Bob Katz's AIDS/LifeCycle Blog

The Photos Are Up!

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:13:00 PST

I finally have all of my pictures posted...that's 1,034 photos rotated, cropped and posted to Flickr.

The link to the ALC 7 collection (eight sets...one for Orientation and one for each day of the ride) is here: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/collections/72157605610377741/

There's also a link to a set for each blog entry.

Day 7, Closing Ceremonies, and then back home

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:05:00 PST

It was gloriously clear and pleasant on Saturday morning--so much so that I don't almost didn't bother putting on arm and leg warmers. Day Seven is always a bittersweet day for me and, to start it off, I finally made my way to the Dedication Tent. The dedication tent includes banners that were put out starting at Orientation and throughout the week, where people could leave messages to those they'd lost. The banners are used as part of Opening and Closing Ceremonies. I left a couple of messages on the banners during the week; on Saturday morning it was time to do some reading and to have a good cry before riding out.

I left camp shortly before 7 a.m. The first twenty miles or so of the route are almost totally flat, so I picked up again where I'd left off at lunchtime on Friday and got to Rest Stop 1 in just over an hour. No reason to hurry on afterwards; I took some pictures of the scenery and of my fellow riders and roadies, then sunscreened whatever I'd previously had covered--off went the arm and leg warmers!

There were two new, saluatory changes to the route on Day 7. Rest Stop 2 was moved to the other side of Highway 1, accessible by an underpass. I nearly missed the turn, just south of the LA County line. While the old Rest Stop 2 had its charms, it was down a long, steep gravel road; getting in and out was sort of a nuisance. The stop itself seemed more compact and rational, if somewhat lacking in charm.

There are two climbs in Malibu, the second one being just before the lunch stop. When I caught sight of the hill, it was time to cry once again. I don't always know what brings on the tears, but they were there. Perhaps it's the realization that, for better and for worse, the ride's nearly over. This year, lunch was moved from Malibu State Beach to Malibu Bluffs, atop the climb, directly opposite the Pepperdine University campus, and while there's nothing wrong with Malibu State Beach, the new site was just spectacular! There is a view up and down the coast (mainly up) as well as a view of the Pepperdine Campus--which is very pretty--and the hills behind it. We were treated to a Pony League ball game during lunch and there was even a Coke machine! Life is good! I downed a bottle of Coke and two bottles of Powerade with my sandwich. I got to spend some quality time with last year's tentmate Paul, who's always fun to be with. I took numerous pictures.

The final stretch on PCH, which can be a bit problematic, didn't seem particularly bad this year. It certainly didn't hurt that most of the road had recently been re-paved so even though there weren't any actual enhancements (like a bike lane), it seemed pretty mellow to me for the most part. The route goes onto the bike path at Will Rogers State Beach, which leads to an underpass so that we can get to the other side of Highway 1. Because of the number of riders, I'd been expecting a bit of a traffic jam there, but much to my surprise I was able to pass right through. Got back on the bike and headed for the final climb in Santa Monica. There's always plenty of yelling, cheering and cowbells at the top of the little four-block long hill, which leads to the beginning of San Vicente Blvd and the last few miles of riding. I kept riding, kept passing folks, and finally got to the final couple of turns, where we are routed to the south side of San Vicente so we can cross it, rather than trying to make a somewhat dangerous left turn. There is one more, block-long climb, a right turn, then a left into the holding area. I cried some more coming up the hill and turning into the VA Hospital grounds. And finally, the high point of the day--there was John waiting for me!

I guess I got in at about 1:15 or so; there didn't seem to be very many bikes in the holding area and there was plenty of time to kill, waiting in the shade, hooking up with former tentmate Roberto, and introducing both John and Roberto to various of my friends. Justin, the cute massage therapist, came by to give me a hug and we had our picture taken together. It was time for some ice cream and a hot pretzel. This brought us to 3:15 when the last riders and moto crew arrived to the usual applause and cheering. Then I headed back to my bike to ride into Closing Ceremonies. We were led in by the oldest and youngest riders, a deaf woman rider, and by Mark Cloutier, SFAF director. As usual, I worked my way up to the front so I'd be able to see John at the sidelines on my way in.

We rode in and, in accordance with tradition, emptied out our water bottles all over each other, then hoisted our bikes over our heads in the also-traditional victory gesture. The speeches were kind of on the long side, bike drop-off took a bit of extra time, and then there was the walk from gear retrieval all the way to where John had parked the car but we eventually made our way there, and then to our hotel in El Segundo. After a nice hot bath and a shave, we made our way to Roberto's house in Gardena. Roberto took us out to dinner at Lomelli's, the same wonderful old-fashioned Italian restaurant we'd been to when I was down for the LA Kickoff Party in January. Roberto's been eating there since he was ten years old and I can understand why. Finally it was time to head back to the hotel and to bed.

Sunday morning I took John to the Kettle in Manhattan Beach. The Kettle shares the same menu as the French Market in West Hollywood, though the waiters aren't quite as hot. After that we hit the road and made terrific time back to San Francisco. We got home right at 5 p.m. Another year's ride was over.

Saturday's stats (Ventura to Holding Area only): Ride time: 3 hours, 42 minutes Mileage: 61.82 Average speed: 16.6 mph Maximum speed: 40.1 mph.

Ride totals: Ride time: 34 hours, 55 minutes Mileage: 546.81 Average speed: 15.65 mph Maximum speed (Day One): 48.7 mph

What a GREAT ride!!!!

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605610284174/

Day 6

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:51:00 PST

After getting so much sleep (even on a half-deflated mattress), I was ready to roll on the morning of Day 6. Sergio hadn't been feeling well and decided to sit out today so he could ride the final day. This gave me a few more minutes of prep time, since he offered to take down the tent, which is always about the most time-consuming part of the day.

I love Day 6. It's got great weather and a great route, not to mention some really fun stuff. While I didn't manage to be ready for ride-out when the route opened at 6:30, I was on the road by about 6:55, which is pretty darned good. It's always gray and misty in Lompoc in the morning but it's just a matter of WHEN the fog will lift, not if it will. sure enough, before Rest Stop 1 there was bright sun and mostly clear skies. That last gradual hill on Highway 1 is something I look forward to. As climbs go it's quite easy and there is a terrific if somewhat dangerous payoff afterwards.

Rest Stop 1 contained a tribute to David Duncan who was doing his tenth ride. The fact it was there turned out to be a good thing for him. As I found out at lunchtime, shortly after Rest Stop 1 he began experiencing numbness on one side of his body and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. This was quite scary news as it could have meant he'd had a stroke. Despite living a very healthy live, David's had some serious health challenges over the past couple of years so I and others were quite concerned for him. Fortunately, just before dinner I received the news that he'd been discharged and that there was no evidence of a major health problem. There was also no prognosis at all, which was rather mysterious; he wasn't permitted to ride on Day 7 but was allowed to ride into Closing Ceremonies.

Much of the morning of Day 6 is spent on Highway 101. A two-lane bridge with no shoulder requires that one lane of traffic be closed so we can roll through safely and the lane closure is limited in duration, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending around 1 or so. Riders are held at the second rest stop until 9. I arrived there at about 8:50 and, sure enough, there were plenty of folks lined up waiting to be given the green light to proceed. I figured I take some pics of the fast folks riding out, then get on the road myself. At about 9:05 we were informed there would be a delay while traffic cones were moved further away from the bridge. Then we waited...and waited...and waited. After about fifteen minutes of this I decided I'd had enough of standing around and went back to my bike, thinking to hop on the back of the line. Instead, I realized that my bike was parked right next to the line of cyclists and who should be standing there but Joseph Collins, who's always fun to hang around with. So I hopped into the line (fortunately nobody was offended by this). Finally after a delay of 45 minutes, the route was opened. I was now with the hot sh!t riders...so I just HAMMERED for the next 26 miles. By the time I arrived at the lunch stop, my average speed was 17.3 mph, which is remarkable for me. It meant that I probably averaged well over 20 mph between RS 2 and lunch. It was 10:45 in the morning and there were perhaps 100 bikes parked there! What a lovely way to spend the morning.

Things slowed down a bit after lunch; in fact there were some slightly chilly headwinds for a good part of the afternoon, but that didn't really put a damper on things. There is a climb right outside of lunch; in fact, given that Santa Barbara is not that big a place, there's certainly plenty of geography in town. But the best part of riding through Santa Barbara is...Paradise Pit. This unofficial stop is located at the end of the bike path that runs along the waterfront and the beach and features first-rate ice cream, fresh strawberries, portapotties with actual sinks for handwashing and a large welcoming group of people. A nice elderly woman in a very old fashioned full length dress wandered through the crowd, offering to apply sunblock to riders who were starting to get too toasty.

From there on, things settle down. Eventually we wind up on Highway 101, then exit when Highway 1 again splits off, about fifteen miles north of Ventura. Rest Stop 4 is right along the water and the theme was "Studio 4" complete with people monitoring the crowd to determine who was worthy of entry, someone to stamp your hand, an absolute perfect Andy Warhol look-alike, and HOT go-go boys! Fun!

Still I wanted to get in, get cleaned up and showered, so alas, I couldn't spend too much time admiring the scenery. I got into camp at around 4:15; brought my bike in to the bike techs in camp to have my chain cleaned then went to pick up my gear and head for the showers. On the way I retrieved my bike shipping tag from McCollisters for Saturday. The shower lines were short, I was in and out and feeling great very soon, and by the time I was done showering, my bike was ready for parking with a nice clean chain.

Because Rabbi Sydney Mintz of Temple Emanu-el was riding, there was an honest to gosh Shabbat service. And while i rarely attend services myself, this seemed too good to pass up, so I went (after two helpings of dinner). Services ended in time to allow me to head back to the tent, get my flashlight and then cue up for the candlelight vigil on the beach which I'd had to skip last year because I'd been coming down with a cold. After that...off to bed.

Stats of the day: Ride time: 5 hours, 29 minutes Mileage: 88.28 Average speed: 16.0 mph Maximum speed: 41.3 mph (I assume on the downhill before Gaviota Pass)

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605607864030/

Day 5

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:22:00 PST

Day Five is Red Dress Day. Who doesn't like that?

I had the red tennis skirt that Ginger Brewlay gave me two years ago when I was injured and (at least temporarily) unable to raise my arms over my head. Never tried riding in it, but as it turned out, this didn't really present much of a problem. As always, the air in camp was festive because...well, it's Red Dress Day. It's also the shortest day on the ride. This doesn't mean it's easy, in fact by my calculations, about 15% to 20% of our miles involve climbing. Still, there's plenty of time to get to camp when the official mileage is under 45.

Besides the tennis skirt I had my special red armwarmers and the 2001 version of the Positive Pedalers jersey, which was mainly red, not to mention my red shorts from Voler and the red ALC windvest. So I was set. I headed out a bit before 8 a.m., and with the improving weather, it didn't take long before I needed to shed the armwarmers, the leg warmers and, finally, the windvest. I think I put all of those away at Rest Stop 1.

One of the most spectacular parts of Red Dress Day often comes on the first hill, where riders are fairly bunched up...with all the red, it truly does look like a red ribbon. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, since I was too busy climbing. On this particular day I did have just a bit of discomfort in one leg, which I later found out (upon visiting Sports Medicine) was a slightly pulled adductor--the muscle that runs along the inside of the thigh up to the groin. It didn't really get in my way but it did twinge every so often.

