OneGearOnly

Giving Back….

2012-02-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of years our riding group has been involved with a really cool charity. Turning Wheels for Kids (http://www.turningwheelsforkids.org/). They assemble and donate bikes for under privileged kids that otherwise wouldn’t get a bike.

Founder Susan Runsvold recognized for her work

The majority of the giving happens at Christmas time following the Big Bike Build, but from what I understand, there are bikes given out at other times of the year as well.

Our involvement to date has been at the Big Bike Build which, in addition to doing something good, is a tremendous amount of fun. This year, I think they said there were 900 volunteers who helped assemble and give away 2400 bikes. It’s an amazing site. You walk in the morning of the build to an empty building with nothing but boxes down the middle aisle. Then at the end of the day, the boxes are gone and replaced by 2400 sparkling new bikes….

This year though, several of us are taking our involvement to a deeper level as we’re helping to launch the Tri-Valley Chapter of Turning Wheels for Kids. Our goal is fairly aggressive in that we’re hoping to buy, assemble and donate 400 bikes this coming December.

I’ve always believed in the phrase that for those to whom much is given, much is expected and I really enjoy being able to help support causes or charities I believe in. I feel like my family has been abundantly blessed and giving back is the least we can do. This though, is a whole new experience for me. I’ve never really been involved in something like this, at this level. The planning required and the fund raising to be done seem almost overwhelming when I sit down and look at the list. The good thing is though, that I’m not alone. We have a very smart, committed group of people that are going to work to pull this off. And, of course, we have the resources of the founding Turning Wheels board to help us get this thing rolling.

It’s actually pretty exciting to be a part of something like this although I know it’s going to be a lot of work and a really great learning experience. We’ll be reaching out to local corporations as partners, working with various groups for both donations from them and others who will be asking for bikes to be donated and all the while focusing on helping kids get a bicycle…..what could be cooler than a bunch of cyclists helping get kids on bikes of their own?

Stay tuned, as things move forward you’ll be hearing more about it here….

A Degree in Medicine Leads to Great Advice....

2012-01-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

“Well, it’s not showing any sign of healing so obviously the ultrasonic bone stimulator isn’t working” These words were spoken by my orthopedic surgeon for this my 8th visit and after 28 weeks of “healing”

Evidently, as she explained it, the clavicle is a notoriously slow healer due to low blood flow in the area and as many as 15% of fractures end up as a non-union after 6 months. So, I’m in good company and completely normal (my wife may disagree with that)

My next question was, obviously “well, what now?” At which point she suggested we talk to the head orthopedic surgery guy and she went to get him. After talking to him, showing that I had full range of motion, wasn’t having any pain (which surprised him) and felt good, he basically said, it’s up to you… We can do surgery, which entails putting in a titanium plate and a bunch of screws. (I asked if it came in carbon fiber but he obviously isn’t a cyclist cuz he didn’t even crack a smile) or we can leave it be.

Now, since I’m kind of a bottom line guy and since he wasn’t really offering any suggestions, I really wanted to discuss both options with the hope of coming to a decision. Sort of like the upside/downside lists I tend to make when confronted with big decisions.

Me – so, lets explore both of these options - surgery?
Head Ortho Surgery Guy - Surgery would involve about 6-8 weeks off the bike while it healed and would result in the bones lining back up and being reinforced.
Me – What happens if I crash after surgery (I mean, it’s bound to happen right?)
Head Ortho Surgery Guy – Well, with the plate in there the break is reinforced but the bones on either side will most likely fracture
Me – Ok, what if I don’t do surgery?
Head Ortho Surgery Guy – if we leave it alone, you go on your merry way, there’s no downtime, but the bones would be out of line and not reinforced
Me – What happens if I crash?
Head Ortho Surgery Guy - Without the plate, the break isn’t reinforced and the bones on either side of the break will most likely fracture
Me – So, as I understand it, either way, another bad crash and something there will break, but if I have surgery I have to stay off the bike for 6-8 weeks?
Head Ortho Surgery Guy – yep
Me – what do you suggest?
Head Ortho Surgery Guy – I suggest you try not to crash....

And there you have it…..it’s simple really…..Just try not to crash….

The decision seems pretty simple. I'm not in pain, I can ride my bike and whether or not I have surgery, I should avoid crashing(which I do anyway).....so, I'm skipping the surgery and riding my bike. Why would I want to go under the knife if the end result is going to be the same and all it will do is take me off the bike for 8 weeks?

Winter.....sorta....

2012-01-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

With the exception of last week’s rain, this year’s winter weather has been mild to say the least. It seems more like Fall is 6 months long. Which should be a great thing for my fitness level since, were I so inclined, I could probably ride 7 days a week.

The reality though is that I think my body knows it’s winter and despite the clear skies, has decided it would be better off hibernating. My motivation level is at an all time low, my eating habits are at an all time high and my waistline and weight are at record levels….levels not seen in years.

Normally, this isn’t such a bad thing. During a normal winter, most of my riding friends are in the exact same boat and we all use the same “weather sucks too bad to ride” excuse. This year though, I fear it’s just me. Most of my friends are actually taking advantage of the mild weather and riding as much as they can.

I have gotten a couple of rides in though. Two weeks ago, my buddy Chris and I played hooky from work and took the mountain bikes down to Santa Cruz and rode Demo Forest. The last time I had been here was back in 2008 which is crazy since it’s an amazing place to ride and only an hour from home. This time though, the results were much better than the last time we rode it.

The nice part about mid-week rides (and mid-week ski days for that matter) is that the places you go are usually pretty empty. Thursday was no exception. There were two other cars in the parking lot with the people from both those cars pedaling off in the opposite direction as we pulled up.

Chris and I got set and headed out pedaling up the road and around the backside of the park to the top of the hill. The funny thing is this is supposed to be the easy way up and due to my “winter” fitness level, I was breathing hard pretty much right out of the gate.

Eventually my heart rate seemed to settle down and as we got to the top we got ready to enjoy the fruits of our labors with some nice singletrack downhill. The funny thing was the fire road just continued down and we didn’t see the singletrack trail that we were expecting to see.
Well after heading way further down the road than we planned, we realized our error and turned around to head back up the way we had come…..good thing I LOVE climbing….except in winter when I’m fat and slow and lazy….

Eventually though, we did reach the bottom of the downhill, which is actually about 3 miles and several hundred feet below the parking lot we started in…..funny I didn’t remember this part being ALL uphill last time….

At this point, it was about 1:30 and having had breakfast at 5:30 that morning, I could tell I was nearing the “completely outta gas” stage. I had a granola bar in my camelback, but didn’t want to stop to eat, I just wanted to get back to the truck….unfortunately, my body DID want to stop and since I ignored it, it decided to shut down on me. I continued riding and making circles with my legs, but there was nothing in the tank. Every incline reduced me to my granny gear and as Chris continued to pull ahead, I could do nothing to catch him.

Thankfully we eventually made it back and after chatting with the other 3 riders who also made it back around the same time, got on the road and headed home. 1 gatorade a banana and 2 granola bars later, I almost felt human. So human, that when I got home, I grabbed my lights, refilled my camelback and headed over to Chabot to meet the gang for the Thursday night ride.

It quickly became apparent though that I’m not nearly the macho, 2 ride per day stud that I thought I was. I barely survived Brandon, doing the whole thing in my granny and pulling up to the top well after the rest of the group. It was there that I actually made a good decision to take the short way back and let the group continue without me. (see mom, I do make good choices once in a while)

All in all I ended up with about 23 miles and almost 4000ft of climbing for the day….needless to say, after a shower and some grub, I slept like the dead…..

Whose idea was this???

2012-01-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

It's 36 degrees, pitch dark and there's not another car in the parking lot.....what am I doing at Lake Chabot at 6:15 on a Saturday morning.....
Oh, that's right, I wanted to try out the new Contour helmet camera and get some sunrise shots from the top of Brandon....I'm literally shivering as I put on my helmet, turn on my handlebar light, clip and begin pedaling towards ten-hills...maybe I should have skipped the sunrise idea....

I make a point of reaching up and turning on the camera at the beginning of every downhill section. Satisfied to hear the beep indicating I actually did turn it on through my thick full fingered gloves....then turn it off as I begin the uphill portions. No sense in letting everyone see just how slow I climb.

I'm huffing and puffing pretty quickly and after the first couple of short climbs I'm no longer worried about the cold. Although my toes are still freezing, my baselayer, long sleeve jersey, shorts and knee-warmers have me pretty comfortable as I negotiate the trail in the darkness with my handlebar light illuminating the frost along the trails edge.

As I cut through the golf course parking lot, I receive some pretty weird looks from the golfers who, in my opinion are even more nuts for being out here in the cold to chase a little white ball around the frozen course. I mean, they won't even expend enough energy to get warm....I begin the climb up Brandon and I'm racing daylight......the barely discernible glow over the eastern hills pushing me beyond my comfort zone as I upshift and stand in an effort to make sure I'm at the turnout before the colors start to show in the sky.

I make it to the top just as the sky starts to catch fire from the coming sunrise....the colors exploding across the horizon as wisps of fog cling to the lower valleys. I try to pull of my gloves, unzip the camera case and slow my breathing enough to get a stable shot all at the same time as I claim my victory in the race for daylight.....and am rewarded with maybe two nice shots and several that are blurry from my shaking hands and ragged breathing.

The sunrise warms things slightly although my toes have still failed to thaw as I begin pedaling up Redtail narrating in my head, the video I'll put together at the end of the ride and thinking of suitable soundtracks to capture the energy and the enthusiasm of this morning's ride. I'm pretty slow going up so I make sure to stop the video before every climb and reach up to turn it back on at the beginning of the descents.

I push the envelope a bit on the downhills, knowing the video will be seen by people that ride these same trails both faster and better than I do, but hoping the blur of the scenery is enough to at least fool the viewers into thinking I have some semblence of skill. At one point I come around a corner on Soaring Hawk mostly in control and scatter a rafter of turkeys.....(yes, a rafter, I looked it up, a group of turkeys is really called a rafter) I make a point of turning my head to watch them fly up into the trees knowing that this will be a very cool part of the video.

As I cut down through Bort Meadow and back to the stone bridge, I'm getting tired. I stop, take the required "Bike Shot" and wolf down a clif bar. Its funny just how hard these things get when they're frozen.....

As I wind back around the lake and up the hill to the parking lot, I see that it's much busier now, almost half full and with several riders gearing up to head out. Its only as I take off my helmet and grab the video camera that I notice.....oh crap....you gotta be kidding me....yep...it's true....I just did the whole entire loop with the lense cap still on the video camera.....

Oh well, it gives me an excuse to do it again and at least I had the other camera with me for some still shots...

The Last Group Ride of 2011…..done solo…

2011-12-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

I knew as soon as the emails started flying yesterday afternoon that I’d probably be riding alone last night. The excuses were flying fast and loose with pretty much everyone deciding they were too sick or too tired or too whatever….and that was ok with me.

There was no way that, after surviving Christmas and the week that followed, I was going to not ride. You see, riding for me is about so much more than exercise….for me, its therapy, anti-depressants, exercise, self esteem classes and anger management all rolled into one nice little ball of pain and suffering…..

As I arrived at the parking lot Jer and Bob were coming up the hill having just finished their loop. We also ran in to Raj who I haven’t seen in a while, but has been riding pretty regularly. After chatting a bit they went home and I headed out on the trail. The sun had gone down and the fog had rolled in, and although a bit damp, the weather was perfect for the base layer, long sleeve jersey and shorts I had on.

The first section, although not having any long climbs has a couple of short steep sections that got the legs warmed up and the heart pounding. It’s here that I check in for my appointment with the therapist. The short climbs allow me to focus on my stress, anger, anxiety, whatever and really try to kill myself in an effort to flush out the system. There’s no time for thinking or rationalizing…it’s just a brute force attack on my body to get the blood flowing….

Later as I start up Brandon, the therapy takes a different tack. It’s a long slow grind that allows me to push myself but also provides time to be a little more contemplative. I try to keep a pace that while keeping my heart rate up, also allows me to think about things and process all the crap that keeps bouncing around in my head. It’s actually a balancing act….too fast and hard and all I can think about is the pain, too slow and I feel like I’m wasting my time….

I arrive at the top of Brandon pretty well spent and ready to allow my heart to recover. It’s here that I usually begin actually enjoying the ride. Tonight, it’s here that I realize just how dark it is….and how alone I am….better reel in the attitude and slow things down a bit on the downhill….a crash out here would really ruin my evening.

I continue on through the ups and downs, passing lots of deer and an enormous owl, until eventually coming to a point where with the moon trying to peek out of the fog above me and the lake below me I pull over, turn off my light and let the quiet and the darkness envelope me. The sense of calm and quiet is almost overwhelming. Gone are the emotions, the frustrations and the stress of the week replaced instead by a feeling of contentment and thankfulness for the blessings in my life that allow me to get out on my bike on a fairly regular basis.

Eventually I mount back up, turn on my light and begin the rest of the ride. From here back, it will be about exercise, pushing my legs and my lungs to the point of failure in the hopes that this is making me stronger and faster, better able to keep up with the group on our next ride…..

As I eventually make it back to the marina, it dawns on me that I haven’t seen one other person the entire loop. This is strange as I always see other riders and/or hikers. Even the fishing docks normally busy in the evening with those that are still willing to exercise their right to go out and kill their dinner, are quiet tonight….it could be that it’s cold and damp and dark or it could be that the universe has decided that tonight, more so than most other nights, I needed to be alone…completely and totally alone as I swept out the cobwebs, crap and trash from the upstairs storage….

Good Bye 2011

2011-12-29T14:03:00.000-08:00

As we come to the end of 2011 I was struck by the fact that for my family especially and for several of our close friends, this was kind of a rough year….

With the economy being what it is, some health challenges and some personal challenges, it’s easy to look back on 2011 and think that I’m not only glad it’s over, but hope that 2012 is much, much better.

To stop there though, would be a mistake. It’s easy to look back on a tough year and point out all of the issues, challenges, problems and negative things with which we’ve had to deal. If I spend just a little more time though, and really think about the year, it’s pretty darn easy to see that overall we truly have been blessed this past year as well.

Both my wife and I have been fairly healthy this year with no major illness, we both have stable jobs, our house, through dropping in value with the rest of the country isn’t so far upside down that we’re forced to move, both of my daughters have found good, decent paying jobs that they don’t hate, my youngest has started a new chapter in her life by moving out with a couple of her friends, my oldest has two amazing kids that we are blessed to spend a lot of time with, and although I haven’t ridden as much as I would have liked this past year, I still managed to get out at least once per week and most weeks it was twice.

The other point about making it through a challenging year is that you come out the other side better and stronger for having survived it. I know in our family each of us has had our faith tested and strengthened.
In the same way that fire purifies gold, the testing of our individual faiths has strengthened and deepened them. My oldest, who had a very challenging year personally, has blossomed into a mighty woman of faith that not only knows that God loves her, but believes it and lives it at the very core of her being. My youngest having seen not only her sister but one of her good friends struggle this year, has also not only been strengthened through the experience but has shown an amazing capacity for kindness, love and and support.
My wife and I similarly have learned that when the challenges seem to be too much, we can give the battle over to God and he will help us to get through it.

So, do I hope that 2012 is a better year than 2011? Absolutely!
Do I wish I hadn’t gone through the challenges we faced in 2011? Mostly.
Do I know that no matter what we’re faced with in the coming year that we’ll be able to get through it relying on God, our family and our friends? Without a doubt!

So, good riddance 2011 and Bring it On 2012…..we’re ready for whatever you throw at us…..

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Diablo on the Dirt…..

2011-12-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday after church, I talked Jerry and Paciano into joining me on an exploratory ride up Mt Diablo on the mountain bikes. I’ve ridden this mountain a bunch of times, but always on the road. And it’s always tough….

I knew that the trail version of this climb would be tough. My hope though was that with the lower gearing afforded by the mountain bike, it wouldn’t be quite as bad as the road bike with a compact double….(funny, as I type this I’m surprised it sounded so logical in my head)

We started at the Athenian school at the bottom of the hill and followed the road into the park. Just past the entrance to the park, the summit trail is just off the left side of the road. I assumed that we would be following a nice wide fireroad from here up the mountain. Boy was I wrong. The first section as you turn off the pavement is a fun, swoopy singletrack that weaves along the canyons for about a mile. It was a very pleasant surprise!
At the end of that though, you cross a bridge and turn on to a fireroad that goes up…..and up….and up some more……eventually popping out on pavement up near Rock City.
We did stop once on the way up to take pictures (not because my heart was going to explode or anything, just to take pictures) but other than that, it’s a tough upward slog which should pay off nicely when we come back down.

From just above Rock City you cross the road and get back on to the Summit trail and continue up. Nothing steep or crazy, but up, always up until we came to another scenic stop where you actually look down on Rock City and most of the bay area.

It was here that we decided to turn around. I was told (with the promise of death and dismemberment if I failed) that I had to be home by 4:30 in order to take the grandkids to the Zoo Lights and I wasn’t about to risk raising the ire of my wife, daughter and grandkids.

The benefit to all the climbing was that now and for the next 5 miles we could get away with pretty much not pedaling at all….and it was awesome! The fireroad is wide, offers lots of little bumps and ledges to get air if you’re in to that kind of thing and offers a great sightline so there’s very little fear of running in to a hiker or cyclist coming up the trail.

Sooner than I would have thought we were back at the wooden bridge where we crossed over to the singletrack back to the start. I had really enjoyed the singletrack section on the way up never really realizing that it was slightly uphill the whole way. It was only as I continued to need to use my brakes on the way out that I realized it was even more fun going this direction. The trail just swoops and swerves along the edge of the hillside following the contours of the canyon…..it’s like an E ticket ride at Disneyland (although hardly anyone even knows what that means anymore)

We arrived back at the parking lot grinning from ear to ear, tired but totally wishing we had time to go further and explore more of this amazing park.....a 10 mile ride wasn't nearly enough for a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, but it would have to do....I had grandkids that were expecting me....

Sunday afternoon ride...

2011-12-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

The week before last I was thinking of exploring Mt Diablo's mountain bike trails. I've never ridden up there other than the road and am really curious about the trails. Unfortunately, I fear my fitness is not at the same level as my curiosity so I decided to do the road bike instead.

I was able to con Jack and Lynn to join me in the "fun" and we agreed to meet at the bottom of the hill after I was done with church. Turns out the post-service socializing took longer than planned and I found myself running late. I texted both Jack and Lynn to let them know and Lynn agreed to wait. Jack said we could "catch him on the hill"

It was a gorgeous day for the first weekend in January. Clear and cool, but sunny. This made for nice weather riding up the hill with some amazing views of the bay. You could see San Francisco, one tower of the Golden Gate and Sutro Tower.

The fact that the weather was nice and the views were amazing did not in the least detract from the suffering I was experiencing though. I have to admit, I'm at the heaviest I've been in a long time and I haven't been riding nearly as much. Both of these factors contributed to the level of suffering I was experiencing as we climbed the mountain....several times I pushed on the shift lever only to find I was already in the lowest possible gear....

Eventually, as Lynn and I got near the top, we saw Jack on his was down. So, no Jack, we will NOT "catch you on the hill" Amazingly enough, he agreed to turn around and head back to the summit with us. I guess he was feeling particularly fiesty and wanted the bonus miles.

As we reached Devil's Elbow and made the last push for the top, Lynn said she wasn't doing the driveway and I agreed, that I had had enough for one day. When we made the last turn though she pulled over for the parking area and I just had to keep going. I don't think I can deal with riding all the way up there and not going to the summit.

As I suffered up the driveway I thought about stopping several times. I didn't though. I once walked up the last section and coming over the top to see everyone watching you walk up the hill pushing your bike is something I don't want to do again....

The views from the top were just as amazing as they had been all the way up the hill. You could see Antioch and the Delta to the northeast and as far as Livermore and beyond to the southeast.

Although the cool and sunny weather had been perfect for the climb, the ride down was freezing... we actually stopped a couple of times, supposedly so I could take pictures, but more so I could thaw out my fingers....
Overall an absolutely beautiful day with incredible views, good friends and lots of suffering.....a perfect ride!

DATMBA 2011...

2011-12-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Every year for the past 6-7 years a group of us has done what we call the DATMBA (day-after-thanksgiving-mt-bike-adventure)

It started in 2004 with a crazy idea and two friends with bad judgment. It was pouring down rain and we ended up walking more than riding because the mud clogged up our cantilever brakes so bad the wheels wouldn’t turn….

From there, it’s been an annual tradition and although I don’t think it’s ever actually rained like that again, each ride brings with it, its own memories. We did Henry Coe one year when we rode across frozen puddles in the morning and were down to short sleeves by the end of the day...we did Demo where I crashed and fractured my elbow… Mt Tam where Chris, on his single speed with panniers brought an entire feast, including tablecloth and pie, Joaquin Miller where Tracy broke 3 forks trying to get one bite of pie into his mouth and this year we did China Camp…..

If you’ve never ridden China Camp, you should. It’s got a lot to offer. Although, I’ve heard its best avoided on the weekend when it can be pretty crowded. There’s a good mix of easy fire road, singletrack, some good climbs, some technical sections and even a fairly long steep paved section that will send SSers into the pain cave for a bit…

As Jerry and I started planning this and sending out the emails, we weren’t sure how many of us there would be this year. As late as Thursday morning, it looked like it would be 3…maybe 4 at the most. By Thursday evening though, we were up to about 10. Evidently people started feeling guilty about those extras pieces of pumpkin pie and wanted to try to burn them off.

The morning of, we were up to an even dozen riders with clear skies and mild temps expected for the day as we started out. A few miles we were stopped by a couple of different problems…..Bob had a new bike and was having some rear shock issues and Troy in an attempt to climb a ridiculously steep section had broken his chain….he’s claiming too much torque from his quads, I’m leaning towards old chain or bad maintenance….

Those issues resolved, we continued on up the hill. Most of the trails in China Camp are fairly wide for singletrack and the technical level is low. There is one section though where you’re riding on a pretty narrow uphill on the edge of a ravine with roots and rocks jutting here and there trying to throw you off your line.

On the SS, it’s just a matter of momentum. As long as I could keep the pace up and keep the legs pumping, things went well. There were a couple of sections though where I almost stalled out and at one point I had a pedal strike that threatened to send me off my line and over the edge. I made it though as did everyone in the lead group. We reassembled at the next intersection waited for the others to catch up…..and waited….and waited…..

Finally Troy and I decided to head back down and check on them. Several turns down the trail we came across Bob, Jerry, Brig, Pam and Angel walking up the path. Jerry was muddy pretty much head to toe and explained that his front wheel had slid off a rock, hit the wooden border to the trail and caused him to high-side over the edge sliding waaaaay down the ravine before he could stop.

Thankfully he wasn’t too badly injured but had lost his glasses and his knee was tweaked from trying to stop his slide.

As we all got back up to the regrouping spot, we decided that Nick and Troy would lead the rest of the group on the remainder of the ride and Jerry, Bob, Angel and I would head back via the shortest route possible with Jerry either coasting or walking his bike. His knee was definitely swelling up and pedaling was out of the question.

Eventually, we made it back to the parking area where the gang was gathered waiting to see what the plan was. Jerry having taken a couple of Tylenol, was actually feeling pretty ok so the normal post ride BBQ and beverages commenced.

It wasn’t till I was home later, having cleaned and lubed the bikes, showered and relaxing on the couch that it really dawned on me just how badly things could have ended. We’re actually lucky it was wet and muddy as he slid down the hill instead of tumbling. We’re lucky he only tweaked his knee and didn’t break any bones and we’re lucky that we were in a group. If someone had gone off the trail without anyone seeing it, they’d probably still be down there.

Overall, this was yet another memorable DATMBA with good friends, good weather and luckily for us, a good result to what could have been a bad situation...
I guess Oscar Wilde said it best when he said….Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.

Solo Rides....Cleaning out the Cobwebs....

2011-11-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I got up early to go for a ride. It was my first attempt at doing the Chabot loop on the SS since I crashed back in August. I've actually been riding, but only on the full suspension geared bike. I just wasn't sure my collar bone was ready for the rigid SS.

My regular riding buddies had either come up with good excuses or ignored my calls and emails (one even went so far as to move out of state) so I was going to hook up with a group of guys that I don't really know, but that ride out there every Saturday morning.

They had been calling for rain, thankfully though I woke to partly cloudy skies and really cold temps but at least it was dry. As I bundled up and pulled on my long fingered gloves, the group showed no signs of actually getting ready so I decided to head off on my own figuring they'd catch and pass me on Brandon. It turns out I never did see them and ended up doing the entire ride by myself. There were a couple other riders I did see and one that I chatted with as he would pass me, then I him as we each stopped to either admire the views or take pictures. (or in my case, get my heart rate back down to sustainable levels)

The ride on Saturday morning, even though I did the regular loop, was a different experience than our normal Thursday ride. Saturday morning was foggy heading up the trail which lent a completely foreign look and feel to what is a very familiar trail. In addition to the fog, the pace on our Thursday rides is more about keeping up with the group and trying not to hold anyone up or make them wait. So, although I'm not the slowest rider, there's an underlying pressure to make sure I keep up.

Saturday, by myself, there was no pressure at all. I could stop and take pictures, I could pull over and admire the view or I could hammer along and not worry about stopping at the regrouping points. I could make the ride and the pace as difficult or as easy as I chose. Of course, with it being my first ride back on the SS, no matter how easy I tried to take it, it was still fairly difficult....

Lately, it seems like life has been pretty complicated and really chaotic so although I enjoy and look forward to the Thursday night group rides, I also think I'm going to be adding more solo rides to my schedule.

There's something very cathartic about being alone in the hills with nothing but the sound of your breathing as you climb and the sound of your tires rolling along the trail as you descend....it's good for me to get out and clean out the cobwebs in my head once in a while and a good, long, hard ride is always one of the best ways for me to do that....

