11/25/08- HOW CAN TWO DAYS MAKE SUCH A BIG DIFFERENCE? It could have been a case of "The candle that burns twice as bright lives half as long" and I burned pretty brightly during the last third of Sunday's 70 mile bike ride. I was wondering if I was going to have to pay for that effort, especially since it seemed out of proportion to the shape I should be in (too fast, too hard, too much fun at a time when I hadn't done any really hard rides for quite a while).

This morning it was payback time. I could tell my legs to move, but they just wouldn't listen. However, when my legs complained to my brain, it (my brain) did listen, and proceeded to suggest the unthinkable- that I turn back about a quarter of the way up Kings Mtn. So obviously at that point I threatened my legs with an imminent, bloody demise, and while they continued to complain, they gave up on the idea that they could convince me to turn tail and head back down the hill.

At the start, we had Karl, Eric, another Eric, George, Chris, Syl, not-so-old-guy Kevin, his friend Billy... nine of us total. And none were making any noises about wanting to take it easy (although the reality is that they did take it pretty easy up the hill. Just not as easy as it appeared I was!). I lost contact with the last rider about halfway up, and resigned myself to a plodding pace the rest of the way, eventually overtaken by Chris, who'd had a mechanical issue earlier on. I think it was Chris; he goes fast enough uphill that all you see is a blur.

I was in total wheel-sucking mode for the first half of the Skyline run and finally started to feel a little bit better after I ran out of wheels to draft. Half of the group had turned back at the top of Kings, and the other half was nice enough to let me hang on long enough to get my second wind which did, thankfully, happen. By the time we finished climbing west-side Old LaHonda, I honestly felt like I could have kept on riding the rest of the morning. Why couldn't I feel that way at the start?

11/25/08 Early Edition- IT'S ALL ABOUT THE DOGS. Depending how you look at it, dogs live exactly the right amount of time, or exactly wrong. The life of a dog tends to define segments of your life. You recall each dog along with life's trials & accomplishments at the time. 12 years worth anyway, which is a pretty good chunk. The sad thing is that, after a while, you start to forget a dog or two, and heck, I'm only 52, so there really haven't been that many. Just over 4 generations worth.

The dog you see in the photo is our latest. His name is Jack, but in reality he's Psycho Dog. Just over a year and he's already got enough stupid pet tricks to make you wonder how in the world a dog could think like that. His food bowl bit is a classic. You put the food (dry food) into his bowl, and instead of eating it, he sticks his nose through the food to the bottom of the bowl. Crunch. Crunch Crunch. Always three times. And then he pulls his nose out, and slides the bowl across the floor. And starts over again. And when you take him for a walk, he has to grab the leash in his teeth, as if he's in control. Which, of course, he is.

But it's not Jack aka Psycho Dog that's causing me to write this. Rather it's because I never got around to talking about Ginger, another 12-year-old dog of ours, who had to be put down a few months ago. She'd lost control of her hind legs almost a year ago, and had been getting progressively less able to pull herself around the house. She was beginning to lose some of her eyesight, and her hearing was nothing like it used to be (she could tell when one of our cars was approaching the house from a hundred feet away, maybe more). And, like many of our dogs, she never gave us that look that it was time to go. She always seemed happy to see us, and never whimpered, despite what must have been terribly frustrating for her (having to be picked up to go outside to do her thing, and having to live in a small section of the house, and eventually almost entirely outdoors, as it became increasingly difficult for her to perform normal bodily functions). And so, very sadly, we had to close one more chapter in the family's book of life with my wife performing the duty of that final trip to the vet.

The "Ginger" years have been times of challenge and growth in our family. Kids in High School and College now, so Ginger pretty much defined the main school years for them. The shop has grown and stabilized during those same years, and I've taken a number of trips to France. My mid-life crisis must have come (and gone?) with her. And my wife's battles and triumphs with cancer. So by the end of the Ginger years, we're older, wiser, but I'm not really sure we're that much more mature than when we started. I guess that will be Jack's reign. And beyond that? Hard to believe, but the next dog will be covering the "Medicare" years! Medicare, just a dog away. I guess it's a dog's life, after all.

11/23/08- IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS... WELL YEAH, A GREAT DAY TO BE OUT ON A BIKE! By the numbers, cycling falls off dramatically after September. But why? How could people miss out on a day like today, late November, mid-60s, clear skies, very light breeze.

Today's route took me up Old LaHonda, down to San Gregorio, across Stage Road to Pescadero, over Haskins, then up West Alpine, Skyline north to 84 and down. About 66 miles and 6600ft of climbing. I rode by myself today, as my son was off at a church camp, and had a very good time riding at my own pace. I hit Old LaHonda a bit harder than I have for a while, although at 22:30 it's not like I'm breaking any speed records! At the top I came across several people we've sold bikes to, and a few down the other side. Everybody who was out riding was having a very good time; I hope it was the 49er game keeping everyone else at home! But overall, Chain Reaction customers were very well represented, leaving me to believe that, well, our customers are more dedicated cyclists than most.

I took a bit of a gamble and did the ride without a food stop, keeping myself going only with Cytomax. Got to say it worked great. I never felt close to bonking, and towards the end of the ride I was even able to pick up the pace enough to raise the average speed up above 15. Also, I got some very good photos of the 5 metal sculptures at the ranch outside of Pescadero (the best-known being the infamous "Machine Gun Man"), which I'll have to create a new page for.

And finally, about halfway up West Alpine I came across a young woman riding an entry level mountain bike up the hill at a pretty good clip. I felt like I was cheating, being on a bike a good 15 pounds lighter, with vastly more efficient wheels. She'll be deadly once she gets a road bike.

11/21/08- YES, I DID RIDE YESTERDAY, and yes, I'm finally getting around to writing about it. It wasn't pretty. As much as Tuesday felt great, Thursday's ride was anything but. Maybe because we rode through the park (which is tougher than riding up Kings to the park entrance)? I should have known things weren't going to go smoothly when we arrive at the lower park entrance gate just after a vehicle has gone through and re-locked it, and just ahead of another vehicle that was going to need to re-open it after we'd gone through. No, we don't have keys for the gate; you can either walk through an opening in the side, or squeeze through an opening in the gate itself.

Karl, Kevin, Eric... I think that was all of us. Karl has recovered nicely from his broken collarbone; I expect he's going to be back at the CycloCross season soon.

This was our first darker, colder morning in some time. It's actually been colder recently; it only got down to 52 degrees, but the air was quite damp, and my inability to ride really hard allowed me to fill that chill quite readily. 52 degrees and I'm complaining that it's cold??? What's it going to be like when it's 32 degrees in a month or two?

11/18/08- WHAT A GREAT MORNING! Clear skies, not too cold, and don't ask me why, but I had decided that, no matter what, I wasn't going to complain about anything this morning. Not the lungs that don't like cooler air, not the 4-5 extra pounds I've put on after summer's exit, nothing. Eric, Karl, Kevin, George... the usual suspects. It seems like I'm missing someone though. OK, we did have someone else riding with us to the top of Kings before having to turn around.

