Sorry for the delay in updating from this weekend's training ride -- Naomi was out of town, fulfilling bridesmaidly duties at a bachelorette party, and Meredith has spent much of the week too incapacitated by food poisoning to give an effective retelling.
We were back in Westchester this weekend, for a 38 mile ride that promised the steepest hill we'd encounter throughout our entire training regimen. Gulp. The 30-degree weather seemed to have deterred many riders, as turnout was fairly low. However much we always prefer to see a strong team turnout, there is no denying that riding with a smaller group can be more fun!
Meredith set off with a group of 6 riders, who had the roads largely to themselves for the entire ride. The conditions hadn't improved much since the last ride, and we were constantly calling out and trying to navigate around holes. The small-ish size of our group enabled some more hands-on coaching. Meredith has been experimenting with gear shifting, but is never quite sure when she is in the "correct" gear. She received a good amount of feedback from the head coach, and now feels a little more confident about what she is doing. The group also practiced riding in a paceline. For the uninitiated, a paceline is a simultaneously exhilarating and nervewracking (for a newbie at least) way of riding as a team to increase speed. You ride in a line, with your tire several inches from the tire of the bike in front of you, with your eyes at the level of the hips of the rider in front of you. The idea is that you are able to go faster with less effort, because the rider at the very front of the line creates a draft, which reduces wind resistance for the rear riders. In order to keep things equitable, the riders take turns at the front, with the old leader pulling off to the side and slowing to drop to the back as a new leader moves forward. A bit nerve-wracking for someone who has only been road cycling for a month and a half, but also very fun!
The Big Hill, all the way in Greenwich, CT, was a bit fear-inspiring, plus looooooong! It was the first time Meredith has ever been tempted to get off and walk in order to make the pain in her quads stop. But she stuck with it and was the first of her group to make it to the top! Once again, all those Spinning classes with high resistance paid off! There were two other thigh-busting hills on the course, which were all vanquished after a good deal of panting one's way to the top, but the most fun part of the ride were the rolling hills at the middle and towards the end of the ride. With 6 riders who have been riding together for most of the training rides, it was pretty easy to just relax and let loose on these rolling hills, and slingshot through the backroads of Westchester County and Connecticut at 30+mph. Fun, and definitely one of the things that makes a person feel like they're getting more comfortable on a bike!
This Saturday, we are back in New Jersey for a 36 mile ride. We're continuing to add mileage to each of our two routes, at a more gradual pace -- our last ride that started in Jersey was 34 miles. This one also takes us on a slightly different route to our destination in Nyack -- we are in quite a bit of suspense about how this one will differ from the route we've used the previous two times!
As always, we are grateful for our generous donees. We wanted to take this moment to remind you that our ride is approaching, and we still have some ways to go on our goals. Please click the links on the left side of the page to support this worthy cause. Thank you, and till next week!
xo,
Meredith and Naomi
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
"I guess we should have had the pothole talk last weekend..."
...thus began our pre-ride talk, in which we learned there is a proper way to "probably not crash" when riding over (through?) the many potholes this lovely east coast winter has burdened us with. speaking of winter, it's supposed to snow again tomorrow. so that should be excellent for outdoor training and being able to ride without fear of losing a toe or a foot to frostbite. don't believe us? look at how many layers are visible in this picture. meredith informs me that she had to buy her jacket a size larger than normal to accommodate the many underthings she is wearing to stay warm:
dont' be deceived by the bright sunlight...it's roughly 45 degrees out. at 11 AM. it didn't get any warmer.
in other news: pictures! this one was taken after the ride, and naomi is smiling so widely because for the first time in 3 weeks, she didn't fall once. not even when she tried to execute the advanced grab-water-bottle-from-frame-take-drink-and-replace move, which predictably ended with her water bottle landing on the side of the road and her having to unclip, stop, run back for it, and catch up with her group. baby steps.
meredith is smiling because a) she is debuting her extremely cool cycling glasses ("lance armstrong glasses"), b) she rode all the way to nyack and back and c) she's about 3/4 of the way through what was 60-mile ride. the first repetitive use stress injuries are starting to show up; meredith's knees are starting to feel the strain of riding the length of new jersey in a single day. naomi probably hasn't ridden far enough in one day to merit any kind of stress injury, and her skinned knees will do for now.
also: inflating your tires is apparently an idiot-proof activity, as meredith's pump didn't even come with instructions. naomi spent half an hour on her floor this morning, attempting to use her father's pump, which also did not come with instructions. it's not idiot-proof, as neither of us could figure it out without turning to the internet, of course, which helpfully contains short videos on inflating your tires. meredith mastered it, and naomi hopes to soon.
here's another picture from after the ride for those of you who are still reading:
naomi banned the before picture from ever seeing the light of the internet, because two toolish helmets in one picture was just too much. meredith bravely agreed to let hers appear this week; meredith also apparently forgets that she's even wearing a helmet after a long ride and continued to wear it until she decided it would be better used as a purse to hold her gloves and wallet. not just a pretty face, people.
that's all for now; stay tuned for the second entry of this week's blog, subject TBD.
oh, and please give us money. the links are right at the top. it's for a really good cause.
thanks!
