There presently is a thread on power meters. Can you take that over there please? Power meters are an interesting subject and should have their own thread.
Did You Ride Today?
- Thread starter Mr. Beanz
- Start date
Today I did the first "normal" ride of the year. Though it was flat it was exactly 45 miles doorway to doorway. The traffic was pretty screwy all day but I suppose I'm used to it. 12.8 mph average which is pretty fast for an in-city ride with jillions of stop signs and stop lights and many of the stop lights those main-drag ones that remain red for 2 minutes or more. I was lucky and this one light that won't change for a bike and the cross traffic is too heavy and fast to chance a run, had a car in my direction as I got there and only had to weight 15 seconds to get across. On the return trip these are all right turns so you don't have to worry about them.
The ride I reported last Saturday that was only 27 miles but 15 of which was on gravel was far more tiring than today. If the weather allows next Tuesday I'll do the normal Tuesday ride of 37 miles and 4200 feet of climbing almost all over 7%. Not looking forward to it after all this time off.
The ride I reported last Saturday that was only 27 miles but 15 of which was on gravel was far more tiring than today. If the weather allows next Tuesday I'll do the normal Tuesday ride of 37 miles and 4200 feet of climbing almost all over 7%. Not looking forward to it after all this time off.
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From home to home 53.5 miles. 2927 ft of climbing. 12 mph average. This was the fourth ride of the new year and the first one with climbing. I was using my Basso Lotto with tubeless tires. While I was pumping them up there was a mark on the tire and closer inspection showed it to be a sealed puncture. Riding straight into the Sun I ran over a piece of angle iron. I had to have gotten a puncture from that but no air loss. This is why tubeless are so good on winter bikes. No stopping in the cold to fix a flat.
I entered the TierraBella and Primavera centuries that occur in April. My friends are coming up from Arizona to stay with me for a couple of weeks then. I will take them on a lot of the old rides we used to do when they were living here.
I entered the TierraBella and Primavera centuries that occur in April. My friends are coming up from Arizona to stay with me for a couple of weeks then. I will take them on a lot of the old rides we used to do when they were living here.
Looked up the Basso Lotto bike, cool steel!
Gina has an old 84-86 steel Bianchi. Low end, 105 mix components. Though too small for me, I have ridden around the hood to make adjustments, amazing ride. Gina says the ride quality is better than her full carbon bike.
Did another 37 1/2 miles with 3,500 feet of climbing. I simply no longer have any speed and can't ride with a group since groups ALWAYS race (except for one old farts group I ride with where I'm the punk kid). Lots of bikes out and this is a weekday. I wonder what it's like over in Palo Alto since the Stanford riders can often exceed 100 riders in a group. Too bad I can't ride fast enough to keep up since I'm getting invitations from several clubs like the Oakland Yellowjackets. I do still have power - that 3,500 feet was almost entirely in a 39/23 - but the average speed stinks.
I am curious - that is an exact copy of my previous posting and no one else in the group gets that number of miles or that much climbing on our ride. Since the Stanford groups don't ride until spring perhaps you can explain where this ride of yours occurred.
My friends from Arizona will be coming out to do some spring centuries here. I've entered three already. They always complain about how cold it is here. That must be because of the man-made global warming. In the 50's it was all hell and gone warmer. Everyone planted citrus trees because they ripen sweet in the heat. Now you can hardly stand to eat an orange off of one of these trees.
I am Croatian and around here I never got more sunburned than red that turns to brown in a day. When I went to Arizona wearing 30 suntan lotion I didn't just burn but blistered. For the rest of the time I was there I used 100. The blisters took a month to go away after I got back to the bay area.
I am Croatian and around here I never got more sunburned than red that turns to brown in a day. When I went to Arizona wearing 30 suntan lotion I didn't just burn but blistered. For the rest of the time I was there I used 100. The blisters took a month to go away after I got back to the bay area.
Well, I got up this morning planning on doing a flat ride to Mission Coffee which is a half block away from Mission San Jose. That would have been a 40 miles of so round trip. I sent out an email to see if anyone intended of riding in the cold since yesterday it was cold enough to have sheet ice on the roads. Today it was about 2 degrees warming and no signs of ice.
