muir woods

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saturday’s “group” ride.

August 20, 2011 in riding | No comments

justin was in the city today, getting his car serviced, so we decided to meet up in the morning to get a ride in before he had to pick it up.  zach woke up late (shaking my head) because his alarm didn’t go off, so justin and I chilled at the bridge, nerding out on our garmin/powertap setups.  so much technology at the fingertips, it was such a bad idea (good idea) getting up to speed with cycling goodies…

anyway, we rolled out after zach came, and started riding towards sausalito.  we rode through the city and out onto the bike path, at which time I realized that my flatland speed had improved a little, but definitely not enough to keep up a sustained effort.  at least my spin was decent.  we road through mill valley, and hit muir woods.  I hadn’t been back for about 2 weeks, previously worried about not being fit enough to make it out towards the city.  the first half of muir woods is semi-residential.  you’re basically going through streets in a quiet, hilly neighborhood.  the grade isn’t too crazy, but it’s definitely more difficult than the main roads.  we made it to the top, and dropped off to the backside – cue above photo, by zach.

the climb out went much more smoothly, except for the fact that I had to hear the beeping time bomb that was zach’s garmin saying, “oh no, max heart rate!”.  after descending down, we tacked on paradise loop, which would add a bit of mileage, and give us all a chance to spin out the legs.  we were passed by 3 guys chasing down 1 guy, and unfortunately caught them on the flat section as we all lined up for a sprint into the empty downtown area.  total game killer.  we reached the water fountain, and one of the guys just rode straight towards it, cutting us off.  for water.  at a fountain.  cool move.

a very good spectrum of the cycling world: cannondale (american brand, aluminum, now made in taiwan) with shimano dura-ace 7900, moots (also an american brand, titanium, but made in the states) with sram red, and a look (french, carbon, and made in france) with campagnolo super record 11.  I was outgunned by zipps, too.  and on a saturday in marin, things like that count, especially in a 3-man group ride.  no prisoners.

then we had this weird moment with a toyota.  female driver honked us on a back road, as we made our way back towards the bike path.  we slide over, and she passed.  cool, problem solved.  no wait, now she’s stopped about 100m ahead of us.  the hazards aren’t flashing, she’s just stopped.  oh, she’s picking up someone from one of the houses at the side of the road.  well, now we’re just going to pass–wait, now she’s accelerating towards justin and zach as they’re passing her.  words exchange, I’m watching from behind.  she says something to the degree of, “there are kids in the car.”  and to that I almost felt like saying, “damn, and here you’re driving all pro, that’s an even more perfect example for your kids.  look at mommy drive, it’s okay to just stop in the middle of the street to pick up someone, don’t bother pulling over to let anyone pass, they can wait while we pick up aunt jess.”  ugh life (not thug life).

we rode out of sausalito without much problems, and then hit the bridge, which was starting to fill with people.  if I can make it across without unclipping, it’s an automatic bridge-crossing success with a 10 second time bonus to the general classifications.  we all made it across just fine, all receiving time bonuses for a hard fought win through the technical course.  I split, and headed towards the marina.  after taking a slight detour because of a stone temple pilots’ concert, I was home.

and now I’m hungry.  food consumption ensues.

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tuesday’s ride.

August 16, 2011 in riding | No comments

today, I headed out towards fairfax to hit up alpine dam.  the bridge was damp and busy with commuting cyclists.  I always feel like people sleep in on mondays and then go out in force on tuesdays (and fridays, too).  there was a huge gaggle of cyclists riding 2-3 across on the bridge, coming back into the city.  they appeared to be part of mission cycling, but I couldn’t tell because a bunch of guys near the back were wearing different kits.  either way, I made it across safely, and dropped into sausalito.

the rest of the way was pretty quiet.  definitely more cars and people out today, for some reason.  I topped off my bottles before beginning the climb towards alpine dam, and rode on.  surprisingly enough, I caught up to a guy wearing a camelbak of sorts, riding a red caad10.  no comment on the camelbak, but the bike was looking good.  I think it was stock…anyway, I had the road all to myself, even climbing out of the dam towards 7 sisters.  the weather was nice and cool, but dense fog looked to be waiting for me at the lower elevation.  I dropped down into the ranger station to fill my bottles once more, and descended down towards stinson beach.

it was exactly like the weather last week.  the dense fog was everywhere.  after rolling along highway 1 and climbing out of muir woods, I decided to tack on paradise loop.  I wasn’t feeling particularly good or bad, and hoped that hydrating, refueling, and spinning would help me pull through the extra k’s.  as I reached tiburon, the legs started feeling much better, and I was actually glad to have added the loop onto the ride.  I spun all the way through sausalito, hitting the tourist packed golden gate bridge.  it was pretty thick with blazing saddle bike rentals and people walking 3-4 abreast, but I made it across without much fuss, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

five and a half hours and 138km later, I was home.  now, I am tired.

