Willow Creek State Park Loop

"Snow" at the top of Joy Road

A little trail maintenance.

Jimmy Neutron

Knackered Jim

Well, A1 and Jimmy Neutron joined me on my favorite loop. We were expecting heavy rain and cold temperatures, but much to our dismay, it didn't actually rain hard until we hit Duncan Road. A1 must have had a good breakfast because he was riding quite strong. There were plenty of fallen trees in Willow Creek Park to climb over, and the last one was almost our undoing as we came around a corner a little fast before realizing that a tree was across the trail. We each, in turn, came to skidding halts only a couple of inches away from it.

Coleman Valley/Willow Creek

Melinda in her new Hub Jersey

We had a great Monday Classic ride last week with just enough mud to keep Melinda happy. We parked in Graton and rode from there. Claire and I were on our Burley tandem, A1 and Melinda were on their C-dale tandem, Jim, Mike H., Eric the Fireman, Don, Paul and Michelle rounded out the group. Some folks were a little worried about how muddy Willow Creek Road might be, but as Claire put it, "it will just be a little tacky." It was a first for Melinda, and she loved it.

Long time, no post

I am sorry that I haven't posted in so long. It is not for lack of great bike rides. We have been going out every Monday for "classic Monday" rides. This was Claire's idea and it has been great. We have been sharing many of our old favorites with some of the young people who work at the shop. Claire and I have been on our tandem along with A1 and his wife, while Jimmy Neutron has been on his single. We have also had some others along from time to time. We have done nine or ten so far. I will post some of the routes later on.


- Posted by Chaz

Whirlwind trip to Santa Cruz

We packed the bus up Sunday after work and took off for a night of camping in Santa Cruz at New Brighton State Beach.  Jimmy Neutron, A1, Melinda (A1's wife), Claire, and I all piled into the Hub Bus and hoped for the best.  The next morning, after a breakfast of pancakes, we headed out on the Eureka Canyon loop.  A1 and Melinda were on their Cannondale tandem, Jim on his cross bike, and Claire and I were on our trusty Burley tandem.  The day before it had rained, but the weather was perfect for our ride.  Jim took off on the climb up Eureka Canyon, and when we met him at the top he had a huge smile on his face and was very excited about how great the climb felt.  It is a pretty gentle climb that goes on for around 10 or 12 miles.  After riding the ridge for a while, we got to drop back down to Santa Cruz We all agreed that the ride down Old San Jose Road was one of the best descents we had ever done.  After a quick stop at Pleasure Pizza for a couple of slices we headed home.

Claire has decided that we should be doing a classic ride every Monday.  Last week it was Pope Valley/Ink Grade, this week was the Eureka Canyon Loop, and I can't remember what comes next.  It is fun taking the employees out and showing them some of the loops we have been doing for years and years.

Biting off more than I can chew

Well, we got out for some rides on our "days off".  First on Monday, the day the shop is closed, after going in for six hours to try to catch up on things and place some big parts orders, Claire and I got out to Annadel for a nice little ride.  I rode my 1FG up RoughGo, which seemed a lot harder than it used to be.  Either I am getting older or the trail is getting bumpier.

On Tuesday, another day off, we spent about three hours in the morning putting together our big bike order with Giant.  After that we packed up our tandem and drove to Windsor where we parked and went out on a nice 40 miler.  The weather was perfect, and we stopped at the Jim Town store for some chocolate pudding and a couple of Bubble Ups.

On Wednesday, I got up with the great idea of riding over the geysers.  It has been quite a while since I have been out that way, and I was anticipating a good ride.  I figured 60 miles or so, Claire thought a little longer.  Anyway, it turned out to be 85 miles with a good headwind from Cloverdale home, which was the last 25 miles.  I had run out of water after going over the geysers, but wasn't worried since I was riding through Cloverdale.  I only had enough money for a bottle of water OR a bag of potato chips, so I just drank out of a hose and enjoyed the potato chips.  Needless to say, I was knackered by the time I got home, but it was a good knackered.

