Century Ride Training--Part 2

Yesterday I did a 51 mile ride in West Marin. Low mileage, I know. As Kathlyn put it, the Century Gods were conspiring against us: she went on a ride Saturday, got a flat, and had to hitch a ride back to SF due to a lack of tire irons. I was loading my bike into my car and pulled a back muscle leaving me able to ride, but in a fair amount of pain overnight and today. I feel like an old lady.

The good news: I averaged a little over 12 mph during the ride and it was pretty much a breeze. This is significant because I did the same ride a month ago and averaged about 10 mph and was brutally tired by the end. Not so this time. This progress is a welcome sign I was relieved to experience. Moreover, it was a gorgeous day and a delight to escape into the bucolic countryside for several hours of solitude.

Next up: I need to figure out a smart tapering strategy (which means to par down the miles you ride 2 weeks before a race in order to perform optimally on race day) which may be tricky due to the lack of miles I've put in thus far...

Also next, I'll need to figure out a heart rate strategy; this will help pace me on race day. I'm not sure what the best approach is, so will have to peruse the internets.

Also, also next--more icing!

I like this workspace for a couple of reasons:

...the way it's a clear seperate area within a bigger room, the smaller table on the side, the art that helps define the workspace, the desk size and color scheme.

Century Ride Training -- Part 1

Kathlyn and I started training for a century bike ride (a 100 mile supported ride) two months ago now, around mid August. We created a training schedule that gradually (at times...) ramps up the "long ride" we do each week during the weekend, when there's adequate time for such things.  

I'm proud to report that yesterday we did our longest ride yet--61 miles--from San Francisco to Santa Cruz on a gray, overcast, chilly day. It took a whooping 7.5 hours leaving us at an average of 8 miles/hr. That's s-l-o-w! In our defense, Kath was nursing a cold and I wasn't pushing it due to a hamstring pull from 2 weeks ago that I was still feeling. It's not worth getting injured even more! Note: that time also includes our crab melt lunch, and two other longer breaks to stretch and stuff our faces with Cliff Bars. 

If we were to do the Davis Century in that time it would take us 12.5 hours--waaaay too much time. We'll attempt to increase the speed next weekend in our West Marin 75 mile ride. Wish us luck!

~Santa Cruz Ride Summary~

Ride Highlights--the delicious lunch, watching good sets of waves come in outside of Santa Cruz, and meeting members of the band Blind Pilot who are biking, instruments towed behind them, to gigs down the entire coast of America. They were nice guys. 

Ride Lowlights--Feeling like the cars were too close on Ominous Devil's Slide, the constant car traffic in general through the ride, the cold, and miles 50-60.  

What I learned: 

Stef is amazing (duh) she met us at the finish line in Santa Cruz with a cold beer, poweraid, and a cupcake from Miete Bakery for me and drove us back to San Francisco. 

On cold mornings I should duc-tape the vents on my bike shoes shut so my feet don't go numb.

I should install my bike computer already, so I know how far we have to go and can pace better.

Save the breaks for the later half of the ride when the body needs it the most. 

Until next week...

Longboarding Down Tunnel Road, Berkeley, CA

Check out this video on longboarding in Claremont (right outside of Berkeley). Reminds me of the good old days when the Upset girls would skate down Old Tunnel Rd. I don't think we were going quite as fast, but the stoke was sure there.

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

200 on Twitter

I love that a community account I created is quickly growing on Twitter. This feeds from a longer story of how I found myself explaining to my fellow Surfrider volunteers what this "Twitter" thing was, and why it would be useful to help us communicate the latest news on the Cosco-Busan oil spill.

Soon after, @biz was nice enough to add a mention of it into a Twitter newsletter.

It's only grown from there.

All-in-all I'm happy to report my first Twitter follower goal was met today.

Proof of my Tartine Addiction

Love This Kitchen

I dig this kitchen; especially since the sitting area is so cozy and melds into a sort of dining room-ish sitting area that can be used equally well for a dinner party, breakfast nook, or loungey reading area.

Recession Thoughts

I love how active Warren Buffett is being in the past couple of months, meaning, he's now finding "deals" in the market that he's said were non-existent before this recent market shift.

He's a great example of how to make money when the market is low. I love watching clever people like this get ahead while everyone else is freaking out.

Of course, being the richest man in the world gives him blatant advantages. I have no idea how the average individual can profit these days besides holding steady. Any ideas? Still, pay attention to the individuals, companies, and banks who are being aggressive right now.

