Check out my Rack!

I bet you think this post is going to be about boobs, huh? WRONG!

I needed a way to get Cupcake home from the bike shop without leaving my car there, and not running/walking to the shop since I am still lazy (yes, you can be a runner and be lazy!). So I pretty much needed to get a car rack (haha, told you it wasn't about boobs). So I headed over to bike supplier (http://www.revolutioncycles.com/ if you couldn't guess) and picked up a Saris Bones 2 rack (runs for $129.99). It's SUPER easy to use (even though I had Alex put it on for me), light, and holds 2 bikes (in case Cupcake gets a sibling).

Once I mounted the rack on Spike, I loaded up Cupcake, and we took our first trip....home.

Once home (with both my car AND bike) I got ready for a nice ride on Sunday.

What's a nice ride you ask? Oh, let me tell you.

Apes version: A lovely scenic ride to fellow sorority sister/resident/blogger/friend Ashley Jones' house where lunch is waiting for me.

Real-life version: Hilly ride of hell to Annandale, resulting in sore legs.

Yes, I rode my bike from Clarendon to Annandale (about 10 miles).

Yes, it has CRAZY hills and my bike is a single speed (NO SHIFTING) so I had to walk it uphill about 3 times

Yes, lunch was delicious (thanks AJ)

Yes, my legs were pretty much immovable once I got off the bike (esp since my legs were still hurting from my Sat run)

Yes, Ashley had to drive me home since there was no way I could make it home alive riding on Cupcake.

Now I would like to say this was my first solo ride (and a RATHER AMBITIOUS one at that) and it was ALL street. By ALL street I mean, no bike lanes. So at first I tried to stay as close to the sidewalk curb as I could but then eventually realized that the gravel/sand/etc I was riding on was NOT conducive to Cupcake OR my legs. So I forced those cars to go around me (sorry drivers) in my lane, as I had every right to be on the road as well - I mean my mode of transportation DID involve wheels as well. When possible, I did use the store parking lots to bike through instead of the street, so it helped a little. At one point, I did this and I met with a guardrail staring me in the face. So I had to lift my bike over (I felt like I was training for a cyclocross) and then keep riding.

Luckily, Ashly had some banging sandwich items so I ate 2 of them. Then we hit the movies (she drove) and then dropped me at my place to get Spike so we could transport Cupcake back to her home. Before she sent me on my way she equipped me with a Tupperware of mom-made pot roast for dinner (totally didn't eat it last night, but I am going to SCARF that down for lunch today....mouth already watering for it).

So there we go....bust weekend of exercising, and Cupcake is up and moving! :)

And with my hours being scaled back at Rev Cycles, I will have some time to actually run/exercise during the week (once my legs feel better)!

- apes -

The hunt for Strawberry Lava

Background: Georgetown Cupcakes is a CUPCAKE bakery (more like boutique, or cupcake bar) located in Goergetown (hence the obvious name). They make 100 "secret flavor" cupcakes a day. They are flavors not on the regular menu and give them away for free. FREE CUPCAKES?!?!? WHATTT?!?!?!? Yes! But there are only 100 of them, and in order to get one, you HAVE to know the "secret flavor" (aka. the flavor of the free cupcakes). Kinda like a secret cupcake club...the password gets you a cupcake! They post the secret flavor on both Twitter and Facebook, so you have to either follow them or be a fan to know what it is.

Since I work in Tyson's I never get a chance to get there and get their cupcakes...sad face. BUT since the "Blizzard of 2010/snowpocalypse/snowmageddon" was happening in DC this past weekend, our boss told us not to come in on Friday so we didn't get stuck. A day off work = GEORGETOWN CUPCAKES!!!

I talked to my buddy Alex @ the bike shop, and we decided that since my bike had been completed (drop handlebars was the final task!) we would ride to Georgetown for whatever the secret cupcake was and ride back.

So Friday morning comes...and I check in with Georgetown Cupcakes. The secret cupcake is STRAWBERRY LAVE FUDGE!!!! Apaprently they decided they wanted to serve a little of heaven on a platter on Friday. Well outside it's snowing, but not sticking, so it's like fluffy rain. I get my butt outta bed (a little hungover from Dawson's return celebration from Iraq the night before) and bundle up to head outside. I walk the (a little more than) mile walk to the bike shop (car was still there from the night before) to meet Alex and get my finished bike (which was waiting at the store)!

Once at the shop, I buy my first pair of cycling shorts (aka diaper shorts)!!! I tried them on, and I felt like those babies at the beach who have those saggy diapers and kinda waddle around. But whatever, its part of being a cyclist and I DID NOT want to have an achy bum after my ride. (check out the info on the shorts at the bottom of the blog).

