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CURRENT ALMOST-DAILY DIARY
ENTRIES BELOW-
01/01/05- GREAT DAY FOR OUR MT HAMILTON NEW
YEAR'S RIDE! See the pictures
elsewhere on our website, but in a nutshell, if you stayed home,
thinking the weather was going to be too nasty, you missed a great
ride.
12/30/04- AM I THE ONLY PERSON DISAPPOINTED
WHEN IT'S NOT POURING FOR A BIKE RIDE?
Once again I was all set for an "epic" ride, and the
weather report certainly indicated there'd be no failing this time.
Heavy rain & wind from midnight-11am, so my 7:30-10am ride seemed to
finally qualify for a real drench & wind-fest. I got everything out
the night before (so as not to be stampeding around the house,
waking everyone else up as I look for wool socks or whatever) and
went to bed, secure in the knowledge that the howling wind and
constant rain would be keeping me company in more than just my
dreams.
But dang, once more foiled again! I wake up not to the sound of wind
across my windows or water dripping from the drainspout, but just
because it was time to wake up (I do set an alarm clock, but usually
find myself waking up a couple minutes before it goes off). And when
I open the shutters to look out upon the world, I find it gray, but
certainly not scary. Yes, it looks threatening, and yes, there's a
light rain falling. Looking west to the hills, there's a small
glimmer of hope that imminent doom is jus over the horizon. So I'm
hopeful of the worst as I put on wool socks, thermal tights, heavy
drylete base layer, long-sleeve jersey, shorts, waterproof pants,
waterproof jacket, balaclava, shoes, full neoprene booties, helmet,
wind-proof gloves and waterproof glove covers. BRING IT ON!
The roads were certainly a mess, and the volume of water
coming off the bottom of my front fender made me thankful that I got
religion (regarding fenders) a year ago. But it wasn't that cold
(about 43 degrees), it wasn't dumping (only mildly sprinkling), and
it was only slightly breezy. Kevin was out there, of course,
although I don't know if he really quite gets into the
laugh-at-the-absurd mentality that makes me want to ride when it's
nasty. But it wasn't nasty, and shortly into the ride I found myself
removing the waterproof pants (the balaclava had already come off
earlier) and glove covers, and we enjoyed a ride over
seriously-mucky roads but without any serious challenge from the
elements.
In all seriousness, I do find I feel more comfortable descending on
roads when it's pouring rain, since the traction is more predictable
and the oils are washed away. Today there were several times,
particularly descending 84 into Woodside, when it felt like your
tires just weren't all that well connected to the road.
One interesting observation- most cyclists apparently decide the
night before whether they're going to ride or not, based on the
weather reports. I base this on the fact that, on those mornings
when it's really not so bad (but was predicted to be), like this
morning, there's absolutely nobody else out there. Yet on mornings
when the weather's much worse, I'll see a number of other cyclists
out there, if the weather report had been somewhat
favorable the night before.
AM I READY FOR MOUNT HAMILTON ON
SATURDAY? Absolutely. There's little chance of a repeat
of last year, when I woke up to rain smashing horizontally against
my window in 60mph winds, and wimped out. But, no way am I taking
the rain bike. The Iron Pig stays home this time, even if it means a
100% disassembly and rebuild of my 5900. That's just the way it is.
12/28/04- WAY OVER-DRESSED FOR THE RAIN
that never really happened. Sure, it was a bit mucky, and maybe
drizzled a little bit, but overall it was simply mucky, the type of
day you have to ride your rain bike but not so bad that you really had
to. Kevin, Richard and fresh-meat Millo were at the start, wondering
why I was wearing my rain pants and patiently waiting while I removed
and tied them around my waist. Yes, it would have been nice if I
weren't the only one with fenders this morning, but I'm sure they
disinfect the roads so whatever I was eating behind various wheels
must not have been too bad. I don't get it; with the new
instant-on/instant-off SKS "blade" fenders, there's really not a good
excuse for not riding with them, and dang, fenders actually do work
when it's wet out. Of course, this revelation came very late to me;
until last year, I thought they were dumb. Sigh.
Most notable thing on the ride were the games my mind was playing on
the 84 descent into Woodside. For some reason, as I was coming around
corners and passing a car in the opposite direction, I seemed to be
calculating trajectories that would occur if either the car or myself
proceeded tangentially to the curve instead of going around them (in
other words, straight into oncoming traffic). For reasons I can't
figure out, this seemed to cause me to reduce my speed on the way down
the hill...
So I've had a bunch of mucky icky rides lately, but nothing really
epic. Be careful what I wish for, I just may get it! The weather
report says Thursday's ride should be in heavy rain & wind, so maybe
I'll finally make good use of all that raingear!
 12/26/04-
WET, BUT NOT WE ENOUGH?
Just Todd and I enjoying a Sunday morning post-Christmas ride, heading
up Old LaHonda, down the other side to LaHonda, then back up to
Skyline via West Alpine. Since it was wet out I had to ride the Iron
Pig which is not only heavier than my 5900, but also has
considerably-higher gearing. WHAT ARE THE ODDS of riding up Old
LaHonda and coming across two cars who had had an altercation, one of
them immobile, and neither driver had a cellphone? While both Todd and
I had them? Strange world.
Almost stranger when, at the top, we came across the sizable group of
cyclists shown in the photo, who were on their way to the coast and
then back up Tunitas. What's so strange? They were going to head north
to Sky L'Onda and down 84, instead of simply riding down the backside
of Old LaHonda. They seemed concerned about what shape Old LaHonda
would be in; unfounded fears as it appeared to have been recently
swept clean, and most certainly was safer than fighting it out with
cars on Skyline!
All in all a nice ride, with Todd being very kind to me, keeping the
pace at a reasonable level on the main climbs.
How nice the rides the rest of this week will be is problematical,
with 10 days in a row of rain forecast!
12/23/04- SAVE ME FROM EVERYBODY!
Tuesday it was just Kevin; today it was Kevin, Bruno, Todd & Billy
putting the heat on. And that's just not fair, especially with Billy,
who's a Cat-1/Pro (he doesn't have a current pro contract so if
anybody knows of a team looking for an experienced pro who can really
put the hurt on people...). This was the best showing of guys
from the shop in some time, as besides Bruno, Todd & Billy, we also
had Brian K riding with us, doing the store proud.
35 degrees at the start so it was a bit on the cool side, rising
to a toasty 43 degrees on Skyline. A beautiful day, as the continuing
breezes have finally cleared out the stagnant air that's been hanging
around for a while. Knowing that there was no way I was going to be
able to stay with the leaders on this ride, I pushed the pace while I
could, managing to hold off the charging dogs until the first hairpin
(creek crossing). The possibility of this being a social ride had
disappeared long before that point, and from there on it was a
struggle to remain in visual contact with the leaders... a struggle
that was lost about halfway up the hill. To be fair, I was carrying
full camera gear this time up the hill, and still managed a
respectable 27:28. Bruno was right with me, Todd a bit ahead, and
Kevin & Billy finished a day or so ahead, as near as I can tell.
It will be interesting to look at the printout and see what my
heartrate was; it sure felt a lot higher than on Tuesday, despite the
slower time.
 12/21/04-
SAVE ME FROM KEVIN! Got up at 7:05 and saw a dark,
gray world outside the window. I thought oh, great, another foggy
morning. Nope, it was dark because it was the shortest day of the
year! In fact, there had been a bit of a breeze overnight such
that the air was finally reasonably clear. Also a bit cool, as we hit
a low of 35 degrees at the traditional coolest spot of the ride (just
prior to Tripp Road), about 5 degrees colder than my Windtex gloves
are good for.
Unfortunately, my hands didn't get a chance to stay cold. With
just myself and Kevin this morning, nobody else to help moderate the
pace, we were at each other's mercy... and some days, mercy is in
short supply (especially those days when, as seen in the photo, Kevin
gets on the phone to Chris Carmichael prior to the start of the ride,
asking for advice on how to do me in). For some reason I decided not
to do intervals up the hill but rather climb at a steady pace... not
too fast at the bottom, but steadily increasing so that we had a
fairly-decent time at the first hairpin (where it crosses the creek).
I wasn't too worried about things because Kevin nearly always stops at
the park entrance to water some plants, which both gives me a chance
to rest and kills off the possibility of a fast time up the hill. So
why didn't he stop???!!! My guess is that Chris Carmichael told him it
would psyche me out if he didn't. So we keep motoring on, with me
going into a "reduce my losses" (ride as efficiently as possible, no
goofing off) mode to try and keep up with him. He eventually
got a 10-15 second gap on me that I was unable to close, nor was he
able to add to. In the end my time was 26:56, probably my first
wintertime sub-27-minute ride in 15 years. I'm seeing definite
advantages to not letting the weight creep up during the winter!
[Disclaimer- As far as I know, Kevin has no affiliation with Chris
Carmichael whatsoever. He was actually calling the airport weather
station to find out what the temp & dew points where, because I'd told
him that we were really close to it being foggy, which occurs
when the temp is as low as the dew point, and he insisted we weren't
anywhere near it. To prove the point he borrowed my phone to call the
airport and found out that, at 7:47am, the temp & dew point were both
exactly 8 degrees C. Yes, we were really close to fog.
But don't worry about Kevin not getting that right. Even though he's a
pilot, upon whom your life may someday depend on his analysis of the
weather, maybe the copilot will get it right!]
 12/19/04-
ALL-VOLUNTEER STAFF TODAY in
our Redwood City store, as we were open on a Sunday, a rare event that
typically occurs the week before Christmas (our Los Altos store is
normally open Sundays though). Things started out quietly, but soon we
had a steady stream of people coming in to buy bikes for their kids,
which was exactly the reason we were open. If we lose
those kids to X-boxes and television, we won't have any customers down
the road dreaming of riding like Lance.
From left to right we have Todd, Brian K, Mike, Chris, Roger,
Becky & Bruno. OK, guess I should point out that, while they
volunteered to come in on a Sunday, they did get paid, plus we brought
in bagels & schmear. Not much choice in bagels this morning though;
had to include a few "low carb" ones that tasted like chewy wheat
bread. Not recommended! Best bet is always the Asiago, but they
were out.
And how do you like those new indoor helmets? Pretty cool huh?
Well, not really... they get quite toasty after a while, so I don't
think you'll see use wearing them climbing King's Mtn on Tuesday
morning.
12/16/04- SOMETIMES YOU JUST DON'T GET THE
SHOT, and this morning was one of those times. I
brought both cameras (the small, pocketable Fuji E510 and the larger
Olympus 5050, which takes much better photos but has to be carried in
a handlebar bag), and even tried semi-staging some shots on Old
LaHonda by riding ahead of the group and setting up, but guess it just
wasn't meant to be.
Nice morning though, with no fog, and a fairly large group with Pete,
Rob, Todd & Karl all out to enjoy the morning. No killer pace today,
at least not for most of us (although Karl & Rob charged on ahead on
King's Mtn, while I decided that would not only be difficult for me
but anti-social as well). Most notable thing while riding was the
wind; up on Skyline it was making quite a bit of noise but not really
felt... until a bit later, as we're climbing the west side of Old
LaHonda, head around a corner and get slammed by a wall of wind!
Despite what seemed to be a leisurely pace overall, we still made
pretty decent time, finishing the ride just as the morning started
warming up very nicely. Would have been nice to be able to get in
another hour or two rather than have to do that work thing!
Most-relevant statistic?
3 flat-free rides in a row since last week's debacle (4 flats in one
ride).
12/14/04- ALIVE AGAIN!
