Mines Road Double Metric-2010

(March 13, 2010) OPENING DAY Mines Road Climb, w/ Jack, Ward, Dr. Dave, Christine, (new) Steve, Andy, 124 miles, 6,000' climbing, 16.1 avg, 7:10-@4:30, meet rest of Club in Livermore, 60 miles into ride (*184 rating*)

Christine psyched to go and predicting a heat wave.

I had been sky high for this ride, but cramming to get everything ready the night before, going to sleep early, and waking up at 4:30 when it is freezing outside puts a damper on enthusiasm. At the start Dr. Dave came rolling in with huge Alaskan survivalist gloves which he gave to me to stash in my car--he said they hadn't helped, his hands were numb anyway, so he might as well just take a smaller pair of gloves. Our group was real quiet going from Walnut Creek to Danville (1st rest stop by Blackhawk, @mile 20)--as no one had gloves that kept their hands warm.

I wonder what the wind will be like on the return trip through Livermore? (Steady 9-12 mph wind in the PM) (Ward-o-photo)

Section of flats/ rollers on Highland was real nice, real quiet and for once no one sprinting or setting up an escape--no racers coming by or a tandem to escape from. No wind and it was almost warm. We kept a nice paceline as a group though we had to caution new Steve every time he went to the front to keep the pace steady.

Dr. Dave checking on the progress of his adopted plant in the organic garden.

We arrived in Livermore Civic Center @9:10 and met up with the larger group of Diablo Cyclists.

Ride supposedly starts at 9:00, lucky for us it seems that 9:25 is the customary start time when everyone finishes bsing at their cars--except for Rusty (known for his punctuality, or is it escaping to start early up climbs) who slipped away on time

Bruce and Jack charge in front of the pelaton to see Mines Road first (Ward-o-photo)

Nice flat rollout for 2-3 miles before hitting the @26 mile Mines Road climb. Weather is real nice, though with recent rains fully expect the two spots on the road that are traditionally flooded (50' sections of water to the bottom bracket) will be bad today. The first 4-6 miles of the climb are attention getting. Then the road starts to level off, great for pacelining, with occasional reminders that you are going uphill for @15 miles. Then there are @2 miles of short but steep rollers which leads into a @3 mile curvy downhill into the Junction--which is 2/3rds of the way to Mt. Hamilton.

Bonus miles riders join with the rest of the Diablo Cyclists, and continue onto Mines Road. Sarah wanted to know why I had my school lunch box with me. (Ward-o-photo)
The Junction Cafe--our turn around spot has been closed, so I brought extra bars and drink mix with me***--perfect to test out my new small handlebar bag that will get plenty of use at the Alta Alpina 8. Close by is a firehouse that we'll be able to get water from if the Cafe is closed. (***I now have to stop the "losing weight diet" portion of the year, and switch to the "endurance diet--approximately 50g carbs and 10g protein an hour." I got caught out a few weeks ago on one of our self supported century rides when I didn't come close to this goal and the energy just left. Good review article on what to eat the day before, for breakfast, during, and after an endurance ride is Kersick, International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Nutrient Timing (2008)

On Mines Road, Ward contemplating the California financial situation. Bike race on the road, not many motorcycles but lots of cars burning the shit gas dumped in third world countries, and climb started out warm but got colder and breezier.

When we hit Mines Road there were signs "race ahead"--there were college bike races going on all day--doing an out and back also, though not going as far as we were. One men's division had left right before us, which was good as we wouldn't have to worry about blocking riders. In fact our group caught some stragglers--one racer couldn't believe that we were doing 120 miles. Late in the day, Ward took 3rd in the women's division when he passed everyone and then ducked in behind the two women leaders so they couldn't illegally draft off of him.

The breakaway group on Mines Road (Ward-o-photo)

The Mines Road uphill is great for me (except for the last downhill finish) while the trip back down is too fast for me to stay with a lead group--so I focused on the uphill and organized a breakaway group once we hit the flats. Great to paceline the middle section of Mines Road, especially if Ward and Christine are in it. Luckily standing water on the road was minimal.

The firehouse banned recumbents.

We would have had Dr. Dave in our lead group also, but he was on the bent' which will perfect for the fast return trip. Here he is at the firehouse gate, just short of the Junction. Funny, Christine and I had put in a big effort to get over the attention getting rollers before the descent into the Junction. The fire station is paved over and the buildings block the wind. I was actually warm on the downhill and when we pulled in for water. That wouldn't last.

Like always Rusty having fun--but why is he on an Oakland A's bike?

We weren't sure if Rusty was ahead of us or not until we hit the rollers. Spoting him ahead provided impetus to jump out of the group and go hard. Later some of the college racers would get a warning from the officials for drafting behind Rusty, who can turn on the speed. Wish he had been in our group going up Mines Road.

Christine (1st overall to Junction) and Dr. Dave (1st alternative bike to the Junction)--both from the bonus miles group. Note that though sunny the bundled up folks in the background.