In Casmalia there was the usual dancing and barbeque outside the general store. Casmalia's situation is somewhat similar to that of Bradley's. It's an isolated and rather poor community. I understand that it also sits atop a Superfund site, so all of their water must be brought in from elsewhere. As in Bradley, we try to make contributions to the local economy; in addition the local school kids are often out to greet us. This year, participating in the festivities required a bit of extra walking since we were asked to park our bikes in the official rest stop and walk back to the general store. Not everyone did this of course, but I try to be a good citizen.

After Casmalia comes the second climb of the day, another fairly taxing one that's usually out of the wind, making it quite toasty. We're traditionally greeted at the top of this climb by Ginger Brewlay. After this one we descend rather quickly into Vandenberg Air Force Base and roll along a flat stretch. Then we make a sharp right turn, get onto Highway 1 and....CLIMB! In the old days, this hill was referred to as "Pain Pass" but nowadays more folks call it "Ant Hill" since, if you look down to the right, you can see the approaching riders, looking like ants. I don't know what it is about this particular hill, but more often than not, I find that I burst into tears when I reach the top of it. Crying is good I guess, and ALC is at bottom an emotional experience. So there we have it.

After the climb we briefly turn off of Highway 1 (I have no idea why), only to return to it at the main gate of Vandenberg. From there it's a straight shot along 1 into lunch, often at high speed since there's generally a tailwind. Lunch is on the outskirts of Lompoc, in fact it's only six miles from camp. So there's no particular need to rush. I had lunch with Joseph Collins and Ben Armstrong (on what other day than Day Five do I actually get to see these two on the road?). I snuck around the back of the hotel whose grounds we use for our lunch stop and bought a soda at the gas station that sits on the corner. Nothing like those guilty pleasures.

From lunch the trip to camp is short. There is another steep downhill, followed by a climb, and then we're in Lompoc proper. There is a point where the road forks; the route to camp requires that we stay cross over what is essentially an off-ramp so there's moto crew stationed to control bike traffic. I was about to head into camp when I heard some folks (Robert Quan, Eric Rozendahl, A.J., Deyon and Lynelle and Mok) say they were heading for Fosters Freeze in downtown Lompoc. I can't resist a stop at Fosters Freeze so I changed course and rode into downtown Lompoc (such as it is) with them and had a root beer float. What's sort of pathetic is that while the Fosters Freeze is perhaps a mile from the entrance to camp, by the time I arrived there...I was hungry again!

The roadies had delivered our bags to our tent sites and, as usual, Sergio was there and had the tent set up. I headed off to Sports Medicine to get my leg pain dealt with. I'm not sure what the woman did exactly but whatever she did, it worked. I rode pain-free for the remainder of the week. The downside of making this stop was that I hit the shower lines when they were at their longest so I had to run back to the tent, grab both my TRL teeshirt and my Positive Pedalers teeshirt and make my way quickly towards the services area, where all of the group photos were being taken, all while making sure that the tent was closed so that no marauding ducks could walk in and leave presents for us.

Following the Positive Pedalers photo there were speeches from the board; then we were treated to pizza. This of course was no substitute for an actual meal (even though I had three slices!) so I headed for the dinner line. But first, I stopped off and registered for next year.

Just as I arrived at a table to sit down and eat, the lack of sleep I'd experienced the night before caught up with me bigtime. I found myself getting very gloomy--even wondering if I was actually going to ride next year after all! Then I came up with the perfect, two-part solution: Part 1: I'm going to be a princess more often next year; Part 2: I headed right to bed and was asleep by about 8:15. Sometime around 10:30 or so, I needed to get up to use the portapotty and somehow managed to kick the plug out of my air mattress. While I caught it quickly, the mattress was at least half deflated, but I was so tired, it turned out not to really matter. I slept anyway.

Today's totals: Ride time: 3 hours, 16 minutes Miles: 44.18 Average speed: 13.4 mph Maximum speed: 40.8 mph

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605613785073/

Day 4

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:56:00 PST

Day Four was the beginning of the really nice riding experience I had, which lasted for me right until the end of the ride.

Getting out of that comfortable hotel bed was a bit of a challenge but it helped that the Holiday Inn opened their breakfast room an hour earlier than normal to accomodate all the riders who were staying there. And breakfast was definitely nice. It was chilly in camp and on the first part of the route, but as soon as the sun was fully up, things warmed up nicely. Day Four is the second longest day of the ride, so it pays to hit the road early. While I didn't get going as early as I'd have liked (as usual!), I left shortly after 7, following part of a stretching class.

Day Four has numerous highlights: Evil Twins (not as big and bad a climb as it sounds); the half-way point on the ride (where I spent far less time than usual), the long downhill following Evil Twins, Skippers in Cayucos on Morro Bay where I always stop for a fish sandwich; the "healthy barbeque" put on by the San Luis Obispo AIDS group at lunch; riding through Pismo Beach...

The third major route change for this year was after Pismo and as with the others it was DEFINITELY for the better. Following Pismo Beach and Oceano, we normally continue on Highway 1. After turning inland, we would have to climb a nasty hill with no shoulder, sometimes referred to as "Pismo Bitch." Back in the AIDS Ride days it was at the start of Day Five, rather than at mile 70 of Day Four. This didn't make it any more fun but at least we weren't all tired and the wind wasn't blowing so hard (though I did once have to climb it in rain, which was not exactly fun). I was pleasantly surprised when, upon arriving at the critical turn, we were directed to the left, rather than to the right. It was right around here that I caught up with Tracy and Hunter, who of course wanted to know what was in store. It was sort of funny really that I had to be honest and tell them I had no idea since I'd never been that way before. After a bit of flat riding there was a right turn, followed by a short, steep climb, then more basically flat riding followed by another short steep climb. All of that with very little traffic, unlike on Highway 1. Afterwards, a right turn took us back to Highway 1. There followed the usual three short climbs along 1, then relatively flat stretches, and finally the downhill into Guadalupe, accompanied as usual by crosswinds from off the water.

I managed to get in and out of Rest Stop 4 fairly fairly fast. After that, it was a few more blocks of fighting the crosswind and then...a left turn and suddenly the wind was at our backs, blowing us into Santa Maria. I broke 30 mph a couple of times on that stretch of road. The final stretch into camp was its usual convoluted self. I got into camp; Sergio actually arrived after me. But he'd needed to stop at a Walgreens in downtown Santa Maria to pick up a prescription so he ended up riding 115 miles that day, instead of the scheduled 98.

I think I arrived at camp somewhere around 5:30 pm; I found the showers surprisingly uncrowded and was able to get cleaned up and changed while the sun was still up. On the way to dinner, I encountered the same woman I'd met last year in Lompoc. She had a couple of bunnies and several kittens on a stroller and we got to watch the kitties play. Made me miss our big cat Darwin just a bit. Okay, more than just a bit! LOL

I got to bed shortly after 9pm; there was no sign of Sergio. I suspected he might be in the medical tent since he'd told me that morning that he thought he was coming down with a cold. While my suspicion was correct, the reason was not. Turns out he'd gotten himself dehydrated (not that I'd know anything about that of course!). For some reason, instead of keeping him overnight as they'd done with my ALC 4 tentmate Harry, they released him from medical at around 10:30 p.m. He'd gone there without a flashlight, not expecting to be kept until after dark. So on the way back he nearly fell into the empty fountain that sits in the middle of Pritzker Park and needed to be walked to the tent by someone who fortunately came along with a flashlight! His late arrival (not his fault of course) had some consequences for me on Day Five but of course since I didn't get as much sleep as would have been prudent. Still it was, all in all, a very nice day.

Today's totals: Ride time: 6 hours, 17 minutes Miles: 98.26 Average speed: 15.6 mph (not bad for Day 4) Maximum speed, coming down the far side of Evil Twins: 43.2 mph.

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605607126546/

Day 3

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:25:00 PST

Day 3 includes one of the "signature" climbs of AIDS/LifeCycle: Quadbuster. It isn't THAT hard of a hill; at least it wouldn't be if done on a training ride. But after two days of serious riding, the experience is a bit different.

As usual it was cold and breezy early in the morning, but the sun was out. The Day 3 route underwent a significant and welcome change this year. Due to construction, we lost ten miles of riding on what used to feel like cobblestones (though it was reported earlier this year that the worst portions had been re-paved) followed by some significant rollers leading up to Quadbuster itself. Instead we used a bike path that started right outside of camp, crossed over the Salinas River and underneath Highway 101 and took us directly to Quadbuster, just after mile 9. So we all got up and over fairly early. From that point onward it was nothing but fun. The area west of Quadbuster is almost always quite warm; and while we are subjected to our first taste of freeway riding (a fairly unpleasant stretch of Highway 101) we are rewarded with lunch in the town of Bradley, population about 200.

Bradley turns out in force for us each year. They provide a barbeque for us that serves to raise money for various of their school programs. In fact we were informed at dinnertime that evening that the money we'd spent in Bradley over the years had, (among other things) provided college scholarships for eleven kids who might not have been able to get a higher education otherwise.

After Bradley we continue along a fairly remote stretch of road (paralleled by the Union Pacific's main line) that leads us to another round of nervewracking freeway riding on Highway 101, followed by still another payoff: Rest Stop 4 at Mission San Miguel. Rest Stop 4 always seems to have the best themes; this one was just terrific. One of their best in fact. The theme was "Grease: The Musical." They really outdid themselves this year and audiences loved them. Each group of riders told the ones behind them to stick around for the shows (which happened about every 20 minutes or so and lasted perhaps ten minutes). Suffice to say there was a queer twist to put to "You're the One That I Want."

After the rest stop I got back on the road. I suppose it was at this point I began to notice that I was riding quite hard. Not a bad thing at all of course, and in fact very pleasant for me. The campsite for Day 3 is Paso Robles where I always stay at a motel. Paso Robles is rather noisy and hot and it's nice to have an air conditioned room to rest up in, not to mention having places to charge the cell phone and a hot tub to soak in. In prior years I'd stayed at the Best Western, but they were booked up when I called to make reservations in January. Their loss! My friend Roberto booked me a room at the Holiday Inn Express, which is where I plan to stay from now on. The pool and hot tub were indoors, the rooms were nicer...and it was even a bit closer to camp. Needless to say Sergio was waiting for me when I arrived.

After a soak and a nice shower in a bath tub I went back to camp for Positive Pedalers Night. Shirley Jaglowski was the featured speaker for us and she moved the crowd much as she'd done the night before. The real clincher however was after her speech. The board of Pos Peds created an award this year. The first recipient was none other than Ric Uggen (a/k/a Ginger Brewlay). Ric had absolutely no idea this was coming. He was not only speechless (very rare for him) but he broke down crying. It was truly a remarkable moment. As a rider and roadie virtually from the beginning, as well as a tireless AIDS educator, nobody deserved the award more than Ric. It was a great end to the evening (I needed to head for bed and thus didn't stick around for the always popular Roadie Fashion Show--described that night as a collision between a trainwreck and a car crash).

Today's totals: Riding time: 4 hours, 18 minutes Miles: 65.69 Average speed: 15.2 mph Maximum speed: 39.3 mph

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605604709702/

Day 2

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:56:00 PST

The day started out, as usual for Santa Cruz. Cold and breezy. It was clear at dawn but fog soon rolled in. Still, it took me so long to get going that the fog had begun to dispell by the time I hit the road at about 7:30...way later than I'd wanted to get going. Traffic in downtown Santa Cruz can be a pain on Day 2, and this day was certainly no exception. Still, some folks complained about it taking over two hours to get out of Santa Cruz; this certainly wasn't my experience. Of course I passed everyone I possibly could pass while still riding responsibly.

