11-23-2008 Santiago Loop Ride

Space Dragons! Join us for a challenging ride for this Sunday following paddle practice. This weekend should be better, hopefully we will not have heavy smoke or wicked hangovers!

The Santiago Loop is a beautiful ride that starts in Irvine and winds through the foothills of Orange County. The first half of the ride is a gradual but steady hill climb, resulting in a very rewarding downhill ride! I've reached speeds of 40 MPH on the downhill!

Make sure to eat a little snack after paddle practice. Expect the ride is about 32 miles long and will take about 2.5 to 3 hours to complete, so bring along a few snack items, we will take a few breaks along the way. Bring 2 - 3 liters of water along with some energy gels and electrolytes, maybe a couple pieces of fruit, bananas are recommended. A helmet will be required to join the ride.

Pack your swim suit! Following the ride you are invited to join us at the pool and spa for a relaxing and rejuvenating dip, while we enjoy some pizza and salad to rebuild our freshly exhausted muscles!

Please RSVP to jashaf@gmail.com or call me at 949-280-7253 so that I can order enough pizza and salad for everyone that is coming. Please note any pizza preferences or other food preferences in your email.

MS Bay To Bay Bike Route and Calories burned

Here are the routes for Day one and Two of the MS Bay to Bay Tour.

Day one:
www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2341781


Day two:
www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2342062


This website also has a cool calories burned feature, just put in your weight and it calculates what you burned during the ride.

I burned 7980 calories on day one 5834 calories on day two, that's 13814 calories for the weekend! No wonder we were so hungry!!

2008 MS Bay to Bay Bike Tour – Weekend recap

The Space Dragons Cycling Team had a great time on the bike tour and helped the National MS Society reach over $2 Million dollars in donations!! A special thanks to of our sponsors for your generous donations!



The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful!!



No injuries, though Joanne did run over one pedestrian “Tran style”, however, since he was a fellow biker he does not count, no points given.

Plenty of good food and fun.



One four-legged rider

September 27th Bike Ride

September 27th Bike Ride

Ride will start approximately 10:45, we will meet in the Scouts parking lot. This will give us all enough time to eat a light snack (bananas, apple, Clif bar, etc.) and rest a little. Make sure to have plenty of water or, preferably, sports drink with you.

You will have to wear a helmet for this ride. Don’t forget to bring it.

Iron Dragon Challenge!!
7am Run, Paddle practice, land workout, 2 hour ride!!
Congratulations to Tran Luu and David Knight for completing the challenge last Saturday!!

If you have not signed up for the Cycling Team please do so now. There are only about 2 weeks left until the bike Tour and it is 90% sold out, so time and space are running out!

See you on Saturday.

Here is the link to sign up
http://www.biketofinishms.com/spacedragons

Here is the Cycling Weblog link
http://www.spacedragonscyclingteam.blogspot.com/

September 20th Bike Ride

September 20th Bike Ride

Everyone is invited. The rides have been a lot of fun so join us.

Plan on the ride starting about 45 minutes after the land workout approximately 10:45. This will give us all enough time to eat a light snack (bananas, apple, Clif bar, etc.) and rest a little. Make sure to eat light, fast digesting carbs, nothing too heavy. We can gorge ourselves after the ride. Make sure to have plenty of water or, preferably, sports drink with you.

You will have to wear a helmet for this ride. Don’t forget to bring it.

If you want a good endurance challenge start with the 7am run, hit paddling practice hard, then the land workout, followed by the bike ride. It’s about five hours of steady exercise. It will give you a great sense of accomplishment when completed, and a huge appetite, so we’ll go straight to lunch afterwards!

If you have not signed up for the Cycling Team please do so now. There are only about 3 weeks left until the bike Tour and it is 90% sold out, so time and space are running out!

See you on Saturday.

Here is the link to sign up
http://www.biketofinishms.com/spacedragons

Here is the Cycling Weblog link
http://www.spacedragonscyclingteam.blogspot.com/

September 13th Bike Ride

September 13th Bike Ride

This ride is mostly to help prepare for the Bay to Bay bike ride, however, everyone on the team is invited.

We will start from Mothers Beach then head south down the PCH to the Huntington Beach Pier and then return. It is just over 20 miles total, since we took the same route last week we may change it up a little.

It sounds like there will be a much larger group this week, so we may divide the road bikers and mountain bikers up into two groups.

Plan on the ride starting about 45 minutes after the land workout approximately 10:45. This will give us all enough time to eat a light snack (bananas, apple, Clif bar, etc.) and rest a little. Make sure to eat light, fast digesting carbs, nothing too heavy. We can gorge ourselves after the ride. Make sure to have plenty of water or, preferably, sports drink with you.

You will have to wear a bike helmet.

