Monthly Archives: July 2012

Little bikes ready for a big trip!

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If you can climb Tunitas comfortably on your bike, you can climb just about anything.

Just over two years ago we had our “proof of concept” ride, a trip out to the coast to make sure it was going to be possible to use folding Bike Fridays to tame the mountains of France. Today it was time for a shake-down cruise, our Bike Friday’s no longer needing to prove their capabilities, just needing to make sure everything was in good order for our date with the Pyrenees later this week.

Today’s ride was exactly the same route I took on Wednesday, deliberately chosen so I could tell how much difference there really is between a semi-loaded Bike Friday and my pretty-darned-awesome carbon Trek Madone. About 10%. As in, each of the climbs took pretty close to 10% longer to climb on the Bike Fridays as on the Madones. We can live with that.

This trip it’s going to be tough keeping Kevin under control; today, on Tunitas, he ditched me fast when it was time to try and catch some guys who’d just passed him. And yes, it totally went to his head when they told him that he was pretty Bad-A cranking so quickly on a bike with small wheels. Me? I got passed by a few guys too, but something interesting that I discovered is that my top speed has been somewhat self-limited on some of my rides; if I push down harder on the pedals, I go faster. Sounds obvious, but on the morning rides, I’m so limited by breathing issues that I never really get the chance to stomp on the pedals and kinda forgot that I could. A long way of saying that, when an extremely-fit woman from Orinda caught up to me just as it starts to get less steep, I was able to hang with her the rest of the way. No record times, about 50 minutes or so, but I felt pretty good about the day. I’m ready for the Pyrenees!

3rd day went well!

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Not too many times I get to ride three days in a row, and today was day 3! Oh sure, it would have been nicer if it hadn’t been wet and a bit cold (45 degrees) up on Skyline this morning, but y’know, it’s not so bad when you’re riding with a good group of guys (no problem with women but we haven’t seen Karen for a week or two). Of course Kevin (the pilot) claimed he was going to be slug-slow and of course I didn’t believe him, but at least this time, even heading up through the park, I stayed with him.

About that wet & drizzle & cold up on Skyline… that used to be the norm for the summer. If anyone would know that, it would be me, having ridden this loop untold thousands of times over the past 35+ years. In the summer you’d look up to the hills in the morning and see the fog at the top; sometimes it would burn off before you got there, sometimes not, but when you looked out the window at 7am, it was always there. Not sure when things changed; could have been 20+ years ago, but the fog went away until just a couple years ago.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s me that’s in a fog. For a few years things cleared up; perhaps I had a period of clarity between being young & mixed up and being older and living with memories out of step with what my lungs and legs are capable of.

Maybe things will clear up in France. Just 6 days to go before my son and I join the ‘Tour. Wonder how this latest scandal, the “Gang of 5″ who have supposedly testified against Lance and admitted to their own doping, will play out. The fog of the Tour de France. Doesn’t matter. For three weeks out of the year, each and every year, France becomes the center of the universe for cycling. We may have ideas of cheering on for our own favorites, obviously athletes sponsored by Trek, but that’s really a pretty small part of the story. There’s something about riding up the same climbs the pros will be racing up, something about thousands of other cyclists tracing the same path, something about the tens and hundreds of thousands of fans along the way, with nothing better to do than cheer us on as we head up the hill… as they say, it’s all good!

3 Days of riding in a row- Yipee! (But watch out for the Sheriff; they’re targeting cyclists again)

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Bracket the usual Tuesday & Thursday rides with today’s spin to the coast, care of the July 4th holiday, and you get my first back-to-back-to-back riding days for quite a while. And just in time, since my son and I leave for France a week from tomorrow, where we’ll likely have 5, maybe even 6 good days of riding in a row.

The Sheriff’s dept was out in force today, cracking down on cyclists in Woodside. They were catching quite a few, probably for not stopping at stop signs.

