08/13/08- AT LEAST THIS TIME I HAVE AN EXCUSE FOR WRITING LATE! That excuse being that Tuesday night I had to catch a red-eye flight back to Wisconsin for a Trek dog & pony show (showing off their 2009 line & programs to dealers). But that didn't stop me from putting in more than a full day on Tuesday, starting with the usual ride up Kings, this time with Kevin, Eric, John (I think?), Karl & Preben. The run up the hill was basically a rerun of the past few with Preben, where I was fine for the first half of the climb but then faded enough for Preben to catch me about 2/3rds of the way up and then keep motoring on. Thankfully I did manage to have enough energy in reserves for a decent sprint.

And then there's that silly flight back to WI. Why in the world would anyone get on a plane at 11pm that would arrive in Chicago at 4:30am? Just 3.5 hours, not even enough time to sleep. The alternative would have been to fly out very early in the morning, having to get up around 4am, and that would have rendered me pretty useless all day today. I did manage to get a couple hours sleep in the hotel (they let me check-in around 9:30am), and I was reasonably functional, and should be in pretty good shape tomorrow.

08/10/08- THROWING THE BOOK AT KEVIN THESE DAYS- that would be my son Kevin, not middle-aged Kevin who was really silly yesterday, climbing Mt. Diablo three times while preparing for a nasty event called the Everest Challenge. No, we're talking about young-guy Kevin (15), who rode the 40 mile version of the Tour de Max with me this morning instead of the 70 mile that he rode last year, because he had a track session at the Velodrome later in the afternoon.

The 40 mile version of the Tour de Max was described as "rolling." Uh... no. It did initially roll through "the loop" but then on its return to the Los Altos area, proceeded to head up an endless serious of "junk" climbs, the sort that aren't long enough you can get a rhythm going, but still something you start to feel in your legs by the time you've done a few of them! 40 miles and about 2900ft of climbing, so no way could you call it a mountainous ride, but I'd suggest that "rolling" is a bit too understated.

Great food at the finish, lots of nice people out riding, frequent sag support and wonderful weather. What's not to like? And the proceeds all went to a great cause (it's affiliated with the Lance Armstrong organization).

And then, just a few hours later, it was time to head down to the track and see if dad's adjustments to his gearing might pay off, and if Kevin still has an interest in riding the track (he'd been making noises lately that he'd rather just do a longer road ride and skip the track completely). He kinda sorta was hoping things wouldn't go well, but of course it didn't work out that way. He forgot that he's made some friends at the track, and he got, by far, his best 200 meter time to date. Overall, I think he had a pretty good day. But he's still looking for all those 15 & 16-year-old girls riding bikes. Actually, he did see a few on the earlier ride, so maybe there's hope?

08/08/08- KEVIN'S BACK, TODD'S GONE, NEW GUY DISCOVERS TOUGH LOVE. Just another day on Kings Mtn? Not quite. Kevin's back after his two-week "Tour of the Volcanoes" trip up in Washington, and we were joined by a new guy (and, as usual, I'm forgetting names again... even though he's a customer who bought a bike from us... Andy?). Eric, Kevin & Karl weren't burning holes through the pavement on the climb, but they weren't exactly hanging back with the new guy either. I, on the other hand, given even a mild excuse to throttle back to a more conversational pace, had no problem at all doing so! He was pretty strong and had no problems hanging with us up on Skyline, but unfortunately had to head back down the hill for work instead of continuing on the west-side Old LaHonda loop.

That might have been a wise move on his part, as the pace began to pick up as we made the turn off 84 and onto west-side Old LaHonda, just as we passed by Ayelet (shown in the entry below). Probably because I hadn't burned myself up on Kings Mtn, I was able to hold a reasonable pace, first attracting Kevin to my wheel, and then Eric. But Eric had a different plan than Kevin, and three times went to the front and accelerated hard. Two times I sped up and held on, but the third time, just before entering the final section of the road (into the forest), I had nothing left. It was a lot of fun trying though, and for the rest of the day I felt it in my legs. I live for that feeling. You know you did something when your legs feel that way!

08/05/08- TODD'S GONE, PUBLIC ENEMY #1 & SHE WHO CAN'T STOP RIDING. Yes, lots to talk about today! Nothing terribly remarkable about the ride itself; Kevin K's still off on a long tour, Karl had airport duty dropping off team members heading to the National Championships, leaving George, Eric, Chris, Preben... am I missing somebody? I usually do. Preben. Let's talk about that guy. Public enemy #1. They guy's going to be 67 years old in just a couple months, and if there's a climb, I simply cannot hold him off. This morning was no exception; as usual, I started out strongly on the climb, and as usual, about halfway up I look back and watch him clawing his way back up to me, passed me, and I'm powerless to hang onto his wheel for more than a few moments before he powers on up the hill, leaving me behind. It's not like I was riding terribly fast this morning, but still, there was nothing left in the tank as he came by. That's Preben in the picture on the left, shown on west-side Old LaHonda. Nice yellow Trek Madone (Lance replica). If you see this guy coming up behind you, it's over. You can drop him fairly easily by going hard on the flats; he doesn't do well sucking wheels. Thank goodness there's some little chink in his armor! But he'll catch back up on the next hill, and when everybody else is heading back down Skyline, he stays up there, getting in more miles. Incredible.

But it's not just Preben out there. There's also another customer of ours, Ayelet, an incredibly-fit and unstoppable woman that we see quite frequently on our ride. This morning she was climbing Kings Mtn (seen here in the photo), while more commonly we see her on west-side Old LaHonda. She doesn't climb as fast as Preben (few do!) but I don't think anything can stop her.

Oh sure, Chris is faster than either Preben or Ayelet, by a good margin. But Chris is in his mid-20s I think, maybe late-20s (does it really make a difference? Either way he's still in that age group where his eyes work near & far, and if he tells his body to do something, it's too stupid to complain and argue with him). Chris is probably the fastest hill climber we've had on our ride since the early days of Tracy Colwell, and can probably climb in 21 minutes or less.

And then there's Todd. I don't even remember how long I've known Todd, or how young he was. I just know that, then as now, he was an A+ student (and not the type of A+ student who benefits from grade inflation, but rather an A+ student who really is exceptional), and he's been helping out at the shop, off & on, during the summers while he's attended Woodside High School and then Stanford. But today was his last ride with us for quite a while, as he heads off to Southern California and USC for graduate studies.

Since I'm not a touchy-feely guy, I'm just showing the backside of one of hugs that went around at the end of the ride. It was a sad moment, but we'll likely see Todd in the summer, and probably during Thanksgiving break and maybe Christmas.

It seems like the past few weeks have seen a lot of changes, a lot of moving-on and a lot of passing the torch, that sort of thing. My brother Steve (who runs the Los Altos store) even got married a week or two ago. But still, I ride. Every Tuesday & Thursday morning, no matter what. And on Sundays I get out with my son, who's getting steadily faster in the hills, and within a year or so, will likely be challenging his Dad at something more than just opportunistic sprints.

08/02/08- THIS IS THE PACIFIC COAST "BIKE" TRAIL?  But we'll get to that later. I decided to do something a bit different with my son today; he's still not ready for 100 miles (close, but not quite), yet I wanted him to get a taste of riding to Santa Cruz. So we did a one-way ride from Redwood City, up over Old LaHonda, down to Pescadero, then Cloverdale to Highway 1 and on into Santa Cruz. Actually a bit above Santa Cruz, as we arranged to meet my daughter (for return transportation) at UC Santa Cruz, about 780ft up the hill.