Giro D’Vino 2011

2011-11-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the Giro D’Vino out in Lodi. This was our 5th annual I believe, and it’s always surprising to me just how pretty this area is.

It’s funny, but if you listen to the words written by John Fogerty, you get the impression being stuck in Lodi is punishment….

Just about a year ago

I set out on the road

Seekin' my fame and fortune

And lookin' for a pot of gold

Things got bad, and things got worse

I guess you know the tune

Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again

The reality though, after riding through the area, is completely different. Lodi, and the surrounding area, is really pretty. Lodi has a cool little downtown section and the surrounding area is all vineyards and orchards.

Last year was the first year we actually had rain to deal with although I think almost every year the possibility of rain has been a concern. This Sunday I hit a couple of light showers on the way there, but there was no actual rain at all during the event. It was cold and cloudy in the morning, then as the day went on we had periods of sunshine, more cloudiness and towards the afternoon, the temps started to drop. But overall, it turned out to be a nice day.

We had a pretty large group there, 14 I think, although we were pretty spread out. At the beginning I saw just about everyone with the exception of Keith, others in our group had reported seeing him though.

The route this year had changed and there were a couple new wineries on the loop. Two that really stood out were Cycles Gladiator which in addition to being a nice winery, supports cycling and racing and has a Merlot that I really liked.

The other was Harmony Wynelands which has a beautiful property and grounds along with a gigantic pipe organ…..very nice.

It’s been a few months since I’ve ridden any distance further than about 20 miles and doing 65 miles this weekend was definitely a push. Thankfully this route is almost completely flat. I say almost because one of the new wineries this year has a road with a short STEEP climb. Like steep as in even with a bit of a running start I couldn’t make it on the single speed. Granted, that’s probably also due to my lack of fitness, but I’m not sure I could have made it last year either….

All in all, this is a really well supported ride, through some really pretty countryside and empty backroads and if you like wine….well how could you go wrong with a ride called the Giro D’ Vino?
Can't wait till next year!

Night Riding...It's the most awesomest

2011-10-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Next week, we'll be instructed to turn back our clocks for the start of Daylight Savings Time. Or is it the end of Daylight Savings Time??? I can never remember...actually, I'm not sure I ever knew....

Anyway, as I was saying, or writing, or blogging....or well...you know what I mean. Next week, it will be dark an hour earlier than it was this week. Ok, actually a little more than an hour since the days will be getting progressively shorter....but I digress....anyway it will be dark at the beginning of our rides and not part way through our rides like it was last night.

But I'll be ready for it. I think that after several years of riding at night, I've finally come up with bike light nirvana.....Last night, I put together what is sure to be the best night riding setup I've fielded so far. (and believe me, the pile of not so great efforts is large on my workbench)

I've combined last year's MagicShine MJ 808 900 lumen light on my bars with this year's Gemini Xera 750 lumen light on my helmet. And boy does it work! The 900 lumen light on the bar casts a nice beam waaaaay down the trail and offers a decent amount of spill lighting up the edges of the trail. Then if you add the Gemini light on my helmet, which allows me to put light wherever my head is pointing, you end up with a package that allowed me to ride last night at the same pace as I do in the daylight.

Never once, did I outrun the beam of the lamps and never once did I feel like I couldn't see exactly what was going on down the trail.

The Gemini light is amazingly small and light too. It and the 2 cell battery both mount with velcro to the helmet so there are no wires hanging down in to the camelback and never once did I feel like it tilted my helmet forward as my old niterider did back in the old days (3 years ago)

When I was younger, my brother and I used to really enjoy night skiing. We'd ski all day at Squaw Valley, then on the way back to the bay area, we'd stop and hit Boreal under the lights. There was just something about skiing at night that made us a little bolder and a little more adventurous off the little jumps they used to have on the mountain.

Night riding on the bicycle is very similar. Although I'm older and supposedly wiser so I don't go off jumps, riding at night just seems a little more adventurous. I was a little slower in grabbing for my brakes, I carried a little more speed though the corners and I tended to let the bike run a little looser on the one long fast section near the golf course.....

There's just something about riding at night that brings a completely different dynamic to our regular Chabot loop and turns it in to a whole different experience.

A bike crash....the pain continues....

2011-10-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

It's been 6 weeks and the doctor cleared me to ride again. So I did, and it was fantastic! I was slow and tentative and it took about 2 hours to finish a 1 1/4 hour loop, but I was riding again and that's all that mattered....

That was Thursday. Friday, excited about being back on the bike, I swung by the bike shop to pick up my road bike with the plan of bringing it with me to Tahoe. I figured there would be at least a couple hours at some point for me to get a nice ride in.

As I walked back to the shop area, Matt, the bike wizard mechanic guy, said "Hey Rich, did you get my message yesterday?" immediately my stomach started doing flip flops.....it was pretty much the exact same feeling I had when my high school girlfriend pulled me aside after school and said, "we have to talk".

I forced down the lump in my throat and put on a brave face as I responded "no, I didn't get your messsage, the girls must have deleted it" while secretly wishing I had gone home and listened to it alone where I could throw a fit and cry and stomp without making a spectacle of myself.....again.

"Oh, you didn't?" he asked looking at me in that awkward way a doctor does when he has bad news. "Well, um....we got your new carbon bars in and the tape you wanted was in stock and won't be a problem and the scratch on the chainstay well, that isn't life threatening......but.....uh.....and he hesitated..........my mind was screaming..."come on, out with it, what's wrong? I know something is wrong!"

"Yeah, uh....your fork has a pretty good crack where the brake mounts and you need a new fork"

There it was.....the other shoe had dropped.....my mind was reeling, I felt woozy.....this was my dream bike. This was the bike that had cured me, once and for all, of bike lust. She was fast, she was sexy, she had amazing curves and all the right components.....this was my "last road bike I'll ever buy" bike and now she needed major surgery.

Oh....ok, was all I could manage....I was lost....what was I going to do? I can't even afford the repairs I already agreed to, let alone a new fork.....I didn't want to ask, I really didn't want to know, but like a person watching a car wreck, my mouth disconnected from my brain and just took over. The words came tumbling out without my knowing......"ok, well whatever it costs"

"Hey, the good news is Giant has a crash replacement policy so the fork is only going to be $225.00" He said it so nicely and without any hint of guile and I think he actually believed I would be happy.....and to some extent, I guess I should be. She'll have a new fork and she'll be back home with me.

So, this week Wednesday, I'll get a call from my new best friend Matt, or maybe my buddy Chris, the owner of the shop will call since I'm probably putting his kids through college, and tell me my baby is all back together and good as new.

And I, knowing she's worth whatever it costs me to make her whole, will head over to the bad part of town to visit a man named Guido. Afterwrds, I'll show up at the shop, smiling in spite of the pain from the surgery of selling one of my kidneys on the black market and pay the guys that brought my lovely bike back to life....

First Ride in 5 Weeks.....

2011-09-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, last night was the regular Thursday night Lake Chabot loop and was to be my first ride in 5 weeks.
The ride normally starts at 6:15 but seeing as I didn't really want my first ride to be in the dark, Jerry and I met and started at 5:00

Since I knew my fitness would be off, I brought the bike with gears and not the singlespeed. And,, since the geared bike also has suspension at both ends, it would help prevent the jarring and bouncing. You'll notice in the picture that the bike is absolutely spotless..I don't ride it much to begin with and for the last 5 months I haven't been able to do anything but clean and tinker with my bikes.....every one of them looks brand new at this point.

I have to admit, I was tentative and slow. In addition to my fitness being off by quite a bit, the thought of crashing and being back off the bike for an extended time really had me kind of rattled. As we finished 10 hills and Brandon though, I started to loosen up and relax.

By the time we were coming down towards the stone bridge, I had relaxed to the point that I could just ride and not spend the entire time dwelling on the "what ifs".....I was still slow, as a matter of fact Jerry was faster than I was on just about every downhill.

I don't think I've ever used my brakes quite as much as I did on this ride and I have to say, those Deore XT hydraulics are awesome.....very smooth modulation, no fading, no squealing (now that I have the Alligator rotors anyway) and no issues at all.

Eventually, we made it around the lake and back to the paved path towards the marina. It was here, after surviving the loose dirt, the rough bumpy trail and the foot deep ruts that I almost got taken out by a young lady on a mountain bike. As I came around the corner, she was on my side of the trail headed straight for me looking down at her pedals.....As she looked up, I went left and she did the exact same thing....so I went right and she grabbed both brakes, skidding and almost turning back into me....

Luckily, there was no collision and although she was seemed rattled, she didn't fall and continued on her way. Obviously a new rider and although I was in the right and riding in control, I felt bad about scaring her.

Eventually, we made it back to the parking lot never needing our lights and, hung out chatting while we waited for Bob who, also recovering from a broken collar bone, was still out hiking.

All in all it was a really good ride on a beautiful Fall evening. I couldn't get over how excited I was to be back on the bike and how great it felt to be riding. I've enjoyed the hikes I've been doing and didn't completely hate the little bit of running I did, but none of those things filled the empty spot in me that riding does.....even slow, tentative, worried riding....

Try Not To Crash....Ok?

2011-09-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

So, today I had my 5 week follow up with the orthopedist for the broken collar bone.
Turns out everything is healing up the way it's supposed to and once it's all said and done, my right shoulder will be 1" narrower than my left, but the bone will be twice as strong where it overlaps.....makes sense I guess.

After the x-ray and the visit with the doctor, I asked if I could get back on the bike and her response was, "yes, but try not to crash, ok?"

Wow! Now that's good advice....I wonder if someone had told me that 5 weeks ago, if I could have avoided this whole episode....

Typically, my rides have several goals. Get a good ride in, have fun, rack up some miles and improve my fitness.....never have I really started out a ride with the thought that , maybe I should "try not to crash" on this ride....

Of course I'm being sarcastic, but to be honest, I think that my outlook on riding is definitely going to be affected. At least for a little while until this whole thing is in the past. Being forced to stay off the bike for the past 5 weeks has been brutal. Not to mention the thought that had it been worse, I could have been off work and that would have affected my income.

I was talking to one of my co-workers and he mentioned that once he got married and had kids, he gave up skiing and rock climbing. He was too worried about getting hurt and not being able to provide for his family.....Is that normal? Is it normal to let fear of injury dictate the things you enjoy in life....maybe it IS normal and I'm irresponsible for not living that way....who knows.

I do know though, that I will probably be slower and more careful than I've been in the past.....at least for a little while....

Thursday Night Lake Chabot…..Hike

2011-09-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

Pretty much every Thursday for the past few years I’ve done the Lake Chabot loop with the nitedawgs, our riding group. This, combined with a Tuesday road ride and a longer ride on the weekends has enabled me to eat pretty much whatever I want and still maintain my weight under 200lbs.

For the past few weeks since the crash though, I’ve not done anything. Well that’s not totally true. I’ve sat on the couch, caught up on some reading, eaten pretty much everything in the house and surfed the web for a pair of those cool polyester pants with the expandable elastic built into the sides.

Last night though, I decided to break the cycle of lazyslob-itude and head out to join the Thursday group at Lake Chabot. Knowing I still can’t ride, or even grip a set of handlebars, I planned a hike instead.

I had no route planned, but grabbed my iPod, my Garmin, my trail runners, threw a water bottle in my pocket and headed out. I followed the group down the 10 hills trail to where it intersects with the Cameron Loop, headed down to the wooden bridge, over that and began the climb up Live Oak trail.

Once upon a time I tried to ride up Live Oak and, after almost passing out while pushing my bike up it, have chosen to only use this particular piece of hell on earth as a downhill route. It’s steep! Like 20% in places and rutted and loose…..as a matter of fact, I don’t even really like riding down this trail.

The hike up the trail was pretty much exactly what I expected. It’s a 0.9 mile, max heart rate, lung busting, sweat running into the eyes suffer-fest. The strange thing is, that after being off the bike for a few weeks, it’s exactly what I needed. I loved it! I had the iPod cranking some of my favorite tunes directly into my brain and I pretty much just zoned out and enjoyed the suffering.

After reaching the top, I turned around and headed back down the way I came. I’m pretty sure I’m actually faster uphill than down as I’m afraid of falling and screwing up my other arm. Once at the bottom and back across the bridge, I turned right and headed around the lake. It was a gorgeous evening and there were a lot of people out walking around the lake. None of them seemed to be working as hard as I was though…could it be that not everyone enjoys suffering…..weird….

As I got back around towards the marina, the sun was setting. I didn’t need my flashlight yet, but I could tell that in the weeks to come, my hikes would be ending in the dark. There’s one last little joy-fest before you get back to the road to the parking lot. It’s a little no named path that is less than a half mile, but it at least 20% for the majority of its length…..to be honest, I hate this section on our weekly rides, but tonight hiking up it as fast as I could go, felt great….one last lung burner to end the evening….

It’s here that the group caught me. I saw their lights at the bottom when I was about half way up and try as I might, there was no way I could hold them off…..one by one they passed me, leaving me in the twilight to finish my hike with the music from my iPod and the sound of my heartbeat pounding in my ears….

All in all I ended up with 4.7 miles and 1020 ft of climbing…..a pretty good evening workout for a one armed, overweight slug who’s previous 3 weeks had been spent watching reruns and sitcoms….

A Thank You Letter to Bell Sports...

2011-08-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

It’s funny that in last week’s crash, I was immediately aware of the broken collarbone and the copius amounts of road rash that I had sustained. The interesting thing is, that until I was in the ER and the doctor looked at my head, I didn’t even realize that I had a pretty significant scrape and hefty little lump on the right side of my head just above and behind the eye socket.

Later as I looked at my helmet, it dawned on me that had I not been wearing it, the outcome of the incident could have been much different. And for that I want to thank Bell Helmets.

For the past several years, I’ve worn a Bell Alchera helmet. It’s a great combination of price and value. My first one was a black, carbon fiber looking one that I got at Performance Bike for about 50 bucks. It fit my head well and it has a really nice retntion system that allows you to loosen or tighten it with a knob on the back.

After a few years and several thousand miles, the foam pads on the inside began to fall out. Pretty sure the amount of sweat I produce had something to do with this and seeing as even trying to glue them in with a hot melt glue gun failed to hold, I decided to replace it. It just so happens I also had gotten a new bike and wanted a helmet to match the color scheme I had going.....

So, off to Performance again and this time home with the exact same helmet, but in blue and white and with all the foam pads intact. Amazingly, after 2 1/2 years, the price was still the same at around $50 bucks.

As I sit here and type this, looking at the photos of my helmet post-crash, it dawns on me just how thankful I am to Bell Sports for the Alchera Helmet. It's a product that not only fits my head well, but offers a secure and easy to adjust retention system, great venting to keep my head cool and is available at a price that won't break the bank. Add to all tha, the fact that I can still eat solid food and remember my name after putting it to the test and Bell has a customer for life.

This thing does exactly what it's supposed to do and at a fair price.....I'm not sure if I'll replace it with another Alchera or upgrade to one of the new swoopier, fancy models, I do know though, that I will alway wear a Bell Helmet.

Thank you Bell Sports!

The ER….

2011-08-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

After meeting me on Redwood Rd and loading both me and the bike into the back of Michelle’s car, we dropped Michelle off at the parking lot where I left the truck so that she could take that home while Deb took me over to the ER to have my shoulder looked at.

One of the things I hate most about cycling is the clothing that road cyclists wear. I completely understand the reason and purpose of the spandex shorts with their built in chamois and I’m totally sold on wearing them when I ride. I enjoy the comfort the lightweight nylon jerseys provide and appreciate the pockets in the back where I can stash my gels and snacks. What I don’t like is wearing them when I’m more than 10 ft away from the bike. I feel self conscious and somewhat silly. The shorts and jerseys are tight and with my middle-aged physique the jersey ends up looking like I’ve shoved 10 pounds of pork into a 5 lb sausage sleeve. As a matter of fact, I always wear baggy shorts over them if there’s any chance I’ll have to be seen in public off the bike.

Today, of course was an exception. I left my house in my spandex. I planned on doing the ride, getting back in my truck and going home. No side trips, no going out in public and no reason for anyone to see me off the bike…..Obviously that plan went out the window as soon as I crashed and now here I am, standing in the ER in shredded spandex and a ruined bike jersey.

Luckily at 9:00 on a Saturday morning, the ER isn’t quite in full swing yet and they got me registered and in process pretty quickly. I went to x-ray where they took pictures of my shoulder, my ribs and my collarbone. Everything looked good except of the course the collarbone.

From x-ray, they took me in to a room where I met with the doctor who not only showed me the x-ray, but provided a print out that I could save for future bragging rights. Unfortunately this is also where I met the nurse that was going to clean out the road rash on my knee.

She was young and cute and seemed like a nice enough person….right up until she grabbed the sponge and water bottle that she used in the dark art of torture that she practiced…oh sure, she kept apologizing and tried to appear sincere, but I could tell that for some reason she hated me and wanted to see me cry….I didn’t of course, because I’m tougher than that…..ok, it’s possible I whimpered a bit, but I did it in a very manly way.

After what seemed like a full day of the Spanish Inquisition but was probably less than 10 minutes, she covered the wounds, the doctor deemed me fit and sent me home to begin my rest and recuperation period.

For anyone that knows me, you’ll understand when I say this is going to be the toughest part of the whole process for me. I’m not really good at sitting still. As a matter of fact, if I’m not sleeping, I prefer to be in motion. The whole idea of spending the weekend laying on the couch would be like a prison sentence…..a sentence I have a feeling I’m going to be enduring for at least a couple of weeks…..

uh oh....crap...ouch.....

2011-08-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

I was in the beginning stages of what was looking like it was going to be a great ride....I left the house at 7:00, got to the parking lot, unloaded and was on my bike beginning my ride by 7:30. It was cool, but not cold and traffic heading up Redwood Rd at this time on a Saturday morning was light.

As I passed the golf course and began the climb, I felt great! I hadn't been on a long ride in a few weeks and it felt good to be back on the road bike and riding alone on a beautiful morning. The climb up Redwood can either be a joy or a suffer-fest depending on my mood and current level of fitness. This morning, it went by really quickly and although I pushed the pace, I never once felt like I might blow up. The backside down to Pinehurst is a nice reward for the effort spent climbing and as I made the turn, I know it was going to be a great day! The climbs were pushing my heart rate to the redline, but the descents and flats left me feeling good and I seemed to be recovering quickly.

My goal had been to meet Jerry and his group at the Orinda BART station or if my pace was off, then to run onto them somewhere between there and the top of Pinehurst. I hammered the first climb on Pinehurst as hard as I could without exploding and as I got to the top, I was still feeling really good. I sat up and crusied throught the short flat section, finished off my first water bottle and got ready for my reward.....the narrow, fast downhill section on Pinehurst....

The first few turns were everything I expected. No cars, copius amounts of sunshine and me tucking my shoulder into every corner....the bike disappeared beneath me as I railed from corner to corner....I looked down and saw my speed was just over 25 mph. Fast but not a ridiculous downhill pace....What a great ride this was....and then all of a sudden it wasn't.....

In the blink of an eye, I had gone from leaned over and enjoying the grip provided by my Pro Race 3's to sliding across the road on my side to tumbling in the dirt of the far shoulder. As I stood to begin the inspection of both my body and my bike, another cyclist rode up to see if I was ok. As he helped me assess the damage I realized that in addition to quite a bit of road rash my right shoulder and collar bone were both feeling a little out of whack. I was almost afraid to look inside my jersey for fear of seeing a bone sticking out.....luckily that wasn't the case, but I could definitely tell it was broken.

Thankfully, once I got up and got myself together, I checked to find that I had cell service. This was surprising actually since I was out in the middle of the hills between Oakland and Orinda and nprmally don't have great coverage in this area. After calling Jerry to let him know I wouldn't be meeting up with him, I called my wife and asked her and my daughter to start out towards Redwood Rd to meet up and pick me up.

As I pedaled back up Pinehurst, down the other side, then up Redwood, I had time to think about how quickly things went from great to not so great and exactly what had gone wrong. I had worn my helmet, my bike was in top working order, I had definitely been going fast downhill, but felt completely comfortable and within my abilities.....the only thing I couldn't and didn't plan on was the gravel in the corner.

Could I have been seriously injured? Sure. If someone had been driving up the road as I slid across or had I been further down the hill and slammed into one of the large redwoods lining the road, or I could have not been wearing my helmet... things could have definitely ended badly.

But to be perfectly honest, I don't think there's anything I could have done differently to prevent the crash. Sure I could have stayed home in bed and prevented the entire event, but I think that to avoid anything you enjoy because you're afraid of getting hurt is a sad way to go through life.

Living is risky, that's the just the nature of it.

One of my all time favorite quotes is by Helen Keller that says: Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.

The Taste of Failure...

2011-08-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Today, I was entered in to the Howell Mountain Challenge Mt Bike race. Without making excuses, I haven't been riding as much as I should have been for a 20+ mile mt bike race and to be perfectly honest, I probably took it too lightly....

Afterall, I did an almost 50 mile road bike ride last weekend with some decent climbing and felt great....the truth though is that mountain biking and road biking, other than both being done on bicycles, have absolutely nothing in common.

For today's race, I had entered the Sport Class Single Speed division which is the same group
I had entered in the Sea Otter Classic back in April.....unfortunately for me, that was also the last time I had ridden 20 miles on the mountain bike.

For anyone that has ridden both road and mountain bikes, you understand the difference between the two....I compare the road bike to running long distance and the mountain bike to running wind sprints. Neither one is easy, both take training, good cardio fitness and strong legs....the mountain bike though, in my opinion is harder.....much harder....so hard that todays ride left me cramping and sore and wondering what the heck I was doing out there....

All of my non-excuses are leading up to what you've probably already figured out...I didn't do well today in the race....not only did I not do well, I DNF'd....after 10 miles of some steep ups and downs, amazing single track and more than a couple walking my bike sections, I came to the decision point where I could either turn right and do the second lap or turn left and call it a day.....yep...I turned left....the direction back to the beginning....the direction of failure

I don't race competitively, I don't get paid for riding my bike and today was just supposed to be fun....so why does it leaves such a crappy taste in my mouth that I DNF'd? Is it because I should have taken it more seriously and trained harder? Is it because I quit before riding to the point of failure like a real racer would have? Is it because I had to explain to everyone we talked to afterwards that I didn't finish?

Actually, it's all of those things....but even more, its because I let my ego lead me directly to this failure... I seriously thought I had this in the bag. I felt like I was in good enough shape that I could roll out of bed, show up for a tough 20+ mile mountain bike race and fake it well enough to pull off a respectable finish....

Sure I could have entered in the Class 3 group and my time of 1:17 probably would have netted me 4th place....but I didn't. I didn't think I needed to do that....I thought I was much better than I am at this point in the season....

So, what does failure taste like....it tastes a lot like humble pie....

The Death Ride…..version 2011

2011-07-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

It can’t really be 4 am already can it? As I lay in my sleeping bag in the pitch dark of early morning I hear zippers from the other tents and rustling as others in our group begin to move….

Finally, realizing that, unfortunately, it must be time to get up, I look out the tent and see lights and movement over by the picnic table. Bob and Leticia are already up and making coffee....(I LOVE these people…almost as much as I love coffee)

After a breakfast of oatmeal, a banana and a cup of coffee to wash down a couple enduralytes, we loaded up and drove down to town to begin the day’s festivities. Our goal was to begin pedaling at 5am and we were almost right on time. Bob and Leticia started off while Troy, Bill and I finished getting ready.

The advantage to starting in town as opposed to up at Turtle rock is that it’s cold in the morning and you eliminate the first downhill section where last year I froze my butt off. Granted, it’s still cold and you’re still an hour or so from sunrise, but at least you’re not going 30 mph in the dark, with a puny little headlight and shivering….

We met up with Bob and Leticia before we came to the bottom of Monitor and were able to chat and talk with everyone as we hadn’t started the slip into oxygen deprivation soon to come. As soon as we made the left turn, the sound of hundreds of derailleurs clicking surrounded us like a bunch of cowboys getting ready for a gunfight and the joking and chatter came to an abrupt halt….replaced I guess, by the need to suck in as much air as possible.

Monitor Pass…The climb from the turn to the top of Monitor is just about 9 miles and gains about 3,000ft of elevation. With grades that range from 7-10% it’s funny to see a 5% grade on your Garmin and think of it as a section for resting your legs during the climb. The further up the hill we went the closer we got to sunrise and as we came towards the summit the vistas opened up reminding us of the sheer enormity and beauty of God’s creation.

As I pedaled up the hill mostly hanging out and chatting with the other voices inside my head, it was easy to forget that there were over 3000 riders in the event. At the top though, as I looked into the distance, and saw bikers stretched out towards the horizon I was quickly reminded that I wasn’t alone.

The east side of Monitor pass provides a view into Nevada that is the complete opposite of the road we had just climbed. Where the California side is lush and green and covered with trees, the Nevada side is strictly high desert. Still beautiful and amazing in its own way of course, but different…

BTW - the sign at the top of Monitor looks a LOT like a tombstone....I'm just sayin....

For the next 9 miles I was torn between enjoying the amazing downhill and agonizing over the fact that what goes down, must eventually come back up. As I wove and worked my way down, passing and being passed by the other riders, I tried to block out all thoughts of the climb to come and focus instead on the enjoyment that comes with descending a closed road, in good condition surrounded by amazing scenery.

Soon enough though, the turn around point was in front of me and as I regrouped with Bill, Leticia, and Troy. We also ran into Dwight who’s buddy Dave was somewhere well ahead of us all. Having forgotten my under helmet head covering, I went off in search of sunblock for my dome. The funny thing is that as I was slathering it on, another follically-challenged guy came up commented on what a good idea it was and did the same thing. No sense getting the silly looking sunburn from the vents in my helmet…..been there, done that.

