|
Thankfully there was no camera on me,
as I managed to crack my second Giro Atmos ($$$) helmet in a year.
Guess I came in a bit too fast at the finish, so instead of cleanly
landing on the 4-foot-wide berm at the end of the run, I grabbed a bit
too much brake and ended up going over the bars. Nothing broken, and
the kids got a good laugh. What are dads for if not for that?
12/7/07- THE
UNEXPECTEDLY-NICE sometimes, no, often happens when
you're out on a bike, and I forgot about something on yesterday's
ride. As we were heading west on 84 towards our turn onto west-side
Old LaHonda, a very large CalTrans truck was coming up behind us. Our
normal concern is that we're holding back someone who doesn't want to
be held back, and when they're as big as this guy was... a
double-trailer rig... well, you get a bit concerned. But he made no
move to try and overtake us and stayed well behind as we cut across
the road for our left-hand turn onto Old LaHonda. As we reversed
direction and began climbing I looked back and saw the truck driver
giving us the "hang loose" (popular in Hawaii with surfers) gesture.
Nice!
One other nice thing
happened today, not really bike related, but something I'll bring up
anyway. One of the shop vans has had a pretty squeaky brake lately,
making me think we'd gone too long without new pads so the rotors were
getting scored. So I brought it into 5 Points Tire, where we get all
of our alignment & wheel work done, for them to check it out. I tell
them it's been a while and it probably needs new pads at least, and
maybe some rotor work. A few hours later they call to tell me it's
ready to be picked up, and when I ask for the bill, they tell me
there's no charge... the pads still have at least 50% of their life
left, the rotors are fine, see you soon when something's actually
wrong. Very good people there, unlike my experiences with other car
repair places. Highly recommended.
12/6/07- WHAT
IF IT RAINS AND NOBODY SHOWS UP? Don't know, as it's
never happened! If there's one thing you can depend on, it's that
every Tuesday & Thursday morning, no matter what, somebody's going to
be out there doing our regular ride. This morning it was me... and new
guys Billy & Kevin. Not old-guy regular Kevin, nor young-guy my son
Kevin, but middle-guy Kevin who rode with us last week. None of the
other regulars showed up, not Karl, not Chris, not Eric, not old-guy
Kevin (who's still out with his messed-up foot from falling off a
ladder). But the three of us had a nice ride on a morning that wasn't
supposed to be wet (the storm wasn't due until 11am, or so they'd
said) but was nevertheless quite pleasant. A bit cool, finishing up at
50 degrees, but that's really not a problem for this ride, since we're
never stopping anywhere long enough to cool off.
12/4/07-
DENIAL. Denial was very much in evidence, as I hadn't
even looked at my "rain" bike since it arrived back from France in
July. But the weather report wasn't looking good, so Monday evening I
went down to the garage and brought it upstairs, not paying a whole
lot of attention to it, aside from running down the fenders which
weren't presently installed. It looked nice & very, very clean (it
hadn't rained in France). Tuesday morning I awoke to... well, before I
could confirm it was raining, there was my wife asking the same
pointless question she asks each year at the start of the rain season,
"You're not going to actually go out and ride, are you?" I guess
there's a certain symmetry when asking a dumb question of someone
about to head out into the rain on a bike.
The bike, alas, was not ready to
ride. It took me a bit of time to run down the rain clothing (you'd
think I would have done that the night before, but remember, I was in
denial), and by the time I was finally heading out the front yard
gate, I was running about 5 minutes late. OK, they'll probably wait a
couple minutes, and maybe I can catch up. So I clip in, start to pedal
and go... nowhere. The pedals go nowhere. So I figure, must be a
jammed chain. But the chain's fine. Hmm. Always fun diagnosing a bike
in the rain, but no way can I go back into the house with it. So I'm
looking it over and what the heck's with the rear derailleur? One of
the jockey wheels has come loose with the screw holding it about to
fall out. Huh who what??? No time to really figure out how it had
happened (TSA people when the bike was coming back from France???),
but also nothing that a multi tool couldn't fix. There could have been
more going on, but I didn't have the time to look things over that
carefully and figured out that, if my bike was going to break in half,
well, that's life. Fortunately, that was the only issue.
At this point I was running a full 15
minutes late, with no chance the guys would be waiting that long. Plan
B? Ride part of the route backward, and catch them on Skyline between
84 & Kings. With an eye on my watch this seemed totally plausible, and
in fact, since it looked like I had a bit of time to kill, I detoured
up Skywood Way off 84, which intersects with Skyline just a bit north
of Sky Londa. I'd ridden Skywood Way a couple times before, maybe 30+
years ago (no "maybe" about it; it was actually 25 years ago!) when
the road actually went all the way through, without a barrier. What I
didn't recall was how steep that sucker is! And in the rain, the tar
stripes were causing quite a bit of wheel slippage, including one time
I think I got a full revolution before regaining traction. Ah, life
riding in the rain. Nothing like it!
Heading north on Skyline I first come
across someone on a winterized road bike heading the other way, and
briefly wondered if he was the front guard on this-mornings' ride, but
no, just him, waving as he went by. About 5 minutes later Millo comes
down the hill towards me. Just Millo. Everybody else ditched out on us
this morning, with Millo probably figuring I was in that camp as well.
Nope. I'm not that smart. One rain ride down, likely quite a few more
to go. But I'll be better-prepared for the next one!
12/2/07-
EVIDENCE THAT WOMEN ARE SMARTER THAN MEN? Today I did a
relatively-easy ride, an extended version of "The Loop" that added the
nasty little climb up Alpine/Joaquim out of Portola Valley as well as
out Arastradero and Purissima, and coming back via Fremont.
Try this google maps link and see if it shows the details. Anyway,
women appeared to outnumber men about 2 to 1, and I'm wondering if
it's because guys were wasting 3+ hours of a beautiful day watching a
horrible (49ers) football game on TV?
Glad I didn't attempt the Alto Velo ride;
James Badia, one of their up-and-coming riders (and Chain Reaction
alumnus) caught up with me in Portola Valley after having ridden the
first 2/3rds of that ride, and said it was a pretty fast climb up
Highway 9. Better that I stayed down low today!
11/29/07- HOW
MUCH LONGER WILL THIS BEAUTIFUL WEATHER LAST? Sure,
it's a bit on the cold side; we saw 39 degrees a couple times this
morning. But it's so clear, the roads are completely dry, and you
could swear you're able to see all the way to Hawaii from west-side
Old LaHonda.
Of course, with
the cold, it was time once again (as it will be for the next several
months) for my winter lungs. I should have warned our newcomers
(that would be Billy, the guy who showed up Tuesday whose name I
didn't know, and his friend Kevin, in addition to Karl & Eric, our
faithful regulars) that it was "normal" for me to sound like that.
I'm sure they've realized they don't have to worry about me sneaking
up on them, not that that could possibly happen anyway (since they
both climb better than I do).
Today there was no doubt who was the
master at leading the charge from Sky L'Onda down to west-side Old
LaHonda. Karl is the man. He owns that stretch of road. Billy
thought I was pulling hard on Tuesday, but I wasn't getting anything
close to the speed that Karl was moving this morning. I was holding
onto wheels and spending as little time at the front as possible!
Just two sprints today, the one
leading into Sky L'Onda, which Karl took from me as I misjudged
things a bit and really should have just tried to lead out all the
way (as if I could...) and the finale that finishes at Olive Hill.
Karl was being charitable this morning and didn't try to burn me off
the back before we got there, and I did manage to hold off everyone
this time. However, two things come to mind. First, Karl allowing me
to be there in the first place. And second, if Todd were around,
there'd be no contest. I'd finish my sprint on the same day as Todd,
but that's about it. Hmm. My motto, for a while, has been "Those who
can't climb, sprint." But Todd can do both! Drat.
11/27/07- YOU
CLIMB PRETTY WELL FOR SOMEONE THAT OLD. I knew that was
going to come some day, just didn't expect it to be so soon!!! But
we'll get back to that shortly.
No Kevin (that's old-guy Kevin, not my son) this morning, as he's
trying to give his busted foot a rest, hoping it might finally get
better. No Millo either; he'd sent an email that I caught just before
leaving, saying something had come up at the last second. But we did
have Karl, Eric, George, yet another Kevin (who'd come out with us a
few weeks ago) and a friend of his whose name I don't recall. What I
do know is that Kevin and his friend climb pretty darned well, as I
watched the group head on up ahead on Kings. Eric was taking it easy
this morning, and he doesn't fool around. When he takes it easy, he
takes it really easy. And when he rides up the hill fast, he
rides really fast. Me? I ride whatever speed I can. There's not
much choice in the matter, really. Some mornings you got it, other
mornings you don't. Today? I was hard work just getting 28-something
on the climb.
