Rode 30 miles yesterday (at a VERY slow pace) and came in OK, although still feeling tired and achy.  One of the muscles in my thigh (left medial quad, if you must know) is painfully tight/sore even after a good night’s rest – a sign to me that I’m overtraining.  I’m going to take today off, do a 1-hour light spin tomorrow, and take Wednesday off as well.  I’m also going to see Curtis (my bike fitter) on Wednesday for a fitting.  Next week I’ll probably get my bike tuned up.

I am, however, pleased.  Ninety-five miles in a weekend in my fourth(?) week of training isn’t bad.  I think I can now afford to ramp up more slowly, and take a “rest week” (recommended for every fourth week),
and still be ready for the Ride.

Costume-wise, it was fantastic – every other person who passed me (literally!) said, “Ooh!  Nice outfit!” and about every tenth person said, “Wow!  You win the prize for best costume!”  Eight or nine people came up to me and said, “Are you Tien?  We’ve never met, but I saw the outfit and knew it just had to be you!”  And lots of people asked for photos (including, amusingly enough, a pair of women selling some sort of energy drink – they wanted me to pose with a photo of the can in my hand.  I wonder if that qualifies as my first product endorsement?).  For an attention junkie, it was quite gratifying.  I work hard at my outfits and am glad this one was appreciated. 

Cycling-wise, though, it was a real challenge.  I started strong, but was feeling progressively weaker through the day.  At mile 40 I was starting to have some muscle pain in my right shin, so I took a slightly longer than usual break at the rest stop and rode in to the finish fairly slowly – averaging about 14 mph on the flats (which is very, very slow – even for me).  My total time was just over five hours for 65 miles, for an average of under 13 mph.  That’s discouragingly slow, especially over a flat course.

On the other hand, it’s early in the season, so there’s still time to catch up.  I’m just realizing that it’s going to be a higher mountain to climb than I expected.

Tomorrow, another 30-35 miles.

Not that I think it will be hard to find me:

It’s the hot pink cheongsam-tutu, eked out with hot pink armwarmers, hot pink fishnet stockings, and hot pink ostrich feathers.  And don’t forget the princess’s diamond tiara on the helmet!

The only thing I don’t like about this outfit is that it makes me look fat.  Oh well, one must suffer for glamour, I suppose.

This is just one of the seven outfits I’m prepping for The Ride.

And, speaking of that, I made a little more progress on the peacock-feather outfit today:

And now, time for dinner and bed.  Gotta make it an early day tomorrow!

The Cinderella Century is a women-only century ride (100 km and 100 mile options) held in late March/early April, and is loads of fun.  It’s a pretty easy ride – mostly flat with a few hills – and people have fun.  Lots of the riders dress up, mostly in pink dresses.  Here’s a photo of me at last year’s Cinderella Century.  I think I know which outfit I’m going to ride in this year – a hot pink cheongsam-tutu that I made for this year’s AIDS Lifecycle, but which will work equally well for Cinderella.  And the ostrich feathers, of course.

Cinderella is limited to 2500 riders and usually fills up within a few days of registration opening, so I’m going to post my registration early tomorrow morning!

Now I just have to start training…sadly, I am still fighting off this bronchitis so I probably won’t be able to make it out this weekend.  The beginning of February is NOT a good time to start training for the AIDS Ride or for Cinderella, but it’s looking like that will be the best I can do.  Still, I’m grateful that the bronchitis is nearly over.

Cinderella ho!