Jennifer Dilworth Hynes — mtbchk

Saturday was the first Dirt Divas Singlespeed Demo Ride at Renaissance Park.

14 ladies were there, riding singlespeeds, and a couple even had fully rigid SS!  Of the 14, only 3 (or 4?) had ridden SS before, and already owned their own (or brought their husband’s).  Almost all “normally” ride a FS geary, so this was quite a change.  The group was also a very diverse group, with people across all riding levels.
 
Ethan and Arleigh swapped out all the pedals and set up people’s seat height, etc., and we were on our way!  We rode the short-track as a warm-up.  At the top of the ST, the comments were pretty funny.  Anywhere from, “this is so cool!” to “wow, this is hard”.  
 
We continued to the “Softball side”.  We all rode together, and I made frequent stops at the top of the hills to allow people to catch their breath.  It may have been more stops than some were used to, but I didn’t want to wear people out and I wanted to allow people enough time to catch their breath and discuss how SS feels compared to geared riding.
 
It was amazing to see people making climbs that they sometimes struggle on even with all their gears.  They learned quickly about momentum, using the full pedal stroke, and using your handlebars for leverage.
 
Afterward, the comments were all very positive.  Some would have written a check for the bikes right there if they could.  Comments on the 29er were also very positive (coming from a 5′10″ gal).  I think most that rode “got it”.  Several went out to ride some more, and a few kept the bikes overnight to ride some more.  
 
Thank you SOOO much to Ethan and Arleigh of Blacksheep for gathering up the bikes and helping to organize everything.  It’s hard to find that many “small” bikes!  Thanks also to all of the Blacksheep customers who loaned their bikes for the demo.  
 
We had Redlines, Konas, Surly 1×1s, On-One Inbred, THE Surly Pugsley, and maybe some others that I can’t remember.  All (except the Inbred and maybe the Pugsley) were geared 32×18.
 
Some things we stressed about riding SS:
Use your momentum on the DH to attack the uphills
Remember to use your full pedal stroke
Use your handlebars as leverage
Stand on the climbs to gain momentum and power
Balance your weight back-front so your rear wheel doesn’t spin out
Pick your lines carefully (especially if you’re used to FS!)
Brake less
 
Some other positives that were noted about SS:
Listen to the “silence” of not having chain-slap
Note the weight savings of not having shifters, deraileurs, gears…
The maintenance of a SS is much less than a geary
No “chain-suck”
Gain power and strength in your legs, back, arms, and strengthen your knees
Simplicity, “just ride”, not thinking about being in the right gear
 
Overall, I’d say the ride was a success.  We may have a few converts on our hands!

So, to vent my frustration yesterday I went on an easy recovery ride during lunch.  I took my tiny camera to try to document my “fun” daily lunch ride.  Well, the $25 pocket camera that doesn’t give a “megapixel” rating because it would involve a zero and a decimal point didn’t do very well.

I checked the camera last night and of the 20 pictures it would hold, only two or three came out “ok”, and by “ok”, I mean “marginal”.  Some of the issues were around my inability to point and click something that small without getting shots of the ground or the sky.  The distance pictures were just fuzzy.  The ones that came out good were my self-portrait and the dog chasing me (because he was very close to my foot… yikes!).

I can’t figure out how to save the pictures off the camera.  It has the function, but for some reason it’s not saving onto my computer when I tell it to.  I’ll have to try again this weekend.  It’s a funky program that works only for that camera, and it’s the only way (that I’m aware of, anyway) to get the pictures off the camera.

But the camera sure is cute!  It’s smaller than my palm, on a keychain, and is PINK!

I’ve been emotionally up and down a lot lately.  Today is my 2-year anniversary of working here.  I’ve been working as a full-time engineer for about 9 years, plus a year and a half of full-time co-op experience.  I was happy earlier this week when I found out that I got a raise.  It was a decent percentage, compared to what most people get.  Then, the next day, they post a job for a Process Engineer with 2-5 years experience, and it’s posted for a higher pay grade than I currently am.  So, this really begins to chap me and I go to HR.  I’m terrible at this kind of stuff — asking for what I deserve. 

I rarely play the “woman” card, but feel that it’s warranted in this case.  The only other female engineer and I are the lowest paid engineers here, yet we’ve both taken on much more responsibility than the rest.  She’s taken on all the utilities, and I now lead a group of 15 mechanics, in addition to my engineering responsibilities.  We are held to different standards than the rest — when we do projects, the amount of documentation required is 5x that of the other engineers.  When we ask for the same documentation on a project done not a year ago by another engineer, it doesn’t exist.  We struggle to get the guys to share information and equipment.  I asked about 7 different guys where the high-temp air velocity probe was, and was told it was broken, gone, lost, melted, etc.  So, I bought a new one.  Not a week later, the other one “magically” appears, working fine, and in the office of one of the same guys I asked.  Hmmmm.  This is not an isolated case.  I have the same issues getting files, drawings, process data, well, anything.  I know it exists, but I can’t get it when others seem to have no issues getting it.

So, it’s a frustrating situation made worse by the fact that we are the lowest paid engineers and there is a job posted for 1/2 the experience and $6000 more than we make.  This is an issue in my mind, and I am so chapped about it right now that I don’t care who knows what I think.

HR says they’ll look into a grade change for me and the other engineer.  We’ll see if that happens.

Today was beautiful.  I got a bunch of work done this morning.  Around 10:00, I had an (almost) uncontrollable urge for chocolate.  I’ve been so good lately with my points, though, and I didn’t want to ruin it.  Oh well.  I bought a Hershey’s Chocolate Bar out of the snack machine, since that was the ONLY form of chocolate in the machine.  Even though this was much more than I really needed, I ate it anyway.  Of course, I wrote down the “Points” like any good weight watcher.  5.5, if anyone was wondering.

