Close to the finish.

My senior project has been such a wonderful experience, and I'm so glad that I was able to choose the topic I chose. I've learned so much about bike racing, time trials, and most importantly, charities. As I'm in the process of making my Senior Project speech, I am able to reflect upon what I've done and I really do believe that I'm lucky that I was able to go through such an experience filled with inspiration and motivation.

I only need two more hours with my mentor, and I need to complete 7 more hours for volunteering, which will be completed by May 28th because of the Shindig! event. Right now the late time frame is my only concern, other than that I can't wait for the Shindig! and I can't wait to present my project and speech!

Mentoring #6

Yesterday I met with Ray along with the other juniors in our team at the Mike's Bike's Cat's Hill Classic. Ray stressed the importance of a good warm-up, as we warmed up for 15 minutes. At that time, he also went over pack handling skills and pack positioning in order to stay efficient and keep an effective pace. After I race, I learned that what he said was so critical, but I wasn't able to follow what he said because the race was going too fast for me with all the turns and the big hill, in other words, I read the race poorly. Next time, I will try to read the race in a more accurate fashion, but at least I learned something new! After the race, Ray talked to us more about the race and also the future races again. Next time we will again talk about pack positioning and pack/bike handling at our next meetings.

Total Mentoring Time Today: 1:00:00 minutes
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 13:08:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 0:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 7:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: Hours to sell tickets and hand out flyers at Canada Rd. 5/28/11 BTC:TT (3 hours) and Shindig! Event (4 hours)

Mentoring #5

Today I was to meet with Ray after a ride with my teammate Alex. We met up with Ray near the bottom of Old La Honda Road and then we talked as we rode back to Canada Road. We met up with the club ride and then Ray was telling us to get into position and to establish a pace line, so that when we get to the top of Canada road we can do an all out sprint. We did that, then we went down near De Anza at a Starbucks coffee to talk about important stuff. Today we talked about our performance at a previous race in Livermore, our plans for future races, our structured training status, our participation and communication as a group, some bike handling skills, some bike racing tactics, and the status of our communication with Patt and the Shindig! event. I learned so much today and it really shapes how I'm going to proceed with my training in the future. Most importantly, I learned the proper and effective way to get a bottle out from the bike's bottle cage!

Ray told me to contact Kenneth and Patt regarding the video. I told him it was near complete. I'm excited for the Shindig! event and I can't wait for the rest of the races this month.

Total Mentoring Time Today: 1:30:00 minutes
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 12:08:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 0:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 7:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: Hours to sell tickets and hand out flyers at Canada Rd. 5/28/11 BTC:TT (3 hours) and Shindig! Event (4 hours)

Volunteering #3

Yesterday (April 18) I went over to the Alpine Inn to meet up with Patt to discuss the venue and also to get footage for the upcoming video that Kenneth and I will be making. I got there around 6:45, then Patt took me to the Beer Garden, which is an area with benches and a lot of trees. The Beer Garden is where the Shindig event is going to take place, and Patt and I were visualizing where certain areas will be held for. I then met Valerie, who is also a part of the Shindig planning. I filmed them talking about the Shindig, and then they handed me tickets and postcard flyers to distribute.

We'll try to go back there to record when there's people for a nice clean B-Roll. I'm looking forward to the Shindig event and the process of going through it. It's for a great cause and it's inspiring so it's really exciting.

Total Mentoring Time Today: 0:00:00 minutes
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 10:38:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 1:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 7:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: Hours to sell tickets, make video, and hand out flyers at Canada Rd. 5/28/11 BTC:TT (3 hours) and Shindig! Event (4 hours)

Volunteering #2

Today was the 3rd Beat The Clock To Help Beat Cancer Time Trial. I drove out there with my mom, followed by Kenneth, where we were to participate and film some footage for the upcoming video for the upcoming Shindig event.

We arrived at about 6:40AM and we met with Patt and she told us to get ready since we would be doing a Team Time Trial. To our surprise, Ray was there so he decided to join us and taught us some of the basics when Time Trialing in terms of strategy like pacing.

