Still not business-as-usual (The Plan wasn’t executed, 40 miles instead of 57)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Mike

Well darn, it would really be nice for things to resemble “normal” again. After losing rides from being in DC a week and a half ago, then doing the zombie thing (riding just a couple hours sleep, an interesting experiment that I would prefer to not repeat) on this week’s Tuesday & Thursday-morning rides… let’s just say I was ready for something normal. And normal in this case, was going to be a ride of at least 57 miles, figuring that I might as well match the number of miles to my age on my birthday. I should have known better. Kevin’s still having pretty severe kidney stone issues, so I was fortunate to get 30 miles out of him, basically a reverse of the normal Tuesday/Thursday ride.

It was looking like it wasn’t even going to be close to 30 miles; we’d headed up Old LaHonda, down the back side, back up to Skyline and then down the other side of 84 into Woodside, except that, somehow, I convinced Kevin that we should detour back up to Skyline via Skywood Way after following a too-slow car for a mile down the hill. Skywood Way used to be a through-road to Skyline until maybe 30 years ago when they blocked off the Skyline side. No biggie if you’re on a bike, just 20 feet or so that you have to walk your bike. You can see the details in the Strava report below, and, shortly, in a youtube that I’m uploading.

Ride #1- Dad loses out to kidney stone & on-line video thingee

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Mike

The plan (remember, there’s always a plan) was for a long, slow ride. 60 miles, easy pace, OK, not really easy but as fast as I’d be able to go after a week off the bike. Yes, setting a pretty low bar for myself. But everything changed when Kevin developed yet another kidney stone last night, requiring yet another visit to Kaiser Emergency in the middle of the night, so the planned early start became a potential non-start. Except of course that Dad thinks cycling fixes everything, so Kevin was coaxed out of his fetal position on the couch and, a bit after noon (3 hours later than planned), I finally got him out on the road.

And guess what, he did feel better, once on the bike. Much better. Good enough to ask for permission to play his favorite game on a climb- “Let’s ditch Dad!”. I told him to go for it, since climbing fast was taking his mind off the kidney issue. How fast? Not too fast; he’d been off a bike for the past week too (without a reasonable excuse, except that Dad wasn’t around to get him going on Tuesday & Thursday morning), but just over 20 minutes is still about 2 minutes faster than I can handle.

70 degrees, great day on a bike

Apparently great day for cars too!

Then up on Skyline he asks me what time it is, I ask him why, and he tells me he’s got to be back by 3pm for his on-line video game shoot-’em-up thingee. ??? It’s 2:15pm just south of Old LaHonda; I’d figured on riding south and descending West Alpine then back via 84, but instead it was a quick run back home… but not before navigating through a huge traffic jam at Sky Londa. Some sort of car rally of epic proportion, with sports cars parked everywhere

Taking the Skywood Way bypass

and traffic at a standstill. We first figured maybe we could thread our way through but it looked really bad, and for who-knows how far down the road. So instead I showed Kevin the Skywood Way alternative, a road that used to go through to Skyline just north of Sky Londa, and now blocked off but accessible through a dirt path. We came back to 84 a mile down the road, with no traffic at all. And Kevin almost got back in time for his on-line thingee. Unfortunately he was a “reserve” and they filled in needed positions before he could get on-line.

22 miles instead of 60. 2700ft of climbing instead of 5700. Tuesday morning’s ride is not going to be easy!

Yep, did ride yesterday

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Mike

Sorry to be late on this one; it was a great day to ride yesterday! Much warmer than forecast for an unusual, early-Sunday-morning ride to the coast, with “the loop” tossed on at the end.

Why early? Because Kevin had to be back by 10:30am so he could… Play an online video game???!!! Whatever, gave me a chance later to figure out some computer stuff at the shop.

Four is us (myself, Kevin, Todd & Jeff Z) set out from the usual starting place (Olive Hill & Canada) at the usual time (7:45am) for a quick ride up 84, out to San Gregorio and back Tunitas. Kevin headed for home at that point while the rest of us added “the loop” because 41 miles just isn’t respectable enough when thousands, ok maybe hundreds, er how about a handful of people will be checking out your ride on Strava.