How I'd manage to keep my sanity, if I didn't ride, I just don't know. It's that one thing in my life that I can depend on, no matter what.

11/16/08- 86 DEGREES IN MID-NOVEMBER AND YOU DIDN'T RIDE? This was one of those hard-to-believe days on a bike. I rode the Pescadero/Tunitas loop with my son, looking forward to a day without leg warmers or jackets. On the way up Old LaHonda we came across a number of people that we'd see again and again as the day went on, in that leap-frog sort of way that only cycling can do. Lots of our customers out there too, which is always nice to see.

What was amazing was the way the temperature kept going up and up as we got closer to the coast. 82 degrees in Pescadero, and by the time we got to the top of the first hill on Stage Road, it was 86.

We did make a minor change in the usual loop this time. Instead of heading up Stage Road to Highway 1, we rode out 84 directly to Highway 1 and climbed it instead. It was actually a pretty nice alternative. I probably rode it 30+ years ago. Yes, Highway 1 is busy and loud, but it's got a very wide shoulder and some different views than what you get on Stage. Definitely something to try out next time you're out there.

11/13/08- WHAT IS IT ABOUT ME AND NAMES? I can generally keep track of most of the people on our Tuesday/Thursday ride; this morning it was Eric, Chris & Karl. No Kevin; word has it that he's on his way to the Death Valley Double Century this weekend. We headed up through Huddart Park again, but not before first spotting a couple of riders, possibly women, just ahead of us. The thinking was that we might be able to catch up to them taking the longer, steeper route... but of course, once we got going, the pace was more along the lines of we will catch up to them! And so, at the top of the park, where it intersects Kings Mtn, we look down the road, and see... nobody. Hmm. Were they that much slower? Or could they be...

A quick trip up around the corner and there they were, maybe 100-200 meters up the road. We road a steady, semi-casual pace, gradually catching up to them a couple minutes later. Katy and... darn! Eric or Chris or Karl, help me out, send me an email with her name. The one in the Stanford jersey, same woman we saw several weeks ago up on Skyline (the time she was riding with 3 other women and we just ride on past, as if we were on some important mission and couldn't be bothered with being civil). We rode the next quarter of the climb with them and then went on slightly ahead. At the top we offered to give them a tow along Skyline, but they turned us down, probably thinking that we were a bunch of typical testosterone-driven guys who like to push themselves and sprint for no good reason.

OK, her name starts with an "A", I remember that much. And that it was an uncommon variation of a common name. And she knows Todd (and, according to Chris, had been given a ride back from a race with Todd). (Arwen! Just got an email from Todd, whom I'd sent an email earlier to, asking if he remembered her name.) You can read about our prior encounter if you scroll down to the 9/30/08 entry. The entry titled "WE'RE IDIOTS."

11/11/08- LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN! The tale told by the scale on Sunday was not kind; there's no question that my body is beginning to pack on some winter weight. It doesn't matter how much I ride, it's just this thing that happens as the weather cools. My body thinks it needs more insulation. I can assure you that it doesn't; my preference is to sleep with the window open and a sheet and thin blanket when it's cool. Doesn't matter.

But what did matter was that, despite what the scale said, despite last night feeling like I was maybe coming down with something (slight fever and sore throat), I woke up this morning feeling fine, and those telling first few pedal strokes up the hill away from my house felt downright energetic.

Karl, Kevin, Eric, George... there might have been one more, but don't recall. Great to see Karl back out there, especially while he's not up to full strength, giving me a chance to keep up (this too shall pass). Moderate but definitely not easy-paced ride, with temps running about 50 degrees and, while cloudy, we had nice dry roads that allowed for fast descents. It was really just plain nice to be out there. I like rides like that.

11/09/08- EVER DONE A LOOP IN THE WRONG DIRECTION? Who hasn't! But today was not that day. I did the Old LaHonda/San Gregorio/Pescadero loop with my son, in the not-usual clockwise direction, thinking it might be the better way to go on a very windy day. Yes, there was a pretty strong headwind coming in from the coast on the way out, but you haven't lived until you've headed south on Stage Road with a really strong tail wind! Those two bumps just disappeared underneath us.

At Pescadero we came across Jeremy, a mid-40s looking guy who was riding an old $250 utility bike from Washington (state) to Mexico. Just something to do, taking his time, and, interestingly, he wasn't looking forward to the run down to Santa Cruz because there weren't enough towns.

The original plan was to head back via West Alpine after the Haskins Grade climb, but that was scrapped when Kevin completely ran out of gas. I mean completely. It was all I could do to coax him to the top of Haskins after stopping about 2/3rds of the way up. Even had a Sheriff ask us if everything was OK (in a very friendly manner; seems this guy likes cyclists!). About halfway up 84 (between LaHonda and Skyline) he started coming back up to speed, and by the time we got home he was doing pretty good, even going all-out for out top-of-Jefferson sprint.

Just over 60 miles, but only 5200 feet of climbing, so technically not a "hard" ride. Also curiously, it's slightly longer than doing the Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas loop, even though that involves going further north up the coast.

11/08/08- YES, I RODE ON THURSDAY, and a pretty nice ride it was. I'm going to have to remember who was there (which is why I really need to get things done the same day; I'm not very good at remembering names & faces). Kevin, Chris, Steve, Eric, Karl (yes, Karl back for his first full ride!) and at least one other person I'm forgetting. I'm beginning to get used to the cooler temperatures, but that's different from saying I like it. I don't.

As great as the weather is here in Northern California, I still have to fight the idea that the best riding months run from late-April through early-October, which is pretty darned absurd. That's like saying that only half the year has good weather, and anyone who's spent time elsewhere in the country knows that's just not the case. We have nothing to complain about! At the same time, it's equally absurd for people to claim we don't have seasons. Riding west-side Old LaHonda is proof of that, as you ride across a bed of leaves & pine needles that completely hides the road from view.

But getting back to the I-hate-winter theme, no matter how hard I try, winter is just not kind to my waist. Even if I do the same amount of riding, I find myself eating too much, and even if I didn't, my body still sees more point to storing food above my belt than burning it off. I even find myself paying more attention to those bogus weight-loss pills advertised on TV, and wonder how could they make those claims without being sued for everything they're worth if they weren't true? Yeah, right.

Truth is, it's probably November that I hate more than any other month. The days get shorter & colder in an accelerating pace, and business drops off in a seasonal pattern that's repeated for 29 years now and yet you still find yourself wanting to fight the idea that many of your customers have abandoned cycling for skiing. And it's not like they can even ski yet anyway! Sigh.

