Northern California - Hey Norcal, let's get to know each other.

My name is Chris. I am 43 y/o clydesdale. I live in Benicia and am a roadie. My bike is a 2004 REI Novara Trionfo. I'll drive to ride with other Norcals if the timing is right. Unfortunately, Easter Sunday's ride won't work because I have a family gathering.

OK, your turn. Please don't leave me hanging here. Thanks.

Hi Chris. Well, my name is Ron, and I just turned 44. It's a tradition with me to ride Solvang Century for my birthday. I know, it's in Southern Cal, but I can't help it. I used to live in Pasadena for 30 years, and I have to admit, I still like it there. In fact, I go down to LA and visit about once a month, so naturally, I bring my bike when I go down there.

I have a Seven Axiom, and I've had it for 3 years, and loving it. I went straight from Aluminum to Titanium. I never tried Carbon Fiber, but I guess if you love riding your bike, there's no reason to change what's working.

Oh, I live in Santa Clara. So far, this year, I got in 2 centuries, and a double century. The double century was Solvang, and I've been messaging a bunch of So Cal riders regarding doubles. Strangely enough, I didn't realize I was riding with a bunch of them until I started reading some of their postings on here.

My goal this year is to complete the California Triple Crown. One down, 2 more to go. The others on my list include Davis, and Grand Tour. It's a pity that there are not many doubles up here. The only ones I can recall in the area are Davis, Devil Mountain's Double, Terrible Two, Mt. Tam and Knoxville. With the exception of Davis, they are all over 10,000 feet of climbing.

Hill climbing is not my best suit, so I guess that's why I keep going to So Cal, so I can ride without excrutiating pain.

Just an observation ... when looking from the Regional Discussions, it shows 4 viewing Northern California, and 34 viewing Southern California.

Wow Ron, you're a hardcore roadie. Some day I'll do a century but that's probably going to be my limit. The longest ride I've done was 45 miles and the "boys" were sore! Trying out a new saddle this Saturday (Terry Fly).

The SoCal group is so much more active here on BF and also more numerous.

Well, my name's Steve (duh!). I live in Cupertino. Ride a customer Serotta Legend Ti. Lead the Alto Velo B-Ride on Saturdays. Race up to 10 times a year. Also, ride an old steel Moseman tandem with my older daughter when the weather's nice. Only do a few centuries a year. Probably do the Mt. Hamilton Challenge at the end of this month. Most of my weekend rides are between 60 - 75 miles.

The NorCal group is quieter because we spend more time actually riding than talking about it.

Steve - do you ride 60-75 miles on one weekend day or combined mileage for the entire weekend? do you ride during the weekdays too?

Just trying to find out what the riding habits are of the folks who post here. I only ride on the weekends and do spin classes at the gym with my wife and son during the week. I bet if I spent more time on my bike, I can do a century this year.

60-75 miles each day. Commute 24 miles R/T 3-4 times a week. Oh yeah, almost forgot 57 yrs old next month.

as a 52 year old...I give you a standing O!

I give you a standing O!

+1

Marco. 23 y/o. Roadie, from San Mateo

I've been into road cycling on and off since I was about 14.

For the past 4 years, I have been riding a 2002 Cannondale R500 (yellow and black), which I have recently upgraded a bit (6600 Ultegra and 105 mix, Ultegra/Open Pros, etc)

I fell out of riding for a few months (again). I used to ride a few loops (Portola, Crystal Springs + Cañada combo, etc..)

Now I mostly ride Cañada Rd.... 92 to Woodside and back.

I also commute using bike/Caltrain to my job in Mtn. View (5 mile ride from train to work).

Starting tomorrow, I will be riding home from work without the train. (apx 20 miles along the bayshore)

I also am getting my girlfriend into road cycling. I just got her a Bianchi Vigorelli (2002) frameset for a good price and threw my old parts on it, plus some new stuff.

She's not ready for the longer stuff yet, which is why I/we stick to Cañada for now.

Henry here. I'm 37 and live and work in San Bruno. I ride less then 1 mile to work. I usually head up San Bruno Ave to Skyline and take San Andreas Trail/Skyline/Sawyer Camp Trail down to Woodside and back.

