Midland

Went up North Gate rd. to the top of Diablo.

bikingshearer 

A mere eight or ten years since completing my last one, I completed a century yesterday. The Sunrise Century out of Lodi, to be precise. The day started at bigbossman's house, where bigbosslady and bigbossdaughter cheerfully cooked up pancakes for BBM, MarkoPolo and me. We drove off to Lodi together just in time to be pretty much the last of the 100 mile crew to push off.

The course heads east along the north shore of Comanche Reservoir to Pardee Dam. It was a pleasant day with a bit of a tailwind. There is a shortiish steepish climb up to Pardee, but most of the ride was flat or rollers. The scenery once we crossed Highway 88 ranged from nice to quite pretty, and we arrived at the lunch stop at 51 miles in good spirits.

We set off after lunch having had a pleasant repast. About a half-mile after lunch, I was tooling along, minding my own business slightly ahead and to the front of Mark and John when I heard John exclaim "Merde!" (well, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent thereof) and the sound of a . John's front tire hit something, pushing him over so that he touched his front wheel with Mark's rear wheel, and went down. He suffered a little road rash, his bike got a scratch or two, but the real eye-popper was his knee - he took a tremendously ugly looking gash just below the right kneecap. We sent a helpful passer-by back to the lunch stop for help, and a few minutes later, a sag wagon packed him off the ER, but not after John had (a) made sure his black Pogliaghi was okay and (b) that it was turned over in the pick up truck bed so that the drivetrain faced up, not down. (Fortunately, John only needed some stitches - he'll be back on the bike very soon.)

So, our number reduced by one, Mark and I soldiered on, only occasionally abusing BBM in absentia. (Hey, he'd have done the same - and we would have been disappointed if he hadn't.) The best of the scenery was behind us, and the bit of a tailwind was now a bit of a headwind most of the rest of the way. But Mark and I had a lovely rest of the ride. Because of our late start, we were pretty much the last finishers. By then, BBM had been to and from the ER with his stitches, and he made sure the ride volunteers were saved some chow for us (they were packing up, but were cheerful about feeding us.)

102 miles, about 3100 feet of climbing, and fun all around. Well, BBM could have gone all day without the crash, but otherwise . . . .

bikingshearer 

Sorry -- double post.

cccorlew

Bikingshearer, colorful post, as always.

Darn, BBM, hope you feel better soon. Glad your trusty steed was OK, but stitches? OUCH. Heal well, and quickly.

bigbossman 

If anyone wants to see pictures of my ER experience, I've got 'em...........

cantdrv55

Great report, Rich. I hope you heal up soon, John. I hope to ride with you two again.

prathmann

We did a weekend ride from the Daly City BART station down the coast to Capitola, spent the night at a motel or the New Brighton Hike&Bike campsite, and rode back home to the East Bay on Sunday.

The route and lots of pictures can be seen at:
https://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=621491

bikingshearer 

Uh, he isn't kidding.





Actually, Mark and were kicking ourselves for not thinking to take pics at the scene.

bigbossman 

Yup - good ol' Dr. Kevin has a big grin on his face while he cuts away the ragged flesh, and then stitches up the nice clean edges that he just created. Turns out he's a cyclist, too, so he made the stitches extra big and kept the count down so I could get right back on the bike ASAP.

Wanna see? Wanna see?

Go ahead - you know you do:

https://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...y/P5150012.jpg
https://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...y/P5150013.jpg
https://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...y/P5150014.jpg

caloso

Saturday: Modesto Crit M123. Missed the winning break but took second in the field sprint so I give myself a "B."

Sunday: Early morning I rode downtown to check out the scene at the Capitol and to try out my new Garmin. Midday, I rode back, this time with my daughter on the trail-a-bike and my son on his little BMX. We did the Mayor's ride around the finishing circuit (went twice, actually, before they kicked us off). What a great cycling weekend.

Midland

Dang, BBM pretty gnarly road rash ya got their. Hope you heal up soon.

cccorlew

Cool!
As I've been told:

1. No gut, no glory
2. Broken bones mend
3. Chicks dig scars

JoelS

I had a fantastic ride yesterday morning! Did a fun loop that includes some good climbs on Malcolm-Dixon, Deer Valley, Serrano, Wilson, and Empire Ranch. 65 miles, 4300 feet, and a 15.2 avg. A little over 4 hours. Much faster that I've ever done that before.

bikingshearer 

His knee was actually nastier-looking at the scene of the crime before the bodily fluids made their appearance. Be grateful that MarkoPolo and I failed in our responsibility to memorialize the event photographically.

loopybunny

I got in a 40 km ride on the ARBT on Saturday. It was brilliant and makes me feel very homesick. Saw 5 deer, 2 turkeys, and 1 quail. Also suspect a Garmin rider, though I can't confirm and I don't know who it was, but he had some guys hanging onto him. Quite happy.

