Gotta have da music

If you are feeling stagnant, can't get going, etc., try wearing around your iPod for 10 minutes with some jammin' tunes pipin' it at 65 decibels. I'm not sure what a decibel is, or even if I spelled it right, but you get the idea. Kulani made me a smokingly great mix for my iPod. He knows my style. I am kind of stuck in a 9os rut when it comes to music, but Kulani helps guide me right to the stuff I'd like.

I've placed a few of the songs I like on this blog. Perhaps they will inspire you too. My sister Mary has been a huge fan of Guster for years, and sadly, it wasn't until Kulani put their songs on my iPod that I really woke up and took notice. I'll have to say that Guster's Careful is about the most perfect song I've heard in a long while. I put one oldie on the list, which is Kulani's signature song ("Sunshine").

Happy training!

Saturday Musings

Saturday was long-roadride day. Me and the trusty Lemond Versailles took off from home around 8:30 AM, while Kulani watched the kids at home. I decided to travel south and east toward Provo Canyon. I ended up traveling up hill both ways. Seriously, look at this residential climb:

And this was the climb on the way back:

I think I climbed for at least one hour yesterday, all totaled. When climbing, I tend to think of other things to keep my mind off the pain. One thing I tell myself is to take 'er easy. I try not to hyperventilate thinking about how steep the hill is or how hard it is. Instead, I look straight at my front wheel, and I imagine I'm on a slight uphill. If you look straight at your front wheel, it's hard to notice the pitch of the hill. And like any good sherpa will tell you while scaling a huge mountain, never look up. It's the wu wei of the universe: be in the moment. I think Oprah's book club this month is all about that concept. Maybe I should pick up a copy.

Also when riding up hill, I go rather slow, so I have a chance to stop and smell the daisies, as it were (daisies don't smell so great). The daisies this weekend included the oddities that are Utah County. Check out this coordinate I found in Pleasant Grove:

Notice this nice downhill followed by a steep uphill.

It makes you want to get a lot of speed heading into the uphill, but no chance. The lovely city engineers in Lindon put a speed bump at the bottom of the hill. Makes sense for cars, but it really bums out cyclists.

I rode for two and half hours. I made it to Vivian Park in Provo, then turned around and came home. My highest speed I reached was 27 mph. I'm afraid to go much faster than that. On the steep downhills I especially go slow, because I don't want to get doored or hit an unforseen road bump. But on the flattish downhills, like 1600 North in Orem, I'll take off the breaks somewhat. On my journey, I passed Racer's morning road group, and then Kulani caught up to them later that day. All are training for Rawrod in two weeks. The ride converted me back to cycling. Riding on a stationary bike just isn't the same.

The following picture shows where Kulani road this weekend on his five-hour ride. Maybe he'll blog about it.