's in Brentwood. We had to call on Amy to bring us her pump to save me the trip to get mine. I hate it when I mess up and leave my car somewhere and stuff in it I need. "LOSER"
It was a beautiful day for a long bike ride. At 8 am it was perfect, no jackets needed just arm warmers and cycle tights. The tires felt great. Comfy and fast. I don't know how they can be both but they are... We decided to go with the Conti 4000.
Heather was having a hard time getting warmed up. Her leg was bothering her a lil bit, but pushed thru it and had a nice strong ride all the way to the end. We did the whole ride with only 2 outhouse breaks. One about 10 miles in.. I had to go, Heather never got off her bike, she just circled waiting for me. The second break was at the top of Black Diamond Mines. We both had to go there, after about 40 miles of riding.
On the way home we went through Empire Mines Road. It looks like it was a real road at one time that has been closed. It's a lil climb up to it and then a nice descent with a few turns and then flattens out. It is so much fun to just hammer on the flat part and take it to your threshold all the way to the end. It's only a few miles long. I was trying to hit 30 mph on the flat today but didn't get there all I saw was 28 on the computer. But I forgot a funny part. We passed a couple going the opposite direction and they yelled for us to be careful there was some mud down the road.. I thought a lil mud so what and kept on going.. WOW it was thick and sticky and slippery.. I'm glad we had a lil warning and didn't go blasting thru it. Heather's pretty little bike and new red tires looked like a cyclocross bike. Mud was caked on her brakes, she couldn't even roll, we had to clean it to proceed. This picture doesn't even do it justice.

Since we are getting ready for a 100 mile ride, we are trying to figure out how much to eat and drink and what works best for us. We heard a good rule of thumb is 100 calories per 10 miles. 60 miles 600 calories. So we went with
Hammer Heed electrolyte drink 100 cal
Hammer perpetuem drink endurance fuel 270 cal
Gu roctane ultra endurance energy gel 100 cal
Power bar honey roasted nut 240 cal
If we would have eaten it all 710 cal
I didn't eat my gel and Heather didn't eat her bar.
I consumed 610 and my garmin said I burned 4612 seems to high but sounds good
Heather consumed 470 and her computer said she burned 1994 cal.
so we both had some cal. left to eat. I'm going to stick with this combo till we pass the 65 mile mark. When we hit our 80 mile ride I'm going to add some real food like maybe some dried pineapple or a box of raisins. Trying to think of food that is easy to carry and not get all smashed up... I would love to try a pb&j sammich but I can imagine what that would look like after about 30 miles.
Ok here are our numbers.
61.69 miles ave 14.4 mph 4hours 15 min in saddle
Heather average heart rate was 150 max 188 (Black Diamond Mines climb)
and average cadence was 75
My numbers were average heart rate 120 max 173 and average cadence 74
I want to finish our first century in under 7 hours .. if today was our ride we would have finished in 6.9 hours.. so we are close...(can you tell I love numbers) We still have 6 weeks of training so we possibly could pick up some more speed, and pray for no flats or crashes, or chain breaks... Go Team.