It was a very pleasant day; mostly between 77 & 82 degrees, and the fog held off nicely just a mile or so from the coast. Strong tailwinds too! Pretty good average speed at 15.5mph; 62 miles & 4200ft of climbing. Not a really difficult ride, but fun, with a now-mandatory stop at the Whale City Bakery in Davenport.

Before heading into Santa Cruz we noticed some signage for the "Pacific Coast Bike Trail" off the the right, so we gave it a try for a short bit. Very short bit. First annoyance was that, while it parallels Highway 1, it has stop signs at every single crossroad (for which Highway 1 has exactly zero, until you come into town). Second, a couple blind corners with seriously overgrown vegetation further reducing both visibility and lane width. And third, this is a true multi-use trail, as you can see! So you're dodging joggers, horses and horse poop, ostensibly on a "bike" trail. We can do a whole lot better than this!

07/31/08- A DAY (OR TWO) LATE AGAIN ON THIS ENTRY, a result of things being crazily busy in the retail bicycle world. These are very challenging times for the retailer, as wholesale prices on many things whose price stability we've taken for granted are escalating rapidly, due to the continuing decline of the dollar (although mostly it's just one currency that's causing the commotion, that of mainland China, which had previously pegged things directly to our dollar, but not very long ago let it "float" and basically anything made in China is getting a lot more expensive). As a consumer, sure, you don't want to pay higher prices for things. But as a retailer, we're really getting the squeeze, and I'm having to watch expenses in every possible area in order to keep retail prices reasonable, and stay in business. In 29 years I've never seen anything like this. The greatest irony is that you can be extraordinarily busy (as we are!) and have immense potential to join the legions of other businesses that have failed.

Chain Reaction, of course, isn't going anywhere. I'm stupid that way; if I have to work twice as hard just to stay in place, I'll do it. But I think I'm beginning to see it take a toll on my riding. And about that riding...

Thursday was just myself, Karl and Eric, and Eric didn't even complete the entire ride, having to head back after just climbing Kings to make a 9am meeting. The left just myself and Karl, thankfully a merciful Karl who was saving a bit for his Fort Ord race on Saturday. As we descended back towards Woodside we caught a glimpse of some riders behind, and eventually we found ourselves in the company of semi-irregulars Billy and Kevin (not old-guy Kevin and not my son Kevin either).

07/29/08- NO GEORGE, NO TODD this morning, which is pretty unusual for the Tuesday edition of our ride. We won't be seeing much of Todd in the future though, as he moves on to grad school at USC. We did have Eric, Preben, Karl & Chris though. Chris, that guy who's just way too fast in the hills, and Preben, who starts out slow and grinds his way up to you as you're running out of steam. A bit cooler than normal this morning, but not really cold.

07/27/08- PERHAPS I TOOK TOUR DE FRANCE INSPIRATION A BIT TOO FAR! But I'll get to that in a minute. Very nice day to be out on a bike, with temps between 72-82 degrees, maybe a bit of wind in your face at times, but not bothersome. Since the word has gotten out that West Alpine is going to be chip-sealed over the next few weeks, I figured it would be a good idea to get one last ride up that great climb. Of course, getting there takes you over Old LaHonda and down the other side, giving a great view of a fog-bound coast. That's one of the things that makes riding a bike so great. You can, under your own power, travel through various climates in just a matter of hours. You can travel from busy city streets to the quietest of country roads without even thinking about it.

But getting back to that inspiration thing. I'm climbing up West Alpine and about 2/3rds of the way up, I spot a pair of cyclists way up the road, disappearing around a corner. I can't get a handle on their speed at this point, but, as I've explained to my son, there rabbits ahead of you to chase, and dogs behind nipping at your heels if you're too slow. I checked the time on my bike computer and found that, when I got to that same point, they were almost exactly two minutes ahead. I saw them again and now found that I'd made up about 30 seconds. I only saw them one last time, with about a minute differential, and never caught up to them. Pretty much like Cadel Evans' time trial yesterday, when he couldn't make up enough time to wrest the Yellow Jersey away from Sastre.

7/26/08-I'M NOT IN FRANCE THIS YEAR, but with a bit of help from the extensive coverage of VS (on TV), I might as well be! How many times can you watch coverage of the same stage in one day? Quite a few. For those who have yet to discover the exceptional coverage of this year's exciting race, you can get a taste by clicking on the map on the left.

This morning (Saturday, 7/26) I got up earlier than usual to watch the race favorites in the final time trial. It wasn't what I expected; Cadel Evans didn't seem to be at his best, while Carlos Sastre protected his investment in the Yellow Jersey and will, in all likelihood, be victorious when the Tour de France ends tomorrow in Paris.

Even though the final podium is likely a foregone conclusion, the finishing circuits in Paris are exciting to watch, so, for one last time this year, my life will be arranged around the 'Tour.

It won't be the same as watching it, in person, behind the barriers in Paris... that sound as the cars and riders approach, the huge rush of air as the riders pass by. And I won't be making my way through breaches in security to get a better spot to see and photograph the riders as they do their post-race promenade. I'll miss that. I'll miss that entirely-wrong feeling that I'm somehow connected to racers who have just finished a grueling 3-week event, because I used to race myself.

I tried to pretend that it would be no big deal missing the Tour de France in person this year. That there are many other great cycling events, that the business demands that I'm there this July, that I had no connection to any particular team (since Trek wasn't at the 'Tour this year). But I was wrong. The 'Tour is, as they say, the 'Tour. There's nothing else like it. Next year. Next year I'll be there. Maybe I'll make a photo essay of the many thousands of decorated houses and bikes along the route of the 'Tour. We'll see.

In the meantime, for just one more day, I'll be glued to VS, listening to Paul & Phil. And for that last day, I'll not question the many hundreds of extra dollars I shell out just so I can get the VS channel for the month of July. --Mike--

07/24/08- ANYBODY SEE TODAY'S SPRINT IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE? Looking back on this-morning's ride, I think Karl must have provided the idea of changing directions and taking advantage of people in their weakest moments. It started out badly enough, when Karl says we ought to ride through the park on the way up. Actually, there was a good omen to that, as a ranger was opening up the gate (keeping us from having to do the 'cross thing) just before we got to it. But what I don't like about the run through the park is its steepness, but today, that alone wasn't enough. Karl then took us on a strange extra circuit through the park, adding a bit of distance, a little bit of climbing, and a bit earlier concern that normal on my part that I was going to lose track of the rest of the guys. But we do regroup at the top of the park, and I head up the hill, trying to sit on Todd's wheel as he catches up to a guy on a heavy dual-suspension mountain bike (with high-rolling-resistance mountain tires), and I'm thinking, is this the best I can do?

We regroup on Skyline ("we" being myself, Todd, Kevin & Karl) but Karl takes off, with Todd a bit behind, and me hanging onto Todd's wheel for dear life. Kevin's dropped back, taking it easy, while Todd & I very nearly catch up to Karl just before the big descent to Sky Londa. Normally we re-group at Sky Londa, which Todd & I did, waiting a few minutes for Kevin. Meanwhile, Karl's just kept on going! And going, and going... eventually, on west-side Old LaHonda, we spot Karl way over on the other side of the valley, and he's actually yelling to us (probably calling us slow pokes).

Overall, I'd say Karl gets 110% for not only having a plan, but executing perfectly!

07/22/08- ONE OF THOSE TWO-DAY-LATE ENTRIES as time seems to have slipped away from me yet again. Karl, George, Eric I think? Just four of us, as Kevin was off on a ride elsewhere, and Todd had placed a higher priority on getting his car serviced than riding with us!