Still no sprint for me on Skyline;
I've got to be in better shape after climbing to contest the first
two, which simply come too soon after the climb up Kings for me to
recover. But for whatever reason I felt pretty good on the descent
from Skyline to west-side Old LaHonda, where I actually led the group
down. Obviously Karl was taking it easy, as he owns that stretch of
road, and I'm usually doing my best just to hang onto his wheel. But
I'll admit it was kinda fun seeing how long I could get away with it,
trying to get as aero as possible while still being able to turn the
pedals (the problem is that, if I get too low, my stomach gets in the
way of my legs on their upstroke...).
Anyways, after the official end of the
ride (back at the starting point), most of us were heading north on
Canada when somehow a discussion got going about strengths &
weaknesses and I was explaining that those who can't climb anymore,
sprint... and that's when new-guy whose name I don't recall tells me
that I climb pretty good for someone that old. Y'know, that's not so
bad when it comes from your own thoughts, as you can use it for an
excuse for why you're not riding so fast, never mind that you're
putting on your winter weight and not getting in the miles you should.
But hearing it from someone else just makes you feel... old!
11/25/07-
GETTING BACK ON THE BIKE AFTER TWO WEEKS OFF ISN'T EASY!
And it's about time it's somebody else who learn th at, not just
me. In this case it was my son, Kevin, who'd been unable to ride for a
bit after injuring his wrist in a mountain biking accident with some
friends from school. And prior to that he hadn't done anything for a
while other than riding to school, so today's ride up Old LaHonda,
over to LaHonda and up West Alpine Road was definitely on the
challenging side for him. But he hung in there and did quite well on
Old LaHonda, and made it about a quarter way up West Alpine before
discovering his endurance wasn't quite what it once was. (That's Kevin
in the photo, having a difficult time on West Alpine as his bike's
trying to go in one direction and he in another. Talk about fighting
for control- this is an epic bike-vs-man scenario straight out of
Calvin & Hobbes!)
Nice day for riding; droughts might not
be good for fish, farmers or skiers, but they're great for cyclists!
Quite a few people on the bay side of the hill, but surprisingly-few,
virtually none, on the coast side. We did come across Doug, a new
transfer to the area, who'd come by the shop a month and a half ago,
asking for info on rides in the area. He'd headed south down the
valley, then up Highway 9 and back north on Skyline, pretty much the
same ride I did with Kevin back on 10/28. Only Doug was running more
than a bit low on food (he was out completely) and when I asked him if
the hot dog stand was open on Saratoga Gap, he said he was out of
money too. Yikes. Fortunately we had some Cliff Shots he could eat to
keep him going.
When I get some time I'm going to look
through past-years' diary entries, as it seems like this might be
furthest towards winter I've ridden without hitting rain (and still
with none in the forecast for next week). October cooperated quite
nicely, giving us rain only on days I don't normally ride, but outside
of that one slightly-wet month, it's been wonderful weather for
cycling! I don't feel too guilty about it, even though I have
relatives who farm in the Sacramento Valley, and haven't been able to
plant rice for a couple years. I figure there were a number of years
where they had all the cheap water in the world, which was great for
them, while I was out there getting soaked on my bike. But I think a
fair compromise would be for it to rain anytime it wanted to, as long
as it started at, say, 9pm, and finished by 2am or so.
11/22/07-
BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A BIKE RIDE. Karl, Kevin, Millo,
Claude, Steve (first-timer I'd sold a bike to a while back) & Ed (who
last rode with us on the '06 edition of this ride) joined me for a
ride up over 84, out to LaHonda, Pescadero, Stage Road,
 Tunitas
and back. Seemed a bit colder at the start than the mid-40 indication
on my computer, but still quite nice. The run up 84 was simply fun,
and made you wonder just why it is that we go to such great lengths to
avoid climbing the east side (from Woodside). It's never very steep,
and if you do it at the right time (holidays or early Sunday mornings)
there's very little traffic.
Claude needed to be home by 11am so he headed back over West Alpine
while the rest of us cruised up Haskins Grade and into Pescadero.
Neither of the stores/bakeries in Pescadero were open this morning,
which was probably a good thing, because it was unlikely any of us
were going to be starving later in the day (being Thanksgiving and
all). On Stage Road we made the obligatory new-guy stop at the house
with the Machine Gun Man skeleton, and then enjoyed the spectacular
mid-60s temps as we made our way over the two hills to San Gregorio.
Amazing how quickly you go from the lowest temp of the morning, 39
degrees just west of Pescadero, to the mid-60s within minutes!
San Gregorio was a brief stop for
water and a photo of some locals enjoying their Bloody Marys and a
six-pack of beer. 10:30am in the morning, mind you. My daughter, when
shown the photo, says it's no big deal, because a Bloody Mary is,
after all, largely tomato juice, and thus qualifies as breakfast.
Yuck!
Kevin was in a rush to get back
(dinner obligations in Berkeley) so he took the fast guys with him
while Steve & I enjoyed a more moderate pace over Tunitas Creek.
From our start at Olive Hill & Canada,
it was about 52 miles, and just over 5200 feet fo climbing. Here's a
link to a
google map of the route, and I'm working on posting photos to a
google map overlay... that's my next thing to figure out. The idea is
that you're presented with a ride route, with indications of where you
can click and see a photo taken from that spot. Looks like it will be
pretty cool once I figure it out!
11/20/07-
TURKEY-DAY RIDE THIS THURSDAY! It's that time of the
year again, time to be pro-active about the guilt you'll feel from
eating too much food on Thanksgiving, and do something about it. As
usual, we'll meet at Olive Hill & Canada Road (about a mile north of
Woodside), this time doing the Pescadero/Tunitas loop. But with a
difference or two.
Unlike past
years, we will not be climbing Kings Mtn! We're going to do
something wildly different (and if this is my idea of wild, you can
see why I'm not a party animal). We're going to climb 84 out of
Woodside. Yes, that's right, Highway 84, the climb you always
avoid because there are so many fewer cars on Old LaHonda or Kings.
But on a holiday morning, 84 is virtually deserted, and this will
give you a rare opportunity to enjoy the fastest, easiest climb over
Skyline. From there we'll head west to LaHonda, then up & over
Haskins Grade to Pescadero, where hopefully one of the two bakeries
will be open. If not, there's a gas station that's been open in the
past, where you can buy something to drink & eat.
After spending a little time in
Pescadero, we'll head north on Stage Road, past San Gregorio's
general store (the one with the sign that requests that cyclists
remove their shoes before entering) and then up Tunitas Creek and
down Kings Mtn back to the start.
The original plan was to break
things up into two separate rides, one of which would have been
quite a bit slower in pace, but as my son is still off the bike
(after doing a number on his wrist when mountain biking with
friends), we'll just be doing the usual, fairly brisk-paced ride. I
have no idea if 2 or 12 people will show up. For those wanting a
shorter, and yet still-challenging ride, you can head as far as
LaHonda with us and then back up West Alpine to Skyline. For those
doing the full loop, you'll be back before 1:30pm, likely closer to
noon, depending upon the speed of the group. If enough people show
up, the ride will likely split up into a faster & slower group, as
has happened in the past. Only 50 miles or so total, but very
high-quality miles! Fortunately, the really fast climbers will
probably all be out for the low-key hillclimb series, which features
Mt. Hamilton that day.
(For those who need help figuring if
this is a ride within their capabilities, if you can ride up Old
LaHonda in under 28 minutes, or Kings Mtn under 35, you'll be fine)
11/20/07-
IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER, YOU JUST GET FASTER.
That's what Greg LeMond told someone, when they asked what it's like
to ride a bike when you're in great shape. I'm not so sure I agree
with his statement. Of course, I'm proving it in reverse. As I get
slower, it certainly seems to get harder. Thus I conclude the
opposite must also be true! And someday, I would like to try and
prove it. That someday is a ways off though, as was proven on this
morning's ride. Kevin, Karl, George & Chris provided the ammunition;
I provided the target. Fortunately, they're not so good shooting
backward over their shoulders!
Actually, Karl & Kevin were hanging
back on Kings, while Chris & George rode on up ahead, leaving me in
that vast middle something-or-other. It's an interesting place to
be; rabbits in front of you, dogs chasing you from behind. You're
motivated to keep the leaders in sight while at the same time trying
to stay a curve or two ahead of the chasers. As I write this, it
sounds like a lot more fun that it seemed to be at the time!
41 degrees was the coldest temp I
saw on my computer, although George claimed his was reading 39.4 at
the start. The most-interesting thing on the ride was the fire truck
sitting right on our wheels as we headed down 84 (east side, into
Woodside)! Those guys were flying, and more than once in a corner I
was thinking great, if I eat it here, no way can that truck stop
before running me over. If anyone's seen the movie "Duel", this
seemed to be its inspiration. If you haven't seen "Duel", I highly
recommend it. Often shown on obscure cable or UHF channels, it was
Steven Spielberg's first commercial movie, made for TV, featuring
Dennis Weaver as a guy in 1971 Plymouth Valiant being chased down by
a monstrous Peterbilt 281 truck.
 11/18/07-
NOT EXACTLY RIDE-TO-EAT, BUT...