11/04/08- WITHOUT FAIL, IF I START OUT A RIDE NOT FEELING GOOD, IT GETS BETTER AS I GO ALONG and this morning was no exception. I knew from those first few pedal strokes away from the house that it wasn't going to be easy, and this time, when the other guys (Kevin, Billy, Steve & Chris) suggested riding through the park, I told them no, you guys head that way and I'll meet you at the park entrance up top. Trust me, it wasn't on the climb that I began to feel better! The relatively-sudden onslaught of winter (which isn't true; we're hardly half-way through fall!) has given me a few sore muscles here & there that I haven't noticed since... last winter. Funny how that is.

About 3/4 of the way up the other guys had ridden away from me but I came across a group of three including Bill (who normally does the "morning" ride and sometimes comes out to play with us) and two others, including a woman from the Tibco racing team. They rode with us as far as Sky L'Onda before heading back down. No sprint there this morning, due to the wet roads.

We did come across a couple that was getting ready to resume their ride from Portland to San Diego in the parking lot at Sky L'Onda. They didn't know the area, and I suggested that, if they didn't mind a bit more climbing, it might be a nicer ride if they head to Pescadero and then Cloverdale Road out to the coast, instead of heading out to San Gregorio. Don't know if they followed my advice, but at least, for the next week or so, it looks like they're going to have nice weather. It looked like they were going to be carrying everything and the kitchen sink!

By the time I got back I was feeling a whole lot better, and better yet when we came across Karl, whom we haven't seen on a bike since he broke his collarbone a number of weeks ago. So overall a very good ride, especially since I got back in time to vote before heading to work.

11/02/08- PRETTY NICE RIDE; WHERE WAS EVERYBODY? OK, I'll admit that I waited to get out until the last of the morning showers had passed through, partly because I really didn't want to ride my rain bike. And it worked out nicely, as around 11am the roads began to dry off and I headed out for the usual moderate Sunday ride- Pescadero via Old LaHonda and Haskins Grade, and a return up Tunitas. Surprising how few people I saw, especially out towards the coast. About 5 miles out from Pescadero I came across Jim, who'd come out for our Tuesday/Thursday ride a number of years ago, and rode the rest of the way with him.

Not one other bike at the Pescadero Bakery. How rare is that? But that's not nearly so rare as not seeing a single bike in the rack at the San Gregorio store as we passed by!

For me, it was 57 miles, about 6300ft of climbing, and if you can believe the readout on the Garmin 705, about 5800 calories theoretically burned off. And that calorie count is probably the most-important, as I head towards winter hibernation mode for my body. Doesn't matter that I stay active; when it gets cooler, my body decides it wants to eat more and store fat. Hate that!

10/30/08- EVERYONE NEEDS AN ERIC! Remember that Dr. Seuss story, where they had a "Mike" on the back of the tandem, to get up the hills? Well today we had Eric to pull a not-so-strong Kevin (regular older Kevin) and myself around the course. For some reason Eric and Kevin wanted to go through the park, as they often do, and about this time I'm wondering if it's because they know how much harder that routing is for me. I just can't get a rhythm going on those steeper sections. Still, at a moderate pace it's not so bad, and this morning was definitely a moderate pace.

But the weather. Weird. 50 degrees at the bottom, but about midway up the hill we hit (and I mean hit, almost with a thud) the inversion layer and a sudden jump in temperature to 70 degrees! A temperature that I don't think we saw the rest of the day, as our first storm system of the season began to roll in.

10/29/08- YES, I RODE YESTERDAY. And so did "regular" older-guy Kevin, other Kevin, Billy, Syl, new-guy-from-Arizona Steve, Bill H, Chris, George & our Trek rep, JT. Other Kevin, Billy & Syl joined us only as far as the park entrance; I think they'd already done the so-called "morning" ride. I tried to hang onto the rest of the guys and, of course, didn't. I was fine once I got to the top, but getting there wasn't too easy, as the new cooler mornings (down to 48 degrees) don't do much for my breathing.

Once back up on top I was feeling much better, although I was more than happy to be sitting behind JT and others as they pulled hard along Skyline. The "sprint" into Sky Londa was a bit choppy, such that the only way I could have contested it might have forced George out into the other lane, something I try not to do. After that a nice, fairly-fast run down 84 to west-side Old LaHonda and then a surprisingly leisurely cruise back up to Skyline. Who'd have thought?

In the photo is Chris at the front, and, moving left to right, "regular" Kevin, hidden behind him is JT, then George (in green), Bill hiding behind George and new-guy Steve far-right.

10/26/08- OLD LA HONDA JUST NEVER GETS BORING. Don't know what it is about Old LaHonda, but no matter how many times you've been up it, it never seems like the same old thing. Maybe it's the people you see on the way up? Maybe it's the varying grade? Maybe it's the narrow twistiness that constantly hides what's ahead of you. Whatever it is, if you've only got time for a quick ride, and want to get in a climb, that's the one. This morning that's all I had time for, since Kevin's final session for the year at the track started early (12pm) and I slept in late (8:15am, first night of 7+ hours sleep in a week or so).

The track was fun, and not just for Kevin. They had a larger-than-normal number of kids out, and not enough "handlers" out riding with them, showing the younger kids the ropes. So, for the first time in, what, 30 years??? I was out on a track bike. They say it's just like riding a bike... once you learn, you don't forget. Thankfully that's true!

10/23/08- WHO ARE THESE GUYS? The usual suspects have been away lately, replaced by new guys like Shane (who shows up on a track bike), Darrio & Jan (pronounced like the famous bike racer). And none of these guys are out of shape. Geez, just when it's possible some of the old guard might be burning out, along comes fresh blood to keep up the pace! We did have a couple regulars this morning though, or at least one anyway (Eric) along with Karen, who comes along when she needs some hills in her diet.

10/21/08- THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS! Tomorrow morning I wake up to find out if my TdF plans for 2009 make sense. France on the cheap, with reservations at an Etap (very cheap dorm-like hotels that run about $50/night) in Chambery, an Ibis (quite a bit nicer and runs about $125/night) in Avignon and a final night in Paris at a Mercure (pretty nice hotel that's connected directly to the train station we'll be arriving from Avignon at). Somewhere along the line I figured out how to eat & sleep in France pretty darned cheap. But did I choose the right places? I'll know as soon as the official tour route is posted!

Meantime, there's plenty of riding to do at home! And great people to ride with, including Bill (haven't seen him for a while), JT (our Trek rep, who lives up in Marin but figures on doing our ride on a regular basis as he'd down this way visiting dealers), Eric, Billy & George. JT's been claiming to be out of shape, but that's not how things looked this morning! Seemed like he was toying with the other guys on Kings Mtn.

October has to be one of the nicest months to ride. Sure, it's a bit cooler in the morning, but it warms up quickly, the air has lost that stale summer smell, and the lower sun casts strong shadows and heightens contrast. It always surprises me that we see fewer people out riding once summer passes. Why?