As we started the climb back up the east side of Monitor, I actually felt pretty good. It was definitely getting warmer and with no shade, I managed to empty both bottles before the halfway point where the Boy Scouts were manning the refill station, but all in all I felt ok.

I wasn’t fast by any means, but as long as I maintained my pace and kept my heart rate under control, I felt good. Hopefully this would continue.

The downhill on the west side of Monitor is by far one of the best downhill sections I’ve ever ridden. The road is in excellent shape, the turns are wide open and you have great visibility. Add to that the incredible vistas and 9 miles with no cars to worry about and you have cycling nirvana. Troy was right on my wheel as we ripped down this section and although we got caught behind some slower riders in a couple sections, we pretty much let gravity dictate our pace. I saw 45 a couple of different times, but to be honest, I really didn’t want to look down at the GPS since the road was going by really fast beneath me.

We got to the bottom, regrouped and began the next section of slightly uphill towards Ebbetts Pass. Somewhere on the climb we had gotten separated from Dwight and not knowing how far behind us he was, we motored on. This section follows the Carson River and is just beautiful. Again, though it’s tough to just cruise along and enjoy the scenery when you know that in just a little while, it’s going to get painful….

Leticia had said that once we crossed the cattle guard the “honeymoon would be over” and she wasn’t kidding. From the turnoff up to that point we had been going pretty much uphill non-stop. The cattle guard though is the line in the sand where the mountain declares war on the cyclists….Immediately, the ride goes from a “nice climb” to “oh crap this is hard”. Several times on my GPS I saw 17% and although my legs were still feeling ok, the standing required would immediately push my heart rate into the red zone. Soon enough though, I went from feeling ok, to feeling done. My legs were running out of gas, every extra effort pushed me to the limit and I pretty much just wanted it to be over.

Bill and Leticia decided at the half way point that they felt good and still had another pass in them. Troy, not sure what to expect said he was happy only doing 3 and I knew there wasn’t a 4th pass anywhere in my future today. I’d like to blame the weather but it could just be my lack of commitment, either way I hadn’t trained nearly as much as I’d hoped for this year’s Death Ride and since my longest ride so far this year had been the weekend prior at 74 miles and 7400ft of climbing I was completely satisfied finishing only 3 passes.

As Troy and I headed back down the front side of Ebbetts we had already agreed to take it easy. This is a narrow road with lots of sharp corners and I was amazed at how many people were screaming down the hill, at 30+ mph, riding 2 across when there were still people coming up the hill. After all, it’s not like it’s a race. Is it really worth causing a huge crash to save a few minutes getting to lunch?

Troy and I took our time enjoying the lunch stop. We found a spot at a fairly shady table and relaxed thinking that Dwight would eventually catch up to us. After about 45 minutes though, we decided we’d had enough sitting around and got ready to head out. It’s amazing how good I felt after lunch. Between the nice long rest, the food and the knowledge that we were done, Troy and I set a pretty brisk pace back to town. We had a good paceline going and were cruising along at about 24-26 mph. I’m sure the people we were towing thought we were super human to be pulling them along at this pace, but little did they know we had skipped the 4th pass, were headed back to the barn and were pretty much done for the day.

After getting back to town, it wasn’t too much longer that Bill showed up. He assumed Leticia wasn’t far behind, but after waiting another 30 minutes or so we were getting concerned that she hadn’t made it back. Just as we loaded up and prepared to drive back up the road, we saw her pass, looped back around and met up with her. Turns out she was pretty shaken having seen a really nasty accident coming down the front of Ebbetts. In exactly the manner Troy and I had been discussing, someone flying down the hill had clipped someone going up and several riders ended up down and bloodied…..thankfully, she wasn’t among the carnage but the event shook her up enough that she sat for a while trying to rergroup and had fallen behind.

From there, she went to turtle rock to meet up with Bob who had decided to go for the 5th pass while Troy, Bill and I headed back to camp to clean up before heading over for dinner. After cleaning up, Dwight met up with us and we went to the start area for delicious burritos, live music and some relaxation.

The next morning we all got together for a breakfast of coffee, blackberry pancakes, bacon and eggs. We had after all burned off several thousand calories the day before so we felt we deserved to stuff ourselves silly….at least I did.

Dwight, Troy and I ended up with 3 passes, Bill and Leticia had 4 and Bob and Dave did all 5….

http://app.strava.com/rides/913350

Wow...

2011-07-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

It's the week before the Death Ride and I haven't ridden at all....I guess I'll just say I'm tapering...yeah, that's it I'm tapering....
So, since I haven't ridden, I don't have anything exciting to post of my own....

I do though want to share an amazing video put together by Mike Curiak of an adventure he just had up in Alaska...an amazing video of an incredible journey...ENJOY!
http://vimeo.com/25943565

Going to Cramp City....

2011-07-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Leticia, who has single handedly organized more miserably hard, uncomfortable rides than any one else I know, had pulled together yet another doozy of a ride for our last weekend training ride before the Death Ride.

Although this one didn’t have the phrase, Mountain, or Monster or even Death in the title, it was still going to be a long tough ride. We met up on Canada Rd at 8:15 and weren’t sure whether to bring a jacket or not. I could tell it was going to be warm but the fog rolling over the top of the hills from the coast had me a bit concerned….in the end I decided to do without and filled my jersey pockets with gels, shot blocks and clif bars. More than I would ever need I was sure…

The ride starts out with a nice warm up along Canada Rd into and through Los Altos. From there the fun begins as we headed up Old La Honda Rd. Thankfully, it was still pretty early in the day and with all the shade, the climb was tough, but the heat wasn’t too bad. (was that a cramp I just felt in my hamstring?) Troy and Paciano motored off and as tempted as I was to give chase, I knew we had a long day ahead so I took it pretty easy.
As we got to the top and headed down, the weather remained clear and sunny. The west side of Old La Honda is a fairly fast 2.5 miles downhill and although the road isn’t in great shape, it’s downhill which is always more fun than uphill.

From here we merged with Hwy 84 and enjoyed another fast, swoopy 4 mile section where, according to my garmin, we averaged 25.4 mph before turning off on Pescadero Rd and starting to climb again.

This climb is called Haskins hill, although I have no idea why. It’s a little shy of 1.5 miles and again, thankfully, is in the shade. The backside of this is yet another downhill section where the road is in good shape, the traffic is light and our average speed went into the mid to high 20s. Although it flattens for a while coming in to Pescadero, we took turns pulling and kept our pace high, knowing food was within reach.

We rolled in to town and headed for the Arcangeli Grocery, our usual lunch stop on this route. In addition to the deli, they have the most amazing treats and locally baked goods in the world. As we walked in there were two people out front enjoying personal sized Olallieberry pies….I opted for the hubcap sized chocolate chip cookie instead. (no, I didn’t eat all by myself, what kind of glutton do you think I am?)
From here the route goes up Stage Rd which is incredibly hard on a full belly. It was here with all of my energy focused on digesting my lunch and not heating my body that I began regretting the decision not to bring a jacket, although the climbing warmed us up pretty quickly. (did my calf just twinge?) We hit 84 and headed out to the coast which was cool and breezy. Again, the climbing kept us warm.

Coincidentally, Bob, Leticia’s husband, head domestique and chief mechanic had met up with us at lunch and decided to ride with us the rest of the day. Lucky thing too since not far up Hwy 1 Leticia flatted. After we all stood around watching Bob repair a flat faster than a Nascar pit crew we were back on the road and soon turned inland. Verde Rd connects to Purisma Creek rd which again has a nice little climb before turning back downhill towards the coast again where we rejoined Hwy 1 then again rejoined Verde Rd making a complete loop with the only purpose being that Leticia wanted to make us climb some more...

From Verde Rd things really became “fun” (yes, it’s in quotes because that’s sarcasm) Verde Rd takes you to a nice little section called Lobitos Creek Cutoff which at mile 60+ was a taste of hell for my already tired legs. This cutoff is only about a half mile climb, but there are sections at the beginning that are 14%. Eventually the cutoff from hell brings you to Tunitas Creek, the last climb of the day and the one to which I really did not look forward.

Tunitas Creek on a regular Pescadero Loop usually comes at mile 40ish….today, we were way beyond that and had done quite a bit of climbing already so I just plugged in my ipod, put my head down and went to my happy place for the next 7 miles….several times as I stood at particularly steep sections, I could feel my legs begin to twinge with the beginnings of a cramp, but it never actually hit. Thank you Enduralytes!

At the top, Troy noticed that Leticia’s rear tire had a bubble sticking out of the sidewall. So, in true domestique fashion, Bob not only booted it, but he swapped wheels with her so she wouldn’t have to worry about it on the way down Kings Mountain.

The ride down Kings Mountain and through Los Altos went smoothly. You could feel the heat building as we descended. My legs were toast and there was nothing in the tank so when we stopped to turn on to Canada Rd I reached into my pocket for a gel only to realize that, although I had brought more than enough gels, bars and chews, I had gone through every single item.

The last section of Canada Rd is a slight downhill and Bill decided to put the gap on everyone. I made up my mind to let him go until Troy, Tracy and Leticia went whizzing by and I had to jump on their wheel. Soon after Troy decided to put the hammer down and I tried to follow….pulling up to the truck as I unclipped, I was thankful to be back….another 100 yards or so and I was sure to have been in cramp-city….all in all another great ride – 74 miles and about 7400ft of climbing….

Strava details - http://app.strava.com/rides/857768

Summer Solstice Ride....

2011-06-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

Sweat was pouring in to my eyes and I was pedaling like crazy. The only problem was I wasn’t making any headway….I mean, I guess I was moving fast enough to stay upright, but for all the effort I was putting in, I should have been flying up the hill instead of wobbling and bouncing along at a pace barely faster than walking….actually, maybe not even as fast as walking….

It was Tuesday the 21st….our second Annual Summer Solstice Ride in which we celebrate the longest day of the year with a mt bike ride and a bbq. It was also the hottest day of the year so far with temps in the 90s in the east bay.

We met up at Jerry’s house in the Hayward Hills and, after everyone agreeing that we were nuts to ride on a day like this, we headed out. The trail starts out with a nice steep downhill followed by a solid mile of climbing. Some areas of the climb are so steep that even after multiple attempts by the strongest climbers in our group, everyone walked them.

It appears that the parks dept has been out there doing trail “maintenance” recently. Yes, evidently if you work for the parks department then you consider dragging the trails with a D9 Cat to be “maintenance”. This left the trails ragged, loose and full of large sections of soft fluff and clods the size of basketballs…..

The last section of the climbing is a short, rutted, steeper than Jerry’s driveway section of maybe 100 yards that left me feeling like I might lose my lunch. It’s in full sun as well as full view of the riders ahead of you at the top, so there’s no chance that I was getting off to walk no matter how loudly I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.

Once we reached the top and regrouped for the requisite “aren’t we having fun now” photo, the fun began as the next section is a rolling, ripping 2 mile downhill through the trees that almost justified the climbing we had just finished. Even the parks dept “maintenance” couldn’t prevent the whooping and smiling that this section generated.

From here, the decision to continue or head back was upon us and Bob and Jerry, needing to get the BBQ started headed back while the rest of us continued “down” the hill. I put down in quotation marks because although we were working our way down the canyon, there were still several short steep sections that caused me to question my decision not to go back with Jerry and Bob.

Evidently, this section is even more well loved by the parks department since they took the “maintenance” here to a whole new level. Not only had they done the trick with the Caterpillar, it appeared almost as if they had roto-tilled sections they were so loose and full of chunks. There was also tree and shrub debris strewn throughout the trail to add to our fun.

There were a few creek crossings which are always entertaining.

As we reached the mid-point of the second section of the trail it, was already 7:30 and, not wanting to miss out on the BBQ we made the decision to turn around. As we began the climb out of the canyon, I realized that concentrating so hard on trying to find a decent line and stay upright while coming down the canyon, I hadn’t really been paying attention to just how much downhill we had done or just how steep a couple of the sections were.
As we climbed those sections, I was forced to sit and spin in my granny gear, legs working furiously, the rear suspension bouncing all over the trail, sweating my butt off, and again, thinking I should have volunteered to head back with the others to start the BBQ.

Eventually though we made it back to the top of the trail, jumped on the road and headed back to Jerry’s house. With only his unbelievably steep driveway standing between me and something cold to drink, there was no stopping me.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice BBQ, a beautiful evening and good fellowship. Toughest 6 miles and 1200ft of climbing I think I’ve ever done….

A Great Father’s Day Weekend!

2011-06-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Obviously, the title of the post could be construed a couple of different ways….Was it a great day? or am I a great father? both? or neither? (obviously it’s not or neither or this would have just been a silly title for today’s post)

Well, being a father, I can safely say Father’s Day is one of the few things I am totally qualified to celebrate. Thankfully the only criteria required to celebrate this event is the ability to produce offspring and not in any way measured or quantified…..now, if it was “Good Fathers Day” or even “Nice Father’s Day” I’m not sure I’d be able to get in on it. Of course it would all depend on what day the qualifications were taken and who the judges were….

The best part about Father’s Day is that it’s is all about ME and, as anyone who knows me, knows, I like it all about ME. I want to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. Honestly, I don’t care about YOU. I only care about ME and this specific holiday, along with my birthday, are days in which it’s ok for me to be completely and totally selfish and not be forced to pretend that I care about anyone else.

And, to make matters even worse for those poor people that are forced to live with me, I not only spent Sunday doing exactly what I wanted, I expanded the concept to become Father’s Day weekend and took a nice long ride on Saturday too…..yep, I’m totally selfish that way. Granted, I used the Death Ride as an excuse and believe it or not, my wife thinks it’s better if I don’t actually die on that ride so she agreed to my training ride.

Saturday morning Jerry picked me up at the house and we headed out to ride Mt Tamalpais. The plan was to have two groups. One group would be led by Jerry and include Sausalito and some other stuff but be geared towards beginner, intermediate riders. The other group, I was supposed to lead was going to climb Mt Tam and should be a “tougher” ride but should also be the smaller group.

As you can see, my leading the smaller group ties right back in to the selfish thing. I don’t want to have to be responsible for anyone else. I don’t want to have to pretend I care when they’re tired or out of water or crash or anything like that. The fewer people I have to be responsible for the better. I can only pretend to be concerned about others for so long before my true nature comes out.

Turns out Jerry had 3 riders and I had 15….wait…huh? How did this happen. I can’t even keep track of my second set of keys and now I’m supposed to keep tabs on 15 different people on bikes?

The ride turned out pretty well though. I lost two riders right off the bat which it turns out was ok since that was their plan to begin with. I forced myself to be caring and supportive for the riders that fell behind (most of the time) and other than my phone jumping out of my bento box and trying to commit suicide by sliding across the road at 20 mph, there were no crashes or injuries.

The best part is I pulled off such a convincing act of concern and compassion for my fellow riders, none of them even know how selfish I really am.

Sunday, being the official Father’s Day, my Rich-centered world fully blossomed into a full day of ME-ness. After church, the girls and I loaded up the bikes, drove down to Monterey and in a supreme act of “it’s all about ME” I forced them to ride their bikes with me along the coast on a beautiful, sunny day….I know RIGHT???? Pure selfishness at it’s finest.

We rode through the Fisherman’s wharf area, Cannery Row and along the coast. Obviously not everyone knew that Sunday was supposed to be about just me as there were thousands of people out there taking up space on the bike path… all laughing and having a good time like it was their father’s day too….

Wow, its really hot!

2011-06-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

As I pulled in to the parking lot at the bottom of Diablo, my truck showed the outside temperature to be 92 degrees…..at 4:45pm…..I guess summer is here.

Lynn and Xing pulled up not long after I did and since Jim had bailed, Lynn offered Xing the use of Jim’s road bike which was already in the truck. I knew this was going to be a bad idea... Xing rides an older mountain bike. And he rides the heck out of it. As a matter of fact, even on the mountain bike up Diablo, with knobbies, it’s tough to drop him.

So, once he was on the road bike, had figured out the shifting and braking and gotten comfortable, well…..we pretty much never saw him again until we got to the junction where he was waiting for us.

The entire ride up Diablo is tough. There really are no easy parts, but the first section up to the junction usually isn’t as tough as the second section. Usually…. This week though, I was dying. The combination of the sun baking my head and the heat radiating off the asphalt together provided a convection oven aspect to the ride that allowed me to cook my brain more efficiently than if I had stuck it into a microwave.

Needless to say, when I finally arrived at the junction I was cooked to the point that I wanted to call it a day and head down the hill where I had beer sitting in an ice chest in my truck. I didn’t though. After refilling my bottle, drinking most of it and refilling it again I was starting to feel better and we decided to continue.

Xing stayed with Lynn and I in the beginning, but as soon as we were passed by a couple of the local guys in their team kits, he motored away. Lynn and I decided to take our time and cruised our way up the hill. Thankfully it had cooled a bit and a nice breeze now either pushed us or greeted us as we turned each corner.

With my head no longer set on “broil”, I was able to actually enjoy the beautiful evening and the views that greeted us at each turnout.

Eventually, we reached the top and then the fun began. I love riding down Mt Diablo. It’s probably one of my all time favorite downhills in the area. The road is in good condition, there’s usually very little traffic and as I mentioned the views are incredible.

It almost made climbing it worthwhile…..

Oh yeah, and we ran into a friend of ours on the road, I guess he was enjoying the heat as well.

Finally nice weather…

2011-06-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

After what I’m sure is the longest and wettest winter since Noah was buying up lumber and counting out animals two by two, we’ve finally gotten a stretch of nice weather. And, with the Death Ride less than a month away and me at least 3 months away from an appropriate level of fitness, I’ll spend this evening with the Devil in the east bay…
Tonight should be one of those fun, yet painful events. On the plus side, I’m looking forward to getting out on the bike without a jacket or arm warmers. On the down side, my lungs may actually explode and I’ll be found tomorrow on the side of the road looking like a piece of road kill.

This year, as in year’s past, I have not trained for the Death Ride as I should have. Although, in my defense, it has rained pretty much every day since November so it’s not really my fault….at least that’s going to be my excuse as people keeping asking if I’m alright as I lay on the road half way up Monitor Pass (yes, that’s the first pass)

I’m expecting this evening’s ride to be pretty nice actually, it’s warm here in the east bay, but there’s a breeze. Usually this means that it will be slightly windy up on the mountain, which is good. It always helps when you’re overheating and gasping for breath to have a nice cool breeze to help you out…..or at least to keep the flies from congregating on your dead body…..

I can’t believe it was only 4 miles….

2011-06-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

I only had a little time after church today to get a ride in. Jerry suggested we pre-ride a portion of the upcoming solstice route up and down the greenbelt trails near his house which sounded perfect.

The route starts on a steep downhill into the canyon, followed by two miles of uphill….most of it was rideable, but there were a couple sections where, as I pushed my bike uphill I noticed the Garmin was showing 22%.....can that be right?

Anyway, the best part of the climb is always the downhill that follows and I’ll go out on a limb and say that the greenbelt trail is one of the best kept secrets in the east bay. Yes, it’s short, and yes you do come across the occasional hiker with a dog, but the trail really flows and I’m sure that younger people can really fly down this thing.

Unfortunately, since I still needed to get to the store and home in time for Sunday dinner, we didn’t get to do the entire route and turned back uphill at the half way point. Again, the trail was mostly rideable but there were two spots where I needed to get off and walk due to the fact that it was too steep to get any traction…again, I saw elevations over 24% if my garmin is to be believed.

Soon enough, we were back at the start and the only thing left to do was Jerry’s driveway…..one of the steepest paved section of road in Hayward

All in all I ended up with 4.3 miles and 963 feet of climbing….the toughest 4.3 miles I think I’ve ever done….

3 Days in Trout Heaven....

2011-05-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

As I gave the rod a tug I realized that once again I had managed to snag the 27ft of indicator, fly, dropper fly, tippet, leader and floating line into another tree. And not even a tree alongside the river, a tree directly behind me…on dry ground…..10 feet from the water….

We had driven 5 hours to be able to fish this exclusive stretch of the McCloud at the invite of one of our vendors and to be honest, this river deserved better than I was offering. As I slapped and thrashed at the water with my line, I’m pretty sure that I heard the fish actually laughing at my attempts.

After all, this stretch of river, this Bollibokka fishing club, had seen some pretty accomplished fishermen. It was arguably one of the most famous stretches of private water in California, some would say the entire US, and here I stood once again tangled in a tree, my cursing and swearing drowned out by the sounds of this amazing river.

Amazingly enough I did manage to put the fly into the water several times. Enough times actually to fool four fish into attaching themselves to the fly at the end of my line. Granted only once was I able to bring said fish all the way to the bank where I had to release it, but still I had accomplished it. I had found four trout that had either been born with a brain defect or had hit their heads on rocks enough that even my feeble attempts were enough to fool them into attacking my fly.

The 7 miles of private river and the amazing fishery may be the primary reason people are willing to pay the required fees to gain access to this trout nirvana, but that’s only part of the story. The property itself is a sight to behold.

The clubhouse, built in the 20s with its adjoining log cabin kitchen and dining room from the 1860s is the epitome of a mountain fishing retreat with its large burl table that easily seats a dozen hungry fisherman.

Across the large expanse of lawn from the main clubhouse is the Rock House. This very cool, all rock 2 bedroom cabin sits right on top of the river with a deck and chairs where it would be easy to waste away an afternoon with a glass of scotch and a nice cigar were it not for the fish that continued to taunt me in the pools just below the porch.

Now, having fished, and I use the term loosely, this amazing river can I ever be satisfied with a spinning rod and a nightcrawler on my local creeks again? Of course I can….but the monster trout that I know live in this incredible section of river will always be on my mind as the ones that got away.

Into the Wind….

2011-05-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Botanists say that trees need the powerful March winds to flex their trunks and main branches, so the sap is drawn up to nourish the budding leaves. Perhaps we need the gales of life in the same way, though we dislike enduring them.
--Jane Truax

Last Saturday, before heading up to Napa for the Tour de Cure, my buddy Tracy and I headed out to do the “zoo loop”. This loop is a nice local 26 mile circle with about 2300ft of climbing.

We started out heading north on Redwood Rd into a pretty stiff headwind. The first portion of the ride contains about half of the total climbing for the loop and there’s nothing quite as much fun as riding uphill into a headwind.

The strange part was that even after reaching Skyline and with our direction now almost due south, we were still riding in to a headwind. And again later as we headed east on Lake Chabot Rd we were STILL going in to the wind….how is it possible to do a 26 mile loop and be riding in to the wind the entire time???

This past Saturday, Tracy and I again headed out into the wind. We did a 77 mile loop that included about 4300ft of climbing. Once again, there’s nothing quite as much fun as riding uphill into a headwind.

The worst of it was towards the end of the ride. As you come back in to Fremont from Milpitas, you turn from Warm Springs on to Mission Bl. and there’s a 2 ½ mile section that is uphill. Granted, it’s not a steep uphill, just a long grind from Warm Springs up to Ohlone College that averages about 4% where you gain about 300ft.

Of course when you add in the fact that there was a strong headwind AND we had already done about 65 miles, this became the point for me where I was no longer having fun. The point where, as the poet quoted above puts it, I need the gales of life, but I dislike enduring them….

A famous Greek proverb states that “He who suffers much will know much” and after riding these past couple of Saturdays I do feel like I know something…..I know I hate the wind….

Riding for a Cure….Year 4

2011-05-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the 4th annual Tour de Cure ride for TheOverTheHillGang.

The “team” and I use that word loosely since none of us are even near to being classified as racers, was 21 riders strong this year. We had co-workers, family, friends and friends of friends join us for either the 25 or 50 mile ride.

This ride, of all the rides I do, is probably the most focused on fun and least focused on performance. This year in addition to riding with my wife on the pepto-bike, I had both of my daughters and my semi-adopted, part-time daughter riding with me.

Our goal, in addition to having fun and riding together was to raise $15,000 for the American Diabetes Association, a group that does a huge amount of work in trying to find a cure for diabetes.

As we always do, we went up on Saturday to hang out, socialize, have a fun team dinner and prepare for Sunday’s ride. Sunday actually started pretty early for me since I had forgotten my shoes. I was at Walmart at 5:15am buying shoes to wear. Yes, we were only doing 25 miles and yes, I have toe clips on the tandem, but there was no way I was doing it in flip-flops which is the only thing I had brought with me.

After getting that taken care of I went in to the Holiday Inn Express where we were staying and had coffee and took pictures of the 50 mile group that were there getting fueled up. This was followed by checking on the bikes my daughters were to ride, loading up the truck and sitting down to breakfast with our group that was doing the 25 mile route.

At dinner the evening before it was decided that Deb and I would pull her friend Anita’s granddaughter in a trailer. Anita was originally planning to do it, but due to illness hadn’t really been riding much. This would add an additional 6ft to the already long and bright pink tandem. Good thing we were only doing the 25.

The weather on the ride was absolutely gorgeous. Temps in the mid to high 70s, a little wind, but not too bad, and clear skies greeted us as we wound our way through the Napa valley and its vineyards.

As we came in to the rest stop we were caught by Tracy and Tammy who had done the 50 mile route. They told us that most of the others were ahead of us and making good time. As we filled our water bottles and bellies we found George was already there. Gary, Janet, Jerry and Evan rolled in not long after so we hung about and chatted while our group prepared for what would be our second half and they got ready for their last 12 miles.

We quickly spread out with George, Gary, Janet, Jerry and Evan quickly leaving us behind. Evidently chatting and stopping, taking pictures and generally plodding along taking our time doesn’t make for fast progress on a 25 mile ride.

The last little climb back up to the start is usually the toughest part of the ride for new riders, but our group motored right along and crossed the finish line amid much clapping and celebration. For several members of our team this was their longest ride ever and the after ride beverages and food were a nice reward.

