29 September 2007

Davenport, Swanton, and Smith

Ocean view from Swanton Rd It was slightly chilly in the morning, but mostly sunny. Some of the chill may have been due to some overnight drizzle. I had wanted to get started earlier, but ran a little late. I wasn't concerned, though, since the rides usually start after the scheduled time, which, for today, was 8:30. I got to the start around 8:33 and got signed in. There were somewhere around 15-18 riders.

The ride started slowly, going around the yacht harbor, by the boardwalk, West Cliff, to Natural Bridges. The pace picked up on Hwy 1, and got pretty fast going into Davenport. That may have been partly due to a guy in a green Palo Alto jersey going by really fast a little after Dimeo. The guys in front caught him before Davenport. I rolled up a half minute later, totally winded. That would set the pattern for most of the rest of the ride: riding hard coming up to a regroup point. There were a bunch of tourists at Davenport, and two big buses.

We headed out from Davenport, then onto Swanton in a group. On the hill, we split up, but regrouped at the top. The road had damp spots from the light overnight rain. Looking at the route sheet, it looked like we were to turn around at the bottom and ride back up Swanton rather than turning left and taking Hwy 1 back to Davenport, so that's what we did, but taking it easy on climb back up. It had been over two years since the last time I climbed Swanton from the north end. We encountered other riders headed down and a big group stopped near the top. On the descent and the remainder of Swanton, the two guys I was with pushed up the pace to the south end of Swanton, where we regrouped. This was the latter half of the Swanton Time Trial, which all three of us had ridden at least once. Then we headed back to Davenport for a little break.

From Davenport, we headed out to the big climb of the day, Bonny Doon Rd. We split up on the climb, and regrouped at Smith Grade. We then rode Smith, going hard at the final steep climb to Empire Grade, and regrouped at the end. Finally, we headed up out of the saddle point of the Smith-Empire intersection, then down Empire Grade back to town.

23 September 2007

NorCal Coastal Century

Stage Rd I headed down to Natural Bridges for a group ride to Half Moon Bay and back. It was cloudy and chilly in the morning, and the roads had patches of dampness from the rain yesterday. There was the after-rain smell also. Fortunately, the weather forecast called for partly sunny skies and no rain and mild wind in the afternoon. I even heard on the radio that the wind would be about 5mph from the south in the morning, turning to 5-10mph from the north in the afternoon.

I got to the start on Delaware, only to see that Sentinal Triathlon was going to coincide with our initial route. The triathlon wasn't a problem, and the roads were still open, so we didn't have to change our route or park the cars elsewhere. After getting everyone gathered, we got some group pictures, and got started.

When we started, the first wave of triathletes were coming through. Guys with huge shoulders on tri-bikes with noisy disc wheels where zipping by. There were also a couple of entrants on road bikes that joined our paceline for a while. I guess those two were just freakishly fast swimmers or something. Anyhow, the triathlon course turned around at Davenport, and we continued.

Our paceline was now four riders being pulled by a powerful tandem team. The rest of the group rode at a more leisurely pace. The tandem had the pedals 90 degrees out of phase, which I had never seen before, so it looked odd to me. They preferred it that way, as it smoothed out the pedal stroke. We took a break at the gas station and diner by Gazos Creek, then continued on Gazos Creek Rd and Cloverdale, where a rider flatted. While he changed his tube, a pair of riders in the group caught up and joined us. We swooped up and down the last few rollers on narrow Cloverdale, then blasted down wide Cloverdale after the Butano turnoff. We were back to the tandem pulling four riders, the other two taking their time to enjoy the scenery. There were a number of tri-bikes headed the other way on Cloverdale as well.

We stopped at Pescadero, filling up on water outside of Arcangeli's, and the other two riders caught up and joined us as we headed out on Stage at a more comfortable pace. When the climbing started, one guy went ahead, and I went with him. There were many groups of riders headed in the opposite direction, most of the riders wearing the green Alto Velo jersey. I fell behind on the descent, but got caught up on the climb after Pomponio Creek, then fell behind on the following descent. We stopped at the San Gregorio store to regroup, then headed up the final climb of Stage. The one guy went ahead, and I went as well. At the top, he stopped to advise a couple of other riders that were stopped there, but I continued on, to get the big descent out of the way in front of everyone instead of having to redline it trying to keep up. So I made it down to Tunitas, then up the brief rise after that. Soon after that, the tandem, towing one guy, came rolling by, so I latched on, and rode all the way to the lunch stop in Half Moon Bay.