**If you want a good endurance challenge start with the 7am run, hit paddling practice hard, then the land workout, followed by the bike ride. It’s about five hours of exercise, but worth the pain!!**

If you have not signed up for the Cycling Team please do so now. There is only about 4 weeks left until the bike Tour and it is already 80% sold out, so time and space are running out! See you on Saturday.

Here is the link to sign up
http://www.biketofinishms.com/spacedragons

MS Bay to Bay Bike Tour Schedule

MS Bay to Bay Bike Tour Schedule
Things to do before the Tour:
1. Sign up for the tour, do it now! http://www.biketofinishms.com/spacedragons
2. Raise at least $400 in donations.
3. Practice riding. Check out the recommend training schedule. http://spacedragonscyclingteam.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html
4. Get your bike tuned up. About 2 weeks prior to tour.
5. Reserve your hotel room in Carlsbad. I have a room for 4 at the Holiday Inn Carlsbad by the Sea, let me know if you want to share. http://arestravel.com/760_welcome.html
6. Rider Check-in, after you have $400 in donations. You can check yourself in at any of these times and location. I will be out of town for all of these dates except Friday October 10th. If you want to give me your waiver and donation info I could check you in at that time.

Saturday, September 27
Los Angeles Rider Check-In
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
REI
1800 Rosecrans Ave Ste E
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Saturday, October 4
Orange County Rider Check-In
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
REI
1411 Village Way
Santa Ana, CA 92705

Saturday, October 4
San Diego Rider Check-In
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
REI
5556 Copley Dr
San Diego, CA 92111

Friday, October 10
Rider Check In
12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Irvine Marriott
18000 Von Karman
Irvine, CA 92612

One week prior to tour:
1. Start carb loading. I’ll post a recommend loading schedule.

Day before the tour:
1. Pack your overnight clothes in a separate bag to be checked in. Make sure to have casual clothes for the Saturday night party. Swim suit. Bike clothes for the Sunday ride.
2. Buy and pack sports drinks and energy gels/chews for the ride.
3. Make sure your bike and gear are all in order.

Saturday October 11th:
6:00am
Bike MS Tour Information Booth opens at Irvine start line
When you arrive at the start line, check-in your luggage at the FedEx luggage trucks for transport to the overnight site in Carlsbad. Each rider is responsible for getting his or her luggage on the truck before 9:30. You must keep your ID on your person when you check your luggage!

6:45am
Century Rider Opening Ceremonies

7:00am
Staggered Century start begins*

7:45am
Standard Route Opening Ceremonies

8:00am – This is us!
Staggered Standard Route start begins*

9:30am
All luggage must be on trucks!

10:00am
All riders must be on the route!

There is a rest stop roughly every 15 miles. We will plan on stopping at both for about a ½ hour break. Each 15 mile section should take us about 1 ½ hours so the total ride will be 5 ½ hours. Yes, I know it is a very leisurely pace. I think we will finish earlier.

1 to 2 pm
1. Arrive at halfway point (Westfield Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad, CA)
2. Stagger around and get used to walking again.
3. Pick up luggage.
4. Check in bike at bike locker.
5. Take shuttle to hotel.
6. Jacuzzi, shower, massage, unwind and relax. Repeat as necessary.

4 or 5 pm
Take shuttle back to Westfield Plaza Camino Real for Saturday night party. Dinner, live entertainment, and dancing.

Sunday October 12th:
6:00am Bike Locker open

6:00-8:30am
Hotel Courtesy Shuttles running

6:00-8:00am
Complimentary breakfast served at Westfield parking lot

7:00am – This is us!
Staggered start begins*

12 – 1 pm
1. Arrive at finish.
2. Finish line Celebration!
3. Lunch.
4. Hop on shuttle back to Irvine.

September 6th Bike Ride

I’m organizing a bike ride to help prepare us for the Bay to Bay Bike Tour.

Since this is our first ride together it will be a short ride of about 20 miles. We leave from Mothers Beach then head south down the PCH to the Huntington Beach Pier and then return.

This ride will introduce us to riding together as a team. We will also have the chance to talk about the tour and go over any questions of concerns and go over all the logistics of the tour.

It will also give me a chance to see what pace we should maintain during the tour. I want to make sure that we will all enjoy the big weekend ride by setting a pace that everyone can maintain.

Plan on the ride starting about 45 minutes after the land workout this Saturday, approximately 10:45. This will give us all enough time to eat a light snack (bananas, apple, Clif bar, etc.) and rest a little. Make sure to eat light, fast digesting carbs, nothing too heavy. We can gorge ourselves after the ride. Make sure to have plenty of water or, preferably, sports drink with you. Also, please wear a bike helmet. It is not required on this ride, but it will be during the BaytoBay Bike Tour, may as well get used to it.

If you have not signed up for the Cycling Team please do so now. There is only about 5 weeks left until the bike Tour and it is already 80% sold out, so time and space are running out! See you on Saturday.

