First ride of the year

Decided to hook up the kid trailer to my bike and tow Ivy to park today. There was a slight sun break early this afternoon and it felt like the perfect time to kick off my training.

After about 30 minutes of prep work, both myself and Ivy were ready to hit the road in the brisk but sunny weather. Pedaling through the neighborhood, it felt great to be back in the saddle. Although there was a trailer hooked up I could still tuck the bike through corners and the feeling of man and machine reminded me of how much fun it is to ride.

Leaving the neighborhood we got out to one of the side streets that could take us over to a little park down the way. A steep,but very small hill gave me my first opportunity to stand up on my pedals and do my best Lance Armstrong impersonation. A few side clicks of my shifters and I was hauling that kid trailer up that hill like a pro. Pretty much flat from there on out to the park.

After the park, I decided to take us a little further out where I knew there was a Subway so that we could grab some lunch. A little throwback to STP I suppose. While at Subway I picked up an extra bottle of chocolate milk to take home. Another throwback to STP, but i knew that i would need a shot of protein after the ride as part of my muscle recovery. -If you've read up on post ride recovery, you'll know how good of a drink chocolate milk can be.-

Leaving Subway, I decided not to take the same route home because riding a bike on the sidewalk was just a little slow for me. Instead i rode out a few more blocks down so that i could take a road that had a dedicated bike lane. There i was able to push my legs a little bit more and open up the throttle so to speak.

Despite not having ridden in over 4 months and hauling my child the entire time I was very pleased with my average speed i was keeping on the surface streets. Entering our neighborhood i could feel my legs began to warm up and start complaining, so I did what ever other rider does for the last few blocks of an event... push it even harder!

Pulling into our driveway all those feelings of accomplishment and success were pouring through my head. I was thrilled to have such a good start to my training and to have gone such a distance for my first ride!

That was, until I looked at my phone.

I had MapMyRide running the enter time and as it turns out, the entire length of our trip was 3.89 miles. At that point in time the reality of training for another double century sank in. It's going to be along road to Vancouver folks...

A few lessons I have learned this past week

1. MY BUTT Hurts after an hour of SPIN CLass. What do i do?
2. I am currently a Fair weather rider- hard to imagine riding again in the pouring rain like we did last year. If I recall correctly there was one day that we waited underneath a bus stop shelter hoping for the rain to pass. IT DIDN't.

3. I am most excited for burning lots and lots of calories- Why you ask?

I ate nearly a pan of brownies last night while watching THE BACHELOR. Also interesting to note that NONE of those girls have ever eaten anything and I in two hours consumed more calories than they have in their lives.

4. I love the hotel we are staying at in Vancouver! I am already trying to drink a little each night in order to build up my partying tolerance. Frankly, I am not a partier in my old age and so I am a nervous I won't be able to hang.

5. Finally, I have learned that Joc and Carlos are way more APP and tech savy than I will ever be. Leo wants me to say that we are glad we are not Mexican, but I am always so PC and don't want to offend. So I won't say it:)

PS- My bike is hanging in my garage with a few lovely dust bunnies on it.

A lesson in patience...

Alright... two things you should know about me:
#1 - I bleed Magenta. As in T-Mobile's corporate color
#2 - I hate, I mean HAAAATE, waiting for anything to arrive in the mail

That being said, you can scan the pictures on this blog of last year's Seattle To Portland ride and you'll notice 2 things:
#1 - I am the only one not wearing a magenta T-Mobile jersey
#2 - .... well, the other thing doesnt matter because I am THE ONLY ONE NOT wearing a magenta T-Mobile jersey. And that, dear reader, is the whole purpose of this rant.

To correct this situation, as soon as the four of us (Leo, Hillary, Jocelyn, & yours truly) started going balls to wall about signing up for RSVP, I jumped online to order myself the exact jersey you see below. Yes, the exact same jersey.

The exact same jersey that they so proudly wore through 204 miles of rolling hills on the way to Portland. The exact same jersey that for the better half of 'Day Two' I kept beating myself over for not having. I mean, how could I call myself a T-Mobile employee and not be representing in the same fashion?

Like I started saying, I found a place online that for $50 would secure me the jersey (yes... the exact same jersey) and a set of matching full length cycling shorts. Faster than you can say '4G' I busted out my credit card and got to plugging away those sweet 16 digits on the front and the 3 magic numbers on the back that make it all happen!