So I get re-bundled up, and Alex does as well and he hops on his super sweet mountain bike, and I get on my newly retro-fitted city bike. As you can tell by the picture - his bike was MUCH more appropriate for the weather we were getting, but I looked the part of a cyclist MUCH more. He didn't even have a helmet on!!

We get on the road, and make the 5 mile (almost downhill) trek to Georgetown. Let me tell you....those cycling shorts were like sitting on a CLOUD! I mean, it might have been the crazy nice sella italia saddle I was still riding on, but my bum DEF wasn't hating life after the ride.

Once we get to Georgetown, since I haven't been in the Rev Cycles Georgetown location, we stopped in (mostly to get warm). They crew there was thoroughly impressed (and quite jealous) of how I fixed up my District.

After we made our visit there, we headed to CUPCAKES! Tiernan (the 3rd part of our trio - the 3 of us are the weekend sales crew) met us and luckily he brought a lock so we could lock our bikes up!

We got in line for STRAWBERRY LAVA FUDGE...but they were all out!! :( BUT - we jumped in the major line (20ppl deep) bought some anyways!

Enjoy the photo montage below:

<---Tiernan and I waiting in line. I am SOO excited about the cupcakes. He just looks like he came up from scuba diving (he was SUPER warm but still very funny looking). He got a choc lava one and by the end of it his hands and face were covered in chocolate lava!!!

<---Alex with his coffee & cupcakes
He got a Hazlenut one and a chocolate one I think.

He didn't get the concept of it ONLY having cupcakes.
I think now he gets it though, maybe?

<--- Apes and her sweets! I got a strawberry one, and a coconut one. The strawberry one's icing tasted just like a strawberry milkshake. ME = TOTALLY HAPPY! My coconut was pretty awesome too - but not as good as the strawberry one.

Once we got all cleaned up from our cupcake-ing, we separated from Tiernan and Alex and I headed back to VA.

I was SUPER worried about the ride back to VA, since it was downhill all the way to Georgetown, I was afraid it was gonna KILL me (and my single speed) going uphill the ride back.

I tried to wave at the Georgetown store on the way home, and I almost hit a meter...so I decided to keep both hands on my handlebars for the rest of the ride.

The hills weren't too bad on the ride - when it got bad, Alex would pull up beside me and push me up, so I was feeling great! My legs weren't in pain (like they were when I used to ride my super heavy beach cruiser around Arlington!). My bike is so light, it wasn't bad at all!

The key bridge was my favorite part of the ride: wider sidewalks and less people...and FLATNESS! I even clipped in ONE of my feet on the bridge. But once we got to the end, I unclipped so I wouldn't fall. I'll get the hang of these clips one of these days (I hope)!

Once we made it back to the store in VA we got back into non-cycling clothes so we could get home.

It was such a fun trip on my bike! Well, I guess I should stop calling it just 'my bike' now, as we gave it a name. What name would suit my bike? CUPCAKE! Since it was our first real ride (once the full retro-fitting was done) and I like cupcakes. So now Spike has a friend. Spike, Cupcake, and Apes...what a great family :)

So now I want to start riding it EVERYWHERE (well, except to work in Tyson's). I also now know when I get my next bike, I want a mountain bike. That way I can ride in ANY weather - I have to be careful with cupcake, she can only ride in good weather since her tires are slick (but no worries, I'm switching her tires to ones with more tread).


Pearl Izumi Attack Shorts $75.00

So these shorts have the chamois in them (gives them that wet diaper look) but are SUPER comfy! It kept my bum comfy, and I didn't get uncomfortable in them at all. They have leg grippers on the inside on the legs, so they didn't ride up and move around (perfect since I was wearing my tights over them).



- apes (and cupcake) -

Biking Start-Up

So many of you (if not all of you) know that I work part-time in a Bicycle Shop (http://www.revolutioncycles.com/). Back in October my roommate won a bike from them, and gifted it to me. While it is a little small - I have FINALLY decided to put some additions on it, make it fit me, and start riding it. Here's the bike:

Trek District: $1099.99

Single Speed, Alpha Black aluminum frame with a slick carbon fork (super light). This bike features a belt-drive system (which means there's no chain, it's a silent belt that requires no lube = almost no maintenance).

So when you become a cyclist, you need to know - ITS EXPENSIVE. That's the very first thing you need to know. Now you might ask, "Why? Don't you just find a bike and your good to go?" Um, you would be quite wrong if you thought that. Once you have the bike, you need the rest of the gear; helmet, shoes, pedals, lights, clothing, etc.

So I finally started getting my gear...