I usually ride my IRO fixie to work and for errands. For longer rides I'm either riding my Bianchi Campione or now my new (to me) Bianchi EV4. I've raced cyclocross the last three years but I haven't raced road or crits. I may try one this year.

I don't frequent the region specific forums much but if there's more organized rides I'll have to check more often.

Former San Jose/Santa Rosa here!

Name's Margaret.

I keep an eye on the Northern California forum because all my relatives still live in the Bay Area, and West Valley/Los Gatos is familiar territory. Just in case anyone cares, I went to Leigh HS way back.

I'm going to be going down to Yuba City for the RATB April 14, so I know I'm going to meet cantdrv55 at least, plus bigbossman and others.

East Hill

My name's 'nother :D. I live in San José. Been riding for about 3-1/2 years. I'm a member of the same club as SteveE, and just started racing this year. I recently upgraded from cat 5 to 4 and will be doing my first "serious" road race next week (Sea Otter, Masters 30+/4).

Last year I did a double century (Davis) and a bunch of 200k's and centuries, many with significant climbing. I ended my season with injuries to both knees as a result of overextending myself on the Everest Challenge (29,035' of climbing over 2 days and 200+ miles). My goal this year is to return, enter the actual race instead of tourist, and finish both days. I will be doing a few races and hillclimbs and most likely at least one double century (I have my eye on the Terrible Two) in preparation for that.

I work from my home and ride most every weekday except Mondays, usually mid-morning and afternoon. My wife frequently works weekends so it's tough for me to commit to regular weekend rides but I usually get something in one or the other day, usually a longer and/or more intense ride. I am trying to hit the Spectrum ride on Saturdays that I have off, and the AV 'A' ride on Sundays but I've been striking out on both of those for a few weeks running.

My avatar is a photo of the head tube of my bike, so you can recognize me when you see me :)

My name is Rich, 58 next month, married to wife, Mary Ellen, (cranky-stoker) and live in San Mateo. We moved to San Mateo in March of 2006 from LA (Brentwood). We did not cycle in LA and focused on inline skating, gym, skiing and golf. We restarted our cycling in May 2006 after a 5 year layoff.

I have a Trek Madone 5.2 and wife has a 2007 Orbea Orca. We also have a Santana Tandem that we race and ride on the weekends. We typically ride 30-50 miles each day on the weekend and 25 + miles until it gets too dark twice a week in the evening. We are in the gym six days a week. Our training rides typically originate at San Mateo or Canada and 92. We will travel to join other group rides. We did the Solvang Century this year on our tandem and it was fun. We have done two Beat the Clock time trials and the Berkeley Team Time trial on our tandem. I have always enjoyed TTs. This is a build year for us and next year will be more serious individual racing. We are members of Alto Velo.

Hi my name is Gary and I'm an alcoh... oh wait, wrong forum... har, har!

I still consider myself a newbie roadie. I'll be 36 in May and I live in Daly City near Gellert Park. I don't ride nearly as often as I used to before I moved back to the City after being in the Dallas area for the last 5 years. And Dallas is not nearly as hilly as it is here! So these hills are killin' me!

Anyway, I started riding last year with my buddy in TX. We did the MS150, a handful of metric centruries and one century called Hotter-n-Hell in Wichita Falls, TX(which lived up to it's name!). My major goal this year is the NorCal MS150 (aka Waves to Wine) in September. The new chapter president is changing it up big time from what I understand of previous years. She's starting it at Ocean Beach in SF, through the Presidio, over the Golden Gate through Sausalito and up parts of the route used in the ToC. The second day is supposed to be relatively flat and it ends in Healdsburg. Apparently there will be about 7k feet of climbing the first day so a flat day 2 will be welcomed. So I need to log in some miles going uphills! UGH!! (plus I have friends that have MS so I ride it for personal reasons)

I'd actually like to get a team together for the MS ride... anyone interested? :)

Other than that, I've been trying to get back on the bike the last couple of months and am just now starting to branch out and hit Skyline from about Hickey to the park/lake up where Skyline hits 280 and back. But I usually only get to ride Sat or Sun mornings for a bit. I really need to hook up with people in my area and log in some more miles!