No one answered so I though I'd do the "normal" Thursday ride but slowly since I've been off schedule for taking my medication and am feeling not all that great. I started out and got to the top of the highest hill on the way and decided I just felt too punk to do that ride. So I modified it to ride to a place called "The Corner Pastry Shop" or perhaps "Café".
I hadn't eaten much before I went and I was feeling worse as I was up to 18 miles but after a coffee and a breakfast sandwich in that place I was feeling a little better. On the way back I was riding much faster than I did on the way out.
I had just installed new tubeless tires and the pressure was probably a little high since I could feel the lines on the road. But since I had blown a tire off a week and a half ago I was concerned about the new tubeless Maxxi's. They installed so easily that I was worried for awhile but a real tubeless tire as opposed to what I was using before is totally different. They seal against the wheel and they have a more defined hook bead. I pumped them up and went up to buy some sealant. When I got back the pressure hadn't dropped at all. Anyway I was slowly getting more confidence after the crash and was riding more like I should.
Made it back after 37.5 miles and only 1812 ft of climbing. But it is winter and we have had a real cold spell. My average speed just always stays in the range of 11-13 mph with very occasionally a little faster. I can't figure out how Mr. Beanz does his very high averages. Just between you and I he must be cheating. I think that he is giving us his Max Speed as his average. He seems like the sneaky sort - makes all the rest of us kill ourselves to get anywhere near matching him.
No one answered so I though I'd do the "normal" Thursday ride but slowly since I've been off schedule for taking my medication and am feeling not all that great. I started out and got to the top of the highest hill on the way and decided I just felt too punk to do that ride. So I modified it to ride to a place called "The Corner Pastry Shop" or perhaps "Café".
I hadn't eaten much before I went and I was feeling worse as I was up to 18 miles but after a coffee and a breakfast sandwich in that place I was feeling a little better. On the way back I was riding much faster than I did on the way out.
I had just installed new tubeless tires and the pressure was probably a little high since I could feel the lines on the road. But since I had blown a tire off a week and a half ago I was concerned about the new tubeless Maxxi's. They installed so easily that I was worried for awhile but a real tubeless tire as opposed to what I was using before is totally different. They seal against the wheel and they have a more defined hook bead. I pumped them up and went up to buy some sealant. When I got back the pressure hadn't dropped at all. Anyway I was slowly getting more confidence after the crash and was riding more like I should.
Made it back after 37.5 miles and only 1812 ft of climbing. But it is winter and we have had a real cold spell. My average speed just always stays in the range of 11-13 mph with very occasionally a little faster. I can't figure out how Mr. Beanz does his very high averages. Just between you and I he must be cheating. I think that he is giving us his Max Speed as his average. He seems like the sneaky sort - makes all the rest of us kill ourselves to get anywhere near matching him.
Ha ha ha! Nope, no cheating. I used to ride real hard and had higher averages. Figure I'm a big 230 pound rider who has at times trained on climbs totaling 30,000-40,000 ft of gain per month while in training mode. No trainers, all outdoor climbing 20 mile climbs with 5,000 ft in the wind, cold, rain, and heat. Competed in timed events with 10,000 ft- 12,000 ft gain over 100 miles. Number 123 out of 400 entries. No bad for a big guy on standard gearing (none of that sissy compact crank stuff!
)So the flat rides are a piece of cake for me. This one was my best but rode with a couple of buddies.
See, average speed of 19.2, max speed of 30.2. Flat rides are easy peasy. Now my climbing event I did 100 miles with 10,000 ft gain at 13.8 average speed. Official time but no Garmin and no Strava back then.
Heck, even Gina has done a century at 15.8 average speed. But then again, many of the riders we have ridden with have said I should sign her up for racing. Heck, we used to do forum rides with bikeforums dot net. She spanked many of the locals who thought they would be waiting for her if she were to tag along on some of the rides I was invited to do.
