I’ve been doing pretty good … training for the double centuries, I got in 2 centuries in January, so I’m feeling pretty good about my preparations for the first double of the year, which is Solvang, at the end of March.  I had completed a century on Saturday, and it was a tough ride, with a very long climb, so on Sunday, I was ready for a shorter ride.

I was trying to hook up for a ride with Marco, but wasn’t sure exactly when they were going to ride.  I went ahead and took care of some mundane stuff, like cleaning the house, and doing laundry.  I got a text from Marco at around 12 noon, saying they were going out for a ride, with Ramon coming over any minute now.  I was thinking about going, but there is no way I would be able to make it there in time to do a ride with them.  Oh pooh … I guess I’ll have to do a solo ride.

I decided to take a ride up Montebello.  It was a good ride going up, and not too busy.  No one passed me going up the hill, so that was good.  I was making good time, considering I already did 100 miles the day before.  Made it up in a respectable 47 minutes.  Well, let’s say that’s respectable by my standards.

Descending Montebello, there was nothing out of the ordinary … passed by one other rider who was up at the top by the time I got there.  I was going along my merry way and then all of a sudden ….

Next thing I can remember at this point, is that I am lifted into an ambulance.  I had taken a fall.  What I remember from the audio soundbits is that I am taken to Stanford Medical center.  I seem to recall being in an ambulance, as I don’t recall being transported into a chopper, so I was not airlifted at all.

They checked me out, for head injuries, concussion, in the trauma center, and thankfully, no concussion, no head injuries of any sort, but my face did take a beating.  I looked at my helmet, and the ground completely missed my helmet.  How unlucky is that!

They kept me there for observations for several hours, just to make sure my head was completely working right.  After joking around with the doctors, they pretty much came to the conclusion that I am okay.  The volunteer firemen at Stevens Creek were amazing.  Kudos to all of them, as they blocked off the road to take care of little ole me.  They were all concerned for my well being and they were relieved to see me up and at em.

The scene of the accident was right across from the Montebello school.  The owner of the house, right across from the school, helped with coning off the road, and I have him to thank for all of this.  Thanks a bunch Howard.

It looks like what happened was as I was entering the turn past Montebello School, I may have entered sweeping a little too far off the right.  In that area, lot of times, mud patches are off to the shoulder of the road, and I may have sweeped off there, lost control, and the bike went to the right, while I went the other way, like a pancake, and did a big face plant on the road.  It’s amazing that I came out of there with just facial abrasions, sore left arm, and a tendor pinkie and ring finger on my left hand.  All in all, I am grateful, first for Howard, and second to the excellent volunteer firefighters in Stevens Creek.

Apparently, when I fell, I yelped out a loud screech, that was in Howard’s words indescribeable … I just hope I didn’t frighten everyone too much.  One comment that Howard made … and this is extremely surprising … was that there were several cyclists that descended, and didn’t even stop.  I didn’t observe it, but Howard did mention that, and I find that shocking.  No love for a down cyclist?

Anyhow, almost a week later, and the swelling has gone down.  At first, on Monday, I could barely see out of my left eye.  If anything, I would see my own face.  Now that the swelling has subsided, my left cheek is healing up, and the blood along the cheek has dried up.  I still feel like there is something on my face … Now, what I have to avoid doing picking at the dried blood on my face.

One week later, my face doesn’t hurt that much.  However, my left arm does feel a bit weak.  I have some issues with heavy lifting with my left arm, so I’ll just try to do some light arm curls.  My left hand is a bit tender, with my pinkie and my ring finger not being able to close all the way.  But I guess that’s the most vulnerable part, so that shouldn’t be too unexpected.

When I got my bike, my handlebars look a little tweaked … not sure though.  I’ll bring it in the have it looked at.  It just felt weird grabbing the handlebars.  Maybe it’s just not grabbing the handlebars for a week, and it felt weird?

So I was wondering how fast I was descending just before I fell.  Since I had my Garmin, I figure that would be perfect.  So I take my Garmin, plug in, and upload to Garmin … and it still is uploading.  What’s strange is that there is not much data.  I only see a 2k fit file there.  Somehow, it must have lost the data?  That sucks man!

One thing that gets to me though … I know they needed to check me all out, and they couldn’t risk moving my limbs, so they had to cut my clothes open to inspect me.  So I had a vest on … easy to zip it down … they even cut that.  Damn!  Also, Michael had just given me a hand me down jersey … that was all cut up.  So now I have to look for new jersey, new shorts, new jacket.   But I guess the alternative is pain and injury.  I guess I’ll go do some shopping.  :)

The Blue One/7.5 miles-7.5 miles/2,271 calories burned/Commute

Part two of last night’s commute ended in my least favorite ride of all time, aside form The Bunny Ride of 2009.

At about 10 o’clock, snow started falling – the wet, flaky, sticky stuff. By the time I got on the road, there was nary a spot of pavement to be seen, and the brakes were squealing from the moisture.

Nothing really to report but the fact that I got home safely, and gave The Silver One a bath today. This was precisely the weather disc brakes were meant for…

Tonight’s commute was surprisingly dry. With the volume and type of snow that fell last night, I fully expected to be driving to work tonight. Although the mud had been removed from The Silver One, I decided to take The Blue One tonight, and my legs could tell the difference. That, and as strong as I felt last night, I felt equally as weak tonight. The legs were dead – may have had something to do with how well I slept for my second four hours today.

Tonight’s ride home should be a slow slog, you know, because no matter where I go there’s a headwind. At least I have my health.

The Blue One/7.5 miles-7.5 miles/2,271 calories burned/Commute

Feels like forever since I’ve saddled up, but it has been only three days. The time off helped the legs, but I prefer not to take such long breaks. The daughter has to work last night, and with a break that long, picking her up and riding to work in the middle of my shift is just not an option. Minor headwind from the south tonight, cloudy and colder than the thermometer claimed. And now…

Seeing as how the two bikes I currently own fill different needs (and have one big thing in common – a commute), the recent time spent shopping for a new bike has yielded mixed results, at best. Shopping for a road bike seemed the right thing to do, and after filtering through all of the components on all of the bikes I have shopped, it occurred to me that the one factor not considered was my style of riding.

Road bikes are fast and pretty, and while a cyclocross bike had been in the running only because it can function as a road bike, I never considered it as an everyday bike. Then, one dropped into my lap.

(Most) gory details aside, my size comes in at a 57cm, which in the world of road/cyclocross bikes, is a tweener. Riding a 56cm bike felt better than a 58cm bike. This bike is a 57cm, has ten speeds vs. nine speeds on all other bikes I have shopped, comes with better components all around, and was on deep discount. I pulled the trigger.

The newest edition should be here within the week.

When you think of all the major climbs in the Bay Area, you immediately think of Mt. Diablo, Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Tam, Old La Honda, King’s Mountain … but I seriously think the climb to Henry Coe should be added to this discussion.  Henry Coe State Park is just outside of Morgan Hill, and it is a long climb (about 10 miles, according to the sign).

On this ride, as with most Wrecking Crew rides, we tweet each other to organize a ride.  Everyone was planning on riding to the start, even though the start of the ride is at least 20 miles away from most people.  As it turned out, only myself and Ben rode to the start.

I was going to ride with Chris (aka fudgy) to the start, but he caught the bug (a cold).  That’s really too bad, because it was his birthday on this day.  Oh by the way, happy birthday Chris … but what a day to spend your birthday, in bed.

Anyhow, I met Ben in Los Gatos, and then we rode off to meet the rest of the gang.  It actually surprised me how close I am to Los Gatos … it only took me about 35 minutes to get there … something to note for future rides.

We got to the start before anyone else did.  But then again, we did make pretty good time … got there about 10 minutes before the actual start time.  Other than Ben, I already had 22 miles in before anyone else got on the road.

It rained pretty steady last night, so the roads were still a little damp.  Despite this, we did pretty well to survive with minimal amount of flats.  Ben got one after we turned off of Uvas Road onto Oak Glen Road.  On a slightly off topic, don’t you think Uvas is a strange name for a street?  Sounds a lot like a body part.  ”Hey, wanna see my Uvas?”

We continued on some fairly flat roads (comparatively speaking, of course).  We ended up somewhere between Morgan Hill and Gilroy, and Ben took us through some detour through some short but steep climbs through some mansion type homes.  I think someone mentioned this was a private road.  I guess we were lucky no one told us to get off their private roads.

Like I said, these were steep … stupidly steep roads.  I think we learned our lesson … when Ben says, we are going through a short loop, with some extra climbing, beware …. be prepared to get down into your granny gear, and suffer the pain.  These were 16-18% climbs.  And we still have Henry Coe to climb!  The descent was almost as hairy … steep descents, and sharp turns … that makes for a very interesting downhill … and to keep on your toes.

After a quick stop at Concept Cyclery (a Specialized Concept Store), we head out to climb Henry Coe.  We were all still recovering from previous climbs.  As we entered one of the roads to Henry Coe, it mentions the entrance as being 10 miles.  Oh boy, so I’m up for a 10 mile climb!