10/19/08- THERE'S A REASON THEY CALL IT SHEEP RANCH ROAD and that reason is pretty darned obvious. Sheep. Lots of 'em. And they basically own the place, traveling as they please, no fences. It was all part of a 64 mile ride in the Sierra Foothills, the Mr. Frogs Wild Ride. Wild it was; in 64 miles it managed over 7400ft of climbing. It was near-perfect weather for the ride, starting out just a tad chilly at 52 degrees but quickly warming up and eventually getting as high as 84. I rode it with my son (Kevin), who hadn't been on a really tough ride for some time, but he did very well. In fact, I don't think he was complaining as much about the bumpy roads as I wanted to (but as the person responsible for talking him into the ride, I had to keep the focus on the nice things, like mile upon mile of nearly-car-free roads, extremely friendly people at the rest stops, incredible views, that sort of thing).

If we do this ride again next year, the one change in preparation for the bikes would be wider tires. 25c at least, and possibly 28. Lots of roads similar to Tunitas Creek in texture, so you do get rattles a bit. OK, you get rattles a lot! Enough so that one of Kevin's bottle cages broke, as well as my Garmin computer mount.

10/16/08- MORE FUN TO RIDE THAN COMPLAIN ABOUT AIRLINE FEES! It's not quite as light when I get up in the morning; soon it will actually be dark when I wake up at precisely 7:05 on Tuesday & Thursday mornings. But for now it's pretty darned nice, even if a bit cold at the start. And even when it does get cold, it's not so bad when you've got a great group that you ride with. Today was no exception, with Kevin, Karen, Eric & Syl, along with Shane, who rode part way up Kings with us on a track bike. Things warmed up quickly by the top of Skyline, with a very strong breeze blowing above us in the trees. Funny how loud the wind was, and yet we could barely feel it ourselves.

This Sunday is the big day, as I ride the Mr. Frogs Wild Ride in the Sierra foothills with my son. 63 miles, 8300ft of climbing, including something nasty called Sheep Ranch Road. Should be fun!

10/15/08- HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW FEES FOR BIKES ON AIRPLANES??? United Airlines, my airline of choice for the last few years, just raised the price of carrying a bike, one way, to $175. That's $350 round trip. For US travel. I have yet to see references to international travel, but assume it's the same, or worse. This is outrageous, especially considering that Southwest charges nothing...zero...zilch...nada... for carrying a standard bicycle. Other airlines are somewhere in-between.

If this is an issue that could affect you (and it likely is!), please consider letting United Airlines know how you feel about it. It's not an easy process; you have to navigate through a lot of garbage on their website, but you start here.

Below is the email I sent. I'll let people know if/when I get a reply. The more people who let United know about their displeasure on this matter, the more likely it is we might see the price increases rolled back.  Thanks-  --Mike--

Regarding: New fees for bicycles Recently United raised the one-way fee for bicycles to $175 ($350 round trip). Besides being difficult to justify when a bicycle is under the 50 pound weight limit, United does *not* charge extra for golf, archery or bowling equipment, all of which represent a challenge to deal with. I have been 2P/Premier for the past several years, and had intended to remain so for some time to come. But there are alternative carriers not charging such high fees for cyclists, some charging nothing extra whatsoever, others in the $50 range. My customers (I own a large retail bicycle shop) are talking about United's new bicycle charges frequently, and many have spoken of looking at alternatives. Why does United want to drive us away? Those flying with bikes are typically your better customers in the upper elite ranks. They represent a lot of $$$. It seems that United might want to go to some trouble attracting, rather than annoying, such customers. We're not asking for you to carry bikes for free, but rather a reasonable charge, and parity with what other non-standard baggage (such as the previously-mentioned golf, archery & bowling)is charged. Thanks for your consideration of this important issue- Mike Jacoubowsky Partner Chain Reaction Bicycles

 

10/14/08- A RIDE THROUGH THE PARK this morning on the way up the hill. I think it was Eric's idea. I usually resist, trying to avoid the steeper pitches as you climb up through the back side of Huddart Park on the way up to King's Mountain, but today I felt pretty good at the start of the ride. Yes, at the start of the ride I felt good. This too shall pass! By the time we got to the entrance station I was remembering once more why I prefer to stick to Kings for the first third of the ride.

Eric, Kevin... and me. No George this morning. We did have other Kevin and Billy and Syl ride through the park section with us, but then head back down Kings to get to whatever they had to get to. Maybe work.

One thing I thought about this morning was how little I know about Eric, despite having ridden with him many, many times. I actually learned a few things this morning, besides seeing his funny side when I took a closer look at the photo above where his head is tilted and he's making a funny face with his tongue hanging out.

10/12/08- AN UGLY RIDE IS CALLED FOR and an ugly ride it was! Kevin (my son Kevin) had a track outing this afternoon, so I had just a few hours in the morning to get in a quick ride. Actually, if I'd gotten up earlier, I still could have gotten in a solid ride with lots of miles & climbing, but I didn't. Which means one thing. Do that ride you'd rather not do. The "ugly" ride. Up 92, south on Skyline. The direction where the climb just seems to go and go and go. Great views, but it just doesn't seem like you get anywhere very quickly. Instead of heading back down 84 into Woodside, I continued on to Old LaHonda and did our normal Tuesday/Thursday loop backwards. OK, it was actually nice out and I had a pretty good time. That's the problem with riding a bike. You intentionally try and do a ride that's not going to be much fun, but it's enjoyable anyway.

10/09/08- MY WIFE WOKE ME UP EARLY THIS MORNING when my son discovered that his rear tire had worn through to the casing. No biggie; it only takes a few minutes to change a tire, and I had a spare available. And then I decide maybe I should take a look at my own. Wished I hadn't. My own tire was far more worn than his, with casing showing through in several places. Oh, and I used my only spare tire on his bike.

In case you don't know what a worn-through tire looks like, I've included a photo. Not fun to think I was going to head out and ride up the hill on that; even less fun to think I was going to ride down the hill! But I had no choice. We stopped before the long descent into Sky Londa to check it out, and I was sufficiently concerned at that point that we put a reinforcement (a piece of Tyvek cut up from a racing number that Eric carries with him for just such things).

It was myself, Kevin, Eric and Karen out there, on a morning that was just a bit cooler (as low as 48 degrees) and reminding us that the warm days of summer are well behind us now. Yet it was still a wonderful morning to be on a bike. It always is.

10/07/08- AND THEN THERE WERE THREE. We started out with 6, or at least that's my recollection, possibly as foggy as the air itself at the start of our ride. About halfway up Kings Billy, the younger Kevin and another person whose name I forget turned back, but as far as I knew they were still behind me, providing incentive to push me up the hill like a pack of wild dogs chasing after me. By the top of the hill it was just myself, George & Eric. The faithful core of the Tuesday edition of our ride, missing only "older" Kevin.

