Back from Santa Cruz

Well, Claire and I had a week off from the shop, and spent 5 of those days camping at New Brighton State Beach just south of Santa Cruz. We managed to barely make it down there after the Hub Bus broke down on 19th Ave. in San Francisco. I don't know if you can call it a total break down since we didn't have to get towed anywhere. For some reason the Bus stalled at a light in stop and go traffic. It was very hot down there. It decided that it didn't want to start for a couple of hours, and then it ran just fine after that. Go figure.

Anyway, I went out for a couple of runs down there. Run 1 and Run 2. Since I have been having some tightness in my calves, I kept the runs shorter than usual.

We went out on an epic ride on Tuesday. It was very hot down there. Mathilda rode along in the trailer, but was no help at all on the uphills. She did help on the final descent back to the campground though. We rode up Eureka Canyon, which was nicely shaded for the most part. It was a wonderfully gentle climb with almost no traffic. At the top it was a bit more exposed, and both Claire and I were running low on water. We stopped at a fire station just before turning down San Jose Road which plummeted us back down into Capitola. We had a bit more climbing before we got back to the campground. We must have looked a bit knackered at that point, because a woman in a car actually pulled up next to us and asked if we needed water.

The other days we spent riding around Santa Cruz and sampling pizza. We still think that Pleasure Pizza has the best, and on Tuesdays they have slices of cheese pizza for only a dollar. We also tried Pizza My Heart in Capitola, but didn't like it quite as much. One of the days we rode all the way up West Cliff and checked out the surfers. We ended up with over 25 miles that day. Mathilda enjoyed all of the rides.

Sweetwater (plain and simple)

I went out this morning and did the Sweetwater loop. Since we are taking off for Santa Cruz tomorrow for a week, I thought I should do this loop so that A1 can follow it when he is house sitting. It took exactly 20 minutes for the climb, and I'm usually around 18 minutes, so I know how I stand in that department. The entire loop took 1 hour and 26 minutes which is right around my average. I had to be a little careful on the back side of Sweetwater since it is pretty beat up from the winter. I got a pretty good two wheel drift through one of the first corners when I hit some gravel. Since I still have my third crash coming up, (they come in threes), I figured I should be careful. I hit some pretty good potholes on the other side of Sweetwater, but that is what Sonoma County is all about.

Long time no blog

Well, it has been awhile. I have been getting out on only a couple of rides a week since the shop is so busy. Last Monday Claire and I rode the tandem and Eric the Fireman rode his beautiful TCR Advanced SL around the Chalkhill Loop. The weather was perfect, and except for Eric feeling a little frisky on his road bike, it was a good paced ride.

Today Eric the Fireman and A1 came out to the house for an epic ride. We were all on our cross bikes as we headed out over Green Valley and Harrison Grade into Occidental. As we headed up Bitner, Eric had some mechanical problems. We tried to fix things by making his bike into a single speed, but the roads were so steep that the chain just wouldn't stay where it was supposed to stay. We bid farewell to Eric on Willow Creek Road, and A1 and I headed on through the state park and dropped down to Duncans Mills where Claire was waiting to meet us. We then rode over Duncan Road and over Old Caz. A1 and I decided to push ourselves a bit on the climb. At one point my heart rate was 197 and his had broken the 200 barrier. On the way down Old Caz, I got a little out of control in one of the corners and went ass over teakettle. I managed to land on my head and crack my helmet as well as scratching up some other parts of my body. It was a pretty funny fall, I had passed A1 on a couple of the sharp bends, and I was going a bit faster than I should. At least this is what I realized as I over shot a corner and went into some soft dirt and rocks on the side. I remember my head hitting and then watching as the bike flew over the top of me. My main concern was that my wheels would still be straight enough that I wouldn't have to hike out of there. We were almost to the crossing of Austin Creek, and it would have been a long hike out. The rest of the ride was uneventful, and we got back to Duncans Mills feeling good. We then stopped for some Mexican food in Guerneville before heading home.

Exploring with Claire and Mathilda

We went out yesterday and did a nice casual, interesting ride. It was all Claire's idea as she had heard rumors that there was a way to get from Wohler Bridge over to the River Front Regional Park which is off of Eastside Road. We put Mathilda in the trailer and Claire hopped on her trusty Ibis SS while I road my Cannondale cross bike. Here is a link to our loop. We did some exploring around Sonoma County Water Agency property. I am pretty sure it was all legal. We ended up at the park and we rode around the lake.

On the way home we stopped by our own regional park and let Mathilda swim a bit. She even fetched a stick once for us. She was a little sore by the time we got home. In fact, when we got to our door, she didn't want to get out of the trailer.

I had my first "crash" in a while. I was on my unicycle and it was more embarrassing than painful. Usually the unicycle just goes flying, but this time we both went flying. I ended up with a couple of cuts on my leg, but luckily I had just shaved the day before, so there was no hair to make things uglier. While I was unicycling, Claire was taking Thom the cat for a walk.

Mountain Bike Ride with Claire

Well, Claire and I finally got back out on our mountain bikes. It had been quite a while, and the last time was quite muddy. We had to go into the shop early so that I could pull apart my shock and regrease the bearings and rebuild the oil cartridge. The great thing about those Cannondale Headshocks is that the come out as good as new with some TLC. Anyway, we got out of the shop at a little before four even though there was lots of tune-ups to do. It was too nice of a day to not get outside. Here is a map of our loop. Claire stopped and took a picture of some turkeys that were strutting their stuff on the side of the trail. Mathilda stayed back and guarded the Hub Bus while we were out. Claire took her picture, but since we haven't washed the back window since the last rain, it is sort of bleary.

