11/09/00-11/31/01 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings, visit to TREK & LeMond factory, first ride up Diablo, Sonora Pass, French laundry lesson
01/01/02-07/15/02 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings, riding in the snow, Gary Klein visit, Millennium Crows, Spooky Old Tree
07/18/02-07/31/02 Incredible trip to the 2002 Tour de France
08/01/02-12/31/02 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings, 2nd 2002 trip to France, winning Lance-signed frameset, 5th-Annual TurkeyTrot ride, riding in the rain
01/01/03-03/31/03 Yet more ramblings about the regular Tues/Thur ride, Mr. J visits Washington DC
04/01/03-08/28/03 You take the guy with the gun, I'll handle the guy with the Gatorade!
09/03/03-12/31/03 My dinner with Zap, 75000 mile TREK OCLV, meeting Graham Watson
                            TOUR DE FRANCE 2003 TRIP, 2004
04/01/03-08/28/03 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings, Fast older guys, Sequoia Double-Metric, Grizzly Peak Century
09/03/03-12/31/03 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
01/01/04-07/31/04 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
07/31/04-12/31/04 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
01/01/05-07/01/05 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
07/01/05-12/31/05 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings plus Tour de France ride-a-long in Team Car
11/22/06-07/16/06
07/28/06-12/28/06 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings, Sonora Pass, caught in a snowstorm
01/01/07-06/30/07 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
07/02/07-12/31/07 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
01/01/08-05/30/08 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
06/01/06-12/31/08 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
01/01/09-12/31/09 Endless Tues/Thur morning ride ramblings
THE DAY MOUNT HAMILTON ALMOST BLEW AWAY (with us on it)

TUESDAY/THURSDAY KINGS MOUNTAIN RIDE

Every Tuesday & Thursday morning, rain or shine, 7:45am at Olive Hill & Canada Road in Woodside. 26 miles, back by 9:25-9:40pm (a bit later when it rains). Hills, sprints & great roads. If you can make it up Kings in 30 minutes or less, try it!


The Tuesday/Thursday ride is now on YouTube! Broken up into three separate segments, about 10 minutes each. Filmed by Millo on 1/30/07
The regular cast of characters on the Tuesday/Thursday rides includes
Kevin the first regular on our ride, and the most regular regular. Has too much time to ride!
Karl (aka "Fast Karl"), super-nice-guy road racer who can really charge on the flats
Chris, one of the younger guys who thinks he can climb and sprint. He can.
(Karl now with is own page here, Karl's Korner)(but not updated in ages...)
Eric, who likes to torture me up Kings by riding just a bit ahead or behind me, waiting for me to blow up.
John, relative newcomer, another 50ish youngster who can climb way too fast.
Millo, who complains that he's old & slow but somehow always there in the sprints.
George, always out on Tuesdays, nice guy, too fast on the climbs

Check out Mike J. and his friends' stories of their ride up Mount Hamilton on New Year's Day.  http://www.chainreaction.com/diary.htm .  They really do a great job telling the story of how tough the weather conditions were.

 

 Despite that, I think they should be nominated for a Darwin award.  (Sorry for the dig Mike.)   I saw you on your way to Grant's Ranch as I was descending down to Alum Rock Road.  I quit the climb and turned around just before the top of the saddle before the ranger station.  I also had a wardrobe malfunction and my friend Dino had to hold my jacket arms so I could put it on despite the wind's attempt to wrestle it away from me...... Chris

I don't question that they made a wiser choice than we did, but Todd just pointed out to me that, technically, I can't qualify for a Darwin because I already have kids.

1/3/06- REPORTS ON MT. HAM IN FROM TODD & KARL & STEVE R! Read all about our crazy ride from both Todd's perspective (brash young Stanford student... just kidding about brash) and Karl's (seasoned veteran). And this just in, we've also got a ride report from Steve R, who's got a great photo of a tree that had fallen across the road and had to be climbed over. And, of course, my version of the event.

1/3/05- ROADS JUST A BIT OF A MESS this morning! I met up with Todd on the way to the ride, with George & Kevin arriving shortly after. No sign of Karl... which doesn't seem like such a bad thing this morning, as I'm really not looking forward to blasting up Kings. As if it makes a difference. I was thinking that maybe we could have a conversational pace and talk about the crazy Mt. Hamilton ride two days earlier, but nooooooo. Kevin & Todd take off, with George right on their tail. Fortunately Kevin had to make a quick stop to water some trees at the park entrance (wonder how toxic partially-metabolized Diet Coke is for plants?) and this time I was smart... I didn't wait around, but kept on going. They caught up (and passed me) around the wide open section, but at least I arrived at the top on the same day. Todd took every sprint (which, if he's actually trying, isn't too surprising).

But the real story was the sliding hillside, just about everywhere. Made for dicey descending, because you never knew when you might come across mud on the road. Oh, and that little rock in the photo, on Old LaHonda.

On the return we met up with Karl, who'd actually been chasing us the entire ride, only he was chasing us from the front. That happens when he arrives a bit late and takes a shortcut to the base of King's, figuring we're up ahead and he'll run us down. Only this morning, we ran a bit late as George flatted right at the start (that's George in the photo on the right, demonstrating that ever-so-helpful "disembodied 3rd-hand" technique to scratch his nose, leaving his other two hands free to repair the tire).

1/1/06- IT'S THAT "GUY THING" FOR SURE. Mt Hamilton, our annual New Year's Day ride, virtually never missed (except for 2004, when the wind was so bad that it was raining horizontally). Something to look forward to, something to do on that very first day of the new year, so that, no matter what happens the rest of the year, you know you did at least something.

This year was different. This year, our sales manager in Redwood City, Dick, was getting married on New Year's Day. And not just that day... he was getting married at the top of Mount Hamilton. The plan was that he and his wife-to-be (Janet) would leave from Grant Ranch (about halfway up) and ride to the top on separate bikes, get married at the summit and then ride back down on a tandem.

But the weather didn't cooperate; we rode up from the bottom to Grant Ranch to mild rain and heavy wind, and the bride & groom had decided to have the ceremony at Grant Ranch and skip the ride to the top. Entirely reasonable, given the weather! Unfortunately, not everyone got the memo, and some who were riding just a bit behind my group (which was Richard & Ron) never saw us turn into the ranch, and thought they were chasing us up the hill. Not just up the hill, but into some really nasty weather! I thought that was a possibility at the time, but didn't give it a whole lot of thought; after all, those guys (Kevin & Karl & Jeff) were all reasonably-sensible and wouldn't do anything stupid.

Unless. Unless you toss in the "guy card." Howling winds, threat of nasty rain... but if you think someone's out there ahead of you, do you do the sensible thing and turn back? We'll come back to that one...

Meantime, after the wedding, my group (myself, Richard, Todd & Ron) decide that it's so cold and nasty out there that, instead of heading straight back down the hill, we'll ride in the opposite direction, to the top of the first ridge, "just to get warmer." Bad move. All three of us knew that riding in that direction was a bad choice, because it would make it that much more difficult not to go for the summit. Which, each of us knew, was a silly thing to do. But that first little decision, that first step, seems so innocent. Even though you know what it leads to.

The inevitable becomes reality when, at the top of that ridge, we meet up with a few riders coming back down, telling us about the wild conditions up there. Darn, one of them was Jeff. He'd done it. Gotten blown off the bike three times, he said, but he'd done it. Our fate was sealed. Richard had to get back quickly, and was able to haul my heavy camera bag back down the hill (so I didn't have to drag it up to the summit), and Todd, Ron & I headed up. To say that it was the wildest ride of our lives would be an understatement; in the final five or so miles, the wind was blowing so hard that, at times, you were literally being pushed up the hill (yes, so hard that you didn't have to pedal!) and at other times blown across the road. When one of the few cars came up behind me, I actually stopped and got off my bike, since I couldn't be sure a sudden gust wouldn't blow me into its path.

Trees had fallen all over the place, and if you tried to listen past the howling of the wind, you could hear things breaking and snapping. Unbelievable. We made it to the top, but didn't spend a whole lot of time there as we figured it was going to be a very long trip back down. In fact, at one point, heading downhill, we were brought to a complete stop, even pedaling quite hard. I had my feet on the ground, trying to push my way down and through the corner. It was almost laughable. Fortunately, by the time we got to the bridge (7 miles down from the summit), it had quieted down and things became relatively normal. Quite the ride, quite the day! An experience we'll likely carry with us forever. An experience which, at the time, seemed rather scary and punishment for a very wrong decision. But an experience which, looking back at it, was not one to be missed.

Definitely a guy thing.

12/31/05 ADDENDUM- MT HAMILTON APPEARS TO BE ON. Got word that Dick & Janet's wedding, at the top of Mt. Hamilton, is going to happen... barring a sudden change in the weather. See you there! Even better news is that my son is doing quite well after his stint in the hospital the other day. Dad's doing better too, after a bit of sleep.

12/31/05- MT HAMILTON TOMORROW? WHO KNOWS! The weather report changes and contradicts itself hourly; if things work out, there will be people leaving from the base of the hill at 8:30am. There will also, weather permitting, be a wedding taking place at the summit, sometime around noon! Details on the '05 Mount Hamilton page.

12/29-12/30/05- THE LONGEST DAY. (Medical emergency; nothing to do with cycling) Kind of mirrored one of those dreadfully-long "travel" days where you head to France, make a connection that keeps you moving for another 3-4 hours, and end up going on a ride when you get to your destination, without having slept the previous two days. Been there, done that one a few times, but those are better circumstances, or at least under more control, than the past couple days. It started on Thursday afternoon, when I got the call from my wife that my son, who was with my daughter running errands, had collapsed and was being taken to the hospital. So you know the drill. You do? I sure didn't... it was like watching a medical show on TV from the inside-out. You're in an emergency room watching your kid strapped to a table, going through seizures while doctors & nurses are trying to figure out what's going on, and using phrases like "We need to paralyze him until we get the seizures under control." At this point you're trying to figure out where you place your trust and faith; you're pretty much praying to God but having to trust the Doctors & Nurses. There are worse combinations to have.

The kid's not responsive, except when the stuff wears off (and the seizures begin again) and they try something else, and the cycle continues to repeat. Eventually they're happy that they've got him completely sedated (and I'm not sure what's supposed to be such a good thing about your kid being in a comatose state, with a breathing tube and ventilator to make his lungs work), and ship him off to a facility better equipped to handle kids than they are. Well hey, you do want him with the best-possible people at a time like this, and when they arrive to transport him (and "they" arrive en-masse; a Pediatrician, several EMTs, a driver and somebody else, I think), I'm beginning to realize I've got a very long night ahead of me. Thinking clearly for some reason, I head home, take a shower & change clothes before heading down to Santa Clara for the night. And, fortunately, once there things seemed to get better by the minute. The plan was to wake him up around midnight, but he was stirring around 10pm and, for the first time in almost 8 hours, rejoining the real world. He wasn't a happy camper; terribly uncomfortable with all the tubes & such attached to and through him, but he could understand us well enough to know that, if he could struggle to full consciousness, he'd get the breathing tubes removed. Amazing that he didn't seem very frightened by it all, not at all like I had felt only a couple hours previously.

So I spent the night with him, mostly up, talking, comforting, all the things that nobody teaches you, but somehow it's the right thing, and somehow it seems to make a difference. They never quite figure what's gone on, but he seems pretty much back to normal, and they let us take him home the next night. Everyone, the kid, the wife, the sister... everyone slept a whole lot better. Hopefully, in a few minutes, I can add myself to that list as well.

