May 30, 2007
Last Friday I rode my bike to work, cleaned up, then had a job interview. (I brought my suit to work the previous day.) I was offered the position today. It is an internal transfer. My new job title is Fuels Analyst and I will be working on long-term gas forecasting and other responsibilities that would bore most people. I will be learning about a different area of the company, and I think that fuels and trading commodities is an interesting subject. I can also apply some of the things I have learned in my MBA classes.
Posted by megabeth at 04:15 PM | Comments (7)
May 29, 2007I went to Atlanta to race this weekend. I kept it quiet because I wasn't going to say anything if it were a miserable failure, but it went well considering that I spent two months off the bike in March and April. It is evident when racing that I lost a significant amount of fitness during the two-month break. I have not raced since July of last year and this weekend was my 6th and 7th races since I started cycling. I have a lot to learn since my lack of experience cost me a few spots in both races. In the road race I reeled in a late attack and then blew up about 1/2 mile before the finish line because I could not get my heart rate back down after the attack. My heart rate went up to 198. In the crit, I started my sprint too late and was in the back of the pack, so I was only able to pass one cyclist in the final sprint. I got 6th, which was a very good result for my first crit in nearly a year.
Photos of the race. I was very excited at the beginning! I am looking forward to racing again.
Posted by megabeth at 09:25 AM | Comments (4)
May 24, 2007I took a million photos of my vacation and uploaded a few of them here.
This was an excellent vacation, first and foremost because I was spoiled rotten, and also we did a lot of different activities other than laying out on the beach. On the way down to Florida we stopped and did a 50-mile ride about half an hour north of the South Walton beach area. The next day, we rode on the bike path down 30-A and explored various resorts. My favorite was Watersound, because it had a series of linked wooden walkways elevated above a lake/marshland. We rode on the pathways and came to a bridge (see photos) and then the pathway stopped on the beach, so I can say that I literally took my road bike to the beach.
The next day we rented a tandem kayak and explored both Western and Eastern Lakes. The scenery was beautiful and it was so quiet on the lake, you could barely hear a sound except for the occasional fish jumping out of the water, or (my favorite) the rustling of the sea grass in the wind, which sounded similar to rain. If you look at the photos, you will see that Eastern Lake connects directly with the Gulf of Mexico. It is a very unusual geological phenomenon. The water from the waves was pouring into the sound, which was much warmer than the ocean. We took the kayak out into the Gulf for a while, but it was kind of boring since there wasn't much to see, other than water. After the Eastern Lake jaunt, we pulled the boat ashore and spent the afternoon lounging around on the beach.
We also decided to have an evening of Redneck Riviera fun. I haven't been to Panama City Beach in twenty years and it hasn't changed much. There were tattoo/piercing parlors, liquor stores, and giant overly-lit beach crap stores every 20 feet and gigantic condo towers on the beach that reminded me of the huge apartment buildings that are prolific in Russia and Eastern Europe. The reason why we went to PCB was to ride the go-carts on the spiral track (PCB was closer to us than downtown Destin). After we go-carted with the rednecks, we went to the video game parlor and played skee-ball and air hockey, then hit some balls in the batting cages. Then we left the world of neon lights and tacky, oversized displays of sea animals, back to millionaire-land, where every beach-style McMansion in a generic developer-designed complex-imitation of Seaside is selling for $2 to $5 million.
On the way out we did some outlet-mall shopping and someone other than me went nuts in the chocolate store, and thus I gained about three pounds on the ride home.
I should spend about a week down there next time; anything less is never enough.
Posted by megabeth at 11:10 AM | Comments (5)
May 23, 2007I will post some photos soon. It was a fantastic, relaxing vacation with perfect weather.
Aside to the H'ville woman who sent me an email about saddles: Can you resend your email? I read it but then accidentally deleted it with the 1,000 spams I received while I was away.
Posted by megabeth at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2007I rode to work this morning. It took about 45 minutes and then 15-20 minutes to take a quick shower and get dressed. The traffic problem was solved by leaving at 6:30 am. I loved it!
When I drive to work, it takes about 15 minutes if traffic is not overly congested. The extenuating factor is the employee parking deck. I usually get there late enough that I have to park on the upper levels, then walk the distance of three city blocks to get to my cubicle. When I ride my bike, I can park in the 'special executive deck', which, by matter of total coincidence (just kidding), is right next to the building. That saves another ten minutes. So the difference in time during the commute is not too much, and I get to double duty my commute with some exercise.
Tomorrow I am leaving for the beach. I need a vacation; a couple of stressful situations that I can't change immediately have been wearing me down. Yay!
Addendum: We took Cahaba Road by the zoo and through English Village, then down Arlington. That is the easiest climb over the mountain.