This morning my son was off at camp so I got to do something a bit
more challenging- a 62 mile loop through Pescadero and up Tunitas in
fast company. Kevin (from our regular Tuesday/Thursday morning rides),
"Long Bob" & Markus, a new neighbor of Kevin's who's just too darned
strong. The route was up Kings (which I generally avoid outside of our
regular rides), south on Skyline to 84, down to LaHonda, over Haskin's
Grade to Pescadero, then Stage Road to Tunitas and back over the hill.
I learned long ago that "riding to eat"
isn't such a good idea, as cycling is generally more efficient than
you'd think, meaning you might still pay the price for doughnuts and
other excesses. But today's ride, showing an optimistic burn of 6,330
calories... which, even if you discount by 1/3, is still a pretty
impressive figure for just 4.5 hours of riding... I feel pretty good
about that! Not sure that it made up for missing Thursday's ride while
I was in Las Vegas, but it didn't hurt. Well, actually, it did
hurt while climbing up Haskins and Tunitas.
Very encouraging to see so many others
out riding today, on Skyline, and out on the coast. Mid-60s in
Pescadero in mid-November. Life could be worse! Lots of Chain Reaction
customers out there too, which always makes me feel good.
11/13/07
(just 4 days late!!!)- YES, I'VE BEEN BAD. So very
bad that I didn't get around to Tuesday's ride report before heading
out to Las Vegas that afternoon with my wife... and not for business
this time (no bike convention) but to see some shows she's been
wanting to see for quite some time. So that explains why there's no
Thursday 11/15 entry, because I wasn't there.
But I was there on Tuesday, or
most of me, anyway, along with Karl, Kevin, George, Eric and...
darn, I shouldn't let too much time pass! Milo. Right, now I think
I've got everybody. Nothing really fast, a bit warmer than I
expected (actually overdressed). Could have been a nice morning for
the camera, but left it at home. Sigh.
11/11/07- A
GREAT RIDE FULL OF NIGHTMARISH POSSIBILITIES! I did a
lazy-guy's ride out to the coast today, skipping the Pescadero part in
favor of a straighter route out to San Gregorio. I can rationalize
that it was to check out the new pavement (which truly is incredibly
nice from LaHonda out to the coast), but truth is, a 45 mile ride
seemed just about right. And it's not as if a ride that includes
Tunitas Creek can be all that easy.
But about those nightmares? I'm riding up
Old LaHonda quite a bit more slowly than last week, just barely
getting by some slower riders, including a couple of friendly guys who
assume that the only reason I'm faster is because I'm in better shape.
Er, no, it's possible I'm in better shape, but when I told them my
bike probably weighed 5-6 pounds less than their 20-year-old machines,
they doubted me, saying no way, their bikes were only 22 pounds! Well,
I'm afraid to say, my bike truly is 16 pounds or so. With that
advantage, I really ought to be quite a bit faster than I am!
And then at the far end of Old LaHonda
(on the west side), as I'm sending the other two guys on their way
back up to Sky L'Onda, along comes Billy, a Chain Reaction alumnus and
super-racer (Cat 1/Pro, planning to possibly finish his career with
one last year in the masters class before retiring). Thankfully, he's
heading up west-side Alpine, a ride I'd thought about doing when I
started but decided no, I wanted to see how Tunitas was after a storm.
Billy said he was out for an easy ride... I don't think there's a
bungee cord strong enough to hold me to his rear wheel on his version
of an "easy" ride!
Finally, at San Gregorio I come across
John, a guy riding a bike we sold to him back in 1998 or so. He'd done
the full Pescadero loop (what I did last week but wimped out on
today), and then some. Instead of doing Stage Road between Pescadero
and San Gregorio, he'd actually ridden Highway 1. North. Sane people
just don't do that, what with the headwinds, annoying grades, cars...
I'm certainly not tough enough to try anymore! Thankfully, that had
softened him up a bit so I didn't have to worry about him riding away
from me on Tunitas. I did get a bit of an extra workout on the way
down Kings though, when we came across a guy in need of a pump. Yes,
he was out riding his carbon fiber road bike without a pump, nor did
he own a pump at home with a pressure gauge. He had maybe 30 pounds of
pressure in his front tire, and zero in the back. As he took off after
I got him aired up, he said yes, it sure was a whole lot easier to
ride with the tires aired up!
11/10/07-
TORTURE! Personal, gut-wrenching torture. That's how
I have to view an email today from a friend, Howard at
Adventure Travel in
Australia, who runs their Tour de France trips each year. He'd
been reading about my exploits in France with my son last July, and
sent along the latest info on their offerings for '08 (for when I
get my latest TdF page up). The torture is that I'm trying to clear
my mind and get to work on the basics, instead of day-dreaming about
riding in the Pyrenees or the Alps, and thinking about how much fun
I had this last trip, when just about everything went right
(everything except the food budget, which my son took it upon
himself to personally destroy each evening).
Day dreaming is nothing new for me. Not
according to every report card I got in grade school & jr high
anyway. My mind was always drifting off someplace else, often
thinking about flying through space in my own little car/rocket
ship. Memories of an old kids TV show "Fireball XL5." And not just
in class either. I had an almost 4-mile paper route through the
Redwood City hills for a few years, and my bike wasn't just an
ordinary bike. Glad there wasn't much traffic back then, 'cuz it's
hard to believe I was paying as much attention to the road as I
should have!
And no, I don't as yet have anything
figured out for the 2008 Tour de France. About the only thing I do
know is that my son won't be coming with me, as he'll be doing a
two-week trip to Europe with his school a month prior. Nor do I
think it likely I'll do another trip with a tour company, since I
find it so easy to get around France on my own. If I go, it's going
to be a lot tougher figuring out accommodations this time since the
counter-clockwise course sends it through the Alps just prior to
Paris (the finish), and there are far fewer roads & places to stay
than in the Pyrenees. I could see the earlier part of the
race and then head home, but it might be tough to miss out on the
parts of the race that will determine the final winner! Especially
after having been in Paris for the finale for the last several
years. So now do you see why Howard's email was torture? :>)
11/08/07- IS
IT ME, OR IS IT THE WORLD THAT'S ALL FOGGED UP?
Strange ride this morning, as only two of us showed up, myself and
Karl. Strange morning too, as we never got above the fog & low
clouds. I felt better today than Tuesday, but still relied upon Karl
pulling me pretty much the entire way. Karl's wheel is one of the
easiest to follow, as he's a very steady rider (and exceptionally
skilled at putting on & removing jackets while continuing to ride in
a perfectly-straight line). I think, no, I know, it's easier to be
steady when you're riding strongly, and Karl, more often than not,
rides strongly. Normally I'd see him taking it easy at this time of
year, but he's going to be putting in what seems like a serious
effort at cyclocross (as are several others on our ride). Dang! No
rest for me, ever!
11/06/07-
AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS ABSENCE, KEVIN (older Kevin) RETURN
and is not riding the way you'd expect someone to be, after a few
weeks of not being able to ride due to injuring himself from a fall
off a ladder. I was really looking forward to an easy ride this
morning, as I just wasn't firing on all cylinders, but it just didn't
work out that way. Some of it could just be my system trying to adjust
from summer to not-summer, and maybe a little bit messed up from the
end of daylight saving time as well. In the end, it was one of those
extremely-rare rides where I felt no better at the end than I did at
the beginning.
Kevin, Todd,
Milo, Chris & George all enjoying the fun of getting to climb up to
and over the fog twice, first up Kings, and then again up west-side
Old LaHonda. The views alone made it worthwhile, even if I wasn't
feeling the greatest.
11/04/07-
MOST INCREDIBLE INVENTION EVER? EASY. THE BICYCLE. I
was thinking about that while riding out to Pescadero this morning,
cruising along without much effort about 18-20mph, and suddenly
realizing that you're covering distances and speeds that people
compare to what you'd do in a car. You're not even in the same league
as someone on foot, and yet you're using the same fuel. A couple of
cinnamon rolls and two bottles of Cytomax. Not likely anything more
than you would have eaten if you'd taken the same trip in a car. The
efficiency, and thus your capabilities on a bike, are amazing. Beyond
that, really. I've said before that I think we take bikes for granted;
an alien visiting our planet, coming from a world in which bicycles
didn't exist, would likely be blown away at the simplicity, efficiency
and usefulness of a bicycle.
Oh sure, I'm biased because I make a
living selling bicycles. But there's a reason I chose this profession.
I simply love the darned things. I can't think of anything better to
be convincing people to buy. The saddest thing, of course, is when a
bike that I've sold sits in the garage, un-used, for whatever reason.
I consider that a failure of the worst sort. After all, how can a
bicycle not be an incredibly infectious thing, capable of
changing lives? What sort of world do we live in that that's not
guaranteed to be the case? I guess that's why I've gotten involved in
lobbying efforts, in Sacramento & DC, trying to make sure we have
roads that aren't hostile to cyclists, and communities that don't
unintentionally create barriers to getting around in anything other
than a car. It's long-term stuff, and it's expensive, but if we don't
make the effort now, I might not have any customers 10 years down the
road.