12/29/05- WHERE TO START? A FAMILY EMERGENCY OVERSHADOWED JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING, and clouds some of my recollection of Thursday's ride, our very last one for 2005, but here goes. Kevin, Karl, Todd, Marcos, Mark and first-timer Leslie... plus at least one other person that I'm neglecting here. Most shot off the front, a couple made a strategic break off the back on the King's climb. Significantly, I did not push the pace at the bottom of the hill, at least partly to see what would happen- and Karl stepped right in. The same Karl who gives me a bad time so often about pushing the pace at the beginning.

Nice day, no car hassles, good weather (slightly-damp pavement in some places, but no rain). Todd made a joke of the first sprint, and I'm trying to remember, think I may have been there for the second. The final sprint just prior to Sky L'Onda was taken by Todd, with Karl making a move ahead of me... he'd thought maybe he jammed me a bit into the shoulder, but truthfully, I could have come out on the other side, or simply shouldn't have been in that spot in the first place!

12/27/05- KARL'S KORNER DEBUTS! One of those things I'd meant to get around to a long long time ago. Karl had posted a ride report for a day I wasn't around (8/18/05), and it should have gone in-line here. I've always felt bad I didn't get it in, and so I'm finally doing something about it. Who knows, might even see something from Kevin sometime, although he flies an airplane a whole lot better than he types, so it might be a long wait.

12/27/05 ROLE MODELS. First off, the usual details. Check out the latest radar weather maps on www.noaa.org, see a big yellow blob moving my way, and decide yes, time to drag out the Iron Pig and put on the rain gear. Yuck. I hate rain pants. Kinda feels like they should be called "depilatory pants" the way they abrade the hairs on your leg (yeah, I know, if I shaved my legs I wouldn't have that problem...). Get out to find Karl, Kevin & Todd ready to brave the elements. Only guess what? The elements never came, and I was the only person on their rain bike. So yeah, that's my excuse for riding way behind everyone else on King's Mtn. It was the bike, right.

Other than totally ditching me on King's Mtn, it was a pretty civilized group, with Karl burning his usual strong pace heading down west-side 84 to Old LaHonda. Thankfully no ditch-fest on Old LaHonda, 'cuz no way could I have kept up with a hard run on that section. Even got to talk a bit, not totally gasping for air, noting that, between myself, Kevin & Karl, we pretty much supplied most of the required role models for a young guy... long-time married, reluctant to grow up & "other." Hey, better that than "Reluctantly married" right?

12/26/05- BRUNO'S DA MAN. So on Christmas afternoon I'm driving in the pouring rain north on Canada, and actually do see a guy out there (on one of our bikes, no less) enjoying the rain & wind. But I'm thinking OK, not that big a deal, I can ride in the rain just about anytime I want and this is Christmas after all, and having spent the day with the family seems like a good decision. That's what I thought then. But today I get to the shop and find out that Bruno, our Service Manager in Redwood City, went for a ride yesterday. A real ride. One with teeth. On his CycloCross bike, he rode up Page Mill, and then had fun doing what for most is impassable in dry weather, Old Alpine Road back down to Alpine. Dodging downed trees & deer in the process. Wow, I am impressed. But wait, there's more. After that he does a loop in Arastradero Park, before finally heading home. All in heavy rain. Like I said, Bruno's Da Man. At the moment, I'm not feeling worthy. Makes me almost wish for an epic-quality rain ride tomorrow morning, but even then, what's to compare to Old Alpine? I'm not only impressed, but certainly not worthy as well. Gee, really thought I'd get away with not riding Christmas day and feel totally happy about it. Sigh.

12/23/05- THE SCIENCE OF SANTA CLAUS. I mean, how can he really be everywhere at the same time? So back around 1990, somebody put together a piece detailing the science behind the man. And of course we put it on our website.

Regarding Christmas, my kids are very lucky this year. Because Christmas isn't on a Tuesday or Thursday, causing them to wonder if they're going to have to wait to open up their presents 'cuz Dad's out on a bike ride. The reality is that Christmas is the *only* holiday (or pretty much any other occasion) where I willingly, er, at least I claim that to be the case, don't ride.

12/22/05- TURNING THE CLOCK BACK TO 1998 ON THIS DAY, things were just a wee-bit different. This morning's ride, with new-guy Brian showing up in the very warm light rain, we could have been riding in t-shirts & shorts. 60 degrees on a December morning is just plain weird. Contrast that to 1998, when we saw a record-low (for the Tuesday/Thursday ride) of just 23 degrees. Not 23C, but 23F, as in 9 degrees below freezing.

It was dry that day in 1998, unlike this morning's light rain & drizzle. In fact, towards the end of the ride, we were seeing some blue sky (which was replaced a few hours later by some pretty healthy rain). So it was a morning for the Iron Pig, perhaps one of the last, as the Iron Pig may go into retirement due to global warming. No, just kidding, but my former main ride (before getting my SSL), the 5900, may soon become my rain bike. I'd like to believe that, on the 5900, I would have had an easier time keeping up with Brian on his TREK OCLV, but the truth is that Brian's simply in much better shape than I am. Still, he was kind enough to ride with me up the hill, enjoying the sounds of the rushing creeks (assuming he could hear them over my heavy breathing).

12/20/05- 15 YEARS, 1000+ RIDES WITH THE GUY, AND IT FINALLY HAPPENED. But first the mandatory play-by-play, naming the players, all that rot. Kevin, Rich (first time with us maybe?), Milo & Karl. I feel like I'm leaving somebody out... right. George. And Todd. As usual, the lying begins at the start of the ride, with various players moaning that they're gonna be slow today yada yada yada. As if. Eventually it's Todd & George off the front, with me in-between them and the rest. Kevin finally puts it into gear and gets up to me; I tell him I'm going to kick back and wait for the others. OK, I lie too. I thought about waiting, but it was so painful watching Kevin head on ahead that I let him get a pretty good gap (maybe a hundred yards) and then sprinted to close it. That hurts! Rode with him for a bit, then dropped back (I'll claim intentionally but the truth may have been otherwise), let him get another hundred yards and then sprinted to catch him again. That second time hurt even worse than the first!

We regrouped at the top, enjoying a much-warmer-than-usual December morning (about 52 up on Skyline, the same temp as below) and a brief shower on our way to Sky L'Onda. Todd took the first two sprints, probably the 3rd one as well, but I wasn't part of that due to the wet roads and a desire on my part to stay upright. Other than Todd's sprinting he was very well-behaved today, living up to his promise of an easy ride. At least he didn't claim he'd be riding easy because he didn't feel well, unlike some others in our group... (OK, maybe include me in that).

And then it happened. After descending back into Woodside, we're climbing that little rise before you get to the "singing pipes" (an area on the left side of the road where there's a bunch of above-group natural gas pipes that "sing" in the winter, when everyone's got their furnaces on, using a lot of gas), with things getting a bit bunched up. Milo's at the front, then Kevin, then me (and the people behind don't really matter because it's what's up front that might get you into trouble, right?). Me on Kevin's wheel. One of those things that happens so often you don't even think about it. Used to be a bit scary, when I was climbing at a similar speed to Kevin (not too likely these days) and if I was on his wheel on King's, and he stood up on the pedals, his speed would instantly drop maybe 1-2 mph and I'd suddenly be in peril of running into his rear wheel. Got to the point where I could anticipate exactly when he'd stand and back off a bit first. And somehow I never actually made contact. Came really close a number of times, but never hit.

Until now.

Milo slowed down rather suddenly (not surprising, as he was pulling a pretty good pace up that rise), and because I was paying attention to Kevin and not Milo, I missed it. Kevin reacted quickly, dropping his speed a bit and moving to one side, and me? I somehow didn't catch what was going on and, by the time I did, I'd severely overlapped Kevin's rear wheel and kinda fell into it when I must have moved in the wrong direction. Or maybe I just rode straight and Kevin moved; that's actually the most-likely scenario, since I stayed up, but we made pretty good contact for what seemed like a very long time (probably less than .1 seconds, but it seemed like a lot longer!). Nobody went down, although the only one in any real danger in that situation is typically the person behind (that would be me) since it's the front wheel which becomes unstable. Regardless Kevin was a bit surprised and appeared almost angry (maybe he was angry?) at my squid-like behavior. What can I say? Just one of those things, fortunately without anything bad happening. Just another day in the life, I guess.

12/18/05- YOU REALLY LIKE US! Or something like that, liberally paraphrased from Sally Field's acceptance speech at the Oscars. Normally our Redwood City location is closed on Sundays, but with Christmas approaching, we were open this past Sunday in a low-key kind of way; relatively minimal staffing (a hand-picked group of volunteers... but if you pick them, are they really volunteers?) and little advance warning to our customers. But it worked out great; we had a good time and took care of quite a few people who needed bikes & apparel for gifts (sometimes gifts for themselves, but what's wrong with that?).

Of course, it meant I couldn't ride this morning, so I missed the weather "event" involving the possibility of tornados due to a nasty storm cell that moved in. Maybe next time.

12/15/05- THEY PROMISED A SLOW RIDE UP THE HILL this morning, and almost delivered. Todd, Kevin, Karl & Mark showed up on a morning that somehow seemed colder than the 37 degrees that showed up on my computer. Too cold for my lungs though, so even at the relatively-easy pace, the other four were having quite the discussion while I was grabbing whatever air was available. Cars were a bit more trouble than normal; seems like the Christmas Spirit refers more to spirited driving than anything else. Even had quite the scene as we tried to make the left turn onto Tripp Road (from 84, on our return to Woodside). Normally it's not a big deal; we take the lane shortly before the turn, signal our intentions and, assuming there's no traffic in the other direction, head across. The problem this morning was that we had to do a quick abort because traffic did come the other way, and when he headed down the road a bit further to try and make the turn at the far part of the "Y", the cars behind just about plowed into us. Not sure what they expected us to do, but figure they were just in a bit too much of a hurry. Next time we'll make sure we've got a bit more breathing room.

12/13/05- FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT? Just about chose "fight" this morning, as I'm heading south on Canada to the start of the ride, and think maybe I'm having trouble focusing... oh-my-goodness. I'd put out the call to Todd, thinking he might have some time in-between finals to come out & play, but... eight people???!!! On a deep & dark December morning? I'm toast! There be sprinters here. And climbers. OK, roll call before I lose track.

• Cyrus, who we haven't seen in a good long time, and is a friend of Ueyn.
• Ueyn, long-time regular who's been trying to finish grad school (which has cut into his riding). Sprints & climbs.
• Rob, newer regular, a real threat to get into great shape and ride me into the ground. All-rounder.
• Milo, relatively new blood who's been showing up fairly often
• George, new friendly guy (not that the regulars aren't friendly)
• Mark, new guy (but long-time customer) friend of Kevin, too fast on the climbs.
• Todd, regular when school isn't in conflict with riding. Sprints & climbs, way too fast.
• Kevin, the most-regular regular (for what, 15 years+ now?). Climbs, but sprint? Thankfully not.

So how did it all play out? Nastily, at first! I did my usual from-the-front thing at the base of the hill, with Kevin quickly pulling alongside. Rob next, who then flew off the front... at a speed such that I assumed he'd flame out pretty quickly. Mark, Todd & George joined Kevin, who caught up with Rob about halfway up the hill (miraculously, I was still within range to see what was going on at this point). Rob held with them until falling off the pace a bit just past the "opening" (the straight spot where the road opens up, about 1.5 miles from the top), and at some point joined up with George. I'm looking at the timer on my computer, noticing that I've reduced the gap from 25 to 20 to about 15 seconds, but no further. But I'm not dying either, a good sign. By the time we get to the final hairpin (under the high-voltage lines) the lead trio is long gone, but Rob isn't. He's right there, tantalizingly-close, but still out of reach. My heart rate's been increasing gradually, but not out of control, and that last part of the climb? I own it. I am it. I closed the gap and Rob, George & I all hit the top at about the same time. And yeah, this is way too much drama for a 27-minute climb up King's Mtn!