--meredith and naomi
in other news: pictures! this one was taken after the ride, and naomi is smiling so widely because for the first time in 3 weeks, she didn't fall once. not even when she tried to execute the advanced grab-water-bottle-from-frame-take-drink-and-replace move, which predictably ended with her water bottle landing on the side of the road and her having to unclip, stop, run back for it, and catch up with her group. baby steps.
meredith is smiling because a) she is debuting her extremely cool cycling glasses ("lance armstrong glasses"), b) she rode all the way to nyack and back and c) she's about 3/4 of the way through what was 60-mile ride. the first repetitive use stress injuries are starting to show up; meredith's knees are starting to feel the strain of riding the length of new jersey in a single day. naomi probably hasn't ridden far enough in one day to merit any kind of stress injury, and her skinned knees will do for now.
also: inflating your tires is apparently an idiot-proof activity, as meredith's pump didn't even come with instructions. naomi spent half an hour on her floor this morning, attempting to use her father's pump, which also did not come with instructions. it's not idiot-proof, as neither of us could figure it out without turning to the internet, of course, which helpfully contains short videos on inflating your tires. meredith mastered it, and naomi hopes to soon.
here's another picture from after the ride for those of you who are still reading:
naomi banned the before picture from ever seeing the light of the internet, because two toolish helmets in one picture was just too much. meredith bravely agreed to let hers appear this week; meredith also apparently forgets that she's even wearing a helmet after a long ride and continued to wear it until she decided it would be better used as a purse to hold her gloves and wallet. not just a pretty face, people.
that's all for now; stay tuned for the second entry of this week's blog, subject TBD.
oh, and please give us money. the links are right at the top. it's for a really good cause.
thanks!
--meredith and naomi
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Second Training Ride--Training Wheels Off!
Welcome back to the blog! We're going to try and update more frequently, because at least our moms are interested and following this.
So as you probably guessed from the title, our second training ride took place this past weekend. This ride was in North White Plains, and included a surprise tour of many southern Westchester towns. It also included some of the worst road conditions we have ever seen, with craters masquerading as potholes, and as Meredith pointed out, "a lot of holes. Like, actual holes." For those of you who don't know, road bikes are NOT built for handling those types of conditions. Road bikes like flat, smooth, well-paved, wide, well-marked roads. This ride was the opposite of that. Naomi's hands are still sore from gripping the brakes so hard.
There were also hills. A lot of them. Steep hills. Long hills. Some that were steep, and long. Supposedly this is good practice for Tahoe, which was described to us as "50 miles uphill, and 50 miles downhill." Well, it was described to Naomi as such. Meredith apparently just found that out this very second.
Regardless, we both survived. Meredith rode 27 miles in about 2 hours, which, for the uninitiated, is extremely fast. Naomi rode about 20 miles in I'm-not-going-to-say how many hours. This included only 2 crashes, which resulted in the attached picture:
Naomi will not be wearing skirts for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, this is the only picture to survive from the day--Meredith does keep bringing her camera but weather conditions and the splitting of groups have not been conducive to documenting the rides. Maybe if we don't promise pictures from our next ride, you'll actually get some. Meredith is particularly excited about the premiere of her "super-sweet" clear-lens cycling glasses this morning, which if you're all lucky, you'll see in the not-promised but to come pictures.
This weekend's ride will be back up in not-so-beautiful Fort Lee NJ; we assume that we'll be riding farther than last time, so hopefully those spin classes will prove to be worth it. Pray for better weather for us so we can shed some of the 5 layers that have so far been necessary to bike in. Because cycling short are so sexy.
