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had the road to myself today, for the most part. always caught up to cars on descents but expected considering the time I left, and the fact that it’s a friday. didn’t see too many cyclists out today, more cars than anything.
what’s left to say? 45mi, 2600ft of climbing, and torched legs. get it done.
Tags: cannondale caad9, double, muir woods
saw connor from freewheel coming out of sausalito before I started my double muir. it was sunny, mild in temperature, and epic out as usual. more cars back up than usual because a section of highway 1 was turned into 1 lane – workers were repaving the side that goes towards mill valley. crushed both times around, but was feeling completely trashed coming back into the city.
LOVE IT.
Tags: cannondale caad9, double, muir woods
justin and I hit up alpine dam today. the weather was a bit cooler than usual, which was surprising…but we still had a great time. justin brought out his point and shoot camera today, and snapped some super crisp shots overlooking alpine dam and 7 sisters. here’s one of them:
I would’ve posted the other ones, but he turned off the ability for people to save the images off his flickr. so this one is a screenshot of the photo in the album (see the full one on his flickr).
we had clear descents today, a surprise since usually there are cars we catch up to. well, actually I take that back. on the final descent on highway 1 towards mill valley, we got behind 3 cars that were just crawling down the hill. hauled ass through to mill valley, I think justin said 30mph flatland. he was hustling hard on the flats and climbs today. what a G.
and thus ends another successful bike week. hoping to get the supersix built within the month, more parts will be on order this week to finalize the build.
Tags: alpine dam, cannondale caad9
headed out with ben and justin today for a bit of muir woods action, it was ben’s first time riding through mill valley to get to 4 corners. while we were heading up the 4 corners, we spotted a small group of riders, maybe 7 or so. I was up ahead, and pass them, and started picking up the pace for the last part of the climb. I was keeping a quick pace, not slowing down until I got to the top to wait for justin and ben. I started descending, and when we finally reached the bottom parking lot, justin told me what he saw from the back. apparently, after I passed those guys, they weren’t too happy. “F*CKING FREEWHEEL,” I believe was the term used. hating because I’m reppin’ my crew? yea boy, hate on it!
so the first half of the loop was done, and we rode up highway 1 to get back into mill valley. about 400ft ahead, there was a guy in a red kit riding up the hill. gave me a nice goal to catch, so I left justin and ben in pursuit of the guy. I caught him, and started to slow up to let them catch up. that’s when I took this picture. and about 100ft after this, I dropped my water bottle. fail on my part. they caught back up, and passed me. I grabbed my bottle and started catching back up, now I wanted to catch the guy in red. down on time, a bit of climbing left…seemed like a fun challenge. several minutes later, completely shattered, I caught up to him, again.
but that wasn’t the end of the ride. justin wanted to show us rodeo beach, starting from the bottom of the golden gate. we looped around and started climbing towards the golden gate parking lot, sausalito side. fort baker, I think it’s called. anyway, we rode back up to the lot, and then started riding up to the headlands. we descended down into rodeo beach, and took a crazy mountain road to a bunker. the only reason I say crazy is because the entrance is closed, and we had to ride this 6″ patch of dirt around it. oh, but there’s more. there were sections of road missing, that were just gravel. no cars ever come through this way, the road was barely paved. and then justin said there were coyotes. so that was great. LOL.
alpine dam tomorrow, should be fun.
Tags: cannondale caad9, muir woods, rodeo beach
same weather as always, significantly more sand in the road today. it got kicked up along with the water to form a thin layer that covered me head to toe. it’s an unappealing feeling. my drivetrain started creaking halfway through. another bad feeling. the bike is just gritty, I’m about to take off the wheels, put it on the stand and wash it.
almost had a collision with 3 separate tourists that didn’t even bother to look behind them as I yelled “EXCUSE ME!” or “ON YOUR LEFT!”. here’s what bother’s me, even if you don’t speak english, when you hear a sound of a person coming your way, why not just turn around and see what the sound is from. and then, if it’s from a cyclist that’s trying to get around you and your wife, maybe you might consider sticking to one side of the road. oh that’s another thing: yelling DIRECTIONS to people, on your left, on your right, that’s almost a bad idea. I feel like if you give them a direction, even if it’s the one that you’re going to be coming from, they’re going to move TOWARDS you. classic example, I yelled out “ON YOUR LEFT!”, and the guy in front of me moves to the left…I’ve resorted to “EXCUSE ME!” because it let’s them choose where the hell they want to go. honestly I don’t care, but seriously, stick to a SIDE or people are going to die. babies will be punched.