Other than that I have an Allez Elite double and with a wife and child that's about all I'll have for a while. hehe! But that's me in a nutshell...

PS - it amazes me when I hear about people doing double centuries! I'd love to try it but I'm afraid I'd keel over. That or I'd need two days to finish! haha!

PS - it amazes me when I hear about people doing double centuries! I'd love to try it but I'm afraid I'd keel over.

I lived in similar astonishment until I actually tried one. I can't say a DC is easy (especially some of the torture-fests such as Devil Mountain Double: 20,000' of climbing), but it was not nearly as bad as I thought. If you are interested in trying one, Davis is actually a pretty good first century. It has a decent but not ridiculous amount of climbing. The weather is usually pleasant (mid-end May). Plus it's a very popular DC and the support crew + other riders are very helpful.

I'm Neil, I live in Mountain View (as you might suspect). I'm a new racer, and I've been riding about 3 years. I currently ride a Cervelo Soloist. I do a lot of riding out in the woodside/portola/los altos area on the weekends.

Hi ya'll. My name is Chris, married to Deborah (Red Rider). We live in Vacaville. I am 53 and started riding in late October 06. I have ridden bikes over the years but not seriously. We bought our Raliegh Coupe for our birthdays which are exactly a month apart. She was having fun riding and I wanted to spend more time with her. I also fly hang gliders and have been into that for 31 years so this was a big step giving up some flying time. We have had so much fun together on the tandem I decided to buy a 1/2 bike. Got a screaming deal on an 06 Fuji Team Pro. We now have two centuries with about 1700 miles on the tandem. We ride about 100+ miles per week now that the weather and light is better. We can leave our house, get on Browns Valley Rd and hitting the hills in no time. Cantelow hill is just seven miles away if we just need to climb our guts out. Our typical ride is a Winters Loop which we can vary to make it between 30 to 40 miles. A Gordon Valley loop is 50 miles and a Lake Loop is 65. We have so many options here it is great. We are riding the Chico Wildflower later this month and will probably ride the Vacaville Monticello Century next month. For anyone interested the Vacaville ride is a great route with lots of uphill and downhill and great scenery. Vacaville decided to put a century on and our local club is helping out. I hope a lot of you will think about riding it. Go to http://monticellocycling.org/century/century.html for more info. We have not met anyone on the forum but did watch Hermes and Cranky Stoker buzz by us twice at Solvang this year. Come on out and join us in May.

hello fellow norcals! my name is howie. i'm 34 y.o. and recently moved to west san jose from cupertino. i ride an aluminum trek 2200 and as soon as i save up some money, i'm gonna blow it all on a moots. i try to ride as much as i can, but it's quite sporadic for me. i try to commute into work on bike (19 mile r/t), but my longest ride ever has only been a metric century. i suck at climbing. i liken myself to a semi truck - i can cruise along on the flats, but once i hit the hills, it's a long slow grind. i'm looking forward to meeting some of you this sunday on the easter ride. hopefully i don't get dropped going up hwy 9.

Another guy named Chris here. I'm a 39 year-old desk jockey and father of 3-year old twins. I try to race as much as work and family life allow. I don't belong to a team, but that may change soon. Most of my miles come on the way to and from work, as I try to combine commuting and training.

I really enjoy working on my bikes. I've built up 2 from the frame this past year. I have another that I'm going to make into a tri bike. In '07, I'd like to learn to build wheels.

