Monthly Archives: December 2011

Annual Mount Hamilton New Year’s Day ride

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67 degrees for the forecast high on Mount Hamilton this coming Sunday! If that holds true, it will be the second-nicest day yet for a ritual I’ve been doing for over 20 years now.

This is not an organized ride in any way, shape or form (in other words, there’s no mechanical support, no food or water along the way). It’s just something that people do to start the new year out in the right way… on a bike, climbing a hill! My son and I will be starting at 9am from the base of the hill (Alum Rock & Mount Hamilton). Unfortunately, CalTrain service doesn’t start early enough on holidays, with the first train not arriving in San Jose until 9:51am.

We’ll be riding a 1 hour, 45 minute pace to the top, which would be equivalent to riding up Kings in about 30 minutes or so. The views of the not-snow-covered Sierras should be great, and if it’s really clear, you’ll see Mount Lassen.

There’s a coke and food machine (“food” being candy and energy bars) at the top, but it only takes dry dollar bills. That means putting them into a plastic bag; anything even slightly damp won’t work in their machines.

If you haven’t been up Mount Hamilton before, it’s mainly… long. Really long! The grade is never steep (it averages out less than Kings Mtn), and it’s got two short descents on the way up. Make sure you’ve got two bottles of Cytomax (or whatever your drink of choice is) and some energy bars for the trip up. And the ride back down? Mount Hamilton, for most of us, is not a descent we look forward to. Random gravel in the turns and invisible pothole keep your speed down so much that you actually look forward to the two short climbs on the way back!

And when will you be back? Leaving at 9am, assume you’ll be back around 1pm, still time to catch one of the New Year’s Day football games, and feel guilt-free about nachos & cokes & whatever else you might be tempted to eat because everybody else is. Everybody else who didn’t ride to the top of the Bay Area’s highest peak!

I don’t feel so old anymore

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My grandmother, Nana, closing in on 102 and the final days of her life

This morning after my ride I got a call from my mom, letting me know that my grandmother, Nana, had been admitted to the hospital last night with breathing problems. No biggie, for most people. And for all I know, it could be no biggie for Nana… which would be something of a surprise, since she’s closing in on 102. But my mom sounded like this was pretty serious, so we (the wife & kids included) paid her a visit tonight.

If this is what someone on death’s door looks and acts like, my fears of getting older have been greatly misplaced. Sure, she hears primarily from just one side, but she does hear and understand quite well. Yes, she has trouble recognizing some people sometimes, but retains a tremendous amount of memory of subtle things; events in your life, events in hers, and little things that didn’t seem too important at the time but now, 30, 40, 50 years later, you can see that they were.

Interesting to think about what might be important to you 30, 40 or 50 years from now. It likely won’t be what you got for Christmas or anything having to do with your finances.

She’s also happy. Really happy. Almost to the point of displacement (as in, having no sense of her current situation). She smiles, and in those moments where she gets serious, she’s mostly admonishing people for worrying about things too much. She could talk about all the unfortunate things in her life, in particular relatives she’s outlived by far more than a country mile (my cousin Jon cut down by pancreatic cancer is his mid-40s, my aunt Judy who passed away a few years ago, my grandfather, Pompa, one of the great influences in my early life, who has been gone for maybe 27 years… her sister… ohmygoodness, when you live to be nearly 102, I guess there are going to be quite a few!).

But Nana focuses on life. And it’s kind of strange, because you can’t tell if she’s really aware that she’s not that far from joining those now gone. In her late 80s and early 90s, it (her death) was all she talked about. But somewhere, sometime, that all changed. She seems completely at peace with where she is, and doesn’t spend much, if any, time discussing where she’s going. Is that so bad? I wish I knew. I don’t. Part of me says there are things to discuss, not plans, but questions to ask while she’s still around, and for her, things to get off her mind so she can be at peace. But she’s a pro at the final stage of life, expanding it from the usual too-short a time (a short chapter cut even shorter by an ending that came sooner than expected) to something approaching an epic novel in its entirety. She’s been “preparing” for this for maybe 20 years. Or more.

