Do Epic S**T

Namaste

I'm not one of "Betty Designs" Ambassadors, but I do like their "do epic shit" sense of purpose.
I may be carrying this a bit far .....I thought turning 50 was "my year" to challenge myself (2014 Ironman Arizona Triathlon), apparently not. Someone needs to remove my credit card from my possession - NOW!!

Not only have I signed up for an amazing adventure in India with TDA Global Cycling, but this morning I also signed up for a "gravel grinder" race Dirty Kanza 200 Mile on June 2, 2017.  Umm, Paul - remember our conversation yesterday morning around plans post India?  Well they went a little askew this morning.  The Dirty Kanza 100 Mile was full .....and then I thought, what to do, what to do... and I did.

India will now do double duty as a training camp/holiday.  Not really, I'm going to enjoy every last moment of India, but I also didn't want to waste all the endurance and strength I'm going to return with.

Ciao, happy training
Cindy

PS - received my Visa for India! (even TDA was asking for it....)

The Piles are Accumulating.....

Namaste!

22 days, but who's counting?  I AM!!

Things have been rolling along since my last post and I was doing so well with training and preparations.  Had an excellent time trial pre-Christmas with an 8 watt increase in my power output and an increase in my watts/kg too.  YAY!

Then I woke up on Christmas day with a flippin' cold - grrr.  Oh well, life does move along.  It's been freakin' cold, so not the end of the world to be staying inside while feeling like crap.  I've refocused a little and started various lists of things still left to do for India.  Thankfully a relatively short list since time is running out.

I've amassed 2 piles - "clothing" and "stuff".  I'm almost ready for Carla's inspection.  I'm so glad TDA sent out a packing list.  It's been really helpful 'cause I love to overpack.  I have a distinct memory of 9 pairs of shoes for my week in Arizona for Ironman.  Why would I need 2 pairs of the same runners -1 new and 1 old? - which is how I wore one of each on race day.  I also realized I don't really have a pair of long, light travel pants and those aren't too easy to find in January in Canada. But, I've accumulated a return pile for MEC.

I think I have all my extra days pre-post ride taken care of.  Jan 26-29 in Delhi, then a few extra nights in Goa before flying home.  I have to double check on this as I've been booking all over the place online.  Perhaps not the best planning.

One thing I have been delinquent on is getting my Visa for India.  I should have taken care of that before Christmas.  I went to the Visa office today unprepared and have lost another day....

Happy training and here's to the New Year - so excited to be starting off 2017 with a cycling trip!!

Ciao - Cindy

P.S. - The Brooks saddle seems to be the ticket!

"Goldilocks and the 3'ish Saddles"

Namaste

You know the fairy tale "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears"?  Well consider this the "Cindy and the 7 Saddles" version.

• Alternate blog title:  Should've Let Elmar Take My Seat 

With TDA - Hippie Trail on the near horizon (7 weeks away!!) I'm still struggling to find a tolerable saddle for my touring bike - Kona Sutra, as we'll be averaging 100km per day on this trip.  This is an important component!!  The other thing that is making this especially difficult is that I'm saddle testing on my trainer at the moment, which isn't ideal.

• I immediately eliminated the saddle my Kona Sutra came with (1)
• When I went to Cuba last year I used my mountain bike seat (2) on my Kona, which was OK, but I came home with a saddle sore that took about 3 weeks to heal....
• Then came a series of shopping trips to various bike stores/online to trial a multitude of saddles over the last 5 months or so.
• Specialized Power Tri saddle on Argon 18 - hate this saddle (3), so it needs to be replaced

• Selle Italia - Diva Flow (4, 5, 6) - ordered/returned 2 online (and ordered a third in error), I was so convinced I would like this one - nope for tri bike and touring bike

• Specialized Oura - maybe on my Tri bike (5)

• Specialized Avatar - likely on my Tri bike (6), not for Kona

• Brooks England Cambrian C17  (7) - I think this is it; made of rubber with a cotton fabric overlay; currently being "test ridden".  The big test is 3 hour Sat bike class.

