We're thinking if we all peer intently enough at the stuck chain, it will give up and fix itself. Or something like that.

Not just the normal through-the-park ride this morning, but a run down the “middle fork” of dead-end Skyline roads (Star Hill/Swett), since west-side Old LaHonda is still closed on weekdays (we know; we rode by on Tuesday to check).

We were heading back up at a pretty good clip until Nigel had a nasty case of jammed chain, bringing him to a quick halt and giving the opportunity for our full complement of bike & tech-savvy guys a chance to feel pretty stupid and helpless as we first tried to pry it out (failed), next thought about cutting the chain (which we quickly realized still would have left the jammed part… jammed), then remove the crank (failed again) and finally remove both chainrings (success!).

The worst part was that this ate up a bunch of time, requiring us to head back via Tunitas and down Kings. Well, it was pretty cold up top (46 degrees) so Karl, Nigel, Kevin & Jan decided that the best way to get warmed up would be to really punch it on that gradual climb back up to Skyline. Ouch. I dropped off the back for a bit but gradually clawed my way back towards the leaders. Despite what seemed like a pretty good run up there, Strava, as usual, shows “There are no accomplishments for this ride.”

Check out the "speed" line (blue) to see how long we were stopped

But there could have been accomplishments! I just checked the downloaded data, and found, for this segment, that subtracting the time we spent stopped for Nigel’s chain mess, we would have had one heck of a great time! If you can believe the data, some of us would have come close to a new Strava record for that segment. How? My total time for that segment was 33:57, but we had stopped for about 16 minutes, 38 seconds. That leaves just over 17 minutes actual riding time. Not bad!

Strava. I could post the Strava thingee here, but at the bottom it would say “There are no accomplishments on this ride.” Strava, you could learn a thing or two about salesmanship! Why not just come out and say it? “You suck!” And why am I so addicted to the darned thing?

Overall I’m looking at numbers for my rides that really aren’t that bad. What’s changed is Kevin, who, at this time last year, had yet to get under 30 minutes up Kings, and two months later was at 26:30, and this past month has hit 25:30. I’m still better on the flats, and I’m still better if the ride is long enough (over 60 miles).

But what will happen in France? I’ll tell you one thing, it won’t be me carrying all the extra stuff up the hills this time!

Three cyclists in the break enjoying a light moment early in the first stage

So the Tour of California is back, you really want to see it, but you don’t want to go a long way to just catch a quick glimpse of them and then poof, they’re gone. Hey, if it’s in your back yard, no biggie, go see the parade of world-class cyclists that you read about and see on TV and once a year shows up here. But when you have to drive two and a half hours to get there… three+ hours on the way back? Plus losing out on a bike ride?

So I had an idea. What if you could design a bike ride that would cut across the course multiple times? Not as easy as it sounds; you’ve got to get maps and write down estiamted times that the race will pass various points on the course and then study the roads that criss-cross the course and see if something can work out. And it did!
Sorry I don’t have a way to overlay the actual race course with the route Kevin and I rode, but it all worked out pretty well. We started our ride at 10:30 and have plenty of time to get to our first intercept at 11:17, then rode 5 miles to the next intercept at 11:44, another 12 miles to see them at 1:10 and then a pretty tough 20 miles including the steep climb up Coleman for our final visit at 3:10.

Somehow it all worked out, even managing to get home in time for Mother’s Day dinner. 53 miles, not that much climbing (but quality!), moderate speed (would have been faster except that we were often in heavy traffic and once in a while not sure which way to go), but a lot better than watching it on TV and not riding!

Makes my morning ride seem insignificant, although any time I can do Kings through the park in less than 29 minutes I’m pretty happy (and tired!).

Today was not one of those times. Thank goodness for that silly 100-mile perfectly-flat ride on Sunday! It made me appreciate again just how special it is to climb a mountain, to be on top of the world looking out at the bay on one side, the coast on the other. Flying downhill, speed limited by my nerves and not my legs. It felt good. Really good.

Karl, Karen,Todd, George & Marcus this morning; neither of the Kevins (don’t know where the pilot’s excuse was, maybe work, but my son has suddenly developed some sort nasty kidney pains again, requiring a visit to Kaiser for testing and pain meds). What a beautiful morning it was… warm enough that, for the first time this season, I could do the morning ride without leg warmers! No record time up Kings (28-something) but I felt OK, and our alternate route down Tunitas to the “plateau” and return via Swett was actually fun, especially since Karl and George were being kind to me (Karen, Todd and Marcus had turned back at Star Hill to get back earlier).

Hard to believe that just two weeks earlier it was wet & 40 degrees up on top. This weather is a change I like! And mountains… another change I like. Never would have appreciated them as much if not for that 100 mile flat ride two days earlier.

Kevin in 2005 at the Delta 50k's first rest stop

He’s still annoyed that I billed it as a 25 mile ride (which is what I truly thought it was going to be at the time) but was actually 33.

Today, Kevin removed the last monkey from his back as he rode the 100 mile event (which was actually 98.1 miles, but who’s counting… I mean, besides myself, and Strava). You can find the write-up (and lots of photos) on his original ride here.

That photo on the left was, as they say, the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning. From that first organized ride he went on to do several others of similar length that year, and was soon climbing Old LaHonda and later on, Kings Mtn.

Kevin in 2012 at the 80 mile rest stop on the Delta Century

Fast-forward 7 years to today. 100 miles is a distance Kevin can knock off without giving it much thought (he’s a pro at the Redwood City/Santa Cruz loop), and it probably helps that he’s 6 or 7 inches taller than in the old photo, and weighs substantially less. Yet today’s ride was one of his most-challenging in some time, because it’s virtually pancake flat, a whopping 420ft of climbing (even though Strava and Garmin erroneously report it at 1400ft), and also quite windy, and the combination can be a lot tougher mentally and an HC (beyond category) climb used in the Tour de France.

Did I mention it was windy? Pretty much the entire 50 mile outbound segment was into a pretty stiff headwind, something that’s not nearly as big a deal on a hilly ride as it is when it’s flat. And cross-winds strong and consistent enough in a few places that you were literally riding your bike at an angle.

A bridge too-crossed on the Delta Century. 3 times across the same bridge maybe?

Of course, there are advantages to riding into a headwind, because it’s something I can do relatively well, while Kevin struggles in the same conditions. It’s one of the few times I can actually ride him off my wheel if I wanted to. OK, it’s the only time I could do that, since any climb of substance and he’s way ahead of me.

So how was the ride? Flat, windy, and fairly warm (up to the mid-90s in a couple of places). Picturesque? After you’ve passed the 25th or 33rd or whatever boutique Lodi vineyard, they all look pretty much the same. The various bridges between the various Delta islands are interesting, until you realize that the curiously-looped course sends you a couple of them multiple times (three times for one of them, I think!). We started the ride just past 8:30am, finishing just before 3pm. Not too fast (that darned wind!) but still pretty enjoyable with good rest stops and friendly cyclists and darned few cars. Amazingly few cars in fact! There were a few levee roads that went on for several miles without a single car.

Will we do it again? Not really likely; a perfectly-flat century is one of those things on your bucket list that needs to be crossed off, and while you’re riding it, you question why it was on your bucket list in the first place. But that’s actually easy to explain; it needed to be revisited by the new Kevin. And I needed an opportunity to be the stronger of us again, something that’s not going to happen very often anymore. –Mike–

Since it was a Thursday we rode up through the park, and since we rode up through the park, I was off the back a bit more quickly than normal. Kevin rode on ahead with Marcus, and the report I later got from Marcus was that it took several attempts to dislodge Kevin from his wheel on the way up.

Since west-side Old LaHonda is still under repair (and likely to remain so for up to another month!) we rode down the other side of Kings (Tunitas Creek), over Star Hill and down Native Sons to the end, as we did last week. It would have been pretty routine if Kevin hadn’t busted a spoke just after turning around at the bottom, causing enough of a delay that we had to shorten the rest of the ride a bit and head back the same way and straight down Kings instead of 84. Just 28 miles total instead of the usual 31, but the steep climbs out of those dead-end roads define “quality.”

But this morning was different. I was in control going up Kings, and by that I don’t mean fast, but that it was up to me to determine how gassed I felt. My heart rate responded linearly to my effort, and my lungs felt like they could deliver enough oxygen to allow me to feel the burn in your legs that tells you yes, you rode hard. If you wanted to. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that the scale shows my weight coming back down again. I like that too.

Cool? Yes, it was still cool up on top, but 46 degrees when you’re able to put out some effort doesn’t feel that bad. I’m looking forward to Thursday! Providing it doesn’t rain. I’m done with rain.

Real or fake? Seemed real at the time. Looking at them now, no way. Decoys.

Kevin was off doing the paintball thing with his friends so I was on my own on the road today, which isn’t such a bad thing sometimes. It’s good to get out there on your own for a few hours, ride at a pace that’s not a compromise but rather a reflection of your own strengths & weaknesses, and make random stops along the way when you see something interesting without having to think about whether it’s interesting to anybody else.

Like those ducks I came across in the duck pond on the shortcut between LaHonda and Pescadero Road. I never thought they might not be real, which in retrospect seems pretty dumb.

But getting to the ride itself, it was up Old LaHonda and down the other side, over Haskins to Pescadero, Stage Road to San Gregorio and then, instead of the usual run up Tunitas, I headed up 84, which, even though it means nearly a thousand feet less climbing, always seems like more of a grind.

The "shortcut" through LaHonda, and location of the ducks (Reflection Lake)

But that wasn’t different enough; when I got to west-side Old LaHonda I took that to the top instead of continuing on 84 and then did the unthinkable. I went down Old LaHonda on the other side. For only the second time in my life I think. I’ve never understood the attraction to descending Old LaHonda, and I still don’t, yet so many people do. Some day I’ll figure out why.

The silliness of my route didn’t end with the Old LaHonda descent; I was determined to get in 100k, so I did some additional looping around in Woodside before getting home… and ended up with 62.3 miles. Didn’t even have to do a lap around the block!

For more ride details, check out the Strava entry here.Biggest disappointment was a 15.9mph average speed. 16 sounds so much faster! 5987ft of climbing, so technically not a “hard” ride (you need 1000ft of climbing for each 10 miles, so 300ft short) but you could have fooled me.

This is the first stage Kevin and I will see in France. This isn’t yet an accurate rendition of the route, since it comes up 30k short of what’s listed for the length, but good enough to cover all the various mountains along the way, and good enough to plan the day. Below is the profile for the stage. If I spend a bit more time with the distances shown between each point, I can likely figure out the actual route a bit better.

Google maps driving directions for getting from Lourdes to the Mur de Peguere, viewing point for Stage 14. Available train stations are the small dark circles.

The plan is to take the train from Lourdes to a station that we can ride to the race course from, thus avoiding having to rent a car. This particular stage is the one furthest from our hotel in Lourdes, making it the most-challenging to access.

Our options include taking the train from Lourdes to Boussens (the second circle from the right) and riding through Saint Girons and the backside of the mountains the ‘Tour will be climbing, or taking the train all the way to Toulouse and then another train south to Foix, where we can climb the actual roads the ‘Tour will be heading up. It’s a longer ride from Boussons, but a much-earlier train departure if we want to get to Foix. 6:23am vs 10:26am. The 10:26am departure gets us to Boussons at 11:46am, plenty of time to ride the 45 miles needed to intersect the TdF route, entirely on roads not ridden by the race. The 6:23am train to Fois (the furthers-right dot on the map) arrives in Foix at 10:03am, plenty of time for the 15 mile ride up the mountain.