Me: Should I bring Gina?
Forum Member: Umm OK! If she's too slow, we'll regroup or wait for her.
Me: OK
Post Ride ----
Forum Member: Uhh I can't believe I had a hard time keeping up with Gina. I thought I would be competing with you but instead I was struggling to keep up with Gina.
On one ride we were doing 5,000 ft of gain over 21 miles. She started slow then worked into the ride. She caught and passed about 10 cycling active guys from the forum. They were totally shocked when she caught up 15 miles later up the climb.
She's strong, great endurance but has no desire to race. If she did, she'd kill me I think.
OK, since there ain't much happening in this forum any longer, I am going to tell my story and do a little trash talk, but as Arnold said in True Lies abou tthe guys he killed, "but they were all bad!".
I consider myself a recreational rider. I though about doing some time trials but having 11 bikes at the time, I decided against investing. I guess I could have used my roadie with aero bars but I guess that's how important the "racer" label was to me, I never did. But going to some local crit training rides, me and 3 other guys broke away from the pack and almost lapped the field on a 2 mile course. Got plenty of attention after the ride from the team members. I went just to see how it was. It was fun but plenty of dangerous guys so hell no, I ain't racing no crits. I watched a few races thinking about it and the crashes, hell no, I have to go to work on Monday. Getting taken away in an ambulance ain't my idea of fun.
So I signed up for this timed event, 100 miles almost 10,000 ft of gain. 400 riders allowed, serious climbers only it said. Ended up doing it 4 times and loved it.
Well one year I signed up, I was trash talked by a couple of riders on dot net. One guy was a double century rider. The other guy was a pretty popular long distance racer. Did Paris Brest blah blah, Furnace Creek 508, The Death ride, many brevets and many doubles as a triple crown rider in Calif.
I won't use his name but he trash talked me on the forum. I first did the ride hoping to not be the last one in ha ha. But I did ok but felt great after the ride so the next year I aimed for a goal of shaving an hour off my time now that I had experienced the ride. I did, shaved off an hour and 2 minutes.
But this rider said on the forums that I would be lucky to keep up with him if he had a bad day. Umm OK! He boasted about his custom $8000 climbing Colnago. Climbing wheels, gears and even a bigger big ring to gain time on the descent.
The other LD guy told me that he thought I was a big cry baby as I always mentioned the wind and adverse conditions on my rides. Yeah I do for entertainment but he took it the wrong way I guess. He too a Clyde at 200 pounds and I was 230.
I ended up spanking this guy by nearly 3 hours on the ride. He came up to me after the ride, and posted on the forums that I was a big fake on the forums. He said though I played timid, I was a really strong rider and made him look silly on the bike. I actually thought that was cool!
The other guy with the fancy bike, he started an hour before me on the ride (2 hour start window, bar coded). I caught him at the 50 mile mark. I ended up leaving him behind but then decided to pull over on the side of the road before the last dreaded climb to Onyx Summit.
I let him pass me, gave him a head start of about 5 minutes, then got back on my bike and passed him again on the 7% climb. He shouted he would catch me on the descent with his fancy big ring. NOT!!! I'm a pretty good descender
I hit the bottom of the descent and was having a great time still cranking it at 30. I hit town and was still able to crank it along the flats to the finish line at 25 mph over the last couple of miles. Butt face never caught me. I went into the chute and got my official time.
It was a little over an hour better than butt face and his fancy bike!
He finally got to the post ride BBQ after I had served my food. The rest of the time, he just sat at the picnic table and glared at me. I made sure to smile his way so that he would be sure to know I really kicked his ass on the ride ha ha!
Of course we get back to posting on the forum and some racer boy says I'm not a racer and he could kick my ass on our local mtn climb GMR. Umm I guess because I have never signed up for a crit, I didn't know how to ride a bike and was a second class cyclist.
We did a forum ride and he actually showed up. He started before me, got up half way, about 2300 ft of gain then called it quits, said he was struggling too much. Of course right when I was about to catch him.
