Artemis's Mentor Group - FULL! (Page 12)

Hey all.... how's it going?!

I'm coming to my mentor team for some advice .

I really want to do the Tour de France bike challenge next month. Basically, you pick a goal based on # of rides (stages) and either time or distance, then work to meet that goal during the three weeks or so that the challenge is open. The initial challenge thread is here. This sounds like fun to me... but I have spent pretty much zero time on a bike during at least the last two years. So I'm not sure if I should join or not. And if I do join, I would have no idea how to begin setting a goal. Nobody seems to care if your goal is really, really small, but I'm not even sure what's reasonable. In another thread, somebody said I should go for 7 stages and 100 miles, but my head immediately did the math and thought to itself "14+ miles on a bike... all at one time?!!". It sounds like a LOT to me!!

But as somebody else pointed out, I will never be able to do a triathlon if I don't start biking....

Volunteering at a tri sounds like a good way to be involved when you can't race. There's one in a town near me next month, maybe I'll try to sign up and volunteer for that.

Hi Heather,

Hope you are having a good day today!

Thanks for the input on the kids in tris.  I never thought of starting them so young...sounds great!  Actually both 6 yr olds and my 4 yo are pretty good swimmers.  The twins are just waiting to turn 7 to start on our local swim team with their big sis.  I love the idea that even my son could start tri'ing soon.

Heal quickly!!

Valerie

Being as that I have nothing to do today other then sit on my @$$ (and I am going to wash my hair today)  I will spend some time researching your workout pattern in your blog to give you a legitimate suggestion, but meanwhile below is a guideline for you...

Sounds like a TIME goal would be the best option for you...
So first ask yourself, how many times per week can you legitimately dedicate to biking (2?,3?) and for how long each session (an average, ie 30min?) and then multiply that by the three weeks that the challenge will last for.
So let's say you can ride an average of 2 times per week for 30 minutes that's 3 hours of bike time over the entire duration of the challenge (and maybe you can throw in one extra session, to make it a CHALLENGE ) so then you have a goal of 3.5 hours...

One more quick question in helping figure out your July goal...
Do you have your own bike yet? Or are you still sharing?
How much will this affect your ability to "get" the bike whenever you want?

Honestly, if your goal is three stages and 30 miles, Cat won't care and neither will the people on your team.  The challenges are really designed to be open to everyone!!  The important thing is to not try to do too much.  That can lead to you getting hurt or burned out.

Wow... I'm really sorry you're so bored, but thanks for the help! The problem I'm having with how many sessions and how much time vs. how many miles is that I'm not sure how long it will take my body to get used to it. I went for one ride a few months ago, and had no trouble riding for about forty minutes. At least not until the next day, when my rear was so sore that I wouldn't have been willing to get on a bike if somebody had been chasing me with a hatchet. I'm not sure how long that lasted; three days, minimum. And I also don't know how long that's a problem for - if it only happens the first couple of times, I'd be fine by week two. If it goes on for months, then it would restrict the number of times I'd be riding simply because it's too painful to sit on the seat. Of course, I could also just try to suck it up and tough it out until it gets easier!

Two times a week definitely sounds doable, though. Even worst case scenario, with a goal of 7 sessions in 21 days I could always count on three days between rides. Should be enough time to get the soreness down to minimal, right?!

I'm still sharing a bike with my housemate. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "how much will this affect my ability to get the bike whenever I want, though".

I keep putting it off because the choices are overwhelming, and I'm not sure what kind of bike I want to have. There are so many options and picking one out feels like closing my eyes and throwing darts at a dartboard. Road, mountain, hybrid, upright, racing, woman's, unisex, and on and on... I've tried several different kinds and none of them feel spectacularly comfortable to me, but I have spent very little time on a bike so that's not surprising. I'm kind of hoping that this challenge, by making me spend more time on a bike, will get me more used to the position so that if I go back and try bikes again I will feel some kind of difference.

It's the best thing about BT... nobody cares how little or how much you do, they mostly just seem glad that you're here. It's really a lot of fun - instead of asking about the things you're not doing, they congratulate you for what you are doing.