Almost immediately, my climbing pace lagged far behind, in comparison to everyone else’s climbing.  But that was expected.  On most sustained climbs, there are steep sections, but there are also some gradual sections.  But on this climb, the gradual section seemed to be ~ 10% grades, so there was not much relief doing the climbs.  It just seemed like it was 10 miles of sustained hard climbing.  And after a while, this started to psychological play in my mind.  There were a few sections on the climb that were in the 18-20% range, and it was for a fairly good stretch.  Some people don’t like to know how long the climb is, but I do.  This way, I could gage how much more climbing I need to do.  I need to know this.  This kind of help my psyche a little bit.  At least I had the knowledge the end is near.

It got to a point where I was not naturally pedaling, but I had to verbally tell myself to turn the damn crank.  I had to concentrate hard on cycling, which may be due in part to fatigue.  I realized this, and I just had to stop, chow down on a banana, and just rest for about a minute or two.

This did help, but I still struggled getting up the hill.  The closer I got to the top, the closer I saw some very threatening skies.  Dark very gray-ish clouds were hovering in the distance.  I was just hoping that it would stay dry.

Near the top, I see Ramon heading down the hill, and then later, I see Donald heading down the hill.  I figure it was getting cold up there, and if they stay too long, they will get too cold.  I’d meet them later after I finish reaching the top.

Got up to the top, and I stayed dry.  Elevation level … 2697 feet.  It’s not as high as Mt. Diablo, but it might be a tougher climb than Mt. Diablo … but that can be open for debate.  I didn’t want to stay up on top too long, in case those dark clouds turned into rain, and second, so that Ramon and Donald wouldn’t be waiting too long at the bottom of the hill.

The return wasn’t all down hill … there were some bumps (e.g. small climbs).  These are similar to Mt. Hamilton, but these bumps were bigger than on Mt. Hamilton, and they were very annoying.  In fact, a few of them were about 16%.

We got back to Concept Cyclery, had lunch at the cafe next door, then returned back via the bike path.  I decided I was not going to ride all the way back, and entertained the idea of taking VTA back home.  Ramon did offer to give me a lift back home … thanks Ramon!  With this, I still got my second century of Janurary in.  I got 100.3 miles, and 6209 feet of climbing.

Here’s to another epic ride in the books … we just don’t know how to do a painless ride.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/29648

Pictures at http://spingineer.smugmug.com/Cycling/Henry-Coe-Climb/11097820_Mbosj#777208611_RVYLe

We recently had rain for 5 days straight, and the weather site and news, kept advertising it would be dry on Saturday, so this was our day to ride.  I have always wanted to do Fremont to Berkeley for a long time, so I decided to lead it, and go for it.

It started out really ominous.  Saturday morning, as I was waking up, I could hear the rain continuing, and it was a constant driving rain.  It was so hard, I even tweeted, and posted on bikeforums.net that I am cancelling the ride.  Being off the bike for an entire week didn’t go well with Chris, and Michael.  Looking at the various weather sites, they tell us the rain would stop by 7 am, and would be clear for the afternoon.  That was good enough for them to still ride, but my concern was more of descending wet roads at high speeds.  Since I was the ride leader, I felt I had to show up, even if we weren’t going to ride.

It did clear up, and seemed like it would be okay.  For Chris, he was so desperate to ride, that he decided to ride from home, across Dumbarton Bridge.  As I was driving to Fremont, it started to sprinkle some more.  I had my doubts on whether or not this ride would actually go on.  I could only think about how wet Chris is getting, and I even brought my bike rack, just in case it got so bad that he would need a lift back home.  The rain did stop around 8 am, but we decided to postpone it till about 8:30 am, just so that the rain would stop by then, and it eventually did.

With rain, this meant fenders on the bike.  Chris had brand new fenders, and it looked so streamlined, and looked like a better fit than even the race blades.  What was interesting is the you have to zip tie the fender onto the brake calipers.  I guess all you have to do is get extra zip ties and cut them off everytime you want to remove them, but I thought that was a little strange.

We finally took off a little before 9 am (about an hour later than we had first planned, but at least we would be a little dryer).  So here we go for another epic wrecking crew ride.

We all knew this would be an all day affair, as it is advertised as an 80 mile ride … so why is it that Donald and Ramon are going at such a blistering pace?  No matter, Michael, Chris and I just let them go off in the front.  They would re-group for us eventually anyhow.

First climb of the day is Palomares.  We have done this many times before, but we normally climb this from North to South.  This time, we are doing it from South to North, which is a little steeper and shorter.

First casualty of the day … Ramon got a flat, most likely due to running over a pothole.  I didn’t even notice a pothole … oh well, lucky me.  Good thing it was after we got down the hill, and not on the fast part of the descent.

Next, we continue on Redwood, and apparently, Donald only rode this once before, so I have ridden this the most out of the group.  I happen to remember the slight descent and attacked, aggressively positioning myself at the front … that is until everyone else caught up, and we started the up portion of the rollie hills.  This stretch is kind of similar to Calaveras going northbound … nothing really too bad, but enough to let you know you are doing a slight climb.

Next casualty, Donald gets a flat.  Dang, what is it about today?  Well, I guess part of it may be due to wet roads, and have rocks, gravel, and pebbles stick to the tires more.

The further we climbed, the further away from sunshine we started to get.  Eventually, we would get dumped on, but not too bad.  As we turned onto Pinehurst, this reminded me a lot of the wooded areas of the likes of Old La Honda Road, or maybe even Pescadero Road.  In other words, very green, and shaded by bunch of trees.

So what happened to that forecast of no rain today, and that it would not come until late in the evening?  I actually was not too optimistic that we would stay dry all day, so this actually didn’t surprise me.  Good thing I did put on my fenders.  Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but it seems like the higher in elevation we went, the higher likelihood of getting rained on.

The rest of the group was getting restless with all these rollie hills, so as soon as we started the sustained climbs on Pinehurst, off they went … in the meantime, I was grinding my way up the hill.  After reaching the top, we continued on Grizzly Peak, where we hovered the crest, where we normally would have a great view overlooking the bay … but visibility wasn’t that great today.

We next descended into Berkeley via Claremont.  That was a nice fun descent.  The switchbacks weren’t too bad, but I had this really annoying car, that was far enough behind me to see in the mirror, but was timid enough not to pass us up.  I figured if he’s not going to pass me, I’ll just tuck down and speed up until we get down to the bottom of the hill.

When everyone got to the bottom, no one seemed ready to go grab a bite to eat.  That would eventually catch up to us near the end of the ride … sometimes, you just gotta have solid food.  Powerbars and/or Clif bars sometimes just doesn’t cut it … but more about that later.

We proceeded to ride through the Cal Berkeley campus.  We pass by a Lacrosse field … women’s Lacrosse game going on … I say again … women’s Lacrosse … and we didn’t even stop?  What the hell is wrong with us?  I can’t say if they were cute, as I was busy trying to stay alive riding through a construction area, but damn … it’s women’s Lacrosse.

So instead of watching women’s Lacrosse, what do we do?  Climb Centennial, and climb a 17% hill, up to Lawrence Hall of Science (I affectionately call it Lawrence Hill of Science).  That was one hella tough hill, and it really took a lot out of me.  I was definitely using all of my 30-27 gearing.  I was glad to make it up to the Botanical Garden, but then I realized that wasn’t even the top … heck Lawrence Hall of Science wasn’t even the top.  We still had to proceed up and over Grizzly Peak.

So this turned out to be a lot harder ride than I thought … hmmm, didn’t I say that last week?  Anyhow, we proceeded to our next climb, South Park, in Tilden Park … that was another tough hill, peaking at about 18%.  I was going so slow on this climb … all I can do was concentrate to just turn the crank.

At this point, we headed on the way back, all the way on Redwood.  We eventually stopped off at Safeway in Castro Valley, for some much needed solid food.  Even though it was not much, I had a small cup of potato salad, and boy, that really felt good.  Ramon was having some stomach issues here, so we couldn’t quite take off yet.  By the time he came out, it was 3:30 PM, and we were concerned about climbing Palomares, and finishing the ride before dark.  So we did not do Palomares, and we didn’t do an extra 1,000+ feet climbing … but no one cared at this point.  We were all tired, and we took a flat way back to Fremont Bart.

Now it’s true, we did not maintain the Wrecking Crew standard, 1000 feet climbing for every 10 miles, but it still qualified as a Wrecking Crew ride.

Pics at http://spingineer.smugmug.com/Cycling/Fremont-Berkeley/11043975_SMiTR#772696810_H8XSr

Total stats: 80.66 miles, 6653 feet climbing

Sabtu, 16 Januari 2009. Sejak awal Husqvarna SM 125 sudah menjadi target saya untuk di uji coba. Beruntung tiga rekan lagi dari KoBOI (Komunitas Blogger Otomotif Indonesia) memiliki ketertarikan sendiri-sendiri soal pilihan motor. Bro Pringgo yang kepengen santai dan memilih Aprilia Scarabeo, bro Triatmono yang doyan moge tapi ingin mencicipi si lincah Gillera Runner, sementara bro Haryo sudah teken kontrak mau motor yang Aprilia RS 125. Tersisa si jangkung Husky, klop bukan ?

Perlengkapan berkendara pun siap. Aroma supermoto saya padukan dengan helm trail ber visor dari INK S5. Standar boots dan glove pastinya saya sertakan plus rompi, protektor dan langsung di tutup jas hujan yang setia nempel selama perjalanan. Pak Zainal dari PT Sentra Kreasi Niaga cabang DI Panjaitan cabang Jakarta Timur pun lantas memberikan kunci kecil Husky. Kunci nya kecil sekali seolah-olah menjadi poin tidak penting dari sisi pemakaian motor jenis supermotard ini. Rawan hilang kalau kuncinya sekecil ini.