So yeah, I never say I am fast but I would say strong. I have had many cyclists call me a sleeper and underestimated. I've been told I understate my abilities on the forum as well. I did the Palm Springs century solo at 5:45 at almost a 17.5 average speed. Several others as well.
I don't feel the need to race but am really shocked at the responses of too many forum members who race. Though I have met many and rode side by side, I have to say that them riding in a pack really boosts their averages and speeds. It's different when you are trying to match a "recreational" rider like me on your own.
I have met a few forum members who raced that were really fast on their own but too many who are not.
Gina is another funny story. I usually ride hard and after 20 years of trying to keep up with me, she has become a pretty strong rider. I had a female triple crown rider draft us for 35 miles into the wind heading to the coast on a forum ride. Once we hit the turn around she said not to be offended but she had to get back so when she and her male buddy dropped us, it was nothing personal.
Bull sheot! Gina, suck it up because we're going to kick their asses!
We let them roll off, pretty much faded as we shadowed them from about 100 yards back. Once I saw they faded, we poured it on and blew by them. Did the final 36 miles getting back about 30 minutes before they did. That chick was shocked and approached Gina telling her she had no idea she was that strong on the bike.
Well that was nice of her. I mean Gina did kick the sheot out of her on a 72 mile ride and she was supposed to be a triple crown long distance rider.
I love riding "WITH" people and try to have fun. But when duty calls, sometimes you got to kick the sheot out of somebody!
This was the timed event where the forum dudes challenged me.
This was a training ride about 2 weeks before the ride. 55 mile ride with 7,000 ft of gain. Yes, a standard 53/39 crank and 13-26 cog set. Nothing fancy, just me and my $1000 Cannondale.
I consider myself a recreational rider. I though about doing some time trials but having 11 bikes at the time, I decided against investing. I guess I could have used my roadie with aero bars but I guess that's how important the "racer" label was to me, I never did. But going to some local crit training rides, me and 3 other guys broke away from the pack and almost lapped the field on a 2 mile course. Got plenty of attention after the ride from the team members. I went just to see how it was. It was fun but plenty of dangerous guys so hell no, I ain't racing no crits. I watched a few races thinking about it and the crashes, hell no, I have to go to work on Monday. Getting taken away in an ambulance ain't my idea of fun.
So I signed up for this timed event, 100 miles almost 10,000 ft of gain. 400 riders allowed, serious climbers only it said. Ended up doing it 4 times and loved it.
Well one year I signed up, I was trash talked by a couple of riders on dot net. One guy was a double century rider. The other guy was a pretty popular long distance racer. Did Paris Brest blah blah, Furnace Creek 508, The Death ride, many brevets and many doubles as a triple crown rider in Calif.
I won't use his name but he trash talked me on the forum. I first did the ride hoping to not be the last one in ha ha. But I did ok but felt great after the ride so the next year I aimed for a goal of shaving an hour off my time now that I had experienced the ride. I did, shaved off an hour and 2 minutes.
But this rider said on the forums that I would be lucky to keep up with him if he had a bad day. Umm OK! He boasted about his custom $8000 climbing Colnago. Climbing wheels, gears and even a bigger big ring to gain time on the descent.
The other LD guy told me that he thought I was a big cry baby as I always mentioned the wind and adverse conditions on my rides. Yeah I do for entertainment but he took it the wrong way I guess. He too a Clyde at 200 pounds and I was 230.
I ended up spanking this guy by nearly 3 hours on the ride. He came up to me after the ride, and posted on the forums that I was a big fake on the forums. He said though I played timid, I was a really strong rider and made him look silly on the bike. I actually thought that was cool!
The other guy with the fancy bike, he started an hour before me on the ride (2 hour start window, bar coded). I caught him at the 50 mile mark. I ended up leaving him behind but then decided to pull over on the side of the road before the last dreaded climb to Onyx Summit.
I let him pass me, gave him a head start of about 5 minutes, then got back on my bike and passed him again on the 7% climb. He shouted he would catch me on the descent with his fancy big ring. NOT!!! I'm a pretty good descender
I hit the bottom of the descent and was having a great time still cranking it at 30. I hit town and was still able to crank it along the flats to the finish line at 25 mph over the last couple of miles. Butt face never caught me. I went into the chute and got my official time.