Using www.BikeRouteToaster.com, I am able to check the profile of “unknown” roads and see what we would face on our rides from the relevant train station to the race itself. A big help when riding an area you haven’t been to before.

View Larger Map I’m favoring the early departure, since that would allow us to ride different roads on the way back, including the very interesting-looking D33 which looks like a paved cowpath that gradually descends for 20 miles or so. If you want to get an idea of just how cool D33 looks, check this link.

So for now I’m thinking the early-morning departure, painful as it is, makes the most sense. Take the train from Lourdes to Toulouse, transer at Toulouse and head to Foix, get some food and head up the hill to see the race come through (we need to be in position 3 hours ahead of the race, so a 10am arrival is not as early as it seems, figuring that the race is going to come through around 3:30-4pm and it might take 2 hours or so to ride the 15 miles up the hill).

48 degrees and wet on Skyline. Hopefully last time this season!

The long-range forecast says the rain is over. Except, of course, for one final brief fling last night. Last night. Ending at 6am. Just enough time for the roads to dry off a bit before our ride! And in fact, that’s what happened. When my son and I left the house at 7:33am, the roads weredrying out. But looking up towards Skyline, I can’t say that it looked very encouraging.

Just Kevin (my son, not the pilot) and Eric with me today, riding up through the park (as we often do on Thursdays) into the beginning of a steady drizzle. Not real rain, but that constant light stuff that keeps the roads soaked and really made me feel stupid for riding my nice bike and not the not-so-fun “rain” bike with fenders and wider tires. And not only was my bike unprepared, neither was I, having brought short-finger gloves for the kinda balmy weather when we left, only to find 48 degrees and wet up on top. Could have been worse; before descending 84 into Woodside, we came across a young woman in Stanford kit with nothing on her legs.

There will be many minor deviations from the route shown, but this will be very close and help us figure out where to set up, where food & drink might be had, and, using Google street view, an idea of the character of the towns along the way.

It’s been tough getting the details of the various stages, which I need to figure out so I know how to get around once there. But it’s all falling into place. –Mike–

Who rolled? Kevin, Kevin, Karl, Karen, Eric, Jan, Chris and Todd. I actually saw Millo for a few moments towards the top of Kings; he’d left a bit early and I never quite got to him before he turned to head north on Skyine, missing all the fun. Todd had to get back early so opted out of Native Sons as well, but the rest of us were treated to yet another beautiful, twisty, one-lane road through the forests on the coast-side of Skyline.

I don’t know why these roads are so unknown to most cyclists; the pavement’s not bad, there’s very little traffic (although with the narrow roads you’ve got to be pretty careful as you descend!) and you can wonder just how awesome the future could be if those three roads (Native Sons, Star Hill and Bear Gulch) went all the way through to the coast again.

Taking the wrong turn on this ride back in 2007 found this great view!

Initially I thought the people behind the gate at the “end” of Native Sons and reclaimed even more of the public road, by moving the gate another quarter mile or so up the hill from where it used to be, eliminating the views of the coast. My memory was faulty; looking up my ride reports from 2007 in an earlier diary entry show I’m mistaken; the beautiful views were on a side-road we unintentionally found ourselves on. And that’s one of the great things about a bike ride, or exploring in general. Some of the best memories will come from the wrong turns and unforeseen changes in plans.

Fortunately I was feeling better once past the monster that is Kings Mtn, and managed to keep everyone in sight on the climb back up to Skyline. And while my climbing legs belong to someone else these days, I found that I can still sprint when conditions are right (the combination of cold & wet causes me to lose my nerve on descents). You can see the results below… the guys lined up so perfectly for me it would have been criminal to waste the opportunity.

Heading into the fog on Cloverdale Road

The Strava account doesn’t tell the story. Yes, 112 miles, yes, about 9000ft of climbing, yes, best time so far for Kevin and I from Boulder Creek up to Skyline. But what’s missing from the bare stats are a fierce headwind the entire 25 miles on the coast from Gazos Creek to Santa Cruz, making one of the more enjoyable sections of the ride a real challenge, nor does it explain how the weather forecast could be so wrong! The hourly forecast for Pescadero and Davenport had the fog clearing fairly early in the day, so our late start (10:30) should have seen nice weather on the coast.

The windsock tells the story

Well let me tell you about that nice weather. It was great all the way to Pescadero, and about 4 miles south on Cloverdale. Actually we already knew the weather wasn’t going to be kind to us as soon as we made the left turn onto Cloverday and ran into a stiff headwind. But not long after that we hit cold fog, which kept us company all the way to Santa Cruz and a few miles up Highway 9.

A family in motion, stopping for food in Davenport

Cold & damp weather wasn’t doing much for Kevin’s spirits, and I came very close to turning around on highway 1 and heading north, but that wasn’t the plan, and there was something to be said for the challenge of riding 25 miles into a headwind.

The mandatory stop at Davenport’s Whale City Bakery gave me a chance to look at the updated forecast; the “now” temperature showed 52 degrees (at 1:58pm) while the 2pm hourly forecast said 74 & sunny. Eating outside, and drinking cold Mtn Dew instead of coffee or hot chocolate, was probably a mistake! But refueled and recharged we motored on, finding the headwind gradually diminishing as we approached Santa Cruz, and the intense traffic actually providing a needed distraction from the fog & cold for Kevin. Strange but true.

Heading up Highway 9 towards Felton

Heading up Highway 9 things gradually warmed up to pretty much perfect conditions for climbing, and by the time we got to the start of the main event (the climb first up to Waterman Gap and then Skyline), we were in pretty good shape. In fact, the mandatory Boulder Creek stop didn’t find us buying food or drink; we just ate a Honey Stinger Waffle and were good to go. Funny how you can do a hard bike ride and eat less than if you didn’t ride at all!

This couple was riding up Hwy 9 so fast the photo blurred! Actually two very good customers of ours.

Funny also how, once the main climb starts, you feel more comfortable, more settled, more like you’re getting somewhere. And funny how 40 miles to go seems like you’re almost there! At Saratoga Gap (Skyline and Highway 9) we picked up drinks from Mr. Mustard, who thankfully doesn’t start shutting down until 5pm and we arrived at precisely 4:59. Good timing! The run across Skyline and down into Woodside was welcome and pleasant, feeling very much like we were on “our” turf. Home. And almost exactly 8 hours after we left, there we were, back home.

Oh, the remark about “If you can’t control you weather, you can’t control your life!”? A mild alteration of a Calvin & Hobbes comic where Calvin is upset that his mom doesn’t scoop the peanut butter out exactly the right way, and exclaims “If you can’t control your peanut butter, you can’t control you life.” Wise words indeed! –Mike–

Predictably large group today, with Karl, Kevin, Kevin, Eric, Karen and Jan, whom we haven’t seen for a while. Kevin (the pilot) lied about his intention to ride slowly up the hill; last I saw of him on Kings he was up at the front with Kevin (my son) and Karl. I was doing my best to try and work my way back up to Jan, who’s likely figured out that I fall apart on the steeper sections and then claw my way back when the grade eases up.

Now, about our dead-end roads mission this week. There are three of them, all coming off the coast side of Skyline, between Kings/Tunitas and Sky L’onda. Tuesday we hit up Star Hill, and today it was the mother of them all, Bear Gulch. As you’re heading south on Skyline from Kings, Bear Gulch is on your right, just as you begin the continuous long descent into Sky L’onda. It starts with a short climb, then becomes a long gradual descent on a twisty narrow (yet nicely paved) road until… until the bottom literally drops out. The last mile or so is a killer. A “bear” of a climb as it were. But the views of the redwoods, the coast, the cattle grazing on the hillside next to the road… those all make it worthwhile. That is, if you could see them through your salt-stung eyes.

If you would like to check out Bear Gulch, I’d do it sooner than later. This is not a ride to do on a warm day, nor is it a ride to attempt without a low gear (the road is too narrow to effectively zig-zag your way up the hill, although Jan did an admirable job of trying). But it’s definitely one to scratch off your list.

http://app.strava.com/rides/6974489

For those unfamiliar, “Juan Pelota” is the name of Lance Armstrong’s ranch in Texas. And “Juan Pelota” did a smokin’ 110 mile Palo Alto-Santa Cruz loop, including the 2nd-best-time on Strava up Mt. Charlie. No biggie, except that it was on a Trek Speed Concept time trial bike!!! You don’t climb on a time trial bike. Unless you’re Juan Pelota. In which case you climb very, very well indeed (after a “slow” warm-up on Old LaHonda anyway).

Warning: Next section rated PG: Regarding “Juan Pelota”, the name isn’t random. “Pelota” is “Ball” in Spanish. “Juan” sounds a lot like “one.” And one certain famous cyclist who went through testicular cancer had one of his two testicles removed.

Sunday and today, I really felt the effects of the ride later on.

Big group this morning, including but not limited to Karl, Kevin, Kevin, Karen, Jon, Eric, George, Todd, Michael and at least one other I think. Kevin (my son, not the pilot), Michael and I somehow found ourselves out ahead of the rest at the base of the climb, and we just kept on going, thinking they’d catch up to us fast enough. The reality was that they were taking their time today, so Kevin & Michael never did get caught, and just kinda cruised to the top in 25:48. Eric did pass me up about 3/4 of the way to the top, but I was pretty happy to get a 27-something time (27:57).

Because west-side Old LaHonda is still being worked on we rode over the top and down Star Hill to its dead end, and back up, adding another couple miles and 500ft of extra climbing to the day. As they say, it’s all good! Especially since I was able to get my heart rate up to 175 (which is pretty much my absolute max) and really feel it in my legs. Up to this point my lungs have been the limiting factor to my climbing, so my legs never really got that feeling later in the day that stairs were something to be avoided.

Finally, I’m looking forward again to my Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides!

Oh sure, we could get out earlier than 8am, except that we had to watch the final 20k or so of the Amstel Gold road race on the ‘net. As if I can remember the bit-player who won. Still, it bought a bit of time, allowing some of the overcast to burn off, and it was indeed a glorious morning as we headed out over 84, Yes, we went up 84, not Old LaHonda, because it would be both faster and different. 84 is such a consistent and shallow grade that it’s kinda fun to do as a change of pace, espeically on a Sunday morning, when the traffic is almost unbelievably light.

It might have been a bit more fun if Kevin hadn’t dumped me on the pavement shortly after the ride started, when he got spooked by a car pulling out of a driveway and slammed on the brakes without warning. It’s difficult not to see Kevin and a seasoned and skilled rider because he’s gotten so fast, but the truth is, he got fast so fast that he really doesn’t have the zillions of miles the rest of the guys (and women) I ride with have, so I really shouldn’t expect him to have the same skill set yet. He’ll get there.

A bit gray and mildly drizzly along the coast, but not bad, certainly better weather than we’ve had lately, and not bad weather for climbing Tunitas. Of course Kevin took off as soon as it got steep, finishing about two minutes ahead of me. I’m getting used to that. But I got there, and later (as in, right now) feel the effort in my legs. At just 43 miles that’s somewhat surprising, but also welcome. As welcome as warm weather and literal crowds of cyclists on Canada Road on our return.