On my very first ride in 1999, it was a crystal-clear day on Day 2 which resulted in the view from Rest Stop 1 at Manressa State Beach being quite spectacular. Every since then (except on ALC 5, when I was traveling with Brian and didn't have a chance to linger there) it has been more or less foggy, usually to the point where visibility was on the scary side. So while it was not exactly picture perfect this time, there was more than decent visibility at the beach itself and downtown Santa Cruz was in sunlight, which made for some very nice pictures.

While I felt as though I were dragging a good part of the morning, I arrived at the famous and unofficial artichoke stop in plenty of time to enjoy a nice order of fried artichokes and have my pictures taken with Ginger Brewlay. By lunchtime, weather had become quite pleasant, and I was there at a decent time and thus didn't need to rush in and out. The afternoon headwind on Highway 68 (which leads from Salinas to Monterey) was not especially bad this year, but of course the best part was exiting that road and getting onto Reservation Road, which is guaranteed to provide awesome tailwinds for mile after mile.

One of the first route changes this year was a relatively minor one that happened at Rest Stop 3. We used the same site as we'd been using for several years, a winery somewhere north of Mission Soledad, but instead of using an area right off of the road, we were lower down. This not only provided more attractive scenery but shielded us all from the winds. Over all it was a great improvement--as were most of this year's changes.

The usual treats were in store from this point onwards. The downhill shortly north of Mission Soledad, where I hit my second highest speed of the ride. The dancing bears giving out Otter Pops at the Mission Soledad water stop. After that of course is the skinnydipping pool which is followed by the only climb of any size on Day 2 and then by a visit from Cookie Lady, who's been handing out cookies to riders for the past I don't know how many years. I early determined that stopping at both places was out of the question so I had to decide: did I want to look at naked guys or have a cookie? I chose the cookie. I suppose I'm getting old.

The normal crosswinds along this portion of the route were not too terribly bad, and of course the final stretch along the canyon side on Metz Road, powered by tailwinds, was quite enjoyable. Kids often line the road just outside of camp waiting to be offered beads and similar bling that we carry for them; they will often grab for stuff that we actually need to hold onto. I was surprised and even a bit disappointed this year when they were not in sight as I arrived. I guess I got in during dinnertime. I arrived at camp at 6:15, took my time pumping up my tires, got to the tent which of course Sergio had already set up and then made a terrible choice as to where to shower.

This year, ALC used a new contractor to provide camp showers. Overall the facilities were nicer than the ones we'd used previously but there were some downsides. In particular, one shower truck was different from the others. It was labeled "Executive Showers." It sounded very tempting so off course I headed for that one. Big mistake! It had fewer stalls than the other trucks did and I was stuck in line for nearly an hour! The only upside was that in contrast to the other trucks, this one had indoor sinks for shaving and whatnot, but it took me so long that I didn't even bother to use them. Lesson learned there.

I eventually got cleaned off and had dinner after dark. The upside was that I got to have dinner with Tom Kunze and Mike Murphy. Tom is a CAR and ALC veteran of (I think) even longer standing than I am while Mike is on the board of Positive Pedalers. Up to this point, I hadn't really had much chance to get to know him other than at Orientation. This all kind of made up for the privations of getting in late and waiting on the long shower line.

Today's totals: Riding time: 6 hours, 40 minutes Miles: 107.17 Average speed: 15.2 mph Maximum speed: 45.1 mph.

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605604531336/

Day 1

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:34:00 PST

Ken and Will agreed to provide car service to the Cow Palace this morning for Sergio and me. Ken had mentioned that they'd be taking their big car into the city (from Sebastopol) and that they could accomodate more people. Since my neighbors Greg (rider) and Scott (massage) needed a ride as well, they were invited. We loaded up the car at 4:30 am and headed into the Castro to pick Sergio up. I managed to slam my knee in the car door at some point but it apparently did no lasting damage. We got to the Cow Palace and I ran to my bike, to put the bottles in the bottle cages and attach the frame number that Sergio had accidentally taken home with him. I figured it would be nice to have the correct bar code on the frame number for use in bike parking; as it turned out, the roadies were never able to get the scanner to work so it didn't really matter but it was sort of nice aesthetically not to have a frame number composed of taped-together numbers.

For the first time in several years, I had no specific part in Opening Ceremonies. While it's always an honor to carry the flags down the aisle and accompany the riderless bike, it's really important to let others do this so I contented myself with (as usual) taking pictures. Being the agressive fellow that I am, once Opening Ceremonies was done, I hightailed it to the bike and, once there, hightailed it to the very front of the line. I managed to be in the first row of riders to head out onto the route--a moment before we were released, I checked my watch. It was 6:52 a.m. Jim F. had ridden down to Geneva Avenue and snapped several pictures of me, climbing up the hill in the cold, blustery--but clear--morning.

As promised, we returned to the "normal" route, up and over the top of Highway 92 and then down into Half Moon Bay. I greatly prefer this to cresting Highway 92, then turning left and climbing another ten miles on Skyline Drive. Taking 92 all the way will reliably get me into camp two hours earlier, even though Skyline adds only about ten miles to the route. In addition, the more time spent on Highway 1, the better. As far as I'm concerned it's far more fun to ride. There's a nice downhill just before lunch (and just before the end of Highway 84 which would be the alternate route to reach Highway 1). It's just cool hammering down that hill and into the lunch stop.

After lunch on Day 1 is always pleasant; there is a very reliable tailwind just about all the way to Santa Cruz. And the best part--there is a stretch a bit north of Davenport that is perfect for going REALLY fast, assuming the wind is right and the traffic isn't too heavy. Of course nothing comes without effort; I found that I could only pedal so hard and began to slow down when a) I started to run short of breath and b) the bike started to become unstable. I guess I'm never going to exceed 48.7 miles per hour but...what the heck.

I pulled into camp just a couple of minutes before 2 p.m., which was just terrific. The first thing I did once I arrived was to head for the massage tent which was virtually empty, and schedule a massage. Then I picked up my gear and headed for the tent site, where I discovered that Sergio had already arrived and set up the tent. However did he get there ahead of me? Well, who knows, but he managed to do the same thing every day of the ride. So good on him.

I got my massage from a very cute young man by the name of Justin, who I picked out just because...well because he was cute and because he'd come up to talk to me when I arrived to set up the appointment. When I returned at the scheduled time, he beckoned me over to his table. How could I resist such an invitation? Again because it was still slow at massage, I eventually ended up being worked on by three massage therapists at the same time! Justin and I had a chance to talk; turnes out he was a rider last year (who also showed up to do massage after he finished up riding each day) but had been in a motorcycle acccident earlier in the year and had torn a tendon in his leg. So he was doing massage fulltime this year.

Got done, got showered, cheered some people in, ran into Tracy and Hunter as I was leaving the shower area and they were arriving, had dinner, had dinner again. Got to sit with a large assortment of people. Then I went over to "Participant Support." In exchange for having had my frame number returned to me, the number on my helmet blew off in the wind somewhere around mile 30. So I had to get new numbers in order to abide by the rules (this particular rule doesn't seem to be a very important one; large numbers of folks lost their helmet numbers and most of them didn't bother replacing them. But still...).

As usual it was cool and breezy overnight, but I got a decent amount of sleep.

Today's totals: Ride time: 5 hours, 13 minutes Miles: 81.41 Average speed: 15.5 mph Maximum speed: 48.7 mph!!!!!

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605604336690/

Orientation

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:16:00 PST

It's Monday afternoon and I'm back in San Francisco, getting dinner ready. It's time for me to begin the recollections of the ride, before they completely blend together and I forget all of the important details.

I arrived with tentmate Sergio at the Cow Palace early on Saturday morning so we could see the first safety video, check in and get our tent assignments. My assignment for the day was to take as many pictures of as many Positive Pedalers as possible, so they could be downloaded onto Peter LaVoie's computer and displayed at the Postive Pedalers tent during the ride. Of course I took plenty of pictures of other folks as well (282 shots by the end of the day), but managed to probably get the majority of Pos Peds, both riders and roadies, during the course of the day.

As I was leaving for the day, I went to put the number on my bike frame and discovered it was missing, so of course I ran around in a panic; finally encountered Susan Parrish, who made me a new number. I headed home and arrived at about 5pm. No sooner did I arrive than the phone rang; somehow, my frame number had ended up in Sergio's envelope and had gone home with him (it probably happened at the tent assignment line). I was surprised that Pos Peds were in tent sections C, D, and E, but change is the one constant in life.

I was lucky to have completed virtually all of my packing early, which made for a fairly leisurely evening. John and I had a nice quiet dinner at Capri in the Castro, where we of course ran into various other riders doing the same thing. I had to set aside time to download all of the day's pictures and edit them, then create a CD of them. While I was at it, I burned another CD of photos of Pos Peds I'd taken during ALC 5. These went to Peter once we'd arrived in Santa Cruz. He was able to create a very nice slide show of them using iPhoto.

I showered and hit the sack reasonably early and managed to get about five hours of sleep, which isn't bad for me the night before Day 1.

Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605609804503/

Can I make it to 7k? YES I CAN!

Tue, 27 May 2008 16:06:00 PST

Last week I met my goal of $6,500 and surpassed it. Despite my mom's suggestion I don't think I'll change my official fundraising goal at this late date; it looks better to be over the goal than under it. Thanks anyway, Mom!

Still, it would be awesome to actually cross the $7,000 threshold. It's Sunday, May 25th and the official cutoff date for donations to show up before ALC starts is Wednesday. I think I can do it...I know some of you out there have promised to sponsor me but haven't yet given so...what are you waiting for?

UPDATE, Tuesday, 5/27. Thanks to Greg's donation, I'm now at $7,076.01!!! Guess I'll need to set my goal higher next year.

I hit a another personal milestone today

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:22:00 PST

This afternoon, my pledge total reached $6,225. I was quite pleased but chose to focus on the fact that I have not yet reached my goal of $6,500. Believe me, I keep on checking that total (perhaps obsessively). And, sitting here at about 9pm on a Friday night, it struck me. This is the most I've ever raised for one ride.

I was talking to my awesome Cycle Buddy Hillary a while back and we were discussing my fundraising history. She quoted my total from last year; the figure she gave did not square with the number I saw back in August. It seems that one batch of corporate matching funds didn't hit my old account until November. I asked her if I could count it toward's this year's total but alas, she assured me that the money had certainly all been spent. Still, it got me to $6,123; 2007 was the first time I'd ever crossed the $6k threshold. Now I've bested last year by $102 with more pledges still to come. I sent out a couple of nagging emails just this evening; Monday's payday for most folks in my office and I know of several co-workers who've promised to sponsor. So gee...I guess I'm a better fundraiser than I thought I was.

WOOHOO!

I'm still gonna keep fundraising though; no sense killing the momentum now!

I think I'm ready to roll

Mon, 12 May 2008 21:10:00 PST

In fact, I'm sure of it.