It was a little over an hour better than butt face and his fancy bike!
He finally got to the post ride BBQ after I had served my food. The rest of the time, he just sat at the picnic table and glared at me. I made sure to smile his way so that he would be sure to know I really kicked his ass on the ride ha ha!
Of course we get back to posting on the forum and some racer boy says I'm not a racer and he could kick my ass on our local mtn climb GMR. Umm I guess because I have never signed up for a crit, I didn't know how to ride a bike and was a second class cyclist.
We did a forum ride and he actually showed up. He started before me, got up half way, about 2300 ft of gain then called it quits, said he was struggling too much. Of course right when I was about to catch him.
So yeah, I never say I am fast but I would say strong. I have had many cyclists call me a sleeper and underestimated. I've been told I understate my abilities on the forum as well. I did the Palm Springs century solo at 5:45 at almost a 17.5 average speed. Several others as well.
I don't feel the need to race but am really shocked at the responses of too many forum members who race. Though I have met many and rode side by side, I have to say that them riding in a pack really boosts their averages and speeds. It's different when you are trying to match a "recreational" rider like me on your own.
I have met a few forum members who raced that were really fast on their own but too many who are not.
Gina is another funny story. I usually ride hard and after 20 years of trying to keep up with me, she has become a pretty strong rider. I had a female triple crown rider draft us for 35 miles into the wind heading to the coast on a forum ride. Once we hit the turn around she said not to be offended but she had to get back so when she and her male buddy dropped us, it was nothing personal.
Bull sheot! Gina, suck it up because we're going to kick their asses!
We let them roll off, pretty much faded as we shadowed them from about 100 yards back. Once I saw they faded, we poured it on and blew by them. Did the final 36 miles getting back about 30 minutes before they did. That chick was shocked and approached Gina telling her she had no idea she was that strong on the bike.
Well that was nice of her. I mean Gina did kick the sheot out of her on a 72 mile ride and she was supposed to be a triple crown long distance rider.
I love riding "WITH" people and try to have fun. But when duty calls, sometimes you got to kick the sheot out of somebody!
This was the timed event where the forum dudes challenged me.
This was a training ride about 2 weeks before the ride. 55 mile ride with 7,000 ft of gain. Yes, a standard 53/39 crank and 13-26 cog set. Nothing fancy, just me and my $1000 Cannondale.
It isn't like I didn't believe you completely. But trash talking you is good for the soul.Ha ha ha! Nope, no cheating. I used to ride real hard and had higher averages. Figure I'm a big 230 pound rider who has at times trained on climbs totaling 30,000-40,000 ft of gain per month while in training mode. No trainers, all outdoor climbing 20 mile climbs with 5,000 ft in the wind, cold, rain, and heat. Competed in timed events with 10,000 ft- 12,000 ft gain over 100 miles. Number 123 out of 400 entries. No bad for a big guy on standard gearing (none of that sissy compact crank stuff!
So the flat rides are a piece of cake for me. This one was my best but rode with a couple of buddies.
See, average speed of 19.2, max speed of 30.2. Flat rides are easy peasy. Now my climbing event I did 100 miles with 10,000 ft gain at 13.8 average speed. Official time but no Garmin and no Strava back then.
View attachment 3465
Heck, even Gina has done a century at 15.8 average speed. But then again, many of the riders we have ridden with have said I should sign her up for racing. Heck, we used to do forum rides with bikeforums dot net. She spanked many of the locals who thought they would be waiting for her if she were to tag along on some of the rides I was invited to do.
Me: Should I bring Gina?
Forum Member: Umm OK! If she's too slow, we'll regroup or wait for her.
Me: OK
Post Ride ----
Forum Member: Uhh I can't believe I had a hard time keeping up with Gina. I thought I would be competing with you but instead I was struggling to keep up with Gina.
