Practicing for France, doing the train thing to see a bike race. Not many similarities between Caltrain and the French TGV though! Looks like great weather for today’s stage. More soon!
On Caltrain to See Tour of California on Sierra Road
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Monthly Archives: May 2011
Tuesday’s ride- rain. Remember, we ride in the rain, so you don’t have to.
My son, Kevin (not the pilot) was a bit unhappy about Senior Cut Day at Woodside High School being on a Tuesday, because… because it meant he couldn’t sleep in. Now that LaCrosse season is over, he needs to get back into proper riding shape, which means not passing up opportunities to ride. Like this morning! Not only did he get up earlier than he wanted to, but got to ride in the rain as well. Along with the other Kevin (the pilot), Karen, no Karl (asked Karen about that, and she looked at me like I was crazy, saying “Look at the sky!” as in it’s raining, you think he’d show?), but we did meet up with Millo at the top. Kevin and Karen were sensible enough to cut their losses and descend back down Kings, while “my” Kevin & Millo continued on, getting soaked and wondering why a continuous light rain seems to sting the eyes so much more than a heavy downpour. We did pass up the opportunity to ride the west-side Old LaHonda section, choosing instead to get back down to lower (and warmer) elevations as quickly as possible.
We’re glad we rode, but looking forward to not having to leave bikes outside so they can drip-dry. Remember, we ride in the rain so you don’t have to! –Mike–
Tell us about your commute. It may inspire others to Go By Bike!
I’m putting together a page that will inspire people to consider commuting by bike, or just getting around in general on a bike instead of driving. So many of the trips taken by car are short (under 3 miles) and don’t require hauling 50 pound bags of dog food, and yet we don’t think twice about grabbing the car keys and driving. Time to “Think Different” as Apple would say! So please, respond to this with your bike commute story, and I’ll see what I can do to organize things and inspire others. Thanks- –Mike–
Today’s post seems anti-climactic after Thurday’s near-viral car crash video
I was really hoping today would be the last ride for my rain bike this season, but looks like it stays upstairs for a couple more days after looking at Tuesday’s forecast. I shouldn’t complain much; look at the cancelled first stage of the Tour of California, due to snow and cold. Could be worse! Nothing quite so epic for my ride; we waited out the worst of the rain this morning, finally heading out at noon for a short (39 mile) ride in the foothills, made a bit more interesting by first climbing up “walking” Joaquim (as the end of Alpine Road in Portola Valley) in a brief hail storm, and then punishing ourselves a bit more by riding up Page Mill just past Foothill Park and then down Moody before heading home. Kevin was doing fine but I felt really sluggish, probably because I’m fighting off one of those short-lived sore throat/head cold things that have been making their rounds.
But I’ve got nothing as interesting to say or show as last Thursday’s ride, in the post immediately below this. The video for that ride has gone semi-viral, already up to 7500 views in just a few days. Contrast that to the normal 100-200 my prior videos get seen (although my bike commute video is up to 750 or so). I shouldn’t be surprised that my experiences with our website would mirror TV… violence and gore sells! –Mike–
Can you drive that fast on Skyline? Apparently not.
Just 4 of us this morning with Karl, Eric and Marcus heading with me up through the park. Tuesday’s routing is rigid; we absolutely positively will not go through the park on Tuesdays. But Thursdays I’m willing to let the mob decide, and the mob often goes for the back route through Huddart Park.
Nobody was setting any records this morning, although I’m sure Marcus is capable if he desired. I just stayed on his wheel as long as I could and then adopted the more-sensible pace set by Eric.
But the main event had nothing to do with us this morning. Shortly after Skeggs (just after Marcus had left us for home), I hear something coming up from behind, yell out “car” and move to the far-right (I should point out that my normal positioning on a quiet road is not the far-right edge of the road, because you’re not as visible from a distance as you are when you’re in the lane, but I always move over before the car arrives). The time between me yelling “car” and its arrival was incredibly short, because this guy was going incredibly fast. So fast that, when Karl picked the pace up a bit, I jokingly asked him if he was going to try and catch the guy. So fast that I was thinking at the time, can you really drive this section that fast?