After the Jonathan Pon Ride and the three-day Pos Peds Ride, I was going over the training ride schedule for this coming weekend and everything seemed way too long and intense for me. I considered posting a shorter ride to the schedule or asking folks if they'd like to do a "renegade" Tib Loop. Then I took a moment and added up all the miles I'd put in since the end of July. Counting one informal ride, the Marin Century, a century plus two shorter loops I did up in Oregon the week after that and all of the official rides, it came to over 1800 miles. If I include my daily commutes (1.5 miles each way, but on a clunky old hyrid), that adds another 600. If I'm not ready now, I don't think another day of riding is gonna get me there. Time to relax, sleep in a bit the next two weekends, and be rested and refreshed come June 1.

It has been a truly extraordinary year; long rides, short rides, meeting some really cool new people who are excited about doing their first ALC, getting to spend more time with people I already knew, down-times when the weather sucked or when I wasn't feeling well, thinking I'd never reach the minimum pledge, thinking I wouldn't reach $5,000, thinking I hadn't trained enough--the list just goes on and on. I am just short of $6,000 and now I'm not...I just made it to $6k! and it seems likely that I will end up having raised more than I ever have before. I can't wait to roll out of the Cow Palace.

Three Days of Riding with Positive Pedalers

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:53:00 PST

Last weekend's Jonathan Pon ride had 115 participants and lasted two days. This weekend's ride had twenty-six of us. We rode out from behind Mike's Bikes in Sausalito on Friday morning for Guerneville and didn't return until Sunday afternoon. Last weekend--tents. This weekend--we slept in beds. Last weekend was very cool and windy and, at the same time, very mellow. This weekend had GREAT weather for all three days (albeit with the usual nasty headwinds south of Valley Ford) and was...um...let's just say the weekend generated lots of anecdotes that I'm mostly not going to discuss here.

Three very cool things about the whole experience: First, it's really terrific to see how people improve and grow as cyclists. Last year I got to meet Paul, who became my ALC 6 tentmate. Paul was riding a very heavy old hybrid and wearing street shoes. Every night I arrived at camp a good two hours ahead of him. This time around, Paul had gotten a much better bike, learned to ride with clipless pedals, and not only did he keep up with me, he passed me! He got back to Sausalito WAY before I did! The second very cool thing is that we had three people from LA who'd driven up just to do the ride. Two were guys I already knew; the third was someone I don't think I really met last year at all, though I believe he was riding. Finally, we'd be calling this weekend the "intimate" ride, for Positive Pedalers only, where we got to know each other better. And that certainly happened. In particular, I shared a room with Rich, who's doing his first ride this year. I'd gotten to know him a bit early on in the training season; then some health problems kept him off his bike and out of touch for a couple of months so he's been playing catch-up. He's not a fast rider so we didn't spend that much time riding together but both evening we had some terrific conversations. He's a great guy and I'm glad I've gotten to know him better.

No particular stories to share about the trip north, everyone seemed to arrive okay, though there were some mechanical issues and a few people managed to get lost but everyone eventually arrived in Guerneville safely. The route sheets I'd so painstakingly drawn up had one huge error in distance on them (though all of the cues were correct). Oh, the embarrassment!

Our ride to Guerneville was very mellow and the weather was absolutely perfect--not too hot, not cold, not much wind. It was still too cold for me to use the pool at the Russian River Resort but other than that there was absolutely nothing to complain about. On the way back, Paul suggested that we take "action shots" of each other riding towards the camera. They actually came out pretty well. I got to wear the triathlete shorts that are normally too lightweight for riding in around the Bay Area (either it's too cold, the rides are too long, or both). If nothing else they apparently flatter me.

In accordance with tradition, there was a Saturday night barbeque for us at the Triple R. Just as we were finishing up we heard an loud bang. A transformer had blown and the resort and a couple of the blocks around it were suddenly without lights. We heard the emergency generator kick on but all it powered was the bar (they are nothing if not fiscally prudent). Taking my meds was sort of interesting--I had to find them first. Sometime around midnight, the power came back on so everything was cool for the morning.

Getting started on Sunday morning was a bit sketchy. First of all, I foolishly decided to drink a coke at dinner because I wanted something sugary. As a result I sort of had a hard time falling asleep (I usually avoid caffeine after about 3 pm). The blackout somehow made getting to sleep more difficult rather than easier as well. Rich and I got up at about 6:40 and headed for Pat's on Main Street; we didn't see that many other of the guys there and foolishly assumed that we were ahead of them. We weren't. Again somehow, we thought we'd have plenty of time to be packed and ready for an 8 am meeting time and an 8:30 start but...Rich discovered that he'd lost his ATM card and needed to call his bank. By the time I got my gear out to the curb other folks were already doing their stretching and going over the route and whatnot. And I hadn't pumped up my tires. So I was the next-to-last person on the road besides Rich (who'd managed to lock his windbreaker in the room). I hammered out of the RRR and realized that I'd forgotten to re-set my computer. I suppose I missed about half a mile...not a great loss.

The guys from Southern California, Brendan in particular, really marveled at the scenery we get to enjoy on our longer rides here in the north. Mark had me take a picture of him in front of a redwood, in Samuel P. Taylor Park.

On the trip home several of us were stopped at the bakery in Tomales. There was a gentleman there who had a raccoon kit that he'd rescued from beneath an abandon house after it's mom had left it for dead. There will be photos. The little guy was incredibly cute. Once we arrived in Point Reyes Station we intersected with Ben Armstrong's CAT 2 ride so there was plenty of socializing to do. We also encountered San Francisco AIDS Foundation Director Mark Cloutier. I included him in a series of pictures of people with same name that I'd decided to take. Ben, and Joseph Collins (his partner in TRL crime) actually made themselves very useful to us by sweeping out slower riders (even though they didn't have to).

As to the other stuff, let's just say that some people were very naughty and seemed to have a good time being that way. And nobody got arrested or seriously ticked-off. We'll just leave it at that.

So here are the stats for each day of riding:

Friday: Miles: 73.93 Ride Time: 5 hours, 9 minutes Average Speed: 14.3 mph Maximum Speed: 38.7 mph

Saturday: Miles: 37.00 Ride Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes Average Speed: 14.3 mph Maximum Speed: 28.7 mph

Sunday: Miles: 72.57 Ride Time: 4 hours, 37 minutes Average Speed: 15.7 mph (going south is always faster) Maximum Speed: 41.6 mph (on White's Hill, of course)

Photos will follow soon...and here they are: flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157605032237427/

The Jonathan Pon Two-Day Ride--148 miles, lots of wind

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:48:00 PST

This past weekend was the Jonathan Pon two-day ride to the Russian River. In case you're wondering, the ride is named after the co-founder of Positive Pedalers, who passed away at the end of 2001. During the days of the California AIDS Ride, a fellow by the name of David McDevitt organized a two-day trip to the River (camping at Cassini Ranch in Duncans Mills) as a fundraiser for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Somewhere around 2002, this ride went by the wayside for various reasons. Two years ago the AIDS LifeCycle staff, aware that Positive Pedalers had a three-day event for members only, asked us to pick up the old two-day event, which we were happy to do. David gave us considerable technical assistance in putting things together, while other ALCers, both inside and outside of Positive Pedalers, contributed both direct support and technical assistance. In 2006 and 2007 for example, former ALC Associate Director Stephen Cadby drove a sweep vehicle. My broken collarbone meant that I missed the original version of the event, but I did it last year and had fun.

About 100 of us met at the north end of Sausalito on Saturday morning bright and early (VERY early!), loaded our gear on trucks, signed not one but TWO waiver forms (the regular ALC training ride waiver and an additional insurance waiver specific to this event). Sun was shining, it was chilly but not altogether unpleasant, and off we rode, through Fairfax and Nicasio, up the hill which Julie Brown has so cheerfully named the "Alpe de Fromage" to the Cheese Factory, then over what Julie has also quaintly described as a "short rise" and then down into Petaluma, where we had lunch.

From Petaluma we continued northwestwards towards the very small town of Valley Ford. One of the downsides of this particular part of the route is that it is always windy and Saturday was no exception. The arm and knee warmers had come off at the Cheese Factory, because it was so warm, but in Valley Ford I put them back on again. Everyone griped about the wind. Of course we then turned eastwards towards Freestone and things looked way up. One of the stops everyone looks forward to is the Wild Flower Bakery in Freestone, which has what must be the world's tastiest--and largest--sticky buns and scones.

After gorging ourselves, we climbed one more hill, passing through the town of Occidental and descending into Monte Rio, where we turned west and arrived at our campsite. My good deed for the day: last year's ALC tentmate Paul told me at lunch that the fellow he'd been planning to tent with this year had decided not to do the ride. Who should be standing there but Bryan, who also didn't yet have a tentmate for ALC. Problem solved.

Last year on this ride I'd ended up sleeping in the gear truck, which worked out very well, so I'd intended to do the same this year. But when I arrived at the truck and stepped into the back, I heard these horrible noises. The truck was parked under a tree, and the branches were scraping the top of the truck. Fortunately, the very same Bryan had a tent and no tentmate; he very kindly agreed to take me in. The tent was cozy but big enough for the two of us, and he had a full-size air mattress which meant I didn't need to inflate my own. It all turned out to be a blessing (keep reading).

After dinner (very good, and catered by our very own Carol and Jerry, with assistance from a young man named Corey who baked our dessert), we were informed that, due to a misunderstanding, the camp had not reserved it's social hall for secure bike parking this year. We were stuck with a hundred bikes, all of them sitting out more or less in the open. We loaded as many as we possibly could into the truck. Some folks left their bikes where they were, others parked them outside of their tents, while a few (those with larger accomodations) actually brought their bikes into their tents. And we hoped for the best. Nobody reported losing a bike overnight so clearly it all worked out.

We were truly fortunate in terms of entertainment, which was provided by Mark Growden. We'd met Mark back in December on the ride out of John Hershey's home in Bodega Bay; he was supposed to have been doing the ride but had a very serious cycling accident a few months ago that included breaking his back (it also involved a settlement from the bike manufacturer); he's out of commission for this year, though he's now ambulatory again. Mark is a truly gifted musician; he performed a set of original songs that were just incredible.

And we all went to sleep.

Today's totals: Miles: 71.91 Ride time: 5 hours, 7 minutes Average speed: 14.0 mph Maximum speed: 39.0 mph (which I believe I hit after the top of Nicasio Valley Road)

Sunday morning we woke up and packed up. Ride time was set for 8:00 but we were asked to have all of our gear packed in time for breakfast, which began at 6:30. Carol, Jerry, and Corey once again teamed up to feed us royally well. The gear truck was emptied of bikes, the gear was loaded in, people were cautioned to ride safely, especially coming down White's Hill (scene of four accidents on last weekend's Day on the Ride) and everyone took off. Beau and I were designated to sweep the first leg of the ride, so I contented myself by photographing as many people as possible on their way out of camp. The route back is different from the route northwards: River Road to Jenner, and then down Highway 1 all the way to Point Reyes Station, before turning inland, and completing the standard route through Samuel P. Taylor Park, past the scene of my accident two years ago, up the heinously-paved section of Sir Francis Drake Blvd to Lagunitas and then up and over White's Hill to Fairfax and then back the usual way to Sausalito.