Now I’m wondering if my mid-February 112-mile Santa Cruz ride might have been a mis-placed peak. The reality is that it’s more likely been the wet weather we’ve had since then that has seen my times up Kings steadily deteriorate, and this morning was yet one more mucky ride. It never actually rained on us, but it had stopped just shortly before the ride so it was very wet. Thankfully the weekend looks nice, although I can only pull off a short ride on Sunday since the shop’s open for the big sale we’re having.

But this morning it was a slow slog up the hill with Kevin, Karen, & Kevin. Slower than it should have been with Kevin (my son, not the pilot) got a flat about halfway up the climb. Due to the flat we didn’t have time to run any sort of loop off Skyline, so it was a quick ride across the top and then down 84. Surprisingly cool, with temps in the upper 30s.

So yeah, I’m ready for spring. Heck, I’m willing to skip Spring and head straight to Summer. –Mike–

I knew in the dream that things didn’t quite seem right, but wanted it to continue, with more detail. There was no indication in the dream of what team I was on, but it didn’t seem to be in the distant past. Maybe Chris Horner has me subliminally convinced that 56 isn’t too old to compete at a high level? After all, he’s only got 15 years on me!

Alas, the alarm went off at 6:55am, as it always does on Tuesday & Thursday mornings, so I dutifully got up and sent Jack (our psycho Welsh Corgi) in to wake up Kevin and get ready to head out into the rain. It felt a bit odd for me, working out the kinks and clearing my mind a bit after having ridden 140 miles in my sleep, but I quickly fell into the usual routine because I was way past trying to go back to sleep to continue the dream.

A distortion in the time-space continuim on this-morning's ride

Nobody but us at the start, or anywhere else along the ride for that matter! Everyone else at home, maybe still asleep, still dreaming, while Kevin and I rode up Kings in a steady light rain, lamenting the fact that it wasn’t coming down harder, since we wouldn’t have gotten any more wet but would have had greater bragging rights. We continued over the top to the other side, getting in a bit more distance by taking in the Star Hill/Swett Road loop since west-side Old LaHonda remains closed.

This ride was in no way epic; the temperature never got below 40 degrees, the rain never that heavy. Still, it felt good to get back down on the flats so we could use our legs again and warm up a bit. But what I really look forward to is my dream playing out a bit more.

So… there had to be some minor element of “ugly” tossed in, a ride that adds up (in effort) to more than the sum of its parts. The results can be seen below- Woodside, Old LaHonda, San Gregorio, Pescadero, West Alpine.

The nice thing about this ride is that it plays to the strengths of a more, well, “mature” rider, because the younger folk will become discouraged by the headwinds going out to the coast, the repeated moderate climbs in the middle (the two hills on Stage Road plus Haskins) and a total length that’s in-between an “easy” ride (maybe 55 miles?) and something you can write home about (the 112-mile Santa Cruz loop). In a way, it’s like doing a lot of work and not getting psychological credit for it.

Kevin's got the "green" thing going; green bike, green kit (helmet, jersey & shorts), green spring colors!

The ride up Old LaHonda found Kevin once again leaving me in the dust; I can’t play the sub-20 minute game anymore, but I knew I’d do better on the run to the coast. We were cruising at a very moderate pace for a while (about 17mph into the wind) and I was letting Kevin stay in front because I was trying to shoot some video, but when he tried to take credit for his work I pointed out that he wasn’t pushing that hard… and I promptly took over the rest of the way, pushing into the wind at 20+ the rest of the way, showing him how it’s done.

On Stage Road, we took advantage of a slight tailwind and pushed a hard pace over the two hills prior to lunch in Pescadero. From here-on Kevin was looking mortal; I actually had an advantage on both Haskins and West Alpine. A welcome change for me!

It was on West Alpine where it was obvious I was faring a lot better than Kevin; he would surge for a while then die, surge again and die. As a result we got home 15 minutes behind schedule, but y’know, that would still be within the time cut in most bike races.

Bontrager Affinity RXL carbon-railed saddle. Just 157 grams, $179.99, and worth every penny in my opinion. Less-expensive options will be similarly comfy. 5 star rating!

Let me tell you, I should have done this a long time ago! The Affinity RXL is the most-comfortable saddle I’ve ever ridden, and I’ve ridden many. Second place would probably go to a version of the Flite saddle I used to use (it’s no longer made and the new ones don’t work well with me). I’ve use a less-expensive version of the Affinity (the RL) on my BikeFriday travel bike, which has worked out well, but that’s a very different environment than a world-class road machine like the Madone (the BikeFriday’s 2 foot+ seatpost introduces an awful lot of flex that both cushions bumps and makes the seat position a bit of a moving target).

By the way, mounting a new saddle to your bike is not something you casually do. Depending upon the saddle, you may have to re-fit yourself to the bike, as it can change the angle your body feels comfortable on the seat, which can have an effect on handlebar positioning. Assuming your prior saddle was set up correctly, at the very least you need to carefully measure the seat height and setback (distance of the nose of the saddle behind the bottom bracket) of the original saddle, before making any changes. Then, try to duplicate that position as precisely as possible with the new seat. And, as always, use a level (don’t trust your eyes!) and set the saddle perfectly flat to start with.

Should you install a new saddle and do a challenging 67 mile ride to check it out? Probably not! But it went far better than expected, with the duplicated setup (from the prior saddle) being near-perfect. Might need to move it rearward just a little bit.

Why so excited about a saddle? Because Bontrager saddles have never really gotten the respect they’ve deserved in the past, partly because they haven’t always been world-class. That has clearly changed! I’m a believer. 5 stars out of 5! That’s not a rating I’d casually hand out just because I sell the product; my favorite tire (Bontrager R3) I would only give 3.5 stars to because they wear out more quickly than I’d like.

There’s also the issue that your body isn’t as flexible when cold, and when you hit bumps in corners, your response isn’t as fluid which, at high speeds, can literally cause you to crash where you otherwise wouldn’t have. The solution is obvious- ride slower. But that’s not as fun as riding fast, and after a lot of climbing you feel like you’ve earned a fun descent.

What’s perfect weather for cycling? From a comfort standpoint, probably low-70s. You won’t get chilled on the descents, and the climbs won’t cook you. But your bike? It probably comes into its own in the mid-80s, when the roads are stickier, your tires more supple, close to zero chance of water, and no chance of speed wobble caused by your body shaking from cold.

There’s something to be said for crisp cold days, with a bit of wind that gives it a real bite. It wakes you up in a hurry and the views are spectacular. There’s also some street cred that goes along with temp readings in the 30s. But like all “good” things, it gets old after a while, and I’m ready for a bit less street-cred, even at the expense of air that’s less than crystal-clear. I’m looking forward to the first Tuesday/Thursday ride without leg warmers (likely a couple months away) and being able to push my bike hard in the corners and have it ask for more.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to take up my position at the rear on the main climbs and later on hear the stories from my son about what went on at the front. I’ll exploit whatever weaknesses I can find in others in an attempt to prove there’s more to life than climbing fast, but in my heart I know… there isn’t. I love climbing, and I really miss climbing fast. I haven’t written off the future yet; I still think I can improve significantly and be a force again when the road pitches upward. Just have to lose a few pounds and maybe, finally, take care of my cold-weather breathing issues.

Yes, I look forward to warmer days ahead!

I stayed with the group until the first timing point, about 3 minutes in, and then slowly drifted off the back. Kevin meanwhile was hanging with the fastest guys and I think he said (and I can only go by what he said because I certainly wasn’t there to see it!) George was the only person ahead of him.

I’m trying to remember what it was like, 35 years ago, almost 40, when it would have been me off the front and some older guys behind, and those older guys would be a bit nasty towards us young upstarts, picking on our skills or riding style (you need to ride a straighter line, ride at a more consistent speed, whatever) because they couldn’t keep up with us. I don’t want to become one of them. I’m still a fighter, I still want to be up at the front, and I think there’s still time to get there. Which explains why I’m drinking this dreadful Sobe sugar-free Grapefruit/Cranberry stuff instead of my usual half & half Lemonade/Mtn Dew mix.

If I bring my weight down, if I deal with my breathing issues, and if I can hide a motor on my bike, I can get there.

It wasn’t the easiest way to start the day, watching Fabian Cancellara, cyclist extraordinaire and riding Trek’s new Domane bike at the Tour of Flanders, crash and break his collarbone.

But for the rest of us, today was the first day without a threat of rain for a while, and after yesterday’s on-again off-again downpours, a wonderful surprise. Kevin (my son, not the pilot) and I headed out for the default moderately-hard ride, the one you do when you’re too lazy to come up with something imaginative so you fall back on the dependable. Woodside/Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas. I can’t even imagine how many times I’ve done that ride.

Predictably, Kevin was a whole lot stronger than me going up Old LaHonda; my time was 22-something and he was 19-something (his fastest time yet, while for me… sigh). From there it was off to the coast, accompanied by some pretty stiff headwinds that tend to favor my strengths over Kevins’. I was able to hold my own on Haskins (just barely, but I didn’t let him know that) and by the time we got to Stage, I could have put him in serious trouble if I was that kind of dad.

Heading up the final stretch of Stage Road north of San Gregorio, we found ourselves chasing a tandem that was doing pretty darned good (tandems typically bog down on steeper climbs); we didnt’ catch up to it until the foot of the Tunitas Creek climb. From a distance I was able to make out a style of riding that made me think it could be Tom Ritchey, which turned out to be the case. No wonder that tandem could move!

We also ran into a chicken crossing. First time for everything! (And then later a turkey… in a car.)

Shortly after that someone caught up to us from behind and rode past us pretty quickly. I cautioned Kevin that we should ride a reasonable pace, but while I was willing to concede ground slowly, Kevin suddenly rocketed past first me, then the other guy, and flew up the hill. Hmm. It was just minutes ago that Kevin wasn’t riding that strongly, so I went into “Levi” (Leipheimer) mode and rode at my max sustainable pace, gradually clawing my way back to and then past Kevin. I made sure to keep him in sight though; the plan wasn’t to ride him into the ground and ditch him.

Despite the wind, a great day to be out on a bike. And I’d say that even if I wasn’t relieved to see I still have a few advantages I can exploit over Kevin.

Lourdes, center of Pyrenees Cycling. The brave will buy a map and go on their own. Smart people go TREKTravel!

TREKTravel presentation April 25th in Redwood City! The most-fun and no-hassle way to see the Tour de France.

I’ve been to the Tour de France… 10 times? 11? I’ve lost track. I started the 2nd time Lance won and have missed just one since (in 2008). The first two trips, I was a beta-tester for what would become TREKTravel, and the experience got me hooked.

In the years since, my brother Steve and his wife Teri have done a number of trips with TREKTravel, both domestic and overseas, and look forward to a trip with TREKTravel to Spain this coming June. But since I know the Tour de France like few others, that’s what I’m going to talk about in this post.

“Being there” takes on new meaning on a moutain top at the ‘Tour!

If you haven’t traveled outside the US before, particularly to a place where English isn’t the normal language, I’d highly recommend the TREKTravel option. It’s a “no worries” experience, with every detail covered including choice hotels, transportation, meals… there’s not much you have to think about. They even supply bikes! And not just any bikes, but high-quality TREK Madone road bikes (or a hybrid if you prefer, and on some trips, you can even arrange for an electric-assist model).

Time trials are great opportunities to get photos of your favorites, one at a time

TREK is going to offer a variety of trips to the 2012 Tour de France, and it’s not too late to book one. Yes, they do have a lot more offerings that just Tour de France trips, but since I’m kinda obsessed with France and the ‘Tour, that’s what I’m going to cover here. Leave your navigational and translation skills at home and leave everything to them.

