Slaying the Dragon: A Novice Biker's Tale

There is a dragon that lurks at the end of my quiet road in my friendly neighborhood. When I depart from my road I generally turn left . . . turning right brings me into the dragon's lair and even into an immediate climate change. This is a tale of a novice biker's journey up a large hill. So I will freely admit here at the outset that dragons are all relative. One can take that either figuratively or literally but with the knowledge that many of my relatives have now found their way onto facebook, where they can stumble across a feed from this blog - I will point out that this particular dragon is figurative. In actuality it is just one really big MFing hill!

Okay so back to my story . . . yesterday afternoon I picked up my "clunker" bike from the shop where it was being tuned up. The kind folks at the shop took off the pedals that I have been riding with that do not match up with the cleats on my shoes. But in my infinite lack of mechanical ability I was unable to get the pedals off of Sally (my beloved tri-bike) and in frustration was forced to put the bad pedals back on. So there I am woofing down dinner which consisted of frozen something or other and tater-tots because I really wanted to get a ride in before dusk, which by the way seems to be coming earlier and earlier. I knew I would not have time for any decent mileage before the sun fell. Here I am faced with two weeks before the Killington century ride and here I am just going to freely admit to you that I have not yet ridden more than 15 miles this summer. Now I know I have a "good excuse". And I am planning to go to Killington in spirit, etc. But I think I just got suddenly overwhelmed with this "I can't do it feeling" so I challenged myself to "The Hill".

So, you come out of my quiet little road and what lies ahead is a 4 mile climb. The (self imposed) rules: do not stop, do not fall off, and do not stand up in the saddle (this last rule is because using the bad pedals, if I stand on a steep hill I will come out of the pedals and fall off - thereby breaking all of the previous rules at once). Mistakes: not putting on bug spray, rushing out the door on a full stomach of tater-tots, ughhhh! And the ancient Greek problem of hubris.

This is a hill that assaults you over and over and over again. It goes up and then lets up and then climbs again, etc. The climb is from 350 ft. to 1150 ft. over the 4 miles with the steepest sections being at 7% grade. Again, I offer that I KNOW this is relative. If my brother is reading this he would say "what hill?". But I am the ultimate hill slug. I will go 10 miles out of my way to avoid a hill an eighth as daunting as this.

Meanwhile back on my hill I thought about a few things on the way up. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. How tough am I? Not soooo tough, I think I am going to leave my tater-tots somewhere!

2. How smart am I? Really not very smart at all - this was figured out as I decided that the only way to get up the steepest section of the hill was by riding switch back. Did I mention rush hour on this somewhat rural but frequently traveled hill?

3. Like playing chicken with a turtle!

4. How cool am I? Look down . . . note matching spandex jersey and bike shorts = exnA on OOOlcay.

Side bar: when driving up this particular hill one sees very few bikers. But when I do see one I think this person is either an idiot who did not map their ride with the elevation map, or they are lost, or they have some serious you know whats!! I wanted people to at least think I was the latter, hence the matching jersey and shorts - unflattering to be sure.

5. How slow can I go without falling over? Answer: 3.7 MPH, apparently.

6. After a while (and feeling kind of sick to my stomach) I came up with this metaphor for the hill (remember how it climbs in stages): This hill is like the stomach flu. The first time you throw up you actually feel a little better, a sense of relief. The second time you barf you think, oh man, this is going to be a long night. The third time you start getting scared, even making deals with the tile on the bathroom floor. The fourth time - you start wishing you were dead. The fifth time, just dry heaves, nothing left. The body is jerking and lurching but it's completely unproductive.

After all of these profound (and disturbing thoughts) I did it!!! I reached the TOP! No stops, no falls, (no tater-tot fall out) woooooooo hooooo, I DID IT! I made a big U-turn at the top and I started down. And I am here to tell you the only thing more painful than the climb up that hill was the next 4-miles down that hill! That bugger was steep and scary. Gravity is NOT my friend. Being, how shall we say, above average weight for a long time, gravity has actually become something that I dread. When you're big, falling is a scary prospect. And when you are screaming down a hill at over 30 MPH, well, falling is a scary prospect. I tried pumping the break, I tried squeezing the brakes. Brakes full throttle on and still going 25 MPH. Arm throbbing and shaking from trying to squeeze the brakes. Legs trebling from the downward thrusting position. Feet aching in the pedals. When I got back to the bottom I found my family happily chasing dragon flies at the school playground, where I joined them. Relief to be on level ground. I don't think I will ever go up that hill again for a while - but I could if I wanted to!

Misc. Tidbits of Unrelated Stuff

Still not sure what direction this bloggy thing should take, but then again that's pretty typical for me. There are a few things that I've been meaning to note as much for my own memory as anything else. Maybe something will strike a cord somewhere and be useful . . . or maybe not. By the way, I apologize for spacing problems in these posts - this application is totally random with the spacing (annoying!!).

First thing - Gluten Free Travel

Despite the strange circumstances of this summer, we've gotten out and about a bit. The longest trip being to Washington, DC in June. My impression of GF eating in DC is that most places were familiar with the dietary issues and were willing to accommodate. There was certainly no chance of starving to death in DC. If you are planning a trip to Washington and looking for Gluten Free options here are a few to start with, I am sure there are others.

