Saturday, December 13, 2008

blog spotted?

Coming out of Trader Joe's today, a couple of guys were admiring Artemis, my Dahon Tournado. They asked if it was mine, I said yes, and then one of them asked if I had a blog. Hey! Now I suppose it's possible that there are other people out there blogging about their Dahons, but I'm going to go ahead and claim a new reader all the same. This brings my total readership up to 5, a 25% increase over this time last year.

I think this is a clear mandate to keep blogging. Unfortunately with the weather turning cold and probably rainy, I don't think a ride up Diablo is looking likely tomorrow. It might have to be an indoor trainer day.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Harvest ride (about 55 miles)

This weekend I went up to the Ukiah area for the Harvest Ride, which begins and ends at Fetzer winery in Hopland and goes around the wine-growing valley region at the southern end of Mendocino county. On the way up, I stopped in the Calistoga area to pick up wine orders at Rutherford, Cuvaison, and Vincent Arroyo. No time to do any tasting this trip, since I wanted to get up to Ukiah before dark.


Originally I had made a reservation at a budget motel in Ukiah, but then my friends recommended Vichy Springs Resort. It was about the same price, and I’m so glad I switched lodging. Vichy Springs is a modest renovated traditional style motel, with a couple of separate one-story buildings each with several small rooms. The room was simple was nicely decorated, but the main theme here is the hot springs, which are naturally carbonated. They have one largish hot tub with the special water, and then several individual tubs that you can fill up self-serve style. I tried one of these first but found the water too cool (they say it’s at around 90 degrees) so then ended up soaking in the large hot tub. Nice.

For dinner, went into downtown Ukiah, which was nothing to write home about, but had dinner at the Ukiah Brewing Company. The place has great California country ambiance, features organic ingredients, and offers several brews on tap.

Oh, another nice thing about Vichy Springs Resort is that they offer a really nice continental breakfast starting at 7:30. That ended up being perfect timing for a pre-ride breakfast.

It only took about 15 minutes to drive from Vichy to the starting point of the ride, at the Fetzer bottling facility in Hopland. While registering, I overheard one of the organizers say that only 250 or 300 riders had signed up this year, which I think makes this the smallest organized event I’ve ever done. It was nice at first, because there weren’t hordes of cyclists on the road, but it also meant that the ride wasn’t as well supported as others I’ve done. They had some snafus with the cue sheets and route signage. I had a complete double-sided route sheet, but others only had one side, and some folks apparently had a map stapled to theirs (I didn’t have a map at all). So lots of people were somewhat lost to begin with. Then there was at least one error on the cue sheet, where it listed a left turn instead of a right (hello!), and then they failed to mark a turn down a country road that had no road sign. So.. several dozen of us missed a turn and end up at the wrong rest stop, having cut out a 12-15 mile loop. Hence the not-quite-metric-goodness of the total distance for this event.

However, at the end of the ride, they had a fabulous barbecue back at the Fetzer winery. Maybe the best post-ride setup I’ve seen, although most conversations at the tables were about how the cue sheets and signs were totally screwed up.

Not sure if I’ll do this one again, but I would like to explore the area a bit more and spend some more time at Vichy Springs.

Bike vanity note: Got several compliments on the Tournado (Artemis?) Everyone agrees it is a very pretty bicycle.


Event begin and end: 8:40 am – 2:15pm

Total Distance: maybe 55 miles
Elevation gain: probably 2000 feet
Time in the Saddle: unknown

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Tournado is in

Well the Tournado finally arrived last week. I made a couple visits to the bike shop, as the guys were assembling it, and had a couple of components swapped out (the seatpost with pump, the cassette, and the derailleur). And now, at long last, it's finally home. It's a beauty...

From tournado



My one disappointment so far has been that the lovely new rack that I had ordered from Rivendell doesn't seem to fit. Argh. I'll have to go out to Walnut Creek and talk to those guys to figure out what the deal is.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

August mileage stats and Dahon update

August was a pretty good month, thanks mostly to the Bike Against the Odds ride on the 23rd. I missed one weekend of riding which accounts for the slightly lower total mileage.

In other news, my Dahon Tournado has still not arrived, but the bike shop expects it to arrive in their Tuesday shipment. Whee!


Total mileage for August: 333
Hours in the saddle: 29.7 hours
Total climbing: 18,500 feet

Mt Tam loop (47 miles)

Yesterday pmk and I did the Mt Tam loop, starting and finishing in Sausalito. Weather was pretty close to perfect: cool and overcast in the morning, with the sun breaking through by 10 so that we had some nice views along the ridge line and from the peak.

The climb up from Alpine Dam Bridge to Ridgecrest was a bit easier this time than last, although I was still creeping along at just under 4 mph. And the rollers along Ridgecrest are still a pain (it always seems like they’ll never end), but the views almost make up for it.


Up at the Tam visitors’ center, they’re doing a bunch of construction and walkway improvement, so the main area is a bit of a mess. The concession stand vendor said that they’re using labor from the Sonoma county correctional facilities, and that they only do work on the weekends. So I guess that may take a while to complete.

After the ride, we had lunch in downtown Mill Valley at a place called Small Shed Flatbreads, where the flatbreads feature local organic ingredients. Tasty! Then back to Sausalito for mojitos, cfg-style, and a post-ride dinner courtesy of pmk: salmon with roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts. Good stuff.

For the past few weeks pmk has been staying at this house up in the hills above Sausalito. The house belongs to the parents of the girlfriend of one of his employees, or some such thing. Everything about this house is pretty much perfect, and the views from the back patio are spectacular. Check it out:



Total Distance: 47 miles
Animules: lots of deer
Elevation gain: 4000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 5 hours

Update: pmk's garmin data shows a total elevation gain of 6400 feet, way more than what I estimated from my KLIMB software.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Harvest Ride century

Next big event coming up: the Harvest Ride in Hopland (Mendocino County) the first weekend in October. I've signed up to do the full century, but have no idea what the route profile looks like. Mysterious!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Bike Against the Odds (70 mile route)

This Saturday was the Bike Against the Odds charity ride, to benefit the Breast Cancer Fund. I reached my goal of raising $1000 in donations; thanks guys! Here's the official cfg ride report.


I began my Saturday morning by missing the BART train that I had wanted to take from my house to downtown Oakland. Not wanting to wait 20 minutes for the next train, I decided to go ahead and ride down to Lake Merritt. I took my usual commuting route so it felt almost like I was riding into work. On a Saturday. Yay! Anyway, I arrived at the lake, got checked in, and was on the road by 7:30. The weather was overcast and on the cool side, but that was fine with me. I had been hoping for nice cool weather for this ride. The east side of the Oakland hills can really heat up this time of year, and I was hoping to avoid climbing "the bears" in 90 degree heat.


First climb of the morning was up Old Tunnel Road to Skyline. This is my usual route into the Oakland hills, so it was a piece of cake. Up on Skyline (elevation about 1400 ft), the fog was hugging the hills and visibility was very low. Once I started zipping along the Skyline ridge (past first rest stop at Sibley park), I briefly wished I had brought some of my winter gear along. It was cold, people.


From Skyline, the route took us up and over the Oakland hills into Moraga, then a few miles north to Orinda. For the local cyclists: Skyline > Redwood > up Pinehurst > Canyon > Moraga Way. I arrived at the next rest stop, at the intersection of Bear Creek and San Pablo Dam Road, at 10:15am. At this point the folks doing the 50 mile option turned up Wildcat Canyon to climb back into the Oakland/Berkeley Hills. I was doing the extra loop around the reservoirs, so I continued straight down San Pablo Dam Road.


The loop around the San Pablo and Briones Reservoirs is a popular cycling route and is often referred to as "the three bears loop", because there are (at least) three main hills to climb on Bear Creek Road. I usually ride this loop counterclockwise, so this was a little different hitting the climbs in the opposite direction. There were very few cyclists out on the road at this point in the ride. Maybe most riders did the shorter 50 mile option. Losers! At any rate, I was back at the intersection of San Pablo Dam and Bear Creek a little after noon for more snacks and a water refill. At this point I had done about 50 miles and still felt strong.


The route then crossed San Pablo Dam for a climb up Wildcat Canyon to Inspiration Point. I figured this would be the toughest climb of the day for me, being a bit steeper and coming 50 miles into the ride. Luckily the temperature was still comfortable and the road is relatively shaded, so I made it up that climb without any problems. Then I quickly zipped through Tilden to the other side of the hills, overlooking Berkeley. Then it was up Grizzly Peak for the last climb of the day. At this point fatigue was starting to set in, but fortunately Grizzly Peak is a relatively gentle climb. And I knew that once I got to the top, it was going to be all downhill for the last 12 miles back to Lake Merritt. There was one cyclist on this final climb, let's call her "Anna", who had a bit of hard time and came very close to climbing in the SAG car about 1/4 mile shy of the top of the hill. She held on though and made it to the water stop at the top where her Team in Training cohorts were waiting to cheer her on. Good job Anna!

From the top of Grizzly, route back was Skyline > Shepard Canyon > Snake > Mountain > Park, etc. I pulled into the start/finish point just before 3pm. Pretty good ride!

Total distance: 74 miles
Total time in the saddle: 6.5 hours
Total elevation: 6000 feet
Animules: one deer and one wild turkey along Bear Creek Road

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Training ride: Bike Against the Odds (45 miles)

This weekend I did a relatively short training ride for an event I signed up to do on August 23, called the Bike Against the Odds ride. It’s a charity ride to benefit the Breast Cancer Fund and some local cancer support services. Plus it begins and ends in downtown Oakland and pretty much goes all over the Oakland/Berkeley hills where I do so much of my riding. So it seemed silly not to do it.

