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

TUESDAY/THURSDAY KINGS MOUNTAIN RIDE

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


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

Or actually, it was.  With the Mt. Hamilton New Year's ride just days away, I figured I'd better get in a decent ride, so I called up Kevin K, one of the Tues/Thursday morning regulars, and met up with him at Roberts (Woodside) at 8:30am.  The plan was to head south and meet up with the Alto Velo ride, which heads up Old LaHonda.  We did better than that; on the way out we hooked up with the Pen Velo ride (which heads south from Canada & 92 each Sunday morning), and intercepted Alto Velo at Arastradero & Page Mill.  A bit odd, doing this back-and-forth thing, but miles are miles after all!

We also had Kevin C, a friend of Kevin's (Kevin K) and also a pretty strong rider.  After heading up Old LaHonda at a pace that seemed fairly quick (but, at 22 minutes, was in no danger of breaking any records!) we rode down the West side, encountering several patches of ice... the first this year!  Absolutely beautiful day with great visibility, a far cry from the nasty storm the weather folk have been promising (although we did get the cold temps forecast, often in the mid-to-upper 30s).  We made a quick run for the coast, picking up a drink at the San Gregorio General Store before heading north to Los Lobitos, and then up Tunitas Creek.  I felt pretty good until things go steep; my legs just don't have the raw power they used to.  As I've mentioned before, I think all those rides up King's Mtn have rearranged my DNA and optimized my body for 6-7% grades!

Most noteworthy item on the ride were the bulls found in the middle of the road on Los Lobitos.  This ain't no city riding, and that's what makes the SF Bay Area such a great place to ride!  From your front door to remote regions with interesting and lightly-traveled roads takes just an hour or two of riding, if that.  You gotta love it.

12/24/03- NO RIDE CHRISTMAS MORNING; my kids would kill me if I told them they had to wait until I got back from a ride!  Hopefully I'll get in something on Sunday; Mt. Hamilton on New Year's Day is going to be pretty tough with so little mileage before it.

SOMETHING GUYS CAN RELATE TO?  I'm picking up a few last-second items at Safeway this afternoon, which is mobbed beyond belief.  I happened across Rod Toews, one of the Pastors of my church, who was trying to find where they had cocktail sauce.  Two guys in a huge grocery store, of course we couldn't find it.  What do to?  Simple.  Call the wife on the cell phone and ask her where it is!  She knew, of course.  And would you believe I came across several others (guys) doing the exact same thing (calling up someone, asking where a particular item was hiding in the store)?

12/23/03- RAIN, COLD, WIND and 3 brave riders facing it all!  Sounds so dramatic, but the truth is that Bruno, Kevin & I found conditions not all that bad.  In fact, it only rained heavily for a small part of the ride.  As for those who threatened to show up (but didn't), hope  you got in a nice ride later, 'cuz they say the next several days are going to be messy!

12/22/03- THE SCIENCE OF SANTA CLAUSE.  Almost forgot to pull that one out this year!  If you want the real scoop on how Santa manages to get everything done in one night, we've got it. 

12/20/03- ESCAPE FROM WISCONSIN- THE EXTENDED VERSION WITH BONUS ENTRIES!

So what's it really like back at TREK?  What goes on at product meetings?  What fancy new bike will Lance be riding next year?  I could tell you the answer to all those things... but they might not invite me back, and I'd miss all those dinners with a variety of fried cheeses, doing the campout thing at airports and discovering how badly designed the new BART/CalTrain interface is.

OK, where do we start?  Getting to SFO is no big deal; I leave the car at the Redwood City store and walk a few hundred yards to the train station, where you get on the (on-time) 6:51am CalTrain that whisks you to the Millbrae intermodal something-or-other where you switch over to BART... but not easily!  Which track goes to SFO vs Walnut Creek?  And those darned ticketing machines... at least, unlike Embarcadero Center, they all work at this station.  Eventually you figure it all out, and here comes your very own BART train, just for you and maybe two or three of your friends.  No kidding.  One of the busiest travel weeks and you've got this multi-multi-multi million-dollar electric train all to yourself.  At the International Terminal you switch to the Airtain, which takes you to the United terminal.  Not so bad; all connections made with a minimum of fuss, but... let's face it, the old shuttle that used to meet each Millbrae train and drive you to the relevant terminal was faster, less hassle and millions upon millions upon millions of dollars cheaper!

Eventually you end up in Madison WI (but not before the interesting story in the 12/17 diary entry), where it's a very-pleasant 20 degrees or so (no fooling, that's quite pleasant for this time of year!).  No snow on the ground either, but enough ice to make riding a bike a bit too exciting.

12/18/03- IF ZAP LEADS, DOES EVERYONE FOLLOW?  Apparently not everyone; as you can see in the photo, Zap beckoned me to join him in YADE (Yet Another Drinking Event) in Madison during my trip to TREK, but I passed.  Don't know who Zap is?  We're talking the legendary Zap Espinosa, journalistic cycling muck-raker supreme, now brand-manager for TREK bicycles.  So why didn't I join him?  Probably because we'd already had quite the dinner just a bit earlier ("My Dinner with Zap", soon to be a major motion picture!), complete with 6-month supply of alcoholic beverage (which means I had both a beer and glass of wine).

There are advantages of having Zap on your side.  One of the other dealers at the meetings, Matt from BooKoo Bikes in Minnesota, had been trying to line up an appearance from Bob Roll for a book signing.  He mentions this to Zap during dinner, who instantly whips out his cell phone, gets Bob on the phone and voila, it's taken care of!

12/17/03- I DIDN'T THINK MY WEIGHT WAS THAT BAD!  Or perhaps it was just a gentle reminder that I shouldn't go into hibernation mode this winter?  Or maybe just coincidence that, Chicago-Madison leg of my trip, the captain requested that a couple of people move from one of the front rows of the plane to the back, to balance the load!  Never heard that one before; the plane was a little CL65 jet, of which the flight attendant was quite proud (did you know that it's actually quite an efficient and fast little plane, capable of coast-to-coast flight, flies faster and higher than a 757 and, when chartered by the Denver Broncos, has to have the bathroom door removed so the players can fit in?).  Steve Howard (of Livermore Cyclery) and I quickly volunteered so the plane could get off the ground.