The Link

The Link is what Giant calls there annual dealer meeting. Their top 10% of dealers are invited, which we have been for the last three years. We are in our second full day here, and after a morning of seminars, we have gotten another chance for some demo riding. Today, at A1's request, I took out a 2011 Giant Trance X1. I have to agree with A1 on this bike. It climbs, it descends, and it is quick in the technical stuff. I sort of had two different rides on this bike. First I went off by myself and climbed to the top of the mountain. I rode the exact same route as I did yesterday on the Anthem X 29er. I felt like I was able to climb faster, and the technical switchbacks were definitely easier to negotiate. When I got to the top, there was a pretty good lightning storm going on, so they had shut down the lift. I had planned on meeting Claire up there, but she had gotten stuck at the bottom. I chose to ride down to meet her, and got a pretty good drenching on the way. The ground was perfect with the dust being packed down by the rain. The thrill of hearing the lightning and thunder happening almost simultaneously added to the excitement. At the bottom Claire and I took a couple of minutes to walk through the product gallery which featured all of the 2011 bikes and accessories. Here is a link to my ride.

When they opened back up the lifts, we were one of the first back on. Claire was riding a Reign X and was very impressed with Giant's brand new seat post which raised and lowered with the push of a lever on her bars. Our first run down was pretty uneventful, except for Claire getting a little sideways in a couple of corners. She managed to keep the rubber side down and we both finished with big smiles on our faces and raced back to the ski lift. We got another ride up and headed out for some very cool single track around the other side of the mountain. Well, we got a little lost, thank you very much, but managed to finally make it back only about an hour after the demo stuff was supposed to end. Both of us were a little bit on the dirty side, but we were in great spirits at the end and ready for a sit down dinner with a bunch of other dealers.
Here is a link to our ride.

Demo ride on Giant Anthem X 29er

I got the chance to take out an Anthem X 29er today for a very good test ride. I will post some pictures later on. I rode the chair lift up first and then rode the bike up second and then met Claire for two more chair lift rides. I really pushed myself on the climb, which felt great. The bike climbs great and it sure felt like it had more than 4 inches of travel on the down hills.

Utah

Well, Claire and I are here in Park City, Utah checking out the 2011 Giant Bicycle line. We arrived yesterday and are looking forward to some informative meetings and some demo rides.

Here is a picture of the plane they sent to pick us up.




- Posted by Chaz

Lake Tahoe

Well, Claire and I went to Lake Tahoe last week for four days of camping.  We camped at DL Bliss campground which is only a couple of miles away from Emerald Bay.  We spent our first day kayaking down to  Emerald Bay and out to the Tea House on Fannette Island.  We picnicked on the way back, and I even jumped in the water and swam for a bit while Claire towed my kayak.

The next morning I got up and climbed the 500 feet out of our campground to Hwy. 89 for a clockwise ride around the lake.  I had planned on taking it pretty easy, but I ran into a fellow who was getting ready for the district road race championships, and we traded turns pulling for a while.  George, that was his name, pulled off for some coffee after about 30 miles, and I rode on by myself.  At the 42 mile mark, I heard and felt a nice little click in my drive train.  I had just broken my chain a couple of weeks earlier, and figured that I must have cracked another link.  Well, that wasn't the problem, it turned out that I had broken the spring inside my Crank Bros pedal.  That meant I couldn't clip in for the last 33 miles.  It wasn't bad if I concentrated on keeping my foot in place, but as soon as I stopped thinking about it, my foot would slip right off.  This was a little disconcerting, mainly when I was climbing up around Emerald Bay at the end of the ride.  Anyway, I survived and felt quite good even at the end.

On Thursday, Claire and I did a 15 mile hike from our campsite over to Vikingsholm and then up to Eagle Lake.  The hike was much tougher than the ride around Tahoe.  We both had some good blisters to show for it, but we were lucky enough to have some homebrew waiting back at the campsite for us.

Younger Chaz

B B and B

Well, yesterday was a triple B day. I made three loaves of bread, I transferred 10 gallons of beer from the primary to the secondary fermentors, and Claire and I went out and did a great 30 mile bike ride over Coleman Valley and down the coast.