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a difficult-easy ride.

August 11, 2011 in riding | No comments

before I forget, yesterday I meant to state that “I wasn’t expecting huge amounts of wattage…”, as in: was not!  I mistyped the beginning, and it read as if I actually was expecting huge numbers.  impressive output after being off the bike for a month, followed by 2 weeks of lots of base would be kind of crazy.  anyway, I just wanted to clear that up.

I headed across a very foggy, wet bridge, tailed closely by another cyclist in a blue and orange kit.  I didn’t really care about it today, we played the weirdest game of pacing.  well, I wasn’t playing, and maybe he wasn’t either, but it sure as hell seemed like it.  initially, he was riding behind me.  I cut through the parking lot at the marina greens, while he took the shared pedestrian path.  now he was in front of me, going a hair slower.  I was keeping my cadence high and smooth, spinning out my legs from yesterday’s big ride.  I eventually passed him, and he caught my draft.  he paced behind me through sausalito, and then must’ve turned off for coffee or something, because I looked back and saw no one.

welp, there goes the token random drafter guy that has to appear on each ride.  except on this rare occassion, I was blessed by a second random drafter guy.  he was much more interesting, to say the least.  at first, I thought it was the same blue and orange guy, but at a red light, he tried not to unclip, waiting for the light to turn green, and ended up creeping right up next to me.  he was a big guy (read: not tall, but “big”).  anyway, I just kept on spinning through the city and as we approached the sausalito-mill valley bike path, a car appeared at the intersection.  the sidewalk path entrance wasn’t even blocked by the car, there was lots of room to still access the ramp.  I rode past the car, up onto the bike path and heard the cassette of the second random drafter guy going onto the highway, which runs parallel to the bike path.  he missed the ramp…big time.

I pressed on towards muir woods, thinking the legs would be able to handle some elevation.  it ended up being a lot harder than I expected, but oh well.  the roads were fairly wet on the descent, and in the middle of it, there was a random (not so random) stop sign.  in the middle of a descent…?  apparently, part of the road had collapsed into the oblivion that is muir woods, so the road was only 1 lane for about 50m (maybe if I keep using metric, I’ll become more euro.  speculative fact.).  I guess I wasn’t really in a rush anyway, since the roads were slick.  and again, hell yes to 23mm wide rims.  so comfortably smooth, they make me never want to ride anything else.

climbing out was equally as difficult.  my legs didn’t have any more left in them, and it started to feel like sunday’s exhaustion all over again.  I kept sipping on my bottles and some gel, hoping to recover on the second descent.  and plus, only doing muir woods once was lame.  it was only a 22km loop.  I tacked on paradise, and spun my way to an energy recovery.  my legs were toast, but at least I’d be able to make it home without feeling completely dead.

the bridge was surprisingly empty compared to other days.  the shot above is from the way back, towards san francisco.  the windy, misty weather seemed to keep tourists more in check.  most hugged the rail edge, bundled up to the eyes in clothes.  bridge crossing success.

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first data ride, ever.

August 10, 2011 in riding | 2 comments

with a fully charged garmin edge 500, and a practically brand new powertap wheelset, I headed out the door in search of data.  syncing the computer head to my heart rate strap and hub was simple enough.  I set up the various screens on the garmin last night – there were 3 pages that could be scrolled through with a touch of a button, but what I was most concerned with was my power output and heart rate.  granted, I wasn’t expecting huge amounts of wattage, but up until this point I had never known how much power I was putting down.  the numbers jumped around a bit since it was updated every second, so I swapped it out for the power average every 3 seconds, which was much smoother in number transition, and easier to look at.  the wonders of a modern cycling computer…

I stopped looking at the computer after a while, though.  maybe a quick glace every couple minutes, or more frequently when I could feel the lactic acid seeping in.  it was pretty neat, but the part I was most impressed with wasn’t even the geeky tech of possessing a power meter.  I was completely blown away by the 23mm wide rims the powertap hubs were laced to.  the ride quality was absolutely unparalleled to that of my 19mm wide mavic open sport wheelset.  it was so consistently smooth, like nothing I’ve ever ridden on before.  I remember looking at the front wheel thinking, “look at how wide that tire and rim are…it’s like a big rig tire for a bicycle”.  the gatorskins never felt so good through corners.  since they weren’t ballooning out anymore, it felt completely different that how I was used to them feeling.  ‘smooth’ is really the only word that comes to mind.