I'm Kent, 50 and a Sonoma County guy. Back on the bike for 3 years, recently upgraded from a Summit Comp Pro TR (80's Japanese steel) to a '95 Klein Quantum, which I've upgraded with Velocity Deep V's and Dura Ace derailleurs, brakes, and crank. I'm currently riding 15-25 miles every day, sometimes more on weekends. Just started working on little toy hills this week, hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be capable of actual climbs. I also like doing my own wrenching--I love that feeling when all the adjustments are finally perfect!

my impatience led me to start doing my own wrenching. no way can I stand to wait to get my bike fixed, I want to ride NOW! :D

I lived in similar astonishment until I actually tried one. I can't say a DC is easy (especially some of the torture-fests such as Devil Mountain Double: 20,000' of climbing), but it was not nearly as bad as I thought. If you are interested in trying one, Davis is actually a pretty good first century. It has a decent but not ridiculous amount of climbing. The weather is usually pleasant (mid-end May). Plus it's a very popular DC and the support crew + other riders are very helpful.
I second that sentiment. I actually did Davis 8 years ago, and didn't do another one till last weekend in Solvang.

What I observed is that double century riders are a really tight knit group. Everybody knows everyone else who rides doubles, and every event is almost like a reunion of sorts. Plus, the support is just awesome. Just being able to complete one is an accomplishment. So don't worry about how long it takes to get there (as long as you make the cutoff time). I was commenting how I thought my time was slow, but then I heard about some that ran into difficulties, like taking the wrong route, broken spokes, or failed lighting. That made me a lot more thankful of what I actually accomplished.

Hey, name's Dan and I'm an alcoho.... wait, wrong meeting!

I grew up in Saratoga, but didn't get into riding until I was 18 and off to school at UCSB. Did 4 years of collegiate racing along with 10-years of UCSF and 6-years of track. Worked in a shop for about 10-years too. :) Had to quit 10-years ago due to asthma that was uncontrollable.

With allergy testing, I've found that I'm allergic to wheat (gluten) and dairy products. Along with new drugs, I think I've got this asthma thing licked, so I'm coming back to racing! :)

I'm Jon, 44 years old, live in San Ramon and am training with Team in Training for the Death Ride. For now, weekends are booked, but I'm always looking for rides during the week.

I've got two sons (ages 6 and 8) living with me part time (rest with their mom, my ex.) which also complicates my training schedule.

JB

Ken here in central Sonoma wine country. When I'm working mostly flat miles to and from. When between jobs out crawling up walls. Join me on the Pine Flat Challenge on the 15th. The serious types start in Santa Rosa. I'm just gonna drive to the Jimtown Deli at the bottom of the hill and do the 3100 feet in 11.2 miles. Join me?

Hi Gang! My real name is Alan. Been riding for about 3 years. 52 yrs old, with a 3 year old son. He's the reason I got into cycling. When he was born, I did the math and figured I'd better start exercising if I wanted to keep up with him as he grows up.

I recently moved from San Mateo to Half Moon Bay. Living right off Hwy 1 has been great for my cycling hobby. So many great rides along the ocean or up the hills. As a result, I already have 1,000 miles this year, and it's just starting in earnest. If any of you want to ride around the Pacific coastline, just let me know!

I'm training for the Davis Double this year also (my first). Won't think about the Triple Crown until after I get the first one under the belt. If I survive, I'll think about it. As part of my training I did a century up Mt. Hamilton last week. Doing Mt. Diablo tomorrow. Then the Tierra Bella and Primevera centuries in the next two weeks. I'll have 4 centuries this month already! That's what I did all of last year!

Looking forward to a great riding season...

My name is Jon, I live on the west side of SF and work as a freelance Illustrator. I am 40 years old and have recently gone through a mini mid life crisis. I ditched my road bike, crossbike, cruiser and a trials bike in preference to a fixed gear bike. I ride an 06 Bianchi Pista to work. I got the gang green one. The single gear gives a mean workout on the hills. It’s a whole new kind of fun. One of these days I will have to drive down to San Jose and ride my track bike on the actual track!

One of these days I will have to drive down to San Jose and ride my track bike on the actual track!
Hi Jon,
You mean you don't want to ride down to San Jose, do the track, then ride back up? Builds character ... but then again, I'm not the one with enough balls to ride fixed gear on the road.