It was spectacularly beautiful once we got up past the fog, and made me regret not bringing a camera! The entire bay and coastal mountains were covered by a blanket of fog, with everything about 800 feet appearing to be literally floating in air. There was almost a Wizard-of-Oz quality to things, with the foggy areas we rode through in black & white, and the area above in technicolor. Yet another great morning to ride.

10/05/08- IT WASN'T UGLY, BUT PARTS WEREN'T TOO PRETTY! For today's ride I wanted to do something a bit different than the norm, so instead of climbing the usual Kings or Old LaHonda, I headed out to Half Moon Bay over '92. Yes, Highway 92, that narrow, jam-packed-with-cars road that cyclists generally avoid. The reality is that it's actually not that bad on the climb up, and it's fun when you get to the top and get to ride past literally 3 miles of cars stopped bumper-to-bumper in one huge traffic jam. From Half Moon Bay I headed back into the hills on Higgins Purissima, a road that had a lot more climbing than I remembered! And then another set of climbs up Los Lobitos Creek, which dumps you right where the fun starts on Tunitas Creek.

And today, it actually was fun. I'd taken it relatively easy until I got to Tunitas, and the climb, as usual, didn't disappoint. It took 33 minutes from the bottom to the top, which puts the effort right at my 3,000ft/hour max climb rate these days. To put that into perspective, the top professional cyclists can do about 5400ft/hour, sometimes exceeding 6000 (though numbers that high are nearly always seen as an indication of doping).

Not too many out on the coast side, which I found very surprising. Perhaps people were scared off by yesterday's foul weather and didn't think mother nature could truly pull off such a change from one day to the next, but at 72 degrees with a light breeze, the coast side was spectacular. I did come across the women in the photos though, who didn't seem to mind having their picture taken.

10/02/03- GOT SOME EMAIL on my observations about passing (without notice) the group of women from Stanford's cycling team on the ride last Tuesday. Basically wondering what's with us guys. Good question! Not sure I can answer it either, but on this morning's ride, we did have Karen, who's shown up a few time, keeping an eye on us. Not too tough to do, as there were only three of "us" today, myself, Eric and Karen.

It was impossible not to notice the change as we moved from Summer to Fall; it's not as bright out, a bit more humidity, and the temperature doesn't change so much during the ride, probably due to the "blanket" effect of the clouds. Soon I'll even have to bring the rain bike out of the garage, one of those defining moments during the year that my wife really doesn't look forward to, since it adds one more bike to the collection in the entry hall and living room. But not yet. For now, the rain is forecast for tomorrow night and Saturday morning, times I'm not out riding. Sunday is supposed to be very, very nice.

But getting back to today's ride, with a smaller group it was a bit different than normal, with no re-groups for stragglers and a pretty even pace from beginning to end. In fact, I made it back home much earlier than normal. Eric got the prize for spotting something interesting; a beautiful, large red-tailed hawk on west-side Old LaHonda.

09/30/08- WE'RE IDIOTS. But I'll get to that shortly. This morning it was George, Kevin, Eric, Chris (who hasn't shown up for a while, but is apparently hasn't missed us, having taken 2nd place at the Mt. Tam hillclimb in Cat 3), plus Billy & the other Kevin for just the climb up Kings. Moderate pace, which meant I was able to see the guys in front of me. We rolled along Skyline peacefully until I decided to try the same move Ballan used to win the World Championships last Sunday, coming around Kevin maybe 5 miles per hour faster and flying off the front. Only Ballan kept it up for almost 2 kilometers, and me? Maybe 200 meters. Maybe.

But the idiot part? We're cruising along on Skyline, just prior to Swett Road, when we come across 4 women wearing Stanford team cycling jerseys. Do we ask if they want to join us? No. Do we slow down to let them get on our wheels? No. Do we tell them it's nice to see another group out here in the morning? No. We just ride on past. Well, except that there's this guy in our group with a camera trying to take a couple photos of them as we ride past, but the only one that came out was the first one, taken from behind. Perhaps not the most-flattering shot, but you go with what you got.

Sigh. Obviously, fit college women on bikes are something we have zero interest in, but hopefully there will still be some around in a few years when my son's their age. It would just be so much easier to motivate him to ride if we could find where all the 16 year old girls who ride hang out!

09/28/08- GREAT TO BE BACK ON THE BIKE! After a couple days at the Las Vegas bike shop, including Thursday, one of my normal ride days, I was feeling pretty, well, tired & chunky. Too much food, all of it bad, too much time on my feet at the show, too much recirculated dry convention-center air. Not enough bike!

So today was a welcome relief. The original plan was that my son was going to be doing a ride with his school's bike club, but that didn't work out; he called me from Canada & 92 where the planned group had dwindled from 7 or 8 to... well, just him. All manner of conflicts prevented even the 4 who showed up from doing more than a short ride, including two girls (yes, girls, and from his own school) on a tandem that broke a chain. So I scrubbed my original plan for a ride out to the coast and headed up Kings Mtn with him, on the ride they were going to do. Like I need another ride up Kings Mtn! Still, it was fun riding at a different pace than normal, and I managed to talk him into doing the worst of the dead-end descents into hell, Bear Gulch Road. As you can see in the photo, it's one of the few roads where it almost looks as steep in the photo as it is in real life.

After that out & back we continued south on Skyline we continued south to 84, where he went on to Woodside and home, while I headed out to West Alpine. I had to get in a couple of hard climbs today, and I did. Just over 6000 feet of climbing in just over 50 miles. Beautiful weather, just a tad warm in places, but nothing oppressive.

09/23/08- WE'RE A PRETTY SELF-CONTAINED GROUP. We've got a pilot to fly us places, a bike shop owner to handle mechanical issues, a chiropractor for those nagging aches & pains & alignment issues, an extraordinary tattoo artist, a nutritionist, a GP doctor... what could we possibly be missing? Well, it could be argued that the ride is almost always guys, but that's a whole 'nother issue.

At the start it was our GP doc (George) holding court, showing us the x-ray of Karl's broken collarbone from his cyclocross race this past Saturday. Broken collarbones are pretty common among cyclists, and it's surprising that, for as many significant crashes as I had when I raced (and even a couple afterward), mine has remained intact.

Without Karl, and with George showing up on his heavier cyclocross bike, the group seemed to be in a pretty darned mellow mood this morning. Probably helped further by Kevin (old-guy pilot Kevin) being a bit tired from his Mt. Everest bike race this past weekend (29,000 ft of climbing over two days). Whatever the case, it was a very casual ride, finishing a good 12 minutes behind the usual Tuesday schedule. An enjoyable ride though, with plenty of opportunity for chat. Funny thing, though. I find on slower rides I actually get hungrier. What's with that?

