Northern California - Carbon, Aluminum, Titanium and Steel-Report

Met Ron at Cal trains and scrambled up to the Velo Rouge where we met Lee, who had just acquired a new “Specialized” bike for the Maiden voyage.
Picked up Ramon at the bridge and Marco at Mikes. Unfortunately, no Reid!

It was to be a warm day. Here’s some picts, I’m a little to tired to write tonight.
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This was a looooooong day. It started at 6:45 am, riding to Sunnyvale Caltrain. I was looking for Reid, but no sign of him. Where's Reid? I got on the train, thinking that he was running late, so I looked for him at Mountain View, then at San Antonio stop ... but no Reid. Where's Reid?

Met Pete at SF Caltrain station, and we rode over to Velo Rouge. Very cool coffee shop. We met another english chap (I can't remember his name now).

Met up with Bostic and the restrooms at Golden Gate bridge. But wait ... where's Reid. Marco is running late ... surprise. He'll meet us at Mike's Bikes.

When we reached Sausalito, we were encountered by hundreds of walkers. They had some cure for cancer 3-day walk. They had cars slowing down, cheering all the walkers, but they were in my way! I was trying to descend into Sausalito, but they were clogging up traffic at 10 mph.

We got to Mike's Bikes, but no Marco or Ruth ... and you guessed it, no Reid. Marco and Ruth did show up about 10-15 minutes later.

The walkers also hogged the bike path. We ended up taking surface streets instead of our usual bike path route through Mill Valley.

We proceeded to go through Nicasio. On the climb on Sir Francis Drake Blvd, the sun was started to get really hot. Not sure what the temps were, but had to be in the upper 90's. The heat made the climb very difficult, and I didn't have much left going into Nicasio. As usual, I was the last to roll in. Immediately, head for the store, and get nice cold gatorade and water. Somehow, you can never have enough.

Onwards to lunch. Ramon and the english chap (I really wish I knew his name) led a blistering pace into Pt. Reyes Station. I could not keep up with the 22+ mph pace they were running, especially on such a hot day like today.

By the time we started the climbs on Mt. Tam, the heat was really getting to us all. I kept trying to enjoy the time in the shade, hopefully capturing the cool breeze as a result of traveling in the shade. I kept wishing for the climb to finish. Finally, I saw a group waiting at the top, nicely ducked in the shade.

Climbing the seven sisters was tough too. This is all exposed, so there is no hiding from the heat here. I eventually hooked up with another rider, and we traded taking pulls, which was nice.

On the descent, Marco and Ruth got a flat (probably due to overheated rims). Hmmm ... just by coincidence, I got a flat on our way back. As we were chatting away at Sports Basement, I was about to try catching the 6 pm Caltrain, but notice I got a flat. Damn ... I guess I'm not catching the 6 pm train. Pete took me on one of his backroad routes through the city. As expected, I did miss the 6 pm train. What also delayed us was another newbie rider, asking us about bike fit. That delayed us by an additional 5 minutes or so.

I wound up back home around 8:45 pm. It was nice riding in the dark, with my small blinkies. Got to enjoy the evening air, and ride through it. Oh, the flat issue??? About 30 minutes after getting home, I found my rear tire getting flat again. Maybe something's up with my tire? I'm just lucky I got home with it.

Ride Stats:
Distance: 89.09 miles
Avg Speed: 12.6 mph
Max Speed: 48.8 mph
Elevation Gain: 6117 feet

Presenting Velo Rouge:
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/RockPaperScissors/P9050031.jpg

Pete leaving Velo Rouge
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Someone's got too much coffee
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English chap
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Racing to meet Ramon at Golden Gate
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No fog to speak of today ... nice view of Golden Gate
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Riding through Mill Valley
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Calm before climbing 7 sisters
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Marco and Ruth arrive
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One of the 7 sisters
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Looked like a load of fun. Wish I was there.

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Glad I caught up to you guys at Point Reyes Station -- if i hadn't, i'm sure i would have bailed on the Highway One portion of the ride and just taken the easy way home...

As if the Bo-Fax climb and the Seven Sisters weren't enough, there was one more challenge waiting in Golden Gate Park on my way home. A "Power to the Peaceful" concert was just letting out, and there were hundreds of extremely peaceful (i.e. stoned) hippies pouring onto JFK Blvd.

Weaving my way through hoards of slow-moving, barely sentient beings, I kind of felt like I was in a zombie movie. The sun was sinking so the glare was really bad, a fair number of the zombie-hippies were on bikes moving in even more unpredictable fashion than the ones on foot, and to top it all off, there was car traffic too, including several motorists who felt no need to slow down even though the road was swarming with hundreds of oblivious peace-lovers. It was quite a spectacle.

Glad I caught up to you guys at Point Reyes Station -- if i hadn't, i'm sure i would have bailed on the Highway One portion of the ride and just taken the easy way home...

As if the Bo-Fax climb and the Seven Sisters weren't enough, there was one more challenge waiting in Golden Gate Park on my way home. A "Power to the Peaceful" concert was just letting out, and there were hundreds of extremely peaceful (i.e. stoned) hippies pouring onto JFK Blvd.

Weaving my way through hoards of slow-moving, barely sentient beings, I kind of felt like I was in a zombie movie. The sun was sinking so the glare was really bad, a fair number of the zombie-hippies were on bikes moving in even more unpredictable fashion than the ones on foot, and to top it all off, there was car traffic too, including several motorists who felt no need to slow down even though the road was swarming with hundreds of oblivious peace-lovers. It was quite a spectacle.


All you needed was the Davis Double Butterflies thrown in to make it an all perfect "Summer Of Love!"

Great to run into you yesterday...I'm in recovery mode today. Two days of tough riding has kicked my butt.

Yesterday's ride really kicked my butt. I was going to climb Montebello, but while on the way there, my legs didn't have any energy. Struggled just on the flats, and decided my legs just didn't have it. Decided to have some ice cream ... mmmm .... then head back home. At least I got some miles in ... but I am in recovery mode too.

I'm waiting for it to cool down some more before going riding.

I see very few smiles. I think I'm happy with how my route turned out. Sorry I couldn't catch up though!

Agreed. No-one seemed to be enjoying this ride as much. I don't see any crab-pose poppin' (except for Ron's modified one, which, perhaps a tell-tale sign, is at the beginning of the ride). Hmmm....I'm glad I didn't ride this weekend. It sounded like the hot weather took its ugly toll on many people all across the forum.

Oh come on ... you can't tell me I'm not having fun here ...

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Oh come on ... you can't tell me I'm not having fun here ...



Sorry, Ron, but that looked like a stop-frame from your upper torso swaying, just right before you collapse into a heap but not before your curse out, "who the f- - - suggested riding in this weather?" :p

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hahaha.

Nice one!

[IM G]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b359/x136/chops/IMG_1908.jpg[/IMG]

Too Funny! The other one I love is in the original UT after a frag with the Power Glove (or whatever it was) the announcer cried out, "Humiliation!".

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Oh man.. time to break out the Sega.. OMG that is perfect!! Nice work Alex

hold BLK, B, D, F, LP