They have several different routes available, including a full century with 10,000 feet of climbing. That seemed a little much for me, in the middle of the summer, so I’ve opted to do the 72 mile route. For training purposes, I rode the itinerary for the 50 mile route today (the 72 route is the 50 miler with a “bears” loop tacked on).

The weather was nice for climbing today: it was overcast in the morning on the bay side of the hills, so no chance of overheating. Even on the Moraga/Orinda side where it was sunny, the temp was still mild, probably just in the mid 70s.

Riding up Old Tunnel to get to Skyline a guy passed me on a French grey Saluki. I yelled out, “hey it’s a Rivendell”, so he slowed down a bit and we chatted a bit about bikes. I noted that it was a different color combination from what I had seen before, and he said they had this frame in his size and offered a custom paint job for a big discount. I wonder if this is because they’re trying to get rid of inventory as they phase out the Saluki model? At any rate, it was a lovely bike, he had gotten the bar end friction shifters, and had put a 34 teeth cassette on for lots of low gears. That’s what I’m talking about.

After that initial climb up Old Tunnel (which I do all the time so it’s no biggie), the next climbs were a short climb up Redwood/Pinehurst (easy), a very gentle incline from Moraga to Orinda, a climb up Wildcat Canyon (kinda hard), and then a pretty easy climb up Grizzly Peak to return to Skyline. That climb up Wildcat is the only one that’s challenging, and the steeper parts are in the first mile. After that it evens out. The test next weekend will be to tack on the bears loop to this ride. I really don’t like the ride up the bears that much; there’s hardly any traffic but it’s really exposed and can get really warm in the heat of the day. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for fog on the day of the event.



Animules: deer, in Tilden Park
Rivendell sightings: 1 Saluki, custom paint
Total Distance: 45 miles
Elevation gain: about 4000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours 20 minutes

July mileage stats

I almost forgot to post my monthly stats!

Total mileage for July: 408
Hours in the saddle: 40 hours
Total climbing: about 20,000 feet

Rawk on.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

deposit on new Dahon Tournado

Today I put a 50% deposit down on a new size 52 Dahon Tournado. Dahon told my local bike shop that they should have it by mid-August, so we'll see if that holds. I've been waiting for this bike to be available since early spring. But I want it *now* damn it.

It's so pretty!

I did talk to my bike shop about switching in a different cassette. The Tournado comes with a 9 speed 11-26 cassette, which just doesn't provide the low gears that I'd like in a touring bike. If I get a different cassette, I'll also need to switch out the rear derailleur. The Shimano Ultegra derailleur will only work with a maximum of 27 teeth on the cassette, so if I want a 32 or 34 granny gear, I'll have to get a different derailleur.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Death Ride pics

Most of these were taken with my cell phone, so the quality isn't that high. But it's enough to give you a little flavor for the ride.

Tahoe Death Ride

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Death Ride Report (2 passes)

As late as Friday evening I wasn’t sure that I was even going to attempt the Death Ride, the event that I had been training for since, like, December. With all of the forest fires blazing in Northern California, the air quality in the Tahoe basin was terrible. When we arrived on Wednesday evening, there was actually ash raining down. Yuck. In nearby Reno, they were getting ready to declare a stage 2 air quality alert, which means that everyone is advised to stay indoors. So, in summary, not exactly the best conditions for an extreme endurance event. Even Cycling Boss was thinking about skipping the whole thing (or maybe just doing one or two passes at the most).

Check it out: last year when I was in Tahoe for a week, I took this shot from the bike path along the southern part of the lake. On Thursday while I was out riding I stopped in the same spot and took a shot of the lake. That’s how bad it was.








 
July 2008July 2007

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and head out to Markleeville for the event on Saturday and just play it by ear. If it was too smoky to ride, I’d just turn around and head back. So Saturday morning I was up at 4:30, in the car by 5, and out near the ride start by 5:45. By some meteorological miracle, the air was relatively clear of smoke! I parked by the side of the road where lots of other riders were parking and unpacking their gear. I didn’t realize until later I was actually about 2 miles from the start at Turtle Rock park, and that there were plenty of spots along the road a bit closer. Oh well.

It was late enough (just after 6am) that I didn’t need my bike lights, but it was still chilly out. I had my vest and arm warmers, but going downhill into Markleeville (elevation 5500 feet), I briefly wished I had my leg warmers and full-finger gloves. Luckily I quickly warmed up and ended up shedding the vest and arms about a quarter of the way up Monitor.

Beginning the ascent up Monitor in the early daylight was really beautiful. The road was closed to auto traffic so it was just us cyclists. The road outside of Markleeville follows a nice alpine stream (Carson River, apparently) for a couple of miles before the turnoff for the pass. The first few miles of the climb are comfortably graded, and I thought, what a lovely way to spend the early morning, out here in the middle of the Sierras climbing away! Then it started to get steep. About a quarter of the way up there are patches of 9.2%, 9.5%, and 10.3% (according to the race elevation map). These steeper sections really slowed me down, and I felt like I was crawling up the mountain. I did manage to get some nice photos of this stretch, just using the ol’ cell phone. When I figure out how to get them out of the phone I’ll post them. It’s a very scenic ride, especially before the heat of the day kicks in. Monitor pass is an arid high desert landscape, with some amazing vistas of the surrounding sierras. I’m not that familiar with the geography, but I imagine we were able to see a good number of the high sierra peaks from this vantage point. After a couple of more moderate sections (7.3, 7.5%) I suddenly emerged at the summit rest stop where a volunteer placed my first pass sticker on my rider bib (elevation 8314 feet). It came up so suddenly that I didn’t think it was the summit at first. I was all, Wait, is this the top of Monitor? The volunteer looked at me like, Duh. I dunno, maybe it was the thin air. Anyway, I continued on just a half mile or so past the summit, because Cycling Boss had said that there was a nice view down the other side into Nevada. I rounded the base of a hill and sure enough, there was a nice vista of the Nevada side of Monitor. There were also hundreds of Death Ride cyclists climbing up the back side (pass 2). While I was taking a picture with my camera, one guy yelled out, "Call my mom! Tell her I need help!" Heh.

Back at the Monitor summit rest stop, I overheard a cyclist talking to the search and rescue helicopter pilot. I guess because it’s so remote, they have the helicopter available onsite in case they need to take someone off the hospital. The pilot was explaining all this and then added, "They don’t let us enter the race though. That wouldn’t be fair to the cyclists." Ah, everyone’s a comedian at high altitude!

My favorite part was the descent down Monitor, which is long (almost 10 miles) with good sight lines, good road surface, and very few technical turns. It was a BLAST going down this mountain at 40 mph.

Back down at the base of Monitor pass (at the 89 and 4 junction), we all headed south on 4 toward Ebbetts. The first couple miles of Ebbetts were nice and gentle, just meandering along the east fork of the Carson River. We had a quick rest stop that featured both a bag pipe player and a Hawaiian theme (shoutout?), and then shortly after the real climbing began. Ebbetts was… tough. There were a couple sections of 10% and at least one 12%, and the whole climb just seemed relentless. However it was absolutely gorgeous, much more wooded that Monitor pass, with great vistas from the ridge. It reminded me a lot of Yosemite. The last few miles I had to stop for quick beathers every 2 miles or so, just to get my heart rate down and my breathing leveled out. However I didn’t need to walk my bike at any point, which is saying something because there were a lot of folks walking up Ebbetts. It may be the most challenging climb I’ve ever done; it’s probably almost on my top 5 list of beautiful rides. And to be able to do it with the road closed to car traffic was pretty awesome. Anyway, I finally made it up to the summit at 12:45 pm, got my second sticker, and decided that there was no way I doing the third pass (down the backside of Ebbetts and back up). I was thinking that I could probably grind it out, but I didn’t think I could then make it back the remaining 12 miles to Turtle Rock. Ultimately I think this was the right decision, because the final little climb between Markleeville and my car almost did me in. If I had attempted the third pass, I would have had to get the helicopter to lift me back to my car.

So, all in all, a good ride and a decent result, although I really wanted to complete three passes. Next year, if I do it again, I’m sure I can do 3 and probably even 4 passes if I train just a little more. I’m also thinking about parking closer to Markleeville to avoid that last little hill that’s just no fun at all.

Next.. prep rides in Tahoe for the Death Ride


Total Distance: 62 miles, 2 passes (Monitor 1 and Ebbetts 1)
Total Elevation gain: 6238 feet
Time in the saddle: 7 hours
Elevation map: Death Ride elevation map
Rivendell sightings: one Atlantis

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Adirondacks Day 3

On day 3 of the Adirondack tour, we decided to head up the 28N towards the town of Newcomb, advertised as the “heart of the Adirondacks”. I figured it was about 27 miles up to Newcomb, supposedly mostly uphill, so then we could turn around and cruise back downhill to North Creek. In fact, the first few miles out of North Creek were gradually uphill, then just outside the hamlet of Minerva (weird town, I don’t recommend it) is one steeper climb of about a mile or so. After that, we were back into rolling terrain. The landscape up in this area was a bit different than what we had experienced on the previous days. It felt more like what I associate with alpine lake regions, where the foliage is a bit more sparse and you see more pine trees. It just feels more like being in the mountains. Anyway, the 28N was a nice road… very little traffic and a wide shoulder.

