Opportunity (Green) knocks and has given me the excuse to get lost along the way to Ojai for the day. Can't believe I am chalking this one up as a business trip.

Here is the route:

Section 1: Escape from LA: http://www.ridedog.com/routes/view/los-angeles/mp-to-mulholland-start-593
Section 2: Stay High: http://www.ridedog.com/routes/view/united-states/california/los-angeles/mp-to-ojai-no-coast-592

Section 1 is my best guess at getting to the "start". If anybody has any suggestions for a better route, please let me know.
Section 2 is dirt, paved, up, down, curvy and will be painfully fun.

Leaving Monterey Park at 7am, if anybody would like to join, the more the merrier. I will try and tweet my progress. Follow @ridersone

PS. The dope is all natural. Heading up for a retreat and networking weekend with the Opportunity Green folks.

Go Green Fitness - Converting Your Workout Into Clean, Renewable Energy



A cycling fitness studio called Go Green Fitness in Orange, Connecticut has developed a program that converts power generated from cycling workouts into clean and renewable energy.

A typical group cycling class with about 20 bikes has the potential to produce up to 3.6 megawatts of renewable energy per year (the amount of power used to light 72 homes for a month) and reducing carbon emissions by more than 5,000 pounds. The entire group cycling studio, comprised of 24 indoor cycles, is connected to the studio’s electrical grid through an inverter, so the energy created by the cyclists can power all aspects of the facility, lowering the studio’s carbon emissions as well as the community’s demand for fossil fuel-based energy.

Excess electricity generated from the club can return to the power grid for other energy use in the community. All cycling participants can control and monitor their individual renewable energy output through a resistance control panel attached to the bicycle, and Go Green Fitness can track the total energy that is produced through exercise on the Go Green Fitness web site.

The fitness studio utilizes technology developed by a company called The Green Revolution, the gym The Green Revolution connects health + energy + environment by turning human effort within a health club into usable energy... an idea whose time has come.

I bumped into this article from Thomson Bike Tours just before my ride with Opportunity Green Tour De OG. The Tour de OG is a 400+ mile jaunt from San Francisco to Los Angeles over five days, we are riding to raise awareness and generating social media buzz for green business.

Since I have not prepped as thoroughly as the article suggests I am banking on the fact that I usually work 18hrs a day and have some extra fat to burn to get me through this ride. Endurance... right? Wish me luck and please don't follow my lead. By the time you read this I will be on my second 90 mile day.

From Thomson Bike Tours:

Pick a target event. Let's assume for the sake of discussion your trip is in mid-July. You'll want to begin doing weekly long rides (50-60 miles or so) sometime round about mid-April. If you already have a good base (i.e., you put in a lot of endurance mileage the previous year but have been off the bike all winter), then you can start with some confidence that your base mileage will come easily and with little risk of injury. If, however, your fairly new to longer rides over challenging terrain, then you'll want to start with somewhat shorter rides, so that come May through June you'll be ready to increase the distance and time on the bike.

A caveat: be patient with building the base, lest you incur injury or mental fatigue by doing too much too soon. 60 miles should be a good starting point (50 perhaps if you're a little behind the curve due to harsh winter conditions or a heavy work schedule). Increase your ride time/distance by 10-15% each week. By June you should be fairly "comfortable" doing 90 plus miles (I say comfortable, but what I really mean is that you shouldn't feel excessively challenged by the effort).

In early to mid-June you should implement some back-to-back long rides (2 x 90 + miles). This should prepare you well for the effort of multiple day endurance efforts. If time allows you can even do three rides in a row (e.g. 90, 90, and 75+) in the final three weeks before your event/trip, though you'll want to be sure to allow a week or so for some recovery from your endurance workouts in the 7-10 days before Day 1 of your trip.

Remember, recovery from endurance workouts takes a bit longer than it does when training more specifically for speed, strength or power, so you'll want to keep this in mind as your event approaches. Since we're speaking of training for endurance and not for "speed", your most important ride will be your week long ride(s). It is important not to mix your weekly endurance ride(s) with speed, strength and power workouts. Avoid the local group ride on these days.

Find a friend who likes to ride slowly (i.e., conversationally — yes, even uphill and on your favorite town-line sprints! ), and avoid those friends who insist on half-wheeling you). Here the idea is to train not only your muscles and your cardiovascular system (both of which likewise receive benefits from strength, speed and power workouts), but also to train your digestive system and your ability to use energy efficiently.

One can be the fastest cyclist in town for 50 miles, but if one's muscles can't make efficient use of efficient fuels (which is to say, fat), then one is likely to run out of gas before then end of the ride. This is doubly true for two day endurance efforts, and triply true for three day efforts, etc. By preparing your plan of attack systematically, you will not only increase your chances for success physiologically, but psychologically as well.

The key is to build up the miles slowly and consistently!

Sources: Italian Cycling Journal & Thomson Bike Tours