:eek: Say it ain't so?


(Hope you mean rydaddy, Joel...)

Uh, yeah. Whoops. I'll go fix that. I have a really hard time keeping names straight. Sorry!

RyanF!? I'm not famous like him. ;)

Yes, the weather was glorious this weekend. I raced in three crits. Good times. :D

I did my first rides since prostate surgery back in mid-December. About 43 miles out to Woodside on Saturday and 59 miles (Polhemus Loop) today. My tookus was hurting but I'm pretty happy to be able to do that many miles after such a long layoff. The weather looks decent tomorrow so I'm going to try and start up the bike commute again.

SteveE

Who could you possibly mean? :innocent:

MEt up with BBM at the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station after discovering just haow many ways one can be delayed on a Sunday BART ride from Berk (long story not worth telling). Not quite 43 miles for me (BBM go his extras going from and to San Ramon) and about 1450 feet of climbing. Other than John informing me that I would "owe him forever" for making him wait at Dublin BART, I had a great time.

Got in a great 60 mi. loop sat. w/ LanceOldstrong. Morgan Terr. to S. Gate rd. up to the Jnct. @ down N. Gate rd. http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=135494http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=135493http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=135492http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=135491http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=135490
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=135489 Highlights included the "PC screensaver" wonderland that is Highland road.
Seeing a real American Hero, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger at Togo's.
And of course haulin' ass down N. Gate rd.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=135488

I went out with my club (ACTC) and did some of the hills around Los Altos/Palo Alto which included Magdalena/Olive Tree, Mora, Arastadero, Alpine East, Ramona/Los Trancos, Vista Verde,

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23718953

All in all around 36 miles with 3600+ of climbing. Sweet!

Top of Olive Tree

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...ltosGoats1.jpg

Riding along Arastadero

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...ltosGoats2.jpg

Top of Ramona

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s...AltosGoats.jpg

Nothin' on Saturday between rain squalls and family stuff. (It was free musem day in Sacramento, and so we enjoyed Sutter's Fort and the Towe AuotoMuseum for free.)

Sunday, on the other hand, was great. I crashed LanceOldstrong's ride. He rode down from Concord to Chez Bigbossman in San Ramon. I drove to said Chez, as did MarcoPolo and Mrs. Oldstrong. From there, off via Tasajara and Highland to the northeastern wilds of Livermore and a Starbucks break. BBM had been fighting a rearguard action against digestive upset the whole time, and he (wisely) decided that the better part of valor was to cut the ride short and head for home.

The rest of us abandoned him with nary a second thought :p and headed over the Livermore side of Patterson Pass. LanceOldstrong had at first wanted to do the Tracy side, but the mere mention of "the Mother of all False Summits" from me had him seeing the error of his ways. Suffice to say that nasty double-digit stair-step up the last part of the Tracy side is much more fun going down than it is going up. We gobbled up the fun.

From there, left on Midway Road and past the Altamont Speedway, site of the infamous 1969 Altamont concert (you know, Hell's Angels used for security, Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane getting beat up on stage, and a guy getting stabbed to death within sight of the stage) and back over Old Altamont Pass in, by Altamont Pass standards, calm winds. I was riding with Mrs. Oldstrong, and apparently we were a hit with some local cows, as an entire herd of them started running in their field more or less parallel to us for a good quarter mile. It was quite a sight.

After a lunch stop at a taqueria about 100 feet away from the Starbucks we had earlier infested, we retraced our steps back to Blackhawk and then over Crow Canyon back to bigbossman's chateau. Mrs. Bossman and Princess Bossman were nowhere to be seen, but BBM was resplendent in sweats and slippers, still fighting a stomach bug but being his usual gracious self.

70.26 miles for me (LanceOldstrong got 100), 4500 feet of climbing according to the Garmin download (the device itself seemed to think it was less than that, but I'm going for what makes me look better :D), and a whale of a good time.

did the same ride on saturday and sunday. out and back on umunhum

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24607933
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24713662

got to test out the new camera on the bumpy ride down :twitchy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR84_66eib8

Great vid - I thought the picture quality was pretty good. That road surface looks awful - I should check it out some time in person.

We wanted to ride somewhere new so LanceOldStrong sent us a wild animal route that included Pig Farm Hill, 3 Bears, Wildcat Cyn. Pig Farm wasn't as tough as I'd thought it would be, although I was concentrating on the road and missed the farm.

I've done the 3 Bears before, but Chris had not, and he seemed to enjoy those glorious smooth descents. Wildcat Cyn. was new for both of us and the views we got of the Briones and San Pablo Reservoirs, and the hills behind them, offered welcome distraction from the climbing effort.

I wish there had been something like great views to ameliorate the pain of South Park Drive. That was the most challenging climb of the ride by far.

The rest of the ride was great -- scenic, challenging, demanding attention (especially with the traffic on Skyline, as well as the technical descent down Pinehurst) -- pretty much everything you'd want in a ride.

Now that we know the route we hope to do this again in the near future. We've become complacent in our rides, and this one offered enough variation and climbing to give us just the boost in our riding enthusiasm we needed.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137721http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137720http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137719http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137718http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137717http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137716http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137715From Livermore,http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=137714 Mines rd. to the Summit and back to a Patterson pass loop w/ LanceOldstrong. 78 mi. 4000+ of climbing.