On one ride we were doing 5,000 ft of gain over 21 miles. She started slow then worked into the ride. She caught and passed about 10 cycling active guys from the forum. They were totally shocked when she caught up 15 miles later up the climb.
She's strong, great endurance but has no desire to race. If she did, she'd kill me I think.
View attachment 3466
I did a ride in the cold yesterday. It turned out to only be 22 miles but that was plenty. The 10 miles out to the coffee stop was into a damn 20 mph headwind. Every time the road turned a little so did the wind. Finally I figured I had the wind beat with a 90 degree left turn. I should be so lucky. They put in a LOT of dirt rebuilding the golf course so that the wind comes in directly off of the bay into my face instead of out of the usual northwest. I was riding 13 and 14 mph and I could tell those trainer rides did NOTHING. They are nothing like outdoor riding.
When I got to the coffee shop I got a coffee and a bagel - the last one there and stale as a piece of hardwood. Oh well. I tried to sit outside but as soon as I cooled off from pushing into the wind I had to go inside.
The ride back started out badly as I had to warm up fast straight into the freezing wind for 3/4ths of a mile. Then I got to turn downwind. That only lasted for a couple of miles since you soon get out of the wind pattern from the Golden Gate Bridge. Then the wind blows pretty much from the west directly across your track. But since I wasn't pushing directly into the wind that was fine with me.
I finally got off the Bay Trail and started through the San Leandro Marina and then back up into the residential area. All along the route I had been passing businesses I had once worked at before mismanagement or lack of a sales force capable of selling a good product ran them out of business. Since I'm in research and development I would finish a product and they would lay me off. No big deal since most of my life California was still Republican and so business was booming. But for far too many years California has suffered under Democrats and businesses and skilled workers are leaving for anywhere other than the great socialist state of California. Last year alone the state lost a half million more skilled workers than moved in. Not to mention the losses of capital business.
One of the last businesses I passed was now Net Zero which is some sort of a solar company. The building used to contain a business making scientific laboratory analysis instruments. I had designed and programmed a couple of them. Though people usually think of engineers as well paid, the managers such as the production manager made more than I did and he started out as an assembly line person. He wasn't terribly bright but he was more thorough than I was. Jobs well done usually get pretty much equal pay.
I finally had to go over a freeway overpass which is a 4% grade. That is usually nothing but when a great deal of your strength goes into keeping you warm it is harder than it should be. At least there was a good bike lane. At the bottom of the other side is a four way stop sign. A year ago a lady rolled through and hit me so if there's no traffic there I come down at around 22 mph and make a left turn without slowing to clear that intersection as rapidly as possible.
There is talk among the cycling community these days of bicycles being able to treat stop signs as yield signs. While this is a good idea for experienced cyclists it seems to me that it is just making enemies of car drivers as transportation bicyclists abuse the right. I think I prefer the usual cops not paying any attention to you as long as you don't do something dangerous.
I finally got home and regardless of such a short ride I was pretty tired. So I rewarded myself by trying (successfully) to bake a container of chicken legs. 400 degrees with about an hour and a half. A vegetable stew my wife cooked and a nice glass of Columbia Crest Cab. But of course the wife complained that I should have covered the pan with tin foil for most of the cooking time and then opened it for the last 15 minutes to brown. When I pointed out that the chicken was perfectly moist and perfectly cooked all I got was a frown and more vegetable stew. It was the second night of the stew and she wanted to use it up. I had to open a bottle of French Burgundy and it was so awful that there was no fear of me finishing a second glass of wine with dinner.
Monday is always a recovery day and I was dreaming of the 37 mile 4,000 feet of climbing ride on Tuesday when I remembered that I have a dentist appointment then. And rain is predicted for Wednesday. And although there's only 2,000 feet of climbing on Thursday it is 50 miles long. Hopefully I'll be able to get some videos of that.
When I got to the coffee shop I got a coffee and a bagel - the last one there and stale as a piece of hardwood. Oh well. I tried to sit outside but as soon as I cooled off from pushing into the wind I had to go inside.