Pertama mencoba duduk yang saya rasakan adalah ternyata sesuai bayangan. Ground clearance nya tinggi sampai saya harus jinjit untuk bisa menahan motor saat dalam keadaan full stop. Setang lebar dengan ban depan profil 110 sementara belakang 150, ban yang dipakai adalah ban aspal keluaran Pirelli membuat saya yakin bisa mengendalikan motor ini. Satu pelajaran berharga dari mentor saya, Pak Jusri, adalah kita harus siap dengan keadaan motor apapun saat kita diberikan satu buah motor. Entah itu motor bebek, matic, sport bahkan motor besar sekalipun kita harus siap mengendalikan, jangan jadikan “tidak biasa” menjadi alasan. Well … oke … saya siap naik Husky.

Jam menunjukkan pukul 8 pagi ditemani hujan dan grup siap berangkat. Saya pun naik ke Husky. Ada beberapa titik lemah yang harus cepat saya adaptasi yaitu ketiadaan indikator bensin, electric starter hingga lampu transmisi. Men-start motor pun mau tidak mau harus di-engkol. Lalu perpindahan gigi 6 percepatan ini harus saya rasakan lebih teliti lagi, belum lagi sulitnya masuk gigi netral saat motor berhenti di lamer. Tuas perpindahan gigi cukup berat dan selalu gagal masuk netral, perlu feeling lebih buat yang memiliki motor ini.

Husky 125 cc ini pun bergerak menelusuri Cawang menuju Kramat Jati dan Jl Raya Bogor menuju arah Puncak, tepatnya Cafe Gumati tempat berjalannya acara gathering bersama Piaggio. Kendali stang saya rasakan cukup baik. Ini dibantu dengan riding posture yang benar yaitu melebarkan tangan (*istilah bos adalah ‘gaya sombong’), kaki merapat ke tangki, sementara mata selalu melihat jauh ke depan untuk menjaga keseimbangan. Di tengah kemacetan ternyata saya lebih pede karena profil ban besar menjaga keseimbangan motor lebih baik. Paling hanya raungan khas 2 tak nya saja yang saya rasa cukup mengganggu, maklum suaranya ‘cempreng’ khas mesin 2 tak.

Akselerasi belum saya manfaatkan maksimal mengingat jalur yang dilewati cenderung padat, stop and go. Tes sederhana hanya saya lakukan terhadap suspensi yaitu dengan melewati jalur-jalur berlubang dan bergelombang. Suspensi cukup empuk tapi saya harus tetap waspada karena ban yang digunakan adalah bukan jenis ban pacul, melainkan ban aspal. Tinggi motor pun saya rasakan cukup istimewa, terlebih saat di tengah keramaian saya terlihat paling jangkung di antara kendaraan sekitar. Untuk digunakan di keseharian Husky ini cukup asik di ajak jalan, lebih-lebih dalam menyiasati buruknya jalan ibukota. Putar gas sedikit saja sontak membuat Husky meluncur, sistem rem nya pun terbilang sangat ‘pakem‘, baik untuk rem depan maupun belakang. Keduanya menganut sistem rem cakram.

Baru pada jalur pulang melintasi daerah KSU menuju Depok dan Pasar Minggu saya bisa sedikit coba-coba ber akselerasi meskipun tingkat akselerasi belum saya lakukan maksimal. Saat sedikit rebah saya masih sedikit terganggu dengan bobot motor. Saya hanya mencoba untuk tidak jatuh, pertama karena bobot motor yang belum saya kuasai dalam satu hari, kedua yaitu apalagi kalau bukan soal status pinjamannya.

Banderol 89 juta yang ditempelkan pada Husky mungkin terbilang cukup berat dan mahal mengingat motor versi balap RS 125 milik Aprilia hanya di banderol 79 juta. Konsep supermotard dengan sosok tinggi jangkung cukup membuat pede pemiliknya. Paling tidak untuk satu hari saya bisa tampil beda di tengah keramaian jalanan ibukota. Pesaing domestik jelas hanya muncul dari pabrikan hijau. Tapi untuk penggemar olahraga enduro, motocross, adventure maka brand Husqvarna tampaknya sudah memiliki tempat tersendiri di tengah mereka.

Akhir mata saya cukup naksir juga dengan motor ini. Poin 2 tak nya mungkin yang saya rasakan cukup mengganggu plus label harga impor yang cukup berat dipenuhi. Secara umum Husky tampil beringas dan bisa mengangkat image pengendaranya untuk tampil beda.

Terima kasih untuk PT Sentra Kreasi Niaga (pak Zainal dan ibu Evi plus all staf) atas kesempatan yang diberikan kepada saya untuk meminjam Husqvarna SM 125 ini.

Foto : Bikez.com dan koleksi pribadi

Spesifikasi teknis detail klik disini : http://www.bikez.com/pictures/browse.php?bikeid=26881&pageno=2

time & date: 9:00am, 1/10/2010

start: crank mob park, culver city, ca

destination: point vicente, palos verdes, ca

participants: ian, sam, pablo, alex, mark, tk

road bikes: 3, fixed gear: 3

route: crank mob park – ballona creek bike path – vista del mar – esplanade – malaga cove plaza shopping center – palos verdes dr w – point vicente – shack in playa del rey – ballona creek bike path – crank mob park

distance: 50mi

helmet cracked: 1

front fork bent: 1

rim f*cked up: 1

flat tire: 1

totally punked by 4 yrs old: 1

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I will go for another Triple Crown this year.  The California Triple Crown is 3 double centuries (200 mile ride) within one year.  I attempted the same thing last year, but I couldn’t finish one of them.  One reason is most likely due to fitness.  So I decided this time around, I’m going to train for long distance rides, so that my fitness level would be up there.

I led a ride, which I figured would be around 100+ miles, if I started from my house.  The ride basically went out Old La Honda, out to San Gregorio, then head southbound, climbing Stage Rd, then head out to Pigeon Point Lighthouse, then come inland via Gazos Creek and Cloverdale, then back on Pescadero Rd back through Alpine, then Page Mill, and then back into Palo Alto.  I figure this shouldn’t be a problem, just a longer ride.  I recall Ramon saying “Looks like a a good route and doable on paper”.  It turned out, for whatever reason, this ride was a lot tougher, not just for me, but for everyone in the group.  Was it because of the off season?  Perhaps.  Was it because we hammered too hard in the beginning?  That is a good possibility.  All I know is, as I am writing this, my legs are as sore as I can remember in recent memory.  This is just another in a line of classic Wrecking Crew rides … you know when you have been through a typical Wrecking Crew ride … your legs feel it.

Ok, on the ride itself, I met up with Ramon and Chris in Los Altos, at Bicycle Outfitters, and we decided to leave early enough, so we wouldn’t have to hammer it, pacelining at a brisk pace, just to get to the start in time.  We took an easy pace and got to Woodside 10 minutes early.  Few of the usuals got there a little late, but that’s okay.  It gave us time to chit chat and fool around.  However, the waiting around made us a bit cold.  According to my Garmin, it was around 44 F.  That’s cold.

From Left to Right, Michael, Donald, Chris, Ruth, and Marco.

When we finally started going, the only thing I can think of was hold ccc-cold it was.  Hmmm … I wasn’t nearly this cold when I got to the start.  Oh well … on we go to start the first climb, Old La Honda.  I didn’t want to time myself on this climb, but I still decided to employ the strategy of starting out in my big chainring, then slowly shift over to middle then small chainring.  I was not long before I got into the middle chainring, and I even got into my small chainring at about halfway point.

Chris was gung ho on wanting to check out his timing on OLH.  I didn’t want to find out what it was on the spot.  As it turned out, poor Chris got a flat almost after leaving the designated start of the climb (where everyone usually starts the timer).  In the end, my time wasn’t all that great … 29 minutes.  I was surprised that Chris didn’t catch up and pass me up, but I guess it took him a lot longer to change the flat than I thought.  The tandem even got to the top before he did.

We were all waiting for Ben, who was riding from home in Los Gatos, to meet us at the top of OLH.  He started out a little late, and he did catch up with Chris, and they both arrived at the same time.  This ride is starting to turn into a hot, cold, hot ride … warm up, get cold, warm up, get cold.

Off we descent to San Gregorio via 84.  I was having a hard time getting my speed up, and fell way behind.  Then, suddenly I see Donald and Ben off to the side.  We suffered another mechanical.  This time, it wasn’t a flat, but Ben’s rear freewheel had some issues.  The lock ring was a bit loose, and it prevented the wheel from moving.  The rear axle halves were loose too.  We were able to get it back in, and we were crossing our fingers it would stay put.  There wasn’t a bike shop close by … either climb back the way we came, for about 10-15 miles or so, or just keep on going.

Well, we kept going.  We got into a pretty good paceline, each taking turns pulling the lead, and that made the descent more enjoyable.  What I hate is going down that long stretch, all by yourself, and time trialing it all the way to the coast.  That gets demoralizing and you expend a lot more energy.

We caught up with the gang at the General Store in San Gregorio, then headed on to Stage.  I think my climbing legs were kicking in, as I was hanging in with Ramon, Donald, and Michael.  We normally take Stage Rd in the other direction, so this would be a little different.  The tandem was having problems at this point.  They hadn’t been riding very much lately, but we weren’t in a real hurry … since we were resting up at the store in Pescadero.  Wow, I’m not the last one on the regroups on this ride.  That’s a different feeling!