It was one of those mornings where, after the first few turns of the
pedals, it becomes obvious that you're feeling pretty good. The bike
flies, as if it's suddenly dropped a few pounds (which, in fact, it
had- on Sunday's ride, I was carrying a handlebar bag with camera
gear). I was actually looking forward to being challenged on King's
Mtn, and I haven't felt that way in quite some time. Kevin, however,
was feeling a bit under the weather, so we rode up at a pretty
moderate pace (with the exception of a quick sprint the last quarter
mile or so to the park entrance).
I'm not so sure what all this talk about a "warming trend" is all
about, as we hit pretty nasty fog on Skyline (although I have to admit
it is kinda cool the way the power lines dip down out of the fog
in-between poles and then disappear at each end). There was a fair
amount of wind, although it seemed more heard than felt. Too
bad I won't get to ride this Sunday, since the Redwood City store,
which is normally closed Sundays, will be open due to Christmas coming
up. After all, just over two weeks until the
annual Mt. Hamilton New Year's Day ride!
12/12/04-
JU ST
TO PROVE I COULD RIDE AND NOT GET A FLAT
I headed out for a short ride this afternoon, heading up
Old LaHonda. Seems I can't help but ride up Old LaHonda when I can get
out on Sundays (which is somewhat problematic, since it's the only day
I have to spend with the wife & kids), probably because you can always
count on meeting friendly people on the road that are riding the same
direction you are. Today was no exception, as I met up with David, a
customer we'd sold a Project One Trek to a while back. Seemed like
just what I needed as he rode at a fairly relaxed pace and I'm getting
over a minor cold.
Just 24 miles, but 24 flat-free miles! And, at 2400ft of climbing, it
still fits into the category of an enjoyably-hilly ride.
12/09/04- SO WHAT
REALLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU WAKE UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED?
I think I know now. It causes you to make a wrong decision, the
consequences of which seem way out of proportion. This happened to me
today, as I woke up for my regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride,
looked out the window and saw that the roads were still wet. It hadn't
rained in several hours though, and the sun was making an effort to
come out. So did I really need to ride my rain bike? No way. Besides,
what's the worst that can happen? My 5900 needed an excuse for a good
cleaning anyway!
What's the worst that can happen, indeed. Nice company today, with
Rob, Karl, Kevin & Ueyn showing up... and I even felt like I was up to
the challenge, probably because I was on my 5900, which feels so much
faster than the Iron Pig (my Cinelli rain bike). And I was
doing fine, until, just past the park entrance, I'm riding on my rim.
8:09am, first flat. So we stop and replace my tube and continue
on our way. The adrenalin kicks in a bit (from what?) and I'm feeling
pretty darned good until... 8:25am, second flat, near the open
section on King's. OK, I don't get flats (Ueyn's probably ridden with
me over 50 times and never seen me get a flat), maybe I'm due and this
gets them out of the way for awhile?
So
I put in another new tube and we're on our way again. Sort of. At the
top of King's, Ueyn has a flat! Ueyn actually got two flats on this
ride, but I don't recall if this was his first or second; they all
began to blur into each other. In the photo, you can see his
remarkable using-teeth-as-3rd-hand technique to keep his tube off the
ground. It's now 8:42am, and we're thinking that maybe doing the Old
Lahonda loop might be a bit risky, so we opt for one of the dead-end
drop-into-hell roads that heads west from Skyline. Until 8:58am,
when I get my third flat on Tunitas Creek (as we were heading
towards Star Hill). You've got to be kidding, I'm thinking
not-entirely-to-myself as I deal with replacing yet another tube in
the gray misty muck. But I replace it and gamely move on, making it up
over the small grade on Star Hill and heading down towards Native Sons
Road when, at 9:15am, flat number four!!! At this point I wave
the rest of the guys on (it's an out-and-back road anyway, so if I'm
stranded for some reason they'll be coming past again on the way back)
and, with Ueyn staying behind to make sure I didn't lose my marbles, I
removed the tube and found that it had probably been damaged before it
ever got into the tire and, in one of those strange guy moments where
you have to show an inanimate object who's boss, I repaired it instead
of replacing it with a new one.
From there Ueyn & I rode back up to Skyline and down into
Woodside, without any further incident. I'm not sure, but I think I've
gotten my flats out of the way for some time... and also learned a
lesson about why one has a rain bike, with heavier, tougher tires...
and why you'd ride it when the roads are such a mess, even though it's
not raining out. Irrational acts of defiance, particularly against the
forces of nature, rarely seem to pay off!
We've put up a temporary web page with more
exciting flat-tire-changing photos
12/07/04- IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT,
and the weather reports didn't make the morning look like it was going
to be any better. Winds were howling, rain was coming down in buckets,
and the TV folk were making it appear this was going to be an epic
event. BUT... I'm a veteran of far too many "storms that missed" and
my reading of the weather maps made this one look like another likely
candidate. From what I could see, it was sliding in mostly from the
west, with just a very slight push southward. In other words, we were
at the edge of it and, sure enough, by 4:30am I'd noticed there was no
more rain, only a light drizzle and fog (and if you have to ask why a
48-year-old male would wake up at 4:30am, well, I'm not going to tell
you).
When the alarm went off at 7:04am, it was clearly "icky" outside, but
no wind to speak of, and no rain. Still, I brought along my full rain
gear, just in case, somehow finding a way to squeeze my waterproof
pants into my seat bag. The roads were a mess, and there was no
question that I had brought the right bike (my "Iron Pig" rain bike),
but truthfully, I was a bit disappointed that it was so calm out.
Still, nobody else on the road except Kevin, although we did catch up
to someone at the top of Kings (I tried to talk him into continuing
with us, but he wisely made up a story about having to go straight
down the hill to get to work in time).
We did see 3-dog-lady, in addition to a number of joggers (nearly
all women, not that I'd notice, but somebody's got to be watching out
for Kevin, 48, unmarried, with just too much time to stay in shape and
ride me into the ground). Sadly, I also noticed that the Poppys on
Jefferson, the strange ones that began blooming in November, were
flattened by last night's wind & rain. Which brings up the question-
is it normal for a Poppy to bloom in November? Is it one of those
biennial or whatever-they're-called (confused?) flowers?
And the retro faux-Genesis concert Sunday night?
You can read about it in this Google link if you like.
12/05/04- I'M GIVING UP A BIKE RIDE TO
GO-RETRO?
Let's see, where are those bell-bottoms that go with the embroidered
shirt my girlfriend from the 70s gave me? Yes, I still have the shirt
around, but the bell-bottoms are, thankfully, long gone. Could have
used them tonight though, as I'm taking my wife up to the 'City to see
a tribute band, TMB (The Musical Box) do a recreation of the Genesis
"Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" tour. So, do people still hold up lit
matches for an encore, or do cell phone screens serve that purpose
now? Oh how I hope that's not the case! Worse yet, maybe PDA screens.
12/02/04 (ADDENDUM)- KEVIN'S READY TO RACE!
Forgot to mention something about yesterday's ride. We had a pretty
strong crosswind up on Skyline (as we were heading from Kings to 84),
and Kevin seemed to be the only person who wanted to pull the four of
us along. Only when Kevin's at the front, he rides in the gutter,
making it impossible to draft when you've got wind blowing from left
to right. I thought this was a friendly ride...
12/02/04- WARMER, YET COLDER.
I don't quite understand it either, but it was a good 2 degrees warmer
this morning (33F instead of 31), but there was definitely more bite
to it. Also more ice around, so I suspect the difference was more
moisture in the air. A nice surprise to see Ueyn back; gave someone
for Kevin to talk with on the way up (assuming they could hear each
other over my labored breathing). At the top of Kings we met up
with Karl, who, lucky for us, wasn't looking for a drop-'em-dead pace
today.
You might have noticed I haven't been posting times for the climb
up the hill lately. Why not? Because we've been stopping at the park
entrance (about a third of the way up) each ride to shed our jackets
as the temps reach a toasty 38 or so. Yeah, I know, at the incredible
speeds we climb, you'd think we'd need our jackets due to wind chill!
Maybe, but we're tougher than that and can brave just a bit of cold.
That plus Kevin's found a tree there that he feels needs watering.
Speaking of basic bodily functions... seems that road noise is a
bit muted when it's cold, so on the descent from Old LaHonda back to
Sky L'Onda I found a car had snuck up on me from behind. OK, no big
thing except that it was at the same time I had moved out a bit into
the lane and cleared my nose. I asked, but nobody else noticed if the
car was using its windshield wipers as it passed.
11/30/04- SOMETIMES I GO TO BED LOOKING
FORWARD TO CHALLENGING CONDITIONS FOR MY TUESDAY/THURSDAY RIDE THE
NEXT MORNING, but
that applies almost entirely to rain & wind. For some reason, I don't
find much to look forward to when it's going to be cold. I think I'm
beginning to figure it out; down to about 45 degrees, you can be
pretty comfortable and your body (hopefully) feels like it wants to go
places. But below 45 and you feel sluggish and uneven. This morning
was a sluggish & uneven experience.
I'm sure it doesn't help that the high temperature for the ride
was 45 degrees, with a low of 31. I can't really complain about being
too uncomfortable though; with the right clothes, you can do pretty
well down to about 25 or so. Fortunately, we get very few
opportunities to experience anything that low around here! But with a
combination of velcro booties, thermatec tights (over standard
shorts), wicking base layer, long-sleeve jersey, light windbreaker,
winter gloves and external windproof glove covers... you can do it!
Oops, forgot the balaclava thingee that makes me look like I just
robbed a 7-11.
Just Kevin out there braving the cold with me, although we did see a
few other cyclists out there; seems like people are more willing to
embrace cold than rain. Could be one of those sensibility things. It
took my bike computers (yes, I have two of them) about 5 minutes to
recover from the shock of leaving a nice, warm house before they began
to properly display the temperature; by the time I got to Olive Hill &
Canada (where the ride starts), it was showing a probably-accurate 36
degrees. Darn, I was kinda hoping for something even lower, something
worth bragging about! Still, the coldest part of the ride is usually a
couple miles down the road, just before the base of King's Mtn... and
it didn't disappoint. 31 degrees... the first sub-freezing temp we've
seen in almost two years!
We warmed up to a toasty 39 degrees midway up King's Mtn, and it
stayed between 37-39, finally reaching a high of 43 degrees on Old
LaHonda. A bit slower ride than normal, partly because you just don't
seem as efficient when it's colder out, and partly from having to stop
a couple times to either remove or add the windbreaker and balaclava.
The outlook for Thursday's ride looks similar; nothing
record-breaking, but still respectably-cold for a Californian!
11/28/04- COOL & CLEAR TODAY as I went out in
full "Fred" mode (which means bringing along two digital
cameras and a handlebar bag), in search of th at
elusive perfect picture. Candidates included Mtn Home (which is
difficult because it's fairly dark), Old LaHonda (nearly impossible
due to lighting issues) and the beautiful west side of Old LaHonda,
where you have those fantastic views of the hills embracing the ocean.
It gave me an excuse to do a very different type of ride, stopping
frequently to try and get pictures that would be impossible while
riding (which is the normal way I populate this website).
For the techno-geeks, I decided I'd try the "raw" mode of my
Olympus 5050, which gives it the capability of picking up a bit more
detail, especially in highlights (that might otherwise get washed
out). What I came away with was the knowledge that the Olympus 5050 is
an incredible camera that, after having for a year and a half, I still
don't know everything about.