The ride back started out badly as I had to warm up fast straight into the freezing wind for 3/4ths of a mile. Then I got to turn downwind. That only lasted for a couple of miles since you soon get out of the wind pattern from the Golden Gate Bridge. Then the wind blows pretty much from the west directly across your track. But since I wasn't pushing directly into the wind that was fine with me.
I finally got off the Bay Trail and started through the San Leandro Marina and then back up into the residential area. All along the route I had been passing businesses I had once worked at before mismanagement or lack of a sales force capable of selling a good product ran them out of business. Since I'm in research and development I would finish a product and they would lay me off. No big deal since most of my life California was still Republican and so business was booming. But for far too many years California has suffered under Democrats and businesses and skilled workers are leaving for anywhere other than the great socialist state of California. Last year alone the state lost a half million more skilled workers than moved in. Not to mention the losses of capital business.
One of the last businesses I passed was now Net Zero which is some sort of a solar company. The building used to contain a business making scientific laboratory analysis instruments. I had designed and programmed a couple of them. Though people usually think of engineers as well paid, the managers such as the production manager made more than I did and he started out as an assembly line person. He wasn't terribly bright but he was more thorough than I was. Jobs well done usually get pretty much equal pay.
I finally had to go over a freeway overpass which is a 4% grade. That is usually nothing but when a great deal of your strength goes into keeping you warm it is harder than it should be. At least there was a good bike lane. At the bottom of the other side is a four way stop sign. A year ago a lady rolled through and hit me so if there's no traffic there I come down at around 22 mph and make a left turn without slowing to clear that intersection as rapidly as possible.
There is talk among the cycling community these days of bicycles being able to treat stop signs as yield signs. While this is a good idea for experienced cyclists it seems to me that it is just making enemies of car drivers as transportation bicyclists abuse the right. I think I prefer the usual cops not paying any attention to you as long as you don't do something dangerous.
I finally got home and regardless of such a short ride I was pretty tired. So I rewarded myself by trying (successfully) to bake a container of chicken legs. 400 degrees with about an hour and a half. A vegetable stew my wife cooked and a nice glass of Columbia Crest Cab. But of course the wife complained that I should have covered the pan with tin foil for most of the cooking time and then opened it for the last 15 minutes to brown. When I pointed out that the chicken was perfectly moist and perfectly cooked all I got was a frown and more vegetable stew. It was the second night of the stew and she wanted to use it up. I had to open a bottle of French Burgundy and it was so awful that there was no fear of me finishing a second glass of wine with dinner.
Monday is always a recovery day and I was dreaming of the 37 mile 4,000 feet of climbing ride on Tuesday when I remembered that I have a dentist appointment then. And rain is predicted for Wednesday. And although there's only 2,000 feet of climbing on Thursday it is 50 miles long. Hopefully I'll be able to get some videos of that.
Friday morning dawned clear and while cold it was warm enough that everything wasn't covered In dew. So instead of a hard ride, because of my lack of riding this year so far, I decided to take a local ride. Got on my way around 9:00 in order to miss the traffic and to allow it to warm up a little. Well that didn't happen in either case.
So I decided on the way to cut off on a bike path that is all land fill over a section of San Francisco bay that I used to play around in as a kid when it was all salt marsh. As I pulled out onto the north-bound street I was passed by some people on high end bikes that though that an old coot would only get in their way. So I rode right along with them. I was straining a little but not a lot. We were doing 18 mph or so into a hard and cold headwind. I figured I'd get a little rest when I turned off onto the bay trail but not only did they turn onto it as well but they had picked up perhaps enough riders to make the group around 12 or so. And then were pushing the pace pretty hard. But I sure as hell wasn't going to let them get away and so they kept looking back and trying to figure out why they couldn't get away from a 74 year old. Well, because they haven't had any training this year either and I'm not all that slow.
Finally at one bridge that went into Alameda I turned another way and crossed over at the next bridge north. Only a could of them had gotten to that point but it didn't matter since I was pulling into the Nob Hill supermarket there for coffee anyway. I had some coffee and took a couple of pictures of my Colnago with Aero carbon wheel in front of a 120 year old Japanese square rigger that is docked along the quay there. Sort of a war of the worlds.