We continued on Hwy 1, and the pace was a real killer.  I hung in with the tandem for a little while, but the front pack started distancing themselves from us.

I passed the tandem to try to close in on the gap, but I didn’t want to kill myself.  I also want to help pull the tandem a little bit, but they just didn’t have the energy, which is shocking.  I guess that’s what happens when you have that much time off the bike.  Anyhow, I went on ahead, but I was out there solo.  But at least I got to see the waves crashing against the shore.

This is not the first time we’ve been out to Pigeon Point Lighthouse, but in the past, we always whip past it, without stopping by.  This time, we made it our stopping point, so we definitely we take a view of it.

We continued on Hwy 1, for about another 2 miles, before heading inland via Gazos Creek.  We had a few climbs here, and I took the lead up here (I figured I should, since this is my route, and I didn’t want to feel that I am freeloading off of everyone).  I felt like I was close to the same level as everyone on this ride.  The climbs were not terribly long, and they were gradual enough to keep everyone within reach.  In fact, we got into a bit of a paceline, climbing up the shallower section of Pescadero before reaching the steeper section of Haskins Hill.  When we did get to the steeper section, I did fall off the back.  However, for the first time, I was able to pass up Ben, and again, not the last one up the hill.  I’ve gotta tell you though, this is the first ride for Ben since coming back from his vacation of 3 weeks … that’s 3 weeks off the bike!

It started to get late, so Ben decided to go on ahead.  Chris and Donald went a little later, going on Hwy 84 then back home.  While we were waiting for Marco and Ruth, we were debating which way to head home.  Alpine would really suck at this point, as we were all very tired, and with no energy at all.  When Marco and Ruth showed up, they were absolutely not going to make it up Alpine, and preferred to go on 84.  In the back of my mind, I was hoping everyone else would do the same, and we did … yippee!!!  Alpine is one tough hill, especially after riding for 90 miles.

We eventually made it back, just before dark.  It’s a good thing I had my front blinkers on (I needed it, as I started at 6:45 am, and it was dark and foggy at that point).  However, even by the time I got home, it wasn’t dark enough for the lights to take effect.

I don’t know what it was about this ride.  As Ramon stated, on paper, it didn’t look that bad, but this really did in everyone.  After getting home, I was so tired, just simply walking around the house became a chore.  I thought maybe we all took a really fast pace, but it wasn’t all that much faster in my opinion … or maybe it’s because I am in better shape than before.  This “better shape” does not account for why everyone was feeling tired and weak by the time we reached the top of Haskins Hill.  Maybe we all needed solid food.  Perhaps we should have taken a short detour to Pescadero for solid food before going up Haskins Hill?  Maybe next time.

Photos posted at http://spingineer.smugmug.com/Cycling/Pigeon-Point/10907587_6wimS#761542467_8kax5

start: crank mob park, culver city, ca

time & date: 9:00am 12/27/09

route: crank mob park – sunset blvd – tang’s donuts, silver lake – vermont ave – venice blvd – culver blvd – vista del mar – dockweiler’s beach – mustache bridge – fiji way – in’n out – crank mob park

distance: 40mi

finish time from tang’s to dockweiler: 65min

# of red lights we wenth through: 3

traffic tickets: 0

participants: ian×2, el sabroso , alex, mark, max, italtk

fixie/fixed gear: 4
road bike: 3

# of participants who lived in a car: 2

drink: tecate, miller lite, smirnoff, chai

flat: 1

fall off: 1

burgers: 5(including a lettuce wrapped low carb kind )

music of the day: lady gaga, ac/dc

drunk girl: 1

tities: 0

lips stolen by a dirty pervert: 1

Some days, you are just meant not to go out the door.  I’m not sure what it is, but there is some karma in the air that should tell the subconscious mind that you shouldn’t go out there.

Today, the ground was all wet from the rains the night before, so that meant staying indoors, at least till the ground dries up.  Well, after seeing the Raiders shoot themselves in the foot (yet again), I figure that was enough, and it was time to go out for a ride.

As I was heading out the door, I put my Garmin on my bike, turn it on, but damn … it doesn’t have a charge.  I forgot to keep it charged over night.  Going on a ride without your Garmin?  Sacrilegious!  Well, I’ll just have to do without it, and not rely on instruments to gauge my performance.  It has been done before!

Ok, so I decided to go up Redwood Gulch, then Hwy 9.  I was going at a good clip, and I felt pretty strong going up to Saratoga Gap.  I think I’m starting to get the hang of Redwood Gulch.  Just think, I used to hate this hill.

Then, I headed north along Skyline, getting down into a tight tuck, streamlining on the descents, and cursing the ascents on these friggin’ rollies.  Hung a right at Page Mill.  Just before Gate 4, I hear and feel my flat.  It’s been a while since I’ve changed a flat in cold weather … it is not easy.  The tire was a bit stubborn coming off, and just as stubborn putting it back on.  This took a lot longer than I would have liked, but at least I got the spare tube on.

On down the hill again, then suddenly I hear something from my wheels … as if something was rubbing.  I was hoping it was like a leaf or something that got caught … but much worse … a second flat.  Damn … now that’s too much of a coincidence.  Plus, I don’t have another tube.  I am convinced that it’s not the tube, but the tire.  I recall when I was changing the tube, looking at the tire, it looked like the tread is a bit worn.

So here’s the situation … I don’t have any extra tires or tubes.  Even if I did have an extra tube (several gracious riders have also offered), I don’t think it would do any good.  It would just go flat anyways.  I’m approximately at 1500 feet elevation, just above the steep section of Page Mill, and I also have no signal on my cell phone.  So I had no choice but to walk down, in cycling shoes, until I get to some area where cell coverage is better.  This is a long long way from home, and very high up, not even close to civilization.  I accepted the fact that I am screwed, and may be walking out there after it gets dark.

About 5 or 6 cars pass by, 3-4 cyclist pass by (who offered their tube, but I declined, only because it would just go flat again)…  then, this couple in a sedan, slows down, and graciously offers to give me a lift back home.  Wow, at this point, I just wanted to kneel and kiss their feet.  Michael and Peggy, had just finished hiking, and they were on their way home.  They live in Sunnyvale, so it is very close to where I live.  I feel very fortunate that they came by, and no matter what you think, there are good people out there.  Not everyone wants to buzz cyclists and cause them harm.  I didn’t even stick my hitchhiker’s thumb, but I did kind of walk down with the hint that I needed help.  I owe them a debt of gratitude.  I’m sure we will meet paths again, and I will return the favor … I promise.

I guess it’s now time to put my Continental GP 4000’s on.  It’s funny, I know some cyclists who have tires in worse shape than mine, and they don’t get a flat.  In fact, they go through gravel, and without issues.

For those of us who don’t have family obligations, we all got together for a ride on Christmas Eve.  I mean, why not.  It’s an extra day we have available to do a ride (thinking that Christmas Day will be completely out of the question).

The ride started at Orinda Bart Station, and Richard was leading this ride.  I was really excited about this, as I haven’t done a ride in the Grizzly Peak, Berkeley area in quite a long time.  I decided I needed to change this up a little bit, and ride somewhere different.  Parts of this ride are featured on the Grizzly Peak Century, which is an excellent ride, that takes place in early May.

The first climb was Wildcat Canyon.  We were still shivering cold, so the climb helped warm us up a little bit.  Richard was leading a blazing uphill pace, and up at the top, by Tilden parking lot, we were treated to an awesome view of the valley.  I was going to start take pictures, but realized that my battery was low, and I forgot to charge it up before leaving.  Damn … no pictures, sorry.

After a short descent, we hang a left on South Park, to climb a road that is closed from Fall to Spring (opening in March).  This gives us the perfect opportunity to ride on a closed road, car-free.  This also means it attracts walkers, hikers, and joggers, but there weren’t too many out there today.  There was this one cyclist who was bombing down the hill in the reverse direction.  These were 15% grades, so coming down is a little crazy.  In the meantime, having these climbs was my opportunity to warm up, and that meant pushing my heart rate up as high as I could.  I reached about 180 bpm near the top.  After letting my heartrate go back down to a respectable level, I felt really good.

Here’s a shot that Richard took of George and me as we get to the end of the climb.  At least his camera has some batteries :p

After reaching the top, we hang a left, and ride along Skyline, with a really nice view of the bay.  In fact, I was able to see the Golden Gate Bridge very clearly from the Berkeley side of Skyline.  I have no idea how many times I said “wow, what a view”.  By this time, we were pretty much warmed up, and not shivering as much.

We then take a really fast descent down Shepherd’s Canyon.  This was nice, because once we got past the hairpin, it was a pretty straight shot into town, and it was a fast shot down.  I didn’t break 40 mph, but that’s because I didn’t know the area that well.  We eventually wound up in Montclair, and had coffee there.  It’s amazing … there was a Peet’s, and a Starbuck’s there … both were jam packed, with a long line.  Down the street, we saw a local cafe, and ducked into there, with no waiting at all.  And it was gooood.  It’s great to have coffee for a local merchant … help out the little guys.  I came out of there with a great sense of satisfaction.