But again, it's all about the bike.
This wonderful invention that can cure so many problems. Fueled by
powerbars & even twinkies if you must, both of which can be presumed
far more friendly to our planet than mining, refining & burning fossil
fuels. And the strangest thing about what you eat when you're out
riding, when I think about it, is that you probably would have eaten
more had you not ridden. That's the bizarre thing about
exercise; if you ride hard, it seems to reduce your appetite.
So we ride bikes more and we'll be healthier, create fewer
environmental issues, see things we wouldn't have noticed driving past
in a car with the windows rolled up and the radio on, and help put my
kids through school. What's not to like?
11/01/07- WHY
DON'T I HEAR ANYBODY ELSE BREATHING HARD? I wonder...
do people without allergies or asthma take their breathing for
granted? Do they even breathe at all? This morning, riding with Todd
& Karl, I tried to hear them breath when climbing both Kings and the
back side of Old LaHonda. Nothing. No sounds that I could detect
(although it's entirely possible the sound of my own lungs may have
been drowning anything else out). I'll be in "heavy breathing" mode
probably from now until late March, maybe even April. Once the temps
drop below the upper-50s, I get pretty noisy. Some might wonder why
I don't do something about it (drugs), but I figure, my lungs & legs
die at about the same time on a climb, so unless I can get a new
pair of legs, what's the point?
It was stunningly beautiful once we got
up on Skyline, completely out of the fog. Dry pavement, mid-50s, the
usual two or three cars. Doing this ride, cars are the exception,
not the rule. Even in 2007, many decades after I first started
riding this loop, the cars are still few & far between. I'm guessing
that aggravation caused by cars is cumulative, and the amount of
time I spend riding when it's relatively car-free probably makes me
more tolerant when it's not. That's an interesting concept; you'd
think that it could work the other way around... that I spend so
much time without cars, those times when it's congested would really
bug me. But they don't. I just deal with it, go into bike-messenger
mode and work my way around them.
I do admit that I'm looking forward
to the end of daylight saving time. This getting up when it's
pitch-black outside is not to my liking. The alarm goes off and I
just want to go back to sleep. Funny thing, that. When it's not dark
outside, I don't need an alarm clock. I wake up maybe half a minute
before the alarm, without fail.
10/30/07-
EVIDENCE OF LIFE
surfaced on this-morning's ride, as I felt not-so-bad considering I
woke up to completely black skies (courtesy of our late-changing
daylight saving time) and generally haven't felt on top of my game for
a while. But it was one of those morning where those first few pedal
strokes are actually encouraging, and I felt like there was at least
some minimal response to the throttle going up Kings. Nothing to write
home about at 27:56, but I felt consistent. From then-on it was a
matter of staying glued to the fastest wheel at the moment, whether it
be Todd, Karl, Milo (yes, he's back, after two weeks of bronchitis) or
George. And staying glued I generally did. And then there's that
average speed thing, as you're heading back over the final hill to
home, and you notice it's at 15.8mph, respectability being a mere
.2mph away. Can you do it? Yes! Just barely, and unlike last time I
was that close, I didn't have to come screaming into my front yard at
warp speed to do it.
 10/28/07-
NO, DON'T STOP, WE'RE NOT THERE YET!
This was Kevin's first time up Redwood Gulch Road, and he was
doing pretty darned good, almost to the top, when he misunderstood
something I was telling him (he thought I was saying we were at the
top, where I'd agreed we'd stop). So he came to a stop for about 5
seconds before continuing on. Does that count as climbing Redwood
Gulch without stopping?
For
those not aware, Redwood Gulch is a "shortcut" to the middle of the
Highway 9 climb from Saratoga to Skyline. We were doing a different
kind of ride today, heading down the valley south (dropping by our Los
Altos store to say hello, and grabbing lunch at the Starbucks in the
center), and then heading out Stevens Creek to the infamous Redwood
Gulch. From there it was up Highway 9 at a pretty slow speed; Kevin
was actually having an easier time, mentally, on the much-steeper
Redwood Gulch than the mellower-but-never-ending Highway 9.
Fortunately the hot-dog stand (Mr.
Mustard) was still there at the top, with ice-cold drinks. A bit
strange that I, a parent, was encouraging him to choose a caffeinated
drink rather than the Root Beer he wanted. Great. Dad encouraging son
to take performance-enhancing substances to improve his riding. What
kind of a parent am I???
Overall a pretty tough ride for Kevin
until we got past Page Mill on Skyline, where thoughts of descending
84 started to perk him up a bit. Funny thing about kids though
(Kevin's almost 15). They recover incredibly quickly. After getting
back, by the time he'd taken his shower he was feeling like he hadn't
ridden at all. No sore muscles, no tiredness. Wish I could feel that
way after a hard ride! Of course, being dumb, that would just make me
think I hadn't ridden hard enough.
 10/25/07-
THAT CAT'S IN THE BAG. A
small but high-quality group this morning, with Todd, Erick & Karl.
With Kevin out for another couple of weeks (after falling off a
ladder and doing a number on his foot), we decided to pay him a
visit... he lives just off Skyline up near Skeggs. So we alter our
normal course, dropping in to see him (he wasn't there, but his cat
was, as you can see in the photo). Since we were already down off
Skyline a bit, we decided to head down one of Skyline's infamous
dead-end roads, Native Sons. This twisty little one-lane road drops
close to 1000ft on its way towards the coast; about halfway down the
road is blocked by a large gate, marking the beginning of the
private section that winds its way to the coast through Neil Young's
property.
But today, because of heavy debris
on the lower part of the road, we mistakenly went straight when we
should have gone right, sending us down an even-narrower crazy
little half-paved trail that ended at the ranch you see in
this photo.
We never would have found that
almost-magical spot, with its views of the hilltops just barely
popping up out of the fog, had we not missed the turn. It's a whole
different world out there, just an hour away by bike from the
congestion and concrete of the city. The only way you'll ever find a
place like this is on a bike (unless you're so dreadfully lost in
your car that you'll be next Tuesday's headline on the 11pm news).
It's funny how taking a wrong turn on your bike, when you're under
your own power, becomes something fun, an exploration, something
worthwhile. While doing the same thing in your car is, at best, a
waste of time, and a serious intrusion on whatever it was you had
planned to be doing. Proof that life really does go by at exactly
the right speed when you're on a bike.
10/23/07- YOU
CAN MAKE FUN OF MY SOCKS, BUT YOU CAN'T MAKE FUN OF MY
ah, er, um, never mind. The guys were making fun of my white
non-cycling socks this morning, and how that little three-inch
visible piece could stand out so much (since most of it was covered
by either my shoe or leg warmer) I don't know. I could pretend that
they want to make fun of me where they can, because they know I'll
blow them away on the climbs, but that's a parallel anti-universe
that doesn't exist even in my dreams!
Karl, Eric & George this morning;
Kevin's still out with his wrenched foot (fell off a ladder; if my
wife is reading this, see how dangerous home improvement projects
are???) and Milo feigning illness (something about bronchitis). Nice
morning with out Indian Summer finally kicking in. I definitely felt
the effects of not having ridden on Sunday (and yes, I know, it was
one of the most-beautiful days of the year for riding, but my son
had his last track event at the Velodrome, and I didn't get in an
earlier ride because I was upgrading a computer through a good share
of the night). I still managed to struggle to the top in just under
29 minutes, but, as usual, found it difficult to keep up with Karl's
pace on Skyline. But at least I had a fun time descending 84 into
Woodside; usually I've hung back, a bit timid, but felt more
comfortable pushing in the corners today. Nice to not have to catch
up to everyone at the bottom of the hill!
 10/18/07-
THINGS FELT BETTER TODAY. NOT GREAT, BUT
BETTER. And it's always more fun when it feels like
you're cheating the weather, getting in a ride before the big storm
hits. Big storm? It's 6:30pm as I type this, with no sign of
anything wet anywhere close. How come you never hear the weatherman
say "We goofed"?
Todd, Karl,
Eric and we added another Kevin, this time the guy known as "Rasta
Cyclist" for all his tattoos. I asked him what the story was behind
his extensive artwork... turns out that's his business! He actually
started out wrenching on bikes at a local shop but 9 years ago
decided his true calling was elsewhere, and tattoos were something
that allowed his artistic side to come out. Quite nicely, I should
add!
We did try something a bit different
this morning. Once back at the bottom of 84 in Woodside, we took a
detour back up the hill a short distance to "Partition Road", which
parallels 84 and Tripp Road for a bit, dead-ending at Summit
Springs. It's a pretty choppy surface, but an interesting diversion.
You can make the side trip a bit longer (and more painful) but
heading up Summit Springs road a bit to Patrol Road, and head north
to Entrance Way and back down to Kings right at the base of the
climb. We'll save that for another day!
