weekend ride reports - where'd ya ride?

[UmneyDurak]

^^^^ And that, dear friends, is why I ride a road bike.

Fractured wrist, fractured pelvis, numerous road rash on legs and elbows that accumulated over time says otherwise.

[bikingshearer]

For some reason known only to God, I decided I wanted to go up Mt. Diablo. For some reason also know only to God, bigbossman agreed to go with me. So, on Sunday, we rode from his house to the top of the Devil Mountain. And for the first time in probably five years, I actually rode The Wall at the top instead of walking. Amazingly, it wasn't until about the last 50 meters or so that I thought I was going to barf up a lung and die.

True to our usual style, we went slowly but made up for it by stopping a lot.

And yes, LanceOldstrong, we did think about brinbing you along. The plan was to call you from the Junction, figuring that you could get ready, leave your house, and get to the top at about the same time we did. Unfortunately, neither of us could get cell phone reception.

BBM did get into a spot of bother (said with my best imitation of Paul Sherwin's British accent) on the descent, but I'll let him tell y'all about that if he feels so inclined.

And I reached a new low in one respect. At the top, I went through the garbage cans and removed a brown paper grocery bag (one of the big thick ones with handles). Why the dumpster dive? The bag was completely unsoiled and, when cut in half, made two excellent wind-chill destroyers that BBM and I cheerfully stuffed under the fronts of our jerseys. I would have been happy with newspaper but the grocery bag worked spectacularly well. Write that tip down, boys and girls, as it will be on the final exam.

All in all, a great day on Diablo.

[cccorlew]

I did a mere 40 miles on Sunday through teh neighborhoods of beautiful Antioch, but in the middle there were six timed three-minute flat out lung-searing 100% plus efforts. I'm actually trying to follow the Time Crunched Cyclist book as much as I can, and it calls for these painful interval things. My lungs felt like they were on fire. I need to describe it as I actually wasn't going all that fast (I'm old and have little actual power) but I gave it all I had.

I don't know if I'm getting faster, or stronger, but I am pleased to report I'm at 149, down from a new years 160+. I may be somewhat ready for the Solvang Double after all.

Here's a pain chart:

[Lanceoldstrong]

Midland and I got in 80 Miles: Fairfiled and back with Benicia Bridge, Crockett Bridge plus a return route taking us over McKewan Road at mile 63 so it stung a bit.

http://app.strava.com/rides/4084348

[gpelpel]

Started late on Saturday (10am) so Diablo, the original plan, was out of the question but still left home under the clouds not sure where I would head to. Opted for Orinda and up Wildcat. As I felt pretty good I gave a shot to South Park in Tilden, it was only my second time up this @#!@& of a climb. Barely made it to the top without stopping, I didn't remember how long and hard it was. Going down Grizzly Peak toward Skyline was no fun as the fog/cloud was thick and my glasses all wet, couldn't see much of the pavement. Once on Skyline it was great and so was the return via Pinehurst and Moraga. Such a lovely ride! 30 miles-3,000ft, I like these 100ft per mile rides.

[gw_12]

Hey LOS,

I was thinking about you yesterday. I went on a rambling, no destination is mind, ride yesterday and ended up crossing the Benicia Bridge. I had no idea of where to go from there, and no map, so I ended up heading back over the same bridge, hitting a few dead end refinery roads on my way home. I thought to myself, "I wish I had Dan's number, he could probably hook me up with cool route home".

http://app.strava.com/rides/4118297

-Glenn

[curbtender]

Thanks for the map. I take it Park Rd past Industrial way isn't very scenic.

Midland and I got in 80 Miles: Fairfiled and back with Benicia Bridge, Crockett Bridge plus a return route taking us over McKewan Road at mile 63 so it stung a bit.

http://app.strava.com/rides/4084348

[Lanceoldstrong]

Thanks for the map. I take it Park Rd past Industrial way isn't very scenic.

Park Rd is super industrial, not scenic at all but from it you can see and check out the Camel Barns where the U.S. Cavalry actually experimented with Camel mounted units in the late 1800's.