09/21/08- NOT QUITE THE RIDE I'D PLANNED THIS MORNING. The "plan" was to ride the Tour for Woodside with my son, an annual event that's a benefit for his high school. 25, 55 & 100 mile options, of which we do the 75 (which is the 100 mile without some extra little loops around Woodside to add up to 100). Unfortunately, Kevin had some sort of a stomach ailment last night, so I let him sleep in a bit this morning, hoping he'd feel well enough to ride. Nope. So I take care of a few things and finally get out on the bike just after 10am and head out to Pescadero, basically chasing after the remnants of late departers for the 100 mile option. I did manage to catch up with a few, but the Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas loop is a great one with or without company.

Today I had quite a bit of company though, riding up Old LaHonda with Elspeth, a very strong woman I'd sold a Trek Madone to a couple years ago, and then later on came across Vince, someone I'd sold a Trek 2100 to maybe 12 years ago, could have been more. Darned bikes hold up too well!

Most of the ride was in fairly easy "casual" mode, actually having enough air to talk with people, even on the climbs. Most. I did work my tail off on the climb over Haskins to Pescadero though! That and there were a few rabbits to catch (riders ahead) on Stage Road that I went after as well

09/18/08- TWO DAYS LATE; THANK-YOU, "JOHN SMITH" AT SBC/ATT DSL SERVICE! Sigh. My DSL line at home went out, limiting my ability to update the website, among other things. So when I finally found some time (about 10pm), I resigned myself to calling SBC's outsourced "help" line, where I found myself doing the same thing I've done before, a 35-minute conversation with someone who can't deviate from a script, who can't understand that the problem is exactly what I laid out for him at the beginning of the call, who can't understand that you don't have to make up a name like "John Smith" to pretend to be someone you aren't, who can't understand that your really don't have to pretend at all because there's nothing at all wrong with having an Indian name when you live in India. My wife thinks I'm excessively-tolerant in these situations, but it's really not the guy's fault at the other end of the line. It's SBC/ATT's fault, and anybody else who uses outsourced call centers and doesn't properly train the staff there, and then tries to pretend that they haven't gone overseas for support.

But all is well now; the DSL line is back up and running, a day ahead of when they thought would be the case (probably because all someone had to do was reset a router at the central office, just like last time...).

09/18/08- EASY RIDE AS THE RACERS PREPARE FOR THE WEEKEND. With Karl looking forward to another cyclocross race this weekend (I think he won his event last Sunday!) and Eric doing the insane "Everest Challenge" race (two days with about 28,000ft of total climbing) on Saturday & Sunday, nobody was going to be killing themselves this morning. Even so, the ride up Kings, because we went through the park, was a bit on the challenging side for the first part. Those steeper sections through the park just don't get along with me.

It was an odd ride, to say the least, as conversation on west-side Old LaHonda headed into a bizarre mix of politics, religion, education & nutrition. The group at that time was myself, Karl, Eric, other Kevin, Billy & Syl. Other Kevin & Billy were doing their best to try and get something really confrontational going, and I won't even touch on the subject matter here. Let's just say that, while the group could almost universally be described as "liberal" it's unlikely that we'd be voting as a block.

09/16/08- HARD GROUP, HARD RIDE! I don't even remember everyone who showed up, but it was quite a few at the start, including most of the usual suspects (Kevin, Karl, Eric), a few of the unusual suspects (other Kevin, Billy, Syl) and Karen Brems, one of the top women Webcor riders, who needed some time in the hills. One got the feeling the "usual" suspects were riding tempo. Fast enough to make sure nobody was going to take a flyer off the front, but not quite so fast that I was left hopelessly behind. By the time we were heading south on Skyline, there were only the "usual" suspects, plus Karen, left (the others had headed back down Kings), but the tempo remained fairly quick, and we arrived back at the finish about 9:18am, a good 5 minutes ahead of schedule, with an average ride speed (for me) of 16.5mph. My guess is that I'd totally max out around 16.9 or so, but not too likely we'll do a ride designed specifically for that.

09/14/08- FIRST RIDE AROUND LAKE TAHOE FOR KEVIN, and it had been quite a few years since I've done it myself! Beautiful day, with temps in the mid-80s and just a slight breeze to help keep things cool. I'd forgotten how awful the pavement is on the California side though. Ouch! Kevin was not a happy camper; by the time we got to the half-way point (at Tahoe City; we'd started at Zephy Cove just outside of Stateline) he was about finished. Fortunately the rest & food kept him going, and the smooth pavement on the Nevada side of the lake was quite welcome.

Things we noticed, besides the great views and relatively-clean air (too many cars to really call it clean), included cars that often seemed quite a bit less tolerant of bikes than I'm used to in the Bay Area, and some really big homes on Lakeshore Drive, the road that bypasses Incline Village at the north end of the lake. Things I remembered from before included a lot of small climbs that begin to add up by the time you get to Incline Village. From there on, things get better, with "real" climbs that you can get a rhythm on. Total climbing for the 71 mile trip around the lake is right at 4000ft, so on paper, it really shouldn't be that hard. And if you're really pushing the pace, it isn't. But at more moderate speeds it seems a lot tougher. Not quite sure how that works! In any event, our riding speed averaged 15mph, a bit faster than a ride with Kevin to the coast would be, and pretty much in keeping with that amount of climbing.

09/11/08- WHAT GOT INTO ERIC THIS MORNING?  That's what I was thinking as I was trying to hold his wheel on west-side Old LaHonda. We'd gotten a bit ahead of the others (Karl, Milo, younger Kevin & Billy... I think Syl had gone back down 84 a bit earlier), and Eric, who's usually a steady (but strong) rider, started pushing the pace a bit, and then began a series of hard accelerations. I clung to his wheel for the first three or four, hanging on all the way up to the part where it flattens out a bit, just before entering the forest. I thought, I hoped, that once we got to that section, he'd slack off a bit. But no. Instead, he went hard yet again, and I didn't even try to stay with him. In retrospect, I'm wondering if a super-human effort might have kept me in his wake; it's nearly always the case that we've got more in the tank than we think. But today, I conceded to a much-stronger rider.

09/09/08- WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT CYCLING IS this feeling that, if you keep it up, you can just keep going on forever. It might not be an absolute, but we've certainly got a whole lot of customers who seem intent on proving it true. Last week a couple of guys came in who've been long-time customers, and I asked them how old they were. 82 and 87. Do they look it? No. Do they act it? No. And the 87 year old is still riding 130 miles/week! Think about that. Sure, he's not out there in a paceline at 27 miles per hour, but he's enjoying life at just the right speed, the sort of thing a bike does better than a car, or walking, or just about anything else. 87 years old and he's doing 5,000 miles a year (the math says more but I'm making an assumption he might not be out there when the weather's nasty).

So what did I accomplish this morning? More than I thought I would. I felt a bit flat at the start, but this new thing of mine, staying seated on the climbs, is paying off. I no longer have to force myself to do that (stay seated); it's beginning to feel normal again. With great results; it doesn't seem like I'm going that fast, but my time was 26:44 up Kings this morning. Standing, I feel like I'm going faster, but I'm actually about a minute slower.