I think I did finally get something representative of Mtn Home
(which runs between Roberts Market in Woodside and Portola Road), as
seen in the photo above. If I get time, I'll post some of the other
samples, but I'm still looking for those ultimate pix. It does help to
actually think about it ahead of time and stop to set things up; in
particular, you can use slower shutter speeds than practical while
riding (where anything under 1/250 second is likely to blur).
But the good news was that, even though I was loaded down, I
could still make pretty good speed. It's also easier doing the
start/stop routine since I changed my "training" style a couple years
ago to favor intervals instead of a steady climbing speed.
I did see quite a few of our customers out there today, including
Ondine from the way-back days, who was climbing Old LaHonda with her
friend John.
 11/25/04-
TURKEY-TROT
PHOTOS ON-LINE! The photo was taken on the west
side of Old LaHonda, about 15 miles into our ride this morning.
I'm working on a page with various photos
and will try to identify people (which I'm really, really, really
bad at).
We picked up a couple people along the way, and left a few others. A
very nice group
that got off to an early fast start, thanks to Kevin Keenan pulling us
to the coast.
11/24/04- LAST CALL FOR TURKEYS!
The weather folk say 45-56 degrees during tomorrow's ride, with no
chance of rain and no mention of fog. If 7:45am from Olive Hill &
Canada Road is too early for you, you can always meet us at the base
of Old LaHonda around 8am. Complete
details available here!
11/23/04- IT WASN'T THAT COLD
at 38F this morning, but don't tell that to my body, which didn't seem
to want to get going. Somewhere there's a threshold temperature, above
which you may feel a bit cold but fully-functional, while below that
temp things just don't work quite right. The first part of the ride up
the hill was in the "don't work quite right" category. No fast start
at the bottom of the hill, no ability to roll through the first sect ion
quickly (before dying a bit later). And no company at the start
either, as Kevin was running a bit late and was coming down the hill
(he lives up on Skyline) after I'd been climbing for a couple of
minutes.
I didn't really feel better as the climb progressed, but I
certainly rode better. I know that doesn't make much sense, but
despite how I felt, I noticed my speed wasn't all that bad. By the
time I got to the upper-third of King's, I was feeling almost normal
and, coincidentally, the temperature had risen to 46 degrees. I was
even beginning to look forward to the Old LaHonda section, when Kevin
let me know that he wouldn't be able to ride that far (he had to get
home early), so instead we headed down Star Hill Road,
one of Skyline's three dead-end descents.
Star Hill (and its nearby cousin, Native Son Road) isn't nearly as
steep as Bear Gulch (which we'd ridden last week), although the return
involves that nasty, short climb up towards King's Mtn Elementary
School.
That's Kevin in the photo, in front of the 60s-style "no
trespassing" sign (complete with flowers) at the end of Star Hill.
Beyond is the promise of a beautiful, but off-limits, ride to the
coast. Given the surprising amount of auto traffic, it's not something
you could do without getting caught. Darn!
11/22/04-
7TH ANNUAL TURKEY-DAY ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENT!
The cat's out of the bag; this year's Turkey-Day ride will go up
Old LaHonda, out to San Gregorio, and back via Pescadero and Haskins
Grade. Full details now on our website.
11 /21/04-
SO HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I RIDDEN THE WEST SIDE OF
OLD LAHONDA AND NEVER SEEN THE FACE CARVED
IN THE ROCK?
[Click on the photo for a larger version]
Many hundreds, to be sure! There are so many interesting things out
there if you only try to look for them. Sometimes it's something
you'll never discover by yourself, which might have been the case with
the face in the rock. On today's trip out to the coast & back, I was
riding with Kevin (one of the regulars on the Tuesday/Thursday ride),
but also Kevin S and "Long" Bob. I stopped to get a photo of the
coast, and one of them pointed out the carved face to me. I've been at
that spot so many times, always looking in the other direction and
never seeing it!
I've put up a page with photos and a map,
but did it a bit differently this time. Click on most of the
photos and it will bring up a much-larger version. It was such a
beautiful morning that the pictures deserved a little bit better
treatment than a 1-inch square delivers.
I did see quite a few of our customers out riding today,
including Harry (who shows up once in a while on our King's Mtn rides)
and Nicole (long-distance uberwoman) and her husband Jay. Plus a whole
lot of people heading up King's Mtn as we were heading down.
11/18/04- IS EVERY RIDE UNIQUE & SPECIAL?
I had occasion to think about that yesterday, as I struggled to
describe the previous-day's ride and remember anything noteworthy.
Why, after riding up King's Mtn a couple thousand times (literally),
would anything be new & exciting? Why don't they all blend together?
Well, if I don't get around to writing about the ride on the same day
I'm out there, they do! The truth is that, during the ride, you find
all manner of interesting things to write about, but if you don't put
them to paper (or computer) soon, most of them just seem to go away,
forever erased from long-term memory.
As a result, my 11/16/04 entry became very brief and makes it appear
it was JABRUK (Just Another Bike Ride Up King's).
How many things are like that? Things that, if undocumented, seem to
have never existed?
So I'm going to make a concerted effort from here on to keep things
up-to-date.
There is, indeed, a price to be paid for neglecting things and not
being punctual. Darn, hate lessons like that. But perhaps I would have
done better in school if I'd learned this 30+ years ago?
Getting to this morning's ride... we had Kevin, Rob & Karl on
another foggy morning, making it difficult to look up & down Canada
Road to see if anyone else was coming. For once, I did not set
a nasty pace up the first part of the climb, choosing instead to stick
to Kevin's wheel through the first timing point (about 3 minutes up
the hill). Unfortunately, Kevin wasn't taking it easy, and by the time
we neared the entrance to the park I asked, hopefully but not trying
to show it, if he was going to stop there and, er, water some
neglected shrubbery (out of sight, of course). Thankfully he did,
giving me a chance to stop for a minute to let Rob & Karl catch up.
Since we would have been on pace for about a 26 minute time prior to
that (which is well beyond my capabilities), this stop was very
welcome! However, it's possible I would have been better off if I had
kept going, as I just couldn't get settled down on the rest of
the climb. Including the stop, it took about 28:45, which wasn't bad
considering how I felt. Rob & Karl appeared shortly thereafter at
30:12, meaning that everybody would have been well under 30 minutes
had we not stopped. Not bad for this time of year!
Kevin didn't have time for the full run to Old LaHonda so we chose an
even-nastier alternative- the dreaded drop down Bear Gulch. The views
made it worthwhile, with the coast being clear while many interior
valleys were shrouded in fog, with only the tips of the hills poking
through. Dang, why didn't I bring the camera? I died on the return to
Skyline, with the 15% grade seeming harder than ever before, despite
my super-low "compact crank" gearing. Watching Rob, Kevin & Karl ride
away from me was a bit frustrating, but once we got to the less-steep
sections the world became a better place. In fact, had I enough time,
I would have liked to have done Old LaHonda as well! Something to save
for another day. But for now, 7 hours later, I feel pretty darned
good, and look forward to a bit of revenge the next time I climb up
Bear Gulch! Whose revenge is, of course, up for debate.
How much of this would I have remembered tomorrow? Good question.
But I'm beginning to see more value to my almost-daily dairy (which is
really 3 times/week) than just a way to communicate cycling to others.
It's a good thing, I think, to have something that allows you to look
back and reflect on things you've done, as well as help to find value
in one's day-to-day life. Writing about your experiences on an
almost-daily basis may help make your days go by just a little bit
better, as you immortalize those little things that make a difference,
but are often forgotten.
11/16/04- EASY HARD RIDE (OR HARD EASY RIDE?)-
Kevin, Carl & Rob on what started in a heavy fog but cleared nicely by
the time we got to the park entrance (on the way up Kings Mtn).
There's something nice about riding above the clouds, although I could
probably appreciate it better if my heart wasn't trying to jump out of
my chest. Saw Nichole heading down Kings as we were going up,
and met up with Billy (our resident shop uber-racer) at the top of Old
LaHonda. Thankfully, we just cross paths with Billy; he heads out just
a bit later than our group.
11/14/04- FUN RIDE TO PESCADERO/SAN GREGORIO
THIS MORNING; the
page & descriptions are now up. In a nutshell, it was a great day
to be out on a bike, with temps in the mid-60s, just the slightest
hint of a breeze (technically, an "off-shore flow") and great people
to ride with. Headed up Old LaHonda, down the other side to 84, over
Haskins Grade to Pescadero, Stage Road to San Gregorio and then back
via 84. Normally I'd avoid going back via 84; it's a rather longish
and boring haul, but I'd met up with the Stanford ride which was going
in that direction, and make it anything but boring. I mean, how bored
can you be when you're wondering how long you can keep your heart rate
pegged?
11/13/03- THAT "MISSION STATEMENT" THING-
as a business, you're supposed to have one. But it somehow seems
rather presumptuous, pretentious, you know, one of those pre-things,
to sit down and actually create one. And once you do, you've got this
thing that you spend your time either trying to live up to or
rationalizing why certain things are permissible. What, me, cynical?
But I may have accidentally created one when
I replied to someone's usenet posting,
when they described what they thought was a "real" bike shop.
It's probably as close as we're going to come.
11/11/04-
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...
because, as they say, you just might get it! So far this season, my
"rain" r ides
have been more nuisance than epic, and this morning was looking to be
little different. A bit of drizzle at the start, enough to scare
everyone away except Kevin. I started out overdressed, wearing my
waterproof pants and jacket, both of which I removed at Hudart Park on
the way up Kings Mtn. Kevin didn't have enough time for the full Old
LaHonda loop, so instead we headed about halfway down Bear Creek,
encountering an increasingly-thick fog as we got closer to the coast.
We had to turn around just where it gets really steep, since my rain
bike doesn't have low gears (52/42 front, 13/23 rear), and the drizzle
immediately turned to rain. Light rain at first, but by the time we
got back to Skyline is was seriously dumping (as you can tell from the
weather map). Since Kevin had no flashing lights (and visibility was
getting bad), I accompanied him back to his place (near Swett Road)
and then headed down King's Mtn. Oh, did that hurt! Combine heavy rain
with speed from descending and you get an eyeful... a painful eyeful!
When it's that nasty out, my Oakleys don't work very well (no wiper
blades), so you're squinting and trying to look up as little as
possible, since each raindrop seems like a little missile targeting
your eyes.
Fortunately, it wasn't too cold (no lower than 50 degrees) so I didn't
have any control issues (no shaking), and when it's raining that hard,
your traction is very consistent so you never feel like your bike is
going to go out under you. Still, it felt really nice to get to the
bottom of the hill and put a bit of effort into the pedals again, not
to mention that the slower speeds were a lot easier on the eyes!
I really didn't expect to see anybody else out there in the muck, but
as I approached Canada Road I saw somebody heading North, making
tracks and kicking up a lot of water in the still-heavy rain. That guy
automatically gained a lot of respect in my book, and even more when I
pulled up next to him and found that it was probably somebody in his
70s who, silly like me, rides rain or shine. In his case, he parks at
Canada Road & 92 and rides his 20-year-old Schwinn High Sierra
mountain bike out past Woodside and back. Made me wish I had a
waterproof camera to get a photo; maybe I'll try one of those cheapie
$20 keychain digital cameras next time (don't want to ruin my
expensive cameras by getting them soaked; electronics generally don't
like that!). This guy was definitely my hero for the day.
11/10/04- A DAY LATE getting
Tuesday's ride on-line; no good excuses, just seemed that something
kept coming up every time I was going to update my diary. Not a
terribly eventful ride, just myself and Kevin, riding at a very
civilized pace. Neither of us felt particularly good, and we remarked
towards the beginning of the ride that it just didn't seem like one of
those days where we were going to feel a whole lot better later on.