Ok, next agenda is to head back up to Skyline, by heading over towards the Caldecott tunnel area, but climbing the ridge above it.  Again, once climbing up to the ridge, there were great views awaiting us.  I kinda bummed that I forgot to charge the battery for my camera, but on the other hand, the view that we saw would not translate too well onto a jpg or digital image.

As I was chasing after Richard (I was about 100 yards behind him), suddenly I saw his bike slant at 45 degrees.  Rich took a fall … it looks like he hit a rock the wrong way, and he lost balance.  He was okay, but just a little frazzled … nothing to worry about.  Easy for me to say … I’m not the one who fell.  I think it was more embarrassment than anything else.

We circled back to Skyline, to the point where we were earlier this morning.  We headed down to Redwood and then Pinehurst.  Aw, Pinehurst … I haven’t ridden this since I first moved to the Bay Area, and when I was living in Fremont.  This was a nice gradual climb, and one of the local favorite hills.  It’s not the crazy steep climbs, but has a grade gentle enough, but still tough enough, to keep you honest, and get your heart rate up, without blowing out your knees.

We were almost home, but one more climb we had to do … Rheem.  Now this one was a bit steeper, but at least it was short.  Knowing this is the last major climb, near the top, I decided to push my heart rate, and I manage to get it up to 182 bpm.

By the time we got back to the cars, I had logged in 43.1 miles, and 4295 feet climbing, according to Ascent.  Great Christmas Eve ride.

date: 12/20/09
time: 9:00 am
meet up location: crank mob park, culver city, ca
participants: pablo, alex, ian×2, italtk
number of tubes we consumed: 2
fall off bike: 2

route: crank mob – vermont ave. & venice blvd. – 7eleven – crank mob again – culver blvd all the way to dockweiler beach – hermosa beach – paisanos pizza and pasta
slices of pizza: 6
number of donuts we consumed: 12
beer: 1 (uncertain)
gestimate distance: 30mi

While the east coast is being pelted by snow blizzards, with temps in  the 20’s or even lower … How is it in California?  Do you really want or need to visit family back east? What’s the weather like in Chicago?  New York?  Philadelphia?  20’s?  Well, while they are digging their snow out so they can drive their car, I had to wear shorts, in mid-70 degree weather.  Ah, gotta love California winter.

I drove down for a visit to SoCal (since I won’t be able to make it during Christmas).  I forgot to email the usuals that I ride with when I come down to SoCal, so I couldn’t arrange to ride with the usuals,.  I decided to take my time, and do a solo ride.  My route was to go climb up Chantry Flats, up to the helicopter pad, then hop over to St. Katherine’s and St. Augustine.  My ride over is along the Montrose route (which is a fast group of 100+ riders), but luckily, they had already passed by before I started.  It would have made a pretty cool shot to see the 100+ pack breaking every traffic law around, but that will have to wait another day.

Wow, I’m glad I didn’t bring my knee warmers.  I did bring my vest, but that stayed in my jersey pocket.  I had my arm warmers on, and even though I probably didn’t need it, I just left it on, more because I’m just lazy.  I fear though that I didn’t put enough sunscreen on my face.  Hopefully I won’t turn into a tomato tomorrow.

I decided to try to run my heart rate up, and work as hard as I could, and not try to get into my granny gear.  This is to help justify if I should convert to a compact double crank, or not.  I got my heart rate up to 175 bpm, but the limiting factor here was lack of power in the legs.   I had no choice but to switch to my granny gear … ugh, it serve as a good recovery.  It also was a good excuse to stop and enjoy the scenery. After I recovered well enough, I switched back to my middle ring.

Now, look at this and notice one thing … there is no snow. Sorry, had to throw that in.

So this switching from granny gear to middle chain ring seem to be going well. I only did this because I have done this climb several times before, and I don’t have this agenda to finish the climb in a specified time. In other words, I was enjoying my ride! I went early enough that there wasn’t too much traffic going up, or maybe it’s because everyone is flocking to the malls getting in last minute christmas shopping? Whatever the case may be, it’s an advantage for me.

Got up to Chantry Flats parking lot and it was completely filled … so I guess not everyone is out christmas shopping. It was just amazingly crisp up here. I decided to continue to go up to the heliport, which adds probably another 200 feet to the climb. This extra climb is well worth the effort (no matter how tired or fatigued your legs are).

So when going up to the heliport, you do have to cross a gate, so there is no car traffic to contend with … however, you do have to watch out for hikers, especially on the way down. But hey, I’d rather be confronted by hikers instead of cars.

Getting ready for the descent, it was really sunny, and normally, I’d put my vest on, but not today. Still had my arm warmers on (just too lazy to take them off). As I was descending, I saw quite a few cyclists climbing up. I guess I went out earlier than everyone wanted to go out.

On to Altadena I go. This brings back a little bit of nostalgia to me, as I used to do this route every Tues/Thurs morning before my commute into work when I used to live in Pasadena. It’s a fairly gradual climb, but it’s enough to get you working. More power training! Forcing myself on my middle ring, I got my HR to zone 5. Funny how I got to this zone more on easier, gradual climbs than the longer sustained climbs.

Onto the Rose Bowl, then Inverness. It still amazes me how this is one of those hidden treasures that most cyclists don’t go on, except those few that love it, like myself. Fantastic views overlooking JPL in the distance, Arroyo Seco … how could anyone resist this?

Typically, after climbing St. Katherine’s and St. Augustine, I head over on Figueroa to Lida, then down past the Art College. Here is a view from just before descending down Lida.

One of my favorite descents in the San Gabriel Valley is going down Lida back to the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, there was slow car traffic in front of me … doh! Oh well, so much for the fast fun descent.

More pictures at http://spingineer.smugmug.com/Cycling/Chantry-Flats/10698565_gzVbq/1/744993496_8uWqR

Great day overall for riding today. Total stats … 47.5 miles, 4300 feet climbing.

So a bunch of NorCal’ers have decided to do Solvang Double Century in March … woohoo. With it coming in 4 months, I decided now is the perfect time to start training for it. Get some miles in, and some climbing in, so that the body will be ready for the punishment in March.

I decided to lead a ride, starting from Bicycle Outfitters, in Los Altos, out to Big Basin, and back. It should be a good, healthy ride, about 80 miles.  I was riding with a stiff right shoulder, so who knows what type of leverage I’ll have climbing.

The ride started at 8 am, but the weather forecast this day was cold. It meant we had to really bundle up, as the high wasn’t expected to get anywhere about 55 F. This is evident from the Ninja wear …

The typical wrecking crew came out, myself included, Chris, Ramon, and Michael. Henry also came along, with his friend Armen.

This was also the first ride Ramon took his Allez on an extended ride. This was old school, downtube shifters, and of course, steel, and all in red. Looking really sharp there, Ramon.

The first climb we tackled was Redwood Gulch. With the temp being so cold to start off with, we were a little worried how cold it would be at Redwood Gulch. Even in summer, that climb, being nestled in the canyons, is cold. Would there be ice on the climb? After all, it does have stretches of 20% grades. It turned out okay, and not as cold as we had anticipated.

I was in my accustomed position, in the back. My heart rate was jumping up in the range of 178 bpm. This is pretty typical for this climb. I pretty much stuck with Chris on this short but steep climb. I recall when we regrouped at the top, Henry asked “all pretty much downhill relatively from here” … I had no comment. I knew what was coming up.

We headed south on Skyline, Hwy 35, and once we got past Black Rd, the road would narrow to one lane (approximately 1.5 car widths).  There were a number of christmas tree farms along Hwy 35 in this area, and this road is fairly isolated.  This was also the weekend where everyone is shopping, buying their christmas trees.  They actually go and cut down the trees as they are off the ground, instead of having them displayed on wooden stands.  This is pretty smart, so that if they didn’t sell any trees, no problem … just leave them where they are, rooted in the ground.  Anyhow, what this meant was a series of trucks, pickups, vans, and SUV’s driving up and down this narrow road with a bunch of switchbacks.  It was pretty hairy a few times, where we were descending, then all of a sudden around the corner, getting surprised by a car coming around the corner.  I’m pretty sure it was a surprise for them, seeing a cyclist coming towards them too.  I think next time, I’ll make sure this isn’t done on the first weekend in December.

Finally, a right turn on Bear Creek Road.  After a little climbing, we descend for quite a ways, till we reach Hwy 9 again.

After fueling up on supplies in Boulder Creek, we’re ready again to tackle the climb up Hwy 236 up to Big Basin Regional Park. It’s a very pretty route, and the climb itself wasn’t too bad. The visitor’s center is about 8 miles from Boulder Creek, and about 1000 foot climb. We got water here, and this would be the last stop for water for the rest of the ride. This would be the hard part of the ride, and that’s saying something, especially since we had already done 48 miles, and something around 4800 feet climbing.

I do recall from the last time I did this, the climbing itself was really tough. This didn’t make things any better, as the climbing just seem to continue forever. The only saving grace was seeing the spectacular views overlooking the valley. But there was one good thing to come out of this … at least I wasn’t cold.

After summiting, we descended for a little bit until Hwy 236 merged into Hwy 9. I am really exhausted at this point. It’s only 6 miles to Skyline, but it is still 1300 feet more to climb. I had no energy here, and just barely enough water to reach the top. I am really glad we didn’t do this on a hot day, otherwise I may get dehydrated.