Just up the road the Junction Cafe was open. It was also windy and cold--so much so we left the picnic area and huddled on the side of the building which was blocking the wind (a first)--whereas I then froze changing a flat caused by my valve cracking. There wasn't the usual block of motorcycles on Mines Road, but we were passed by the "stinky car club" burning some gas mix made in Yugoslavia, who then set up some cooking equipment for a "frozen" bbq at the Junction.

June and Bruce may be the smartest, sitting inside the reopened Junction Cafe by the fire.

Said a quick hi to the new Junction owners, who seemed real friendly. The old owners always seemed out of it--and it would take 45 minutes to get a grilled cheese sandwich. Was unusually quiet inside.

Strange bike rack outside the Livermore Library.

Christine was only member of bonus mile group to stay in the lead pack BOTH on the uphill and on the return trip. Most of our Club called it a day while the bonus mile group still had to ride back another 30 miles. At the Livermore Civic Center library it was nice and warm--and we stayed awhile before we started up again.

The paparazzi stalk out Stephen after he scored 100 points against the school kids the night before. (1/2 Ward-o-photo)

An annual tradition is that June rides back with the bonus mile group and Stephen drives back, then takes the bike out, and rides back to wherever we are. I'm glad he made the commitment to ride back before anyone realized how windy and cold it would soon become.

Christine contemplating her being with the lead group on the fast return trip and if she should read a good book later, and then getting more relaxed (Ward-o-photo).

I'm finally warm and I don't want to leave for the bonus milers extra 30 miles back to the start.

Dr. Dave -the man of arts & letters.
The 30 miles back featured a constant @10mph cold wind from the North. We soon lost Andy (he told us to go on) in the crosswind, Ward's knee gave out half way back, and Dave did not look nearly as happy as he did at the library. But it was a good ride--great if it had been +15 warmer.

More and More East Bay Hills Century-2010

(March 6, 2010) Castro Valley-Redwood-Skyline-Tilden-Lets Do BOTH Bonus Options-Bears and Rodeo Refinery Loop, 100 miles, 15.3, w Ward, Jack, Christine, @80 miles with Stephen, June, Dave Last weeks Century ride seemed harder as tired from the day before, the climbing was all front loaded, and we were racing most of it, but today's century had more sustained climbing which we felt at the end. (Thanks to Ward Industries for the elevation graphs--now in their 100th year producing bicycle charts and other fine products.)
We were supposed to do the Foothill (Merced) Century (3500’ climbing) today but a few things conspired against it. (1) Merced is a long way away, and (2) weather forecast had a good chance of rain in Merced during the week, always with a little less chance in the East Bay. Even though forecast improved for Merced throughout the week, it always improved for the East Bay more. And (3) the Foothill is a nondescript century whereas we could easily ride a nicer route closer to home with alot more climbing. Its appeal is seeing a crit with domestic pros while eating the end o ride meal—unfortunately after a good end o ride BBQ a few years ago last years BBQ was something akin to road kill pigeon—awful at best.

So Friday snuck up, no one suggested Foothill, but the emails were flying as to how we could change the bike club route (50 miles, 2500’ feet with easy climbs of Redwood Road at the base of the Oakland Hills.) to get a longer ride in. Of course I didn’t realize that we were looping into Redwood Road from Castro Valley instead of doing our more popular ride where we hit it fast from Moraga—so my route change made no sense. Ward and Jack came up with options which all sounded OK to me, my only sticking point was that I wanted us to get 100 miles in.

Forecast jogged to slightly worse the night before the ride—50%-30%-00% chance of rain popped back to 20%. But Saturday morning was, though chilly, real clear with lots of blue. While it didn’t get as warm as last Sunday it stayed nice throughout the day (66 high in Martinez, the county seat, by 12: 47, with gusts topping out at 7mph.) and almost always sunny unless riding through a dense stand of trees.

Not a big turnout for the Club ride. No MC Hammer Twins or anyone else that would get our dander up and force an upped pace at the beginning. Stephen had a flat on the Blvd, where lots of early groups passed while he problems changing the tire, so our ride out was at a real sane pace which doesn’t happen often. The Ward-Jack plan was to keep us with the larger bike club for a large part of the ride, by half the bike club had other ideas and was doing a flat ride down to Sunol instead—so the bonus mile group parted ways with the bike club early.

We rode cooperatively to Castro Valley towards Redwood Road, just having to regroup 1-2 times. Ride featured lots of mini climbs on the edge of suburbia. After last Saturday made sure I was ingesting enough carbs (50 an hour) and had upped the Heed concentration and took a bottle of Perpetuem with me—though there are better flavors to add to the chalky mix than Hammergel Banana. Felt good except left calf inexplicably sore, maybe because cool weather in early morning didn’t make it happy (Castelli knee warmers a good fit but NOT long, and after too many socks including high sock liners last week just riding with a short wool pair this week)

Another short but attention getting climb out of Castro Valley towards the Redwood Road climb. Climb was great and on the speedy downhill that turns into a speedy flat I regrouped with Christine, Ward, and Dave. Christine pushed the pace and I was soon dropped, but not by her pacemaking but by the comedy of Professor Dave—who was riding a regular framed bike today.