Shoes: So I got the shoes first. Why? Well anyone that does spinning class will tell you - you need cycling shoes. And I recently found out about an opportunity where I might be able to take some spin classes. So of course I needed shoes for that. Might as well get some I can use on my bike as well, right? So I got to work trying on all the shoes in the store (and I mean ALL of them: Sidi, Peal Izumi, Shimano, Bontrager !). I decided the Sidi Zeta's fit me best BUT when I went to buy them...we were out. And the particular pair I wanted wasn't being made anymore...so after a while of picking a second choice, I went with these:

Shimano WM61: $99.99

(Rev Cycles didn't had to order them for me:
but the comparable ones in stock at the store are: Shimano WM60)

Pedals: OK, so you're probably asking why I need pedals. Don't bikes COME with pedals? Well, yes they do. BUT Biking is kinda like skiing: you need your ski's (the bike), boots (the shoes), and the bindings (pedals/cleats). The kind of pedals that DON'T usually come with the bike are clip less pedals. Pretty much your shoes hook or "clip" into the pedals and then you can focus on using your legs to pedal, instead of trying to keep them on the pedals themselves (where you would lose a lot of energy and momentum - when you're clipped in your foot cant slide off). So I needed some pedals that I could clip my shoes into when I ride. Now since I may not always be riding with my biking shoes, I got a kind of pedals that you can clip into on one side, and has a flat surface on the other (when I want to wear regular shoes to ride my bike).

Shimano PD-530 Dual-Sided: $99.99

All pedals come with cleats (the hardware you put on the bottom that keeps your shoe clipped into the pedal). So I didn't need to buy them separate.

Helmet: Ok, so this would be the MOST IMPORTANT thing to buy. Well, if you don't find your head important, than you probably won't find a helmet important either. I find my head quite important, so I went ahead and once again tried on all the helmets in the store (Bell, Giro, Trek) and settled on the following helmet:

Giro Saros: $125.00

I picked this one because it had the BEST fit. I actually had picked out a similar one, but my co-worker Alex up sold me to this one (watch out, he loves to up sell!). I'm happy he did though, as I like this one A LOT better - the look (the other made me look like a mushroom) and the feel. And of course, I made sure it matches my shoes :)

FYI: a lot of people don't realize - but helmets should be replaced about every 5 years.

Saddle: So the saddle (seat) that comes on my bike isn't very comfortable to me, so I am currently testing out a womens Selle Italia that my manager has. Of course, I'll prob fall in love with it and want one for myself...and they are CRAZY expensive! But we'll see. Here's a pic (on the right) of the saddle he's letting me test out.

So after work, we switched out my saddle, put the new pedals on my bike, and cleated my shoes. Now it was TIME TO RIDE! I was excited for my first ride on my bike - and I know the guys at work were excited to see me FINALLY getting into it (they all have awesome bikes, and the best gear). They sized me up on my bike, and helped me figure out how to clip into my pedals (it took me a few tries, but I eventually got it). So I headed outside and went on a ride. I clipped in kinda alright....and then I got to a light where I need to UNCLIP so I could get one foot on the ground and not fall over. So I unclipped my right foot, and was all set. Then I started leaning to the left...and it happened...

I fell. I couldn't get my left foot unclipped fast enough! I am NOT very coordinated on the left side of my body apparently.

Let's give you a visual: So here I am at the stoplight, in the bike lane luckily (but right in front of the bike store - good thing we were closed!). I start leaning to the left and I call out "Ahh, I'M FALLING!!" and I fall over (pretty much felt like slow-motion). There was a couple standing on the sidewalk when this happened, so they of course tried to help (those Good Samaritans!). "Are you ok?" they asked. I responded with "It's ok, it's my first ride". They followed up with "Well, then you've fallen, so you don't have to worry about that anymore! Good thing you got a helmet". Why yes, good thing I DO have a helmet.

So once back up on the bike, I then decided to only clip into ONE pedal for the rest of the ride home. Once I get the hang of it, I'll try both feet again, but I'll settle with just one for now.

Luckily I made it home without anymore falls. ALTHOUGH I did NOT want to ride on Washington Blvd (MAJOR busy road with no bike lanes) so I took back roads home...which meant ALL HILLS. I AM RIDING A SINGLE SPEED! Thanks for the leg workout, Arlington.

---

I rode again Sunday morning - from my house to the bike shop for work. As I came out of my house, I got a compliment on my bike...WOO HOO! And then I almost fell again. ALMOST! I saved myself though. Whew! So I got all the way to work with no falls (but I had those stupid hills challenging me the whole way again - I'll conquer them one day!). When I crossed the street right in front of the shop - the guys were inside watching me, they all thought I had mastered the clip less pedals! Silly guys - I only had ONE clipped in still. HEHE. But they did say I looked good on the bike - so at least I have the biking 'look' down!

My bike is still at the shop - I am getting some adjustments done to it; new stem (to make the bike actually fit me), new handlebars (they will look like the racing drop-handlebars), and new tires (puncture proof ones!). So once I get it back and I have everything done, I'll be able to ride it a lot more! And since it's single-speed, I'll have some PRETTY muscular legs to show off!

- apes -