I can’t even remember the last time I came out to alpine dam.  it’s been a long time, that’s for sure.  the weather was perfect, no cars were out, and the handful of cyclists that I did see out where enjoying it as much as I was.  my legs and lungs were burning on the climbs, but they didn’t feel completely exhausted.  finally, progress!

after a quick refill at the ranger station, I dipped down into stinson and highway 1, pacing a car that appeared to have a driver more intrigued with me in his rear view, following his every move, rather than the actual road.  the weather grew foggy and cool, a sharp contrast to the rolling hills I had just came from.  I hit the back half of muir woods and headed back towards the bridge.  there were tons of tourists, as expected, but surprisingly, I made it across in decent time, without eating it into a blazing saddles rental bike.  quite the success.

oh, as a side note, I’m running my garmin in metric in a small attempt to be more euro.  I guess the garmin embed box shows in standard though…

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thursday morning steez.

February 10, 2011 in riding | No comments

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I had the whole day off from work, and decided to push out a big ride.  I hadn’t done a ride past sausalito in weeks, so today was extra grueling and special for me.  I hit up 4 corners and the ranger station, topped off my bottle, took panoramic highway towards highway 1, and eventually bolinas.  the skies were completely clear, it was absolutely awesome.  and being that it’s thursday, the roads were fairly deserted.  I saw very few cyclists out, and only a handful of cars.  it wasn’t too windy either, I was able to keep a decent pace down highway 1 before the climb began.  since bofax is shielded by trees all around, it warmed up a lot and I found myself strolling along the sunny roads completely alone.  I stopped briefly at the intersection of ridgecrest and downed half of my hammer bar.  when travis at freewheel hayes told me they were out of chocolate chip, I was a bit disappointed I had to settle for almond raisin.  but I have to say, that bar was straight up DELICIOUS in my face after all that climbing.  way tastier than the clif bars I’ve tried.  I pressed on towards 7 sisters.

after stopping briefly to top off my bottles at the ranger station, I descended back down towards highway 1, and started heading south, towards muir woods.  the weather just kept getting nicer!  the sun was shining over the pacific and you could see all the way down the coast for miles.  I was in a world of hurt, but the views and climbs were completely worth it.  after climbing out of muir, I rode back through sausalito for the topper of the ride: conzelman from 0ft.  a massive truck broke my momentum though, it took up the entire lane of the small road under the bridge, forcing me off my bike.  he actually closed the entire gap I had in the opposite side, and I had to have him stop his truck so I could get by.  I safely passed him, and continued on.  my tank was running off fumes as I made my way up to the top.  two women walking down the hill cheered me on as I passed them, which gave me a bit of extra motivation to kill it to the top.  I mean, if it was just one chick, I’d think twice.  but letting down two chicks?  better not let that happen.

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it was worth it.  though I have to say, the ride back home felt too tedious.  all the pedestrians and tourists on the bridge made it nearly impossible to jet back towards the city.  luckily, everyone stuck to a side, which helped cyclists navigate across.  I finally made it home after a solid 5 hours in the saddle.  I’m also thankful that I had no flats and no mechanical problems through the duration of the ride.

I think I’m going to take a nap, now.  maybe after that I’ll do some cycling laundry…hmm…

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saturday morning ‘toons.

January 15, 2011 in riding | No comments

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finally, a full day off without rain or sore legs!  the weather was immaculate outside, high 40′s to high 50′s all day long with sunshine the entire ride.  it was picture perfect for marin and san francisco this time of year, I was stoked to finally stretch my legs with a substantial ride.  the past couple weeks I’ve only ridden two hour sessions because of work and my schedule…it’s been a bit bland.  today’s ride was one of the most grueling routes I’ve ever done.  I rode up to 4 corners, the ranger station, down into stinson, up highway 1 to bofax, bofax to ridgecrest/7 sisters, back to the ranger station, back down to stinson, down highway 1 towards muir woods, muir woods to mill valley, through sausalito, and then the icing on the cake, sea-level to the top of conzelman.  probably around 65 miles with roughly 7000ft of climbing.  it was straight brutal on the legs.