At the Davis Double last year, while waiting at the end for Dave another recumbent rider pulled in and by chance I asked him if he had seen Dave on the road. I start describing Dave but the recumbent rider knows him, and had ridden with him, and gave me specifics as to where Dave was on the course. This led me to conclude that all recumbent riders are in a secret sect where they all know each other—so whenever we pass a recumbent I have to yell out to Dave “do you know him.” So we are speeding on the rustic straightaway next to the Lake Chabot Golf Course and in the opposite direction two recumbent riders ride by. I wave and yell out hello—though one rider looks goofy as his ‘bent" has a huge windshield that is painted with Dr Seuss candy cane stripes. When I ask Dave if he know them, usually mellow Dave cuts me off and sternly says “if I ever look like that go ahead and shoot me.” This is so unlike Dave I suddenly double over laughing while the group rides away, where I just hear Dave’s surely voice again and can’t do anything but laugh until the road turns up.

On Redwood Road there are lots of motorcycles shooting by and a few bikes coming from the opposite direction. Getting us ready for our 120 miler on Mines Road next week. Christine sets a torrid pace and Dave and I stay with her. We get to the top and Ward and June close behind but no Stephen, Jack or Andy, who I figure we’ll have to wait a few minutes for. But a few minutes pass and no one?—then Andy appears and says Jack flatted at the base of the climb so Ward and I ride back down and do a large part of the Redwood Climb again.

After a long downhill the official ride has us turn back to base via Moraga, but everyone but Andy wanted to do extended miles, so we climbed up to the Oakland hills with June setting a steady but reasonably fast pace; so much so that we joked when Stephen took over that we slowed too much. Warm rest stop at the top of Skyline were we continued riding the ridge line overlooking Oakland the “wrong way” (more steady/ gradual climbing when going South—our Northern route featured many short but steep climbs.) At Sibley Rest stop riders zooming out--we were in the middle of a cyclocross race. An East Bay Cyclocross Club woman shot by and a few of us got on her wheel—she was a good climber and on a headwind section I went to the front. When the road suddenly turned fast downhill I didn't try to keep pace with her—but Christine nicely did. (Funny-today Christine wearing a Death Ride jersey, not a Cinderella one so no constant camaraderie from her bike sistas.)

We regroup and went down Golf Course road—I'd have rather taken the longer but flatter (past Lake Anza) wau but somehow the road never gets repaired at the edge of the park. Quick rest stop, and the uphill rollers back to Inspiration Point—I was po’d that my calf had tightened up (which it never does) and I couldn’t get the oomph I like on the rollers. Then the long downhill and we were on the Bears, which was one of the two bonus mile options Jack/ Ward had presented the day before.

At Tilden Ward took a few photos, then tried a few with the timer, and then a guy voluenteered to take a few--while climbing onto a bench he almost knocked over my bike so I have a freaked out look in the official team photo, so this composite will have to do. Note Mt. Diablo behind Jack (far right)
Stephen, June and Dave turn off to Orinda as the rest of us start up Papa Bear—kids will be kids—a few cyclists came in from behind and got to close so Christine and I had to rev it up a notch to get away, knowing that Ward would regroup on the downhills. Poor Jack was hurting on the climbs but he knows where to make up time, and came in at the end right behind us.

OK—we had the knarly uphill to the Pig left, which I like but I’m in the minority. Trouble is that going back via the Pig might be great torture but would only get us @80-85 miles. Ward showed his genius by suggesting we also do route bonus two—the refinery loop through Rodeo and the edge of Crockett. Great idea—better still as we had a tailwind and a couple of miles where the road wasn’t going up or down for the first time since the start of the ride. We had a nice paceline and then climb through the refineries where we pass under what looks like the mine head at the enter of the Arenburg Forest in Paris Roubaix. Sweet.

Long downhill which ends in a roller and a traditional Club sprint point and then we then took turns cannibalizing each other on all other subsequent rollers back to Pleasant Hill-Walnut Creek. Funny-no major signature climbs like the other two self supported century rides (Calavaras-Sierra Road Century, 5875’ and Tilden-Palomaras from the Castro Valley Side—6800’), but going up and down all day so had more elevation gain.

Postscript-next day we were all dead—my calf killing me and heavily wrapped—so we decided to take a nice spin though Highland Road after going to breakfast with the Club-and TAKE IT EASY on a relatively flat 50 miler. **Some racers had other ideas and when they jumped off our paceline we chased; when I caught their lead guy on the rollers he told me how he and his friend took a hard ride the day before, and then I told him about our Century. **Dave came by on the 'bent to take out the sprint. **Later on I rode hard back with Christine and Jim in tow (until we hit the flats where Jim took over) to a big group (my old bike Club) 1/4 mile up the road while Big Jim kept mentioning carrots—he musta been thinking about dinner. **We regrouped and then some guy from Bikeland jumped hard from a stoplight and tried to stay ahead of Ward, while Ward easily paced him from the side. **Luckily Dave didn't yet know that this guy dislikes recumbents--I don't want to see Dave get surely again and roll his Triple Crown jersey into a rat tail and snap it at riders making fun of 'bents who don't own a Triple Crown jersey.