Just me today; Kevin went off paintballing with his friends. The way he’s been riding lately, I need the extra miles a lot more than he does. Besides, it’s not so bad for me to ride solo once in a while, see how well I can motivate myself and climb at my own pace, whatever that pace is.

Back in the day, I could have used a ride like this as an easy-going joy ride, without trying to redline it on the climbs or push so strongly into the wind. That was before Strava. Now, with every aspect of every ride recorded and scored for all to see, the temptation is always present to give it what you’ve got. Today was no exception.

Two women asking for directions at the western base of Old LaHonda. Women may have outnumbered men on the road today.

I chose what’s commonly referred to as the “Coastal Classic”- Woodside, Pescadero, San Gregorio, Tunitas. Also known as “the usual.” A good barometer of your present shape, with some good climbs and just enough distance to test your endurance a bit. I think I passed the test. My Old LaHonda time was 22-something; sure, I wish it was fster, but that’s where I am right now, particularly on the first climb of the day. I felt slow on Haskins but my time fortunately said otherwise, and I got a recent personal best on one of the Stage Road climbs, as well as Stage Road from end-to-end. Tunitas? About 4 minutes off my best time, but I’m OK with that.

Am I ready for France? Bike-wise, sure. But tons to do at the shop before I go, making sure things can run smoothly for 11 days. And it’s just a week away.

Strava says “No accomplishments.” I say otherwise!

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There were several accomplishments this morning! Starting with me getting out of bed; one of those nights where I didn’t sleep very well, not helped by a toilet that started to leak again at 2:30am (no big mess, since I’d put a bowl underneath the area it was leaking, just a loud drip-drip-drip or I suppose they were min-splashes).

Too many to count on the ride this morning; only notable missing person was Todd, whose work schedule has changed. One new guy who thought he should ride up ahead of us; I told him if he’s climbing in 28 minutes as he said, there’d be no problem. I was right. It’s my job, after all, to police the back of the field!

First accomplishment? Kevin got a new personal best of 24:46, and he’s now the go-to person for keeping track of times when the others he’s riding up front with don’t have their garmin or forgot to start & stop them. That used to be my job.

Chris at the front, just starting his big push, with Kevin (the pilot) behind. The shadow to the left is the other Kevin; today, I wasn’t concerned with him. Just Chris.

The more-important accomplishment happened toward the end of the ride, where George usually pushes the pace to get me blown off the back before the final sprint, but for some reason was feeling pretty kind today. It was an ideal situation for me, being 3rd in line behind Chris at the start of the sprint, letting me draft while keeping an eye out for when Chris started moving fast. I quickly passed up the #2 rider (Kevin the pilot) and settled onto Chris’ wheel for exactly the right amount of time to strongly come around him and take the sprint. Like in the old days. Since I’m getting older, shouldn’t there be more “old days?”

Late-afternoon ride wasn’t the plan

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Got up a bit late this morning, no biggie, we could leave as late as 11am and still do a Santa Cruz run… but that wasn’t the plan, did that last week. Today was going to be nothing more than the usual run to the coast, Pescadero, Tunitas, the usual, like I said.

But that plan went out the window when Kevin had a relatively-lengthy (but not severe, just lengthy) seizure that left him so tired he had to take a nap… and slept… and slept… until I finally went in and woke up up at 4pm. We left at 4:30, with the idea of riding up Old LaHonda and down the other side to West Alpine and back, but that went out the window when we saw the heavy fog coming in from the coast.

So instead of any sort of substantial ride, we just went up Old LaHonda (ok, I “went” up it, Kevin flew, with a new best time, for him, of 19:24), came back down 84 and then did the loop before returning home. Just under 35 miles, 2900ft of climbing, an easier ride than any of our Tuesday/Thursday runs.

But there will be an opportunity to add in some more miles this week, with Wednesday being July 4th, so I’ll actually get to ride three days in a row, quite a rarity for me!