I heard alot are coming to the college and modifying the 3 ride.

I wish we would start a bit earlier, the heat is fun and all but not on any long climb at the end of the day...And for the love of god no more augora hills areas

Vance, Bob and I were thinking about Angeles Crest, but for something different, start at Newcomb's and go to Wrightwood and back.

Joining the SFBC ride this Sat - Thousand Oaks ride - have some questions

In order to save time, as I am not from the area, could someone tell me the street name that i should park on and give me some direction to get to the start.
THe website says meet at northwest corner of Nordhoff Street and Etiwanda.

Also is there an announcement on which rides are going, per the website there are 4 rides for Sat.

Thanks

basically, you can park along the street Nordoff? I just ride to the college so no input there.

It starts in that parking lot On Nordoff, you'll see tons of cyclist on Saturday...can't miss them.

The rides are basically the ones that attract the most people. I just come out and do whatever ride the faster guys are doing and just hang on there.

John will probably help more with the questions :)

Park on Nordhoff, between Lindley and Etiwanda. If you park in the lot you have to pay.
There is usually someone to make a short announcement at the start, but you could ask around and see if anyone else is doing the same route you chose.
A lot of us are doing remote start rides tomorrow, some on Angeles Crest and some in Simi Valley. When it's hot,we do a lot of remote rides.

Park along the north side of Nordhoff, just east of Etiwanda. If you get there anytime after 7:30
you'll see plenty of people unloading bikes etc.

The rides on the website are a "loose" indication of what will be going on that day. Print the route sheet for the ride you want to do and just ask who else is riding it. Just before 8 AM there's a call for new riders.
Say hi and if you still haven't hooked up with the TO ride group, that's your chance.

I hope someone can answer this. I began riding regularly in January and have been wondering about trying one of the weekly SFVBC rides. I'm still trying to build my stamina and speed, so I'm nervous about joining a group. Right now, I tend to ride on my own and don't have to worry about getting dropped. I usually do 17-20 miles once or twice a week in the morning and, on weekends, I do approximately 25-30 miles (or until my back starts hurting). Usually those rides are without any rest breaks. I tend to average 14-15 mph, which I think is an okay speed considering I don't use clips or clipless pedals.

Given that, do you think I would be able to keep up with the group on one of the Level 1 rides? I was thinking about trying the 32- or 37-mile ride on Sunday to Burbank. I don't mind riding alone, but I think it would be fun to join a group. I also think that would help me improve and learn a lot more about riding. My goal is to build my strength and stamina and learn how to climb, so I can do some of the longer rides. And that, or course, raises the question of whether newbies who might ask a lot of dumb questions are welcome on SFVBC rides.

Everyone is welcome.
This would be a great ride for you to do...
Everyone starts together, but then there tends to be some groups splitting up. Fast, medium etc...
I am sure you will find one to your liking. It is great training for group riding! And great for pushing yourself by trying to hang onto a faster group.
Everyone is pretty social, so feel free to ask questions!
Usually most everyone does the #1 ride...
Hope to see you there!

SFVBC has a #1 level coached orientation ride the first Saturday of every month, that's tomorrow.
And of course you're welcome on the Sunday ride. Sunday "short" rides always have a break in the middle at some coffee stop or bagel shop. The Sunday ride can be pretty quick depending.... but not everyone goes full out, there is always a slower group at the back.

The most important things to remember when in a group are, hold your line, stay off the brakes and don't overlap your wheel with the rider in front of you. Oh, and have a good time.

but not everyone goes full out, there is always a slower group at the back.

That would be me!:rolleyes:

I am looking for a fast to medium paced ride with lots of climbing.
DO you think that due to the heat they wont be doing the THousand oak ride?

I saw on another thread that you are doing another ride with lots of climbing. Can you give me the exact location of the start (the 60-70mile one) so that I could maybe join you. I have a very bad sense of direction so rely on Google maps to get me there.

You can email me the details
fogary at yahoo dot com

there will definately be a longer route with either fast or good climbing involved. Almost all the climbs we wait for people incase you get left behind or something, so if you get to the top first just wait up.

Come out on Saturday and see the ride. If you mention your new, I will come by tell you which guys to follow for the longer routes.

I think we'll survive the heat just fine :) It should be in the low 90's I hear

I will be wearing a green and white Dornellas club jersey on a black and red Look 585 with black and red tires. Cant miss me.
Please come and introduce yourself.
Thanks
Gary

Maybe you should join Big John doing Angeles Crest? I'm from Rochester (across from Toronto) and there are no hills there like Angeles Crest. You would enjoy yourself :)

A few of us are doing a 70ish mile ride in the mountains with about 7500 feet of climbing. If you're up for that, we're meeting at Charlton Flats at 8:00. To get there, take Angeles Crest off of the 210 in La Crescenta and go up the mountain about 25 miles. Charlton is after you pass Upper Big Tujunga. It's a tough ride with no food or water until we get to Wrightwood, the turn-around point. Lots of new pavement and few cars, high point at 7900 feet elevation. I'm a slow climbing Clyde, so if you're a good climber, you won't have trouble keeping up.

John you climb faster than alot of people in the club :)

I'll watch for you Gary if you show up at the college. Note the parking lot, its on Nordoff. Tons of people at 7:50, can't miss them.

See ya in the morning

I will be there. Big Johns ride seems a bit extreme for me.

Look for Ovoleg, he's on a silver/red Lemond and has tons of attitude.:)

what attitude :rolleyes: :D

I'll be wearing red, and on my sexy Lemond.

