25 February 2012

Solo ride

It was sunny and cool. The path from High St to Coral St next to Hwy 1 was still closed. The sign earlier had said it would be closed from 1/12/2012 to 2/25/2012, but I think it will remain closed for a while longer. I headed downtown and then up River St to Hwy 9. There was a headwind from the north on Hwy 9 as I headed north to Boulder Creek, taking the detour along Glen Arbor. I turned left onto Hwy 236, and then started up Jamison Creek at 11:23. It had been over two and half months since I last did this climb. When I was between the 1.60 marker and where a 1.50 marker would be, a spread out group of 8 or so motorcycles were coming down and fouled the air with their exhaust fumes. Halfway between the steepest part by the 1.33 marker and the other steep part around the 1.02 marker, there was junk down the slope off the side of the road, but it wasn't a wrecked car. There was an overturned couch and maybe some other stuff. A little later, there was pickup truck parked on the side of the road with its hood up, and the air was polluted with the sharp smell of gasoline. After the 1.02 marker, I was thinking that pedaling was more difficult than I remembered and I was attributing it to being out of shape, but then I tried downshifting. My gearing had been 34/23, when normally it would be 34/26 on this climb. I got to the top just before 11:49, for an estimated time of 25:00, as I had started at the bottom just before 11:24. For this climb, I wasn't as out of shape as I thought I was.

18 February 2012

Solo ride

I hadn't ridden in the latter half of December and January due to vertigo, so I was not in good shape. It was sunny and cool, with a tailwind to start. Since the path from High St to Coral St was closed for maintenance, I headed downtown to River St to Hwy 9 and Felton. I headed up Felton-Empire, then down Empire Grade.

10 December 2011

Solo ride

It was clear and cold, but getting warmer in the sun. There was a decent tailwind as I headed up Hwy 1. I climbed up Bonny Doon and Pine Flat, then headed down Empire Grade. There were a couple of cars with trees on top of them, but there was not as much traffic as there had been a week earlier. I had to stop at the red light at the UCSC west entrance yet again before the final stretch of Empire Grade/High St.