It was clear from the start that I was the weakest link, first getting blown off on 84 up to Skyline, then again on Stage, and finally on Tunitas. Did I care? Well, yeah, would have been nice to put up a fight somewhere! But I’ll blame it on the tail end of the plague, that nasty chest cold thing everybody got yet you never saw in the news (while the flu “epidemic” seemed more myth than real).

The hardest part was holding onto wheels on “the loop.” Todd and Jeff Z can (and do) set an extraordinary tempo, so fast that its tough for an accomplished wheel sucker (me) to hang on. I have a huge amount of respect for these guys, who made it obvious that my future depends on bumping up my ride schedule from 3 days per week to 4. This became especially obvious the other evening when I found myself paying too much attention to a late-night add suggesting that their testosterone supplement would get rid of stubborn belly fat. My weight is stable; I can even drop it a bit, but there’s too much above the belt despite the belt itself feeling like it could use a tighter notch. Potentially evidence of muscle loss. Hate that! –Mike–

Coastal Classic again!

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Mike

This has to be the most-common moderate-distance ride I do- the Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas Creek loop. It’s the go-to ride because it’s safe, it’s reliable (you know where to find food & water), it’s challenging if you want to make it challenging, or just a bit on the “tough” side it you want to take it easy. But there’s no way to really take it easy, ‘cuz you’ve got a few hills along the way-

Old LaHonda (1300ft)
Haskins Grade (800ft)
Stage Road climbs 1, 2 & 3 (about 400ft each)
Tunitas Creek (2000ft)

Total time on the road runs from 3.75 to 4.5 hours, depending of course on how much time you spend at the Pescadero Bakery! But even though it doesn’t take very long, and it’s not even very far (from my place in Redwood City it’s just 58 miles), it still feels like you’re quite a distance from home as you head out past Loma Mar on your way to the coast.

Today Kevin and I had an earlier start than usual (on the road by 8:30am) because he had to be back in time for a 1pm on-line video game contest of some sort, one of those things where you form teams and go after military objectives, which sounds better than saying you’re trying to kill as many people on the other team as possible. Kevin was a bit concerned that we weren’t going to make it back in time, but y’know, after doing this route so many times, it’s not like I don’t have a handle on it. But there may have been a reason for some of his uncertainty, as this was only his 3rd time back on the back after 17 days off due to a kidney issue and tonsillectomy.

Jerry climbing up Tunitas on a beautiful winter day! We sold him that Trek back in 2003; it’s seen a lot of miles since.

He needn’t have worried. While he wasn’t particularly fast going up Old LaHonda, finishing less than a minute ahead of me (22-something), he held up fine everywhere else. We even skipped the near-mandatory stop at the Pescadero Bakery after checking to make sure we had a few energy bars, just in case. And Tunitas Creek provided the opportunity to chase down some rabbits, including Jerry, a very good customer of ours (seen in the photo). We arrived back home at 12:30, plenty of time for his game.

Oops I did it again! Old Haul Road Part 2

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Mike

On the face of it, it seems so stupid, yet so addictive. High-end carbon road bike with high-zoot carbon wheels and skinny road tires. What could possibly make a dirt road attractive?

Maybe it’s the fun of the “Undiscovered Country.” Having lived in this area since birth (almost 57 years), and having ridden extensively since 11 years old, it’s not so easy finding new roads, new challenges. The obvious answer? Off-road. Trouble is, I have so little time to ride that I can’t rationalize putting a mountain bike into a car and driving somewhere to ride it. But y’know, there was a time when we didn’t have things called mountain bikes, but this crazy local cyclist, Jobst Brandt, thought the bicycle, the bicycle you had at hand, was limited in capabilities only by the user… so it wasn’t unusual that we’d have a 10 mile stretch of dirt trail (not even fire road) in the middle of an epic Sunday 115 miler. We’d do this on fragile sew-ups (usually called “tubulars” these days), threading our way through rocks and sand patches and somehow rarely had flat tires. That experience was a huge thrill for a 16 or 17-year-old kid… it was probably what convinced me that cycling really was the solution for everything.