My name is Ed, 47+, live in American Canyon (between Vallejo and Napa). Formerly lived in Benicia for 15 years. Started cycling 2 years ago with Team in Training, and became addicted. I ride a Specialized Roubaix. Hey Chris (Cantdrv55), you might want to check out the Benicia Bicycle Club - they have several club rides each week. Here's a link to our web site: http://www.gbvilla.cnc.net/index.htm

I will be riding the Grizzly Peak Century May 6, Monticello Century, Waves to Wine, and many others this season. My brother John is coordinating the Climb to Kaiser for the Fresno Bicycle Club, if anyone is interested. I thought I might try it out, but I may not be ready in time - 150 miles and 15K climbing.

Chis in Benicia, let me know if you want to ride sometime - hospengr@aol.com.

Hi Jon,
You mean you don't want to ride down to San Jose, do the track, then ride back up? Builds character ... but then again, I'm not the one with enough balls to ride fixed gear on the road.

You know I have actually thought about how absurd it is to drive a car to ride a bike on a track. I guess that’s why I don’t do it. If I want to go in circles I just ride the bike to the Polo Fields at the Golden Gate Part. It’s a very smooth track for exercise but in no way like a Velodrome.

I could strap the track bike to my back and ride my road bike to San Jose. Or maybe I can get a bike trailer for the track bike.

Riding a track bike on the street is in fact really fun. It only took a day or two to get accustomed to the fixed sensation. I installed a front brake and am very careful. You can’t cost down hills and that’s about the only thing that gives me trouble. You can control your speed very accurately with just your legs thought and that’s a lot of fun.

Scott from Fairfield. Started riding again in 2005 after getting fed up with getting fat and buying gas all the time. Started commuting on a mountain bike, now commuting on a fixed gear. Last year I started riding a road bike, joined a club, and plan to start racing next year. I've lost 80 pounds and save enough gas money each year to take the family for a Disneyland trip every year.

Hi, I'm Jo, I'm 47 and I live in Union City. I've been road biking for a few years now, and this year I started getting interested in longer distance cycling, especially randonneuring. I've done a couple of 200K rides so far (the Santa Rosa 200K brevet, and the Davis 300K which I DNF'd after 200, oops).

I plan to do many more century/double metic rides this year - some on my own, as well as organized rides such as the SLO Wildflower, the Wine Country 200K, and Little Red Riding Hood in Utah. I don't plan to do a full brevet series this year but I hope to finish a 300K (or a double century) and perhaps even a 400K later this summer. My husband isn't into the distance riding thing, but he's very supportive. :)

It's really great living in Union City, I have a lot of excellent places to ride. I can go directly from home and head up Palomares, Redwood Road and other points north, head east to Sunol and over Calaveras or south to Alum Rock park, or west over the Dumbarton out to Woodside and other great destinations on the peninsula. Not too shabby!

I'm Skye, 25, and live over on the Oakland side of Piedmont. I got back into riding last year when I noticed that I was picking up a little weight and wanted to exercise without having to hit the gym. A Trek 1000 started me off but the Tiagra/Sora stuff was pretty cheap feeling and the aluminum frame wasn't too hot on anything but smooth roads and MUPs (pedestrian dodging trails) so I decided to switch over to a fixed gear set-up until I wanted to plunk down the coin for a steel-framed roadie w/ 105 or Ultegra. Ended up with an '06 Pista and changed out every part so far except the frame and headset. Building another frame up now, probably could've bought that roadie I talked about by now but I love riding fixed so I wanted to do a new build on a much nicer frame.

I commute to work everyday unless there's a serious downpour but it's only 3 miles each way so not much of an achievement there, huh? If I'm not too tired after work I try to tack on another 5-10 miles before I call it a day. On my weekends I usually do 10-25 miles depending on the weather and how much energy I have-- I go longer if I end up running into faster people than me along the way so I can bum some draft action and work to keep up with roadies.

[QUOTE=law_in_motion] i'm looking forward to meeting some of you this sunday on the easter ride. QUOTE]

Hermes and I look forward to meeting you on the Easter ride tomorrow - we'll be riding our singles rather than the tandem.