Sweetwater (beat by a minute)

I had the chance yesterday to go out and do Sweetwater on a demo ***** road bike.  The ***** rep had brought by 3 or 4 bikes for Claire and I to take out.  First off, it was good to be back on a traditional double.  I believe it was Alexi Grewal who once said, "there are no climbs in the U.S. where you need more than a 39x21 gear."  Well, I had a 39x25 yesterday, and there were a couple of cupcakes that were telling me that I could use an easier gear.  Anyway, the ride went great, with only one pothole big enough to eject both of my waterbottles.  I lost some time there and got beat by previous Chaz by about 1 minute.  I also got held up by some road construction on River Road, otherwise I would have won.  That is my excuse, and I am sticking by it.  Here is a link to the loop.

20th Anniversary

Well, today is Claire and my twentieth anniversary of owning the shop.  It is hard to believe.  Twenty years has just flown by.  I still remember our first day when our friends Frank and Malcom came in and bought a tube so that they could be our first customers.  We still have that dollar bill with a little message around the edge that Malcom wrote.

At that time we lived in the house behind the bike shop and only had to walk out our bedroom door into our office and then into the shop.  Things were definitely different back then, much slower pace, more time for ice cream on the porch.  Claire and I would take turns going back and making dinner while the other person kept an eye on the shop.  Sometimes our employees would complain about the smell of dinner that wafted into the back of the shop, saying that it wasn't fair when all they had to eat was Powerbars.

It is probably good that we don't have lots of time for ice cream anymore.

It has been a very exciting twenty years, and Claire and I are looking forward to the next twenty.

Spring cleaning

Well, we are on our way into the shop this morning.  We have stopped off at Aroma Roasters Coffee shop for some refreshments and 10 pounds of coffee.  Yesterday we spent 4 or 5 hours in the back cleaning things up.  Boy, did that make a difference.  We can fit many more bikes in there.  I wish I had some before and after pictures.  Maybe I can describe it for you.  Close your eyes, now imagine a big room filled with bicycles placed safely, but chaotically around the floor.  Now imagine all of the bikes in a nice row with some hanging safely from the ceiling.  That is before and after.

A good couple of days off

It is back to work this morning, but not before Claire and I had a couple of good days off.  I was able, with Claire's persuasion, to get out for some exercise 4 days in a row.  Saturday I rode into the shop, taking the hilly route.  Sunday morning, I got us out for a run around the neighborhood.  Monday I rode the rollers for an hour, see graph on the right, and then we went out for a hike in Armstrong Redwoods.  We got hailed on a bit, which made it all the more interesting.  Yesterday I went out and did my favorite loop again.  I felt much, much better than I did last week.  Last week my whole body was aching on the ride, and this week I felt great.  I was around 6 minutes off of my best time.  And to top it all off, yesterday I made 6 loaves of sourdough.

Willow Creek loop AGAIN

Well, after being off the bike for a couple of weeks, I decided that I needed to get out and hurt myself a bit. I did my favorite loop on Monday hoping to beat the rain.  I did beat the rain, but just barely.  I was about 20 minutes off of my summer times for this loop.  I knew that I would be slower, but I didn't think I would be hurting quite so much by the end.  For the most part, the ride was uneventful as far as traffic goes.  I did see a couple of mountain bikers up in Willow Creek State Park, and I think I startled them as I cruised by on my cross bike.  Duncan road was a bear as usual.  It is around a 20% grade at the bottom, and it is always a hard transition after coming down the flats of Hwy. 116.  There were a couple of more trees down across the trail, but nothing that I couldn't claw my way over.  When I got home I realized how sore my entire body was.  At first I thought it was the ride, but after even waking up the next morning still feeling the same way, I figured I had caught a little bug.  Claire knew I was feeling too good when I chose Sprite over beer and only one slice of pizza at Zachary's in Berkeley.

Back in the "Spring" of things

Well, we are back from Minnesota.  We had a great time, but it is always good to get back to Northern California after some time away.  The shop has been hopping, at least when the sun comes out.  It is great to see everyone busy here.  A1 has his hands full trying to unpack and merchandise Claire's huge orders, Andre has been working his poor fingers to the bone repairing bikes, Paul has been trying to get as many new bikes built as possible, Jim has been trying to balance his last semester of school and work, and I have been just kicking back keeping them busy.

