Tag Archives: cycling

If you didn’t record the ride, did it really happen?

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No leg warmers, no base layers, no jacket required. Gotta like it! Too many to mention this morning but most of the usual suspects showed up. Relatively-tame on the climb, although I dropped off a bit with Kevin, hoping that a slightly-more-moderate pace might help keep his seizures at bay (he had none this ride, only some double-vision which is caused by his meds from time to time).

OK, getting to the issue of whether something actually happened if you didn’t record it. I’m hooked on technology; I carry an iPhone4s, Garmin 800 GPS computer, Trek Node 1 computer, Contour Roam video camera and often a separate Fuji EX200r camera as well. But what do you do with all that information? Why Strava it, of course. Uploading your rides to Strava you can compete against yourself and anybody else who has ever done any particular segment of your ride. That’s right, Strava automatically times you, starting & stopping at the relevant points as determined by your GPS unit (whether iPhone or Adroid or Garmin).

Check out the page I’ve put up for “Club” Chain Reaction. Quite a few of my Sunday 60-110 milers, along with a couple of the Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides. You might find something in there that looks a bit different than you’ve done before and give it a try. Or you might want to compare your own times to those of others… many, many, many others. It really is addictive.

And there’s another site you can upload your rides to, and have good deeds come from it. Plus3Network (that link will show you my Mt. Hamilton ride) gives credit to various charitable organization for each mile you ride, with the money coming from Sponsors like us, and going to the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition or Team in Training.

I’m hooked. Chances are you will be too. Both +3 and Strava offer free iPhone apps (probably Android too) that make it easy. Keep in mind elevation data won’t be as accurate; the iPhone overestimated the climbing on Sunday’s Mt. Hamilton loop by about 500ft, which is pretty typical of units that don’t have a barometer built in (like the Garmin 500 & 800).

It’s what I do & who I am

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The Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride on the lower section of west-side Old LaHonda

How do we define ourselves? Is it the things we’ve accumulated over the years? Our education? How much we weigh, whether our hair has turned gray (if it’s there at all), having to wear reading glasses… ok, this is heading more towards defining our age. I think that’s a guy thing, or at least guys spend a lot of time talking about getting older. If women do spend time talking about this stuff, it’s not around guys. Getting back to the subject…

I ride bikes. That, aside from family stuff, is really what defines me. Sure, my brother and I own a pair of bike shops, and I’ve had to become much more savvy as a business person over the years to keep things afloat in a world that has increasingly less room for error. But if I were suddenly transported into another culture, an alien planet, or maybe Arkansas, it would ultimately be my cycling that defined me.

Today’s definition included the usual Tuesday ride up Kings, stopping for a few minutes halfway up while Kevin (my son, not the pilot) had a seizure (which happens more often than not lately), followed by an enjoyable dash across Skyline, descent on 84 towards the coast for a few miles, then the always-pretty ride up west-side Old LaHonda before diving back down into Woodside.

I wasn’t feeling great for the first part of the ride; something about 53 degrees showing on the bike computer that explained why my lungs were working worse than usual, but finished fairly strong, including the final sprint at Albion, contested primarily by Kevin (my son, not the pilot) who surprised me by flying past early. Thankfully too early, because I was able to come up to his rear wheel for a moment or two, giving me just enough draft to slingshot past at the line. It was close. Too close. But a win is a win. I’m not dead yet.

I am a cyclist. It’s what I do & who I am.  –Mike–

 

68 miles, 7200ft of climbing, it should’ve seemed easier than it was!

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Stage Road between San Gregorio and Highway 1

It didn’t seem like that tough a ride. Head up Page Mill, down the other side to Pescadero, Stage Road to Tunitas Creek and back. Nothing convoluted. But what we didn’t count on was much-warmer temperatures (high-80s, not hot by any means) and forgetting that Page Mill towards the beginning of a ride is just plain rude.

