Week 31 & 32 08/09 - 08/22 Goal 17 done

Le Monde taking a break

Week 31 - work commutes, Saturday ride, no goal
Week 32 - work commutes, Tour of Napa, Goal 17

I forgot to do a post for week 31,  probably because nothing really happened that week except for a Saturday ride that turned out to be a bad, bad date.  I got in about 80 miles that week, I probably should have gone out on Sunday and finished the week, but I didn't.

This last week, Week 32, however was a good week.  Commuted to work a couple of times, got in 48 miles and then hit the Tour of Napa on Sunday for 70 miles through the hills surrounding Yountville.  I drove up Saturday, took my good friends Mary and Rob to the Impressionist exhibit at the de Young and an excellent lunch at Sutro Bistro in the Cliffhouse.  They took me to a barbeque at friends in Petaluma that evening, a fun evening, some very interesting people.  Back to their house, a very charming craftsman in the old part of town, by 10 pm.  I had to get up early for the ride, and Mary was getting up at 4 am to fly out to Hawaii.  Poor Rob they only one that was not going out to play on Sunday.

Sunday morning arrived foggy and cold, a thick marine layer has been hanging over the wine country till about noon for weeks.  A good thing, I do better riding, particularly climbing, in cooler weather.  Met up with Jenny and Sue at the start and hit the road by 7:30 am.  The first 15 miles were relatively flat, we all moved out at a good pace, exactly what I can't tell you as I am on my third broken bike computer this year.  I am trusting that Eagle Bicycling Club has their mileage down pat, I had no way to verify it.  We got caught in the midst of the Benicia Cycle Club, their pace line moving between 12 and 15 mph, so we  moved out and passed them, all 12 - 15 of them.  Got ahead of them, held a gap for a while and then they caught us.  A few started passing us, and we were trapped in the middle again.  I hate it when someone speeds up to pass me then they slows down when they get in front of me.  Jenny (she is a racer at heart) scooted ahead of them.  I took an opportunity to do the same, picked up Sue along the way and again we were out in front and gapping them, and I'll be damned if they didn't pick up the pace again.  Evidently they needed the goad of three riders passing them to get them to move.

lunch stop

We arrive at the first rest stop, and decide that we are losing the Benicia group.  Fortunately by the time we are ready to go, they have moved on head.  We start to climb out of here and Jenny and Sue drop me pretty quickly.  Sue told  me later that day that Jenny took that climb at 18 mph, she really should consider racing, I think she would do well.  From here to the lunch break is a steady terrain of rise and fall, rollers progressively climbing up the hillside.   Pope Valley Rd was a steady climb for about 10 miles and then a nice downhill to lunch.  I stopped about a mile out of the lunch stop, a rider flagged me down, she has a flat, no tools and no one would stop to help her.  What is wrong with people?  10 minutes out of my day, and she was able to get back on the road.   Met up with J & S as they were leaving, and I followed them about 10 minutes later.   I start up the infamous Ink Grade two miles out form lunch.  I had been really apprehensive about this hill, but you know, there were two pitches that were too steep for me (I walked the second one), and the rest, the rest was okay.  My back was knotted by the time I reached the top, but, it wasn't as bad as I had feared.

the view half way up Ink Grade

From there it is a  really just a nice, sweet, sweeping downhill and some rollers to the end.  70 miles and what my educated guess tells me is around 4200' of climbing (ECC does not give a elevation change).  The barbeque at the end was okay, they had a veggie burger, chicken breast, sausage, or carnitas.  Black bean or green bean salad and fruit.  Tasted pretty good and I did not even think to get a picture of any of it.  They did have Ben and Jerry's ice cream, always a good end to a day.

I would do this ride again, maybe try the century next year... god, can I get strong enough for Mt Veeter?

Week 30 08/02/2010 - 08/08/2010

Work Commute 44 miles
Marin Century - Metric route  60 miles

104 miles  16th goal hit (grudgingly)

Oh today was frustrating. I woke up 30 minutes late and could not quite wake up on the drive down.  In fact I had to stop and get coffee, I was having to fight falling asleep as I drove.  I had the metric route on the Marin Century, which by the way is quite a production.  6 routes all departing from the same place, thousands of riders, CHP doing lane closures to allow us a clear lane on the two climbs I had going out (unfortunately I didn't get them on the way back).

It is cold in San Rafael when I arrive.  A low marine layer is hanging over the area, but I was certain it would burn off as we move inland, so I take off with just my arm warmers and vest.  Sign in, and head out, starting the ride about 7:15 am. My route takes me up and around Petaluma and back via Lucas Valley Road and Nicasio Rd.  Lucas Valley Rd is a long climb going out, about 3.5 miles at 4-6%, and coming back 9 to 10 miles.  I am freezing coming into the 1st rest stop, there is a long descent to it, which was fun, but today was really cold.  My energy levels are also tanking, I can't even seem to get up any speed on the downhills.  Need to figure out why I feel so depleted, maybe I didn't eat enough the week before?  I didn't sleep all that great the night before, but I don't sleep all that great most nights, it doesn't usually affect me like this.