Frostbike

Well, it is our third day in Minnesota, and we are really enjoying our stay.  We have been visiting one of our favorite bicycle parts supplier, Quality Bicycle Products.  QBP is probably the biggest supplier in the US for the bicycle business, and they have flown us out and put us up in a hotel so that we can visit their warehouses and visit with other bike shop owners.  There are probably a 1000 dealers here or so, almost a small Interbike, which is our industry trade show.  This has been much more satisfying than some of the Interbikes we have been to because of the fewer people, and the real concentration on the bike industry.

Here is a photo of their warehouse and a photo of Claire with the Michelin Man.  We are heading back over today for a couple more seminars and then they are having a big giveaway of stuff at the end of the show.  We will be flying back to CA on Monday.

 It has been a whirlwind adventure.

A couple of good rides

Well, we are back to work tomorrow, but not before I had a chance to get out on a couple of bike rides.  Yesterday Claire and I went out on a 40 miler to Healdsburg and back.  We stopped in Healdsburg for a cup of coffee and a sticky bun, which fueled me for the way home.  I had just put some new fenders on the Burley tandem, and it was fun to see them doing there job as we cruised through a few puddles here and there.  On the way back Eastside Road, we decided to head up Windsor River Road to get away from the narrow sections.  It was a great detour that added about 2 or 3 miles to the loop.  We went down Starr Road and over to Mark West Station Road.  That is such an awesome area to ride.

Today I met Eric the Fireman in Graton for a little loop out to the coast.  We headed up Harrison Grade and made our way into Occidental before heading up Coleman Valley.  We are very, very lucky to have these roads in our backyard.  After hitting the coast, we turned South and headed over Bay Hill Road before stopping in the town of Bodega for some Gatorade and Cheese-Its.  From there we headed up JOY Road, which is such a beast from that side.  After dropping back into Occidental, we headed over Graton and then split up from there.  It was great to ride with Eric, but I felt a little guilty for making him pull me down the coast before Bay Hill.  Not too guilty.

Just a quick post from San Jose

Well, I am down in San Jose for the second day of the Park Tool Summit.  Yesterday consisted of leaving the house at five in the morning, checking into the hotel, and then eight hours of classes.  Yesterday was Rock Shox, Campagnolo, and Fox.  Today will be Hayes, Shimano, and SRAM/Avid.  These classes are VERY hands on.  We rebuilt a couple of shocks and also some Campy Ergo levers and hubs.  It was a good time, but I was exhausted by the end of the day.  I will write more about this later.

Last Saturday was the Grasshopper.  Since I was doubling my miles for the year in that one ride, I was not expecting to be very competitive.  This worked good since I was able to try and take it easy on some of the climbs.  I still suffered miserably on the way up Willow Creek.  Here is a link to my Garmin data.  What could be worrisome here is the fact that my average heart rate was 179, and that was "taking it easy" on the climbs.  A1, Jimmy Neutron, and Engin, our Cannondale rep were all there also.  I will try to post a picture later, I need to get down for breakfast and some coffee.

Grasshopper this weekend

Well, the first Grasshopper race is this weekend.  It is earlier than usual this year, and has caught me off-guard.  I'm never in too good of shape for this race, but this year is worse than usual.  I was telling Claire this morning on the way into the shop that I thought it was better than to be totally out of shape for a race like this instead of being just a little out of shape.  In years past I have made the mistake of thinking I was in better shape and falling apart by the time I reached Willow Creek.  I would get caught up with the "racing" at the front, and then by the time my body figured out what was going on, I would be in way over my head.  This year I plan on taking it easy for at least the first half of the race, and then hopefully have something left for the final climb up Willow Creek.   The conditions should be ideal.  I am a little bummed that the weather report does not predict heavy rain.  As A1 and I agree, the first Grasshopper should take place in pouring rain.  It should be quite sloppy on Old Caz though.  I am looking forward to that off camber corner towards the bottom that always has about 8 inches of mud to sink into.

Yesterday I went out and ran for EXACTLY 5 miles while Claire walked.  That is the thing about having a Garmin GPS on your wrist.  Here is a link to the loop. 