So the following saddles are for sale:

• Specialized Tri Power Saddle
• Selle Italia - Diva Flow
• Specialized Oura

Call me....

Wish me luck - my ass is going to need it.

Ciao, happy training - Cindy

Temp Check

Namaste!

I have some bike routes that I could probably do in my sleep as they are very familiar.
Today was one of them and I was fortunate to ride outside as the wind wasn't blasting from the north at 50 km/hr.  It was a tad chilly, but I was happy to be out.  Missed my usual Sat ride to due to my confusion on when we were celebrating my Dad's birthday, so completed an outside ride today instead.

I rode from my house to hwy 22 and back via Springbank Rd - 75 km round trip.  I completed this same ride in Sept this year shortly after I decided to sign-up for the Hippie Trail with TDA Cycling.

Some observations from today - the 1 km kick up Edworthy hill was doable today and I didn't come close to falling over b/c I was able to keep my cadence up - yay progress!
The last roller back into Calgary on Springbank Rd can be daunting as you approach it and think you're going to die on this hill (Sept) when I actually had to stop at the top, get off my bike and rest for a couple of minutes vs. today - plough up, albeit slowly, carry on to the finish (home), no stopping.

Tried a pair of clip on tri-bars on my Kona Sutra today, but I didn't really like them.  An experiment for India - thinking a change of position may be beneficial from my regular handlebars.  I think being able to go into my drops should be enough.  These tri-bars don't have a lot of adjustment, so may try them a couple more times and then make the final decision.  Also need to consider it may be more important to be able to mount a handlebar bag than have tri-bars.  Since I'm figuring a potential extra few hundred kms due to being lost and backtracking in India, the handlebar bag to hold my daily trip sheet to refer to at a glance may be the more important priority.

Ciao, happy training
Cindy

Steady as she goes....

Namaste!

First month of training for Tour d'Afrique - Hippie Trail in the bag!  No missed workouts and solid start to my preparation for India.  As always - I feel very fortunate to have the supportive coaching from the Talisman Tri-Club custom coaching packages, as well as the coaching from the classes I'm currently in.

I'm training with Paul this year and so far so good (I think - right coach?). I've known Paul since 2005 when I started at the Talisman and through the bike classes he's coached.  He has mountains of cycling knowledge that he willingly shares, a great sense of humour and he agreed to get me to the start line of this big exciting adventure - even though he and his wife welcomed their second son in early Sept.  Congratulations!

You know when you watch a charity event and at the end they parade out the grand total on one of those giant cheques?  Well, when I sent my cheque to TDA to pay for my trip - I felt like it should have been one of those enormous cheques, because it was an enormous cheque!!  It is going to be so worth it.  I've had my eye on this trip since 2012 as it's one of the shorter trips and I'm finally able to swing it with vacation time from work.

I'm also happy to say I can check off all the boxes in my last post!

Carla has been very patient and extremely helpful in my prep for touring too - thank you friend!  She completed the "big one" - Tour d'Afrique and is also a member of my tri-club.  I may have bombarded her with endless questions from the first day I met her in bike class.  I recognized her from her blog (I know kinda creepy, but that's the internet for ya).  Her sense of adventure and travel knowledge is amazing!

The other thing that's happened in the past month are some kick-ass shopping sales - Bow Cycle 30% off customer appreciation night --> BOOM bike parts list done!  Spin Sisters, MEC shopping night 10% off --> more essentials off the list. Trying really hard to pay cash for all the incidentals for this trip.  I know that Speed Theory also has some crazy bike (i.e.: road bikes) deals on at the moment.... must stay focused on India.

OK - back on the bike....
Ciao Cindy

Namaste

1. Change Blog name to "Traveling - No Triathlons"
2. Hire Coach
3. Renew Passport
4. Visit Travel Clinic
5. Book Flights
6. Buy Insurance
7. Purchase Lonely Planet - INDIA
8. Start a packing list
9. Ride bike
10. Ride bike more
11. Practice taking photos from bike

.... And so begins another adventure on my bike Jan 24, 2017 - March 14, 2017 which will start in New Delhi and finish in Goa, India with ~3000'ish km in between.

