21 October 2007

It was such a beautiful day, and I saw many people on bicycles on my walk, so I decided to do a short ride after getting home. I had done the UCSC Hagar-McLaughlin-Glen Coolidge loop twice yesterday, each loop taking about 12 minutes. I decided to do it four times today.

Without having done Alba and Smith Grade like I did yesterday, I had fresher legs and did the loop in about 10 minutes.

The descent on Glen Coolidge had a nice view on the right of Pogonip, Santa Cruz, and the Monterey Bay.

20 October 2007

Solo ride

Alba School After taking the last weekend off, I decided to climb Alba for the first time in almost a year. It seemed warm enough in the sun when I got started, so I did without a windbreaker. However, it was slightly chilly in the shade, and the wind was from the north. It was nice in the sun, though. It was supposed to have rained overnight, but most of the streets were dry. In the mountains, though, the roads were damp.

I headed up Hwy 9 into the wind, then turned off at Glen Arbor. It was still a little windy. It was 11:19 when I got to the bottom of Alba. Alba was like I remembered it. A long steep section near the bottom, followed by an easier part. Shorter steep sections in the middle joined by easier sections. Then the Alba School, followed by a short steep section leading to a clearing, followed by a longer steep section. The road narrowed for the top third or so, with a variable grade, but mostly not terribly steep. There was a windy part as the road curved to the left, just like the last time I climbed Alba. It was 11:55 when I got to the top, or about 36 and a half minutes. Slightly better than my previous best of about 37 minutes.

I turned left on Empire Grade, going slowly as I recovered from the climb. At Pine Flat, I turned right and headed down the gently twisting road. I turned right at Bonny Doon and enjoyed the long straight descents before the series of turns that preceded the winery. I turned left onto Smith Grade and dropped down the steep, damp, and narrow road before having to climb back up to Empire Grade, where I headed back to town.

I took the south entrance to UCSC to do a loop up Hagar, then down McLaughlin and Glen Coolidge twice. I'm considering doing this loop on a weekday morning for "training". I've never ridden for training before, but this 2.75 mile loop with about 320 feet of climbing is conveniently close to home, and I would like to get stronger.

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.