Once we got to Newcomb, we stopped briefly at a lovely picnic area with nice vistas of pretty much all the surrounding mountains. Really nice spot, and one of the best public restrooms I’ve ever seen! At this point it occurred to me that if my cycling buddies wanted to continue forward and do the full loop back to North Creek (about 80 miles) they could do that and I could just cruise back on the 28N. I could tell J was dying to do the full loop, and indeed both R and J ended up riding the reverse “Teddy’s Trail” loop. I don’t think J would have been able to face our innkeeper the next morning if he hadn’t done the full 80 mile ride. For my part, I was more worried about bruising my cycling ass than my cycling pride, so I was more than happy to return back the way I came.

But before parting ways for the day, we continued on into the “town” of Newcomb and stopped at a very strange general store run by, judging by appearances, some siblings or cousins who had married and bred. I don’t mean to sound like a city snob, and all the folks in our little North Creek hamlet were terrific, but the people at this store in Newcomb were weird. I don’t think any of us even considered eating at their “diner” but instead just grabbed some snacks and hit the road. Wow. Oh, we also passed what was billed as the “source of the Hudson River”, which was pretty cool.

Heading back down the 28N to North Creek was actually a fair amount of work. I knew that once I hit the steep hill (now a descent) prior to Minerva, it would be pretty much downhill the whole way. But the 15 miles or so between Newcomb and Minerva were rolling terrain, with quite a few ascents. At this point, during the heat of the day, in my granny gear climbing up the hills, I started attracting some of my insect friends trying to tag along for the ride. I actually had two flies bite me through my cycling gloves, which is pretty fucking ballsy. Unfortunately for them, I carry repellant, and am mighty liberal with the deet. After a quick dousing, my flying friends stayed away for the rest of the ride. Woohoo!

Arriving back in North Creek around 4pm, I didn’t expect R and J to return before 6 at the earliest, so I figured it was a good opportunity to do some souvenir shopping. Heading over to the North Creek Deli and Marketplace, a little bluegrass band was set up out front playing Woody Guthrie songs to a small group of folks. Our innkeeper had told us about this group, and had mentioned that the lead singer was transitioning (check) and that they had an older gentleman playing spoons (check). There’s nothing like being in a tiny little town out in the middle of nowhere with a bluegrass band standing in front of an old general store singing This Land is Your Land. Actually, the only thing that would be more appropriate would be if they sang some Pete Seeger. Yeah.

Anyhoodle, my peeps ended up getting back from their full 80 mile loop by 5:30. That’s hard core. Mad props to those guys for kicking some serious cycling ass in the Adirondacks.

More later on the local flavor…

Monday, July 7, 2008

Adirondacks Tour (3 days, 150 miles)

Yesterday I returned from a wonderful bicycling tour in the Gore Mountain region of the southern Adirondacks. This was my first trip to this beautiful part of upstate New York, and it proved to be an ideal location for cycling. We arrived at base camp (Goose Pond Inn B&B in North Creek) late on Wednesday night and didn’t even bother to unpack our gear before crashing out for the night. I guess we were all a little beat, because we all slept right through breakfast the next morning, served promptly between zero-eight-hundred and zero-nine-hundred hours. I guess when they say bed and breakfast, they mean it. After that initial faux pas, we fell in line with the regime and got on famously with the innkeepers. Seriously though, it’s a great B&B in a great location with clean rooms and a very nice breakfast each morning. For a very affordable price. Thumbs up from the rambler. If you visit, tell ‘em Miss California sent you.

The Machine: On this trip J was kind enough to loan me his Rivendell Saluki, undoubtedly the most valuable bicycle I’ve ever had the pleasure to ride on a multi-day tour. It struck me as I was describing the bike to Crazy Cycling Boss that the setup on this thing is pretty unusual, at least from the perspective of folks riding aluminum and carbon. The Rivendell (“Jean-Pierre”) is an old-school steel frame touring bike that features a mustache handlebar with bar end friction shifters, fat 650 tires, and a newish Brooks saddle that I had a hand (so to speak) in breaking in over the course of the trip. I had a bit of trouble with the saddle at the end of each day, but all in all a very classy ride.

The Routes:
Day 1: The Lakes of Chester About 38 miles and 2600 feet of climbing.
Our first day out we all wanted to do a relatively easy ride to get a feel for the terrain, so we decided on the “lakes of Chester” loop, which goes north through Olmsteadville, over through Pottersville, past Loon Lake and Friends Lake, then back up to North Creek. Although it rained a bit this day, it was a nice introduction to the region, which is marked by small quaint hamlets (general store, church, cemetery), small lakes, and green forest. In some ways it reminded me of upper Michigan where I had visited as a wee one.

Day 2: North Creek-Schroon Lake 55 miles, 3800 feet of climbing.
We had talked about doing a couple of the longer routes outlined in the touring book, but after a day on the road I didn’t feel like I could do 80 miles with my ass in Jean-Pierre’s saddle. So we managed to piece together two other routes into a nice 55 miler out to Schroon Lake and back. The weather on this second day (July 4th) was pretty much perfect: warm, sunny, bright blue sky, very low humidity. We started out through quiet backroads to arrive at the southern end of Schroon Lake. This is one of those quintessential lake resort towns that are probably overrun with tourists most of the year, and yet you can’t really resist its charm. We stopped in the downtown area for a quick rest and a snack, and were lucky enough to catch some of the 4th of July entertainment, which consisted of a terrible choir performing in a very picturesque waterfront gazebo. Continuing north we rounded the lake and returned to quiet country roads. This portion of the route was really beautiful, and took us through marshlands and forest, with occasional views of the lake. The only downside here was the introduction of bugs and my “shock and awe” deet-based response. I hate using chemicals, but I hate bugs even more, so there you go.

Along the eastern shore of the lake, we stopped by the general store in the town of Adirondack. It seemed like a bit of a zoo inside, so we only stocked up on minimal supplies before hitting the road again. Once we completed the loop around Schroon Lake, it was a relatively quick ride down route 9, to route 8, then to route 28 back to North Creek. A really lovely ride.

Next.. day 3 and local Adirondack flavor.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Mt. Tam x2.5 (50 miles)

This was to be my weekend of riding up Diablo three times, but the air quality has been so crappy (due to all the forest fires), that I had to scrap that idea and head to the coast. The air on the coast wasn’t perfect, but it had the best particle reading in the bay area. And it was probably still better than your average day in southern California.

On my recent rides up Tam, I’ve been taking the northern approach via Fairfax. It’s longer and a bit more challenging, but it doesn’t have the traffic of Panoramic Highway. However for this ride, I was looking for efficiency, so I ended up taking the route through Mill Valley and Panoramic that I had followed on my first ride up to the ranger’s station last year. Actually that was almost a year ago to the day.. how fitting! Anyway, the ride up to Pan Toll station wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered it. In fact there was a nice flat stretch in the middle where I was able to accelerate quite a bit. It probably helped that it was overcast and chilly, so no chance of overheating or dehydrating. From the station I headed up to the summit (west peak on this first pass) and then turned around to descend down to Stinson Beach.

From Stinson, it’s a much shorter approach to get to the summit: 3.7 miles to the station, 1.5 to the junction with the ridge, and then 3 miles to the visitors center on the east peak. A construction crew was up there working on some expansion to the center, and the snack bar was closed (!) but there were hordes of cyclists up there. Looked like it might have been a couple of club rides.

For the third and final pass, I again descended down to Stinson and then climbed back to the ranger station. I really started feeling fatigued on this final climb and it took all my energy to get through it. For the first time in a long time, I was actually sore after this ride. Somehow I managed to work my inner thigh muscles to the point that they were stiff and sore after the drive home. I suspect that on that final climb, I wasn’t keeping my knees lined up correctly and was probably swinging my legs out a bit to find some extra power.


For those of you keeping score at home, the three climbs today measured:
12.5 miles, 2500 feet (west peak)
8.3 miles, 2540 feet (east peak)
3.7 miles, 1400 feet (to Pan Toll ranger’s station)

The three passes I want to complete for the Death Ride are:
Front side of Monitor: 13.3 miles, 2700 feet
Front side of Ebbetts: 10.4 miles, 2700 feet
Back side of Ebbetts: 4.8 miles, 1500 feet

So I came very close today to the real elevation gain I’ll be seeing in 2 weeks. It was a perfect training ride, and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be for the real thing.


Animules: One deer crossing Panoramic Highway
Total Distance: 50 miles
Elevation gain: about 7000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 5 hours 45 minutes

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Upcoming Tour in the Adirondacks – routes

Have I mentioned that I’m going to the Adirondacks the first week of July for some cycling? I may not have, since R did pretty much all the planning for the trip (thanks R!). Even though all I really have to do is show up, I feel compelled to do some amount of analysis of the routes. Some people like to be surprised, they enjoy spontaneity and the unknown. Not me; I like to know what I’m getting myself into. So, I ended up plotting a few of the possible routes using Bikely.com. All these routes are based on the book 25 Bicycle Tours in the Adirondacks.

North Creek vicinity (our base camp, or base B&B rather):

The Lakes of Chester
About 38 miles and 2600 feet of climbing.

Teddy’s Trail
One of the two longer routes at about 80 miles and about 5000 ft (?) of climbing. Bikely.com is crapping out on the elevation profile at the moment for this one.

Reverse Speculator
This route was already plotted on bikely. It’s the same as the “Speculator” route from the book, but in the reverse direction. 75 miles and 4100 feet of climbing (seems like hardly any elevation gain at all for that long of a ride).

Minerva-Olmstedville
Only 17 miles and about 1500 feet, but looks like lots of rollers from the elevation profile.



Lake George vicinity

Bolton Landing
30 miles, 2400 feet of climbing. Seems like a nice relatively relaxing tour.