We descended down to Pierce and Mt. Eden from here. We climbed Mt. Eden from the steep side … oh joy, just what I needed, some climbing.

By the time we got back to Foothill/Homestead, all we could think of was Starbucks! That latte really felt good going down. I’m still tired, one day later, and there is no way I’m getting back on the bike today. Having done mostly 60 milers, this 80 miler was a swift kick in the butt. I may have to do more rides out to the coast as a trainer.

I ended up with 81 miles, and about 8111 feet climbing.

I actually have more pictures.  You can find them at http://spingineer.smugmug.com/Cycling/Big-Basin/10549620_TQtr5#732719921_himMz

Too much thanksgiving and my head hurts.  There are only two cures: more cowbell and more motorcycle.  Set out with Mike for a good ride yesterday – from my place to his place on to upstate (taconic!) and over to Minnewaska and home.

Fueled up at 10am (a late start, I would later realize – sun goes down early!!) and noticed the odometer:

You should see the other end! Quick, scroll down!

I noticed the bike was louder.  Those glasspacks are breaking in, I suppose.   Hit an odd pothole on staten island that shook the whole bike.  I inspected briefly when I parked in brooklyn.  Mike was ready to go, and we left.

Took the BQE going up, eventually hopping on the saw mill and then the taconic.  I only had a bit of a snag when I failed to remember what had been in the back of my mind for the last week or so – the soft lowers are WINDSAILS.  I haven’t had them on long enough to do what I feel is a proper review, but in short they’re windsails and over 85mph things get wobbly.

So I took a turn that was sharper than it seemed (at 90mph) and had a decline built-in, and with the wobble of the engine guards (windsails!!) I veered into the other lane.  Not a proud moment, but no harm no foul.  Just made me realize I’m riding wrong for a bike that’s not even broken in yet.  I have a lot of bonding to do with the bike before I can push it.

We spent an easy hour going north.  The trees are all dead but that didn’t matter.  It was approaching 60 degrees and we were very comfortable.  I had my heated vest on under my riding jacket, and accidentally turned it on around noon – BOY, why didn’t I use this last year? 2008 was colder for my torso than it should have been!  It lasted all day – it’s by an Australian manufacturer, and I can dig up the details and do a review if anyone cares.

One other note about gear: I have ROADGEAR “the boss” gloves.  LINK They’re rated for 40-60 degrees.  They’re “waterproof” says roadgear. THIS IS BULLSHIT, and these gloves are awful.  I bought them after reading a very favorable review.  I still use them because they would work well in a crash, and I use them with thin gloves underneath them.  That’s the only way to use them, and in the last 2 years this purchase ($90!) has been the thing I’ve regretted most in all my motorcycle expenditures* (even more than my first oil change, which was also $90, and also the last one I ever paid for!).

Ended up on route 300, a road with a few modest twists and a truly spectacular lake.  It was bluer than the sky (the sky was winter-pale … but the lake was blue like a summer sky).  There was a chimney sticking up from the surface of the water, or what might have been a support for a pier, but it was cement, 4-sided, and hollow.  Wonder what the story there is…

Fueled up, had the only bite of food we’d have for the day (big mistake), took pisses and got back on the highway.

I really did a lot of slab riding for what should have been a day of pure joy.  Guess that’s how it goes, you have to pay your dues or whatever.  I originally wanted to do the twisties much closer to my home, but Mike wanted to show me what he thought was some of the best riding around (upstate NY).  We had a whole day and we spent it on the road – we went somewhere we couldn’t have gone otherwise.  It makes sense to me, even though next time we’ll spend less time traveling to get there and more time already being there (or as much as possible considering logistics…).

Dutchess county, in retrospect, was much more enjoyable.  There were a few roads off of the taconic (and the taconic itself, in places) that really do it for me.  Ups and downs, tight leans, and no other cars (but bikes!).  Miller Hill Road was a favorite, huge potholes and all (bonus points for missing them!).

We made it to Minnewaska state park after a few mishaps with cagers.  For everyone willing to drive at a normal speed, there are 3 people who won’t or can’t.  And after you and the respectable driver pass grandma doing 35 on a 1 mile straightaway, some jackass will pull out in front of you both and do 35 again when the limit is 55.  Seriously.

One mishap was potentially huge, but fortunately was a simple miss.  The first: a cager doing 35 around several twists (that I could have enjoyed, damnit!) kept at 35 on the straight, clear road opening up.  Mike passed, the two cars between him and I passed, and then I proceeded to pass this yokel — when the yokel turns left into a driveway without signaling. FUCKME.  It happened faster than I could really handle, but I didn’t lock up the brakes and I didn’t go down.  In fact, I guess since I was only doing 35 myself, there was less of a chance of catastrophe than if this all happened at a higher speed.  It was clearly my own fault for following the parade – the yokel didn’t see me after the two cars and this was a desolate, deserted road.  He just went left.  I happened to be there, jumping into the left lane.

I squeezed the front brake hard to sap off that speed, but I didn’t pull it all the way — I had never engaged ABS before and sure didn’t trust it with my life.  I leaned hard right, back into the proper lane, and made it around without any collision.  Counted myself extremely lucky.  And if that didn’t engage ABS …

…I realized that my volusia is old.  The brakes are old.  I had the brake pads replaced a year or so ago, but the brakes were definitely not as good as the 4-piston brembo on all modern Harleys.  Oops.  Maybe all this fuss over ABS wasn’t really all about ABS, but just about proper, excellent brakes? Ha! Oh well…

The second mishap was my first stall on the Harley.  It happened at a turn-off, a scenic stop, with a very steep incline.  Suppose, in my head, I was happier about rolling backwards off a cliff than shooting forward and hitting something?  Oh well.  First stall had to happen sometime.  I laughed, and told Mike, and then later at the next one he stalled and said it was his first.  He meant ever – he’s a huge bullshitter.

At the second scenic stop, I took a few photos.

Overlook #3 at Minnewaska State Park

Afternoon Glow

We took a tour through our old haunts, that was part of the day (unintentionally, and with unspoken comments).  It all looked sad.

I realized that this ride (at the time, this is what I was thinking…) would be my first real ride report on the Harley.  It seemed that it was a whole, complete package, this ride – it had a new set of smells and everything.  Decaying wood, leaves, fresh mountain air.  The real deal.  A day of bliss with a little bit of highway bullshit thrown in.

We ended up on the thruway to head south.  The sun had just set as we paid / dodged (go-go-ez-pass!) the toll, and we went about 15 minutes before encountering the backup.  Mike lane-split, I rode the shoulder (it’s safer for me than lanesplitting), and eventually we got through it.  I took the parkway – it opened into several lanes and I could wrap up the day just as the stock seat on the Road King Classic started to cramp my ass.

Could have never done that day worth of riding with a pillon – stock seat has to go.  You hear me, Santa?  Or, should I say, Satan?

No, no … by the end, arriving home, I realized I have to start studying the shop manual – it’s about time for my 1,000 mile!

Wooooooooooohhhhooooooo!!!

See you on the road!

*The word “expidentures” is a word used by drunks.  If you’ve found this blog because you’ve tried to verify that it’s not a word (like, “the queen requested we go find her macguffin, and it’s in a far off place with lots of danger, so we’re going on an expidenture!”) then you should consider it’s non-word-ness CONFIRMED.  CONFIRMED, KELLY!

Just to change this up a little bit, the crew, or at least the partial crew, decided to do a little stroll through the streets of San Francisco.  Ok, it’s more than a little stroll.  It’ll be a nice change of pace, with no real sustained climbs, but they will be steep.

We started out from Sports Basement in Crissy Field in San Francisco, and it was a really nice day.  There were no clouds in the sky, and it was almost like a postcard day.  It was still cool enough where we needed arm warmers and a vest, but it wasn’t bone chillingly cold like it was on Saturday.

Right off the bat, we started climbing.  Ugh, this was a bad sign … off the back already, we hardly went a mile into the ride.  Here I am with my triple, while Ramon and Michael are there, touting the benefits of their compact double, all while I am just struggling to pedal.  As I struggle, I say f#$k it … granny gear, and continue on this short climb.  They’re still waiting for me, but hell if I’m going to give up my triple.

The next several miles would be a continual spike up, spike down … pitches were significant, but they were short distances.  The one saving grace here is the climbs are not long or sustained.  I guess if you were strong enough, you could sprint up each of these hills, given enough strength.  Hey, I’m just fortunate enough to ride with these guys!

This was just a warm up.  We somehow wound our way back to the cars again.  Nice way to bail, huh?  That would be the calm before the storm, because the bulk of the climbing was now just awaiting us.  Upcoming … Divasadero, which is hella steep, Filbert, short but even steeper, Twin Peaks, which gives us a nice view of the city, and then Dalewood, which is even steep steep steeper!

Now this is Divasadero from a distance.  Just contemplate here … some cars struggle just to get up the hill, and sometimes roll backwards at an intersection … and we are climbing this on our bikes????

This was like a stair step … you climb your way to the first intersection, then it flattens out.  Then, climb some more, and repeat this until you reach all the way to the top.  The problem here is this street has traffic, and with the cars parked on the side of the road, if you are not careful, you could have someone pull out, while you are struggling up this hill … and you’re only going 4-6 mph (at least that’s what I’m doing).  Then when you get up to the top, you look back and are in awe.

