Fruity Spring Rolls and the Journey to Mt. Hamilton

I'm riding The Art of Survival Century at the end of May, so on today's agenda was a 30-something mile ride. None of the club rides suited my needs and I wanted to get back early enough to do some homework (bahahaha!...about that...), so I tried mapping out a ride on MapMyRide.com. Nothing looked interesting. It's kind of nice to do a new route, but not if you're unsure about how well traveled it is or the state of the bike lanes. On a whim I decided to go back up Mt. Hamilton.

The Century I'm doing is flat, so there's really no other reason to do hills other than it's good for me and will maybe help me gain some strength back in my legs (getting there!). I haven't been up Mt. Hamilton since early last summer, so it's been awhile. I don't remember it being particularly difficult, just a long steady climb.

I've also been trying to fuel myself with healthy foods as much as possible, which can be a little difficult while participating in training events. Running any longer than 10 miles in training, I  bring along a GU. Which is really just sugar in gel form. While not an ideal replacement of nutrients for your body, it is incredibly convenient and does not involve any chewing and greatly limits the likelihood that I will choke on it and die. Also, it's fairly hard to digest solid food while running. My stomach does not appreciate any attempt to make it do so.

Cycling though, allows for some creativity and solid food. Your stomach doesn't bounce around while riding a bike. Unless you're doing it wrong. So why not have really tasty, healthy, real food?

You might remember my go with "Feed Zone Portables", my athletes-on-the-go cookbook. Lots of great ideas with an incredibly horrible description on how to wrap the stupid things. Anyway, it's really great to figure out new exciting foods to take with me on my rides. These rides can last several hours. I on the other hand cannot last that long without refueling, especially if I'm exerting myself substantially. It's nice to drop by Starbucks mid-ride for a cappuccino and pastry, but really that is not an efficient replacement of much needed nutrients.

I was at Sprouts yesterday and came across this:

This is rice paper. As you can surely read. If you've ever had a spring roll at a Thai or Chinese restaurant, this is what they are made with. Not the fried egg roll things, those are different. These are just clear rice paper.

While I had already planned some prosciutto quesadillas for my ride, when I saw this on the shelf, I instantly thought- portable food! Portable food is awesome. On my last ride I brought a banana and a chicken breast. I just shove them into my jersey pockets and go.

Since I already had the savory quesadilla planned, I decided to try to make something sweet. And then I decided on Strawberry and Banana Spring Rolls with peanut butter.

So this morning I cut up a banana and some strawberries and rolled them up into the rice paper. It was interesting. After completely fouling up the first one, I got a good technique down and the rest went much better.

All you do is dip the rice paper (which comes out looking like a plastic disk) in warm water for about 5 seconds, put it on a plate, put your filling on it, and roll it up.

 I know, they look kinda weird, but they were delicious! The thing about spring rolls is that they're kind of sticky. So you can't really just stack a bunch on top of each other and go for it. I should get some of that foil that's lined with wax paper. But for now, I just rolled them up in foil.

I wasn't chomping at the bit to go do this ride, as much as I love the ride, since I knew it was going to be at least a little tough. Boy do I underestimate mountains sometimes.

It turned out to be a beautiful day. Perfect temperature, sunny, and everything is green right now.

There's a "warm up" section of the ride before you dip down in to a valley just before starting the actual climb up Mt. Hamilton. Turns out to be an 8 mile warm up. And it's steeper than I remember.

I stopped in the valley for a bathroom break at the county park (dirt trails there for hiking and mountain biking). As you start to climb up out of the valley (sad that you're already in your last gear) Mt. Hamilton disappears out of view and it's just you and the road. And the occasional cyclists who miraculously zooms past you. And cars too. But I got up there before it got busy, so that helped with vehicular traffic.

I stopped to take a photo climbing out of the valley and got the first view of Mt. Hamilton (and Lick Observatory) since diving into the valley.

So very far away.

I couldn't believe how I was stuck in this same last gear for so long. I don't remember having to be in that gear the whole time last time (although who can actually remember what gear you were in 6 months ago?). I thought about how much fitness I had lost this last year due to injury and getting in to a relationship. That's what happens when you get in a relationship you know. You forgo workouts in exchange for spending time together. I started to berate myself a little while struggling up the mountain.

After what seemed like forever, I spotted a sign that said "Lick Observatory, 5 miles."

So close....yet so far. 5 miles is nothing on flat or downhill. 5 miles is forever going uphill. I started to switch back and forth between standing and sitting. I was tired and slightly downtrodden at my loss of fitness. Well Carrie, that's why you're climbing Mt. Hamilton now. To get stronger.

