With one week left until the Maui trip, and a three day weekend courtesy of uncle Arnold, I wanted to get in a ride every day over the weekend. This is mostly just for training purposes, but I also want to see how the aluminum frame Dolce feels after consecutive days of riding. In the past when I've done multi-day tours I've always taken the steel-frame Terry. But for various reasons, I decided to just rent a bike on Maui from a bike shop that carries the make, model, and size of my Specialized Dolce.
Anyway, when I started out this morning I intended to do the Grizzly Peak Pinehurst loop, but then about half way through I decided I would take a left after Tilden rather than a right. This option takes you past the San Pablo Dam reservoir, then through some slightly white trash communities of the bay area before rejoining the Berkeley area and vicinity.
The jaunt through El Cerrito and Albany follows the Ohlone bikeway, which is nice if you don't mind that a) it runs directly under the BART rail, and b) that it requires stopping as it intersects each block. One item of note: the northern part of the bikeway is a wildflower preserve, and the flowers are just starting to bloom. Pretty!
For the initial ride up Old Tunnel Road, I clocked time in motion of 43 minutes and 30 seconds, which is 3 minutes faster than when I clocked it on January 1 as my "time trial". Today I really tried to stay out of my lowest gear on the climb, since I know my Maui rental won't have a 28 on the cassette. Forcing myself to push a slightly higher gear might have accounted for the difference.
Animules: more skunk roadkill. What is going on with the dead skunks this winter? Also, some horses, alive, with riders, up in the park
Total Distance: 38 miles
Elevation gain: about 3800 feet
Time in the Saddle: 3.5 hours
Route (on bikely.com): Tilden-San Pablo Dam
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Orinda-Fremont via Sunol (49 miles)
After several weeks of craptastic weather, we finally caught a break this weekend and had sunny skies and relatively high temperatures. I had forgotten how just a little sunshine can really brighten your mood after seemingly endless rainy gloom. I had planned on riding both Saturday and Sunday, but on Friday night I went to a tiki bar with a friend and had waaaay too many mai-tais. I was wreck on Saturday and barely managed to leave the apartment, so, no ride on Saturday.
But after a good night's rest and lots of fluids, I was a new woman, and decided to take a nice long spin over in the San Ramon valley. This ride has been my standard longish flat ride for a while now; the scenery is nice, it follows bike routes and paths almost the entire way, and it's relatively flat so you can really get going (assuming there are no strong headwinds, which can be an issue in spots). Anyway, given that I've done this ride so many times, I was surprised that I had never blogged it before. It's very similar to both the Orinda-Palomares ride and the Orinda-Union City ride, it just terminates at a different BART station.
This is another BART to BART ride, beginning at Orinda BART and ending at Fremont BART. There's a very gradual incline (it's hard to even call it a climb) out of Orinda heading into Moraga, but beyond that, it's flat smooth sailing for the next 35 miles or so, through Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Danville, Dublin, and Pleasanton. Today there were absolutely no headwinds, maybe a bit of a tailwind even, so I flew through the first 30 miles of the rides in about 2.5 hours. That was with a 20 minute stop at Starbucks. Past Sunol I took Niles Canyon road back to the bay side of the hills. This road has always been a bit sketchy (it's highway 84 with just two lanes and a disappearing shoulder) but it's become even worse lately. They've widened the center divider, adding those bumpy things, without doing anything about the shoulder. Basically they've reduced the shoulder even further, which is a ridiculous hazard for cyclists given the speed of the traffic. And this is on a known and popular bicycle route. It's a real shame because this road goes through a beautiful canyon with the creek and a historic railway line. It could be a nice bikeway linking Pleasanton/Sunol with Fremont, but it looks like they're taking it in the other direction.
Animules: all kinds of roadkill on Niles Canyon, including 4 dead skunks.
Total Distance: 48 miles
Elevation gain: about 1200 feet
Time in the Saddle: 3.5 hours
Route (on bikely.com): Orinda-Fremont
But after a good night's rest and lots of fluids, I was a new woman, and decided to take a nice long spin over in the San Ramon valley. This ride has been my standard longish flat ride for a while now; the scenery is nice, it follows bike routes and paths almost the entire way, and it's relatively flat so you can really get going (assuming there are no strong headwinds, which can be an issue in spots). Anyway, given that I've done this ride so many times, I was surprised that I had never blogged it before. It's very similar to both the Orinda-Palomares ride and the Orinda-Union City ride, it just terminates at a different BART station.
This is another BART to BART ride, beginning at Orinda BART and ending at Fremont BART. There's a very gradual incline (it's hard to even call it a climb) out of Orinda heading into Moraga, but beyond that, it's flat smooth sailing for the next 35 miles or so, through Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Danville, Dublin, and Pleasanton. Today there were absolutely no headwinds, maybe a bit of a tailwind even, so I flew through the first 30 miles of the rides in about 2.5 hours. That was with a 20 minute stop at Starbucks. Past Sunol I took Niles Canyon road back to the bay side of the hills. This road has always been a bit sketchy (it's highway 84 with just two lanes and a disappearing shoulder) but it's become even worse lately. They've widened the center divider, adding those bumpy things, without doing anything about the shoulder. Basically they've reduced the shoulder even further, which is a ridiculous hazard for cyclists given the speed of the traffic. And this is on a known and popular bicycle route. It's a real shame because this road goes through a beautiful canyon with the creek and a historic railway line. It could be a nice bikeway linking Pleasanton/Sunol with Fremont, but it looks like they're taking it in the other direction.