On the way back I took the longer route. While I connected with a bike path on the road next to it some of that same group came flying by so I picked up the pace again and kept up with them. There is a drop under and aircraft overpass and then a rise to a really dangerous exit from a long term airport parking lot. They thought that they'd drop me there but I actually know that area and the tricks. I slowed up coming to that parking lot exit and they tried to pour it on. Sure enough, a bus pulled out directly in front of them without looking like they always do and they had to come to a standstill while I flew by behind the bus looking REALLY carefully because they are often followed by cars leaving the lot. Up ahead the trail goes from riding next to a road to following the shoreline of the bay. I let them get in front there because this area usually has a lot of gravel on it from the speed demons falling into the gravel that lines the paved path. So I again tailed them all of the five miles down that section of trail while they were trying to drop me and you could tell because they kept looking back.
Finally three was this short little climb that's only 4% but it is in the place where you have been really pushing hard to get there. So the 150 yard climb always kills those riding the trail. But I knew the area well and as they got to the top pretty tired I was riding right next to them. Down the other side and out onto the street. Finally they had tired themselves out and started talking to me. I was trying not to laugh at their attempts which would surely have succeeded later in the year after they'd had more riding under their belts. But I wasn't going to tell them.
Finally we broke off in different directions again and I did the final couple of miles home. Only 23 miles but as hard as I was pushing most of the time, it felt like 40 miles.
So I decided on the way to cut off on a bike path that is all land fill over a section of San Francisco bay that I used to play around in as a kid when it was all salt marsh. As I pulled out onto the north-bound street I was passed by some people on high end bikes that though that an old coot would only get in their way. So I rode right along with them. I was straining a little but not a lot. We were doing 18 mph or so into a hard and cold headwind. I figured I'd get a little rest when I turned off onto the bay trail but not only did they turn onto it as well but they had picked up perhaps enough riders to make the group around 12 or so. And then were pushing the pace pretty hard. But I sure as hell wasn't going to let them get away and so they kept looking back and trying to figure out why they couldn't get away from a 74 year old. Well, because they haven't had any training this year either and I'm not all that slow.
Finally at one bridge that went into Alameda I turned another way and crossed over at the next bridge north. Only a could of them had gotten to that point but it didn't matter since I was pulling into the Nob Hill supermarket there for coffee anyway. I had some coffee and took a couple of pictures of my Colnago with Aero carbon wheel in front of a 120 year old Japanese square rigger that is docked along the quay there. Sort of a war of the worlds.
On the way back I took the longer route. While I connected with a bike path on the road next to it some of that same group came flying by so I picked up the pace again and kept up with them. There is a drop under and aircraft overpass and then a rise to a really dangerous exit from a long term airport parking lot. They thought that they'd drop me there but I actually know that area and the tricks. I slowed up coming to that parking lot exit and they tried to pour it on. Sure enough, a bus pulled out directly in front of them without looking like they always do and they had to come to a standstill while I flew by behind the bus looking REALLY carefully because they are often followed by cars leaving the lot. Up ahead the trail goes from riding next to a road to following the shoreline of the bay. I let them get in front there because this area usually has a lot of gravel on it from the speed demons falling into the gravel that lines the paved path. So I again tailed them all of the five miles down that section of trail while they were trying to drop me and you could tell because they kept looking back.
Finally three was this short little climb that's only 4% but it is in the place where you have been really pushing hard to get there. So the 150 yard climb always kills those riding the trail. But I knew the area well and as they got to the top pretty tired I was riding right next to them. Down the other side and out onto the street. Finally they had tired themselves out and started talking to me. I was trying not to laugh at their attempts which would surely have succeeded later in the year after they'd had more riding under their belts. But I wasn't going to tell them.
Finally we broke off in different directions again and I did the final couple of miles home. Only 23 miles but as hard as I was pushing most of the time, it felt like 40 miles.
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