Every once in awhile I got another view of the observatory, taunting me. I was now close enough that I could see a few people leaning on the railing looking down into the valley, and presumably discussing how slow I was coming up the road. But I'm guessing they were the motorcyclists that had zoomed by me. Or perhaps the couple of cyclists that had managed to fly up the hill with ease.

And then there it was. I passed by the dormitories and back behind the largest telescope. I knew I was almost there. I came to the most beautiful stop sign in the world and an even more beautiful sign pointing in the direction of the observatory. "Lick Observatory 1/4 mile".

I had planned on resting before making that last 1/4 mile push. I remember that last part being exceptionally steep and I was exhausted.

But a quarter mile, a quarter mile! I had to keep going. I turned up the hill and pressed on.

Finally!

I coasted in to the parking lot and dismounted my bike, trying to suppress the groan that escaped my body as my muscles spasmed and cried out. I looked down the valley toward San Jose and snapped a few pictures.

You can see San Jose in the far valley, before the Santa Cruz mountains in the background.

Mt. Umunum marked by the small little rectangle on top (you'll have to click on the photo to enlarge it). Hick's Road leads up to Mt. Umunum Road and is my nemesis currently. I have never made it up Hicks without stopping to rest my legs briefly- several times. One day I will. It's steep and unforgiving. The old military tower on top of Mt. Umunum is a constant reminder of my struggles with Hick's Road.

And there it is, Lick Observatory. And some guy who came up the hill with the Mini-Cooper convention.

A lady walked up to me and asked if I had ridden all the way from the bottom. I said I had. She asked how long that took. A couple of the fast cyclists standing nearby enjoying the view looked over. Whatever. I looked at my garmin. "Well, 2 hours and 14 minutes actually." I told her, avoiding looking over at the fast guys. It was almost 19 miles uphill. I might not be fast, but I can chug along. At least she was impressed even if the other cyclists were not. I got the impression she couldn't fathom coming up that hill on a bike, especially with it taking so long to do so.

I pulled around the back to sit in the courtyard and eat my little lunch. They have a gift shop and coffee shop there too. I was tempted to go in but I didn't need to spend money and I certainly did not need any caffeine for the harrowing ride down. I needed to be as relaxed as possible.

I sat in the sun and enjoyed my fruit spring rolls and prosciutto quesadilla, leaving one small piece for the end of the ride.

After about a half hour, I headed back down. I tried to stay relaxed and work on my descent and my turns. I placed my hands low in the drops and let the bike shift back and forth around the turns underneath me. It was such a long descent my body got tired and my lower back started to ache. My hips no longer wanted to move separately from the bike. My turns started to get messier. Hairpin turns. I coached myself in my head. Lean the bike, not your body. But my body was so stiff it no longer wanted to lift off the bike and allow it to move freely underneath me. I slowed down.

I got to where I could sit up and stretch a bit, and then the descent started again. Again I went down into the drops, relaxed my shoulders and let the bike lean in and out of turns while I held my body still above it. My back had relaxed a little, so again I worked on my turns until my body stiffened up and quit taking them smoothly.

I stopped at the county park again to use the restroom, had one more small climb before the last descent, then cruised through the turns that weren't quite so steep or tight. As I pulled into the intersection at the bottom, I could see my jeep waiting for me and had a small urge to just blow through the stop sign. Those last ten feet separated me from my vehicle. From being able to dismount this bike for the last time today.

I waited for the cars to pass, then coasted over, clipped in on one pedal and standing on it, pushing with the toe of my other foot.

And I was done.

Turns out I actually did quite well. I plugged my data into Strava, the online sporting competition/bragging rights thing, and I had a ton of PR's! Mind you, Strava does not stop the watch when you stop for lunch or take pictures, which is a bummer, but oh well. It tracked my ride and it turns out I might not be in as terrible shape as I thought.

A little screenshot of my strava account. 37.5 miles, in less than 3.5 hours. Over 4800 ft of elevation gain. It took me an hour less to get down than it did to get up.

In case you can't see that elevation profile very well:

There it is. That is a mountain. And I climbed it today. On my bike. And I have since not accomplished much at all. Just the thought of trying to focus enough to do physics or calculus homework is just too much to bear. But I did take a hot bath, nap, make food and eat it, prep more food, and I'm almost done with laundry. So it's not like I've been completely lazy. Plus I looked over my computer code a few times since it isn't working and I can't figure out why. Something about thermal diffusion and advection, which I don't entirely understand and therefore incapable of tweaking the equations we've been given. Bah.

I have an 8 mile run tomorrow. Nice and easy, just cruising. Monday's ride is going to be flat.