For the first hour, Kenneth and I took pictures and videos of the event which we will be using for the video. Then we got ready and Ray joined us at the start line. We practiced a very clean paceline, and we practiced switching off in 30 second intervals. Ray told us how important it was to keep a smooth transition and to not accelerate to ruin the pace. To bring the pace up, required a very subtle acceleration. He also took a very clean line through the turnaround, and he told us that even at the turnaround you can save 10 seconds just be turning through cleanly.

After that, Ray talked a little more about Time Trialing and volunteering, as well as Patt. We filmed significant people as interviewees for the video. We of course filmed Patt, as well as women who have made a mark in the women's cycling category! After that, Patt discussed with us the tickets and the posters which we will be selling/giving out to promote the May 28th Shindig event. We left at about 9:45.

TT Garmin Data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79619431

Total Mentoring Time Today: 0:45:00 minutes
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 10:38:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 3:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 6:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: Hours to sell tickets, make video, and hand out flyers at Canada Rd. 5/28/11 BTC:TT (3 hours) and Shindig! Event (4 hours)

Sea Otter Classic

Yesterday was the Sea Otter Classic in which I placed 17th in. Unfortunately, Alex had crashed and Alberto felt sick so they both couldn't continue the race. It was a very tiring race, and I almost felt like giving up myself because of being so tired. But at least I experienced how to set a plan for the race, and how to get a strategy going on. Coach Ray met with us at about 2:00 to discuss our plan. There, he put us on trainers and then we discussed what we would do. I was the target rider, in which my job was to save energy by being protected by Alex and Alberto from the wind. Alberto was to catch a breakaway and to set a high pace for the peloton, while in the end Alberto and Alex would jump to set a high pace before the final hill climb to tire out top contenders, then I would climb the hill slowly at the bttom and then reach the top strong. It couldn't happen because of the mishaps.

Check out a race report here: http://dbcyclingblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/sea-otter-classic-road-race-report.html

And some garmin stats here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79619439

Total Mentoring Time Today: 1:30:00 hours
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 9:53:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 0:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 3:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: 4/16/11, 5/28/11

Mentoring #4

Today was the first on-bike mentoring that half the team and I did. We had originally planned to meet at 8:15AM. We met with Ray and we talked on the side of the road for about 25 minutes. There, he told us about workouts that would help our fitness and makes us stronger cyclists. The workouts would fit any aspect of cycling, whether it was climbing, sprinting, or time trialing. We also discussed the training and racing year and some of our target races, as well as the Sea Otter Road race for this Friday.

The first workout he showed us was the downhill sprint. This was a workout I was familiar with, but I never had a safe place to do it. We went to a traffic-less road, so it was a controlled area to do it. The downhill was about a 5%-6% decline. We were to hit 30 mph, and then at some point sprint on a specific gear as fast as possible. I was able to hit 30, and go up 10 more for a record of 40mph. Not bad, considering I'm not much of a sprinter. But the significance of the workout was to feel the leg speed that a sprint or an attack would demand. It was definitely fast, and I look forward to doing more of those.

The second workout was the VO2Max interval, which we did a 2-minute effort. The workout was brutal but it was effective! We did it on a 4%-5% hill which flattened at the top. Ray told us that he didn't want us to do too many of those, which he again emphasized on how it's not effective to work too hard.

Finally, we talked about the volunteering we would be doing. I told him I would be participating at the BTC Time Trial this coming Saturday (4/16) and that Kenneth and I would be getting footage for a video we will make, as well as printing and handing out posters to promote an upcoming event called Shindig! which will have an auction to fundraise for the Livestrong foundation.

The whole meeting totaled 2:08 hours. (Garmin Data- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78492351)

Total Mentoring Time Today: 2:08:00 hours
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 8:23:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 0:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 3:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: 4/16/11, 5/28/11

What am I doing again?

I've taken some time to reflect on what I have been doing. Ever since I started the physical portion of the Senior Project, I have met tons of new people, my social skills with adults have improved (I have never talked to so many adults before!), and my overall experience has been great.

My whole senior project is pretty much learning how to ride a bike, all over again. It's like retrofitting it to the demands that racing demands. But, I'm not doing this for glory or fame, or even prize money, I'm doing this to improve my overall fitness, making me a better person, to improve my social skills, also making me a better person, and to be exposed to the many charity events that is cycling related.