Weather at daybreak was foggy but it pretty much cleared up by ride-out time. Still it was, as usual, on the chilly side. In addition, we were informed that we'd be having a southerly wind for the return trip, which turned out to be the case for the first part of the trip. A few people began to flag (or at least they were disheartened), but fortunately the wind shifted south of Tomales so as to be at least not especially annoying, most of the time. Being one of the sweeps, I got to ride with some of our favorite and most hard-working fellows from Duncans Mills, through Bodega Bay, to Valley Ford. There's a very nice downhill just north of Valley Ford that I was looking forward to bombing down, so I took my sweet time on the road and gave the back-of-the-pack folks as much of a head start as possible. Beau reminded me that he was there too and would be happy to bring up the rear for the last little bit. The headwind was enough to keep me from making the speed I'd gotten there last year, but I did barely manage to break 40 mph.

Once in Valley Ford, my sweep responsiblities were over and I headed out again. After not having ridden more than 105 miles on any weekend, the rolling hills on Highway 1 began to catch up with me but somehow I managed to make it to lunch. John Hershey gifted me with a couple of ibuprofens at the entrance to Samuel P. Taylor Park, which made the remainder of the trip do-able--well, that and the ice cream I had in Fairfax. We had volunteers out along the side of White's Hill, cautioning us to slow down and there were no incidents of any kind that I'm aware of. I didn't get home until after 5pm, having stopped to drop off Gabo and Stefan (and their dog Buddy) in the Western Addition. Still, it was a great weekend.

Sunday's totals: Miles: 76.81 Ride time: 5 hours 33 minutes Average speed: 13.8 mph Maximum speed: 40.3 mph

Photos? I took about 240 of 'em. They're right here: flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604910438871/

PS. I guess it took a while for the ibuprofen to wear off; on my way home from work on Monday, I realized I was struggling. That's a whole mile and a half of mostly flat riding after all! By the time I reached the gym I was able to pinpoint the source of the aggravation: it was my IT bands (both of 'em). I stretched and I stretched and I stretched, but I guess sometimes it doesn't quite cut it. Anyway, I suppose that's what I get for going from a 60-mile weekend to a 148-mile weekend.

Day on the Ride and Alpine Dam

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:21:00 PST

I've got a business trip coming up in the morning and, with all preparations, I don't think I've really got time for two separate entries for this past weekend but...what a blast!

First of all, I finally got over the awful stomach flu that kept me from riding last weekend and had me in the ER even as recently as Wednesday night. Thank goodness for that; it sometimes feels, when you're sick, as though it's just never going to change.

This weekend's weather was just about picture perfect. As usual on Day on the Ride, I refrained from riding and instead helped run Rest Stop 1 and Rest Stop 3 (both at the same location) along with other members of Positive Pedalers.

For last year's DOTR, I was in such a hurry to get up to Fairfax when we'd been told to be there that I got a speeding ticket. And of course the truck with all the equipment for the rest stop didn't arrive until 45 minutes later. This year I took my time and arrived at around 7:20 am or so. The first thing that happened was that we had to relocate the entire rest stop slightly (particularly the portapotties) because Java Hut, which sits in the middle of the parking lot there, didn't want riders interfering with their drive-thru traffic. Good thing those puppies were empty! From that point on things went very well; the truck arrived sooner than it has in previous years and we were pretty much all set up by the time the first riders arrived. Then again, they had to ride an additional six miles this year, and the people who showed up earliest...well, they cheated a bit. (They picked up their helmet and frame numbers and headed out before the official ceremonies were done).

I had a great time, got to meet several new people and spend time with quite a few of my friends, and really, REALLY went to town with the camera. I took 156 pictures! Weather was about as nice as anyone could hope for (though some found it too hot). At 4:30 pm, KCBS was reporting a temperature of 82 degrees in San Rafael!

The only down side of the day was that there were several serious accidents--one on the Golden Gate Bridge involving a head-on collision between one of our riders and someone heading south from Marin, and four falls coming down White's Hill. Just a reminder that you can never be too careful when you're riding.

Here are the pictures from today: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604771128617/

I woke up this morning (Sunday) bright and early to a day just as scrumptious as yesterday. And this time I was riding. I headed up to Sports Basement for Ben Armstrong's Alpine Dam ride. This was the first time in I don't know how long that I was on a ride where I wasn't a leader. And it felt glorious. Alpine Dam is a very, very challenging ride with miles of steep climbs. The first one involves heading out from Fairfax, along Bolinas-Fairfax Road, into the Marin County watershed, a six mile continuous climb. After the climb and some up-and down, we descend to Alpine Dam, Marin's main reservior and have lunch overlooking the water. It truly is Alpine on a day like today; the water was crystal clear and the sky was deep blue. After lunch we continued on Bolinas-Fairfax Road, up two miles (or so Ben says) of steep hills, approaching a 14% grade in some spots. It seemed endless. At the top of the climb we turned left onto Ridgecrest Road, which passes along a ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Bolinas Lagoon in one direction, and the San Francisco Bay in the other. What spectacular scenery! Of course the climbing continues along a series of rollers, politely called The Seven Sisters. Others have less politically correct names for them! Finally, just past the parking lot marking the start of the road up to the summit of Mount Tam, the climbing finally ends and ten miles of downhill begins, broken by a stop at Pan Toll Ranger Station. We rode down Panoramic Highway to Highway 1, into Tam Junction and then back to San Francisco. Total climbing for what is officially a 51-mile ride is over 7,600 feet! It's a good thing the scenery was worth it; I managed to take another 80 or so pictures. Someone took a couple of truly excellent pictures of me along Ridgecrest.

Not being a ride leader today meant that I was free to head back home through the Presidio and Golden Gate Park, skipping the somewhat annoying trip from the Marina and up and over Polk Street.

Today's totals: Ride time 4 hours, 57 minutes Miles 61.67 including the trip to Sports Basement and the trip home Average speed 12.4 mph (not bad considering all the climbing) Maximum speed 36.5 mph (presumably on the Panoramic Highway/Highway 1 descent).

And here are the photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604771368807/

Now I'm off on a business trip to Vegas until Wednesday. Vegas is not exactly my favorite place in the world but I gotta do what I gotta do (I suppose).

Out of commission but a milestone reached

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:26:00 PST

I missed an entire weekend of riding due to illness; I don't remember the last time I was that sick (I'll skip the gross details) but it was abundantly clear that there was now way I could ride on Saturday after being up half the night before. Fortunately I seem to be feeling much better (as of Sunday afternoon) and, to be honest, it was so cold and windy I'm actually kind of glad to have not ridden. I took my bike, by car, to American Cyclery for its pre-ALC tune-up.

But despite that there's good news: when I checked my totals today, I was over the $5,000 mark! And there were two more pledges even after the one that got me over. I would still like to make the $6,500 goal I've set for myself so this definitely gives me hope.

A sunny, warm century, a potluck, and a day off

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:36:00 PST

Today (Saturday), I did my first century of the year; yet another of Chris Thomas's CAT 3 rides out of Mountain View. After all the cold windy weather we've had this year, today was anything but (in fact, at 9:30 pm, it's still 70 degrees in downtown San Francisco; how often does THAT happen?). I must confess that I did my very best NOT to do this ride as I was hoping to come along on Ben Armstrong's CAT 2 ride tomorrow and spend some time with the folks who traveled up here from LA for the weekend, but after two attempts, nobody was available. Two other scheduled ride leaders had already needed to drop out, both of them for very legitimate reasons, and I didn't want to leave Chris short of leaders. So out the door I went at 6am, heading down to Mountain View. It was already in the upper 50's when I headed out shortly before sunrise. I'm not sure how warm it actually got today but it was certainly toasty out there. Still, it was a refreshing change and the ride itself, though challenging, was actually a hell of a lot of fun.

Twenty-eight of us headed north from Mountain View to Roberts Market in Woodside (I swept the first leg to that point), then along Canada Road, and finally along a portion of the actual Day 1 route. This was actually a good thing. While it meant climbing a certain number of hills I'd far prefer to to descend, it also meant NO Sawyer Camp Trail and NO San Andreas Trail. Instead, we actually were on I-280 at two points where bikes are permitted; nervewracking perhaps but far preferable to the trails, which I frankly have come to really detest (truth be told). And since, in contrast to last Saturday, it was warm with a mellow breeze, the northbound stretch, ending just north of Golden Gate Park, was actually quite pleasant. When the weather's not bad, the downhill from just north of Highway 1 into San Francisco can be a good deal of fun; I hammered my way up to 41.8 miles per hour at one point.

We had lunch at the Safeway just off the beach and turned around, heading back down the Great Highway, then onto Skyline Drive, (briefly again on I-280) as we'll be doing on June 1.

On the return trip we began deviating from the Day 1 route at Crystal Springs Road. Back in the California AIDS Ride days, we rode UP Crystal Springs, before picking up Skyline and then Highway 92. All things considered, descending it was more fun. We then climbed up Polhemus Road to our second lunch stop, crossed Highway 92, and took a bit of bike trail that dropped us off at the north end of Canada Road, left on Edgewood (another road I'd much rather descend than ascend) to Alameda de las Pulgas, with an additional stop at a Starbucks in Atherton. By this point, a couple of our riders who were using very high end computers were reporting that they'd already burned close to 6,000 calories--and we still had a bit under 20 miles left to ride! Also by this point, the head and the miles were starting to catch up with me. I was not alone in this respect. At one point around mile 89 we passed within a couple of blocks of our starting point and several folks chose to opt out and call it a day. I didn't blame them, but I figured that having driven all those miles, I ought to make it worth my while. And I was with three other riders who were bound and determined to do the full century, so we continued on into Sunnyvale before turning around and heading back. Less than a mile from the end of the ride, we encountered a poor fellow who chose just that spot to get a flat; I stopped to help him fix it and we finished up the ride together. We rode out at 7:30 am and returned just before 6 pm--just about what would happen on Day Two of the ride!

I got to spend a good deal of time riding with Jose Alvarez, who's been on quite a few of Chris's other rides. Jose's a first time rider and a really nice guy. His friend Evan, who's also doing his first ride, came up from San Diego for the weekend and the two of them rode together most of the day. Evan's also really nice and it was great meeting him.

I managed to return home by just before 7 pm, hopped in the shower and called Julie Brown to see if the Training Ride Leader's Potluck was still going on. When she answered the phone all she said was "Just come over! Don't worry about bringing anything" (which was a good thing as I had absolutely nothing available in the house) so I hopped back in the car and headed off to the Western Addition, where we were hosted (quite royally) by Angelo Pagano. There was a great turnout and great food. Angelo's home is really really beautiful; Susan Parrish and most of the ALC staff were there and it was lots of fun.

I'd thought about doing a portion of the CAT 2 ride tomorrow but my legs are dead meat at this point, so I'll content myself with an afternoon jaunt over to American Cyclery in advance of scheduling my pre-ride tune-up.

Today's totals:

Ride time: 7 hours, 2 minutes Miles: 101.20 Average speed: 14.3 mph (not bad for a century with 4,000 feet of climbing!) Maximum speed: 41.8 mph...woohoo!

Photos here: flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604523503675/

My Sunday ride to American Cyclery totaled 5.95 miles over 31 minutes. No photos; my pre-ride tuneup is scheduled for April 23.

Longest ride of the year on yet another windy day

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:52:00 PST

Yesterday's ride was from San Francisco to Woodside, officially 72 miles, but that didn't include the trip from home to Sports Basement and back. To be honest here, this is not my favorite training ride. The route includes long stretches of multi-use path along Crystal Springs Reservoir; at times it can be almost as bad as the Golden Gate Bridge in terms of congestion and people behaving randomly. The biggest problem with this route though is that there is almost invariably a strong crosswind to headwind on the return trip and yesterday certainly didn't disappoint in this respect. In fact, I began to get anxious a few days ago when Accuweather began posting a high wind advisory today. On the plus side, the day was quite sunny (last year, it was foggy and drizzly, to the point where we could barely see where we were going).