Posted by megabeth at 08:14 AM | Comments (1)
May 16, 2007Picasso had his Blue period, I had my Hell period. For the past couple of weeks my neck has been feeling a lot better. I am still in pain but it is minor. There are some days or hours when I do not feel pain at all, particularly on weekends when I do not sit down, ever. Every day I am doing strengthening exercises and several times a day, I am doing stretches. I am still going to physical therapy twice a week; recieving massage, ultrasound and stim. Also, taking a 30 minute walk seems to "reset" the spine, so I have been taking little Ruby on walks three or four times a week.
Exercise makes me feel better; sitting makes me feel worse. My life now revolves around the avoidance of sitting down.
I think that my belated racing debut this season will come soon. Better late than never, eh? (My Canadian cubicle neighbor is rubbing off on me.) I have been riding for about a month and feeling stronger every week. My biggest strength on the bike is climbing, and I am starting to get back into my "climbing zen". I'm still seeing quite a bit of weakness in aerobic fitness, because when riding hard, my heart rate will rise up to near-LT (for me, that is lower 180s) and won't drop back down after the effort. Nevertheless, I don't feel the desire to get back into a training program. My program is "ride when I have time and want to ride and sleep 8 hours a night". I like this plan.
Posted by megabeth at 08:59 AM | Comments (1)
May 14, 2007It's taken some planning to get the commuting to work plan from idea to reality.
Yesterday I rode the route from my house to my office; it took around 32-33 minutes at a leisurely pace (no hammering) with little to no traffic. The route requires a climb up Red Mountain and back down, and climbing is unavoidable. Some routes are less steep than others. I am going to ride on my aluminum frame Specialized Dolce Comp with a set of thick tires; I'm interested to see if I can make the climb without falling over. ;)
I went downstairs to the service level with two of my coworkers who are also commuting to work on Friday to find the best route from the parking deck to the locker rooms, since the service level of the building is a maze of doors and hallways.
The plan is to bring Friday's clothes on Thursday and leave them in a locker to minimize the weight I will carry in a backpack during the commute.
The two sections I am concerned about are 21st St from Highland Avenue to the viaduct, and 1st Ave N to 5th Ave N on either 21st or 18th St (to be determined).
I hope this works out, because I think it will be a lot of fun.
Posted by megabeth at 03:13 PM | Comments (5)
May 10, 2007Bike to Work Day is May 18th, and I am thinking about giving it a shot.
There are a few obstacles that keep me from biking to work. One is that I wear nice clothes at work, except casual Fridays, so I would probably try this only on Fridays. Two is that there are no available showers at my office building, but I am leveraging the NoZoner campaign to try to change that (NoZoner's goal is to encourage alternative methods of transportation to improve air quality in the area). And last, my lack of awareness of a safe route to ride from my house to my office downtown. The last obstacle can be eliminated if I participate in the local Bike to Work organized ride, because my fear will be mitigated if my hand can be held this first time.
Since I drive a small car about 5 miles to work, I doubt that the impact of my riding a bike to work one day a week is anything other than miniscule. (However, I get to exercise, and I like that benefit.) Birmingham has a real problem with air quality because people who live here commute, on average, a large distance to get to work. City and regional planners have gone to great measures to improve this problem. What confounds me is why nobody has ever passed an emissions testing law as part of the solution to the issue. There are a lot of passenger cars and small commercial trucks in this town that spew out clouds of noxious, black smoke. Surely taking just one of those vehicles off the road would have a significantly larger impact than one person riding a bike to work one day a week. Georgia does this. Georgia is ten years ahead of Alabama when it comes to improving quality of life.
THIS JUST IN: Birmingham city trucks are going to start using biodiesel. (What about the buses?) Also, Birmingham ranks #4 on the worst polluted U.S. cities list.
Posted by megabeth at 11:14 AM | Comments (6)
May 09, 2007Bored with nothing to do? (Haha. When that happens, pigs will fly.)
If you are at home, download this home inventory software to catalog your possessions, just in case your house burns down or is burglarized, you will have proof of ownership for the insurance company. Henry David Thoreau's words never rang truer until now.
If you are at work, don't say "PARA-DIG-EM" when you mean "PARA-DIME". We're going to start playing Corporate Lingo Bingo during meetings. Last week an official moratorium on non-meeting discussion was enacted. If you have around two minutes of information exchange with a co-worker, you should schedule a two hour meeting to enable that exchange. And also, a two-hour meeting should be scheduled to make sure that everyone who needs to attend the other two-hour meeting can attend, and to see if any other meetings should be scheduled as a result of the need for the first two-hour meeting. (I am kidding about the official moratorium, though it must be that meetings are currently quite the rage in the corporate world.)
Posted by megabeth at 03:41 PM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2007Yesterday I rode 66 miles of the Cheaha Challenge. I was wiped out when the ride was over, but I am getting stronger after my two-month hiatus, and my neck does not hurt unless I am sitting down in front of a computer. So, the weekends are nice, and then I have to go back to work and suffer.
The ride is organized very well, but I'm not sure that treating a century as a race and logging in participant finish times promotes group cycling safety. Centuries bring the squirrelly riders out from the woodwork and these people feel like they should jeopardize everyone else's safety to save 10 seconds off their time, which in the end doesn't mean a hill of beans. Social ineptitude is immediately evident with cyclists.