CUBA by Bike

HA - I don't have a single photo of myself on a bike in Cuba!  But I saw a lot of Cuba on my bike!

I've never been to Cuba, but was intrigued to go when Gerald and Linda asked me if I was interested. We planned out the trip together and covered a good deal of ground - Havana for 3 days, cycling for 15 days with CanbBiCuba on an eastern loop from Holguin and an all-inclusive beach resort for 5 days in Varadero to finish things off. All that combined with more lunches of rice-beans, pork and banana chips, that then evolved into ham and cheese sandwiches, than anyone could ask for!

When people talk about the food in Cuba it doesn't get stellar reviews, but one thing I will say - you are eating what's fresh, in season and there's minimal processing; mmm bananas. Having stayed in such a variety of places I also thought it would be a good idea to search for the best Mojito - it is a Cuban original.... The winner was the Hotel Sierra Maestra in Bayamo.  We stayed here on 2 different nights and the best mojito was made by the bartender we encountered on the first go around. So it was a very elusive Mojito...

In spite of the general consensus of mediocre food in Cuba, we did have some excellent meals - the Globe and Mail had a travel feature on new restaurants in Havana and we dined at Cafe Laurent, which was on the list. Linda and I ordered the same thing, we both enjoyed it, but I got food poisoning (Linda didn't)....  The restaurant at Peter's apt building was also very good - baguettes and pizzas.  The resort in Varadero had several al a cart restaurants and I think the last meal we had at the Hilltop Restaurant was the best on the trip.

The cycling was brilliant.  We had a variety of terrain/roads, very little traffic for the most part and many estimates of what distances we would be doing for the day!!  My favourite ride was our longest day along the southern coast.  It was a blue sky, 38'C, and gorgeous.  Sometimes right next to the ocean, or above it, over the occasional washed out bridge or section of road, spectacular scenery and very little traffic.  I saw the most enormous cake on the back of a horse drawn cart, held in place by 2 happy kids, on it's way to a wedding or birthday - it was at least 2 ft x 3 ft.  But you know the feeling you get when you get to 100km and expect to see your abode for the evening, but you're just in a little village and it turns out you have another 11 km to go....  the longest ride was not 100km, it was 111km!!  And worth every km.

Watch where you're going!!

Beautiful vistas along the way

The other highlight of the cycling was Peter's sponsorship/support of local cycling teams. The majority of these are high school teams of both males and females.  One of the things that CanBiCuba asks of it's riders is to bring spare bike parts for donation to the various teams. We met up with a female team of 13 - 17 olds.  They were lovely and fast!   They met us about 20 km outside of Las Tunas, rode into town with us and hosted us for a pig roast and salsa dancing that evening at the coaches home.  It was so much fun. I suffer from "white girls rhythm" when it comes to Salsa dancing, but gave it a go.

  

The cycling was a diverse group of 14 + Peter, the tour owner; Rueben, the bike mechanic; Harley, the "cultural guide"; and Philippe, the bus driver. The nice thing about cycling is that you congregate in the am for breakfast, along the way for lunch and in the evening for a meal, so you don't get tired of each other and you spend a little time with everyone at some point.  

The lunch time meal went something like this.  First - find a town with a restaurant with enough food to feed 18 of us; pay someone a peso or 2 to watch the bikes; one meal for everyone - rice/beans, pork/chicken or fish; banana chips; drinks - they always had enough beer and rum; didn't often have bottled water; or someone would run somewhere else to get pop.  This process took anywhere from 1-3 hours.  Then we started making ham and cheese sandwiches from the buffet breakfast in the mornings or eating whatever we brought with us in regard to protein bars, etc.  Lunch on the road was a double edged sword - you stopped to eat (1-3 hours) and arrived at your destination for the night at check-in time (3 or 4 pm).  You continued and ate your sandwich and arrived at your destination around 1 or 2 pm.  Then you get to hang out in the hotel lobby for a couple of hours b/c the rooms aren't ready.  Michelle and I started putting our bathing suits in the top of our luggage and then we would go for a swim in the pool while waiting for check-in, if there was a pool at the hotel.  Very refreshing after a day on the bike with road grit stuck to you and your sunscreen coated appendages.