07/20/08- A DAY I'D HOPED FOR, AND FEARED at the same time. Took my son out on the Woodside/Pescadero/Tunitas loop, and for the first time, he put me in a world of hurt. It wasn't long term; he certainly couldn't keep up with me if I was trying to drop him. But for a minute, maybe two, he can pull something out of a hat that's pretty amazing. And better yet, he's becoming an opportunist, recognizing weakness and exploiting it. As I type this I wonder if it's really something I should encourage, as it sounds almost anti-social!

Kevin was clearly feeling pretty good this morning, and perhaps inspired after watching the day's Tour de France coverage. I think he was also happy to have his first set of "racing" shoes & pedals (no more SPD, he's now got Look non-recessed cleats). Whatever it was, he shaved another two minutes off his time up Old LaHonda, getting it down to 27:36. At that speed, I'm not having to work too hard, but I'm not soft-pedaling either. I was a bit worried that he was going too hard, too early in a fairly long ride, but he then charged up Haskins Grade on the way to Pescadero as well. But it was on the lengthy run into Pescadero, pushing into a strong headwind, that he had his real fun. He wasn't too happy that I took the Pescadero city limit sprint, so just prior to making the right-hand turn onto the narrow road that heads into town, he took off. And I mean really took off. For about 30 seconds I couldn't do anything but watch him ride away from me, until finally I put my head down, shifted to a higher gear and ground my way after him, finally catching him just shy of town. Ouch. That hurt. But it was also pretty cool that he'd try something like that, and almost pull it off.

The Pescadero Bakery didn't disappoint, but I probably should have had Kevin eat just half a sandwich, maybe splitting one with him, to keep him from getting bogged down on the Stage Road section. But, better that than bonking on Tunitas Creek!

It was on the final run home, over Jefferson, that he pulled off his second coup, catching me off guard for the sprint to the 35mph sign just east of the new fire station. He can summon up a whole lot of speed in a hurry if he wants to, and today was the first time he was able to to that in a way that I couldn't counter quickly enough. Now, if only I could convince him to see his math homework as a sprint...

07/17/08- ANOTHER LATE ENTRY, and no good excuse beyond the usual being extremely-busy at the shop and tired enough by the time I get home that I neglect what needs to be done. If I was as reliable about keeping the website updated as I am getting out there on Tuesday & Thursday mornings, I'd never miss an entry, ever!

But it's probably true that I'm also operating a bit below normal because right now, at this exact moment, I'd usually be in France, where it would be 9:16am right now (I know that because I keep a clock on my desktop set to France time), and I'd have likely landed just an hour or two ago and would be making my way to the train station for a trip to the Alpes. Most likely I would have traveled to Grenoble, where I'd rent a car and head out to the best places to intercept the 'Tour. Funny how I'm not a very organized person, but my trips to France are planned out down to a level of detail I don't exhibit anywhere else.

But no trip to France this year, just a few more rides up Kings Mtn, my local substitute for Mont Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez, Col d'Aubisque, Tourmalet... the list goes on and on. I'm still missing a few notables, including the Galibier. But this particular Thursday it was Kings Mtn, with only Karl, Todd & Kevin to keep track of, not the thousands upon thousands of other cyclists and fans that would line the mountains of France. Maybe next year.

If you have the opportunity to travel to France and ride, or maybe Italy (haven't been there yet, but people tell me it's great), you should do it. With your bike. Deal with the hassles of dragging a bike around in taxis and rental cars and trains and planes, and imagine how it could possibly be worth it, until you get out on the roads and meet the people. It's a totally different experience as a cyclist. You go into a bar and ask for "eau ordinaire" (tap water) and they smile and jokingly offer you "vin rue" (red wine) for your bottle. The cars seem to know how to deal with cyclists and drive in a predictable fashion not seen here. The sun stays out forever, with it not becoming truly dark until 10pm (apparently due to a goofy time-zone line that extended west from Germany during the occupation, and was never changed back). Yes, due to the Euro, it will be expensive now, certainly a whole lot more expensive than my first trip, 8 years ago, when it was $.82 to the Euro (about half the current exchange rate, making things twice as expensive now). But you'll remember it forever.

07/15/08- FINALLY, BLUE SKIES although a bit of cooler weather came with them, along with fog and some damp roads. A couple of regulars missing in action this morning, as Eric is off in Colorado for the Mt. Evans hill climb, and Kevin taking a few days off to ride with a friend up to Inverness. That left George, Karl, Karen, Todd... darn, I'm sure there was one more! We did see a number of people along the way though, considerably more than usual. I had my usual issues on the main climb (the usual issues being just one, really- I just don't climb as fast as I used to!), but felt a lot better on the west-side Old LaHonda section, where I somehow managed to hang onto the faster wheels. Actually, that's not true. Yes, I did hang on for a very fast ride, but I certainly didn't feel better by the time that section was over! In fact, I felt that effort for the next several hours.

07/13/08- SO HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU WATCH THE TOUR DE FRANCE COVERAGE IN A DAY? Strange how compelling it is, whether you're watching the end of a stage live in the morning (I'm assuming there aren't too many on the west coast who watch the beginning of the live VS feed, at 4:30am), or the "enhanced" replay later that evening. The evening replay tends to serve as background for whatever work you might be doing (in this case, updating the website), but what I think makes it so comforting is that you're surrounded by a world that thinks the same thing you do... that bicycles are an incredibly cool thing. That you're not the only nut in the world on two wheels.

Meantime, I did get in a ride this morning with Todd before taking my son to the Velodrome for his track session. We didn't quite have enough time to do the planned ride (up west-side Old LaHonda) because I'd slept in a bit too late, waking up at 8:25 instead of the planned 7:30. The idea was that he'd head up to my place as soon as the 'Tour coverage was over, which he dutifully did. So we rode the same "ugly" ride I did with my son on the 4th. Todd had an easy time, while I was rather challenged trying to keep him in sight. Not that I expected things to be any different!

07/11/08- EVER DONE A NIGHT RIDE? WHY NOT? With the recent heatwave, riding in the day just hasn't been a whole lot of fun, and it's been quite a while since I've done a ride at night (aside from being caught out after dark in France last year, but that's different, because the lit city streets kinda killed the "night experience"). So tonight I went out with my son and rode up Old LaHonda and down 84 back into Woodside. We saw almost no cars at all... in fact, climbing Old LaHonda, the car count was exactly zero. Got passed by 4 motorcycles going down 84, a few cars in Woodside, and that was it. Plus Kevin got his best time yet up Old LaHonda (just a second under 29 minutes, a full minute better than his previous best).

We set up both of our bikes with the Trek Flare 10 flashing tail lights (really bright and include side-firing LEDs so it's almost impossible not to be seen) and a Nightrider Minute on his bike and a slightly-flaky demo light that someone dropped off at the shop on mine. We had more than enough light to see, and since the time for the 21 mile trip was well under two hours, no problems with the batteries running out. I did carry a spare emergency battery light in my seat pack though, just in case.

I don't know that I'd recommend doing an extended night ride into the hills alone, but with two people, it's pretty hard for cars not to see you (and in fact, oncoming cars were dimming their headlights quite a distance away). Add to that the sheer lack of cars in the first place, and I think it all adds up to a lot of fun without too much danger. But again, I don't think it's something to do on your own. There's definitely safety in numbers (plus, it's a bit creepy out there all alone!).