I will miss her when she’s gone, but probably not as much as I fear, because what I won’t miss will be the memories of many years past, and those memories don’t die with the person. There may be just a few short days to create new memories, and in fact, visiting her, I struggle a bit, looking for something new to learn and share. But that’s missing the point and putting far too much emphasis on the next few days, weeks or months, than should be the case. The point is that she’s been part of my life since I was born, and the memories are already in place. There will be few, if any, unanswered questions upon her passing. And what I am today is at least partly a result of the time I spent on Nana & Pompa’s ranch in the Sacramento Valley during the summers while a young kid. That won’t die with Nana.

Addendum 01/02/12- Nana’s left the hospital and is back “home” (one of those “assisted living” places that can take care of elderly folk 24/7), apparently more determined than her doctors thought to make it to that 102nd birthday in February. Pretty amazing!

 

Yes, we rode today

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It felt almost tropical this morning; mid to upper-40s, a good 10 degrees warmer than usual. And yet, just a few of us on the ride. Todd at the start, joined by Chris on the way up Kings. It was a pretty slow ride up the hill, as Kevin (my son) hadn’t taken a hit from his inhaler and his asthma was holding him back quite a bit. So much so that he said no way was he going to do the whole ride, heading back down the hill with Todd at Sky Londa.

Of course, that wasn’t going to happen! He got feeling better up on Skyline, just like I told him he would, as he got above the dirty air below (all those lit fireplaces despite the spare-the-air warning due to atmospheric conditions that keep all the bad air down close to the ground). It wasn’t a pretty ride, but we still felt a whole lot better at the end for having ridden than we would have otherwise. Which is always how it works out!

5 Days off the bike- do you fear or look forward to the return?

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This is how my day started, the Devil Dog staring at me from the sofa, wondering why anybody was up before the sun (or before the heater turned on)

I didn’t even weigh myself after the various Christmas meals and food substitutes. Didn’t want to know. Don’t need to know, because after all these years, I know exactly what happens if I eat and don’t ride for a few days. Anytime I go past the normal ride routine (3 times/week) I can count on adding 1/4 pound per day since the last time I rode (this applies to the first 5 or 6 days; past that, thank goodness, my weight will level off).

A long way of saying that I wasn’t really looking forward to riding this morning, but the alternative was worse. Much worse! At least Kevin (my son, not the pilot) should have been worse off than me, since he missed a full week or riding due to a nasty cold that he’s just now getting over. Of course, just because things be a certain way doesn’t mean they will be, and so it was this morning as I found myself struggling twice to keep up with Kevin on the climb up Kings, before he finally ran out of gas just prior to the top.

Despite the cold temps we had a respectable group this morning, with George, Kevin, Eric, Karl, James & John. Seems like I’m missing someone, but can’t figure out who. Oh, right, my legs. But even my missing legs made something of an appearance, more than I expected anyway. Will they be ready for Mount Hamilton on New Years Day? We’ll see!

Why I can’t stop riding

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December 22, 2011. First day of winter. I could be sleeping in, or I could have a job that requires that I get to work so early there’s no way I could do anything beforehand other than getting up, taking a shower, getting dressed and joining the ranks of 8-to-5ers. And I’d miss mornings like this. Air so crisp & clean that you should be able to see Hawaii from Skyline. No clouds to be seen, just a strongly-cast shadow that keeps you company even if those you’re riding with have dropped you (or, the far-less-likely event that you’ve dropped them).

Was it cold? Well sure, down to 29.something according to my Garmin computer (my Trek Node computer said 33, but you get more credibility at 29 so I’m going to assume my Garmin is more accurate), but you can dress comfortably for that. Besides, it gets warmer as you go, right? All the way up to 39 degrees at the end of the ride! It’s actually kind of remarkable that we can ride in such temperatures without excessive bundling up… the miracle of modern lightweight fabrics.

Who rode this morning? Myself, Eric, John, Karl, Karen, Todd and Shane. Neither Kevin today; one was working (flying), the other not feeling well. Both missed a very nice day.