OUR FIRST RIDE UP MT. DIABLO

here is a link to our Diablo ride per garmin garmin
WE TOOK OUR FIRST RIDE UP MT. DIABLO TODAY. WE HAD TO ASK ALOT OF FAVORS OF PEOPLE TO GET A MID WEEK RIDE IN. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR HELP... WE HAD KIDS EVERYWHERE, AND OUR WORKERS COVERED FOR HEATHER AT LOARDS. I TOOK THE BIKES TO WORK WITH ME AND MET HEATHER AT SPORTS BASEMENT IN WALNUT CREEK.THE GUYS AT WORK HAD TO MAKE FUN OF THE FACT THAT THE BIKES ARE WORTH MORE THAN THE CAR I HAULED THEM AROUND WITH... MY BOX IS SO COOL THAT CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT...LOL. WE USED SPORTS BASEMENT'S PARKING LOT TO START OUR RIDE. WE TOOK IT EASY UP THE HILL BECAUSE WE DIDN'T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT. SOME PEOPLE SAY ITS EASY SOME PEOPLE SAY YOUR AREN'T READY SOME PEOPLE SAY WATCH OUT FOR THE WALL... ALL I CAN SAY, I FELT LIKE I GOT A GOOD WORK OUT IN... I FEEL MY LEGS RIGHT NOW AS I'M TYPING...WE MET SOME NICE PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY... AT THE RANGER STATION.. A COUPLE GUYS REALLY ENCOURAGED US.THEY SEEMED IMPRESSED WE WERE GOING TO THE SUMMIT ON OUR FIRST TIME ON THE MT. AND THEN WE GOT PASSED BY 3 GUYS AND THEN WE CAUGHT BACK UP WITH THEM AND RODE THE LAST 2 MILES OR SO WITH THEM. YOU KNOW HOW HEATHER IS .. SHE DOESN'T LIKE TO GET PASSED. HIM AND HEATHER TALKED ALL THE WAY UP.. HE HAS A COUPLE OF KIDS AND RODE UP TO THE SNOW TOWING HIS 6 YEAR OLD ON A TRAILER BIKE... GREAT PICS OF IT SNOWING ON THEM.. HARDCORE..HIS BLOG IS http://cycling-through.blogspot.com/ I JUST WENT TO HIS BLOG.. HE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT MEETING US ON HIS... VERY COOL GUY... WE HAVE MET SO MANY COOL PEOPLE IN OUR SHORT TIME IN THIS SPORT.. HE WAS TELLING US GOING UP THE HILL THAT HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE LIKES MORE.. THE RIDE UP THE MT. OR MEETING AND TALKING WITH PEOPLE... I CAN'T WAIT TO DO THE RIDE AGAIN.. I WOULD LIKE TO DO IT FASTER NEXT TIME...MAYBE I'LL TRY TO DO THIS RIDE ONCE A MONTH...
AND I HAVE TO SAY HOW IMPRESSED WITH HEATHER I AM. SHE HAS IMPROVED SO MUCH IN SUCH A SHORT TIME... SHE RODE AWESOME TODAY... GO HEATHER... SHE KEEPS ME ON MY TOES.. CUZ MIKE SANTOS WILL NOT GET OUT CLIMBED BY HIS WIFE...LOL...

50 MILE PINEHURST SKYLINE 3 BEARS LOOP

I like my new Team in Training cycle cap. I wore it all day like a little kid. One of our team members made these to sell for their fundraiser. Great idea
This was our longest ride with Team In Training so far. We did two loops, Pinehurst loop and 3 Bears loop the opposite way we did it last time. The ride was 50 miles with 4k feet of climbing. We started at Orinda Bart. Nobody could believe how wet it was. We all expected it to be dry, but it rained all the way until we got out of the cars, then it was fine for the whole ride. The ground was still wet, so we were wet and dirty anyhow. The scenery was beautiful. Team In Training has taken us to some great places to ride.
This ride was full of craziness. Just about anything that could go wrong did go wrong.
1st off we had a rider turn back on the first climb because his knee was hurting him. We were like 10 miles into the ride and he knew it wasn't going to happen, so he did the smart thing and turned back instead of hurting it worse.
2nd I had a blow out on my brand new tires... we were descending a hill, going around 30 miles an hour, bang instant flat front tire. Thoughts of crashing were running through my head. All I was thinking was, you crash when this happens, period. Thank God that didn't happen. It was totally controllable, pulled over to the side, did a quick tire change and on the road we went.
3rd another rider got a flat. I went back to help. Had my bike upside down while working on other bike, bang my sidewall blew out. Second flat on my front tire. Now I had a big gash in my sidewall, and our tire boot was not working so onto the sag car my bike went. Off to the the bike store to get a tire we went. Just like Heather, last time we road the 3 bears. I love our sag drivers. They are great. We were able to find a tire and rejoin my group before we climbed the 3 bears. So I didn't miss any climbing just about 10 miles of flat.
It made me feel real good when I rejoined the team because they were all happy to have me back. Clapping and hooting, and it wasn't the same without you is what I heard as I got Sammy off the rack.
4th after I hooked back up with my team I found out another rider dropped because she wasn't feeling good. It's been a long and cold training season for us so far. One of my biggest concerns is staying healthy through this whole training period.
5th Another rider and I were riding side by side talking and he crossed wheels with another rider and down he went. I call this guy the kid, even though he is 30 years old. He went down very gracefully and instantly said I'm ok. So I started laughing. I think that was our teams first crash.
6th and most crazy. Right after our last sag stop we started to climb the 3 bears as I heard a noise behind me. It was one of our riders crashing and laying face down in the gutter. I call this guy powerstroke cuz he is big and powerful and just goes and goes. When I looked back I could laugh because he was moving, just laying there face down. SO as we turned around to help two other riders kinda hit each other and would up on the ground and in the gutter. The cutest guy on our calls this crash a sympathy crash. Well powerstroke rolled over and said his knee hurt. A really nice lady in a pickup truck stopped to make sure all was good as powerstroke jumped up and started hopping around in pain. We talked him into putting the bike in her truck and skipping the 3 bear climb. Thank you nice lady, it's nice to know there still are some nice people out there.
7th I felt pretty good climbing the 3 bears and was sitting on our best climbers wheel until he decided it was time10to let me know he was our king of the mountains. He dropped me like a bad habit. I got my ass handed to me. But at least it was only one person. Even though we are not racing and he has more experience than me and is in better shape, I WAS NOT HAPPY about this. I'm going to take my diet and training a little more serious now. I really don't like getting dropped like that on climbs.
8th I did my first pee in the bushes on a ride.
9th after a quick 3 mile ride back to Bart Me and the cute guy had a lil playful sprint through the parking lot to the cars. I won and had to throw up my arms like an idiot, like I just won a stage in race. It was all a show for Heather and her group because they were cheering us on.
10th the cute guy told me at the car he thinks he has a hairline fracture in his wrist from the sympathy fall.
All this was just in our 10 person group. I don't know what happened in the 4 other groups.
Heather sounded like she had a strong uneventful ride except for her first flat. She was happy that she changed it basically all by herself without much help from any men.
It was great... when we got home from our ride we were greeted with the coolest double rainbow we have ever seen.