The sprints- We regrouped at the top and headed South on Skyline, towards that dreaded first sprint with both Todd & Ueyn in attendance for the first time in a couple months. I never had a chance. Todd took off hard straight from the front, Ueyn darted to the right, and I'm just sitting there, almost laughing as Todd races away. But it was a sprint, so I did what I could, passing Ueyn as he flamed out and trying to at least keep Todd in sight. Impressive. Things were a bit different for the next sprint, where the downhill lead-in allows Kevin to get up a bit of speed, the rest of us sitting on his wheel until it's time to take off. Rob went first, I grab his wheel, and Todd? He's somewhere, I can hear him, but I can't really worry about that right now, since Rob has a bit of a lead and I've got to get around him. I could have strategically sat on his wheel until just the right moment, just as he begins to tire, but that A: wouldn't have been sporting and B: would have given Todd the advantage. Rob didn't give up, Todd was a bit tired from the previous sprint (or mis-positioned, not sure which) and I somehow snagged it. On the final sprint, I let Kevin & Mark get way too far off the front, and had to close a huge gap on the long downhill that precedes the sprint. I'm sure they (Kevin & Mark) thought they had it, and I was beginning to think that as well, but I didn't give up and began to make some serious ground up once the road tilted upward. I thought, ever-so-briefly, how cool it would be to fly up in-between the two of them and take the sprint, but there wasn't that much room, and I wasn't sure Kevin would hold his line. So instead I go to the left, which has the advantage of removing just about the last bit of available real estate for Todd, and hit the top in a near dead-heat with the other guys.

The run down Old LaHonda- Without Karl, it was up to Kevin to haul us westward towards the coast. Ueyn & Cyrus had previously headed back home via east-side 84 (down into Woodside), but that still left 7 of us, riding single-file at reasonably-high-speed and acting like responsible cyclists not just because we had some cars behind us, but also because one of them was a CHP.

West-side Old LaHonda- One of the prettiest roads in the world, or at least those parts of the US & France that I'm familiar with! Could be the size of the group had somehow created an energy-damping effect, but we rode at a pretty civilized pace. Perhaps the strangest observation that hit me was that I could hear 3 separate conversations going on at one time! So as much as you might read these entries and think that it's a take-no-prisoners kind of ride, the reality is that it's often a social yak-fest. A group of guys (once in a while a girl shows up, but most seem too sensible) of varying ages (generally 19 to 50-something, with a couple of us in our very, very late 30s... ok, 49) who find it pretty easy to ride together, joke together, and, sometimes, suffer together. Guys who might not be all that much in touch with their feelings, but can appreciate the clouds in the sky, or the view of the coast, sitting just under the fog, from Old LaHonda.
 
12/11/05- DOES A PILOT NEED TO KNOW GEOGRAPHY? That was the question we wrestled with on our ride today, as Kevin (who's a pilot for, as they'd say, a "major" airline) was insisting that India was in the Southern Hemisphere. But darned if I can remember how such a topic came up...

Kevin, "Long Bob" (he's got really long legs) & Julian (or is it Jullian?) showed up at the base of Old LaHonda at 8am for what was billed as a "nice" ride to the coast. Thank goodness Long Bob wasn't his usual self, or I doubt I would have survived. A quick run up Old LaHonda, out to San Gregorio, up the coast to Higgins/Purissima and a stop in Half Moon Bay at the world's greatest bakery. Well, maybe not, but it's the best one 'round these parts. But you'd probably like to have the name of the place, and so would I. OK, did a quick yahoo search, it's the Moonside Bakery. Great excuse for a ride to the coast!

After fueling up (a Pizza Foccacia & 16oz double-shot Mocha, not decaf, with whipped cream), it was time to head back over the hill. An interesting metaphor, over the hill is. Kevin's 50, I'm 49. Julian... not sure, could be 40. Long Bob is the young punk messing with the averages, probably mid-30s. So maybe it's just myself & Kevin who are over the hill? But we don't act like it, and as long as we have our wits about us, we can still pretend we're... well, not over the hill!

That's not to say that I often don't feel like I'm on the wrong side of the hill though! Long Bob did the smart thing, taking Lobitos Cut-Off instead of the much-gnarlier Los Lobitos Creek option, back to Tunitas Creek. I survived Los Lobitos better than I thought I would, but still found myself looking for the tunnel that's rumored to go from the coast to Woodside! I hung with Kevin & Julian for maybe the first third of the climb, then did the fly-up-the-hill-as-fast-as-you-can-and-flame-out trick. You know, where you get to a steep section but instead of switching to a lower gear, you go for a big one, stand up and haul your butt up the hill at a suicidal speed. Of course, you can hold that for precisely 13.482 seconds, and when you flame out, you get to consider that the pros climb the entire mountain at that speed!

We caught up with Long Bob about 3/4 of the way up the hill, and regrouped, and I'm thinkin' we might do a nice easy pace up that dreadfully-long but mercifully-not-so-steep upper part of the climb. Why would I think something stupid like that? Julian decided to put the hammer down (of course, he'll insist it was my fault, that I rode off the front a bit) and the two of us motored on ahead. Julian's got a power meter on his bike and made some remark that we were putting out 600 watts (very briefly); I mentioned that Lance produced over 700 watts continuously in the '03 TDF after the crash with Mayo & the handbag.

Overall a very, very nice ride on a very, very nice day. Even saw a good customer (Burt M) on the return, plus quite a few people climbing King's as I headed down. About 62 miles, 4900ft of climbing (so it doesn't pass the "tough ride" test of 1k feet of climbing per 10 miles) at a pretty hard pace. For me, anyway!

12/09/05- LOST A DAY... AGAIN! We did ride yesterday, but you wouldn't know it from the lack of a diary entry. Things were a bit thin at the shop, with just two people working the floor in our Redwood City store, so didn't get a chance to update things. But we did ride! Well, duh. Takes quite a bit to keep a few of us off our bikes; most-memorable time was a couple years ago, on New Year's Day, when I woke up to rain that was literally horizontal outside my window... didn't seem like a good day to climb Mt. Hamilton. But not yesterday. Yesterday morning was a bit wet, but not so wet that I couldn't rationalize taking out the new bike, and leave the Iron Pig at home. After all, had to find out how the carbon rims would work in the wet, right?

Just Kevin & Karl showed up, each pretending they were going to take it easy up the hill and, by the way, why not go up through the park (bypassing the lower section of King's)? They love doing that to me; the added steepness softens me up quite a bit. As if that's required; Kevin & Karl seemed to be having a very good time, yakking away, while I'm gasping for air like a fish out of water. But I did manage to keep up this time, even pulling ahead a bit at the archery range. Karl maintained his own pace, taking it easy, while I decided it was time to push myself on the last part... and push I did. Got my heart rate up from 160 at the corner to 177 at the top (pretty much my max these days), and didn't get rid of Kevin until the last few hundred meters or so.

Definitely should have put my flashing tail light on, as the fog was so thick it was actually dark up on top (Skyline). No sprints due to visibility issues; doesn't seem like a good time to be all over the road when cars can't see you. Despite the relatively easy-going nature of the ride, Karl still did his suicide time-trial run down 84 to west-side Old LaHonda, with Kevin & I hanging on. Trouble is, he does this without ever blowing up! If I were to create a "fantasy cycling team" built up around derelicts like myself, I'd definitely have a guy like Karl doing the lead-outs for me.

12/09/05 (Addendum)- DON'T KNOW HOW LONG THIS LINK WILL WORK, but if it's still working and you check it out, only one possible question can come to mind. What could possibly be worse? And I think I have the answer. A deep-fried cube of butter. Don't know if that's even possible, but if it is, I'm sure I have some friends in Wisconsin who have already done it. One of my guys at the shop wondered what it must be like, watching the fat slowly flow through your veins on its way to your heart...

12/6/05- IF THE CHICKENS & GOATS ACT LIKE THAT, WHAT ARE WE DOING OUT HERE? That's what I was thinking this morning, as we headed up Olive Hill past the place on the left where they've got a large fenced-in area with a whole lot of animals... animals that were all huddled together in one corner of the yard, trying to keep warm. It really wasn't that cold this morning though; I never saw anything lower than 35 degrees on my bike computer. But cold enough that we did encounter ice on the descent into Sky L'Onda!

Let's see if I can remember everyone who showed up- Kevin, George, Rob, Milo... seems like I'm leaving someone out, but we didn't come across Karl until the top of King's (he'd left the house a bit late so he bypassed the start of the ride and got to the hill just a bit before us). A reasonably-moderate pace... at first. Then Kevin, George & Rob took off, leaving me in the dust. Well, not exactly, it's not as if they were ever all that far ahead, but my winter lungs weren't up to the task of keeping up with them. The sprints on Skyline didn't really seem to happen, partly because I was pretty pooped for the first one so I rode off the front just far enough to discourage anyone from trying anything, and partly because we began to encounter a bit of ice on the road as we approached Sky L'Onda. But once we started the Old LaHonda section it warmed up a bit, all the way to 48 degrees. 48 degrees=warm? And this isn't even winter yet!

12/4/05- IT DOESN'T GET TOO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS. But, in typical fashion, this morning's ride didn't quite start out that way, as it was, simply, cold. Time for the toe warmers, leg warmers, thermal base layer, windproof gloves... you know the drill. Only I'm not too practiced at it yet, and soon as I got a block and a half from home realized I had forgotten to bring my windbreaker. Do I bother going back for it? Wisely, I did. Wisely, because it was 37 degrees in Woodside, dropping back down to 39 degrees on the other side of the hill. My original plan was to head out to Pescadero & back, after meeting up with Kevin at the base of Old LaHonda. Seemed like a good plan, as that's what a bunch of others were planning to do as well, a send-off ride for some friends who are heading off to New Zealand for six months.

But Kevin had other things in mind; he needed to be in Pacifica by noon to watch a nephew in a swim meet, which meant he couldn't head to Pescadero first, nor could he waste any time. So after waiting for a bit for people to arrive at the top of Old LaHonda (including veteran Pete and first-timer Tom, seen in the photo), I signed on to Kevin's high-speed run up the coast to Pacifica. 

I don't normally head north much, as if Half Moon Bay is some sort of physical boundary that I dare not cross. This may have as much to do with winds as anything else; typically, you get a headwind going north. But today? Seemed more like a strong offshore breeze, coming from the east. Plus the temps at the coast were almost toasty, at nearly 60 degrees. So after escorting Kevin to Pacifica I pointed the new bike up Sharp Park Road and high-tailed it home. Actually, I didn't go for all-out speed, deciding instead to use Sawyer Camp Trail, where you have a 15mph speed limit and compete for limited (paved) trail space with all manner of walkers, joggers and other cyclists. Still, it was only an hour and a half back from Pacifica, a fair amount faster than I'd thought. Not a bad 71-mile ride at all.

One other unusual item. This was the first ride on my new bike (the Trek Madone SSL with the wild fighter-plane-style paint job) where I really felt comfortable with it. I'd gotten so used to my 5900 over the years that the Madone just didn't feel quite right at first because it was... different. But this morning, wow. Got that feeling that it really wanted to go. Fast. Uphill and on the flats. On the steeper sections, for the first time in a long while I felt like I had a lot of power, and a frame that could use it. A bit of that twist-the-throttle-and-go thing. Hope it lasts!
 

12/1/05- IT WAS A DARK & STORMY NIGHT... no it wasn't! It was fairly dark, fairly wet, and fairly windy this morning at 7:10am when I fielded the phone call from Kevin, asking if I was really going to ride this morning, and telling me that he probably wasn't. But he showed up anyway, and we had a quite-pleasant ride up King's, first in pretty decent rain, later tapering off to showers. Temps were pretty mild- mid-50s or thereabouts. And the Iron Pig actually seemed just a bit faster, a bit nicer than it has been on past rain rides.