I had a wrap that was huge plus pasta salad, which I didn't finish. A few more riders were there who were doing half of the ride, from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz. After lunch, I headed back with the tandem and three others in the lead group. At Verde, the ride organizer dropped out to join one of the other groups, as he was giving some of the riders doing the half ride a ride from Santa Cruz back to Half Moon Bay.

Then came the descents and climbs. I was dropping way back on the descents, then redlining it on the following climbs to get caught back up. After a few of these, I was shelled and had to fall off the pace between Bean Hollow and Pigeon Point. I rejoined the group after they stopped at Gazos Creek. After that, whenever they noticed that I had fallen behind, they slowed down until I caught back up, which happened a number of times. We stopped briefly at Davenport. Around the entrance to Wilder, there was something going on that stopped up the traffic, so we went by a long line of cars. At Western, I said goodbye and headed up to home.

15 September 2007

Eureka Canyon

Summit Rd It was bright and sunny when I headed out. I was feeling pretty strong at first too, which I hoped would last, since I planned on climbing Jamison, which I hadn't done in 5 weeks. I got to the ride start and signed in. Since there were two club rides today, some of the regulars were probably on the other ride. However, there was a decent turnout, with a handful of new people and several that I hadn't seen in a while.

We headed out in a big group through Capitola, by New Brighton, to Aptos Village, then headed up Valencia. When the road started climbing, the group split up. I went with the group in front. We overtook a pair of cyclists on Valencia and another pair that were stopped on Day Valley. At Day Valley and Freedom, we stopped for the cross traffic, which included a group of cyclists as well as a bunch of cars. Then, it was down Freedom to the 5 Mile House for a break and regroup.

We trickled out to Corralitos, so took it very easily. We regrouped at Corralitos before the Eureka Canyon climb, and then headed on up. Eventually, I was in a group of 4 at the front. Somewhere along the way, it became a group of 3, then 2. About a mile from the top, I couldn't hang on anymore, and dropped back. I got to the top second, with the third guy not far behind. We sort of regrouped there. After 8 or 9 of us had arrived, we continued on Highland and headed to the Summit Market.

I got a coke and a pastrami sandwich, which made me kind of full. Riders were still trickling in, and some started heading out in small groups. Still digesting the sandwich, I headed out with two guys along Summit, then down Old Santa Cruz Hwy, then up the east side of Mtn Charlie back to Summit Rd. I said goodbye to the two guys who headed down Mtn Charlie to Scotts Valley, while I went north on Summit, still digesting the sandwich.

At Bear Creek, I headed down to Boulder Creek. Near the wineries, I saw an old red Mustang slowly disappear behind a curve ahead. When I caught up, I saw that there were at least 3 vintage Mustangs pulling into a winery. Further down, there were two separate wrecked cars being stripped off the right side of the road. They both looked pretty recent. I rode through Boulder Creek without stopping and headed up 236 towards Jamison Creek.

It was 1:25 when I started up Jamison. The sandwich had been digested by then, and I was feeling pretty strong. However, it was a tough climb, as usual. Near the bottom, there was a descending cyclist. On the 1.33 sign, most of the skunk that had been there before was gone, but the tail still hung over the back side of the sign. Near the top, there was another descending cyclist. When I got to the top, it was 1:52, and less than 15 seconds later, it was 1:53, so my time was probably under 28 minutes, and, for the first time since breaking my leg, I climbed it in under 30 minutes. The time turned out to be 27:45, my second best time up Jamison.

After that, I took it easy on Empire Grade. I saw a handful of cyclists climbing, including a tandem. Near the bottom, I had a tailwind, so I blew by UCSC and headed home.

8 September 2007

Pescadero to Half Moon Bay

Machine-gun man on Stage Rd The club ride was scheduled to start at 9am at Pescadero, so I gave myself over 2 hours to get there, since it took just about 2 hours last time into a headwind. This time, there was no wind. The wind sock near Waddell was hanging straight down. It was mostly overcast, with patches of sun.

I made it to Gazos Creek Rd in under 1:20. Just after the turn, I ran over two big spots of gravel. There were 4 or 5 more of them a little later on. They looked new and weren't there 4 weeks earlier, the last time I rode this way.