I still don’t have the official total from the Diabetes Association since many of our group turned in cash on the day of the event, but I’m pretty sure we actually hit our $15,000 fund raising goal.

What about my personal goals for the event? Well, I shared a gorgeous day on the bike with my girls and a bunch of my friends, everyone had fun, no-one got hurt and we raised a good chunk of money for an important cause…..Yep, complete and total success!

Climbing for Recovery.....

2011-04-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

After last Sunday’s race, my legs were pretty tired and actually sore. Evidently tired legs are the normal result of entering a mountain bike race you’re for which you’re not in shape. (who knew?)

So, this past Tuesday as I loaded up the road bike and headed over to meet the group for our Tuesday night assault on the mountain known as the Devil, I have to admit I was less than enthused and even less sure of my ability to complete the entire climb. But being more stubborn than smart, there was no way I was bailing so off I went.

As we clipped in and began our climb I could feel the soreness in my legs with every pedal stroke. I took it nice and easy at the start and by the time we hit the 1000ft sign, I was feeling surprisingly good. It was a gorgeous evening with a slight breeze and temps in the mid 60s, perfect climbing weather, and as the climb continued past the first ranger station and then up to the second, I was amazed to find I felt really good.

Granted, while my pace was high enough to keep me vertical, there was no risk of me breaking any speed records. Still, I felt really good. As we refilled our bottles and enjoyed some shotbloks at the second ranger station I decided I would make the top, but there was no way I was doing the “driveway”….

Lynn took off first, so while Paciano, Xing and I got our act together, clipped in and took off, she was building up a pretty decent lead. After what seemed like forever we ended up catching up to her about half way to the top. The funny thing is that in catching her, I had pretty much blown myself up in the effort. Paciano on the other hand seemed to be getting stronger with every turn and as I slowed to ride with Lynn for a bit (and try to get my heart rate down below 200) Paciano stood up shifted and motored away.

Foolishly thinking he would soon blow up I too stood up and gave chase….unfortunately, he showed no sign of tiring. As a matter of fact, no matter how hard I pushed, he remained a turn or two ahead.

Eventually, we came to the “driveway” and without thinking I just downshifted, put my head down and continued making circles until I finally reached the top…..by the way, if you’ve ever wondered just how slow you can go without falling over, evidently 3.0mph is still fast enough to keep you vertical….as I came across the top I realized that I had made it and although my pace was definitely slow, the soreness in my legs was gone and I actually felt really good….tired but good.

And, since the only reason I’m willing to climb is that I enjoy descending, we rested a few minutes and turned the bikes downhill…..let the fun begin….

Sea Otter recap….

2011-04-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I once again participated in the carnival that is the Sea Otter Classic. This once yearly event is billed as “the world’s largest cycling festival” hosting about 8500 athletes and over 50,000 fans.

Last year, a bunch of us had gone down on Saturday to check out the vendor booths, the pump track, the Sierra Nevada Brewery booth and then do dinner in Monterey. This year, my schedule didn’t work out that way so although the rest of the gang went down and did the whole thing on Saturday then had a good nights sleep at a local hotel, I opted to get up at 4:00 am on Sunday, drive down and do the race. I figured I’d check out the vendors and the scene afterwards.

The problem for me in trying to get up early is that I have this paranoia that I’m going to oversleep and I end up waking up every 45 minutes to an hour to check the clock which doesn’t bode well for a good night’s rest. I did manage to get up on time though and after getting ready, wolfing down a bowl of cereal and a clif bar I was on the road and made it to the parking lot with an hour and a half to spare.

Registration went quickly and I headed down to try to get my legs warmed up by riding around the vendor area. It was eerily quiet at this hour with none of the crowds, chaos and energy I’d find here after my race.

Soon enough, people were lining up on the track in their groups. Nick and I, being on single speeds were to be the second group out right behind the tandems. Yep, tandem mountain bike racers….and they say single speeders are nuts.

The race starts on the track at Laguna Seca and we rolled out in a group around a couple of turns and up the corkscrew before jumping off the track and onto the dirt. As soon as we hit the dirt I realized I may have gone out too hard as I was redlined and huffing. Slowing my pace I tried to get into a groove and just motor….it wasn’t working. I continued to struggle with my heart rate and no matter how much I tried to relax every time I looked at the gps, I realized I was going faster than I wanted and had to force myself to slow down.

It’s been a really wet and rainy winter and I haven’t been riding nearly as much as I had last year. At about mile 10 this fact became apparent as even the smallest climbs were sending me into the red zone. At mile 17 as we headed up the last long fireroad climbs towards the finish, my lack of fitness and the pace I had early on in the race really became my undoing. I was cramping something fierce and even though I had gone through 3 e-gels, a pack of shot blocks and almost 70ounces of water, I was forced to walk several times until the cramps in my quads would loosen up.

Finally we crested the last climb before heading back down to the track and the finish and I knew this wasn’t going to be one of my best days. I had finished though and that was my goal.

Nick rolled in not long after I did (surprisingly un-bloodied for a change) followed by Jon who had started in a different group a while after us. Tracy came in later covered in dirt and some pretty good road rash. Evidently he had been really flying as he entered one of the badly rutted sections and ended up doing a superman impression as his bike got caught in a deep rut. He was a little torn up but had finished strong anyway.

My plan was to spend a good part of the afternoon wandering around the vendor area looking for deals and schwag, but all I could think about was food and a hot shower so I headed back to the truck, swung through a Mickey D’s in Salinas for a grilled chicken sandwich and a large iced coffee and headed for home….and a long hot shower….

Sea Otter Pre-Ride….

2011-04-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

In their infinite wisdom, the organizers of the Sea Otter Classic bike race decided to eliminate the Cat 3 Single Speed division and only have it in Cat2 and Cat 1. So I, being dumb enough to think single speeding is fun, was also dumb enough to go ahead and step up to Cat 2 so I could race against other single speeders and not just get lumped in with everyone else in Cat 3.

Today, Tracy, Nick, John and I headed down to Laguna Seca to pre-ride the course, see how different the Cat 2 route would be and try to get a feel for the route. Now, you need to understand that it has been a long, cold, wet winter and I, being not only somewhat not so smart, am also pretty much a wuss when it comes to riding in cold wet weather. Add to that the fact that I was sick most of Feb and March and you end up with today’s pre-ride being my longest mt. bike ride so far this year and by far the toughest ride I’ve done since last year.

And boy was it a doozy. The new route seems to be quite a bit tougher than last year and although the length is only slightly longer than last year, there’s an additional 1,000ft of climbing. There also seems to be more singletrack which is very cool. Although for anyone behind me next week, it could just be frustrating as they’ll surely want to pass me and the singletrack sections don’t offer a lot of opportunities.

The BLM has also been out there doing trail maintenance which I guess is good. The rutted up fireroads are now nice smooth gravel which is great for the downhill and flatter areas, but makes climbing the steep stuff on an SS pretty difficult. In order to get up the climb, I’m forced to stand and really hammer which causes the back tire to break loose. I ended up walking some sections not due to tired legs, but to lack of traction in the loose gravel.

In addition, the organizers have re-routed some of the sections. The infamous trail 60 with the long downhill sand pit has been eliminated. Instead there’s a shorter, steep, and just as sandy section at the end of the main trail.

Today the weather was good. Not too hot, not too cold. Although towards the end, there’s a nice 3 mile fire road climb which is tough enough, but today the wind was blowing directly into our faces which only added to the challenge.

They did add a nice single track section at the end which was a fun little swoopy section back down to the track….it’s a good thing it was downhill too, I was pretty well shattered by the time we got back.

All in all we ended up with 20.3 miles and 3150ft of climbing……next week is really going to hurt…

Standing on Hell’s doorstep….

2011-04-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

At least that’s where I assumed we were….we rode through Hell's Gate which I assume leads to Hell's Doorstep...

The Friday before last, Deb and I loaded up the truck and set out on the road for Death Valley. Although it’s a long, boring, ugly drive for 90% of the 9 hours we were in the truck, the last hour is actually pretty cool….in a desolate, barren, post-apocalyptic sort of way.

Saturday morning I got up early to meet up with Bob, Leticia, Bill and Gail and begin the Hell’s Gate 100 ride that I had signed up for and driven an entire to day to attend. I’ve never been to Death Valley before and although the desert does have its own particular beauty, I must say I really prefer trees and mountains and rivers…..oh yeah, and to see stuff that’s actually living.

As I stood there lining up with the other slackers that had waited until the last possible rollout time of 7:00am it dawned on me that for the first time I had done the smart thing and opted for the metric century instead of the full century.

In year’s past, I would have let my ego make the decision then spent the rest of the day regretting it. Today though, it would be different. I had made the intelligent choice to do the shorter route and had also chosen to ride with people smart enough not to kill ourselves with a pace we couldn’t sustain…..sometimes my good judgement amazes me….

The ride starts out heading south out of Furnace Creek and down towards Badwater. As we rode along in one of the most desolate places I’ve ever ridden, the stark barrenness of the area started to grow on me.

Sure, there’s nothing there and, should you happen to be here in July instead of March your brain would cook inside your head, it was kind of pretty. The bottom of the valley is flat and looks like a salt marsh, but on either side are mountains that to the west held snow and to the east showed an incredible array of colors from the differing rock formations.

Not long after we started the road turned left and we began our first climb of the day…..and boy was that a surprise. As is my style, I had totally failed to train and instead of looking at the route guide to see just how unprepared I was, I took the ignorance is bliss attitude and just took off with the group.

The climb was pretty tough and gained about 1000ft in 3 miles. The nice part is that it’s a one way road and there were only 2 cars in the time we were climbing. After pretending to take pictures at the top long enough to get my heart rate under control we hit the first rest stop of the day at Artist’s Palette. Wow, ok so maybe the desert isn’t completely devoid of beauty.

From here it was a fun, fast, perfectly paved one way road downhill to the valley floor and then the trek north towards Hells Gate. I think the worst part of riding in the desert is that without one single tree to block your view, you can see for miles. Unfortunately, in a mostly flat, uninhabited area where you can see where you’re headed miles away, it seems like no matter how long you ride, you never get closer.

This fact went from boringly apparent to painfully apparent once we turned off Hwy 190 and headed up towards Hell’s Gate proper. From the bottom of the valley to the rest area at the top is a 10 mile climb and you can see the tent at the top from just past the first turn at the bottom…..it’s a white spot at the very top that no matter how long I pedaled, never seemed to come any closer….

Finally though, after what seemed like an eternity of pedaling uphill with no respite, (is that what purgatory is?) we came around the final bend and were at the official turn around point for the metric century. Hell’s Gate…..as I stood there on Hell’s doorstep, I looked back at the valley below in all it’s desolate glory and agreed again, just how intelligent I was for doing the metric and not the full century. (Bob, evidently has either less brains or is just plain tougher than I am as he was doing the entire route)

The 10 miles up of course resulted in 10 miles back down and it was awesome! Unfortunately, as all good things must come to an end, the downhill ended and we were faced with a long, flat grind back to the start. Thankfully, Bill and Gail on the tandem took the lead and the rest of us (yes, a tandem in a headwind develops a large following) fell in behind, put our heads down and made circles as best we could.

Eventually, we made it back to the start, and as this was the first long ride of the season, I couldn’t wait to get off the bike. My legs, though tired, felt pretty good. My butt, shoulders, neck and arms though were pretty much done.

All in all, we ended up with 65 miles and right about 5,000 ft of climbing. It was a gorgeous day in some barren but beautiful scenery spent with good friends. Not sure I’ll be driving back down to Death Valley any time soon, but I was very glad that I had done it.

Finally, back on the bike….

2011-03-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

So, my last blog post and my last ride were way back at the end of February. The reason being that it was on President’s day weekend that I came down with a cough, that turned into a cold, that turned into the flu and ended with me still having a cough….

So, here I am a full 4 weeks later, and although I feel a LOT better, this stupid cough will not go away. Unfortunately I’ve committed to some rides in the near future so I needed to get out on the bike and try to get the legs turning.

Yesterday, the weather broke and although it wasn’t really a “nice” day, it wasn’t raining so I snuck out of work early, actually I left on time but everyone seemed to think I was leaving early, and with the bike in the truck I headed over to Cull Canyon for a couple of laps out and back.

Cull Canyon is nice for a couple of reasons. There’s very little traffic since it’s a dead end and since it’s an out and back, if the weather did turn to crap, I wasn’t that far from the truck.

On the first leg I went pretty hard. Got the heart rate up and kept it there for the entire trip out to the end. It felt good to be on the bike again and although I was coughing and hacking, it helped to blow out the lungs. Coming back, I had a headwind the whole way, which was fine since the route is slightly uphill the whole way out and slightly downhill the whole way back. The wind added to the workout and I concentrated on trying to make circles and keep the rpms high.

The second lap was at a moderate pace. Although I didn’t really slack off, I wasn’t killing myself like I did on the first. I kept a decent pace, made sure my form was good and spun the entire way out only standing and hammering for the one little hill.

It was on this lap that I noticed just how pretty this ride is at this time of year. The hills are beautiful, there are no cars and after almost running into a flock of turkeys and seeing this family of deer, I realized again, just how blessed we are to live in such a nice area.

As usual, I forgot to bring the GPS, but I know the out and back is right about 12-13 miles so I ended up with less than 30 miles total, avoided any rain and got in a great ride. It’s amazing what a good ride will do for my attitude and sense of well being.

Of course it’s pouring again today, so it looks like those will be the only miles I get between now and Saturday when we do the Hell’s Gate 100. And, even though I'm only doing the metric, I'm pretty sure this is gonna hurt….

President’s Day Weekend….

2011-02-28T11:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s starting to look like Spring which is both a good and bad thing….it’s a good thing in that the weather is getting nicer and I’ll be able to get out on the bike again. It’s a bad thing in that the weather is getting nicer and I’m way out of shape for the rides I have coming up…..soon…..

With it being such a cold, wet winter, I haven’t been riding nearly as much as I have in winters past and both the bathroom scale and my fitness will prove that out. Unfortunately, in direct conflict with my lack of fitness is a pretty aggressive Spring riding schedule…..The first of these challenges and the most pressing comes in about 4 weeks. A bunch of us are headed down to Death Valley for the Hells Gate 100….100 miles and 8500ft of climbing. I’ve pretty much already decided I’m doing the metric on this one.

With all of this in mind, and with 3 days off work, I figured I should get my butt in gear and get some exercise. Saturday was spent doing my chores, Sunday Deb and I had a great hike around Coyote Hills. The weather was clear and fairly warm and it was a really nice hike. Watching the hawks soar effortlessly over the hills was really cool....they were everywhere.

Monday, I got up early and headed out to do the Palomares loop. This is a great 30 mile loop with about 2300ft of climbing. The only problem is that it was only 40 degrees when I got to the start and got on the bike and I’m not sure it warmed up very much all morning. By the time I got to Sunol and the halfway point my toes were numb and although I have some really nice neoprene shoe covers…..well, they were at home.

The last half of the ride I don’t really remember the cold. Mainly because riding along Niles canyon I was so focused on not getting run over by the cars zooming by within inches that I didn’t think about the cold. Then once you enter Palomares Canyon proper, the climbing begins and I was pretty focused on keeping my heart rate under control and not blowing up. The canyon was beautiful though.

As you come down from the top of Palomares, there’s a steep, fast descent followed by great section of rolling hills and curves. The steep part is always good for some top speed and today was no exception. My gps showed 46mph.
The last rolling section really allows you to hammer along in the drops and focus on spinning the pedals. In addition, I kept getting glimpses of a group just a couple turns ahead of me and although I was giving it everything I had, I just could close the gap.

Eventually you come out of the canyon and I finally caught the group ahead of me. Granted they were all standing around chatting while I was trying to get my breathing under control so I didn’t appear to be dying. I’m pretty sure I actually pulled it off as I gasped out a “hey” and rode on by….

After getting back to the truck, getting home and standing in a hot shower till I could feel my toes again, Deb and I went and had a nice lunch then took a hike up at Redwood Regional Park. It was one of those hikes that starts up on a ridge and wanders up and down. We had a great time talking and looking at the views until we decided to turn around. It was then that we realized we had been going pretty much down for the last 40 minutes..….which of course leads to more than an hour of heading back up in order to get back to the truck….

All in all a great weekend and some tired legs on Tuesday….

2 Years, 3 Cameras….

2011-02-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I’ve managed to kill another one….camera that is....

The first camera I managed to kill was a Canon Powershot SD 1000 7.1 megapixel point and shoot.
This was a great little camera that I bought after reading a bunch of reviews. It was on sale for right around $200.00, was supposed to take really good photos and was compact enough to fit in my pocket but still provide a pretty decent zoom. It survived about 8 months…. Granted it may still be alive and well as I lost it on the California Coast Classic ride so it could still be plugging along taking very nice photos for someone....
As I mourned it's passing and began to think about it's replacement, I fondly remembered the adventures we had experienced and the shots it had taken….

So, moving forward I was once again reading online reviews, surfing the web for deals and trying to figure out which camera would fit my needs. I wanted good pictures, a pretty small format and as much bang for the buck as I could get for right around $200.00….

This time it was the Panasonic Lumix DMC FS15 a 12 megapixel beauty in black and silver. Like it’s predecessor this was another really well reviewed camera with a nice zoom and an a Leica lense. Not quite sure what that means, but evidently the reviewers all agree that Leica is a good lense and that this camera offered a lot of value for the price. Plus, it was on sale for right around $200.00
This camera was supplemented with a 4/3rds format digital SLR so it mainly fell to job photos and my outdoor adventures where I couldn’t (wouldn’t) go with the DSLR.

I had originally been looking at the “outdoor” cameras that claimed to be waterproof and crash-proof but although they fit the majority of my needs, they were still too far out of my budget being at or above the 300-350.00 mark.

The Panasonic was a great camera. It was small, took really good pictures, didn’t have any of the delay or lag that you sometimes get with these cameras and although the screen is scratched and the housing has some dings, it just kept taking great photos….up until the New Year’s Day ride this year in which it was either raining or so foggy/misty it might as well have been raining.

It was here, almost a full twelve months after I purchased it, that it started to act up. At first it wouldn’t open when I turned it on. Then after shutting her off and on a couple of times she seemed to work ok. Later though, I noticed some of the shots were blurry, almost like they were out of focus or that the lense hadn't been fully extended.

It seemed to rebound after that ride though and continued to work without any issues until last week when it just refused to open all the way and then wouldn’t close. Cycling the power on and off did nothing to help, the lense just stuck out there, neither open nor closed in a half mast, useless and inoperable way.

So, as I’ve done with all the other no-longer functioning electronic gadgets and doo-dads that I’ve accumulated in life, I threw it in the junk drawer to be recycled at a later date and thought back on some of the places we had been together.

This time, I had decided I was going to get one of the supposedly waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, nuclear explosion resistant cameras. No matter the cost, I wasn’t burying another good soldier for lack of armor…..

Lo and behold, after much reading of reviews and perusing of photography websites, I found just the item, the Olympus Stylus Tough 6020 camera. This baby has it all. Armor – Check, Waterproof – Check, Dustproof – Check, Shockproof – Check, It’s even Freezeproof down to 14degrees….not that I’ll ever be riding my bike at that temp, but it will be going skiing with me so I guess that’s good.

The best part about this camera, it’s on sale for $80.00 off and is now $199.00 – right dead center in my pricepoint crosshairs…..

Reviews to follow…..

You Meet The Nicest People On A.....

2011-02-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, Jerry and I did a lake Chabot ride on Sunday after church. The ride itself was pretty uneventful and totally enjoyable.

After the ride though, we met a couple of guys in the parking lot as they were getting ready to leave. Stepping way out of my comfort zone (I’m terribly shy you know) I struck up a conversation with the gentleman who it turns out used to be a cyclist but now rides a scooter.

Evidently he used to ride several (20+) centuries per year with various local riding groups but now he just tools around on his scooter. The really interesting part is that he doesn’t ride alone. He has a good friend Rusty that rides with him in a special pack.

Rusty you see is a Chihuahua and not only does he ride in a special pack, he also has goggles and a helmet with his name on it. Together it sounds like they’ve been all over the place on that little scooter.

It’s true, you do meet the nicest people on a ~~Honda~~ Scooter

Early Season Racing....

2011-01-31T10:44:00.000-08:00

I’m redlining….I told myself I wasn’t going to do this… I was going to take it easy, ride my own ride and not push myself into the red zone trying to keep up with anyone else…..

We started out as a group, Nick and I in the singlespeed division while Tracy and Paciano were starting 4 minutes behind us in the much larger group of geared riders.

In an effort to get a jump start on this year’s training I had gotten up at 5:00am on a Sunday morning to be here. After showering and wolfing down a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee, I was outside and waiting when the others pulled up for the two hour drive up to Granite Bay Park for the Early Bird MTB Race. Luckily, the weather was totally uncharacteristic for a January day and we were looking at blue sky and temps in the mid 60s.

The race had started out according to plan. I let the fast guys take off and settled in at a decent pace behind a young lady in a team kit with Nick right on my wheel. I thought I’d be fine here for the first lap, but eventually realized her pace was just a bit slower than I would have liked and at the first opportunity swung out and went by.

The trails here were awesome. Narrow swoopy single track that wove in and out of the trees, around and over granite boulders and up and down hills that, with the moisture from a wet winter, allowed our tires to stick to the trails as if we were riding on Velcro.

Unfortunately, after passing the young lady in the race kit, I realized I had no-one to pace myself against and had subsequently gone too hard for too long and now had to try to get my heart rate down and my pace back under control. Which, I found is really hard to do in a race setting with young guys on geared bikes saying “on your left” every couple of minutes.

We had stopped on the way up at McD’s to use the restroom, top off our caffeine stores and wolf down a mcmuffin… a decision that I was starting to regret as my stomach was beginning to rebel against both the pace and the junk food.

As we headed in to the second lap I was actually starting to feel like I might even finish this race. Every time I was tempted to slow down, the knowledge that Tracy and Paciano had started 4 minutes back and were probably even now running me down was enough to force me to push just a little harder.

The blood had begun to flow shortly into the second lap as I attempted to clear the section that had a large granite boulder to go up and over as well as a myriad of smaller ones on the backside going down….evidently I wasn’t carrying quite enough speed to clear the smaller boulders and as the bike suddenly lurched to the right, my knee became the pivot upon which I rotated around the rock….. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what happened since the risk of embarrassment should anyone see me laying there on my side caused me to literally bounce back up and on the bike barely even slowing down.

As we came to the end of the second lap, I practically flew down the hill and out onto the flats where I was easily passed while spinning out at about 120rpms by a geared cyclist who appeared to be out for a Sunday cruise….

The third place finish would have been much more impressive had there been more than 6 competitors in the SS masters division, but hey, I’ll take whatever I can get….

A Real Ride….

2011-01-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, once again, life gets busy….

The week before last, as my grandson and I were taking a walk, he said, “I want to go for a bike ride tomorrow grandpa” I of course, willing to ride at the drop of a hat with just about anyone, said ok….lets plan it for after work.

He immediately responded with "no….I don’t want to do a round the block ride…I want to do a REAL bike ride”. After talking to him a bit I realized that in his mind, unless we got our stuff together, loaded everything in the truck and drove somewhere, it wasn’t a “real bike ride”.

So, having determined that he wanted a “real bike ride” I left work early on Wednesday, went home had him fill our water bottles, loaded everything in the truck, stopped at the store for gummy sharks so we could have energy snacks, and headed over to Lake Elizabeth to do a “real bike ride”.

The loop around the lake is 1.5 miles, which I figured would be a perfect distance for his little 12” wheels and wouldn’t wear him out too much. I also figured we’d probably stop at one of the playgrounds for a bit to burn off some energy….

Turns out I underestimated the number of stops by about 10…..we stopped at almost every bench to have an “energy snack” (gummy sharks) we stopped once to throw rocks into the lake, once to look at the ducks, once to try and peek through the construction fence, twice to play at different playgrounds, once to walk out onto the boat dock, once just to stop and rest and several times just to try and skid our brakes…..

All in all, the lap took us about 2 hours and on the way home, although he “really wasn’t very tired grandpa” he closed his eye to rest them for a minute (actually about 15 minutes but who’s counting)

What a great way to spend the afternoon!

New Year’s Day Hangover Ride….

2011-01-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

Honestly, these New Year’s Day adventures used to provide stories that were much more entertaining to tell.

When I was younger and a runner, we would do a New Year’s Day Hangover run which usually included several runners that were either severely hung over or in some extreme cases still drunk having not yet been to sleep. As you can imagine, taking a group of moderately competitive, mostly out of shape, ego driven, hung over runners and forcing them to actually run provided very colorful stories…..and by colorful, I mean the color was green…..really, really green.

Lately though, as I’ve gotten older, most of my partners in crime have also aged and in many cases actually gained the good sense not to stay out late and get hammered on New Year’s Eve. The result is that our New Year’s Day events (mt bike rides in recent years) have mellowed to the point that the stories are not quite as entertaining and the memories focus more on the event itself and not on the antics of the attendees. (the only exception to this is when a completely sober attendee does something stupid and we can all make fun of them)

This year was similar to the recent ones except that it’s wetter this year than it has been in years past. We met up off Skyline Blvd early on a cold, drizzling, windy morning and plotted out our route. Muddy trail conditions would dictate which trails were and were not open. Turns out most were open.

It wasn’t long after we started that pretty much everyone had a brown stripe up their backs from the mud splattering up on them. Turns out the guys smart enough to actually put on fenders faired only slightly better than those without…

We started on fireroads, jumped off on singletrack, back to fireroads and so on as we worked our way down into the canyon. There were some good climbs, but for the most part, our trajectory was down…..which is great. But, in the back of my mind, I knew at some point during the day, I was going to end up paying a dear price for all this fun.

