rdtompki

Mapped out a nice ride for my birthday. It's apropos that the ride is .3 mile short as I'm actually riding the day prior; I suppose I'll circle MacDonalds a few times to get the Garmin to tick over. Weather looks ok. I've got to drive about 13 miles to the starting point; worth the short drive to find climbs on something other than dead-end ranch roads. I will endeavor to take some pictures, but as mentioned in previous threads the photo bar is very high hereabouts.


https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1929819

Dan Burkhart 

Well, happy birthday, and here's hoping your birthday ride is as awesome as mine was last Sunday.
Don't forget, lots of pictures.

big john

Have a great ride and pictures are always appreciated. It's nice to see areas where other forumites ride.

rdtompki

It would be nice if we don't get too much rain the night prior, but my trusty disc brakes will give me a measure of control on the long downhill.

t4mv

The stretch between mile 17 to 29 convinced me to bag on the Tierra Bella for a full decade before I went back after they changed the route, and with a storm coming hopefully you'll have favorable winds on that stretch. The GHS and Coe climbs will make the ride though.

Have a great ride, and happy birthday!

John_V 

Hope you have a great ride and a great birthday. I turned 66 last month and have been waiting to do my birthday ride, but alas injuries and family problems have curtailed the ride thus far. Waiting to see what the doctor says on Monday about getting back on the bike.

rdtompki

Thanks for the encouragement!. I believe the TB formerly did Metcalf which is a brute for a short climb and probably unsafe for so many cyclists. Wife and I have done the TB 100K several times on the tandem and done Coe separately. We did the Century a few years ago absent Coe (80 miles). I'd like someday to do the Century on the single. I should be nice riding if the rain holds off.

BluesDawg

I hope you have a great pre-birthday ride, a great birthday and finally a great birthday ride the next chance you get to officially ride your new age.

ModeratedUser150120149

Have a good ride! At your age bicycles were still just neighborhood toys. Alas, I will probably never do this Harder As You Get Older ride.

rdtompki

Yep, I'm cheating, but with family coming in this weekend, work picking up, weather and such I'm claiming close enough. It takes me 3-4 days to completely recover from a tough ride; mind you, I can ride right after, but things do get a bit shredded so my next opportunity would be in a week or so. Not much different from my ancient running days; I was relatively fast, but my skinny friends could hammer every other day while I needed a couple of rest days (curse of muscle mass I think)

jimmuller 

Go enjoy your special day!

I did my birthday ride today, three days after the date. 70.64 miles with BF member JJScaliger. Overshot the target by 6 miles. Overshot the elevation too, over 3000ft of climbing, some quite steep!

bent4me

Happy Birthday Rick
My birthday ride is coming up in January. Now that I am into my 6th decade it is getting tougher and tougher. Being born in January and living in the NE doesn't help either.

rdtompki

As promised, the results are in. My apologies for the pitiful average speed; I have some hope of becoming a faster climber, but I'll need to work intervals. Weather was great, slight cool at the top of the big climb (50 degrees), but intermittent use of light arm warmers and wind vest did the trick. Roads were just a bit damp in places, but the forecast rain didn't materialize! I've including pictures, but trees, brown hills (temporary), Garmin pictures, etc. ain't all that exciting. I'm going to work on my photography, but stopping during a climb goes against the grain.
https://app.strava.com/activities/28406287
The first little bump is at about 1000, the Mendoza entrance to Harvey Bear county park. Lots of mountain biking and equestrian trails.
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...dfirstbump.jpg
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...rownHills1.jpg
Then to the top of the second small bump on Canada Road. This first loop is very bicycle friendly.
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...bingtoCoe1.jpg
Then a steep descent down to the valley floor, a few easy flat miles. The real climb up to the top of Henry Coe State Park begins in this sequence.
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...bingtoCoe2.jpg
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...bingtoCoe3.jpg
Made it to the top. There is a really nasty, very short pitch near the top. Saw 19% on the Garmin! This park allows mountain biking, but it is extremely rugged. 100,000 acres or so, maybe more with recent additions.
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...fCoe2600ft.jpg
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...isitorArea.jpg
And the finish in the valley after to long descent.

https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...i/Finished.jpg
https://i999.photobucket.com/albums/a...vationGain.jpg
The last ten miles were accompanied by a good deal of rear end discomfort, probably not unexpected since I was trying a loaner saddle. Actually, the saddle experiment was fairly successful. I might keep it.

The first 55 miles were right at 100'/mi which is pretty typical of the tougher 100K and Centuries around here. Since we do the easier rides on the tandem my opportunity for single-bike organized rides requires a good deal of climbing.

volosong

Happy birthday, well done! Thanks for the pictures. Beautiful riding environment. Is your heart rate always so low when you do a lot of climbing?

Come on 'guys'. Give him some Strava kudos. He did something special. He got a lot of PRs.

rdtompki

When we climb the tandem my HR is 140+, but we have much lower gears and I can keep my cadence up a bit more. I can climb faster at a higher HR, but not for that prolonged period, so I'm kind of managing things. I'm leg strength limited for the time being at my current 200 lbs.

I had to drive 15 miles to the start of that ride. Lots of tough climbs near my house, but they are all dead end ranch roads in terrible condition. Makes for lots of mental fatigue when descending. The road up to the state park entrance is in decent shape with only 3-4 sharp switchbacks so you can let the bike run a bit. Disc brakes do come in handy.

We didn't have much technology when I was a runner 25 years ago, but I was a good climber and even then my hard work HR probably wasn't over 150 on a 3-4 mile climb.

Dan Burkhart 

Beautiful shots there. You did a way tougher ride than I did for my birthday. Gonna have to up my game now.

rdtompki

Yeah, well your ride wasn't bad and your pictures were first rate! Our hills are so rolling and the roads generally tree lined making really good pictures a challenge. I'll take some good shots in a few days when we ride our horses in the hills, but I'll pretend we were cycling.

Condorita

Call it an Age Ride and do it when life (and weather) cooperates.

Consularrider

I got my 60th birthday ride in on Day of the Dead. It was an appropriate name since my SRAM Rival right shift lever broke off at mile 45. The only saving grace was that I was riding on the W&OD rail trail so being reduced to a two speed wasn't so bad. I'm sure that it was just a coincidence that the LBS was at exactly mile 60 so I could get the right distance in, drop the bike off for repair (warranty work for the shifter - a known problem), and then walk the two and a half miles home.

t4mv

Nice ride, Rick, well done! I think I'm going to do some variation of your ride for my bday ride because I'm not liking the one I've been doing (Quimby>summit of Hamilton>down the otherside to the bridge, then back up and back to the car at Alum Rock). I gotta go ride Coe again, it's a nice little climb.

rdtompki

Thanks! Coe is in decent shape although the upper 2-3 miles are a bit broken up. Metcalf was a bit of a bear to get up, but the back side is very nice. I haven't been up Hamilton in more than two decades and that was as a runner, but definitely a popular out/back. I'll put it on my bucket list.

Buckeye Jim

I doing mine today, 58 miles, got a friend going with me he will be 56 next week, get two rides in one sorta. If the weather is good next week end we can allways do his again. This time of year you can"t take to many chances on the weather.

rdtompki

Have a great ride! Those of us (California not included in the "us") who live in winter climates get cut some schedule slack. Glad to hear your current weather is favorable.