28 November 2009

Solo ride

It was windy and clear. I noticed that I hadn't ridden Felton-Empire in almost a year, and I wanted to do a short ride. There are other roads that I hadn't ridden in a while, but would require longer rides. I headed up Hwy 9 to Felton, and it was windy. After a long wait at the red light, I turned left and headed up Felton-Empire. The road was covered with tree debris and there were gusts of wind at times. I finished the climb in about 25 and a half minutes, a new personal best by about a minute, and I wasn't even trying that hard. At the top, I turned left and headed down Empire Grade. It was windy and there was debris in the air, which felt like tiny pieces of dried, dead leaves went they got in my eyes.

26 November 2009

Swanton loop

A low intensity ride out along the coast from Natural Bridges to Swanton Rd, and then returning via Bonny Doon up to Smith Grade, and then down Empire Grade. It was mostly sunny and clear, and warmer than it had been the last couple of weeks, except for the back side of Swanton, where it was foggy and cold.

21 November 2009

Alba

It was chilly and the roads were still wet in the shaded parts from yesterday's rain. I headed up Hwy 9 and Glen Arbor to Ben Lomond, and then registered for the Low Key Hillclimb.

Riders were sent up in small groups of about 10, with the faster riders going before the slower riders. That made sense from the perspective of recording finishing times. I figured I'd be somewhere in the middle third. On the fast end, there was the guy on the recumbent with the electric motor, and on the slow end, there was the guy towing his daughter in a trailer.

I started at the tail end of the 5th group, which was really slow at the beginning, so I moved ahead of the group except for 1 guy before it even got steep. On the first part of the steep part, I went by the last guy. About 1/3 of the way up, a guy in a red jersey went by me. I don't know if he started in my group or a following group. He stayed in sight pretty much the rest of the way up. Before Alba School, I overtook a rider that started in an earlier group. Just after the vandalism rock, there was a photographer off the left taking pictures of the riders. On the final little kick just before the road curves to the left at the top, I overtook another rider from an earlier group. There was a sign off to the right saying, "200 paces". I shouted out my number, finished, and then collapsed onto my bars for a few minutes. I think my time was about 33 and a half minutes, or about a minute and half slower than I did the same climb 2 weeks earlier.

After recovering, I headed down Empire Grade.

14 November 2009

Saturday harbor ride

It was overcast and the roads were wet. It seemed like a somewhat smaller group than I usually see. There was a confrontation with a guy in a bloated blue pickup truck on Opal Cliffs. After Manresa, the sun came out and the road was dry. The pace on San Andreas made it pretty easy to sit in and coast, though it got strung out for a little while after the climb after Buena Vista. Just before the end of San Andreas, one guy blew a tire loudly, but pulled off to the right without incident.

Only 10 went up 152 to Casserly and we all stayed together up Mt Madonna through the start of the climbing on Hazel Dell, when I dropped back from the leaders. I went over the summit with another rider, and one more caught us from behind on the descent. After a pause in Corralitos, I headed home solo.

7 November 2009

Alba

It was sunny, but breezy and cool. I headed up Hwy 9 and Glen Arbor to Ben Lomond. I started up Alba at 11:40. About a third of the way up the initial steep part, a big pickup truck overtook me, spewing fumes that I had to breathe the for the next few minutes. A little further up, a guy was descending Alba on a recumbent. The clock changed from 12:11 to 12:12 just before I got to the top. There was a tailwind for the descent of Empire Grade.