Unlike previous mornings I actually had to use leg warmers today, and it was kinda nice having some fog up on Skyline. Quite the contrast from the 90+ degree days we've been having recently. Karl, younger Kevin, George, Eric, Billy, Syl, Preben... no older Kevin (who's in Colorado helping someone move) were all out there at the start of the ride. Kevin, Billy & Syl turned back at the top, not wanting to spend time in the fog (I have a feeling we're not going to be seeing them show up for the ride when it's raining!). I really started to feel human again as I got into the ride, quite different than how I felt last night (not able to sleep well, kept thinking about too many things and how to deal with them). Riding is, indeed, good for the body and mind.

09/07/08- WHO ARE ALL THOSE OLD GUYS? AND WHY ALL THE GLARE IN MY PICTURES? Sunday was the day for the annual Old Fart's Ride, combined with a reunion of my old racing club, Pedali Alpini. And 35 years ago I felt like the young punk in the crowd, and it was the same today. I'm still not sure why I get invited to the Old Fart's Rides, since it's for those who raced back in the 50s & 60s, and I didn't come onto the scene until 1971 or so. I guess I bridge the gap between generations.

After returning from our ride through the Los Altos Hills it was time to look at the old photographs and talk about the good old days. If you've seen the scene towards the end of the movie "A League of Their Own" it was exactly like that. Spookily like that, really. People getting together who hadn't seen each other in years, sharing a common bond of having once been involved (at an intense level) in bicycle racing back in the day.

09/05/08- NO RIDE YESTERDAY, BUT DID A RARE FRIDAY-MORNING RIDE TODAY. There are very few things I let upset my regular Tuesday/Thursday ritual. Funerals, weddings, epic weather, whatever. I ride. That's what I do on Tuesday & Thursday mornings. But yesterday morning there was a doctor's appointment for one of my kids that I should have been at, so I was. I'll admit that it did feel a bit weird when I'd look at my watch and know exactly where I'd be on the ride at that time! Really weird. I did call Kevin (older Kevin, not my son Kevin) (or the other Kevin who rides with us) (too many Kevins!!!) to get a ride report, but I've already forgotten who showed up. Apparently a fairly mellow ride though. That's what happens when I'm not there. Nice mellow pace. Probably because nobody's trying to ride me into the ground so I have nothing left in the legs to sprint with.

But because I didn't ride yesterday, and felt guilty about the fact that I was thinking of things I could be doing this morning instead of riding... because of that I did the "ugly" ride. North on Canada, up 92 to Skyline, south on Skyline to Kings and back down. Only 25 miles, but it's a dreadfully painful 25 miles because that stretch on Skyline heading south just never feels right to your legs. Never. But it felt good to take on the demon, to ride into the heat (thankfully, it didn't get past 82 on the ride, and was a pleasantly-cool 63 on parts of Canada Road, a far cry from the 100 degrees it would be later in the day).

As I was heading up Skyline, older Kevin was driving home on the road, wondering what I was doing out there, where I was going, that sort of thing. Just clearing out my mind on my bike, airing out the legs a bit, making sure the engine still works the way it should. And you know what? For some reason, I felt a lot better the rest of the day, despite the heat in the shop, than I would have had I not ridden. Don't know why. But the rest of the day went a lot better than it otherwise might have. Maybe because I had all the rationalizations for things I should be doing instead of riding, but I rode anyway.

09/02/08- WHO ARE ALL THESE GUYS??? A bit strange this morning, as we started out with a moderate-size group that picked up a couple as we went along, and then started shedding them after we got to Skyline. No way for me to remember who's who in the zoo on a ride like this, but we did have most of the regulars, including Preben, Eric, George, Kevin, other Kevin, Billy... and add to that once-in-a-while Syl. No Karl, as he was helping crew for a friend swimming the Catalina Channel.

Kevin (old-regular-guy Kevin) really wanted to head up through the Park, but the best I would offer was a compromise... anybody could head through the park who wished to, and I'd meet them at the Park entrance a mile or so up the road. No takers; everybody rode up together. I should point out that, from the first pedal step on my bike this morning, things just didn't feel too great. Tight shoes (meaning that I was retaining water; never a good sign) and just plain low energy. I resigned myself to a dreadfully-slow climb up the hill, but hoped as the ride went on that I'd feel better.

And yes, I did feel better! The guys weren't riding up the hill too quickly, chatting away as they often do, so I was able to hang onto the wheels in front of me for quite a while, all the way up to the clearing about 3/4 of the way. At that point I was a bit gassed and watched them gradually ride away, but at the top, instead of the 30-minute time I was expecting, it was 27:14.

From then on it was an ever-shrinking number of riders; at the start of the west-side Old LaHonda section, Kevin, George, Preben and maybe one or two others opted to keep going, heading out to the coast or perhaps for a climb up West Alpine. That left Eric, Billy, Kevin & Syl, but even that's misleading as Eric and I had a bit of a head start and didn't see the other three until we'd stopped at Skyline, and Eric deserted at that point so he wouldn't be late for work. By the time I got to the bottom of 84 (into Woodside), it was just me, as the others headed off in a different direction. It's kind of funny that I felt so alone those last few miles, which isn't at all how I feel when I'm out riding by myself on a 60 mile ride. Nope, doesn't make much sense to me either!

08/31/08- YOU'D THINK I'D LEARN ABOUT THE WIND ON THE COAST but it seems like I never will. Kevin (my son) and I did the Woodside/Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas loop, and, as is often the case, faced some pretty good headwinds on the way into Pescadero, as well as the entire length of Stage Road (which takes you from Pescadero to Tunitas Creek). Kevin's sort of stuck in a 27:3X rut on Old LaHonda; his best time so far is 27:32, today was 27:35 and a week or so ago it was 27:38 if I recall correctly. Pretty consistent!

Not too many people out on the roads, aside from the Alto Velo ride that passed by us after we'd descended Haskins Grade, and a group of 6 guys on Tunitas Creek who'd ridden yesterday from Oakland to Half Moon Bay, and were riding home today. Fully loaded with camping gear on pretty heavy bikes, and yet they were moving very quickly up the hill. We just barely caught up to them and they stayed with us until we got to the faster, flatter section on the last couple of miles.

Those last couple of miles did fly though! Kevin's time from Highway 1 to the top of Tunitas was just under an hour and 5 minutes, probably 10 minutes better than previous rides, and only 15 minutes or so longer than it would take me to do it on my own. Kevin's finally progressed to the point that I feel like I've gotten a good ride in, which is a significant milestone. If he keeps this up, by next summer he'll be ready for his first 100 miler, no question.

I'm thinking we're going to try a new variant of the ride to the coast. No more clockwise rotation on Haskins & Stage, which is guaranteed to put you into the wind. Instead it's going to be out to the coast via 84, south on Stage Road to Pescadero, over Haskins Grade and then, in place of Tunitas, we'll climb up West Alpine. Not as pretty a climb as Tunitas, but at least no headwinds!