Lake Luzerne
38 miles, 2750 feet of climbing.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Mt Tam-Stinson Ride (49 miles)

Today’s ride combined the route for the Mt Tam loop with a little extra descent to, and climb back up from, Stinson Beach. Our little heat wave finally broke today, so the weather was perfect: sunny and warm but comfortable. Even so, remembering my water woes last time, I brought my camelback and two water bottles. I wasn’t taking any chances; and in fact I felt like I did a much better job hydrating this time around.

On this pass through Fairfax, I skipped the weird coffee shop with the bad live music, although as I was cruising by, I caught this guy working on a mural on the side of the building. He was making quick work of it too, with Pink Floyd or something similar blaring from his stereo.

The approach past Alpine Lake Dam and on up to Ridgecrest Road felt a little easier this time, but I still struggled mightily on Ridgecrest. This stretch is only about 4 miles and only gains about 600 feet, but it’s all steep rollers, which are my least favorite type of hill. I was huffing and puffing along when a couple of guys passed me, one saying to me, “Do your friends know you’re out here climbing mountains? They must think you’re crazy!”. Heh. Yeah, kinda. I told them I was training for the Death Ride, and it turns out he’s done it like 5 years in a row. He said one year he even did the ride with his wife on a tandem. Took them all day. You know, I have a certain mental image of the kind of ride where a tandem would be fun, and the Death Ride ain’t it. At any rate, I ran my 3 pass plan by him (Monitor, 2 Ebbetts) and he said it was a good plan. He also said the front side of Ebbetts will be the most challenging for me.

From Ridgecrest, the climb up to the summit wasn’t bad at all. I love that they have a snack bar up at the visitors’ center. Nothing like a cold root beer after climbing a mountain.

From the summit, I descended to the ranger station, and then faced a choice: turn left and have quick descent back to Sausalito, or turn right, descend to Stinson Beach and then climb back up. I really needed to get a bit more climbing in, so I chose the Stinson option. This route to Stinson via Panoramic Highway is really lovely, continuing through the woods and then thrusting you out onto the ridge overlooking the Pacific. It would be an awesome descent if it weren’t for the horrid state of the road and the car traffic. I was a little worried about the traffic climbing back up from Stinson, because there’s really no shoulder on this road. There were a few cars, but I guess it was early enough that people were still enjoying the beach. The climb ended up being pretty enjoyable, at about 4 miles and 1500 feet. The cool sea breeze on the ocean side was particularly refreshing. And with that extra climb in, I was able to cruise back to Sausalito feeling like I had put in a good day’s work.

Next weekend will be the final official training ride before the Adirondacks trip and the Death Ride following that. So on Saturday, my goal is to do at least 50 miles and 6500 feet of climbing.



Total Distance: 49 miles
Animules: several deer in Mill Valley
Elevation gain: about 5500 feet
Time in the Saddle: 5 hours 17 minutes

Elevation profile (from Klimb software):

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Diablo junction x3 – almost (40 miles)

And so we continue the journey toward becoming one of those weirdos who talks not about riding up Diablo but rather about how many times they rode up Diablo. Today, for me, the answer was 2 and two-thirds.

I had set my alarm for 6am this morning, but ended up turning it off and going back to sleep for another hour. I think I fell a bit behind on my R&R, due mostly to stress at work, so I probably really needed that extra hour. However the result was that I didn’t get out to Walnut Creek until about 9am. A bit of a late start.

The first climb was up the north side to the junction. I was feeling a bit sluggish on this first climb, and was disappointed that I wasn’t able to best my last time of 63 minutes. I logged 64.5 minutes which isn’t bad, but I really want to crack an hour before the end of the month.

From the junction I cruised down the south side to the gate, turned around, and then headed back up. Then from the junction, I descended the north side, turned around, and began climbing again, with the goal of reaching the junction for the third time but knowing that it might not happen. I didn’t feel too fatigued, but by this point it was 12:30 and the air temperature was hovering above 80 degrees… and it felt really hot. The north approach has some brief patches of shade, but it’s pretty exposed. I got about two-thirds of the way up, just before the switchbacks begin, and decided to call it a day. I could have gritted my teeth and made it up to the junction (about another 2 miles) but didn’t feel like killing myself for it. I’ve still got a month left before the Death Ride, and I’m on track as far as my training is concerned. Next weekend I’ll start earlier, do the junction 3 times, and maybe throw in a jaunt up to the summit. Who knows?

For those of you keeping score at home, the three climbs today measured:
7.8 miles, 2000 feet (North Gate)
5.6 miles, 1500 feet (South Gate)
5 miles, 1400 feet (North Gate to the switchbacks)

The three passes I want to complete for the Death Ride are:
Front side of Monitor: 13.3 miles, 2700 feet
Front side of Ebbetts: 10.4 miles, 2700 feet
Back side of Ebbetts: 4.8 miles, 1500 feet

Speaking of the Death Ride, I got my jersey and socks in the mail this week, so I wore them on today’s training ride. I don’t know if that goes against jersey etiquette (sporting the apparel before the event) but it was a good motivator. I had an obligation to live up to the skeleton logo on my back. I got several comments from passing cyclists, and one thumbs up from a motorist. Heh.

Animules: Along the side of the road on North Gate I saw the same young coyote. Coulda been his twin brother.
Total Distance: 40 miles
Elevation gain: 5200 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours 15 minutes

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Diablo ranger station x2 (38 miles)

I headed out to Walnut Creek early Saturday morning to climb up the north side of Diablo and try to intersect with Cycling Boss and his crew. They had gotten an extra early start that morning, with the plan of going up North Gate then down South Gate, then back up to the junction. By the time I got up to the junction around 9:30, they were ready to descend back down the north side, turn around, and then come back up to the junction. So my timing was perfect for a second climb.

Incidentally, on this ride up to the junction I logged my best time yet, managing to shave 3 minutes off my previous best time of 66 minutes from the gate to the junction.

My second climb up was a much slower affair, and I really felt it on the steep sections. I certainly didn't set any records the second time up, but I was only 4 minutes slower.. not too bad all things considered. The next step will be to integrate a climb up South Gate into this route. That will get me pretty close to total elevation for my 3-pass Death Ride.

Miles: 38
Total elevation gain: about 4000 feet
Time in the saddle: 3 hours 40 minutes

Saturday, May 31, 2008

May mileage stats

Before getting to the mileage totals: This morning I rode up to the Diablo junction with Cycling Boss From Work.. he chatted the whole the ride up while I huffed and puffed a bit. Obviously he was going much much slower than his usual pace, but I managed to beat my own personal best time to the junction by 1 minute. Probably helps quite a bit to ride with someone faster, so I have to push myself a bit. He thinks if I train right, I can do all 5 Death Ride passes next year. We'll see.

This month I started supplementing my regular weekend rides with two evening rides a week, so I was able to increase my mileage and my total elevation gain. This is only the second time I've logged more than 500 miles in a month, and the last time was due primarily to logging 250 miles on my California coast tour.

I also think the extra climbing is starting to pay off; I'm feeling more comfortable and confident on my regular climbs up into the Oakland hills and up Diablo. I'm feeling pretty good about being able to do my 3 Death Ride passes in July.

Total mileage: 503
Total time in the saddle: 46.9 hours
Total climbing: 31,430 feet

Monday, May 26, 2008

Grizzly Peak-Pinehurst-Chabot ride (52 miles)

This ride is very similar to the Grizzly Peak Pinehurst loop, except instead of returning to Rockridge after the major climb up Pinehurst, you take a left on Skyline and cruise over to Redwood which takes you through Redwood Regional Park (natch) and on into Chabot Regional Park. After a quick lunch stop at Luccas Italian Deli in Castro Valley, the route continues on alongside Lake Chabot and drops down to San Leandro BART.

We’ve had some unseasonably cool weather the past few days, and the morning started off overcast and chilly. The weather report predicted clearing by noon, so I only took minimal cold weather gear.. jacket, full fingered gloves, and my headband. By the time I got over the Oakland Hills to meet kc at Orinda BART, I couldn’t feel my toes at all. In fact the weather never really warmed up or cleared until after I returned home. Annoying.

After riding up Diablo twice on Sunday, my legs definitely felt sluggish on the first climb up Old Tunnel. At one point I actually dismounted to make sure there wasn’t something dragging against my back wheel. Nope, that was just me going really slow. But once I warmed up I felt fine, and the rest of the hills were very manageable.

I felt a little bad because I had told kc that there were basically two climbs on this ride: Pinehurst (my steep nemesis climb) and a more gradual climb up Redwood. But at a couple of other points on the ride, kc asked me, “Is this one of the two climbs?” and I realized that a couple of these gradual rises that I don’t really count as “climbs” per se still count for something to a recreational cyclist. So I may need to provide more full disclosure on my ride routes. On the other hand I think if I sent him the elevation profile for a route beforehand, he’d take one look at all those little hills and never ride with me again.


Total Distance: 52 miles
Elevation gain: 4200 feet
Time in the Saddle: 5 hours 13 minutes

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Diablo ranger station x2 (about 40 miles)

I had originally planned to go camping this weekend, but the trip ended up getting canceled due to forest fires and rain. I know it seems strange to have both of those things at once, but there you go. Oh well, more time for cycling.

This Sunday’s ride was a double trip up to the Mt Diablo ranger station: from Walnut Creek I climbed up North Gate road, descended South Gate, and then climbed back up South Gate to the station. Although the total mileage and elevation gain was about the same as just going once up to the summit, psychologically it was important for my Death Ride training to be able to climb up a mountain twice. Actually I really need to be able to climb up Diablo 3 times so that I’m totally prepared to do 3 passes on the Death Ride, but 2 is a good start.