Long time no blog

It has been a while since I have written. Things have really picked up at the shop, so I don't feel like I have a lot of extra time to put stuff in here. I have been out a couple of times since early March. I have gone for a couple of runs where I felt great. I ran the Elmo loop the other morning and felt really good. Then a couple of days ago I went out for my neighborhood run and felt a little tightness in my lower calf at the end.

Claire and I were going to go out on a mountain bike ride the other afternoon, but when I pulled my mountain bike out, I realized that sitting around for a couple of months covered in mud hadn't been good for it. I need to spend some time fixing it up, thank goodness it only has one gear. We did go out and do our favorite loop together. Today we went out on the tandem for a 38 mile loop. We both agreed that it was a perfect day for a ride and it was the perfect loop for the day. I had been fooling around with the Garmin and had put our loop in as a course beforehand. This meant that we could race an imaginary person who was riding 15 mph the entire time. We ended up finishing about 4 miles ahead of the person. Next time I will have to put in a faster pacer.

Oh yea, I did ride my Somec fixed gear in to work on Wednesday. I then decided to take the long way home. I rode out Roblar and then out to Freestone and Occidental. At that point I was getting pretty tired and hungry. The shop had been busy enough that I hadn't had a chance to have lunch. I had eaten a can of pineapple right before I left, but I think it was wearing off. Anyway, I climbed up Graton Road and then turned onto Harrison Grade for some reason. Remember that I was riding my fixed gear (39x15). Then for some even crazier reason I turned on Green Valley Road and headed over to 116. Needless to say, by the time I got home you could stick a fork in my legs, they were cooked. I ended up with a little over 60 miles for the day.

Grasshopper #1 (Old Caz)

Well, yesterday was the first Grasshopper race of this year.  The weather was beautiful, but as A1 would agree, not perfect.  The perfect weather for this race is a good steady rain storm with plenty of gusty winds, but you can't have everything.  I don't want to get my facts wrong, but I could swear there were over 200 people there at the start, it was huge.  Claire was on her trusty Ibis SS and I was on my favorite Cannondale cross bike with my retro brakes that don't slow me down.  Claire and I were positioned in the last third of the group as we headed out of Occidental.  As we FLEW down Bohemian Hwy., I was sort of moving up through the group and chatting with old friends as I went.  It was a pretty safe trip down Bohemian compared to some of the rainy years in the past.  Claire had moved up in the pack also, and we ended up riding together out to Duncans Mills.  At one point there was a little split in the pack, and everyone behind us was happy to leave Claire out there to pull it back together.  As we turned on to Hwy. 116 and headed back towards Duncan Road, I made sure that I was getting up into the front third of the group.  When we turned on to Duncan Road, we came to a complete stop.  For those of you who have never turned onto Duncan Road, you basically go from level ground to a climb that hits around 20% at a couple of points.  The road also narrows down to around 10 feet wide or so.  At this point I actually got off my bike and ran part way up the hill, passing many of those stubborn cyclists that don't believe in running.  There was another log jam at the gate entering the dirt section, but it wasn't too bad.  Again, I got off my bike and ran up the first dirt section, which is faster than riding.  Thank goodness for my blue canvas Shimano Hightop mountain bike shoes (I have four pairs of them).   

Let's see, where were we?  Oh, yea, Duncan Road went without incident for the most part.  Thanks to my retro brakes that don't slow me down, and some good winter eating, I was able to pass plenty of people on the downhills.  As Eddie Merckx once said, and I may be paraphrasing here, "It is not the climbs, it is the cupcakes that get you."  Anyway, I got into a pretty good group that worked together to get to the bottom of Old Cazadero Road.  I definitely wasn't the fastest climber around, so I made my way up the climb trying not to lose too much time.  The back of Old Caz, which is dirt and mud at the bottom was a blast as usual.  I passed about a dozen folks heading down the hill.  At the bottom we crossed the creek, which was up to around my thighs or so.  There was a guy at the bottom thinking about trying to ride his bike across, but he luckily changed his mind after being warned by some spectators at the bottom.  The climb out of the bottom isn't bad, and takes place on some good hard packed dirt.  I passed up a couple of more heading into Cazadero.  One of the guys decided I was the guy to be around since I obviously knew where I was going.  He decided to call me "Cotati" the rest of the ride.  After doing some backroads above Cazadero, it is flat out to the coast.  This guy who I was riding with decided that he would pull at 22 mph all the way.  I had to get up to the front a couple of times so that I could rest.  He basically pulled me and a couple of others all the way to the bottom of Willow Creek Road.  And at that point, my thighs said that they had had enough.  I made it up Willow Creek at my own pace.  I ended up giving some food to another cyclist who looked like he was going to pass out on the steep section of the climb.  My final time was 3 hours and 10 minutes.  I have nothing to complain about here considering my fitness level.  It wasn't the worst shape I have been in for this race, but definitely not the best either.

I hung out at the Hub Bus waiting for Claire.  I had enough time to drink an Arrogant Bastard Ale and eat some potato chips.  Claire rolled in at that point looking totally knackered, but with a big smile on her face.  She was extremely happy with how it went for her.  We exchanged some stories and watched a guy brake his front axle on his Mercedes before heading into Guerneville for some Mexican Food.

Here is the link to the ride.  My average heart rate was 175, ouch.