Yesterday I spent about an hour and 160 bucks on a new saddle for my Specialized Dolce, so I was anxious to put it to the test on a longish ride. I’ve had a really hard time finding a replacement saddle that works for me on this bike. The saddle that came with it originally worked fine for a couple of years, but then started causing some discomfort during long ride... mostly soft tissue discomfort in the pelvic area. Thus began the search for a replacement saddle. I tried two different Terry saddles, neither of which worked, and then briefly tried putting one of my Brooks saddles on the bike, but that made the soft tissue discomfort worse. So, yesterday went down to Alameda Bicycle to check out the Specialized saddles, figuring that the original Specialized saddle had been the most comfortable of the lot. I tried a Jett first, and didn’t like that much, then tried a Ruby Gel and it felt pretty good on the spin around the block. Very firm but with a good cutaway so I didn’t feel any discomfort in the soft tissue area. Naturally it was the most expensive of the lot, because that’s how my butt rolls.
For this ride, I started in Walnut Creek and headed up North Gate. It was beautiful day for riding, light clouds, some sun, cool temps, but no rain. The ride up North Gate is pleasantly green from the recent rains, but alas very few wild flowers this season.
About a third of the way up I came across a loose dog.. I guess it was maybe a golden retriever, but had a reddish coat. He had tags with contact info, so he clearly wasn’t a stray. I hadn’t brought my cell with me, but a couple of other cyclists stopped and the woman called the owner. Strangely the owner didn’t seem in any kind of hurry to come and pick up his dog! He apparently said to point the dog in the direction of the trail and say “Go home!”. Cyclist woman was all, “that guy’s an idiot”. Seriously. You live 10 minutes away, someone calls to say they’ve found you’re dog, and you can’t get in your fricking car and go pick him up? What the hell man? The cycling couple took the dog with them down the hill, I guess in the hopes of intersecting with the owner. Hope that worked out.
I continued up the hill with some aspirations of getting to the ranger station under an hour. 2 miles from the station I started shooting for 65 minutes. That came and went and I was just trying to avoid logging my slowest time ever. Which I did avoid, but only by tie-ing my previous worst showing: 72 minutes. Blech. However I will note that the last time I logged this time up Diablo was last year in May, after I had completed the Wine Country Century and when I really started my Death Ride training. So, I guess I’m right where I should expect to be. But still, disappointing.
After the ranger station, headed down newly repaved South Gate, which is truly luscious with its brand new asphalty goodness. From the bottom of South Gate, headed to Danville, through Alamo, Lafayette, to Moraga, where I turned around and headed back to Lafayette to hop on BART.
So, the good news with the saddle: I had basically no soft tissue pain with this saddle, which is great! The bad news is that my sit bones began to ache around mile 30, making the final 10 miles of the ride kind of painful. In fact I really could have put in a few more miles, but just couldn’t stand being on the bike any longer. I’m hoping that the sit bone pain will go away once I get used to the saddle. Otherwise, I’m going to be quite annoyed.
Animules: horses, one loose dog, one wild turkey
Total Distance: 40 miles
Elevation gain: about 2500 feet
Time in the Saddle: 3 hours 45 minutes
Showing posts with label dolce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dolce. Show all posts
Sunday, March 8, 2009
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
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
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.
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
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, October 28, 2007
Orinda-Sunol-Union City (62 miles)
This ride is a bit of a hybrid, combining the first 45 miles of the Orinda-Palomares ride with a jaunt down the Alameda Creek path and a quick turn through urban-industrial Union City. This is another BART-to-BART ride: the route begins at Orinda BART station and finishes up at South Hayward BART.
The stretch from Orinda to Sunol (i.e the first 40 miles or so) has become one of my favorite standard rides this season. It's a really pleasant route that's relatively flat without too many stops or lights, so you can really speed down to Dublin/Pleasanton in no time.
Instead of taking the turn up Palomares Road, I stayed on Niles Canyon and picked up the Alameda Creek trail at Mission. I followed the trail to Union City Blvd, then headed north to Industrial Parkway. Obviously this is a utilitarian route rather than a scenic one, but it's a straight shot down Industrial Parkway to South Hayward BART. Besides, there aren't a lot of scenic options through Union City and Hayward, so you sort of have to settle for the functional.
