msincredible

Took the folder up Alpine and down Page Mill at the end of the day yesterday to meet up with my husband for errands (including bike supply shopping at REI) and dinner.

Got a lot of doubletakes from people climbing Page Mill when they saw me and the clown bike zipping down!

jonathanb715

Now that's epic! BTW, your photo shows up fine.

JB

DiabloScott

I suggest The Bears and Wildcat.

x136 

Wednesday:


Thursday:


Friday:

Beaker

Way to go Alex - (jealous)

BlastRadius

Were you on Tam today (Friday)?

I did San Bruno Mountain -> Daly City -> Great Highway -> GGB -> Hawk Hill -> back to San Bruno via Skyline. 49 miles, 4255ft of climbing.

x136 

Thanks. I've been meaning to check The Trifecta off of the list for some time now. I felt particularly crazy this week.

I was. I halfway considered driving down to Daly City afterward to knock San Bruno out real quick, but didn't. In retrospect, I should have, since I ended up hitting the terrible SF-Sacramento traffic on the way home anyway.

Bostic

The triple threat? Awesomeness of the awesomeness.

Beaker

I've gotta get up that hill one of these days.

silentben

Sweet. So where are you going to ride now that it's actually the weekend?

uspspro

I did the San Mateo -> Woodside -> Up Kings -> Skyline NB -> 92E -> Skyline NB -> San Mateo
loop again today (friday).

37.xx miles 2 hrs and change, ride time.

mellum76

I was out there yesterday (Friday) as well: Home > Canada > Kings > Home. Man it was windy.

x136 

It's always the weekend!

"Recovery" ride on Angel Island today.

subframe

Rode Mt. Tam today. The heat on the Seven Sisters was something else. I was brutalized.

Fun though

Bostic

Rode with Ben and NY Chris on a Western Wheelers ride over to Soquel with lunch in Corralitos. It was hot but not terrible for the climb up Redwood Gulch and the rest of 9 to Skyline. Once we got to the Summit store I was noticing the heat more. A nice descent down to Soquel before more mini climbs to get to the lunch spot. It was quite hot by then and everyone filled bottles with ice (thanks btw!) before beginning the climb back. Can't say I'm a big fan of Eureka Canyon road, it goes on for a long time. At the top it was a lady bug swarm for a few miles, getting pelted left and right by bugs. Some rough pavement before the downhill back to the store for a regroup. My arms were glowing at this point from the suntan lotion. The group broke up at this point, I rode back with Ben and Chris. They both took off around Los Gatos and I kept a mild 15mph pace along Sunnyvale Saratoga all the way back home since it's a straight shot. A lot of the climbing was in shade but the miserable parts were exposed to the sun. This was a D ride and they don't really mess around. Not a lot of regroups at all. 98 miles total.

bikingshearer 

Bigbossman and I did a 50 mile loop in Marin, starting in San Geronimo, to the Cheese Factory, over the Marshall Wall, down to Pt. Reyes Station and thence back to the start, like so:
https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...24219025762731

Truth be told, BBM did the whole loop. After multiple chain problems starting with it coming apart climbing the Wall, the entire rear end of the drive train seized up about 3 or 4 miles short of Pt. Reyes Station. I'm still not entirely sure what went wrong, but the result is a trashed Veloce rear deraiileur, a right rear drop-out that looks like modern art and is decidedly not suitable for riding, and a wheel that needs to be rebuilt. This was on the Ron Cooper, so he'll be on the shelf for a while until proper repairs can be arranged.

I started walking to PRS whie BBM went to got get the car. Fortunately, a big (make that huge) group of folks were out training for the AIDS LIfe Cycle event, and their sag guy passed a few minites later, saw me walking along with rear well in my left hand and the rest of the bike over my right shoulder, and drew the appropriate conclusion - I needed a ride. So, at least I got a ride to PRS. Thanks, Ken.

BBM did, in fact, come to my rescue - thanks, John .

As for the riding part, it was great. The day was a tad warm (translation: it was hot and I'm really glad I was not riding out in Livermore or in the Central Valley), but it was still green out. I had never gone from the Cheese Factory to the coast before - what a beautiful ride. The Marshall Wall was not fun for this Slowpoke Clydesdale, but even with that, I'd recommend that stretch of road to anyone who is up for a bit of a challenge.