 

Anyway, off to Petaluma, traffic really picks up on Pt Reyes-Petaluma Rd, hit the 2nd rest stop around 9:30 pm.  I am not hungry, but I force some food down, the ride back involves several climbs, I'll need some energy.  I do toy with the idea of just saying to hell with it and sagging in.  I am tired, achy, a little queasy, really don't feel good.  But onward and upward, at least the sun finally broke out as I left the 2nd rest stop, not really warm, but better than before.  I slog through the rest of the ride get back to the finish around 1:30, have lunch, and then fight to stay awake on the way home.
                                                            

Kind of a disappointing day, my performance anyway, but I think I am going to do this one again next year.  The route is very pretty, especially Lucas Valley Rd, and I would like to do this ride and enjoy it a  bit more.  Marin Cyclists do a great job, the rest stops are well stocked, the food is good, dinner had some nice touches - roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, veggie lasagna, 4 different pastas, pizza - really a good selection of food.  The volunteers are great as well, friendly, helpful, encouraging, I saw at least 1/2 dozen SAG wagons throughout the day, nice support.

Dinner

Week 29 7/26/2010 - 8/1/2010 Goal 15

Mt Shasta Summit Century - 60 miles

Work Commute - 20 miles

Saturday am ride - 25 miles

105 miles - 15th goal hit

Mt Shasta Summit Century rocks!

I had a great weekend up in Shasta City. It started out Saturday morning with a quick ride up the bike trail, 25 miles. Went in for a haircut on my way out of town and came out almost bald. Frank got a little excited, giddy even, when I told him "yea, you can cut it shorter, I'm going to let it grow out this winter anyway." It is so short I won't need a hair cut for 6 months. People tell me it looks good, I am going to believe they are not *just* being nice and it does look okay.

Had an uneventful drive up the central valley to Mt Shasta City. I was not sure about my hotel in Dunsmiur when I arrived, it looked like the Bates Motel, more in atmosphere than architecture, but still evoked a feeling, ya know? I almost drove on to try and find another room, but I figured the chance of that was pretty slim, so I checked in. The room was clean, didn't smell, had too many entrances to the room for my liking (3 doors, and two huge windows) but it seemed secure enough. I decided to avoid the shower scene flashback by just not taking a shower, an idea that made me very popular when I shared it later that evening.

The view from my hotel parking lot

Headed up the freeway 6 miles to Mt Shasta City, found the Goat Brewery and waited for everyone else to arrive. After about 10 minutes, I called Nicole, and discovered that I had the wrong restaurant. I really need to actually read my messages, not skim. Headed on down the road and met up with everyone at the correct place, the Trinity Cafe. Dinner was good, not too much. Dessert at Dan's room, the homemade s'more cookies courtesy of Jan were great. Just the right touch to round off the evening. New guy joined us, Jared, friend of Dan and Nicole's, nice guy, a lot of fun and Rob, friend of Jared's, also a good guy. Rob was going to ride the Super Century after a pretty hard crash a few days before, his tire actually came off the rim while he was on it. Of all the things I think that can go wrong while riding, that one had never crossed my mind. It does now.

Dessert at Dan's

Up at 6 am to get ready and load up the car and then to meet up with Tanya Vandrick at the registration. I was more than a little apprehensive that this ride was going to be more than I could do, even though I was only doing the metric (60 miles), the terrain from the freeway looks like it is all up and down, no flat. We hit the road by 7:15 am. The rest of the day was just awesome, this is one of the best rides I have ever been on. Tanya is great company, a solid rider, good challenge for me to push a little harder to keep up. And, the scenery, wow, more than I can describe. It seems like just about every turn had a new view of Mt Shasta, or some vista off over blue-green mountains, babbling brooks, flowing rivers. The weather was perfect, just cool in the morning, warm enough mid-day that the shade felt cool as you rode through it, but not so hot I was dripping a sweat trail behind me.

Tanya

The route was challenging, but all the climbs were doable. The ascent up W.A. Barr road was difficult for me about half way up, my lower back started knotting up. I really need to get back on my core work, I have been way too lax about keeping up with it. But I finally came up on that yellow turnaround arrow (and was *very* happy that I did not have to follow the orange arrow straight on further up the road!) and the rest stop. And, one of the best views of Shasta of the day.

W.A. Barr road

The turnaround!

