To Folsom!

Posted on March 22, 2015 by surlygiver

It was time to do a longer solo trip to really work out the kinks of bicycle travel, so I decided to go to Folsom.

Yup, that Folsom.

I hear the train a comin’
It’s rollin’ ’round the bend,
And I ain’t seen the sunshine
Since, I don’t know when
I’m stuck in Folsom Prison
And time keeps draggin’ on
But that train keeps a-rollin’
On down to San Antone

– Johnny Cash

Why Folsom? Back in my student teaching days, I made a friend in Felton named Molly. She just recently started a teaching job at a continuation school in Rancho Cordova and moved into a house in Folsom. I really wanted to see her classroom and hang out with her a bit and just get to know what her new life is all about. She’s gone through some difficult times, to put it mildly, and I’m just happy that things are going so well for her now.

Just a small section of the Western Express Route. Of course, I wouldn’t be starting in San Francisco.

Fortunately, the Western Express Route, a quicker route across the US than the TransAmerica Route, goes right through Folsom, and I just happen to have those maps! It was too perfect: a fantastic opportunity to explore an Adventure Cycling route, and a route that went along the American River Trail, no less! I love the American River. I used to go whitewater kayaking on the American River quite a lot, so that river is filled with precious memories for me. Continue reading →

Barbells Bikes Bones and Boards

Posted on March 11, 2015 by surlygiver

The training plan calls for long rides on Saturdays, so last Saturday I figured I would take off on my bike and not worry about anything else. I didn’t bother to badger anyone into joining me, because if I’m not okay with riding by myself for hours and hours, then I have a serious problem.

But it was my birthday on Sunday (and my Dad’s), and since the gym is closed on Sunday, we were doing my birthday WOD on Saturday. I couldn’t skip that!

Amy’s Birthday WOD
21 – 15 – 9
Deadlifts
Lateral bar hop burpees

We take our deadlifts seriously at Prometheus CrossFit. The fact that this picture was taken during the Open 15.2 has nothing to do with the intent coaching gaze. Well… maybe it has a little something to do with it.

Last year Ben set the Rx weight for the deadlifts at 1.5x bodyweight. That’s a lot of weight. I showed up to the gym and figured that I would scale it down, especially considering that I was slightly hungover. Hey, it was my birthday, and we’d started celebrating early. And I put myself in the second heat cuz, again, it was my birthday and I was slightly hungover. But you know how it is when you show up at a CrossFit gym. The enthusiasm is infectious, and suddenly you start thinking that it’s your birthday WOD, you should do it Rx! Continue reading →

Competition and Blindness

Posted on March 1, 2015 by surlygiver

The CrossFit Open is here! The CrossFit Open is here!

Does Annie Thorsdottir also have to trick herself into working out most days of the week, do you think?

Does Annie Thorisdottir also have to trick herself into working out most days of the week?

Oh, who cares? I’m on a pretty strict cycling schedule, and pushing myself in the Open is just too risky. I can’t afford to be too exhausted or injured to put in the miles on my bike.

Unless…. Continue reading →

Whiskey and Hills

Posted on February 22, 2015 by surlygiver

Before we get into stuff about cycling, there is something of utmost importance that needs addressing.

The whiskey situation in my cabinet is dire.

Travesty.

No self-respecting whiskey lover can call this a whiskey collection. I’ve had many of these bottles for a very long time. Apparently I haven’t kept up with restocking. And apparently I also have some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder where I need my bottles to clear out all at the same time. That’s weird, I wouldn’t have guessed that. It took a few years for this compulsion to manifest itself, but there it is. Continue reading →

Hello Kitty Envy and 12% +

Posted on February 15, 2015 by surlygiver

The quest to keep my bike mine continues, as my friends are still bringing in stickers for Lutz and signing their names. It’s also become somewhat of a thing to write some kind of chemistry or physics equation on Lutz, such as the ideal gas law PV = nRT.

He’s looking pretty good now, as you can see here as he hangs out on the weightlifting platform.

Lutz spends a whole lot of time in this room.

I’m loving the reactions I get from people when they see my bike. When I’m waiting at a stop light and there are other cyclists there, they look sideways at it and can’t help but comment. Usually they’re surprised that I’m willing to do this to my bike, but they agree that it probably will keep thieves away. One group of lycra-clad cyclists with super skinny tires on their bikes turned to peer at me after I’d ridden alongside them for several miles, complete with non-lycra attire, panniers, and non-clip-in shoes, and asked how I’d managed to keep up. They guessed that the secret was in the Hello Kitty stickers and promised me they’d get some for their own bikes. Continue reading →

Barbells Bikes Biytes and Bones

Category Archives: Training rides