I'm Dave, and I'm also a Clydesdale. 53 years old and delivering mail to keep the bills paid. I live in Newark and am the membership guy for the Fremont Freewheelers.If anyone is riding our Primavera Century on April 22, I'll be running the water stop on Greenville road on the 100 miler. I started riding again in 2002, the Tour De Cure in Woodside, and joined the Fremont Freewheelers in June of that year. I have an older Trek 420, but have 250 miles so far on my new ride, a Rans Stratus LE, and only about 1,750 more miles to go to build my 'bent muscles.
The big ride I'll be getting ready for this year is the MS150 at Tahoe in September. In the meantime, I've got the 50 miler on the Tour De Cure in Napa on May 6, and if I'm up for it in August, my favorite metric, the Tour of Napa Valley. I also plan on the Giro D'Vino in November in Lodi.

Hey Chris (Cantdrv55), you might want to check out the Benicia Bicycle Club - they have several club rides each week.
Hi Ed, I don't know if we've met but I am a BBC member though I haven't ridden with them in a while. I'll send you an email in a few minutes.

Scott from Fairfield. Started riding again in 2005 after getting fed up with getting fat and buying gas all the time. Started commuting on a mountain bike, now commuting on a fixed gear. Last year I started riding a road bike, joined a club, and plan to start racing next year. I've lost 80 pounds and save enough gas money each year to take the family for a Disneyland trip every year.


Right on bother!

Richard here. Born and raised in Livermore, live in Moraga now. I get to join the 50+ forum, cpme August. I've been strictly a road guy over the years, including some very low-grade racing many moons ago and some serious fully-loaded touring, although I sort-of promised Siu I'd borrow a mountain bike and let her show how that's done. I am a Cydesdale, and if and when get down to fighting trim, I will still be Clyde by a wide margin.

My main ride these days is a 1967 Paramount frame with more modern, mostly Rivendell-purchased components. I also have 2000 Lemond Zurich frame with an ecclectic collection of parts that I ride some, a 1993 Trek 520 that needs an overhaul to be rideable, and a Burley Bossa Nova tandem that currently lives in Palo Alto with my friend and sometime-stoker so he can use it to ride with his 8 year old son. I do most of my own wrenching.

I'm up for doing some rides with interested folk. I've recently done a few with bigbossman - good guy. Just be aware that when the road tilts upward, my average speed heads south in a hurry.:(

I get to join the 50+ forum, cpme August. bikingshearer -

Please, don't go there. That road only leads to doom and despair! :D

Richard here. Born and raised in Livermore, live in Moraga now. I get to join the 50+ forum, cpme August. I've been strictly a road guy over the years, including some very low-grade racing many moons ago and some serious fully-loaded touring, although I sort-of promised Siu I'd borrow a mountain bike and let her show how that's done. I am a Cydesdale, and if and when get down to fighting trim, I will still be Clyde by a wide margin.

My main ride these days is a 1967 Paramount frame with more modern, mostly Rivendell-purchased components. I also have 2000 Lemond Zurich frame with an ecclectic collection of parts that I ride some, a 1993 Trek 520 that needs an overhaul to be rideable, and a Burley Bossa Nova tandem that currently lives in Palo Alto with my friend and sometime-stoker so he can use it to ride with his 8 year old son. I do most of my own wrenching.

I'm up for doing some rides with interested folk. I've recently done a few with bigbossman - good guy. Just be aware that when the road tilts upward, my average speed heads south in a hurry.:(
Hey Richard, where is Moraga?

Don't know if Richard got back to you yet. Moraga is on hwy 24 just before the Caldecott Tunnel going west.

Moraga is the ultimate suburban cul-de-sac. As you travel east on Highway 24 coming out of the Caldecott Tunnel from Oakland/Berkeley, you first come to Orinda. You next come to Lafayette. From either one, Moraga is roughly four miles to your right as you head towards Walnut Creek on the freeway. If it weren't for the ree-dick-yoo-luss housing prices, it would be just about ideal: nice weather (a notch in the Oakland Hills means we get the cool air before any other inland locale, and that makes it 5 to 10 degrees cooler in the summer than the worst hot spots), good schools, nice people, great roads and trails for riding. A little more racial diversity would be nice, but that's starting to happen, too.

