3 April 2008

Swanton time trial

It was windy on the way out. After Bonny Doon Rd, a Bicycle Trip paceline went by and I hopped on.

There was a headwind starting out. I got passed 3 times on the outbound leg. I recovered a little on the descent, then blew myself out after that. About halfway back, my left calf started cramping up. I managed to finish without getting passed on the return leg. It looks like my time was very close to my previous time of around 35:20-35:30.

I started back with the Bicycle Trip group, but then got dropped on a little climb. A minute later, my front tire started squirming. It was going soft. I rode the rest of the way back carefully, especially when slowing or turning. At least I managed to get home before sunset this time.

29 March 2008

Miserable wet Skyline

Top of Old La Honda It had rained overnight, but it was supposed to clear up during the day. At home, the roads were wet, but drying, so it looked pretty good, even though it was clouded over. So I headed up Hwy 9. It was damp at first, but not too bad. Then, as I climbed into the clouds, it got more wet and cold. At times, the fog made the visibility horrible.

At Skyline, I turned left and it was even worse. The fog was thick and wet, and made it hard to see. I was wiping my glasses occasionally as water drops built up on it, but then the lens would be fogged up from the finer drops left behind for a few minutes after the wiping.

I stopped at the top of Old La Honda to wait for the bikeforums.net ride. I was getting colder from standing around. One of the riders lent me a vest and I got talked into heading down Old La Honda to Portola. Heading down the east side, I saw the sun for the first time in the day and the roads had pretty much dried out. We headed right on Portola and stopped for a break at the coffee shop at the corner of Alpine.

After that, it was Alpine, Junipero Serra, Foothill, and Stevens Canyon. We stopped at the Matt Peterson-Kristy Gough memorial briefly. Then, I headed off and went up Redwood Gulch and Hwy 9. At the higher elevations, it was cold and cloudy and the roads were still wet.

I continued down Hwy 9. As I descended, it was cold and windy at first, but there were more sunny spots as I went down. It was sunny in Boulder Creek. There was heavy traffic between Boulder Creek and Felton that I usually avoid by heading up to Empire Grade. I didn't have the energy to climb Jamison Creek this time, though.

22 March 2008

Saturday ride

UCSC road race It was cold in the morning. My fingers were cold inside my gloves. The sun glared low in the eastern sky, which bothered me going out on High and Water and Soquel, then on East Cliff and Soquel. And even a little bit on San Andreas. The pace didn't jump as much on San Andreas this time, and stayed relatively tame throughout. I still hung out at the back of the pack, though. When I got out of the draft, the wind seemed kind of strong, so that might have been part of why it was not so fast this time.

A bigger group went the Hazel Dell route than the last few times. The group split at the steep run up on Mt Madonna. I was was at the back, so I moved up to the front of the back group and then started making up a little ground on the front group. After Green Valley, people started dropping off the front group, and one guy from behind went by me. Approaching the summit, I caught the wheel of the first guy to fall off the front group and followed him down the descent. A little ways down, a group of 3 came by, and we joined them. I hung at the back, staying out of the rotation, since I was working too hard just to stay on their wheels.


UCSC road race From Corralitos, I continued on Hames, Day Valley, Valencia, and Trout Gulch, then Soquel back to town. Since there was a college road race at UCSC, I headed up to the bottom of the course and watched some of the riders go by. I got pictures of the first few who were probably off the front. I couldn't get my camera ready in time for the main pack of about 8, though.