Thank goodness I remembered to wear a cycling cap under my helmet! It makes all the difference in the world on a rain ride; it keeps the salt out of your eyes, and allows you to protect your eyes against the rain by tilting your head down a bit and letting the brim block the rain drops which otherwise feel like small rocks hitting your eyeballs when you're going 30mph.

No other cyclists on the road this morning, despite it seeming not all that bad. I think the weather report must have scared people off, with the forecast of torrential rains & howling winds. Mildly disappointed that didn't happen, since it really doesn't make all that much difference, once you've ridden more than maybe 10 minutes in any kind of rain at all. Just means that you'll only be blown across half a lane on the way down 84, instead of all the way into oncoming traffic. Just kidding!

11/30/05- THIS ISN'T GOING TO BE EASY FOR ME; that's what I was going to tell my wife at the services for my 45-year-old cousin (that cancer thing), but I never did. Because I'm a guy, probably, and guys aren't supposed to let other people into their feelings. But I was right, it wasn't easy, not easy at all hearing about my 45-year-old cousin's life, all the things I should have known that I didn't, all the opportunities lost because the 2.5 hours that separated his life from mine (about 150 miles) became a a fence that was never scaled. And he's from the side of my family that I got so much from so early on- farmers in the Sacramento Valley. My Grandfather, who taught me the virtues of coffee that didn't pour, but rather, well, oozed out of the double-percolator. People who made a living by dealing with the forces of nature instead of the stock market. Relatives who might never have retired but literally died in the fields with their boots on, because that was their life, what they loved doing. Others, like Jon, who realized there was a different world out there, places to see, and that travel enhanced your appreciation for what you've got at home, what you accomplished with your hard work.

Cousin Jon was active in water politics (important if you're a farmer), 4H, the County Fair, Fly Fishing, Dogs, Photography, fixing just about anything mechanical or computer, volunteered at his kids school, earned a law degree despite being very ill, and had the respect and friendship of an entire town, and then some.

And here I'm concerned about my own kids, whose exposure to the "real world" is, in my book, minimal. They know X-Boxes and videogames and shopping malls and Starbucks. They see vast fields of grain, old wooden barns that have remained standing decades after common sense tells you they should have collapsed, skies with clouds that look like someone painted them into place, only prettier... and wonder what it is that Dad sees in such things.

At the service, they played a song called "Drive" by Alan Jackson. All about that car you learned how to drive in, and your kids learning to drive, etc. My kids learn to drive in parking lots when they get their learner's permit, not in the fields, in Grandpa's old pickup, like I did when I was 13. As much as I'm all about bikes, that car thing builds powerful memories. But nothing so strong as the memories that never quite happened, because I didn't scale that 2.5-hour fence between myself and my cousin Jon.

11/29/05- HALEAKALA WEB PAGE FINISHED! Actually, no web page is ever finished, in the sense that there won't ever be any further refinements etc. But for now I've got a functional page describing not only the climb (and, of course, with a whole lot of photos) but also maps that show the correct... and the very, very, very incorrect route up the mountain.

11/29/05- KEVIN? KARL? ROB? UEYN? TODD? Who am I forgetting that didn't show up for the first official Tuesday/Thursday "rain" ride of the season (which, to say "first of the season", means we must be defining "season" in some strange way... does it start at the end of the last decent riding day?). The first rain ride is usually a bit of a pain, because you've got to figure out where the relevant stuff to wear is, and you tend to forget the important little things that make a huge difference in comfort. Like forgetting to wear a cheapie cycling hat under your helmet, so the sweat from helmet pads doesn't stream down into your eyes, not to mention that it keeps the rain from impacting your eyeballs if you tilt your head down just a bit. Of course, the sweat issue wouldn't have been nearly as big a deal if I'd remembered to soak/clean the helmet after my Haleakala ride a week ago Monday!

But I wasn't alone out in the wet; Milo joined me for a nicely-paced cruise on the usual route. I thought briefly about skipping the Old LaHonda section, but never told Milo, and if nobody else tells him, he'll never be the wiser that I had a potentially-weak moment.

One thing surprised me on this first wet morning- the roads, while wet, seemed to have plenty of traction. Always a good thing!

11/27/05- EASY RIDE TODAY WITH MY SON, about 20 miles, his first time actually doing "The Loop." But the main project right now is getting up the web page for the Haleakala Ride last Monday! I've got photos up, but no descriptions yet. Fun to look at anyway.

11/23/05- TURKEY DAY RIDE BROUGHT TO YOU BY TODD! Difficult for me to do the traditional TurkeyDay Trot when I'll be on a plane heading back from Hawaii, so I handed over the responsibilities to Todd. 8am from Canada & Olive Hill, with a tentative route up over Old LaHonda, Pescadero, Stage Road and then back up Tunitas. Trust me, I'd rather be there than on a plane!

11/22/05- TRYING TO SNAG A STRAY WI-FI SIGNAL IN MAUI, sitting on the 4th floor lanai, holding my computer at a funny angle all so I can upload something about my silly ride up Haleakala yesterday? Yes, par for the course. Details are going to have to wait (difficult to work with the signal constantly cutting in & out), but basically, there's an easy way to ride up Haleakala, and a hard way. Guess which one I did? Not by choice, mind you!

Not so tough figuring out where to start the ride. The summit is 10,023 feet above sea level, so naturally enough, you gotta start at the ocean, right? That's where the picture's from, on a beach in Paia. From there you ride up Baldwin road and then cut over to Haleakala Highway/Crater Road. Impossible to take a wrong turn... for most people. But I ended up heading towards some place called Olinda, at the literal end (dead end) of a road, adding an extra 1800 feet of nasty climbing (much steeper than anything on Haleakala and no, the final piece up to the summit isn't as steep as people say, or maybe it is but after what I'd been through, it just didn't seem like it?).

It wasn't a whole lot of fun, climbing up to 3900ft and then having to descend back to around 2000, and then have to regain that altitude again. In fact, it was never very far from my mind! I kept thinking things like geez, I'm at 4,000ft right now, if I hadn't taken the wrong turn, I'd be over halfway up! I'll get lots of info and photos up, but suffice it to say that it's something you just have to do... once. Would I be tempted to do it again? No. Maybe. Tough to say.

11/17/05- NORMALITY RESTORED. Meaning that I'm still slowest up the hill (among Kevin, Karl & Mark), but I can still, with effort, take the sprints. Kind of like a consolation prize. But at least it's a consolation prize on yet another beautiful day. It's late November, right? And the weather forecast says continued clear skies for the next, what, five years??? And the saddest part of it all? I decided some time ago that, since November is my least-favorite month, partly because things start to go bad, weather-wise, and even if they haven't, seems like a lot of cyclists go into hibernation mode for no good reason... because of that, I decided it would be a good time to be someplace else. And that someplace else I chose was Maui- I'm bringing my bike and will be riding up Haleakala. And, unfortunately, will be coming back late Thanksgiving day! So Todd & Bruno will be out there, along with anyone else who shows up, with a route that will include Old LaHonda, Pescadero & Tunitas Creek. 

11/15/05- SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE! Yes, this morning's ride was anything but normal. I'd suggest buying 55 gallon drums of water, gas for your portable generator, make sure your first aid kit is well stocked and head for the hills. What seemed like any other morning was anything but. Before we get to that, we'll introduce the participants- Karl, Kevin, Mark, oh darn, new guy who's name I forget but he's too strong, rides for Webcor and his first name starts with a G (George, I found out later), and myself. Also met up with John coming back down from the top; he really should be riding with us, but apparently that work thing gets in the way. So we had mostly the usual suspects, although even gabbier than normal climbing the hill this morning. Not sure what they were talking about back there, but as soon as they were finished, so was I. Instead of riding 50 yards ahead I was quickly 50 yards behind. But no biggie; I wasn't stressing out too much, figuring I needed to save a bit for the sprints on Skyline. Not going to let Karl take advantage of my good nature this time.

The first sprint was nothing spectacular; Karl made a half-hearted attempt to take it, so I made a full-on attempt to keep that from happening. The next sprint (the 2nd of the two Skeggs sprints) was similar; the world was working normally. For the last time.

On the long run downhill to Sky L'onda, I might have been holding back a bit, still getting used to the new bike. Kevin & Mark were up ahead a bit, but I'm not too worried, since Karl is right behind me, and he's not going to let them gap us too badly. Right? So I'm on that last downhill that leads into the uphill sprint, trying to get aero, trying to make up that 100-foot gap, but not quite getting there (still need to refine my position on the new bike a bit, plus the wind was pretty strange, coming at us from all manner of directions). But Karl's going to come around me at high speed any moment now, and all I'll have to do is move to his wheel and he'll pull us up to Mark & Kevin. But Karl never came around! By the time I realize there's no train to catch, Mark & Kevin are well up the hill, with Kevin shortly pumping a fist into the air as he nails perhaps his first-ever Tuesday/Thursday-morning sprint. From here on, who knows? They say the jersey makes the man (referring to the way in which a rider not expected to be a real force in the Tour de France, through luck or whatever, ends up with the Yellow Jersey and rides far beyond expectations afterward); who knows, Kevin might start winning sprints in the future. Scarier things have happened, but I can't name even one.

Watch for large black Ravens. That's the second sign.

11/13/05- WHY I RIDE (reason #512). I'm heading back down 84 towards Woodside this afternoon, at a pretty decent speed, and as I'm rounding one of the right-hand sweepers I look down for a moment at my right pedal and notice just how close that foot is to the ground. Looked like a whole lot less than an inch; looked like, with very little effort, I could hit the pavement with it. But it doesn't, because I'm in control. Bikes are pretty amazing things, because everything they do is transparent. There's nothing hidden from view, no secrets. You can move through a corner totally upright (and pretty slowly), or you can push the limits, waiting for feedback that tells you you went too far. The linkage between what you do and what happens is direct; there's no steering assist, no accelerator lag (well, that might be a stretch!) and no anti-lock brake mechanism shielding you from the direct & obvious effect of more pressure on the brake lever.

All this and yet the bicycle is, in fact, entirely mechanical. A mechanical device that has only one purpose- to allow a person, using only their own power, to get as easily and quickly as possible from one place to another. Think about that. There's no other such device in the world. If someone from another planet, one where the bicycle had never happened, were to come upon one... what a marvelous machine they must think it to be. Science fiction is full of gadgetry that somehow amplifies our mental capabilities, but even those typically require some element of added power. The bicycle requires none of that; it just cruises along, under our own power, wherever we wish to go.

I was further admiring the wonders of the bicycle as I noticed this afternoon just how much my bike wanted to go, as if it required energy to keep it from silently gliding along, on flat ground, even on slight grades. To be truthful, some of this is from that magic you feel with your new bike, as you start getting things dialed in just the way you want them, as I did today. It didn't take much; just a slight drop in seat height, a bit more attention paid to making sure it (the saddle) was level, and some experimenting with hand positions on the new handlebar. Things that you can only really do when you're out on a ride by yourself, where you're not responding to someone else's riding pace, it's just you & your bike. I don't think I ever quite realized that before; the idea that, with a new bike, you need to get in a ride that's just you and the bike, nobody else, to really get it all figured out.

11/10/05- GOTTA LOVE CALIFORNIA. A couple days ago we were whining about rain, and now the long-term outlook is clean for the next 10 days. Speaking of clean, Kevin, Karl, Rob & new-guy Mark cleaned up on me this morning! Darn, was really hoping for a strong ride on the new bike, but if you ain't got legs... So about halfway up they go past, yakking away while I'm gasping like a fish out of water, with Eric just a bit behind. Fortunately, this time I wasn't going to let Karl run me into the ground before the first sprint on Skyline. He almost had me, but not quite.

