I did not ride today.
the rest of the week looks clear though. thursday it might rain again, but probably not as bad. it’ll be nice to have a bit of dry weather.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2010.
Tags: daily, san francisco, weather
a large serving bowl containing some salad, avocados, blue cheese chunks, and a neat spiral of honey mustard.
it was really tasty.
Tags: nom
when the online weather stations say 70% chance of rain, I usually assume it’s going to rain. a quick glance at the radar showed me that there was no precipitation over marin at all. a big green path had already passed by, so I knew the ground would be wet. I opted for my waterproof goretex shoe covers today, assuming it’d be just as wet around the tiburon peninsula. to my surprise, when I got out to marin, it was significantly warmer than san francisco, and there were no rain clouds out at all. the 96% humidity kept the air thick and dense.
I caught up to a big group ride at one of the intersections right before the camino alto climb. I spotted a couple people wearing pacific bike kits, and another guy wearing a safeway kit. he looked scary fast…I think safeway is a cat1 pro team as well, so yea, that was a bit intimidating. as we started the climb, I set my own pace remembering rule 71. I passed the bunch and continued off on my own for a while. then about 50ft from the top, I could hear their wheels behind me, and 3 of the guys from the group broke off, attacking each other up to the crest of the climb. I took the descent cautiously and a couple of guys from the back of the bunch caught and passed me through the turns. when we got to the red light at the bottom of the hill, they were all heading towards fairfax. I turned off and started heading towards tiburon.
after that point, I saw no cyclists out. at all. the road was still torn up, but luckily, construction was only monday through friday, so that was one less thing to stop for during the ride. and because it wasn’t raining, there was significantly less mud on the road. it was still wet out, but not bad at all.
I headed back towards the city and was caught by tons of people on a charity walk of some sort. it ended a short ways after the bridge, san francisco side, which was a relief. side note: there really should be signs for cyclists and/or pedestrians for detours to avoid these types of things. the last thing I was expecting coming off of the bike path was tons of people walking.
it’s suppose to rain tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.
Tags: cannondale supersix, paradise loop, weather
Tags: daily, san francisco
3 hours of wet, rainy riding to get myself back into gear. what I wasn’t expecting was paradise drive, a road that leads around the tiburon peninsula, to be torn up for about a third of the ride. they must be repaving the section of road, because it’s fully roughed up, the top layer of asphalt has been ripped off. and because it was raining, the water mixed with dirt to create this light mud that flew all over the place as I rode through it. I think the worst part of it all was the grit that was left all over my hands. I tried wiping it off on my jacket, but my jacket had dirt on it too. so that worked out, well…
the last two thirds of the ride were equally as wet, but more twisty. so needless to say, I was taking the turns very conservatively, which made that part of the ride really slow. I arrived at the water fountain (as pictured above), and spent a second to wash off all the mud on my legs that had been collecting since the construction zone. I was wearing windtex shoe covers that had been soaked through within the first 10 minutes of the ride, so you can imagine how wet my feet were. definitely need to bring out the gore shoe covers next time, I’m sure they would’ve done much better against the rain.
the ride back was actually more rewarding, more open areas and less turns gave me the opportunity to stretch my legs a bit and really put down some speed. overall, I’m glad I headed out. it taught me a lot about riding in the rain, and about what works in terms of clothing. it’s suppose to be raining saturday and sunday as well, but much heavier. so we’ll see.
yea, it’s still wet out.
Tags: cannondale supersix, daily, paradise loop, san francisco, weather, winter
what a relief, to finally be back on the bike after 3 days of unwanted (but much needed) rest. my hip and shoulder were still stiff and sore, but once I got onto the bridge, my muscles were warm and feeling great. today, I took bunker road from the backside of the headlands, all the way out to rodeo beach. the end loop has a ~350ft climb, at a nice, steep angle (if ridden from the beach side).
I timed myself around the mini hill climb loop, as not to stay out there too long, causing me to be late to work. the climb, and descent, from point to point takes roughly 11-12 minutes. not bad, considering the gradient of the climb, and how compact it is. I still wish it was longer though…I hope they open up the road to the top, soon.
to my surprise, the weather was a bit humid, so the air was warm and thick the entire ride. and the roads were dry, which was nice. as you can see in the picture above, a blanket of high clouds prevented any sun from coming through. I found myself struggling to see, near the end of the rodeo beach loop because my light battery had been drained from running on the strongest setting. seems like I have to be more conservative with it on these morning rides. though, I think that the batteries weren’t holding a charge as well because of their infrequent use…so we’ll see next monday, the next time I’m out for a pre-dawn ride.
and the new shoes? they feel glorious. I’m almost certain that my previous sidi’s were warped from all the riding I did before I got the custom insoles. the arch buckle always seemed to clinch my foot, and the techno-2 buckle could never be dialed in exactly. the new shoes, paired with the insoles, place my feet in the perfect positioning without discomfort. makes me glad I ordered the insoles several months ago.
the weather forecast isn’t looking too optimistic for the weekend though. 20% chance of rain, tomorrow. then 50% chance on saturday, 60% chance on sunday. or so the weather underground says. I’m definitely not going to do alpine dam saturday or sunday, if it is raining. if anything, I’ll head out for a more flat ride…tiburon probably.
though, secretly, I’m hoping it doesn’t rain.
Tags: cannondale supersix, daily, double, rodeo beach, san francisco
I just picked up the package from work.
fresh ergo 2′s, black vernice. I’m going to swap on my cleats and shim, throw in the insoles and they should be good to go!
Tags: gear
two weeks worth of construction going on outside. apparently they’re realigning the sewer main, or something like that.
some good news: my new shoes are showing up later today, so I should be back on the bike tomorrow morning. I cleaned up the bike a bit, and made sure it ran through all the gears properly, everything seems to be working well. the spoke tension seems a bit on the low side, so that appointment at the shop next week should do the trick. I also had the shop order me in a replacement rear skewer, since my current one is all scraped up from the impact. luckily, skewers are cheap to replace, it should be in next week as well.
can’t wait to get back on the bike.
Tags: daily, san francisco
still off the bike, still a bit sore. but my hip has gotten a little better, and my arm. I plan on being back on the bike on friday. my sidi’s are coming on thursday. I’m going to call the shop to see if they can take a look at my bike tomorrow afternoon.
fingers crossed.
Tags: daily, san francisco, weather
just a tad bit sore from yesterday’s fall. not any worse, though. sleeping through the night was a bit of a pain, I kept worrying about rolling on my left side, but luckily, I didn’t. I put a gauze pad on my arm so it would’ve stain my bed with blood, that worked out pretty well.
I took the bmx bike out this morning to get to work. I definitely wasn’t going as fast as I normally would’ve because of the discomfort, but I got to work with no close calls. a bit bummed I didn’t get to ride this morning, and won’t be able to for a couple days…but I’m sure my hip and arm need to heal a bit before I jump back on the bike. and I should probably take the bike in to get the wheels retensioned, it’s been about 300 miles. that, and I want them to see if anything needs tweaking. the fall could’ve loosened anything up.
on a lighter note, I’ve ordered a dura-ace 7900 left shifter from a UK distributor. that’ll probably take a week or so to get here, but the marred shifter still works, so it’ll be fine until then. I also have a new set of sidi ergo 2′s on order, which should be here on wednesday or thursday. hopefully, by then, the bike is all tuned up and I’m less sore, so I can start riding it again.
Tags: daily, san francisco