12/16/03- DO CARS SAY "THANK YOU?"  On yesterday's we came across more than our usual share of road work & tree-trimming, with at least three places where they were stopping traffic or waving them on through.  I made more than my usual attempt to be polite, and slowed down a bit and thanked the flagmen (actually, some are women) at each end... and, in every case, they responded with a friendly "Your welcome!"  My guess is that there are now six more people in the world who don't think cyclists are the worst evil on the road today, and it didn't take a whole lot of effort to accomplish that task.  On the other hand, I'll bet they fear for their life every time an SUV comes barreling down towards them, its driver yakking on a cell-phone.  And I'll bet the drivers never, ever consider thanking them for their efforts.

12/16/03-  COLD... BUT NOT COLD ENOUGH!

  Seems like a strange thing to say, but that's how you feel when the bike computer reads 34 degrees... just two degrees away from credibility!  It was the coldest morning yet, but doesn't come close to the bone-chilling 23-degree ride of December 22, 1998.

Donald & Brian K from the shop, along with regulars Kevin & Steve out on the hill this morning, at a relatively relaxed pace.  At least that's the way it was until the descent down the west side of 84, when Kevin went into time-trial mode and I eventually came around him, continuing to push the pace as we raced towards the intersection of 84 & Old LaHonda.  Old LaHonda started out nicely enough, but one must remember that Steve was with us, so by the time we hit the 180-degree turn things were beginning to get tough.  Still, not too bad until we hit the spot with the spectacular views of the ocean.  You know, the sort of place where you ought to take a moment and enjoy how beautiful it is.  The sort of place where, if anybody has anything left, they go for it.  Hate it when that happens, because I just can't seem to resist the challenge.

On Thursday I'll be in Wisconsin (product meetings at TREK), so I'm leaving it up to the regulars to make sure King's Mtn doesn't forget us!  There will also be no ride on the 25th, as my kids wouldn't take too well to the idea they had to wait until Dad got back from a bike ride to open presents.  Of course, I did first kid them that they would have to wait (because I'd be out riding) and they believed it, hopefully because they think I'm a bike nut and not a terrible father!

On Tuesday, the 23rd, plan for a ride with a stop at Alice's for breakfast... best to figure we'll finish about a half hour later than usual.

12/14/03- AFTER THURSDAY'S RIDE ON THE IRON PIG, with each pedal stroke seeming to remind me that life would be better on my 5900, I was really looking forward to getting out on a nice ride today, providing the weather held out.  Fortunately, it did turn out to be a very nice afternoon (following a pretty wild storm the night before), although there were very few other cyclists out on the road, even on Canada.

I wish I could say "It's all about the bike" and that being on my 5900 made the world a perfect place but, for some reason, it took a good half hour before I felt like I belonged on a bike.  One of those strange days where you can't even hold your normal lines, your bike moving around on the road as if it has a mind of its own.  But we are talking about me, not a normal person, so as soon as I hit the hill life returned to normal.  The route I chose was anything but normal, as I headed up the east side of 84 (usually you'd head up Old LaHonda do avoid the traffic on 84) and then north on Skyline to King's and back down into Woodside.  The climb up 84 goes very quickly, allowing an 11mph average speed, and was actually quite pleasant.  The grind from Sky L'onda to King's Mtn, however, seems dreadfully slow!  The bike computer tells the story... er, no, it doesn't.  It seems a lot slower, but the truth is that my speed on that stretch was just 10% less than section up '84.

I made a brief stop at the main Skegg's Point parking lot, noting that this was one of the few times that it appeared mountain bikers were out in much greater numbers than roadies!  I also heard that horrible noise that can only happen when somebody's forgotten to pack everything into their car and, as they leave, somehow manage to back over their cycling gear.  Fortunately I think it was mainly a helmet (they make a lot of noise when run over by a car!).

I was also marveling at how well modern cycling clothing works in the cold.  It was 42 degrees on Skyline (got to a whopping 44 degrees descending Kings) and I was quite comfortable without having to wear a windbreaker or jacket.  Long-sleeve baselayers have got to rank up there with STI shifting!

12/11/03- RIDING BEHIND THE STORM

The weather looks like it will hold out so we're looking forward to a great ride Thursday morning.  50+ mile ride, heading up over Old LaHonda, down the other side to LaHonda, over Haskins Grade to Pescadero, Stage Road to Tunitas Creek and then back up and over the hill home.

11/25/03- IT'S A CRUEL JOKE, LET ME TELL YOU!  No, I'm not talking about anything on this morning's ride.  I'm talking about after the ride, when my wife introduced me to a new cereal, GoLean Crunch.  What's not to like?  It's higher-fiber than the phony stuff on Saturday Night Live years back (Super Colon Blow), low-fat, high protein.  The problem?  While it looks like Granola, in actuality it chews like a mouthful of half-popped popcorn kernels.  It literally feels like you've ground off half of your teeth by the time you've finished, and your jaw is actually sore.  The cruel joke would be that they took something as fun to eat as half-popped popcorn (the really good stuff at the bottom of the bag) and turned it against you.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RIDE?  You missed a great one, but if I told you why, I'd have to kill you.  Almost.  It was me, Steve & Kevin this morning... what was missing was any sense of warmth, as it was 39 degrees on Skyline.  28:32 up the hill as I tried to keep Kevin close (but he could have ridden away at any time).  Nothing special until...

...until, at the top of Old LaHonda, Steve suggests we head down the east side (normally we head down 84) because he has something he wants to show us.  You see, Steve's an Architect, and sometimes he takes us on small detours to show us places he's designed.  I can't tell you what he showed us, only that it was spectacular both inside and out.  It was so cool!  Wished I'd brought my camera, although I couldn't have posted photos anyway.  Dang, this is so cryptic it's even bothering me! 

11/23/03- COYOTES, LLAMAS, 20-POUND BACKPACKS & A FAITHFUL READER were the order of the day, as I escorted my daughter on a 9-mile ride to a friend's house where she was going to do some studying.  I figured it wouldn't be much of a ride for me, but the carrying her 20+ pound backpack helped a bit.  Making the ride more interesting for her was coming across a coyote on Mtn. Home Road and then, just a bit further up the road (coinciding with one of her many water stops) we came across two Llamas staring at us from across a fence.