10/16/07- IF
YOU CAN'T BE FAST, YOU CAN AT LEAST BE CONSISTENT. And
this morning, consistency was my goal. I was determined to keep my
pulse right at 160bpm. Karl, George, Eric and Chris were even in a
cooperative mood, also taking the hill pretty easy. It's interesting,
trying to keep from going too far into the red zone, but at the same
time not letting up either. You learn how to relax a bit, and figure
out if staying seated or standing is more, well, stimulating to your
heart.
A bit on the cool side,
getting down to 45, and pretty foggy up on Skyline. Definitely time to
get the tail lights out! Also time to forget about "riding light",
what with base layers, tights, long-fingered winter gloves stuffed
into your pockets and a wind shell (light jacket) stuffed into the
seat bag. We're on a steady downhill slide into slower times up the
hill, with just the slightest hope of a freak warm-up in the next
couple of weeks that might allow us to dispense one last time with all
that extra clothing. As much as I enjoy being on a bike, I had to
admit to a bit of depression regarding the months ahead... days
getting shorter, mornings getting colder, seemingly with no end in
sight until mid-February or perhaps even a bit later. What a whiner I
am... overall we've got some of the greatest weather in the world, and
I complain about it not being perfect between October and March.
Instead, I should be looking forward to those beautifully clear, crisp
days when everything looks so 3-dimensional, and how it actually gets
warmer when you ride out to the coast.
Not to mention the wildlife that comes
out at this time of year. This morning, a bobcat loped across the road
in front of us on west-side Old LaHonda. We've seen bobcats before,
but usually they're just a round blur of fuzz that you can't quite
figure out until it's too late. Not this one. Looked like huge shaggy
cat. Perhaps the reason we haven't seen the usual number of wild
rabbits hopping around that area lately!
 10/14/07-
RESIDENTIAL STREETS, LOTS OF STOP SIGNS, MANY
15%+ GRADES... WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE? Exactly. I'd seen
the info on the Tour de Menlo last year, and thought how interesting,
design a 50 mile ride that takes in all the steep stuff pretty much in
my own backyard. Why travel to the coast to ride up big hills?
Why indeed! Actually, lots of reasons
why. Far fewer stop signs on a ride to the coast. Much more
interesting stuff to see on the way. And I intuitively knew that going
on, but still, I live in Redwood City, the ride starts in Menlo Park,
how could I not ride? And at 50 miles, no problem for my son either.
So first a relatively-easy ride up Farm Hill, through Canada College
and onto Canada Road, then over Edgewood (the easy way) and down to
Crestview for the for the first nasty climb (which I probably haven't
ridden up since... well, probably since shortly after they first paved
it umpteen years ago!). Adding insult to injury is that they actually
time you on Crestview and then later on the last climb of the day, Melendy. And in-between a not-so-bad loop with Bunker Hill, followed
by probably the toughest loop up Parrott in Hillsborough.
Kevin couldn't figure out if you were
better off in the morning, when the fog obscured the steepness of the
climbs, or later on when it was a bit warmer. Tough to say. One
thing's for sure- this ride could definitely benefit from someone
handing you a cold Coke or Mtn Dew at the top of each climb!
10/11/07-
SOME RIDES ARE HARDER THAN OTHERS. THIS WAS ONE OF THOSE RIDES.
My usual line is that, if you feel like you're dead and don't
want to face a hill as you start your ride, don't worry, have
patience and you'll get past that feeling. You'll sort of ride into
the ride, and within an hour or so you wonder how you could have
felt so bad at the start.
Not
today. Today I felt bad at the start, felt worse going up Kings
through Huddart Park (not my idea... the steeper sections in
there kill me!), and by the time we got to west-side Old LaHonda,
the best I can say is that I felt like I could limp over that last
climb and make it home. Barely.
Kevin, Todd & Eric showed up to
torture me this morning, although nobody professed to be feeling
terribly great (never mind that Todd had already ridden the
"morning" ride). I think some of how I felt was from not getting a
whole lot of sleep last night, but I've ridden well on
relatively-little sleep before. Maybe it was a biorhythm thing. Or
maybe it's from having to handle both shops at once while my
brother's away on vacation in Italy. Or male menopause. Or the
colder weather (43 degrees). Or maybe it was just a bad morning for
me, and if it wasn't on a bike, it would have been an even worse
morning doing something else.
 10/09/09
PM- I SEE OLD PEOPLE.
Everywhere I look. It's scaring me. Remember when going to a rock
concert was something you did as a kid, and everyone was young &
screaming & tickets cost $30? OK, that was Genesis at the Berkeley
Community Theater back in 1974. Fast-forward to 2007, and my wife &
I are seeing Genesis at San Jose's HP Pavilion (aka "the Shark
Tank"). Am I "old people" now? Probably, since I'm figuring anyone
over the arbitrary age of 42 fits that category, which means I've
had 9 years of experience.
Ohmygosh, I just looked at some of
the photos I took during the time when they put the camera on the
audience and displayed it on the big screen behind the band. It's
not just that the audience is "old"... rather, it looks like they're
straight out of The Price is Right! Check it out in the photo I've
included here, and you gell me if that woman doesn't look the part.
10/09/07-
THE LOST RIDE. It's only two days ago, and yet I
can't remember. That's sad. And a good reason why I have to be
diligent about getting my diary entries done quickly! Looking at
some photos I can see that Kevin & Todd & George & Eric & Karl where
there. Looked like a beautiful morning. Guess I'll have to try and
reconstruct it from the Garmin readouts.
10/07/07- SO
WHERE WERE THEY? I didn't have a whole lot of time to
ride this morning, but knew I had to get out and do something
before taking my son down to the Velodrome in San Jose for his track
work. So just for kicks I check out what the Alto Velo "A" ride is
doing, which would certainly stretch my limits. Turns out they're
doing a version of the infamous "ugly" ride, heading north on Canada,
up 92 to Skyline, south to 84, down west-side 84 to Old LaHonda and
then back up that and down the other side of 84. Knowing that I'm not
in the best of shape right now, I left a bit early and set out in
front of the "A" ride, figuring they'd catch up with me soon enough.
In retrospect I left a bit too early; they leave from Peet's in Los
Altos promptly at 8:40, which would probably put them on Canada near
Jefferson around 9:15-9:20, possibly as much as 20 minutes behind me.
But I wasn't thinking that at the time; I
assumed they were coming up fast from behind, ready to overtake me
with little warning. And so, as I began the long, obnoxious climb up
92 and then Skyline, I found myself looking back down the hill,
expecting to see them charging up. And, as a result, I kept pushing
myself pretty much the whole ride, managing an average speed of
16.9mph (which is rather annoying, since 17mph would have sounded
so much faster!) and an average heart rate that was actually
higher than what I usually see on the Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride
(146bpm).
I never did see the Alto Velo A ride,
even on the upper stretches of west-side Old LaHonda, where you can
look back down across the valley and see someone probably 6 minutes
behind. But I did come across Cole, one of our summer employees in
Redwood City, and made a brief stop on Skyline for someone's
mechanical problem (a Mavic freewheel that didn't like the world,
probably due to lack of lubrication). It was only a 39 mile ride, but
a pretty decent quality 39 miles. My guess is that the Alto Velo A
ride probably would have caught up with me if most of the better
climbers hadn't ridden the Diablo Mtn hill climb instead.
10/04/07 addendum-
SIZE DOES MATTER! A few
hours after today's ride, I got a phone call from Kevin (the older
Kevin who's a pilot) telling me he was at the airport getting ready
to fly to Dallas/Fort Worth (his usual run) and came across that
Airbus 380
that had flown in to San Francisco. He was quite impressed. Of
course, Kevin flies an MD80, which you can
find
here. A bit of a difference in size!
 10/04/07-
IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE BEST
OF TIMES. I could tell, on the first couple of pedal
strokes away from my house, that this was not going to be an
easy morning on the bike. Actually, I could tell pretty much as soon
as I got up. I can't tell you why, or even how, but generally it
corresponds to the previous night being very windy. Could be that it
knocks a whole lot of pollen into the air, or could be that it
somehow just puts my mind into a foul mood. I don't know. I just
know that it was a fierce struggle to get up the hill in under 30
minutes this morning. But at least I won the struggle; Karl didn't
make it all the way to the top, after he broke a crank, and George
(who usually doesn't show up on Thursdays) rode back with him,
leaving just Kevin and whatever there was of me.
But as I've said before, how you
feel at the beginning of a ride often has little bearing on how
you'll feel a bit later. Yes, King's killed me (despite the slow
time), but once up on Skyline I started to feel a little bit alive,
and no longer entertained thoughts of heading back down into
Woodside (skipping the west-side Old LaHonda loop). I even felt like
going fast a few times down west-side 84, which is very unlike me.
By the time I got home, I was actually feeling pretty good about
things, and ever-so-thankful I hadn't let things get to me earlier.
One way or another, on Tuesday & Thursday mornings there's 30.9
miles in my legs, just dying to come out.