When we got home I put some sourdough bread and pizza dough together.  Claire put feta cheese and some other tasty stuff on it, including anchovies.

Oh, yea, on Saturday night W, C, and S are coming over for dinner.  W and I will be opening our first bottle of homebrew.  It is a "potentially dangerous" IPA.  We also have a lager in the basement right now bubbling away.

A couple of good rides

Well, I finally got out on a couple of bike rides.  It has been a long time, much to my dismay.  I got a new Cannondale cross frame, which I built up with Campy Record stuff off of one of my old road bikes.  It is a gorgeous bike that is a pleasure to ride.  I haven't had a chance to weigh it yet, but I am sure that I dropped at least a couple of pounds from my old C-dale cross bike.

Anyway, on Monday, A1, Jimmy Neutron, and Bill came out for a wet, wet ride.  We had decided that we were going rain or shine, and I think that all of us were hoping for rain, and we got it.  We took off to do my favorite loop through Occidental and Willow Creek State Park.  It has been a while since I had been out with Bill on our single bikes.  It brought back plenty of memories as every time we regrouped, he would give a little "Wahoo!"  By the time we got to Duncan Road, Bill had worn all the way through his brake pads, so he had metal on metal when he braked.  It was a horrible sound, and I don't think it slowed him down too much.  We had called Claire before Duncan, and she drove the Hub Bus out and met us for Mexican food at La Tapitia in Guerneville.  We were plenty wet and cold at that point, but still in great spirits.

Yesterday, Claire and I loaded up the Ibis tandem and drove out to Duncans Mills for a ride up Willow Creek road from Hwy. 1.  It was not raining.  We had attempted the same ride last week, but had been turned around by the lightning and pouring rain.  Actually the pouring rain hadn't bothered us, but the lightning out on Hwy. 116 was a little frightening.  On the way up Willow Creek Road yesterday, I was trying my best to dodge puddles to keep our feet as dry as possible.  At one point we came around a corner, and encountered a little flooding.  We had to ride about 200 yards through water that was about 2 feet deep.  It was pretty funny.  I couldn't see the road, but I could see the road markers on the side, so we just stayed in the middle.  At one point we hit some cattle grates, which took us both a little by surprise.  I wish we had had the camera.  It was entertaining to look down at the front wheel and not be able to see the hub.  We hit a couple of other patches just like that before we finally made it to the climb.  Our feet were not dry anymore.  We had thought about heading through Willow Creek State Park, but decided instead to drop down into Occidental and then ride down Bohemian Hwy. back out to our car.

On Saturday I will be doing the first Grasshopper race with A1, Jimmy Neutron, and hopefully Eric the Fireman and Bill.  I am hoping for rain.

A nice ride in Annadel

Well, Jimmy Neutron and Claire arranged to get together yesterday for a little mountain bike ride in Annadel.  I was invited also.  Ever since JN got his new mountain bike, he has been quite gung-ho about getting out there and riding the trails.  Claire was also on her new mountain bike, which she still needs convincing to buy.  JN was on a Rize 3 and Claire was on a Rize 1.  We drove over to the bottom of Lawndale and started the ride from there.  Here is a link to the ride.  It was a little muddy in places, but otherwise perfect conditions.  I think we only saw two other people up there.  JN is getting quite fast on his mountain bike.

Update just to update

I figured I better put in an entry so that this doesn't look neglected.  Claire and I went back to the shop today after a couple of weeks off.  Things are really hopping, which is very, very exciting.  A1 is back, and the enthusiasm in the shop has never been higher.  It was great to show up this morning and see that everything, and I mean everything, was running smoothly and the shop was looking GREAT.  It turns out that Jimmy Neutron has some hidden talents in the merchandising area that he has decided to finally show us.  He and Andre moved some stuff around while we were gone, and both Claire and I were very impressed.  Even Paul showed up wearing pants with no holes in them.  There was plenty of work to do and, of course, we weren't able to finish it all.

I am really looking forward to 2010.  I think we have our best staff ever as well as some solid lines of bikes.  I apologize if this sounds self promoting, but I'm just JACKED (that is for Eric the Fireman).