Sunday, September 22, 2013

Vocab from our trip

Taking it to the next level --
when we were really hungry, we'd sometimes just mix two foods together into one because we'd just want to eat it so fast. Ex.: putting tortilla chips and salsa onto your turkey sandwich. Eating those at once is taking it to the next level.

Pro --
anything we thought embodied what hardcore cyclist did, wore, or espoused. There might be a pro way to rest on your bike at a stoplight. We would debate whether a certain person was being pro when they were parked at a light. Conversely, we would also joke if something we did was not pro.

Rage --
having survived a hard climb, to be able to rest and glide down a long hard descent

Banking miles --
we needed to average 58mi per day on the trip, with 2 rest days budgeted. Some days, we'd fall short. Others, we'd go much further. Extra miles would be added to our "bank" of buffer miles in case of issues. While we never really had a serious issue, some days we just wouldn't get far. So always on our minds would be the idea of adding a little to the bank.

Punching --
I think this is a real cycling term. If there's a small but steep hill ahead, preceded by a downhill, you can accelerate hard downhill, carry your speed uphill, and crest the hill before you have to engage your low gears. Thanks to my weight and downhill acceleration, I was able to use this tactic the most. Once a hill gets much longer than 1/8mi, it's hard to maintain the energy to keep sprinting up the hill.

Grind --
when faced with a very steep long hill, you have no choice but to get into that low gear and slowly pedal.

Sickkk --
anything spectacular, exciting, interesting, or amusing. Things that were sickkk:
- great views
- good deals on energy bars
- hearing crazy plans from other bike tourists
- having ridden at a good pace over the day

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