MarkoPolo

Took a solo ride out Carmel Valley Road and then up to the top of Robinson Canyon Road - about a 7 mile climb through a narrow wooded canyon at the bottom and then opening up to some nice vistas. The higher I went, the steeper it got.

Unfortunately, Rancho San Carlos, the road that would make the ride loop back down to CV Road, is private and gated, so it's an up and then back down route. Total of 32.5 miles, with a ferocious headwind back into Carmel. I recovered with Belgian Beer, American baseball (nice comeback Giants) and the Masters on DVR.

California wildflowers were, well... growing wild!



Vista looking over the Santa Lucia Range



Gratuitous Kirk photo

cccorlew

Not epic, just a perfect day where we managed to sneak in a ride on Calavaras Road when really we were supposed to go straight to a social event in Cupertino.


Poppies on Calavaras Rd by ccorlew, on Flickr


Tricia at calavaras Road by ccorlew, on Flickr

Beaker

Great pics as always Curtis, but I'm curious how you took the second one - did it involve scrambling up a mud bank in cleats and nudging past a few head of cattle?

Beaker

Not been a good week on the bike - with some failed intervals at the start of the week then an absence of riding due to work. Hauled myself up to Livermore to pre-ride a few laps of the Wente road race course yesterday afternoon. Phew - my Garmin showed 94-95F on North Flynn. Good heat training I guess, but I definitely felt a little more beaten up by the heat than I'm used to. Gorgeous scenery as always; I don't think I'll be paying much attention to that next Saturday though.

cccorlew

There was indeed some cleated scrambling. No mud, just hard dirt, and climbing through a lot of thorny weeds. As always, going up is one thing, coming down can be an adventure.

That darn iPhone continues to amaze me. Sometimes I can't see what the heck I'm shooting, but the quality is not nearly as bad as I think a phone woud be.

rdtompki

Primavera 100K for me. I had signed up for this as one of perhaps two organized rides I'd do on my single, hoping I'd be in shape for a Century. No such luck - between business travel and long hours my riding over the last 3 months as been pitiful. The 100K was more than enough.

Esteban58

I did the 100K as well, with a friend - great day for the ride, great route (so nice to be riding stuff I haven't seen before), and well supported.

gpelpel

+1

Can't believe the first shot is from an iPhone. Yet after closer review the extended depth of field is consistent with such a tiny lens. Would make a nice spread in a magazine.

chidonchea

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QmFp3SXzwz4 Primavera Century
100 mile bike ride from Mission San Jose High School in Fremont California. I kept my time at a rest stop short. Meet a rider with only one wheel working. Drafted some triathletes. Broke the carbon blade spring on my Look Keo Blade Pedal. Finished in 6 Hours 46 minutes. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QmFp3SXzwz4

Red Rider

A humble tandem ride after yard work, house work, and other chores this morning. The stats cannot relay the teamwork and connection we get from a tandem ride. Smiles per mile = off the chart.

rdtompki

Chico Velo Wildflower 100K on the tandem. Generally a good ride - early start to avoid the heat on Honey Run and the temps actually never got bad. Finally, not much wind on the finishing stretch! We've got to find a saddle that works for my wife past 40 miles; she was really hurting after the last rest stop.

I stopped counting the singles that past us on the climb. Our average speed up the steepest part of the climb, 3.4 miles, is a whopping 4.2 mph. I must say, however, that we received man kudos from the singles zipping by us.

Red Rider

I don't know what she's riding now but I'd suggest better shorts (pay the big bucks; the chamois is worth it) and a saddle like the Selle San Marco Glamour. And/or get her fitted at the LBS and borrow a saddle (be sure they have a return policy).

Do you have a Thudbuster? That goes a long way toward stoker satisfaction.

scrubbo

I know our LBS has a one month return policy on their seats, and my wife went in and got fitted for one that would be less abusive on her tender parts and is VERY happy with it. Definitely go someplace that figures out where the sit bones are and offers a selection of widths in a variety of seats. Good LBS = gold.

As for my weekend ride, up Kings, down 84 and up the west side of OLH, then down to Tripp and a little side jaunt up Summit Springs off of Tripp before heading home.