Thanks for reading (and a special welcome to new reader and longtime supporter, Lauren Nagin!)
xo,
Meredith and Naomi
So as you probably guessed from the title, our second training ride took place this past weekend. This ride was in North White Plains, and included a surprise tour of many southern Westchester towns. It also included some of the worst road conditions we have ever seen, with craters masquerading as potholes, and as Meredith pointed out, "a lot of holes. Like, actual holes." For those of you who don't know, road bikes are NOT built for handling those types of conditions. Road bikes like flat, smooth, well-paved, wide, well-marked roads. This ride was the opposite of that. Naomi's hands are still sore from gripping the brakes so hard.
There were also hills. A lot of them. Steep hills. Long hills. Some that were steep, and long. Supposedly this is good practice for Tahoe, which was described to us as "50 miles uphill, and 50 miles downhill." Well, it was described to Naomi as such. Meredith apparently just found that out this very second.
Regardless, we both survived. Meredith rode 27 miles in about 2 hours, which, for the uninitiated, is extremely fast. Naomi rode about 20 miles in I'm-not-going-to-say how many hours. This included only 2 crashes, which resulted in the attached picture:
Naomi will not be wearing skirts for the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, this is the only picture to survive from the day--Meredith does keep bringing her camera but weather conditions and the splitting of groups have not been conducive to documenting the rides. Maybe if we don't promise pictures from our next ride, you'll actually get some. Meredith is particularly excited about the premiere of her "super-sweet" clear-lens cycling glasses this morning, which if you're all lucky, you'll see in the not-promised but to come pictures.
This weekend's ride will be back up in not-so-beautiful Fort Lee NJ; we assume that we'll be riding farther than last time, so hopefully those spin classes will prove to be worth it. Pray for better weather for us so we can shed some of the 5 layers that have so far been necessary to bike in. Because cycling short are so sexy.
Thanks for reading (and a special welcome to new reader and longtime supporter, Lauren Nagin!)
xo,
Meredith and Naomi
Monday, March 7, 2011
Report from the Front: Training Ride 1
Hey everyone,
Our first training ride took place this past Saturday--Fort Lee is not entirely beautiful at 6:30 AM in the rain. We awakened early and made the trek to our designated meeting point; Meredith bravely rode up while Naomi decided to try her luck on the subway. Unbeknownst to us, our coach had canceled the ride due to inclement weather at 7:15--after the time we were both well on our way to NJ. So we intrepidly trekked onward, determined that if we had woken up at 6 AM, suited up in our ridiculous cycling/inclement weather gear, figured out how to get across the GW bridge and basically dedicated our day to the training ride, we were going to train, dammit.
Upon arrival, several other Team members were also there. While we would like to believe they were similarly tough, it was probably that they hadn't received the cancellation email. Whatever. We were immediately treated to a flat-fixing clinic, in which everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, including the coach popping a new hole in the tire as he attempted to change it, even though it was never flat to begin with. Basically, we learned that if we ever get a flat, the way to fix it is to flag someone who knows what they are doing down.
For the actual riding portion, the coach divided us into groups--I know what I'm doing and I'm not scared; I sort of know what I'm doing and I'm sort of not scared; I have ridden a bike before; and omigod what the hell am I doing and I'm really scared (official names are something like Titanium, Gold, Carbon and Helium). Meredith set off in the Titanium group, and Naomi was relegated to a parking lot to learn how to ride (well, mostly stop) with her feet clipped into the pedals.
Meredith reports that she rode out with about seven other riders who were all able to maintain a steady 17 mph pace and make it 30 miles round trip to Piermont, NY and back! In total, Meredith rode 51.16 miles on Saturday (3 years of spinning classes were not a waste of time!).
Naomi reports that the bruises on her knees are settling in nicely and wants to thank the nice woman who JUMPED out of her car to ask if she was alright after witnessing the spectacular fall Naomi took attempting to stop at a stop light that was also on a downhill as her foot was accidentally clipped in. She would also like to thank the random cyclist and his wife who took pity on her on Riverside Drive and rode with her for 20 minutes until they found an entrance to the West Side bike path. In total, it took Naomi 2.5 hours to ride about 20 miles. The coach assures her that things can only get better.
Fundraising update:
Meredith has nearly reached her March 16th goal of $1125; $245 is all she needs to meet it, so PLEASE give generously!
Naomi is thrilled to have raised $2200 and is extremely grateful for your support.
However both of us have a long way to go, so please give whatever you can before our ride!
At the top of the page are links to both of our fundraising sites; if you would prefer to send a check, please get in touch with either of us by email (meredith.uhl@gmail.com or nmages@gmail.com).
Thanks for your support so far--it means a lot to us and we promise to post pictures from our next ride on Sunday (the combination of rain and nerves on the first ride deterred any efforts to document it. But it happened!)
