Rides 2008

November 29, 2008. Tamarancho with Pat and gang.
All pictures here.

November 27, 2008. Appetite Seminar. Fairfax, CA (history and info here). With the YUM!
All pictures here. Interractive Google Map track here.

The group heads down from Pine Mountain.

November 11, 2008. Pine Mountain/Tamaracho Loop back to San Geronimo. Practice for Appetite Seminar.

See it directly in Google Earth here.
The route. Done counter-clickwise from Forest Knolls, down Repack through Fairfax and back up Tamarancho to the ridge.

The top of the ride. Pine Mountain looking toward smoker's hill. Looking West. I think.

October 18, 2008. Foxy's Century.

Darell Liz and Paul G. on Porta Potty Patrol. Russel and 95.

map on Bikely
Interactive map on Google Earth (assuming you have it installed)

What I wrote the evening after:
Well beautiful day. Pitch dark when I started off, but lightened up quickly. Rolled out with Paul G. and his blind stoker. Blasted along at a good clip with them, until they stopped to lend some mechanical assistance. I then took off on my own alternately hooking up with others and doing my own thing. I probably pace-lined with others for only a total of 20 miles - but some of those miles were astonishingly fast. Was doing 25-30 there for a few miles. Awesome. I spent some good quality time all alone in some of the nicest/quietest parts of the ride. Very pleasant! John W. needed to talk about some gripes (not bike related!) at the last rest stop, or I likely would have been done a bit earlier. Ended up back and done with end-of-ride dinner at about 3pm. Average speed right at 18 mph. Very happy with that, though my body is aching. Mostly my right knee. My ride home from dinner was at about 8mph. I could NOT get started from a seated position because my knee wouldn't work. Had to stand to get going after each red light. And all I could think of was how absolutely impossible it would have been to turn around and do the trip all over again... and then get up tomorrow and repeat. A double century just isn't in my future. 112 miles home-to-home today. And that has simply used me up.

I could not believe how terrible some people are at riding in a pace line. Good god. We had one gal who would lock up her rear brake when anything didn't please her. Had another kid with flat pedals and sneakers. Kept coming off the pedals and flailing around at 22 mph . I got out of those groups in a hurry. One of my favorites though was when a team passed me by (not part of Foxy's). Matching kit AND matching bikes. Very sharp. They flew by me, and I grabbed onto the back. They were very nice to me, and allowing me to hang on while I gave them room to rotate all their members through (six of them) without including me in the rotation. I just remained as the caboose for as long as I could. This was the most talented group of riders I've ever ridden with. Rock solid. No accordion and NO wasted movements. Simple hand gestures was all the communication used. Perfect cadence and form. I was pretty excited to be bombing along at 25+ with them. I was all proud of myself... until we started a gradual climb. Fuckers maintained their speed as it got steeper and steeper. Pretty soon I was enjoying the scenery all by myself again. :-)

I dressed perfectly, though I was NOT prepared for the total darkness of the morning. No lights. Oops. When I stripped it all off (one piece at a time when needed) it all fit in the handlebar bag. Didn't even need the bigger seat bag or jersey pockets. Glove liners, winter headband, arm warmers, knee warmers and vest. Ending in full summer gear for the last four hours. 54° when I headed out at 6:30am for the start. 80° when I got home after 3pm.

My stem started creaking early on. And of course that drove me nuts. Still don't know why that would suddenly happen unless it has something to do with the aero bar clamps rubbing (Hmm, just thought of that. Easy fix!). The bars worked great the few times I used them. I could get very relaxed on them. Couldn't believe some of the idiots who were using theirs in pace lines going down hill!

Met some very friendly people. Mostly women for some reason. :) I tend to like riding behind women more than men. Met one older woman who just about hit me. She was asking about the remaining route from the final rest stop (she was on the 68 mile ride). I told her that there were no hills on the way home. She of course insisted that the little bump there next to the Lake Solano rest stop was a plenty big hill. ;)

OK. I'm beat. Beer. Bed.

Aug 29, 2008. Foxy's Metric Century Measurement ride. OK, this one almost killed me. Was 106° when we returned at 2:30 pm. There were no cameras, and thus no pictures! Ended up being just shy of 80 miles at the end of the day. The actual course shown is 68 miles, but I also rode to the start, rode to pick up my daughter from school, and then finally home. Interactive map on Google Earth.

May 31, 2008. Habitat for Humanity Ride, Davis - Winters. Longest ride yet for Kyra 35 miles round trip. Our buddy Jim took these action shots.

At the half-way point - Winters. Poor Kyra trying to open her eyes into full, low sun.

May 18, 2008. Montecello Century. Map, graphs and details here.

May 5, 2008. Tour De Cure, Napa.

Riding with Team DNA (Genentech) we decided on the 50 mile route, and had a blast. Here we are at 7am at the Genentech tent where we'll eat and drink wine later!