I found myself riding most of the return trip with Hunter and Tracy, which actually is always a good thing as they're great fun to share the road with. At one point, along the San Andreas Trail, the crosswind was so strong that we stopped because we were afraid of being blown over. I witnessed a minor traffic accident just south of San Francisco. Apparently a drive couldn't decide whether to to let us pass (we did have the right of way after all) or try to go ahead of us, so she started to pull into the main road, then stopped. The driver behind her (who was clearly too close) rear-ended her. I asked if they wanted my information; they declined and sorted it out between themselves. Moving along, the wind was so strong along the Great Highway that we were sandblasted. It took me a good couple of hours to get all the sand out of my mouth and nose! Good thing I was wearing shades or I'd have been even more miserable. Our return route took us through Golden Gate Park; it was sort of tempting to cut out and head directly home, but I wanted to get all the miles in, especially after losing thirty miles last Saturday. I did have tailwind most of the way home from Sports Basement and got home safely, if rather windblown, having ridden my longest day so far this year.

Today's totals: Ride time: 6 hours, 22 minutes Miles: 82.33 Average speed: 12.9 mph (thanks to the headwind) Maximum speed: 39.6 mph, while heading south on Skyline Blvd

Link to today's photos: flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604409193392/

The Expo Ride (and the Expo)

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:14:00 PST

Today (Sunday) was the Ride Expo, which started with two training rides and finished with food, socializing, shopping and a raffle.

In contrast to yesterday, this morning dawned clear and brisk. Okay, it was a bit chilly. Still, it was a refreshing change of pace to be able to ride over to Golden Gate Park after driving down to Mountain View yesterday. I'd volunteered to lead the longer (43-mile) ride, so it was just as well that I didn't get to ride all of yesterday's 86 miles. Julie had told me that there were over 200 RSVPs and ultimately 187 showed up, making this the largest training ride I'd ever been on. So many people were there who I'd seen on other rides, as well as a number of folks who'd been rumored to be riding, but who I had not actually seen on a bike, at least in any meaningful sense. As a special added bonus, JR Billings had made the trip up from LA to help out the local ALC staff and it's always nice to see JR.

Again, in contrast to yesterday's ride, which as it turned out produced no less than 14 flat tires!) there really wasn't too much in the way of drama. It was overall a very pleasant ride. Riding from the San Francisco County Fair Grounds is a bit out of kilter compared to where Golden Gate Park rides usually start; in addition, there was some sort of event going on at the intersection of Center Drive and JFK Drive just as we headed out; we had to briefly hop onto a footpath to get around it. We'd also been redirected through the Presidio so, instead of having to chase people riding down Arguello instead of turning left on Washington, it was actually the other way around. I stationed myself at the intersection and spent some time re-directing people; after a few minutes I deputized a different training ride leader and continued. Lunch in Tiburon was very tasty--mac and beef at Shark's Deli (yum!). David Gaus' bad luck from yesterday hadn't quite finished, though it took a completely different form. David rode in to Shark's Deli a bit on the late side as he was scheduled to be on the south side of the Golden Gate Bridge, directing folks who were used to riding out of Sports Basement on the correct path back to the park. Somewhere along the way, he lost his cell phone and he asked me to call Julie Brown (who was meeting him) to let him know that he was not going to be able to in phone contact with her. A couple of minutes after David pulled away, someone walked up to me and told me they'd found a cell phone along the way. Sure enough, it was David's, a bit the worse for wear as it had been run over by a car. Still, when I dialed his number, it did ring!

As usual, lots of socializing took place afterwards, along with eating. Ran into one or two people who I didn't even know were riding, and a couple who were checking it out for next year. Since Julie had wanted everyone back by 2pm, I assumed that when the raffle would take place and I accordingly told John I'd be home before 3pm so we could take care of our weekly grocery shopping. I was wrong...the raffle was at 3 and I had to do something I normally don't do--I stationed myself by the door and as soon as the last winning ticket was pulled, I made a beeline for bike parking. I still wasn't home until 3:45, but John was nice enough to overlook that.

Today's ride totals: Miles (including the trip to and from the park): 51.75 Ride time: 3 hours, 50 minutes Average speed: 13.4 mph Maximum speed: 34.5 mph

Link to today's photos (of which there are many!): www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604320138910/

Sometimes things don't turn out as expected

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:21:00 PST

In theory, I really should still be on the road, or at any rate, driving home from Mountain View after an 86-mile ride. Nothing truly dreadful happened, and in some respects, maybe it's better that I only got to ride 56 miles. Let me explain:

I'd actually forgotten that I had told Chris Thomas I would lead this morning, and signed up to lead a forty-mile ride for tomorrow's Expo. Sometime around Monday or Tuesday, I received Chris' customary advance email, detailing the route for today's ride. I checked the training ride schedule and, sure enough, there was my name for what sounded like a fairly intense day. My longest weekend of riding thus far as been 95 miles and here I was about to escalate to 125! Eeeeek!!!!!

Weather was not promising to start out; it was quite grey and chilly. Not only that, but in contrast to previous times when weather in San Francisco was more threatening than further south, this time I managed to catch up with the last of last night's precipitation. It began drizzling lightly as I exited Highway 101 for downtown Mountain View. Upon arrival I was the only one there, but Chris drove up a moment or two later and other folks began appearing as well. The drizzle stopped. As one ride leader needed to drop out, there were only four leaders, with five legs to have a sweep for. I volunteered to go first since I hate to be delayed at the very end. Our first flat occurred at around mile four; Randy Wong refilled her tire and she pedaled on. Within a mile, she had flatted again, had no spare and in fact had only showed up to support two friends who, as it turned out, did not even turn out for today's ride. She decided to bail at that point. By then I was well behind most of the riders, except for Sarah, who likewise was only there to support her two no-show friends. Things got more laughable from that point onwards. Beyond Great America, we Sarah and I caught up with David Gaus, who also had a flat. Fixed that, rode on, we were riding up Warm Springs Road when both David AND Sarah got flats at the same time. We again got things up and running; a mile before our first rest stop, David had yet another flat. I gave David one of my two spares as he'd already used two of his own. Sarah and I went on ahead in order to catch up with the remaining riders. All of them except Chris had already departed. David showed up, Chris and Sarah left. I waited for David to run to the rest room. I got back on my bike. My rear tire was flat. We fixed that with our final tube. Got ready to go. David's rear tire was flat again. After consultation with Chris by phone, David managed to get his tire patched and we took a detour to downtown Fremont, where we each purchased two more tubes. By now, we were so far behind all of the other riders that we decided (as per Chris' suggestion, to sweep the folks who were doing the 52-mile version of the ride, which involved skipping Niles Canyon Road, Foothill, Bollinger Canyon Road and Norris Canyon. I'd done Norris Canyon once or twice before; the first time, two years ago (just a week before my infamous accident) I'd found myself cursing my way all the way up what I considered to be a particularly heinous climb. So perhaps it was just as well I wasn't going to bother this time, though the downhill would have been a nice payoff.

David and I headed west along Decoto Road for the Dumbarton Bridge. After we turned off the main road for Marshlands (the bridge approach for bikes) there was a small parking lot. And who should be sitting there, with a flat, but Sarah. She was out of tubes. Good thing David and I had gone shopping! I called Chris to see where he was; he reported being at the turnoff for Bollinger Canyon and noted that the weather at the top of the climb seemed threatening. Again, maybe just as well we did what we did. From this point onwards, we continued without incident, crossed the bridge, stopped for lunch and completed the final ten miles. A moment or two after the three of us pulled in to the Mountain View Caltrain parking lot, two of the guys who'd done the full 86 arrived.

Today's totals: Ride time: 3 hours, 59 minutes Miles: 56.81 Average speed: 14.2 mph Maximum speed: 27.9 Not much of a payoff on the roads we did travel.

Link to today's photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604324598477/

Nicasio Loop (Counter-clockwise) and a Pledge Goal Met

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:12:00 PST

As of Friday, I met my minimum pledge goal, leaving me with one less thing to stress over. Now I just have to double it and add another $1500 and I'll actually make the $6,500 goal I set for myself in August. So keep those pledges coming folks!

Saturday's ride was the second Positive Pedalers ride of the month--The Nicasio Loop, which remains my favorite ride in Marin County, bar none. The weather could not have been nicer today, with blue skies, mild temperatures and not too much wind (maybe a little bit towards the end, but it IS still March after all!). Tracy and Hunter showed up with Easter Baskets for all of us, which was really sweet of them. It was a busy morning at Sports Basement, with three different rides leaving within an hour--The Bride of CAT 2 ride headed for Tiburon at 8, followed by Kurt's CAT 1 ride to Lagunitas and, finally, our own ride, heading out fashionably late, just before 9. We kept intersecting with the CAT 1 ride, which was very convenient and very nice. So far as I know, there weren't any significant incidents, apart from one flat tire along Sir Francis Drake, west of White's Hill. I stopped and helped Isaac get things back together. Hadn't seen my new friend Rich Prendes in quite some time; he had had some medical problems early on and is still a bit behind on his training, but he did manage to finish today's ride, though I didn't actually see him for most of the day. As an extra added feature, we found ourselves being accompanied by Julie Brown in her Mini-Cooper, clanging her famous cowbell, at various points during the day. She was at lunch in Lagunitas when I arrived there with Gabo.

For no reason I could discern, I'd had difficulty getting to sleep Friday evening and tossed and turned a good part of the night. I seemed to be okay early on, but by the time lunch arrived I was beginning to feel the lack of sleep. Still, I managed to power on the rest of the ride, hit a seasonal high speed descending White's Hill. I was seriously flagging by the time I got to the end of the ride. Fortunately, Kurt's ride finished up at around the same time I returned to Sports Basement, and Kurt was nice enough to give me a lift back home. This meant I couldn't do my first 80-mile day of the year (68 miles plus the ride to and from Sports Basement) but I was a much happier camper. And it's always nice to spend some time with Kurt anyway. I also got to meet Brother Jonathan, an Episcopal Franciscan friar who was inspired to ride by Paul Gregory, my tentmate from last year. He and I had spoken by phone but had not previously met; Brother Jonathan was on the CAT 1 ride. A very sweet man. And I didn't have to worry about getting my Easter basket all the way home from Sports Basement. I wouldn't have wanted to forego the chocolate after all.

Today's totals: Ride time, 5 hours, 23 minutes (including the trip back from Kurt's place) Miles: 74.65 Average speed: 13.8 mph (13.9 as of the end of the official ride) Maximum speed: 41.7 mph.