I had my best ride up North Gate yet. It took me about the same time as usual, but I felt more relaxed than ever, comfortable in the pace I set. Usually I stop for a breather after the first steep section (a little over a third of the way up) and then again before the switchbacks, but today I cruised straight through. I hadn’t gone up South Gate since the early spring, and I was surprised how much easier it seemed compared to North Gate.

As far as Death Ride prep goes, the two climbs today measured:
7.8 miles, 2000 feet (North Gate)
6.8 miles, 1630 feet (South Gate)

The three passes I want to complete in July are:
Front side of Monitor: 13.3 miles, 2700 feet
Front side of Ebbetts: 10.4 miles, 2700 feet
Back side of Ebbetts: 4.8 miles, 1500 feet

So, what I really need to do is go up North Gate to Juniper (10 miles, 2700 feet), come back down, do that same climb again, come back down, and then go up South Gate to the ranger station. That will be fun.

Animules: Along the side of the road on North Gate I saw what I think was a young coyote.
Total Distance: 38 miles
Elevation gain: 4000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mt Tam Loop (42 miles)

This weekend I doubled up and went riding on both Saturday and Sunday, and finally managed to conquer my remaining mountain summit in the bay area: Mt Tam. But first, on Saturday, I joined Cycling Boss from Work and his buddies for the tail end of their ride, which took us along Skyline to Redwood, and up the southern portion of Pinehurst. From there they continued on to Moraga and Lafayette, while I climbed up the north part of Pinehurst Road to drop back down to Oakland. This was my first time riding with these guys, and I was a little apprehensive since they are all pretty hard core, CBW in particular. This is the guy who rides up Diablo multiple times in a single outing, does double centuries, does the *extra* bonus pass in the Death Ride, etc. Obviously I couldn’t keep up with him, but in general I held my own with the other guys. Anyway, the Saturday ride ended up being 30 miles with 3000 feet of climbing.

For my Sunday ride I decided to finally try for the summit of Mt Tamalpais. My four readers will recall that there are three main peaks in the bay area: Mt Diablo in the east bay, Mt Hamilton in the south bay, and Mt Tam in Marin. One of my cycling goals this year was to get to the summit of all three. I did Hamilton in the fall, and have made it up Diablo several times this winter and spring. Last summer, I inadvertently rode up to the ranger’s station of Tam while doing the Stinson Beach-Muir Woods loop, but that was my last attempt.

Of the three peaks, Mt Hamilton is the highest, at about 4200 feet, but arguably the easiest because it’s a very long, gentle grade for almost the entire climb. Diablo’s summit is at about 3800 feet, and I think conventional wisdom is that it’s the tougher climb compared to Mt Tam, with its highest points at about 2600 feet. However, I personally think Mt Tam is a bit more challenging because there are more steep sections of climbing, and both north and south approaches to the summit road are unevenly graded, so it’s hard for me to find a good climbing rhythm. So from a pure climbing perspective, I still prefer my own mountain here in the east bay, but Tam and the surrounding alpine woods win out in the scenery category.

For this ride I followed the Velogirls routesheet, but instead of riding across the Golden Gate bridge I started in Sausalito to make this a 40+ mile loop rather than a 60+ mile loop. From Sausalito, the route follows the Nicasio route for the first ten miles, up the hill to Corte Madera, then through some really charming towns in Marin (downtown Larkspur, Ross, San Anselmo, and Fairfax). In Fairfax, all the cyclists stop at a local coffee shop called the Fairfax Coffee Roastery. I had a good espresso, but they had some random live music (at 9:30 am??) and the guy kept messing up the lyrics to all the songs. And they weren’t new songs, they were all Elton John and James Taylor songs. Everybody knows the lyrics to those old songs, except this guy playing guitar at the Fairfax Coffee Roastery. Go figure.

From Fairfax, instead of heading up Sir Francis Drake towards Nicasio, you head south on Bolinas, basically approaching Mt Tam from the north side. I did prefer this approach to the southern route (Panoramic Highway) because there was very little car traffic. In fact, for most of this stretch I heard nothing but birds and crickets in the forest. I think most of the people heading up to the Mt Tam trails or over to the coast take Panoramic Highway rather than the longer, meandering Fairfax-Bolinas route, so you can feel like you’re miles away from civilization on this road. The other nice thing about the road is that it passes by Alpine Lake and the Alpine Dam Bridge, so the scenery is very nice… lots of pine trees surrounding the lake. It’s reminiscent of some of the smaller alpine lakes in the Sierras, near Lake Tahoe, just without the nice clear water. Still, very pretty.

From the Alpine Lake dam up to the ridge at (aptly named) Ridgecrest Road is a gain of about 900 feet in about 2.5 miles, with some pretty steep sections and many switchbacks. I found this part of the ride pretty challenging, but at least it was almost entirely shaded by the surrounding forest. It would be a killer climb if totally exposed.

Once I got up to Ridgecrest, I started hitting lots of trailhead parking lots but absolutely no water fountains. I remembered that I experienced this on my Muir Woods ride too; with all the hiking trails in the Mt Tam area (in the Mt Tam watershed no less!), you’d think they’d have more drinking fountains, but you’d be wrong. As a result, by the time I got to the turnoff to start ascending the summit, I had drained my two water bottles and had no fluids left. One guy helpfully suggested that there were drinking fountains at the visitor center up at the summit (great!) but another cyclist came to my rescue and gave me some of his water. My savior! He noted that it had some sports mix in it, so I would feel like “Lance Armstrong” going up the hill.

So, up I went. According to this new mapping shareware I downloaded, the first section of the summit climb covers 519 feet in 1.4 miles, for a 7% grade. I didn’t find this section that difficult at all (must have been the “sports mix”!). What’s interesting about Mt Tam is that it really has a couple of peaks: the west peak and the east peak. They’re both about 2600 feet, but there’s a dip in between them, so it’s like a false summit with a kick. But I finally did make it to the east peak, where I drank about 40 oz of water and a root beer. That tasted mighty good. They have a nice little visitor center with picnic tables, snack bar, trails, and various lookout points.

The worst thing about the multiple peak situation is that you have to climb back up on your descent from the summit. It’s cruel and painful, with one section of 6.3% grade and another at 7.8%. But after that, it was literally all downhill to Sausalito.



Total Distance: 42 miles
Animules: a jack rabbit up near the summit
Elevation gain: 4000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours 23 minutes (wow, that’s pretty slow)

Sunday, May 4, 2008

April mileage stats

Last month I speculated that I would easily log 400 miles in April. In fact I logged 465 miles, 38.3 hours, and over 23,000 feet of climbing. Not bad for mid-spring. May should be a 500+ mile month, when I'll be in full Death Ride training. Should be fun!

Wine Country Century (100 miles)

This Saturday was the Santa Rosa Wine Country Century, a really gorgeous ride that manages to capture most of the flavors of Sonoma wine country.. quaint towns, vineyards, rolling hills, redwood forests, the Russian river valley, etc. This is the second year in a row I’ve tackled the century route (I did the metric a few years back) and it remains one of my favorite rides. This year I definitely felt stronger than last year, when I felt so relieved when I crossed the finish line that I actually had tears in my eyes. It’s a relatively flat ride for a century, about 3500 feet of climbing, but it’s still challenging enough to feel like a real accomplishment. Next year I’d really like to do the double metric route, their 120 mile option that mostly follows the century route but includes a loop out to the coast at Bodega bay.

I traveled up to Santa Rosa on Friday night and stayed at the Fountaingrove Inn, just 2 miles south of the ride start. Parking at the ride start is a bit of a pain, so it’s nice to be able to ride there directly from the hotel. Side note: this was my first stay at the Fountaingrove Inn, and I was quite pleased. It’s a nice low-key upscale hotel, and the room was really well insulated. Even though I was right next to the lobby, I didn’t hear a thing all night and was able to get a great night’s sleep.

Saturday morning I left the hotel just after 6:30 and was at the official route start by 6:45. The first 20 miles of the route are really flat and easy, and really the only part of the ride where I’m able to take advantage of the pseudo-peleton effect. That is, I can tag along with big groups of riders and go at a very comfortable 20 mph pace before the first climb of the day. While riding with one group I chatted with a guy from Alameda who was doing the Wine Country Century 100 mile route and then, the following day, doing the Grizzly Peak century back in Berkeley. That’s what we call hard core.

The first hill of the day was on Graton Road, a nice steady, easy climb. After Graton there’s a quick decent through forested river valley to the first rest stop in Monte Rio, at mile 26. I had wanted to be at Monte Rio by 9:15, but I actually pulled in at 8:37! So I really managed to cover a bit of ground that first leg.

The Wine Country Century has some of the best rest stops, with lots of great food, both hot and cold. Something that they had this year that I thought was brilliant were banana slices with a spoonful of peanut butter and an M&M on top. Simple, but really, really good. Everyone was crowding around this guy constructing the PB&Bs, and he couldn’t make them fast enough.

The next segment of the ride, from Monte Rio to the Wohler Bridge rest stop (mile 48.5), passes through the Russian river community of Guerneville and then snakes through back roads to head back towards Santa Rosa. For the most part this is rolling terrain, although there are two short steep climbs here. The worst is on Green Valley Road, where I managed to get three quarters up by zig-zagging across the road. When that became impossible (too many cyclists, a car or two), I had to stop and walk the bike the rest of the way. I had to do this last year, too, but at least this year I got much farther up before having to go into my lowest gear. Progress! I was talking to a guy at the top of the hill, and he thought the grade was 14-17%, maybe even 20%. So, I’m not surprised I’ve had to hoof it up that hill; it’s definitely outside of my comfort zone.