Later I found out, as a (M) Club Cut Jersey is essentailly the same as a (L) Race Cut Jersey, a (XL) neoprene Elbow Brace is essentially the same as a (M) calf brace. And I also signed up for the Alta Alpina 8 Double-20,000' climbing.

BEARS-TILDEN-OAKLAND HILLS-PALOMARES FROM HELL CENTURY-2010

(Feb 28, 2010) Diablo Cyclist ride then w/ Jack, Ward & Christine on too many bonuuuuuuuuuusssssssss miles. 96 miles, 6,800' climbing (@6,000' in the first 60 miles.) Average speed 15.5 mph.

Today is Sunday, its supposed to be an easy day after our usual extended Saturday ride. But with bad weather forecast my three compatriots were hibernating yesterday which featured a bit of a wind but great weather for 65 miles! Dr. Dave and I rode pace with Stephen and the Club unless we wanted to stay ahead of the M.C. Hammertwin Tandem. Stephen got us organized in echelon practice. Unfortunately the route was 80 miles, and for the middle 15 miles the sky opened up and we got hit by a heavy rain storm. After the showers the M.C. Hammertwins disappeared, every one's legs had locked up, so we rode back easy, covering any weak riders. But as indicated it was beautiful an hour later, so dried off albeit soggy feet Dr. Dave (and he's supposed to be the smart one) suggested we ride half way up Mt. Diablo to get rid of any energy we had left.

To get a cheep (sic) light color jersey we should all buy the M C Hammer jersey and wear it on almost every ride....

...instead Ward recolored (or decolored) our Club Jersey

Next day was had the best weekend weather of the young year. The Club had a gently hilly 35 mile ride scheduled--so figured to do A BIT of add on to get to 60 miles. Plus Ward was bringing the jersey samples so once again we could see if there is any difference between a Voler Medium Club Cut and a Large Race Cut. (There isn't.) The Diablo Cyclist present day jersey looks great but it's a dark US Postal blue that retains heat on hot days--I've been lobbying for a lighter color. A Domo Farm Light Blue would have been great but consensus was that while some light blues look good, other light blues look like crap--so white was decided on. Hmmmm-dyable material.

...
I showed up early for the jersey try on and it was 1) COLD, and 2) a LARGE group was already there--wow-our lazyass bike club turning up early (Sunday the 9:00 start time is usually 9:20)
for the jersey try on. But actually it was a half dozen folks from BikeDirect Forums.com (guarantee I messed up their name)-someone had done the Davis Double (great support) and now they were training for the Solvang Double (hee hee hee.)

Dr. Dave did prove to be smart--he showed up for the jersey try on but after yesterday he wasn't going to get suckered in and ride. We had a big group and though I felt surprisingly good for having done an 80 miler yesterday, I was sooo content to sit in the pelaton--until a tri guy from the Olympic Club motored past. Christine knew what would happen-she told a new rider "watch this" as I jumped out and got on tri guys wheel. At first tri guy tried to drop me but I put in the effort on the flats to stay with him as my legs suddenly screamed, but on any uphill he took alot off and I could recover at his pace. When we got to the end of the road--Pig Hill, the guy knew he wasn't going to outclimb me so he started taking. Turned out to be a nice guy, told him I wouldn't have jumped on his wheel if he had called out when passing our group--he said "oh I would have if I was on my road bike."

Before the Bears we regroup as a Club and off the first climb we can usually form a paceline to charge into the second and third climb. Ward and a new guy joined me--but so did Sprinter "Ballarini," great guy but he wouldn't take a turn at the front so we spent the last climb attacking and attacking until Ballarini fell off--and then I kept up a big effort to stay ahead of him on the downhill.

At the next regroup low on energy--I had eaten just enough to go 80 miles yesterday and had not stoked up on carbs overnight. Jack & Ward indicate they want to go up Tilden Park--what the hell--Christine and I came along. In Tilden a Racer came shooting by on a downhill--I wouldn't race on a downhill, but Ward/ Christine were right on his wheel. The downhill dumps into a short but semi-steep climb right before the Brazilian Room--Ward leads Christine out past the Racer and I tag right behind him in case he catches and passes Christine, but he can't.

At the "top of Tilden" Castro Valley is mentioned so we rode along Skyline where Christine alternatively made friends with and attacked ("that's the largest bag I've ever seen") other sister Cinderella riders. To Castro Valley I was still riding hard, good speed but no zip in my legs on the rollers, and energy low, but after Castro Valley it would be flat back. NO!

At Castro Valley someone says--how about Palomares? Definitely more than I want to do but I figure really good back to back training. Turns out to be training in riding while suffering.

On Palomares I lost it--sweating too much and so out of it didn't even see the "scenic water crossings" when we rode by them (usually my job to call them out.) I was out of it. Luckily had an emergency gel--my drinks were so diluted they were basically pure water. Christine and Jack zoomed up the climb.

I was never so happy to see a downhill in my life. I've gotten better on the downhills and this was the second time (first on Skyline) that I could stay relatively close to Jack as he passed and I could benefit from being in his draft. Even a bigger benefit when Ward pulled all the way up Niles Canyon--with the usual westerly wind we rode up Niles Canyon faster than we usually ride down.

