Week 24 6/21/2010 - 6/27/2010

Work Commute

Work Commute

Tour of Carson Valley 44 mi

Century Distance #12

The organized ride this week was the Tour of Carson Valley sponsored by Bike the West, a lovely ride from Genoa up to Woodfords and back. My sister, Robin, and her husband, Ted (modeling their number in the pic above) took the day off work to go out and ride with me, gotta love 'em, they stand by me and support me all the way. And it is even more impressive because they hadn't been on their road bikes, in well, years (Ted had to dust them before they could be ridden) and they hadn't ridden 44 miles at one time in, again, years. On top of this they work a late swing shift at Renown Hospital in Reno, and are not morning people, yet there they were bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 6 am to head out to Genoa.

Sign up was a Mormon Station starting at 8 am, and I was again there before the volunteers were ready! Genoa is the oldest settlement in what was the Utah Territories, later to become Nevada. Also the location of the first saloon in Nevada, still in operation (more on that later).

The morning is lovely, just a little cool, enough to make the air invigorating and crisp. We road out along various frontage roads towards Woodfords and by the way, Carson River Road is just a wee bit of a long climb! Probably between 4 and 6% along about 5 miles.

The rest stops were great, the fruit was fresh, there were a variety of things to munch on, from tortillas and salsa to cookies, granola bars, crackers. Volunteers were fantastic too. The couple below (I should have gotten their names darn it) were probably the friendliest I have run into.

After leaving the 2nd rest stop at Woodfords, we went up to Diamond Valley Road and started our way back to Genoa. Great views along the way, air was clear, it was not too hot, and amazing for Nevada there was no wind...it was probably all in California.

We arrived back at Genoa at about 12:30, 4 ish hours to do 44 miles, took our time, had a great time along the way.

Dinner was good and bad. The barbeque chicken was excellent, fresh off the grill as we stood in line, the sauce was just right, not too heavy, just a hint of heat. And, the ice cream, oooh, the ice cream was a perfect topper to the morning. The rest of the meal was okay, store packaged potato salad, chips, rolls. The only thing they had to drink was water and a sport drink, could have used something different by then, so we mosied on over the the oldest saloon in Nevada and treated ourselves to an IPA. A lovely day with loved ones, they were even talking about going out and doing a ride again!

Week 23 6/14/2010 - 6/20/2010

Rest week - no riding. Just taught spin on Tuesday and took Joey for nice, long walks every evening. I needed to spend a week allowing some overtaxed soft tissues time to heal.

This doesn't mean that I didn't get out and participate in some cycling related activity, specifically food and racing. Saturday I took a cooking demonstration, lecture at The Waterboy. Rick Mahan, chef and owner of The Waterboy and Onespeed was the host. He did a great job, he is really quite charming. I learned how to make gnocchi and risotto! I think I am going to try my hand at both next week, hope I remember everything he told us in class. I'll have to remember my camera next time, some pics of the gnocchi as he rolled it out and the different stages of both dishes would be helpful. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, I think I am going to take more of his classes this summer.

Sunday afternoon was spent up in Nevada City at their Bicycle Classic. Nicole was racing, it was so exciting to watch her, she was so strong on a difficult course. She held 5th place for quite a few laps and finished 8th overall. An impressive showing, I wish I had the legs to do even a fraction of the riding she can.

By the end of Sunday all the tender parts seemed to have healed, Monday and Week 24 start the 12th century distance ... hope everything holds to together well.

Week 22 6/7/2010 - 6/13/2010

One of my favorite views along the American River Bike Trail

Short Commute 6/10/10 19.38

Trail Ride 6/12/10 26.40

Rex Ride 6/13/2010 57.84

103.62 for the week 11th Goal Hit

No one big ride this week, just three short days.

I decided I needed to come up with a shorter commute to fall back on for those days where I either don't have time or energy to do the 40ish mile commute from Sacramento Bar to mid-town.

After a little investigation I decided that parking at William Pond Park and riding into work is still worth the effort, I still get in a 20 miles round trip ride, and I cut my car commute in half of what I would drive, 14 miles round trip vs. 30 miles. All in all still a worthy effort. This should resolve whether I ride or not on days when getting back to my car needs to be accomplished by a certain time - usually before they close the park gates!

I think the wind this week either has people worked up, or just spaced out. I witnessed a couple of occasions where drivers and cyclists pulled out in front of others. One driver sped out of his parking space right into the car parked behind him. I just sat there with my jaw dropped waiting to see if he did the right thing, and he did. He went into Rite Aid and found the owner of the car he mashed. Two young men on the bike trail on bikes way too small for them (do they know just how ridiculous they look?) refused to give a right of way without a confrontation. They verbally accosted one rider (who gave as good as he got) and would not yield the lane until they looked behind and saw that they had several angry riders backed up behind them. I came upon several runners who were just stopped dead in the middle of the trail, either completely unaware of people trying to get around them, or mouthing off to those that were asking for some space. I had a hard time biting my tongue with one group, really wanted to tell them to get their tanning booth tanned, fat asses out of the way, but as an owner of a fat ass myself (lily white at that) I refrained. Limited myself to a hard stare which I am *sure* made them think.