I could definitely use some more miles, but doesn't look like I'm going to get them. Sunday afternoon I leave for Sacramento for a Monday meeting with the Governor's staff (Arnold was originally going to be there, but apparently the election results convinced him that he'd be better off out of the country until things quieted down a bit), dealing with why he vetoed two pretty inexpensive ($7.5 million total) bicycle bills a few months back. The meeting's being organized by the California Bicycle Coalition (www.CalBike.org), which ran a one-day assault on the various legislators in Sacramento last year, with great success. It's not as if I have extra time to do this, but we really need better accommodation for cyclists on our roads... too many stories lately about people getting hit on bikes, too many schools that are built around parents driving their kids instead of them riding, etc... the point is, 10 years from now, if something isn't done Chain Reaction won't have any customers. That would be a bad thing. Yeah, totally selfish motives!

11/08/05- RAIN! Well, it was a good run while it lasted, but this morning I woke up to wet streets and a light rain. It had to happen sometime, but why just a couple days after I get my new bike? Fortunately I'd checked up on the Iron Pig last night to make sure she was ready to go, even if I'm less than enthusiastic about it. But who else was going to show up?

Kevin, Rob & Milo. Pretty friendly group this morning, although Kevin stages a small mutiny by suggesting a change in the course; he wanted to go down one of the dead-end roads off Skyline instead of the Old LaHonda loop. Dummy me, I'm thinking OK, why not, before remembering that it was on that particular variant of our ride last year that I got four flat tires, and that the real reason Kevin wanted to do this was because he lives up that way and it would get him back earlier.

It was nice riding down a narrow, quiet one-lane nicely-paved road though, and the climb back out (it's about a 1,000 foot drop) is almost fun. Almost because I got my first flat in maybe 3000 miles or so. Something about that road and me that just doesn't get along.

Hopefully we'll have better weather on Thursday, since I'd really like to get some more miles on the new bike!

11/06/05- IF CARS HAVE "NEW CAR SMELL", WHAT DO BIKES HAVE? Don't know, but maybe one of the great things about a bike is that it's the world around you that you notice, not what it smells like inside with the windows rolled up and the radio blasting. My Madone SSL got its first ride this morning; as usual, I finish building a new bike the night before and take it for its first outing not on a short trial run, but something a bit more challenging; in this case, a ride with a bunch of Kevin's friends. What I don't quite get is why any of the normal Tuesday/Thursday group would voluntarily choose to ride up King's Mtn any other day of the week. Don't we get enough of it? But that's what we did this morning, then over to 84, down to the coast, north to Los Lobitos and loop back to Tunitas.

So how was the bike? And what are carbon clincher wheels like? Fortunately, the bike was very much like my 5900, only a bit more so. It feels just a bit lighter, it corners just a bit better, and the new 10-speed stuff... well, that's a lot more than just a bit nicer! Didn't realize how sensitive I was to handlebar height, but I'd accidentally set it up just a bit high, which I corrected during the ride. And those wheels? Nice. Great braking (that's what most people seem worried about on carbon rims), and extreme lateral stiffness. And, of course, they look way-cool. This is one very nice bike, including the rather-wild paint job. It's a keeper.

11/03/05- IT'S HERE! Should have mentioned this yesterday; my new bike arrived. It's going to take a few days to get it built, but it's going to be pretty darned nice. Not that my 5900 is lacking for much of anything; it's unquestionably been the nicest bike I've ever owned. But the new one... it should make its first appearance on Sunday. I could tell you all about it, but, as they say, that would be telling. For now, assume the obvious- It's a Trek, and it's a road bike.

11/03/05- OUCH! The "A" team showed up this morning, with nobody moaning at the start about how tired they were. Karl, Kevin & Rob. Bad sign when nobody's even faking that they'll likely be off the back. The first third of the hill it was all me & Rob, with Kevin & Karl kicking back a bit, doing the side-by-side thing, looking casual. Rob & I are thinking it's an act, they'll blow, we're going to keep on going. Well, Rob for the most part did keep on going, dropping me at about the halfway mark. And shortly after, Kevin & Karl pass me up, and soon pass Rob as well. Still looking "casual." Hate that. The "casually" finished at about 26:45 or so, Rob right under 27, and I hauled my carcass over the top at 27:16. Truthfully, it felt like I was going slower than that, so I wasn't terribly unhappy with my time. But I wasn't terribly happy about the other three instantly regrouping and heading up Skyline, giving me no chance to recover, and having to chase them all the way to Swett Road. I'm not thinking this was incidental, as it took me completely out of the equation for the Skegg's sprint. Funny how that goes...

The weather felt much nicer than the 48 degrees showing on my bike computer, but we still stopped before the descent into Sky L'onda so I could put on my wind brake, er, I mean windbreaker. There's no question that wearing it slows me down by a pretty decent amount on that descent, but the good side of it is that it allowed me to sit behind Kevin on the downhill lead-in to the final sprint. With three sprinters out this morning, it wasn't as if I could drag everyone down the hill behind me and then motor away from them!

Now why did Karl say something about "The silly games grown men play" in an email to me the other night?

11/01/05- HOW MANY MORE DAYS LIKES THIS? You just have to wonder! Between 55 & 60 degrees pretty much the entire ride, beautiful skies, dry roads. And fresh mean, er, I mean someone new this morning- Eric, who'd come up from San Jose to join us! In addition to Eric we had Karl, Milo and Kevin, all of whom were pretty well-behaved. Sure, Kevin & I clowned around a bit off the front while climbing the hill (Kings Mtn). Regrouped on Kings, with Eric & I riding a bit off the front (nobody went for either of the sprints near Skegg's Point, although I did try to literally drag Kevin up the hill by having him hold onto my seat bag). For a brief time I toyed with the idea of trying to hold off the quickly-charging Kevin/Karl/Milo juggernaut, but Karl & Kevin were pushing a very fast pace, such that they were upon us in no time. The remaining run down to Sky L'onda was quite fast (dry pavement is a wonderful thing; we're going to miss that soon!), and we let Karl lead out the final section that leads into the sprint at the top of the hill just before 84. It would have been easy to just sit on Karl's wheel and come around him at just the right moment, but wouldn't have seemed fair, so I pulled out to the side and rode parallel (out of his draft) prior to the start of the sprint. Had Karl not been working so hard on Skyline, he might have got me.

The run down 84 to west Old LaHonda was typical- Karl, Karl, and more Karl (with a little bit of Kevin). I'm thinking of renaming that section Rue du Karl. The guy's a machine on that stretch of road; he goes to the front and just motors. The rest of us just hang on from behind, or perhaps go to the front... briefly. Very briefly. And then we pull off, Karl resumes his spot at the front and the person who pulled off desperately works to get back on at the end of the pack. It's not easy, but for some reason, it is fun.

West Old LaHonda was beautiful, with great views of the fog-shrouded coast. Karl added a bit of speed right before it heads back into the woods, with me hanging onto his wheel for dear life. A pretty good tactic on Karl's part, because after redlining me across the top, there's literally nothing left for me to sprint with at the end (where it hits Skyline). Ouch!

Hopefully we didn't scare Eric away from another ride with us down the road. Seems like a very nice guy, and definitely strong enough to possibly cause us some pain down the road. As if that's a good thing? 

10/27/05- HATE IT WHEN IT'S DARK WHEN YOU GET UP. Yes, actually a reason to look forward to the end of Daylight Savings Time. It's worse because the timing when 7am gets dark coincides with overcast weather, so the combined effect is, well, chilling. But you go through the motions, forgetting that you've got less time to kill because you've got to run down some of that cold-weather stuff you misplaced five months ago (toe warmers, long-fingered gloves etc), take an Advil (or two) 'cuz you're feeling just a bit stiff, and wonder why you're still putting ice cubes in your bottle with the Cytomax.

Things are a bit lighter when you go out onto the porch with your bike, but it's still gray. Very gray. As if the colors have all been drained from your world, in much the same manner as movies show a face going from normal color to ash-gray as the bad guy dies. This is not a good way to approach... anything! Much less a bike ride. But you do the mechanical thing, swinging your leg over the handlebar, resetting the computer so it records the ride, and wonder just how many days it's going to take you to drag your sorry butt up and over the hill to the start of the ride.

But a miraculous transformation takes place as you take those first few pedal strokes away from your house and up the hill. You can do it. It feels good. Actually, you expected it to feel so bad that you're shocked at just how nice the bike feels. Legs are working, gears are shifting, and your senses get back into target-acquisition mode as your neighbors load up their kids and drive them off to school.

As I descend Canada towards Olive Hill (where the ride starts) I scan ahead, wondering who will be there. I'm running just a bit late; arriving pretty much right at 7:45 (the designated time to leave) instead of my usual 7:42. For a short bit it seems like I might be riding alone, as I don't spot anyone else at the departure spot... and not entirely sure how I feel about that! But there's Rob, just around the corner, so suffering alone isn't in the cards today. But no Kevin, no Karl, no Jeff. Not for the first mile or so at least, when Kevin shows up, having ridden down the hill from his house. Darn! But he's still not back up to speed, so we do an easy ride through the bottom side of Huddart before reconnecting with Kings at the park entrance, and then ride up the rest of the way at a conversational pace. Actually, Rob had gone on ahead a bit, leaving me to extract the details of Kevin's latest faux paus on the dating circuit. The usual technique is for me to ask short questions that require long answers, leaving him more out of breath than I (thus giving me an advantage). Unfortunately, not much is going on so his answers are as short as my questions. Darn.

At the top we're met by once-in-a-while Milo, who had left just before Rob arrived at the start, thinking he was late and trying to chase us down. If that had been the case, he most assuredly would have caught up with us! Things heated up a little bit (some sprint action) on Skyline, but we held together the rest of the way, all in all a much nicer ride than I think any one of us might have predicted. Worthwhile to have woken up and thrown a leg over the handlebars after all.

BUT... we need Ueyn back! The sprints just aren't the same without him. He's good for all of us; the non-sprinters feel better when it seems like things are so out of their league they don't even have to bother, and the sillier among us (myself, Rob, Karl & Steve) need something a bit more challenging. Ueyn's a shrewd tactician, who can put on a show even when he's out of shape. C'mon guy, forget finishing grad school. It would be great to get Todd back out too (he's developed a great sprint lately), but he seems to think his classes at Stanford are more important. Geez. Cycling is what it's all about! Just kidding. Mostly.

10/25/04- COLD & WET RETURNS! This morning's ride up the hill was the first ride in the 40s in quite some time, but that didn't slow Jeff any, who posted his best time in 20 years up Kings at 25:44. I wasn't around to verify it, but Karl didn't dispute it, so it must be true! In addition to Jeff & Karl we also had Kevin, doing his best to display modern cycling fashion by forgetting to bring his cycling shorts to the gym (he goes swimming before our ride) and showing up in running shorts. Baggy old running shorts, flapping around in the breeze. My legs didn't feel too bad (after Sonora Pass a couple days ago) but I decided to hang with Kevin up the hill instead of chasing after Jeff. Not that I could have stayed with him anyway.
 

09/15/05- AT LEAST I KNOW WHO'S RESPONSIBLE. Still missing our "Indian Summer"... in fact, it has that feeling you get in late-October... that feeling that rain is just two weeks away. That's certainly not the case, but it really does seem like the weather is "off" by about a month.