Link to today's pictures: flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604217122517/

The Cotamalesaluma Ride

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:11:00 PST

For a change of scenery, I volunteered to help Robin Abramson lead a ride out of Cotati (in Sonoma County). Once again, it was cold and windy; the sun was out but the weather forecast included a chance of showers. This didn't keep thirteen of us from showing up: four training ride leaders and nine other riders. We headed out of Cotati, towards the area north of Petaluma, up Bodega Avenue/Valley Ford Road for a while, then westward towards Highway 1 and the area west of it, then back along Dillon Beach Road to Tomales, where we stopped for lunch ("Thanksgiving on a roll" for me...mmmmmmm!!!!), headed down Highway 1 to Tomales Road, then south on Chilleno Valley Road back into the north side of Petaluma again, and back to Cotati. Apart from the roads between Cotati and Petaluma, I'd ridden pretty much all of them before at one time or another but not in this sequence, or in this direction and the change of perspective made the ride quite interesting. There was some spectacular scenery for picture-taking. During the afternoon, the clouds began to build up to our east. Once back in the car heading home, I heard on the radio that there was a storm in the Healdsburg-Santa Rosa area, presumably the one we saw developing during the latter part of our ride, but it we didn't get rained on at all. I was kind of hoping for a free car-wash but, aside from getting slightly damp on the drive homeward, I totally missed out. There was one flat tire early on in the day, but other than that (and the chilly breeze, which sometimes provided a nice tailwind) the day was just awesome.

Today's totals: Riding time: 3 hours, 48 minutes Miles: 50.33 Average speed: 13.2 mph Maximum speed: 38.2 mph

The pictures are here: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604133326327/. They sure do have lots of sheep up there in Sonoma County!

A weekend of flats (none of them mine)

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:22:00 PST

This was my second weekend in a row of back-to-back riding, both rides as a training ride leader. Saturday's ride was the first Positive Pedalers ride of the month while Sunday's was the second Category 1 ride I signed up to lead with my friend Chuck. The weather was terrific both days, and overall the rides were lots of fun. Still, there were minor technical problems each day, both of which were reminders that days of leading rides should not include other plans.

Saturday morning, I met Sergio and Beau on the BART platform at Civic Center to head out to Orinda. Wilfredo joined us in West Oakland (he'd gotten on the wrong train in SF and needed to switch). A much larger CAT 1 ride was meeting at the same time and place; our ride was quite modest; there were approximately twelve of us. We began our ride with the ever-popular, sometimes challenging, Three Bears (so called more because the route includes Bear Valley Road; there's really more than three hills). We returned to Orinda for lunch, and then headed to Danville. Hunter Brown and I both independently decided that this ride should be called "Hossmoor to Rossmoor."

At the suggestion of Tracy and Hunter, many of us decided to stop for a rest-stop break at Briones Park, midway between two of the bears, while other riders continued on directly to lunch. Shortly after we re-entered Bear Valley Road, one of our riders (Tony Laidig, who was directly behind me when I broke my collarbone two years ago--no it was NOT his fault!) found himself with a flat tire. We were back on the road and all hooked up again in Orinda but...one of our leaders was missing! I rode ahead with the majority of riders while the other two leaders went looking for him, after trying unsuccessfully to reach him on his cell phone. Eventually it turned out he'd been bonking so badly he decided he had no choice but to get on BART and head for home; in addition his phone had died so he'd been unable to reach us. Goes to show that even the most experienced among us can have a bad day.

Meanwhile the fast folks got to the end of Moraga Way and turned left; they decided to wait for the rest of us. As we were on the verge of catching up with them I heard my name being called. David, another of our riders, had gotten a flat. The fast guys were out of shouting distance so they kept on going. David's flat was fixed, we hit the road again, and had gotten just turned off of Pleasant Hill Road onto Olympic Blvd when there was an enormous BANG! David had flatted again (it appeared he had pinched his tube). Again, we got things back together and the remainder of the ride continued smoothly. I had a sudden burst of energy on Tice Valley Road; passed ahead of everyone else and found myself briefly alone until Hunter (and then Tracy) caught up with me. There was no sign of the fast boys when we reached Danville. I later found out that they'd cut their ride short, which is why they signed back in nearly two hours ahead of the rest of us.

While we were stopped in Danville, I got to find out more about Tracy and Hunter. They are a fascinating couple and meeting them has felt like one of the major upsides of this year's ride. We all returned to Orinda shortly before 4:30 and I hightailed it for BART a couple of minutes before a city-bound train showed up.

Today's totals: Ride time: 4 hours, 39 minutes Miles: 64.46 Average speed: 14.0 Maximum speed: 39.6 mph (I got cold feet descending Papa Bear or I'd surely have broken 40)

Link to Saturday's pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604090765490/

After dealing with the time change I managed to wake up on time for Sunday's ride, a bit tired (I hate setting the clock ahead, even though I like the later sunsets). Sunday's ride was a slight extension of last Sunday's; instead of heading directly for the ocean, we headed to the Presidio, down and up Lincoln Blvd, through Sea Cliff and up the hill to the Palace of teh Legion of Honor. I'd forgotten how challenging that little hill could be. Once again though, weather was just stunning, and perhaps even warmer than Saturday. There were twenty-odd folks on this ride, including quite a few who I know from another community that's very important to me (I'll say no more here). It was quite fun riding with them. On the return from Lake Merced I somehow missed the fact that Elliot had gotten a flat tire just of the Great Highway entrance to the zoo. After waiting for everyone to catch up, Chuck called and told me that he and another rider had the situation in hand and that they'd catch up with us at Java Beach. So we continued on, ordered snacks, and waited. And waited. Finally I got nervous and put in a call to Chuck. Elliot's spare tubes had turned out to be defective but based on how Chuck explained things to me, I thought one of my spare tubes would work out. I sent everyone else on (a few people had again hammered ahead anyway) and turned back. We discovered that, no my tubes were NOT what Elliot needed; we tried to patch one of his tubes and that didn't work. Finally, we received a call from David, who offered to drive back in his truck and pick Elliot up. We had to walk along Great Highway about half a mile to Sloat Blvd, where David loaded Elliot's bike on his truck and the other three of us rode like hell the rest of the way back to McLaren Lodge, and home. I expected to be home by 1pm; instead I arrived after 2:30. Ah well...

Today's totals: 2 hours, 36 minutes Miles: 30.95 Average speed: 11.8 mph Maximum speed: 31.4 mph (probably on Oak Street, heading home after the official end of the ride).

Link to Sunday's pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604095173015/

First Weekend of Back-to-Back Riding

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:42:00 PST

This weekend was my first weekend of back-to-back rides. Saturday's CAT 3 ride was also my longest one so far this year. Fortunately the Sunday ride was a very easy CAT 1.

Saturday dawned a bit cloudy but with the promise of sun and wind. Both promises were amply fulfilled. The route for this particular ride involved first riding from Mountain View north to Palo Alto, then south and east all the way to Coyote Valley at the southern end of San Jose. As long as we were proceeding southward and eastward, things proceeded grandly. I became sweep following our first stop; one of the last people to ride in had a flat tire which needed changing, so it came down to three of us riding along with the rest of the group well ahead of us. We did what we could to catch up and were lucky to have the wind at our back most of the way. It really is pretty darned pleasant riding along Camden, Almaden and McKean. To make it even nicer, who should pass by in the opposite direction along McKean but my friend Jonathan Racine; no time to chat with him (we were both moving rather fast) but it was nice to see him back on a bike, given that he'd been out of action with a broken clavicle and had only recently been able to start riding again.

From McKean, we turned northeastward and descended Bailey Road, which was advertised as being similar to Camino Alto but with less traffic. It seemed a bit less twisty to me; on the other hand there was a stiff crosswind which reduced the fun. After riding along the flat for a while, we turned into the wind...for the next 30 miles! Not exactly my idea of a good time but we all managed to finish. I didn't get back to Mountain View until almost 4:30 and arrived home (after dropping my friend Sergio off in the Castro) at 6:00 pm sharp. With the cold wind, a long and leisurely soak was definitely in order.

Saturday's totals: Ride time: 4 hours, 57 minutes, 30 seconds Maximum speed: 38.2 mph Average speed 14.4 mph (before the northward turn it had been 15.8) Total miles: 71. 58

Link to Saturday's photos: flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604027374972/

I had not really intended to begin back-to-back riding so early this year. But Julie Brown had asked that some easy beginner rides be posted. My friend Chuck Louden was recently certified as a training ride leader and he wanted to help out. How could I refuse someone I've known for over 20 years? The proposed ride was quite simple: a basic, vanilla McLaren Lodge-Lake Merced Loop. There were about a dozen of us, some were using the day as a recovery ride following a tougher one the day before, while others were brand new. Apart from a bit of headwind on the return trip (not as bad as Saturday, and it was also warmer) nothing really unpleasant happened. Everyone seemed to have a nice time. Following the ride I decided to backtrack just a bit and took a few pictures of the Conservatory of Flowers; there was plenty in bloom in the flowerbeds in front, which made for some glorious shots. And I still got home at 1 pm. I even agreed to do another similar ride next Sunday.

Sunday's totals: Ride time: 2 hours, 6 minutes Maximum speed: 27.8 mph Average speed: 11.0 mph Total miles (I was able to ride to this one): 23.30

Link to Sunday's photos: flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604031610323/

A long-delayed project, finally done

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:45:00 PST

Back in the good old days, I used to use a film camera. How quaint, right? This didn't keep me from shooting a fair number of pictures anyway but sharing them proved to be a bit more taxing. I only got my first scanner in 2001--followed shortly afterwards by my first digital camera. For the longest time I had exactly three pictures for California AIDS Ride 6 (my first ride) posted in Flickr albums. But last night I finally got around to scanning and uploading the 150 or so photos I shot on that ride, along with a couple of others I wanted to include. The most important was a picture of Donald-David Fehrenbach, who was the first person I knew of to get involved with the ride who had tried to encourage me to do the ride myself, back in the mid-1990's. Donald-David was also a co-founder of Positive Pedalers. The picture I found and scanned (it didn't turn out very well, unfortunately) was in the form of a postcard he'd sent me as a thank you note for sponsoring him; I no longer recall which ride it was from. But it's important that the memories be preserved. Donald-David passed away in February of 1998, before I registered for CAR 6. Although I ride in memory of my late partner Mario and all of the friends I've lost, it was truly Donald-David's efforts that got me started on this particular road.

The CAR 6 pictures are here: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157603193295433/. My next task is to scan and upload more photos from CAR 7.

Another rain-shortened ride

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:39:00 PST

Last Saturday was supposed to be one of my favorite rides: a clockwise loop around Nicasio Reservoir. The weather again was not cooperating with not only heavy rain but strong winds in the forecast. Our original plan was to ride as far as Fairfax, then turn around. Somehow the route sheets disappeared and, as we met under threatening skies in Sausalito, we decided to go for a quick out-and-back to Tiburon. Not much to be said about the ride itself, other than that it was uneventful. Pastries at the Swedish Bakery in downtown Tiburon were certainly tasty though. After a couple of false starts the rain began in earnest just as we returned to the parking area behind Mike's Bikes.