I arrived at the Wohler Bridge rest stop at 10:50, having left the first rest stop at 8:50. I covered 22.5 miles in 2 hours, definitely slower than the first segment of the ride, but still a decent pace. I left the rest stop at 11:10, and began heading north through classic wine country terrain: lots of rolling hills, past vineyards, along very poorly paved country roads. Last year this section of the ride killed me, mostly because of steady headwinds. This year there was a very light tailwind, so it was smooth sailing all the way into the lunch stop at Warm Springs Dam at Lake Sonoma (mile 70). At the lunch stop the ride organizers build delicious made-to-order sandwiches; I had turkey with avocado on a whole wheat roll. Perfect! I couldn’t believe how great I felt at the lunch stop, and briefly wondered why I hadn’t tried for the double metric route after all.

Naturally once I hit the road again after lunch, I returned to reality and realized that fatigue was starting to set in. Those light tailwinds while heading north became somewhat strong headwinds traveling south for the final 30 miles. In addition, my Terry saddle really started to bother me quite a bit after mile 75 or so. I struggled a little for the final leg, and was quite happy to pass the cowbells at the finish line at 3:50pm. I did feel much stronger than last year, but also glad that I had not done part of the longer 120 mile route.

I do think that if I had not had the saddle pain on the final leg, I would have felt much better those last 30 miles. I’m going to take the brooks saddle from my other bike and try it out on the dolce, to see how it feels on some long rides coming up. Hopefully that will do the trick.


Event begin and end: 6:47am – 3:53pm

Total Distance: 100 miles
Elevation gain: 3500 feet
Time in the Saddle: 7 hours 46 minutes

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

CFGFC Almost-Century (hilly) 82 miles

This being the last training weekend before the Wine Country Century, I decided to double up and do a short hilly ride on Saturday and then a longer hilly ride on Sunday. The Saturday ride was just a short jaunt up to the East Bay Hills ridgeline and down through Berkeley.. about 3000 feet of climbing in 20 miles. Sunday I decided to do a hilly version of the CFGFC loop.

The original CFGFC route was designed to be the flattest century possible in the bay area. Since I've developed better climbing legs, I've been thinking about ways to incorporate more climbing into the route. This modified route begins by climbing over the east bay hills (rather than going around them) and incorporates the challenging Palomares Road climb at around mile 60. From Castro Valley the route heads up past Lake Chabot and drops you into San Leandro, at which point you once again realize that it's impossible to avoid riding through the Oakland ghetto. Sigh.

The weather was very pleasant this weekend, with sunny skies and warm temperatues. However, once mid day hit it really started roasting out there. The climb up Palomares was a bit challenging given the heat, but surprisingly I seemed to be fairing better than some of the other cyclists on the road. Maybe all of this training is starting to pay off.

Past Lake Chabot I decided to forgo the additional climbing along the foothills and stick to the flats. Too bad the flats are through some of the worst parts of Oakland. I sped right through the last 15 miles and hopped on BART at Fruitvale station. I didn't feel great, but I could have done a few more miles if pressed. I'd say I'm ready for the century this Saturday.

Total distance: 82 miles
Total elevation gain: about 4000 feet

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Nicasio Cheese Factory Loop (80 miles)

Last weekend I had such a tough ride that I couldn't even muster the energy to blog about it. I did a 72+ mile ride down to Calaveras Road during what turned out to be a record-setting heat wave in the bay area. Temperatures were near 90 after being in the 60s to 70s for the past few weeks, and I ended the ride feeling nauseous and dehydrated.

Since last weekend the temperatures have dropped significantly below normal, so this weekend I was hoping to get some good mileage without the added weather conditions. As it turns out, I ran smack into a wind advisory this weekend, of all things. Just my luck.

This ride is from the Velogirls routesheet library, with the following modifications: my route started at Embarcadero BART station and ended on the return at the Sausalito ferry terminal. So, tacking on 5 miles at the beginning of the ride, but cutting off 5 miles and 300+ feet of climbing at the end.

The ride follows the standard route across the Golden Gate Bridge, through Sausalito, and over the hill in Corte Madera. From here the route takes you north/northwest through some nice little towns in Marin County, then through pasture land and redwood forests up to Nicasio and the Petaluma outskirts. I had ridden some of these roads during my 5 day wine country tour in 2005, but I had forgotten how surprising it is to find yourself deep in a shaded redwood forest all of a sudden, after riding through miles of flat grassland. At those moments it's hard to believe that you're just 30 miles outside of a major urban center; you might as well be hundreds of miles away from anything.

Just north of Nicasio is the Marin French Cheese Factory, also known as the Rouge et Noir cheese factory. (Whether this is in reference to Stendhal, or some veiled commentary on the army and religion, love and death, or fortune of the roulette wheel is unknown. The young girl manning the cash register seemed unlikely to have a strong opinion on the matter). The cheese factory has been in business since 1865 producing French-style cheese in the bay area, and they claim they are the oldest continually operating cheese factory in the U.S.

The 40 miles up to the cheese factory would have been more pleasant had it not been for the sustained headwinds. I found out later that there had been a wind advisory in effect the whole day, with winds from the north-northwest gusting up to 50 mph. Naturally the entire ride up to Nicasio was in the north/northwest direction.

Returning from the cheese factory, the route takes a nice jog along Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, past the Nicasio Reservoir, and then meets up with the Cross Marin Trail. This is a really nice multiuse paved trail that runs along Lagunitas Creek, parallel to Sir Francis Drake Blvd. The path goes through beautiful redwood forest and grassland, then passes through a state park, before intersecting with Sir Francis Drake.

The ride back to Sausalito was smooth sailing, heading south more or less, so the strong wind was at my back. Even taking the ferry back to the city, it was still a long day in the saddle.

Total distance: 78 miles
Total elevation gain: about 5000 feet

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Time Trial: Old Tunnel Road

From now until the Death Ride I plan on riding up Old Tunnel twice a week after work. My goal is to be a climbing machine by July.

I felt strong riding up the hill today, and really pushed myself more than I normally do. In fact I actually felt a little light headed by the time I got to the summit (I also forgot to bring any gels with me, which was dumb). But I managed to shave 5 minutes off my last official time of 46 minutes 30 seconds (back on January 1).

Bike: Specialized Dolce
Actual Ride time: 41 minutes 30 seconds
Total Distance: 5.1 miles

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Cinderella metric century (65 miles)

On Saturday I completed the Cinderella metric century for the third time in as many years. This is a great women-only event sponsored by the Valley Spokesmen bicycle club of Dublin (California, not Ireland). They’ve been putting on this annual ride through Pleasanton and the Livermore Valley for more than 30 years and people really get into the spirit of it. Lots of the cyclists dress up in tutus and tiaras or other costumes. One woman who was riding around my pace the whole day was wearing a Wonder Woman outfit. Good times.

The event begins and ends in Pleasanton, and follows a counter-clockwise loop through the Livermore valley wine country and along the southern foothills of the Diablo/Morgan territory area. It’s a relatively easy route, with only two sections where you have to work: a gradual climb up Cross Road and then a 10 mile stretch of gusty headwinds. But after that section, the final 20 miles are more or less downhill.

The weather in the morning was on the cool side with overcast skies, but I felt good right out of the gates, and only stopped briefly at the first rest stop (at mile 17) to top off my water bottles. I had an early lunch at the main rest stop (mile 30, at 10:40am) and only stopped at the final rest stop for about 5 minutes, so I was able to complete the course rather quickly.

Because the route is pretty easy, I wanted to challenge myself by trying to improve my ride time from last year, which was about 5 hours (actual time in the saddle). I pushed myself a bit on the Cross Road climb and on the headwind section, and figured I was going faster than 75% of the riders on the course without going all out. I clocked my total time in motion at 4 hours and 38 minutes, so I was able to improve on last year’s time quite a bit.


Event begin and end: 8:10am – 1:40pm

Total Distance: 65 miles
Elevation gain: about 1700 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours 38 minutes
Route map (on bikely.com): Cinderella route

Monday, March 31, 2008

March mileage stats

March was a pretty good month, mileage-wise, as I began gearing up for my spring metric and century. Next month I should easily log over 400 miles.

Total mileage: 314
Total time in the saddle: 28.6 hous
Total climbing: 17500 feet

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Diablo via North Gate (35 miles)

I had originally planned on riding up Mt. Tam today, but the weather wasn't cooperating this morning. It was overcast in marin and the city, and for this ride you really want it to be clear so you can enjoy the vistas from the ridge. Alas it will have to wait until another day. In the meantime, I decided to ride up Mt Diablo again, so I could gather more data for my spreadsheet.

The weather in Walnut Creek and Danville was pleasant, and the hillsides are still blooming with wildflowers. While I felt really good all the way up the mountain, my speed didn't improve at all over my last ride two weeks ago. Maybe I felt more comfortable in my pacing but not to the point of pushing to go faster.

It took me 1 hour and 6 minutes to get from the gate to the junction (6.25 miles, 1860 feet of elevation gain), then another 29 minutes to get to Juniper campground, then 31 minutes to reach the summit. So my average speed for each segment was: 5.6 mph (North Gate), 4.8 mph (to Juniper), and 4.1 mph (to the summit). Still slow as hell, but it seems to be getting a bit easier each time.

At the junction, coming back down from the summit, I talked to a guy who was wearing a Death Ride jersey. He said that Monitor pass (the first pass on the Death Ride) was comparable to going up North Gate, but that Ebbetts is more challenging. I asked him if he thought it was a good idea to train at high altitudes, and he said that it doesn't do any good unless you stay at that altitude for the duration. If you go up and train two weeks before the event, but come back down to sea level, then you lose the acclimation. Interesting. I had been contemplating a weekend trip up to Tahoe to get some altitude training in, but maybe it's not worth it.