Ok, next up is Filbert.  Now this is short but steep.  This part of Filbert is a one way street … one way in the opposite direction of where we are going.  This is about half the distance of Fargo St in LA (the steepest paved road in LA at 33%), but I’m not sure if Filbert is that steep.  My Garmin only posts it as 20%, but I’ve been told it’s a 31% grade.  At least I now know what Fargo St is like.  When I was climbing this, there was a car coming down, so I couldn’t tack this climb.  I eventually lost my leverage, and had to dismount.  I tried in vain to mount back up, and continue climbing, but it was a no go.  Even trying to zig or zag, wouldn’t do.  I could not balance myself on this, so I ended up walking this hill.  I remember thinking, this is so steep, it’s hard walking up the hill, especially in cycling shoes!

Whew, made it up this .. now for an easy hill up twin peaks.  No, seriously, it is easy, compared to Divasadero and Filbert.  You gotta remember the type of hills we’re doing here.

What’s also ironic here is when you look at a glance at the elevation profile, this is the highest peak on the ride, but it’s probably the easiest of the significant hills.  But in the end, the reward is the amazing view at the top, over looking the city.

And now the cream of the crop awaits us … Dalewood.  This is one steep climb … after a while, we were thinking about this ride, and we think this can be categorized as a “Howie Long tough guys” ride.  The last time we did this, it was reported that this was a 26-27% grade, even though my Garmin only registered 20% (probably because I was zig-zagging so much, that the average grade suffered).

This picture doesn’t tell it all, and I didn’t take a picture at the steep part, because I wanted to finish the climb … but I think you get the hint from this teaser:

By the time we got back to the cars, we exceeded our litmus test … 1000 feet per 10 mile.  We ended up with a whopping 36.8 miles, and 4142 feet climbing.  Wow, and I could still walk on Monday after this ride.  I just my fitness is helping me here, not being a vegetable a day after the ride.  It was a nice change of pace, where the emphasis was on climbing, and who cared how many miles we did.  We had a blast!

To see more pics I took on this ride, go to http://spingineer.smugmug.com/Cycling/Streets-of-San-Francisco/10358815_42VFW#716917775_MJ99L

If you are a cyclist, like myself, you normally keep an eye on weather forecasts, so you’ll know how to dress, and what to expect on your ride.  This weekend, we were going to have an epic ride in the East Bay which started at 8 am.  However, as I was getting prepared for that ride, I saw that the ground was wet.  As I stepped outside, it was actually raining.  The ground was wet as can be, so after tweeting a few other of my buddies local to me, none of them really wanted to go climbing Sierra on wet roads.  So we decided to wait till later.  I looked at the weather forecasts, and one of them, weatherunderground, was reporting light rain and drizzle … no duh … I could see that!  However, weather.com and accuweather.com, made no mention … no mention at all about rain, or wet roads … not even mentioning drizzle.

Looking at weatherunderground, it mentions it will be clearing by 10 am.  Ok, fine, we’ll start our ride up Page Mill, then down to San Gregorio, then finish coming up Tunitas Creek.  Nice plan, right?  Marco and Ruth would be heading out and meet us somewhere in San Gregorio, so that would be perfect.

We went up Altamont (kinda eerie for me, because that’s the same road where I went down, although it was in the opposite direction).  So far, no issues … pretty dry.  Left turn up Page Mill, and on we go.  About half way up, we could see the fog shrouding the hillside, so one of my fears was how foggy it would get to the top.  So far, temperature-wise, I was okay.  There was a mist around us, and I could tell I’m getting a little damp from the dew of the fog, but I was still fairly warm.

Marco and Ruth called, and they were bailing on the ride.  It was raining too much on their side, so we’ll see how the rest of the ride goes for us.

After we got past gate 4, things started to turn on us.  The fog got heavier and heavier, and glasses really started to fog up, to the point where it was really difficult to see out of them.  I kept mine on, as there was still some parts of my glasses where there was a clear vision.  The fog turned to a heavy mist, which then turned to a constant drizzle.  Near the top, I could definitely tell it was getting colder, but at least we were still climbing.  That would at least keep our body temperature up a little bit.  The drizzle now was actually turning into rain, and we were really wet.  Finally reaching the top, and we could not see a thing.  We saw a few riders coming southbound from Skyline, saying that the visibility was almost nil, that you could hardly see anything.  That was enough for us to not continue on our original plan.

We were originally going to go down to the coast, but with this fog and low visibility, we thought better of it.  First, we had to descend quite a bit, and that’s not good news with low visibility.  Second, we were all getting cold, and cold just does not do well for cycling, especially with a long ride that we had planned.  So the plan was to bail on the original ride, and just head back down.

Going down, I was going to take my time.  I do not want to suffer the same fate from a year ago, where I went down on Altamont on slick roads that were even dryer than this.  Still, even at the slower than normal descending pace, my toes and fingers were getting really cold.  Water was seeping into my shoes, which just exacerbated the situation with my freezing extremities in my toes.  I took it really easy around the switchbacks, with no aggressive turns on the descent.  In fact, I was going so slow that Chris caught up to me, who is generally slower on the descent.  In fact, as he was passing me, he asked if I was okay.  I was thinking “yeah, not sure why you are asking” … Chris then mentions he didn’t think he would pass anyone at all.  I told him I would be going slow!

By the time we got to the lower section of Page Mill, the rain stopped, and there was even some sunshine.  My toes were still freezing, and the sunshine was just not strong enough to thaw out my toes.  Talk about Bay Area micro-climates!

As I looked towards the east, I could clearly see blue skies, and a few clouds, but definite signs that it was probably a bit warmer there.

On the climb up Page Mill, we all pretty much stuck together.  This is strange, as normally I would be caught alone on the climb … could it be I am getting that much better, or that the cold and damp is just sapping everyone to an even keel?  Possibly the latter.

I later found out from Donald that the roads descending Sierra were also wet.  I guess this is just a matter of high altitude and fog conditions … oh well.

Total stats, based on Ascent … 37.2 miles, 3101 feet climbing.  Hey, at least we got 3000+ feet climbing in on this day.  That’s not too shabby.

We’ve all done Mt. Diablo – Morgan Territory route before, and Ramon decided we needed to mix it up, so this ride was to do things in reverse.  We all started at the Sycamore Valley Park and Ride.  The Wrecking Crew was there, which include Ramon, Donald, myself, Michael, Chris, Marco and Ruth.

We left the Park and Ride at 8:30 am, and there was still a chill in the air.  It felt a bit nippy, so it was difficult to determine exactly what to bring.  Michael decided to don the ninja cycling look, trying to keep warm, and not catch a cold.  I eventually went with light long fingered gloves, and vest.  I didn’t want to bring too much, as it was going to be 65 F, and bringing a full jacket may be a bit much.

I felt good going out, and we had a few rollers going out before the first big climb on Morgan Territory.  I surprised everyone by leading out through some small climbs.  What can I say … I was just trying to get into a rhythm.  Besides, it would be one of the few times I would be out in front.

Left turn on Morgan Territory, and the climb begins (also known as “the Plunge”). At this point, my Garmin timer was stopped, and as I was starting out on the climb, I didn’t realize it wasn’t restarted … doh!  Ramon, Donald and Michael assumed its normal position at the front of the climbs.  I hung in as long as I could but I just could not sustain their pace on the climb.  Eventually, Chris would also pass me.  Marco and Ruth were still behind me, but eventually they would pass me.

The climbs kept coming, and it was a struggle to keep pedaling.  I was able to manage a cadence in the high 30’s to low 40’s, but it was still kicking my butt.  The grade peaked at 17.4% (although Donald reported it to be about 19% at one point).  As I climb, I am just recalling how the ride the other way usually is.  Every time I think of it, I realize there are even more climbs coming.  However, I was able to take a few scenic shots.  I think this was after getting past the 17% climb:

Near the top of the climb, suddenly I feel a woof on the left side … it’s Marco and Ruth.  Wow, I recall looking back to see if they were behind me, but nowhere to be found.  They really put the hammer down to pass me.  Later, Marco told me how hard he worked to catch me.

The rest stop couldn’t come at a better time.  Those steep grades really took a lot out of me, and I was really glad to reach the Morgan Territory rest stop.

Next, the descent on Morgan Territory.  This is normally the section where we climb Morgan Territory.  The descent sucked!  Much of the descent was shaded, but luckily, my glasses are light enough, that I was able to make out the contours of the road going from light to dark.  It got really bumpy, and the road was treacherous near the bottom of the climb.  Marco and Ruth were glad they did this, but also say this is the first and last time they’ll do this descent.  I don’t blame them … this descent is nasty.  To give you an idea, just imagine descending 2000 feet on cobblestones.

After some junk miles to loop around through Clayton, we get to the Mt. Diablo climb, starting from the North gate side.  I’ve done Mt. Diablo many times, but those were all climbing the South gate side, and descending down the North gate side.  This time, we do it in reverse.  Now I’ve been told this is a much tougher climb than South gate, but I’m not sure if it was tougher due to the fact I’ve already done 40 miles, and 4000 feet of climbing, or if the weight of the camelback contributed to my slow climbing.  All I knew was my lower back started to feel more strained than it usually is.  With the exception of Marco and Ruth, I was pretty much behind the group on the climbs.  Marco and Ruth didn’t have much left for the climb, and they did not end up passing me.  I had to stop once, due to fatigue.  It’s a good thing I had an extra banana.  Since I brought my camelback, I had more food than I usually do, and the banana did go down well, and that gave me enough energy to make it to the Ranger’s Station.