While out and about I was keeping an eye open for changing fall colors. Being in New York last weekend got me thinking about fall foliage, so I've been on a mission this week to spot any isolated trees in the bay area that are undergoing an autumn transformation. From what I can tell, the hills around here don't have too many trees that change, but scattered throughout many residential areas (including my own) there are lots of these little trees that are changing to a very bright red. Wonder what kind of tree that is...?
Animules: horses, and some pasturing cows in Union City
Total Distance: 62 miles
Elevation Gain: 1400 feet
Route (on bikely.com): Orinda-Sunol-Union City
The stretch from Orinda to Sunol (i.e the first 40 miles or so) has become one of my favorite standard rides this season. It's a really pleasant route that's relatively flat without too many stops or lights, so you can really speed down to Dublin/Pleasanton in no time.
Instead of taking the turn up Palomares Road, I stayed on Niles Canyon and picked up the Alameda Creek trail at Mission. I followed the trail to Union City Blvd, then headed north to Industrial Parkway. Obviously this is a utilitarian route rather than a scenic one, but it's a straight shot down Industrial Parkway to South Hayward BART. Besides, there aren't a lot of scenic options through Union City and Hayward, so you sort of have to settle for the functional.
While out and about I was keeping an eye open for changing fall colors. Being in New York last weekend got me thinking about fall foliage, so I've been on a mission this week to spot any isolated trees in the bay area that are undergoing an autumn transformation. From what I can tell, the hills around here don't have too many trees that change, but scattered throughout many residential areas (including my own) there are lots of these little trees that are changing to a very bright red. Wonder what kind of tree that is...?
Animules: horses, and some pasturing cows in Union City
Total Distance: 62 miles
Elevation Gain: 1400 feet
Route (on bikely.com): Orinda-Sunol-Union City
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Mt. Hamilton (40 miles)
One of my goals for the upcoming winter is to ride to the summit of the three bay area peaks (Mts. Diablo, Hamilton, and Tamalpais). I've made it to the ranger station junctions at Diablo and Tam, but I've never ridden Mt. Hamilton. So today I decided to give it a shot.
Mt Hamilton, located in the south bay near San Jose, is, I believe, the tallest peak in the bay area, with its various summits (there are several along the ridge) measuring in the 4200-4300 foot range. It's also probably the easiest of the three to climb, since it's gently graded most of the way. Of course the price of the gentle grade is a very long climb: from the base of Mt Hamilton Road up to Lick Observatory is 18 miles. But I much prefer a long gentle climb to a short steep one, so Hamilton was right up my alley. The first twelve miles were pretty easy, with the steady ascent broken by a couple of 1-2 mile descents. This provided a nice respite during the climb, but then later coming down it meant that I had to do a little more climbing when I was pretty pooped.
The last 6-7 miles were a bit tougher. The road leading up to the Observatory is a bit steeper than the previous 12 miles, and I had a little mini-bonk on the last few miles. I had been going at a steady pace of 6-7 mph in the first 12 miles, but had to drop down to 4-5 mph on the final ascent. I just ran out of energy, and actually felt a little nauseous when I finally made it to the Observatory. I had only consumed half a luna bar and one gel in about 3 hours of steady climbing, so I don't think I had enough calories to keep me going. But I made it, so yay!
Lick Observatory is interesting.. it was built between 1876 and 1888, and has been run by the University of California since 1888 (UC has its mitts on all kinds of things that most people don't know about). According to wikipedia, the gentle grade of the road was to facilitate the transportation, by horse and mule-drawn wagons, of building materials for the observatory.
Near the end of the long descent down the mountain, I heard a pop and pulled off to the side of the road. I had broken a spoke and my back wheel was so out of true that it was rubbing against the frame. Fabulous. A couple of cyclists stopped to offer help, but none of us had a spoke wrench or knew how to true a wheel, so we just loosened everything as much as we could so I could coast the last 3 miles down the hill. The woman who stopped said that her husband ran a bike shop in Santa Cruz.. I think she said it was called Sprockets. So, a shout out to the woman from Sprockets who stopped to help. Anyway, I dropped the bike off at the shop to have the spoke fixed and the wheel trued. My two readers will remember the trouble I went through when my other bike started popping spokes left and right, so let's hope I'm not heading down that path with the Dolce as well.
