A Quick Saturday Ride...

On the last weekend in February, Jer and the gang were planning on doing the Niles, Sunol, Calaveras loop which is a really nice ride. The route includes a few nice climbs, Palomares, Dublin Canyon and Calaveras for a total of just under 60 miles and about 3800ft of climbing.

Since I don't have the time for long all day rides lately, I decided to do a variation of my normal 25 mile loop and hook up with them at the start of theirs for the Palomares climb.  The route from my house to Fremont is completely flat and since I started fairly early there was no wind. This allowed me to make really good time and I actually averaged about 18mph for the first 8 mile segment.

After hooking up with the gang at Niles, we headed out and up Palomares.  It's amazing to me the number of riding areas we have here locally where you feel like you're anywhere but within the city limits.  At this time of the year, Palomares is a tree laden canyon, shrouded in lush green beauty and dripping with cool wet shade.  This is a wonderful environment for climbing and Bob, Leticia, Bill and I chatted easily as the road slipped by beneath us...

There are a couple of short, steep sections and as Bob is always in shape and I'm currently not, in those sections, he kept chatting while I desperately tried to take in enough oxygen to keep the bike moving forward.  Eventually, the incline lessen to the point that I could rejoin the conversation and we moved up and along until eventually reaching the top.

At this point, I had to turn around and head home while they hadn't even finished the first quarter of their ride.  Where the cool shaded climb had been a relief and actually enjoyable, the descent was downright cold.  I'm not sure if it's because I was born and raised in California and expect it to be warm all the time, or just that I don't always think things through, but this morning I had thought about and decided against bringing a jacket.  My thinking was fine for most of the ride and it wasn't until this one section that I really stopped to think about it....it is February after all....I really should have brought a jacket.

 

As much as I enjoy Palomares, I hate Niles canyon the same amount.  Whereaas Palomares is quiet, pretty, and peaceful, Niles canyon is like a super highway with pretty scenery.  The shoulder is narrow, the road is busy and the speed limit is ignored....yeah, it's the worst of road riding all rolled in to one nice busy package.

The upside is, the fear of being run over usually motivates me to some pretty spirited riding and I definitely turned myself inside out trying to get through there.  Eventually, I made it back to Mission Blvd and the long slog back home.  The funny thing about Mission Bl is that no matter when I ride it, morning, afternoon, middle of the day....no matter when, it always feels like there's a headwind.

The other thing about Mission Blvd is that it's actually in pretty good shape. Nice wide shoulder, fairly new and smooth pavement and they keep the shoulder clean of debris....at least from Fremont through Union City and all the way up to the Hayward border....once you get there, things take a turn....for the worse. 

At exactly the point where Mission leaves Union City the smooth pavement stops, the shoulder gets narrow and evidently the City has gotten rid of all it's street sweepers because the amount of glass and debris raises the challenge of the ride to all new levels as I try to maintain my cadence, keep up my speed and play dodge the junk in the road.

Eventually, I turned off of Mission on to Industrial Bl which has the same crummy shoulder conditions, but thnakfully less traffic on a Saturday.  Pulling back in to the house I ended up with 34.5 miles and 1500ft of climbing. Not a huge day, but definitely a nice ride to be able to do in a couple of hours leaving from my doorstep.

Riding with the grandkid...

In keeping with my theme of trying to catch up on recent rides, I came across a couple of photos of my grandson's first "real mountain bike" ride.

He and I ride in the neighborhood pretty regularly but he's always asking me to take him on a "real mountain bike" ride.

Evidently, he's made a distinction between our rides together where I'm in regular shorts and t-shirt and no helmet and my rides where I'm in biking clothes and a helmet.

So, on a Sunday after church while the rest of the family relaxed, he and I loaded up our bikes, our gear, some snacks, and water bottles and headed over to Lake Chabot for a "real mountain bike" ride. 

There's a trail that although it's paved for the first section, follows the lake around to the back where it turns into dirt.  With only a couple of hills, it's a nice fun ride and I was sure there'd be a couple of puddles for us to splash through.

It was actually a nice day for the middle of November and there were quite a few people out on the trail. We played "dodge the walkers" for the first part, but once we crossed the bridge and the trail turned to dirt, we pretty much had it to ourselves.