Fortunately, that wasn't correct. While we never picked up any real
speed (and were almost thankful there was nobody along to set a
challenging pace up the west side of Old LaHonda), life did seem a
whole lot better once back on Skyline and then descending into
Woodside. Guess it's too much to expect every single ride to be
exceptional, but the fact that there are so few less-than-exceptional
rides is exceptional in itself. Starting the morning with a bike
ride... life could be a whole lot worse!
11/07/04- NOT QUITE RACING THE SUN
 as
a couple things conspired to send me on a slig htly
less-adventurous ride than last Sunday. First, I left the house
without leg warmers, and probably shouldn't have. It got pretty cool
up on Skyline. Second, while I was thinking about repeating last
Sunday's ride (up and down Old LaHonda to LaHonda, then up West Alpine
to Skyline and back to 84), I saw the mystery woman yet again, this
time passing me as I had stopped on Old LaHonda to get some photos
(the poison oak is beautiful at this time of year). There she was,
same bike, same jersey, probably riding the same route. I figured best
to let her have West Alpine to herself today, so when I hit 84 at the
base of West Old LaHonda, I headed back up to Skyline. At this point I
wasn't sure if I was just going to head back down and make it a pretty
short ride, but I finally started feeling good on the way up the
gentle grade.
At Sky L'Onda I spotted Ryan (in the photo on the left), a
relative newcomer to road cycling, who was planning to head north on
Skyline to 92 and then back via Canada. No way could I just head back
down the hill now! I headed north immediately (I was still in "go"
mode from the fast climb), and about halfway up the climb stopped to
set up and get a picture or two of Ryan. Nice guy; we rode to King's
together, where I talked him out of continuing into the fog that was
sure to be found on 92, and got to introduce him to the King's Mtn
descent into Woodside. Hopefully we'll see him on one of our
Tuesday/Thursday morning rides!
11/04/04- FRESH MEAT! No, that
wouldn't be Howard, a first-timer on our Tuesday/Thursday-morning
ride. That would be me! I knew I wasn't feeling too fast, with the
cold, slightly-damp weather bringing out the worst in me, but still I
tried to ride the first part of the hill fairly hard, partly to see
how I was doing, and partly to see how Kevin and Howard were. Kevin &
Howard were doing quite fine, thank you very much. At least my view of
their rear wheels seemed to indicate they weren't in any danger of
stalling out on the climb! I couldn't keep Kevin in sight towards the
upper part of the climb so I'm not sure what his time was, but Howard
looked to do about 27:30, and I somehow managed 27:58. We had a
nice ride rolling along Skyline, stopping at Bear Creek so Kevin & I
could put on our jackets. As Howard rolled past, that was the last we
saw of him; we didn't realize he was heading back down 84 (he didn't
have time to do the full ride). I'd like to say that motivated Kevin
and I to ride the remaining miles hard, trying to catch up to him, but
it just didn't seem like that kind of a morning, at least not to me.
Most interesting thing was seeing a whole lot of either snow or
sleet on the way down 84 towards Old LaHonda. We even stopped to make
sure that what it was (and not some strange chemical spill?). In fact,
there had been so much of it that they had to plow the road, throwing
piles of it on the sides. I dunno, just didn't seem like we're ready
for stuff like that yet!
Now, getting back to how I felt on the climb... maybe I had a
legit excuse! I'd gotten a flat right at the start of the ride, and
thought I'd gotten the pressure up to a reasonable level. However,
it's possible that very cold thumbs aren't the best at determining air
pressure, since, when I checked it at home afterward, it registered
about 82psi (instead of the 125psi I usually inflate my rear tire to).
Obviously, that must have slowed me up by at least a minute on the
climb! Yeah, right...
11/02/04- DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!
I'm not sure how that really fits into today's ride; rather, it
reflects a pretty slow day at the shop as people are out waiting to
vote and wondering how things will turn out. Locally, we've got a
pretty big thing going on with Proposition Q, which gives the go-ahead
for a huge housing development near the bay. Being a local issue,
there isn't accurate polling data to suggest how it's going to turn
out, but either way, based on the number of opposing lawn signs
everywhere you go, there's going to be a lot of unhappy people.
Just Kevin with me this morning, and we exchanged the usual false
pleasantries at the start of the right- you know, each person saying
they weren't going to be pushing hard up the hill for one reason or
another. And me hoping that this would be yet another day where I felt
not-so-hot at the beginning, but better by the minute as the ride went
on.
I intentionally didn't set the timer for the climb but, unfortunately,
I did look down at my computer just as we hit the timing point, and it
just happened to read exactly 16.00 minutes (riding time from when I
left the house). So even though I didn't have an "official" time, I
still knew exactly where I was, darn it! So instead of the 32 minutes
I was looking forward to, we topped the hill at an even 28.
Beautiful morning, moderate temps, and clear views of the coast
from the west side of Old LaHonda. Big, big, BIG bird circling above
the upper part of Old LaHonda, but by the time we'd made it up there,
it had moved on. We figured he gave up waiting for us (it would make
me feel better to believe he thought I was too scrawny for a decent
meal...).
10/31/04- WHE RE
DO I BEGIN?
Could be yet another cliché about how, now matter how the rest of the
day goes, getting in a bike ride makes everything a whole lot better.
And indeed that was the case! The day didn't start out terribly well
though, as a friend of the family called about 9:30am to say he'd
driven past the Redwood City store and it looked like the front door
was busted up. So a quick trip to the store and it's true, somebody
had tried to bust into the shop by smashing the glass in the front
door. Dumb idea, as years ago we'd learned that laminated safety glass
makes the difference between a quick break-in and spending a whole lot
of time & effort basically getting nowhere.
But nowhere in this case still meant a smashed-up piece of glass,
so I spent the early afternoon at the shop, waiting for someone to
come in and replace the glass. By 1:30 I was back home, watching the
day rapidly slip away (especially with the end of daylight saving's
time!). But why? There's always time for a ride, especially if you're
willing to race the sun, so at 3:15 I set out for one of my favorites-
up the east side of Old LaHonda, down the other side into LaHonda, up
West Alpine to Skyline, north to Sky L'onda and back down into
Woodside.
Right near the bottom of Old LaHonda I met up with Andy, one of
our customers, and his friend Dan. They made for a good pace up the
hill, and I rode with them down the other side to 84, where they were
heading back to Woodside. I tried to talk them into continuing on to
West Alpine, but they were way too sensible. But in stead
of being alone, I noticed another rider a couple hundred yards back as
I was descending towards LaHonda. Not knowing who it might be, I
slowed down so they could catch up with me; turned out to be a woman
out for a similar ride. A woman of very few words, making it seem
obvious that she wasn't looking for company. That makes things a bit
awkward, as you need to adopt a different pace and yet you don't want
to make it look like you're a yahoo and want to prove that you're
faster than the other person. Still, it was me that had to slow down
for her to catch up, so I rode on ahead, enjoying a truly beautiful
day on West Alpine. She did have the opportunity to catch up to me a
bit later, as I stopped to take some photos at the site of the old
Buffalo Ranch. I saw her again a bit later, with a mild pleasantry.
Of course, it could be the "Fred" effect that led to the lack of
friendliness, as she had a pretty serious look to her and I'm out
riding with a handlebar bag (to carry my larger camera) and, of
course, taking pictures of things as I ride along.
[Mystery solved; a later ride where I connected up with the
Stanford riding team revealed her name is Sheela, a very nice person
who simply isn't as talkative as the gabby group I'm used to on
Tuesday & Thursday mornings!]
10/28/04- COLD, BUT NICE.
Guess it depends upon your definition of cold though; this
morning, we saw our first 40-degree temperature of the new season.
Just myself and Kevin today; where were the regular suspects? Maybe
sleeping in a bit late, after being woken up during the night by the
sound of their heaters kicking on for the first time in half a year.
Nah, that's giving them too much credit, they just didn't want to ride
in the cold.
But it really didn't feel all that cold and, in fact, climbed into the
mid-40s on the way up the hill, and got to a positively-balmy 46
degrees on Old LaHonda. If you dress appropriately, it's not bad at
all (and certainly a lot nicer than the low-30s we'll be encountering
in the next couple of months). In my case, that meant toe warmers (a
light neoprene cover for the front of your shoe), bib tights worn over
standard shorts, drylete base layer, standard short-sleeve jersey,
light windbreaker and wind-proof long-finger gloves. As you start to
climb, you can either unzip or remove the windbreaker, so this sort of
outfit allows you to ride comfortably from about 38-65 degrees.
Perfect for, as they say, our Bay Area MicroClimates!
I did put the handlebar bag on and bring along my nicer camera, hoping
to get some good shots, but with Kevin to keep the pace up, I didn't
get many opportunities.
10/26/04- EPIC RIDE IN THE RAIN?
About 3am last night, when I awoke to the sound of driving rain &
wind, I was believing the weather reports that said it was going to be
a nasty ride this morning! So I had all my raingear laid out the night
before; the waterproof overgloves, craft rain pants, the waterproof
jacket that I'd picked up in France in the middle of an unexpected
thunderstorm, wool socks and my cold & wet-weather booties. Turned out
I was way over-dressed, as the rain had pretty much stopped
before I started my ride (just a slight drizzle on King's Mtn).
Just me out there this morning on my Iron Pig,
heading very slowly up King's Mtn. What the heck, I'd told my wife I
was going to run a bit late this morning, as I decided I'd even bring
my camera and see if I could capture the essence of a
rain ride on film, er, I mean, well,
there may be an appropriate metaphor for the digital age, but guess I
don't know it yet! Stopped several times to get some nice photos,
including some nice shots from Kings Mtn showing the valley waking up,
with steam rising from large buildings & complexes, reaching up
towards the low-lying clouds.
This was yet another ride where I felt pretty sluggish at the start,
and was thinking of reasons why maybe I'd need to head back down 84 to
Woodside instead of making the turn towards the coast (and Old LaHonda
road). But the further I rode, the better I felt. Bike riding is such
a great thing that way, since, if you have just a bit of patience, you
can ride past that slugglish fat feeling and things just get better
and better as you go. Good thing to, as the views from Old LaHonda
were spectacular, allowing me to get lots more great shots, including
a bunch of dear that were startled by my silent approach. Life is
great when you're on a bike!
But about all those wonderful photos? I'd share them here except that
I goofed when trying to transfer them from one media card to another
(so I could download them into my computer).. instead of copying them,
I reformatted the card. Tried a number of utilities to recover them,
but they're gone forever, except for the copies I've kept stored in my
head. Those may just last a lifetime.
 10/24/04-
YET ANOTHER NICE RIDE
(Click on either the photo or here
for more photos and a description). I didn't have anything formal
planned, just new that I wanted to
get out to the coast this morning. Actually, I'd hoped to make it to Pescadero
(and get a good shot of the "Flamingo"
house), but met up with a nice group of people at the top of Old LaHonda
and did the San Gregorio/Tunitas Creek loop with them.
I'm still looking for the ultimate
Tunitas Creek photo for our website. Unfortunately, the very thing
that makes it such a beautiful climb (the trees that shade every inch
of the climb, for which you're especially thankful during the summer)
also makes it difficult to get a fast-enough exposure to take pictures
while riding.
10/21/04-
WHY WE RIDE.
What
can you add that's not in the picture? Beautiful clear morning on Old
LaHonda (west side), friendly com pany
(Kevin, Andrea & Ueyn) and a road to yourself.
That's cycling on the SF Peninsula, a
virtual paradise for road cycling (and if you don't have a nice road
bike, we just might be able to help with that).