Animules: horses, several deer, lots of suicidal squirrels
Total Distance: 39 miles
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours
Elevation Gain: 5900 feet
Route (on bikely.com): Mt Hamilton
Mt Hamilton, located in the south bay near San Jose, is, I believe, the tallest peak in the bay area, with its various summits (there are several along the ridge) measuring in the 4200-4300 foot range. It's also probably the easiest of the three to climb, since it's gently graded most of the way. Of course the price of the gentle grade is a very long climb: from the base of Mt Hamilton Road up to Lick Observatory is 18 miles. But I much prefer a long gentle climb to a short steep one, so Hamilton was right up my alley. The first twelve miles were pretty easy, with the steady ascent broken by a couple of 1-2 mile descents. This provided a nice respite during the climb, but then later coming down it meant that I had to do a little more climbing when I was pretty pooped.
The last 6-7 miles were a bit tougher. The road leading up to the Observatory is a bit steeper than the previous 12 miles, and I had a little mini-bonk on the last few miles. I had been going at a steady pace of 6-7 mph in the first 12 miles, but had to drop down to 4-5 mph on the final ascent. I just ran out of energy, and actually felt a little nauseous when I finally made it to the Observatory. I had only consumed half a luna bar and one gel in about 3 hours of steady climbing, so I don't think I had enough calories to keep me going. But I made it, so yay!
Lick Observatory is interesting.. it was built between 1876 and 1888, and has been run by the University of California since 1888 (UC has its mitts on all kinds of things that most people don't know about). According to wikipedia, the gentle grade of the road was to facilitate the transportation, by horse and mule-drawn wagons, of building materials for the observatory. Near the end of the long descent down the mountain, I heard a pop and pulled off to the side of the road. I had broken a spoke and my back wheel was so out of true that it was rubbing against the frame. Fabulous. A couple of cyclists stopped to offer help, but none of us had a spoke wrench or knew how to true a wheel, so we just loosened everything as much as we could so I could coast the last 3 miles down the hill. The woman who stopped said that her husband ran a bike shop in Santa Cruz.. I think she said it was called Sprockets. So, a shout out to the woman from Sprockets who stopped to help. Anyway, I dropped the bike off at the shop to have the spoke fixed and the wheel trued. My two readers will remember the trouble I went through when my other bike started popping spokes left and right, so let's hope I'm not heading down that path with the Dolce as well.
Animules: horses, several deer, lots of suicidal squirrels
Total Distance: 39 miles
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours
Elevation Gain: 5900 feet
Route (on bikely.com): Mt Hamilton
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Mount Diablo Junction
Today I road up Mount Diablo, to the ranger station junction, for the first time in 2-3 years and only the second time ever. The first and last time I did this ride it was just too much for me, and I kinda figured that I would never want to do it again. But I've been doing a lot more climbing this season, so I thought I should give it another try and see if it was as bad as I remembered.
Mount Diablo is one of the three major peaks in the bay area (along with Mt Tamalpais in marin and Mt Hamilton in the south bay) and a favorite ride for lots of cyclists. There are two approaches to the ranger station, Northgate and Southgate. From the junction of that two roads, at 2200 feet, it's another 4.5 miles to the summit, which is about 3800 feet. Both times I've done this ride I've followed the Yellowjackets routesheet, which leads you up the more gently graded Southgate to the junction and then down Northgate.
Anyway, from the base of Southgate to the junction is a steady 6 mile climb. The average grade on this road is apparently 4.5%, but there are sections in the first 2 miles that are steeper. To my surprise I really didn't find the ride that difficult this time around. In fact I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, so I guess that means that I've become much better at climbing over the past couple of years. Whee! It took me pretty much exactly 1 hour to reach the junction, which isn't gonna break any records but it's pretty good for me. Next time I'll either try to improve on that time or try for the summit.