Tags: cannondale caad9, double, muir woods
I saw travis heading back from his morning ride, we passed each other in sausalito down town. found out later that he did a paradise loop because he met up with someone to drop something off. anyway, the weather was typical today, probably a bit more wet than usual. the descents had lots of water on them, and on the climbs, it was misting heavily. I wore my windtex shoe covers today and it made the biggest difference in terms of comfort. my feet were completely dry and warm for the duration of the ride. granted, my feet are still getting used to the insoles, but not having soaked feet just made it that much better.
on the road that leads back to highway 1, in muir woods, there was a truck with 3 guys hauling branches into the bed. I passed them the first time I went around, and then the second time I came around, one of the workers yelled, “HE’S DOING IT TWICE!”. two times my man, two times.
travis asked me to call him at the shop today to discuss the supersix headset dilemma. we came to the conclusion that the bearings would work, but the topcap would probably not be big enough to cover the hole, as I stated yesterday. bummed I can’t get the parts through them, but hoping the guy from big swingin’ cycles, can. haven’t heard back from him yet, but at least he has the part number and can order it for me if he doesn’t have one in stock.
as a side note, my edge composites tapered fork showed up at work today. haven’t seen it yet, but it’s probably awesome, as expected. let’s get this build done, YEA!
seems like forever since I headed out with justin to do alpine dam. it was a bit foggy/misty all the way through, but at the dam, it was quiet, sunny, and warm.
you know how I know it’s sunday?
- the “hey, we’re into riding, so let’s get some sick carbon bikes, but only ride them on sunday with each other” 2 man group: we were out of alpine dam already, riding along ridgecrest, approaching 7 sisters, spotted 2 guys riding side-by-side. one on a colnago c50 (or something) and the other on a wilier cento uno. let me preface this by saying my feet were rather uncomfortable the entire ride, but I suffered through it. I definitely wasn’t suppose to go for a 3 hour ride only 2 days after getting drastically improved insoles. in fact, I shouldn’t have ridden that far for a couple weeks at least. but who’s going to follow those rules anyway, I GOTTA RIDE! okay, back to the situation. I call out to them, “on your left!”. no movement. I’m a bit puzzled at this point. it’s foggy, misting, and the ground is slick. the road is clear ahead, so I cut into the opposite lane, and pass them, but as I do my rear tire slips on the double yellow line. and their response is, “hope you don’t fall in front of us”. oh…I won’t.
justin catches up to me, and I look back to see the colnago and wilier on his ass. not cool. I wait up, let them all pass, and then get on the back of the train, the wilier is in front of me. we cruise along the rollers, and then hit one of the short climbs. justin is up front, and I’m still in the back. the 2 guys are shifting all sloppy, big ringing it, tons of sounds coming from their drivetrains. I felt bad for their bikes, and passed them both. as I came next to them, I said, “gee, I hope I don’t slip!”. har har. I think the colnago jumped after me, but I’m not sure since I never looked back. I heard someone huffing and puffing along behind me…but after a couple rollers, I heard nothing. and then I looked back and saw nothing. there was a pull out up ahead on the road, so i headed in, and waited up for justin. didn’t see the other guys behind him, so I figured justin ditched them. ATTA BOY!
I will say this though, through all the uncomfortable foot pain, and near cramp-attacks, the insoles have made a world of difference in my pedal stroke and power output. granted, I’ve only had them for a short time, but the way my feet feel against the sole is so proper. there are no more hot-spots, or collapsed arches. once I’m completely used to the feeling of the insoles, I’m sure hours on the saddle will feel like eating cake. and who doesn’t like cake. mmm.