Fun long weekend and i can't ask for better weather.

Saturday did about 82 miles that included Redwood Gulch and Kings Mountain, the descent on CA92 was harrowing to say the least (so much traffic), must have been because of Mavericks (as taxi777 suggested on twitter).
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/32106#

Sunday did a shortened ride to Gizdich ranch (inspired by the western wheelers route).
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/16736
The dutch apple pie is sure worth the trip.

Monday did a 50 mile route. Took Kennedy to Hicks to Mount Umunhum, down hicks, up Shannon.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/32790#
I thought that Hicks was really brutal, probably one of the toughest climbs that i've done. Just relentless. I should use the ACTC billy goat ride classification with a grain of salt. No way Hicks is a 5 while Sanborn or Redwood Gulch are 6 :)
I continued past the gate on Mt Umunhum till the "no trespassing" signs, the views from the top are truly spectacular. Wish i had a camera with me.
Descent was pothole ridden :notamused:

Apparently I rode on Sunday, but I don't really remember it. However, I'm on an extended weekend (I have this week off... ski week for some, cycle week for me!) and I've been getting in rides as much as possible. Sort of... I went hiking on Monday instead.

Anyhow, yesterday I did an out and back from my place in Modesto to Ripon for an appointment. Nice relaxing day and I really enjoyed stopping for coffee at a little cafe in Ripon. I got in 31.68 km. Not bad considering I'm coming off a back injury from earlier this month and a January full of bad weather and/or being sick.

Today I had an appointment to have my car serviced and instead of waiting around, I went for a ride and headed out east of Modesto out Milnes to Crow and up to Claribel then back to the dealer off McHenry. I remember the roads being bad, but I don't remember them being that bad. It was a good ride though. I didn't bother with a base layer or arm warmers because it was so nice. After about 30 minutes or so I ended up stopping and taking off my leg warmers. The loop was 42.5 km. When I got home I went out for another 14.44 km, which was a little more painful than it should have been. Regardless, my distance for the day is a new personal best.

Spring has sprung and the valley is looking pretty with the almond trees starting to bloom.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...021710_008.jpg

Went for an "easy" ride from the San Leandro Marina to the San Mateo bridge along the shoreline trail on MTB with my wife and one of my sons.. 20mph headwind on the way back! I have never gone so slow on basically flat ground in my life!

Grueling several block ride in the light mist to the doughnut shop this morning. Had to dodge a farmer's market on the way! WHEW!

:P

Did approx 32.3 km/20 mi out in west Modesto. I now remember why I don't ride out there. It's not enough for the roads to be rough and suck, but after the rain on Friday, the roads were still a bit flooded.

At least I rode.

Next weekend in the Merco Cycling Classic in Merced. I'm planning on checking it out but hope to squeeze in a ride sometime.

Hooked up with brentley, gpelpel and RoboCheme for a ride through the wet roads on Saturday morning. We went from Orinda BART to Pinehurst, Skyline down Redwood to the golf course before Castro Valley and back for 42.5miles and 3700-3800ft. We rode through fog, sun and a little rain - glorious. The air was fresh and clean, the views were gorgeous and my fenders did their job. Quite a few trees were down from the storms, along with some new looking slides on Pinehurst. We also rode past Jerry Brown out for a jog on Skyline, we grunted "hello" and he told us to HTFU and dial it up to 400W. Or maybe that was a "hello" too; tough to tell.

Saturday I went for a jog with my girlfriend. Super slow, and easy, but my legs were still sore on Sunday.
Sunday: got my 5th century of the year in. From home to Woodside, up Kings, down W. 84 to Stage, over Stage Rd. to Pescadero, east from Pescadero over Haskins and up West Alpine, N. 35 to E. 84, and back home from Woodside.

100.26 miles, 8k ascent, 6:27 ride time.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25805936

All of last year, including my 3 doubles, I did 12 centuries. This year, I hope to have 7 or 8 by the end of March. Also, woke up this morning at 182lbs. 10lbs down from my after-Knoxville-DC fattest.

Welfleet, MA

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...32351&t=h&z=13

snow squalls; rain and darkness cut my ride short so I only got in 19 miles. this map doesn't show some of the side roads I took or the rail trail section I used for part of the ride. I was hoping for 40+ miles but I had fun anyway

Took out the MTB's for a wet and muddy ride at China Camp!

Sat: Grizzly>Skyline>Redwood>Pinehurst loop in the afternoon, 35 miles

Sun: Berkeley>Diablo Junction>broken spoke>anger>VERY wobbly wheel>luckily made it back home, 60 miles.

Now I'm lookin' for a new wheelset, or at the very least a new front wheel. The 2008 Easton EA90 SLX is a light wheelset, but my experience has been subpar: flexy, never stayed true, two broken spokes on the front.

Left the east bay and rode Pen Velo group ride that starts on Canada Rd.

Nice video. That section of road in that last minute is grueling when the guys at the front are pulling at 25mph up the 2% grade. Good job staying toward the front. I see you and Krishna were trading turns at the front (he's pretty strong).

Sheesh - you're like the NorCal wheel reaper, aren't you?