Yes, we do miss the warmer weather; takes a lot longer to get ready
when you have to run down all the winter clothing for the first time,
and it definitely seems like you're fighting off the urge to
hibernate. But, as always, a few miles on the bike and
everything feels a whole lot better.
10/19/04- STILL THERE'LL BE MORE.
A great song from the way-back days by Procol Harum. What made it
appropriate today was the line "I'll bathe my eyes in a river of salt"
which was exactly what happened on this morning's
ride. Not because it was hot, but because it was raining. Really
raining. Absolutely dumping, in fact, for the first seriously wet ride
of the season... which means that all the salt in your helmet pads
(which you should have cleaned beforehand but never got around to) was
liberated by the stream of water pouring down through your helmet.
Ouch!
In a peculiar way, the season's first rain ride is something I
look forward to. Rather than it being a hassle (getting out the rain
bike and the piles of rain-appropriate apparel), it's an adventure.
The absurdity of going riding when sane people stay home and drink
coffee and wish for nicer weather is somehow motivational. You even
look forward, the night before, to waking up and hearing the rain &
wind pouring over the house.
But don't look to your family for sympathy or support. Not even the
dog, who, annoyed (or scared?) by all the noise outside, stood about
six feet from the door and barked at it. They don't get it (but at
least the dog pretends to want to fight it!).
10/14/04- A KINDER, GENTLER RIDE.
Without Kevin to get things stirred up, we're pretty easy-going on the
Tuesday/Thursday morning ride up the hill. Nobody pushing hard, just a
casual day out on the bike with Steve, G abe,
Karl & Todd. Typical low-intensity friendly ride.
Just check out the photo. That's Steve, and that's the way he always
looks. Really. OK, the truth about the photo? It's actually a scary
mask we're marketing for Halloween.
[You ought to see the mask he wears when
he's really pushing the pace. We'd show it to you, but we don't want
to get zapped with a "V" for violence website rating --Mike--]
10/12/04- NO JACKET REQUIRED!
Our brief foray into cooler weather has gone, replaced by
NorCal's typical October "Indian Summer." There's good and bad
to that. The good is that the five of us (myself, Pete, Ueyn,
Steve & Preben) didn't need jackets or leg warmers as the coolest it
got was 60 degrees. Almost the average age of those on the ride,
if not for Ueyn dragging how the curve! Just kidding (but, were
it not for Ueyn, I would have been the young punk at 48, so 60 isn't
far off the mark!).
Most notable thing on the ride was the descent on 84 into
Woodside. A middle-aged woman in a red Accura was making noises behind
us near the top, and quickly passed a couple of us. I wasn't going to
challenge anyone today, so I moved over where it straightened out a
bit and she zipped on by. Of course, once allowing that, job #1 is to
stay as close to the offending car as possible, letting them know they
really didn't accomplish much by passing you. That's when things got
interesting, as I got to watch her pass Pete on a tight corner, moving
out towards the middle of the road and then very quickly puling in
front of him, leaving very little room between her bumper & Pete! One
had the sense she was both skilled & crazy... she seemed to know what
she was doing, and it was kinda fun to watch, but you'd rather she was
playing with somebody else. Interesting vanity plate, of which the
last five letters were "CHATT." In the interest of universal justice
and judgment, she did get stuck behind a slower car halfway down the
hill, so her attempts to put distance between us went to waste.
10/10/04-ARE LATE AFTERNOONS THE
PERFECT TIME TO RIDE OR WHAT?
As things wind down a bit with shorter summer (actually fall) days and
a realization that I can't ditch the family every Sunday for an
 all-day
ride somewhere, I've taken to doing the "family thing" (church,
chores, time with the kids, that sort of thing) at the start of the
day, which pretty much kills prime riding time. The temptation is to
just give up on the idea of getting in a nice bike ride, but the past
couple of weeks I've decided, fairly late in the day, that there was
still time to get out there.
And what a great time to ride! Leaving at 3pm you can still get in a
3-hour ride, and, at least in the SF Bay Area, the weather's really
nice at that time of day, and it seems like there are fewer cars out
on the road. And there's something about the lighting you get when the
sun's not overhead that makes everything just pop out at you. Not to
mention watching the sun descend over the ocean from Skyline (Highway
35).
The question is, why does it seem like I'm the only cyclist out there?
When I ride in the mornings, I see a zillion other cyclists, but very,
very few in the late afternoons. If you've never ridden a late
afternoon ride at this time of the year, I highly recommend that you
do. But do it quickly; the sun's at just the right angle now, and it's
still warm enough to ride without all manner of cold-weather gear.
Technical details of the ride:
41 miles via Woodside, climb up Page Mill, Skyline north to Old
LaHonda, down the west side of Old LaHonda to 84, back up 84 to Sky
L'onda and then back down in to Woodside. Really slow pace up
Page Mill, and almost everywhere else, as I was trying to get used to
a new camera and take lots of photos. How many photos?
Over 300... of which not too many came out well. But that's the
way you learn with a new camera, by taking photos... lots of them!
10/07/04- FAST, FURIOUS & OUT-OF-CONTROL!
Oops, wrong ride. We had a relatively-civilized climb up King's
Mtn this morning, with new-guy Gabe, Rob and I enjoying the
all-too-brief time when Kevin not only feigned not feeling fast but
played the part as well. This didn't last however, as he motored up
the second half of the climb at a pretty decent clip. At the top
we were joined by Karl and Karen (she's a well-known local racer who's
not only very fast but also a friend of Karl's).
The group maintained a pretty consistent pace both on Skyline and
descending 84 towards Old LaHonda, allowing our relatively diverse
group to stay together. Karl & Karen must have been in idle
mode, but were nice enough not to make it obvious. Very nice
people.
Of course, all bets are off once you hit Old LaHonda, but
surprisingly, we still held together for the first half of the climb
(in contrast to the different climbing speeds seen a bit earlier on
Kings). I've gotten smart enough to know that I need to be at or
near the front for the second half, which, once again, put me with
Karl & Kevin for the run through the trees (the final section towards
the top, where it flattens out a bit). I was determined to hold
Karl's wheel, and thought I was doing fine when Kevin goes flying
past, quite unexpectedly. There was no chance of catching that
wheel, partly because it wasn't anticipated (Kevin isn't known for
sudden accelerations) and partly because I had nothing left.
However, the official reason for Kevin getting to the end first is
that his birthday is tomorrow, and as that will leave him just a year
shy of the half-century mark, we wanted to give him a mis-guided sense
of hope for the future. Glad I'm not that old! Or
at least not for four more months...
 10/06/04-
Interbike Trade Show photos from Las
Vegas. Nothing fancy, just a few shots I tossed up
to show how I wasted the day in Las Vegas.
After 27+ trade shows, they really don't do that much for you anymore.
The high-point of the day was probably my daughter getting Tyler
Hamilton's autograph (she's a big fan).
Also, check out the new Campagnolo thong, shown in the photo on
the left. Or maybe it's a very skimpy tri-short?
10/05/04- ANYTHING BUT UGLY
this morning as we climbed out of the fog onto
Skyline! Even saw a couple of foxes up near Skegg's Point.
Kevin & Rob on the ride this morning, with nobody feeling particularly
frisky, but one has to put that in perspective... by the time we see
Kevin, he's already had a tough workout at the pool.
Old LaHonda was especially nice, with the fog moving in & out of
the little valleys. Tried to get some photos of the sun shining
on dew-encrusted spider webs, but the shot of the fog as we rounded
the corner with the nice view was much more interesting.
10/03/04- I NEEDED AN UGLY RIDE, AND THAT'S
WHAT I GOT! After coming back from Hawaii (where
I was off the bike for 8 days and basically gained a pound a day), and
then having last Thursday's ride cut short by the yellow jacket sting
(see entry below), I was beginning to wonder if my hopes of staying in
decent shape and keeping the weight down during the winter were going
to quickly evaporate. This morning and early afternoon there
were just so many little things that made for good excuses not to get
in a ride, and they almost won out.
But they didn't. As it got past 4pm, after I got things set
up so my wife could get out on a short ride of her own, I thought
maybe I'd get out and accompany her as she ride a couple of the
smaller hills near our house. So about 10 minutes after she left
I took off to try and catch up with her. Well, if it had been
only 10 minutes, I would have, but truth is I didn't get out of the
house until 4:30 and she was long gone. So I'm thinking maybe a
quick run out to Portola Valley & back, just to make sure the legs
worked and so I could claim to have gone on a ride. Didn't work
out that way; as I rode over the top of Jefferson, I came across one
of our customers who was heading home- home being north in Belmont,
via Canada Road. What the heck, it's nice to ride with someone
else, so I accompanied him to the end of Canada Road, which gave me an
opportunity to consider an "ugly ride."
What's an "ugly ride?" As explained in an earlier entry,
it's a ride on a ro ute
that you rather dislike, but somehow it's good for you to do.
The ugliest ride I know of 'round these parts is the climb south on
Skyline from 92 to King's Mtn, and, since we were heading that way, it
seemed like what had to be done. Plus, it had the benefit of
even looking ugly, as a very heavy, dense fog was moving in from the
north. Thankfully I had my flashing tail light, and traffic,
once I got off 92, wasn't too bad.
Just before the top I climbed out of the fog, and things were
looking good time-wise (I was a bit concerned about the amount of
daylight remaining). Just one more task remained- a descent down
King's Mtn, past the sight of the yellow-jacket attack just three days
ago. Thankfully, I descended without incident (which
will give me quite a bit more confidence on Tuesday's ride past the
same place!).
By the time I got off the bike I was feeling a whole lot better
about... just about everything. My bike seemed like my friend
again, my legs felt good, the scale wasn't something I averted my eyes
from, and I have hope that I can keep out of hibernation mode this
winter. Life is good.
10/01/04- SHOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT RIDE (or,
"The Return of The Claw!"). Big group, including
Kevin, Steve, Karl (could be Carl, not sure of the spelling), Rob,
new-guy Bart, Jason & Donald from the shop and myself. This was
to be the day for the most-furious attack ever on King's Mtn, a
challenge none of us were prepared for, but all but two of us were
dragged into, literally kicking & screaming. About one half mile
down from the top of Kings, where that final opening is with the house
to the right (on the hillside that often has snow in the winter), we
were ruthlessly attacked from behind. If you're familiar
race tactics, that's the best way to do it. We were literally
stung from behind. By yellow jackets. Six of us got nailed
by yellow jacket stings/bites, almost entirely on our tail ends.
At first you think maybe something got caught in your shorts, perhaps
something that fell onto your seat, maybe a twig. But it felt a
lot sharper than a twig, and when you hear others yelling at the same
time, that just doesn't seem likely. And when you feel it a
couple more times...
The amazing thing was that nobody saw them coming. No
sounds, nothing flying around. These guys literally came from
nowhere, attacking almost entirely from the back, and going ruthlessly
for our shorts. Weird. All except one, anyway. One
that figured the extra weight I had put on in Hawaii might have
insulated my tail end a bit too much for the desired effect, so this
guy goes for maximum effect- he nails me between the fingers of my
right hand. Not a good thing. Last time that happened, my
arm swelled up like a football. This time I was fortunate to
have Bart riding with us, who had brought along Benadryl, just in case
something like this were to happen. I accepted his offer and
rode on, hoping that, perhaps, the Benadryl would keep my body from
reacting in the usual fashion.