Rob, James & Karl showed up for a pretty civilized ride. Almost. James did ride off the front, but Rob was feeling the effects of running yesterday (why would anybody run when they can ride?) and Karl was taking it easy. So easy in fact that we didn't even really have a mass sprint anywhere, although James hadn't gotten the word and I gamely tried to keep him company. No such luck; the guy went on the infamous "noon ride" a bit later and took two out of the three sprints. But once James got the two sprints out of the way, even he was pretty darn civil. No wild pace up the back side of Old LaHonda either. So who's responsible for the frequently-brutal pacing of our Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride? You only have to look at who wasn't there. Kevin. It's all his fault!

09/13/05- THEY JUST KEEP ON COMING! This morning it was Rob, Karl, Kevin and new-guy Sean (who'd naively emailed me the day before, wondering if there was going to be anybody at the ride... as if! As if, over the past 25 years, I've missed more than a small handful of Tuesday/Thursday rides...). Actually, new-guy Sean arrived just a couple minutes late and was chasing us as we approached the bottom of the hill. New-guy Sean seemed to have little trouble keeping up with the big boys, which, more often than not, is including Rob these days. Dang, seems like everyone's getting faster these days but me! At the top we were joined by Jeff and Steve, who had ridden up shortly before. Oh yeah, this was another one of those days where Kevin told the standard whopper lie (that he felt bad and was going to ride slowly up the hill). Yes, in some strange, inexplicable way, a good time was had by all. Go figure.

On the run southward on Skyline I finally reasserted myself on one of the sprints, taking the first one, just past Swett Road. Karl to the right, Rob to the left, so I could just sit in the middle, waiting as long as possible before cranking it up. Good thing too, since I'm still lucky to even be in the front group at that point. We had a nice run the rest of the way towards Sky L'onda and then down 84, until it all broke loose on Old LaHonda as Jeff decided it was boring to go easy. Yuck. On the return to Sky L'onda we picked up James (how many are we up to now?), and saw uber-fast-older-guy Preben in the other direction. And as we finished the ride in Woodside, Kevin turns to me and says "Remember the old days when it was just you & me out here?" I've created a monster.

09/09/05- THOUGHT I'D GET OFF EASILY this morning, as Karl dropped in at the start of the ride, but then continued north on Canada instead of up the hill with the rest of us; he's tapering off a bit, getting ready for a big race this weekend. That left Kevin, Todd & Jeff, more than enough horsepower to keep me humble. At the top of Kings we were joined by Steve, who'd left a bit earlier. Don't know why he does that; it's not as if I'd have any issues slowing down a bit (a very, very, very tiny bit) to ride up the hill with him. And where did summer go? This was our first damp ride in a while, as the clouds sat near the top of Skyline.

09/06/05- IT'S SO NICE WHEN YOUR LEGS FEEL THAT WAY. You know what I mean? When you did a pretty hard ride the day before, and you sorta dread getting back on the bike the next day, even using it as excuse to everyone else for why you're not going to be riding very hard today, but the truth is, it's a good feeling. It's a good feeling because, even though the back of your legs are a bit sore, they feel better once you're back out on the bike. It's a good feeling because it's something that so many others would think you're crazy to say that. But they're spending their lives sitting on a couch, or at a job that has them at a desk all day, with people & life itself just outside, just beyond their ability to reach out and take it. That's why you ride.

This morning it was Kevin, Karl, Todd & Dave. Am I leaving somebody out? Seems like there was one more person, but I'm not coming up with who it was. Right. James, our alumnus from the way-back days who's back with us again for a short while. I managed to do about 27 minutes up the hill, just enough so that it took a bit of time to watch everyone ride out of sight, with the exception of Dave, who kept me company on the climb. Well, I don't think either of us had any extra oxygen to actually talk, but we were there, trading off the lead all the way to the top.

I wasn't part of the sprint action on Skyline as I couldn't keep up with the pace to the first run-in, but that's OK, I did have a good ride yesterday up to the City and back. We rode a remarkably-civilized pace on the backside of Old LaHonda, at least until the sprint up the final climb to Skyline, where Karl kept moving over to the right, cutting me off a bit. Well, he didn't actually cut me off; he only moved over so far, giving me enough room to get past. Besides, it's not like I couldn't have backed off a bit and gone around the other side, at least on a better day!

09/05/05- RODE MY BIKE TO THE 'CITY TO WATCH THE GIRO DI SAN FRANCISCO... BUT WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THE RIDE! Oh my, where do I start? I decided at pretty much the last minute that I'd head up to the race to watch a couple of our employees in the 1/2/Pro event... nothing so silly about that... but I figured why not ride my bike up? After all, San Francisco isn't all that far away from Redwood City, and doesn't it make sense to use a bike where possible, instead of buying up & burning some very-expensive fossil fuel?

Normally I'd take the "high road" to San Francisco, via Canada/Skyline/whatever. But the race was taking place off the Embarcadero, on the bay side of town, so I'm thinkin', I ought to look up whatever the recommended "commute" routes are and try them. BIG MISTAKE. The first problems showed up on the Old County Road... the lights. It's not just that there are many of them, but the lights all seem timed to permit mostly east/west traffic, not the north/south that you're traveling. So the odds are that you'll hit virtually all of them red. Plus the road's not in very good shape, so it's simply not that pleasant a ride. But wait, there's more! The suggested routing, along with a "Bike Route" sign, says that you go through Bay Meadows property, which, if true, is impossible on a day they're running the ponies (which was the case today). So it's at this point that I backtrack a bit, give up and get on El Camino, which is instantly a whole lot better. Traffic moves much more freely, because the lights are set up to favor traffic on El Camino rather than the cross streets, and, better yet, you can anticipate what the signal's going to do ahead of time because they have pedestrian signals that change well before the light goes yellow.

OK, so you're cruising along El Camino, but want to get back to the "recommended" route once past Millbrae, via Grand Avenue, as it shows on the pedbiped map, but I never found where it connected to El Camino. Looking at a "real" map later on, I find that's because Grand never does intersect El Camino; you reach it via Chestnut. No problem, I figure, I'll just keep on El Camino, not really thinking about how far west that's taking me; eventually, without knowing it happened, El Camino becomes Mission, which then heads back towards the east though a number of places where you'd rather not have a flat, and some of the worst pavement (was it actually paved, or did random slabs fall from the sky?) I've ever ridden. The idea of riding something as busy as Mission Street through downtown San Francisco doesn't appeal to me, but the reality is that, at 2:30pm on a Sunday, it's not that bad. Finally, 32 miles after I started, and after several wrong turns, I arrive at the bike race, right on time (just before the 3pm start of the 1/2/Pro race, although it actually had been bumped back nearly an hour).

BUT IT DOESN'T END THERE. Immediately after the race ended it's time to get out of Dodge, as I'm racing the sun home. But this time I'm going to try and take the "recommended" route back, since it won't take me way out west, but rather back closer to the bay, via 3rd street. 3rd street. Sounds pleasant enough. Doesn't seem so bad at the start. You make pretty good time heading south and start thinkin' you'll get home on time, life is good. But that feeling doesn't last, as the pedbiped map shows 3rd street connecting nicely up to Tunnel Road, but the reality is that 3rd street, heading southbound, doesn't. Because it's northbound-only over the freeway, and Tunnel Road is on the other side. You start to get that feeling of being a bit lost, mostly because you are. And you're lost in an environment that doesn't look to friendly for a guy on an expensive bike without bodyguards or protection money. You start thinking about what you do know. And you do know that you passed some signs for "Monster Park" (formerly Candlestick, where the 49ers play), and you remember that, when the roads where really clogged leaving the game, your dad had this alternate route out that didn't put you onto the freeway. So that's what you do- you set out to find "Monster Park" (which shouldn't be too difficult, since it's a Monster!) and follow the signs, and voila, eventually you're there. Of course, you just about get blown off your bike from the winds, but you even see some "bike route" signs that give you a sense of hope! And you find the route under the freeway and actually do hook up to the mythical Tunnel Road.

Tunnel Road is a narrow, not great but lightly-traveled path that connects you to Bayshore Blvd, which eventually becomes Airport Blvd, which, of course, turns into a freeway onramp with no other place to go. So you backtrack a bit and figure that you're supposed to go back under the freeway and take Grand to South Airport, which becomes N McDonnell and later S McDonnell, the primary access roads through San Francisco International airport. This takes a bit of getting used to; you wonder if it's where you're supposed to be, and very thankful that, at this hour of the day, there's no traffic, which is good, because there's also no shoulder. But it's a pretty fast road, with very few lights. But again, I would not want to be on this road during commute hours!

McDonnell becomes Bayshore Highway which later becomes Airport Blvd, where a bunch of Bike Route signs pop up again. OK, guess I should follow the signs, right? Wrong. The Bike Route signs first take you to a freeway on-ramp, until you backtrack and figure out there's a small trail at the side of the road. That should have been the giveaway; this isn't a Bike Route, it's a multipurpose, narrow, poorly-maintained (but paved, sorta) trail that sits alongside the waterways you see from the 101 Freeway. But it's really not where a bike wants to be, particularly a bike in a hurry. But it's only a couple miles (if even that), and eventually you're back on Airport Blvd, and then North Bayshore, and as soon as you get the chance you make a run for El Camino and relative sanity via East 3rd.

I now feel qualified to state this, very clearly- THERE IS NO DECENT BIKE COMMUTE ROUTE FROM MILLBRAE TO SAN FRANCISCO, and what some people believe passes for one is totally unacceptable. It may meet the definition of being something you can ride a bike on, but it's certainly not something any sane person would want to. I would recommend taking CalTrain into the City, perhaps catching it somewhere around Millbrae (since it's relatively sane to ride that far north).

09/01/05- THANK GOODNESS I'M PATIENT, since the last few rides have been pretty tough. Still not up with the action, as Karl, Rob, Kevin, Jeff & Dave put it to me on the climbs. Way off the back on Kings, and found myself on my own on the mostly-downhill (thank goodness!) run to Sky L'Onda, where I wasn't even in sight of any sprinting. Old LaHonda wasn't quite as bad as Tuesday, and there's still some feeling of short-term power in the legs, which gets better as the ride goes on. Perhaps all that I need is a good hard 100 miler! Not this Sunday though, as I'll be up in San Francisco, watching the big bike race.

08/30/05- JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE BIKE, just like last week, unfortunately. Still haven't shaken whatever it is that's making me just a bit slower lately. It certainly wasn't the company; we had not only our "A" team out this morning (Kevin, Todd, Karl & Rob) but also just-relocated racer (James) as well as Steve, the guy from my racing club back-in-the-day (Pedali Alpini). I managed to struggle up Kings in just under 27, but lost contact with everyone before I even got to the base of the first sprint. Some days are like that; fortunately, most aren't. But we did come across something interesting on Old LaHonda, as either a large Bobcat or small Mountain Lion crossed the road in front of us.

08/28/05(later)- NOT A PLEASANT DIARY ENTRY- WE DIDN'T PUT OUR BEST-FOOT FORWARD TODAY. As I returned from a ride this morning (which will be the subject of a subsequent diary entry), I came across a "downed" cyclist on Canada Road, as seen in the photo. A whole lot of people passed by this guy without paying enough attention to recognize that he wasn't in very good shape (and in fact most likely had a concussion and either a severely bruised or busted-up right arm). Read all about it on a separate web page I put up; the entry is too long for including here.

08/28/05(earlier)- WEST ALPINE CALLING. Had to get in a quick ride, since I was taking the kids to the Giants game, and the train leaves at 11:41am. So what to do? The scheduled rides (like the Alto Velo "A" ride) get back too late, and I really didn't want to do the "ugly" ride (north on Canada to 92, up to Skyline, south to 84, west-side Old LaHonda loop etc), and I'd done Page Mill a bit too recently. But West Alpine... it would be pushing things, but as long as I didn't fall apart, I'd be fine. So at 8am I set out for the fastest-possible loop that would include West Alpine, which meant flying over 84 (not Old LaHonda), by far the easiest grade over the hill. From there down to LaHonda, where I picked up Michael, a guy from Menlo Park out there doing pretty much the same ride I was (except that he was heading down Page Mill afterward, something he actually looked forward to, whereas that's a descent I've never really enjoyed much).