I like Industrial Way. The pavement is super smooth and fast.There is a nice wetlands on the east side of the road, the west is office park and light industrial. The wetlands is actually quite nice and it affords really great views of local curiosity, The Mothball Fleet. The Battleship U.S.S Iowa is here. It was the Air Force One of WWII. It carried FDR to the Yalta Conference.

Oddly enough, we saw a beautiful white swan in the wetlands on Saturday. No joke, a swan. Long graceful neck, the real thing.

[caloso]

Rode around a corporate park in Folsom a few times.

http://app.strava.com/rides/4084661

[cccorlew]

91 miles, 8,653 elevation.
But slowly slowly slowly, and with a dash of fear.
http://ccorlew.blogspot.com/2012/02/...-got-dark.html

[DiabloScott]

91 miles, 8,653 elevation.
But slowly slowly slowly, and with a dash of fear.
http://ccorlew.blogspot.com/2012/02/...-got-dark.html

Niiiiiiiice.

[freighttraininguphill]

^^^^ And that, dear friends, is why I ride a road bike.

I ride on the road 95% of the time, but I've gotta have my mtb fun sometimes. Besides, that ride was only my second mtb ride in 15 years of road cycling. I'm a little rusty.

Today I was back on the road bike. I took my first real group ride with The Hammerin' Wheels Road Bike Club. This was a 28 mile ride with a couple of short climbs and descents, but nothing real grueling. It was billed as a ride for "intermediate beginner+" riders. Why did I ride a beginner ride when I'm not technically a beginner, you ask? Well, all their intermediate to advanced rides have average speeds that I know I can't maintain, so I was waiting for a ride that I knew I could keep up on for the entire ride. I'm no JoelS!

I met BF member sinclac. He was wearing the red Bike Forums 50+ jersey you see in the video, and was also one of the ride leaders.

On this ride I rode with the leaders for the entire ride. It started in Roseville and wound through Rocklin and Lincoln before returning to Roseville. The two climbs were on Twelve Bridges Drive in Lincoln. I don't think the grades got much over 7%. I did my usual push hard on the climbs and live up to my username thing.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150650990

I apologize for the bounciness in the video. I adjusted the straps upward on the GoPro chest strap mount, but it made the problem worse instead of better.

Video is of the two climbs and descents. The rest of the ride was full of loud traffic and flat to slight inclines, so I figured it wasn't as interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAp7PqiUtPQ


Tomorrow will be another MTB ride. Hopefully with no crashes.

[gpelpel]

91 miles, 8,653 elevation.
But slowly slowly slowly, and with a dash of fear.

91 miles and finish with a Diablo summit. Not bad for a slow poke.
I guess you are ready for your first double of 2012.

[Lanceoldstrong]

120 miles w/ 7200 climbing. Morgan Territory, Patterson Pass, Palomares Canyon.
http://app.strava.com/rides/4286272
The legendary wind demons of Patterson Pass were in full fury. Of the several times I have climbed it from the Tracy side, going towards Livermore, this was my first time for the bad luck to have wind.

Oh what wind. A 20% grade just isn't fun until you get mule kicked in the chest and driven backwards by an evil gust of the famous Patterson wind. Fun was had by all.

As a final Death Valley Spring Double trainer ride it was probably perfect.

[cccorlew]

Hamilton, with Tricia and snow!
http://ccorlew.blogspot.com/2012/02/...-and-snow.html

[UmneyDurak]

120 miles w/ 7200 climbing. Morgan Territory, Patterson Pass, Palomares Canyon.
http://app.strava.com/rides/4286272
The legendary wind demons of Patterson Pass were in full fury. Of the several times I have climbed it from the Tracy side, going towards Livermore, this was my first time for the bad luck to have wind.

Oh what wind. A 20% grade just isn't fun until you get mule kicked in the chest and driven backwards by an evil gust of the famous Patterson wind. Fun was had by all.

As a final Death Valley Spring Double trainer ride it was probably perfect.

Yeah... Going up the damn thing three times sucks when wind is blowing the wrong way.

[freighttraininguphill]

Here's yesterday's ride. No crashes this time, but plenty of climbing to make me live up to my username!

