Velodromes and Peach Cider, continued.

Yesterday, the velodrome was so much fun!

I went to Redmond early, and I rode around lake sammamish (about 25 miles).  then i went to the general thursday night class, which was nerve-racking.  i get scared riding with a lot of men when i don't know their skill levels, but i survived.  i did a 400 m sprint from a standing start to get my seed time, but i don't know if it was good.  

the women's class was really fun.  we got to do a keirin race simulation, where we motorpaced behind a motorcycle for 3.5 laps starting at 15 mph and going up to 28.  once he pulled off, we had 1.5 laps to duke it out.  i went first in the paceline behind the motorcycle, which was a little scary but not so bad.  i managed to stay in front after he pulled off, and i held it out for the "win".  it was fun!  i spent about 5 hours on my bike yesterday.

also, the peach cider was good.  i am a fan.

buyers remorse

i am having a little bit of buyers remorse.

i went to a bike shop today and found a bianchi pista in my size.  the guy working at the shop also happened to be at the track class yesterday, and he let me test ride it for longer than i was supposed to.  i rode around green lake in my sandals (go me; wearing sandals to buy a new bike).  i liked it, and it felt close enough to my road setup so it won't be too much of a switch in position and muscle recruitment.  it's weird how i can tell if my seat height is off to a few millimeters.

i ended up buying the bike.  it was only $650 with tax.  i didn't think i'd find a much better price online with shipping, and i thought that if i waited, they might sell my size.  

when i got home, i went for a spin around Ballard, but i didn't get clipped in all the way before i started going downhill.  i one-leg pedaled for awhile while narrowly avoiding a bus.  luckily there was no one in the intersection because i couldn't stop with just one foot.  other than that, the rest of my ride was uneventful.  it was only about 4 miles.  things that are weird: standing up to cross railroad tracks doesn't work quite the same; standing up to go over speed bumps; stopping.  on the track, though, i don't really have to deal with any of these issues.

i'm just feeling like this was a bit of an impulse buy.  maybe i should have tried riding/racing on the track a few more times before buying a bike.  oh well; at least it was only $650. 

My favorite is the ! no brakes. haha

Le Velodrome

Yesterday was my first experience on the velodrome.  It was so much fun!

At the Marymoor velodrome in Redmond, they make you take an intro class before you can do anything else on the track.  I did that yesterday.  It was 4 hours of instruction and drills.  We did some elbow bumping drills, pacelining, and some other general stuff.

I thought I would hate track riding because my natural instinct is to brake when I get scared.  I had never ridden a fixed gear before, but it wasn't so bad at all. :)  After the class, we got to ride around for awhile, and I practiced sprinting out of the saddle.  It's much easier on a fixie because there is a constant pressure on the pedals and the pedal strokes are more fluid.  

On Thursdays, they have women's night at the velodrome where they do training.  I think I will go this Thursday.  Then I'll start with the Monday night racing and hopefully quickly move up to Wednesday and maybe eventually Friday night.  Now I need a track bike.  I really want a green bianchi, but I am having trouble finding one.   I may resort to painting my own bike.

Compactless in Seattle

As you may know, Seattle is really hilly.

I broke my shifter on my Colnago in the collegiate national crit, and since then, I've been demoted to my Litespeed.  This means that I've been riding regular cranks, not compact.  There are some nice rides from our apartment, but they have some very steep hills on them.  I'm getting pretty good at climbing out of the saddle for extended periods of time, though.

My new shifter came yesterday, and of course, Erin left it at work, but when he does finally bring it home, I may finally be able to experience the joys of a compact in this city.  I found a pretty nice route from my apartment where I only have to unclip about 3 times over 17 miles.  I know 17 miles seems short, but with so many steep hills, I only average like 14-15 mph, so it takes longer than usual.  It's actually a little sad how slow the rides are, but I know I'm doing ok because I can still drop Erin on the hills. ;-)

I got an interview with the company that I really want to work for - for the health care consulting position.  Unlike my last interview, where I had no real interest in working for the company, this one is for real.  Hopefully my BCBG pantsuit with short sleeves is business formal enough.  

Finally a nice day

My dad got me a new camera - the olympus stylus 850 sw. 8 megapixels!  here are some  pictures. 

Yesterday was finally a nice day, so we went to the beach a few blocks from our apartment.  It's along the Puget Sound, so you can't swim because it's freezing, but it's still nice.   It's cool how on such short notice, when the weather is nice, so many people go to the beach.  All the fire pits were taken, and there were a lot of people playing volleyball and catch.

Here is a view from our apartment.  You can see the very tip of mt rainier when it's not cloudy. I keep hoping that it will grow or queen anne will shrink so that i can see more of it. so far, no luck.
The rock gym that I want to go to.

I seem to have pulled my hip flexor, so it really hurts when i run/hike for a long time/swim.  It's putting a damper on my exercising.  I really want to start playing tennis.

Today I signed up for an intro class at the velodrome.  I want to start going to the women's nights on Thursdays, but in order to do those, you have to do a track intro course first.  I signed up for next Sunday.  I think I will either really like track racing or I will really hate it.

New Apartment and Progress

We moved into our new apartment on June 1. We've spent most of the time since then unpacking and buying things for the apartment.  

We got a great deal on a couch, a kitchen table, and chairs from a consignment store.  It's all nice stuff for only $500 total!  The rest of the stuff we got from Ikea, which included some artwork, a dresser, and some end tables.  We also got some miscellaneous items like plants for our porch and compact fluorescent light bulbs to save $$$ and our precious environment.

Here are some pictures.  I don't want to upload them all to here. 

flickr

I am also making progress on the job search.  I heard back from 2 companies so far; one is for a sales position at a language translation company.  the other is for a health care analyst at a consulting firm.  I had 2 phone interviews with the first company already and I should have an interview in person next week.  I have a phone interview with the other company today.  I'm not sure how I feel about sales, so I'm a little hesitant about that position.  I wouldn't mind it since I would be selling something that I know is important, but I don't know how good I would be at sales.  We'll see.

I haven't been riding that much.  I've just been busy with the job search; it's turned into a full time job.  Also, the weather has been awful.  It's been 50 and rainy almost everyday since I've been here.  I have been swimming a few times, though, and we go for walks/hikes when we don't ride.  There is also a rock gym right across the street which I really want to go to.