10/02/07-
THERE'S PAIN AND THERE'S "THE BURN." ONE IS GREATLY PREFERABLE
and this morning, thankfully, it was "the burn." First time in a few
weeks that I've felt it. I approached this morning's ride with some
manner of fear & trepidation, since I hadn't ridden last Thursday's
ride (I was in Las Vegas for the trade show) and Sunday got out on a
pretty short trip with my son. But thankfully I didn't feel quite as
bad as expected, and equally thankfully, the rest of the guys weren't
going full tilt. George, Kevin, Millo, Eric, Karl, Chris, Todd... I
think that's everyone. We're back up to full battalion strength again.
Everyone but me headed up through the park; I just didn't think I had
it in my legs to deal with the steeper sections that entails. I waited
briefly at the Park entrance for their arrival (it takes a minute or
two longer that way) and then headed up with the group. Nice morning,
starting out a bit cool but quickly warming up.
The main sprint to Sky L'Onda found me
seriously out of position, basically on the wrong side of George as
Todd lead a charge up the other side. Sometimes you're in the hunt,
and sometimes you get to watch. Today I got to watch.
The big excitement came on the descent
(84 into Woodside) when George did everything he could to crash, but
couldn't quite pull it off. He put his bike up into the air by digging
a pedal into a corner, found himself on the wrong side of the road
(actually all the way into the gravel on the wrong side), and for good
measure even blew out his rear tire... and still he stayed up! Very
impressive. Wonder what he'll do next week?
09/30/07- OLD
LaHONDA IN 31:52! Well sure, that might be a
spectacular time for climbing Page Mill, but this was at least a
couple minutes faster than Kevin's (my son) prior fastest trip up
the hill. We were riding with Sal, who was on a fixed gear bike, and
somehow he seemed to be the perfect pacer for Kevin. It should have
been a bit longer ride, but Kevin was complaining that he had to get
back to finish his homework... but I did extend it a bit by doing
the "ugly" section on Skyline, heading north to Kings.
09/27/07- WE
DIDN'T BECOME BIKE DEALERS DUE TO OUR SUPERIOR MATH SKILLS.
So there's a zillion people leaving the bike show in Las Vegas
this evening, waiting in long lines for a taxi. Meanwhile, there's a
whole bunch of limos trying to convince customers to go for a ride
with them, at ridiculous prices ($40 for one person, $50 for two,
etc). A taxi ride to the airport runs about $15. These limo guys are
really aggressive, getting in your face when you tell them sorry,
that's too much, we'll take the cab. They tell you you're lying to
them, you'll learn your lesson, whatever. I let the other guys
around me know what a cab costs and why it would be silly to take
one of the limos. They all agree (there are 4 of us) that I'm right,
it doesn't make sense, we'll get a cab and even with the extra
person fee, it'll come to $20 total. So this limo guy sees there are
4 of us and says tell you what, $40 for everyone. And they jump at
it. At that point I figure why not, time to get away from here, but
I'm joking with them about their math skills, and they collectively
have one of those "DOH!" moments.
Those running the Blackjack tables must
salivate at the thought of bike dealers coming to town...
09/26/07pm- Giro brought Alberto
Contador to Interbike on Wednesday, to sign autographs. Sort of.
I'd brought along a couple photos taken during his 2007 TdF ride,
including
one my son took, hoping to have them autographed. His handler
(manager?) would have none of it. The *only* thing he'd sign would
be one of two small "posters" (about 11x18 or so) they made
available. Not only that, but they wouldn't even allow him to write
anything but his name. Couldn't even have him write "To Kevin" on
it. Someone said the handler said something about not wanting
autographs to end up on eBay or some such.
Incredibly lame, in my opinion. What, exactly, are they protecting?
Contador's certainly in no danger of over-exposure; he's hardly a
household word in this part of the world (USA).
I don't blame Contador himself; he seemed totally at the mercy of
his handler, and doesn't appear to have much of a grasp of English.
He just did exactly as he was told to do.
So instead I had Phil Liggett sign it instead (Contador 2007, Kevin
2017!). Phil couldn't understand why they wouldn't allow Contador to
personalize an autograph either.
I guess Contador's handler must be looking at all the damage done to
Lance Armstrong's reputation and worth from personalizing autographs
and signing people's photos.
 09/26/07-
DON'T COME BY THE SHOP TODAY- WE'RE CLOSED!
Chain Reaction won't be open on Wednesday since a
good share of our staff is in Las Vegas for the Interbike trade
show. Yuck. Looks like one of the most-beautiful days of the year in
the bay area, a day when everyone is probably thinking about bikes,
and I'm in Las Vegas, a city that really doesn't give a rat's tail
about bikes. But there are things I have to do, people I have to
see. Still, I'm going to be thinking, as my feet hurt from pounding
that fake carpet (how can carpet be fake?) of the convention center,
hey, if I'm not at the shop, why aren't I out riding???
I really did my best to try to avoid
this trip; I didn't even have airline tickets or a place to stay
until the morning I left. I took care of everyone else a couple
weeks ago (they're flying in & out today). And tomorrow morning I
miss the usual Tuesday/Thursday ride as well. That's gonna hurt!
09/25/07- NO
CAMERA WHEN I NEEDED IT. A nice, almost leisurely
ride up the hill this morning, as Kevin wasn't feeling particularly
energetic after having ridden the Everest Challenge last weekend. As
a result we didn't catch Millo, who leaves a few minutes ahead of
us, until a mile or so up on Skyline. No problem for me; I got to
work on a few intervals on Kings, trying to get some serious speed
on the stretches I tend to die on... and then die on the sections I
normally do well. Makes sense in a way, doesn't it? No, maybe not.
But what I needed the camera for was on my return home, heading up
over Jefferson. Hard to believe but there was a car coming my way,
passing another car coming my way, taking up enough of the road that
I had no place to go but "off." This is a road clearly marked for no
passing in that area, and, with a 25mph speed limit, you couldn't
pass legally anyway. All I can tell you is that it was an idiot in a
black car. I was just way too surprised to notice much more.
09/23/07-
SOMETHING FUNNY ABOUT A TOUR
"FOR" WOODSIDE, given the town's attitude about
cyclists. But the reality is that the Tour For Woodside is actually a
big-time fund raising event for Woodside High School, which isn't
really part of Woodside at all. And how could I resist a ride that
benefits the school my son (Kevin) goes to, my daughter (Becky)
graduated from, and is close enough to ride to from home? Obviously, I
couldn't.
Normally I'd go for the 100 mile option,
but as I was riding with Kevin, and he's not quite ready for that (his
longest so far being 73 miles at the Tour de Max last month), we did a
sort of "greatest hits" of the 100 mile option. Basically, we lopped
off the boring run up Canada Road and the southern extension on the
coast past Pescadero. That still gave us climbs up Kings Mtn, Haskins
Grade (on the way to Pescadero), the 3 400ft climbs on Stage Road (is
that really all they are?) and Tunitas Creek.
Almost exactly 100km, which was just about perfect.
If there was something truly different
about this ride from most I've done, it was the near-total-absence of
green Webcor jerseys, and a preponderance of Pen Velo. In fact, one of
the guys volunteering at the "goat farm" rest stop in Pescadero was
Bill Fallis, who'd ridden with me in the way-back days before the club
morphed out of Pedali Alpini. Bill's still very active in PenVelo, and
is probably responsible for the description in a
photo
from 1975 that calls me the "designated
climber." Presently Bill is looking quite fit and could probably
ride circles around me, even though he's a decade further along.
Ironic that my son wears a jersey I'd
never have considered back in the day- the polka-dot "King of the
Mountains" (best climber) jersey. He's not yet got the build of a
climber, but he's got the spirit. Back in the day I started my racing
at 6' tall and 133lbs, eventually heading towards 154 a few years
later, while Kevin is now about 5'8 and 200 pounds, but moving in the
right direction since he was 5'2 and 220 pounds just two years ago.
It's to his credit that he doesn't let that get in the way. I don't
think it likely he'll end up being called a club's "designated
climber" but a few years down the road he could turn into a pretty
well-balanced rider, probably a better sprinter than I was.
And yes, I'm still looking for
the definitive Tunitas Creek photo! It's a tough shot, since the
most-interesting sections are fairly dark with little contrast.
The turnout seemed a bit lighter than
the rider numbers indicated, probably because many got scared off by
the weather yesterday. Fortunately, today, while constantly overcast,
was quite mild & pleasant, with only the slightest sprinkles towards
the very end of the ride.
09/20/07- A
SMALL GROUP TODAY, with just myself, Todd & Kevin
braving a "cold" California morning. By that we mean 45 degrees,
hardly anything to write home about, yet cold enough to require
tights and even, for a short part of the ride, long-fingered gloves.
We rode up through the park, something I rarely enjoy due to the
steeper sections that involves. It starts out so nicely, rolling
along Greer Road, but you pay for that later on! Karl was likely
avoiding any real climbs in preparation for the Everest Challenge
this weekend, but you can always count on Kevin for a bit of
self-flagellation.
