18 November 2007

Sunday afternoon UCSC loop

It was sunny and comfortably cool. I decided to go around the loop 8 times, so I held to a more comfortable pace than usual. Except for the last time around, I held back on hammering up the last bit of the climb. On the descents, I concentrated on staying low, feeling my thighs bump up against my stomach. The main result was that my left arm, for some reason, got really tired. I also managed to do the descent in about 3 minutes each time, which was better than my typical 3:15-3:20.

I also noticed a couple of other riders riding around the campus. There was an old woman in a blue jacket that was riding up and down Glen Coolidge and McLaughlin that I saw a number of times. There was a younger woman pulling a trailer that I saw riding up Glen Coolidge, then down Hagar, then up Glen Coolidge again. There were also the usual riders that I saw only once or twice.

17 November 2007

Saturday harbor ride

Foggy yacht harbor from Lake The morning started with thick fog. It was hard to see some of the time on my way to the yacht harbor. I got there about 7:57. A handful of riders were there, and another handful arrived over the next few minutes, including a faired recumbent. We started off around 8:02 for the slow ride through Capitola and Aptos, picking up riders along the way.

The pace picked up a bit on Bonita, about the same as the last time I did this ride, so I felt fine. Once we hit San Andreas, though, the pace jumped and I was working hard. Last time, the first 3 and half miles from Bonita to Buena Vista, the average speed was 22mph, and I had no problems sitting in. This time, it was over 24mph. On the little climb after Buena Vista, I found myself moving backwards, unable to keep up, and soon, I was off the back. A little later, the recumbent, also dropped on the climb, went screaming by once the road flattened out. By Sunset Beach, I had caught up to another guy and we worked together on the rest of San Andreas and Beach. By the time we got to Lee, two others had caught up to us. We rejoined the main pack for the slow procession through Watsonville.

Those doing the long ride split off at Main St. Later, those doing the short ride split off at Holohan. The group I was with turned left at Casserly and I was hanging on to the tail end of the group as the pace went up again. At Mt Madonna, those skipping Hazel Dell split off, turning left. I continued with the group going up Mt Madonna. At the left curving bit marking the start of the steep little climb to the start of Hazel Dell, I fell off the back immediately. By the top of the little climb, I had made it back to the wheel of another guy who had been dropped. I stayed on his wheel until the climbing started again after Green Valley, and then gradually fell behind. I could still see the main pack ahead for a while, though. By the summit, I got to within 10 yards or so of another guy, but gradually fell behind again on the ensuing descent. I lost sight of him on the initial twists of Browns Valley.

I settled into a maintainable pace to Corralitos, then up and over Hames to Freedom. I turned right at Day Valley and saw several bunches of the SCCCC Saturday ride going the opposite way. I continued on Valencia and Trout Gulch, then took Soquel back to town and then headed back home.

11 November 2007

Sunday afternoon UCSC loop

In contrast to the cloudiness of Saturday, it was clear and sunny on Sunday, despite the earlier forecast of rain. So, even though I was still a little sore from yesterday's ride, I had to take advantage of the nice weather and ride. I decided to go around the loop 5 times instead of the usual 4.

It was a little windy, so I had a headwind on the climb and a tailwind on the descent. So my times on the climbs were slow, around 7 minutes, and fast on the descents, under 3 minutes.

The view to the right on the descent showed clouds to the south over the bay. There were patches of dampness on McLaughlin from yesterday's rain.

There were buses going up on 3 of my climbs. The first time, the bus turned onto Hagar a bit ahead of me, and then I didn't see it after that. The second time, the bus turned onto Hagar at the same time as I did. I saw it again stopped on McLaughlin as I finished the climb and started the descent. The third time, the bus passed me on the bottom part of Hagar. I passed it just before it pulled out of the bottom stop. I saw it again pulling out of the stop by East Remote far ahead of me. I passed it again at the stop just before the steep bit at the top of the climb.

I backed off on my effort quite a bit on the descents. I probably could have gone somewhat harder on the climb after recovering on the descent. I think I held back too much due to going around 5 times instead of 4 times, since it really wasn't that much more.