One thing I found interesting was that I thought he'd be complaining on the uphills and zooming down the downhills....after all, that's what I do on every ride, but it was the opposite.  He did say "my bike is slow going uphill grandpa" (again, I have the same issue, but didn't have the heart to tell him it was our fault not the bike's) but in complete opposite to me, he was careful and tentative on the downhill sections....I'm pretty sure that will change with time and more confidence.

We made a couple of stops to throw rocks in the water, have a snack or sit on a dock and look for fish.  We also made a point of going right through the middle of every puddle we came across and actually found a little "secret" trail that wound through the bottom of a creek.

All in all it was an awesome day and we both really enjoyed our "real mountain bike ride"

Here's a short video of our "Secret Trail"
http://vimeo.com/53978305

caleb mt biking movie1 from Rich Sims on Vimeo.

Past Rides - Day 2 in Tahoe - Tunnel Ride

My blog has been woefully neglected over the past few months.  Life, work and everything that goes along with it has forced me to focus on things that aren't nearly as fun or rewarding as bragging to both of you, my readers, about my recent adventures on the bike.

So, I'm going to spend the next few posts trying to get caught up and since you've obviously got nothing better to do than read this drivel that I try to pass off as creative writing, you get to get caught up with me and hear about some of the cool rides I did over the summer.

Tahoe Day 2 - Into the Tunnels - Oct 2012
It's cold and I don't want to get out of bed....the sound of the coffee grinder does the trick though and knowing we'll be riding our bikes again today while most of my friends are working makes it that much easier.

We had brought both road bikes and mountain bikes with us. The plan was to ride mountain bikes on Thursday and do a nice long road ride on Friday but with the fun we had yesterday, none of us really wanted to ride the road today.

So, coffee in hand we logged on to the web and began to work on Plan B.  We had originally talked about trying to ride the old train tunnels yesterday but instead decided to do a ride that started and ended at the house. Today, we decided to go with that plan and see how it worked out.

With breakfast finished, lunches made and a somewhat general idea of where we were headed, we drove to Donner Lake and began the ride.  The ride starts with a pretty, but boring slog up the Old Donner Summit Hwy.
Soon enough though we found the trail head and the work began.  The only flaw in our plan today was that by starting at the lake and heading for the tunnels, we were in for some climbing...actually a lot of climbing....at altitude....with tired legs....but the scenery was amazing and the trail (a fire road really) was actually pretty mild. At least while we were on the trail....

Yeah, it didn't take us very long to lose the trail and get off track....we're actually pretty good at it. Jerry, Chris and I have been lost in Colorado, somewhat lost in Utah, lost and off track on an organized, well marked ride in Gilroy and many, many other places.  And, it turns out, we'd continue this tradition a couple more times today.
As we neared the top, the trail (very loose translation as it was more an idea of a trail) petered out and we jumped back on the road for a couple hundred yards until we again found a trailhead and a sign marker for some ancient petroglyphs. 

 

This was reassuring since it was one of the waypoints in our route plan (again, loose translation as it wasn't so much a plan as an idea) but also a little disconcerting since the next section between us and the tunnel path was bare granite and appeared to be one long steep climb.  Definitely hike-a-bike for this section.

Once we reached the trail, the rest of the ride should be mostly flat or downhill. Afterall, if a train went on it, it can't be too steep right? Yeah, we'll just see about that....

The next portion of the ride was one of the cooler things I've ridden.  Granted it was a flat gravel road, but the experience of riding through abandoned train tunnels in all their dark spookiness was pretty darn cool.
short video here - https://vimeo.com/51335680

 

Once the train tunnels ended the ride became pretty mundane. It was an old railroad bed and although the views were incredible, the ride itself was actually pretty boring.  Add to this, that at the rate we were going, we would be back to the beginning way earlier than we had planned. 
As a result, it wasn't too much further along that we decided to take an alternate route.  (nope, we haven't learned anything from our previous adventures)

As we turned off from the nice easy route we were on, the reality of riding in the mountains kicked in. The trail went up.....and up.....and up some more. And, at about 7000ft elevation, air was scarce and my legs were screaming.
Soon enough, we decided that a break for lunch (and to stop my whining) was in order and we pulled off the trail at an overlook that had incredible views.

Sooner than I would have liked, lunch was over and the climbing began again. There was some discussion that eventually we had to reach the top and the ride down the other side would be awesome. and it was....until the trail ended....in the middle of nowhere....