Tanya and I headed back down the canyon, big smiles on our faces. Hit the finish at around 1:15, had a really good dinner (chicken/black bean burritos, oriental salad, veggies) and parted ways to head on back home. I ran into Will, Jared, and Rob at the second rest stop, and I saw Nicole come barreling down W.A. Barr as I was going up (that woman is absolutely fearless), but I didn't get a chance to ride with them this year. Maybe next, Tanya and I were talking about doing the century next year, maybe...

Lunch, turkey/avocado sandwich

Rob, Will and Jared at lunch stop

Dinner was great, chicken/black bean burrito, oriental salad, veggies

Week 28 7/19/2010 - 7/25/2010

The bike is in the shop this week, after dropping my chain multiple times on the Healdsburg Harvest Century, I took it for a tune up. Good thing I did, I had a cracked rim. I really need to start doing a more thorough check of my bike for mechanical problems.

But, there were big happenings this week in spite of no bike and no goal. 7/18 was my birthday, my 50th, good god, hard to believe I have been around that long. I had decided that I was going to do something this year, usually I don't make or expect a fuss. Wish me a happy birthday and I am very happy. But 50 doesn't come around more than once, so I gave it some thought and decided to rent a house in the mountains, invite some good friends up and just enjoy.

I finally found a place in Graeagle that was affordable and (just) big enough for the group invited. By the way, trying to narrow down the guest list to a group that could be accommodated was very difficult. If you are reading this, and were not invited, it is not that I don't value your friendship, I do. I finally decided to invite those individuals that I have been spending the most time with lately and that I knew had been in close quarters together before and could tolerate each other for a few days. But is was tough, I wish I could have afforded to get a place big enough for everyone that I know to come play and hang out.

We had the place from Wednesday 7/21 through Sunday 7/25. I sent out evites, my guests responded, I established a menu, my friends volunteered to bring food, wine, a good time. As the date approached, about a week out, I sent out a reminder email to everyone about who was arriving when and bringing what. I thought I was very clear and concise in my communication, but I must have been fuzzy on the dates. I received a call from the owner about 1 pm, Wed, 7/14, asking me if I was expecting to "hook up" with someone during my week, a guy was at the house looking for me. It took me a minute to figure it out, but I finally discovered that Will, good ole Onespeed, had jumped the gun and gone up a week early. Bless his little heart, it was so sweet that he was so excited to come up and spend time with me. And, he did provide good fodder for endless ribbing during the next week, when the rest of us arrived.

We spent the next 5 days eating, laughing, playing. I had a great time, I think everyone else did too. Dan loaned me his old bike so I could ride up Gold Lake Road, and he and Will road right with me the whole way. I do love them for that gift, it was so much fun. I managed to convince everyone to do the hike up to the Sierra Buttes with me, on what I think is a moderate hike, but I have been informed by everyone that my idea of moderate is askew. Ha, that will teach them, tell me the Ice House ride is just a series of rollers. HA! Seriously if it hadn't been so hot they would have just sailed up the mountain, and the views, god the views are spectacular up there. One of these days I am going to have to work up the nerve to actually make it up the ironwork staircase to the lookout it self. Maybe next year...

The week was amazing, I have the best friends I could hope for, and I am so happy they could make the time to come share my 50th birthday with me.

Week 27 7/12 - 7/18

Work commute - 42.41 miles

Healdsburg Harvest Century - 60 miles

102.41 miles - 14th goal met

This week's big ride was the Healdsburg Harvest Century, a fun little ride sponsored by the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce. The first year I did this ride was 4 (?) years ago, the last year the Sierra Century was held in Amador County, the year they had a rider fatality. I had come upon the dead rider soon after his accident, too soon, it was really kind of traumatizing, I was new to riding, didn't know if the down rider was one of my friends (thank god it was not), and I decided when I got home I need a fun, fluffy ride. Barry Marcus decided to come ride with me that year, I had a great time. He "took it easy" and stayed with me the whole way, it was a perfect remedy to the mess of the previous Sierra Century.

This year there was no tragedy prefacing the Harvest Century, just anticipation to a fun and pretty ride. We wind our way through wine country, thru the back roads. I left Sacramento at 5 am, the temps were already hovering around 75 degrees, the day in the valley was going to be a scorcher. But once I dropped into Vallejo and took off over Hwy 37, a marine layer had dropped the temps by at least 25 degrees. Healdsburg was cool, a wind breaker felt good, no wind, perfect riding conditions.