TEAM IN TRAINING BUDDY RIDE DANVILLE

We had a great buddy ride with Team in Training sat. starting in Danville. The route was 47.5 miles but I'm going to call it 50 miles because that sounds way better, and it's half of what we are going to ride in Solvang. Since it was a buddy ride we didn't have to ride in our normal ride groups. This was cool because Heather was able to tag along with the Wild Ones. I felt she was a great addition to our group. She had a nice strong ride. I really enjoy riding with Heather because I can see her improve every time we ride. After our rides we always talk about the ride, what went right and what went wrong. Heather always works on what went wrong and becomes a lil better cyclist every group ride.
The ride started out foggy, but that didn't slow us down, we had a nice pace going until I had a flat tire on a narrow road. We waited for a driveway to pull into so we could change the tire safely. As we were changing the tire we were passed by another group. That doesn't make us happy. The route was fun for me because it's the back roads I take to get to Vasco when 580 is backed up. So we passed the other group after we got rolling and made a bathroom stop. Got passed by the group again. Passed them on the road, made another bathroom stop, got passed by the other group, passed the other group, we got another flat tire, got passed by the other group, passed them again on a nice gradual incline. DO YOU SEE A PATTERN HERE. SO OUR NEW NAME IS TEAM STOP AND GO. WE NEED TO WORK ON THIS. I THINK WE WILL HAVE TO PUNISH THE OTHER TEAMS NEXT SATURDAY AND MAKE THEM EAT THEIR WORDS. I was telling the other teams we were doing interval training.

But the other teams were talking about how good we looked pacelining and I was happy how we rode as a team. By the time Solvang comes we will be really strong I'm sure.

I was happy about 3 things that happened today. 1) I was able to ride with Heather
2) Everybody I talked to after the ride said they could have gone farther.
3) We all had a really good time after the ride in the parking lot
Mustang Sally was doing this crazy dance, asking me how I like looking at the back of her the whole ride. If I didn't love Sally so much I would have grabbed her and put her into a choke hold until she tapped out or passed out. Here are some pictures of my favorite Sally in the world.


Oh I forgot, We had a huge group of racers pass us. It was awesome to see. That was the closest I've been to a peloton. I so wanted to jump on their wheel and see how long I could hang with them...I hope to be able to do that soon. Sorry no pictures of that. I wish I had my camera ready.
Ok that's it for this post, but enjoy these random pictures I was taking of the group today.