The answer is no. Just past the bend in the road we came across the busted remains of a black BMW, upside-down, maybe reduced in height by a third or so as the roof had collapsed a bit. We really didn’t know what we were going to find inside, but didn’t think much of it as we approached the car, figuring that we might be the only people around for a while and whatever needed to be done quickly, had to be done by us. I tried calling but my cell phone didn’t work (neither did someone else’s Verizon; eventually a local resident drove through with what looked like a Sprint PTT (push to talk) phone that did work. Eric went down the road a bit to try his phone there, and stop incoming traffic. We also stopped a car and asked they head down to Sky Londa and notify the fire department. And checked out the condition of the car and the occupant, concerned about the possibility of a fire, in which case we’d have to throw caution to the wind and get that guy out of there, injuries notwithstanding.
As it turned out, there were no leaking fluids, no smell of gas, just some wisps of “smoke” coming from the remnants of 6 blown airbags. The guy was semi-alert but likely cold, and we had nothing to put over him. No obvious external injuries, but someone going from 80+mph to zero in the blink of an eye is obviously going to be busted up a bit. We worked on getting the doors open, which seemed like an impossible task, given the extent of crumpling to the car, but surprisingly, they eventually sprung free. Beyond that, there wasn’t much we could do other than stop traffic and wait for the paramedics, while keeping an eye on the guy’s condition in case anyone asked.
After what seemed like forever, a fire truck, and then an EMT unit arrived, followed later by the requisite string of sheriff’s and CHPs flying up the hill as we rode back down into Woodside, a bit more sedately than normal, a bit rattled, and with fewer miles under our legs because we skipped the west-side Old LaHonda section. For some reason we just didn’t feel like doing it today, plus we were running pretty late. But whatever the inconvenience to us, we were having a far better day than the guy in the black BMW.
Go By Bike! Commuting, shopping, banking… (And a goofy video with a soundtrack you might recognize)
(Originally posted for Bike To Work day) So have you figured out how you can ride your bike to work instead of drive tomorrow? The weather report looks good for the Peninsula, with a high of 71 and low of 48 degrees. So what’s keeping you from trying the bike commute thing?
For me, it was the assumption that hauling around my “missile case”, a laptop case including the keys to everything needed to run the shop (in particular the marketing end of things), and a 400ft hill at one end of the commute that just isn’t much fun with a lot of weight on your back. Nevertheless, when one of the two shop vehicles died a second time (one doesn’t put a third transmission into a 13 year old Dodge Caravan with 133,000 miles on it), I was left without a gas-powered weather-insulated tomb on wheels. And that’s really what a car becomes when commuting… you try to pretend that you can do other things than drive, because you admit to yourself that driving is stupid, so you talk on your phone, you turn on the radio, you roll up the windows and put the air conditioning on, you eat & drink. Anything to avoid thinking about your actual surroundings, which is, of course, incredibly dangerous. And dehumanizing.
I started out with a big Oakley backpack, so big that it could swallow up the laptop case. But, riding with a heavy backpack just isn’t much fun, but seemed like the only option since I don’t own a bike with a rack on it. Except that I do! My Bike Friday, my travel bike for trips to France, has a rack on it. Add a grocery bag pannier like my wife uses on her Trek e-bike, and voila, no more backpack, and I get to make a lot more use of the Bike Friday than for a once-a-year trip to France.
The run to the shop is pretty easy, since it’s downhill for the first mile, although I’ll admit that, on a Tuesday or a Thursday, when I’ve just finished the morning training ride, the legs talk to me once I hit the flat part of Jefferson (especially when there’s even a slight headwind). The detour to the bank seems to take less time on the bike than in the car, and there’s been no issue bringing the bike inside. Without the side trip to the bank, it’s about 9 minutes from home to the shop (2.7 miles). Adding the bank in brings it up to 25 or so. The trip home? Not quite so easy, but not that much slower at between 14-16 minutes, depending upon how I hit the lights. Do I feel “rested” when I get home? Uh… no. I’m 100% totally destroyed, because I can’t help myself, the second I leave the back gate at the shop I turn on the timer and it’s game-on. But perhaps “destroyed” isn’t quite accurate, because there’s this strange combination of near-death & energized that really best describes how you feel. I don’t think a non-cyclist can relate to that, and perhaps it’s a more-exclusive club that requires a degree of competitiveness bordering on the absurd.