If you want the ultimate French col (mountain) experience, you can’t do better than this. 10 days riding the most-famous climbs in France. The Galibier, Alpe d’Huez, Ventoux, Tourmalet, Peyresourde and one of my favorites, the Port de Bales. In addition you’ll have some beautiful rides through the lavender fields of Provence and rolling farmlands surrounding Lourdes. July 12th-21st, with several opportunities to view the Tour de France (which won’t be visiting Alpe d’Huez or Ventoux this year; you get those as bonus climbs!).

Kevin's getting a "Climber's" jersey signed by Richard Virenque, famous French cyclist, at the depart Village in Pau.

Want something more special? TREKTravel offers a VIP tour that includes access to the Village (the fenced-in pre-race departure area where you’ll be able to get autographs from the racers and mingle with celebrities) and the opportunity to ride the final 50k of a stage a few hours before the race and be photographed atop the podium! I’ve spoken with Chain Reaction customers who have done TREKTravel VIP tours in the past and heard stories of once-in-a-lifetime behind-the-scenes experiences.

TREKTravel has a full array of options for the 2012 Tour de France. And again, they take care of everything, including amazing food & depending upon the trip, even wine tastings! You’ll be getting a wonderful, no-hassle vacation of a lifetime. And if a taste of France isn’t your fancy this year, TREKTravel offers Napa Valley Wine Coutry, Moab, Vermont and a variety of other dream cycling vacations a bit closer to home.

We’ll have an informative evening with TREKTravel people April 25th in our Redwood City location. Click on the image in the upper-left of this piece for the details. Most important things to know are that it’s free and it will be fun!

 Thanks-  –Mike & Steve Jacoubowsky

Much of the credit does in fact go to my bike. This morning I was on my Madone 6.9 with its carbon wheels and a frame that says “give me more and we’ll fly up this hill together” instead of that riding-through-sand feel I get on my rain bike. And it’s not as if my rain bike isn’t a nice ride; that 2002 Trek 5900 has taken me to some amazing places and represented state-of-the-art back in the day, but two things are undeniable. First, the current Madone 6-series bike is so good it leaves you wondering what they could possibly come up with to replace it. Second, the 5900 is set up for the elements, with heavy tires designed for traction in the wet (which they deliver) but at the expense of liveliness. OK, there is a third item. I’m getting older and need all the help I can get!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a roll call, but I’m going to try and get back in the habit. We had Kevin (son, not the pilot), Nigel, Karen, Karl, Todd & Eric. Not as many as Tuesday’s ride, when George, Jon, Kevin (pilot) and Marcus were witnesses to my season’s low-point.

I really did feel good this morning. Compared to the others, nothing to write home about, but just being able to get that feeling that my legs hurt because they were doing something more than just turning the pedals because they had to… they were turning the pedals because they wanted to. I live for that feeling.

Here’s a brilliant flow-chart someone did tht sums up the entire series, so you can break in at any time and feel like you know what’s going on.

A big group this morning, probably waiting about 5 minutes for my arrival at the top of Kings. I've got work to do!

If this is what 56 feels like, I can’t wait to be 57! I’d like to say it was fun this morning, but that’s not quite the right adjective. “Fun” lost out as a description in so many ways, beginning with a mistaken weather report that said rain from 7am-on (it’s 1:30pm presently and rain has yet to make an appearance) so we rode our heavier, slower, less “fun” rain bikes… in my case, my 5900, which is a pretty nice machine, except that I’ve got tires on it that are suited for uber-nasty conditions but feel like you’re riding through sand. It also wasn’t much “fun” when you round the corner to view the first big hairpin going up Kings (at the halfway point), looking forward to seeing how far ahead the rest of the riders are… but there are none in sight. Hate that! It means that I’m already over a minute down from the next-slowest rider on the climb.

It’s at moments like these that you start searching for an appropriate tune in your head, something that matches both your pace and your predicament. Sadly, I could not recall enough of the lyrics from Procol Harum’s “About to Die” to carry the tune. Maybe I should have gone for ELP’s “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends…” Or, if things were really dire, Procol Harum’s “Still There’ll Be More” (warning: the lyrics are a bit, er, harsh).

It’s funny too when you’re looking at the elapsed time and thinking, well, I’m still at this point on the climb and they just finished. Actually, even though there remained 4 or 5 minutes to go when that thought hit me, it was encouraging. Not that much further to go! I started thinking about how you feel better as you get into the ride, and if I could survive to west-side Old LaHonda I’d be feeling pretty good! And to the extent that simply surviving that far was an accomplishment, I was feeling better. And at the end of the ride, I felt a lot better than I would have had I not ridden.

But note to self: I’m not going to let myself get so out of shape and gain so much weight next time I’m off the bike for 10 days!

Oh, the Don Draper remark? In the recent season opening episode, a surprise birthday party is thrown for Don, whom we discover doesn’t do birthdays. I can relate to that. But a surprise birthday party at only 40 years old, as if that’s a big thing? I had one at 50, and got to admit my wife did a pretty impressive job with it, but it didn’t change my mind about birthdays in general. Judge me by what I can do, not how old I am. That thinking might change as I get older and even slower.  –Mike–

A very wet scene at the Pescadero bakery/market

Tell that to the weatherman. The winter part. I held off a bit, since the forecast was for the rain to stop by 10am and stay away until 3. I can live with that; just enough time for a quick run out to Pescadero and return via Tunitas Creek. And since it wasn’t raining when I left, I brought out the nice bike (Madone) instead of the rain bike. And it stayed dry… until I approached the top of Old LaHonda, and descending the other side it went from a drizzle to light rain. And that beautiful view of the coast from west-side Old LaHonda? Just gray clouds and rain.

How did it feel climbing Old LaHonda? Not as bad as I thought it would. No, that’s not true, it felt every bit as bad as I thought it would, it just went a bit faster than I thought it might. I was expecting 25 minutes and it was about 23, probably because I had spotted someone climbing up the hill behind me and didn’t want to get caught. According to Strava I paid for that, with an average heart rate a bit higher than normal (143 instead of 135).

Descending 84 towards LaHonda I hit the first of two cloudbursts. Really heavy rain that made it tough to see where I was going, and made me wish I’d brought a cycling hat to keep the rain out of my eyes. I was seriously considering shortening the ride by either turning up West Alpine or heading straight out to San Gregorio instead of Pesadero. I even thought of simply turning around at LaHonda and heading back up 84! But the plan is the plan, follow the plan. How close did I come to cutting it short? So close that I skipped the “shortcut” through LaHonda to Pescadero Road, thinking at that point that I’d do the straight shot out to San Gregorio instead. I came to my senses only when I got to the regular instersection.

Always nice to ride Tunitas after a good rain; the creek becomes alive!

One more brief downpour just prior to Pescadero, after which things cleared up nicely! Thank goodness, since I needed to dry out. But of course the rain wasn’t through with me yet; the final 3 miles of Tunitas Creek were essentially riding into a cloud, complete with rain, fog and even hail. This continued all the way to the bottom of Kings Mtn, at which point I finally saw the promised weather… for the last 5 miles of my ride.

The stats? They got a bit messed up. I know the mileage (about 57), but the combination of heavy cloud cover and changing barometric pressure did a number on my Garmin, such that it significantly under-reported elevation gain and the profile showed a couple of cliffs that I apparently scaled. But it’s not as if this isn’t a ride I haven’t done a hundred times before.

Representative Jackie Speier with Gary Fisher at the DC Bicycle Summit lobbying event. Jackie has been a supporter of cycling from Day 1.

Tell that to car-bound commuter stuck in traffic because it’s not possible to build enough roads and parking lots in a city and still have a place to live.

Tell that to downtown stores and restaurants that can’t stay in business because the lack of space has driven rents through the roof.

Tell that to a new generation that may become fat & lazy because it’s not safe for kids to ride or walk to school, so they’re driven everywhere.

Tell that to anyone paying nearly $5/gallon for gas because our need for fuel has driven up the cost.

Tell that to a cyclist who’s been injured by a car because the roads aren’t built to accomodate all users.

Fortunately, the two Representatives local to Chain Reaction, Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, get it. And fortunately, when the House leadership (Representatives Boehner and Mica) decided that cycling infrastructure and Safe Routes to Schools programs were frivilous, thousands of people responded. We heard that the kickback from cyclists was far beyond anything Boehner and Mica were prepared for and, as a result, there will likely be a 3-month extension of the current highway funding bill, keeping our programs intact. During that 3 months, the House and Senate will be getting together to hammer out a bill acceptable to both, and it is hopeful that, while we’ll share our burden of the current financial situation, we won’t be completely gutted as things originally appeared.

To all of our customers who responded to an earlier email request for help (by calling or emailing your representative), all 800 cycling advocates who worked “The Hill” in DC on March 22nd, thank you. We have proved ourselves capable of a good fight, and that alone is worth a lot of value when fighting for our rights to the road and our desire to make our communities friendlier to all who live there. The battle is not over, but with the help of the cycling community, we will prevail. –Mike–

The next two are designed to improve conditions for our customers, although with the current climate here in DC, status quo will be considered a victory.

Location:W Virginia Ave,Bethesda,United States

Flying first to Newark, aboard a “real” United plane not-yet-painted with the “deathstar” logo of the recent merger with Continental. Then a puddle jumper to DC and metro ride to my hotel in Bethesda. Why Bethesda and not DC? About 150 dollar bills per night difference, that’s why! For that I can handle a 16 minute Metro ride into downtown DC. Save that money for bike stuff.

Meantime watching a steady stream of passengers from first class using our bathroom in coach. Why is it a “security issue” for coach passengers to use their bathroom but they can use ours?

Yelp reviews a biz just down the street from us... only it's not there

I’ve had a hate/hate relationship with Yelp for some time, starting with their extortion attempts a few years ago to get better listings (by paying $300/month per location to put your best reviews up top) and continuing with at least one local shop that essentially pays people for positive reviews. Well today we have something new. Click on the thumbnail for the larger picture of a Yelp review (the original can be found here if it’s still up) for a Singaporean restaurant at 1 Maple Street. 1 Maple Street is the leasing office for the large apartment complex next door to us; there is not, nor has there ever been, a restaurant at that corner.

Friday night (March 16th) I flagged the reviews and added one of my own. It will be interesting to see how long it stays in place.

Kevin and I were met by Karen and Eric at the start of the ride; typical of many rides lately, we had a bit of drizzle, but thankfully not as cold as it’s been lately. We made it up Kings to the park entrance when Kevin tells me he’d forgotten to take his epilepsy meds, which is not a good thing (and, thankfully, very rare). Rather than risk anything happening, we sent Karen and Eric on their way (OK, Kevin sent them on their way; I didn’t have enough in my legs to catch up to them to let them know) and headed back to the house, where Kevin took his meds and then we went off again, this time heading out Alameda to Sand Hill, back up through Woodside, Canada Road and home. Only 26 miles (instead of 31) and a whole lot less climbing. Much better than just cancelling the ride though!

After a very strong December, January and February, it’s looking like March is just not going to be much of a month for me. Rain putting a dent in longer rides, cold doing a number on my breathing, and now a week off the bike as I head for DC Sunday morning. By the end of this month I may be fat but I’m not going to be happy.