on the way up to the ranger station the first time (from 4 corners) I had a misson cycling member on my wheel for a minute or so.  at one point I heard him feather his brakes, which had me a bit worried for a second…we’re going uphill!  luckily, nothing really happened, and I split off to get some water.  we exchanged a couple of words, I think his were something like, “I hate you young, skinny guys!  there goes my motivation!”  at least he was cool about it, haha!  I stopped by the fountain to top off my bottle before descending down into stinson beach.  the weather was warming up nicely, but the ground was still saturated at some turns, which was a bit of a bummer.  but considering how nice the rest of the ride was, I couldn’t really complain too much.  plus, it’s technically still “winter” here in the city.  anyway, I paced a guy in a new car (a ford mustang, I think) down the hill to stinson.  it was hilarious because he was trying so hard to get away from me by late braking, apexing across the double yellow (DANGEROUS), and accelerating on any straight he had.  all the while, I was just chilling, minding my turns and braking.  hell, I wasn’t even close to his car, I was at least 100ft back.  maybe he just wanted to drive fast.

oh, fun fact of the day: stinson beach is a city right on the coast, with a population of 486.  I read the sign just as I passed it, thought it was a pretty neat piece of information.  highway 1 was quiet and lonely all the way up to bolinas.  there were some cars occasionally, but I didn’t see any riders heading the opposite way.  as soon as I got to bofax, I spotted the mission cycling guy way in the distance on highway 1 GETTIN’ IT, full gas.  perfect motivation for me on the bofax climb.  I was instantly reminded how much longer this climb was than anything I’ve been doing recently.  halfway in, the pain started to set in.  the amazing views helped to keep my mind busy, which was nice.  I actually learned a lot more about my riding position on this climb, which helped a lot later on in the ride.  the shot above is from the intersection at the top of bofax, towards 7 sisters.

then the rollers started.  steady climbing, a short plateau, more climbing, another break, more climbing.  at one point, I actually considered going straight home after the descent, that’s how much it was hurting.  but I figured that I wouldn’t have another opportunity for a long ride until next week, so I had to make it really count.  I stopped at the ranger station on my way down to top off my bottles with the remaining fuel I had left, and dropped back down into stinson again.  instead of heading north on highway 1, I went south, back towards muir woods from the backside.  the rollers paired with the view of the pacific ocean were just plain ILL.  I was so excited about the road conditions that I almost forgot how much climbing I had just done.  it was that nice out!

muir woods was pretty windy, but I made it out in one piece, ready for the final trek home.  on my way back, I actually spotted a guy riding a t-mobile colored giant tcr in a freewheel kit – hell yes, support your local.  that gave me the final motivation to kill it on conzelman, 0-814ft.

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hope everyone enjoyed their saturday!

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less cold, more climbing.

December 2, 2010 in riding | No comments

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no work today meant an hour more of sleep and a longer ride!  I headed out to muir woods via 4 corners and kept the pace smooth.  there were 3 riders ahead of me as we started climbing through the twisty residential, one of which looked familiar.  I’m fairly certain he was the one in the bunch of riders that missed a turn towards 4 corners several weeks back.  or maybe they were just taking the next turn.  either way, I’ve seen him before, that’s my point.  I caught up to them, and chatted for a second to see where they were headed.  turns out, they were heading to 4 corners, and then back home.

after leaving them, I dropped down into muir woods, and made my way back towards mill valley.  I wanted to take full advantage of the moderate weather, so I hit up e road to the bottom of conzelman.  nothing like a bit of san francisco haze, yo.

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the thanksgiving ride.

November 25, 2010 in riding | No comments

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joseph met me at the bridge at 8am this morning, and rolled out to marin to do a recovery ride.  it was COLD out there today.  we even spotted some frost on the wooden bridges on the sausalito bike path.  I split off from the bike path and continued on by myself to 4 corners, and eventually the ranger station.  I kept the pace smooth and steady, saving myself for the long miles ahead.  dropping into stinson beach was cold and fast.  my face, hands, and feet were completely numb by time I hit highway 1.  I was worried that the cold would continue to seep into my muscles, but I must’ve been wearing enough to just barely hold it together to keep on pedaling.  the embrocation was helping keep my bare legs warm, I could also feel the blood pulsing down to my feet.  it wasn’t enough to keep them completely warm, but I couldn’t ask for much more.  my hands were in a similar situation – my upper body was well protected from the biting cold, and in turn, pushed warm blood to my hands.  just enough to keep from going completely numb.  ah…winter riding.