I figure at Sunol we were 4 1/2 hours into our 6 hour ride. I should have had about 50 carb grams an hour so 225 would have been right. At that point I had 200, which wouldn't have been that bad a deficit if I wasn't depleted from the day before.

At the great Sunol General Store it was the cyclist special--Gatoraid, Strawberry Fruit Bar, and a Power Harvest Bar--100 instant carbs.

The weather was getting nicer and nicer--glove liners had long come but kept knee warmers on more for their insulating thigh properties than to protect the knees. Oh yeah--still had toe warmers, wool socks, and sock liners on. Strange weekend-Saturday-wet foot, Sunday-hot foot. Great rotating paceline on the great Foothill Blvd with nary a traffic control, which we continued on Danville Road which looks like the stop light salesman made his fortune. The bonus mile group motored into Walnut Creek at 22 mph and touched 30 in the sprint. Great pre season ride--first double metric Club ride a few weeks away--opening day on Mines Road.

A Short Message From the Bike Snob

"Personally, I believe the best way to promote the cause of cycling is to not be an idiot when you're riding your bike."
--Bike Snob NYC

In my next life I'd like to write as clearly, concisely, and hit interesting points as often as the Bike Snob NYC, who writes about cycling and social issues (no not serious ones, more like mass hysteria or lunacy) in a tone which sounds like Woody Allen is talking to you. His above quote leapt off the computer screen--it's spot on.

Rest stop at the Los Vaquaros Watershed (pumpkincycle photo)

Talking about idiots, wonder how many sheep will be on Century rides who have given their Postal kit to the Goodwill store, and now will be decked out in the uniform of the day, the butt ugly TeamShack kits with the overpriced yellow Lance Giro helmet. (Loved in 2004 when someone would proudly brag that they had the $120 Lance Giro helmet and I'd retort well I have the helmet of the worlds greatest cyclist and I paid half that. It was an orange & black version of Johan's 2002 Paris Roubaix helmet, obtained on clearance--i should have bought a half dozen.) Just please ride in a straight line and single file--even you Team in Training folks.

postscript-A few days after this post the following letter appeared in Velonews: The Journal of Competitive Cycling.

Feb 17, 2010

MORE LANCE

Dear Velo,

I watched the Tour de France, Tour Down Under, and would watch more if they were televised.

I have followed Lance Armstrong's career for many years. I read all the books by or about him. I want to see, hear and read ALL I can about him!

He is the idol of many people, especially those fighting cancer. I enjoy hearing about other teams in the race but Lance is the one I want to know all the details, about what he is doing in the races or in every day life. I can say, I believe I am not alone. I could go on and on about reasons I follow him closely and others not so much, but I'll stop here.

Thanks,

C.H.; Karnak, Illinois

Noam Chomsky once said

" And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in (discussions of) sports (as opposed to political and social issues). I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in -- they have the most exotic information and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. " (from Manufacturing Consent)

Chomsky is definitely wrong. Maybe he's right when it comes to baseball, football, golf fans that have esoteric information and understand arcane issues. Most cycling fans have no clue there are any other races than what Lance does and that he has continually ducked or done poorly in other important races.

Fans of other sports are not be as myopic as cycling fans. Some hypothetical examples if stars in other sports acted like Lance.

Golfnews

How can anyone consider Tiger Woods the greatest golfer ever—even if he has won 7 US Opens in a row. He must be nervous about pot bunkers, as he has always skipped the British Open, usually dominating the Greater Kalamazoo Open instead-saying that that course will help in him better prepare for the US Open. And the few times he's entered the Masters he's never contended for the victory—again indicating he's working on kinks in his swing for the US Open. His whole season seems to revolve around winning the US Open, and everything else is just practice.

Baseballnews

Barry Bonds may have won the home run title, but he isn't the greatest ever as he's mighty selective. No, not selective regarding the pitches he swings at. Ever notice that whenever a lefty with a great fastball is pitching, Barry has to rest that night. In the last 5 games the Giants had against Randy Johnson Barry has been out of the lineup. And at huge Petco Park , Barry has played—0 times—when Jake Peavy starts. Such selectivity of when he plays hurts his team.

Basketballnews

Kobe Bryant is the bestest, greatest basketball player ever. The newspaper should write more about Kobe. TV should only show Laker Games.

Jim, Long Beach, Age 8

SIERRA ROAD CENTURY-2010

(2/13/2010)-Opening Day, Sierra Road Century, w/ Dave, Ward, Jack, Christine and the International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers, oh, I mean, Rusty

102.5 miles, 5875' ft. (w/ bonus Calaveras Wall), 15.8 avg, 7:30-@4:00 (217 course rating)

'The bonus mile group' (or as Jack would say, 'the extra credit group') did this a week back on a Sunday, minus the Sierra Road part. I ride with Donna on Sunday’ so I didn’t go so I was psyched all week to get my first century of the year in. Our club was going out to Calaveras—a beautiful, gentle climb so I suggested early in the week that the bonus mile group add the pernicious Sierra loop—Jack responded with tepid support and no one else acknowledged, so I thought Sierra Road was dead. I left on my training wheels (Mavic Open Pro’s with Ultegra hub and x25 cassette as opposed to Open Pro’s with Hugi hub, butted spokes, and x27 cassette or even lighter American Classic medium deep rims with x27. ) The extra rim grams no big deal, but Sierra Road is not something you want to do with a x 25 cassette.

