Conquering My Fear of the Malibu Hills

If you watched the weather/news this weekend, you probably noticed laughed at us Angelinos as we dealt with rain, hail and snow.  We don't know how to deal, and even though I'm a native bad weather girl, I quickly acclimated myself to the wonderfully  consistent temps of Southern California.  So, when the rain was beating against the windows and flooding the parking lot on Friday, I opted to forgo the 6am wake up and sleep.  Putting it all on black and believing it would be pouring/hailing/snowing when I woke up. 

I was wrong.  The sun was out.  As it always is.  And I missed the Saturday ride.  And the Friday night carbo loading.  Sad day.  Oh well, there was always Sunday.  Within 12hours weather.com changed the prediction from 50% chance of showers to 0% -- Sunday was on.

I learned something on Sunday -- Cyclists Lie.  Literally, a lady on the ride said that to me when I was complaining about how they advertised the route as 35 miles but it was actually 48.  Why was I so unnerved by this? Well, because the route took me past my Alma mater. 

For 3 years while studying at Pepperdine I drove up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, around the curves and marveled at the people who were running and biking up them.  "Marveled" might be misleading; pitied might be the better term.  Those hills and roads around Pepperdine have been taunting me since I first started riding my bike.  I was terrified of them.  Was pretty sure that I would fall over and crash because I couldn't get up and over those darn hills.  Or, I was pretty sure that a car would take me out.  You know, either way, those hills, in my head, were monstrous.  The last day of ALC goes through Malibu on PCH but seeing as how I didn't get to do the Ride, I got to avoid those hills until yesterday.  So you can see why, besides the extra 13 miles, I was not happy about the lies that I was told.

But there I was on a Sunday morning at 8:30 am, standing with a group of avid cyclists who were trying to convince me that "they weren't really that big" and I could totally take them.  Haha.  We'll see about that.  Better or worse, I was on my bike and riding towards Malibu.  Towards Pepperdine and that hill by Cher's house (you totally know the one I'm talking about).

On a side note: it may have not rained by my apartment as it was supposed to, but I'm pretty sure it was about 40 degrees on Sunday.  And for us Angelinos, that is FAH-REEZING.  My lungs aren't used to it and I barely had enough clothes to make it through that ride.  My asthma hates me right now.  But my awesome $20 coat for Kohl's was awesomely warm.

2 PowerBars, a Passion Tea Lemonade and a lot of coaching from Doreen, the awesome of awesome TRL who rode with me the entire time, were the perfect trifecta and I made it up those hills and kept on trucking.  No stopping, no puking and no falling over!  My left foot did go numb a few times, but I'm pretty sure that's just because I kept it clipped in too long without stretching.  Or because it was frickin' cold.  Doreen told me to breathe deep and slow (she has asthma, so she knew what I was dealing with), advised me to keep a consistent pedal stroke and made me start at a pace that I could keep all the way up a hill.  She told me not to worry about the people flying on by, that I would be them some day...spinning on up that mountain like a pro (kit wearing cyclist).  She is awesome!  Also, Doreen is awesome because she has ridden every single mile of every single AIDS Life Cycle (this is the 10th anniversary) and the California AIDS Ride before that.  Can you imagine?  San Francisco to Los Angeles, on a bike, every summer.

I wouldn't necessarily say that I "conquered" those hills, but I will say that I made it and I was very proud of myself.  48 miles, including hills, 6 months after surgery.  AND, no back pain!  Asthma aside, the ride was very successful and I am more encouraged than ever that I can do this thing.

2 final points:

1.  The entire time I was riding, I kept telling myself, "You have to keep riding because you'll have to admit defeat on your blog if you don't."  Congratulations!  You are all super duper motivators!

2.  I have no idea how I survived for 23 years in Iowa.  I am a Weather Wimp.