07/10/08- WHOA, NO WAY CAN I HOLD THAT WHEEL! No, I'm not talking about Todd, or Kevin, or Karl. I'm talking about the Amazing Preben, the 66-year-old mechanical man who can grind many half his age into the ground. I began the main climb ahead of him, but could only watch in a combination of disgust and admiration as he clawed his way up to me and then past. If one of his secrets is his diet, then I'd suggest many of us could benefit from eating as his restaurant, Copenhagen, in Redwood City's Woodside Plaza. How he does it I just don't know.

Big group for a Thursday, and I'm sure I'll miss some names. New guy Cory, out visiting from Salt Lake City, and no slouch on the climbs! Karl, both Kevins (both seen at the front in the photo; old guy Kevin on the right, newer-guy Kevin on the left), Todd, Syl, Eric, Preben... that might have been everybody. Even hotter on Skyline (85 degrees) than on Tuesday, but thankfully it cooled off elsewhere. Smoke, however, was really bad, and this was the first time I'd ever felt seriously impacted by it. Normally I'm just a heavy breather, but this morning, I was a heavy & ineffective breather!

Another interesting thing this morning was how fast the roads felt. Probably a good two miles per hour faster than normal on the run down to Sky Londa. Could have been a slight tailwind, except that it was also faster than normal when we were heading in the opposite direction just a short while later. Seemed like the air was simply thinner than normal today.

Once in a while I get to thinking about earlier times, when this ride was less a training ride (many of the other guys race) and a bit more casual. But it's always been a very friendly ride, and always respectful of others out on the road. We do become a bit self-absorbed with the task at hand and sometimes don't notice for a few seconds that a car's snuck up behind us, but generally I think car drivers would be impressed with how quickly and business-like we move to the far right of the lane when they approach.

Overall, how do I feel on my bike right now? Like I need a major challenge or event. Missing out on a trip to France is going to be hard on me, no question. It makes July more similar to the rest of the months on the calendar, instead of something I look forward to many months ahead. But I'll survive, and it still remains a possibility that I could make a trip to Spain for the Vuelta in September. But back to France... I assumed that, without Trek at the 'Tour, I wouldn't miss it so much. Without having guys I've felt connected to, riding the same bikes I sell at the shop, the 'Tour would be just another bike race. But it's not. I watch the coverage on VS, I listen to Phil & Paul & Bob Roll, and I remember what it's been like to ride up the side of a mountain and wait, for hours, for the big event to come through. And the crowds... I'd forgotten how much strength you drew from the crowds, cheering you on as you struggled up the steepest parts of the climb, until riding up them last year with my son. So yes, I do miss being at the 'Tour. And I'm watching the coverage daily, every bit as closely as I did for the many years I knew I would soon be heading over to see it for myself.

07/08/08- A HOT RIDE TODAY! And I do mean hot. When it's 82 degrees on Skyline at 8:30am, that's hot.

George, Karl, Kevin, John, Eric, Karen, Todd... who am I missing? I felt OK this morning despite not much sleep last night; one of the things I've discovered about riding is that it re-sets your internal clock, so even if you didn't sleep well, the rest of the day you feel a lot better than you'd normally feel with that little sleep. It does catch up to you though, about the time you're updating the website!

Instead of fighting for a decent time up Kings, I did three very hard intervals, and waited up for John & Eric, who were taking it very easy this morning. But when you do those intervals, you feel it in your legs a lot more than if you just do a continuous hard climb. It's something I used to do more often, and something I need to get back to. There are just so many different ways to enjoy riding a bike, even on roads that you've ridden over... and over... and over...

07/06/08- A MORE CHALLENGING RIDE TODAY FOR KEVIN (my son), as we joined up with Burt, one of our Redwood City employees (and most-dedicated cycling fan I've come across; who else would be getting up between 4:30 & 5:30am every day for live Tour de France coverage... and suggest that the shop should have a party for the big day when coverage starts at 3:30am for the stage that ends at Alpe d'Huez? No biggie, except that the plan would be to watch it live, at the shop, starting at 3:30am...).

We headed up Old LaHonda, down the other side, and instead of making the left turn onto Pescadero Road and doing the Pescadero/San Gregorio/LaHonda loop clockwise, we did it counter-clockwise, fighting the headwinds out to San Gregorio. No problem, I needed the challenge, and I got one. We even managed to chase down another group of riders also heading out to the coast, more easily done now that Kevin's gotten pretty good at drafting. If I'm not careful it's still possible to blow him off my wheel when the road tilts uphill, but I can actually monitor his "distress" pretty easily now that I figured out my Garmin '705 can be programmed to pick up his heart monitor. When I see his heart rate start to spike upward, I know that he's in trouble.

We had a brief stop at San Gregorio so he could fuel up with a muffin and then headed up over Stage Road, and I have to admit it was fun seeing the road from the other direction. You notice all sorts of different things, but mostly today we noticed the relative coolness of the fog-shrouded coast. At Pescadero we stopped for "lunch", consisting of something to drink and pastries from the bakery. Lots of other cyclists cruising through, which shouldn't be a surprise on such a nice day.

The climb up over Haskins Grade was tough but not impossible for Kevin, but most noteworthy was coming across yet another motorcyclist injured when he ran his machine off the road. This is getting a bit old; 3 times in the last 8 days I've come across very recent motorcycle accidents. This was looked fairly serious; the guy was alert, but moaning pretty badly, and being tended to by several others (who may have been riding with him) while waiting for help. We rode on, noticing it was a good 10-15 minutes before we saw police & fire vehicles on the way.

The climb back up 84 was pretty easy, but there was so much traffic that we detoured back onto West Side Old LaHonda before descending into Woodside. About 60 miles, 6,000ft of climbing, and fairly challenging for Kevin (but a piece of cake for Burt!).

07/04/08- HOW ELSE TO CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE BUT ON A BIKE? With gas going out of sight, the cool thing about cycling is that you can head right from your front door directly on your adventure. No need to drive anywhere.

The original plan was to ride with my son up Old LaHonda, down to LaHonda and then up West Alpine, but we softened things up a bit, knowing that Sunday we'd be heading out to the coast. So instead, we did a version of the "ugly" ride. That's where you do a ride in the "wrong" direction- the direction where a road seems not-quite-so-fun as it is the other way. In this case, we started out nicely, up Old LaHonda, down the other side, and then back up west-side 84 to Skyline, where we picked up a sandwich at the Sky Londa market before heading north on Skyline. The "wrong" direction. And you know what? It wasn't so bad. It was actually fun! And the descent to 92 brought us face-to-face with those not-quite-so-independent. A solid line of cars that were backed up all the way from Half Moon Bay nearly to 280. 7 miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic. But for us, it was 34 miles of great fun on a beautiful day.

07/03/08- I KNOW HOW TO BEAT TODD IN A SPRINT. If you saw the movie "Gladiator", you'll remember that, for the final battle, the bad guy Roman Emperor stuck a knife into Russell Crowe's side, mortally wounding him, prior to his entrance into the Coliseum. That way the Emperor could be certain to win against the undefeated Gladiator (except that, being Hollywood, the Gladiator wins and kills the Emperor anyway). So that's what I did to Todd this morning. I paid good money to have some guys rough him up real bad before our ride, so I could squeak past him at the Sky Londa sprint. The reality is slightly different; I didn't pay anybody, but Todd did go out on the infamous "morning" ride prior to showing up for the Tuesday/Thursday ride, so he'd already been through the wringer by the time I saw him. My guess is that his tires were probably low too, because even mortally wounded it's still difficult to win a sprint against him.

And the climb? Let's just say this was a "high gravity day" (a term coined by Kevin some years ago).