The Austin Grille - very acceptable TexMex fare. Decent prices, good portions, very family/kid friendly. Gluten free menu, knowledgeable staff. Also this is located just a few steps from the Spy Museum and the National Portrait Museum - so you can make a whole trip of it.

The Mitsitam Cafe - This is the cafe at the National Museum of the American Indians. The cafe has many gluten free options that are labeled as such. Upon entering it is very overwhelming but once we realized that many of the dishes were labeled gluten free and we spoke to the Manager who was knowledgeable things got much easier. It is also a very nice museum and a very nice cafe with plenty of seating and good food. Located close to the Capitol on right on the Mall it made for a good rest stop while doing the museum scene - albeit a bit pricey.

Teaism - I have to admit we actually ate here several time, sometimes more than once a day. Just happens to be just the kind of thing we all like - tea house type food. Very tasty - easy to figure out GF options. I recommend byo soy sauce however.

Petes A Pizza - This place is a little off of the beaten path (if you are hitting the usual sites) but gluten free pizza and BEER!!! Need I say more?

We were advised that there are two places to get gluten free cupcakes while in DC, Hello Cupcake and Sticky Fingers Bakery. Sadly we did not make it to either - but plan to return and finished our work!

Oh, and one more that we did actually have a chance to try out was Legal Seafood located in China Town. It certainly did not disappoint. A little pricey, but very good, had a gluten free menu and very knowledgeable and friendly staff.

And here is another one that we did not get to but were told it is excellent (just not really our kind of thing) Fogo de Chao.

So, all you gluten free people out there - go to Washington, DC, have a blast!

Second thing: Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM)

We bit the bullet and ordered the CGM. This device is inserted under the skin (with a needle, which is then removed) and is connected to a transmitter that radios blood glucose reading to the insulin pump every 5 minutes. Wow, technology! A continuous stream of data. We fought hard for insurance coverage and were denied. So we opted to pay out of pocket. For the medtronic device, it is a $1,000 start up cost to order the transmitter and a box of 10 sensors. Like the insulin pump sites, the sensor must be removed and reinserted every 3 days. These sensors cost a whopping $35 each which amounts to an ongoing bill of $350/month that insurance refuses to participate in. Never mind that clinical trials show a reduced A1C and better blood sugar control with its use - no matter to them - no money!

Our first experience with the device, I did a very poor job inserting the first sensor. Not wanting to waste $35 I did not want to test one out before inserting it (even though Cam told me that would be a mistake). Yup it was a mistake. I got the darn thing in (and the needle is like an inch long) and then could not get the needle to detach from the sensor and could not get it out. At this point the whole stinkin' thing was taped town to her belly and I could not get the tape unadhered so as to remove the whole thing. She was freakin' I was shakin' = bad scene. I finally got it out and proclaimed "let's try again tomorrow" this amazing child dried her tears looks me straight in the eye and said "well now that you have one to practice with (the one I just messed up), why don't you take a minute to figure out what you're doing and then try again". Okay, 5 more grey hairs for me - and then she was up and running. 2 hours after the insertion of the device you need to calibrate it with a finger prick and then viola - you are streaming data. The thing comes with warnings that the reading is not as accurate using interstitial fluid as it is with the blood used for finger pricks. But we found with good calibration it was pretty darn close. Her first few days on it she was able to reduce from 12 finger pricks a day down to 5 and had pretty good blood sugar control. All in all I'd say that is successful. The down side is that after about 3 days, when it was time to change it anyway, she got pretty itchy under the dressing (tape over the whole thing). The second time we tried using less tape to keep the itchies down and then the thing wiggled its way out after 2 days. Third problem is that they are too darn expensive to waste so with lots of swimming going on this week - we opted not to use it for now and save the $35 bucks a whack (I'll tell you what I did with my savings in a minute). We'll hook it back up tomorrow so that we can collect some data and make some changes around her horseback riding.

Third thing: Training - on the road again, sorta

I have taken most of the summer off from any sort of real training plan due to surgery six weeks ago. I don't really want to get into graphic detail but suffice to say that I had something the size of a cantaloupe removed from my abdomen -the hardest three pounds I've ever had to lose! Anyway, I am just now starting to get back in gear and realizing that I am starting back very close to the beginning. Was able to get back on my bike last week and went for a little run (read: shuffle) with some friends who were kind enough to keep talking and keep me distracted (and to wait for me). And with my little extra cash I treated myself to a swim lesson with my all time favorite Coach. What an eye opener that was! Not easy to watch video of myself swimming but once I was able to just suck it up (and pretend it was someone else) I learned a lot!! I love tangible things like that where you can see an issue and then try to fix it. I can't say that I am able to fix it - but at least it can be identified and attempted - unlike so many other things in life. I spent a half hour in the pool today just thinking about where my arms and legs should be and counting strokes. Sheer bliss to be able to clear one's head of all the other junk. I highly recommend it! As for cycling - I am up and rolling. The clunker bike that will be going to VT with me is in the shop for a final tune up. I will spend the next couple of weeks just trying to build mileage and then whatever will be will be in Killington. I am looking forward to the ride and meeting all the people who are supporting JDRF. Hopefully next year the circumstances will be different. The ride is on 8/29 - Many, many thanks to all who helped us reach our fundraising goal of over $4,000 (and helped earn me a JDRF/Nike jacket!). When I get back from Vermont I will start to think about training plans and goals for next year. For some reason half iron man is stuck in my head. What's wrong with me?