Some favorite quotes:

• "We're choosing not to participate in the recession" -the manager of a bargain home appliances dealer on her current sale, as seen on KRON's "Bay Area Bargains"
• "It will not be short and shallow" -Warren Buffett on the pending recession http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080428/buffett_recession.html

Buffett Acquisition:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/business/28gum-web.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

My favorite experts are both saying the recession will be worse than thought:

Ben Stein
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/business/27every.html?scp=1&sq=ben+stein&st=nyt

Buffett (again)
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080428/buffett_recession.html

Hari Today, Gone Tomorrow

As part of my New Year’s Resolution to “Spend More” with hopes of making life easier, I hired a personal assistant this January from Ask Sunday. I’ve found it easier to call my assistants (it’s a rotating queue, you don’t have a 1:1 assignment) “Hari” instead of “My personal Ask Sunday assistant”. Trust me, it’s more fun, and you can say things to your friends like “I’ll have Hari buy the concert tickets” and not sound completely pretentious (just a little racist).

Three months in I decided to stop my service. The subscription rate at $30 a month for 30 tasks is reasonable, but I found myself not using all 30 making the 15 tasks I did use suddenly worth $2 instead of $1. Moreover, the ultimate factor in my decision came down to the quality of the service. Having Hari at my disposal was awesome; the second I started I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom, I could get someone else to do all the tasks someone sitting in front of a computer and a phone in India can manage. See examples here.

Here’s a sample of my personal requests:

1. I recently flew on ATA airlines 12/20/07. I am currently not a member of their frequent flier club. I would like to become one. Can you find out: 1. If the flight I took on 12/20/07 will count towards my miles if I join their frequent flier club sometime this week? Then, can you sign me up as a member, regardless of the answer?

2. I'd like to file business in the state of California, USA, as a "LLC" and I'd like to know the following: How much does it cost to do this? How long does the whole process take, from start to finish? What next steps should I take?

3. Organize my Delicious links

4. Buy concert tickets (did this about 4 times)

5. Finding out the recommended dishes at a restaurant I was eating at for the first time (yelp, google reviews)

6. Airfare Research

7. Tahoe Snow Shoe research

8. Book a hotel

9. Hoga Camera research

10. Ordering books on Amazon

Ultimately, Hari was awesome on some of these requests, but struck out on many of them. Pretty soon the strikes were becoming a buzz kill, and it got to the point where the effort I had to put into explaining a task didn’t make it out worth it. The amazing high that came from knowing I had a reliable 24-hour assistant died down once this became clearer, diminishing the service’s value to me.

The main downfall was their lack of a higher level understanding of the ultimate goals of my requests. They would often find out the minimal amount of information, then stop there, or be completely off. For example, the clear description I gave to have them organize my delicious links (there was more detail in the actual request) were pretty much ignored and an easier non-sensible organization was implemented. If they were thrown any ounce of a curve-ball they got thrown off: my credit card on record was different from the one I requested them to use, strike. They sometimes didn’t use the specific password I requested when creating new accounts, strike. They e-mailed only me when I wanted them to e-mail other people with the results as well, strike. On two different occasions they conference me into calls I had them make when the people on the other line didn’t understand their request.

And yes, I admit, in some of my requests I could have been more detailed, and didn’t include handy phrases like “If X, find other alternatives” and “If it costs $X more dollars to buy, go ahead, no need to contact me” but writing a small novel for every request ultimately defeats the purpose. For a good overview of details your personal assistant should know go here. (Having rotating assistants through a service like Ask Sunday doesn’t really loan itself to that deep 1:1 assistant bonding.)

Overall it was a fun experiment I’d encourage others to try. Along with the initial buzz: “I am a free women, I float on air, no longer weighed down by life’s mundane chores” and the rush of productivity it inspires: “I can be two places at once—I can order symphony tickets from bed, get directions at 2am from my car, have someone else jump any hurdle for me” it lead to bigger considerations like confronting the social responsibility of off-shoring my dirty work to India, the unexpected personal dynamics of having an assistant and the reaction of telling others you have one (worth a blog post alone), and most of all, what this freedom actually frees me up to accomplish.

I just sent my last request to dear Hari, it read: “cancel my Ask Sunday subscription”. Within minutes I received a confirmation e-mail; the deed was done. I felt a pang of sadness and loss. I’ll miss you, Hari.

Goodbye Muffin Tops

New Year's Resolution Update:

After a 7 day combo detox-cleanse-juice-fast (veggie juice mostly) I dropped approx 6% of my body weight going from about 127 to 119, which is pretty damn dramatic loss of 8 pounds total.

Although I harbor no illusions that I'll keep 100% of that off, I do hope to keep about 4 of those 8 pounds off until 10/1, when I'll do my next fast before Winter, 1/2 a year away.

I aim to do this by:
-drinking more juice and water
-cutting down my carb obsession now that the cleanse has broken my addiction some
-eating smaller portions now that my stomach is smaller and I crave food less
-eating as healthy as possible, and mainly veggies over other foods when given the choice

I hope to get a BMI taken soon so I can monitor muscle development, as I plan to be more active this Summer.

For more cleansing details, see the blog my fellow participants and I wrote during that trying time here! It was an amazing experience.