Here is the link to sign up
http://www.biketofinishms.com/spacedragons

Here is the Cycling Weblog link
http://www.spacedragonscyclingteam.blogspot.com/

Training Guidelines

In preparation for the Bike Tour I have created this training schedule. You can customize this to suit your own schedule, however please try to follow the progression of riding time. The goal is to get into a routine of 2 or 3 weekly rides of at least 2 hours. During the first week, start out slowly with a few rides to build up your basic cardiovascular fitness. Then start to increase your riding time.

The progression of riding time on this schedule is very gradual; you may want to increase your time in larger increments. However, until you have reached a sufficient level of fitness avoid large jumps in riding time. You need time to build up endurance as well as conditioning the supporting tendons and ligaments before taking on a long ride. An injury may result from too long of a ride before you are ready. Your primary goal during this period is to gain distance, confidence and increase your cardiovascular fitness.

During the third or fourth week, begin hill training. After a moderate warm up ride, pedal up a gradual hill without exhausting yourself. Recover on the way down. As you progress start to take on more hills, repeating this process. If you do not have any suitable hills within your riding area, you can try interval training. During your regular ride, pick a distance, such as a city block or the space between light poles, and speed into a sprint, returning to your regular riding pace afterwards. Start with one sprint per ride, adding additional longer sprint each ride. This phase of training will very quickly boost your cardiovascular fitness, overall endurance, and recovery.

Here is a useful link to help you plan your ride routes:
www.gmap-pedometer.com

Timing your rides is sufficient for training; however, if you want to more closely monitor your riding you can purchase a ride computer for your bike. I use one of these personally, and find it to be a great tool. Most ride computers will monitor your speed, distance, pedal cadence, and the totals and averages of these. Most bike shops carry these and can assist you with installing it on your bike.

Also, I am available to help with your training. Please send me an email or call.

Happy riding!

Recommended Training Schedule

Ride Training Schedule
Date	Weekday	Recommended Ride	Ride Completed
3-Aug	Sunday
4-Aug	Monday	:30
5-Aug	Tuesday	:40
6-Aug	Wednesday
7-Aug	Thursday	:50
8-Aug	Friday
9-Aug	Saturday	:50
10-Aug	Sunday	1:00
11-Aug	Monday	:40
12-Aug	Tuesday	:40
13-Aug	Wednesday
14-Aug	Thursday	1:00
15-Aug	Friday
16-Aug	Saturday	1:00
17-Aug	Sunday	1:10
18-Aug	Monday	:50
19-Aug	Tuesday	:50
20-Aug	Wednesday
21-Aug	Thursday	1:10
22-Aug	Friday
23-Aug	Saturday	1:20
24-Aug	Sunday	1:20
25-Aug	Monday	1:00
26-Aug	Tuesday	1:00
27-Aug	Wednesday
28-Aug	Thursday	1:20
29-Aug	Friday
30-Aug	Saturday	1:30
31-Aug	Sunday	1:40
1-Sep	Monday	1:00
2-Sep	Tuesday	1:00
3-Sep	Wednesday
4-Sep	Thursday	1:30
5-Sep	Friday
6-Sep	Saturday	1:50
7-Sep	Sunday	2:00
8-Sep	Monday	1:00
9-Sep	Tuesday	1:00
10-Sep	Wednesday
11-Sep	Thursday	1:40
12-Sep	Friday
13-Sep	Saturday	2:00
14-Sep	Sunday	2:00
15-Sep	Monday	1:00
16-Sep	Tuesday	1:00
17-Sep	Wednesday
18-Sep	Thursday	1:50
19-Sep	Friday
20-Sep	Saturday	2:00
21-Sep	Sunday	2:00
22-Sep	Monday	1:00
23-Sep	Tuesday	1:00
24-Sep	Wednesday
25-Sep	Thursday	2:00
26-Sep	Friday
27-Sep	Saturday	2:00
28-Sep	Sunday	2:00
29-Sep	Monday	1:00
30-Sep	Tuesday	1:00
1-Oct	Wednesday
2-Oct	Thursday	2:00
3-Oct	Friday
4-Oct	Saturday	2:00
5-Oct	Sunday	2:00
6-Oct	Monday	1:00
7-Oct	Tuesday	1:00
8-Oct	Wednesday
9-Oct	Thursday	2:00
10-Oct	Friday
11-Oct	Saturday	5:00	MS Bike Tour!
12-Oct	Sunday	5:00	MS Bike Tour!

Space Dragons Cycling Team is born!

I am very proud to announce the birth of the Space Dragons Cycling Team!

Our first event that we will be participating in will be the Bike MS Bay to Bay Tour a charity bike tour benefitting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. We will be cycling from Irvine to San Diego Bay, a total of 100 miles!

All of the Space Dragons and any friends, family, work mates, complete strangers and any one in between is welcome to join our team for this benefit event. Follow this link to join: www.biketofinishms.com/SpaceDragons

More information about the Bike MS Bay to Bay Tour can be found at: www.biketofinishms.com