I biked fifty miles on Saturday!
On Saturday, I did the 2025 Firecracker bike ride out of Chinatown in Los Angeles!
The Firecracker ride is a long-running bike and walk event (not a race) which starts in LA's historic Chinatown and usually goes northeast. I did it last year, and the route went right down the center of Altadena... I imagine that the same was planned for this year, because when the fires happened, the ride organizers delayed the event and gave us a new route which stayed to the west. It ended up being a big loop around the Verdugos, LA's smallest mountain range, which sits just north of Burbank and Glendale.
This is my route recording! I completed the entire ride. It was a more vertical but somehow psychologically easier ride than last year... while last year's route had less total climbing distance, it had a larger number of individual climbs. This route went (almost) straight up for 25 miles, then straight down for 25 miles, peaking nearly in the middle of the route. I found that much easier to manage, mentally - I knew the entire time that every mile I spent climbing in the first half was a mile I would get to go downhill in the second.
I also made a lot of improvements to my "loadout" this year.
- I brought different and better snacks. No nuts this time, but loads of gummy bears for straight up calories, loads of dried fruit, and slim jim type meat sticks. I brought fewer snacks overall and did a better job of only bringing what was necesarry.
- I brought less water in a better bottle. Last year I think I brought a nalgene which was strapped to my frame in a cargo cage. I thought I needed as MUCH water as possible on my frame to last me between rest stations. This year I just trusted that a regular water bottle would last me, and I made sure to fill it up every chance I got. It worked out!
- I wore better clothes. This year I wore proper biking shorts and a jersey, and also wore a sun shirt and full-finger biking gloves. Kept me cool and warm when it needed to. I wore a merino tank top as a base layer under the jersey which did a good job of preventing me from feeling like I was swimming in sweat.
I also prepped better for the event. I have type 1 diabetes and need to be careful about my blood sugar during stressful exercise like this. I began the morning by eating as much as possible so that I would have sugar entering my blood during the actual ride. I ate a three-layer peanut butter, jelly, and butter sandwich (Yes. My preferred way to do this is to make the jelly and butter touch.) the first thing in the morning, which I took insulin for. I later inhaled a "walking tamale" in the 15 minutes before the ride actually started, but took zero insulin for that. This kept my blood sugar from tanking during the ride.
Next year, I think I'll make these changes:
- I will actually bring electrolyte tablets. They actually work. It's lighter and more versatile than trying to make my own electrolyte beverage out of orange juice and salt. I simply must adopt the habits of the Lycra guys. It turns out that, as usual, they are correct about long-distance cycling.
- I will wear better shoes. I wore the cycling shoes I usually use for commuting when the weather is bad - they are flat-soled shoes that work with my flat pedals, but they have a plastic shank down the sole which makes it stiffer and helps with "power transfer" while cycling. I am still not interested in wearing clip-in shoes... that seems like a learning curve I do not need at this point in my life... but I do need cycling shoes which fit me better. I think the ones I have now are a bit too large. I had some weird sock bunching and toe numbness in those shoes which I've never had before, and I think it was because my foot was sliding around a bit inside the shoe.
Also: this ride got me 33 new miles of road coverage for my terrible bike-all-the-streets mission!!! (Blue lines are new roads!)
A lot of these roads are places I should have biked before as an Angeleno who gets about by bike... but I stick to the west side of the city, mostly. One reason I like the Firecracker ride so much is that it shows me bits of the city that I do not usually have an occasion to visit.
If you are in the LA area and are looking for a cycling event that will test your stamina without requiring any particular skill or talent (this is not a dig. This is me, this is what I want), I highly recommend the Firecracker ride. It's well-run. They give you a participation medal and a t-shirt and a free beer! The theme this year of course was the Year of the Snake - each year's ride has its own merch selection themed after the zodiac animal - and I am myself a Year of the Snake child. Hiss!! I now have a year of the snake t-shirt. Delightful!!
I've had a good time both times I did this ride. Hope to do it again next year!