Kevin continues to ride strongly, but our idea of caffeine holding off his seizures didn’t work out as he had two on this ride, one about 2/3rds of the way up Page Mill, and another one much later, about 2/3rds of the way up Tunitas. The first one left him a bit groggy but on Tunitas, he couldn’t wait to get back up on the bike and continue the climb; his total down time was almost exactly a minute, and having recently passed a number of other cyclists on the way up, he wanted to make sure they didn’t have a chance to catch back up.

Oh, guess I should point out that a bit earlier, he had dropped me on the climb and it looked like he was gone for good, but I gradually began to claw my way back up to him, doing the best Levi Leipheimer imitation I could muster.

The high point of the ride? Seeing so many of our customers out there on bikes we’ve sold them, some of them recently, some of them 20 years old.

Marcus- nice guy or cruel sadist?

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I had expectations of a kinder, gentler ride this morning. Why not? It was Thursday (and Thursday rides are supposed to be easier-paced than Tuesdays), Kevin (my son, not the pilot) was home with a cold, and at the start of the ride, it’s just me, Eric, Karl & Mike, picking up Marcus along the way and Millo further up the hill. The dynamics of the group are such that Marcus and either Karl or Mike might key off each other and bolt up the hill, so I did have some understandable fear & trepidation.

Since it’s a Thursday we did the through-the-park option, delayed slightly by the bottom gate being closed, requiring a dismount & squeeze (not for everyone though; don’t remember, might have been Marcus that deftly squeezed through the narrow spot to the right of the gate without getting off his bike). It was a moderate pace to the upper park entrance, just a few seconds over 10 minutes (by contrast, it takes 7:45-9:00 minutes the “normal” way). We quickly regrouped and were off again, this time with me sitting on Marcus’s wheel. Why? Good question. Partly defensive; if I’m on his wheel, someone faster isn’t, so there’s less incentive for him to really push the pace. Nevertheless we gradually pulled away, with me wondering how long I could hang with him before blowing up.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Marcus rides very smoothly, and if he’s not trying to ditch you, and notices you’re falling off a bit, he doesn’t just sit up and wait, but instead slows down just a bit, allowing you to claw your way back up to him at your own speed. You could say he’s allowing you to perfect your Levi skills (Levi Leipheimer is known for getting dropped during hard accelerations on steep grades, but instead of becoming discouraged or working too hard and blowing up, he grinds away at a sustainable pace and catches up to those who dropped him. This works because the hard accelerations that allowed the other guys to drop him also put them into their reserves so deeply that they have to slow down and recover).

In the end my time was 28:16, which if I extrapolate for the normal route up the hill, would have been a darned good time. Could not have happened without Marcus (and the new, lighter me probably helps a bit too). –Mike–

If I call out “Car Back” could you please move over?

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It would be easier to skip this entry and not risk offending anyone, but there are cyclists out there making my time on the road more dangerous and more difficult because… they’re rude? Indifferent? Feel priviledged?

On Monday’s ride (the 94 mile figure-8 to Boulder Creek) Kevin and I were heading up 9 on the return to Skyline, about halfway between Waterman Gap and the top, when we came across a couple of guys out for their own ride in the same direction. Riding two across, they were taking up at least half of the lane on a road with very fast-moving cars. I understand the idea of being social and riding next to someone else; I do it often with Kevin, because it’s easier to carry on a conversation. But when I hear a car coming up, I immediately drop back and get in line behind him. Why? Because it’s safer, and because there’s no reason a cyclist should cause others to go out of their way or get delayed when there’s no good reason to. It’s called sharing the road. Continue reading →

One of us felt better than expected this morning. The other…

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I went to bed Monday night with no small amount of fear & trepidation, wondering how I’d feel after the tough ride out to Boulder Creek. Surprisingly, while my legs didn’t feel “fresh” they did feel like they wanted to go places! And go they did, heading up Kings with the fast crowd, eventually getting to the front and making it to the park entrance before anyone else. Of course, neither Chris nor Marcus was there, but still, anytime I can get to the park entrance around 7 minutes 30 seconds I’m moving pretty good.