This
weekend comes another test for younger Kevin, as he braves the Tour
for Woodside, a benefit ride for, of all things, his own high
school. He had ideas of doing the 100 mile event, but that remains a
bit beyond what he can likely pull off, and I'd like him to continue
believing that cycling is a fun thing to do. The plan will be to
enter the 100 mile
version, but cut off about 20 miles at the beginning, where it
does a loop up Canada Road and back.
09/18/07- LEG
WARMERS, YES, JACKET, NO. But that won't last. I saw 48
degrees on my computer, and a quick check of last-year's diary entries
shows we're just a few short weeks (actually, it's the days that seem
so short right now!) from temps in the 30s.
Karl, Kevin, George, Chris, Todd, Eric &
Millo, with everyone taking it easy, sort of. Climbing Kings the pace
was initially very easy, and I didn't even hit the front (as I usually
do, trying to get enough speed to roll over that first steep section
right at the start). Everybody's chatting away, having a good time,
and then Todd & Chris sorta walk off the front, with me glued to
Todd's wheel. They're still chatting, I'm still glued, until about
halfway up when I can't hold the pace anymore. At the top Chris
expressed surprise that I hung as long as I did, and thought our time
must have been decent (uh... no). And I'm thinking gee, these guys
could have enough lung & horsepower to simultaneously ride away from
me and discuss solutions to global warming, while I'm back there
gasping for air...
Nevertheless, it was a fine morning to
be out on a bike, as most all are. And, at 48 degrees in just a short
sleeve jersey, and not feeling cold at all, well, you just can't help
but think that's a bit odd. Can you imagine how cold you'd feel if
your house was 50 degrees? When we ride, we become some sort of
incredibly-efficient human engine, turning calories into heat &
horsepower (or maybe hamster-power in my case?).
 09/17/07-
SHE FINALLY DID IT. Maybe 3 or
4 years after threatening to ride up Old LaHonda, my daughter Becky,
whom some of you have met in our Redwood City store, made it up the
hill with her friend (and fellow co-worker) Emily. It might not have
been the fastest trip up the hill, and certainly not the easiest, but
they got there. I told Becky to plan on two hours for the ride
(hot-shot cyclists can do it in just over 15 minutes) and to stop
every half-mile or so, the idea being to make it manageable. And 2
hours is just about how long it did take them, after which they did
the lunch-at-Alice's ritual that I used to do with Kevin (Becky's
younger brother).
A fair amount of credit for the
accomplishment has to go to Emily (on the left in the photo), her very
good friend who was encouraging her all the way. Emily's been a bit
more active in outdoor activities than Becky, but perhaps that's about
to change. I don't expect to see Becky climbing Haleakala any time
soon, but hey, it's a great start!
09/16/07-
SO WHAT'S THE WORLD RECORD FOR INFLATING TIRES?
This morning, my son & I provided "support" for a local
community's fun ride (with a 2 & 11-mile option). "Support" was
basically triage; of the perhaps 200 people who showed up, it was
doubtful that a single one had appropriately-inflated tires
(seriously!), so anything serious simply couldn't be taken care of
(and for the most part, wasn't even looked at). We did fix a couple of
brakes, and a chain wrapped around the rear wheel axle instead of the
freewheel, but other than that it was pump, pump, pump and more pump.
I'd done this gig once before (a few years ago), so I remembered to
bring three floor pumps.
It was quite interesting to see a wall of bikes that would rarely
find their way into one of our shops. Huffys (guess those are vintage
now?), Motivs, Magnas, Mongoose etc. About the fanciest bike was a
Novarra (REI house brand). And seriously, every single one had
seriously-under-inflated tires.
09/14/07-
STILL SOME SPOTS LEFT FOR V02 MAX TESTING! If you've
ever wanted to know what shape you're really in, what you might
need to do to improve, and what your base metabolism is (which is
essential knowledge for maintaining or losing weight), the Extreme 02
folk are going to be doing tests in both our Redwood City and Los
Altos stores this weekend. Check out the
details. Could be a lot of fun! Give me (Mike) a call in our
Redwood City store at 650 366 7130, or Steve a call in Los Altos at
408 735 8735 if interested.
09/13/07- SO WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO?
We started out with a reasonable group, with Kevin, Karl,
Eric and added Sil and his friend in a "merge" shortly down the road.
Of course, Sil & friend weren't very friendly today, putting us in our
place as they flew up the road in front of us. I mean really flew. I
chased, and when the two of them hit the park entrance and graciously
waited for the rest of the group, I did as well, thus blowing any
chance I had for a good time up the hill. Hard to say if it was my
intent to do so (and thus not have to worry about my time) or not. But
deep down inside, I'm pretty sure it was.
From the park entrance Sil, friend & I
took off back up the hill, with the others a short distance behind. Or
so I thought. I saw them for a mile or so, at first gaining on me a
bit and then dropping back and then... they were GONE! Even at the
long straight section, where you can look back to where you were over
a minute before, nothing there. So I'm thinking I must really be
moving, but the pace didn't really show that to be the case. Then, a
couple minutes from the top, a car rolls past with Kevin yelling from
the window "Hey Mike, my bike broke, meet me at my house (he
lives on Skyline)." So I keep chasing after Sil & friend, yell to them
(because I can't quite close the gap) that I'm heading to Kevin's
house to look at his bike, and head down Swett Road. When I got to
Kevin's house I find he'd somehow managed to offset one side of his
crank from the other (one of those superlight, possibly stupid-light
Stronglight models). Must be his all-powerful sprint that did
it. He switches bikes and we head back out, but with far too long a
delay to catch anyone, so we loop backward a bit, but still no sign.
Where did everybody go?
And that's how it ends. Where did
everybody go?
09/13/07- (addendum)
TOOK QUITE A WHILE, MOM! But I
did finally get an email from her this morning, at 11:32am, letting me
know she'd read the relevant part of Tuesday's almost-daily diary.
She's still going to be on my case for all-things medical, but what
the heck, she's a Mom, what would you expect?
09/11/07-
SEPTEMBER 11th was different today than it was 6
years ago. 6 years ago when the TV was on before I left for my
Tuesday-morning ride, and saw one of the World Trade Center
buildings on the news, on fire. And sketchy reports that something
wasn't right, that it might have been a suicide plane attack, but
nobody really knew. It just looked ghastly. And yet I rode. Looking
back at it, that seems strange. Why wasn't I compelled to stare at
the screen and watch the events unfold, like a moth trapped by a
lightbulb at night? Probably because of duty. On a Tuesday or
Thursday morning, there are going to be people at the corner of
Olive Hill & Canada, rain or shine, waiting for a ride. My family
knows not to schedule funerals, weddings, family crisis, whatever,
on Tuesday or Thursday mornings. Nevertheless, riding that
particular morning felt slightly reminiscent of the day I found out
from my father's doctor that he had maybe 3 months to live (hard to
believe that was almost 20 years ago). I was on the bike, but I
wasn't really there. The miles showed up on my computer, but not
much registered in my mind.
But this morning there were planes in the sky. And there was Kevin
(old-guy Kevin, back from France), Karl, George, Eric & Millo.
Moderate pace up the hill and across Skyline, and then a split as
the guys training for the infamous Mt. Everest Challenge (which
would be Karl, George, Eric & Kevin) continued on down 84 to LaHonda
so they could add west-side Alpine to the day's total. Next year,
maybe, I'll ride it as well. Not in shape for that sort of abuse
right now.
09/11/07 (addendum)-
NOTE TO MOM. How many of you have mothers who are...
well, let's not say paranoid, that sounds a bit harsh, but how about
overly concerned about your health, any risks you take that go
beyond opening a door, that sort of thing? That would be my mom. And
how many of you, who might have moms like that (whom you love
dearly, of course!), might be inclined not to tell them much of
anything because you don't want to end up in a long useless
conversation about your health that isn't going to change anything
you do? In my case, my mom's always after me to see the doctor
because I am over 50 now (not that she didn't bug me when I was 30),
and she thinks I'm likely to drop dead from a thousand different
things. And it's true, I enjoy seeing a doctor about as much as I
enjoy filling out an income tax form. Yuck.
But I did get a life insurance physical
a couple weeks ago, and finally got the blood test results back.
Unfortunately, the most useful info isn't there!!! Nothing showing
the all-important hematocrit level. Without that, how am I supposed
to know how much EPO (a blood doping agent professional cyclists use
to enhance performance) to use? But more seriously, everything looks
very good, including a ridiculously-low PSA reading, which is the
one she's most concerned about, because she's certain that men who
don't get that checked are going to drop dead in the street from
prostate cancer. Rest assured, my PSA is so low (.31) it's
questionable that I even have a prostate. So mom, don't
worry, I'm fine. And yes, I could have just called her up and told
her this, but she knows that's not too likely and she constantly
reads the almost-daily-diary to see what I'm up to that I don't dare
tell her about. [Posted at 12:05pm. How long before I hear from my
mom?]