My daughter's friend lived in Portola Valley, within a couple blocks of the shortcut to Alpine Road.  After dropping her off, I'm thinking hey, why not take a small detour on the way back and make it a bit more of a ride?  So I head up Alpine and take in the dreaded "Walking Joaquim" climb (which sure seems like a lot more than the 260ft that registered on my HAC-4!).  It still wasn't feeling like much of a ride at that point, but the invigorating (53.2mph!) descent down Los Trancos Road somehow changed all that... all of a sudden I felt like I could fly.  Don't know why, but that short climb back up Alpine felt so good that I just kept up the pace the rest of the way home. 

Oh, the "Faithful Reader" thing?  As I was approaching the old Tripp store, somebody spotted me and said that he still reads my daily diary.  In a zero-sum world, that might mean one less reader for Dave Barry... but I don't think he's worried.

11/20/03- DEPRESSED?  Got an email from someone this morning, regarding the story about Larry (in the photo below).  Seems that some might see it as discouraging they they slog away at maybe a couple thousand miles a year on a bike, and then read about Larry averaging 8200.  And then, if they discover that Larry's not exactly the youngest guy out there...  but this should give people hope, especially the procrastinators (count me in that club!).  Unless you're over 60, you've still got plenty of time to catch up to Larry!  Life may be destined to get better and better on the bike.  There is hope!

This morning's ride though?  Went to bad last night with a bit of a sore throat, and wondered how it would be in the morning, especially after a restless-nights sleep.  But woke up with just a bit of a head cold and, while I didn't feel great on the hill, I did get to feeling better and better as the ride went along and, at the moment, detect no evidence of a cold whatsoever.  Riding a bike might not sure everything, but it sure makes a lot of things better.  Even the scale, which had been slowly creeping upward, receded a bit this morning.  Life is good.

11/19/03- 75,000 MILES ON A TREK 5200.  My own bike?  I wish!  Larry S, one of our customers, arranged his ride so that we could witness his odometer turning over to 75,000 miles in front of our Redwood City shop.  75,000 honest miles, exactly 9 years to the day after we sold him the bike.  Three months ago he bought a new 5500 from us (which already has 3,000 miles), but no way was he going to retire the 5200 until he hit that 75,000 mark.  Very impressive!  And certainly answers those who question the durability of the TREK OCLV frame.

11/18/03- QUIET START TO THE RIDE as only one person, a newcomer (Bill) showed up for the regular Tuesday/Thursday morning ride... but soon we were joined by regulars Steve and Kevin prior to the climb.  It is getting colder, but still not so cold that the muscles freeze up.  Or, to put it another way, I'm still getting up the hill in under 29 minutes without feeling like I climbed Mt. Everest!  Bill, Steve & Kevin had a bit more time on their hands than I did, so they continued down the coast (and presumably up Tunitas) while I went on alone up Old LaHonda.  It's kinda funny how it is to ride on alone after riding in a group... the sudden solitude takes a bit of getting used to, but after a bit of testing (seeing if you can motivate the legs when you're neither hound nor hare) all once again seems right with the world.

11/16/03- SO HOW DID THOSE TIRE MARKS GET UP THERE?  Had a nice family ride after Sunday School today, heading out over Jefferson to Woodside, where we bought lunch at Robert's.  Sure, it would have been nice to take advantage of a beautiful day and head over to the coast, but those roads will still be there tomorrow, and for now it's more important to get the kids out riding whenever I can.
But check out the 280 overpass on Canada, near the back entrance to Canada College.  Ever look up in the corner as you're riding through, and wonder how those tire marks go way up there?  Even what looks like a bit of red paint on the ceiling?  One can only imagine!

11/14/03 (Addendum)- "PEOPLE YOUR AGE SHOULD HAVE A FLU SHOT" the doctor said, as I was at a doctor's office with my wife for something completely unrelated.  "People your age"... what exactly does that mean?  Why do we live in a society where we have to be constantly aware of political correctness, yet a doctor can get away with casually tossing a remark like that your way?  And would I really have noticed if it weren't for two people in three days noticing that I've lost a bit of insulation off the top of my head recently?  How old is 47 anyway?

11/14/03- NOW THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!  Went to the Rob Roll/Graham Watson benefit for Bicycle Advocacy tonight, and had a great time.  Anybody who's seen Rob Roll's somewhat irreverent, sometimes irrelevant style on OLN's Tour de France coverage can only imagine what he's like in-person. And Graham Watson... what can I say about one of the best cycling photographers in the world?  And a very nice guy besides?

11/14/03- UEYN'S BACK!  Strong group this morning, with Ueyn, Steve, Kevin & Jeffrey sharing the joy with me up the hill.  Kevin & Ueyn took honors on King's Mtn, probably mid-26 or so, while I huffed & puffed in at 27:32.  A bit cool but not cold, with that feeling in the air that we're going to be dealing with rain soon.  Kevin did a murderous pull on Skyline, with the rest of us strung out behind his wheel (at least until the descent, where my superior mass and aerodynamics come into play!).

On the west side of Old LaHonda, the deer carcass was still there, a grim reminder (or rather warning) of what might happen if you're not feeling good and get dropped by the group!  Just kidding; we're actually a very friendly, even social group of cyclists... but sometimes that testosterone thing gets going, and watch out.  It emerged gradually today, with me being a bit worried about Steve blasting off the front (which he usually does, ironically, right near that deer carcass), so I took the initiative and gradually pushed the pace up to the point it would be difficult to accelerate off the front.  Unfortunately, the effect was to gradually shed members of the group, so eventually it was just me & Kevin.  It made for a very interesting high-speed run on the narrow top section, where it twists through the trees and there's all sorts of wet muck on the ground!  I say this and still insist it's a friendly, social ride?  What do people think when they read this stuff?

And yet it all could have been very different.  I went to bed last night with a tweaked back, and woke up feeling worse... one of those mornings where it's hard to throw a leg over the bed and stand up.  One of those mornings where your wife asks "Are you sure it's a good idea to ride when you feel like that?"  But also one of those mornings where you know, soon as you get on the bike, that you'll start to feel better and better with each revolution of the pedals.  One can only ask, "Is there anything possibly better than being on a bike?"