Karl, Kevin, Eric, Todd, Preben... I think that's all the guys who were riding ahead of me up the climbs. We were also joined at the top of West Side Old LaHonda by Bob, who said he'd been thinking about coming out for our ride sometime and just happened to be in the wrong, er, I mean, right place at the right time. Fortunately the group was relatively civilized by that point, and no huge efforts were made to shed the sheddable prior to the final sprint (which Todd won by maybe a mile or two; my excuse is that I was boxed in by Kevin & Karl, but as Kevin pointed out, that must have been my choice, because everybody knows better than to follow Kevin's wheel in a sprint).

07/01/08- FINALLY! It hasn't been an easy year, with hard efforts up Kings Mtn consistently yielding times in the high-27s (27:45, that sort of thing). Last year I was repeatedly getting mid-26s around this time, and it was only a couple years ago I was actually under 26. But today felt a bit different, and following Karl's relatively-fast leadout up the first part of the climb, I was able to pull off a 26:57. Funny thing, that. 26:57 and I'm happy. If it was 27:01, just 4 seconds slower, I'd be really annoyed.

Karl, Kevin, Eric, Todd, Chris, Karen, George... I think that's all the witnesses to my incredibly-awesome (not!) climb this morning. It was an interesting day overall; there was something going on with the group that I just couldn't figure out. People were a bit antsy; when the pace would settle down for a bit, you knew it was only temporary. The run back to the start was hard enough to blow the group apart well ahead of the final sprint; it's not unusual that the speed picks up to try and drop the sprinters (that would be me), but today things simply shattered.

But I'm happy with my ride, and it's the first time I've been able to say that about one of the Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides in a while! Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy riding with these guys. It's just that this ride, due to its repeatability, allows me to know exactly what shape I'm in, and sometimes you just don't want to know. On the other hand, it keeps you honest. Because it's a group, there's almost a responsibility to not let yourself get too far out of shape. They will make you pay!

My Sunday rides with my son are a different thing altogether. On those rides, the fact that my strength is diminishing relative to his is a good thing, not bad. I look forward to the day where I struggle to keep up with him on a climb. But my Tuesday/Thursday outings will keep that day at bay for a while longer.

06/29/08- FIRST DAY BACK ON THE JOB ISN'T ALWAYS EASY and today was no exception for Kevin, my son, who's been off the bike for over two weeks (he'd been on a school trip to Italy). We designed a special ride that would be difficult but not impossible. King Mtn, Skyline, down west 84, up West Alpine, south on Skyline to 84 and back down into Woodside. About 45 miles, but 45 quality miles! He probably went out a bit too fast on Kings, such that, by the time we got to West Alpine, he wasn't exactly having an easy time of things. Still, I'm sure he'd admit he was having a better day than the motorcyclist we came upon on 84, with a totally wrecked machine. Thankfully, the motorcyclist himself looked relatively OK.

46.5 miles, 5300ft of climbing, so it passes the 100ft/mile test (the generally-accepted definition of a very hilly ride).

Of course, this time last year Kevin may have been a bit more motivated, since we were going to France to ride a couple of the big climbs (Port du Bales and the Aubisque). This year, it's all about getting in shape for LaCross season at school.

06/26/08- YEAH, RIGHT, EASY RIDE BECAUSE OF THE SMOKE. The Western States 100, a ridiculous 100-mile running even in the Sierras, had been cancelled due to the dangers of inhaling too much smoke into your lungs during exercise. And yes, there was a lot of smoke in the air, as something like 800 fires were burning in Northern California. So I told Kevin, Karen, Eric & Karl that we should be taking it easy up the hill this morning. Unfortunately, their idea of easy isn't mine. I was thinking 35 minutes up the hill, a totally casual pace. Instead I found them turning off at Greer and heading into the lower part of Huddart Park, heading up the hard way. Sure, it wasn't a flat-out ride by any means, but at 32 minutes for a climb through the park, it wasn't terribly easy either.

I did learn something interesting about body fat though. Karen, one of Webcor/Alto Velo's ultra-fit elite woman riders, did something interesting after taking a drink from her bottle. Instead of closing the top with her hand, she slammed it against her side. That only works if you have close to zero body fat; for me, the top would simply push my skin in, not the top of the bottle!

France. This is the time I normally start writing about how my training is going for the annual trip to see the Tour de France. Not this year. If my son hadn't headed to Italy for two weeks on a school trip, it's likely we would have headed to France again, like last year, only this year instead of the Pyrenees I would have taken him up the Alpe d'Huez and maybe the Galibier. But one trip to Europe is enough for one kid, and besides, Contador isn't going to be there to defend his title anyway. Still, it's going to seem very strange, watching the coverage on TV almost as an academic exercise rather than trying to figure out how things are going to play out when I'm there.

It's entirely possible I'll head to the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) in September though. I've never been to Spain, and it might be time to see some part of the world other than France. Meantime, I have to pass by the house on Jefferson with the Sunflowers each Tuesday & Thursday morning (shown here with my son, taken on Sunday's 6/29 ride), reminding me of what might have been.

06/24/08- CHOOSE HOPE. If not for the heavy smoke shrouding the Bay Area, it would have been a perfect morning to ride. Temps in the low-60s, low humidity, and that rare, wonderful feeling of your tires seemingly glued to the road while descending. But that smoke, besides making things smelly and not very pretty, had another interesting effect. I could actually hear some other guys breathing. Normally, all I can hear while climbing is the sound of my own lungs, scavenging the air for spare oxygen, but today I could actually hear Eric as I rode alongside him at the beginning of the climb.

Let's see, who'd we have today? Newcomer John (yet another green Alto Velo jersey), Eric, Todd, George, Karl, Kevin, and a surprise- Preben, who hadn't ridden with us in probably more than a year! And it's Preben where I'm forced to choose between hope & despair. Because it was Preben that I was struggling to catch while climbing Kings Mtn this morning, finally pulling even at the very top. Of course, at 52, there should be a few people out there who can climb faster than me. But Preben's... 66, and will be 67 in just a couple months. That's impressive, and just one of the wonderful things about cycling. Age really isn't much of an issue. If Preben can ride so well, and he's 15 years older, then maybe there's still hope for me. 15 years older. From where I sit, that almost makes him immortal. Think of all the riding I might do in the next 15 years. Amazing. So I could choose to be depressed that someone 15 years older can do a number on me on a climb, but why not focus on the many great years of riding ahead? Who knows, I might still be able to ride a bike by the time my kids get out of college!

06/22/08- IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE I'VE RIDDEN THIS FAR and it was about time. The original plan for today was to do an east bay loop around Mt. Diablo, including a climb to the top. But the potential for very hot weather caused Jeff, the guy I was riding with, to suggest something different. Something actually more challenging, at least for me. A 100-mile ride out to the coast and up Bonny Doon (near Santa Cruz). The actual route was 98.5 miles, but it came to a 106 mile day for me including riding to & from the starting point. 9900 feet of climbing (plus an additional 450 feet getting to & from), so I don't have to be concerned that I almost did a full century.

Very nice day, thankfully much cooler than the past few. We headed up over Old LaHonda, then Pescadero, Davenport, Bonny Doon, Empire Grade, down Jamison Creek, up China Grade, then 9, north on Skyline to Sky Londa and down 84 back to Woodside.  After the Bonny Doon climb I was wondering if I was going to be able to finish the ride! But fortunately I was able to keep on going, trying to hang onto Jeff's wheel (not too successfully on Empire Grade).

