they call me jlam

And The Tan Lines Begin

Rode with some friends to Horseshoe Bay early this morning in the pouring rain and since I don’t have full length cycling tights, my knee warmers was as much as I could do.  Anyways, as the weather got warmer I took them off and to my horror there was  a distinct line on the middle of my calf.  I consoled myself by saying that it’s just dirt from all the rain and debris but the photo proves otherwise.  The only solution is to go riding without the warmers!!

In other news, I’ve reached 92% of my fundraising goal!  Please continue to consider supporting Ride 2012 either by helping me or Team VCAC.

We’re going to have a booth at Fraser Lands after English service tomorrow.  Come by and say hi=)

       

Training - Cypress Brain Freeze

Cypress Mountain - thoughts of snowboarding, look out points, and snowshoeing probably dance in your head whenever you hear it’s name.  Not so for me!  More like a nightmare of a climb that I have refused to do many times past but with Ride 2012 fast approaching in just 3 weeks, I have to at least attempt it for training purposes.  Since the sunshine finally decided to come out and stay, surviving Cypress was the end goal Wednesday night after work.  I was so nervous throughout the entire day my hands were shaking when I left work - can I do it or will I chicken out?  Tad harder to chicken out when you don’t want to stand a friend up so good thing Tim is training for a race too=)

[Thanks to his handy computer/gps/phone device, the route and stats of the ride can be found by clicking on the photo below]

It took awhile to get into a groove and while my goal was to reach the first lookout point I felt good enough to try and reach the second lookout at Quarry Point. Whoa man, the stretch between the first and second points was super tough and I was pretty happy when we got to Quarry Point (2/3 of Cypress conquered).  While climbing is hard, descending that mountain is SUPER CRAZY.  First off, you need to wear a jacket.  It is freezing going downhill.  Second, you are absolutely flying, reaching speeds of 61 km, with only just you and your bike.  My head was so cold when it was all over, brain freeze!

I’ve also reached 50% of my fundraising goal!  If you’ve considered helping me reach my goal but haven’t contributed yet, click here to remedy that=)  Ride 2012 is just weeks away and I would love to reach and surpass my goal before it starts!

                                             

                  

25% funds raised!

The countdown is on.  With just 38 days to go before the ride and only 5 weekends left for training, Ride 2012 is coming fast!  Time to start climbing hills (UGH!!!!!!!!) and ride even when it’s raining in case it does sprinkle during the actual ride.

The reason for this post is to really thank all those who have put in their support for the ride.  As of right now, $770 of my $3000 fundraising goal has been raised so I’m 25% there!  My goal is $3000 because Ride 2012 is raising support for inner city communities in three cities - Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver so I wanted to share the love to all three cities equally.  THANK YOU to those who have contributed already!

If you’d like to support me and Ride 2012, please click here to be redirected to my fundraising page.  Exciting times!
___________

Attempt to take off knee warmers on the side of the road - not so graceful.

                 

June 9: ShotBloks & Sushi

Let’s be honest, the best part of going for a long bike ride is the food during and after.  I get hungry so it’s important to ensure that there’s calories to burn else I’d be really grumpy and tired.  The last time I was in the States I purchased a load of ShotBloks - my favourite thing to snack on while biking.  ShotBloks are super delicious, they come in cubes and are like big gummi candies.  They make me happy.

This past Saturday I wanted to do my first century ride of the year, 100km and more cause that’s how far we’ll travel each day during Ride 2012.  Three of us made it from Vancouver over to West Vancouver via Second Narrows before one had to head home due to other plans.  Those remaining rode to Horseshoe Bay, back into Vancouver via Lions Gate, through downtown and then the important decision of what to eat?  Since I couldn’t remember exactly where Bao Chau was (most excellent Pho) we made our way to Sushi Nanaimo.  With drinks from McDonald’s in hand, we feasted on their amazing spicy salmon sashimi in a nearby park.

I wish I could say that we did ride 100km that day but unfortunately, we didn’t=(  I didn’t hydrate well before riding and my legs were cramping already coming out of West Van, no amount of ShotBloks would have saved me.  I was so shaky that I had to take the skytrain from Nanaimo to Metrotown.  I’m a bit disappointed that I flaked a bit on this ride, but oh well, till next time=)

It Was a Long Spinning Class - 5.5 hours
Distance - 75km
______

The Route 

The Sustenance
 

How Does One Pose With Their Bike?
 

Sushi Nanaimo - Spicy Salmon combo!!!
  
__________

Total Funds Raised: $550, 18% there!
Click here to support me: Ride 2012 - Jessica Lam 

hey there’s a new ride, it’s just crazy, it’s just for 1 day, so join me maybe?

Does the thought of wearing tight bike shorts for a full week scare you?  Or the possibility of getting perma t-shirt/shorts/sock tan lines all in 1 week nauseate you?  Well, put the smelling salts away cause Ride 2012 just opened up a new “Ride for a Day” option!!  This is for anyone who would like to join the team for a day as we ride through your town.  For those in the Lower Mainland, this would probably be on August 5th, the last day of the ride as we’ll be riding into Vancouver from Tsawwassen.  It would seriously be so super awesome to have you join the team on the last day.  What a way to finish strong!

Registration information can be found here: Ride for a Day and please let me know if you are interested, it’s not that crazy=)
____________

Thank you to all those who have donated and are helping me reach my goal.  I’m 16% there!

700 km, 5 days, 1 bike – Kelowna to Vancouver

From July 29 – August 4 I’ll be riding with a couple friends from Kelowna to Vancouver in support of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, all to raise support and awareness for inner city congregations in Montreal,Toronto, andVancouver.  I’ll be kick starting my blog again to chronicle the training rides, the food afterwards and there probably will be some whining about shoe tan lines.

Thank you in advance for your generous support=)  For more info, please visit the Ride 2012 link in the menu above.