Obviously, someone who "just rides their bike" can't just complete a 100-Mile bike ride for Cancer Awareness, they need to go through steps and get better and better each time. Like my mentor says, the body has to adapt slowly or else it will be confused if you go too hard at some point, that it is not used to.

My focus for the non-profit organization is the BTC TT team, which goes directly to the Livestrong foundation, Lance Armstrong's foundation for raising money and awareness for cancer. (He won the Tour de France, a popular bike race in Europe, 7 times AFTER surviving cancer.)

By learning how to race on a bike, I will develop multiple skills that will aid me in the future when I participate in multiple charity rides. For now, I'm focusing on one event to see how it all works and to experience the inspiration around it.

Mentoring #3

Today I was planning to volunteer at this morning's Beat The Clock Time Trial, but the weather forecast had adverse conditions to be outside, so I had to skip it since it would've been about a half hour drive. However, the weather calmed down and so about a majority of the Junior cyclists met at Coach Ray's house to go over some more stuff.

Here, we focused on how to target a race and how to train around that target. Say a race would be 2 months from now, and what you would do is you would target that race and train the demands of that race deliberately, taking care to throw in recovery rides every now and then. I've noticed a trend that the coach always emphasizes on recovery and low-intensities. This is because the body needs to adapt to changes, and the body can't do that quickly. The coach says that the body adapts to the stresses you throw at it very slowly, which is why it is extremely important to not to train too late, but also not too soon because of the possibility of burning out the body.

That being said, we also discussed volunteering opportunities, and how we would help at the behind-the-scenes of the BTC TT series. We agreed that we would show up to every Time Trial and plan on making a video or selling tickets to an event for fundraising. Either way, there was plenty of volunteering opportunities for us despite the amount of time left.

Finally, we confirmed that Alex, Alberto and I would be participating in the Sea Otter Road Race on April 15th which would be a Friday. It's a huge race and event that attracts thousands of riders. We will be doing the Category 5 race to get a feel of what a road race really is.

All these meetings about training will fuel my time trial skills as well so that I can participate at more BTC TT's and help raise awareness for cancer.

I arrived at the meeting at 11:30AM, and left around 2:15PM.

Total Mentoring Time Today: 2:45:00 hours
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 6:15:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 0:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 3:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: 4/16/11, 5/28/11

Mentoring #2

It has just been announced that Peninsula Velo will have an official Junior Racing team. The Kickoff meeting was yesterday night, about 7 of us were present there to discuss the plans and some aspects of training. One thing we discussed was how we could manage our times to center around training so that we keep our days efficient and balanced. It was a great experience to see how other people who are my age balance cycling into their schedules. As a result, those can fit cycling in tend to have a greater fitness. Ray, who is the head coach of the Junior team (and my Senior Project Mentor) quoted that the definition of fitness was not really how well you can do in a sport, but specifically how well you can recover after hard workouts and efforts.

This definition truly made me rethink about MY personal fitness. Ray kept throwing in advice about recovery, which is when an athlete still exercises but at an extremely low intensity. We also discussed future plans of meeting again and how we will integrate the whole group into our individual training plans which we will make.

The meeting started around 7:15PM and ended about 9:45PM.

Total Mentoring Time Today: 2:30:00 hours
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 3:30:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 0:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 3:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: 3/19/11, 4/16/11, 5/28/11

Volunteering #1

This morning I volunteered at the first Beat the Clock To Help Beat Cancer Time Trial series. It was a cold and rainy morning, but the turnout of participants were higher than expected.

I arrived there around 6:41 AM and helped set up cones, tents, and helped with the start times of participants. When I met Patt Baenen she was very happy and excited, and she told me about her story, how she started these events, and the significance of Time Trialing. It was very inspiring moment, and I was even more excited about this. She introduced me to a few people, there were Women from the Webcor Pro Cycling team, and there was also an Olympic Medalist! It just comes to show how much people care about cancer and how much people support these series and the Livestrong foundation, even in the rain! unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate because I don't really ride in the rain, but I helped as much as I could with putting it this event on.

I left when everyone started wrapping things up. I helped put away cones and the tents, and left around 9:45AM. In the end, I left happy that I helped out at something that's for a good cause. I've never really done this sort of thing so it was still new and exciting to me. I can't wait for next time!