I was pretty uneven heading up the first section of West Alpine, but surprisingly it got easier on the second half. By the time I got to Skyline I was feeling pretty decent, a good thing since I was under the gun to get home in time for the train! Still had to stop and pick up a snake that had strayed onto the roadway on Skyline though; got him back into the bush where he didn't have to worry about being run over.

I did make it back in time, but just barely, since I came across the injured guy on Canada Road, detailed in the "later" 08/28/05 entry. And the Giants? They actually won the game!

08/25/05- IT'S A FEEDING FRENZY as they notice that I'm not quite up to speed lately. Karl had talked me into starting the climb (King's) a bit more slowly, only he didn't tell me that he, Kevin & Rob were going to hit the bottom as hard as they ever have, with Pete, Jeff & I watching from behind. The idea was supposed to be that, if I start a bit more slowly, I could keep from going anaerobic and maybe hit the middle section (where you lose a lot of time if you're gassed) hard. It sounds so good & practical, but the reality proved otherwise; while I didn't fall apart in the middle, neither did I make up any of the lost ground. I just didn't feel like I had it, yet the climb was still just under 27 minutes; last year, that would have been a very good climb, but this year it's just one more in the 26-minute range... certainly nothing where, at the end, you feel like you had a great ride. Maybe it's like LeMond said- as you get in better shape, it never gets easier, you just ride faster.

I was in no shape to contest the Swett Road sprint, being well off the back as Kevin, Karl & Rob headed up the hill. Still, something inside says "go" when people are sprinting, so I put it into a higher gear and played catch-up, eventually getting past everyone but Karl. Thankfully Todd wasn't there (still recovering from his crash last Thursday); he'd have finished the sprint while I was only halfway up the hill! Much more interesting was the sprint into Sky L'Onda, where Kevin, Karl & Rob thought they had a pretty good gap at me at the bottom, but didn't realize I was closing in on them at a pretty good clip, passing them all to take the prize. But what is this really about? Simple. Those who can't do, sprint. Right now, my climbing seems to have lost its edge, so I'm getting killed on Kings and the west side of Old LaHonda. But as long as I can sprint, I'm still doing something to make the ride interesting.

08/23/05- TOTAL MECHANICAL FAILURE THIS MORNING! We'll get to that in a moment. A bit cool this morning, with pretty heavy fog extending about as high as the park entrance on King's. Kevin, Karl, Rob & Jeff (or is it Jim?) and, true to my word, I did not lead the charge at the bottom of the hill this morning! If there were going to be fireworks, someone else was going to provide them. Unfortunately, Karl, Kevin & Rob lit the fuse as I watched them ride away from me. Eventually Rob ran out of steam trying to match their pace, and I lumbered on to a time of about 26:50 or so. Seems like it's not too tough to keep under 27, but doubt I'll see another 25-something this year.

I was doing fine on Skyline, but as we finished the descent towards Old LaHonda there was a failure of my controls (I'd tell my legs to do something, but they never seemed to get the message) and shortly thereafter, a total engine blowup. Wow. I haven't had that happen in years. I didn't bonk, but just couldn't get any steam up on the climb back to Skyline.

I did manage to get things back together for the descent though, and finished the ride feeling fine. Could be that I'm still feeling some effect of Sunday's Alto Velo "A" ride, which taxed my limits a bit.

08/21/05- I MISS ONE THURSDAY RIDE, AND THEY TRY TO KILL ME. Or so it seemed this morning, as Kevin talked me into another Alto Velo "A" ride. I knew I had to do something interesting on the bike today; yesterday I felt like I wasn't interested in ever riding a bike again (the effect of no sleep from what essentially became a red-eye flight back from Wisconsin that morning), which meant I really needed to get out and ride. So I called Kevin Saturday night to see what people might be doing, and he suggested meeting him for the Alto Velo "A" ride. Little did I know it would be nearly the full complement of regulars from our Tuesday/Thursday rides, with Kevin, Rob & Karl there to make sure I didn't take a shortcut home.

The pacing of the Alto Velo "A" ride is normally manageable, but today was a bit harder than usual (or so a kind person said, as I was struggling to keep up) because we weren't doing any nasty, sustained climbs. Nevertheless we got in about 5k of climbing in just over 50 miles, on an interesting route. Up Old LaHonda, north to Sky L'Onda and then down 84 towards the coast to the west side of Old LaHonda, then back up to Skyline via west Old LaHonda, north all the way to 92, down 92 to Skyline, north to Polhemus and back via Canada Road. Old LaHonda killed me, but I did OK the rest of the way, hanging in there until the last couple of miles on Canada, when I got shelled off the back. Frustrating going all that way before getting dropped (funny how we say that we "got" dropped, as if someone else caused it), but by that time the group had already gotten quite a bit smaller as others had disappeared along the way.

BUT WHAT ABOUT TODD? Kevin, Rob & Karl this morning but no Todd? That's because he's still healing after a nasty crash on Thursday morning's ride, when he slid in a corner coming down 84 and went down pretty hard. I wasn't there to see it, as that was the ride I missed while in Wisconsin, but when Karl caught up to him, he said it was pretty impressive. Fortunately no permanent damage to his bike, just a bent handlebar. Oh, right, Todd. No permanent damage to him either, just some scrapes here & there, surprisingly little for how fast he must have been going, and how far he apparently landed from his bike. 

08/20/05- WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Back in Wisconsin, at the TREK dealer show. Great to be back home, but that's mainly because flying ain't much fun anymore, with my 10:32pm arrival at San Jose turning into a 2:05am arrival at San Francisco, but that's all a long story that I won't get into right now.

But what I will say is that Trek showed us some pretty impressive new product but, probably even more importantly, opened up the doors of their manufacturing facility and gave a tour like none I've had before. That place rocks! We were even allowed to film their nasty product-testing machinery, which I'll eventually find a way to put up on a web page.

Oh yeah, this guy from Texas showed up too. I even got snuck into a nearby private affair where I got to have him sign three of the better photos I've taken of him over the last few years in the Tour de France. Yeah, that's me, looking kinda dorky on the left, with Lance in the middle and Trek's head of marketing, Dick Moran, supervising things on the right. Curiously, Lance takes quite a bit of interest in the photos he signs, asking who took them (which I think is to make sure there aren't any guys out there making money hawking his stuff).

08/16/05- IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN CIVIL THIS MORNING, IF ONLY... if only Bruno had shown up. Bruno's been overseas for quite a few months, and off his bike for the last two, so I promised him that, if he showed up, I'd ride a very moderate (32 minute+) pace with him up Kings. I was really looking forward to that, especially when I pulled up to the start of the ride to find Kevin, Todd & Karl. But no Bruno. So instead of a reasonable ride, I was left gasping for breath (which, to be honest, is normally the case for me in the mornings) and trying to keep them in sight. About 26:30, which seems to be a fairly-easy-to-repeat time these days, so I really shouldn't complain too much. It wasn't that long ago that any time below 27 minutes was a major accomplishment!

But of course we didn't let up at the top; things just kept rolling along Skyline, down 84 to the other side of Old LaHonda, and back up to Skyline. Still, a nice ride, and felt pretty good afterward. And maybe better that it was fairly hard, since I'll be in Wisconsin for this Thursday's ride, eating Bratwurst!

08/14/05-RODE THE TOUR DE MAX BENEFIT RIDE; basically a 100k Old LaHonda/Pescadero/SanGregorio/Tunitas loop, in support of Max Yonker, who recently lost her battle with cancer. Photos? Always photos! Not the greatest day for photos though, as it was quite wet & dreary on the coast.

08/11/05- WHY CAN'T WE DO AN EASY-GOING RIDE ON TUESDAY OR THURSDAY MORNING? We'll get to that in a minute, but first we'll welcome back Perry, visiting from Colorado again, who joined Karl, Rob, Todd, Kevin and I on our Tuesday/Thursday assault on the Peninsula hills. A bit on the foggy side and mildly cool at the start, which is never a good thing for me when we bolt up the hill, but life's tough, that's what happens, be there or be square. I did my usual thing, forcing the pace up through the first couple of corners, after which Kevin took over and took off, but not quite alone, as Rob decided to tag along. Hate it when that happens, as the two gradually increased their lead on me, while Todd, Karl & Perry decided not to join in the fun. Rob's strong, but is he that strong? Anyone who can hold Kevin's wheel (when Kevin's having a good day) is doing very well indeed. I'm not up to it, at least not for the entire climb, but Rob was hanging in there. Nevertheless I didn't give up, knowing that, as soon as we climbed into slightly-warmer & dryer air, my lungs would start working and I might be able to claw my way back.

Which is exactly what happened. Kevin held his pace, Rob didn't, and I finally caught and passed Rob a bit past the park entrance. But, as before, I couldn't get away from him. I was even going to yell some encouragement his way, try to get him to up the pace and end the stalemate by riding me into the ground, but the truth was that I was way too gassed to spare the lungpower to do it. Somehow I got to the top first (er, make that 2nd, as Kevin arrived sometime the day before), something around 26:20, with Rob not too far behind. Hmm. Exactly the same time as two days ago. Only Rob had done me in that day, posting about 26 flat.

Of course, everything changed once we hit Skyline, and Todd decided it was time to ride, taking the sprints, and then Kevin & Karl start pushing the pace hard on anything resembling flat or downhill, with the rest of us just handing on. It was as we made the turn onto Old LaHonda that I asked why we can't have an easy-going ride; why we have to push so hard. And of course, everybody blamed everybody else. Kevin says it's my fault, I say it's his, Karl might have been looking in Todd's direction and Todd's probably wondering what all the fuss is about, since to him the pace is easy! And Perry's probably wondering why he'd go on a ride with a bunch of guys who are having problems figuring out if they're has-beens or never-was's.

08/09/05- LIVING WITHOUT FEAR. Or is it throwing caution to the wind? Whatever it is, somehow this morning I managed to descend 84 as quickly as Todd, and I wonder if that would have been the case had I remembered that I had Becky (my daughter, and part-time employee at the shop) change my rear tire out a few days ago, partly as a challenge.

I had suggested to her that she might benefit from attending one of our tire-repair classes, which she took offense to, saying she could change a tire easily... so I dared her to change mine, which she did, so I'm riding a bike that I generally don't let anyone else touch with my life depending upon a tire installation done by my daughter. Since I'm still here...

OK, getting back to the ride, it was the usual "A" crew, with Todd, Rob, Kevin & Karl. Nice cool morning, although just a bit too cool for my lungs, which really didn't start working too well until we got up past the fog. Karl & Rob took off at the beginning, and I could never quite catch, ending up at 26:20, while Rob probably hit 26 on the nose, perhaps his fastest time yet. About a minute behind were Kevin & Todd, who had just gotten back from the 130 mile, 17,000ft Shasta Century ride.

For some reason I didn't feel like letting Todd get away on the descent into Woodside, or perhaps Todd didn't feel like pushing the limits this morning, as he usually rides off from the rest of us on twisty descents like 84. I wasn't riding the corners too hard, but did work on getting aero everywhere else, which did make quite a difference with speed. We'll see what happens on Thursday, but I seriously doubt I'll be arriving at the bottom of the hill again at the same time as Todd.

08/07/05- I FINALLY RIDE THE TOUR DE PENINSULA, one of the largest recreational events of any type in the area. 33 miles, about 2100 feet of climbing. Yeah, I got all the stats, but the ones that might be relevant on our Tuesday & Thursday morning rides (heartrate & speed) weren't terribly relevant, as I was riding with my 12-year-old on his 3rd 30-ish mile ride of the summer.

