Red_Leaf24

Up the South side of Diablo to the 2nd ranger station, and down the North side. First time doing Diablo this season. I gotta get into shape! No summit for the first time. :-(

lesiz

Rode my favorite route, along Mulholland Hwy, up Rock Store Hill, then on to Little Sycammore, then Yerba Buena Rd to where it descends halfway down to sea level, then turned back up Cotharin for a wonderful punishing climb to the top of Deer Creek Rd, and down Deer Creek for my favorite descent in the world. By the time I hit PCH the rims were hot from braking. Yowza!

spingineer

Saturday, did Saratoga Gap, then Page Mill ... https://sevencyclist.wordpress.com/20...fallback-ride/

Sunday, rode Kings Mountain with BF's newlyweds, Marco and Ruth ... https://sevencyclist.wordpress.com/20...days-you-dont/

bigbossman 

Bikingshearer and I teamed up for a leisurely tour of SF, the Marin Headlands, and Mill Valley. We met at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, under a heavy marine layer and chilly breezes. We lasted all of about 15 minutes before I twisted Rich's arm and made him stop at Starbucks for a hot beverage and a small bite to eat.

After I achieved a proper mindset, we headed through Fisherman's Wharf to gain access to the Golden Gate Bridge. Up and over, through the fog and down the other side, we turned left and looped through the Marin Headlands. The fog was sort of lifting by this time, but was still above us sending it's tendrils down and around us now and again.

Coming off the headlands and back into Sausalito, we finally got some sun and blue skies. From there, it was a delightful romp up to Mill Valley and lunch, threading ourselves between the throng of participants in a massive walk for breast cancer research. Arriving at Mill Valley, we lunched with Rich's charming fiancée while planning our return route.

Going back to SF we retraced the route coming up, neglecting of course the loop through the headlands. It was such a nice day so we eschewed the many opportunnities to ride back on a ferry and scooted back across the Golden Gate and our starting point. After feasting on a vendor-cart hot dog we shared a ride on BART, eventually parting ways on the other side.

A Good Day - about 40 miles and 3,000' of climbing or so.

In the beginning - On the BART platform, waiting for a SF bound train:


A funny juxtaposition:


GG approach:


Crossing the GG:


Land's End, with Bolinas Lighthouse dimly visible:


Through a tunnel, darkly:


A nice toy, riding anchor:


Coming back, the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz:


Alcatraz:


The Balcuth:

Beaker

Beaker

Saturday AM, at Brentley's instigation, we put in another flat ride - yes it is possible here. Headed out from Orinda, through Moraga, Lafayette, Danville to Blackhawk and looped round. It's easy to forget how much fun it can be to just push on the flats and get some speed up. The section from Blackhawk, down Diablo Road to Green Valley and then Danville Blvd was high cadence awesomeness.

54.1miles and 2800ft (OK we threw Happy Valley in at the end).

uspspro

Video from our ride with Ron.. Fast descending on Skyline and East 84.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4gTpsB5A2Y

silentben

Sweet! I gotta unpack the gopro one of these days

Red Rider

Saturday we previewed the entire Slowpoke Ride 7/18. We ended up riding faster than we published (I made cgallagh do some sprint drills), and we had a flat 3 miles from home, but it was all good.

Today my left knee hurt so I bailed on riding and we walked the dogs instead. Later, cgallagh rode a ridiculous hill within the city limlits and gave me a hard time for not riding it with him. I'm not willing to push a sore joint.

Looking forward to the coming week -- I feel a shift in the force.

spingineer

I gotta get one

genejockey 

I kinda fell off the cycling wagon just a bit last fall and winter, and I've been slowly trying to build back up, but without the benefit of weekday rides, it's been tough.

Sunday, I finally convinced myself that I was ready to tackle some hills, so I dragged my aging butt over OLH. Took 33+ minutes, but I DID manage to avoid throwing up or fainting at the top. Once I had recovered a bit, I went down the other side to 84, climbed back up to the top, then a quick spin down 84, out to Portola/Alpine, and back home. Just shy of 60 miles, the first 55 of which felt pretty good.

The whole 60 would have felt better, but as I was coming back on Portola, I passed couple where the guy was on an MTB, and the woman was riding with toestraps and a gawdawfully squeaky chain. I put them out of my mind, until I heard that squeaky chain catch up with me at the turn-off where Portola splits off Sand Hill (I had to wait to make the left turn). I swore that squeaky chain WOULD NOT pass me. So I spent a huge amount of energy staying ahead.

What a dope!