We had a nice tailwind on the coast, and stopped at a wonderful bakery in Davenport that seems to be a hit, for good reason, with other cyclists. The Whale City Bakery. Great food! And the last chance for food until... until pretty much forever, with the route we chose. We did stop at the golf course near China Grade for an ice tea and some water before the final big climb of the day, and a coke from the guy who runs the stand at the intersection of 9 & 35. I'll be posting more on this ride soon (it's actually up now). Highly recommended for anyone training for the Death Ride.

06/19/08- WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE... "Let's go through the park. It's easier." Oh yeah, sure, I protested, it's steeper and I'm just not into steep. "We'll ride easy." And later on I hear from Todd that Karl was looking back and wondering why, on the steep ramp out of Huddart Park, I was so far behind.

Small group today, just Todd, Karl & Kevin. But that was more than enough for me. This was absolutely positively my least-inspired ride up Kings in years. Maybe ever. To say I felt "flat" is an understatement. Someone, don't remember who, even asked if I was going to make it. As if. As if I'd ever turn tail on a climb after starting up it! I should have known things were going to go badly when the gate at the bottom of Huddart Park was closed, forcing us to dismount and walk around it, before climbing up through the park.

The guys were nice enough to drag me along the gradual climb and flat section of Skyline; they could have very easily dropped me without any effort. Feeling like I had to take advantage where I could, I pulled away on the descent towards Sky Londa (the one place where my weight isn't a disadvantage) and found myself further ahead than I'd have thought until... I look back, see where the other three are, and when I look forward, right in front of me is the biggest dang deer I've ever seen. Moose-sized. Maybe small Buffalo. OK, not really, but it was BIG and it was right there in the middle of the road! I yelled, mostly for the guys behind me, and hoping also to get the darned thing to MOVE. And move it did, and fortunately without freaking out and slipping on the roadway. It wasn't really all that close, but the effect was chilling. From that point on I basically shut down and took it slow the rest of the way down to Sky Londa.

Sure, I felt a bit better as the ride went on, mostly because I was thankful I was still there. I can't explain why I felt so dead this morning; there was no pain, I slept reasonably well, and didn't eat anything particularly bad the night before (although I ate too much of what I did eat, which was spaghetti with sausage that my wife had made; I'm sure sausage isn't the best thing the night before a ride). We'll see what happens Sunday, when the plan is to climb Mt. Diablo, one of our Bay Area landmark climbs.

06/17/08- I'M NOT GOING TO BE LATE WITH THIS ENTRY! Too many times lately I've been ignoring my duty to update the almost-daily diary (which it really isn't; generally it's 3-4 times/week), but not today. I've sequestered myself temporarily in the warehouse where I might get ignored just long enough to get this done.

Let's see... no Millo this morning (still supervising construction work at his house; this has been going on for a while, so it better be quite the castle when it's done) nor Eric. But we did have Karl, Karen, Kevin, George, other Kevin, Billy & Syl. The other Kevin, Billy & Syl only went as far as Kings and then disappeared; my guess is that they're so fast they vaporized. It was a struggle up the hill, with the slightly-cooler temps ratcheting up the noise level from my lungs, and I'm still carrying too much weight. Seems like the last week or so had been pretty bad for me in that regard. It's been so busy at the shop that I'm not feeling quite balanced and at times like these I tend to eat too much, and the wrong things besides. And if what I eat is too salty, I retain water big-time (which I can feel most readily when I put on my shoes). Thankfully, after Sunday's ride up Page Mill, I think I got my system recalibrated and I'm heading back to normal.

And sure, people were giving me a bad time about my outfit this morning, particularly my vintage (at just 10 years old???!!!) TREK/VW jersey, but at least I wasn't wearing my see-through (in the rear) shorts. Not that it matters, since lately everyone's been riding in front of me anyway. But for as bad a time as the guys give me, either for what I'm wearing or the large seatbag I carry, somehow when someone needs a tool they don't hesitate to ask me for one. And so it was this morning, when, at the top of Kings, Kevin needed my multi tool to tighten his loose cleats. Next time he asks what all I've got in my huge bag, I'll just tell him whatever it takes to fix chains (which I fixed for him a couple weeks ago on Tunitas) and cleats.

Schedules? Kevin has to work today (he's a pilot) and asked how we were doing for time when we got to Sky Londa. 8 minutes behind, not all that bad. Yes, this ride does run like clockwork. Guess it's good that something in my life does!

6/15/08- WHEN THERE'S NOT MUCH TIME TO RIDE, BUT YOU'VE GOT SOME MAKE-UP RIDING TO DO, YOU'VE GOT TWO CHOICES. You can either do the "Ugly" ride, ugly because it's just plain no fun, heading up hills that are better taken down and vice versa, or you can ride up Page Mill. The ugly ride wasn't a good option because it looked like some fog had settled in on that part of Skyline, and y'know, I really don't want to go back to leg warmers if I don't have to. That leaves... Page Mill!

Page Mill is probably the most-difficult of Bay Area climbs, difficult not because it's consistently steep but because you just can't seem to establish any sort of rhythm on it, especially the lower section below Foothill Park. The semi-official timing point is the intersection of Arastradero & Page Mill, and it's that first couple of miles that work hard to break your spirit. Once you get past the park, it actually gets a whole lot steeper, but in a way that you can sink your teeth into. It feels like you're accomplishing something (which you are; you're going up!). 2093ft of up, according to my Garmin 705. That compares to 1200ft for Old LaHonda and 1600ft for Kings Mtn. If you start the ride from the Tuesday/Thursday ride location (Olive Hill & Canada Road in Woodside), the total ride comes to 32.2 miles with 3127ft of total climbing. Darn, one of the tougher rides around and yet it doesn't quite make the "tough ride" scale of 100ft of climbing/mile. How can that be?

The route runs south on Canada, past Roberts onto Mountain Home, loop through Portola Valley on Alpine, Arastradero to Page Mill, up Page Mill, north on Skyline to 84, down 84, Tripp Road to Kings Mtn, Kings Mtn to Manuella/Albion/Olive Hill and back to Canada. I'll get the ride posted on Motionbased shortly so you can see it in detail. Figure it at 30 miles if you start at Roberts in Woodside.

6/12/08- WELL, NOT REALLY 6/12/08- it's actually three days later (or is it four?) by the time I'm finally reporting on Thursday's ride. It was almost like a Tuesday ride, with greater-than-normal attendance, including two new guys whose name, by now, I've lost track of. Actually, I was having a hard enough time keeping track of them for even 5 minutes during the ride, so a few days later and my brain has returned to its normal state of mush.

Besides the two new guys, we had Karl, new Kevin (old Kevin was visiting his parents back east), Billy, Eric, Todd, Syl... and at least one more who I'm forgetting. Pretty much a sure thing they're all faster than me right now, although thankfully the new guys aren't quite yet up to speed on the concept of running me into the ground.

6/10/08- SUMMER, FINALLY! Even though summer doesn't really start for a week or two, today marked the first time in quite a while that I've been able to put in two rides in a row without leg warmers or tights. Which also means that, as the ride goes on, I begin to breathe normally too. Another indication of summer is the Sunflower growing by the roadside near the top of Jefferson. Of course, that's also a reminder that the Tour de France is coming soon, the first one I'll miss in, what, 8 years? That's definitely going to seem strange, watching the coverage and knowing that I'm not heading over to see the end of it. Perhaps it's time to see the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) in September.