THURSDAY NIGHT TRACK WORKOUT

On Thursday nights Team in Training East Bay meets at Dvc college in Pleasant Hill.
This is a little hard for me because I work mornings and should be going to bed when the work out is just ending. The workouts are from 6:30 to 8 pm, and about a 40 minute drive. Coach Wayne makes it all worth it. I really enjoy listening to him explain how the body works and why we do the stretches and the strength moves we do.
Coach Wayne is an Iron man competitor. When he speaks you have no choice but to listen. He controls the room or football field, his voice bounces off all the walls. I hope I get a chance to ride with Coach Wayne before our adventure is over, I bet he can push the pace pretty good. I actually want to do a tri event because of Wayne. If he is the head coach next year we are going to do it.
Well, last night after a warm up, did some running, yes running..and I'm far from a runner. We did a 30 minute run. We did 7 intervals of 3 min. run then 1 minute walk. For any of you that do interval training you know that the 3 minutes feels like forever and the 1 minute walk feels like 10 seconds. At one point in our run, we must have been looking sorry or struggling because Coach Wayne came and ran with us and showed us some techniques to running. It made sense what he was saying, but it didn't feel like i could make my body do it, but my heart rate came down when I attempted to do it.
It's funny when Heather and I walk, I can't even come close to keeping up with her, that girl can walk. But on the run part of the intervals I feel I have a slight advantage over her. I had to throw that in because she makes me feel like a little kid when we walk together.
After our run it was time for the fun part of the night. Planks, squats, lunges, and stretching. My legs kill after Thursday nights. I guess that means I'm not doing my cross training consistent enough during the week. Dvc is a nice cork track, and I was nice and sweaty after the run. So when I was laying on the ground stretching and I got up there was a perfect sweat outline of me on the track. It was hilarious, and by the way my outline looked pretty darn good.
One of the things I remember about the night was Coach Wayne saying, I know I made you all drive here to just run for 30 minutes. It's not about the running it's about the team being together. He is so right, I love the friendships we are making with Team in Training. They said we would at the information meeting, and I was thinking yeah right just teach me how to do a century ride. But they are right we are making friendships that I hope will last for a long time.
Friday is a recovery day, a very needed one, my legs feel wasted. I rode 3 days in a row and then the track night. Saturday will be a buddy ride in Danville area. 45 miles, we are both looking forward to the ride and will update you on Sunday.

3 BEARS TEAM IN TRAINING LOOP

I have plenty to say about this Team in Training ride. The 3 bears loop is the most climbing we have done so far since our short cycling hobby started just a few months ago. The route was 40 miles with 3780 ft of climbing. The Solvang Century we are training for is 100 miles with 5000 ft of climbing.. So you can see this was a good training ride for us.

We both were ready and really looking forward to this ride for weeks. This is the first ride that we started in reverse order.. the slower groups first so we would all finish about the same time. The groups left in 30 minute increments. Heather's group left 30 minutes before we did ( the wild ones). The ride started in town and then led onto a bike/walking trail that was beautiful.

At the end of the trail was a much needed bathroom stop. Then on towards the fun stuff the 3 bears. Its named the 3 bears because there are 3 climbs. Baby bear, Mama bear, and Poppa bear. Team in Training placed the S.A.G (support and gear) stop right before the climbs so we could fuel our bodies. Well at the S.A.G I saw Heather's group. When they saw us coming they all scrambled to their bikes to hit the road. Their goal was to beat us back to the end of the ride. (yah right.. we are the wild ones). Not but 3 minutes after they left I get a phone call... Hey Hunny the love of my life.. do you have an extra chain.. I just broke mine. Heather is starting to put out so much power that she is busting chains climbing now. Well I couldn't help Heather, I felt terrible, so I sent the S.A.G to her. When our group rolled by Heather and poor broken blue she had a sad pouty face on sitting in the passenger seat.
At that point I figured Heather's day was over and I would see her back at the box waiting for me. But since Rich the S.A.G guy is so totally awesome he got Heather to a bike store and got a new chain put on blue and got her back to with in a couple of miles where she broke her chain in no time flat. Heather was the last rider on the loop at this point. So lil Lance or psycho Santos (sally's name for us) took off like a crazy women chasing down every rider she saw in front of her. I would have loved to seen Heather ride like that. I would have been a proud Hubby.
Well about me now... I felt great on the 3 bears... and even pig farm climb wasn't too bad (another climb after the 3 bears, feels like a wall.. crazy) even though pig farm had some riders walking up the hill... So When we coasted in (in first place by the way) I had no idea what Heather's status was. After a few phone calls by our teammates I found out Heather was on the road. Few minutes later I see this cute girl come flying in the parking lot hooting and hollering with one hand in the air and one foot. I was like who is this girl. Then I saw it was LiL Lance celebrating her victory pumping a fist in the air.

I was amazed at her performance, and very thankful to Richard for going above and beyond getting Heather back on the road.
While Heather and Blue were at the bike shop she found a Lance Armstrong lunch box..I so want it...it was for sale to the right person.. I guess that meant we couldn't afford it... lol
On Sunday we took a nice 10 mile recovery ride with the family. It was nice, my 13 year old is a strong rider and says he wants a road bike :)

Heather still looks great even though she wasn't on her beautiful carbon fiber Fuji

Lacey our future little female road racer is so much fun to ride with

The very best part of the day was... the hug given to me by Mustang Sally at the end of the ride... phewww that girl.... lol