11/11/03- REMEMBER THAT DINOSAUR WE SAW LAST THURSDAY?  It was still out there on this morning's ride!  Only as we stopped to take a picture of it, it seemed not to be some huge dinosaur at all, but rather the remains of a middle-sized deer.  In fact, the only dinosaurs around seemed to be myself and Kevin!  Supplying contrast was Brad, a high-school senior enjoying both the day off from school (Veteran's Day) and the chance to show some dinosaurs (does that sound better or worse than geezers?) how it's done.  Just four months on a bike and he's already under 26 minutes up Kings.

11/09/03- RACING THE SUN can be a fun thing on a bike, and today was no exception.  It was one of those days where there were a zillion little reasons why you weren't going to get out on a ride, but suddenly, at about 3pm, an opportunity presented itself and, well, when you get the chance, you gotta ride!  So I brought out the Iron Pig (my rain bike) for the first time this season, quickly attached lights and some of those cool SKS RaceBlade fenders to it and took off for Old LaHonda.  I was expecting to feel sluggish and not particularly looking forward to riding a heavier bike (now with fenders!), but within just a couple pedal strokes I was in bike-Nirvana.  Things just felt right, more right than they have in quite some time.  Why?  I dunno... probably because it was a ride I didn't think was going to happen, and partly the thrill of getting it in at the last-possible second.  But it's not as if 23:28 up the hill (timed from the speed limit sign; no cheating by starting at the bridge!) is setting the pavement ablaze, but y'know, it just felt good.  Really good.

Met up with a few others racing the sun up Old LaHonda, more than I thought I'd see (surprised partly because I was passing them, and partly because I figured I was just getting in under the wire (daylight-wise) and these guys had no lights!  Maybe they headed right back down Old LaHonda instead of going down 84 like I was?  Not something I'd recommend doing (see the entry below), but if you were running out of light, it's probably better than messing with cars on 84. 

11/06/03- SOMETIMES YOU WISH YOU'D BROUGHT THE CAMERA.  Nicer morning than expected, with no rain, just damp roads and pretty high humidity (when was the last time you saw your breath and it was 52 degrees out?).  Brian, Kevin, Ueyn & Steve came along and got to see... an Omen?  I hope not!  But laid out on the West side of Old LaHonda were the skeletal remains of something pretty big.  Not just a carcass, nor scattered bones, mind you... this was like a miniature version of a dinosaur display in a museum!  And the most amazing thing is that it was picked clean in a very short amount of time, since we'd passed the same spot just two days ago and there was nothing there.

Statistics?  Yeah, you'd think I could get away from them.  Do I really have to time each and every climb up King's Mtn?  The reality is that I don't, sort of.  Some days, instead of doing the normal run up the hill, we'll cut across Greer Road at the bottom and head up through the park (Huddart).  That totally messes up all of the timing points, which is good, but it's also steeper in several sections, which can be bad!  But today we rode the normal route, stopwatch on my trusty TREK Radar computer recording every second of the journey.  What made today's ride noteworthy was that it was my first ride with my "winter lungs"... truly scary things that wheeze like an old geezer gasping for oxygen, making it difficult to recover when you run out of steam.  Still, I managed to make it to the top in 27:26, trailing Kevin by perhaps a minute, and keeping the rest of the wolves at bay.  If I can keep the weight off this winter...

11/04/03- SO HOW COLD WAS IT?  Not all that cold, actually.  Never dropped below 42 degrees, and the lack of dampness made it a pretty comfortable outing up the hill.  Still felt slow as molasses though; there's no question that my lungs just don't work as well when cold!

Despite the special nature of this morning's ride (breakfast at Alice's Restaurant!) only Ben & Jeffrey showed up for the ride.  Got off to a bit of a late start (thinking others might be running a bit late), made even later by Jeffrey's flat right at the start.  This put us seriously behind schedule, and our slow legs weren't going to help us make up any time, and I'm a bit worried about getting back to the shop on time to open up!  I had an idea though... one of those rare ones that actually worked out.  The way our ride works, we actually pass Alice's restaurant before heading down 84 and back via Old LaHonda.  So we dropped in before heading down 84, ordered our food and voila, when we got back it was just a minute or two from being ready for us!

11/03/03- SPECIAL RIDE TOMORROW MORNING, wish I could look forward to it more.  It's going to be the first really cold ride of the year, maybe dropping into the upper 30s for the first time in eight months or so.  But on the positive side, we'll be doing breakfast at Alice's again (only this time, I think we'll be eating indoors, not outside!).  Film at 11... no, that's when I've got to be at the shop to help open the store.  OK, you'll hear about the ride sometime in the afternoon.  If my fingers have unfrozen by then.

10/30/03- WHO TURNED OFF THE HEAT?  Tuesday it was 76 degrees climbing Kings, and this morning?  Upper 40s!  Down to 42 degrees on Skyline, what's with that?  Kevin, Ueyn, Brian, Steve & Jeffrey in attendance, enjoying a very beautiful (if a bit cool) day, with the winds having cleared out the air, giving exceptional visibility.  But for me, it was a bit of a rude awakening, as I discovered that cooler weather does a number on my lungs... no question about it, I hack pretty badly when it's cool, with everything clearing up when it's warm.  The result?  Last week I rode King's in under 27 minutes without much trouble, while today it was a whole lot harder at 28:30!

10/29/03- FRESH MEAT AGAIN!  Two new riders on this morning's climb up King's- Cyrus and Katie, friends of Ueyn.  We also had Brian, Ben (formerly known as "Pre", then "Preben" and now, just "Ben"), Kevin and Ted.  High-gravity day for me as the pedals seemed to be attached to a paddleboat rather than my 5900... hate it when that happens!  Also looking forward to a bit cooler weather, but of course, I'll complain then that it's too cold, and whine about having to wear leg warmers, so maybe 76 degrees isn't so bad (but it does seem wrong to be that warm at 8am...).

10/28/03- OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN.  Couldn't resist the pull of France and the 'Tour, so I signed up again with Graham Baxter for their Alps-to-Paris trip.  Just in time too, as the trip now shows as being sold out, less than a day after being posted.  Plans are to leave on the 17th and be back on the 29th (I've found 12 days to be just about right for such trips; a week and you're getting jet-lag coming & going, and longer than that and, well... you just might not want to come back!).

