3 February 2007

Semi-solo climbing ride

Gate at the top of Soda Springs I planned a solo ride with a few climbs to see how my new bike felt on the climbs. It turned out a little different that what I had planned, which was a route of about 70 miles with about 7000 feet of climbing. As it turned out, I joined up with the club ride for a while, adding a climb of Soda Springs, which I had never climbed before, and then, to get back to my planned route, adding a climb of Black, and I wound up riding almost 90 miles and climbing about 11000 feet.

It was sunny when I started out, and it was promising to be a pretty warm day. However, as I headed up Branciforte to Granite Creek, it was cold under the heavy tree cover. The Granite Creek climb warmed me up after that. Then I headed up Glenwood by Scotts Valley High and the new housing development next to it, then, after climbing a little, descended into cold tree cover. At Bean Creek, I started seeing riders the club ride. The club ride this week took Bean Creek from Scotts Valley, then continued on Glenwood, up Mtn Charlie and then down and around Lexington Reservoir for a ride along the Los Gatos Creek Trail and lunch in Los Gatos before heading back the same way. It got very chilly around the Weston intersection. I then headed up Mtn Charlie. There must have been a big turnout for the club ride, since I overtook lots of them and slowed to chat with a couple of them. When I got to the top, four of the fast guys were there waiting. I stopped to chat and a lot of the cyclists that I had overtaken on the climb came riding up for the regroup.

From there, I had planned to take Summit and Skyline to Hwy 9, but the four fast guys were planning on climbing Soda Springs, which was an optional out-and-back on the club route sheet. Since I had never climbed it before and intended on climbing it some day, it didn't take much to convince me to go along. They described Soda Springs as 6 miles of continuous 6% climb with no break in the climbing, but without any really steep parts. It turned out to be more like 5.2 miles at around 8%, but otherwise as they described. I figured I could go through Redwood Estates to get back to my route, but one of the guys said that Black would work better, and I realized he was right, so I decided to take Black afterwards.

The four fast guys and I then headed over Hwy 17, then continued down Mtn Charlie, Old Santa Cruz Hwy, and Aldercroft Heights. Then we started around the reservoir on Alma Bridge Rd. Due to the lack of rain this season, the reservoir was very low. At the bottom of Soda Springs, there was a group of four or five cyclists standing around. I didn't recognize any of them. We headed up Soda Springs without stopping. Early on, two guys dropped back. A while later, another guy dropped back. The remaining guy and I rode together to the gate, doing the climb in about 45 minutes. As advertised, the road climbed relentlessly, with many sharp 180 degree turns, lots of wet spots on the road, and sand covering the road on some of the turns. We'd have to be pretty careful on the descent. At the top, I ate half a bar and took a picture of the gate. There were too many trees for a good view. Apparently, beyond the gate, there were good views. About ten minutes later, one of the other guys came riding up. He made a remark about us being the Easton boys, since we all had Easton wheels. He had Orion IIs on his Cannondale, the other guy had Circuits on his Trek, and I had Ascent IIs on my Ibis. Actually, three of the wheels were old enough to have Velomax labels. Much later, it occurred to me to make a comment about Weston (West End) girls. After another five minutes or so, the other two guys made it up.

The four guys decided to head back rather than continue to Los Gatos. They didn't need to get lunch, and didn't want to ride on the dirt trail. Also, this 2000+ feet climb was quite enough for the day. After more chatting about one guy's training for a race in Arizona, the road conditions for the descent, and how the gate used to be farther up, we headed back down cautiously, regrouping at the bottom. We then backtracked along Alma Bridge Rd, and up Aldercroft Heights. The four guys then headed up Old Santa Cruz Hwy. I said goodbye to them and headed down, stopping at Lexington School to refill my bottle. At one point, I saw a coyote or some similar small animal far ahead on the side of the road. It stood there for a few seconds before disappearing into the bushes.

At Bear Creek, I crossed over Hwy 17, and headed up Black. There was a guy in a red MIT jersey on a Fuji a little ahead of me. It looked like he had a power meter on his rear wheel. When he started tacking back and forth in the lane, I overtook him. As I approached Lakeside School, he came zooming by me. He headed up Gist, while I continued on Black. I rejoined my planned route at Skyline, where I was chilled by a slight wind after getting sweaty from climbing Black. I headed down Hwy 9 and got to see how my new bike felt going down a fast descent. I concluded that I didn't need the 11 tooth cog. Also, in the smaller cogs, the 12, 13, and 14, the chain would sometimes fail to catch and skip a tooth before catching with a clunk. Perhaps that has something to do with the removed tooth in the SRAM cogs. Also, sometimes, if I didn't push the lever far enough when downshifting, it would downshift, then upshift when I released the lever. Nevertheless, I'm still pretty happy with SRAM, though my next cassette won't have an 11, and might be Shimano.

I continued onto Hwy 236 to the Big Basin Park Headquarters. I refilled my water bottle, then got an iced tea at the store. I finished my remaining half bar as I drank the iced tea. My thighs were burning as I sat on the bench by the store. When I got ready to go, my GPS had lost signal, so I held it out and waved it around to get it to save a point with the timestamp of when I started again. A couple of park rangers said to me that cell phones don't work here. I said it was a GPS. They said that those probably don't work either. Just as they walked by, the GPS regained the signal, and I headed out.

It was 3:52 when I got to Jamison Creek Rd. This would be the first time climbing it on my new bike. Even though my new bike was about 5 pounds lighter than my old bike, I didn't expect to have a terribly good time, as I had already done a lot of climbing on this ride. There was something new painted on the road. There were 4, 5, and 6, painted in blue, with the 6 about a hundred feet from the top. Just before the 1.66 mile marker, I was wondering if I was in my lowest gear, and pushed in my shift lever past the first click. After that, the lever stopped, so I was in my lowest gear. However, when I released the lever, it shifted up. Oops. I immediately downshifted. That's one drawback to the SRAM shifters. Between the 1.42 marker and the 1.33 marker, someone had dumped a couch on the right side of the road. It was soggy and gross. A bit later, a descending pickup truck spewed out stinky diesel exhaust. A little after that, a big old Chevrolet pickup slowed to pass me a bit too close for my comfort accelerating hard to continue up at a reckless speed. Perhaps the driver wasn't that reckless, as he or she did slow to pass me. It occurred to me that my legs felt fine, without the burning that I had felt at the park headquarters. When I made it to the top, it was 4:24, so I did the climb in a bit more than 32 minutes, not bad considering all the climbing I'd done. I then took Empire Grade back home.