All week I was sky high that weather was finally promising and we’d do a century. But waking up extra early with a damp 42 degrees brought me back to reality—reminded me of the extra early morning part that sucks about any ride. Didn’t help that it was so foggy that water was dripping off our helmets, and my odometer went our and lens popped out of glasses at the same time. Luckily when Ward got a flat close to where we’d meet up with the Club, the sun had broken out.

Dr. Dave (the Doubles' Doctor) and I in our Official Triple Crown Jerseys on the top of Sierra Road, with a younger Rusty moving in the podium platforms. (Ward-o-photo with special Pumpkincycle enhancement)

Ride was high paced, as someone usually upping the pace at some section, with ever Shifting alliances. Some highlights:

On run into Sunol Brother Vic does most of the pulling, so when we get to the fast three tier climb and he starts to stall I pass tell him I’ll just ride tempo. Ward comes alongside and together we block the road to cut off any attacks.

On Calaveras, a long climb but not steep with multi hairpin, Dave and I slow down the pace to keep the group together, while dodging the Team needs Training obstacle course at the beginning. Brother Vic attacks a number of times, I counterattack too much and am hurting after the last one so I vow that if we get rid of Vic we stay away for good. Dave and I finally broke clear and then work together—though at the end Ward and Christine were pulling Vic back very fast so we’re lucky the course ended when it did. I think we were slowed when Dave had to slow and say hello to the recumbent riders we passed near the end.


On Sierra Road-a 4 mile climb (550 meters) I never do well, (steep with no recovery sections) I had pulled my back on it every time we had done it last year, and had to stop 1-2x on it to stretch every time—so I was a bit wary. Dave and Christine had never done Sierra. Dave stayed with me on the real steep beginning, and then spun away from me on the middle section, opening a 30 second gap. I kept chasing hard, and closed it down to about 15 seconds, which Dave started to nudge back up near the end. I finished at 35:16 and I was happy; with stretching time I was never under 40:00 last year.

Earlier, I never thought we were doing Sierra Road—even 5 minutes before we made the decision to do it. When we finished the race up Calaveras—Brother Vic yelled “aren’t we doing the wall” which is a steep but short climb beyond our rest stop. (Mentioned by the folks at the Primavera Century as the famous Calaveras “Wall”, one site pegs it at 15%. I thought he was joking but Vic went on ahead so I figured what the hell and followed. (.4 mile and 56 meters) Of course later, after we come back from Sierra Road we have to do it again, so I wound up doing the “feared” wall 2x. Funny comment heard when I crested the wall the first time, one rider telling his buddy “I was even passed by a guy on a single speed.” (Don!)

When at the end of Calaveras I thought we were going to turn around with the main group, ride back to Sunol. and then the bonus milers would do the Palamaras Climb. But while I was playing around on “the Wall,” Jack said he’d only hand out extra credit if we did Sierra Road (or maybe he was handing out Lincolns’) and I was surprised when told that Sierra Road it is. We were also joined by Rusty—who had not read the ride description as to where we were starting, and rode out to join us—and he was game for Sierra also. Rusty one of the strongest riders on the flats, and a beast on technical downhills, but he’s not a climber—so if he wasn’t complaining about Sierra Road, I certainly wasn’t going to though I had the wrong fn wheel for it.

The bonus mile group on top of Sierra Road. I was NOT doing the Sierra Road climb unless Ward had his camera. (Ward-o-photo)

Nice thing about Sierra Road. It was a vest/ tee shirt/ knee warmers type of day—even in the sun there was a slight chill, and it was cold on the downhill ramp from Calaveras to Milpitas But Sierra Road is so “out in the open”*** it was hot—beginning of climb was spent trying to roll knee warmers around ankles w/ tucking the chain sides ones into the sock so they don’t get caught. (Reflection/ glare off of all the white legs even made it warmer)

After chasing Dave, and our regroup on top of Sierra, our group stayed together the rest of the day, bs'ing about how fast the Wine Country Century closed out (May event, closed out February 4th!!), or that you can’t get a motel room in Davis for the Davis Double weekend. Yep, it was just Festivus, the cycling season was quickly upon us.

Last rest stop on the porch at the Sunol General Store, Ward still can't sit on the padded chairs that have been investigated by the CDC. It seems we were just there (well we were, a few hours ago)--winter has gone by quickly. Nice paceline down the long stretch on Foothill without many traffic controls, Rusty turns off to go home, and we continue cooperatively down San Ramon-Danville Blvd with all too many traffic controls that mean frequent stops and starts. At the end no other club is coming up "the Blvd," Dave does a lead out and we all are content letting Dave pass through the finish line first while he is waiting for someone to come around.