John has a following of women around him at all times, at least 4-5, so he loses track of the real world :D :D

You'll be fine. The rides usually start out together and then break off into smaller groups depending on each rider's speed. If you do tomorrow's, I'll be on the level 1 ride nursing a knee back to health so I'll be plenty slow. I don't usually do the Sunday rides, though, due to church.

At least you said your BIKE is sexy, and not you :D Have you ever thought about asking John what his secret is?

Keith's ride report from Climb to Kaiser:

Climb to Kaiser is 155 miles with 14,200 feet of climbing and it starts in Clovis, California at 300 feet elevation. 83.5 miles later you are at 9200 feet and have climbed 11,800 feet, all of it between mile 20 and 83.5. 10,000 of it is between mile 40 and 83.5.

The ride is flat for the 1st 20 miles and has a too slow police escort which causes many problems for the riders. I had a good start up to around mile 36. I was in a group of four strong riders that was a few minutes behind a group of about 6-7 riders. My group decided to stop at the 2nd rest stop and when we started again I had trouble keeping up. I lost my rhythm. This climb is called Tollhouse and goes on for around 9 miles after the rest stop. The climb is all over the place with changing inclines and steep short and sometimes longer sections. I just keep going slower and slower.

Upon reaching the Shaver Lake rest stop at mile 53, many people had passed me and a few more passed while I was deciding to quit or not. My legs felt so bad, I was sure I couldn't finish. I convinced myself to go around the lake, then up Big Creek Rd where I stopped at the top and ate some food. This was the point of no return, if I drop into the canyon there is a hellacious climb back out no matter which way I go. I rolled the bike forward and down into the canyon.

Nice downhill, gorgeous canyon. You can see the super steep ascent carved into the vertical wall on the opposite side of the canyon, it is quite a site. I reached the rest stop at mile 63 at the bottom of the climb and saw that I had arrived 40 minutes after the 1st rider had arrived.

Strangely, this is where the good part of the ride started. 20.5 miles and 4300 feet of climbing in only 11.5 miles of climbing to the top of Kaiser. I started up the climb and after a little while I caught the 1st rider I saw to add to the 2 that I passed at the rest stop. A little further up the road another, and another, and another for a total of at least 6 catches and 4 rider passes on the 1900 4-mile Big Creek climb. The climb was mile 63-67 and total climbing 7500-9400, almost identical to the Baldy climb 2 weeks before. The Baldy climb was invaluable as I knew exactly how fast I could go and stay strong for later. It took 33 minutes to do the climb for an average speed of just under 7 mph at a 3450 feet per hour rate, amazing. My best climb of the day and I was feeling great finally.

I caught 2 more riders going around Huntington Lake to the lunch stop and passed at least 4 more at the lunch stop as I popped in and out. Total catches at least 12 in 10 miles. I started up the 7.5 mile Kaiser climb and felt good especially as more riders came into sight. I was too tired for an accurate count, but I know I passed at least 4 more riders on the ascent and saw 8 come down the hill. Good news, since I was determined to finish in the top 10 with my new found legs. I found 4 more riders at the top and passed them as I was in and out. Total catches at least 20 since Big Creek and I was in 9th place.

Robert Choi jumped on with me on the downhill, a much better climber than I, but he was having a bad day. I pulled him all the way down the mountain and talked to him alot on the way down. I reached the top at 6:23 and thought I still had a chance for 9:30. Perhaps I could have if I was solo, not talking, or if Robert was strong. I was surprised we hadn't caught anyone on the way down up til the last rest stop at mile 142.

I went to pee and came out and a huge group of around 10 or more riders came to the rest stop, but 3 kept going. I tapped Robert on the shoulder and left like a dog after a squirrel, except that I caught my squirrels. I wasn't about to lose my top 10 spot after all that work. I had to ride around 27 mph on a slight downhill into the wind for around 5 minutes to catch them, but I did. Then after 2 attempts on rollers I broke free with about 7 miles to go and only 1 was able to catch. A couple more miles down the road we caught number 8, my buddy Matt Turgeon--2nd on Butterfied, and invited him to grab onto my wheel.

We flew into the finish with a time of around 9:41- 9:43, I'm
not sure. On this ride you punch a time clock to finish and they insisted that I sign in 1st. 8th place-- 9:42ish and 21 catches. That means I was, at best, in 29th place at the bottom of Big Creek and rode my way back to 8th, about where I was before the meltdown.

My ride time was 9:15 with around 27 minutes of stops. 155.6 miles--16.8 mph--14,200 feet of climbing on my Polar. On a good day, the stops would be around 15-18 minutes. I can only speculate, but if you take off 10 minutes of stops and 15 minutes for my bad patch, I figure that 9:15 on a good day would be possible. Maybe faster on a great day. At least I know the course now.

This ride is a multitude of 3 harder than the Death Ride. There are many steeps sections that are long and grinding. The 20th worst spot on this ride is still harder than the hardest part of the Death Ride. Other than Mulholland Double it is definitely the hardest ride I have tried, and definitely the hardest I have completed. I'm glad I stuck it out, it was worth the pain.

Keith

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:


Awed.

damn gaining 20 spots...

How long till I can drop Keith? Vance how much slower are you? overall

The question is absurd. Keith is on a different planet. I'm a frail little first-year rookie who struggles to keep up with CAT 5'ers, and he is a KOM and Doubles god.