25 April 2009

Saturday harbor ride

It was a little chilly and overcast when I started out. There was a small group at the start, and pack was relatively small. The pace on San Andreas was relatively slow. At one point, somewhere after Sunset, there was a slow tractor on the right of the road.

Going up Mt Madonna was a pretty typical sized group. I stayed with the lead group up the steep part and the initial Hazel Dell climb before falling back. I could see the riders falling off the back of the lead group ahead. Approaching the summit, 3 riders went around me and I caught on. I got rotated to the lead a little before the summit and a little into the descent, I made my way back to the back. I took another pull on the twists of Browns Valley, then rotated back. I took one more pull, and it was windy. When I dropped back, I was too wiped out to catch back on, even though the group had grown to about 10 riders, and rolled into Corralitos about 10 seconds behind.

On Hames, I got into a group of 5 or so, but after Pleasant Valley, I had to fall back. Since I was too far behind to stay with them on Freedom, I took Day Valley and Valencia solo, then Soquel back home. There was a mild headwind for the remainder of the ride.

11 April 2009

Saturday harbor ride

It was overcast and chilly and humid in the morning. I woke up too late to ride to the club ride at Pescadero that I had planned on doing, so I headed over for the harbor ride. On the way to the harbor, 6 lights turned yellow just as I was approaching, and I had started sprinting towards 2 of them, which was really annoying.

This time, after the descent of Bonita, I wasn't at the back of the pack like usual, but somewhere in the middle of the back half. In the pack, I did a lot of coasting, and did get shuffled back a little, but never did get all the way to the back. On the little climb after Buena Vista, a lot of riders started going backwards, so I wound up somewhere in the middle of the pack for the rest of San Andreas.

There was a big group doing Hazel Dell. I guess there were at least 30 riders in the pack heading up Mt Madonna. On the steep part, a few riders at the front went hard. A bunch of other riders went backwards. When I got to the top, there was about a 50 yd gap to the lead group, or at least, the largish group just ahead of me. So I hammered for a while with one guy on my wheel, then he came around and pulled. We closed the gap a little. Then a train of 4 others came up from behind and filled the gap just as we got to the Green Valley intersection. I shifted to the small ring and dropped back just after that.

On the climb, the pack ahead was shedding riders. I caught up to a couple of riders and hung on their wheels to the summit, expecting to get dropped on the descent. However, I stayed with them, as well as one other rider that we collected, all the way to Corralitos. Then I rode with a couple riders over Hames, Day Valley, Valencia, and part of Soquel, then solo the rest of Soquel and back home.

4 April 2009

Santa Cruz Mountains

I got up early to meet up with a bikeforums ride. I was going to join at Pescadero. I headed up the coast, then took Gazos Creek and Cloverdale. It was kind of cold, but at least there wasn't any wind. At Pescadero, I sat in the warm sun for a while, which was nice.

After a while, I headed up Pescadero Rd slowly. A number of cyclists came by the other way. I noticed that there were still 3 flamingos at the flamingo house. I went by Loma Mar and the Memorial Park entrance. I was starting up the base of Haskins when the tandem leading the ride came by. I turned around and joined, with 2 other riders a little further back. Soon, we were all together and rolling into Pescadero for a stop.

We headed out on Cloverdale, Gazos Creek and Hwy 1. I felt my rear tire going down on Hwy 1 about 4-5 miles from Davenport. Apparently it had a slow leak and had been going down for a while before I felt it. I changed the tube, and then we were rolling again. We stopped at Davenport. Again, it was nice to sit in the sun.

Then, it was up the Bonny Doon climb, where the decisive move of the 2009 Tour of California was made. Then we descended Empire Grade, and Felton-Empire. Going down Felton-Empire, we stayed bunched together behind a slow white pickup. We stopped at New Leaf in Felton.

We headed up Hwy 9 to Ben Lomond, then turned left to head up Alba. I felt fine for the first 2-3 miles, including all of the really steep parts. Then I hit the wall and faded badly, crawling slowly up the top part of the climb. To top it off, it was cold and windy on Empire Grade.

The others headed north, with a 2200ft climb yet to come. I headed south and mostly coasted home. It was still cold. I was so lightheaded from bonking that the road that I had ridden many times in this direction looked unfamiliar. I didn't even recognize my neighborhood and had to read street signs to find my way home.

2 April 2009

April fools Swanton time trial

I gave myself plenty of time to get to the start, which was fortunate, as there was a strong headwind most of the way. Starting first was a guy on a penny-farthing. Second was someone in a red chicken suit. I started 6th, and there was a headwind for the initial part of the outbound leg. There was a headwind for some of the valley as well, but there wasn't any wind for the climb.

The return had the corresponding tailwind in parts of the valley and the fast final straight. Nobody caught me from behind, despite my mediocre 35:44 time.

After catching my breath, I headed back, trying to get home before sunset, and enjoying the tailwind.