But for today, it's time to ride once again up Kings Mtn with a small army of guys hand-picked to run me into the ground. Not really, it just seems that way. Regular old-guy Kevin, newer younger-guy Kevin (who looks a bit different after having cut his dreadlocks), Karl, George, Todd, Billy & Eric. Last Sunday's ride up Tunitas seems to have been a turning point for my climbing, as I worked my tail off on the upper part and forced myself to stay in the saddle. Today I found myself able to do more of the same, instead of climbing almost entirely standing. You build up an entirely different set of muscles that way, but it seems to be something I can only do once it gets warmer.

I'm not really sure what sort of epic rides, if any, this summer will bring. I never did ride Sonora Pass last year, so it would seem like that ought to be on the schedule. We'll see. Some of it depends upon my son's progress; we've got just a few brief months to get him into shape for... no, not cycling, but next season's La Crosse (did I spell that right) at school.

6/08/08- WHO KNEW 44 MILES COULD BE SO HARD? That wasn't the plan as I left the house this morning. I has a limited amount of time to ride, since this was one of the Sundays I take Kevin to the track in the afternoon, so I figured I'd do a quick but not really hard ride out to the coast and back Tunitas. I started at a relatively-easy pace up Old LaHonda, but around the halfway mark started pushing it a bit, trying to keep some distance between myself and an Alto Velo ride that would be retracing my steps a bit later. Just so you know I'm no longer some sort of demon climber, it took 23:05 to get to the top (back in the day, it could have been in the mid-16s).

Lots of riders out today, many doing the Tour de Cure ride, enjoying nearly-perfect weather. What would have made it more perfect? Losing that headwind as you ride from LaHonda out to the coast, that's what! But by then I was beginning to enjoy the challenge, and wasn't too disappointed when I came across Kevin's (that's older Kevin) group at the San Gregorio store, heading back the same way I was. I knew I couldn't stay with them on Tunitas, but still had a lot of fun trying to keep up with people on the climb (the Tour de Cure was on Tunitas as well). Halfway up "gruppo Kevin" was stopped at the side of the road as his chain had failed, so once again the large multi-took that I carry, in the bag that people give me a bad time about because it's so big, saved the day.

We are so lucky to live where we do. The great roads, wonderful weather and large numbers of friendly people on bikes just can't be beat.

6/06/08- YES, I'M RUNNING A FEW DAYS BEHIND, AND SITTING A FEW THOUSAND MILES AWAY FROM HOME and would most certainly rather be there (home) than here (Madison WI). Not that there weren't solid, super-secret reasons why I had to make a short-notice trip to Trek, but it's not as if the weather's all that bad out here and yet the flights are totally messed up. I'll probably make it home at 12:30am... if I'm lucky!

Meanwhile, oil soared to $139/barrel and people are thinking wow, that's great for the bike biz! No, it's not. I could get into a whole lot of reasons why, but in a nutshell, people are going to be hurting soon, especially people on the east coast this coming winter, when many won't be able to afford their fuel oil bills and some will literally freeze. It's not a good situation. Sure, more people will come to depend upon the lowly bicycle for some of their trips, and we'll involuntarily start the process towards being a less-wasteful, more environmentally-conscious country. But it would have been so much better if the country could have planned ahead for higher-priced oil. Europe has been doing what they can (primarily through high taxes on gasoline) to encourage more-efficient consumption of energy, and it's worked. They're in much better shape than we are, since anything larger than a compact is rare.

I know, I'm getting perilously-close to discussing politics again, something a business owner shouldn't be doing. But dang it, somebody, somewhere, some person with a vision needs to lead us through this mess, and that vision doesn't seem to be coming from the folk in the running for President. OK, I'm done for now. Meanwhile, if there are lights burning in your house that don't need to be on, turn 'em off. It's time to make a dent in our energy requirements and show "the man" that we can strike back, that we're not 100% hopelessly addicted to oil, just 97.3% so.

6/01/08- NOT ALL 64 MILE RIDES ARE CREATED EQUAL! The Sequoia Century has always been known as one of the more-challenging local events, whether you ride the 100k or the, in this case, 112 mile option. Today was no exception, as my son and I rode up Page Mill, north on Skyline to 84, down 84 to LaHonda, up West Alpine, then south on Skyline to 9. Normally you'd then head down 9 but we added a few miles and some more climbing by heading further south on Skyline to its summit before turning back and re-joining the normal ride. After descending 9 it was then up & over Pierce & Mt Eden and then the finish into a headwind on Foothill.

A couple noteworthy items. First, Kevin (my son)... well, he enjoys descents. A lot. And on the run down to LaHonda, we merged into a fairly large group of riders, some of whom were a bit slow for his taste, so he moves to the outside to pass. At about the same time somebody else from within that group is doing the same thing. I'm watching this from behind, and it's reasonable to think that Kevin should have been able to read the intentions of the cyclist who was moving out as Kevin was trying to pass. In any event, that guy freaked out a bit (something about how two people can't occupy the same space at the same time) and then proceeded to head up to Kevin and give him a piece of his mind. Mid-40s guy maybe, casing on a 15 year old. So I head up and tell the guy look, he's 15 years old, maybe he should have been able to figure out what you were about to do, fine, but when you were 15, didn't you do a few stupid things once in a while? At that the guy laughed and order was restored to the universe.

Kevin held up very well, although on the optional run past highway 9, which was supposed to go all the way out to Bear Creek (about 10 miles) to visit the secret soda stop on the ride (a feature on the 112 mile route only, which was why we were going to detour out to it), we decided that the long descent down to Bear Creek might be a bit more than he'd enjoy when it came to climbing back out of it. A wise decision, I think. Better that he enjoys cycling than thinks that Dad's only mission in life is to inflict torture upon him.

But we did have one more "event." Once we got down to Foothill, facing a strong headwind, it was time for Dad to go to the front and pull us to the finish as quickly as possible. I hadn't taxed myself terribly much on the climbs, so I had plenty left in the tank, and teaching Kevin how to draft at high speeds is something we've been working on. So off we go, with me pushing the pace as hard as I can without him coming off (which was a 110% effort on the flat sections, and maybe 80% on the slight inclines). We actually ended up, unintentionally, blowing everyone else off the back, which tells me that Kevin's getting pretty good! But he still needs a bit of work with his technique as, approaching a stop light, I signaled that we were going to be slowing down. But Kevin was apparently in the habit of riding just an inch off my rear wheel (his own admission) and made contact with it approaching the intersection and went down, fast. Thankfully, just very light bruises and virtually no damage to the bike, so we were back up & running in no time. And maybe Kevin won't ride quite so close to my wheel next time!

5/30/08- INCREDIBLE GIRO D'ITALIA STAGE THIS MORNING, which you can watch using this link. Just mute the audio on the upper video window, which will let you listen to the english-language Eurosport audio from the box below it.

5/29/08- THE BEGINNING OF THE END, OR THE END OF THE BEGINNING? That's what I was thinking this morning as I once more found myself struggling up Kings, not able to hang onto a wheel for very long and watching the guys ride away from me. Karl, Eric, Billy, Syl, Kevin... as always, seem like I'm forgetting someone. Still colder than it should be for this time of year, which means I'm still wearing tights & a base layer, and my body still thinks it needs to pack in more food (hibernation mode?). But thinking ahead to this Sunday's Sequoia Century, where I'll be doing the 100k ride with my son... I'm wondering if this might be the first ride where he could actually be riding stronger than me for parts of it. Certainly not on the steeper parts, but he recovers very quickly and, in the near term, there's this feeling that he's on his way up. And me?

