6 December 2008

Jamison Creek

I went on another short ride to climb Jamison Creek for December. It was warm in the sun, but slightly chilly in the shade. There was somewhat of a headwind on Hwy 9. I took the slight variation of Glen Arbor into Ben Lomond. At Boulder Creek, there was a band playing in front of one of the stores on the right, but there wasn't much of an audience.

It was 2:03 when I started at the bottom of Jamison. The 1.33 sign had the U.S. flag on it, the "Investigate 9/11" sticker on it, and 2 "I voted" stickers on it. There seemed to be more traffic than usual. It was 2:28 when I got to the top. On Empire Grade, the reason for the extra traffic became clear. There was a lot more extra traffic on Empire Grade for the Christmas tree farms, and numerous cars and trucks with trees on their roofs and truck-beds were on the road.

29 November 2008

Alba

It was cool and sunny. I went out for a quick ride to climb Alba. There were still patches of dampness on the road in the shade. I took Hwy 9 to Felton, then headed up Zayante and Quail Hollow and descended Glen Arbor to Ben Lomond. It was 2:05 when I started at the bottom. By the middle of the climb, sweat was getting into my eyes and it was stinging. About 3/4 of the way up, I had to stop to wipe my eyes out. Near the top, sweat was stinging both eyes again, so I had to stop at the top to wipe my eyes again. It was 2:38 when I got to the top, so I was about a minute and half faster than last time. I then took it easy heading down Empire Grade.

22 November 2008

Saturday harbor ride

It was cold and sunny. It was quite cold in the shade. It was warmer in the sun, but there was a lot of shade early on. The sun was low in the east sky, glaring in my eyes. At San Andreas, the pace seemed slow at first. After Manresa, a truck and a gray Prius went by, the Prius had its horn blaring throughout, for at least 10 seconds or so. A little before Sunset Beach, a gap opened ahead when I was at the back of the pack. I was on a wheel, and he made it back to the pack, but I couldn't hold the wheel, and got dropped. The pack receded maddeningly slowly, but I didn't have enough get back on. After the bridge, a group of 4 came by and I hopped on, and got back to the pack after it slowed down on Beach.

It was a small group doing Hazel Dell this week, but it split on Mt Madonna well before the steep climb, and I was at the back of the trailing group. I went to the front of that group. At the steep part, I hammered up. There were 2 Giant Strawberries riders ahead of me. I gradually closed the distance on them up the Hazel Dell climb, catching up a little before the summit, and followed them into Corralitos.

From Corralitos, I headed back solo over Hames, then lollygagged a little heading over Day Valley and Valencia before picking it back up on Soquel between the red lights. It was warmer, but it still got pretty cold in the shade.