(One of the climbs, which is practically impossible when dry, was completely and totally impossible when wet.)

Completely spent and with no fuel in the tank, my response to the question of who wants more, was of course….I do, I do….wait, who said that?

My legs said no, my lungs said no, even my back said no, but that damn mouth of mine chimed in as if it was ready to go all day…..the problem is, my ego is in cahoots with my mouth but not at all connected to my brain or the rest of my body…..

My mouth is always volunteering for stuff, or agreeing to stuff or even saying stuff, that every other part of my body realizes is a bad idea…..just like the time my mouth said “sure, one more lap down Tractor will be fun” and my poor arm took the brunt of the fall when my legs and my brain quit working halfway down the hill…

This time at least the only injury was suffered by my ego as he had to face up the group when my legs couldn’t push the rest of my body up the hill any faster and we made it to the top about 2 and half days after everyone else….

At the end of a wet muddy ride, I could think of nothing better than a hot shower and a nap….at least I couldn’t until Nick mentioned that he brought chili….Afterall, what could be better than a nice hot bowl of chili, some bread (yep, he brought that too) and something to drink. Of course this was all supplemented by the salami and cheese that Don brought, the fruit platter that Chris brought and whatever else was there.

I was so intent on keeping my mouth from committing to any more stupid ideas, that I was forced to keep shoving food into it to keep it quiet….all in all an awesome ride and a great way to start the new year….

Sunday Muddy Sunday…..

2010-12-30T21:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, so my recent mt bike ride has nothing to do with political unrest, there were no soldiers shooting and although I probably have some U2 on my iPod somewhere, I’m not quite sure what the tie in here is…….except that I rode my bike on Sunday and ended up really muddy.

It seems like it’s been raining since beginning of time which pretty much sucks. Add to that the fact that I was dealing with a major Christmas toy, present, shopping and extended family hangover and you still end up with me….but a really cranky version of me.

I needed to get outside and burn off some energy. Originally the plan was to take the road bike out and get in some miles. Jerry and his neighbor Bob though, had an even better plan. They wanted to ride up the road to the top of the hill behind Cal State and then take the greenbelt trail back down.

I really like this route. It’s not a particularly difficult ride since all the uphill is on the road, but it’s a REALLY fun ride since the entire dirt portion is downhill, the trail tends to get very little traffic and there was a good chance we were going to get muddy. Yep, every time mud is involved in a ride, my inner child rears his head and screams like banshee at the top of his lungs.

And this ride disappoint him at all. The weather was clear, but cool. The traffic was light on the road portion and once we got to the dirt the fun really began. The trail was muddy but not really bad and the trail was empty. We ripped and we roared, my inner child and I. We slipped and slid on steep parts and around the corners, we motored up the climbs and over every little roller we tried our hardest to see if we could fly….

Eventually though, we came to the bottom and there was nothing left but a pretty good little climb back up to Jerry’s house…..all in all a great day and the perfect antidote to Christmas and rain overload……and way better than Irish revolts being put down with violence.

Exercising Our Demons….

2010-12-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

I have to say, I actually really enjoy the holidays. Yes, the stress level is high, I hate shopping, I don’t like putting up the Christmas decorations, I don’t like wrapping presents, I don’t like assembling the fake tree with all of its million pieces, I don’t like going to the mall, I don’t like crowds, I could do without seeing most of the extended family and I don’t like the size of my Visa bill afterwards……but other than that I LOVE the holidays….

This year, in addition to all the normal holiday stuff, we can throw in family health challenges, issues our kids are dealing with, health issues with elder parents, financial challenges related to work circumstances and an almost insane amount of job stress and it’s like life is piling on layers and layers until I can’t even find my real self beneath it all.

I’m normally a pretty happy go lucky guy. I tend not to stress about stuff and I’m normally in a pretty good mood (despite what my daughters say) So, what to do….what to do…..well it’s pretty simple really…..whenever I feel like my internal stress thermostat is getting into the red zone, I just get on my bike and ride myself into an exercise induced coma…

Last Thursday night was our annual NiteDawgs Christmas ride and party. It had been raining all week, but thankfully, Wednesday and Thursday we supposed to be clear and dry….and they were for the first half of the ride anyway.

I still have the SS torn apart and really need to get it back together. In the meantime though, I’ve got the squishy bike totally dialed in now so as we started out on the 10 hills trail I just flipped the lever on the shock, downshifted and enjoyed a nice cushy spin up and down the hills.

I stood on the climbs since that’s what I’m used to, but I pretty much just let the bike do it’s thing as I felt the stress of the day falling off like melting ice from a warm rooftop. Every climb burned the life out of my legs and left more of the day on the trail behind me and every downhill ripped my life’s stress away and let it flutter into the wind behind me….

By the time we regrouped at the stone bridge I actually felt normal again. I was tired and muddy and happy to be alive. The climb out of the canyon only further wore out my legs and enhanced my feeling of well being.

Eventually, we made it back to the theater where we changed into less muddy clothes, enjoyed our Christmas celebration and the fellowship that comes from spending time with good friends…..this afterall, is what Christmas is supposed to be about.

And the Season Begins….

2010-12-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

Last week Tuesday I took the day off and along with my buddy Chris and his buddy David, we headed to Sugar Bowl for a mid-week ski day.

The challenge in taking mid-week days is that you have to be somewhat flexible and really pay attention to the weather. For this reason, I’ve always been honest with my boss when taking ski days. It’s just too hard to call in sick, then change your mind and move the flu to the next day if a storm comes through.

We had planned it the week prior based on weather.com and it actually worked out perfectly, we had bluebird skies, they had received a few inches of new snow the evening before and we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. I don’t think we ever got in a lift line with more than 1-2 people in front of us.

The tough part about such perfect days this early in the season is that I’m not in good enough shape to really take advantage of them. Every time we got into the heavy snow my legs started complaining so we stayed on the groomers. Even then, with no-one on the mountain and no-one in line we were burning up runs so fast my legs were pretty much toast by 2:00…

Chris’ knee seemed to be doing well, his buddy David was a crazy fast and crazy good skier so I was killing myself trying to keep up and was glad when they said they were done for the day and ready for a beer.

All in all we had a great day with good friends, great weather, good snow and no crowds…..I don’t know if I’ll ever ski another weekend again…
(note - I forgot my camera so all I have is this one cell phone picture)

Here We Go Again….

2010-12-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

It’s amazing to me just how quickly this year has gone by….I know as we get older we all say that time just flies by but this year seems to have gone especially fast.
The upside to Summer and Fall whizzing by so quickly is that ski season is here and I love ski season. The downside is that just this week I registered for two rides for next season, the first of which is in March and is WAY beyond my current fitness level. The other is the Death Ride which is not only way above my fitness level, but is a ride I’ve attempted twice and failed to complete both times.

I’m not sure why I keep doing this. I tend to agree to things and then later wonder what the heck I was thinking….I was looking through last years posts and found the one about BHAGs and that’s pretty much my plan for this year as well.

I’ve got a couple major rides scheduled and will attempt to fill in the empty spaces with either training rides or organized rides that will hopefully get me to the point where it’s not a full year of suffering one ride after another.

For the most part, the rides I do are pretty easy. I try to stay within my comfort zone and not really work too hard.(it’s pretty much my mantra in all aspects of my life) This year though, I’ve got 3 rides that concern me. The first is in March and thanks to our “friends” Bob and Leticia several of us have signed up for the Hells Gate Hundred. (funny, these are the same people that got us to do the Medocino Monster last year, why do I even listen to their ideas?)

The Hells Gate Hundred is in Death Valley, is 100 miles and has 8500ft of climbing…..yeah, I know….idiot!

After the Hell’s Gate Hundred we have the Sea Otter Classic in mid-April. This is actually a fun one and the only actual “race” I do. Like last year, I’ll do this on the single speed. Unlike last year, they have no Cat 3 Single Speed division this year, so I’m in the Cat 2 category which doesn’t really mean much. I’ll be getting my butt kicked in either category, the problem is that in Cat 2 the course is 20.2 miles instead of 13 or 14 miles that it was last year. The last big ride I have scheduled is the Death Ride in July. This ride just plain sucks and if I had actually finished one of the other two times I attempted it, I probably wouldn’t be doing it this year. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish and therefore am required to continue trying until I do.

The other challenge I’m having in thinking about next year is that my current level of fitness is probably the lowest it’s been, cycling-wise, in the past few years. I don’t think I’ve ridden my road bike more than 2-3 times since the Death Ride in July. I’ve been riding 1-2x per week most weeks, but it’s all been on the mt bike. The longest ride is probably the 40 miles we did in the rain in Lodi…I have been going to the gym though and doing some other stuff, but I’m definitely heading into winter this year in a very un-fit state….

Oh well, I guess since I've survived this long, it can't be that bad.....I mean afterall, what could possibly go wrong????

The competitors.….

2010-12-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

I forgot my iPod!!! I realized this as I got out of the truck Saturday morning in front of the 24hr fitness….this was the second time I had been here this week and I wasn’t really happy about it. Especially knowing I was going to have to endure an hour of house music when I’d much rather be out riding my bike on the trails listening to the leaves under my tires, the chirping of the birds, anything but house music....Unfortunately, between everything going on at work, the rain we’ve had and the early darkness of winter, it hasn’t worked out that way. I guess a couple of miles on the treadmill and some time with the weights is better than nothing….

I’ve resolved to try to stay in shape this winter. I’m not going to use the cold, the wet and the darkness as an excuse to slack off in the hopes that I can gain it all back come Spring because that’s getting harder and harder to do. As I’ve gotten older it seems like, not only do I have to work harder to stay at the same level of fitness, but time off affects me much more dramatically than it did when I was younger.

In addition, with my back acting up, and the doctors not having any solutions other than drugs, fitness is my only defense against immobility and constant pain….so here I am. It’s 7:00am on a Saturday morning and I’m on the treadmill lumbering along like an overweight gorilla, sucking in huge mouthfuls of stale inside air while the kid next to me runs like a rabbit, barely breaking a sweat and chatting up the girl in the too tight shorts wearing full makeup on his right…

That’s ok, this is what it’s all about right?….we suffer now so we can enjoy the rides, the ski days, the races and not suffer later….Right? Wrong! It’s totally wrong and it’s a lie….I’ll still suffer later, my legs will still ache and quiver from exhaustion on the last ski run of the day, my lungs will still burn and struggle for air on the last mile of the weekly ride or the last half of whatever stupid race I get talked into riding in….no matter how much I train or how much I suffer in preparation, it seems I still suffer later…..So why bother? Why not just sit on the couch and watch football all day instead of going for a ride or going for a run? Why not just relax and take it easy?

Because although, I’m going to suffer later, I’m hoping that I’m not suffering as much as my friends and that’s REALLY what it’s all about….keeping up with the fast guys on the last climb or beating the young guys to the bottom of the mountain, or getting to the end of a sprint and standing around waiting for the others to catch their breath while I'm making small talk. Telling them it’s no big deal when you all know it IS a big deal….it’s the only deal…..

As we get older there are no more playground bullies to stand up to, no more school sports activities to measure ourselves by, no more corner offices to strive for…..there are only our friends to compete with. Other old fat guys just like us fighting the same age related injuries and illness, the same too much work, too little training time schedules....these are our competitors, our friends. Most of who are just like us. They too want to be the first one up the climb or down the mountain or across the finish line…..and that’s why I’m here, at the gym running on a treadmill when hopefully my friends are still home warm in their beds…..

DATMBA 2010 – Joaquin Miller/Redwood Park adventure

2010-12-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

Wow, 3 weeks since my last post…..sorry about that, this work crap is really starting to get in the way of my life….

Anyway, I got up Friday morning with a food hangover….you know how it is when you totally pig out the night before and then wake up starving….it’s like you stuff your stomach so much that it stretches and in the morning there’s this big empty spot waiting to be filled up again…

The girls had gotten up early to head out to join the insanity that was Black Friday. I was up a little later, but still early enough that the lawn was white with frost and the thermometer on the garage wall said 31 degrees…are we really riding in this weather?

After a bowl of cereal, putting on every piece of cold weather gear I own, loading up my stuff, filling the camelbak and heading out to pick up Tracy, it had warmed to a reasonable 36 degrees…..ok, this is nuts!

As the sun came up though, we could tell it was going to be a nice day. We pulled in to the parking lot for the dog park at Joaquin Miller and the others began arriving. Jack, Troy, Annie, John, Jerry, Nick, Chris, Evan…but no Xing…..where was he? It’s not that we necessarily needed him for the ride, but he promised to bring his amazing bbq ribs and that was one of the only reasons I even crawled out of my nice warm bed this morning.

Eventually though he pulled in and we prepared to take off. He later admitted he went by Office Max since they were having a great deal on memory cards…..whatever….he brought the ribs so all is forgiven…

Joaquin Miller starts with a nice downhill, then a little rolling but mostly level trail which leads you to what I found out is called 2 buck hill.

It's steeper than it looks

Evidently, in the group Chris rides with, everyone puts 2 bucks in the kitty and whoever actually makes the climb, wins the pot.

We didn’t do that and it’s a good thing…..everyone walked the hill, some even after multiple attempts…I on the other hand made a feeble effort, got a little ways up and promptly got off and walked. (a smart man knows his limitations and going uphill is definitely one of my limitations)

Once you get to the top of 2 buck hill, the trail wanders along the side of the canyon for quite a ways. Weaving in and out amongst the trees with gorgeous views of the City at several points.

Eventually it turns inland though and as we cross Skyline Bl it goes from Joaquin Miller over to Redwood regional park. One of the highlights of Redwood Regional is the a long steep downhill section where I was able to really appreciate the full suspension 29er. I had ridden this before on both a hardtail and my rigid single speed….and the full suspension is waaaaay more fun.

As the saying goes, what goes down must go back up, and for the next several miles you climb…..and climb….the first section is a long steep fire road that is so steep and had me spending so much time on the very nose of my seat that I really felt like my seat should buy me dinner…..(if you don’t get that joke, nevermind)

The rest of the climb isn’t too bad since the trail follows the edge of the canyon and rolls up and down all the while gaining elevation. The only downside is that this is a pretty busy area of the park, so you can’t really enjoy the downhill for fear of running over hikers, runners, kids, dogs, etc….

As we rolled into the parking lot on Skyline to regroup I decided to use the restroom…..sorry lady for walking in on you, but there’s a reason they put locks on doors in public restrooms….dang, who knew women could scream like that?

After regrouping we headed out on the west side of the park. The trails here are really nice and the area is very pretty, but you have to be careful of all the pedestrians…everyone was pleasant and the interactions were friendly. I can see though how the shared use issue could be a problem if you had riders that either weren’t paying attention or didn’t care and flew around the corners.

After coming back around to Skyline Bl you cross over back into Joaquin Miller Park and the fun begins in earnest. The next section, Big Trees Trail is fast swoopy downhill single track with very few other users….unfortunately it’s not a very long section and soon enough we were back on the Sunset Trail. Some of the group jumped on the road back to the cars, others took the Palos Colorado trail and some of us went back to go down 2 buck hill……which is MUCH more fun going down than up….

Nick heading into the woods

The last climb back up to the parking lot is actually a fairly steep rooty section and as I stood to climb over a root my front wheel came to a complete stop. Unfortunately the rest of me, my bike and my back wheel kept moving forward…..yep, a complete assoverteakettle endo within 20 yards of the parking lot. No injuries though and luckily enough, I don’t think anyone actually saw it happen.

Afterwards, we gathered for bbq ribs, brats, salad, pumpkin cheesecake and beers, telling lies to each other about how awesome we all were today…..another great DATMBA for the books. 14.8 miles and 2289 ft of climbing….man, it sure felt like more….

Joaquin Miller….How Do I Not Know You?

2010-11-16T13:59:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday, in preparation for our upcoming DATMBA, Tracy, Jerry and I decided to pre-ride a portion of this year’s route. Now, normally, this isn’t really in keeping with the spirit of the ride since the goal is to go somewhere new and explore….
This year though, we decided it would be better to have an actual route planned and having previously ridden one part of the route, the portion in Redwood Regional Park, we decided to map out the Joaquin Miller portion of the route. This would allow us to 1 – make sure it fit with everyone’s comfort level and 2 – ensure we could come up with enough miles that everyone went home exhausted.

After having ridden the section in Joaquin Miller I was amazed that I had never been here before. We rode only the tiniest sliver of the park and it was awesome. The scenery is gorgeous as you ride in the shade of giant redwoods often popping out onto an overlook with the entire bay and San Francisco spread before you. The trails, a mix of fireroad and swoopy singletrack were in great condition and although it was fairly busy on the trail, every interaction we had was really pleasant. Both hikers and cyclists….

Seeing as we hadn’t started our ride until almost 3:00 we were running up against the threat of darkness and didn’t really have time to explore much, but I can’t wait to get back with a full camelback, some snacks and most of a day and see what this place has to offer….

Yoga is hard…..

2010-11-10T21:19:00.001-08:00

For the past year my back, which has been giving me issues off and on for years, has been bad. It has been so bad, that I’ve actually been to the doctor a couple of times, been unable to stand up for an hour or two at a time and been hobbled like an old fart for a couple week long intervals.

Through all of this, the only thing the doctors have been to offer is drugs and sympathy. My medical doctor told me it was osteoarthritis or wear and tear arthritis and was a result of old age. He offered drugs, his advice to slow down a bit and after I refused both, a referral to a physical therapist.

The physical therapist watched me do some basic stretches, had me bend and twist and generally put me in all sorts of positions guaranteed to cause me pain. After which she declared the root of all my issues, at least the physical ones, the mental issues require a different type of doctor, was a weak core.

Her prescription was core exercises, quality time with an exercise ball and she strongly recommended regular doses of yoga. Now, I used to be kind of a gym rat. I went to the gym practically every day and did the lifting, grunting, sweating type exercises for several years. For the past few years, I’ve given up the gym life and taken up cycling. Through all of this the one thing I’ve never done is yoga.

Yoga is something famous actresses do right? Middle aged bald guys don’t do yoga. Besides, yoga requires flexibility and if there’s one thing I’m not, it’s flexible. I can barely put my shoes on in the morning without dislocating a hip.

Well, I’ve been doing the core exercises, I’ve spent some quality time with the exercise ball and still my back is bothering me. Not as bad as before, but still not good. And, with ski season coming up, I can’t risk not being at full strength…..so, yoga it is…..

My youngest has been doing yoga for a while now. She has all the channels on the on-demand cable stations mapped out and tonight picked one out that was targeted at beginners….so, with the mantra of nothing ventured nothing gained ringing in my ears, I dove in and gave it a try….

We did downward facing dog, we did child pose, we did stretches, we did twists, we did strength poses….we did everything and it all HURT. And, not just my back….My core hurt, my sides hurt, my arms quivered, even my legs were twitching and I got a mad cramp in the arch of my foot.

Afterwards though, as I sit here and type, the one thing that doesn’t really hurt is my back. Sure it’s only been a little while and I am sitting in my big comfy chair, but my back actually feels pretty good…..we’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning when I try to get out of bed which is always the worst part of my day….

The Giro D Vino…..

2010-11-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

So, I awoke at 5:00 am… which actually turned out to be 4:00 am once I remembered to set the clock back….to the sound of rain drops hitting the eaves. As I crawled back in bed for another hour or two of blissful sleep, it dawned on me that this could be the last time I was warm and dry for the rest of the day…..

At 6:00, when I got up for real, it was still raining and as I gathered my arm warmers, leg warmers, waterproof (supposedly) jacket and long fingered gloves, I still held out hope that this would blow through.

For the past 4 years we’ve done this ride and for 3 of those years, the weatherman threatened rain. So far we had avoided it although last year, or was it the year before, we rode all the way around the storm. For most of the day, off in the distance we could see the grey skies, low clouds and vertical lines that indicated rain. Luckily though, it never hit us….

I had heard all week that we were supposed to get rain today, but since the weatherman is wrong more often than he is right and, since it had been such a gorgeous day on Saturday, I felt confident we would face either no rain, or at the very worst a couple small showers. I guess that’s why I didn’t bring my waterproof shoe covers, long sleeve wool jersey and neoprene gloves….

Arriving in the parking lot of Woodbridge winery in Lodi, amid rain showers, a soaking wet parking lot and other riders in full gore-tex regalia, I was still confident in my (misplaced) optimism….

Bill and Gail showed up on their tandem, Chris, for his first long road ride since the broken knee, and Jerry and I rounded out the group. The others, either through good sense or a lack of adventure, had decided to skip it. Bob and Leticia, Greg, Jim and Lynn all were home and probably warm and dry as we saddled up.

For the next 3 or so hours we rode in the rain…..sometimes hard and blowing in our faces, sometimes just a gentle shower…..but still rain….falling, constantly falling….

The Giro D’Vino is a really fun metric century. The route is almost completely flat so it’s perfect for the single speed. The rest stops are all at valley wineries, the scenery is pretty and the roads it takes you on are all rural and lightly trafficked so you don’t worry too much about getting run over….

This year, due to the fact that it was still raining as we began, we decided to try the 50K ride instead of the normal 100K. The first winery you arrive at is the St Jorge winery which is absolutely beautiful.

As we rolled though the large iron and wood gates into the rain soaked courtyard, it felt like we had somehow been transported to a different time and continent. The tasting room though, instead of being full of wine connoisseurs and aficionados was full of dripping wet cyclists standing around the blazing fire to warm up before heading up to the tasting bar….Leaving that fireplace was one of the more challenging aspects of the entire day’s ride…(BTW – if you go, the Tempranillo was delicious, I actually bought a bottle)

Eventually though we had to get back on the bikes and so we did…..the next winery actually had food which was a good thing since between the early breakfast and the amount of calories I was burning just staying warm, I was now starving.

Jesse’s Grove winery is down at the end of a mostly paved road which is rough even in the best of conditions….on a rainy Sunday morning it was yet one more adventure added to our list…

One of the things that always strikes me on these organized rides is the number of volunteers it takes to pull it off. Now, on a normal sunny day I can see where it might be fun to hang out and help at a rest station or registration or whatever, but on a cold, windy, raining Sunday morning, I can’t believe how pleasant and friendly these people were….and the PB&J sandwiches tasted AMAZING! (their Cabernet was really good too)

We decided to skip the next couple of rest stops since we were getting cold, the rain wasn’t letting up and now the wind had come up. Our goal now was to be done with the ride….

We did stop at about mile 28 at another of the wineries…Vino Con Brio I think it was….where we used the facilities, Jerry washed the mud out of his eye (downside to drafting a tandem on a rainy day) and we stocked up on more PB&J along with some redvines…..Man! I do love me some redvines….

The rain finally did stop for the last couple of miles and by the time we finished my jacket was only mostly soaked instead of completely soaked….after changing into dry sweats, we headed over to enjoy a delicious lunch, a bottle of good wine and the camaraderie that only comes when a group of friends has endured a similar experience and sits and shares in the accomplishment of something others think is nuts…

The price of failure is high here….

2010-10-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

As I ride up to the group and unclip, I straddle my top tube, legs slightly bent and trying my best to look relaxed and at ease…..evidently I didn’t quite pull it off as the first thing Tracy said to me was “why are you standing all funny and grimacing?”

The reality was, I was fighting to keep my legs relaxed and trying to figure out how to lift my leg over the bike without them completely locking up from the cramps I could feel winding up in both quads…..it was a battle I was losing as I could feel the muscle fibers firing off like electrical charges and my legs continuing to tighten and loosen….oh please God, don’t let me cramp up and fall over in front of everyone……luckily, I was able to dismount, stretch, grab an electrolyte gel and some water from my camelback as battle swung in my favor. Eventually victory over the cramp monster was mine as the firing synapses and electrical charges slowed and then stopped altogether….whew….embarrassment averted….for now.

How did I end up here? Well, Saturday we had decided to ride Skeggs which, I was to find out is one of the most amazing riding spots in the area, and since my fitness level isn’t quite up to par these days, it was pretty tough.

The ride itself starts with a short climb on a road followed by a nice fast swoopy downhill on a fire road. As usual, when we first start out, I was a little tentative. As we finished the downhill and started to climb though, my confidence was up and I was in my groove.

The first climb is singletrack uphill with some tight switchbacks. It was a good workout and a couple of the switchbacks had me off the bike and walking but for the most part, it was awesome.

And of course once you’ve climbed, there’s the reward of the downhill…..narrow, fast, single track, swooping along the hillside surrounded by trees and greenery….simply fantastic! The only worrisome part was when I happened to look away from where I was headed and noticed that we were flying along on a very narrow trail on the edge of a very steep hillside…..even a minor mistake here would have major repercussions…..and possibly involve a long, painful hike out…..focus Rich, focus……

Not long after this thought went through my head, I came upon Troy, Nick and John stopped on the side of the trail. Well, technically Nick and John were stopped on the trail, Troy was laying right next to the trail. Evidently he had gotten some decent air and had come down on the hillside along the trail instead of on the trail proper. Luckily he landed on the uphill side and not the downhill side or we would probably still be out there looking for body parts. As it was, he ended up with some decent roadrash and some scrapes and what I’m sure will turn into a couple of nice bruises.

As the morning wore on and we alternated between climbs and descents, I could feel my legs beginning to tire. The trail though begged to be ridden hard….One of the trails, the Salamander I think, was so perfect that as Tracy so perfectly said it, "it could have been designed with the 29er hardtail in mind"….it was like surfing the perfect wave or ripping down the face on a perfect powder day….it was like I was above myself watching a slotcar rail around the track as my bike rode itself along the face of the hill curving, dipping, climbing, railing…..my heart rate high, my legs spinning, my mind somewhere else…..

