Red Rider

Saturday: cgallagh & I chased each other up and down Steiger hill a few times. Great intensity and fun and enjoyment of the sunny day.

Sunday: We took the tandem on a Gordon Valley loop. 43.25 miles, the last 10 in the rain. Bleah.

bikingshearer 

Not a lot of miles this weekend, but I had fun anyway. Saturday, bigbossman was persuaded to brave the wilds of the Democratic People's Republic of Berkeley. Ominous clouds were lurking to the west, and they kind of dictated what we did. After confirming via a call from a friend in Oakland that heading south meant getting wet, we headed north along the Arlington through Kensington, El Cerrito and Richmond, whereupon it appeared that nasty wet clouds were about to engulf us. So back to the barn via San Pablo Ave (horrible pavement) and thence along the BART/Ohlone Greenway path, made ever so much more fun by the occasional fat raindrop and BBM's more or lessnon-stop complaining about mud and water from the pavement getting on his gorgeous black Pogliaghi. 13.5 miles only, but we did have fun.

Today, I only had time to a jaunt up Spruce, through Tilden Park and down Wildcat Canyon and then retrace my steps back home. 15 miles. So, a short weekend in terms of mileage, but it felt good to get in some rides in between storms.

zoltani

I took the train for about 45min to the countryside near the east of Lyon. The ride was only about 22km, with about 520m of climbing. The short distance was due to the fact that I have not ridden since september except for around the flat city. Also, while I hate to admit it, I have never ridden a bike with only two chainrings, and it kicked my ass. However, I am glad this bike will make me strong for my spring & summer bike tours!


View on the way up Col de la croix du ban




Col de la croix du ban (sorry for the non drivetrain side pic)




Col de la luere

rydaddy

Nicely done! Was this against the youngins or your age group?

I saw you guys on Lopes Rd. I was heading west to Vallejo with a Timbuk2 bag strapped to my back. I was soaked the minute I left my house in Davis. 55 miles, ~50 in the rain. Special thanks to KCRA3 weather man

gpelpel

Beaker you will kick our a.. on the next BF Ride. Seems you are getting the racing bug!

No race for me but I had a nice ride on Saturday from Lafayette to Blackhawk with a climb up to the ranger station on Mt. Diablo South Gate Road on my way back. It was my first ride on Diablo since the BF Diablo Challenge, I was glad to be back, the scenery was fantastic with the green hills and the forming clouds. I ended up with 43 miles and 2,800ft, progressively increasing my mileage in anticipation for my first double in March.

I added some new toys on the bike:
- Aerobars: I still need to work on my flexibility but am feeling more comfy with them. On the flat I am getting a 3mph speed increase for the same work intensity. It should help on a long ride.
- Crud RoadRacers: These are cool fenders from England. I am amazed at the amount of junk they kept off the bike. They were oozing brown juice all ride long.

MarkoPolo

Get a room you two!

MarkoPolo

Saturday I got in a 35 mile loop from home in Saratoga to New Almaden, up the backside of Hicks and then home. Learned a new rule of physics... leaking rear tire + 17% grade + wet pavement = major loss of climbing traction. The sad part is that it took me a quarter of a mile of climbing to figure out why I was sliding all over the place!

Beaker

I reprised my

I'm not putting any money on that; but yes, it is very addictive.

ahmose

Saturday i did about 35 miles. I tried to stay closer to home since it was raining on and off. Mostly, went around the Fremont older area (there are some nice steep hills up there, at least steep for me).
Sunday, i decided to call it a day after i flatted on Arastradero Rd, that was after i got lost trying to find St Joseph Ave from Cristo Rey Dr.
Overall, happy to spend some time on the bike this weekend.

F4UX3/2

As previously mentioned I was at the EB crit, and had a great time. It felt a lot more casual this time around at 23mph average and way less sketchy; people are getting noticeably better at riding in a pack, myself included. I managed to save enough energy to put out a mediocre 34mph sprint at the end this time and ended up around 10th in the pack. Not that placings count but it was fun to actually sprint to a finish line instead of through a yellow light.

also it should be noted that beaker was sans bike pump

rumbutter

I had a nice ride over Diablo and Morgan Territories today. Weather was just about perfect. I chased after some guy on a Cervelo on the Morgan territories climb and blew up about 1 mile from the top. First time I have had that "Bonk" feeling in years. The guy I was chasing gave me right good pasting. I went over to congratulate him on his athletic prowess in the parking lot at the top and he was good enough to give me a Cliff bar to get me home.

You meet the nicest people on a bike.

gpelpel

Lafayette to Blackhawk again. I like this ride, easy to get a nice tempo. Again I turned right on South Gate but went up to the Junction this time. Total of 48 miles and 3,500ft.