I made it to the start and got signed in. It was a moderately small group of a dozen or so. None of the fast guys were there, so I knew I'd be riding back solo. We got started up Stage. I took a picture of the machine-gun man sculpture as I rode by. I took it easy over the first bump, hanging around the 3 women who were the front group. As we went by Pomponio Creek Rd, one guy went screaming by. He's usually on a tandem, so maybe he was letting loose a little on the single bike. Naturally, I chased after him. I could catch him on the climbs, but would fall behind on the descents. That pattern would hold the rest of the way to Half Moon Bay. We regrouped at San Gregorio. There were no other cyclists there when we arrived, but, by the time we left, at least two other groups had stopped there as well.


Half Moon Bay We headed up the last bump of Stage, down Hwy 1, up Tunitas Creek, then Lobitos Creek and Verde. It had become mostly sunny at this point. At the end of Verde, the shorter option was to turn left and take Hwy 1 to Half Moon Bay. We took the longer option and turned right, heading up Purisima Creek, then took Higgins-Purisima to Half Moon Bay for the lunch stop. I had a lemonade and a focaccia.

After lunch, I headed back solo. At first, there seemed to be a slight headwind, but that soon was gone as I headed up and down the dips for the creeks. On a right curve on the descent to Tunitas Creek, a white Pontiac passed me close. I think there was over two feet between the left edge of the car and the center line. And after passing me, for emphasis, it went all the way to the right edge of the shoulder. What a jerk. At the time, I was in the shoulder, right of the stripe, so it wasn't as if I was even in the lane.

It was cloudy just south of Half Moon Bay, but it was mostly sunny after that, with a few patches of cloudiness. However, there was no tailwind to speak of for most of the way. At Waddell, I saw one kite in the air as I approached. When I looked again while passing by, it was gone. The wind sock was at maybe 10 degrees, and mostly indicating a crosswind. Finally, around Davenport, the tailwind picked up a little.

When I got to Western, I was still feeling pretty good, so I powered up in 5 minutes, much better than the over 9 minutes it took on Labor Day after bonking.

3 September 2007

Labor Day Ride

Pierce at Vintage It was sunny, but a little chilly when I started. I headed up Hwy 9 just as I did three days earlier, but felt quite a bit better. I only felt two or three twinges in my hip, rather than constantly having to hold back as I did before. So I made it to the top in about 2:02 from the start, which is a normal time for me, and much better than the 2:10 of 3 days earlier. I rolled down to Pierce, then headed up and stopped at Vintage at the top at 9:06 and waited for the group. I ate a snack and was constantly harassed by bugs buzzing around my head and my legs.

Finally, the group rolled by and I got to see the BF NorCal jersey for the first time in person. So I joined the group and went back down Pierce, then back up Hwy 9. I followed wheels all the way to the top. An Alto Velo group passed by early in the climb, and late in the climb, we almost caught up to the stragglers in that group. At the top, we stopped and chatted for a few minutes, then decided to head over to the fire station.

We regrouped at the fire station, and that was the only time I saw pretty much the whole group, which was pretty impressive at, I imagine, over 25 riders. There were excellent cookies from the couple driving SAG. Group pictures were taken. One guy was stung by a bee. People decided whether to head down Page Mill or 84. I didn't hear any talk of continuing to Kings Mountain. I had decided that if nobody was going on to 84 or beyond, I would head down Alpine, then over Haskins to Pescadero. More than half of the group opted to head down 84, so I decided to go on to 84.

The descent of Skyline is always more fun in a pack, and this was no exception. We stopped at Page Mill to decide again whether to go down Page Mill or 84. More pictures were taken. I think most decided to continue to 84. We regrouped at Sky Londa. When the group headed down to the valley, I said goodbye and headed the other direction down to the coast by myself.

After La Honda, there was a chilly headwind as usual. I stopped at San Gregorio for a snack and a coke. After the break, I continued to Hwy 1, where there was a lot of traffic, so I had to wait a while before I could make the left turn. After the initial ups and downs flattened out a little, the tailwind started kicking in, which was nice. There were lots of kite surfers at Waddell. The wind sock wasn't indicating a terribly strong wind, but it was holding steady at about 85 degrees. The wind picked up around the descent to Scott Creek, and I probably hit 50mph there. The wind remained strong through Davenport, and I regretfully slowed for the track crossing. I was feeling a lot better than I did riding Hwy 1 from Hwy 84 to Santa Cruz 3 days earlier at this point. I had a few twinges in my hip, but it didn't bother me much, unlike earlier. Then, around the entrance to Wilder, I bonked. I had no energy in my legs and was feeling light-headed, yet ravenous. I managed the climb up Western by going much slower than usual.