Truthfully, it's going to be another year before my son might be ready to join in on one of the Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides. He's not quite below 30 minutes for Old LaHonda yet, so he's still quite a ways from the 33 minute limit for our ride (beyond 33 minutes we run into time problems for those of us who have to get to work etc). But he will get there, and in the meantime, I don't think he's going to be doing quite a few 60-70 miles rides, which he can handle quite easily, and at some point in the future, his first 100 miler. Don't think that will be this year, though. And then there's Sonora Pass. It would be possible to subject him to just one side of that climb in the near future, but certainly not both. But why? He's a good kid. What has he done to deserve even one side of Sonora Pass?

5/27/08- GETTING TO THIS ENTRY A DAY LATE and remembering why that's not a good idea... because you don't remember! Geez, just a day ago, and do I even have a chance of listing who rode? Karl, Kevin, George, Chris, Eric, Millo, but was there anybody else? I know the climb up Kings was tougher than usual, as I tried to hang onto Karl's wheel for the first half of the climb, and noticed that I couldn't even hear him breathing, and wondered what it must be like, having lungs that make no noise! And I remember finally being in the right place to take a sprint, and how hard it was trying to keep Karl in sight on west-side Old LaHonda. So I guess I do remember a few things, but mostly I know not to let a day go by before updating the diary!

5/25/08- TAKE A RIDE ON THE "A" TRAIN! I had just a few hours to get in a ride this morning, because obviously I had to watch the Giro coverage (Contador is now wearing the leader's jersey), and had to get back in time to take my son to the track. So I headed off to the coast via Old LaHonda, and, heading down the other side, the Alto Velo "A" ride (their faster ride) caught up with me at the stoplight where the road narrows to just one lane. Taking the "A" train is definitely the way you want to get to the coast, especially when there are headwinds (which was the case this morning). Instead of averaging maybe 20 mph on your own, you're riding between 25-30 mph the entire way, as an efficient double-paceline keeps the pace up while not keeping any single rider at the front (where the work is being done) for very long.

Of course, as soon as the road turned up (Stage Road at San Gregorio, where it climbs up to meet Highway 1), I was spit promptly off the back. I don't climb like I used to, that's for sure, but I still enjoy it. How many people can out-climb me? 20? 50? 1000? In truth, it's probably closer to 3.72 billion or so, but I still enjoy a good climb!

Tunitas did its best to tax my lungs & legs, and it felt really good to finally come to that little crest with about 3 miles to go that tells you the nasty stuff is behind you now. All in all, a solid 45 mile ride with two major climbs and a bit nicer weather than forecast.

5/22/08- A GOOD DAY FOR A SLOWER RIDE. I don't sleep well when it's windy. Can't tell you why. I just tend to feel unsettled. And so it was last night, a terribly windy (by Northern California standards) night, the sort of wind you'd normally expect with a big storm. But there are no storms, just wind. I even woke up ten minutes earlier than the alarm clock, and that's something there's little room for in my life!

And so it was that I arrived not feeling quite as lively as normal. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Pastrami sandwich I had for lunch, or the Jack-In-The-Box burger for dinner. But fortunately I wasn't the only one less-than-lively, as Kevin was still getting over a nasty cold. We also had Karl (who was feeling quite fine) and new-guy "Red" who works with Karl at REI. Red's not the fastest climber, but he is an opportunist, rather like me. While Karl & I were battling it out for the Skyline sprint, watching each other very closely, playing games, Red just cruises by on the outside, having sat behind us long enough to get a pretty good draft while we were going at it. Karl and I had a pretty good laugh over it; it won't likely happen again!

5/20/08- BACK TO LEGWARMERS AGAIN as things cooled down dramatically from the weekend. Actually it was rather nice. The fog that shrouded Skyline as we approached the base of the climb disappeared well ahead of us, leaving us with yet another beautiful morning to ride. Then again, even when it rained I looked forward to riding, which seems so unfathomable now. Not unfathomable that I would enjoy a ride in the rain, but rather the very concept of rain itself. After a terribly-wet early winter, the rain simply stopped in its track, a couple months ago, never to be seen again. Northern California is a place where, for 7 or 8 or 9 months of the year, it simply doesn't rain.

Let's see... Tuesday's typically the bigger group, and so it was this morning. Two Kevins, Karl, Eric, Billy, Syl, Todd, George, and Millo waiting at the top of the climb. A moderate pace that put me between two groups heading up the hill; no way to get up to the faster guys, and I really didn't want to get swallowed up by those riding almost casually behind me. Most noteworthy part of the ride was west-side Old LaHonda, where things split up a bit and I decided to try to hang on to Karl & George's wheels, while others dropped off behind. I was reminded of what I tell my son- that's no matter how hard it is to try and hang onto that wheel in front of you, it's even more difficult letting yourself fall back and having to make it on your own.

At this point I don't have any grand plans for my own riding this year; a trip to France for the 'Tour is almost completely out of the question (although if the ASO, the outfit that runs the Tour de France, decided at the last minute to include the Astana team, you just never know... I could make such a trip on very short notice if need be!). It's possible that I might head to Spain in September and see the Vuelta and find out what the "Angrilu" climb is all about. But for the most part, I've been thinking this is the final summer to get Kevin (my son Kevin) into shape and maybe, by this time next year, he might be able to join us on one of our Tuesday/Thursday rides.

5/18/08- MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH! Yes, it does sound like something from the new Get Smart movie. But today, Kevin really did. That's younger Kevin (my son), whose previous best time up Old LaHonda Road was 33:30 (just last week) and this morning managed 30:11, a mere 12 seconds off of a 20-something ride up the hill. I'm not sure if it was the great weather (68-72 degrees and low humidity) or what, but he rode strongly from start to finish.

We then rode on out to Pescadero, stopping at the exceptional bakery (cherry turnover for me, raspberry croissant for Kevin) and then into the wind to San Gregorio via Stage Road. It actually got a bit cool on the coast, down to 64 degrees, but y'know, that was just fine with me after the past few uber-hot days! I began to see some evidence that Kevin ate into his reserves on the Old LaHonda and Haskins Grade climbs, especially once we hit Tunitas Creek for the ride over the hill. It probably didn't help that I let him buy a Gatorade in Pescadero instead of sticking with Cytomax. There's something about Cytomax that it just plain works. You just ride better when you drink it, or at least I do, and it seems Kevin does as well.

In the end it was 56 miles and 6500ft of climbing. A good ride on a beautiful day.

5/18/08- WHY I CARRY A CHAIN TOOL WHEN I RIDE. I've never once had a chain failure, or even an issue, on my own bike. But several times I've come across folk stranded on the road due to a mishap that only a chain tool could fix. Today was one of those days.

 

At the base of Tunitas Creek my son and I came across a group of three or four cyclists at the side of the road, and I asked, as I usually do, if they had what they needed (works much better than asking if they're OK, because rarely, it seems, will guys admit that something's beyond their ability to deal with, but they have no issue admitting that they need something, probably because that implies that it's in the realm of an act of God that has them stranded).

 

Well, this guy had somehow managed to do a number on his rear derailleur and break the replaceable dropout hanger. His bike wasn't going anywhere, as the chain, without a derailleur attached, was going to be dragging on the ground if he were to put it on the smaller chainring so he could get up the grade ahead. That's where the chain tool came in. I was able to shorten his chain enough to get it onto a front/rear combination that would allow him to make it up the hill, which he did. You can click on the photo for a larger image of the "repair."

 

Other times I've help people with failed connector pins (fairly common) and once with a chain that, due to a really nasty shift, had gotten bent severely and had to have a few links removed.

 

It's not a bad thing for somebody in a group to have a chain tool. For what it's worth, the one I use is the Topeak Hexus (used to be called the Hummer).