Eventually though, we came to what seemed to be the bottom….and the climbing began for real. By now, my legs were definitely feeling the efforts of the morning. We climbed…and then we climbed some more. I could feel the electrical twinges as we came up to the bottom of the last hill….I’m fine I said to myself….just pedal through it…..and I did….right up until I came up to the guys and had to dismount. Interestingly enough, I felt like I was going to make it… up until I twisted my leg to clip out of the pedals and all of a sudden I knew I wasn’t going to be able to dodge this one.

After a few minutes of stretching, an e-gel and a couple of big chugs off the camelback I felt better. Better enough that I thought I’d be fine for the rest of the climb back up to the top. I held it together, alternating between pulling and pushing and spinning and the pedals until with less than 100 yards to go, and in full view of the guys at the top waiting for me, I cramped again and was forced to get off and walk…..

After regrouping we finished the last little climb, enjoyed one last amazing singletrack ripper section back to the start and found ourselves at the road where of course there was yet another small hill before we got back to the truck and the beers within…..

It's good to be back....

2010-10-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

As I reach the top of Brandon, I can hear my heart pounding in my ears which is surprising. Not because it shouldn’t be beating that loud, but because I’m huffing and puffing louder than a herd of wildebeests and am surprised I can hear anything at all….

Wednesday night I got the Jabberwocky back together so last night’s ride was the first time back on the single speed in a couple of months. Add to that the fact that in the last month, I’ve ridden like 3 times and it quickly becomes apparent why my heart was pounding in my ears and my breathing was loud and very “wildebeest-like”.

Jim, Lynn and I left before the main group since we were doing the long route and wanted a chance to finish at or about the same time as the main group. Jim also hasn’t been riding much. He runs his own business and evidently his boss is a slave driver.

This was the first week I had ridden where I was going to need lights so I made sure I charged up my battery, strapped it to the bike, threw my clear lenses in the camelback and had everything ready to go. I even arrived early to the starting place…..only to realize I had forgotten my light….luckily Lynn had a spare.

Once we finished Brandon though and my heartbeat returned to normal, I started to feel better. As we hit the short road section that connects to RedTail I actually felt good. I was back in the groove on the SS, pushing and pulling at the same time as I climbed. Unable to downshift and spin, you have no choice but to keep the momentum up and just keep going. And without suspension, you really have to pick your lines carefully and not just plow down the hill.

Arms loose, knees bent, grip firm, the bike bouncing, bucking and skipping around beneath me I rip down the section of narrow single track on RedTail, watching the ruts, looking where I want to go and not where I don’t. The bike feels good, she’s light, fast and together we’re one as we lean, pedal and carve our way though the fast downhill sections.

Eventually though, we cross the parking lot at the top and can see where the Park District has been working on their “trail maintenance”. In District-speak, trail maintenance means “let’s drive the entire route with a bulldozer” which is pretty much exactly what it looks like they did.
The “path” and I use that term loosely since it looks more like a “road” is about 20 ft wide and a mix of bare hard rock that’s been scraped clean interspersed with loose, soft, dusty sections where they’ve spread everything they scraped from the trail.

It’s ok though, I’m on the bike and it’s a beautiful evening and even their destruction of what used to be a trail can’t ruin my mood. It might be the endorphins, but I feel great! There are a couple of decent climbs back here on this section of Soaring Hawk, but my legs just keep churning and pretty soon we’re headed downhill again.

The last section before you cross the road over to Bort Meadows is steep and deeply rutted. The fact that it dumps you out onto a sharp curve on Redwood Rd, which is known for racing motorcycles and wannabe rally car drivers, only adds to the challenge.

Evidently, the driver of the bulldozer didn’t feel like risking his life, so this section is left unmolested. My front wheel of course, slips into one of the ruts, probably because that’s where I was looking and thinking “don’t go in that rut”…..luckily, I just let off the brake and the 29” wheels roll right out the other side. Wow, this bike makes me look good!

It’s getting dark now and I’m thankful Lynn had the spare light. The path back down to the stone bridge is fast, loose and dusty and as long as I keep my legs spinning at about 130 rpm I’m able to stay ahead of Jim and Lynn.

The rest of the route is pretty routine, although we do come upon a guy pushing his bike, with no lights, up the trail. When asked what happened he says he broke his chain. Both Jim and I offer to help him fix it since we have chain tools, but he tells us he threw his chain away when it broke……not sure why you’d do that instead of just putting it in your camelback, but I guess I also don’t understand why you’d be out here in the dark without lights. In his defense, it could be he didn’t plan on taking as long as it did to walk out.

As we came back to the marina, Lynn decided we should do the last, short, steep section up to the parking lot instead of the normal, not-as-steep road. It was half way up that last section, where I wasn’t sure which would explode first, my lungs or my legs, that I formed, joined and became chairman of the “I hate Lynn” fan club…..Once the beers at the end were passed around though, I quickly resigned my chairmanship and disbanded the club…..seems I was the only member anyway, and once I finished the climb, I couldn’t remember why I had formed the club to begin with…..

All in all, a beautiful night and a really great ride....it's good to be back!

The Beauty of Grace….

2010-10-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago today my eldest gave birth to her second child, a daughter. Grace Sophia came into the world at 9:06 pm and weighed in at 8lbs 11oz. sporting a full head of hair. She’s absolutely beautiful!

Although there were a couple of week’s worth of false alarms preceding her arrival, when she finally did decide to make an appearance, it all happened pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I had the flu so wasn’t able to meet her until Friday when she came home.

As I sat on the couch the other night holding her, amazed by her smallness, her vulnerability, her beauty, I was struck by just how fast life goes by.
It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was holding her mom and her aunt in my arms, rocking them, talking to them, calming their fears, soothing their cries…..and now they’ve both grown into strong, independent, young women with lives of their own…

At some point in our lives, we realize that life is not about what we do for a living, how much money we make, how fancy the house we live in or the car we drive. Our legacy is in the lives we touch and the impact we have on our world.

It’s so easy to lose focus and get caught up in all the other crap of the world. We make decisions based on selfish goals and desires. Decisions that seem perfectly “normal” and are completely acceptable to the world we live in. We even go so far as to rationalize them to the point that we believe that what we’re doing is for the best of those around us.

My granddaughter’s name is Grace and her beauty is undeniable.

The other grace though, the one with the small g is defined as an immunity, forgiveness or reprieve, a favor rendered by one who need not do so. This is the grace that we need to receive and the grace that we need to offer.

It can be bestowed on us by our spouses, neglected, slighted or hurt, our children, who were left to face life’s battles as we made a name for ourselves in the world, our friends who again sometimes receive second tier attention when we’re pursuing our “dreams” or ultimately by God who’s grace we need more than any other.

There’s a song titled BLINK by Revive that I really like and that is so appropriate….

Teach me to number my days

And count every moment before it slips away

Taking all the colors before they fade to gray

I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

It happens in a blink

It happens in a flash

It happens in the time it takes to look back

I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time

What is it I've done with my life

It happens in a blink

Life does go by in the blink of an eye and we need to make sure we don’t miss it. We need to take the time to make sure we’re investing in the things that matter, and we need to recognize that we all need grace and that it’s there if we seek it, knowing all the while we don’t deserve it. And, in the same way, we need to be able to offer grace to those in our lives that we know don’t deserve it, but desperately need it.

The Kindness of Strangers….

2010-10-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

As I wrapped up the blog about our recent mountain bike adventure, I spent some time just thinking about what a cool trip it turned out to be. Even with the crash and having to cut it short, it was still the trip of a lifetime.

In addition to the amazing riding, the gorgeous views and the time spent with good friends, the thing that really stuck with me was how nice everyone we met turned out to be…

It started with my email conversations with Nikki at the San Juan Huts company. She was so helpful on the phone and over email as we put this trip together, answering question after question after question. Never once telling me to just read the dang handbook even though I’m pretty sure every question I asked was covered in there. Pretty sure I would have pointed that fact out had I been on her end of the phone.

Then, the day we arrived in Moab, we wandered into Chile Pepper bike shop looking for info on where to ride. The gal that worked there, even though she was in the middle of a conversation, stopped, came to the front of the store and asked if we needed help.

Now, if you’ve been in to some of the bike shops here in the bay area, you know that we were already in uncharted territory since many bike shops here are staffed with people either too “busy” or too impressed with their own abilities to bother helping someone that walks in off the street.
Not only did she stop what she was doing and come forward, she spent the next half hour going over maps talking about different rides, and generally being really nice about helping us find a place to ride.

It’s one thing to help people that you have to help. Both Nikki and the lady at the bike shop were in the service industry. Technically we were their customers so the expectation is that they would be helpful.

It’s different though for total strangers that you meet on the trail. When Chris crashed and we ran into Dan and his wife on motorcycles, they went out of their way to help us. Not only did they give Chris a ride up to the road where he was able to get cell service, but Dan came back after dropping Chris off and picked up his bike to take it up to the road.

They also waited with Chris until Jerry and I got up there and while they were waiting with him, they shared their flask of rum. It should be noted that they were there celebrating her birthday with a motorcycle ride and never once complained about helping and never once thought about leaving us until they were sure we were taken care of and had everything under control. They essentially gave up more than a couple hours of their vacation day to help total strangers.

From there, we were in the hands of Tim from San Juan Huts. He showed up, loaded us into his truck, handed Chris yet another flask – this one with Tequila – and proceeded to drive us back to town. Not only was he willing to take us wherever we wanted to go, Telluride where we started, Montrose where they have an airport or Ridgway where their shop is located, but he did so pleasantly and cheerfully. Never once making us feel like we ruined his day or inconvenienced him in any way.

After deciding on going to Ridgway and planning on having Jim from the shuttle company come and get us, Tim took us to his shop so we could drop off the bikes and gear and not have to deal with them for the rest of the day. After giving us a complete tour of his shop and an update on everything they had going on (and introducing us to his 6 dogs) he took us to a hotel and made sure we were situated before bidding us good bye. Turns out he was heading out to find some hikers who hadn’t checked in yet on another of the hut routes.

I’m not sure if it was the fact that Chris was on crutches or that we looked so desperate, but the kindness continued as we checked in to the hotel. The young lady at the desk felt really bad that she couldn’t offer us any first floor rooms, but made up for it by giving us a really good deal on two upstairs double rooms. Then she actually got mad at me for teasing Chris about not carrying his own bag. She even went so far as to offer to carry his bags upstairs to the room….who does that?

So, the question becomes, is everyone that lives in CO and UT really nice or are they normal and I, having been born and raised in the bay area, just surprised when people offer common courtesies?

Day 6 – Starting for Home…

2010-09-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Day 6 started pretty much like every other day of the trip so far…..with the exception of the fact that Chris was now on crutches…it started with the search for breakfast and coffee.

We walked (hobbled in Chris’ case) over to the Union Café for breakfast, drank most of a pot of coffee then headed back to the hotel to pack and wait for Jim to show up and shuttle us back to Moab.

The ride back to Moab was quiet and routine, being in the back seat of the suburban with the windows down, allowed me to politely check out of the conversation, close my eyes and take a little nap. When I awoke we were back in Utah and it was raining. As the rain continued, lightning split the sky followed soon after by the resounding drumroll of thunder…..as we climbed over the mountains and started heading back down the other side, Jim had the idea to go look for flash floods and, seizing on any excuse to prolong our trip, we readily agreed.

With the surrounding hills being mostly sandstone, the rain hits the ground and, unable to soak in, begins its downward journey… gathering speed and picking up debris as it runs….

Eventually though, it was time to get to the hotel, pick up the van and get on the road. Which is just what we did. We made it as far as Salt Lake City before it got too late, Chris was too uncomfortable and I was too tired to continue. Thankfully we had decided to bring Jerry's van instead of my truck. We were able to set up the seating in such a way that Chris was in the back with his leg propped up on the seat in front of him

A good night’s sleep, the complimentary buffet breakfast and we were back on the road. Heading out of Salt Lake City, we entered what is referred to as… The most boring stretch of highway known to man….ok, I made that part up, but it definitely fits.

Eventually, we rolled out of the desert and into Reno where I finally had a cell signal (just a quick FYI – Nextel SUCKS for coverage) and called my sister. I had left her a message earlier that morning letting her know we were coming through town and that we had hoped to crash at their place in Tahoe City. As soon as my cell started receiving signals, I saw I had 3 messages from her, all of which said the same thing, “Absolutely you can stay here” “Come on by and I’ll cook you dinner”…

Her offer wasn’t really a surprise. For most of my childhood and teenage life, I, either by myself or with my friends and cousins, had been dropping in on her, sleeping on her floor, eating her food and generally just hanging out whenever I could. And her, being the coolest older sister in the world, always had the same response…..”absolutely you can stay here” Yep, she’s awesome that way.

As we sat on their deck enjoying a beer, Craig, husband to awesome sister, brother in law and overall really cool guy, grilled us up some burgers, we polished off several of his beers, talked for a couple hours and eventually crashed for the night.

Saturday morning, Craig had to head down to the lake where his niece was entered in a standup wakeboarding competition, so Maureen took us to her friend’s bakery for a breakfast of coffee and amazing baked goods.
Now, when I say amazing it’s not just an adjective. Tahoe House bakery REALLY is amazing. There’s a line out the door and the smell of baked goods alone is enough to drive you insane….if you’re ever in Tahoe City, this is one of those place you HAVE to try….

After saying our good-byes, we got on the road for the last push home. Just under 4 hours later, we pulled into Chris’ driveway where Min had a pizza, beer and brats ready for us for lunch. Unfortunately, Michael, Chris’ son had misunderstood the plan and was waiting for us in my driveway about 40 minutes north.

This was it. The trip was officially over….as I backed Jerry’s van out of Chris’ driveway I could almost feel the pressures of reality seeping back in.

By the time we hit 880 and my exit off the freeway, I could tell the dream had ended. In two days, I’d be back in the office, paying bills, feeding the dogs, whatever…..

If the true measure of an adventure can be felt in the levels of disappointment experienced at its conclusion, this one was definitely an epic!

Day 5…In Search of Singletrack…

2010-09-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Day 5 started off with a nice little downhill back to the main trail. From there we turned right and began a pretty gradual but steady climb for the next several miles. After reaching what appeared to be the top of the hill, we turned off the main (recommended) trail and began our search for singletrack.

As we rode down the rough doubletrack littered with head sized rocks, ruts and lots of things to cause injury, I thought to myself, “finally, a little adventure instead of smooth roads”….then as Chris pointed to the goat track that spurred off to the left, I began to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into….

The entry off the path we were on was pretty steep, narrow and covered with rocks….let the adventure begin….

The downhill quickly ended and the trail turned up. Now we had narrow, rock strewn and uphill to deal with and we were quickly forced to dismount and walk. It’s amazing that after several days at elevation, walking uphill pushing a 50+ pound bike still managed to make me breathe hard….

Soon enough the trail leveled and we were able to ride again. The singletrack was awesome and the trail was challenging, yet enjoyable. Pretty quickly though, a wrench was thrown into the mix….actually, I guess it was more like a branch or a limb even, as Chris rode by a downed tree, the branches reached out, grabbed him by the wheel and tossed him to the ground. At least that’s what it seemed like from back where I was sitting.

After getting up and getting back on his bike, he realized the issue was worse. His rear derailleur was pointing straight out to the side like my broken pinky finger after an ill advised game of high school flag football….

Luckily he was able to bend it back in place without the derailleur hanger breaking and got it sorta kinda shifting ok and we were off again.

The trail continued to get better and better, eventually turning into a narrow swooping track on what appeared to be decomposed granite. Traction was good, the path was slightly downhill and we rolled along happy with life....until the nice, flowy, smooth trail went away, replaced instead by a fairly steep downhill covered with rocks and loose debris. The adventure factor increased significantly as the trial steepened and we entered an area of pretty sharp downhill switchbacks.

Things were still going well until in a particularly steep section, Chris, during a moment of sanity, decided it was probably better to dismount and walk this gnarly downhill section. As he tried to slow for a dismount, his front wheel hit a rock and over the bars he went…
Seeing as I was bringing up the rear, I didn’t actually see what happened, all I saw was Chris trying his best to stand up and failing. Immediately knowing something bad had happened I did what every person (ok every guy) would have, I cracked a lame joke and pulled out my camera for pictures.

We got Chris situated off to the side of the trail and began to assess the situation. It turns out he went over the bars in an upright position and landed straight-legged on the trail pretty much pile-driving his right leg into the ground. He heard a pretty loud “crack” when he landed and now couldn’t bear any weight on that leg. The pain seemed to be located directly below the knee and it started to swell pretty quickly so the fear was that something was broken.

Seeing as my advice to rub dirt on it and suck it up didn’t seem to work, we decided to sit down for a bit, eat lunch and see how things developed. Turns out eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich has absolutely no effect on a swollen knee.

At this point, the discussion turned serious. Do we split up and send someone back up to the road to where we saw a construction crew earlier? Do we send someone down the trail to where we saw a ranger station on the map? Do we push the 911 button on the SPOT GPS and let someone come rescue us??? Thankfully, we were pretty well prepared with first aid supplies and after giving Chris a couple of motrin, we wrapped his leg in some of the ace bandages we had brought along and came up with a plan.

To be honest, we were reluctant to split up. If something else happened or someone got lost, it would only compound our issues. So we decided to try to head down the trail towards the ranger station with Chris on his seat “riding” downhill using his one good leg as an outrigger and keeping the other on the pedal. The problem was, every bump sent pain through his leg and with the trail steeper and rockier at every turn it quickly became obvious that this was not going to work.

As we pulled off and began to re-assess our situation, we heard motorcycles coming up the trail and were excited to see two people come around the corner and stop. After explaining our situation, we found that they were a husband and wife. Dan said his wife was a nurse and she could look at it. She responded that she was a labor and delivery nurse so unless he was having contractions he was out of luck.

After discussing things for a bit, he told us that our plan of continuing down the trail would have been a bad idea as the ranger station may or may not be staffed and before we got there we would have had a pretty significant climb out of the canyon we were headed into.

It was decided that the husband would ride Chris back up to the road where we could get cell service and we’d call San Juan Huts to see if they could come get us and bring us back to civilization. So, they started off with Chris hanging on and trying to keep his leg from banging around too much. Jerry and I started up the trail after them with me pushing both my and Chris’ bike up the trail. I knew the trail was steep as we came down, but had no idea how steep until I had to push two bikes back up….

Eventually, Dan came back and got Chris’ bike, stuck across the front of him on the motorcycle and headed back up the trail. Jerry and I rode on up the trail. We were cruising along until we came around a corner and found Dan with Chris’ bike on the side of the trail. Turns out things had been going along just fine until he tried to ride between two trees that were narrower than the bike….he and Chris’ bike came to a stop but his motorcycle kept going. Trees -1, bicycle – 0

After stomping on the rear wheel enough to get it almost round and mostly able to roll, I left my bike on the side of the path and rode/pushed Chris’ bike back to the trailhead, Dan gave me a ride back to my bike and then Jerry and I made the last push back to where we found Chris sitting in the shade. He was feeling pretty good as evidently Dan and his wife had a little flask of rum so he made a Gatorade Mai-Tai.

They had called San Juan Huts who were on their way to pick us up. Tim showed up in his truck with Rowdy his Australian Shepherd,(and a flask of tequila) loaded us up and brought us back to Ridgeway CO. Once in town they allowed us to store our bikes and gear at their shop and then took us over to the hotel in town to get settled.

The hotel in town ended up being a really nice spa/hotel and seeing our plight, they took pity on us and gave us a really good rate on a couple of rooms. After our first shower in three days we set off for food and beer. The hotel had a really nice outdoor roof bar with live music where we relaxed, propped up Chris’ leg and enjoyed the beautiful evening.
Tomorrow, we’d have Jim from RoadRunner shuttles pick us up, bring us back to Moab and get on the road towards home….

Day 4…Onward to Hut #2…

2010-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Technically, although I continue to refer to this as Day 4, it was really only Day 2 of the official hut trip. All of our route guides, maps and itineraries, kept telling me this but my mind doesn’t work that way so you’re going to hear it the way I process it. This is Day 4 of our adventure, despite what the route packet says and despite the fact that we were only starting on our second day of the hut trip. Actually, all you need to know is it was Tuesday. Which to be honest, I wasn’t even sure of, since when I’m on vacation I don’t really care.

So there...Now that I’ve gotten you totally confused, let me begin….

The storms and clouds that accompanied us most of the previous day had blown through and we woke to partly cloudy skies with an abundance of sunshine. Breakfast was pancakes and bacon and copious amounts of coffee.
Note - In case you hadn’t noticed from my previous posts, coffee is a critical part of my being able to function and unsure of what we would find in the huts, we had purchased a pound of Wake and Bake’s finest blend for this trip.

Chris, in addition to being our navigator, turned out to be a really good cook. He could look at the pantry full of miscellaneous items and turn it into a delicious meal. (Jerry and I on the other hand, proved to have an amazing talent for eating and lounging during the meal period – hey, don’t laugh. Being able to relax while other people do the work takes real talent.)

After eating, drinking and paying our last respects to the composting outhouse, we got on the trail. Where the end of yesterday’s adventures resulted in a brutal hike-a-bike up to the hut, today started with a nice steep, flowing downhill run back to the route. Plus with yesterday’s rains, the trails were perfect with no dust and amazing traction.

We continued to lose elevation for most of the morning before leveling out for some long grinding runs on farm roads in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The views were incredible and went on for miles. In a couple of spots we came across mud, nothing too bad, but enough that it clung to the tires and slowed us down. Luckily, most of the middle portion of the day was flat and the weather wasn’t too warm.

We passed several developments as we rode along offering ranch homesites from 40 – 400 acres. It seems amazing to me that people live out here, so far from anything….I guess you really have to plan the runs to the grocery store to make sure you don’t forget anything.

Where the roads up in the mountains would wander and meander, following the flow of the land as it wound its way down, now the road made sharp, perfect 90 degree turns as we cut our way across the valley floor. Evidently it’s easier for the engineers to draw straight lines with right angles than to put curves into the roads. Gone too were the Aspens and the Pines, replaced instead by miles and miles of green, rolling hills dotted with scrub oak and sage.

After stopping for lunch we continued on, eventually beginning to climb back up towards the trees. Nothing brutal or dramatic, just a gentle upward trend back up into the hills and the shade of the trees.

It was pretty warm by now and the relief provided by the shade was immediate and we gratefully accepted its cooling properties. At some point we missed the supposed water source along the trail, but that was fine. We all had camelbaks and a water bottle on our bikes so dehydration was never a concern but it would have been nice to wash the salt of the helmet straps and the dust off our faces.

After turning off yet another farm road onto a double track, the incline increased slightly. This was to be the last push up to Hut #2 and we were definitely looking forward to getting off the bikes. The day had been longer than the first and although it was only 27 miles and almost all downhill, I was ready to be off the bike.

This hut, like the last one, was clean, nice and very well stocked. After opening a beer, we broke out the maps and began planning the next day’s route. After 2 days of farm roads and double track we decided to try to find an alternate, read more exciting, route to the 3rd hut.

According to the maps there was a single track hiking, biking trail that ran pretty much parallel to the day’s route so we mapped it out and decided it was a plan….

Day 3 – The trek to Hut 1….

2010-09-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

Day 3 dawned mostly sunny and after loading up the bikes for the first long day on the trail we turned in the key to the condo and headed out for what had become our morning ritual…the search for breakfast and coffee.

We rode down through town eventually finding a nice little diner where we enjoyed the last tastes of civilization for the next 7 days. After filling ourselves with food and coffee, and a little water just to prevent dehydration, we set out in search of the San Miguel Valley bank. This bank, which was robbed by Butch Cassidy in Telluride before he fled towards Utah following much of the route we were to take, was to be our official starting point. Unable to figure out which one was the exact building, we just chose what appeared to be the main bank in town and used that as our starting point.

The evening before, as we headed up the mountain in the tram, it dawned on me that the entire town of Telluride is surrounded by mountains. This makes for a very scenic town but also means that the first part of any ride starting in town was destined to go up….

The weather had cooled a bit since we first rolled out and the dark clouds off to the west had us a little concerned, but with no other option and hoping for the best, we headed out of town. The San Juan Hut company provides you with a really well planned packet that includes not only a map, but turn by turn directions with distances between waypoints outlined nicely.

As we left the bike path, crossed the highway and headed up the first climb of the day, the grey skies began to leak on us. The further up the road we went, the more the leaking turned to actual rain and soon enough we were pulling over to don our jackets and ponchos.

The climb, although on a paved road, was moderately steep and since we had started at 8700ft and were going up my lungs began to complain almost immediately. Click, click, click went the gears as I continued to downshift hoping to find a comfortable pace before I ran out of gears. At one point early in the planning stages I had considered bringing the Jabber with her rigid fork and only one gear but was talked out of it by people with more sense than I have and right now, I was glad I listened to them.

Soon enough the paved road continued straight and our path turned onto the dirt. As we rode on into the damp mountains past ranches and homes the scenery although grey in the drizzle and rain, was amazing in its vastness and beauty. Every turn in the road or opening in the trees displayed yet another amazing vista.

As we pedaled on though the mountains and aspen groves we occasionally caught glimpses of blue sky and sunlight in the distance. Teasing us ever onward, we pedaled through the rain with the soundtrack of thunder playing in our ears and God’s light show flashing in the distance.

Eventually, the rain stops and the skies clear as we climb. Ever onward, ever upward each vista more beautiful than the last…

At one point in the trail, we came across three women and a couple of dogs walking towards us. Turns out the rain was heavier up above and the road so muddy they had decided to abandon their vehicle and walk out planning to come back later and retrieve it after things dried a bit. They were amazed we were riding up and warned us we’d be walking at some point not much further up the trail.

With their warning echoing in our ears, we continued on. Surprisingly, the road was in pretty good condition and while we did have to skirt a couple of large puddles, didn’t see anything that would cause someone to abandon their car.