If the first day of winter, one of the coldest mornings of the year, can be this nice… how can I not want to be out on a bike enjoying it?

 

Last ride of Fall & virtual bungee cords

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I’ve often said we do an easier-paced ride in the winter than we do in the summer; our faster day (Tuesday) typically finishes between 9:18-9:22am, with our winter rides ending closer to 9:30. Today, the last ride before winter officially hits, we arrived at the finish at a surprisingly-early 9:20am!

Who was responsible for that? Certainly not me! So it must have been either Kevin, Eric, Karl or George. Since it was George and nobody else who rode off the front on the west-side Old LaHonda section, I’ll blame him. But thankfully, other than Kings (and George ditching us on Old LaHonda), I was able to hang onto wheels and not get dropped.

It would be nice to believe that the faster pace meant we’re all in better shape that prior years, but it’s more likely the case that Kevin (my son, not the pilot) (should I just create an acronym for that, since it’s used so often? MSNP?) is definitely getting stronger, while Eric and I are getting better at lashing virtual bungee cords to George & pilot-Kevin’s bikes. As long as the climb isn’t too steep the virtual bungee cords hold pretty well!

Is “Girl from Ipanema” playing?

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20111219-121052.jpgI’ve been to Chicago a couple of times but this time is special. I finally paid my respects to one of the greatest movies ever (if the picture isn’t enough, think Cook County Assessors Office and elevators playing “Girl from Ipanema”) and my first trip on CTA also known as Chicago Transit Authority, the name of a once-great band before going totally commercial and shortening the name to Chicago.

No cycling this trip although I certainly could have; the weather’s beautiful here. Blue skies, mid-40s. You could really be fooled about Midwest winters on a day like this.

The coast is always warmer. Right?

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Kevin and I had to get in a quick ride this morning since our Redwood City store, normally closed Sundays, would be open today for Christmas shoppers. That meant abandoning the usual Sunday-morning routine of saying we’ll get out the door by, say, 9am and not actually leaving until 10:15 or so. Today, if we needed to be out on the road by 8am to get back in time, then we had to be out by 8!

OK, 8:11am was still pretty close. Still had to come up with something that would alleviate the pain of getting on the scale and seeing something unfriendly, so we chose a fast run over 84 to the coast and back via Tunitas. Best thing about that loop is the coast part, because no matter how cold it is on our side of the hill, it’s always warmer near the ocean. Right?

29.7 degrees shown on the Garmin computer; so cold that I had to highly manipulate the image to get it to show up (LCD screens often fade in the cold). The Trek computer registers more slowly and shows 33 degrees. I'm sticking with the 29.87!

Wrong. This morning saw the temps drop nastily in that little section just past the main descent on 84 (prior to LaHonda)… and say nasty. And I really do mean nasty. As in, 29 degrees nasty. That was not expected, nor was it expected that the temps would stay in the very low 30s until we were within a mile or two of the coast, where it warmed up to a toasty 40 or so. But y’know, 40 sure felt a whole lot better than 30!

Predictably, nobody else was out there on the ocean side of the hill this morning, because they knew. Thankfully, my biggest fear didn’t materialize, that being the likelihood that the parallel valley that the base of Tunitas Creeks runs up, which is only a couple miles from 84, would be similarly cold. Instead, we had near-tropical temps in the low-40s, climbing to mid-40s on our way up the hill. Totally comfortable & nice! Even better, instead of getting the usual cold blast coming down Kings back into Woodside, it actually warmed up (fortunate for the very large numbers of cyclists we saw climbing up the hill this morning).