I hit the road around 8 am, feeling pretty good, well rested, really looking forward to the day. Everything is going as well as it can, until I hit a slight down hill and tried to shift back to my big ring and dropped my chain. Stop, put it back on, continue on, hit another hill, need to shift down to the small ring, drop my chain again. Again, I put it back on, finish the hill, do the downhill on my small ring, hit the flats, shift to my big ring, and.drop.my.chain...again. Stopped, put it on, again, and decided this time I am leaving it. Out of a 60 mile ride, I rode about 50 miles on my big ring. For you hard core riders that can climb this would be no big deal, for me, my quads were talking to me by the time I returned to my car! A good thing really, it has been a while since I have really felt a ride afterwards, good wake up to the fact that I need to push harder.

Still, the bike goes in the shop this week, I am definitely getting a new chain, and I think I am going to treat myself to new shifters and a derailleur. Need to be set up for Shasta, there is absolutely no way in hell I am doing those climbs on my big ring!

All in all, a beautiful day, a beautiful ride. The dinner provided by the Chamber is excellent, a fresh veggie pizza, black bean/corn salad, bow-tie pasta salad, a red potato/green bean dish that was awesome, fruit, and a cornucopia of other side dishes.

The only blight on the day was the drive home, Hwy 101 is a mess at the best of times, if there is a fender bender? Took me an hour to cover 8 miles...

Week 26 7/5 - 7/11

No goal this week, in fact no riding unless I ride in to work tomorrow (Saturday). Yes, I am working on Saturday, trying to get my staff ahead of the workload curve. I am taking a week off starting 7/15, I need to know they won't be buried while I am gone. Didn't sleep well all week so I didn't push through the fatigue and make myself ride anyway. I am such a slug, that is a picture of me above, being a slug. I thought I was going to get a good nights sleep on Thursday, fell pretty hard and fast, but sometime in the middle of the night Joey went ape-shit crazy and scared the bejesus out me. She was barking so hard it reverberated off the walls. I woke up from a dead sleep, straight up in bed, heart pounding, certain there had to be some one in the house, there was no other reason she would be going this crazy, she has never acted like this before, just nuts. I sat there for a moment, finally figured out no one was in the house, something outside is setting her off. Got up, turned all the outside lights, could see nothing, and Joey by now has calmed down a bit. Whatever ugga-bugga (probably a raccoon) was out there had moved on. And I am now wide awake and exhausted. Whoo-hoo. So I pick up the Straub book I am re-visiting (I love Peter Straub) and spend the next couple of hours waiting to sleep again.

So here I am on Friday night, waiting for the bar-b-que to be ready for dinner - corn on the cob, baby potatoes, turkey burger - a pretty nice pinot in the glass, hoping I can sleep tonight. If Joey goes off again I may just jump out of my skin!

Hope next week is more productive.

Week 25 6/28/2010 - 7/4/2010

“Liberty is the right to choose. Freedom is the result of the right choice.” - Unknown

6/30 work commute - 34.12

7/2 work commute - 34.12

7/4 4th of July Scavenger Hunt - 7.53

Beale's Point - 25.20

100.97 miles - goal #13

Goal was met this week, but the eaaasssyy way. Couple of rides into work, Scott's awesome 4th of July Scavenger Hunt and a run up to Beale's Pt.

I rode into work on both Wed and Fri this week, nice easy cruise in and back. I especially like the ride in the morning this time of year, the wildlife out and about is amazing. Deer browsing along the side of the trail, baby turklets and their moms scurrying about, jackrabbits, squirrels, water birds, they are all going about their business.

The cruise up to Beale's Pt this afternoon was good too. Once I got pass the water access points where all the rafters were congregating the trail was deserted, I pretty much had it to my self. Even the zoo that is Beale's Pt was not too hard to navigate. Baby Quail have to be the cutest baby bird around. Tiny little fluffs of feathers scurrying around after mom and dad on the side of the trail, so sweet...you could just eat them up! Haha.

Have you ever noticed that the only people willing to get naked in public are those you really don't want to see naked anywhere, in public or in private?

The hi-lite of the week's riding had to be Scott's 4th of July Scavenger Hunt this morning. Every year on or near the 4th he organizes a fun ride for us, and it is always a blast. We have clues to find, have to take pictures of them and get back within a certain amount of time, all has to be done while moving around on our bikes. Absolutely awesome fun. I was paired up with Barry and Debbah, which is a good thing, they are very clever and make up for my slack of imagination. We found a good number of clues, but yet once again my team arrived back late, by 1 minute. We were penalized points, Scoot is a hard task master. As good as our takes were, Jean, Di and Kristen were the winners by several photos, a well deserved victory for them.

Once every one returned, we started the potluck, which was very heavy on the sweets and light on the savory, but delicious all the way around. I probably should have done a little more than 25 miles this afternoon, I certainly had enough sugar high to burn.

After the potluck, we enjoyed the slide show Scott put together of everyone's pics, some very imaginative imaging of clues. I know some smart people, how the heck did that happen?