The video below shows my latest failure in finding a winter rain glove-

I’ve tried Pearl Izumi, Louis Garneau, Bontrager, Gore and a few others. Always the same result; after about an hour, they soak through. In every case the glove would have been easily made much better if the cuff was long enough to go under the rain jacket and not make of a material that wicks water. This is such a brain-dead obvious thing that I just can’t believe people put up with it. There’s also the issue, which could be just me, that it’s difficult to get most gloves on in the first place, because trying to get your fingers up into the liner is nearly impossible and feels like you should be using vaseline (or worse).

Even if they fix the cuff issue, after an hour of riding in steady rain I still have water coming through the glove’s outer surfaces. Yes, even the much-heralded Gore gloves (whose palm, by the way, wears away very quickly… not impressive for an $80 glove). Is what I want really so impossible? What do the Euro racers use in the early-season Classics, known for their wind, cold and rain?

OK, now for the ride. It’s dark (the downside of daylight saving time), it’s raining, and I’m really thinking others will be out there? Nope. Just myself and Kevin (my son, not the pilot). We rode at a moderate pace up Kings and across Skyline, being careful not to get overheated and subsequently way too cold for the descents. 40 degrees up on top so still a cold rain, and pretty comfortably dressed everywhere except the hands. Yes, I’m frustrated about that. We actually skipped the west-side Old LaHonda loop because we needed to get down off the mountain as quickly as possible. Hate that! But hate even more that Strava lists the ride as an easy “80″ on their “Suffer” score. Oh really? On our heavier rain bikes, with bigger tires & fenders and clothing made heavier by all the rain it had soaked up, and having to take great care descending and keeping out of the way of cars (because no way would we be descending at their speed today!). No, we weren’t “suffering” at all.

This was not an epic ride, but it was certainly worthy of more than an “80″ on any scale of suffering that goes past 250.

But y’know, just because you can’t get in something significant doens’t mean you can’t get in a ride, and even a 1hr 20min 25 mile spin is a whole lot better than no ride at all! So that’s what I did, heading out on the ‘loop (Woodside/Portola Valley/Arastradero/Junipero Serra/Sand Hill/Woodside), chasing the sun and keeping my heart rate much, something not so easy for me to do on a ride without big climbs, but today, I was going to make every mile count, which meant making every mile hurt.

And this is what I do for fun?

Regarding Grandma, we’re pretty comfortable with things. There are some uncomfortable items to go over, the balancing of quality of life and what measures to prolong it, with cost that thing that you can’t hide from and making you feel a bit conflicted. There are interesting things you learn about medicare and how many ambulance trips they’ll cover (apparently one every 30 days) and hospice care and at some point you’ll deal with increasing pain and have to make a decision as to whether it’s time to switch to morphine, which will slow down respiration and gently speed up the process. Been through this before, with my father, 24 years ago. I can deal with my Grandmother fairly well, but re-living some of what I went through with my father is not fun at all. But overall I’m good.

Not a huge group, but high quality. The two Kevins (my son and the pilot), Eric and Karl. The pace up Kings was moderate, matching the temperature which had nicely warmed up to the mid-40s. It’s hard to believe there’s such a huge difference in how 44 degrees feels vs 37, but trust me, there is. 44 feels downright comfy. And dry roads. No hidden wet spots in dark corners!

Sure, I came unglued on west-side Old LaHonda and got to watch as the two Kevins & Karl rode off ahead of Eric & I, but we didn’t give up and eventually caught up with them just before Skyline. I still hung back a bit on the descents, but not so much that I couldn’t hold the rest off on the Skyline sprint, where I first felt like I actually had legs again. Even the section before the final sprint at the end of the ride was fun, as I told Kevin (my son, not the pilot) to watch Karl closely because he was likely to take off just after turning onto Manuella, and sure enough, he did, with Kevin right on his tail. That’s the way it has to be done, because if you give Karl any room, he’s just going to ride off the front and you can’t do anything about it.

So yes, finally, a fun ride again. Just one mistake. I asked my son tonight if he noticed I rode a lot better today than Tuesday. No, he hadn’t noticed, because he was up at the front and I was behind him. Sigh.

If only I could describe this morning’s ride so affectionately! This seemed to be the ultimate “high gravity” day, as legs, lungs and mind just didn’t seem up to the task of climbing. The two Kevins, Karl, Ludo, Karen & Marcus just rode on ahead of me, and I finished the climb up Kings in an epic slow time of something over 31 minutes. And yes, it was pretty windy, but we’re pretty well protected on this ride, with the exception of the descent on 84 into Woodside. But it remained pretty cool, at 37 degrees across most of Skyline. What a change from the mid-70s on Sunday’s ride!

It was a solo ride today, since Kevin (my son, not the pilot) was off in Disneyland with his sister. It’s not so bad to get out there on your own once in a while, ride at whatever pace you feel like, and let bits & pieces of songs from the wayback days go through your head and you push through the wind or up a steep hill. I originally thought I’d be able to ride a leisurely pace up the climbs, but it quickly became apparent that’s just not in my DNA.

The route is sometimes called the “Coastal Classic”- Woodside, Old LaHonda, Pescadero, San Gregorio, Tunitas Creek. I figured I could get it in at 4 hours total, including a quick stop at the Pescadero Bakery, and pretty much nailed it in exactly that time, thanks in no small part to trying to stay on the wheel of a guy named Tomas, who had done our Tuesday/Thursday morning ride some time ago, and was setting a pace a fair amount higher than I would have done on my own.

This ride was not the original plan. The North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show was in Sacramento this weekend, and I was really hoping to head up to it and see the cool eye-candy on display. I was hoping to take my bike on the train and get off in Fairfield and ride the rest of the way into Sacramento, but heard from our staff yesterday that they were doing trackwork and the trains wouldn’t be running all the way through. Darn! Driving was out of the question; I’ve been trying (and actually succeeding) in cutting way back on the amount of driving over the past year, and there was no way I was going to miss riding on a day this nice.

OK, now for an explanation. I first did this video to Supertramp’s “It’s Raining Again”, a ridiculously-cheerful and silly song. Trouble is, Youtube didn’t like it. I tried twice, the first time using audio from a Roger Hogdson concert (former lead writer for Supertramp). That video’s worth a look, if nothing for the chance to see someone looking happier at their job than imaginable. Got a stern warning from Youtube that using the audio in my file kept it from being seen in the US. OK, so much for that. Next, I tried the same track from the original studio album. This usually works, because Youtube pays royalties to ASCAP or whomever. But for some reason that video is in limbo-land, forever being “processed.” If it ever shows up, it will be here.

And then I remembered something from the way-back days. One of the most-touching pieces of bike-related sports ever on TV, ABC’s beginning-to-end coverage of the first Race Across America. The final 4 minutes, showing the absolute pain, suffering & triumph as the last contestant neared the finish line in the rain, has “I Made It Through The Rain” playing in the background. It’s so easy to hate Barry Manilow, yet it was perfect for that piece. So etched in my mind is that last few minutes of coverage I even remember the “Promotional consideration by United Airlines” splashed across the screen for the last 10 seconds or so, as the music reached it’s concluding peak.

Ah, Youtube has finally come through with the “It’s Raining Again” version of my video!

If sufficiently bored, watch both and tell me which works best. OK, maybe just a few random seconds of the Barry Manilow version will suffice.

Yes, it was cold, and yes, it became pretty miserable, miserable enough that we didn’t do the west-side Old LaHonda loop, dropping down 84 from Sky Londa directly into Woodside instead. My shame & humiliation will be complete when I hear back from Kevin (the pilot) and find out that his group did the whole ride! But we did have one accomplishment- Kevin (my son) stayed up on the descent. A definite improvement over Tuesday’s ride!

No drama on the ride up the hill, but up on Skyline it got cold. Nastily cold, as in 37 degrees and rain. We’re spoiled in California; it rarely rains below the mid-40s. That colder stuff just bites right through whatever you’re wearing and generally feels miserable (although not as bad as the 42 degrees and dry at the end of Sunday’s long ride!). Most of our group headed back down 84 when we got to Sky Londa, leaving just myself, Kevin (pilot), Kevin (son) and John. We kept the pace reasonable and stayed warm, but the descent into Woodside wasn’t much fun, with very slippery pavement and more cars than normal. I hung back and let them pass, while the two Kevin’s charged ahead (with John just ahead of me). Pilot Kevin was flying down the hill, making it to the bottom without incident, while the other Kevin crashed & burned just a couple corners from the bottom.

Nothing broken, bike’s mostly ok (rear derailleur a bit banged up, broken helmet), so we were able to continue heading home a few minutes later. Kevin’s going to be a bit stiff tomorrow, but should be OK for Thursday’s ride.

We had a nice roll out to the coast via Old LaHonda and Haskins Grade, holding a moderate but stead pace (22 minutes up Old LaHonda, 2 minutes slower than Kevin can pull off on his own). Turning onto Cloverdale for the run south we were blessed with a mild tail wind, which nicely accompanied us all the way into Santa Cruz. Of course we stopped in Davenport on the way for lunch, and then stopped again for water in Boulder Creek before the long run up to Skyline (Saratoga Gap). It was only as we approached the top that temps started to rapidly cool; the marvelous 64 degrees on the coast were replaced by 42 degrees and substantial wind at the top. My thin full-fingered gloves, which had been perfect during the morning run to the coast, simply weren’t up to the task. Nor was my thin baselayer.

Normally, 42 degrees isn’t an issue, even dressed as I was. For our morning ride, I’m able to keep a full head of steam the entire time, but that’s only for 30 miles. When you hit such conditions 85 miles into a 112 mile ride, it’s a different story! Still, there’s enough uphill on the run north on Skyline to keep you going, just barely. I was having some issues shifting (tough for cold inflexible fingers to find the small buttons for the Di2 electric shifting), but it wasn’t until the descent into Woodside where I got really chilled and started to shiver a bit. Thank goodness it warmed up slightly on the way down, but the graph below tells the story.

My normal max heart rate is 175; check out what happens to my heart rate just after the descent begins. Temporary tachycardia (extremely-fast heartbeat) is a symptom of mild hypothermia. Fortunately without lasting effects.

I didn’t notice the elevated heart rate until a few minutes later, on Tripp Road, when I was less preoccupied with the mechanics of descending with hands that didn’t work well. Kevin’s heart rate was also elevated, but not nearly so much (he had chosen to bring much warmer gloves than I did, and wisely put on his light jacket earleir in the ride than I did). At the time I didn’t know if this was something I should be concerned about or a malfunction of my heart monitor, but when I got back I did the google thing and came up with a bunch of references to tachycardia and cold. Yep, that pretty much nails it!

You would think that, after all these years cycling, this wouldn’t be new to me. And you’d be wrong. Rarely would I ride such distances in cooler weather (I resist calling 42 degrees “cold” given that I ride in much colder temps on a regular basis!), but I do have strong memories of the Etape du Tour “citizens race” at the Tour de France back in 2000, where we had great weather for the first 70 miles and then hit a nasty cold storm on the flanks of Ventoux, resulting in at least one death from exposure and many busses put to use hauling chilled riders off the mountain. I was one of the few relatively prepared, having had a similar experience just a few weeks earlier on Sonora Pass when a freak high altitude storm hit.

In the end, mild hypothermia is not a big deal. You survive it, there are no lasting effects, and you hopefully prepare better next time!