The weather was perfect, though, and it was nice to have a change of scenery and best of all, RIDE MY BIKE!
Posted by megabeth at 08:21 AM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2007My contract with Cingular is expiring in June (my little, obsolete Samsung has lasted through two years of being dropped on the ground/floor repeatedly). Over the past year or so there has been a noticeable increase in dropped calls. The five bars don't mean anything; my calls get dropped with five bars. I concluded that Cingular has oversold their network. I started interviewing people with other cellular carriers and I am hearing that their calls are not dropped. So, what's your opinion? Verizon? T-Mobile?
Posted by megabeth at 11:43 AM | Comments (4)
May 02, 2007I finally found a saddle that is comfortable, after putting a lot of thought and analysis into the structure of the female nether region (aka 'the booty').
Previously tested: Terry Butterfly and Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow (too cushy), Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow (too narrow for my sit bones), Specialized Jett 143 mm (ouch on the sit bones), Fizik Arione and Fizik Aliante (too much pressure on tender parts).
I ordered a Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow from Excel Sports in Boulder. The saddle did not work for me (more on that in a sec) but Excel Sports is lightening fast with shipping orders. If you need something that your local bike shop does not carry and you want it sometime before next year, I recommend ordering from Excel Sports if they carry what you are looking for. I ordered by 2 pm MST on a Tuesday and had the saddle in hand on Friday (it was sent by USPS 2-day priority mail). When I mailed it back to them, they credited my account the day after they received the package.
The Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow (pre-2007 version) is an saddle that is fully committed to brutalizing your behind. I sat on it for only a few minutes and did not need any more time to decide to send it back. The saddle drops off sharply on the sides, thus rendering about 50% of the surface area unusable and thus, wasted dead weight on a bicycle. The cut-out in the center is so large that special parts, male or female, would fall down in the gap, and the edges of the cut-out gouge into one's tender parts. I cannot think of a more uncomfortable saddle, other sitting on a 2 by 4 wooden board.
I decided to order two saddles at a time as a new strategy so that I could combine shipping costs and speed up the process. The next order (from a different bike shop) took a week and a half to arrive. I ordered on Sunday, it did not ship until Thursday. I received the WTB Devo Carbon and the WTB Shadow V Stealth.
The Devo showed immediate promise, and while weight is not a factor in my decision, the saddle only weighs 190 grams. The Shadow V, on the other hand, was too narrow. A 30 minute trainer session ruled that saddle out quickly. WTB saddles are not sold by any bike shop in Birmingham so you don't see people here riding on them. They also were originally a mtn bike saddle producer, but now they make some road saddles. One of the common elements of a WTB saddle is something called a "Love Channel", which is a channel that runs down the center of the saddle to allow pressure relief on the tender parts.
I rode on the Devo a couple of times on the road and quickly discovered that I need to use chamois butter with the saddle. (Explanation in a sec.) However, there was little soreness on my sit bones. I decided to order one more saddle to try out, a Terry Zero Y, which is a men's saddle with a cut-out in the center. I have ruled out most women's saddles because they are too wide. If you did not know this, Terry saddles are made by Selle Italia.
I rode three times on the Zero Y and the inside of my sit bones which rest on the edges of the cut-out were getting sore enough that any movement on the seat was very painful, and also I felt like I did not have control over my bike and was unbalanced. Feeling unbalanced seems to result in a decrease in power output.
Specs are something like:
Zero Y: 140 mm W, 177 L
Shadow V: 130 mm W, 175 L
Devo: 140 mm W, 165 L
It has been proven that my booty needs a 140 mm width saddle. Women's saddles tend to be 155 mm and up in width. However, Terry makes one that is 130 mm wide (the Damselfly), which I have not tried.
I put the Devo back on my bike and rode it last night with much joy, because I had complete control over my bike and the saddle felt very natural to me. I thought I required a cut-out because of pressure relief, but that is not really the case. The problem with a saddle with no cut-out is that it allows for more movement of the chamois in the shorts to rub against one's tender parts. The chamois butter mostly alleviates this issue.
Thus, a summary of saddle mechanics:
- Saddles with cut-outs reduce the surface area your booty rests upon, thus increasing pressure on the areas of the booty that are touching the saddle (mainly the sit bones). They also reduce friction between the tender parts and the chamois in bike shorts by "locking in" a section of the chamois into the cut-out in the saddle.
- Saddles without cut-outs reduce ischial pressure due to increased surface area, but there is more friction between tender bits and chamois, and possibly more pressure on the front area of one's nether region, depending on the design of the saddle.
The quest for a saddle has taught me that it is the most important component on a bike. You can have a bike worth $15K, but if the saddle is uncomfortable, your riding performance is going to suffer.
Congrats to the Devo for being nice to my booty.
Posted by megabeth at 02:52 PM | Comments (2)