10/27/03- WHEN IT'S TOO HOT TO RIDE DURING THE DAY a sensible person might choose not to ride at all.  But that's like giving in, and that's just not acceptable!  So at 8pm, pitch-black-dark (no moon, and, with daylight savings time over, the sun had settled in long ago), Brian, Richard & I set off for a climb up Old LaHonda and back down 84.  Same route as the last night ride (see the diary entry for 9/21) but a few more deer, raccoons and, somewhere in the distance, a skunk or two.  It also seemed curiously a bit more disorienting the previous ride, possibly because a pair of bike headlights behind you sometimes gives the illusion of a car.  Of course, that requires being in the front of the other two, so this wasn't a problem very often!

I have determined that the minimum useful lighting for such rides is a 10-watt niterider, with 15 being that much better.  Off-road requirements are significantly higher, but for road use, 15 will generally do the job.  Even better would be one of those 35-watt-equivalent HID units!

10/26/03- "BE PATIENT, THERE ARE NEARLY 500 STUDENTS BEING PICKED UP AND THIS WILL CAUSE DELAYS."  That's the memo that comes from my not-quite-11-year-old-son's school, along with a detailed map & instructions detailing how best to pick up your kid from school.  Not one mention of car-pooling, or taking the bus, or (gasp!) riding a bike or walking.  Is it any wonder our schools have become SUV transit stations?

I'm doing a bit of research to see if there's a central, "go-to" website, regarding ways of getting kids to walk, ride & car-pool to schools, that I can refer the school's administrators to.  It's a bit frustrating, as this is really something I should already know, having been to DC last year for the Bikes Belong lobbying effort.

10/25/03- AM I THE ONLY ONE whose job gets in the way of cycling?  Kind of ironic when you own a bike shop and have to say that, but last night was a doozy.  I had originally planned a night ride up Old LaHonda for either Friday or Saturday, but had to call off the Friday option because we fell way behind in preparations for our big November apparel sale... and, since I was up until 3am (trying to feed sale tags into a printer that decided it would rather feed on them than print), I wasn't feeling like I wanted to be anyplace tonight (Saturday) where it wouldn't be safe if I fell asleep on my feet.

10/23/03- NO CHAIN, NO CHAIN!  That's an inside joke; those who've read much of Lance Armstrong's or George Hincapie's writings know that, when George is feeling really really good, he asks people to check and see if there's a chain on his bike, 'cuz he's just flying with no effort.  Well, Ueyn's back riding with us again (after a lengthy absence when he wasn't feeling very good) and lookin' like he's got no chain!  We also had Kevin with us, providing a bit of reality to anyone else who thought they were feeling very good, as he rode away from us all after having already done an hour swim.  Plus Jeffrey, Steve and Brian.  As usual, yet another beautiful day on King's Mtn... a bit cool at the bottom (48 degrees, the lowest we've seen in maybe six months), a bit breezy on the far side of Old LaHonda.  But overall, just plain nice!

Squirrel encounter!  It's been some time since the last one, but this was a doozy.  Heading down the fast stretch just prior to the final uphill sprint (heading south on Skyline towards SkyLonda), a squirrel races across the road in front of me, with maybe 3-5 feet to spare. 

10/21/03- I'M LIKING WHAT MY SCALE SAYS LATELY and hoping it stays that way!  I got down to 172lbs, a number I haven't seen on a scale in quite a few years.  Hopefully I can keep it off during winter, when my body tends to go into "hibernate mode" and store fat for a rainy day.  If I could manage to squeak down under 170lbs...

Another nice ride up the hill this morning, with Ueyn & Preben.  Just warm enough I could dispense with the leg warmers, which won't be the case much longer.  Instead of going for time up the hill, we cut through Huddart Park and I worked on intervals, basically doing 15mph for a few hundred yards before running out of gas, waiting for the heart rate to get back down to 150 and then going again.  I have to admit that using a heart monitor has added a new (and fun) dimension to cycling... how did I go all those years without one?

10/19/03- CYCLOCROSS IN OUR BACK YARD!  Pretty cool when you & your kids can ride a short distance and watch your friends race bikes, and that's what happened today as the Bay Area Super Prestige Series came to town.  Bruno & Todd from our RC store were competing, so of course we have a page with photos up.

10/17/03- AND THIS ONE GOES TO 11!  Am I getting old or what?  Of my entire staff in Redwood City, only one could recognize where that line comes from.  Sometimes something happens in your life that reminds you (unpleasantly) that we're mortal, and sometimes something happens that does nothing more than remind you that you're getting older.  This was the latter.  OK, for those not in-the-know, the line is from the Rockumentary "Spinal Tap" by Rob Reiner.

Sunday, October 19th, CycloCross action at Canada College in Redwood City!  Your chance to get up-and-personal with the fastest-growing segment of bicycle racing in the country, as hundreds of new & experienced cyclists race through the muddy ravines around Canada College.  Oh, wait, it hasn't rained in what, six months?  So maybe you'll see them through the big clouds of dust, the biggest of which will no doubt be behind our own Bruno Colchen and Todd Norwood!

10/16/03- YOU WEREN'T THERE THIS MORNING?  EVERYBODY ELSE WAS!  Well, not everybody, but quite a few, including some newcomers.  For the regulars we had Brian (who achieved a personal best of 29 minutes on the climb), Ueyn (who's been missing in action for a while) & Jeff, plus occasional Harry along with his friends Tom & Peter.  I'm sure I missed somebody...

Beautiful morning, and did I mention that they've repaved the lower section of King's Mtn?  Very nicely done, running up to the park entrance.

10/14/03- A FEW DAYS LATE on my diary entries!  Tuesday morning's ride found Ted and Preben climbing up the hill with me.  Had to cut my ride a bit short, as my rear derailleur cable broke on me just as I crested the highest point on the ride.  Not bad timing for something like that... much better than if I'd gone down towards the coast and had to ride back up over the hill (in my smallest rear cog!).  Of course, I should point out that I'd known the cable was going for a couple of rides, and didn't bother to do anything about it.  Not too surprising that it broke, as that cable's got a large number of miles on it (10k+).

Also been reading "SECONDS COUNT", the new Lance Armstrong book.  Highly recommended, and a bit grittier than his first book (and yes, it has a chapter at the very end that talks about his '03 TDF victory and his divorce).  For faithful readers of this diary, you'll recognize that with quotes like this- "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever" I couldn't possibly not like it!  And yes, we sell it at our stores.  If this sounds like a commercial plug, well, this is a commercial website... plus Lance speaks to some of us in about real-life situations we're dealing with, not just hypothetical stuff (no, don't worry, I'm not getting divorced... my wife would kill me!).

