Day 8: I can do it - I can do it - I can do it

Day 8: Last day! I will finish it! Let's get up at 8am...  Or 9...  Maybe 10am... omg my legs hurt... come on get up get up get up!!!


I manage to get up almost at noon.  I have to finish! Last day!

Loopy loops around where I work.  I pass by Facebook's headquarters a couple of times.  Car drivers are nice to bicycles in that area :)

Uploaded last ride with the phone borrowed from Bret

...And I am done!! weeee

• 503 km
• Approx. 22 hours, 59 minutes, 5 seconds moving time
• 22.5 km not recorded because the friggin' phone died
• 1 flat tire
• 1 time the chain came off
• 3 people kindly helped with technical difficulties!
• 2 falls resulting in 3 new bruises

Yay!

Day 7: That poor beer left alone

Day 7: I am 7.5km ahead!  I am so going to do it!

Back to San Francisco's East Bay.  Bret and I rode from San Ramon to Livermore and stopped for lunch.  Beautiful views of the country.

Somewhere between San Ramon and Livermore, CA USA. (*)

We had a nice lunch.  I couldn't get too full because we still had to ride back.  So, I have to report there was a lonely sad beer that was left by itself on a table... *sniff, sniff*

Wohooo! Only one day left and I am ~10km ahead!

(*) Photo by Bret Staz

Day 6: Cyclists are so nice!

Day 6: Alright I am only 9km behind! I can do this!

My homework this morning was to check and pump the tires.  Done.

I go back to Cañada Road since it is so bike friendly. 

I am only 1.55m (5'2") but I feel tall and lo-o-o-ong when I bike :p

My chain comes off at one point.   Ok I can fix this, it's just the chain don't panic (remember I just bought the bike a month ago).


...Then a woman and a man stop their bicycles and offer to help.  So nice!  See?  Cyclists are coolz.  
 
I manage to climb a decent 807m.  Not bad!

Sunset in Cañada Road, Belmont CA, USA.

Day 5: The mind wants, the legs refuse

Day 5:  38km behind but I really want to do it!

Today I am really paranoid about the cellphone dying so I check it every 30 min.  Lesson: yes, I should get a decent GPS if I want to do these kind of long activities.

Cañada Road in the morning.   Many other people cycling.

Cool fact! Cyclists are friendly.  You know, California is a very lonely place in the sense that people are always deep in their smart phone/tablet/laptop and never stop or just say hi.   But cyclists are different!  They all say hello when passing by, even ask if you are ok and need anything.

East Bay in the afternoon with Bret.  He lets me borrow his smart phone which is in much better condition than mine :)  So I use it to record the ride.

Sir, you should be wearing a helmet. (*)

It starts getting dark, we stop to drink water and Bret says "Two more loops and then we go home.  Is that ok?".  I reply "yeah of course I can ride a lot more!".   Two or three seconds later I am on the ground.  Fall again!

The longer I ride, the harder it gets to clip back on the pedals.  And the more stubborn the legs grow :)

I get up with just a small bruise on the knee (but a bigger one on my pride) and get on.   Then I notice the back tire feels... weird.  Different.

"Let me see" says Bret.

....And behold my first flat tire!

So, yeah maybe it is time to go back home.


(*) Photo by Bret Staz

Day 4: Pull those leg warmers up!

OMG I am 41km behind because I missed a whole day and then the freakin' cellphone died.

On day 4 I decided to be safe and just ride locally.   Ride to the Dumbarton Bridge and back, several times. Simple.

Lesson: A couple of cm/inches between your shorts and your leg warmers feels like a huge Arctic space, where cold poignant wind enters and gets to even the last place in your body where you didn't know you could feel cold.

This time I am smart.  I am not going to let the cellphone die on me, right?  I will upload the ride to Strava every couple of hours and start a new one every time.  The first one is 39.6km, ooh nice.

The second ride is... wait, what? Nooo! Cellphone died again in the middle of the second ride and I was robbed of 10km.

LOL.

Really. What can I do but laugh?

Well, I am doing it for fun and fitness.  Not for having it recorded in history, right?

Day 3: Larry

Day 3.  I am around 42km behind because I didn't ride yesterday.  Must catch up.

Cloudy, rainy and windy.  Yikes.  It must be karma for staying in bed yesterday.

Bret takes me on a route with a couple of hundred meters climb.  On the way down I meet Larry.

Nice to meet you, Larry (*)

I ask Bret how he found out his name is Larry.  "Well he comes every time I say 'hi Larry!'"











It is pouring hard and cold!  I ask Bret to stop at a cafe for a while to warm up.  I spend an eternity with my hands under the hot water in the bathroom.

I am having hot tea.   Bret looks at his GPS and says "Cool, we've done 30km so far!".  I look at my cellphone and... oh noes!  It rebooted itself and the Strava app is closed!

My phone only recorded 17.5km of the first 30.  Noooooooooooo

*sigh*

*another sigh*

*deep breathe*

Ok. There are still 5 days left.


(*) Photo by Bret Staz

Day 2: Kitty magic

It was raining early in the morning

Then it stopped.

I got up got dressed, yay to ride

Opened the door out

turned around to check things, say goodbye to cats

....

And went back to bed.

FAIL!!!!

Day 1: Should have brought the mountain bikes!

Alright! First day of the challenge!

For the first Festive 500 day I decided to try the route along the San Francisco bay.  It is a little more than 30km from Redwood City to the San Francisco airport.

I spent the night studying the Bay Trail on Google maps.  I got it all memorized.  Yes. Cool. I got it.

Met early in the morning with Bret, my cycling sensei who helped me buy the bicycle (actually he chose it, I am glad since I did not know where to start).   Ok Bret we are going all the way to SFO and back.  Let's go!

Turns out the trail is gravel.  One hour later we are not even half way.  Ahem... well you know Google didn't tell me is was not asphalt :P

Google maps didn't say it was gravel :p (*)

On the way back: You see I am still learning to use the clip pedals.  If you want to stop you should unclip first, then lean to that same side.  This time I unclipped the right foot but leaned to the left.  *thump* To the ground.  Another war scar  on my left knee.

I am several km behind, knee hurts.  But hey, I am still doing the challenge!

Later in the evening I am doing loops, earphones on.  I get a phone call on my cellphone, suddenly the music stops and the phone also stops ringing.  I check and see the cellphone has reset itself.  Nooooooo!  The Strava app closed!  When I turned it on again, Strava tells me it had saved the unfinished ride... *sigh* relieved!!!!

(*) Photo by Bret Staz

Excited to start!

Mount Diablo. Legs shaking like crazy, take the picture already!

I just bought my first road bike a month ago.  I am still learning the lingo and to not panic in descends but hey I just rode Mount Diablo a couple of weeks ago and didn't die. I am ready!!!