His other advice for Death Ride preparation was: "climb, climb, climb". Well, duh.


Total Distance: 35 miles
Elevation gain: 4000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 3.5 hours

Friday, March 28, 2008

Three Bears - moderate (47 miles)

One of the most popular rides in the east bay is a loop around the San Pablo Dam and Briones reservoirs via Bear Creek Road. Bear Creek features three hills, which are known as the “three bears”.

The main loop is about 20 miles, but there are several ways to tack on mileage before and after the bears. This ride, a ‘moderate’ route, goes up Old Tunnel Road to Skyline, into Tilden via Grizzly Peak/Wildcat Canyon, and then tackles the bears counter-clockwise.

My cyclo-computer pooped out, so I don’t have good time data for this ride. I did record elapsed time up to Skyline, more or less, since this is my designated time trial section. I completed this section in 48 minutes, I think, which is slightly faster than last time.


Total Distance: 47 miles
Elevation gain: about 4200 feet
Time in the Saddle: unknown; probably about 4.5 hours
Route (on bikely.com): Three Bears

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Mt Diablo - summit via North Gate (34 miles)

So I found out this week that I was selected as part of the Death Ride random lottery (yay me!) so it's going to be a lot of climbing from now until July 12. I also have a metric, a century, and a tour scheduled in between, but I'm not too worried about those. Obviously everything pales in comparison to the death ride in terms of preparation, even when you're only planning on doing 3 passes.

On all my trips up Diablo I've taken South Gate up to the junction and descended North Gate. South Gate has an average grade of 5% and I had heard that it was noticeably easier than the northern approach. Now that I've got the Death Ride on my schedule, there are no more easy outs. North Gate it is.

Also, crazy cyclist guy at work said that there was a beautiful patch of poppies along the North Gate approach, and I wanted to check those out.

North Gate definitely has some steeper sections than South Gate, and it doesn't feature the nice flat section on the other side of the mountain (through Rock City). However it does seem more lush than the south side, which has kind of an arid, rocky feel to it. And the southern approach doesn't really have any wildflowers (that I've seen) but the north side has plenty: lots of vibrant orange California poppies, yellow mustard (?), and lots of tiny purple flowers. I'm really bad at identifying specific plants (I'm more of the "pretty flowers!" observer), but I did find this one page on the internets that shows pics of California wildflowers. I'm thinking the purple and yellow ones I saw might be of the lily variety. Next trip up I'll try to take a closer look.

Speaking of analysis, crazy cyclist guy at work showed me this spreadsheet that he has for the Death Ride. It's populated with the distance and elevation gain for each leg of the ride; you enter your projected feet/min and it calculates how long it will take you to complete each pass. But how do you estimate your feet per minute? I decided (mid-ride today) to develop a similar spreadsheet to record my ride data from each ride up Diablo. The ride up North Gate then up to the summit is relatively similar to the elevation profile of the Death Ride passes (except it's all at much higher elevation of course). By recording my elapsed time on each segment of the ride, I can calculate my average mph as well as my feet/minute. Et voila, I can plug that value into the Death Ride spreadsheet and make sure I won't miss any cutoffs.

I didn't collect data for the first leg, from North Gate gate up to the junction. But from the junction to Juniper campground it took me 28 minutes to cover 2.3 miles and 740 vertical feet (Juniper is at 2940 feet). So my average speed was 4.93 mph and my feet/min was 26.43. Pretty slow, but the next leg was even worse: from Juniper up to the summit my average speed was 4 mph and my feet/min was 25.33. I need to work on doing that climb a bit faster if I'm going to be reasonably comfortable on the Sierra passes.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Marin Headlands-Paradise Loop (about 50 miles)

This ride is basically the classic Tiburon/Paradise ride with a quick Marin Headlands loop thrown in at the beginning for good measure. The full 50 mile route begins and ends at the Embarcadero ferry building in San Francisco, but there are several shorter options that are possible using ferry connections in Tiburon or Sausalito.

For the record, the weather in the bay area could not have been more perfect than it was today. Sunny and warm (even in the city), mild temperatures, hardly any breeze. It was really spectacular, and I congratulate all of the tourists out and about for choosing one hell of a weekend to visit the city by the bay. Trust me, it ain't always like this here, especially in March, so you lucked out.

Anyway, from the ferry building, follow the bike lane north along the embarcadero waterfront, take a left on Beach street, head up or around Fort Mason, and on over to the Marina. Eventually you'll get to the base of the Golden Gate bridge. It's only about 5 miles but you might be tempted to stop for some photo ops, and why not. You'll get some very scenic shots of the bridge from this route along the bay. Public restrooms? Chrissy Field (past the marina but before the bridge) has some good ones. Avoid the restrooms at the bridge visitor area if possible. They stink.

Ride over the bridge (if you're paying attention you'll note that so far this is the standard route to get to Tiburon). In the parking lot on the marin side of the bridge, instead of going to your right to ride into Sausalito, take a left up a steep road. This is Conzelman Road, which wraps around the marin headlands. This initial part is the steepest, but there is more climbing ahead, as well as some scary steep descents. But the views are great, and because the road is narrow and remote, it doesn't seem to attract too much auto traffic.


The marin headlands have some interesting features along with the aforementioned spectacular views. There are two historic forts located here, Fort Barry and Fort Cronkhite, as well as the Point Bonita Lighthouse. Fort Barry was constructed at the end of the 19th century as a line of artillery defense, while Fort Cronkhite was used during World War II as a line of defense against a Pacific invasion. It's hard to imagine anyone invading the bay area via the Golden Gate; it seems more likely that the invaders would come from outer space, but maybe that's why the forts were abandoned.

Exit through the tunnel to meet back up with Sausalito Lateral. Follow this down into Sausalito to continue the Tiburon/Paradise loop.

I've realized that, as many times as I've done the Paradise ride, I've never blogged it. Weird. So, this ride is kind of the default ride to do in Marin, especially if you want something that you can start in the city. It has a bit of everything: the bridge, the artsy tourist trap of Sausalito, multiuse trails through marshlands, one good solid climb, and then 7 or 8 miles along a lovely road that gives the ride its name, Paradise Drive. Paradise drops you down to the Tiburon ferry building; after this point you end up retracing your way back to Sausalito and across the bridge.

The first time I did the ride, several years ago, I did it counter-clockwise. After that I think I've done it exclusively clockwise, which just seems more enjoyable to me, but there's a steady stream of cyclists in both directions, so whatever floats your boat.

Speaking of, because the route passes by two ferry terminals (Sausalito and Tiburon) it's easy to accommodate shorter options of the longer route. Today I had kc meet me in Tiburon after I had done the first 30 miles, and he rode the final 20 miles back to the city, so that's one good option for folks looking to avoid the hilly headlands and the early morning start.

Animules: lots of tourists
Total Distance: 52 miles
Elevation gain: 3500-4000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours 35 minutes
Route (on bikely.com): Marin-Headlands-Tiburon

State of the rider: Felt good today; passed a guy while climbing Conzelman to the headlands (he was not 80 years old, nor 300 lbs, nor riding a mountain bike); easily passed a chick road cyclist going up the climb to Corte Madera. What, did these people actually take the winter off or something?

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Iron Horse-Dublin Grade (49 miles)

This route is similar to the Oakland Yellowjackets' Dublin Grade route that goes counter clockwise over the Dublin grade and then heads north up to Walnut Creek. This reverse route begins in Orinda and heads south to Dublin as if on the Palomares route, but then turns west at Pleasanton and heads over the Dublin grade to Castro Valley. From there it's a quick jaunt through CV, up past Lake Chabot, and then over to San Leandro BART.

I had wanted to do the Dublin grade this weekend, since I hadn't done it in forever. But the weathermarroons had predicted gusty winds from the north, so by reversing the route and going clockwise, I was able to have a tailwind for 30 miles and only deal with the northerly headwinds briefly near the end of the route. Aren't I smart?

Nothing too remarkable on the ride, but it was nice to see the foothills so green. All the trees are in full spring bloom, as are my allergies. I hate having to blow snot rockets every few miles, because I find it disgusting. But on the other hand, if I'm having to blow my nose every 10 minutes, think of the kleenex I would go through on a 5 hour ride. There's a serious environmental impact to consider.


Animules: some horses
Total Distance: 49 miles
Elevation gain: about 2000 feet
Time in the Saddle: 3 hours 47 minutes
Route (on bikely.com): Iron Horse-Dublin Grade

Monday, February 18, 2008

Mt Diablo - summit (30 miles)

Finally! Back in late September I made my second ever trek up Diablo, to the rangers station, and said blithely, "Next time I'll either try to improve [on my time] or try for the summit". Heh. Then there were the two attempts in November and one in December where I actually got pretty close but was turned back by the lousy conditions. So, fifth time's a charm.

Rather than starting at BART, I decided to drive and park in Danville, to reduce the pre-climbing mileage a bit. I parked at the newly renovated Oak Hill Park on Stone Valley Road, which has an amazing, brand-new public bathroom. We'll see how long that lasts.

The weather at the base of the mountain was overcast but relatively mild, probably low to mid-50s with very little wind. I broke through the cloud cover just past the ranger station, on my way up Summit Road. Above the inversion layer, the conditions were great. Sunny and deceptively warm. A cyclist in a short-sleeved jersey passed by as he was descending, fast, and a fellow climber said, "That guy is gonna freeze his nipples off!"