7rider

Rode to Montebello School and turned back since it was already getting pretty warm at 8:00 AM. Said hi to some flying buddies at RSA. The patriot mailbox was either removed or replaced at the steepest part of the climb up to the school.

bigbossman 

It's all true. The broken chain - that's Rich, in yellow. I actually went back down to help. Yes, yes, I know.... but that's the kind of guy I am:


Where'd Rich go? this is the last time the Ron Cooper was seen in one piece:

VaultGuru

Rode the first Folsom Powerhouse Century. This ride was to raise funds for Parkinson's disease. Worthy cause. About 200 people registered. Started at Bicycles Plus in Folsom. Climbed to Highway 49, north of Auburn by about four miles, then descended and went toward Sheridan and Lincoln. Looped back up to Newcastle, then down to Folsom. Got to ride across the new bridge. My total was 110 miles, 6970' of climbing. The rest stops were well manned with plenty of water, etc. Hope they do it again next year.

Red Rider

For, like, the 88th weekend we did the orchards and tomato and sunflower fields east & north of here. We used Saturday for a training ride (time trials comin' up) and today we didn't push so hard. Glad we got the rides in before the heat really stoked up.

I love this route but will be really glad to get back to the hills. We both need our climbing legs back.

genejockey 

I had to drop relatives at the airport at 6, so I was able to get an early start. I got in 47 miles before noon - basically San Mateo to Woodside, the small Loop, and back.

Oh, and I clicked over 2000 miles on the Battaglin.

Then, when I got home, after a shower and lunch, it was too danged HOT to take a nap!

Beaker

Unremarkable weekend of riding.

Had to throw the bike in the back of our van yesterday for an impromptu ride back from the garage - 15miles ~1400ft. Nice to ride down SPDR though - the climb up by the dam is just about the perfect slope - ~4-6% sustained, you can just spin up that at a nice speed. I threw in a detour (Amend Road in El Sobrante) which spikes up over 15% for a short while.

Today, was a no frills Pinehurst-Redwood-Pinehurst loop. 23miles, ~1950ft. Beautiful day riding, but surprisingly warm from an early hour.

BlastRadius

After my Friday ride to the Marin Headlands, I was just going to "go easy" at the Saturday AM Pen Velo ride. I should have known better. I tried to stay mid or back of the pack but somehow that didn't happen. Oh well, it was fun anyway. 33 miles.

Sunday, Pelikan and I did the Modesto Road Race. We got rolling around 5:20 and get to the race start in plenty of time. The race was seven 9 mile laps and perfectly FLAT. It was fairly uneventful. We just wanted it to be done so we could get in the air-conditioned car 62 miles.

silentben

As Ramon mentioned I joined the Western Wheelers ride on Saturday. Those guys are serious! I didn't see a single camera and there was definitely no dilly-dallying at the regroups. It was good to keep the pace moving though since it was a long day and there wasn't time to goof off.

I drank what seemed like a staggering amount of fluid on this ride. Two 32oz gatorades, a 24oz redbull, and multiple bottles of water. I still felt thirsty for hours after the ride but I didn't get dehydrated! One of the Western Wheeler riders bought a bag of ice and I stuffed a few cubes up the legs of my shorts against my thighs. I also put ice in the vents of my helmet and had a nice steady trickle of water to help cool me off for at least a couple miles before it all melted.

The ladybug swarms were crazy. This was on a stretch of road that was in and out of the shade. The ladybugs would congregate in the sunny parts and so fortunately you could see them up ahead before hitting them. I had no sunglasses and so I had to squint and put my head down and stare 2 feet in front of my wheel to avoid taking a bug or three in the eye.

Got a flat at about 100 miles into the ride It was a big giant staple that went straight into my back tire. This thing would've flatted a car tire. Overall I got 114 miles on the day since I rode to/from the start. Roughtly 7 1/2 hours of riding time = 15mph average.

Anodyne

Saturday I took my mtn bike over to Lake Chabot for the first time. Looking back on it the whole idea was pretty much flawed from the start. I got a late start (1pm) and climbed the "wrong way" following the map on my "Bay Area Biking" guide map. After the steep climb I was losing steam fast and mistakenly took a wrong turn that deposited me down on the other side of the hill at the golf course. From there it was short spurts of pedaling from shade spot to shade spot and trying not to pass out while conserving my energy and water supply (large camelbak and an elecrolyte bottle.)

You'd think I learned my lesson but I was up bright and early on Sunday morning for my first ride up and around calavares. Starting at 8 I was pretty whipped by the time I reached the top. I had to take a few breaks on the way up and my legs were turned to jelly from my Saturday ride. I made it though. Hit 40+mph on the way down (whee!!) and took in some amazing scenery. I'm glad I stuck that one out.

Overall, I guess I can chalk this entire weekend up to being one big lesson in humility. I got SPANKED.