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.