Please tell us about your own commute! Submit it as a reply to this post and I’ll try to organize them in a fashion that will hopefully inspire more people to Go By Bike. –Mike–
At 55, I’m scared to death that, if I slow down, I’ll never get back up to speed again!
George, Karl, Leslie (pilot-Kevin’s friend), Kevin, Eric, John, Millo, Marcus, Karen… that might be everybody, or I might be missing someone. What wasn’t missed was a day that turned out so much nicer than expected! I put on the long-fingered gloves but really didn’t need to; it probably started around 54 degrees and was up to 64 by the time I got back home a couple hours later. No complaints!
Since it was a Tuesday I knew it would be a bit harder than the Thursday version of our ride, but hard is really what you make of it yourself. Starting up Kings I’m now making sure to not set the pace at the beginning, since people complain that I go hard and then blow up. Not sure how that’s a whole lot different than what I’m doing now… waiting for Marcus and John and Karl to pass by, and then hanging onto their wheels for dear life until… I blow up! The end result is the same; no way can I maintain a torrid pace all the way up the hill. Yet. Working on that one! And I think my new life as a bike commuter is helping out in that regard, since my 15 minute ride home includes a stiff climb at the end, and no matter how tough the day has been, no matter how tired or hungry I am, I still punch it as hard as I can.
Once we get to the park I get a chance to rest for a minute or two, and then continue up the hill at a bit more moderate pace. It’s still tough seeing the fast guys head on up ahead though, and I’ll still try to get back up to them at least once, an effort that pretty much destroys me. As usual. But today at least I got in two hard sprints, with George
This is what tells me I've got it- when you see someone looking back at you. If it's a drag race, there's no point. The only reason to look back would be if you are thinking about cutting someone off (tactics) or shutting down if you don't like your chances.
The most-interesting part of the ride for me wasn’t a sprint though. George and Karl had gotten out ahead on the 84 descent into Woodside, with me in that no-man’s land between them and a few some distance behind. Normally I’d be inclined to wait for those behind if there was much of a gap to the front guys, but today? Today I wanted to see if I could run George & Karl down, in particular on the Tripp Road section where I normally run out of gas and am happy to sit on someone’s wheel. But today I managed to bridge the gap to them, after which Karl promptly attacked, leaving me behind. Good tactic on Karl’s part, since it took me completely out of the final sprint.
This is what I do for fun. Or is it, This is what I do for fun? To tell you the truth, at 55, I’m scared to death that, if I slow down, I’ll never get back up to speed again! –Mike–
Windy? Yes. Cool? Sometimes. Tight schedule? Affirmative. Did the planned ride come off? You bet!
Kevin’s not quite up to “epic” yet, but it won’t be too long. Today’s ride was the reverse Pescadero loop (where you head over Old LaHonda to the coast to San Gregorio, then Stage Road south to Pescadero before heading back over Haskins Grade), but with the added kick of West Alpine tossed in for good fun! 67 miles, downloading the details from the Garmin computer right now but probably enough climbing to qualify as a “tough” ride (which would mean at least 100ft/mile, so 6,700ft or more for this ride).
As usual, Kevin had a minor seizure on Old LaHonda. It really doesn’t seem to be effort-related since he’s ridden harder without having one, but there is something about Old LaHonda that brings them on. Thankfully it was very short so it delayed us just a few minutes, and didn’t require that we re-think the planned ride. Strange thing about Old LaHonda today was that we didn’t come across a single rabbit (rider in front of us to chase). Where was everybody? Mid-60s and a bit of wind shouldn’t scare people away, but seemed like it today.
The "Pink Bike" group at the top of Old LaHonda
The section of West Old LaHonda whose days are numbered
We had a nice ride to LaHonda, after which the predicted headwind coming from the coast materialized and tortured us (ok, mostly me) for the next 10 miles. It’s really not that bad though; headwinds are mostly a mind game, and you’ve just got to decide to beat them. A few years ago, I would’ve been looking for someone else’s wheel to sit on, but today, I’m the guy pulling the train behind me. In this case, just Kevin (we passed a number of cyclists on the way out to the coast, but none seemed interested in jumping on, even though I extended the invitation).