Unfortunately, Kevin wasn’t. I looked around, saw some familiar faces, but no sign of Kevin. I waved the rest of the guys on ahead and about a minute or so later, Kevin appeared, not looking like he was really enjoying life. We rode up about a mile or so, not terribly fast, and down he goes, one of those seizures that hits him without much notice. Worse, he went down on the right (the derailleur) side of the bike! Fortunately no damage, but he rode the rest of the way up the hill a bit groggy and suffered from the double vision that his meds sometimes induce.

By the time we got to the top of Kings the rest of the guys were long gone (we’d be warned ahead of time by fast-guy Jon, who was riding back down the hill) so we decided to follow the usual route to Sky Londa and then trace the west-side Old LaHonda loop backwards to run into the group again. Kevin hadn’t yet come out of the fog, so we once again waved the group on and tried something that seems to help him- a good dose of Caffeine, this time in the form of a bottled Starbucks Frappaccino drink from the market. Amazingly, this seemed to do the trick! Caffeine may be the key to clearing his head, with today’s effect mirroring that of Monday’s stop at the Starbucks in Los Altos. We’ll shortly be stocking the ‘fridge at home with bottled Starbucks Frappaccinos, one to be had before each ride. Hoping it works! –Mike–

Started out questionably, stuck to the plan, worked out in the end (94 miles, 9000ft of climbing)

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The day didn’t start out so well; Kevin was having some dizziness, likely caused by his various meds, causing him to be pretty wobbly and slow on his bike for a while. The planned ride (remember, there’s always a plan) was a 94 mile figure-8 heading down through the foothills to Steven’s Creek, up Redwood Gulch to 9, 9 up to Skyline, south on Skyline to Bear Creek, descend to Boulder Creek and return via China Grade, Highway 9 & Skyline. A bit convoluted but Kevin prefers that I try to create something new & different each time, and got to tell you, after a few years that becomes pretty tough!

It should have taken about 1 hour 20 minutes, no longer, to get to Steven’s Creek & Foothill. Should have. Today, it took 2 full hours, and a whole lot of patience as Kevin just couldn’t get much speed going. What to do. I went for broke. Drugs. Caffeine might do the trick, so we stopped off at the Starbucks outside our Los Altos store and downed a pair of Grande Mochas (White Mocha for Kevin, Caramel Macchiato for me).

It worked.

Mr. Mustard at Skyline & 9. Note the woman on the left with the interesting bottle holder.

By the time we got to the base of Redwood Gulch, which I feared we’d be walking up, Kevin was kicking into full-on mode, up to the challenge and riding stronger as he climbed. No world records, but it wasn’t as if I didn’t have to work pretty hard at his pace. We made it up to Skyline feeling pretty good, snagged a pair of cokes at Mr. Mustard (more caffeine) and headed south on Skyline. A bit of climbing but pretty easy, followed by some narrow twisty rollers to Bear Creek.

Bear Creek. Yuck. I originally wanted to do East Zayante, but that would have added too many miles, so that was killed in the early planning stages. The problem with Bear Creek are the cars. Evil nasty cars that tailgate you on the steep descents, sometimes blasting their horns, sometimes just flipping you off as they fly past. Today it was the latter. Bear Creek is not, repeat not, a road I’d recommend to inexperienced cyclists who might get rattled by obnoxious motorists. Oh, one more reason to not like Bear Creek- Kevin got a flat tire near the top of it.

In Boulder Creek was snagged more cokes at the local store before heading out towards China Grade for the long haul back up to Skyline. China Grade didn’t disappoint; it was as steep and nasty as ever, but fortunately, not nearly as warm as the mid-90s we saw in the Boulder Creek area. Still, I was a bit concerned how much Kevin had left in him, but the subsequent run up 9 showed there was no need. We started up pretty easily, but about halfway through I picked up the pace, hard, and Kevin stayed glued to my wheel all the way to the top. I was pretty close to redline and couldn’t have gone much faster. The plan (remember, always a plan) was to get to Skyline before Mr. Mustard left, but even though it was just 5:05pm when we arrived, he was gone. Darn. No late-ride hot dog!