Were we prepared for the cold? Sorta. We had our best cold-weather gloves, and within a few hours the tips of my fingers didn’t hurt anymore, so I think we did ok there. No problem for the legs, with thermal tights doing a great job. Booties for the feet so the toes were only slightly blue, no biggie. But we could have done a better job up top. Thank goodness Becky had ordered some heavy-duty Pearl Izumi base layers, over which we had a standard Chain Reaction jersey. What was missing? That all-important 3rd layer, a light windbreaker, left at home. Won’t do that again! Actually I had mine with me but Kevin forgot to bring one, and I didn’t think it would be very sporting if I put one on while he suffered. Oh, you think because I’m a parent that I should have loaned it to him? The same kid who will exploit any weakness in my cycling and run me into the ground? Well, I could have not loaned it to him due to spite, but the reality is that I thought he should be taught a lesson so he won’t forget to bring the jacket next time.

The reality of course is that I forgot it was in my seat pack.

We ride in the rain so you don’t have to

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Not quite sure how it works, but the general idea is that there will be, no matter what, a certain number of us who are going to be out there riding on days no sane person would want to, and because we’re out there, you don’t have to be. You can stay inside where it’s nice & warm and think about what sort of crazy person rides a bicycle in the elements, and you even get to feel superior about it. That’s ok. Those of us in the “no matter what” crowd understand that we’re not normal.

Truthfully it wasn’t that bad this morning. Drizzling at the start, but mostly just very wet roads and a bit of that riding-in-the-clouds thing going on. Marcus, Kevin (the pilot), other Kevin, Eric… I think that’s it. As was the case Tuesday I was feeling better than my son on Kings, who was blaming it on being uncomfortable on his bike because he was on his rain bike rather than his newer Trek Madone, and it’s not set up quite the same. In fact, he rode that bike exactly the way it is now for quite some time, and was fine when he didn’t know any better. But when we got the new bike I set it up the way it should be, which meant less aggressively… mostly a higher handlebar position… which he now understands is what he should have, regardless of the fact that it doesn’t look like how racers set up their bikes.

Now remember that part about feeling better than my son on Kings? By the time we got to west-side Old LaHonda the tables had turned, and it was me having trouble keeping on his wheel. Hate it when that happens. In general, it’s the older guys who get stronger later in the ride, while the younger folk, if they don’t feel great early in the ride, never recover (mentally) from that.

Fortunately, the long-range forecast says that was the last of the rain. Unfortunately, I won’t have as much time to ride, because we’ll be open this Sunday (when we’d normally put in a 60-100 mile ride), and the following Sunday is Christmas, and I doubt we’ll get out then. But that still leaves several Tuesday & Thursday-morning rides before the big event, the annual New Year’s Day ride up Mount Hamilton.

Everything’s better on a bicycle. Even the weather.

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I never imagined I could feel so good after 7 hours sleep as I did this morning! The alarm went off at 6:57 (I still remember how much nicer it was to get up at 7:05am, but when there are two of us riding, not just me, I need to allow a bit more time) and I just felt great. Totally rested, totally awake & aware. I know what they say… that you can’t catch up on lost sleep with just one night’s normal sleep, but they’re wrong. I can go several days on not enough sleep and definitely feel the effects as the hours wear on, but just one single normal night and I’m fine. Even better than fine sometimes. And this morning was one of those sometimes.

Of course, it would be nicer if I didn’t know exactly what was going to greet us as we opened the garage door. It’s days like these where I’m thinking we only have 7 months of really great riding weather, writing off November, December, January, February & March. That’s nuts; our winters are extraordinarily-mild compared to most! But sometimes you start to feel sorry for yourself; the stiff(er) joints, the lungs work even less well than usual, and you put on a few pounds. Nothing that keeps you off the bike though.

Eric, Kevin (the pilot), Karl, George, Todd, Jim, Marcus and the other Kevin (my son) were out there this morning, heading up the hill at a pace best-described as “semi-casual” with nobody looking like they wanted to go too fast. Surprisingly, I was doing better than (not the pilot) Kevin, waiting a bit twice on the climb. I haven’t rubbed that in at all. Not too much. I mean not nearly as much as I could. I’m sure I passed up at least one or two chances to mention it to him.

Yes, a bit cool at 33 degrees, just under 4o up on Skyline, but pretty darn pleasant when you’re prepared for it and ride at a consistent pace. And it helps when you’re riding with others who share similar feelings about how wonderful it is to start the day with a bike ride.