bofax didn’t seem as long today, which was nice.  the trees protected me from any wind blowing off the coast, and gave me a chance to get warm.  there were two cyclists heading the opposite direction, towards bolinas, as I was climbing up.  but that was it.  it was really quiet out there.  I made it up to the top of ridgecrest, tired, but not exhausted.  I wasn’t done yet, I wanted to make this ride burn into my legs.  after finishing 7 sisters, and descending down mt. tam, I turned off the road, towards muir woods.  oh yes, a short detour, but one that would tack on a couple hundred more feet of climbing.  I breezed through sausalito to make it back for the final climb of the day.  I think I saw fergus (a san francisco messenger, also a road racer) descending highway 1 as I was making my way out…he was in the middle of braking behind some cars, so I didn’t get a chance to wish him a happy thanksgiving.  oh well, I’m sure I’ll see him around.

the icing on the cake was e road to the top of conzelman.  it’s where I took the picture above.  today’s ride probably racked in around 70mi, and roughly 6500ft of climbing.  the perfect ride right before thanksgiving lunch/dinner with the family.

big thanks to joseph for hooking me up with some house of commons swag.

happy thanksgiving!

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oh, climbing memories.

November 12, 2010 in riding | No comments

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you’re seeing it right.  the front side of the headlands is officially OPEN.  conzelman is freshly repaved from mccollough up to the top (815ft).  what a glorious day.

I actually didn’t climb conzelman right away, I headed out this morning to sausalito and mill valley for muir woods, and planned on exploring the headlands on the way back.  the weather was brisk, but continued to warm up through the duration of the ride.  there wasn’t a spec of condensation on the road, or a cloud in the sky.  it was ideal riding weather.  as I made my way up to 4 corners, I saw a road cyclist ahead of me.  I began to reel him in, but as soon as I was about to pass, he swerved to the left, into the oncoming lane, and finally came to a stop at the shoulder.  he took out his camera.  now it all makes sense…except for when he swerved in front of me, into the opposite lane, without signaling or saying anything.  not cool, bro.  but I forgive you, the view was amazing.

I made my way down into the valley, and eventually to highway 1 to climb back out.  the bike path was relatively quiet, and I rode through sausalito back to e road, that newly paved path that leads under the bridge (and eventually conzelman).  the 590ft climb up to the intersection of mccollough was the same.  I saw construction ahead, but continued to ride on the road, following some arrows on the ground that went around a new roundabout.  and then the climbing continued.  YES, success!  I took a picture of the view, I just had to.  I remembered all the times I rode up to the top of the headlands early this year at ridiculously early times.  it was a great feeling to finally be back, riding one of my favorite climbs.  paired with muir woods, I racked in roughly 2000ft of climbing on this ride.

recovery mode for the rest of the day.  I also ordered a lazer helium helmet from freewheel, so that should be coming in next week, hopefully.  also told connor about the new, creak free, bottom bracket bearings that travis pressed in on wednesday.  props to phil wood for always making some of the best bearings and components in the cycling industry.

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winter must be close.

November 9, 2010 in riding | No comments

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the air is becoming more crisp everyday, with overnight lows that hover around 45* (7*C).  I’m sure the temperature in other places in the world are much more severe, but for san francisco, that’s “cold”.  riding in the fall weather isn’t any more technical than any other time of year, however layering up is definitely helpful.  I put on my gore-tex paclite shell today, and to my surprise, it was the perfect barrier against the chilling wind.  my feet stayed toasty inside some windtex shoe covers – they’re definitely not waterproof, but against the wind, they’re perfect.

there were some cyclists out today, but only singles and doubles, all layered to their faces with various fleece and warmers.  I saw a road cyclist at the end of the bridge as I was heading out that looked awfully familiar…I think he was wearing a previous generation mashsf kit.  and then on my way through mill valley to get to 4 corners, several cyclists that also looked familiar caught up to me.  they kept going straight as I made a left, and I thought they would catch a later turn down into the residential road, but I never saw them behind me, or in front.  maybe they were just riding through mill valley, who knows.  it bothers me that I can’t pinpoint where I’ve seen them before.  oh well, considering they’re out on a brisk tuesday morning ride, chances are I’ll see them again on another morning.

the rest ride went well, there was a sharp bite of wind behind muir woods, but past that, the weather was sunny and a bit warmer.  I headed home with a big smile on my face.

enjoy the ride.

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