First Organized Official ALC Training Ride

I finally woke up early enough to make it to one of the official training rides, and by that I mean I barely made it to Sports Basement Presidio by 9:30am.

The ride leaders seemed nice though the group was much smaller than I had expected. It may have been due to the MLK holiday, but maybe it was also the location of the rendezvous point -- inconveniently located at the northeast corner of the city. For a more exciting and social ride, I may pick a different group ride to participate in next time.

The training calendar called it Paradise loop, the 42 mile loop that I had done previously. This was somewhat misleading because this was a beginner's group that did a 30 mile version of it. Rob and I, and a new friend we made who's name I cannot recall decided to tag on the extra 12 - 15 miles of the loop on our own.

Compared to the last weekend at Napa while keeping in mind the lessons learned, I did well, though my average time could use some improvement.

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Learning to Eat

To keep things interesting, my friend Rob and I decided to take a drive to Napa for a ride instead of the same old north bay trails.  The original plan was to do an approximately 40 mile, relatively flat out-and-back ride along Silverado trail.

I had to cut it short just shy of 30 miles. Some important, repeated lessons learned today that I really should have learned already from a couple of years of cycling

1) Eat breakfast before going out on a ride
2) Eat on the ride.
3) Adjust seat height in accordance with new cleat position.

I had shifted my cleats closer to the center of my shoes which reduced the reach of my pedal strokes. I did not lower my seat. Within 11 - 12 miles my crotch area was hurting so much from the extra pressure I could barely bend over to shift or reach the brakes.

I was creeping along at maybe less than 10mph for the last 10 miles due to the above, as well as the lack of food.

In my defense I also did a 7 mile run and a high intensity spin workout the day before; in my non-defense, I am simply not ready.

The training continues.

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Paradise Loop 42+ miles

The name for this route could not be anymore perfect. The trails were friendly, the views were gorgeous, and the north bay cyclist eye candy charm was certainly not lacking, especially at our mid-way pit stop at the Caffe Acri, where I enjoyed a croissant and hazelnut latte before continuing on the workout.

Rob's friend Cam led us most of the way; having someone who knew the entire route and bypasses around pedestrian traffic just made it that much more pleasant.

The route consisted of mostly rolling hills with no climbs too strenuous, and no descents too hazardous. I will definitely be revisiting this one.

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Postmating

I have completed four Postmates shifts since being on-boarded, and they were exactly what I expected.

The system is actually fairly simple: A customer places an order via the Postmates app (either by selecting from a pre-set menu or typing out a custom shopping list), Postmates HQ dispatches it to the nearest available courier via an algorithm that factors in scheduled priority, distance, and target destination, and the courier (such as myself) can choose to reject or accept the job depending on ability to deliver in a timely fashion, and other preferences.

Needless to say, the nature of the job takes the courier all over the city, which is exactly what I wanted.

My first shift started out turbulent in the sense that a car U-turned into me within the first hour at 5th and Market. While I did miss two jobs as I was washing out my bloody hands at a somewhat ghetto Subway Sandwiches run by absolute sweethearts after spectacularly cursing out the driver in the heart of Downtown San Francisco, I will not dwell on this. The first job I did accept was a complete error as far as profiting goes, but a great decision for a workout; what I mean is some other yuppy decided to order a personal pizza from the Mission and pay approximately $15 for delivery to Pacific Heights and I was dumb enough to take the job. The lesson I learned from this is while deliveries can satisfy my desire for a workout regardless of payout, I am absolutely unequipped to deliver pizza and keep it presentable.

Since then I've been a lot more careful in reading over what it is to be delivered while keeping in mind my limited means for transporting goods. The total amount I have earned so far is roughly $60, with nearly $40 of that coming from 2.25 hours of work on a Sunday morning. I made $37 tonight over 2.5 hours which I will expect to see in my checking account in a week's time.

This is also enough for a Chrome Cast. Or just one of my Sushi dinners, calories and expense free.

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7am Spandex Skin Suit Session.

Rocked the 2012 Santa Clara University Cycling Long Sleeved skin suit for the first time since I purchased it almost 1.5 years ago. Having always worn a 2004 SCU jersey and Sugoi tri-shorts, real cycling pads felt great.

My buddy Travis led Rob and I on a moderate 20 mile loop around Lake Merced this morning. The route traversed The Wiggle, cut through Golden Gate park, and went along Ocean Beach until we hit Lake Merced. It was a beautiful though somewhat very foggy and freezing ride through San Francisco city itself. I was definitely under-layered even in the skin suit.

For this ride I experimented with my Pyle HD action camera. It has a battery life of 1 hour when  filming, but supposedly it has the ability to record video while charging from an external power source. I attached my Anker 3000mAh charger with a couple of rubber bands and a paper clip, and secured my action camera to a plastic case with some rubber bands as well; while the case and handlebar mount was designed for the bike, I have had the camera knocked out going over a bump so the rubber bands are just an extra precaution. The rig was less than professional, but in my personal opinion, still hardcore.

Unfortunately I only captured an upsetting 4 seconds of video; the recording stopped the moment I plugged in the external power source. Am waiting to hear what customer service has to say about this.

Update: customer service responded and the original product description was incorrect; the camera cannot record and charge at the same time. Time to get a GoPro.

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Postmates Group Orientation

The Postmates group orientation went well, though I didn't quite fit in with the rest of the 19-year old (and some in their 40s?) unemployed applicants who are hoping to do this as a full time gig. I almost felt guilty for potentially competing for their customers as a full-time employed senior licensed civil engineer who is only doing this for fun, but I think Postmates may need all of us if their described user growth is actually true. 

We were asked to bring our bikes, racks, messengers and all equipment with us, but the orientation leader may have forgotten to inspect any of it despite mentioning that if we didn't already own all this then the job is not for us.

All I care about really is getting some cycling in and getting paid for it on my own time. Next comes a 10 year background check followed by an invitation to the on-board meeting.

Here is my setup. I may need to get a front rack and trunk if I am to deliver coffee and flowers, but only after I've tried and decide to stick to this. 

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Applied to Postmates.

Postmates is a new delivery service available in San Francisco and Seattle that hires bicycle couriers for local businesses. Since I already ride my bike to get around San Francisco, I figured I could use this as an opportunity to get some extra training saddle time in, and provide a service while doing so. The extra pay doesn't hurt either.

As the poster says...

Except I'm not really a hipster. Nor do I ride a fixie.

For more on the service, visit the Postmates website.

UPDATE: My application's been reviewed and I am scheduled for a group orientation this Saturday the 26th. Looking forward to it!

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