Plus they put up really entertaining pictures...

I just meant, that are there times that you would want to ride, but can't b/c the shared owner is riding the bike (are they a frequent user of the bke as well)

Like Jenn said, it doesn't mater how little or big your goal is.
Just make sure it is reasonable for your ability and time availability.  At this point, anytime you spend on your bike will be better than no time

As for a bike... well I've only spent 4 months up in your part of the country, and I honestly don't know that I'd spend the money on a road bike unless I was extremely serious about tri's and roadriding.  My favorite riding while I was up there were the back roads (of course some of those were also the scariest - given mother nature's love for me   ) 
I'm not THAT familiar w/ Fairbanks (more so Anchorage and North Slope) but it seems to me that the road riding window is short, where as you can do more riding with fat tires (mud/snow) a little before and after summer.  Perhaps a frame that would acommodate both skinny/smooth tires (for some road riding) and fat/knobbby tires (for the more off-road muddy days) would be a win/win situation.
Obviously, your best resources for your area are the people at your LBS and friends around you.
You are in a unique part of the country that has some unique qualities, it would sure be ashame to miss out on those joys b/c you would have the wrong equipment. 
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BIKE GOALS!!!

Hey all.  Just got back from vacation.  I managed to get some training in but not enough.  I got a chance to ride in Yellowstone NP a little and felt like I haven't been on a bike in years.  It was fun and the family and I had a great time, but I am glad to home.  I ended up driving close to 3,000 miles this last week.  I am so glad I am not going anywhere for a while.  I will post some pictures in an album later.

A few photos of me and the family at Yellowstone NP.  Hope you don't mind me spring them on you

Nice looking family!!  I love the one where you're smiling and the small one looks grumpy. 

Great pics!! Did you see the mud pots at Yellowstone? I haven't been there since I was a kid, but I remember that being such a cool part of the park... at least to a ten-year-old.

We saw some of the mud pots, but I didn't get a chance to stop at the paint pots which are the best example of them.  We did see the mud volcano which was cool

Boy, that's some drive!

So tonight I went to a couple of LBSs, and eventually I made a decision. I bought a bike!! I have to thank the Tour de France challenge, which I know sounds slightly ridiculous. But I decided that I really wanted to compete, and I wanted to make sure that I would have a bike to ride when I needed to.

I was planning on buying a Gary Fisher Utopia, but they didn't have it in my size and it cost considerably more to order one. So I bought a Specialized Rockhopper instead. It's more of a mountain bike, which is good because there are a lot of trails and rough roads here, but I also bought extra tires (thinner, slicker) to use on the pavement when I ride to work.

I am so excited. I rode around today a little bit in the parking lot and the driveway, but I'll take it out for the first official ride this weekend. Now I need to plan training for biking and running for the next few weeks. Who knows, maybe I'll even make it to adding swimming at some point!

Congratulations!

congrats on the new bike.

Congrats on the new bike - now get out and RRRRIDE!!

Micah,
Very cool pix of the family and your trip to YNP. I have never been so thanks for sharing - it looks amazing!!

Congratulations!  We want to see pictures. 

The slick tires will work well for road riding.  I used a similar setup when I first started (although it was my dad's old mountain bike from about 1992 and was WAY too big for me!)

Just got back from my first bike ride. Kicked my butt, but it was so much fun. Wanted to keep riding and riding but I'm trying to take it easy, hopefully minimizing the pain I'm in tomorrow. Going to ride into town tomorrow morning, seeing how feasible it will be, and how much time it'll take, if I decide to commute to work.

Congrats on the new bike.  I don't think there is anything cooler than getting new gear and a new bike has to be the very best.

 

Had a sweet ride tonight.  Averaged 17.66 mph for 24.9 miles.   It took 1 hour 24 minutes, so it is a mid to long ride for me.  A normal ride for me average 16.5 mph, and on a short fast ride I am at 16.9 mph.  I have been working riding in the drops more, so that may be the deference, but really encouraging for me to see some movement in my bike times.