Animules: all kinds of roadkill on Niles Canyon, including 4 dead skunks.
Total Distance: 48 miles
Elevation gain: about 1200 feet
Time in the Saddle: 3.5 hours
Route (on bikely.com): Orinda-Fremont
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Time Trial: Old Tunnel Road
I do this quick ride all the time, but realized today that it's a good candidate for a hilly time trial. Starting from Rockridge, it's a steady 5 mile climb up to the ridge line, where Skyline Blvd meets Grizzly Peak. There are a couple of nice things about this climb: there's only one traffic light to get through (and usually you don't have to wait more than 20 seconds for it to turn), and Old Tunnel Road has very light traffic, limited mostly to local residents.
From now on I'm going to start clocking this ride whenever I do it, to see if I can't shave some time off in the coming months. I expect my time will be slightly faster when I'm riding the Specialized (aluminum) rather than the Terry (steel frame, with racks and panniers), so I'll note which machine I'm using each time.
Bike: Specialized Dolce
Total Time Clocked, from Claremont/College to Grizzly Peak: 49 minutes
Actual Ride time: 46 minutes 30 seconds
Total Distance: 5.1 miles
Route (bikely.com): Old Tunnel Road
From now on I'm going to start clocking this ride whenever I do it, to see if I can't shave some time off in the coming months. I expect my time will be slightly faster when I'm riding the Specialized (aluminum) rather than the Terry (steel frame, with racks and panniers), so I'll note which machine I'm using each time.
Bike: Specialized Dolce
Total Time Clocked, from Claremont/College to Grizzly Peak: 49 minutes
Actual Ride time: 46 minutes 30 seconds
Total Distance: 5.1 miles
Route (bikely.com): Old Tunnel Road
Cycling goals for 2008
It's that time of year again... New Year's cycling resolutions! In the coming year I plan to concentrate on two main cycling goals: becoming a kickass climbing machine and doing more multi-day touring.
Climbing
1. Climb to the summit of each of the three major peaks in the bay area.
I've already got a head start on this one, having done Mt. Hamilton this past fall, and getting closer to the summit of Diablo each time up. I feel pretty good about being able to check off the Diablo summit sometime in the early spring, but Mt. Tam is going to be a challenge.
2. Complete 3 passes in the Death Ride.
I think I mentioned that I signed up for the Death Ride lottery drawing, but I won't know if I've been selected for participation until sometime in February. When I first heard about this ride, I thought it sounded crazy. But I'm pretty sure that if it were held today I could do one pass. Since I have 6 months to train, it seems reasonable that I could do 3 passes by the time July comes along.
Touring
In 2007 I did my second multi-day credit card tour, a 5 day trip down the California coast. It was a really exhilerating ride and made me want to spend a lot more time touring in 2008. First up will be 4 days of riding around Maui in late January, with R and J. Should be great fun, and a great way to experience the island. There are also plans to do a ride back east in July, again with R and J (hope they don't get sick of me!). And then I'd like to squeeze in one more short tour in the fall, if possible.
Centuries
I'm not really going to focus on centuries this season, but there are always events on the calendar that look like too much fun to pass up. This year I definitely plan on doing:
1. Cinderella Century - the classic women-only metric, right here in the bay area. Always a blast, provided the weather holds up.
2. Wine Country Century - a beautiful ride with great rest stops
3. Sequoia Century - I did the 40 mile route of this one year, and it was pretty hilly. But I'm thinking I can at least do the metric this year.
4. Death Ride
5. Moonlight Magic Century - This is a night ride through Death Valley that looks awesome. It would be an ordeal to get out there, but I think it would be an unforgettable experience.
6. CFGFC - on hiatus in 2007, but if I can find a better route for the last 30 miles, I'll resurrect it for 2008
Climbing
1. Climb to the summit of each of the three major peaks in the bay area.
I've already got a head start on this one, having done Mt. Hamilton this past fall, and getting closer to the summit of Diablo each time up. I feel pretty good about being able to check off the Diablo summit sometime in the early spring, but Mt. Tam is going to be a challenge.
2. Complete 3 passes in the Death Ride.
I think I mentioned that I signed up for the Death Ride lottery drawing, but I won't know if I've been selected for participation until sometime in February. When I first heard about this ride, I thought it sounded crazy. But I'm pretty sure that if it were held today I could do one pass. Since I have 6 months to train, it seems reasonable that I could do 3 passes by the time July comes along.
Touring
In 2007 I did my second multi-day credit card tour, a 5 day trip down the California coast. It was a really exhilerating ride and made me want to spend a lot more time touring in 2008. First up will be 4 days of riding around Maui in late January, with R and J. Should be great fun, and a great way to experience the island. There are also plans to do a ride back east in July, again with R and J (hope they don't get sick of me!). And then I'd like to squeeze in one more short tour in the fall, if possible.
Centuries
I'm not really going to focus on centuries this season, but there are always events on the calendar that look like too much fun to pass up. This year I definitely plan on doing:
1. Cinderella Century - the classic women-only metric, right here in the bay area. Always a blast, provided the weather holds up.
2. Wine Country Century - a beautiful ride with great rest stops
3. Sequoia Century - I did the 40 mile route of this one year, and it was pretty hilly. But I'm thinking I can at least do the metric this year.
4. Death Ride
5. Moonlight Magic Century - This is a night ride through Death Valley that looks awesome. It would be an ordeal to get out there, but I think it would be an unforgettable experience.
6. CFGFC - on hiatus in 2007, but if I can find a better route for the last 30 miles, I'll resurrect it for 2008
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