Thankfully, there’s a coke machine (acutally Pepsi) at the Saratoga Gap fire station, but today it wasn’t taking dollar bills. That was when Mr. Wonderful stepped in. A fireman stationed there opened up the machine to snag Kevin a Mtn Dew. With that we were fully fueled up and kept a good head of steam the rest of the way home. Had it not been for that first really slow two hours, the stats would have been pretty impressive!

Riding a bike is easy. Running is hard.

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"Running lady" on Canada Road

Sometimes I wonder why I would want to get up earlier than I have to so I can go climb a hill on legs that often protest “Why me?” right from the start. I’m reminded of pro cycling extraordinaire Jens Voight, who, when asked how he keeps going when he’s tired, tell his legs to “Shut up!” His legs seem to listen better than mine. Still, cycling is easy compared to running, where every step connects to the pavement and requires force to push forward. No way to “coast”, downhills as painful as uphill (or even worse if you’re clumsy on your feet like me), and if you ease off the pace for a bit to rest, it’s obvious, while on your bike, you still look like you’re going places. Continue reading →

While the racers are suffering…

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Somewhere in France two Americans are stuffing themselves silly before embarking on a challenging afternoon (and evening?) ride through the Vercors region. We arrived by train in a small town miles from nowhere (St Haire/Nazaire, a town so nice they named it twice) and now will ride 65 miles back to Grenoble. With as much as we’ve eaten, we won’t have to worry about bonking!20110716-020323.jpg

Life at 35,000ft

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The plan was to have all the loose ends tied up early so I could get to bed at a reasonable hour and do the regular Thursday morning ride before leaving for the airport. That plan was laid to waste by the big sale that starts Friday; way too much stuff to get done, and just when I was about to write off one of the biggest tasks (new hangtags for every bike on sale) I had an epiphany.

Seriously. A real live epiphany. As in, I’d been fighting this one for some time, it really seemed beyond my technical abilities, and then, at 9pm, I realized I had already written an SQL query that was doing almost the exact same thing! And thus began a three hour ordeal in which I did get the job done, but got to bed sometime past 2am.

And I have to get up for the ride at 7.

So I went to bed thinking Kevin would appreciate the opportunity to sleep in (I always have to wake him up) but at 7:03am there he is next to the bed, saying “Aren’t you getting up?” And for the briefest of moments I was thinking, 4 hours sleep, but how can I rationalize missing the ride? Then I remembered that I’d forgotten to bring my bike back home from the shop (I planned to pick it up around 11pm, naively thinking I’d be done by then). Saved! But Kevin went on his own and had a very nice ride.

I got going earlier than I wanted to, not really sleeping after Kevin left, but clearly not coherent because on the way to the airport we realize we left the cytomax at home… Not quite fatal but close… and then after checking out bags Kevin asks where the backpack with the camera gear is. Um, er,… Quick call to Becky who does another round trip to the airport and delivers both camera bag AND cytomax, literally saving the trip. We might be able to live with a substitute for Cytomax (although we didn’t want to find out!) but it’s not like we can go out and buy $2000 in extra camera gear.

And why is the camera gear so important? Because if it’s not documented in words and photos, it didn’t happen. Simple as that!

Turns out to have been a good thing we didn’t get to the airport early and catch the earlier flight, since that flight was delayed an hour and we wouldn’t have made our connection at Dulles. So maybe my lack of a brain this morning worked out for the best. Although it was more an issue of preoccupation with work stuff that messed things up. Hey, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

9:55pm Made it on plane to Frankfurt and had enough time to set up mobile hotspot and send files from laptop. Close but worked! Bye until Frankfurt- Mike