- F%^&ING SUNDAY DRIVERS (or drivers that are just not paying attention to what’s going on): after descending down highway 1 into mill valley, there’s T intersection with 2 lanes. the right lane, obviously goes right, which is where justin and I were heading to get back to sausalito. I was in the right lane when I heard justin yell out, “DOM, WATCH OUT!” (or maybe not exactly that, but something close to it). I was still in the lane, about to make the right turn, not sure why he called out. then I saw a black bmw e46 coupe coming towards me from the left. the lady driving was completely oblivious to what was going on, and I swung to the right just as her side view mirror was at my handlebars. justin proceeded to call her out, and she drove past us, angrily, as if we were the ones merging incorrectly. how can you just merge into the right lane, without signalling, without even checking if someone was there. dangerous drivers.
- tourists, lots and lots of tourists. “oh hey, let me ride in the middle, or to the left, on the bridge while cyclists are coming towards me, going the opposite way. this makes sense to me. I want to take a picture of the awesome view I see while I’m riding. holding the camera in one hand, and steering with the other hand is the best way to operate a bicycle while getting hit with 20mph winds from the west. this insures that any gust of air that takes me by surprise will not end up being a near head-on collision with another cyclist.” use your BRAIN PEOPLE. COME ON.
thank goodness I’m home. my legs ache, the type of aching that says, “YEP, you’re pedaling correctly now.”
Tags: alpine dam, cannondale caad9
I’m still trying to get used to the insoles, so this morning I did some squat intervals at home, while waiting for freewheel to open. I headed out on the road bike, the first time really riding with the insoles (besides yesterday, but I wouldn’t really count that). I rode along the embarcadero, marina, crissy, through to arguello gates, down and into the park, panhandle to the shop. snagged some hammergel, talked a bit of shop with the boys, and ran over to haight with justin for a second. then I headed towards the beach, along the highway for a bit, and headed back to take a breather. there must be an event going on tomorrow because the outer ring was lined with cargo containers. after resting for a second, I spun through the park, back to arguello, down to the marina, and headed back home.
still getting used to the feeling of wearing the insoles. trying to wear them as much as I can, I hate not being able to go for long rides. we’ll see how my feet feel tomorrow, I’m thinking about tackling alpine dam. I can’t wait 2 weeks+ to start doing longer rides again…I’m going to take it easyISH.
Tags: cannondale caad9
it was COLD today. 50′s with mist, and a strong wind that froze my toes. I saw travis from freewheel heading back from his ride though, we crossed paths on the bridge, the exact same spot as 2 weeks ago. hope you had a good ride!
opted for a double muir. got stuck behind slow cars twice in a row, which was such a kill for me. I was even colder by time I was climbing on highway 1. I guess that’s all I have to say about that. didn’t see any cyclists out, and the weather was cold.
now I’m at work, watching a deda stem auction on ebay. I hope I win…an edge composites tapered fork auction ends on sunday. hope I win that too. want to get this PROJECT ROLLING.
Tags: cannondale caad9, muir woods
I think alpine dam has taken a back seat to the mighty muir woods loop. it’s a 14.5mi loop from the bike trail through mill valley, muir woods, and back – roughly 1300ft of climbing according to google earth. kind of wish I had a cyclocomputer so I could accurately document the elevation change, but oh well. double muir woods, the new NEW. one of the things I love about the ride is that there’s not too many flat spots. you’re either going up, or going down. the road that leads to highway 1, where I take the picture, is rolling with tons of headwind. just when you thought you were going to get off easy. psh, there’s no easy button on this loop, we left amateur hour miles ago, son.
oh, and I saw a big bunch of mission cycling members heading out for their sunday ride. one of them hollered at me…was it you, joshua? wouldn’t be too surprised if it was, we always seem to miss each other. hope you had a safe/fun ride with your homies. I do have to say though, the new kits look decent. man, that club is getting big…
as a side note, I took yesterday off. slept in, did laundry, and acted like a lazy-ass. definitely needed it, my legs were shot, but spent the rest of the day wishing I went for a ride. ah, the pros and cons of recovery time.
Tags: cannondale caad9, muir woods