Great ride, with more climbing than most regular century rides, but shows that I have alot of work to do. Usually if I start to fade it's energy related. Energy level was good yesterday, but damn, were my muscles fatigued whereas I'd have trouble going another 40 miles at speed.

Footnote-self supported Century so didn't want to blow the food prep. Took 1 bar with me for every 20 miles, and a 2 scoop solution of HEED & Perpetuem--Hammergel fortified, plus and extra portion of Hammergel. Had an extra scoop of HEED I was supposed to take with me, but left in the car (note to self: don't forget extra bags of HEED and to defog glasses) and later picked up a banana and didn't eat one of the 5 bars I took. So, for the 6 1/2 hour ride ride:

1625 calories. 25 grams fat, 332 grams carbs, 32 grams protein

Only mistake was at mile 75 only had drunk 1 1/2 bottles, which was way too little, and something was the color of brown mustard. Paid for that after the ride-couldn't drink enough the rest of the day (even with hemp protein-Cliff Recovery-pumpkin butter shake right after the ride)

Preseason Baseball 2010--St. Tony's Skewed Take On Mark McGwire

La Russa was McGwire's manager for nearly all of his 16-year career in both Oakland and St. Louis. He was also his fiercest defender, especially after The Associated Press reported McGwire used androstenedione during his record-breaking season in '98. Andro, as it was known, was made a controlled substance until 2004, when it also was banned by baseball.The manager said he didn't know until Monday that McGwire used steroids."

That's a blatant lie," Canseco said. "There are some things here that are so ridiculous, and so disrespectful for the public and the media to believe. I just can't believe it. I'm in total shock. These guys remind me of politicians that go up and just lie to the public and expect to get elected."
Baltimore Sun 1/13/2010

Mark McGwire playing thirdbase for the Modesto A's circa 1985. (Pumpkincycle Photo)

Mark McGwire finally admitting to steroid use should have created a tiny ripple—as almost everyone already knew this. But there were two huge reactions to McGwire’s steroid revelation caused by his and Manager La R ussa's comments not passing "the smell test."

1) McGwire was almost uniformly condemned (except by Tony La Russa) for still not being forthright when indicating he took steroids for injury only and it didn’t help his god given performance one bit.

2) The reaction to Tony La Russa’s “I believe Mark and didn’t know until yesterday” performance also seems disingenuous, but Tony is given the benefit of the doubt as he saves animals, is a great family man, and is a patron of the ballet. (Oh, never mind that drunk driving conviction…)

But why does Tony La Russa get a special pass? Why is it constantly reported what a great and honorable guy (though bit of a control freak) Tony is?, thus this has becomes the general public perception of him. I don't know much else about him except for his propensity to make dozens of pitching changes and extend games. But I recall reading years ago about his abandoning his first family. When I mention this to people who readily give St. Tony the benefit of the doubt about his claim of ignorance re McGwire steroids, most people don’t believe it—as it is almost never reported. I tried to find it for a friend and could’t find any reference to it on the ‘net. Ain’t on Wikipedia’s bio of Tony. So it can’t be true..

Had to do some research the old fashioned way—from a book. And there it is on pages 145-146 of the book “Lady in the Locker Room (1993),” by Susan Fornoff, who was the beat reporter of the A’s. An early A’s bio of Manager Tony La Russa said he just had two children; when an old time reporter asked him about his other two children Tony La Russa said ‘ that was another life that no longer existed.'(145) Around the time of the Bay Bridge World Series La Russa’s ex wife and children tried to get newspapers interested in writing about them, while writers were gushing over what a great family man La Russa is. (145-146) "I was covering his first press conference, when he was named manager, and I said to him, 'It says here (on the press release) that you have two children. But you have four children,'....And Tony said, 'That was a previous life.'" from Lady In the Locker Room, p. 145

Look, people wind up in unique personal situations and no one is a saint. But as newspapers have gone to town to portray Tony La Russa as St. Tony, which then give his fishy statements certain veracity, it isn’t far fetched to imagine that as he conveniently changed the facts of his personal/ family history for public consumption he'd readily change the details of his managing team steriods to protect his legacy. In fact it seems likely..

(Postscript) The Fornoff book reminds up how disingenuous Commissioner Bud & Tony are when they said they knew nothing about steroids. At the end of September 1988 Washington post reporter Tom Boswell appeared on CBS alleging that Canseco used steroids. At Fenway Park, in the October 1988 playoffs, Boston fans readily sang "steroids..steroids" to the A's. (p. 159) And Bud/ Tony didn't notice any of this?

PUMPKIN POWER-Losing Weight-2010

Going into this winter I had 3 resolutions/ projects

1) Clean up My Workbench and Desk
2) Add 20% new music to my MP3's
3) Lose 10-15 lbs

Number 1 & 2 are not as easy as it seems. I truly believe in the pile system—if it is not obvious that something will be immediately needed or very important in the future, it gets thrown into a stack. Especially when work and cycling take up so much time. Such a large stack developed on my roll top desk that the roll top couldn't be closed. These are some of the treasures I've found since jumping in and either filing things or actually throwing things out..

1) 2000-01 Golden State Warrior pocket schedule, where they proudly exclaim they have the lowest bowl prices in the league.