Peter definitely has the patience of a saint - running a cycling tour company in Cuba is a challenge. You're dealing with a communist government that dictates how the tour operates. You know which hotels you want to stay in along the tour route, submit your choices to the government - you may or may not get your requested destination; or you arrive at the destination and said hotel and is over booked so you go to plan B; you must have a "cultural guide" with you on all tours, but you won't ever get the same one and they may or may not be a cyclist.  You request the size of bus you want and the government assigns a driver. You run the tour in the same areas from year to year, but things are always changing.

Harley, our cultural guide, got to know the meaning of "herding cats" as he was continually counting us, but then we'd change positions mid-count, totally oblivious to what he was doing.  He used to work for Customs, but changed jobs when the government stopped allowing them to receive "tips" (his words, not mine).  We were his first tour.  He was tested on the first day when some of us decided not to walk up the stairs/viewpoint in Holguin.  He parked us in a cafe and when he returned with the other group and we had wandered away from the cafe, he was beside himself.  He became much more relaxed....

We had an interesting start to the tour and "Cuban" time.  40 seat bus to arrive and depart at 8 am, no make that 9 am.  Oh wait, they'll pick up the bus at 9 am; remove half the seats for the bikes, then pick a driver; bus departs at 1:30 pm - sort of.  We are going down what seem to be very residential streets - we are at Phillipe's (bus driver) house!!  He picks up his suitcase and we are on our way. Interestingly, Phillipe has an Economics degree, but decided to learn English and change jobs to drive tour buses b/c the tips are much better than what an Economist wouldn't make. 

My impressions of Cuba:

• Seeing Cuba on a bike is so worth it!!
• The scenery is beautiful and we saw many parts of Cuba that the average tourist wouldn't see
• Best/most accurate Lonely Planet hotel description: "tropical reincarnation of a Gulag camp" - we stayed here
• I felt very safe travelling around 
• Small children can be very sombre
• The food is mediocre, but fresh
• I didn't see a single plane fly overhead in the 3.5 weeks we were there and not many boats along the coast
• Many small town squares are wifi accessible, so you'd see people congregating around computers and phones in the squares
• The only new structures I saw going up were 2 or 3 new hotels in Varadero.  Many restoration projects in Havana that are partnered with Unesco and private investors (they are signed to reflect this)
• Are the people poor?  I think it depends on your definition - you have a house/apt to live in, food to eat, excellent medical care, schooling guaranteed to grade 9, university is free, if you qualify
• Males complete 2 years of mandatory military duty; females voluntarily do military service, but this can improve their chances of getting into a university; Cuba's biggest export - medical doctors
• Autopista Nacionale = 6 lanes of highway that are almost void of traffic 
• Traffic =  Soviet era giant truck/buses, horse drawn carriages, bike taxis, motorbikes, cars (1950's American, Ladas, Chinese brands, Kia, Hyundai), people walking, horses, oxen drawn carts, donkey drawn carts, tour/city buses (Chinese made), bicycles
• Roads - smooth new highway, hard top, potholed, dirt track, washed out, narrow but with courteous drivers - biggest vehicle has the right of way, like most of the world....
• I enjoyed learning about the history of the Revolution
• Tourists - Canadians, Europeans, although we had 3 Americans on our tour - they entered Cuba via Mexico and Toronto
• It will be interesting to see how Cuba evolves once the American trade embargo is lifted. I didn't get the impression all Cubans were eager to welcome Americans with open arms.  Whether the infrastructure to support a big influx of visitors is in place will remain to be seen...

Would I go back to Cuba?  Probably not, because there are too many places in the world to see, but I would recommend it.  

Oh and I bought a new bike - Kona Sutra touring bike, I love it, I want to use it some more... 

From this Dec 3....

to this Dec 12.....