I didn't feel quite right up on Skyline though, and with that many
stings, I wasn't sure how I might react (for what it's worth, when I
went to Kaiser for the time my arm had swelled up like a football,
they told me it was a "severe toxic reaction", not allergic, just a
source of discomfort until the swelling goes away). Probably
from the adrenalin rush I didn't feel quite right though, so Bart & I
headed back down 84 while the rest of the gang continued towards Old
LaHonda.
I thought I was doing pretty well yesterday, with pretty minimal
swelling .
Got me thinking that perhaps Benadryl, taken quickly,
is a miracle cure! But such is not the case. This
morning my right hand looks semi-grotesque (actually, my kids probably
think it looks less so, since they think it's gross that my veins are
normally so visible, and they certainly aren't now!), swollen to about
twice the thickness it should be. The skin is pulled so tight
that it's difficult to clench a fist, and yes, it itches like mad.
Kinda looks like a claw. No pain though, just itching.
In a few days it will be back to normal, but I'd sure hate to try and
wear a cycling glove now, especially since I'm not sure it's finished,
er, growing. Like one of those cartoon guys who drinks some
potion and starts growing to twice-normal size, and all of his clothes
start shredding.
Let's just say I'm thankful the stings in my tail end didn't
cause a similar reaction.
09/28/04- YOU WAKE UP THINKIN' "UGH, WHO
WANTS TO GET ON A BIKE WHEN IT'S GRAY & COLD OUTSIDE?"
But once again, the great transformation occurs... you get on the bike
and sure, it doesn't feel great at first, but you keep going and
before you know it, it's all good. No, better than that, it's
great! Especially when you get six people on the ride, including
the almost-always-there Kevin, semi-regular Steve, long-time-no-see
Preben, too-fast Carl and some fresh meat disguised as new-guy Rob.
Of course, any ride that starts out with having to make sure your
flashing tail light works and then locating your cold-weather clothing
(leg warmers & a long-sleeve drylete  base
layer) has the potential to be icky, especially if you remember
looking up at Skyline the night before and seeing all that fog rolling
over the hill. Fortunately, we were blessed with completely-dry
roads, and temps that didn't go below 52 degrees. I can live
with that. If this is the worst that Fall can dish out, I'm a
happy guy. Of course that's not the case; the days are getting
shorter, the morning's a bit cooler as each day goes by. Still,
there's something comforting about our ride-no-matter-what routine (at
least for myself and Kevin). We know what we have to look
forward to, and pretend to embrace it. The rain, the cold, the
grayness that reigns from mid-December through February... it won't
beat us into submission. We'll be there. And I'll write
about what an awesome ride we had in the freezing rain, and how great
it is that, no matter how badly the rest of the day goes, nobody can
take our ride that morning away from us. And people will wonder
why Kevin & I are somehow excluded from the Darwin principle...
09/23/04- DO I LOOK FAT IN THIS/ADULT
PLAYDATES. Arrived back from 8 days in Hawaii and
should not have gotten on the scale. 9, maybe 10 pounds
heavier, in just 8 days. That's got to be some sort of record,
ouch! Still, it felt so good to be back out on the bike again
this morning that I didn't really notice it (and, thankfully, I didn't
weigh myself until after the ride). We really do live in paradise;
nice as Hawaii was, I think it's even better here, particularly if
you're a cyclists! Roads with shoulders (what a concept), less rain
and no chickens to dodge (just killer squirrels).
My wife & I got home around 11:30pm Wednesday night, and she was
wondering if I was really going to get up for the ride, especially
since 7am would be 4am Hawaii time. Even after being married for
25 years (the reason for the trip to Hawaii), she'd still even ask?
Besides, it's not just kids that have playdates. Kevin, Andrea &
Pete were out there, enjoying another beautiful morning with me.
Sleep in and pass that up? No way! In the photo you
can see a little bit of Kevin (at the front), Andrea in the middle,
and Pete on the left... not to mention another gorgeous view of the
ocean as we're climbing up West Old LaHonda. I'm sorry, but you
flatlanders just don't get views like this. Just one more reason
you gotta climb!
09/15/04-
HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!
You're cruising along a nice, quiet road in the country. Not a care in
the world; it's maybe 81 degrees, perhaps just a bit muggy, but this
is one of those special places where it
 never
gets much above 84 nor below 79, so you'll forgive the mild humidity.
But no sooner than you've gotten a bit used to things and all of a
sudden the road in front of you has been literally eaten alive by
something right out of the movie "The Thing!" In its place are miles
of... what? It sorta looks like someone turned part of the earth
inside-out.
Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, at least until I get
back to work late next week. If you've never been to Hawaii's "Big"
Island, it's worth a visit, particularly to Volcano State Park. I
guarantee you you'll never find a stranger place on the planet. Well,
I can't really be certain of that, since Mystery Spot was full a
couple weeks ago so they wouldn't let me in.
Do I miss not having my bike while I'm suffering in Hawaii? Not
too much... only when I'm within sight of a road. It is nice to get
away for a bit, to be sure, but I know my bike is getting lonely back
home! Still, even the gnarliest mountain biker wouldn't have been able
to get across those lava flows (and I'm far from being a gnarly
mountain biker!).
09/13/04- GONE FISHING.
Not quite, but almost! This morning I did a rare Monday ride,
doing the normal loop (Kings, Skyline, OLH) with Kevin. Why
today? Because tomorrow morning I head to Hawaii with my wife
for 8 days, trying to get away from the normal day-to-day stuff for a
bit and hopefully experience life at a slower pace. A vacation
quite a bit different from my hectic trips to France (and hopefully
without as much jet lag!). So until Thursday (Sept 23rd), Kevin
& Todd will probably be your guides if you show up at the regular
place (Olive Hill & Canada Road) at the regular time (every Tuesday &
Thursday morning at 7:45am).
And no, I'm not bringing my bike with me. I may go nuts... or I
may rent a wreck that someone is passing off as a hybrid and climb
some hill it was never intended to go up (or, given the brakes, go
down either!).
09/10/04- NOT THE USUAL CROWD I RIDE WITH!
TREK had arranged for a few of their better (and supposedly fitter)
dealers to take advantage of the US Postal team being in town for the
SF Grand Prix, so how  could
I possibly say no? It was billed as a 50-60 miles ride at an
average pace of 20mph, starting in SF (at the Hyatt Regency, near the
start of the race course) and heading up into Marin. That
average speed sounded a bit scary, but it was actually a lot
scary, as we sped through downtown SF as if it were in France, where
they're used to being around cyclists that think stop signs & lights
are for someone else. But you get to thinking there's safety in
numbers, and maybe it's so obvious that it's a train of Postal guys at
the front (we were told very specifically not to mix with them,
but rather stay behind and out of their way) that people would give us
room.
Unfortunately, they neither had maps nor a plan, and worse,
neither did the pack fodder (or whatever something far lower than a
domestique would be called). There were a few humorous moments
as they tried to figure out where to go (which meant, twice, down
dead-end cul-de-sacs) and took the opportunity for a "natura l
break" before we finally got a sense of direction and moved on...
fast. Up a pretty nasty climb at (for most of us) full speed,
with an accordion effect going on near the top of the hill such that,
when a car got in-between the Postal guys (plus two or three who were
hanging on tight) and the rest of us, we lost them on the descent.
And I do mean lost them; the car was dreadfully slow so that, by the
time we got to the bottom, they were nowhere in sight. Three of
us (myself, Matt from Sharpe Bicycles and Steve from Livermore
Cyclery) rode very hard in their presumed direction, but, as we were
stopping at lights & stop signs, we had no chance. We did,
however, have a very nice ride of our own, making it back to SF by the
4pm time the ride was supposed to end. "Our" ride was 40
miles, and we finished about 15 minutes before "their" ride came in
(which was about 45 miles).
[I should also explain the photo on the right; that's Steve (from
Livermore) pumping up George Hincapie's tire. Apparently they
ride without tubes or pumps and, with no following car at the time, it
was up to us to keep them on the road!]
I printed up a bunch of photos from the TDF for the guys to sign
(I had photos from the two time trials with nearly all of the team
members who were present), but didn't get a chance because they
quickly disappeared into a world of messages, showers & afternoon
naps, while the rest of us had lunch on the Embarcadero. Had I
known, I would have brought the photos with me when we first met up,
before the ride started. Sigh.
09/09/04- NO SNAKES, A BIT COOLER
but for some reason a lot more traffic than usual.
Kevin, Todd, Andrea & Pete on the ride this morning, as we struck a
bit more moderate pace than usual (but still under 30 minutes on
King's). My legs were finally beginning to feel normal, after a
fair amount of soreness following Monday's ride in the heat.
09/07/04- STANFORD MUST NOT BE TOO PICKY
THESE DAYS. This morning's regular ride up King's
had Todd & Kevin riding with me (or, for the King's Mtn section,
ahead of me as I struggled to find the legs I lost on yesterday's
ride) and yes, it's a whole lot more comfortable riding when it's in
the mid-70s than upper-90s. On the West Old LaHonda section,
Todd spotted a snake trying to make it across the road so, of course,
I had to stop and help it get to the other side. Darned thing
didn't care much for my kindly efforts, so instead of picking it up
(like I usually do) I just sorta pushed it along in the right
direction. Lots to be scared of with this guy; must have been
all of two feet long and not much thicker than a pencil. I'm
thinkin' it's a common Garter snake, but what do I know; it's been 30+
years since being around a lot of them, so when Todd (who starts
Stanford in a couple of weeks) says it's a King Snake I don't question
it. Until now. This is what a
King snake looks like, and
this
is a Garter snake. Maybe Stanford can repair the
damage done by Woodside High?
09/06/04- CHILLIN' WITH THE HOGS,
although while true, it's also wildly inappropriate, as the day had
anything but a chill to it! The plan was to do a long ride today
(Monday) because we wanted to avoid the worst of the heat, which,
supposedly, would be on Sunday. Hey, don't look at me; that's
what the weatherman said, and that's how I sold it to Andrea, Todd &
Sal. A nice 70+ mile ride over 92, Los Lobitos and surrounding
hills, up Tunitas, Skyline to 84, down 84 west to LaHonda and back up
West Alpine to Skyline. We knew it was going to be hot, but not
unbearably so. Yeah, right.
 Only
82 degrees at the top of 92, what's to complain about? Well,
Higgins Purissima saw 89 degrees, and Los Lobitos got to 91 (and
wouldn't you know it, both of those temps were on the steepest parts
of the climbs). Thankfully, Tunitas Creek lived up to its
billing as a cool climb on a hot day, reaching only 85 degrees
from the middle to the top. Have I climbed Tunitas under warmer
conditions? Probably not; even the creek was dry. Sal was
having problems with muscles cramping, so he (wisely, as it turned
out) chose to cut the ride short and descend King's Mtn to Woodside.
Not Andrea, Todd & I. We were going to do easy, long miles (with
a few climbs thrown in) if it killed us. So onward to Sky L'onda
where we refueled on our DOC (drink of choice, which is Pepsi for
Todd, Mtn Dew for me & some sort of Gatorade-style drink for Andrea)
and refilled our water bottles.
Oh, did I tell you it was 98 degrees in Sky L'onda? Yes, I'm
sure it must have been a lot cooler than yesterday (except that if
that really was the case, I think we would have read about melting
pavement and Beloki-style crashes!). What, turn the sarcasm mode
off? Sorry, wrong website.
Ah, but now to look forward to that cool ride along the creek at
the bottom of West Alpine. What the heck, I'll admit that 90
degrees with shade was actually feeling pretty nice! Too bad it
doesn't stay that way; in the middle of the steepest part of the climb
(where it's out in the open), it peaked at 100 degrees. There
are a few shady spots here and there that just happen to be in the
exact place where you slow down a bit and take a drink (or two or
three or four). Just don't be deceived by the mirages...
dark patches, which your mind thinks is probably shade but in reality
melting pavement. Just kidding; we saw no melting pavement on
this ride... melting legs & lungs is another matter entirely!
