Fifty Plus (50+) - My little Saturday joy ride

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Hard to believe sometimes how far I've come in a scant couple of years.
Took me a year to get to where I thought I could tackle that first climb you see (I've reported on that probably too many times) and now I do it at least once a month. Way back last year, it took me over 45 minutes to climb the first (and hardest) mile with 5 stops to catch my breath and still my heart. I do it now in about 20 minutes with two stops. The only other measure I have is to count the lamp posts I pass between stops and Saturday I went two more lamp posts than I did a month ago. AND I'm not really sure I needed the first stop after I saw how close it was to the second. I'm just that close to one stop! As I said, I don't ride in spite of the hills, I ride because of the hills. They're a pretty true test. Once at the top, I didn't stop as I usually do, I just turned south and kept going. I headed down past San Andreas Lake -saw a couple baby dear and a huge cruising hawk who kept crossing about 5 or 10 yards in front of me- and found a MUP I had never been on. The north entrance to Sawyer Camp Road... I know about the south entrance, I never knew there was a north entrance. Anyway, as I cruised along, I hit a nice curvy bit that felt like it dropped like a stone (I was a little afraid of having to climb back up it on the way back) and ended up at San Andreas Dam at the southern tip of the lake. And there I stood on the San Andreas Fault, itself. A plaque there said so. It also said that, in 1906 (can't say just '06 anymore, I guess) the west side of the lake slid 9 feet. NINE FEET!

Here's a nice zoomable, movable Quicktime panorama taken from where I stood (http://www.worldserver.com/turk/quicktimevr/SanAndreasLake.html) No, I didn't take this, obviously...


Stopped, ate my 1/2 a PBJ on bagel and started up the climb I just came down. Turns out to be a non-event as I smoothly went up, with a gear to spare, as I passed people walking their MTBs up.

Then I headed back north for home where I learned that the headwind I was riding south wasn't a headwind at all. No, no... that was waiting for me all the way home. So, all those uphill parts starting at the 13 mile mark? Into the wind and a pretty stout wind at that.

But then I had that nice downhill drop you see at the end. 30mph on the brakes! Yahoo! Not content with that though, I shot past my normal turnoff and took the next just so I could take one last short 7.5% climb before I took the last little climb home. I felt great.

Oh joy. However, once again, fear ruled my life. I was scared enough by that drop down to San Andreas that I ended up only doing 20 miles (though a pretty strenuous 20) and I when I got home, I knew I could have done more. When will I ever start to believe in myself?

To put it into perspective, I road south from the Hwy 1 mark you see in the map below, south to the long squiggly East-West line up to Skyline and down skyline to the southern end of the big lake you see there.

Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to ride. And, no... no pictures. Sorry

Where I was (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=37.590023,-122.443142&spn=0.133575,0.33886&z=12)

Sorry SKT- But I remember you from a couple of years ago and I just knew that you were going to massacre those hills. Not all of us have your problem- In fact none of us have- But the hills you talk about are HILLS. You may take a couple of rests- to let the Heart calm down- and thank goodness you do- But I went out Sunday on a 30 miler on the flat- thanks to high winds. Like you- halfway through the ride- I changed it to get some hills in. But one thing I did not do was to divert at the end of a ride to take in another hill. Headwinds and a few slopes- And I had done enough for the day.

Good for you. I had a nice ride on Saturday myself, a nice little 20 mile loop through the sticks.

- looks like a great place to ride! thanks for sharing this one...

(went out solo today... ran into some nasty headwinds but only variable, not constant; also found that i'm starting to like mixing it up with a nice hour-long walk after my 20-milers - seems to help the leg muscles)

We had a cold ride on Saturday; that is, cold for SoCal. Mostly in the low to mid-50's, and we were rained on three times, but we did make two stops (at 49.8 miles and again at 88.0 miles) for coffee and food (sorry, no pie!).

At the end it was 108 miles with 7,420 feet of climbing. A nice little training ride with some good friends, but I did sleep well on Sat. evening. Then on Sun. did a 32 mile recovery ride on the single speed (thankfully, sunny and warm on Sunday, temps in the mid 70's).

Rick / OCRR

Certainly puts my little 20 miler with maybe 1000 feet of climbing in it's place... and that was with a triple.
Why, I have to use my 32/30 to make it up that 600 footer of mine...

Certainly puts my little 20 miler with maybe 1000 feet of climbing in it's place... and that was with a triple.
Why, I have to use my 32/30 to make it up that 600 footer of mine...

Not in that league hill-wise but did 13 through the Blue Hills in Milton, Mass yesterday. Weather in upper 30's and sunny, but a killer wind about 22 mph. Still a great day to be out and glad I didn't skip it.
Spring is in the air in the Northeast! Total ascent 1469 ft, total descent 1407 ft.

As I said, I can NOT be stopped. Mrs S and I were coming home from her birthday brunch and took a little detour up my old friend, Roberts Road. I pretty much ride this 2 or 3 times a week... I think it's fun. That's Roberts Road below starting at about the 7 mile mark and running up (and down a bit) to the 7.5 mile mark. A short, fun climb. That hump right next to it is Fassler. I've tried Fassler twice. Once I gave up and the second time I made it with a lot of stops. It's fairly long and fairly steep and, coming after Roberts Road... well, let's just say I usually opt to turn left and go down hill from there. But yesterday, Mrs S say to me, she says "You can do that". So, as I'm sitting at the stop sign thinking "Right or left?" what could I do? She said I could so I did. Simple as that. Just found the right gear and the right pace and did it. What's really amazing is doing it right on the heels of Saturday's ride. Ain't never done that before. Sure, I'm feeling it but not that much. Actually I feel pretty good. Just do it.

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Certainly puts my little 20 miler with maybe 1000 feet of climbing in it's place... and that was with a triple.
Why, I have to use my 32/30 to make it up that 600 footer of mine...

No worries SaiKai,

I'm sure you could have done the same ride, esp. since you have a triple. Maria was the first one to the top of Mojeska Grade because she did have a triple! Mojeska is 18% at the start, 15% at the finish . . . so I was under-geared with my compact SRAM 34t x 26t.

Basically, I think you'll be able to ride any climb you try. It's just a matter of how long it will take, and how much you will suffer. Of course, having that triple helps!:)

Rick / OCRR

Oh, I know about the suffering, Rick, believe me... though, no doubt, I could suffer more ;)

The triple absolutely helps as does the 30T I put in the back; many climbs I'm doing now would not be possible without it.

But 15% ? 18% ?!?!?
Sure, I've done worse ... but not for very long (one route I take out of town is >20% For about 50 yards).

Still, at this stage of the game, I'm realizing that my body is much more capable of things than my lungs are and I imagine, from this point on, that will be the case.

What's the problem with the lungs? I have asthma and while it may slow me down a little (esp. over 8,000 ft. elevation), it sure isn't a huge problem.

But then, I never was a smoker. Is that it?

Rick / OCRR

Yep, asthma AND I'm an ex-smoker. Been clean for 25+ years but I'm sure damage was done. I've also been a "recreational smoker" for years but I've recently begun giving that up, too. But, at best, I work at about 80% of normal lung capacity. And when the asthma kicks in it just amplifies the problem, taking down from the 80% I begin with. This has been a lifelong, albeit recently, diagnosed issue; I've always run out of wind fairly quickly but I also recover quickly... with one or two minutes, tops, I'm fresh and good to go again. Pretty much, every ride begins with 2 puffs on the inhaler a half hour prior and it helps. So, for you, not a huge problem; for me, more so.