Having spent all that energy on a stupid egotistical quest to stay ahead of a stranger, my legs started cramping up 5 miles from home. Kharma.

At least there is Advil.

BlastRadius

Nice vid. The GoPro adjusts pretty quickly between the bright sunlight and shady sections.

BlastRadius

I parked on the south end of the GGB in a Presidio parking lot right on the corner of Lincoln and Storey Ave where I could just hop right onto the Bridge. It's easier to get to and leave from than Sports Basement.

I road across the Bridge and at the north side Visitor's Center, met my friend John whom I haven't seen since last October. We rode leisurely around the Alpine Dam/Seven Sisters loop. It was such a beautiful morning (once past the fog on the bridge) that even the dang third Sister couldn't put a damper on the ride.

On the way back through Mill Valley and Sausalito we stopped in to look at Studio Velo and Bicycle Odyssey. Drool. There are no high-end shops like that on the Peninsula.

silentben

I did a 91 mile, 8200' of climbing loop through the Santa Cruz mountains today ... starting at 2:20am. I hadn't planned it as a night ride but I couldn't sleep and decided to go for it.

Starting in Los Gatos, I climbed up Hwy 9. There were no cars at all for the longest time and I thought I might make it to the top without any passing by but finally a few did. It was warm out and it seemed to get warmer as I climbed. I had my jersey unzipped all the way and was loving the warm air on my skin. There was no wind and a crescent moon rose over the valley below. Occasionally I glimpsed views of the city lights sprawled below me but tree cover mostly got in my way.

At the top I stopped to put my headband on in preparation for the descent down the other side which I expected to be cold. It wasn't. 75 degree temps the entire way as I coasted along in the darkness. I made the turn onto Hwy 236 to go through Big Basin State Park. At first this road climbs and then drops down inside the basin. This was finally my first taste of cold and it was sure eye-opening but bearable.

All the way through the park and then right on Jamison Creek road, a short but relatively steep climb up to the top of a ridge. This starts out at a shallow grade and then pitches up and stays steep until the top. At this point the sky was beginning to lighten. I turned off my headlight for the first time and began climbing out of the saddle in an easy rhythmic fashion. Hwy 9 always feels like a boring slog to me but this was steep enough to be interesting! Aside from a couple quick breaks to drink water, I climbed out of the saddle all the way to the top in either my 34x26 or 34x24.

Reaching the top I turned right on Empire Grade knowing this dead ends. At first, the road descends before angling up and ending at an imposing gate. The little dip through the low-lying portion of road blasted me with cold air again. By this time it was somewhere between 5:00am and 5:30am and I imagine the air had been stratifying for the entire calm night with cold air sinking into any little valley it could and displacing the warm air upward. As I turned around and headed south on Empire Grade I would encounter these little pockets of cold air in each valley no matter how small the valley seemed.

I made a right turn on Pine Flat road and took this until it turns into Bonny Doon which goes all the way to the ocean. I should emphasize that the last few hours of riding had been mostly in 75 degree temps even though I didn't know it at the time (other than "gee it's warm"). Here's a temperature plot from Scott's Valley which is at 1530' and seems like a good representative:



So I was cruising downhill with my short sleeved jersey and arm warmers. For some reason I had left my windbreaker at home. As I got lower it got colder. I hit Bonny Doon and tucked in for a high speed thrill ride to the ocean and it was freezing the entire way! Arctic cold or at least it seemed. I could not wait for that descent to be over with although it would probably actually be fun if it was warmer. When I finally got to the bottom my watch was indicating 55.0 degrees. Usually this reads high because my body heat influences the sensor. But I think it was pretty accurate. Here's a temperature plot of downtown Santa Cruz which should be pretty close to what it was all along that stretch of coast (I was there around 6:20am):



A 20 degree drop in a matter of minutes! Fun. I made my way south on Hwy 1 diving in and out of mist and fog. Finally I got into town and found a coffee shop that had opened a few minutes ago at 7:00am. I got a coffee and bagel and then went back for seconds - a cinnamon roll.

After stopping for probably too long and eating probably too much food, I got back on the bike and headed back via Graham Hill, La Madrona, Bean Creek, and Mt. Charlie roads. My stomach was feeling the food and my legs were feeling Jamison Creek. But after a while I finally got back in the groove and had a good time on Mt. Charlie road. It was not even 9:00am yet but HOT out! I saw my first other cyclists of the ride. I passed them on the climb and felt like mentioning I had 75 miles in but thought better of it

Finally made it home and, cured of my insomnia, promptly took a nap.

reidconti

great story! inspiring ride.