The return to Sky L'onda on 35 was made possible by Todd. I
had no issue sucking wheels at this point, nor, I think, did Andrea.
Todd was feeling pretty good, so we let him tow us across the cool,
93-97 degree run on 35. We loaded up with water once more at Sky
L'onda (y'know, most rides you wouldn't worry too much about running
out of water descending into Woodside, but we were concerned about the
potential for forest fires and wanted to make sure we were prepared to
help) and became part of a Hog (Harley Davidson) pack descending into
Woodside. What a bunch of wimps; somebody on the back of the
lead motorcycle was taking photos on the way down the hill, which is
about as challenging as a tandem stoker doing the same.
Meanwhile I'm taking photos of her taking photos
 of
us, one hand on the bar, the other on the camera (oh, wait, my mom
might be reading this, so just to be clear, any photos that show up
were an artist's conception of what such a photo would have looked
like had such a photo been taken, which of course none were).
After Andrea left us near the starting point of the ride (she'd
parked near Olive Hill & Canada), Todd and I headed for home over
Jefferson, recording the high temp for the day of 101 degrees.
74.5 miles, about 6900 feet of climbing. I think we're all ready
for something, but just not sure what! It was actually a very
nice, fun ride, and my overly-caustic analysis probably had something
to do with four attempts to take a shower (because the first
three ended prematurely with me feeling like I was going to pass out
each time I stood up for more than a minute) and about 15 minutes
lying on the floor as various muscles in my legs (some in places I
literally didn't know I had muscles) decided to cramp up in a nastier
fashion than I've ever felt before. Fortunately, nobody was home
to hear me yell (so does that mean it really didn't happen?).
But right now, two and a half hours later, I'm feeling pretty
darned good. And if you were to ask me if I'd do it again,
absolutely. To paraphrase Nietsche, that which doesn't kill
me makes me stronger. Either that or encourages me to do
more silly rides, but there are few things, even silly things, that
aren't worth doing when a bicycle is involved. And when you've
got very nice company, so much the better.
09/02-04- THE FAB-4 RIDES AGAIN!
Well, actually, I'm not sure if this exact same group has ridden
before, but it was a great ride nevertheless. Quite different
from Tuesday's ride (when I rode alone), we had
Andrea
(who, as previously mentioned, is training for the cross-country
Tour of Hope cancer ride), Todd and Pete. Everyone finished
in 28-something up King's, apparently new personal bests for both
Andrea & Pete. We be cruising! And, with a pretty together
group (not stragglers), we made some pretty decent overall time, with
an average speed of 16.0 mph.
We haven't seen Kevin, our most regular regular, in over a week.
Could be that he's actually having to work for a living (he's got a
pretty flexible schedule as an airline pilot)?
We've got very high hopes for Andrea. She'll be putting in
approximately 90-mile shifts every 18 hours in her cross-country ride
(over an 8-day period), with 50,000 feet of total climbing for her
sections. Her enthusiasm, strength and on-the-job
training (she's working multiple jobs with odd hours, so strange
sleeping schedules will be nothing new to her) is going to make her
journey seem almost routine. And we're going along on the
ride, as Bruno, our Redwood City service manager, will be on the Tour
of Hope mechanical support crew. Hopefully Bruno will take lots
of photos, unlike his 5 weeks in France when he was supporting Trek
Travel clients!
08/31/04- WHERE WAS EVERYBODY?
Nobody but me this morning. Kevin, Steve, Ueyn, Todd, Pete,
Peter... all someplace else today. It's not a bad thing to ride
by yourself once in a while, as you get to see how hard you can push
on your own, with no chance to recover as people regroup. Since
I hadn't ridden on Sunday (due to the power outage mentioned further
down this page), I was a bit concerned how I'd do, plus I had this
nasty pain in the neck (literally, not my wife) that had kept me up
during the night. Turned out not to be a problem, as I made it
up the hill in 26:45, and averaged 17.3 mph for the ride.
And, as usual, felt so much better after the ride than I did
before. This bike riding thing... people gotta try it!
Things I noticed while riding- The huge Ravens are out
again; they seem to be seasonal. Lots of new skid marks on the
descent into Woodside; wonder if the big motorcycle rally at Alice's
had anything to do with it? And finally (and not that I'd
notice), a lot of women out either jogging or in groups with their
morning coffee in Woodside, which I now realize is a normal thing
associated with school starting.
08/29/04- THE DIFFERENCE A GREAT STAFF MAKES.
Saturday afternoon, at the busiest time of the day
(4:30pm), we lost power in our Redwood City store (PG&E said it was
too much power being drawn due to the heat, but it certainly wasn't
Chain Reaction that brought several square blocks to its knees...
we've got fans, but no air conditioning). In theory, the
backup power supplies should have kicked in and allowed an orderly
transition to the stone age, but within seconds, everything went dead
with the (thankful) exception of our main computer that holds all the
files.
So I'm scrambling around, looking for the info we need to process
charge cards manually, making sure flashlights are where they're
needed, and looking at a whole lot of customers and wondering just
what the heck we were going to do. But everything went fine
because our staff simply kept doing what they were doing. They
weren't rattled by the lack of computers; they documented everything
quite nicely, and just went about the business of taking care of our
customers. Sure, I had to go back to the shop from midnight-2am
(when the power finally came back on) to assess the damage and figure
out what I'd need to do, and then again this morning from 10:30am-2pm,
finishing up and re-entering the sales that took place when the power
was out. But it was pretty straightforward because our staff had
clearly documented everything and I don't recall spotting anything
more than a 10-cent error that might have been of my own doing.
Sure I had to go buy a bunch of new power suppliers and change
batteries in others, but that's preferable to thinking you might have
to change your staff. It's not as if the power supply was
something I'd wish to experience again, but it showed me that things
aren't all that bad. In fact, they're pretty good!
08/26/04- HOLY TOLEDO, I'M WAY BEHIND!
And I don't just mean on a bike. I had a pretty crazy
weekend and never quite got caught back up on the almost-daily diary.
So my apologies, but here's the week in review-
This morning I went bare. Yes, that's right, me, one of the
most conservative guys around in terms of keeping my legs warm in
cooler weather, went without leg warmers. Worked out nicely,
with temps in the upper-50s up King's Mtn, and never lower than 54 on
Skyline. Kevin &
Andrea showed up; for Andrea, it's her final tune-up ride before
heading back to WI for a training camp of sorts, prior to her
participation in the
Tour of Hope ride across the country. She'll have no
trouble at all, based on her performance this morning. She's
easily riding under 30 minutes up the hill, and developing a knack for
holding onto the wheel in front of her, even on the descent towards
west-side Old LaHonda where, for some reason, I was working against my
weakness and pushing the pace. Kevin was still recovering from a
cold (and, I think, a number of years of over-training... I think the
guy swims, runs & rides more hours than some people work!) and
couldn't quite match Andrea's pace, even during the later climb up Old
LaHonda (usually, the 48-year-old crowd, which would be myself &
Kevin, find ourselves getting stronger as the ride goes on).
08/24/04- LOOKED GLOOMY THE NIGHT BEFORE,
BUT BEAUTIFUL THIS MORNING! Monday night Skyline was
covered in fog & low clouds, and it looked like this morning's ride
was going to be cold, messy & dark. Such was not the case!
Seemed as if conditions had quickly changed just for us, as we
encountered zero fog, but strong evidence that it was a close call-
the dew point was so close that your glasses were constantly fogging
up, and the air had that "fresh" feeling of having just been made.
Pete & Kevin joined me, with Kevin feeling really sluggish due to a
cold. Probably a good thing for me, since I felt kinda beat
before even throwing a leg over my bike. We all made it up Kings
under 30 minutes, but just barely.
As usual when I feel slow, I gradually find myself working my way
into the ride, and by the time I got to the second climb (west side
Old LaHonda) I was feeling pretty good. Kevin wasn't though, so
Pete & I accompanied him back to his place, which means heading north
on Skyline (towards King's) instead of heading down 84 into Woodside.
That section always seems worse than it ought to be, but it did allow
me to get in a few more miles and a bit more climbing.
08/22/04- DREADFULLY-LONG TIME IN THE SADDLE
but not on a bicycle... this was on my aging 1985 Interceptor VF500
motorcycle. My family was in LA visiting my wife's dad, and I
guess some manner of mid-life crisis was rearing its ugly head as I
decided to head from Redwood City to LA on Saturday night (after the
shop closed), spend the day with them at Universal Studios on Sunday,
and then head back Sunday night. About 6 hours in the saddle
each way, and somebody I'll understand why even two hours on a
motorcycle is so much harder on my body than eight hours on a bicycle!
It's also easy to see where my true love on two wheels lies, as my
20-year-old motorcycle has a whopping 7500 miles on it (over 10% of
which was from this weekend). Back in the day, when I used a
motorcycle for commuting and generally getting around, I used to put
on about 15k miles/year on a Honda CL360, but just about any day nice
enough to want to ride a motorcycle is an even better day to be out on
a TREK 5900!
08/19/04- IT'S WHY I RIDE.
You wake up in the morning and, for no apparent reason,
you feel like it was a mistake getting up. Don't know why; maybe
it was due to celebrating a 25th wedding anniversary with two glasses
of wine? Those who know me realize that might not be too far
from the truth! But whatever the cause, I forced myself out on
the bike and headed (slowly) for the start of the Tuesday/Thursday
ride. Steve, Kevin & a new guy, Carl (might be Karl) show up,
and along the way we come across a couple guys from the wayback days,
Ted M & Joe T (Steve, Ted & Joe were all members of my old racing
club, Pedali Alpini). Nice group, but I still felt like I'd be
lucky to finish the climb on the same day as everyone else.
It wasn't pretty, but I managed to do a couple of intervals on the
way up and let Kevin (who, along with Carl, was climbing at a pace
that I knew I couldn't keep up) know that I'd be policing the rear...
and then I throttled down to idle. Not as if I had a choice,
mind you; I still felt like a bed seemed a better place than a bike!
What keeps you going is knowing that it will get better if you
just keep riding. And, eventually, it did. By the time we
were descending Skyline towards Sky L'onda, my legs were in sync with
my brain and I was feeling a whole lot better. On the descent to
Old LaHonda I was even taking pulls at the front. Recovery
complete! Just in time for the climb back up to Skyline,
which I always dread when Steve's along, since he tends to push the
pace. I just grabbed wheels and held on, and all of a sudden it
was just me & Carl on the run to the top. Actually, it was all
Carl; I was just holding onto wheel for dear life! Life is good.
From ugh to feeling great in under an hour- that's what riding a bike
can do for you.
08/17/04- SO WHY ARE MY MUSCLES SORE?
Kevin & Todd joined me up the hill this morning, with
Kevin suggesting that we go through the park (taking Greer Road and
going up the back way through Huddart Park) instead of the usual
straight run up Kings. Kevin claimed that this was to ensure a
more moderate "off-the-clock" pace (since we really don't have a good
sense of what a good vs fair time is for the climb up the hill via the
park), but I know better. The run through the park features a
considerably-steeper grade than if you take Kings the entire way, and
Kevin does a lot better on the steeper stuff lately than I do.
But what the heck, it's not so bad to do something a bit different now
and then, and we still got to the top in under 30 minutes without
killing ourselves.