Summit Road is definitely steeper than the roads leading up to it, but there are only two sections, each about a mile long, where I struggled. I was going pretty slow, 3-4 miles an hour at most, but then about a mile from the top, there's a switchback and the road suddenly evens out a bit. What a relief. The final 400 foot approach to the observatory is a 16% grade, so I hoofed it up that part. But still, with the comfortable spring conditions, it really wasn't that bad.

That's two peaks down, and one to go. Mt Tam, here I come.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Lake Berryessa Loop (40 miles)

If I had had my druthers (and a smaller credit card balance) I would have headed up to Calistoga for the long President's Day weekend. The next best thing is to fire up the ol' Toyota and head up to wine country for a day ride. This particular ride starts and ends at Lake Hennessey, just a bit north of Napa, near Rutherford. My four readers may remember that I cruised by Lake Hennessey back in September, when it was particularly low. We've had some decent rainfall this winter, so the lake seems.. full? I dunno. I should have taken a pic back in September, so we could do a side-by-side comparison. Oh well.

Anyway, you can park your ol' Toyota (or the vehicle of your choice) at the Lake Hennessey boat launch. There doesn't seem to be any requirement that you actually launch a boat to park here, which is good because that would have complicated matters. From the boat launch, the route travels north through Pope Valley, heads east along Pope Canyon, skirts alongside Lake Berryessa for 13 miles, then heads back to Lake Hennessey via Sage Canyon Road (highway 128). Chiles Pope Valley, Pope Canyon, and Sage Canyon Roads all traverse canyons with creeks, so even the non-lake portions of the route are quite scenic. I imagine these roads could get crowded in the summer, but today I barely saw anyone on the roads. Just a handful of cyclists, a few motorists, and some motorcycles. For large stretches I had the road entirely to myself. Whee!

The Chiles Valley is interesting.. it's just a few miles to the east of the Napa Valley appellation area, but it's clearly a bit more arid. Apparently the fog that can settle in the Napa valley doesn't quite get past the foothills into the Chiles Valley area. In fact this morning the fog driving up through Napa was like pea soup, but it didn't penetrate past Lake Hennessey. It's another example of the microclimates that we see in California so often, where you have the coastal climate, then a small seismic ridge, then a valley, then a ridge, then another valley, all within a 20 mile radius from the ocean. The valley is named after a guy named Joseph Chiles, who got one of the land grants from the Mexican government before the US seized the territory in 1848.


Lake Berryessa is a more recent development. Since seeing the movie Zodiac, I associate the lake with the zodiac killer, but it's not just for psychotic murders! It's also for people who like recreation, and boats, and picnics. The lake is a man-made reservoir, and was formed in the 1950s by the Monticello Dam. The decision to create the dam and flood the valley (and abandon the town of Monticello) was controversial, and documented by Dorothea Lange in her book Death of a Valley.

If you travel through Napa valley this time of year, you'll see lots of yellow mustard flowers covering the dormant vineyards. I wondered if these were wild flowers (tales of Junipero Serra tossing mustard seeds to the wind) but the internets tell me that the vintners plant mustard because they
stimulate the soil. Hmm.

Of course, no visit to the area would be complete without a quick stop for winetasting/purchasing. To get to and from Lake Hennessey, you'll pass through Rutherford and be within sloshing distance of tons of wineries along Silverado Trail. I belong to the wine club at Rutherford Hill, so naturally I took the opportunity to stop by and pick up a few bottles of Cab and vintage port. When in Napa...


Total Miles: 41
Elevation Gain: 3590 ft
Animules: lots of horses and cows
Route map (bikely.com): Hennessey-Berryessa

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Kihei Sunshine Ride (40 miles)

One lesson I learned while visiting Maui in the winter: if you want sunshine, even when the rest of the island is in a torrential downpour (or under snowcover), you need to head over to the leeward side known as "south Maui", home to the resort towns of Kihei and Wailea. The mass of Haleakala blocks most of the tradewind weather patterns, so at least you've got a shot at drying out for the day.

Originally we had planned on riding up to Hana from Paia, but after dealing with the elements on our west Maui tour, the prospect of more wet windy riding didn't seem very appealing. Instead we decided to head out to Kihei for a little sunshine. The route is simple: from Paia, take Hana Highway towards Kahului, and follow bumpy Hansen Road to Mokulele Highway. On Hansen Road you'll pass by an aging sugar mill, still in operation. Almost the entire valley between the eastern and western volcanic mountains is planted with sugar cane. According to The Book, one company owns all 37,000 acres of the stuff. That's a lot of sugah.

Where Hansen Road meets the highway, there's a brand-spanking new bikeway running along the eastern side of the highway. The bikeway goes all the way to Kihei, ending at Piilani Highway. Incidentally, the prevailent tradewinds that blow through the valley will push you along effortlessly all the way from Paia to Kihei. Just remember to leave some extra time for the return trip, when you'll be battling the headwinds a bit.

Where the bikeway ends, turn down Uwapo to reach South Kihei Road, which runs alongside the south shoreline for several miles. A marked bikelane comes and goes along this road, but even when it disappears there's generally enough shoulder to feel comfortable.

The south side of Maui is known for its fabulous beaches, and there are plenty of places along Kihei Road to stop and take in some sun and sand. Personal favorite: Kamaole Beach I, at Alanui Ke Alii Road. Or continue a mile or two down the road to the Kihei Boat Launch, where you'll find a nice walking path with benches; a good rest stop before the return trip.

Total Miles: 37 miles
Elevation Gain: close to zero
Route map (bikely.com): Paia-Kihei

West Maui Tour (80 miles)

Day 1: Paia/Kahului to Napili

For my first multi-day bicycling tour of the season, I met my cycling buddies in Maui for a two day tour around the western half of the island. We started the ride from the Paia/Kahului side of the island to facilitate the airport exchange, but you could just as easily begin and end from the Kihei/Wailea side. You could also do this route as a long day ride, but you would have to start pretty early in the morning, given the challenging terrain of the last 30 miles.

From Kahului, traveling clockwise, there are two highways that lead to Lahaina and the surrounding communities: the Kuihelani Highway (380) and the Honoapiilani Highway (30). Highway 30 seems to carry less auto traffic and had a bike lane for significant portions, so this seems like the preferred road to take. To get to where the highway begins in Wailuku, you have to snake your way through urban and industrial parts of Kahului which are less than scenic. On the bright side, our meanders took us past a local greasy spoon called Tasty Crust, apparently known island-wide for their pancakes. Perfect fuel for the road!

Leaving Wailuku via highway 30, the tradewinds push you right through the valley at a speedy clip. Past the 7 mile marker, at McGregor Point and Lighthouse, is a pullout that's great for whale-watching. We saw several breaches within just a few minutes. Past mile 10 there's a narrow tunnel that's a bit sketchy, but there's enough shoulder to get by. Another 10 miles down the road is Lahaina, the historic whaling town and tourist trap. (Take Front St. from the highway). Lahaina provides a nice resting point, and there are plenty of options for food and refreshment here. We had a bite to eat at the Pioneer Inn Grill and Bar, which has a great wharf side location but isn't particularly cycling-friendly. The greasy long-haired jackass who was in charge gave us a big stink for parking our bikes on the sidewalk. He was really concerned about us blocking the walkway. Meanwhile, Front Street was a parking lot with a brazillion tourists and their SUVs.

Anyway, from Lahaina we continued on towards our first night's destination, Napili bay, just a few miles past Ka'anapali. Just outside of Napili, the road was actually closed to car traffic while crews worked on some power lines downed by the storm. Luckily we were able to walk our bikes past.

Yeah, the weather was... not so good. It's the rainy season, so you expect some showers, but there was actually a pretty substantial stormfront hanging over the island for most of the week, making for some less than ideal riding conditions. J likened it to riding in Cambodia during the monsoon season. I didn't feel like we got pummeled by too much rain on the West Maui ride, but the roads were wet, muddy, sometimes flooded, with occasional rock slides and other debris on the shoulders. At the end of each day we looked like we had gone mud-wrestling rather than cycling. So, it was certainly nice to arrive in Napili for a brief respite from the rain and mud before we hit the road again for day two.

Napili has lots of condo rentals that are relatively inexpensive, given the beautiful location (a protected bay with a perfect cresent of sandy beach). Napili Village has spacious studio condos that sleep up to 4 ($160 a night). You can have dinner with a bay view at the Sea House, about a block away. Try the poi, it's tasteless! (at least that's how our waitress marketed it) They also have live music, some good Hawaiian stuff mixed with covers of '70s and '80s classics for the golf course Haoles. Rock on!

Day 2: Napili to Paia

The second day of the ride takes you past the remaining condo towns where few tourists venture. Past Kapalua the road narrows to one lane and traces a sinuous path along the cliffs. Even in good weather this leg of the route would be challenging, with the constant hills, quick descents, and narrow switchbacks. A few brief sections are so steep that I had to use my lowest gear (i.e. walking). In our less than ideal conditions it was a real bear of a ride. But it was still pretty spectacular. It reminded me a bit of stretches of highway 1 in California.. just a bit more lush and tropical.

There are no services on this stretch of highway, besides a couple small fruit stands in Kahakuloa town. Just past the village begins the only sustained climb of the day: an elevation gain of 1000 feet of so over 2-3 miles. For the most part the road is well graded in this section, so it's actually a pleasant climb compared to some of the steep stuff earlier on. After that, it's all downhill back to Wailuku.



Total Miles: 80
Elevation Gain: unknown
Route maps (bikely.com): Paia-Napili and Napili-Paia