Soon enough we hit the part in the route guide they referred to as the switchbacks…and the trail got steeper still….by now we had to be at or above 10,000 ft and as much as I wanted to keep pedaling, there was just no way. It wasn’t due to the steepness of the road so much as I couldn’t go more than 20 yards before I was out of breath listening to my heart pounding in my ears. So we walked and we pushed our fully loaded bikes up roads that we should have been riding….if only we could breathe…

It was on one of these sections that we came across a land cruiser parked on the side of the steep road, rocks wedged in front of its wheels, long deep slide marks carved into the now dried mud showing just why the women felt better walking than driving…

As we came to the bottom of the last switchback, the incline eased to the point that we could ride and breathe at the same time and after a short break in the shade to drink from our bottles, we remounted our bikes and began to pedal. Shortly after, we came to a junction in trails and saw three guys having a picnic. After chatting with them briefly and consulting our route guide we found the right trail that should take us to the hut.

And it was steep. So steep in fact that it was tough to navigate, even walking. We soon developed a rhythm push the bike, grab the brake, step up, push the bike, grab the brake, step up….this continued for maybe a couple hundred yards although it felt like much longer, until we rounded a corner and finally saw the end of the first day’s ride, the first hut.

We really had no idea what to expect with the huts, but to say we were pleasantly surprised is an understatement. The huts were pretty basic, but very nice. It was neat, clean, and very well stocked. We celebrated the first day with grilled spam and cheese sandwiches and beer. In addition to tons of canned goods, it was stocked with cheese, bacon, bread, fruit and more.

After lunch, the thunderstorms started to roll back into the valley and as we retreated inside to either nap or read, the skies opened up. Thunder, lighting, rain and even a decent period of hail serenaded us as we lay on our bunks, warm, dry and tired from our first day.

Later, after the storm passed I was able to experience first hand San Juan Hut’s revolutionary new compost toilets. Now, I don’t normally talk about bodily functions or even water closets for that matter, but these things really were a sight to behold….speaking of sites to behold, this is the view from our front porch after the storm blew through.

After my tour of the “facilities” so to speak, we got the wood burning stove going to warm things up, fired up the gas range and made dinner. We had burritos made with canned chicken, diced tomatoes, fresh red onions and cheddar cheese. (Yep, we’re roughing it for sure) and beer.

Later as Jerry and I relaxed Chris, who had become the official navigation officer on this pleasure cruise, worked over the maps so we knew where to go the next day.

Day 2 – Arches and Shuttles…..

2010-09-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Day 2 started pretty much the same way as day 1, Sunshine, blue skies and the search for coffee and breakfast. Our goal was a diner we had found in the motel’s restaurant guide that claimed to be famous for their breakfast burritos. Unfortunately, being on vacation, we had forgotten it was Sunday in Utah and the place was closed.
Luckily just down the block we came across the Wake and Bake café. Based on the name alone it was a pretty safe bet they weren’t observing any blue laws….turns out they made a pretty good breakfast burrito too.

After filling our bellies and satisfying our caffeine addictions we decided on a drive to Arches National Park. The shuttle to Telluride wasn’t supposed to pick us up until 1:00 so we had several hours to explore the beauty around us.

Growing up in California, I’ve been lucky enough to experience some of our country’s most beautiful national parks, Yosemite, Lassen, Sequoia….but nothing I had seen prepared me for the amazing vistas we were seeing around every corner.

Granted, my preferences tend more towards the granite and pines of the Sierra’s but the stunning sandstone creations we were witnessing were a whole different kind of amazing.

Eventually though, we had to cut the tour short and head back to the hotel to meet the shuttle driver that was to take us to the next stage of our adventure.

Jim showed up in an chevy suburban set up to haul way more bikes than we had in our group, and proceeded to regale us with tales of motorcycle races, work hauling television people out into the desert and general knowledge of just about every small town we drove through for the next 3 hours.

As we pulled into downtown Telluride, it was like someone took the description of every small mountain town rolled them all together and built a town with it.
It’s long main street which is dotted with perfectly restored small Victorian homes, quaint shops and restaurants leads your eye right down the length of the town until your view is entirely dominated by one of the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen.

We found our rented condo, checked in, got settled and decided on a walk through town in search of a beer and some food. Wandering through town it became readily apparent that although it had all the trappings of a quaint mountain retreat, the locals were more inclined to wear Gucci and Armani than Levis and Wranglers.

After finding our beer and a really good burger in a small tavern that had the Broncos playing on the big screen above the bar, we decided to take the tram, which is free by the way, up to Mountain Village. The views as our gondola climbed up the face of the mountain were amazing and as the elevation increased, so did the real estate prices. Mountain Village is resort at the top of a mountain made entirely of cash…..

After wandering around the village, which was pretty much deserted we headed back down to enjoy our last night’s sleep in real beds….tomorrow, the adventure really begins…

The Best Day....

2010-09-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

I had plans for today. If you know me, you understand that I always have plans. I actually make plans to plan stuff. It’s just what I do. It helps me stay organized, not forget stuff and make sure everything I need to do gets done.…and when I make plans and things change, I don’t really handle it well….plans aren’t supposed to change…that’s why they’re called plans. If I didn’t mind change, I’d just wake up and see how the day went…but then stuff wouldn’t get done and the whole day would just be left to the whims of whatever….

Today my plan was to get up early, enjoy my coffee, eat a good breakfast and meet my buddy Tracy and some others for a mountain bike ride. Afterwards, I needed to get the lawns mowed, some chores done, work on the garage and exchange the bike I bought Caleb for his birthday for a larger size.

The day started out well and went according to plan for at least the first 10 minutes….I woke up early, made coffee and then the world started to deviate from the plans I had so carefully made. My daughter wanted to talk. I could tell, because….well, she was talking to me….

As a parent, I feel blessed to have a relationship with both my girls where they actually want to talk to me and I actually try my best to encourage it. How you ask? Well, I encourage it by actually listening and responding when they talk….I know…pretty scientific huh?

Anyway, as I sat there and enjoyed my coffee, I kept one eye on the clock. It was still possible that I could fulfill my role as a not terribly horrible parent and get back on plan by meeting my buddies. Soon enough though, I realized, it wasn’t going to happen. My daughter is going through some real challenges in her life right now and even though she’s way smarter and much stronger than I am as a person, I guess she just needed someone to sit and share with her for a while.

So, knowing that her needs were way more important than any plans I had, I sent Tracy a text bailing on the ride and settled in to see how my day would develop. Deb got up as we were talking and sat with us as we had coffee and tried to work through some issues. Soon enough, Caleb woke up and the energy and the tone of the household picked up to a pace that only a 4 year old can generate.

After breakfast and a shower, Caleb and I decided we were going to get haircuts. Obviously for one of us its something that will be done with increasing frequency while for the other, less and less of these will be needed as time goes on.

Haircuts done, we decided it was time for a coffee. Actually, only grandpa was having coffee, Caleb opted for a hot cocoa and we decided to share a bagel. As we sat and ate our bagel and drank our beverages, we discussed how we were going to proceed with the day…ok, yes, I had him making plans.

We had decided to go home, pick up his bike and head to the bike shop to exchange it for a larger size. Of course, as the world was obviously mocking me for making plans, the bike shop didn’t have his size so we headed to another bike shop and yet another before finally getting one in his size and within my budget.

Having finished the task we set out for, we headed home with a brand new green and white Diamond Back bicycle in the car. By now, it was almost noon and since most 4 year olds and even some grandpa’s need naps so they don’t get cranky, Caleb and I lay down on the couch to “watch the Tour of Spain” Yep, that’s code for taking a nap.

After a nap, it was time to try out the new bike. So, helmet on, we made a couple of test runs around the back yard and Caleb took off for a lap of the neighborhood with grandpa jogging behind him. He’s really good on the bike and had I known I would have to run the whole 1 mile lap in order to keep up, I would probably have worn my running shoes instead of flip flops.

Afterwards, we played baseball on the front lawn then made a grocery store run to pick up stuff to bbq for dinner. We had decided to make steaks, salad and strawberry shortcake with homemade whipped cream.
As we plugged in the hand mixer and began our dessert, Caleb looked up at me and said…..”Grandpa, this was the best day!” and you know what? He was right.

Despite the fact that none of what I had planned had actually gotten done and despite the fact that the lawns weren’t mowed, the garage wasn’t cleaned and I hadn’t gone for the mountain bike ride with my buddies, today HAD been a great day. And, at some point during the day, I think when we were enjoying our morning coffee and cocoas, I forgot about my plans and forgot about my chores and just started enjoying the time spent with one of the coolest kids I’ve ever known.

Day 1 – Moab Utah

2010-09-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

Moab is one of those small towns that looks like it would be so much fun to live in. In a downtown that is one long street, there are 5 bike shops, a bunch of adventure tour outfitters, tons of cool little shops and of course, the Moab Brewery.

The funny thing about visiting towns like this when you’re on vacation is that while you’re on vacation, it really is an awesome little town. It’s only when you think of how hard it would be to actually earn a living there that you really begin to realize the sacrifice people must make to follow their dreams.

Other than tourism and its associated industries; retail, restaurants and hospitality, there really is no industry there. Every one we talked to from Jim the owner of RoadRunner shuttles, to our server for dinner seemed to be working at least two and sometimes three and four jobs.

Oh well, the fact of the matter was we WERE on vacation and for us, riding our bikes down main street Saturday morning in search of a place for breakfast followed by having someone at a local bike shop point us in the direction of Slickrock were our only goals that morning.

We decided on the Jailhouse Café for breakfast which I assume was once a jailhouse, but to be honest I was more focused on finding coffee and food than I was on the historical significance of where we ate. Turns out it was a great breakfast and although a little more costly than your local Denny’s, definitely delivered an amazing cup of coffee.

Once our appetites were sated and the caffeine-o-meter showed full, we moved on to our next task….find someone to point us towards Slickrock. We rolled down the street and decided to pull into Chili Pepper Bike Shop. The fact that it was right next to the brewery had absolutely nothing to do with our choice I assure you.

The young lady at Chili Pepper’s was awesome. She greeted us as we walked in the door, spent quite a bit of time with us helping us pick out a ride and offering tons of suggestions and options and showed us on the full size wall map where the best routes would be. It wasn’t until we told her that we were heading out right now, at noon with the weather over 100 degrees that she started to look at us like we might be retarded.

With her words of “make sure you have at least 100 ounces of water with you” in our ears, we headed out in search of what is arguably the most famous mountain bike area in the world. The first part of the ride is through town and then up a road past the city dump and into the park. Even though the road is paved, the heat and the uphill already had me wondering what I had gotten myself into.

This sign only reinforced my misgivings. Did I really want to ride in a place called Hell's Revenge?

Soon enough though, we rounded the corner and the entirety of the Slickrock park spread before us. It was like looking at a masterpiece painted by God himself. For as far as you could see it was red rocks, plateaus, and blue sky.

As we pedaled through the amazing scenery the sheer size and magnitude of the area was humbling. The thought of a bunch of pioneers crossing this in a wooden wagon pulled by oxen with metal clad wheels and not on a multi-geared, suspended, rubber tire clad bicycle was impressive indeed.
The fact that it’s called Slickrock at all is a misnomer. Never have I ridden anywhere that traction was so perfect and grip so inspiring. When the trail turned steep, I just had to stand and pedal never fearing the slippage of the rear tire.

Eventually though, we wound back around to the beginning and seeing as I had indeed gone through almost my full 100 ounces of water we decided to head back to town, get Jerry a new rear tire and pay a visit to the Moab Brewery. (if you’re ever there, the derailleur ale is a must)

Once the pitcher was empty, we picked up Jer’s bike with the fancy new rear tire and decided to explore the town by bike. We followed the river trail as far as we could then cut back through town and headed out in search of the Colorado River.

Turns out it was pretty easy to find a 50 yard wide river in a desert valley and once we did, I convinced Jer and Chris that since we were there we pretty much had to go for a swim. We found a boat launch took off our shoes and shirts and I immediately dove in headfirst….only to realize I wasn’t wearing my contacts but my brand new prescription sunglasses….well, at least I was wearing them when I dove in….

After the swim, we headed back to the motel, spent some quality time with the jaccuzzi and a couple more micro-brews and discussed our dinner options. We settled on a place in the middle of town called Eddie McStiff’s which claimed to have the largest selection of beers in Moab….oh yeah, they had food too…. afterall, it had been hot out today and we needed to replenish our fluids….and tomorrow promised to be another warm one.

A Crazy Idea Becomes A Reality…

2010-09-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Last year at some point I mentioned to a couple of friends that I had been thinking of doing this hut to hut mountain bike ride from Telluride CO to Moab UT. Of course I’m sure I started this discussion while on a ride so immediately everyone thought it was a great idea and wanted in. As the time went on and we started finalizing plans, it came down to just myself, Jerry and Chris that were able to actually pull it off.

I had been planning this trip for almost a year and here we were in my driveway at 6:00 Friday morning actually loading up Jerry’s van and getting on the road.
The drive, as most do, started out great. Everyone was fired up and excited and we chatted all the way to Auburn where we stopped for breakfast. From Auburn to Reno the trip is still fairly pretty as you wind along Hwy 80 through the sierras with their trees, views of Donner Lake and then the Truckee River.

Eventually though, you leave California and enter Nevada and immediately the scenery changes. If you’ve never driven from California east, which I hadn’t, you really get an idea of just how vast this country is. (now I know why they invented airplanes)

For hours we drove and for hours the scenery never really changed. For the next roughly 400+ miles we experienced all Nevada has to offer. To say that it’s a flat, barren, desert state doesn’t even begin to describe the desolation of the area. I know there are some people that love the desert. And, having been to Arizona with their red bluffs and cactus, I can almost understand that. But to drive for almost 6 hours and never see a plant taller than about a foot, is just depressing...and then you get to Utah which for the first couple of hours is exactly the same!!

Soon enough we rolled into Salt Lake City. I had been to Salt Lake once long before and didn’t have fond memories. I was in sales at the time and had flown in early one morning for meetings. After spending the day lost, having several unsuccessful meetings and finally checking in to a cheap motel, I went to dinner at a restaurant only to find that they wouldn’t serve me beer unless I joined their “private club” which cost 10 dollars. Fine whatever...just give me the damn beer....

This time though, I wasn’t working. I was on vacation and I was just passing through. We decided to skip Salt Lake and find dinner a little further south in an effort to get through all the traffic. So, pulling off in Sandy UT we stopped at Iggy’s sports bar and enjoyed a nice dinner and a beer. Evidently UT is loosening up since we weren’t asked to join their “private club”.

Night had fallen by now and we had been in the van for almost 14 hours. After dinner, we loaded up and made the last push towards Moab. We drove through the dark and as we started to gain elevation I’m sure we passed through some nice scenery but by now we were all tired and quiet and just wanted to get where we were going.
About 4 hours later we rolled into downtown Moab, UT and saw the sign I had been waiting so long to see...”yep, they left a light on”

Can I Help Grandpa?

2010-08-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

These words came from my three….ok, almost four…year old grandson as I was pouring paint into the tray to finish painting the kitchen.

“Sure” I said, “it will be fun”

“Are you sure Dad?” My grandson’s mom asked…

“No problem, you go sit down, it will be fine”

I finished setting everything up, poured some paint into a little tub, handed him a brush and put him in front of a nice large wall...

“Uh-oh” I heard him say a few minutes after we started(by the way, in case you’re not sure, this is not a phrase you want to hear when your 3 year old grandson has a paintbrush in his hand) as I looked over I realized he had accidently put his hand up against the newly painted wall.

“It’s ok bud” I said as I wiped off his hand and got back to painting...

“Uh-oh” (again, in case you weren’t paying attention, this is not a good phrase to hear) as I looked over and saw that he had dripped on the floor...

“No problem kid, I’ll clean it up” I said as I wiped the paint off the floor...

As I once again tried to finish rolling the wall I was working on I heard those now common words...“Uh-oh” (by the way...yeah, you know...bad words, 3 year old, paintbrush...blah, blah, blah...)

I turned once again to see that this time he had stepped in the paint tray and his entire foot was now the exact same color as the wall I had still not finished painting...

Ok, so it may have crossed my mind that this might not be working after all as I cleaned out the sink, turned on the warm water, carried him over to the counter and washed his foot off in the sink.

“Was I a good helper grandpa” he asked as I sat him down in the family room with his mom.

“Of course Caleb, I couldn’t have done it without you” I said with a smile, “it was fun having you help me”...and believe it or not, I actually meant it.

One week and counting…

2010-08-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

One week from today, Jerry, Chris and I will begin what is sure to be one of the most amazing bike rides I’ll ever do. We’ll be riding 210 miles from Telluride CO to Moab UT through the San Juan Mountains and I'm so excited I could spit....

This ride will be a bit different than last year’s adventure when I did the California Coast Classic. The CCC was also 7 days on the bike, but was a different type of adventure in that it was a fully supported road ride from SF to LA where every morning and every night we had showers, delicious catered meals, and constant sag support with vans and mechanics.

This ride, we’ll be pretty much on our own during the day and while we’ll end up every night in a fully stocked hut, there will be no sag wagons, no catered meals and our bathing options will be whatever lakes or streams we happen upon during the ride. I did confirm though, that each hut will have beer. Granted with no refrigeration it may be warm beer, but it will be beer just the same.

Doing a trip like this for me is tough because I’m one of those people that tends to over-plan and over-prepare for everything. I’ve made list after list of things I could possibly need or want. I’ve tried to think of everything that could possibly break or go wrong and still I know that at some point one of our group will have an issue that will require something simple and basic that I forgot to bring.

The other challenge is that since we’ll be carrying everything we need, with the exception of food and shelter, I’m limited as to what I can bring. I’ll have a rack and panniers, my large camelbak and a small bag on the front of the bike which should provide plenty of room, but I also don’t want the bike to be so laded down, that it takes away from the fun of the ride. Afterall, we’ll be in the mountains of CO and UT which should offer some pretty amazing singletrack.

So, for the next week, I’ll continue to make and refine my lists, finalize my packing system, drop the bike off for a final servicing and cross my fingers that there’s nothing critical that I’ve forgotten...did I mention that I’m so excited I can’t sleep???? If not, then yeah, I’m pretty stoked!!

Riding While Loaded…..

2010-08-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

No, I don’t mean like everyone used to do in the 70s, I mean this time the bike was loaded and not the rider...

This past Thursday, in an attempt to try to get used to riding with the rack and panniers, I loaded up the bike and bags with some old towels and a couple bricks in each side. What a shock when I tried to load it in to the truck...that thing must have weighed a ton. Ok, it actually only weighed 49lbs 10oz according to my scale, but you get my point.

After getting to the lake and immediately upon heading out it dawned on me that this wasn’t my normal ride. In addition to trying to get used to riding with gears, having the weight being all on the back of the bike made for a very weird handling ride.

It’s funny that everyone thinks riding a single speed is so much harder than a geared bike. And while I totally want to nurture the image of being a bad-ass, it’s really not true. There’s no doubt that it’s different and that in the beginning it’s harder, but once you’ve gotten used to it, it’s not necessarily harder...what’s hard is going from a rigid single speed that weighs about 22lbs to a geared bike weighing almost 50lbs.

The temptation when you come to a hill to just downshift and spin up it is hard to ignore. Of course every time someone passed me, it drove me nuts. I'm usually up front with the fast guys...

The toughest issues to deal with were both a result of where the weight was located, on the back of the bike. The first was the way, when heading into downhill corners, the bike wanted to push through them. It made braking and steering more challenging than I expected.
The other was that in addition to the extra weight, when going uphill the front end was very light forcing me to lean way forward in order to keep the front end down.
I might need to switch out the spacers from 100mm to 80mm...

It wasn’t until about the half way point that I figured out how to spin smoothly with the front suspension and all the weight on the back. Once I got this, I was able to stand up and ride and eventually to keep up with the front group. Of course by the time we finished the loop, my legs were pretty well thrashed and although I had thought about tossing out the bricks at the halfway point, I didn’t and was able to finish the ride.

The goal when I started was to find out what to expect and this was accomplished. I now have a better understanding of what this it’s going to be like to ride the bike fully loaded. Granted I only rode 13 miles instead of the 25-35 we’ll be doing every day and it was a sea level instead of at 9000+, but as long as I can manage to actually breathe I should be just fine....9 days and counting....

What if.....

2010-07-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite quotes is by Helen Keller – Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

I was thinking of this quote this week as I worked on my list and prepared my stuff for the upcoming Hut Trip that Chris, Jerry and I are doing. It’s funny that many of the people I’ve told about our hut trip think we’re crazy.

The trip will be 7 days in the San Juan Mountains riding our bikes from Telluride to Moab using a map and GPS as our guide. I agree that this will be an adventure. But when you really look at it, it’s not an outrageous adventure. Each night we stay in a warm, dry, fully stocked hut. The route we’ll be riding on for the most part will be fairly well marked fire roads and trails and we’re all in good enough biking shape that the 30-40 miles per day we’ll be riding isn’t that insane.

I guess though, when you look at our society today, where any trip that isn’t within 5 minutes of a Starbucks or an ATM is considered remote, this is kind of an adventure.

Why though do some people actively seek out these types of adventures and others, prefer to try to live life eliminating every possibility of injury, discomfort or risk? Were we raised this way or is this a behavior we’ve learned?

Evidently, as I found when I did a google search, risk-taking behaviors have been the subject of much speculation and the opinions vary widely. From Sigmund Freud's belief that dare-devil stunts arise out of humans' innate "death drive," to some modern psychologists' view that dangerous activities can make us feel more alive.

As a kid, I was a huge chicken. I wouldn’t jump off high rocks into the lake with my cousins, I didn’t like any type of change, I would rather cross country ski than downhill since I didn’t like going fast, I hated scary movies etc.(ok, I still don’t like scary movies)

At some point though, it changed. I started seeking out the higher rocks to jump from. I skied faster and steeper hills, I took up motorcycling, and mountain biking and enjoy riding my road bike as fast as I possibly can down the steepest roads in the area.

So, what changed? And, to the original question, why do some people seek out adventurous activities and others are perfectly content to sit home and read a book. Is it a genetic trait that suddenly kicked in, is it because there are no more lands to conquer or dragons to slay or is it just a desire to recapture my youth?

You would think that now that I’m older and have a stable life, home, family and job that I would be less adventurous and make every effort to preserve that. Or is that the thing that drives us? As we get older does our life become so stable and comfortable that we seek out adventures and chances to feel alive? Do we still long to rescue the maiden?

If that's true, then why doesn’t everyone do this? Why do many of my friends and co-workers think that adventures such as the skiing, the Death Ride and riding my bike through the mountains of Colorado and Utah are crazy? Why do some people always forcus on the what ifs? What if you crash, what if you break down, what if you get attacked by bigfoot and torn to bits?......

Now, I’m not a psychologist, although I probably should spend time with one, but I believe that it’s really more about fear. I think that, for many people, the fear of injury or discomfort or the unknown is enough to keep them from taking any risks. While for others, the ability to see beyond that fear to the possibility of experiencing something truly cool and amazing, is worth the risk and prevents them from even thinking about the what ifs…..at least that’s my opinion...after all...what if you die in your sleep and never get to see the sun rise over the San Juan mountains....

Death Ride….Passes 3 and 4…..

2010-07-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

The elevation at the top of Monitor Pass is 8314ft.

For those of us that live at sea level, the air at this elevation is way too thin and exercise at that level can cause some pretty interesting reactions. In addition to not being able to keep my heart rate under control, shortness of breath and an overall lack of oomph in my legs, I was also having issues with my stomach. I wasn’t actually sick to my stomach, I just never felt good. Everything I ate or drank left my stomach feeling upset.

The last time I attempted the Death Ride I cramped up so badly part way up the third pass that I fell over still attached to the bike so I was obsessed this time with not cramping and was making every attempt possible to eat and drink on the bike. The problem was, everything I took in, immediately caused my stomach to start doing flip-flops...

I was determined to eat and drink as much as I could though and after splitting up with Tracy, putting down a V8, some fruit and a few chips at the rest stop at the top of Monitor and enjoying the amazing downhill that followed I started off on the road to Ebbett’s Pass.

The road for the first several miles is relatively flat and I actually felt pretty good. Once it started climbing I downshifted, slipped into my pain cave and focused on making circles.

Ebbett’s has some pretty steep sections and whenever I tried to stand my heart rate would immediately redline so I spent the next couple of hours alternating between standing for a few pedal strokes then sitting and grinding away.
With a compact double, I had fairly low gearing, but there were times where I REALLY wished I had a triple with the granny gear and a big ole rear cluster.

I chatted with others when I could breathe, but pretty much I just and suffered along in silence with headphones on and the scenery to keep me company.

The higher we went, the worse I started to feel. My stomach was really getting kind of queasy and as I hit the water stop at the mid point to fill my bottles, I was just taking sips to keep hydrated. Any more and I was worried about a full on revolt by my digestive tract.

Eventually, I made the summit of Pass 3 which was a total madhouse. There were bikes laying all along the sides of the road, volunteers in the middle yelling at everyone to stay out of the roadway, bikers coming and going in both directions and a general feeling of pandemonium. As soon as I could, I pulled off, found a place to lean my bike and headed over to the rest area to try to force some food down.

A V8 and a few pieces of watermelon were about all I could handle and since the crowd was pretty crazy, I figured I’d fill my bottles at the bottom.
Getting back on my bike I made a couple of pedal strokes, got out of the crowd and immediately had to pull over to toss up the watermelon and V8...not sure why people feel compelled to ask if you’re ok when you’re obviously hurling...I guess cyclists are just thoughtful that way.

After purging like a supermodel, I actually felt a lot better. (hmmm...maybe there’s something to this) The fact that I was heading down hill instead of up may also have played a factor in that.
After way less time than it took me to get to the summit, I made the bottom, which although still crowded seemed a lot less chaotic. I had another V8, some chips, more watermelon, filled and drank a bottle of water and got back on the road feeling pretty good. It wasn’t long before the feeling good thing passed though, pretty much at the exact same time as the road got steep.