This is the South Fork American River Trail (SFART). The trailhead is right across the road from the Salmon Falls trailhead. It starts off with quite a bit of climbing on technical singletrack with tight switchbacks. Good stuff!

There's not nearly as much technical stuff as on Salmon Falls though. There's lots of smooth singletrack and doubletrack.

It ended up being almost a 24 mile round trip ride with 3,442' of climbing.

South Fork American River Trail by freighttraininguphill at Garmin Connect - Details

Here's the video. As always, this is 100% natural sound. This means plenty of female cyclist heavy breathing on the climbs, so be forewarned!

SFART MTB ride 2-19-12 - YouTube


Nice switchback where I waited for some climbing cyclists before descending.

switchback on SFART by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Abandoned structures at the Cronan Ranch trailhead

abandoned buildings on SFART by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

abandoned buildings on SFART 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

abandoned house on SFART by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

I'm used to seeing "connector", like the trail near Auburn. There were several of these signs along the trail.

'connecter trail' sign on SFART by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

View of the American River on the way back towards Salmon Falls Road

view of American River from SFART by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

A trail that definitely lived up to its name, and made me live up to my username!

'down and up trail' sign on SFART by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

[budkid]

My flat metric from Vallejo to Rutherford and back. I think I should ride up to Napa more often, its just more scenic

http://app.strava.com/activities/4314234

[Red Rider]

Saturday 5 guys joined me for an easy 32 miles. I peeled off, they did another loop and hammered it. We all had fun.

Sunday, the shop ride, 37 mi. through the flats and orchards between Vacaville, Dixon, Winters. The almond orchards are in full bloom, the peaches right behind them, and the lambs are knobbular and adorable.

[Midland]

Solo ride up Diablo saturday. Gorgeous day out, lot's of people on the mountain. Saw 2 guy's with jersey's from The Spokesman in S.C. as I got my bike there as well we all agreed it's a hell of a shop.

[Lanceoldstrong]

70 mile loopy thing down to Castro Valley with Crow Canyon and Norris Canyon
as a little revisit of the last section of the DMD route.

Cccorlew and Mililpony were fine company. http://app.strava.com/rides/4554429

[rdtompki]

Wife and I did 28 miles on the tandem, 3800' of climbing on the tandem (Henry Coe, Morgan Hill, CA). Of course 3100' of that is in less than 10 miles.

[danec99]

Diablo the hard way on Saturday; Wall Point/Summit Trail/Green Ranch/Curry Canyon/BBQ Terrace/Stage - 29 miles, 5700ft of ascent.
Really nice day out as I suffered my way up the mountain; past the site of the Mountain View Hotel and on to the ruins of the Green Ranch Youth Camp. Bringing it on on Stage Rd. is a blast as the water levels are pretty good on 5 of the crossings.

For Sunday did a less ambitious spin up Pleasanton Ridge out to the overlook bench.

[cccorlew]

Went with Lance Oldstrong (referenced above here) and MyLilPony.
I can't shoot photos with my iPhone wearing gloves, so they're all stationary. Here's my favorite of the day.
We saw this at Peet's: A zillion dollar time trial bike with a non-aero trailer. For dogs.

[Beaker]

Bit behind on this thread. Last weekend was an epic edition of the Snelling Road Race. The wind was unbelievable, but I learned a lot about hiding from it in this race. Developed a nice plan for success that, of course, fell apart on the last lap. Rolled in 21st.

Here's me in the background eating a slice of headwind pie:



(picture courtesy of Tim Westmore)

Today was an easier weekend, I put in a really nice ~50miles with powpow for company as we pretended to do a recovery ride, but then again who am I kidding? Did Wildcat, then made for Montclair where I climbed Snake for the first time (oh dear, that doesn't sound right). Made the epic mistake of thinking we were done at the halfway point and sprinted for the, er, next corner. Descending Pinehurst and pushing the pace through Canyon to St Marys was a lot of fun. We climbed back up Happy Valley and finished up with Wildcat once more. So nice to ride the local hills again and have such glorious weather for March. A good day at the office.