10/13/03- JUST GOT BACK FROM THE INTERBIKE TRADE SHOW IN LAS VEGAS, seeing what's new, getting Tyler Hamilton's autograph for my daughter, taking one of our long-time employees to see the Cirque de Soleil show (pretty wild, but not, I guess, as wild as the Tiger show!), and thinking how nice it would be to hold the show someplace else.  Of course we did get to hold court with Gary Fisher for a while, discussing how using bikes to save gas ought to be a part of the conservative's (republican's) agenda, and maybe we're missing the boat promoting cycling as a progressive thing!  We also had a bit of fun with one of our employees, trying to win the Gary Fisher look-alike contest. 

10/09/03- NEXT TIME YOU STOP FOR A SNAKE, I'M GOING TO KEEP ON RIDING! That was Brian's reaction on this morning's ride when, on the east side of Old LaHonda road, I noticed we'd just ridden past a snake that was waiting to get run over.  As readers of this website know, I stop for snakes and toss them off the road.  I'm not so automatic about picking them up anymore though, after encountering a very large rattlesnake a month ago at Arastradero on a mountain bike ride.

Well, as I stopped and got closer to this snake, I realized that it was a small rattler, which quickly killed my urge to pick it up with my hands, choosing instead to find a long stick.  Unfortunately, it turned out the snake was already dead, but even a dead snake doesn't deserve to be run over by cars.

The snake apparently had the final word though, as a bit later, on the descent down 84 towards Woodside, Brian nailed a large piece of missing pavement and punctured (a classic "snake bite" puncture, appropriately enough).  Brian hit that section hard enough it almost looked like he was going to do a Beloki (the rider who crashed badly, right in front of Lance, during the TDF)!

10/07/03- HATE BEING OVERDRESSED.  There's a chill in the air when you get up, so you're figuring OK, got to go with the legwarmers.  And the ride through Woodside confirms that it wasn't a bad idea, as it dips down to 51 degrees.  The ride up King's Mtn though, that's another story!  Within minutes it was up to the low-60s, and an anything-but-cool 69 degrees at the top.  Off went the leg warmers, but hey, if I hadn't been wearing them, just think how much faster than 27:34 I would have been!

Kevin, Brian and Preben in attendance, with Preben definitely feeling good, riding away from me on King's and then a bit later trying to shake me off his wheel on the climb back up Starr Hill (no Old LaHond loop today; we traded it for a run down one of the dead-end roads).  But you gotta draw the line somewhere, and no way was I going to let him ride away from me a second time!  Wonder what life would be without testosterone?

10/5/03- OVER THE MEADOW AND THROUGH THE WOODS, TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE GO... well, not quite, as Grandma lives in a retirement home ("assisted living" they call it) in San Carlos, and we live in the hills of Redwood City.  A whopping 10 mile round trip on paved roads, but that's actually quite a big ride for my wife and two kids, especially with the "monster" 400 foot climb at the end.  They actually did very well, not complaining much at all... very encouraging!  Of course, it did come with a price.  Dinner at TGI Fridays.  Overall a surprisingly nice day with the family.

Sadly, just as my 15-year-old daughter is finally learning that she can actually ride places (commute) by bike, I fear cycling will soon lose out to driving.  Dang, just as she's getting pretty sure-footed on two wheels, I get to be nervous about four!  If only boys thought girls riding bikes were way-cool.  Well, no, that's not what I want.  If only boys thought that girls weren't cool at all, no matter what they did, at least not until they were 25 years old... 

10/2/03- RIDING CURES EVERYTHING!  Or so it seems for me.  Wednesday evening I went to bed with that feeling at the back of your throat that you might be coming down with something, and you dread how you're going to feel the next morning.  But by the time we hit the bottom of the climb, I was feeling just fine, and any cold that thought it was going to have a chance to party in my body will just have to find a home someplace else. 

Kevin, Jeffrey, Ted and Steve were in attendance, spread out quite a bit on the hill, giving me the chance to ride back and forth between them.  Pretty easy to drift back, but most definitely not so easy to race ahead to catch up with the faster guys!  The "technique" involved letting someone get ahead just a bit further than would be easy to catch, and then sprint like mad to get up to them.  This would kick my heart rate up to about 176, then I'd slow down (ok, sometimes more like stall out!) until it got back under 150 and repeat the process.  Do that four times and you're toast!

09/30/03- BREAKFAST AT ALICES RESTAURANT, AND SITTIN' ON THE GROUP-W BENCH.  I suppose we could have gone for the Dock of the Bay, but the hills are so much more interesting.  What are we talking about here?  This morning's Tuesday/Thursday ride, of course!  We've passed Alice's Restaurant so many times over the years (a staggering number, I'm sure), so this morning we decided to have breakfast there before heading down the hill.  Nice place, really, especially on Tuesdays when they have a special lower-priced menu (French Toast & a side of sausage for $4).  Plus, they have a Group W bench.  How many places have a Group W bench?  Not many, I'm sure!

Enjoying the pleasantries (from right to left on the infamous Group W bench) were Brian, Donald (a newbie, first time!) Jeffrey and Kevin.  And some nameless guy on the far left.

09/28/03- MUST HAVE INFLATED 100 TIRES TODAY and then some.  Foster City needed some people to do a bicycle safety check for a local ride they were having, so I volunteered my daughter and I to help out.  Yikes!  Quite a few people turned out for the ride and, as far as I can remember, not a single one had adequate air pressure.  Thankfully, we were surprised by two other Chain Reaction staffers, Roger and Brian Q, who showed up to lend a (much appreciated) hand. 
My daughter remarked that, out of all those tires, there was not a single presta valve tube.  It was also noteworthy how much difference there was between the bikes purchased in bike shops vs department stores in terms of how well they worked.  Made me feel like that 2+ hours we put into assembly really does mean something.

09/25/03- FIRST DAY COLD ENOUGH FOR LEG WARMERS, darn!  Got down to 50 degrees on Skyline, guess summer really is over.  Jeffrey & Brian along this morning, but not really sure if we might have missed Kevin.  We were warned by Nicole, one of the really early morning folk (she finishes her ride just as we're starting) that they were doing some roadwork on the lower part of Kings, so we headed up through the bottom of the park (via Greer) instead.  Since Kevin rides down Kings to meet with us (and runs a bit late), we usually see him on the part of Kings bypassed by the run through the park.

