20 January 2007

Moss Landing

My new bike It was very foggy when I got started, and the roads were damp. At least the fog kept the temperatures warmer than they had been the last week and a half. I was riding my new bike for the first time, with various things to get accustomed to. It weighs about 16lbs, or about 4-5lbs less than my old bike, which I noticed when accelerating and cornering. This route didn't have any real climbs or descents, so I didn't get to see how those would be. It also had SRAM shifters, which I didn't have any problems with. I didn't expect to have any problems, as I have used stem shifters, downtube shifters, indexed downtube shifters, trigger shifters, thumb shifters and STI, and adjusted to all of those without any problem. I was also using clipless pedals for the first time in 12 years, and, other than being a bit slow to clip in when restarting, I had no problems. I expected to have to adjust more to the different gearing, which was 50/34 in front, and 11-26 in the back. (I had asked for 12-26, but it got built with an 11-26. However, unless I think I need the 16, I'll stay with the 11-26.) Since the route was fairly flat, I stayed mostly in the big ring, dropping into the small ring for some of the steeper climbs. I had been worried about having constantly shift in front to be in the preferred gear, which is a common complaint about the 50/34-- the 16 tooth difference in the rings leaves very little overlapped gears between the rings. I did use the 50/23 and 50/26 quite a bit, though, and didn't experience any crosschaining issues. There was no derailleur rub, even though there no trim available for the big ring.

I got signed in at the start of the ride. There was a pretty good turnout of 15-20, including some new people. Apparently, the previous week, when it was really cold, 10 people went on the club ride (which I skipped), and 8 of them got sick from the food at the lunch stop that day. My new bike got some attention, as I think noone else in the club has a SRAM bike or a carbon Ibis. Also, that I was finally using clipless pedals got some attention.

The route would be identical to the one on 16 September 2006, and we started off at an easy warmup pace. On the little climb out of Capitola to Park, I stood up and cranked up my pace a little, still in the big ring, to see how that would feel. I really like how the new bike feels going from sitting to standing, which might be due to having it fit better, or from having clipless pedals. On the way to Rio Del Mar, we caught up to another group of cyclists. I think they were a triathlon group. I went by them with another guy on initial climb of up Rio Del Mar, so I don't know where they went after that.

We stopped at La Playa Market at La Selva Beach, where we were joined by many more riders, most of them from the Aptos, Corralitos, or Watsonville areas, including some more new people, so the turnout for this ride was one of the biggest ones I've seen. One guy, who sometimes rides a tandem, came on a fixed gear, which was the first time I've seen one on a club ride. From La Selva, we headed out on San Andreas, Thurwachter, McGowen, Trafton, Bluff, Jensen, Hwy 1 with a detour on Struve, to Moss Landing. It was very foggy on parts of San Andreas. The sun came out briefly on Bluff and Jensen, but it was foggy again on Hwy 1. The top of the power plant at Moss Landing was obscured by fog.


Back of Phil's Snack Shack At Moss Landing, we stopped at Phil's Snack Shack for lunch. I was the first to order, which was fortunate, because there was going to be a big crowd showing up. After I finished my sandwich, I took a picture. There was also a gray cat there that kept getting scared and running under the building. Afterwards, I went with three others to check out the gallery next door. In my cleats, I was worried about falling and breaking something expensive. When we were done with that, just about everyone else had already left. The fog had pretty much cleared.

I headed out on Dolan with two other guys. By the time we got to Russo, where the ride leader was making sure everyone was on their way, one of them had dropped back. On Russo, we overtook a few riders. On Elkhorn, we overtook most of the rest of the riders on the ride. One of them joined us, so I was in a group of three again. His bike needed adjustment, and he didn't have his tools, so his bike kept making clicking noises. When he was behind me, it sounded to me like the clicking was coming from my cassette or rear derailleur, so I kept looking down at it. When he was ahead of me, I could tell that the clicking came from his bike, so I felt better about my bike after that. From Elkhorn, we took Garin, Lewis, Vega, San Miguel Canyon, Murphy Crossing, Hwy 129, and Carlton. Clicking bike guy stopped at Gizdich, and the other guy kept going, so I kept going. We continued on Carlton, Casserley, Mt Madonna, Hazel Dell, Browns Valley and stopped at Corralitos. I had been thinking about getting a sugary drink for some time, so I got a Sprite at the market. The other guy got a diet Coke. It was sunny and windless at Corralitos. While we were standing around, clicking bike guy rode up. He got an orange at the market.

We got going again, heading over Hames, then Day Valley and Valencia. At Aptos, we headed west on Soquel. At Soquel, clicking bike guy turned off. At 17th Ave, the other guy turned off. I continued on Soquel and Water back to Santa Cruz.