Today's totals: Ride time: 1 hour, 8 minutes Maximum speed: 26.1 mph Average speed: 13.5 mph Total miles: 15.5

Photo link (all photos taken in downtown Tiburon, mainly at the bakery): www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157604003699093/

A great ride in great weather

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:21:00 PST

This past Saturday's CAT 3 ride could not have been more different from the one two weeks ago--brilliant sun, mild temperatures and a group that (mostly) stayed together. This group was pretty darn fast too. I was asked to sweep the middle portion of the ride, and was with only one rider; this was partly my fault as I decided to run out to the road and take a couple of pictures of the riders who were riding out--only two of the three pics came out because (I suppose) I was in too much of a hurry. Meanwhile George, the final rider out of the first regroup, was waiting for me. We headed out the Starbucks at Willow Road and Highway 84 and along the Bayfront Expressway bike trail with a group of other riders in front of us. Unfortunately, George was relying on me for directions and he got just far enough ahead of me so he couldn't hear me tell him to bear left to enter get on the Dumbarton Bridge. This set us back just a bit. Randy Files had a flat on the far side of the bridge along the frontage road paralleling Highway 84; George kept going but stopped when he realized I was no longer behind him. Meanwhile Randy and the three riders who'd stopped with him got going again, passed George (who was again pointing the wrong way) and after that we were basically dropped. George was no slouch; he was riding along at a good 15 mph but still we were way at the back of the pack. The stretch of the route prior to lunch was along Mission Blvd in Fremont, which has a barely perceptible climb; this slowed us down a bit more. Once we reached our lunch stop, I was relieved of sweep duties for the remainder of the ride. I was a bit embarrassed to discover I'd accidentally passed another of our riders along the route who had a flat; he was a bit too far off the road for me to recognize him, especially bent over his bike. But he didn't seem terribly concerned.

The final 24 miles of the route were almost completely flat; I ended up with Tracy and Hunter, a couple I first met the day before the SF Kickoff Party and who seem to show up on many of the same rides as I do. They are the nicest people! We pretty much hammered the whole final stretch. The only downside to this strategy was that I found myself with sore adductors once the ride was finished, and for the following day as well (finally better by Monday morning). We seem to place a good deal of emphasis on stretching quads, calves and IT bands, but not that much on hamstrings and adductors, which don't really seem to come that much into play on most rides. I guess there's a need to do more stretching of the rear leg muscles, particularly on rides that are very fast or that involve lots of climbing. Still, overall it was a glorious day, and my longest training ride to date this year.

Today's totals: Ride time: 3 hourse, 56 minutes Maximum speed: 38.2 mph (hit after lunch on Mission Blvd; I'd have gone faster but those pesky lights kept turning red on me!) Average speed: 15.4 mph Miles: 60.54

Link to today's photos: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157603935986590/

An Embarrassing Start to a (Mostly) Great Day

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:52:00 PST

What an awesome day for a training ride. Blue skies, mild temperatures, not too much wind. What could go wrong? Well, nothing too awful but still...

Today's ride was the semi-monthly Positive Pedalers-sponsored training ride. I'd invited my friend Jon to come along and arranged to pick him up at 8:15 so we'd be at Mike's Bikes in Sausalito before 9am. We arrived promptly at 8:55 so there I was thinking, "What a good and responsible training ride leader I am!" Various people showed up, including several ALCers, all of them heading out on their own rides. Nine a.m. passed, then 9:05. I began to get anxious. Finally, just before 9:15 I decided to give Beau a call, just in case. And there was Beau. At Sports Basement in the Presidio. <sigh> Beau suggested that we just wait where we were and ride unofficially, but, feeling that I had a commitment to be an official leader, I insisted that I show up. Jon couldn't get his bike taken apart quickly enough so he told me he'd join up with us when we reached Mikes, and ride unofficially (actually, Jon assumed I could just sign him in which of course I couldn't). By some miracle, I arrived at Sports Basement at 9:25, just as Beau was about to describe the route, got the bike off the car, signed in, chimed in a bit about the route, and stretched while listening to the safety speech. Bob Olszewski and I led out. As we passed the turn along Lincoln Blvd past the San Francisco National Cemetery, who should I see driving by but Julie Brown. This turned out to matter just a bit later on.

There was a bit of a headwind going over the Golden Gate Bridge, which promised to me that the return trip would be nice and brisk. Reached Mike's Bikes, intersecting with Kurt Schade's Category 1 ride in the process, and there was Jon, hanging out waiting for us. He hopped on his bike and was off; I ended up with a small group of folks just in front of Beau. We were joined by Jowee Arenaz, who was out on his own, heading for Lagunitas. Poor fella had to get some miles in before heading off to Greece for a couple of weeks. Wish I knew how he did it! We all met collected in Fairfax again, including a couple of folks who had managed to lose their way somewhere along the route through the towns of Kentfield, Ross and San Anselmo. The faster riders headed out and I found myself again leading a small group--including Jon and a fellow named Cliff from Santa Rosa, as well as Kelly and Tracy who had been on their first training ride the day before the SF Kickoff Party. Jon got to climb Whites Hill for the first time and didn't appear to have any problem with it. Most of the picture I took from today's ride were taken at lunch at the Woodacre Deli (see link below).

Gradually everyone headed back out and we were soon hurtling down Whites Hill. No, no drama there. I seemed to be permanently connected with Tracy, Hunter, Cliff and Jon; we all headed into Fairfax, then San Anselmo. As we rode through downtown San Anselmo, I saw Bob Olszewski riding northward. A car turning right off of San Anselmo Avenue without signalling had cut him off and hit him. While he didn't seem be too badly hurt he decided to backtrack to Paradigm Bikes to have them check his bike out and make sure it was roadworthy. The bike was indeed roadworthy but it soon became clear that Bob was less than that. Nurse Jon did a quick checkout and told him that he ought not to get back on his bike, at which point I called Julie, since we were about three blocks from her home. Unfortunately for us, she was still in the City, conducting a clinic for new riders, and her husband Mike was also not around. Finally Mark, one of the other riders, volunteered to drive back from Sports Basement to pick up Bob. Jon decided to wait with Bob so his ride was over for the day as well. The rest of us made it back with no problem and I met up with Jon later in the evening to return a piece of gear that he'd left in the back seat of my car.

Today's totals:

Ride time: 3 hours, 44 minutes

Maximum speed: 40.8 mph (at the bottom of Whites Hill. Yay!)

Average speed: 12.5 mph

Total miles: 46.54

Today's pictures are at www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157603886517481/

Another Day of Questionable Weather

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:01:00 PST

Saturday's ride was part of Chris Thomas' CAT 3 series. I'd been looking forward to these rides because of the faster pace, and I was kind of disappointed that the first one was a washout. The weather forecast wasn't promising, but better for the Peninsula at least than for San Francisco; in fact it was already raining in the City when I headed for Mountain View. Fortunately the rain stopped at around Palo Alto and while we were getting ready to ride, the sun made a couple of half-hearted appearances.

Once we got to our first stop the group essentially broke into three parts. One group was hot to trot and headed out even before the last rider had arrived. I was in the middle group. The last group consisted of the back of the pack, including three training ride leaders. The first portion of the ride was flat but after cycling through Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and back northwards to Palo Alto we had our only significant climb--Sand Hill Road from opposite the Stanford Mall to the far side of Highway 280 and the southern end of Woodside. We could see the rain heading our way and the majority of the climb happened in a light rain. We arrived at Roberts Market just as the first group was leaving; by then the rain had slowed down to a drizzle. As the first group headed for Portola Valley, my phone rang. Chris called to let me know that there was fairly heavy rain both in downtown Palo Alto and ahead of us, and that he was going to lead his group along local streets back to Mountain View. I asked the riders with me to return back the way we'd come as far as Santa Cruz Avenue and then to head along Junipero Serra and Foothill Expressway, where we'd rejoin the actual ride route. Everyone took off in front of me and I appointed myself unofficial sweep for the one ride who I managed to catch up with. Once we got back across 280 the rain stopped.

I got another call from Chris, wondering where we all were; at that point, Kathy continued on. I happened upon two other riders, one of whom had a flat. They were just about done fixing it when I came along but they said they weren't sure exactly how to get back to the start so I led them in. Usually riding on Foothill is fun because it's flat and straight, but unfortunately, due to the weather the wind was coming from the southwest, meaning a nice headwind until we turned off for the final portion of the ride. The fast group completed the entire 50.4 miles, the slow group did about 38. Us middle folks lost only about 3 miles but finished last.

Chris, David Gaus, and I adjourned for lunch and we made it back to our cars just as the rain started up. By the time I crossed back into San Mateo County there was steady rain. Next week will be better... Oh, and I REALLY need to clean my bike this week. Driving it in the rain really doesn't count.

Today's totals:

Ride time: 3 hours, 18 minutes

Maximum speed: 28.7 mph

Average speed: 14.3 mph

Miles: 47.3

Today's pictures were all taken before we rode out. They're at www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157603855115747/

A Day Without Rain

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:27:00 PST

And what a blessing it was. I wasn't able to train last weekend due to my trip to LA and the cold I was still getting over the following day. From Tuesday onwards the skies opened up with day after day of more rain predicted. Things were looking pretty grim last night, especially after I saw on the news that Corte Madera Creek was about to flood, potentially blocking the route for our ride. I was already starting to fear that I'd never get to ride again, I'd forget how to ride a bike, my bike would be mad at me...well, you get the picture.

So I was overjoyed to wake up this morning early enough to ride and find out that the rain had stopped, with no more anticipated until after dark. What's more, Julie Brown reported from her post in beautiful downtown San Anselmo that the roads were clear. Beau and I decided that, even if was just the two of us, we'd at least ride into Mill Valley and have breakfast. Beau had gotten over forty RSVP's for today's ride. We were to have five training ride leaders. One by one nearly everyone disappeared, called in sick, thought they'd get rained on, and by 9 am, it was indeed just Beau and me sitting at McLaren Lodge wondering if anyone else would show up. Within five minutes, four other riders appeared, the waiver forms were filled out, and at 9:30 sharp, we set out. It was actually a pretty pleasant day. While we didn't exactly get brilliant sun, it wasn't freezing cold; there was a southeasterly breeze (harbinger of more rain on the way) but it wasn't gusty. Actually just about perfect winter riding weather.

All four of the riders who showed up were newbies. I led out with Beau sweeping, as is his custom. I found myself just in front of a fellow named Daniel, who'd signed up only on Thursday. This was his first training ride. The two of us pulled out from the others (some of whom were not planning to ride the entire way anyhow) and I figured I had someone along who would pace me. Then we hit the Sausalito bike path and Daniel took off like a rocket. My goodness is he a fast rider!

Poor Beau found himself at the back of the pack, just before Camino Alto, with a flat tire. He called me, told me he could take care of it, and that he'd catch up with us in Fairfax. Unfortunately his last remaining tube turned out to be a dud and he had to walk all the way back to Mike's Bikes just to get another one. He called again and told us not to wait for him; when he saw us on the way back he'd just turn around and commence sweeping again. As we rode back from Fairfax, I kept an eye out for Beau; after a while I concluded he had climbed to the top of Camino Alto and didn't see any point in riding down the other side only to have to ride right back up. Sure enough, as we surmounted the peak (Daniel once again well in front) there was Beau.

No other unpleasantness ensued and we all made it back safely. At least I assume we did. Daniel took off again once we returned to the Sausalito Bike Path and all I could see was his flashing rear light well in the distance. By the time the rest of us got back he was probably already home. I saw a heron posed along the bike path and decided to stop and take a couple of pictures. I was also treated to a brief sighting of the estimable Ben Armstrong, scouting the route for tomorrow's (probably wet) Cat 2 ride.

Although the ride was advertised as just short of 42 miles, with my ride to McLaren Lodge, my computer showed 45 as I returned. Beau offered to drive me home and I accepted his invitation.

Today's totals:

Ride time: 3 hours, 26 minutes

Maximum speed: 36.8 mph

Average speed: 13.1 mph

Total miles: 45.01

Not many pictures from today's ride, but here they are: www.flickr.com/photos/bobsridepics/sets/72157603808422119/