09/23/03- RIDING CLEARS THE COBWEBS FROM THE MIND but it was spiderwebs that I was precisely hoping to find on this morning's ride, and find them I did!  The cooler weather that settled in overnight put just enough dew on the trap-door spider webs on Old LaHonda to make them glitter in the sun, and this time I brought the camera.

Ueyn, Brian and Preben rode up the hill, with Brian beginning to get his hill-legs again, managing to get up the hill in under 30 minutes.  Another very nice morning to be out on a bike.

09/21/03- SO WHERE WAS EVERYBODY?  Richard and I enjoyed a wonderful ride through Woodside, up Old LaHonda and back down 84 today, and didn't see a single other cyclist on the road.  In fact, we saw only a handful of cars as well!  So where was everybody?

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that we started the ride in the dark (8pm from Roberts in Woodside).  Seemed like the thing to do today, with it being so hot earlier.  Even tonight it still wasn't very cool; 80 degrees up on Skyline at 8:45pm.

Is it smart taking photos while riding down 84 at night?  Probably not, especially when you're not lit up as well as you really should be... part of the reason for the ride was to road test a couple of new Cateye headlamps.  The EL400 did *not* pass for anything beyond a safety light (something so others might see you), but the much-larger 5-LED EL300's a keeper.  It's not nearly as bright as a commuter-class NightRider, but, at $29.99, not nearly as expensive either.  I powered it using 4 AA NiMH batteries that I normally use in my digital cameras; the instructions claim that it can run for 30 hours, but I'd be very happy if you could get about half that.

09/20/03- I'VE GOT THE PHOTOS UP FROM THE SF GRAND PRIX but still not all of the descriptions.  What a great time!  Don't know why, but it seemed like a much more fun & exciting event this year than the prior two.  Even risked bringing the kids & wife, assuming they'd get bored and head to Pier 39, but they actually enjoyed themselves.  This isn't actually good news, as they seem to think they're going to spend a week in France at the end of the TDF next year, and this was a dry-run to see how well they'd survive a major bike race.  Sigh.  Whoever thought a wife & kids would be cheap?

09/18/03- BIB SHORTS WITH TUMMY CONTROL?  This morning's ride found five of us (myself, Kevin, Brian, Jeffrey... am I forgetting someone or were there only four?) hitting the hill before the heat.  We took the slightly-longer-but-steeper route through the bottom of Huddart Park (mostly because it delays heading up the hill by maybe half a mile or so!).  I felt like I had legs of lead, but by the time we got to the steeper section I wasn't doing so bad, keeping pace with Kevin up to the part where you hook back up to King's Mtn.  Jeffrey rode on with Kevin, while I kept Brian company on the way up (a task made relatively easy by the fact that he'd skipped his morning coffee ritual, and without this jump-start it apparently takes a day or two to get warmed up).

Beautiful day, with a gorgeous view of the coast from the west side of Old LaHonda (isn't there always?).  But what's this about bib shorts with tummy control?  Just me noticing that, with my Nike bib shorts, my gut doesn't seem to sag out over the top tube quite so much... almost looks as if I'm in decent shape!  I'll have to ask one of the apparel designers I know if they've ever thought of incorporating that as a feature.  It's not as if guys would buy a product whose sole purpose was to make them look better (or would they?), but if it could be an added feature for bib shorts... but why stop there?  How about bike computers and floor pumps with mondo-sized numbers that are easier on the (older) eyes?  Yeah, and energy bars that don't rip your fillings out, and helmet vents designed to promote hair growth and...

09/16/03- CAN LEGS REALLY BREAK IN HALF LIKE TWIGS if the hill's steep enough?  Yesterday we let a few newbies discover the answer to that question, as we altered our normal route and, from Skyline, did an out-and-back down Bear Gulch road.  Jeffrey, Brian, Kevin, Preben & and James (a former employee who lives in North Carolina) headed down, down, and down Bear Gulch, which dead-ends at a gate to Neil Young's coastal property.  The final .95 miles (or the first .95 miles back up, however you want to look at it) average 12.4 percent!

As if that wasn't enough, I decided to tackle Godetia on the way home (an alternative to the climb on the west side of Jefferson).  Godetia, on a good day, is kinda fun, one of those roads that starts out mellow but steadily increases pitch with each stroke, so that you're well over 10% by the time you get to the top.  Highly recommended that you try it sometime!  How to get there?  As you're heading north on Canada, it's in-between the back entrance to Canada College and Jefferson, and heads up (of course it heads up!) to the right.  It's only half a mile or so, but what a half mile!

09/14/03- WILL BE AT THE SF GRAN PRIX TODAY and hope to have lots of photos up in the next day or so.  Should also mention that our Los Altos location, which is normally open on Sundays, will be closed so everyone can watch the race.

09/11/03- WHAT MAKES A GREAT DAY?  It starts with the usual morning ride up King's Mtn, with Kevin, Steve, Brian (from the shop), and Jeffrey showing up.  Got hot later in the day, but pretty comfortable going up the hill, and the back side of Old LaHonda is always a treasure. 

OK, so that's how it starts.  But then, later on at the shop, I get to meet a guy I'd corresponded with in emails & newsgroups, Laurent T from France.  Got to exchange a few US tourist in France vs French guy in the US stories, and y'know, it's pretty much exactly the same stuff both ways.  One of the more interesting things was his perception that cycling was probably safer here, and the big deal in France that was being made of the fact that 240 cyclists had died there last year (while, in my opinion, the French drivers are much better around cyclists than automobile drivers here in the US).

Until I was 45, I never made it out of the US, and never really understood what the rest of the world was like.  I still don't understand what the rest of the world is like, but cycling has made for an easy bridge to France, and I'll be forever grateful.  Bikes are such wonderful things that can take you to such incredible places, and experience things that, at least in my case, I probably wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.  I no longer think in terms of governments but rather people, because it's people that you meet when you're riding on Ventoux or going into a local bar asking for water and the proprietress humorously asks if you'd like "Vin Rue" (red wine) in your water bottle!