Bostic

Met up with Micheal, Fudgy Chris and Marco at Sycamore Valley Parknride to tackle Diablo, Morgan Territory and Patterson Pass. It was hot. I drank 80oz of camelbak from the top of Diablo to the parking lot at MT. We agreed to ditch Patterson Pass in this heat. Getting to Vasco road for food was unpleasant as was the return trip. An ice soak on the neck would have been helpful. 83 miles. They can fill in more details later.

uspspro

The wind felt like it came from a giant blow dryer HOT HOT wind!

mellum76

Me, Chris and Ramon went into this ride knowing the heat would be punishing - we all brought Camelbaks. Marco decided that he'd rather carry a 3rd water bottle and had puffy jersey pockets the whole way.

Diablo was fine - we were all hydrating properly and that was that, until my left knee started giving me trouble. This is the same left knee that took the hit on Death Ride when some jackass decided to help me fall-over on the way up to Ebbetts. I decided that it wouldn't be fun to get stranded, in the middle of nowhere (aka Livermore) in the heat so I made my way back to the car. Ramon, Chris and Marco continued on to Morgan Territory.

I can't say that I didn't envy them, but I can also say that I did love my air-conditioned car as I was just happy to get outta the crazy heat. Not fun. Props to Chris, Marco and Ramon for finishing what we started.

1jacktripper

That sounds more promising than the ride report!

Dion Rides

I became a statistic today and got hit by a car. This will teach me never to ride on Hamilton Ave in San Jose again. I was in the bike lane and somebody took a quick right turn into me trying to get into the Home Dept parking lot. My bike is fine and I'm fine (somehow I made it into a grassy patch) but I slightly scratched my frame and there's a scratch on my new Ultegra cranks (my bike took 2 months to build and I've only had it a week) which pisses me off to no end. In my 15 minute rage of fury, I forgot to get the guy's information. I did make quite the scene, though.

Today I rode locally 35 miles total. Almaden to Los Gatos, chill ride along Los Gatos Creek Trail, out to Santa Clara and somehow made it back to Los Gatos back to Almaden.

It was a beautiful, very nice chill ride with just enough climbing around to make it a calorie burner. Aside from getting hit, I had a nice time.

ahpook

Rode my first sanctioned cat5 race today: the Watsonville crit race. It was nice and cool on that side of the hill, perfect weather.

We got there a bit early and I was able to ride the course for almost half an hour to warm up. It was a tight .75 mile loop in a nice residential neighborhood. The turns were a little choppy with a hairpin left in the middle so I was glad for the preview. We lined up just before noon and got briefed on the rules, inspected for improperly pinned numbers (one 13 year old in street clothes thankfully got pulled for "not having a number"), and then the whistle blew.

Right out the gate I was working harder than I'd expected to. I guess because of the short distance people went out hard at the beginning. I worked pretty well for the first four or five laps but I was redlining unsustainably to stay up. There was a short hill on each lap which seemed to hurt more and more each time up it and I started to move back. I was able to close gaps until the seventh lap when the distance between the main pack and my back group started opening up on the upwind leg. By the eighth (this is fifteen minutes in, mind you) I knew I wouldn't catch back on, especially since a smaller group has to work harder and the bunch was receding in the distance. Other people off the back were dropping out, including the strong looking joker in a mullet wig and daisy dukes and the Fox guys I'd warmed up wtih, but I wanted to finish. I ended up being part of a good group of four guys and we worked together to keep things moving. We got lapped on the 14th, which is an experience I am used to from the SJBC crits so I hollered to keep right and neutralize as the main pack rode past. The last two laps I rode with a few guys who were off the back of the main pack but not lapped and cruised in at 29 minutes. Thanked the race organizers and talked to Todd Manley who was racing 3's and we went on to the beach at Carmel for some fun in the fog.

It was a very intense 30 minutes. I am disappointed in my performance but not terribly surprised. Gotta ride harder, that's all.

Beaker

Sorry to hear that - did you have a "chat" with the driver?

ahpook

Hey Dion, this is right in my neighborhood and I agree that stretch of Hamilton is awful for bikes. Sorry you got taken out, especially on your fly new ride. No damage is good though.

Unfortunately your only options for getting across 17 around there are either campbell ave or the ped / bike bridge that connects Westfield (W side) to Downing Ave (E side). They are supposedly widening campbell ave to include some bike lanes for the narrow tunnel under 17 but now you just have to take the lane and deal with the s...heads.

Dion Rides

YES.

Dion Rides

It's really sketchy over there, but now I truly realize that. Thanks for the kind words.