Fifty Plus (50+) - Down and down I go

In more ways than one, I suppose.
Had a great 2 week break from work over the holidays. Maybe too great :lol:

Sure, I got some miles in and made some goals but I would hardly say I was following my normal regimen
Didn't ride as far, didn't ride as hard but I did ride. I'll take what I can get!

Still, I went out today to tackle my favorite climb (Sharp Park Road. Why? More on that in a bit) and the legs were just... not... there. It was like my first time. Oh well, next week it's back to work, back to my normal schedule and try to drop a couple of pounds and get back into shape again.

Mrs S took good care of me this year and gave me an iPod shuffle, a RoadID (she really cares!) and an Oregon Scientific Action Cam. Yahoo! I tried to time the rain yesterday and get some "action" but I missed it and ended up getting wet.
Then I got home and accidently deleted my movies. Nuts.
So I had to go out again to today and shoot some of my favorite spots.
Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.
Something about the winter sky the day after a rain.

I've talked a lot about Sharp Park Road, I know, but the 10 or 15 minutes of pain on the way up are worth it... because then you get the ride down.
And here it is... 15 minutes up, 3 minutes down. I hit a top speed of about 43 mph at one point.

Enjoy. I have more :D

http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/SLoVZgiG0GE/default.jpg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLoVZgiG0GE)
Click me

I've talked a lot about Sharp Park Road, I know, but the 10 or 15 minutes of pain on the way up are worth it... because then you get the ride down.
And here it is... 15 minutes up, 3 minutes down. I hit a top speed of about 43 mph at one point.



To get that much enjoyment out of a downhill stretch- you must suffer going up.

Pleased to see the terrain you ride on but can you pick a smoother road next time. My eyeballs felt the vibration at some parts.

WOW!

Riding up that is a real testament to your improvement this past year or so. Riding down - well, I would love to do that. Could you tow me up, please?

That looks like fun. Where are you, somewhere in CA?

Didn't see any snow or ice. Must not be Wisconsin.

Looks like a blast and a real leg-burner going up.

I love downhills:thumb:

Some of those cracks in the road look big enough to swallow a bike:twitchy:

Were those cracks in the pavement or just shadows? Would hate to catch a tire in one of those!!

That would definitely be a nice climb.

Very groovy movie. Know what you mean about getting back into it. There's been so much snow and ice here that I haven't ridden in two months. Went out cross-country skiing again yesterday. Came back and was handed a $64.00 dollar ticket by the county sheriff for not having a sno-park parking permit. Sigh. (And I honestly didn't see the sign.)

That looks like fun. Where are you, somewhere in CA?
Nice video. I will have to try that sometime.

I too would like to know where that is. A road name or GPS coordinates would be welcome too so we can check it on a map.

I am jealous, we have plenty of hills around East Tennessee, and even though the terrain around my place is almost never flat, there aren't any hills within riding distance that can't be climbed in 3-4 minutes, with just a little effort.

Looks just like Central Indiana, except not flat.
The mic must need fine-tuning; didn't hear any 'Boy Howdy!!'s

Looks just like Central Indiana, except not flat.


And except for the ocean. And the green trees in January. And the lack of corn fields.

That road needs repaved!!!

Was that camera mounted on your helmet or on the bike?

You were certainly moving along there ... I've not ridden at anywhere near that speed.

And except for the ocean. And the green trees in January. And the lack of corn fields.

That big blue expanse in the background is the ocean?? Always wondered what that would look like.
No soybean fields, either.

Looks just like Central Indiana, except not flat.
No it doesn't if it looked like central Indiana there'd be a stoplight every .25 miles :rolleyes:

Hmmmm. By the looks of the speed limit sign on the way up, you should have been given a citation for exceeding the limit! ;)

Here you go... Sharp Park Road (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.632552,-122.475929&spn=0.016314,0.029655&t=h&z=15) from top to bottom. I turned around at the North Entrance to Skyline College. This has been a -maybe the- real measure of my growth from needing 5 or 6 rest stops on the way up to one or none. Once I went out at lunch and did it twice. Being able to make this climb has opened the world to me. And, yeah, it hurts... the legs scream, the body cries for air, the heart pounds (160+ bpm the whole way up, mostly) but it's long enough to find a rhythm (no matter how slow... I grind up at 60 rpm and about 5 mph) and mentally get past the hurt. I hate it. I love it. And I always go back for more :D

Yeah, the roads... the roads.
You see now why I have gravitated to steel and carbon?
Aluminum frames on these roads were jarring my fillings out.
Pacifica, like many small cities is cash-strapped these days and the road suffer.
The shadows made the cracks look worse than they are but, yes, you do have to pick a line through and around them. They're scary.

But, ahhhhhh, the need for speed. It's a thrill coming down some of the hills we have here.
I should post a clip from the 1.3 mile drop down from Devil's Slide.
Same thing but longer and with longer sweeping turns.

That "blue expanse" you see is, in fact, the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean. Or the sky.
Depends which blue you're looking at.
Either way, you can see why people like to live here.
There's not a day goes by where I don't stop to appreciate what we have here.
Except when it's too foggy to see anything, let alone appreciate it.

Next up, I'll post my mini Alpe D'Huez.