A great view of Stage Road, looking north from the climb nearest Pescadero
“Lunch” in Pescadero consisted of a Coke and a pastry, which provided the fuel we needed to head back via Haskins Grade (thankfully, with a slight tail wind) and then the big climb up West Alpine to Skyline. I tried, and hopefully, got, some decent video of the climb, including the “Bridge of Death” right at the bottom. At just under 54 minutes we weren’t exactly rockets going up the hill, but we were making good enough time to get back home in time for dinner.
The skies had darkened significantly on our way back, but no rain, just a bit windy and getting colder (down to 48 degrees)
OK, the Garmin’s now downloaded and darn, 6670ft of climbing, 30ft short of the needed 6700ft to qualify as a “tough” ride. I’m now remembering this same scenario from an earlier ride over the same route. Guess I need to put the lights on my bike and go back out and do some more climbing?
A high-gravity day if ever there was (but still a great day on a bike!)
It was so beautiful this morning; I over-dressed badly, assuming that we’d see the usual drop in temperature as we climbs Kings, but such was not the case. My leg warmers and base layer were much more than needed to be comfortable, with temps hitting 71 degrees on the climb up Kings.
Darn. I missed the season’s first Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride opportunity to skip the cool-weather gear! Marcus, Eric & Karl did better in that regard, and I’d like to believe that being too warm contributed to a feeling of sluggishness, but that would be a lie. The legs simply didn’t have it in them this morning. In fact, they never really recovered later in the ride, as they usually do. They just didn’t feel all that lively. Maybe it was the body’s response to the sudden surge in airborne allergens? Or maybe it was just a high-gravity day, a phrase coined by Kevin (Pilot Kevin) some time ago. I was still able to pull strongly a few times (although Karl remains Da Man for classic long pulls on the flatter sections), and still had some fun on the descents.
Warm & sunny, lizards racing across the road on west-side Old LaHonda (but still no rabbits!), good company, and a great view of a very low inversion layer that had settled over the lowlands during the night. “Great view” might not be the right way to put it though; it was a “great view” of a thin-but-dense band of browish-orange smog, our first such sighting this year. But by the time we saw it, we were already hundreds of feet above it, and still climbing!
All proof that the few days you’re not really feeling great while riding are still days made much better by… riding!
The Tuesday-morning ride is coming up to speed, plus “Who are those guys?”
We had some visitors from The City this morning; three guys who had taken the train down, arrived in Redwood City at 7:18am and quickly headed up over Jefferson to join us. And, bad as I am, I can only remember one guy’s name- “Space.” Eric might be able to give me the other two. Either all or some were Google employees, and yes, it would be nice if I were a better ride host and would carry on conversations with the new folk but I’m still feeling fortunate to finish the climb up Kings on the same day as the rest of the group!
Actually, I’m doing a bit better than that. While I had told myself I was not going to follow the first fast wheel up the hill, and I intentionally let Karl get a good gap on me at the bottom, it doesn’t seem to matter. I see that wheel in front of me and claim it as if it were my own bike’s 3rd wheel. Karl started out at a reasonable pace but then gradually increased it, such that the first timing point, the house on the right with a reflecting pool that we used to be able to see 20 years ago before, was fast but not blazingly-so, but the second timing point, the hairpin over the creek, came at about 5:33, about 25 seconds faster than normal. I held pretty tightly until we were close to the park entrance, where we (myself, George, Karl & Marcus) dutifully waited for the rest to catch up. I’ll admit to a bit of disappointment that the wait was relatively short, but the good news is that Eric’s making a comeback, knocking two minutes off last week’s time to the top.
(The video above shows us descending Highway 84 into Woodside)
Regarding disappointments though, I’ll admit I was not at the top of my game for the sprints. Had I gone full-tactical and slowed down ahead of the sprint into Sky Londa, things might have gone differently, but it’s fun to just curl up into a ball and see how fast you can descend, never mind that it takes a bit to get yourself out of that ball and feel like turning the pedals again. Plus you’ve got a string of people on your tail, ready to slingshot in front of you at just the right moment.
Hopefully the three Google guys will read today’s report and leave a comment here. And hopefully they won’t think our group anti-social because of my lack of banter while riding. They did seem like very nice guys.
This ride marked the official start of the faster riding season, finishing at 9:22 (the Tuesday ride typically finishing in-season between 9:18 and 9:22am, while Thursday’s ride is typically 5 minutes slower). It didn’t feel like a take-no-prisoners event, so maybe there’s hope for me. –Mike–