But for years, decades even, my road bike has pretty much stayed off the dirt, at least if it could be avoided. That is, until last week, my first run over Old Haul Road, from the Loma Mar (Pescadero) side and heading into Portola State Park and the infamous hellish climb back up to Skyline. Today, I figured I’d reverse it, dropping down into the park off a different road, one that Keith (one of our semi-regular Tuesday/Thursday-am riders) took a couple weeks ago. Riding with me was Jeff K, one of our reps who’s come with me on a number of rides, although most have covered familiar territory.

Beautiful views from W Alpine

The ride started out like many, ascending Old LaHonda, but instead of heading down the other side, we went south on Skyline before descending West Alpine and admiring the spectacular views of the coast. And then, shortly after the normal turn-off for Portola State Park, it started to get silly. I’ve put together a video of the 10 minute descent into hell, on a twisty single-lane “paved” road that actually leaves you wanting more.

Honor Camp left, Medium Security right

Once at the bottom, we over-shot the normal choice for getting across to Old Haul Road, riding down into a deserted correctional facility, looking, essentially, for a way out. It was there; I even started down the “jeep trail” a bit before deciding it wasn’t it and back-tracking to a gated dirt road that was signed as leading to Portola State Park.

A very long .8 mile later and I was back in familiar territory- Old Haul Road. It wasn’t much different heading north than it had been the preceding week heading south, and once again my high-

My bike on Old Haul Road

performance “road” bike proved its worth in dirt & mud. We had one more opportunity to back track when we came to Towne Fire Road, which signage indicated would end up on the eastern slope of Haskins Grade (Old Haul dumps you off on the west end). That sounded interesting! Unfortunately, after a few hundred meters you plunge down to the creek, which, at that point, is very wide and very cold with no way to cross other than walking through it. So back up we go, soon exiting Old Haul Road at Loma Mar where we rejoined civilization.

The rest of the ride was the basic “coastal classic” heading out to Pescadero (lunch at the bakery, of course!), Stage Road north, then return on Tunitas. At San Gregorio we were flagged by Perry, a

Climbing Tunitas with Perry & Jeff

cyclist who’d had a flat but no way to inflate the spare tube he carries (he had his CO2 cartridge but forgot the head). We got him going and he sped on up ahead… but we caught back up with him again at the Bike Hut on Tunitas, where he’d gotten another flat. This time I assisted him, finding the tiny piece of glass in his tire that would have caused yet another flat, and the three of us rode together up Tunitas, over the top and home.

This was not an easy ride, but it was a lot of fun exploring new territory… and exploring is certainly the appropriate word!

As a kid it seemed like Mt Everest. That kid was right.

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Mike

This might have been the toughest 52 miles I’ve ridden. Any sane person would have bailed; my son’s still not riding due to his tonsillectomy, Andrew begged out because he was sick, and me? I had a plan, and I execute the plan, pretty much no-matter-what, despite what feels like a bit of bronchitis coming on (which I sometimes get at the tail end of a cold).

Bits and pieces of the ride coming up OLH on their one-way trip to Pescadero

Bits and pieces of a ride coming up OLH on their one-way trip to Pescadero

So I set out at 9am on my own, on a ride that would bring me to a road I’d often heard references to but never ridden (not too many local roads I haven’t ridden!), and another that I first rode maybe 44 years ago and have been smart enough not to ride since. I did have an opportunity to choose an alternative; I could have done the Alto Velo ride (and tried to hang on for as long as I could), or maybe bum along with Zack, who I saw heading out for a ride as I rode over Jefferson. But I stuck to the plan. Over Old LaHonda & Haskins to Memorial Park, then across Old Haul Road to Portola State Park, after which I would ascend from the depths back up to Skyline.

It was nice not having to push myself on Old LaHonda, a benefit of the cold I’m getting over, so I cruised up at a 25 minute pace, talking to some of the many, many older guys from Woodside who were doing a one-way to Pescadero, where they had Bloody Mary’s, cars and designated drivers to haul them back home. Even though I don’t drink, there seemed to be a certain civility, almost sensibility to their ride. But, that’s not how I roll, it wasn’t the plan.

The gate for Old Haul Road off Wurr

A relatively-clean bike at the start of Old Haul Road

The climb over Haskins wasn’t too bad; about 11:30 I think, so overall I was doing about an 80% effort. I arrived at Old Haul Road thinking this could work, especially after Zack mentioned it was one of his favorite roads (although he wondered why I was on my nice bike, not my rain bike). I admit it was a bit eerie out there, seeing absolutely nobody for 50 minutes, only very large droppings from very large animals and lots of signs to beware of mountain lions.