Oops, almost forgot one other thing she
gets worked up over. LDL Cholesterol was 131, HDL 42. Not great, not
terrible. I'll live.
 09/09/07-
THIS MIGHT BE USEFUL! It's not
the cure for the common cold or anything like that, but how many of
us, on a hot day, freeze a water bottle ahead of time, hoping it will
at least be cold when we need a drink, only to find that it's not only
not frozen but seems nearly as warm as it would have otherwise been? I
may have found a simple way to keep it frozen. Wrap it up in a few
layers of paper towel, seal that up in a gallon-sized plastic baggie
and voila, an ice-cold water bottle may be in your future, even 7
hours down the road. I discovered this by accident, when I had to
carry an extra bottle in my camera backpack (normally I'd carry the
extra bottles in a rack-top bag). Since I didn't want cytomax leaking
out into the camera bag, I wrapped it up as described above, and was
quite amazed when, many hours later, it remained frozen solid.
Today's test was on a 46 mile ride with
my son, up Old LaHonda, down to LaHonda, up West Alpine, north on
Skyline to Kings (he hated the stretch from Sky L'Onda to Kings, just
like me!) and down into Woodside. Shown in the photo is the remaining
frozen bottle, 6 hours after it was removed from the freezer. Probably
80-90% of the contents remained frozen. Cool! So to speak.
09/06/07-
AREN'T THE FALL COLORS BEAUTIFUL? EVERYTHING, IT SEEMS, IS ORANGE!
Oh, wait, is the sky usually orange as well? Only when the orange
cast is from smoke filling the air from not-so-nearby fires. And
this morning the air was orange enough that, even with the
relatively warm temps, I was in trouble breathing when climbing the
hill. Funny how it was just me in trouble though; Karl, Eric & Todd
seemed to do just fine heading up the hill! Just how much trouble I
was having was apparent when it took almost 29 minutes to get to the
top, and I felt a lot worse than Tuesday, when I was two minutes
faster than that.
But there is
some good news. Heard back from the life insurance guy that I passed
my physical and, for the first time, qualify for a "preferred" rate
(thanks to my blood pressure finally coming down). Nope, don't have
the details on my hematocrit yet (hope they included that test!).
Hopefully it's not higher than 46, or else Greg LeMond says I can't
ride the Tour de France! Bummer for Todd, as he says he's tested out
at 47.
09/04/07-
IT'S GOOD TO BE KING! OK, so we've gotten one more
thing out of the way that doesn't apply to me these days. This
morning a new face showed up; Matt K from Wisconsin, our inside rep
for Trek bicycles. I knew he was on vacation this week, but I had no
idea he was going to show up for our ride. It was one of those quick
awkward moments where you're thinking, is it him? Because it just
didn't make sense.
And of
course, someone from the flat to rolling terrain of Wisconsin would
be little more than fresh meat to grind for us gnarly mountain men,
right? Didn't work out that way. Matt was nice enough to let me ride
about halfway up the hill with him before he likely got too weirded
out listening to my noisy breathing. Only Karl emerged from the
field to chase him down, and I don't even know if he caught him in
the end. I posted just under 27 minutes through brute force & will
power. Oh right, roll call. Karl, Millo, George, Eric & Matt.
I'm still unable to take part in the
first Skyline sprint, and I've generally ducked out of the second as
well, as I've been a bit conservative in my descending lately.
However, I was finally there for the final sprint, the one
that Karl usually puts me out of by kicking up the pace on Tripp and
Kings beforehand, so I'm way off the back before we ever get there.
Smart guy, Karl. But today it was George there with me, refusing to
give up and making me think maybe it just wasn't going to happen.
But after a few mental head butts his legs finally gave way, however
slightly. More likely they felt like they were going to explode,
like mine did. If George learns how to do mental head butts himself,
I'm in big trouble!
09/03/07-
IT'S NOT AS EASY GETTING TO SAN FRANCISCO AS IT SHOULD BE!
My son & I rode up this morning to watch some of the Giro d'San
Francisco bike race, and it was much of an ordeal than it rightfully
should be. If you drive, no problem, roads are made to take you,
a car driver, where you want to go. Even more important, signs make
sure you get there. Not so for bikes. We first headed north on Canada,
then onto Skyline, rode past the Sawyer Camp Trail (it would have been
crazy to try and ride that on a busy holiday weekend!) and on to...
what? Skyline just simply ends at Trousdale Drive, and there are no
"bike route" signs to tell you that you need to turn right on
Trousdale, left on Hunt, right on Frontera, which becomes something
else (Vallejo), a nd
then back onto Skyline. Nothing I could find that tells you this is
the way to go. Then Skyline ends (again!) at Larkspur, with no signs
directing you to the shared-with-walkers bike path on the left side of
280. And getting there you have to cross a freeway offramp that, for
unfathomable reasons, has no stop sign at the bottom of it, despite
that cars have to slow down to negotiate a pointless traffic circle.
Then back to Skyline when the trail ends, which, after a mile or so,
becomes a freeway on-ramp! Again, no signage for what bikes are
supposed to do.
So after riding a short distance on
the freeway you take the first exit (Serramonte Blvd) and then a left
on Junipero Serra, a fairly unpleasant urban road made strictly for
cars, especially the intersection with 280 that makes it appear that,
once again, you're heading onto a freeway. And just getting through
that intersection on a bike requires getting into a lane that you
seriously don't feel makes sense (either to you or the cars around
you, because it looks like you're planning to ride onto a freeway).
Finally, somewhere around Junipero Serra dumping us off onto Portola,
we come across some useful SF Bike Route signs, telling us we're on
Bike Route #50, which will take us to Civic Center.
To say that I'm discouraged and even
disgusted with the current state of road signage and routes for
cyclists is an understatement. There ought to be designated
north/south routes that are well-signed and reasonably safe to ride.
This will take something more than individual cities coming up with
their own systems; somehow everything needs to interconnect, and
somehow people should be able to ride the route without having to
print out google maps first.
09/02/07-
NOT MUCH TIME Sunday morning, as I didn't get moving
until way too late, considering that I had to take Kevin down to the
track in the afternoon. The original plan had me doing the Alto Velo
"A" ride, but not only did I oversleep, but I probably couldn't have
kept up either. Too bad; they were doing the Pescadero/84 loop. So I
left around 10am for about a 2-hour ride, not really sure where that
2-hour ride would take me. Invariably such rides start with a climb up
Old LaHonda (somehow I'm rarely motivated to do Kings Mtn outside of
the twice-weekly Tuesday/Thursday gig), and this was no exception. The
nice thing about climbing Old LaHonda on a weekend is that you'll
always meet up with people at the top, and again, this was no
exception. Saw a number of our customers up there, but they were all
veterans, old-timers who'd seen it all. But shortly after I hit the
top comes a young woman (Sarah) who was out on her own, with
directions she'd printed up from a website (not ours) for a trip into
(for her) the unknown. Out to Pescadero, north on Stage up to Half
Moon Bay and then back over the hill.
So I got to do what I enjoy most- let
her know about the little secrets you learn after riding our roads for
many years. In this case, I rode with her down west-side Old LaHonda
and pointed out the faces carved in the rocks, and made very sure,
before parting company at the intersection of 84 & Old LaHonda, that
she could find and stop at the machine-gun-man sculptures on Stage
Road. But not before first checking her out to make sure she was ok
(and that her pedals were properly adjusted) when she took a tumble as
she stopped at the 84/Old LaHonda intersection.< |
the
coast, heading up Old LaHonda, which is always a good place to pick up
company for a long ride. And today was no exception, as I came across
"Mitz" and Jenny from Connecticut and Wisconsin (although Jenny's
actually from Palo Alto, but currently a grad student at University of
Wisconsin, Madison). They, like me, were headed to Pescadero,
specifically to the Pescadero Bakery. But unlike me, they were going
to ride the LaHonda/Pescadero/San Gregorio loop "backward"
(counter-clockwise) while I did the traditional clockwise. Kind of
interesting splitting up like that, knowing you're going to see them
again, in the opposite direction, about halfway through the loop (as
you can see in the photo, just outside of Pescadero). And not just
them either; I also came across a guy (Mark?) that I first spotted
near Pescadero and then later just ahead of me at LaHonda. All very
nice people to ride with, as just about everyone you come across on a
bike is. Which reminds me of the silliness of my wife asking me if I'm
going to be riding with anyone... I'm almost always riding with
someone, at least part of the way. 
(Holidays do that to you), I wasn't especially looking forward to
this morning's ride. And it didn't help that it was fairly cold.
it
is the noise, as it has a pretty decent shoulder. It's when you hit
the intersection of 92 & 35 and start heading south that things go...
well, south! It's never steep, but it seems way longer than it
actually is, and includes three sections of extremely-straight road
that make it seem like you're not getting anywhere. Eventually you end
up at Kings Mtn and life is good again... from there, you simply
finish the regular Tuesday/Thursday ride route by heading to 84, east
to Old LaHonda, which you then take back up to Skyline and then
descend 84 west back into Woodside. You can