Once again, we had managed to lose ourselves even though we had both a GPS, and a map.  as you can see, if there's one thing we definitely excel at, it's getting lost.  What may not be as apparent is that we're also getting pretty good at finding ourselves once we've done so.

 

Of course the trail ended at the very bottom of a nice long downhill which of course meant that we had a nice climb to look forward to then a nice downhill to get back to almost where we started on our detour.  Nothing quite as comforting as realizing the pain in your legs was completely avoidable if only you could navigate worth a darn.

The trail continued to descend. In some places, steeply and others with a nice mellow pace, until we found ourselves at what appeared to be the bottom of the mountain and somewhere near lake level. My heart and legs rejoiced knowing I was almost back to the van and it's ice chest full of cold drinks.  Sadly, after another hour of wandering around the wilderness and thankfully in the right direction, we were still quite a ways from our starting point although we were back at Donner Lake.  Unfortunately, at the complete opposite end of Donner Lake from where we needed to be....

After a nice smooth road ride through the campground and back around to the side of the lake where we started we finally put an end to another fantastic day on the bike.....it's always better to be lost on a bike than found at work.....

Redwood Rd....One Long Measuring Stick....

This past Sunday I rode from Castro Valley, out through Redwood Rd and into the Oakland Hills.  Redwood Rd is a ride I've done a ton of times. (I would guess at least 50 probably even more)  It's one of the first real climbs I did after getting my road bike several years ago and has been sort of a benchmark for me ever since.

It's a two and a half mile climb from the golf course to the entrance to the campground. It's not brutally steep but it is a very good measuring stick by which to gauge my fitness level.  In the beginning, this was a 2 stop ride to the top meaning I couldn't do it without stopping twice to recover.  I've never had to stop on the way up since the first couple of times, but there have been varying levels of enjoyment/suffering throughout the years.

I've never been fast, but there have been times when I could do this in under 15 minutes and feel pretty good. There have been other times when it's taken me more than 20 minutes and I've arrived at the top spent and wishing I had rested part way up.

This past Sunday was one of the less enjoyable days...thankfully my GPS was home charging so I don't know how long it actually took me, but I do know when I got to the top, I was hurting and it was almost tomorrow....

The rest of the ride was pretty much more of the same.  Uphills that killed me and downhills that weren't quite long enough to recover.  I spent the day getting passed by everyone and the only person I actually passed was walking his dog up the street.

The bad news is that the ride was painful and I ended up actually cramping up towards the end.  The good news is that like a decrepit crack fiend, I have no-where to go from here but up....

Mental Health Day....

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in a while. I skipped church and went for a bike ride instead.
And I have to admit, I didn't even feel guilty about it.  The past few weeks have been crazy busy and my time in the saddle has not been at all what I hoped it would be when I made my resolution to ride more this year.

So, yesterday, instead of getting up early and going to church, I got up early, loaded up my ipod with a bunch of worship music and headed out into the hills to spend some time enjoying God's creation.  And it was awesome!

My fitness level is nowhere near where it should be so every climb was painful and every descent a chance to recover.  Unfortunately on the route I had chosen, the easy flat spinning portions were few and far between.

A long painful climb is a perfect opportunity to spend time inside my head thinking about life and how blessed I am.  Although I live in the city, I have, within a 10 minute drive, a myriad of opportunities to get out into the surrounding hills and enjoy His creation.  The roads that connect the cities of Hayward and Oakland are unlike either place. Where at both ends I have traffic, stoplights, gangs and end to end strip malls that look identical to every other one, the roads in between are populated by hills, narrow roads, redwood trees, eucalyptus groves, and an opportunity to avoid people and imagine I live somewhere idyllic.

Anyone that watches the news has an idea and an opinion of what Oakland is like.  And, unfortunately, a lot of those opinions are true for portions of the town.  What most people don't know is that the hills above Oakland are some of the more expensive and exclusive neighborhoods in the bay area.  The views alone guarantee that.

The weather on Sunday was absolutely perfect.  Clear and cool, but not as cold as it has been of late.  While the views from the top of Skyline are always good, there was a bit of wind on Saturday which ensured that come Sunday morning you could literally see for miles....Another great reason to live where I do...

After taking a few pictures, I put my earbud back in and enjoyed the rewards of the morning climbs.  Nice, long, fast downhills with absolutely no traffic....