Old Haul goes straight, the Bridge trail to Pomponio Rd goes left

Creepy faces on a few trees on Old Haul Road

Old Haul Road can definitely be ridden with standard road bike equipment at the right time of the year, which I rationalized this was, because it had been a month since it had rained. Zack had recommended the short steep parts be done in the saddle to keep your rear wheel from slipping, but I had no problems with that. I can’t do a decent track stand, but steep technical climbs don’t bother me. Go figure. The main issue with Old Haul Road, at least the first time, is that you don’t have a good sense of where you are (how far you’ve gone, how much further to go).

Bike’s a bit dirtier after Old Haul Road!

Turnoff to Portola State Park from Old Haul

I made a point of checking out the various trail heads along the way, but the main choice appears to be taking a bridge across the creek to Pomponio Road (which connects to West Alpine just about the Buffalo ranch) or continuing on what quickly becomes a very slippery clay surface to the park headquarters, and then up the main road. I have no idea which route is tougher; I just know that the route out of Portola State Park from Park Headquarters is not fun!

Thankfully it’s a “stepped” climb, so you get a chance to change gears now & then, but the climb out of Portola State Park is a whole lot steeper than anything on West Alpine… which means that, by the time you get to West Alpine, you’ve been, er, tenderized. There were parts of it that brought back vague memories from so many years ago, but overall it just seemed steep and nasty. I was so thankful seeing the “Trucks use low gears” in the other direction, as I neared West Alpine. Normally, the upper part of West Alpine is nothing to look forward to, but today, it was. Known territory. And just over an hour away from home!

This would be a tough ride even if you were feeling on top of your game. Old Haul Road certainly opens your eyes to the joys of getting a road bike off pavement, but a real CycloCross bike would make it a lot easier. More work getting to the dirt, for sure, but there are an awful lot of nice loops you can do off the beaten track. Here’s a link to the official map for Portola State Park, but keep in mind it doesn’t do a great job of showing the various legal options for exiting Old Haul Road. Could be there are only two, the one I took (shown in the Strava segment) and the one using the Bridge trail.

Planned ride- Old Haul Road. First time ever!

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Mike

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRide (Direct link to this ride)

I’ve lived in this area my entire life, explored it on bike since I was 11 (46 years), and yet have never ridden Old Haul Road, the former logging road/narrow gauge rail line that runs between Loma Mar (near Pescadero) and Portola State Park. Tomorrow morning I plant to change that!

Not nearly as worried about Old Haul Road, which isn’t paved but supposedly has a very nice road-bikable surface, as I am the hellish climb out of Portola State Park. I think I’ve done that twice; I know the first time was on a Schwinn Varsity when I was maybe 12 or 13, and I remember thinking it best not to ride down into the park too quickly because somehow that would make it harder coming back out. Maybe it wouldn’t have seemed so nastily-steep if the Schwinn Varsity had come with easier gearing (42×28). I believe I rode it again 15-20 years ago, but not really sure.

Film at 11! Actually much earlier than that; should be back from the ride by 2pm or so, plenty of time to watch the SuperBowl. –Mike–

Local rider wins big at CycloCross World Championship!

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Mike

Great to see hard work and determination pay off, as Karen Brems wins another world title. She comes out to our Tuesday/Thursday AM rides from time to time, and has always impressed me by sticking to her plan. Whatever was in her training schedule for how she was going to ride that day, that’s how she rode. Didn’t matter if that meant riding up slower than an old slow guy, or blitzing past at an anti-social pace. So different from me, where it’s more a matter of survival than style, and I’m just trying to get up the hill as fast as I can.

Strava says 19 “accomplishments” but this guy did better!

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Mike

I’m struggling a bit on my return, heading over Sand Hill, and catch a glimpse of this guy, probably in his 70s. He didn’t have a great bike, he’d just come up over the opposite side, and his broad smile showed satisfaction, relief, and more sense of accomplishment than anything Strava has given me. Sometimes we get so caught up in our goals, measured in minutes & seconds & kilometers & timing points, that we forget about the things that brought us to cycling in the first place. The first time we made it to Skyline. Making it to the coast. Discovering new bakeries along the way.