I risked riding without legwarmers, which worked out quite nicely
as we finally had a morning where the temps didn't drop into the
low-50s. Mid-60s along Skyline made for a fast & dry descent
into Sky L'onda. I did push hard for a short period of time on
the west side of 84, and then tried (but ultimately failed) to hold
Todd's wheel on the climb back up Old LaHonda to Skyline. It was
probably trying to hold Todd's wheel that did my legs in. But
dang, that's a good feeling. Makes you feel like you must have
done something as you're feeling that soreness in the front of your
legs when you're walking down steps.
08/15/04- BACK FROM THE LAND OF BEER, BRATS &
FRIED CHEESE, AND BACK ON THE BIKE! It was a nice
visit to Wisconsin, a chance to catch up on what TREK has been doing
lately. But it's great to be back home and, of course, back on
the bike. Had a nice ride with Bruno (our Redwood City service
manager) up Old LaHonda, down the backside, up West Alpine and then
back home via Skyline. Just over 40 miles, with about 4250 feet
of climbing. Bruno was in a kind mood and didn't leave me in the
dust as we climbed OLH in 21:38. Surprisingly few people out
riding this morning (we left at 7:30 and were back home around
10:20 or so), perhaps due to the nasty low clouds & wind last night;
people did start coming out in pretty large numbers as we returned
home.
08/11/04- TREK HAS MORE THAN A FEW TRICKS UP
THEIR SLEEVES! I'm in Madison Wisconsin, thankfully in
a hotel that has high-speed internet access (unlike much of
France...). Finally, after many, many years, I got to tour the
secret room where they manufacture the subassemblies that make up an
OCLV TREK bicycles! Unfortunately, no photos were allowed (and
we even had to sign nondisclosure agreements). But that wasn't
the most interesting part of the tour. No, the most interesting
part was the test lab, where they had all manner of frames & forks
undergoing nasty repetitive stresses. You absolutely positively
would not believe how much they were flexing frames & forks, over and
over and over. The loads being placed upon the front of frames
was so high, in fact, that the top tubes were bowing up & down by more
than an inch... maybe once per second!
I guarantee you that, if they allowed me to take photos showing
how these frames were tested, we'd sell even more TREKs than we
already do. It's apparently well known in the biz that TREK
tests bikes & components well beyond what any of their competitors do,
and this definitely pays off in terms of the quality of the product
that you buy. Very impressive, even to an old dog like me, who's
known people at TREK for over 20 years.
08/10/04- SO MUCH NICER ON A BIKE THAN IN A
PLANE. Go figure.
I can spend 6 hours on a "hard" bicycle saddle and feel no discomfort
whatsoever. 4 hours in an airplane seat and I'm climbing the
walls. Today I get to climb the walls, as I head out (with my
brother Steve) to the land of Beer, Brats & fried Cheese to see what
TREK has to offer for 2005. Kevin & Todd will be holding down
Thursday-morning's ride in my absence.
This morning? Just another day in Paradise, like nearly all
mornings that start with a bike ride. Ueyn, Todd and eventually
Kevin (who missed the start but then intercepted us at 84 & Skyline)
out there on an easy morning. Todd might have been capable of a
road-burning effort, so I let him ride ahead, far enough that the road
surface would be re-solidified by the time I rode over it.
08/08/04- OUCH!
Did the Bohlman-OnOrbit/Black Mtn ride today with Kevin & his friend
Mark, and was most definitely outridden. Badly. Even with
my lower gears (thanks to the compact crank I installed a month ago),
I still wasn't having a whole lot of fun on the steeper sections of
Bohlman-OnOrbit, or even the "mere" 10% grades of Black Mountain, for
that matter.
72 miles, about 6900ft of climbing... but really, really, really
high-quality climbing! Thank goodness for the school on Black
Mountain, where you can refill your bottles.
One very unexpected find- at the end of Bohlman-OnOrbit, there's a
dirt road that you take for about a mile bef ore
descending Montevino into Lexington Reservoir. And right where
the pavement ends there's a house where somebody had put up a table
with a small water cooler and some cups. Nice! They also
had some pamphlets out, promoting
sponsorship of people in the Youth Science Institute's
participation in the September 12
Tour of Lake
Tahoe.
We were potentially going to have some more company on this ride, and
sorta did, kinda. About halfway up Bohlman-OnOrbit, Todd & Jason
(from our Redwood City store) catch up to me (not too hard to do
today!), with Donald (also from Redwood City) somewhere close behind.
I had to keep going; if I had stopped, I don't think I could have
restarted. I waited up further (at the top), but they never
showed, and I had to try and get back to Kevin & Mark before they were
too far ahead. I'll find out the details on their ride tomorrow
at the shop, I'm sure!
ADDENDUM-
Todd, Jason & Donald did make it into work today (Monday); I don't
think Jason & Donald expected anything quite as steep as "featured" on
this ride! I was apparently about 30 minutes ahead of them at
the top of Black Mtn, so it's a good thing I didn't wait and miss
re-connecting with Mark & Kevin. It can get very lonely
out there when it's hot, the grades long & steep and it's long way
between water stops. Todd (who'd done this ride before and
invited them along... they're going to think twice before his next
invitation!) took Jason & Donald down highway 9 and back via Foothill,
rather than more hilly stuff along Skyline. Funny how you keep
looking back over your shoulder, expecting them to be catching up to
you at any time...
08/05/04- 15 SECONDS.
But I'll get back to you on that. Quite a crowd on King's Mtn
this morning... if I can remember correctly, we had Pete, Patrick,
Brad, Kevin... did I leave anybody out? I felt OK, not great
while riding out to the start this morning, but what the heck, I hit
the bottom of the hill fast (as I often do), forcing Kevin & Brad to
go into high-speed mode sooner than they might otherwise like.
But it's not as if they haven't ridden with me often enough to know
that I can't maintain that pace past the first hairpin! Well,
maybe not even that far this morning, as the two of them pulled ahead
just past the first timing point (about 3 minutes into the climb) and
were probably half a minute ahead at the hairpin. 8 minutes to
the park entrance (and I'm remembering the good old days where you'd
multiply that times 3 to get your finishing time... not too likely
anymore!). Then that deadly middle section. Brad & Kevin
were now completely out of sight, as were Pete & Patrick (who I
figured were right on my tail, just around that last corner...which
was just about right).
I don't remember exactly what my time was at the mileage marker on
the wide-open area, but it seemed that the potential to get a
low-27-minute time was there. I didn't want to deceive myself
too badly and start thinking about 26-something, but the legs were
turning, the lungs were burning, yet neither was threatening to
quit. Yet.
I hit the all-important "archery range" timing spot (final
hairpin, under the power lines) at 22:45. On a good day, you can
clear the top in precisely 4 minutes from there. 2 minutes to
the last clearing (with the house up on the hill to the right), and
another two minutes to the top. That's where 15 seconds comes
in. That's all the "extra" time I could add to that 4 minutes
and still be under 27. Surprisingly, I actually added a second
or two buffer on the first section, so if I could only hold it
together for that last part... and, just barely, I did. 26:51 at
the top.
Personal demons. The ones that only you can measure against
yourself (because nobody else would really care, because, after all,
guys like Brad are climbing Kings in 22 minutes, and Billy at the
shop, the guy who rode in the winning Race-Across-America relay team,
can get 19).
08/03/04- WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES.
Yesterday was one of those extremely rare days that I was
flat-on-my-back ill, probably due to some Chinese take-out I ate
Sunday evening that didn't sit well with me. In 24 years, I
think I've missed maybe a day and a half of work due to illness, but
it's likely that the stress of my trip to France, the never-ending day
you get on the return and my immediate return to "normalcy" the next
day may have made me more susceptible to such things. The worst
thing about feeling that way? About 4pm thinking there's no
possible way you could be doing the regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning
ride the next day.
But, you're beginning to feel better a bit later on, and you set
the alarm as you go to bed, knowing that your wife is going to tell
you that you're crazy (which she did) (after being married almost 25
years, there are some things you can count on), but you know, deep
inside, that you're not going to know you're well again until you're
back on your bike.
So the alarm goes off at 7:05am and you're feeling pretty decent.
Part of you wonders if maybe it's because you're on autopilot, just
going through the motions you've done so many hundreds (thousands?) of
times before. But does it matter? Going through the
motions is part of "normal" and, sure enough, within the first few
pedal strokes up the hill outside my house (yes, my ride starts by
going directly uphill), life is good.
Uyen & Andrea show up on the ride this morning, and we enjoyed a
reasonable, just-under-30-minutes pace up Kings. It was a bit on
the cool side, with some pretty nasty fog up on Skyline, but it didn't
matter... every mile I rode, my world got better and better.
By the time we got to the west side of Old LaHonda, I was feeling so
good that I was mistakenly climbing in the big ring without
noticing... which was eventually pointed out to me by either Andrea or
Ueyn and I'm thinking, at the back of my mind, what George Hincapie
says when he's feeling really good- "No chain! My bike is flying
as if it doesn't even have a chain!"
Am I crazy? Well, I spoke with one of our reps on the phone
today, who had called yesterday and was concerned that I was so bad
off yesterday and then out riding this morning. His feeling was
that you don't ride the day after you've had any sort of a fever etc
etc. I thought he new me better than that; my philosophy is that
you've got to bounce back as rapidly as possible, lest any nasty
little microbes or whatever decide that they're winning and want to
keep partying some more. So yes, maybe I am a bit crazy.
But mostly crazy about the almost(?) magical healing qualities that
riding a bike has for me.
08/01/04- BACK HOME AGAIN, AND BACK ON THE
BIKE! Arrived back from France about 10pm Friday,
with little opportunity to recover before heading into work Saturday
morning. Or was it really Saturday about 8pm or so? Even
today (Sunday), I'm still feeling a bit out of sorts, although I'm
convinced that much of that was from 8 days (yes, eight!) off
the bike. My last ride in France was on
the Col de Faucille a week ago Friday, after which I joined up with my
family in Besancon & Paris for a couple days of race-watching followed
by 11,293 metro & monument steps (always designed, it seems for people
with shorter legs/stride distance than me).
The scale told the story when I got back; that last week off the bike
cost me about 7-8 pounds. Ouch! So this afternoon I
decided that, no matter how bad I felt (and I still felt pretty bad),
I was going out on a slow, easy ride. Something to make sure my
legs still turn before hitting the usual ride on Tuesday morning.
Of course, me, on a bike, and "easy"... they don't usually go
together. Instead of doing the loop through Portola Valley,
well... Old LaHonda was calling to me. OK, so I figure I'll do
an easy ride up the hill, maybe 25-28 minutes or so. But it doesn't
work out that way. No more than 50 feet into the hill and I'm
already calculating what I can sustain over the long haul, and in no
time my heart rate (which had been extraordinarily sluggish on the
ride into Woodside) kicks up into high gear (168-178bpm). On my
way up I run into a nice guy named Neil, who's wearing a Chain
Reaction jersey and, it turns out, was also in France for the TDF!
22:19 from bottom to top, considerably better than I expected.
It is so good to be back on the bike. It's also so good to not
have airports be part of my life! But France? Yes, I miss
France. Just wish it was 3 or 4 hours away, instead of 11-15.
YOU'RE ON THE WRONG PAGE!
I'm in France
now, watching that guy in the Yellow Jersey.
Film at 11, but why wait? Check out what I'm finally posting
after several days in Internet Hell.
Curiously, Cycling Heaven and Internet Hell were exactly the same
place!
07/17/04-
DIARY NOW MOVES
TO
ChainReaction.com/tdf.htm
for the duration of my rip to France (until 7/31/04).
next-earlier diary entries...
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