2) East Bay Bicycle Coalition Vol. 33 No. 2 Newsletter (February 2003)

3) Gourmet Equipment Catalog sent to prior occupants of the house-from Winter 1999.

4) Note from backyard neighbor (since moved, in fact the folks who moved in after him were reposed) indicating his apple tree is growing over the fence and he'd be more than happy to come over and prune it. Note is from August 30, 2003.

5) Emergency Room wristband from 4/1/2003 with name of stupidass Emergency Room Physician who didn’t examine my busted knee because he thought I walked into hospital on my own power (o the memories.).

6) Receipt for a computer backpack bought at UC Santa Barbara in January 4, 2003 when my daughter, who has long graduated from college, was looking for a college to get into. (Think they’ll take a slightly used backpack back?)

7) 4" round Milliken Carpet sample--must have envisioned it as a potential coaster.

8) Credit card receipt from Tipica Trattoria Etsusca, 9/4/2004, $92.90 Euro--dinner for four in Orvieto. Great food--got us off of the disgusting "gourmet farm."

9) Donnie sent me an email for a "Trader Joe's List: and I emailed back 8/23/2002 for her to pick up "a few hot sausage packs, soy milks, one orange luna bar for sun am." Bike picnic?? Long before ever thinking of eating in Italy.

10) Proving I really don't care about plays--an August 4, 2002 ticket stub for STOMP at the Marines Memorial Theatre. Don't remember a thing about it.

11) Another important receipt for black pocket shorts from a sporting goods store in Florida. Oh, they're too big now let me take them back. Receipt from January 13, 2003.

12) The real treasure. A $30. BART ticket, bought on '022801', from back in the day when they kept a running total of the amount on the same ticket you used over and over--which was paper and became dog-eared fast. (today you get a new thicker plastic coated ticket with the new amount only after every use) It still had $19.30 on it. I thought it wouldn't work and I'd have to get the station agent to issue a new ticket, but to my surprise the 9 year old ticket was still processed by the turnstile.

13) Five 8x10 photos of the Polo Grounds, one signed by 5 NY Giants, a signed Patti Smith photo, and a "the Doors" photo signed by Ray Manzarak--all should have been framed long ago.

14) WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER THROW ANYTHING OUT. I have the greatest day backpack for short trips (narrow. small but holds enough, with perfect pockets, good water bottle holders) that my wife keeps borrowing for traveling. Its a 'Black Diamond' that I bought years ago--but there is no model name of number identified on the pack and the 'Black Diamond' daypacks we've seen in the store are different. So--when almost finishing cleaning my desk I found the little catalog that came with the backpack with a label identifying the model--with this info I was able to quickly find it online and order one for my wife.

I have now gotten rid of these treasures. Likewise, down in the garage new lights were hung to replace the fluorescent that long since stopped working properly. Being able to now see, many of the "spare" nuts, bolts, screws, angle irons, pieces of string, drill bits have either found a like minded container for similar objects (empty Tums containers) or have been tossed. Shelves were built and a mini shop vac purchased so sawdust doesn’t turn to mold.

So the cleanup has rolled along.

The music has not got off the ground. I have about 700 mp3's that I love, but I have heard them so often (played at work, in the car, and when I'm around the TV) that it sounds like 7 songs over and over. Of course the Sony Random feature is so bad it may be 7 songs over and over. In any event, I have about 2 dozen cuts on CD's I need to convert to MP3's—but actually I first have to equalize their sound as a WAV file so the volume is consistent between cuts. Good way to do things but time consuming. I also have a list of 3 dozen cuts I previewed on Rhapsody that I need to purchase. Somehow, every night I figure I'll do this tomorrow.

Part of the reason the music project keeps getting delayed is, with an eye towards the Alta Alpina 8, I’ve made a big effort to lose weight. So no staying up with a midnight snack until 1 am. Also, reducing calories in the winter I’m colder than shit (yes, I know I live in sunny California) but 65 degrees inside now feels like the North Pole. But with a reduction of riding now is the time to lose weight, as when we start riding heavily I gotta keep stoked up on carbs.

Orange line weight, blue line daily calories, red line daily calorie goal to keep under (2200 net baseline calories to maintain weight with no activity.)

I’m being anal about the whole thing and counting calories to try to stay under the '2200 NO activity' calorie baseline every day.(1) **On days riding I get to raise my baseline by 200-250 calories an hour, which is still a net loss as estimates are 500-900 calories burned per hour of moderate to hard cycling.(2) **In any event I’ve dropped 9 pounds in two months, and am now at 140, last seen in early 2004 when I was nervous about racing and century rides and depressed as hell (a great combo for not eating.)

Since then I’ve been around 148, going a few pounds over 150 if I don’t watch myself and going down to about 145 when super motivated around the Mt. Tam Double. So hopefully we can keep this going to the Alta Alpina Double, and hopefully it will also be real warm real soon so I can take my stocking cap and fleece vest off indoors..

(1) Government Calorie baseline indicator at http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/interactiveDRI/dri_results.php
(2) Two cycling calorie indicators
http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi
http://www.nutristrategy.com/fitness/cycling.htm