I was riding the Mavic Cosmic for the first time, they ride very well. A bit on the heavy side but not bad even on the climb even though I had a 11-23 cassette instead of my usual 12-29. What I really like is their stiffness and how they carry speed once launched. The front wheel felt a lot more stable when on the aerobars compared to the r-sys. Of course all these feelings were due to the placebo effect.

jonathanb715

We went down to the Woodside area to play today. Nice 50 miler, starting on Canada down to Old la Honda, up that (I kind of had some folks strewn all over the climb, so I was going up and down - my computer tells me I did almost the equivalent of climbing it twice), down 84 then over to Pagemill, Arastadero, etc. The only big climb was Old la Honda, but since we're training for Solvang that was more than enough!

JB

obiwan kenobi

Drove up to Ione today intent on riding Irish Hill but, legs were not up to so I only managed 25 miles. Since I started bikram yoga last week I feel stronger but think I may have over trained.

loopybunny

Yesterday was my first day outside on the bike since January 2nd. Sure, I've done a bit on the trainer, but since I hate it, the motivation wasn't there.

I only rode about 15 km and noticed that there was a clicking sound that seemed to be coming from my crankset. I tried to narrow it down some while on the trainer when I got home, but I had no such luck. I ended up taking a trip to the shop this morning to have them look at it. Mechanic made some adjustments so I went out again this afternoon to see if it was fixed. No clicking!

However, since I'm a wimp and it was cold, I only rode 5 km.

Good news is that even after 4 weeks "off" the bike due to illness and bad weather, I don't feel like I've lost too much fitness. Now I need to start taking my training seriously so I'm ready to climb this summer.

pacificaslim

I too had my first ride of the year today. My typical Pacifica mountain route. I'm kind of in running mode right now, but I've got to start riding regularly too!

tprevost

Obiwan, where are you from? How is the riding in Ione?

tprevost

Since it was such a treat to see the sun, I actually got two short rides in this weekend No mileage really but it was so great to be outside..... I'm pretty sure we're doing the Pardee Party so I need to get some rides in between the storms

bigbossman 

Picked up 62 miles, riding from San Ramon to Sunol and back via Livermore. 6 of those miles were tallied looping around the Dublin BART station while waiting for my very tardy ride partner.

Interesting discovery - a multi-level parking garage makes a dandy hill repeat/sprint training tool on the weekend (when it's empty).

Lanceoldstrong

61mi / 5040 ft climb Sat with a Morgan Territory and Mt. Diablo loop out of Concord and back. (w/Midland)

50 mi / 3250ft climb today taking in Crockett Bridge and Benicia Bridge on a loop out of Concord and back.(w/Mrs Oldstrong)

101mi / 8365ft climb for the weekend.

I am a bit tuckered right now.Thank you sun and thank you indoor trainer for keeping the legs strong.

obiwan kenobi

I live in Stockton, the bike club I ride with often starts rides in the foot hills, Ione, Plymouth, Wallace etc.

Here is the ride from Howard Park in Ione to Plymouth and back; https://www.livestrong.com/loops/ione...th-XzL2hMlCZf/

tprevost

THANK YOU!!!! That looks like a route I can do

UmneyDurak

Cagers were ruining my fun all day long. First someone in a tank, I mean SUV, from texas doing 20 mph down 84 and refusing to pull over. I was looking forward to that descent after riding out to Kings and climbing that.
Then in the afternoon I took my motorcycle out, with adjusted suspension, to get some honey at Alice Bar. I ended up being bored out of my mind going up 84 stuck behind someone who thought 15-20 was a perfect speed, and then down 9 behind a truck. I did ride out on sky line out to kings and then to 84, which was fun.

Red Rider

Saturday: Cgallagh and I on our racing bikes (shock! no tandem!) and my bff -- 35+ miles over Cantelow, with some fast pacelining and the 2 of them sprinting.

Sunday: Cgallgh and I on our racing bikes (WTF? Two days in a row?), bff, and some other racers -- we needed recovery and they wanted blistering -- we rode to the Monticello Dam and they went on while we turned back. Rode to Steady Eddy's where dozens of cyclists were resting, met overthere and cycling 17 (sp), and rode a reverse Winters loop home for about 55 miles in near-perfect weather. I swear, everyone who owns a bike was riding it today. Great to see so many more cyclists than cars on the roads today.

JoelS

Saturday I rode over to watch the crit in Folsom. Saw rydaddy race the 3/4, he said his average was about 26, ouch! Also saw shiz.

Sunday I just kinda tootled (is that a word) around and ran into some friends up at Bealls Point (Folsom Lake is really low).