For him, the ride was something of an ordeal, as he really doesn't enjoy climbing. OK, he doesn't like hills at all. He hates them even. In his perfect world, things would be either flat or downhill. So by the time we got to the far end of the course (where it turns back and heads South), he was looking forward to anything but the rolling stuff that continued for mile after mile after mile. But he hung in there and finished, and hopefully, after getting a bit more climbing under his belt, might find hills to be not quite so bad.

We also had Ed, my brother Steve's son, along for his very-first road ride. Not too tough for Ed, who's 16 and a pretty good cross-country runner. We're going to try and get him into shape for one of our Tuesday/Thursday rides!

I took lots of photos, and have started a new page showing them. --Mike--

08/04/05- WE GOT A PICK-UP RIDE GOING! We started out with a moderate-sized group, with Kevin, Jay (who's since gone back home to Indiana), Jeff (one of the two guys whose name I couldn't remember from Tuesday's ride) and his friend (whose name I still don't remember), and then on the way up King's picked up a couple more (Kim & Marianne), and then found Ueyn waiting for us near Swett Road! Kinda felt like the Pied Piper. Nice morning; fortunately, the hot weather we've been having lately waits until the afternoon to hit really hard, so it's still nice & cool in the mornings. The only downside is that my breathing's pretty ragged in the cold, but still I managed about 26:45 up the hill, so I've pretty much recovered from my week layoff following the TDF (after which my wife & I paid a visit to London).

Sunday, I was originally planning to do the Shasta Century, but will leave that task to Kevin K and Todd, while I ride the Tour de Peninsula with my 12-year-old. I don't think he's going to be a fan of the climb up Ralson!

08/03/05- GOT SOME CATCHING UP TO DO!!! I've been so busy working on the Tour de France stuff that I've run behind on what's gone on since I've been back. It's not as if life begins and ends with my Tour de France trips.

08/02/05- FIRST TIME UP KINGS SINCE... WELL, A LONG TIME AGO. And yes, it felt like it too. Thank goodness I got in the ride up Page Mill on Sunday. Big crowd, too, so big I've lost track of the names of at least two riders, but the ones I do remember are Karl, Kevin, Todd, Andrea, Jay (don't think he's ridden with us before)... like I said, a big group. That's right at the start of the climb in the photo; at this point I was voluntarily at the back, so I could get everyone in the picture. That's a bit different place for me to be at that point; I usually charge the first part of the climb quite hard (before dying shortly thereafter!).

Of course, within a short period of time it was no longer voluntary that I wasn't at the front, and rode to the top somewhere around 27 minutes. Andrea was somewhere under 29 minutes, a new personal best for her, and some of those other guys... well, I don't know if they normally fly up the hill like that or not, but they certainly had better legs than me this morning! Still, a very nice ride, a bit of fog on the bay side to keep things fairly cool, and, of course, very good company.

07/31/05- TESTING THE LEGS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A WEEK, on Page Mill no less! My last ride had been in Paris, the morning of the finale at the Tour de France, with a whole lot of eating and sightseeing and long plane rides until I arrived back in town late Thursday evening. You'd think I'd have planned my return so I could have gotten in a Tuesday/Thursday ride the next day, but I don't think that would have made my wife very happy. You know how it is, trying to score a few point, even though you know they'll expire before they can possibly be redeemed.

I thought about doing the usual "ugly" ride- north on Canada, up 92 to Skyline, and then south on Skyline. But for some reason I felt like doing a different ugly ride, taking advantage of the fact that it was really hot, and how better to use that than an afternoon ride up Page Mill! I rolled out through Woodside and Portola Valley at a casual pace, believing that I could even climb Page Mill without pushing myself too hard, which would make sense after not having been on the bike for a bit. But of course, a climb is a climb, and I just couldn't bring myself to do an hour+ ride up the hill, settling instead for just under 50 minutes. Good to be back on the bike, good to be back on our wonderful local roads. Sure, France is nice, but we've got it pretty darned good 'round these parts.

Sunday, July 24th from the Tour de France-

LANCE GOES OUT ON TOP, winning his 7th Tour de France in a row by managing to stay upright on a day that began with pretty dismal weather for a bike race. Rain & cobblestones don't mix, and in fact the fear of unavoidable crashes in the final kilometers actually caused the organizers to invoke a rule that said the first three places were decided before the race even got to the nastily-paved Champ Elysees finishing stretch.

Lance has made it very clear that this is the end of his professional road racing career; his plan all along was to leave at the top of his game, on a winning note. Would he have continued another year had he not won this one? Or, is it even possible for someone as competitive as Lance to stay away even now? Only time will tell, but I'm betting that we haven't seen the last of him. And when he re-emerges, perhaps I'll have a better handle on how to use fancy camera lenses that cost nearly as much as a high-end bike!

My trip to France is over; I'll be spending three days in London before heading home to rejoin the regulars on the Tuesday/Thursday-morning-ride up King's Mountain. And I'll work on catching up on a lot of what went on during my trip, on the almost-daily diary. --Mike--

Saturday, July 23rd from the Tour de France- LANCE GOES OUT ON TOP, showing in the final time trial that he is, in fact, the best there is at the Tour de France. His margin of victory in the stage was relatively small (23 seconds over Jan Ullrich), but was nevertheless important, as there are many who feel that you've won something less than a complete victory if you're the overall winner without winning a stage.

It was another long day for me, as I left the group I was with in Paris and took the TGV south to St Etienne, where the time trial took place. Even had to get quite resourceful on the routing, since they'd sold out of Paris-St Etienne-Paris seats, but by returning to the airport (CDG) terminal, no problem with tickets, even at the last moment.

As I was heading back to Paris with my wife, I mentioned to her that, in a couple days, we'd be in a foreign country (England)... which was notable because I just don't see France as being foreign. A bit different, yes, but the incredibly-friendly reception I've had from the locals belies the fears many have that the French don't like Americans. And huge numbers of French are out there in the big towns & little villages, cheering an American who's on his way to a 7th consecutive victory at the Tour de France.

Tomorrow, the finale on the Champs Elysees. A formality really, as the only thing still being competed for now is the Green Jersey (best sprinter), as well as the glory of simply winning that final stage. It won't be Lance; he'll be safely surrounded by his team, keeping him out of the fray (and out of trouble). Hopefully I'll get some decent shots of the final circuits this year. Until tomorrow-   --Mike--
 

07/20/05- ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE WITHOUT INTERNET CONNECTIVITY. Seems to be a plague for me! Just moved into a new hotel in Toulouse, and am unable (in the middle of the night, which is, of course, when I update things) to get a wireless account. Will have to get one tomorrow in the lobby, and in a day or two, will catch up with things.

07/19/05 5pm- Is this the final podium in the photo on the right? Could be! Everybody's here, most notably Armstrong, Ullrich & Basso. Not easily seen are Vinokourov, Leipheimer, Rasmussen & Heras. Everyone marking everyone else on the last kilometer of the Col d'Aubisque in the July 19th stage of the Tour de France. Well, almost everybody, as Kloden, Ullrich's equivalent of Lance's Hincapie, is just a short distance behind... being marked by, who else, Hincapie.

In what could have been the final chance to see someone make a big move, the air is so thick with defensive maneuvering that, frankly, it was something of a disappointment. Was it worth the effort, climbing the Col d'Aubisque many hours ahead of time, with a backpack carrying 12 pounds of camera gear, ready to try and get the shot? Yes... and no. If I'd had more familiarity with it, sure. But realistically, I'm not a photographer, I'm a story-teller who uses photographs to enhance the story. For me, simpler is probably better.

I should mention that the ride up was probably easier than the ride down, since you're trying to pick your way through many thousands of people walking back down the hill, along with more cars than you'd think trying to make their way up it. One thing I've learned- the only think I like less than rear-view mirrors on cars are rear-view mirrors on moving cars! Makes threading your way through the mess a whole lot dicier. Another thing I've learned is that, even with cleat covers, recessed-cleat cycling shoes just aren't meant to be standing in for several hours.

I'd like to get more photos up (I've already taken over 500!) but it's going to be a few days before things stabilize and I can get a semi-normal amount of sleep.

07/19/05 7am- IS A 5AM WAKE-UP CALL BETTER OR WORSE WHEN YOU'RE STILL NOT SURE WHAT DAY IT IS? I haven't figured that one out yet, but I long ago decided that watching the sun come up was a bad thing, and nothing so far has changed my mind on that one! But why did we have to get up at 5am? Because the bus was leaving for Laruns at 5:30am, due to concerns that an earlier-than-usual road closure would otherwise prevent us from getting to the race. This also changed the plans for riding; originally, we were to be dropped off some distance from the climb (the Col d'Aubisque), but now we were going to start at Laruns, the very base of the climb. No warm-up, no rest for the wicked!

Making matters more interesting was that not only wouldn't I be on my own bike, but I'd be carrying along 12 pounds of camera gear in a backpack. Yuck! Surprisingly, it didn't seem to have all that much effect though, as I found the climb up the Col d'Aubisque to be a lot easier than I expected.

But why 12 pounds of camera gear? Originally I was going to bring my new camera, a Canon RebelXT, with its pretty lightweight 17-85 lens. But my brother suggested that I ought to borrow his 70-200mm L-series (expensive) and very hefty lens. So while everyone else's idea of a good bike-ride camera (including my own) is a small pocketable digicam, I was going to negate two years of losing weight in one fell swoop. Turns out I probably shouldn't have, as I've got no experience with big zoom lenses, and didn't place myself very well for photos. Actually, I was placed fine until things got more crowded! I should have moved, but after three hours in one place you become sorta rooted.

07/18/05- I'M HERE, SO I MADE IT! But sleep remains a distant memory, for at least one more day. Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), we head out to Laruns, at the base of the Col d'Aubisque, to catch the riders on that out-of-category (which means STEEP!) climb. I'd planned to be using a handlebar bag to carry the bigger digital camera, but the bike I've got here has 31.8 bars, which my handlebar bag won't fit. Yuck. Means a backpack, up a nasty hill, on a hot day. More on this later Tuesday evening, if I survive the 5:30am time to get onto the bus!!!

07/17/05- THE LONGEST DAY. It starts the night before, as you're up until 1am trying to make sure you've got everything packed for the trip (right now, the only thing I'm thinking might have gotten left behind is my bike computer), and, of course, you don't sleep terribly well when you know you've got to get up before 6am to catch a flight out of town. At 8:12am you're on a mid-sized bird flying to Chicago; at 3:50 (California time; they think it's something like 5:50 in Chicago) you're on a bigger bird flying from Chicago to Paris, but not before spending 3+ rather frustrating hours in Chicago's O'Hare airport, discovering the myth of widespread wireless access. I caught a quick newsflash of this morning's stage, showing George Hincapie winning, but don't know much of anything about how it went down!!!

It would be nice if I could have slept much on the plane, but we're a bit over two hours away from Paris and my clock (still set to California time) says it's 9:45pm. So yeah, I'm tired, but more the exhausted-but-can't-sleep sort of thing. Which will do me wonders when we land, at midnight (although in France they'll think it's 9am), and hang around the airport for four hours before my next flight (which I'll stubbornly insist is at 4am, of course!), finally arriving in Biarritz around 6am. A couple hours there and I'll be checking out the bike I'll be using for tomorrow-morning's stage watching, heading up the backside (the steep side) of the Col d'Aubisque. By the time I get to sleep my day, which started in California at 5:45am, will have extended to what the French believe is around 11pm, but which I know is really 2pm the following day.

So, if this is what I do for fun, perhaps you can see why climbing King's Mtn twice a week doesn't seem quite so insane?


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