Once again, I downshifted, headed in to my happy place and disappeared for the next hour or whatever it took me to reach the top. I did stop once to take a picture. Yes, I stopped to take the picture dammit...It had absolutely nothing to do with my being tired and unable to breathe. The ONLY reason I stopped was so I could share this picture with you guys. (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it)

After reaching the summit of the 4th pass, I had pretty much made up my mind that I was done. I wasn’t having fun, I was tired, and in addition to my legs, my butt, back, neck and shoulders hurt. Even the amazing downhill to the lunch at the bottom of Pass 4 wasn’t fun due to everything being sore.

As I rolled into the lunch stop I caught up with Dwight again. He had done 3 passes and was also pretty much finished. We decided to relax, take our time eating lunch and then just make our way back to the start area. And, after a veggie burrito, some chips, a little fruit and a soda, that’s what we did.

I started to feel good after lunch and we made good time back to the start area. Dwight stopped to pick up his car and I pedaled back to where we had the RV parked. I actually felt so good I was considering attempting the last pass. But, when I rolled into the camp area, I found Tracy sitting in the sun and enjoying an ice cold beer. That was pretty much all I needed to drain the last of my resolve and I called it a day.

All in all, I ended up with 93 miles and 11,300ft of climbing. Next year, I plan to go up early and get some rides in so I’m better acclimated. One of these days I’m going to have to actually finish this thing.

Death Ride....Passes 1 and 2

2010-07-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

It’s 4:00 am and the Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner is blaring out of someone’s stereo...I guess this is the wakeup call for the Death Ride?
I knew we were starting early, that’s why we brought lights afterall, but who plays the Star Spangled Banner at 4:00am??? That’s just wrong!

After dragging my butt out of bed, snarfing down a bowl of granola and putting on all the warm clothes I had brought, Tracy and I headed out onto the road to begin what was sure to be a long day on the bike. Surprisingly, we weren’t even close to being the first ones on the road. We had been seeing headlights roll by since we’d gotten up and now, as the sky in the east was showing signs of starting to lighten, we could see the lights from the earlier riders well into the distance.

The first run from the parking lot to the beginning of the climb up Monitor Pass is a few miles of fast, cold downhill and the shivering started immediately. Knowing I’d be longing for cool weather later in the day didn’t even help slow my teeth from chattering.

As we came through the town of Markleeville, we caught up to Bob and Leticia. Riding along with them we continued on as the sun started to rise. Eventually though, as we turned the corner, the road started up and being cold quickly became a non-issue. Breathing replaced staying warm as my primary goal...this, and keeping my pedals turning as the GPS hovered around 10% would occupy me for the next couple of hours.

Partway up we caught up to Debbie. She had started a bit before us and seemed to be doing well. The scenery going up Monitor Pass is amazing. You pass through high alpine meadows, beautiful stands of aspen and granite boulders larger than a house...of course I didn’t really care about any of that. I just wanted to reach the top so the pain in my legs and my lungs would stop and I could enjoy the long fast downhill to the bottom.

Eventually we did reach the top and after getting our first pass sticker, a V8, a bagel and some chips, the fun began. With almost 10 miles of smooth fast downhill to look forward to, we quickly forgot the suffering of the past couple hours and stomped on the pedals as our pace increased quickly and the road flew by beneath us.

Of course, as with everything, all good things must eventually come to an end and the bottom soon came into view. After getting our second pass stamp, we immediately turned around and began the climbing once again. It’s amazing how quickly the fun passes yet how long suffering can last. We also ran into Dwight at the bottom. With over 3000 entrants, its incredible that by the second pass we had run into almost everyone we knew that was doing the ride.

The weather was definitely warming and as I stopped on the way up to take a picture -you can see the road and riders disappear into the distance - it dawned on me just how few trees grow on the back side of Monitor Pass.

It was about this time I realized Tracy was really not feeling too well. Normally, I’m killing myself just trying to keep him in sight, but today was different. Not only was I keeping up, I was actually ahead of him most of the way. As we came to the mid-mountain water station, we got separated. They had kids running up, grabbing our bottles, filling them and running along side to catch us so that we could keep moving.

Thinking that Tracy may have gotten hung up I stopped for a bit. Not seeing him come, I assumed he must have passed me in the mayhem and so continued on. Eventually, I caught up to him and it was pretty clear he was suffering. He said he couldn’t get his heart rate under control and felt like his legs were made of lead.

Evidently, our decision to drive up from sea level the evening before the ride with no acclimation period wasn’t our smartest ever. I, having found a pace that worked for me that was somewhere between slow and stopped, just put my head down and continued trying to make circles with my legs.

It’s amazing to me just how demented cyclists are and how the level of suffering only seems to increase their level of enjoyment. Some were quiet and had their heads down, but most were cheerful and pleasant as they suffered up the second hill of the day. The other thing I found amazing was just how diverse the group of people that continued to pass me was...I was passed older people, younger people, women, men, by a kid in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops, I was passed by a guy on a fixed gear bike (granted his legs were as big as my chest and he was wearing a 508 jersey) I was even passed (while I was stopped of course) by a guy on a stand up scooter bike...craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

After reaching the top, and regrouping with Tracy, he decided to call it quits. In addition to the general feeling of crud, he was also getting dizzy. Deciding that he had had enough, we split ways at the top and after a couple more V8s, some oranges and chips, I began the long fast downhill towards the bottom.

The road was wide open, smooth and really fast. At one point I saw 48mph and decided I needed to slow down. No sense ruining my day (and this beautiful face) this early in the game...

Mt Tam and then Mt Tam….

2010-06-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday a bunch of us met up at Chrissy Field in the City to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and up through Marin.

It was cold in the east bay and I assumed it would be the same over there so I packed a bunch of warm clothes. Turns out it was cold and very windy at the beach, but once we had crossed the bridge the weather turned nice.

As a matter of fact, I took off my jacket and then spent the rest of the day either sliding the arm warmers up or down depending on which direction we were headed.

Jerry had a couple of different routes scheduled, but the longest was only 53 miles and 3900ft of climbing. Seeing as the Death Ride is in a few weeks I had emailed Bob to see if he and Leticia were doing something a little longer.

It turns out they were doing Jerry’s ride, but if I was interested Bob would come up with something that had a little more mileage and a little more climbing. Immediately I fired off an email saying yes, I’d love to do that. And immediately after that I realized what I had just done...

Bob is one of the fastest climbers and strongest riders I know. And, in a moment of stupidity, I had just agreed to ride with him...this is not going to end well...

We met up, and along with Bob was his friend Larry and a new rider David who said he had only had his bike a couple of months and my buddy Troy. Ok, so maybe there was hope for me afterall.

Um...no...turns out David was a total climber and the four of them were waiting for me at the top of every climb. It’s not that I’m not in shape and it’s not that I’m a total slug, it’s just that my climbing pace is much slower than pretty much everyone else that I know. (yeah, I guess I should work on that)

So, after crossing the GG Bridge, we headed through Sausalito and into Marin where we started up Mt Tam. MT Tam is a really pretty climb and although the roads are narrow, the traffic never really seems to be too bad. The weather turned out to be much nicer than I expected and the views all day long were just incredible.

Once we got to the top we headed north and then instead of going east down to Alpine Dam as I thought we would, we headed west down to Stinson Beach. I’d never been to Stinson and it’s really a neat little area. The only down side is I could look up and see the top of the hill where I had been and where I knew I had to climb back to.

Sure enough, we started climbing again. First on Hwy 1 out of Stinson then turning inland along the Panoramic Hwy back up towards Mt Tam. (yeah, starting to feel like I had just been here)

This time after hitting the top and heading back down we did go east towards Alpine Dam. This is a steep, twisting, narrow downhill section that forces you to stay alert and pay attention. Definitely not my strong suit at this point in the day, but all ended well.

Once you cross the dam, you begin your climb out of the valley. This actually went better than I expected and once we were back in Fairfax (and flat ground) I actually felt pretty good.

On the next to the last climb as you come out of Corte Madera we ran into Leticia and the other group. They had done the normal loop and seemed to be having a good time.

There’s one last climb as you come out of Sausalito and while it’s not really that bad, at the end of a long day and directly into a strong headwind pretty much took the last remaining gas out of my tank.

Evidently we had been spared the wind by the terrain we were riding in because once we got out on to the bridge to come back to the City, it was howling. It was blowing so hard that at one point, coming around the towers, I came to complete standstill and almost tipped over...

Eventually though, we got back to the parking lot, enjoyed a nice cold one and headed home. What a great ride. And as for everyone waiting for me at the top of every hill...thanks guys and sorry if I held up the pace.

Graduation…

2010-06-14T12:12:00.001-07:00

The tagline on my blog is random thoughts on random stuff and that’s really what this blog has become for me.

Granted, the underlying theme of the blog and, the majority of what I post, are cycling related, but to be honest, I only post about 70% of what I write.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve found that writing is a good way for me to process and even organize some of the stuff that bounces around in my head. Several times, I’ve written about issues I’m concerned or conflicted about, but have only done so to help me figure things out and not to put out for mass consumption.

Today is one of those posts that wasn’t going to be for you, but for me...it’s one more example of random stuff bouncing around in the head of a lunatic that was put down to help me process things. I realized though, after writing it, that I should go ahead and post it since it really is about a celebration.

This past Saturday my youngest graduated from UC Santa Cruz. It was both a joyous and sad time for me. Obviously I’m thrilled that now both of our kids have finished college with a 4 year degree, but at the same time, it means that our kids are growing up and becoming their own people.

As we become parents, the focus of our lives changes. It becomes less about what we want and who we are and more about meeting the needs of our kids and helping them become the people we hope they will be.

In the earliest stages this is exemplified by midnight feedings, diaper changes and sitting and holding them when they cry.
Later, its homework, parent-teacher meetings, dance recitals and soccer practice. Never mind that you’ve worked all day or would rather watch the ballgame on television.
Eventually, its driving tests, SAT tests, college applications, listening to their boyfriend problems or maybe, if you're one of the lucky parents deep theological discussions that start just about the time you want to go to bed...

The common thread here is that they need us as parents to help them through situations and hopefully to teach them how to resolve issues on their own in the future. And we do it gladly all the while thinking that one of these days they’ll be able to handle these things on their own and we can spend some time focusing our own lives, our own challenges, our own hopes and dreams.

Never though, during the process do we realize that THIS is our life. THIS is why we’re here.
It's not until later when we're sitting in the bleachers watching them walk across a stage and receive their college diploma that it dawns on us.

Only then do we realize that a major chapter of our lives has ended and a new one is beginning, a chapter in which they’re more independent, more self sufficient and less reliant on us for every decision and situation.
And, with this realization, come the insecurities...

Did I spend enough time with them to let them know how important they are?
Did I show them that character is more important than appearance so they can see through the facades people put up?
Did I show them kindness so they might be kind to others?
Did I show them generousity so they would be willing to share with others?
Did I show them the difference between right and wrong so they would be willing to fight against unrighteousness in the world?

There's no doubt they’re still going to make some bad decisions no matter what we tell them. And, I guess for some kids, no matter what you've taught them, they would rather learn the hard way. Hopefully though, we’ve done our jobs correctly and we’ve raised good, kind, decent kids.

The amazing thing about all of this is that we're living proof that just about anyone that is willing to really make the effort can do it. When I look at the kids my wife and I raised, I’m constantly amazed that, even with me as her partner, (a significant handicap I’m sure you’ll agree) we’ve raised and delivered into the world, two smart, kind, well adjusted, people.

So, yes, while the youngest has now graduated and will go out into the world as an adult and we won’t be quite as involved in her day to day life, I’m celebrating the fact that she is an awesome “kid” and like her sister is still willing to hang out with a couple of old people and pretend they’re still listening when we talk...

Taming the Monster....

2010-06-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well, this past Sunday was the Mendocino Monster. I felt pretty good about this ride up until the day before the event. This was to be the inaugural Mendocino Monster and according to the website, it was billed as 107 miles and approx 8000ft of climbing.

No problem right? I’m ready for that. Of course a couple days before the event, Tracy noticed that although the website said 8000ft of climbing, the GPS graph at the bottom showed 11,500 ft of climbing...um...ok...8000 I was ready for, 11,500 not so much.

I guess what they say is true. Ignorance really is bliss, because this little piece of knowledge took a ride I was excited about and looking forward to and changed it into a ride I was now stressing about and wondering if I could finish.

Tracy, Troy and I headed up to Ukiah Saturday afternoon and, after checking into the resort known as Motel 6, we met up with Bob, Leticia, Bill and Gail at the Ukiah Brewing Company. They had opted to spend the extra cash and upgrade to the 1½ star Super 8 motel instead of where we stayed across the street from the airport.

Normally, I would tell you that I’ve never met a brewpub I didn’t like, and for the most part, that’s still true. But this place may be the first brewpub I’m in no hurry to visit again.
The beer, I had the Pt Arena Pale Ale, was very good and the place itself is a cool old brick building, the server was friendly and helpful, the downfall of this place really is the food. And it’s not even that the food is bad. It’s not. It’s just that the portions are so small that we were talking about hitting up the pizza place afterwards. Luckily Tracy and Troy ordered the 1lb platter of fries so we filled up on those instead.

After dinner we headed back to our resorts and everybody turned in fairly early.
Sunday we awoke at 5:00 and headed for McD’s to fuel up for the big ride. How big it would be we weren’t exactly sure, but figured it was better to plan for the worst. In addition to our sausage mcmuffins, we got to meet some of the local folk. (its interesting the people you meet in the Ukiah McD's at 5:00am)

After breakfast and the sideshow, we all met up again at Mendocino College and after registering and filling out our liability forms (which pretty much said, if you crash, become dismembered, die or get lost and eaten by bigfoot, you can’t sue us) we headed out.

The first couple of miles are nice and easy, but right about mile 2 you begin to climb. And you keep climbing for the next 7 or so miles.

After every uphill is a downhill and this is usually one of the rewards for the effort spent climbing. The problem with this ride is that the roads are so rough, that the downhill portions beat me up almost to the point that I would rather have kept climbing. (almost)

This being their inaugural event, I would have expected some issues or learning experiences on this ride. Unmanned or ill-prepared rest stops, bad road markings, incorrect maps, etc. But we didn’t have any of those issues. This was one of the best supported rides I’ve done. All the rest stops we well stocked (except the last one which ran out of water but that was only about a 10 minute delay from what I understand), everyone was really friendly and seemed glad to have us there, and the food and snack options were great. (how can you beat lox and bagels for breakfast?)

Eventually we made it to the coast and headed north on Hwy 1 for a little while before turning back inland on Comptche Ukiah Rd. Surprise, surprise…more climbing….
After some climbing we had the best downhill of the day. The section heading back into Comptche school was the most amazingly smooth, fast, swoopy downhill we had experienced all day. And, of course a great song was on my iPod so I was in heaven as we motored through the redwoods.

We rolled into the rest stop at Comptche school and were once again treated and fed very well by the volunteers. Troy had been dealing with a squeak in his pedal and the mechanic on-site, Dr Sprocket, adjusted and tightened his cleat and lubed his pedals.

As is always the case though, all good things must end and the nice smooth downhill run, ended abruptly after lunch with some of the steepest climbs of the day. For the remainder of the day we would alternate between bad roads and dirt/gravel roads. The funny thing is the site boasted about riding 30 miles on closed private roads and granted, we didn’t see any cars for that section, but I think it’s mainly because a car couldn’t handle it.

Mile 72 or so was the beginning of the end. From there until mile 95 we climbed….and climbed…until eventually 2000ft or so later we came up to the last rest stop. And although they were out of water, they had great snacks and a little ex-up set up where you could get out of the sun. The view from the top, like the rest of the route, was absolutely beautiful!

The downhill, which should have been a reward, turned into a beating. Between the dirt/gravel sections and the paved/potholed sections I think I may have been more tired after the downhill section that I was on the uphill section.

Soon enough though, we rolled back into town and up the hill to the college. One of the really nice things about this ride was that they had opened the locker room for the riders and a nice cool shower felt amazing. This was followed by a fantastic tri-tip BBQ before getting on the road back home.

It turns out that both the website and the GPS graph were wrong. I ended up with 109 miles and 9800ft of climbing and, although the condition of the roads was really bad, the support, the volunteers, the scenery and the climbing will make this a regular on my schedule in years to come.

It must be Spring Time!

2010-06-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday, being the last weekend before the Mendocino Monster, Tracy and I were looking for a nice long ride with some decent climbing. Since we had limited time, we decided to loop two of our local rides together, the Palomares and the Calaveras Loops.

I started at my house, rode over to his house and we headed out for the Alameda Creek Trail.

Immediately I could tell that something was different. The trail was pretty busy with walkers and cyclists from Union City all the way to Fremont. Yep, first nice weekend of the year...

From there we rode out Niles Canyon, which because it’s so busy is one of my least favorite rides, and out to Palomares Canyon. Palomares is the exact opposite of Niles. If you see more than a couple cars, its rush hour and Saturday was no exception. I think I saw 2 cars and one cyclist. (I’m used to being passed by cars, but even the cyclist went by me like I was in reverse)

Palomares is a nice climb, followed by a great downhill and takes you out to Dublin Canyon Rd which is also a climb followed by a nice fast downhill. Dublin Canyon has quite a bit more traffic but also has a really nice wide bike lane.

From there we turned on to Foothill Rd where Tracy decided to pick up the pace. We hammered from Dublin all the way to Sunol at 20+ mph and when we finally pulled in to the market in Sunol, my legs were pretty well cooked so we decided on lunch and a Gatorade.

Note to Self – no matter how hungry you are, pre-packaged turkey sandwiches from an out of the way market are NEVER a good idea on a ride.

Adequately fueled, we started out on the second leg of our ride. Calaveras is another local, very low traffic, very scenic ride

and it seems like we weren’t the only ones that thought so.
We must have seen at least 50 other riders on Calaveras Rd. Granted, the further out we got, the fewer we saw, but still. A ton of riders were out enjoying one of the first really nice weekends of the year.

By the time we came out the other side of Calaveras at Ed Levin Park, I was feeling pretty spent which surprised me. Last weekend we had done almost 100 miles with double the climbing and I felt good. I’m guessing the pace we were going had everything to do with it as we hadn’t done that many miles or that much climbing.

Of course once you get out of Calaveras there’s the nice long, slightly uphill Mission Bl to deal with...Did I mention it had gotten windy?? And it was blowing north to south?? As in the exact opposite direction we were headed??

Eventually though, Tracy split off for home, I continued another few blocks and thankfully turned west and towards the house...

All in all, 78 miles 4300 ft of climbing...although it felt like more...

The Pre-monster monster….

2010-05-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had planned a big ride with quite a bit of climbing. I did this not just to torture myself, but to try to gauge my readiness for the upcoming Mendocino Monster. I invited some friends since it really is true that misery loves company.

Tracy, Troy, Bill, Gail and I started out at the place I work in Hayward, and within the first 3-4 miles we came to Carlos Bee Blvd which in the first quarter of a mile gains almost 400ft. (At some points it’s a 17% grade) from there we continued up through the Hayward hills, up, up and up until finally we headed down through 5 canyons and out towards Dublin Cyn.

The downhill didn’t last long though (it never does) and we were soon headed up again on Dublin Cyn and then later on Shaeffer Ranch Rd. before heading down again on a nice long glide into Dublin and San Ramon Valley Bl.
San Ramon Valley Bl. is a nice mostly flat run up into Danville where at about mile 30 we stopped to have a gel/clif/bathroom break before heading up the big climb for the day...Mt Diablo.

We cruised out of downtown Danville and up towards the mountain. The shortcut goes through Diablo Country Club which is where the rich people in the east bay used to buy homes before they built Blackhawk. It’s a very cool, very expensive area at the base of the mountain where even one of the smaller homes will set you back about $1½ mil...

Once you cut through the little path at the end of the road, you begin the real fun...you’re on the road up the mountain. Immediately after starting the climb, our group began to spread out. Even for Bill and Gail who had never been on this climb, it’s pretty much impossible to get lost. So, telling them to just keep climbing till they ran out of road, I pedaled off.

Not long after we started the climb I came across a few of the local residents. They didn’t seem too concerned about a group of cyclists and moseyed off the side of the road.

The climb is pretty uneventful. It’s just a long upward grind with a couple spots that allow you to catch your breath and get your heart rate under control.

For the most part, I just tried to go to my happy place and suffer along until it was over. And eventually as all things do, it did finally come to an end. Boy do I HATE that last little section.

Earlier in the day we had pedaled up into the fog in the Hayward Hills, as the day wore on though, the weather continued to get better and better. The views as we went up Diablo were gorgeous!

At the top we caught up to Jerry, Paciano, and Kim who had left Danville earlier that morning and were doing the regular Diablo loop that started and ended at Lunardi’s market in Danville.

After filling our bottles we turned and started back down, running in to Gail and Bill after going only a little ways. Seeing as we didn’t want Bill to summit alone, we turned around and headed up after him. Tracy and I chose not to do the “driveway” again at the top and instead waited for Bill and Troy to come down.

Once we had all gathered again, we started off down the mountain heading out the North Gate and down into Concord and eventually into Walnut Creek where we caught the Iron Horse Trail which eventually led us back to Lunardi’s for a late lunch.

I had only had a clif bar since 5 that morning and after doing all the climbing and miles we had done, I was feeling pretty beat. As we sat down to eat what would be the best sandwich I had ever eaten, I commented that I had never felt so tired and still been so far from the end of a ride. (Tracy said I also whined about wanting my mommy, but I’m sure he’s making that part up)

After sitting for a while and eating lunch, and having a couple of FRS energy drinks I started to feel human again and we set out for the last leg of the adventure. With 30 miles yet to go, we headed out down San Ramon Valley Bl. through Dublin, in to Sunol and out Niles Canyon to Fremont. After heading north on Mission Bl for a bit, we bid goodbye to Tracy and Troy as they were headed back to Tracy’s house in Union City.

We made good time and were almost back to the office when I heard a pop and felt my back tire going flat….quickly…sure enough I had taken something sharp to the sidewall of my brand new Michelin Pro Race 3 tires. After putting in a new tube and a boot, we were back on the road and shortly enough, back at the shop.

All in all a great ride with 98.4 miles, 7499 ft of climbing and one tire to be replaced...Bring on the Monster!

Saturday Mt Bike ride...

2010-05-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to do the Mt Charlie ride with Jerry last weekend since I need both the miles and the climbing in order to get ready for the Mendocino Monster. Turns out I had to work in the morning and then there was the volunteer orientation for next weeks Tour of California, so that wasn’t going to happen.

Instead, I picked Chris up at his house in San Jose and headed down to Lexington Reservoir to do a mt bike ride. This is the same start and end point as Jerry’s ride so we’d be able to hook up with him and the group afterwards for a bbq and a beer.

No, we were not bbq’ing and drinking beer in the parking lot of a county park. That would have been illegal. (or so the ranger that asked us said)
But I’m getting ahead of myself here...

The ride started with a nice fast downhill along the Lexington reservoir dam, down the multi use trail towards Los Gatos and through town before turning uphill.
I had no clue where we were going other than “up near those power lines”.

Now, granted, the word “up” should have triggered something in me, but no, I blindly followed along as Chris led us up Kennedy Rd for a while until we came to the entrance to a park trail where we got off the pavement and started into the dirt.

Pretty much immediately we started climbing...and it didn’t stop for about an hour. Chris said, its kind of steep and then you come to a tree in the middle of the trail and then we’ll come to the steep part. Oh yeah, and after that it gets really steep.

I wasn’t quite sure what Chris’ definition of kinda steep, steep and really steep were but I was soon to find out.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT - For any of you that might ride with Chris in the future, let me further define and recategorizing his definitions so you’ll know what to expect:
Kinda Steep – Wow, this is hard. I wish I had more gears
Steep – Man, I really want to walk right now and my front wheel won’t stay on the ground
Really Steep – I hate Chris and dragging my bike behind me up this hill SUCKS!!!

Note – I forgot my camera in the truck, so this phone pic is all I have to show the sheer suckitude of this climb - you'll notice how far forward on his seat he is and how his wheel is angled over....

This went on for an hour. There was maybe one spot where it almost leveled out, but by then I was so redlined I couldn’t enjoy it anyway. Until eventually we hit the top and started down the backside.

It just doesn’t seem fair that you can suffer and climb for over an hour - you’ll notice I’ve taken what I previously described as climbing for an hour and just “expanded” it to over an hour – that’s using creative writing to enhance the reader experience (and to make myself feel better since it seemed like my suffering went on and on)
Anyway, the downhill portion of the ride was awesome! It starts as fast open, steep fireroads but eventually we turned off to a narrower, shaded, loose, and somewhat sketchy section that required my full attention and made me wish I had built up a full suspension bike instead of a hardtail.

The downhill section totally rocked and the only really scary part was when we came around the corner to find two people walking a great dane and a mastiff...running into them would have really ruined our day.

Eventually though, we made it back to civilization, onto the road and back to the start. There we opened a beer, set up Chris’ Weber bbq on the tailgate and proceeded to grill up some hot links. Little did we know, Jerry and his group were still at least an hour away.

At one point, as we were sitting there enjoying a fat tire ale, a ranger across the street mentioned that “although I don’t have any jurisdiction in that park, you’re not supposed to be bbq’ing there”…..to which we replied…”oh ok, we’re not”……(afterall, she just told us she had no jurisdiction, so why wouldn’t we lie to her?)

After Jerry and the gang made it back, we chit chatted a bit, had another beer, polished off the last of the hot links and headed for home. All in all only about 15 miles and no idea how much climbing (my garmin was the other thing I forgot to bring with me)