Diegomayra

Wente RR Cat 5... Cramped up, my body was not ready for the heat.

cccorlew

Sunday was WorldWide Pinhole Day, so I rode my bike not very far to shoot this local sculpture with my pinhole camera.


Wild Horse Pinhole number 1 by ccorlew, on Flickr

curbtender

All my rides start in Pin(h)ole...

chidonchea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_DZ...HQFdKw&index=1 Happy to finish and get a PR @17:20.

DiabloScott

Congrats! Salute! ¡Enhorabuena!

flagon

I rode in the Chico Wildflower Flatflower 60 this weekend. This was my first organized bike event and it was a lot of fun. Here is a youtube

bjorke

Prepping for next week's Bike to Work Day, ran my own little 100K -- 80K to the office in SF, and with a Caltrain insert, 20+K from Palo Alto back to Santa Clara.


6AM, Central Expresway, Biking to SF by What Photos Look Like, on Flickr


noticed on street near Brisbane by What Photos Look Like, on Flickr

scrubbo

Kings Mountain, Old La Honda, Down 84 to Pescadero Road, Stage to Highway 1, then up Tunitas. Managed PRs on Kings, OLH, Stage (had a tail wind!), AND Tunitas. I have to guess at the Kings because my garmin was wandering all over the place so Strava didn't match it, but near as I can figure it I was a just under a minute faster than my previous best, which should be enough wiggle room for me to call it. Probably the strongest ride I've ever done. 73 miles, 7800 feet of climbing, 5:20 in the saddle, 6:07 overall. I would have been under 6 hours if not for the line for the bathroom in Pescadero.

Darth Lefty 

Since there is no agreed-upon definition of Northern California, I feel safe in posting this here.

Today Sacramento County shut down Old Placerville Road and Scott Road down to Latrobe, and opened it to traffic for May bike month. The total distance on these lovely back roads was about 25 miles. I rode to the trail head from Orangevale, giving me a round trip of ~42 miles. There was a trip to Whole Foods and a BBQ in the last third, so my average speed was 6 mph.


IMG_0870 by Darth Lefty, on Flickr

gaucho777 

Nice ride through the east bay hills (48 miles, ~3,000-ft. climbing): Berkeley --> Tunnel Rd. --> Skyline --> Redwood Rd --> Pinehurst --> through Morago/Orinda --> Wildcat Cyn. --> Back to Berkeley.

DiabloScott

bikingshearer 

Saturday saw me get up stupid early, drive to Martinez Amtrak, and pedal off with two friends from the Dublin Cyclery rider group. From Martinez, off over Willow Pass and through Baypoint, Pittsburg and Antioch and over the Antioch Bridge, which induced some not-so-fond flashbacks of riding over the old draw bridge Antioch Bridge . The new Antioch Bridge is a mildly unpleasnt way to access the Delta. The old one was unbelieveably scary. Be glad it was replace many moons ago. I know I am.

From there, on up SR-160 to Brannan Island State Park, from whence we struck off on back roads to Isleton and lunch, then back on the back roads to Walnut Grove. (Many thanks to LanceOldstrong, who introduced me to these great back roads. I highly recommend them.)

We tried to visit Locke, but the "Locke Days" event was not bike friendly, so we continued on. We stayed on River Road, the levee road on the east side of the Sacramento River, which sometimes is SR-160 and sometimes isn't. We crossed over to the west side at Freeport onto the curiously named South River Road. From there, up to Jefferson Blvd into West Sac and by Raley Field, over the Tower Bridge, dinner in Old Sac, and a hop onto Amtrak for the ride back to Martinez.

What a great day. Sunny, warm-to-hot with enough of a breeze to take the edge off but not so windy as to be annoying. 83 miles, give or take. The Garmins claimed 1200 feet of climbing, but that sounds hight to me - Willow Pass and the Antich bridge account for something like 600 feet between them, but there can't be that many trips onto and off of levess to account another 600 feet, can there? Great company. An all-around great day to be on the bike. If it had been 83 hilly miles I'd probably feel differently, but teh vast majority of htis one was as flat as NorCal gets.