3 screens later I had a confirmation of my order and was being thanked for my 'Valued Business'. Two days later I received an email saying that my order had shipped and they even gave me a USPS tracking number. Oh if only waiting for the damned product to arrive was that easy...After three days of not seeing anything arrive at my doorstep, I log into the USPS website only to come and find out that my dearly sought after T-Mobile Jersey is shiping from Shanghai. THAT'S IN CHINA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

Its been 11 days since my jersey (and full length cycling shorts) was -Quote Unquote - 'Shipped' and the USPS tracking number says that the package is still being prepared to ship from the Port of Origin. First off, who knew we even had US Postal offices in China?!?! Secondly, I should have known better. I never, ever, ever buy anything online because I lack the patience needed to wait and I'm by far too cheap to pay for the rush shipping. Why did I think this would be different?

Well to quote a famous has been, portraying someone of a different nationality... 'Don't cry for me Argentina'. The truth is I have plenty of time left before the big ride and have plenty of options left open in case this order from China doesnt pan out. So stay tuned and keep your eyes open for those first pictures of our upcoming training rides... hopefully by that time you'll be seeing 4 magenta T-Mobile jerseys (and one set of full length cycling shorts)!

-CLOS

Just a Little SHOUT OUT

For any of our five followers.....

I love TMOBILE.

In case you don't know- our team is the unofficial bike sponsoree of TMOBILE. What this means is that TMOBILE DOES not pay us to ride, nor pay or supply any of our equiptment but we still like to flash a little "Stick Together" 4G bling.

I just thought on this rather dismal, drear Friday afternoon I would give a little shout out to BLOG world about TMOBILE and how it totally rocks.

PS- If you ever say anything bad about TMOBILE, make sure two certain employees with the initial CH or JR are not within earshot- they are crazy-devoted.

Cyclist's Delight

Now what you see is not a test - I'm a blogging to this beat!
You see me, this blog and my friend are gonna tell ya about R.S.V.P.!

Now I'm the C-A-R, the L-O-S and the rest is F-L-Y...
you see this event is off the hook 'cause at the end is a P-A-R-T-Y!

Space is limited and spots are few. So when a friend cant register, what's a brother to do?!?
Do you punch your computer? Do you throw your shoe? Do you scream at the wall 'till they think you're sniffing glue?

The best thing to do is to call on your friends. The ones that will be there riding till the end. Cause theres no 'I' in TEAM, and no 'I' in CREW, so leaving a homie behind just aint COOL!

It took a few more tries and a few more clicks. But finally we were able to make Hillary's registration stick. Now with a full crew registered and confirmed, we're off to V-Town and feeling kinda slick!

From Seattle to Vancouver, it ain't no joke. This route's got more hills than a bike has spokes! So we hope you'll come around again and again to read up on this blog and see how it all goes down.

So make sure to tell your mother... your father... your sister and her friend.
Team 'Go Jarlos Go!' wont stop until we reach the end!

Not so motivated??

So here we are again, seems as if things are a little more intense this time around than they were last year. I think the unexpected had us all a bit nervous for our first double century ride, but this year has a whole new feel to it. I have to be perfectly honest, at first, and still a bit today I wasn't as excited about the idea of doing a 200+ mile ride again on a bike. Last year took me as a surprise. And when I say surprise, I don't mean the hours pedaling on a bike, getting soaked in the rain, the countless hills we trained on... I'm talking more about the money it takes to prepare yourself for a ride. Not only do you have to pay to ride, but the accessories add up to quite a bit. After the experience last year I promised myself that I would get a new bike, because to be perfectly honest with you, another 200 miles on my "homemade" roadbike is not a good idea. A new bike is a great idea, unless your an unemployed student that's trying to save some money. Thank God for the military and the benefits I get otherwise living would be extremely difficult.

After thinking about all the expenses I'd have to put into this ride, my motivation was pretty non existant, until about a week ago. There is nothing better than spending your mornings in class, and then opening up your inbox to see 739,593,733 unread e-mails from your wonderful biking team! The chitter chatter that goes back and forth between the team instantly puts me right back to where I was a year ago... happy and excited to ride! Not only that, but this morning our wonderful teammate Hillary started up this blog again! Can we say HOMEPAGE???? Anyway, I want to apologize to my team for not giving it 100% but I promise from now on you shouldn't expect any less!

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE P!!

The Origin of a good name

Hello Friends. I would like to reintroduce myself and my team to you. We are all cyclists or atleast became cyclists last year when we rode STP. You may have seen our blog- it used to be called Team Where is Tom.

But times, they are a changing. Jarlos is here!

Jocelyn and Carlos- sortof like a Brangelina thing.

Yesterday was registration for RSVP this ginormous ride we are excited about and frankly if it wasn't for Jarlos- I would be out. Yep, not riding, not a member and super duper mad at bicyclists worldwide. So... with that bit of a hook, I will let another team member tell the whole story.

Read On while Team Jarlos Rides On.

YOu can check out the ride details here:
http://shop.cascade.org/content/events/rsvp