Thanks again,
Meredith and Naomi
Our first training ride took place this past Saturday--Fort Lee is not entirely beautiful at 6:30 AM in the rain. We awakened early and made the trek to our designated meeting point; Meredith bravely rode up while Naomi decided to try her luck on the subway. Unbeknownst to us, our coach had canceled the ride due to inclement weather at 7:15--after the time we were both well on our way to NJ. So we intrepidly trekked onward, determined that if we had woken up at 6 AM, suited up in our ridiculous cycling/inclement weather gear, figured out how to get across the GW bridge and basically dedicated our day to the training ride, we were going to train, dammit.
Upon arrival, several other Team members were also there. While we would like to believe they were similarly tough, it was probably that they hadn't received the cancellation email. Whatever. We were immediately treated to a flat-fixing clinic, in which everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, including the coach popping a new hole in the tire as he attempted to change it, even though it was never flat to begin with. Basically, we learned that if we ever get a flat, the way to fix it is to flag someone who knows what they are doing down.
For the actual riding portion, the coach divided us into groups--I know what I'm doing and I'm not scared; I sort of know what I'm doing and I'm sort of not scared; I have ridden a bike before; and omigod what the hell am I doing and I'm really scared (official names are something like Titanium, Gold, Carbon and Helium). Meredith set off in the Titanium group, and Naomi was relegated to a parking lot to learn how to ride (well, mostly stop) with her feet clipped into the pedals.
Meredith reports that she rode out with about seven other riders who were all able to maintain a steady 17 mph pace and make it 30 miles round trip to Piermont, NY and back! In total, Meredith rode 51.16 miles on Saturday (3 years of spinning classes were not a waste of time!).
Naomi reports that the bruises on her knees are settling in nicely and wants to thank the nice woman who JUMPED out of her car to ask if she was alright after witnessing the spectacular fall Naomi took attempting to stop at a stop light that was also on a downhill as her foot was accidentally clipped in. She would also like to thank the random cyclist and his wife who took pity on her on Riverside Drive and rode with her for 20 minutes until they found an entrance to the West Side bike path. In total, it took Naomi 2.5 hours to ride about 20 miles. The coach assures her that things can only get better.
Fundraising update:
Meredith has nearly reached her March 16th goal of $1125; $245 is all she needs to meet it, so PLEASE give generously!
Naomi is thrilled to have raised $2200 and is extremely grateful for your support.
However both of us have a long way to go, so please give whatever you can before our ride!
At the top of the page are links to both of our fundraising sites; if you would prefer to send a check, please get in touch with either of us by email (meredith.uhl@gmail.com or nmages@gmail.com).
Thanks for your support so far--it means a lot to us and we promise to post pictures from our next ride on Sunday (the combination of rain and nerves on the first ride deterred any efforts to document it. But it happened!)
Thanks again,
Meredith and Naomi
Friday, March 4, 2011
First Training Ride!
Hey Everyone who isn't our moms (but hi moms too!),
Tomorrow is our first training ride. After waking up at 6 AM on our "day off" from being first year associates (note our clever blog title for those of you who didn't pick up on it until now), we'll have to make our way from NYC over the George Washington bridge and then into beautiful Fort Lee, NJ.
For Naomi, that's 14 miles from Tribeca up the West Side bike path, before the 25 mile training ride even starts.
For Meredith, that's 11.1 miles up First Ave and through Central Park before the 25 mile training ride even starts.
At least Meredith has ridden with her feet clipped in to the pedals before. As of this posting, at 4:42 PM, Naomi doesn't even have her bike yet.
Why does "clipped in" matter? Read this: riding a bike isn't child's play
Check back soon for pictures and a full report.
As always, thanks for your support!
xoxo,
Meredith and Naomi
Tomorrow is our first training ride. After waking up at 6 AM on our "day off" from being first year associates (note our clever blog title for those of you who didn't pick up on it until now), we'll have to make our way from NYC over the George Washington bridge and then into beautiful Fort Lee, NJ.
For Naomi, that's 14 miles from Tribeca up the West Side bike path, before the 25 mile training ride even starts.
For Meredith, that's 11.1 miles up First Ave and through Central Park before the 25 mile training ride even starts.
At least Meredith has ridden with her feet clipped in to the pedals before. As of this posting, at 4:42 PM, Naomi doesn't even have her bike yet.
Why does "clipped in" matter? Read this: riding a bike isn't child's play
Check back soon for pictures and a full report.
As always, thanks for your support!
xoxo,
Meredith and Naomi
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