One of my staff warned me that talking about my trips to France could be bad business, as it might alienate some who'd think hey, why buy from them, you're just supporting some guy's exotic vacations.  Well, yes, exotic for me (I don't think most of our customers would find a low-budget Graham Baxter tour very plush, however!), but hopefully I've managed to help others see what it's like to experience new places while cycling, and make it seem fun & desirable.  The idea is to give you that you-are-there feeling as much as possible.  It's not about my experiences; it's all about your possibilities, your dreams.  Whether it be a trip to France or daring to try that big monster hill for the first time, or getting the kids out on the local rail-trail bike path on a Sunday afternoon.  Long ramble, sorry!  --Mike--

09/10/03- START LIST FOR SF GRAN PRIX now up- looks like some great riders coming to town!

09/09/03- FRESH MEAT ON THE RIDE!  We always look forward to new people heading up the hill with us, and today Jeffrey joined us from Menlo Park.  Ueyn, Jeffrey and Kevin, but no trap-door spider webs.  Well, they were actually there, just couldn't see them... I even brought my camera, hoping there'd be that perfect amount of moisture in the air that it takes to almost light up the hillside (there's literally hundreds of them on Old LaHonda's west side).  Maybe another day.

I did ask Ueyn if he's feeling a bit on the young side lately (he's in his 20s) given that the average age of the ride has headed up quite a bit over the years, but he said no, his legs felt plenty old today.

09/07/03- RODE THE ENTIRE PERIMETER of Skegg's/El Corte Madera this morning with Bruno & Brian.  Bruno's awesome, handling just about everything with ease... on a cyclocross bike!  We expect great things from him in cyclocross racing this year.

We started at 9am and finished just be 1pm, so it was a pretty tough day out there.  We rode El Corte de Madera Creek, North Leaf, Methuselah, South Leaf, Virginia Mills, Lawrence Cree, Blue Blossom, Spring Board, Steam Donkey and whatever stub takes you back to Skyline.  Lots and lots climbing, and a fair amount of poison oak down on Virginia Mills.

We've put up a page with a few photos and a map of the route, including the ability to print a very high-quality version via a pdf file.

09/06/03- MISSED A FEW DAYS HERE!  Things got a bit busy and I missed Thursday's ride entry.  Another nice day, the fog keeping things cool but no problem with visibility as it stayed away from the roads.  Good thing too, as I didn't have my flashing tail light, which had come off at 40+ mph on a descent on Tuesday's ride.  Ueyn, Brian from the shop and... somebody else, just don't remember who!  High point of the ride was probably the trap-door spider web on Old LaHonda which, when the humidity & temp are just right, stand out by the hundreds on the hillsides.

MORE STRANGE STUFF as I plan to ride off-road again at Skegg's/El Corte Madera tomorrow morning with Bruno & Brian.  Three off-road rides in one week?  Me???

09/03/03- IMPORTANT STUFF IS SOMETIMES FORGOTTEN in the rush to get stuff together for the website; in this case, I've neglected to show absolute, positive proof that our Los Altos store does exist!  I casually mentioned that Scott showed up on Monday's off-road extravaganza at Skeggs Point (also known as El Corte Madera); what I didn't say is that Scott is from our Los Altos store, making an extraordinarily-rare foray to the evil empire of the north.

That's Scott in the picture, the tall guy wearing the Klein jersey, being congratulated by Michael Hacke for having the guts to hang with us nasty guys from the North. The rest of the guys? From left to right we have Michael, Jarvis, Jason, Todd, Scott, Brian and Bruno.  Still no definitive proof that I was actually out on the trails though!

09/02/03- UEYN & KEVIN OWE ME ONE!  As-almost-always, another very nice morning on King's, with Ueyn, Kevin, PreBen (the cyclist formerly known as "Per") and Steve headed up the hill with me.  Started out in a cool fog, mirroring my state of mind.  For some reason I decided to keep pushing past the entrance to the park, wondering how long I could hold them off (or, more correctly, how long before my engine blew up!).  I managed to make it to the top in 26:33, probably a minute or so faster than I would have guessed, with PreBen just a minute behind, with the rest following behind.

So why do Ueyn & Kevin owe me one?  'Cuz they both peeled off before the west-side Old LaHonda loop, leaving me alone with PreBen & Steve... who, for reasons known only to themselves, love to push that part of the ride hard.  Which, of course, they did this morning.  Actually, Steve told me the reason the older guys (that would be he and PreBen) like to push that part is because it's just the right length for them, as opposed to King's, which goes on and on and on.  But, at 27:33, PreBen's ride up King's this morning indicates he does just fine on the longer stuff as well!

09/01/03- SO WHY DOESN'T MIKE RIDE A MOUNTAIN BIKE MORE OFTEN?  The question comes up quite often; seems like all I ever do is road biking.  Well, a couple of reasons for that-

• I've got very little time to ride, often just two days/week, in the mornings before work.  With a road bike, you just ride away from your house, while for mountain biking, you're going to lose a bunch of quality time on the bike while driving to wherever you're going to ride (between 15-30 minutes each way).
   
• I almost never crash or otherwise injure myself on a road bike (at least not for quite a few years); the same cannot be said for my off-road endeavors!
   
• I can spend 8 hours comfortably on a road bike, but on a mountain bike, even with all the resources I have at my disposal (product & fit expertise), I can't ride more than half an hour before my hands hurt.

Having said all that, I should confess that I went out on not just a mountain bike ride today, but two of them... the first one at Skegg's/El Corte Madera with a bunch of guys from the shop (Todd, Jason, Jarvis, Brian, Scott, Michael & Bruno.. did I leave anybody out?), and then after I got back home went out again with the wife & kids to Arastradero.

The high-point of the two rides?  That's easy... the rattlesnake that lay clear across the train on the afternoon run at Arastradero.  I believe it was on the section of Meadowlark between Ohlone and Acorn trails; I was just riding along, at the front of the group, and came to a very rapid stop because there was a very fat snake sprawled all the way across the trail.  It was only after stopping, maybe four feet ahead of it, that I noticed this guy had a very interesting-looking tail and yes, as it slithered into the bushes, there was a faint (barely discernible) rattling noise.  This was the real thing, first time I'd seen one outside of a zoo.  Unfortunately, it was gone too quickly for a photo.  Dang!

Strange as it may seem, that encounter probably inspired me to want to ride off-road more often.  Go figure.