When I was 11 years old, I remember having a AAA Bay & River map laid out on the kitchen table, looking at new towns to explore, like Portola Valley, which was out there past Woodside. A year later I’d go to the US Geological Survey center in Menlo Park with my friend Bob Kriesle, to buy maps preparing us for the New World (the mountains between us and the coast), and noticing they had markings for oil wells (oil wells on 84? Who knew?). Every ride was an adventure, not a competition. We’d seek out the tough climbs not for speed, but just to say we’d been there. I had a rack on the back of my bike that we’d carry a couple of quart bottles of Coke for fuel (no water bottles on a Schwinn Varsity). I’m not sure if I’ve found a different path, a type of cycling that’s compatible with who and what I am these days, or if I’ve lost my way. But I do know it’s been a very long time since I’ve crested a hill and had a smile like I saw on the old guy coming over the top of Sand Hill today!

Maybe the day is coming where my time up hills won’t be so important to me, but that day’s not here yet. But I am very aware, and thankful, that there are a great many ways to enjoy cycling.

Until they get Junipero Serra fixed up, you might want to choose a different route. It’s worse than it looks, and it looks pretty bad!

What about my ride? It wasn’t what was planned, that’s for sure. Kevin (my son) and I were going to head out to the coast, but he’s developed another kidney stone, and after waiting it out for too many hours, it was clear he wasn’t going to be riding and I wouldn’t be heading out to the coast. 2:15pm and there’s just not that much daylight left! So I headed out into the foothills, pushing myself pretty hard since I wouldn’t be getting in many miles, and tossed in the “walking” Joaquin loop off Portola Road to make things even tougher. Eventually I ended up at our Los Altos store, and then headed back on a more direct, less adventurous route, partly because I was feeling a bit spent, and partly because I thought it would be shorter. Uh, no, I must have hit every red light on Foothill! That plus the slow riding on the section of Foothill (maybe Junipero Serra when north of Page Mill?) where they’ve torn up the road and have uneven steel plates that you don’t want to ride over. What a mess they’re making of our roads these days.

As spent as I was, I had been inspired seeing that old guy on Sand Hill so instead of the “easy” ride over Jefferson, I took the Godetia “shortcut” to add one more insanely-steep piece of road. In the end, a very nice ride. Wish I could have been out there longer, but I made the best of the time I had.

Great pre-game ride with Jeff & Kevin

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Mike

Mastadon Country (actually there’s a family debate over whether it’s a Wooly Mammoth or a Mastadon), just east of Pescadero Road. Why someone would put a giant sculpture of a Mastadon, facing off against another prehistoric creature, in a farm’s field… well, that’s what makes our rides so interesting, seeing things like this!

Click for larger Mastadon image

This was not going to be our typical Sunday ride, where we don’t get out the door until noon. I wanted to see most of the 49er playoff game, and it also gave us the opportunity to ride with Jeff, friend & customer, who normally does his riding while Kevin would be dragging himself out of bed. And I wanted to see first-hand just how fast & fit Jeff really is; his Strava scores have been looking pretty impressive lately.

Steam on West Alpine

We had to put something fairy tough together for Kevin and I, since a bit too much winter weight has been showing up on the scales lately. Up Old LaHonda, out to San Gregorio, south on Stage to Pescadero, up & over Haskins the tougher direction, then Jeff went back the faster route, via 84, while Kevin and I took on West Alpine. 65 miles, about 6700ft of climbing, and, for the middle of winter, really nice weather!

West Alpine is a beautiful climb any time of year!

Jeff proved to be the stronger rider on the climbs today, getting to the top a full minute faster than Kevin, even though Kevin’s posted the fastest Strava times in the past. Me? Another minute or two behind Kevin. I was able to keep up, just barely, on the two Stage Road climbs, but watched them both ride away from me once again on Haskins. It was just myself and Kevin up West Alpine (Jeff having taken the shortcut home), and, nice guy/Dad that I am, when Kevin was in trouble a few times, I waited up. Of course, further up the hill it was Kevin feeling better, and did he wait for me? Not a chance. I asked him tonight about riding up a climb at a “social” pace, and he just looked at me with this quizzical expression and asked “Why?”

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