Seriously, it was one of those rides that I actually felt like I could go on for much longer and wanted to keep going, but I had to get back to my parents' house for dinner.

obiwan kenobi

Saturday Valley Springs to Ione and back: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/34161355

Sunday Valley Springs to Mokeulmne Hill and back: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/34307075

I've found the powertap to be a great motivation point for climbing hills, the compact crank really helps in the climbs but, never let anyone tell you that you can't spin out a 50/11 down hill.

JoelS

I did 100 miles today! First century since Foxy's last year. Rode a great 81 mile loop with Shiz. A bit over 5000 feet of climbing. Avg of 15.2. Then took Jacob out and backtracked a little of the route for a recovery ride. Here's the data: https://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=655757

Ygduf

Saturday: did the PV Saturday ride. 36m 20mph. Learned that my fitness is better than my pack riding. Nothing disastrous, but I wasn't very comfortable either. Managed to stay near the front all the way to the end, so even the 2nd half was better than the 1st. I will attend again and see how quickly I can get used to it. Definitely a change of pace from our usual 6+ hour rides to just go out and do a fast 2 instead.

Sunday: Met with Ramon and Michael, did some Moody -Altamount loop repeats, with full effort on the steep 1/2 mile at the end of Moody. Set a new PR on run #1 of 3:47. Previous PR was 3:53. Other runs were 4:01 and 3:57. It's a tough 4 minutes.

obiwan kenobi

What is your loop route on the Altamount?

bikingshearer 

Way to go, Joel. Good to hear that the hernia surgery is receding further and further in the rear view mirror.

Ygduf

From Moody/Altamount intersection, go up Moody, right on PageMill, Right on Altamount. repeat as desired. I think it's 8 miles 800ft climbing, takes 20-30min depending on how long I spend gasping at the top of Moody.

bikingshearer 

Felt like poop yesterday for some reason (some sort of 24 hour bug), so no ride. Today, from home in North Berzerkeley up Tunnel Road, down N. Pinehurst, through Moraga and Orinda and up Wildcat. Still felt just a hair under par, but what a beautiful day for a ride. 30 miles, 2,300 feet.

The only downside was that it appears that someone declared it to be Stupid Day on Wildcat Canyon. I had more cars pass on blind corners and/or ignore my hand signals not to pass because of oncoming traffic today than I had in the previous couple of years. I know snake are still kind of groggy this time of year from coming out of hibernation (one reason you see so many dead ones on the road in Spring), but I didn't know the same thing happened with drivers. Sheesh.

JoelS

To be honest, I think I'm in better shape right now than I was this time last year. That's a good thing! Come join us for Diablo next Sunday.

MarkoPolo

Got up early this morning and headed up Hwy 9 from Saratoga to Skyline... just once I'd like to be the passer, rather than the passee on this climb. After a short rest at the top, I headed down 9 to Boulder Creek - what a nice descent. Good road, curvy enough, but not filled with switchbacks and, this morning at least, very little traffic. 15 miles of downhill goodness and I'm in Boulder Creek, where I refueled and refilled at Rainbow's End Coffee, proclaimed - at least by the owners - as the best coffee in town, and it sure tasted good to me, especially with the killer apple fritter that went with it.

What must go down, must go back up, so I headed Northeast up Bear Creek Road, - pretty flat for the first 2 or 3 miles, but then turns upward in anger for about 4 or 5 miles of relentless climbing. While not heavily trafficked, there's very little shoulder so the roaring of the big 4 x 4 pickup trucks that populate the Santa Cruz mountains were a little disconcerting. And will someone please tell the little old man in his 1988 Buick that I heard his missing engine for at least a quarter of a mile before he got there and there's no need to honk the horn RIGHT NEXT TO MY LEFT EAR!

Close to the top of the climb where it starts to flatten out, I passed Byington and Robert Bruce Wineries and while I've tasted nice reds from both, I figured I'd wait for another time to try them again. While the descent starts with some nice twisting turns on Bear Creek, I took a right onto Summit Road, which crosses Highway 17, where I made my way to Old Santa Cruz Highway and a fun downhill run to the backside of Lexington Reservoir and finally back home, just in time to watch the Sharks get swept by the Blackhawks.

Final Stats: 50.5 miles, 5200 feet of climbing, and a nice day in the saddle. I'm almost ready for the 8 or 10 or 12,000 feet of climbing in the Mendocino Monster!

Here's just a couple of shots from the iPhone...

View from top of Bear Creek - Monterey Bay in the background:


Look what I found, just sitting in the bushes!

MarkoPolo

Where do you position your rear view mirror to see your hernia surgery receding? Just wondering...

Oh, and congrats Joel on the recovery. I'm sure it has felt like forever, but you should be pleased by how fast you've gotten back your form.