Eventually, I made it back to the truck and feeling completely spent and blissfully happy enjoyed a Peet's coffee on the ride home while thinking again, how blessed I am to be able to miss church yet still have a morning enjoying God's goodness....

The New Year, A Time of for Reflection and Resolutions....

New Year's Day...a time of resolutions...new beginnings...a chance to look forward to see what the coming year holds for our lives. It's also a time to reflect on the previous year....

Today, several of my friends and I took a bike ride over the Golden Gate bridge and up into the Marin Headlands.  Once you cross the bridge, Conzelman Rd to the top is nice steady climb with amazing views.  It was also a great chance to spend some time inside my head reviewing the previous year.  Yes, there have been some challenges, but our lives have also been tremendously blessed.

Both of our daughters have grown into smart, beautiful, strong, independent women of faith.  Both my wife and I have good jobs, we live in a nice home and have food on our table.  Our health, while there have been some challenges, is good and we want for nothing.

Of course I don't want you to think I live in some sort of nirvana.  My job continues to be a struggle, but we haven't missed a payroll yet.  My wife lost both her father and her brother this year and she continues to struggle with her health, but overall, we still have more to be thankful for than not.

One of my favorite things about cycling, in addition to the fitness benefits, the places it takes me and the friends that I've made through it, is the ability to just check out during a nice long climb.  It seems that in a world where we're busy from the time we wake up until we go to bed at night, the ability to just zone out aand contemplate the world's problems is a rare thing.

 Eventually, the climb ended and with it the introspection. As I stopped looking inward and took note of my surroundings, I was once again driven to realize just how blessed I am.  It's the first day of January and I'm at the top of a hill, admiring an amazing view and hanging out with good friends. Life is definitely good!

 

New Year's is also a time of resolutions. Or in my case an opportunity to refocus on previously made resolutions. One thing I've found is that for me to have and enjoy some balance in my life I need to make sure I have healthy outlets.  In the past these have taken the form of running, working out and over the past few years cycling.  This year my new, revisited resolution is to ride more.  Lately, due to work and some family stuff, I've been lucky to get in one ride a week.

The result of this is that not only has my weight gone up and my fitness level down, my "balance" has been upset.  I've found that my normal positive disposition has soured slightly, my ability to see the silver lining has dimmed, and my ability to shrug off the small stuff has been diminished.

This year, I plan on getting that balance back. I "resolve" to ride or get some sort of exercise regularly and I resolve to reclaim my life from the evil forces of work and responsibility and spend more times in places like those in the photos from yesterday's ride.



Multi-Tasking is not a strength

This past Saturday I had plans to smoke a bunch of cheese to send out as part of Christmas gift baskets. Smoking cheese, as you can probably imagine, is kind of tricky. You have to get the smoker warm enough to get the woodchips smoldering, but not so warm that the cheese melts.

It's a process that requires constant monitoring of the smoker, opening and closing the door to maintain temps, turning the heating unit on and off and generally just paying close attention…..Anyone who knows me can already see where this is going right?

I had gone to the local costco, picked up several large bricks of various types of cheese, sliced them, lined them up in the smoker and prepared to begin. I soaked the wood chips to generate smoke without burning and was all set. I turned on the smoker, set to 100 degrees, figuring as soon as it hit that, I'd shut it down.

Not long after I turned it on, I called Dell support to help me with what I thought was going to be a quick video driver issue I was having with my external monitor.  I figured I could knock this little project out while waiting for the smoker to come up to temp…(in case you weren't paying attention, this is in direct conflict to the statement above about needing to pay close attention)

Well….Dell, being Dell, wasn't quite as quick at solving my issue as I hoped, and an hour and ten minutes later, having completely forgotten about the smoker (ok, so multi-tasking may not be one of my skills) the laptop was still not fixed and Dell told me to call Acer, the external monitor maker.

Hanging up frustrated I looked out back and noticed my smoker was going strong and producing a nice head of smoke……oh crap!

I wish I had taken pictures…..4 lbs of cheddar, pepper jack and monterey jack had turned into a 4lb blob of hot, gooey, yellow and white stuff oozing out the bottom of the smoker…..The upside is that cheese, being mostly fat and oil, cleans up relatively easily….and at least now my smoker s nice and clean which is something else I had hoped to do at the end of the day.

The other good news is that last night's round went off without a hitch and everything is bagged up and in the fridge to age for a week before serving….