Total Mentoring Time Today: 1:00:00 hours
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 1:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 3:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 3:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: 3/19/11, 4/16/11, 5/28/11

Confirmed Mentor and Project

After numerous back and forth emails, someone has finally volunteered to become my mentor and guide me through the Senior Project. Ray Gildea who is a board member of the Peninsula Velo Cycling Club, is also a USA Cycling Level 3 Certified Cycling coach. He has offered to teach me about the demands of cycling, specifically those in Time Trialing, so that it complements my volunteering efforts at the Beat The Clock To Help Beat Cancer time trials. I'm excited to get that started!

So today we met for about an hour. I was with Kenneth and another Peninsula Velo member, who also turns out to be a Junior (under 18) rider. What we did was we discussed that successful cyclists need a structured training regime. In other words, cyclists can't do what ever they want and need to hold themselves back in the beginning of the year, the winter season, so that they peak their fitness during Spring and Summer. He really stressed on about that, but I've actually been doing that since December after reading "The Cyclist's Training Bible" by Joe Friel. Then we did a practice paceline to learn how to conserve energy during a race. We summed it up by talking more about what we will plan to do, discussed the importance of a bike fit, and again the importance of structuring training. We ended with him signing our mentor agreement forms!

The next time we will meet will probably be in a few weeks where he will go over workouts, and next month I will attend the first BTCTHBC TT to meet Patt Baenen Tapscott, the cancer survivor who promotes the events, and to help volunteer for awareness.

Total Mentoring Time Today: 1:00:00 hours
Total Mentoring Time TOTAL: 1:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Today: 0:00:00 hours
Total Volunteering Time Total: 0:00:00 hours

Anticipated Hours: 2/19/11, 3/19/11, 4/16/11, 5/28/11

Finding A Mentor

I recently massed-email a message to the Peninsula Velo Group concerning my senior project help. To my surprise, over 10 guys replied. I also attended their monthly meeting on Tuesday (1-11-11), and I met the head coach who was a national cyclocross champion for a five times, and he's also the head coach for the Peninsula Velo racing team. I asked him if he could help me and my classmate, Kenneth (who is doing a related project to mine), by being our mentor and helping us get connected to the charity/ community service aspect of cycling. With all the coaching going on and everything, it seems he was a bit busy.

However another member emailed me about a local charity event called the Beat the Clock to help beat cancer Time Trials, and said that he can really help me out since he knows the host, who is a Cancer survivor, personally. It sounded really exciting to me, especially since I have no idea how to do a Time Trial.

I think if this member gets back to me, I will proceed with this, since I've always wanted to do a Time Trial (especially since this is a good cause). I also want to meet the cancer survivor and hopefully get my volunteer hours by helping out at the events.

Initiating the Senior Project!

After a two-week winter break full of eventful occasions, my final High-School winter break has come to an end. Thus begins the most significant portion of senior year; the infamous Senior Project. Fortunately, I've already decided that I will base the Senior Project off of bicycling because it's solely the one thing I'm particularly interested in. I've been cycling for a year and a half, and I'm ready to take it to the next level of exploring what cycling has to offer, that is, bike racing, bike training, and cycling charity events. For the physical portion of Senior Project, I'm looking forward to volunteering and participating in cycling events in Northern California. However to do that, I will need to be taught the basics of bicycling, and learning how to apply the different skills and abilities that cycling has to offer.

So how it is a learning stretch? Well, there are just so many aspects of cycling that one person just can't learn everything. In general, everyone learns something everyday. We never stop learning. In this case, for the past year ever since I first got my bike I've just gone out and rode however I felt like. Sure I've done a few races and even won one two days ago. But I know that somehow there is a way to get better. There is some sort of formula which I need to learn, which I can then apply someday to raise money and awareness for a cause.

I recently joined Peninsula Velo, which is a cycling group that has recreational riders and avid racers. In a week or two, I plan on attending their monthly meeting, and look for ideas and also find a mentor. They're email list is great so I think I will contact someone from there.

See? Already, just by joining Peninsula Velo, I have access to so many resources and I'm about to meet tons of new people. I'm excited for the Senior Project because I can't wait to get out there and help raise awareness for a cause, by riding my bike and helping out at events. I'm hoping that I can find everything I need to get this done, and overall have fun!