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
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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
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
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
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
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