Whereabouts is y'all at, Dauphin?

I'm Brian. I am 50 and a Clydesdale, and in training for my first Century in June. I live in Fresno - no man's land, I guess, between SoCal and NorCal, but we have both great flats and hills here.

I have been out of cycling for a number of years, and just got back into it with the Team in Training group. I have a 2000 Specialized Sirrus road bike ( recently dented, see accident story below), a 1987 Chrome Diamondback Ascent "mountain bike" which is my heavy commuter, a fixie a friend of mine built for me from a vintage frame, and a 2002 Calfee Tetra Pro.

If anyone is out this way and wants to ride in about three weeks, let me know.

The reason I say 3 weeks is that I am recovering from a severely broken finger (which seriously slows my typing) that happened on March 15th (the Ides of March) when a car door was suddenly opened in front of me during a lunch time training ride. I get the pins out on the 18th and should be cleared to return to training on the road a week or so later. Untill then, it's spinning classes and trainers for me! ;-)

Gary, I'd be interested in the MS ride - though training with you could be difficult - Daly City and Fresno.

Gary, I'd be interested in the MS ride - though training with you could be difficult - Daly City and Fresno.

Brian, worse-case scenario... I can just meet up with you for the MS ride come Sept! :) We can train via email! haha! :)

Gary

Im Sean and Im 40, live in San Jose and seem to be injured with back problems alot these days. Hopefully Ill be back on the bike soon. Ive been riding 3 years but just started on the road bike a year ago, now its my bike of choice. I love climbing, although I weigh 200 lbs I still love to climb. I ride alot in the Woodside area and Mt Hamilton.

Hello, all, Deborah (aka Red River, aka Mrs. CGallagh) here. I rode a bike when I lived in south Jersey in the early 70's for transportation as well as for fun. I wore Dr. Scholl's & no helmet -- my, how times have changed!

Fast forward one husband, two kids, two continents & many states later to July '05, when a good friend asked me to help her get in shape for the Lance Armstrong Ride for the Roses 50 mi. that Oct. She had her brand-spanking new Trek 5000, I had my 7-yr.-old greatly ignored Specialized Hard Rock. We rode all over Vacaville until I realized that I was a serious roadie & needed a new bike. That December I bought myself a Specialized Dolce Comp & four months later we rode our first century, in Solvang. I used to be a sprinter, not an endurance rider. I like those long rides, wherein you find a Zen within, like yoga on a bike.

Chris posted our tandem history. As for road bikes, I'm giving serious consideration to getting an Orbea diva in the near future (opinions welcome). Meantime, I try to get out at least 3 times a week, even if just for a couple Cantelow repeaters. A day without a ride is like...depressing.

Enjoying reading all these N. CA. posts. And a toast to he who proclaimed that N. CA. riders are quieter than S. CA's because we're actually riding our bikes, rather than talking about them.

Hi, I'm Greg, 42, live in SF near Golden Gate Park.

In February, I did my longest ride to date -- the SF Randonneurs 300K -- and ended up really hurting my knees. Had trouble riding even a few miles without pain for most of March, and am just now starting up again. I'm signed up for the Grizzly Peak Century and the Davis Double, both of which are fast approaching, so hopefully my knees will cooperate.

I'm Tracy and I just recently returned to NorCal (after 6 years in SoCal). I live up in the sierra foothills near Sonora and am working on finding local routes and riding partners. Been riding for quite a while but pretty much stopped between 1998 and last year; when I bought a new road bike and started riding again. :D

I've been fortunate enough to be able to ride with many of both the SoCal bunch as well as a few of the people up in NorCal... I'm looking forward to more! My SO is also moving up near me so I'm hoping to be able to do a lot more exploring in the near future!

Oops.... I'll be 42 in May and I ride a Roubaix Comp and a LOOK, along with a Juliana... I'm still very much a beginner as I have not been very consistant w/my training but I will definately be joining in on the group rides (like the one yesterday!) as much as possible :D

ps. Jobob... are you and Lee staying for the whole wildflower weekend? If so, wanna grab a dinner or breakfast?