My hopes were that the wrecking crew would be waiting at the Ranger’s Station, but I couldn’t find them when I got there.  They ended up continuing on the climb … damn!  Well, I guess I gotta go and climb this, so off I went.  It was a struggle, and I certainly was not going up with any energy, and my cadence was not very high.  About 800 feet from the top of the climb, I see Ramon come speeding down, then Michael.  Marco had texted us, that they are not doing the climb, and would meet everyone back at the Ranger’s Station.  I should have done that.  Soon after Michael passed by the other way, I decided to turn back.   I was still at least 600 feet from the top, and my feeling is I don’t need to go to the summit.  I’ve already seen it before, so I made a U-turn here.  So I didn’t make it all the way to the top … doesn’t bother me.   Funny, Marco had the same thought too.

Met up with the rest of the crew at the Ranger’s Station, but we were all waiting for Chris (he was just starting the wall, when Michael started descending Diablo).  We took our time resting at the Ranger’s Station before descending again.  It was cold, and we were trying to thaw out and get warm again.

Now what’s funny here is Chris has traditionally had knee problems, but on this cold day, everyone else was fully decked out with leg warmers and knee warmers, but Chris goes with just shorts.  Aren’t you cold?

When we finally got back to the cars, I ended up with 67.1 miles, and 6344 feet of climbing (at least with www.ridewithgps.com, extrapolating for the data that was missing).  To see detailed ride stats, go to http://ridewithgps.com/routes/14031

More pics at http://spingineer.smugmug.com/Cycling/MT-Diablo-CCW/10241647_Vex2a#706224870_cg6DS

For one of the first times in my life, I was nervous.  Had to park the ‘King in the city on Halloween.  Figured I’d pony up and pay for parking (totally against my sense of will!), and I did.

Riding in from the house was smooth and easy.  With the lady on the back, those sexy jumps the Stage II kit provides were what kept the bike sporty feeling when pulling away from a stop, heading uphill, or striking out on those highway straights.  Constantly happy and relieved I went for it.

We took the turnpike, heading north toward the Holland tunnel about 1 in the afternoon on Saturday.  I drifted upwards of 70mph in fifth gear.  It was effortless.  And with the road open and the sun bright overhead, I put it in 6th and let it rip.

The little green ‘6′ light doesn’t come on until you’ve fully released the clutch lever, and then there’s a tiny delay still before the bike really knows it’s in 6th.

I realized I forgot to put the windshield back on as I tore past 100mph and then past 110mph.  It was almost scary how still-effortless it was.  My mind flashed to the rating of the tires – the Dunlops might not be rated for such speeds and might blow off or something.  I had no idea.  But I dismissed it because I just had to know what was there.  The needle crept up and the road sunk away.  115mph.  The ease with which I cranked the throttle and felt the bike fall forward was the same ease it would be to step off the edge of a cliff.  It was just right there, easy as pie.  Too far forward and you’re done.

But once 115mph felt safe, I stayed there.  Lord, that’s fast.  And call me nuts, but  I had the widest grin on my stupid mug as I rolled through the curves.  It was smooth!  It was fast!  It was FLYING!

That’s what it’s all about, ain’t it?

Parked in an Icon garage – little orange circle logo with the arrow.

DO NOT WANT.

It was a remarkable rip-off.  I guess that’s what I get for being paranoid.  I’ll park on the street like normal from now on.  I spend so much on insurance, why the hell should I be worried?

Rode to dinner, parked on the street – sat by the window, obviously.  Even with all the drunks in the east village, no one touched the bike.  It was very reassuring.  Like it’s a different city than it was 10 years ago, somewhat.

(Side note: FU is my favorite sushi – so, so fresh and good! Seems to have hit his stride and isn’t as generous as he was, and service is a little slow, but the food quality is still top-notch and the other bits are the reason it’s affordable.)

Then the rain came, about 9 or 930, and I had to ride (solo – the girls hopped in a cab to get their costumes ready while the boys hung back and ordered more food) in that rain.  I’ll admit to apprehension.  I had all my gear on, it wasn’t a cold night so the wetness wasn’t uncomfortable, it was a short ride (11th st to 95th st … maybe half hour?), and it was familiar roads.  Still…how does the King handle in wet wet wet world?

The Road King Classic is like a pig in shit, that’s how it handles.

Can I say that again? Mothers, put the kids to bed.

My FLHRC made the FDR its BITCH as I streaked through the rain.

Wow, again, just wow.  When will the WOW’ing stop??

Within just a few moments, I was dazzled by how smooth the ride was.  That 850lbs was working for me.  Puddles the size of taxicabs were no problem.  Those generous floorboards actually shielded my feet/ankles very well – had no idea, was planning on getting soaked (had extra socks and everything). The suspension was undaunted by the shit-ton of pot holes on that strip of war road.

Told you it was a war road.

Anyhow … I made it without issue.  It was genuinely a good ride.

The next day was a day like any other.  I got over my fear of parking on the street (whereas with the Volusia I happily parked on sidewalks, under scaffolds, at construction sites, at hydrants, etc) and left the Harley on a broad sidewalk across the street from some detention center near the water.

Riding home in the late afternoon on Sunday, it was much colder than coming in with the sun.  I couldn’t help cranking up to 115mph-ish, but then settled into a solid 95 and coasted home.

Probably due to the lower ambient temperatures, there was no pinging when I parked this weekend.  I suppose I might make it through the winter without having to get a proper tune, which is great because I don’t have any cash at the moment and I don’t know what to get anyway.

Reading up on exhaust, I think i’ll experiment with the baffles in the SuperTrapp.  New discs are cheap, and a few more discs might up performance – a few less might up the noise.  Very cool, will have to trial-and-error it.

I might also drill out the baffles – I have my mint stock pipes still so I can always throw them on in answer to a fix-it-ticket.

And, y’know, I might spend this saturday drilling out the cat.  I’ve got blueballs for a good roar or a solid idle.  Supid EPA.

You would think that a day after climbing Mt. Hamilton, 40 miles, and 5000 feet later, I would do a nice easy recovery ride ???  You gotta remember, who the blogger is … hehehe.

We haven’t had to wrecking crew out for a ride in a while, and although Chris is still in Texas, and Ruth is busy, I figured we can get Michael, Ramon, and Marco out.  Well, almost … Marco was committing, but there’s this thing called sleep that you need when you do a ride … he tweets us at 2:50 am, that he just got home.  I don’t think he’ll be with us.

So we all decided to meet at El Monte and Foothill, so we can do Moody, then Page Mill, OLH, and Kings.  I left around 7:15 am, so I can get my Bagel.  When I left, it was really foggy … I mean really dense fog.

After 20 minutes in this, I was dripping with dew.  Water was literally dripping from my helmet, and hoping the fog will clear up by the time we got to the peninsula … and it did.

Michael was running late, and says he’ll meet us at the top of Page Mill.  Ramon figured since he was running late, he was start out later, but I was already at El Monte, so I just decided to go, and met them at the top of Page Mill.

I wasn’t feeling the effects of Hamilton right away, so as I climbed Moody, I felt good.  Page Mill is never easy, but if you are not in a hurry, it’s not too bad.  Being the first at the top gave me an opportunity to rest while I waiting for the rest of the crew.

The topic of banter for the day was my triple … the fact that I still have one, while everyone else is on a compact double.  Michael and Ramon, keep wanting me to switch out my triple, because it’s extra weight, and that hampers my climbing.  Uh, no!  The main reason why I have the triple is to actually do some climbing.  I’ve been riding a triple ever since I moved up to the Bay Area, which is about 10 years.  One of these days, I’ll probably switch to a compact double, but I’m not ready to yet.  I guess that’s my Fred-ness.

Zipping down Skyline towards Woodside was fun.  Of course, with Ramon leading out, it made it that much more fun, a target that I can shoot for, and possibly draft off of.  A quick top off of water at 35/84, and down the hill we go, with OLH as our next hill climb.

When we got there, there was a big pack of about 20 riders also doing the climb.  We kind of melded in with the group, with Ramon and Michael charging ahead.  I stayed near the back.  I did start out in my big ring (possibly a mistake, after a fair amount of miles and climbing), and that didn’t last long before I shifted into my middle ring.  I definitely was not at the pace I was at LKHC.  I think the successive climbs have caught up to me.  By the time I made it to the top, it was 32 minutes later.  This is my normal time up the hill.

Started to get some straining in my lower back, but it wasn’t too bad, and I didn’t want to halt the ride at that point.  We forged on, with another water stop at Tripp Store.  Kings Mountain is next.

My legs had no life at this point, so Michael and Ramon climbed off in the distance.  I had no inkling to try to catch them, and my speed going up hill was very slow.  All I knew is that we started early, so I have plenty of time to finish the hill.  I needed my granny gear on the climb, from about the point where Huddard Park intersects with King’s Mountain, so I was grinding it out the rest of the way.  I did have some reserve left, near the end, where my speed picked up, and was able to cross Skyline in my middle chain ring … but that took a lot of effort!

So I finally did it … the trifecta, Page Mill, Old La Honda, and King’s Mountain.  I wasn’t breaking any personal records, but at least I made it all the way through.

Ride stats:

67.6 miles, 6270 feet climbing.  http://ridewithgps.com/trips/4948