08/28/08- KARL'S SMARTER THAN I AM. Probably not an earth-shaking revelation there, but this morning there were three of us who'd gotten away from the rest of the group on the descent into Sky Londa (myself, Karl & Kevin). It would have been way too easy to sit on at the back, so I pulled alongside Kevin where it flattens out before the final climb to the finish, figuring that Karl's going to be sitting on my wheel and I'll just pull him to the top (with him behind me). But there was a slight tailwind this morning, putting speeds up a bit higher than normal, and eliminating some of the benefit of sitting behind, and Karl took advantage of that, and my lack of awareness, and simply pulled up along my right side and outsprinted me for the line. In fact, when he realized I had no clue whatsoever where he was, he even told me he was on my right (probably to make sure that I didn't move over, but it also put me on notice that this wasn't going to be my day!).

Hot? Yes, it was hot. Refilled my water bottle at Sky Londa, whereas normally I'll go through just 3/4 of a bottle for the entire ride.

Let's see, who'd we have this morning? Karl, Kevin, Eric, Billy, other Kevin. Milo had actually shown up for the first time in many months, leaving a bit ahead of us (we knew this because Eric had arrived at the start a bit early and seen him go through). Pretty easy ride up the hill, allowing me to stay in the saddle once more. We did pass a couple other riders on the way up, including Ayelet, one of our customers who's training for a big ride in Israel soon. She may not be the fastest on the climbs, but nothing stops her; we see her all over the place. Today she was going to ride Skyline south to Page Mill, and hopefully didn't melt.

08/26/08- THAT WAS FUN! Actually, I initially mistyped "fun" as "fin"... which means the end... and maybe that was closer to the truth?

I really wasn't feeling very lively this morning when I rolled up to see Chris (way too fast), Karl (too fast & too strong, and yes that's different than just being too fast), Kevin (too fast), Eric (too fast and can ride forever) and George (too fast too). At least Preben wasn't there (way too fast for someone 14 years older than I am!). So I resigned myself to being blown off the back on the climb, and that being the case, figured this was as good a time as any to really suffer and try to stay seated for the entire ride. That would be quite a departure for me; over the past couple of years I'm generally moved towards standing pretty much for the entire duration of a climb, regardless of length.

Surprisingly, it didn't go so bad! Sure, I was struggling for a while to stay on wheels, and the first half of the climb was well below my usual pace, but for the second half, those same wheels rode away from me a bit more slowly than normal, and I managed to hold a fairly decent speed. I'd be lying to say it felt good to force myself to stay in the saddle, and by the time I got to the top I was pretty well cooked. However, my recovery seemed much better than normal, and when Chris performed one of his trademark suicide pulls across the top of Skyline, I was actually able to stay with him. And believe me, it was quite the ride.

Somehow I managed to remain in the saddle for the entire ride (and you'd better believe it was difficult; it was as if some force was trying to pop me upward each time it got a bit steeper!), and the overall ride pace was probably the fastest this year (measured by the time we got back to Canada Road, which today was 9:17am). I should mention that we picked up the other Kevin and Billy on West Old LaHonda; they'd ridden the dreaded 6am "morning" ride (isn't 7:45am, the start of our ride, still considered to be in the "morning?") and headed up to intercept us.

All in all I was pretty well spent but also pretty pleased with the results. I'm going to work at staying in the saddle a lot more in the future, and basically adopt a more disciplined style of riding. Riding with a purpose, as it were.

08/24/08- DO I GET TO SEE MY PICTURE? That's what one of the women I passed on the way home asked today, after I took one of my trademark backward photos as I passed by. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it came out too well.

It was a beautiful day for a quick ride to the coast, and I do mean quick. Not much time as it was a track day for my son at the Velodrome, so I headed out over 84 (yes, I rode up 84 from Woodside, not Old LaHonda) and down to San Gregorio. Usually I get to pass more cyclists than pass me, but not today; on the way up 84 a guy had started up the hill just ahead of me, and I never caught up. In fact, he was gone from sight less than halfway up the hill! And then, a few miles out of San Gregorio, fighting a reasonably-stiff headwind, I noticed someone gaining on me from behind. Nothing I could do about it, as he gradually closed the gap and finally passed by. I could have grabbed onto his wheel, but instead chose to do the honorable (stupid) thing, letting him get out in front a bit and then trying to keep the gap from widening.

No stops along the way, just a straight shot out and back via Tunitas Creek. It's really pretty amazing that from Woodside, you can get out to the coast & back in under 2.5 hours. Of course, back in the day I'm sure I could have done it in under 2! But that was then, this is now.

08/21/08- 3-FOOT PASSING LAW REVISITED/THAT WAS WAY TOO CLOSE. I've wondered whether cyclists really need a law that requires cars to pass us no closer than 3 feet. I generally don't have too many issues out on the road, and it would seem that common sense and courtesy go a long way towards making the world a reasonable place to drive and bike.

 

Until today.

 

I didn't even really know what happened until I played it back in mind mind immediately afterward. Karl, Kevin and I were on the return leg of our usual Tuesday/Thursday morning ride, heading north on 84 in Woodside, approaching Tripp Road. We were not only single file, but single file on the very edge of the road... I mean riding in tight formation, with maybe just a couple inches (really) of pavement to the right of our wheels. If there was a "good citizen" award for cyclists sharing the road, we would have gotten it. No reason for us to impede cars if we don't have to (the shoulder's in pretty good shape there, and being the first day of school for many, there was more traffic than usual).

 

And then the black SUV went past us.

 

It didn't blast its horn. It didn't swerve. It simply didn't deviate from its course. And it passed each of us by maybe, what, 6 inches? Could have even been a bit less. It was RIGHT THERE.

 

If one of us had had to swerve for an obstacle, it would have been game over. If the car had had to move over just a little bit to let a wide car pass in the other direction, game over. If one of us had chosen that exact time to look back and check traffic, and moved out into the road just a little bit (as often happens when you look back), it might have been game over.

 

As it was, there was this immediate sense of marvel at the precision with which the car passed us, the three of us riding perfectly straight, with the car just inches away from our left hands. It was an almost unbelievable experience. But within seconds that amazement was replaced with one of those "What just happened?" feelings, and the more I play it back in my mind, the more upset and annoyed I become.

 

That car should not have passed us in that manner, which means it should have waited until it was clear in the other direction so it could give us a bit more room, instead of assuming that "Share the road" means making assumptions of a perfect world at 24 miles per hour.

 

So I'm changing my tune, and not just asking for a 3 foot passing law for cyclists, but demanding it. A relatively-narrow two-lane road (like 84 near Tripp, specifically right near the "singing gas pipes" on the west side of the road) is no place for 3 bikes & two cars to share the same strip of road. The car should have waited until it could pass us with reasonable clearance, and there obviously needs to be a law defining what "reasonable clearance" is because I doubt that particular driver thought he or she was doing something reckless.