You can check out the Strava details by clicking on the ride below. –Mike–

This morning’s ride did nothing to change that feeling. Sure, the climb up through the park was tough, with the steepest sections taking their toll while the flatter grades gave me a chance to recover and catch up. But anything near 10 minutes from the start of Greer Road to the park entrance on Kings lets me know I’m still alive, I’m still in the game. An AARP card in the mail isn’t going to change that.

I love pushing myself. I enjoy helping others discover their limits are often created in their minds, not their bodies. And I truly do believe that cycling is the answer to almost everything. An arbitrary number called “age” isn’t going to change that. Besides, it’s obvious I’m getting younger every year. Today, Keith, the fast young guy from Strava, is 27. At 55, I’m twice as old!!! But two years from now, he’ll be 29 and I’l be 57, no longer twice as old.

I both feared and looked forward to yesterday morning’s ride, having been off the bike for a full week (!!!) and gained 2.5 pounds (half a pound a day is pretty much the norm for me for the first week or so; thank goodness it levels out after that; clearly the damage is done quickly!). Thankfully, heading up away from my house everything just felt right. I was home. I was on a bike, the only thing I can comfortably do for any real length of time. No squirming, no sore shoulders, no stress. That last one was strange. I really thought I’d be dreading my added weight and lack of fitness, but no, everything was good.

Maybe it was because we were literally in a fog. Visibility for the first half hour was dismal, so bad that you couldn’t even see the large group at the start of the ride until we were almost upon them. But once in a while the fog clears when you wish it hadn’t, and today that was at the exact point on Kings where Kevin (my son, not the pilot) decided to ditch dad and join the fast guys up front. And yet I was perfectly happy with my 28-something time.

I’ll next be off the bike for a week towards the end of March, when I head to DC for the annual Bike Summit, the big event where 300-500 bicycle advocates meet with every congressional office in DC to try and make this a better place for cycling. Normally I’d just miss one ride, on Thursday (the event is on Wednesday & Thursday, normally allowing me to fly out on Tuesday after the ride and return Thursday night or Friday), but this year I’m a board member for the NBDA (National Bicycle Dealer Association) which has meetings on Monday & Tuesday. Not fun being away from the shop for 4 or 5 days again, and even less fun being off the bike for a week! –Mike–

Hello,
We’re interested in placing a promotional link on: http://www.chainreaction.com/tdfdrugscandal.htm for a websiteabout Drug Rehabilitation.

If you already have an arrangement or ad rates in mind, We’d be more than glad to hear from you.

Regards,

Valerie Elden
http://sellyourwebsiteads.com/
Toll Free: 1-800-208-6257

If you go to the link mentioned- http://www.chainreaction.com/tdfdrugscandal.htm, you’ll find a short piece I wrote in 1998 about the latest cycling drug scandal. Some robot searching the ‘net found the content to be something that someone interested in drug rehabilitation might read. Too late though; Marco Pantani (mentioned in my piece) died in 2004.  –Mike–

You tell me, does this look like a scene from a Batman movie or what? It’s actually downtown Nashville, Broadway to be precise. The home of many, many Elvis shops and high-fat eateries.

So what are Steve and I doing in Nashville? We’re here to attend a high-level fitting seminar for tri bikes, so we can make our fastest customers even faster! But don’t worry, nobody’s turn me into a triathlete, not as long as one of the three events involves running.

At least one person had a much worse day than I did today.

It was descending 84, just before the bottom that we found someone who had a really bad day. Guess it puts into perspective the many things that didn’t quite go as planned for me today, including a lengthy issue with Comcast, trying to install a new phone system in our Redwood City location and not quite getting things right. Oh, and on the way home, picking up some flowers for my wife, only to have them totally spill out onto the seat.

(Next section added after the ride)- Details on our ride below. The original intention was to descend West Alpine and head back up 84, but the fog was so thick on Skyline (and all points west) that I decided to get the heck out of there and did a rare descent of Page Mill instead. Not that tough a ride at exactly 100k (had to ride around the block once home to get in the required mileage), but it did include Redwood Gulch, so it could hardly be called easy.

Kevin ended up with a string of personal best times for various segments, something which is to be expected as he continues to improve, but only if he rides on ahead of me! I can match and even beat him on a relatively-shallow grade, and can still outsprint him, and if the ride’s long enough, outlast him. But not for long, unless I really step up my game. The steeper stuff? That ship has sailed. Unless I wake up some morning with a new pair of lungs.     –Mike–

Whether motivated by the fear of missing out, or the fun of laughing at our “winter” this year, we had quite a large group for our regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning no-matter-what ride. Too large to try and name them all, but not quite so large that my slowness up Kings Mtn could be hidden from the rest. That’s OK, this is “winter” after all! And I have to face facts; as I’ve gotten older, I’m doing increasingly better on longer rides (100k+) and simply can’t quite come up to speed on short “sprints” like our regular 30 miler. And watching Kevin (my son, not the pilot) do so well on this ride brings back memories of my own rides at his age. I owned rides like this back then. Just as he is beginning to do now.

What this means for us more-experienced folk is that we’ve got to consider that not everything about getting older is bad; that we still have some advantages over the younger cyclists, and if we want to exploit those advantages, we can put them into a world of hurt just like they do to us on the shorter rides. Except that we wouldn’t do that, because it wouldn’t be nice. OK, that’s fine for dealing with 18-25 year-old cyclists. Past 25, they begin to do better at those longer rides, without slowing down much on the shorter ones. You’re only hope, if you’re a 55-year-old has-been/never-was (some day I’ll figure out which) like me, is that somewhere between 25 & 40 they become moms or dads and spend a lot of time & energy raising their own future nemesis.

Which brings things full-circle, as did an email I got today from a distribution list for “old timer” cyclists. In this edition, a 20 page pdf of the 1966 Tour del Mar (now called the “Pescadero Road Race”) was attached, and on page 14 was a piece written by my father, then Sports Editor of the Redwood City Tribune. I’m sure my father had no idea at that time that I would become so strongly attached to cycling, or even consider taking up racing, but it shows his openness to sports other than Basketball, Baseball, Football and Track & Field. Hard to believe he’s been gone for 24 years now (I could be off by a year on that, and if so, I’m sure my mom will be correcting me shortly). He was around for the first 8 years or so of Chain Reaction Bicycles, and died just a few months after the birth of his first grandchild. While the beginning of “desktop publishing” enabled him to have a second career after the demise of the local newspaper, the internet was not yet even someone’s wildest dream. It is interesting to think of what he would be doing now.  –Mike–

What the weather was supposed to be. Talk about a no-show!

How ironic that I’m disappointed in this-morning’s ride because it didn’t rain. But after last night’s weather forecast… 100% chance of rain from 7am-11am… how could it miss? Kevin and I got out everything. All the nasty-weather gear, charged up all the lights (figured in really nasty conditions we’d be needing our most-powerful headlights), and went to bed thinking we’d be woken up by howling wind and rain striking the windows in the middle of the night.

This screenshot at 7:10am accurately shows the "no rain zone" protecting us

Nope. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. It rained not a single drop on us. It was as if we were being protected by a “no-rain zone”, a big hole in the green (the color of rain on the weather map). It’s not as if it looked exactly friendly looking out the kitchen window as we made coffee and got ready to ride, but it didn’t look like that one epic day of rain we were expecting either.

It gets worse. Heading out on my rain bike, loaded with stuff I wasn’t going to need (like a heavy plastic rain jacket), Kevin and I immediately run into Nigel, heading up Jefferson to the start of the ride. And Nigel has his “nice” bike, the Madone 5.1 he picked up last week, the bike that makes him even faster than normal. And me, I’m feeling, well, tired & slow & old & broken. Just one of those high-gravity mornings, y’know?

It still gets worse. At the base of the climb Kevin (pilot), Kevin (son), Nigel and I are joined by Marcus, again on on light bike with no fenders, no rain gear. To say I struggled and was far behind on Kings is an understatement. I even wondered what the point was, after I lost sight of everyone, before half-way up the hill. Thankfully I recovered enough to suck wheels for the rest of the ride, and finished feeling better than I thought and much better than if I hadn’t ridden at all. But no epic conditions, no cool video to show. Another day. –Mike–

Approaching the top of Old LaHonda and Kings for the first time. Notice the similar expression.

Oh sure, you can pretend everyone’s all smiles & happy at that point, but pictures don’t lie.

Jack-In-The-Box's Bacon Shake. Seriously. And it's as bad as it sounds.

The Superbowl- do you watch it for the game, or the commercials? Unfortunately I paid too much attention to one of the Jack-In-The-Box ads, the one promoting their site “Marrythebacon.com” And so, after the day’s ride, after the Superbowl, it was off to Jack-In-The-Box for something I felt funny even asking for, because, after all, you assume that it’s a joke, that there really isn’t such a thing as a bacon-flavored shake. But there is such a thing, and trust me, you don’t want one. My first impression was that it tasted like cigarette-flavored ice cream. Oh Snap! It’s true that “riding to eat” doesn’t work; you’ll inevitably eat more than you should. But eating something like a Bacon Shake without riding would be worse!

Kevin and I did have a great ride today. Strava details below; in a nutshell, a 100k ride starting in Woodside, up Old LaHonda, south on Skyline, descent on West Alpine, over Haskins to Pescadero, Stage Road and then up Tunitas and down Kings.

5 minutes up Old LaHonda I cut Kevin loose; I really thought he was going to get a personal record but he missed it by about 15 seconds. He’s still just over 20 minutes for the climb, but he’s now riding consistently fast for the entire ride. And he’s famous; on our way through Woodside we passed a group of 4 cyclists, one of whom said “You’re the father & son team! I read you blog all the time!” So one more person who knows that Kevin’s speeding up while I’m slowing down.

As long as the grade isn’t too steep, I’m OK. Kevin’s sweet spot seems to be around 7-8%, which pretty much mirrors my weakness on climbs these days. Steeper, and I can gut it out. 3-5% and I’m sucking that fast wheel in front of me like my life depends upon it. And if it’s not too long I can even manage the 7-8% stuff, like the bumps on Stage Road. But on Tunitas, once we get to the Bridge of Death, it’s all over (and so today, climbing Tunitas, that’s where bid Kevin adieu and met him at the top, a couple minutes after he arrived).

As usual, no rain, not too cold (didn’t see anything colder than 38) and friendly company. Kevin (son, not the pilot), Karl, Karen, Eric, Ludo, Marcus, Todd, Nigel and one or two others I’ve lost track of. Nigel’s picked up quite a bit of speed since getting his new Madone 5.1 last week; clearly I should have filled his tires with water to slow him down a bit!

Today’s video has nothing to do with this ride. A customer came into the shop earlier, asking about video shot with the Contour GPS camera he was considering buying. That’s when I realized I had a fair amount of raw unedited footage I’d not looked at since shooting it in France, and came across scenes on the Galibier, seen below. Sorry about the strange “floating” frame; I had to use the editor’s stabilizer function because the camera wasn’t mounted very well on the bike so the image was bouncing around a lot.
 

Warning: Political rant follows! But I think I can sign up people from all sides on this one.

I am saddened not just by the failure of the amendment (making sure a certain amount from the highway funding process goes to cycling infrastructure and Safe Routes to Schools) but also by the nearly-complete partisanship of the vote. Check it out. 100% of the Democrats voted for, joined by only two Republicans brave enough to go against party orders.

Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t about Republicans behaving badly. If this was an amendment for something favoring business interests being pushed by Republicans, I’m sure we would have seen nearly 100% of the Democrats lined up against it.

This needs to stop. There is no absolute right or wrong on most issues, but every single thing that comes up lately has become a litmus test of whether you’re a good Republican or good Democrat serving your party, and not whether you’re a good elected official representing your PEOPLE.

The PEOPLE are not being represented in Congress or the Senate these days. Only the polarized battleplans of the two parties. Nobody is interested in a compromise in which they come out with less than they ideally wanted. We’ve gone nuclear. Literally. But at least with nuclear weapons we understood the dangers and avoided using them, due to the believability of MAD (mutually assured destruction). Everyone loses, so don’t start. Right now, everyone is losing. The only people who might think they’re winning are those that believe that paralysis is good.  –Mike–

But I had one email from someone on the “left” who was very disappointed that I would ask people to support an amendment from someone (Representative Petri, Republican from Wisconsin) on the “right”, feeling that I was endorsing the person (Petri). The reality is that it’s extremely important this amendment did come from someone on the “right” since it gives cross-party appeal, something desperately needed right now! It’s very unfortunate that the needs of pedestrians and cyclists have become associated with Democrats and derided by Republicans, as a matter of obedience to their party chiefs. I am willing to work with anyone, but especially those traditionally, well, hostile is perhaps an appropriate word, to our needs.

And I received a very different email from someone at least initially offended that I was willing to mortgage his children’s future by spending money today that we don’t have. This was probably a reaction to the last couple of paragraphs in my piece, where I explained that investing in the future represents our belief in that future, and that it’s not an unusual thing to do (giving the examples of having kids and buying houses, neither of which are things that can generally be done using cash on hand but instead represent a commitment to pay on the installment plan). In retrospect, those last paragraphs didn’t need to be there, but in this case, it did start a dialog with the customer in which discussing politics became “real.” Instead of just digging in and saying this is the way it is (as is the norm in DC right now), he explained why he thinks the way he does, and I explained why I think the way I do, and there was actually significant common ground.

Will I walk this path again? Most likely. Even viewed strictly from a selfish business standpoint, there’s likely more to gain than lose (making assumptions that there is in fact some pre-selection of customers that tends to favor those more willing to tax themselves slightly, or give up something else, in favor of better cycling opportunities… this is a bicycle business after all!).  –Mike–

Safe Routes to Schools is a program that works! More kids riding & walking to schools, less congestion.

• Safe Routes to Schools, an amazing program that is getting kids to walk and ride to schools again, is going to be gone. And with it all hope of relief from traffic gridlock anywhere near a school in the mornings or afternoons. And this is a program that has had widespread bipartisan support.

• Efforts to make sure new road projects accomodate motorists, pedestrians and cyclists will be set back years. This affects everyone, even motorists, as all users will continue to fight it out on poorly-designed roads and intersections. Congestion, gridlock and road rage will only get worse.
  

What can you do? In 10 minutes, you can make a difference.

Call your representative’s office and ask them to support Representative Petri’s amendment to restore funding to Safe Routes to Schools and Transportation Enhancements. Tell them it’s important, to you, that we invest in the future. Tell them that you’ve used a bicycle to commute, to shop, or just for fun. Let them know that, when gas gets above $4/gallon again, you’d like an alternative that’s safe and easy to do.

How do I do that?

Follow this link to find out who your Representative is and their phone number. For example, when I go to that link, it asks for my zip code (94062) and tells me my Rep is Jackie Speier. I click on her link and at the bottom of her page it gives me her phone number (both local and DC; I called the local). I call the number, speak to a staff person in her office, explain that I’m concerned about the future and that cutting all support for cycling is not something I want to see. Please support Representative Petri’s amendment. They take notes, and report to the Representative that “x” number of people called today asking that she support Representative Petri’s amendment to save funding for pedestrian & cycling projects.

That’s it. Seriously, just 10 minutes of your time. You don’t have to know any details about Representative Petri’s amendment. They don’t expect that you do. They just know that the amendment supports cycling infrastructure and that you believe in that.

My personal pitch for investing in the future-

I get that people think the country’s deficit is too big and we’re spending beyond our means. I get that we have to prioritize and make painful choices sometimes. But what I don’t get is an insistence that we only spend what we have, and cannot afford to invest in our future.

Anyone who has kids knows that’s not how the world works. If you’ve made a decision to have kids, you’ve mortgaged your future, plain & simple. Anyone who owns a house knows this isn’t how the world works. You borrow against the future, believing that the investment will pay off. These are generally intelligent decisions supported by society. Not subject to naysayers telling you that’s crazy, you don’t have the money today to support what it’s going to cost you tomorrow.

Investing in a future that helps us fight health issues, congestion & reducing our dependence on resources other countries can hold us hostage for is, I feel, worth spending 1.5% of the federal transportation budget on pedestrian & cycling needs.

Thanks-          Mike (& Steve) Jacoubowsky, Partners, Chain Reaction Bicycles

The pace was leisurely… really leisurely… until just before hitting Huddart Park, where things split up. I was taking my duties at the back very seriously (somebody’s got to keep an eye on things back there) while I expected Kevin (my son, not the pilot) to handle the front-end business. As expected, he got to the top about two minutes ahead of me. Still not up to speed yet, but feeling better each day.

It’s nice to have the really cold days behind us, although it is still possible we could see some in the month ahead. Rain? Not for us, although there will supposedly be some sprinkles tomorrow morning, but that’s for someone else, since I don’t ride Wednesdays! I do suspect we’re going to see some slightly-warmer temps ahead though, since we had quite a tail wind heading towards west-side Old LaHonda.

Main excitement was provided by yours truly on the 84 descent back into Woodside, when either I hit something or just tensed up badly and had my front wheel go a bit sideways. Very unsettling, but thankfully I stayed up. Probably just a slightly-damp bit of pavement I didn’t notice.

Actually, I don’t even know how old the guys I ride with are. Todd? Late 20s maybe? And Mike & Andrew? Maybe very early 20s? It’s actually a bit strange thinking I’m twice as old and then some. Besides trying to keep up with them, my main concern is to not become those older guys I rode with when I was much younger, who’d keep trying to come up with ways to put the young guys down because they had bad form or didn’t do things just right. Besides it being a way to try and make up for them (the older guys) being slow, it also had the unintended effect of backfiring on them, causing us younger guys (yes, I was young once) to really want to ride them into the ground. Which, of course, we did!

Todd, Mike & Andrew don’t try to ride me into the ground; they just let me run near 100% for as long as I can before they eventually get bored and take off. On today’s Woodside/Pescadero/Tunitas ride, our early start (7:45am) meant that it was still pretty cool out, so my breathing was pretty ragged climbing up Old LaHonda. I was OK on the moderate grades and had them waiting for me when it got steep. A pattern that repeated later in the day as it got warmer, so it’s probably not really fair blaming my 22 minute time up Old LaHonda on it being cold.

Best reason to not ride quite-so-early to the coast? Because the Pescadero Bakery doesn’t open until 10am! Fortunately, the general store/coffee shop/bar just down the street opens earlier, so I was able to buy a coke to help with the grades on Stage Road. And yes, it was beautiful out there! No clouds, hardly the slightest breeze and not much traffic.

I’d be lying to say that I was looking forward to the Tunitas Creek climb; up to that point I’d taken a few pretty short pulls at the front but didn’t feel like I had my good stuff this morning. We held together until just past the Bridge of Death (the bridge over the creek on the right, just as it starts to get steep) and then I got to watch them charge up the hill while my world was literally swaying from side to side. About 15 minutes later I caught up to Andrew (on the upper, flatter part of Tunitas) and we paced ourselves back up to Todd and Mike, who’d been soft-pedaling for a while so they didn’t finish the climb a day ahead of us.

In the end about 58 miles, just over 15mph average speed (sure seemed faster than that!), and back before noon.

It was so nice climbing in nearly-balmy weather, warm enough that I was slightly overdressed. Kevin (my son, not the pilot) was apparently overdressed enough that he overheated less than a mile from the top and had a seizure, very unfortunate since he was heading towards one of his best times on the climb.

I’d prefer it if it weren’t quite so wet ont he descents though. Most of the guys don’t seem to mind much, but I’m just not comfortable with my tires sliding around on the rain stripes, probably because it’s been a very, very long time since I hit the deck so I’m riding a bit too conservatively.

In the totally-absurd category, just heard Roberta Gonzalez (Channel 5 weatherperson) say that the computer models aren’t showing any rain until February 10th???!!! That’s pretty unbelievable. While it’s not likely they’ll reopen Sonora Pass, it’s quite possible Ebbets (Highway 4) and Tioga (120) may give us some interesting opportunities in the weeks ahead.

It was on the climb up Kings where the contrast actually become a bit much for my tastes. The contrast between myself, admittedly weakened a bit by a cold that’s hung on for several weeks, and my son, who’s getting faster and faster. He got to the top of Kings wondering where 9 seconds went (27:08, a very good time for the middle of winter) while I got up just over two minutes later. It was less than a year ago, seriously, that we considered having Kevin start up a couple minutes earlier than the rest of the group.

Shadows & Fog. MikeF, KevinJ & Nigel rounding a corner on west-side Old LaHonda

Kevin pulling up to Frys Electronics in Palo Alto. It was only a matter of time before my bike found its way there.

Yuck. It was a great ride while it lasted; over a month since we’d last seen any rain, the longest stretch of dry weather I can remember. So instead of riding our Madones it was time to check out the rain bikes, which needed new brake pads, something I don’t have at home. No biggie; we rode down to the shop and got a bit of much-needed work done on them before heading back out onto the now-wet roads. Tunitas Creen was no longer in the cards, because I had to get back in time to pick up some hard drives at Frys. And that gave me the idea of using our bikes to avoid driving to Frys. Why not pick up the stuff via bike? Plenty of room in the rack bag for some hard drives and a copy of Windows 7, and why not walk through the place in cycling garb? The only thing I didn’t plan for was my inability to read product details without my reading glasses! Hate that.

After Frys we dropped in at Mike’s Bikes to check out how they’re doing things; now that we’ve got most of the remodel under our belt I feel a bit more secure visiting other dealers. Funny how that works. Graham, their manager, showed us around. Very nice guy; I should have asked if he’d be interested in attending the annual DC Bike Summit in March.

From there we rode home via The Loop, 48 degrees and raining and generally pretty comfortable… which caused us some amusement when, watching the 49er game later that day, the announcers were talking about the “miserable” conditions at the game… 52 degrees and raining. Wimps.

If you’re on our email list you’ll get something early next week promoting our grand reopening (never mind that we were never actually closed during the remodel, which was quite remarkable). I’m looking at this as the Bay Area’s newest bike shop is 32 years old!

We’ve still got more to do, and a now modern-looking facility that’s worthy of better upkeep (which means more sweeping & wiping & keeping things in their place). And I’m still trying to figure out where everything is, but remarkably, the most-significant thing that got lost in the transition was a paper shredder. Might have ended up in the massive pile of old electronic stuff we’ve collected over the past 24 years at this location.

Stop by and check out the place. Same friendly and helpful people as before, but a much nicer presentation. –Mike–

IT department? I am the IT department! Anyone thinking there’s enough money in the bike biz to pay employees for working with bikes and have someone else whose job it is to keep the computers running doesn’t know much about running a brick & mortar business these days.

