CRAMP!!!

OK, so it's been some time since my last bike ride. TC went on Spring Break for 3 weeks (Mar 23 - Apr 14). The first two weeks I couldn't ride by myself since I was hanging out with TC. The last week coincided with Canine's spring break so we all went up to visit Portland, OR. Nice city. What I liked about Portland is that it is very pedestrian/bike friendly. Drivers were more courteous, unlike the agressive drivers in SoCal. We also had a chance to see some waterfalls outside the city. When we got back, I immediately started helping out Canine set up a few parties.

So today was my first time back in the saddle. Although I got a late start (12:30pm) I felt pretty fresh. I figured I'd take a nice, steady pace and see if I could do more than 15 mi. I went west on E J st. and took a street down to Telegraph next to the shopping center. Then I went east on Telegraph to Med Ctr Dr. Took Med Ctr Dr south (had to stand up to get up the hill) to Olympic Pky. Took OP east to E Palomar and turned around to get back to Med Ctr Dr. Took Med Ctr Dr north (nice hill - ugh!) to Telegraph. Took Telegraph east to Salt Creek. Yes, the bike lane on Telegraph is NOT as nice a ride as OP. Turned around at Salt Creek and rode to Paseo Del Rey. Going up this hill was roughly my 20 mi mark and suddenly my quads started to cramp! Not wanting to stop my momentum, I dug my thumbs into my quads while riding up the hill in hopes of working out the cramp. It seemed to work and I was able to make it to the top of the hill (E J st). I was glad it was downhill to E H st. Once on E H st, the cramps subsided and I was able to make it home.

22 miles today. Not bad (aside from the cramping). Next time I'll make sure I have a banana before my ride.