Oh, and a shoutout to the guy who helped me with my flat tire at the entrance to Southgate. I went to fix my flat and realized that the guy at the shop who installed my new cassette put my quick release on so tightly that I couldn't open it. Jerk. So thanks to the guy to stopped to helped me open it and then proceeded to fix my flat for me.
Total miles: 34
Total time in the saddle: 3 hours
Elevation gain: 2300 feet
Mount Diablo is one of the three major peaks in the bay area (along with Mt Tamalpais in marin and Mt Hamilton in the south bay) and a favorite ride for lots of cyclists. There are two approaches to the ranger station, Northgate and Southgate. From the junction of that two roads, at 2200 feet, it's another 4.5 miles to the summit, which is about 3800 feet. Both times I've done this ride I've followed the Yellowjackets routesheet, which leads you up the more gently graded Southgate to the junction and then down Northgate.
Anyway, from the base of Southgate to the junction is a steady 6 mile climb. The average grade on this road is apparently 4.5%, but there are sections in the first 2 miles that are steeper. To my surprise I really didn't find the ride that difficult this time around. In fact I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, so I guess that means that I've become much better at climbing over the past couple of years. Whee! It took me pretty much exactly 1 hour to reach the junction, which isn't gonna break any records but it's pretty good for me. Next time I'll either try to improve on that time or try for the summit.
Oh, and a shoutout to the guy who helped me with my flat tire at the entrance to Southgate. I went to fix my flat and realized that the guy at the shop who installed my new cassette put my quick release on so tightly that I couldn't open it. Jerk. So thanks to the guy to stopped to helped me open it and then proceeded to fix my flat for me.
Total miles: 34
Total time in the saddle: 3 hours
Elevation gain: 2300 feet
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Orinda-Palomares
Today I did the Orinda-Palomares ride again, for the first time since early June. This is one of my favorite rides in the east bay, but it's really a spring or fall ride (it's a bit too warm in the summer for it). I got a chance to try out my new cassette on the climb up Palomares Road, and I was pleased that the additional granny gear on the new cassette really made a difference on the steep sections. I used to wish I had just one lower gear on some of these climbs, and now I do! Whee!
Animules: lots of deer on Palomares Road
Distance: 58 miles
Elevation gain: 2300 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4.5 hours
Route: Orinda-Palomares (bikely.com)
Animules: lots of deer on Palomares Road
Distance: 58 miles
Elevation gain: 2300 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4.5 hours
Route: Orinda-Palomares (bikely.com)
Sunday, September 9, 2007
new cassette and then some
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had ordered a new 28-11 8-speed cassette for the Dolce. It finally came in this week, but after the shop installed it, the mechanic noticed that the pulley of the rear derailleur was rubbing against the lowest gear. Turns out that rear derailleurs are designed for a maximum size rear sprocket, and if you exceed this max size by too much, the jockey pulley rubs against the low gear sprocket. Who knew?
My options were: put the old 25-12 cassette back on or keep the new cassette and buy a new, better derailleur. So now I have a new cassette and a new Ultegra GS rear derailleur. Woohoo!
My options were: put the old 25-12 cassette back on or keep the new cassette and buy a new, better derailleur. So now I have a new cassette and a new Ultegra GS rear derailleur. Woohoo!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Belated bicycle birthday
While I was out on my ride today, my odometer ticked over another 1000 miles. This is always exciting for me (obviously I don't have a lot of excitement in my life), and I spent some time trying to figure out how many miles I've logged on my road bike since I bought it. It was during this impromptu calculation, outside of Valley Ford in Sonoma county, that I realized that it was about three years ago that I purchased my Specialized Dolce.. the first new bicycle that I had plunked down hard cash for since I saved up for my silver 10 speed back in fifth grade.
When I got home I pulled out the paperwork, and the receipt is stamped April 25, 2004. So, a bit belated, but Happy Birthday Dolce! May we log many more miles together until you either crack or I can afford a new Rivendell.
When I got home I pulled out the paperwork, and the receipt is stamped April 25, 2004. So, a bit belated, but Happy Birthday Dolce! May we log many more miles together until you either crack or I can afford a new Rivendell.
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