So I go to bed last night with a non-functional website (not a great feeling) and wake up this morning to find this email-

Thanks for getting back to us. For your convenience, I have restored the disabled script to default. Please closely monitor your account so that it should not cause any issue on the server. We will also keep our monitoring parallel. For your recent modifications, we will not know immediately whether this has dropped your usage levels because resource usage statistics are cumulative over a 24 hour period. We will check your usage after 24 hours and update you if the modifications have helped to reduce the resource usage. 

At least the diary is back on-line, for now, but he tells me I have no way, in real-time, to discover the effects of any changes I might make. Kind of like saying you can work on the brakes on your car but won’t know until sometime tomorrow if, while driving, they might suddenly stop working. And for this I pay a premium monthly fee (compared to the various cheapie web hosting companies like “Go Daddy” and “1-2-3″ etc) for reliability.

Thank you, LunarPages.

So let's get this straight. It's literally feezing (32 degrees) outside, and we're out on our bikes, pretty comfy actually, while passed by a car with windows up, heater turned up to "7th level of Hell" setting, and the driver's wearing ear muffs. And probably complaining about it being cold.

The chart below shows this morning’s regular Tuesday-Thursday ride, and references distance, speed, climbing, heart-rate… all the usual things that the usual people use to determine how tough the ride was.

But is that really enough?

What about road conditions (clearly 100k on nicely-paved roads is a lot easier than the same distance on rutted trails), the bike you’re riding, and how you’re feeling on a given day? For the most part we compare road rides to other road rides, and off-road rides to other off-road rides, and how you’re feeling is pretty subjective. And for the bike, we’ll just assume everyone’s riding the fastest, smoothest-riding, best-handling bike there is (obviously, a Trek 6-Series Madone, which we’ll be happy to sell you!).

How about weather? If we want to come up with a truly insane ride, something epic, shouldn’t weather factor in? That’s where that last set of numbers come in. Temperature. A two-hour ride with an average temperature of 33F. Just one degree above freezing. A minimum temperature of 24.8F. Maximum 48.2 (probably just outside my east-facing garage, which the sun had heated up). How much cred do George, Kevin, Kevin, Eric, Todd and I get for riding when it’s that cold outside?

Truth be told, we were pretty comfortable, partly because we dressed appropriately (even stopping a couple times to add or remove windbreakers), partly because we know enough to ride at a consistent pace so the motor keeps the body warm but doesn’t run out of gas, and partly because we enjoy talking to each other about our recent rides (George just got back from the UCI Cyclocross Masters World Championships, where he took 8th place!) and what’s going on in our lives. Nevertheless, cold is a starkly-definable and easily-dealt-with adversity compared to the rain that is coming our way shortly.

It’s tough to assign a number or otherwise quickly define an epic rain ride. “It was crazy out there, trees blown down, rain so hard your eyes were constantly stinging from the sweat washing down  your forehead, and almost no cars on the road because sensible people were staying home rather than driving in that muck!” Yeah, I’ve had those rides, and during the 3 or 4 day window where people really remember what the weather had been like that day, you get substantial street cred. After that, it’s just another ride in the rain.

But a number defining the temperature doesn’t lie, and translates equally well to the physically-fit and the couch potato. 24.8 degrees. That’s a number that will define today’s ride tonight, tomorrow, next month, 5 years from now, without degredation. At least until I figure out a way to see if my Garmin is reading correctly and not 3-4 degrees too low, which might be the case.      –Mike–

Winter is beginning to seem more real with each passing day; the lower temperatures (low 40s everywhere but the coast) and winds remind us that there’s more to winter than just rain. The mental quandry is due to end shortly; rain by Thursday, or so they tell us.

Today’s route took us up Old LaHonda and down the other side, then out to San Gregorio where it finally warmed up to the mid-50s. Then it was south on Stage Road to Pescadero for lunch, followed by, for Kevin & Mike, a very fast run up Haskins Grade. Smokin’ fast, as in so fast I could only watch as they rode off. So fast that Kevin now “owns” the fastest time for the Haskins Grade climb (from the Pescadero side) for his weight class (180-199) and 4th fastest for his age (24 & under). Details here. The kid is getting way too fast!

An even-bigger accomplishment than Kevin’s was scored by Karen Brems, a fairly-regular member of our Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides, who today won the Masters UCI World Cycling Championship in the 50-54 age category! Obviously, if Kevin races Cyclocross next year, we know someone who can give him some pointers.

Normally we’d ride through Huddart Park on Thursdays, but this morning I wanted to keep an eye on my heart rate, which had been running higher than normal on Tuesday, so I was determined to see if I could keep it at 160 on the climbs. Almost; it crept up to 162 a few times, but by forcing myself to relax I kept it in a fairly normal range. Of course, that also gave me an excuse for not trying to keep up with the two Kevins, who ditched Eric and I about a third of the way up the hill.

That system check thing? Confirmed my worst fears. An excellent dinner the prior night, eating too much of something called Casole (I’m sure I slaughtered the spelling), with chocolate cake for desert, well, let’s just say my rear wheel had plenty of ballast to keep from spinning. The scale showed 2 pounds higher than Tuesday. Adding insult to injury, Strava says my “suffer score” was only 95, on a scale where anything under 100 is wimpy. Hey, I may not have been going really fast, but I was certainly suffering! Maybe now I know why some don’t ride with computers & heart monitors.

But this piece from his blog puts him on the very top pedestal in my book. What he does for that kid on the Alpe d’Huez is priceless.

The process is both lengthy and fast at the same time. It’s amazing, given the scope of the project, that it will all be done by the end of next week. That’s roughly a week longer than the initial timetable (two weeks of the “heavy” stuff will actually become three) but faster than any estimate I’d come up with on my own. Yes, little glitches here and there (like our vault door… what to do with it? The flooring won’t fit underneath, and it weighs more than a big truck so it’s not like we can lift it out!), but progress is sure and steady. That’s from my perspective. I’m sure Tim, the guy from Trek Retail Services division who’s in charge of things, sees things differently. He probably gets to spend far too much time focusing on things that aren’t going according to plan and doesn’t think about stepping back for a second and saying wow, this is pretty awesome. As a business owner, I can relate to that!

So for now, Tim, James & Brian, kick us out of the way when you need room, grab us when you need help, and thank you for lending your talents to a shop desperately in need of them! –Mike Jacoubowsky, Partner, Chain Reaction Bicycles

What, confused about me letting Kevin have the day off because he was “sore?” Let’s say that I strongly encouraged him to ride, pointing out that his muscles would feel better sooner if he rode. He wasn’t buying any of it, now claiming that he didn’t sleep much either. After a few minutes I gave up and headed off on my own, believing then, as I believe now, that he would have been a lot better off had he ridden. Yes, he’s got a tough dad.

Partway up Kings we met up with Marcus, and rode a reasonable pace to the top. Reasonable meaning that things split up into two groups, with Keith, Marcus & Karl up front, while Eric and I worked hard to find any remaining oxygen in their wake. It was a bit of an odd morning for the two of us in that Eric’s breathing sounded worse than mine (although my heart rate was running considerably higher than his, an indication that I’m not in the shape I should be).

But that Keith person. Nice guy. But deceptively fast. Deceptive in that he’s going to ride at whatever level his training calls for, so you can get the idea that he’s “normal” because he’s riding not that much faster than you are. But when push comes to shove, the guy has a motor, and when he switches it out of idle, watch out. I finally looked him up today on Strava. He “owns” 6 pages of KOMs. KOMs, for those not familar with Strava, are sections of roads where you have the fastest time. Of anybody. If you’re lucky, you can find something obscure and make it your own (or create a new one and “own” it until somebody else comes along). But Keith? He has 6 pages of them!

So it’s safe to say that he’s riding way below his level when I’m in the vicinity. Karl & Marcus & George & Chris & sometimes pilot Kevin might keep things interesting on a ride with him, but Me? I’m working my tail off to kepe his rear wheel in sight.

For those interested, the 10 day forecast still shows no rain, and all Sierra passes remain open. The absurdity of a ride in the Sierras in January remains possible.

Thankfully we’re receiving great help with the layout and execution from Trek’s retail store services division. This is way outside my area of comfort. I can diagnose some of the toughest problems on a bicycle with ease, but hanging a picture frame is about the extent of my home/shop-improvement capabilities! –Mike–

But it is winter, and someday it will rain. In the meantime, no reason to feel guilty about the lack of rain. There’s nothing we can do about it, other than pretend to be empathetic to your friends who ski (which is more than they’ll offer you when it seems too nasty outside to ride a bike but there’s great powder at Lake Tahoe).

This morning was really, really nice out. It was up into the 50s on Skyline, and Kevin, Kevin and Eric were willing to ride at a pace I could (mostly) sustain. Mostly? Yeah, I lost contact on the steeper pitch heading up through Huddart Park, and then again when it got steep towards the end. The two Kevins (my son & the pilot) stayed together to the top, while I struggled to try and stay with Eric. I’d like to believe that I’m still a bit slow due to the cold I’ve got, and I’m happy that I didn’t lose as much time to Kevin today as he lost to me on Tuesday.

To check your rim for wear, hold a straight edge across it (in this photo, a tire lever was used) and see how much it's worn away in the center. Many/most modern rims will have wear indicators you can look for; they're often little indented dots which will disappear (because they've worn down) when the rim is too thin to be safe.

How does this happen? If you ride in the rain, you pick up a mixture of road crud, water and ground brake pad that is as abrasive as sandpaper, so every time your brake is applied, you’re wet-sanding the rim. Gradually the rim becomes thinner, and eventually gets to the point that it’s no longer strong enough to hold the tire in place. That’s when it literally explodes.

It’s hard to remember what a normal winter is like; we haven’t seen rain in so long we’ve forgotten about last year! If you did ride your bike anytime between November and late May last year, chances are you rode in the rain. Many people who normally wouldn’t ride in the rain eventually gave up and did ride, because the dry days were few & far between. As a result, we’re seeing a lot more seriously rain-damaged bikes (not just wheels, but chains, cassettes and cranks too) than we’d normally expect.

We need to be really clear about the fact that riding in the rain drastically accelerates wear & tear on your bike, especially high-performance bikes. One mile in the rain damages your bike at least as much as 100 miles on a normal (dry) day. Sometimes even worse. For those of us who ride no-matter-what, the smart thing is to have your “nice” bike and a separate “rain” bike. The “rain” bike is usually the bike you rode before buying your new cool lighter/faster/smoother machine, a bike that’s not meant to be pretty but needs to be basically functional. You’re going to install fenders on it, wider tires (yes, they slow you down but you need more traction in the wet) and cheap wheels, because the rims are going to wear out pretty fast. Sorry, there’s nothing you can do about that, short of using a bike with disc brakes. You’re going to be replacing chains and cassettes and chainrings far more often, due to wear, than on your nice bike… the but price of the parts will be far cheaper, because you’re not worried about weight, you’re worried about stuff that works.

But for now, go check the rims on your bike and see what they look like. You don’t want your wheel to explode on you. For what it’s worth, I go through a set of rims every 18 months or so on my rain bike. Desending from Skyline in the rain does that; and if you want to accelerate the process absurdly, descend Kings Mtn in the rain. Why Kings Mtn? Because there’s no point where you can let off the brakes. You’re grinding away the rim the entire descent. On 84, the more-gradual grade means you use the brakes less and wind resistance helps to slow you down as well. How bad is Kings? I’ve gone through a set of brake shoes on just one descent.