At 11:30, I couldn’t sit still.  It was 65 degrees, sunny and breezy.  I went out and rode for a FULL hour.  This put my lunch “hour” at an hour and 20 minutes, but hey, I got there at 6:45 this morning.  Now, this ride was TRULY an indulgence, and it even cancelled out my earlier indiscretion.  I would have ridden all the way home if I knew how to get there via back roads….it was that beautiful today and the bike felt that good.  As an extra bonus, there were NO dogs today, and I did an extra two miles.

I went to aerobics after work.  Really, I probably shouldn’t have done that.  We did 100% threshold intervals last night, and I rode at lunch, so I should have skipped aerobics.  He worked us hard and 25 minutes into a 45 minute workout I was actually thinking about quitting.  I would have rather ridden my bike, but I know I need the extra “umph” for my upper body.

The trail was calling me this evening.  It’s so nice outside and I know it’s dry, but I have WAY too much to do around here.  I’ll eat dinner and take a shower and do my chores and go to bed.  I’m SOOOO tired.  These early hours are killing me.

I’m so glad my indulgences aren’t all unhealthy.  I feel pretty good today after my great lunch ride.

Once I get a AAA battery for my tiny camera, I think I’ll do a lunch-ride photo journal.

I finally got out on the bike(s) yesterday.  Lunch ride, 13 miles on the road in the rolling hills of Kings Mountain/Bessemer City.  The ride was slow and painful.  My legs felt like bricks after not riding for a week.  I focused on spinning.  I had to remind myself of all the places to watch for dogs.

Finally — revenge.  There’s this one dog that sleeps right next to the road on a steep hill.  He runs right up to the bike and almost nips at my heels.  Yes, he’s old and fat, but he can cut me off and the hill is steep.  Yesterday, I finally got him.  I was ready when I saw him laying there.  I got the water bottle and squirted him directly in the eyes with really cold water.  I think he thought a skunk got him or something, because he gave me this scared look and ran to the grass and ran his face all over the ground.  I looked back when I got to the top of the hill and he stood there giving me this really bewildered look.  Hopefully, Pavlov was right.  We’ll see.

Since I got to work really early, I left early enough to ride out at Beatty.  When I got there, Arleigh and Taryn were there to ride, too.  So, we had our first unofficial official Blacksheep Women’s Team ride.  See www.arsbars.com for pictures….  That was the first time I’ve ridden on a trail (other than the short-track, which doesn’t really count) in a MONTH!  It took some time to get my “trail legs” back. 

I had to get up for work at 4:00 this morning in order to get there for a 6 am “team meeting”.  That truly sucked.  I was so afraid of missing my alarm that I think I woke up every hour to check to see what time it was.  I’m leaving early again today.  I don’t know what I’ll do with my time, since tonight is Per4mance Training night, but I’m sure I can figure something out.

More on my big thighs and other “duties” later….

So, I think I fixed the bike.  Hopefully, although embarrasingly, I think it was just a case of me not paying enough attention last week and putting the chaintug on the non-drive side instead of the drive-side.  I guess the wheel slipped in the track ends causing the chain to want to drop when I really cranked the pedals hard.  At least, I hope this is the case.  I’ll try it out one day this week.

No riding today.  I didn’t bring the road bike to work with me since I really didn’t feel like riding in 42 degree weather at lunch.  Tomorrow looks promising.

Other than the 1/2 lap at the race yesterday and 30 minutes on the Short Track last Monday night, I haven’t been on the bike(s) at all.  (Not counting my Per4mance Training Night).  It’s time to get more saddle time in now that I’m out of “team training”.  Plus, since I’m working MUCH earlier hours, I’ll have more time in the afternoon/evenings.  My legs are really feeling the time off the bike.

I thought my weight would feel the time off the bike, too, but tonight was weigh-in night (www.weightwatchers.com), and I lost 2.2 lbs.  That makes up for the slight slip-up last week.  For those of you who don’t know, I’m 40 lbs. lighter than I was in 1999 thanks to Weight Watchers.  I still struggle with maintaining my weight, especially when riding hard and trying to fuel for racing.  I have to really watch my intake/output/bloodsugar (I’m also hypoglycemic).  I’m focused again on losing during this winter training season.  I’ve lost roughly 5 lbs since the first of the year and would like to lose about 10 more.

That’s all for today.  Maybe later this week we’ll discuss my huge thighs.

Today was tough in our “team” training for work.  It seems my “team” doesn’t get it.  They expect me just to do everything for them, rather than them proposing solutions to THEIR problems.  A team is not defined by their coach alone.  Let’s see… the exercises we went through today…

1. Resolving internal team conflict — it seems that they are not willing to admit that they have any conflict, even though I’ve been told privately.  They danced around the issues all morning. 

2. Roles and Responsibilities — Nobody wants them.  They think that it should be all ME.  They figure that if I have all of the responsibility, they won’t have any accountability.  WRONG.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

On a brighter note….  I just got back from Per4mance Training (www.per4mancetraining.com).  Remember how I wanted to step it up a notch?  Well, tonight we had a re-assessment of threshold power.  Mine has gone up 13% since the beginning of January, and I’ve lost 5 lbs.  Whoo hoo!

I guess I’m making progress both Professionally and Physically, although progress in one arena is faster than it is in the other arena.  At least it’s progress.  All I know, is that either way, progress can be painful.