6 October 2007

Solo ride

Looking down Jamison Creek Rd It had been a while since I had gone on a real solo ride-- almost two months. I took advantage of the lack of a designated start time to start late and avoid the morning chill. I decided to ride up Zayante and then Skyline and 9, 236 through Big Basin, then back home via Jamison Creek and Empire Grade, a bunch of old favorites.

It was warm in the sun, but a little chilly in the shade. I brought a windbreaker, but never put it on. My original thought was to head up Graham Hill, since it had been a while since I had done that. However, there's a reason why I don't ride Graham Hill much, and as I headed down High, I decided instead to head up Hwy 9, then take Glen Arbor and Quail Hollow to Zayante, which I also hadn't done in a while.

There was somewhat of a headwind on Hwy 9, and more traffic than I usually see. The traffic was probably due to riding around midday rather than in the morning. I turned off at Glen Arbor and then headed up and over Quail Hollow. Just after Lompico Rd, two police cars passed by. When riding alone, leg bothered me more than when riding in a group, so I think it's partly psychological, where it doesn't bother me if I'm not thinking about it. It was still better than it was a month ago, though. The climb was easier as the first climb of the day than it was in August, the last time I climbed it after doing various other climbs.

At the top, I turned left and briefly followed Summit Rd until it ended at Bear Creek Rd, where I turned left. At the turnoff just left of the start of Skyline, there guys working on two or three cars. I turned right onto Skyline, where there was a light covering of gravel for the first few hundred feet. Somewhere between Black and the summit, I saw a deer a few hundred feet ahead run from the right side of the road, then up the cliff on the left side of the road. As I passed by, I looked at the top of the cliff and didn't see anything, then looked further down, and the deer was standing halfway up the cliff, watching me.

At Saratoga Gap, there were a bunch of motorcycles parked and the hot dog stand was there, but I didn't see any cyclists. I passed by without stopping and turned left and headed down Hwy 9. The headwind from earlier was now a slight tailwind. Approaching the 236 intersection, a group of 4 or so motorcyclists that had passed me earlier were pulling off to the right of the road, so I passed them on the left, going almost onto the center stripe. From the start of 236, I hoped to make it to China Grade in under 30 minutes, and from there to the park headquarters in under 10 minutes, which I ought to be able to do without pushing myself, and I did it. While on 236, I heard helicopters and then a siren approaching. A fire truck passed me, cutting its siren for a half second as it passed me. My ears still got blasted. The siren faded in the distance, but the sound of helicopters would continuously come and go.

I took my first break at the park headquarters, getting a coke and eating a snack. It felt good to sit in the warm sun. There were the usual tourists. I got going around 3, figuring I'd be home around 5. At the western Lodge Rd intersection, the firefighters had stopped traffic for fire trucks to go through or something. After 4 or 5 minutes, they let the traffic continue through. A little after that, there were two forestry dept or fire dept pickup trucks parked off the right of the road, and I could smell smoke. I could also hear the helicopters. I could see a little smoke to the right. Soon, the smell of smoke faded away, but I could still hear the helicopters.

I got to the bottom of Jamison at 3:26. I rode harder than I did the last time up this hill, but I wasn't feeling as strong as I did that day. There were two cars that passed me, one around the bottom and one around the middle, that spewed out stinky diesel exhaust. They sure didn't help me get up the hill. There was still a piece of a skunk tail hanging over the front of the 1.33 sign. At times, I could hear the helicopters in the distance over Big Basin. It was 3:55 when I got to the top, so I did the climb taking between 28 and 30 minutes. The GPS data showed the climb time to be 28:54. I hope to regularly do the climb in under 30 minutes now. A year ago, my typical time was somewhere around 33 minutes.

I was pretty wiped from the climb, so I took a break, then slowly headed back home on Empire Grade. It was chilly in the shade and I was going slow enough that I could feel a tailwind blowing from behind at times. Eventually, I recovered and picked up the pace. After Felton-Empire, it was much sunnier and warmer. Climbing out of the trough at Smith Grade, I kicked up my effort a bit more and made it home before 5.