I even saw a rattlesnake in the same section of trail where I ran over one a few weeks back, I think it may have been the same snake. He is brave, there were joggers, walkers, riders all over that area, and there he was bold as brass slithering his way over the asphalt, little rattles raised in warning. I had to swerve to go around him, did not want to run over him again! Although he looked none the worse for wear from the previous time I ran him over, with both tires. He is a fat little sucker. Gawd, what if he remembers me? Ooo, what if he is looking for me? I'll have to ask Jay about the long term memory capacity of a rattlesnake.

The Rex Ride was, as always, just a fun day on the trail. No great stress to this ride, no set distance, no climbs, just a Sunday ride. The wind finally died down, and the heat turn up, it is summer in Sacramento ...

The volunteers who run this event are friendly, the after ride lunch is very good, and it is a good opportunity to run into riders I don't always see. And, I ran into Kevin Sparks at the bar-b-q, he is looking well and appears to be doing fine.

The after ride lunch as always was really good, a beer garden, Merlino's Freeze (I had two!), and JR Barbeque, chicken, tri-tip, beans, coleslaw, cornbread, nice lunch. I dug into it so quick I almost forgot to get a picture!

I got in 58 miles in around 3 hours of riding, a pretty good day.

Week 21 5/31/2010 - 6/6/2010

Commute 6/1 23.64

Commute 6/3 20.44

Sierra *Almost* Metric Century 60.00

Weekly Total 104.80 -- 10th Century Distance

Hit my tenth century distance this week! Whoo-hoo!! Just 15 to go ... at least I am back on schedule. I have two more organized

rides for this month that will definitely have me on schedule. If I can squeeze in one more week, I'll be a week ahead. But, I am

putting the cart before the horse, just need to stay on track.

Yesterdays' ride was the Sierra Century, a local classic that is known for it's difficulty, no matter which county is hosting the event.

For the last three years they have been riding out of Rocklin, and they have not lost their edge, the full century has a 6500'

elevation change, the metric 3200'. With their new location they are not only riding through countryside I love, they are 20 minutes

from my house. A really big plus for me, I love that I don't have to get up before the sun to get to this ride.

I got a bit of a late start on Saturday, didn't hit the route until 8:30ish. Not really sure about the time because I broke my

computer the Sunday before when I washed my bike. I thought not having the computer to track mileage and time would really

bug me, but I actually liked it better than having the computer. I was not concerned about speed at all, just moved as fast or as

slow as I wanted. Without the mileage to track I didn't focus on how far to the next stop, and they seemed to come up quicker

than I thought they should have. I think when I do replace the computer, I am going to place it somewhere that I can't constantly

monitor while riding. It was very liberating to not be tracking the ride, but to just be enjoying it.

And, this is a good route to enjoy. The scenery along the way is beautiful, all the rain we have had this year has kept the foothills

from drying out as early as usual. The locals don't appear to have become irritated with the event yet, I did not encounter a motorist

that did not give riders space on the road. I hope the continues, it will be a shame if clubs have to stop sponsoring these events

because of local resident hostility.

The Wheelmen do a nice job, the rest stops are well stocked,

the volunteers a friendly and encouraging. 1st stop for the

ride is at Camp Far West.

Judging from the number of fishing boats on the road out there a popular fishing hole in the area. I arrived at 10 am, and it was already starting to feel hot. I checked out the map of the route they had up and got all excited when I saw that we were going to go DOWN Baxter Grade and not up it. Was feeling pretty good about that till a volunteer pointed out that in order to go DOWN Baxter Grade, I first had to go UP Mt Vernon Rd. He was a real buzz kill. I decided I needed to get moving, Mt Vernon was going to take me a while. I headed out to the next destination, the 2nd rest stop at

Dono dal Cielo Winery on Wise Rd.

Mt Vernon Rd was difficult, at least for me. Lots of rollers leading up to 3.7 mile climb that never really levels out at any point, just up and up, you round a corner thinking it will level out and it is just going up again. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, and to be honest a 100 yard walk at one of the steeper points, I reached Baxter Grade and the downhill. Which was, honestly, anti-climatic. Baxter Grade, to me, seems to be much steeper coming up it than fast going down it. So, 4 miles after climbing for what seemed an eternity, I arrived at the 2nd rest stop.

The lunch was good, there was free wine tasting (wine was, well, not pleasing to my palate, but others seemed to be enjoying it). From lunch it is an easy 15 miles back to the finish. On the cruise back, I ran into one of Dan W's racy buddies, some woman in a Kinetic's kit, I did not get her name, but she was nice, enjoyed talking to her while she was willing to cruise at my speed.

I arrived back at the start around 1:15, had the after-ride dinner, listened to the band, and then headed on home. The dinner was a disappointment. It certainly looked good, it was hot and fresh, but flavorless. The penne pasta alfredo tasted like flour, the bread stick was doughy. The salad was okay. This is one area that the Wheelmen have always been lacking, the dinner. Every Sierra Century I have done, the meal has been so-so. I guess you can't have it all, can you?