Blogroll – Lane's Notes and Snaps

Since I’ll turn 62 on October 25th, I’m gonna ride 62 metric centuries this year. Some of them will be RUSA-sanctioned 100Ks and longer, some ACTC rides I’ll lead and join, a few solo rides, and rides in Asia, Northern Ireland, and Majorca. Each ride needs to be 65 miles or longer to qualify as a 100K metric century. I start January 1st.

My goal is to finish all 62 by the end of October, inviting my friends to join me for number 62 on my birthday, Sunday, October 25th.

January

1. January 1 – Santa Cruz to Monterey, a ride I lead for the Almaden Cycle Touring Club (ACTC) 4 or 5 times a year. Completed this one with six club members including Kristin Rozier who’s leaving the Bay Area to be a Professor at the University of Cincinnati. Scott Brown who rode with me for the first time, and some of the usual suspects: John Wallace, Kevin Walters, Jon Kaplan, and Tim Lange. Photos are at this Picasa link and here are my Strava results. SLOW!!!

2. January 3 – Shoreline 100K with Western Wheelers. This was my first ride with this club I joined several years ago. Finally got around to it and I plan to ride more with them on their long distance training rides. 126 riders showed up and the group I rolled with was about 30 strong. My photos are at this link and I’ve uploaded my Strava results.

3. January 4 – South Bay Loop with ACTC. First time I’ve led this short ride from Quiznos to Quiznos. Only Cindi Staiger showed up for this ride but I did take some pictures and uploaded my results to Strava.

4. January 10 – Pt Reyes Populaire with the San Francisco Randonneurs. We had a great turnout of 132 riders including many of my friends. We started and ended at the Golden Gate Bridge which was closed to auto traffic while they added movable barriers for traffic management. I uploaded my photos to Picasa and my GPS results to Strava.

5. January 17 – The Healdsburg 200K with the Santa Rosa Cycling Club Randonneurs. 104 riders participated in this fun, fast ride. Brian Feinberg, Robert Sexton, and I drove up to Healdsburg the night before then launched at 8AM. Some of the riders like Robert finished in six hours. Brian and I needed eight hours to finish it. I uploaded my photos and GPS results.

6. January 24 – Old Tierra Bella Century with ACTC. Covers a lot of the roads of the long past ACTC Tierra Bella route. Great turnout with 11 riders. My photos are here and GPS results here at Strava.

7. January 25 – Ride leader lunch at Sonoma Chicken Coop at Almaden Expressway & McAbee Road. I joined Minh Nguyen’s ride from Prospect High School. I took a few photos and uploaded my results to Strava.

8. January 31 – The Novato-Cazadero 200K with the Santa Rosa Cycling Club Randonneurs was a ton o’ fun. About 60 randonneurs launched from the Rowland Park N Ride at 8AM and the super fast guys got back just after 2PM: just over six hours. It took me 9 hrs 10 minutes to finish! As usual I uploaded my photos to Picasa and my GPS Results to Strava.

February

9. February 8 – First trainer 100K. This was not a fun ride but had to keep the pace up. I posted my Strava results.

10. February 13 – I created this route for my home to home 100K which I’ll probably ride a few times this year. I uploaded my ride to Strava and a few photos to Picasa.

11. February 15 – Gonzalez 200K with the Santa Cruz Randonneurs. Clyde Butt, Scott Brown, and I drove down to the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum and Lighthouse for a 7AM departure for a ride 64 miles down to Gonzalez. Scott and I rode together all day and decided we’d prefer a detour through Elkhorn Slough rather than take the Highway 1 route. It added about eight miles to the ride but was well worth the trouble. We rode a little harder than I usually do but it was good to get such a workout. My Strava results are posted as are my photos at Picasa.

12. February 21 – For the umpteenth time I led a group of ACTC folks from Los Altos up to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. As usual I took photos and captured the ride on my GPS.

13. February 22 – For the second time I ever I led this short ACTC South Bay Loop and this time more than one person showed up! My photos are here and my GPS results are at Strava.

14. February 28 – My goal was to lead the Los Gatos to Big Basin ride but it was a rainy day so we headed north to Woodside via Foothill, Sand Hill, Whiskey Hill, and Canada. Then came back to Los Gatos via Alameda de las Pulgas and Foothill. My Strava results are uploaded as are the photos from that very strange weather day.

March

15. March 1 – This is the first time I’ve led this Woodside to Half Moon Bay 100K and it was a lot of fun. It was a big turnout with 19 ACTC club members. Photos are at Picasa and GPS results at Strava.

16. March 14 – I left Singapore a day early so skipped a ride there. After a good night’s sleep which is rare after a trip to Asia, I joined the ACTC Giro d’Bici ride led by Ahmed Masood. Photos and GPS results are uploaded.

17. March 15 – My 100K reservoir loop from home. Took a few photos and uploaded my GPS results to Strava. I got to know Dwight of Dutchman D’s a little better and even friended him on Facebook.

18. March 21 – Santa Cruz to Monterey, a ride I lead for the Almaden Cycle Touring Club (ACTC) 4 or 5 times a year. Had a good turnout with 14 club members, including Dr Purple herself. And Super Peggy met us in Monterey to ride up to Soquel to see her beau. My Strava results and photos are online.

As usual we split into four groups: the speedsters like Manuel, Guy, and Robert being chased by Steve, Bryan, Jaap, and Tony & Amy on the tandem. Then yours truly with Clyde and Kristin slightly ahead of Lori, Henri, and Lori’s friends on a tandem.

19. March 29 – Canada Loop with ACTC. Covers a lot of the roads of the long past ACTC Tierra Bella route. Ten club members showed up for this, all at different levels of riding skill and strength. I was able to take photos of all of them and upload my GPS results.

April

20. April 4 – The week before ACTC’s annual Tierra Bella rides, the volunteers of the ride check out the routes. Several of us met at Gavilan College for a 7AM launch to follow the 100K route which fits perfectly with my goal this year. It was a lot colder at the start than we expected but it warmed up after awhile. Most of the Tierra Bella rest stops were staffed by members with water, cookies, and fruit. Normally I only stop once on a 100K but since the rest stops were opened, we ended up stopping four times. Since I was with some faster guys who slowed down for me we averaged 16MPH, a little faster than I’ve been going lately. It wasn’t too stressful. Photos at this link and GPS results are up at Strava.

21. April 11 – Reservoir loop after volunteering at Tierra Bella in the morning. GPS results but no photos.

22. April 28 – Day 1 in Mallorca with the Foyle crew. I tried to go out with the fast folks but they crushed me within five miles of the start. So I just rode around the area to get in 100K. GPS results at Strava and photos at Picasa as usual.

23. April 29 – On Day 2 I rode with the second fastest group and I still had a hard time keeping up but I pushed it. I ended up with a slightly slower average speed but I wasn’t alone out there. GPS results and photos.

24. April 30 – The riding on Day 3 in Mallorca was pretty tough with a big climb up to Lluc Monastery but the descent was a blast. Photos on Picasa and results on Strava.

May

25. May 9 – A 100K with Samy Hilali

26. May 12 – Ride to somewhere on the Tour of California San Jose route. 65M.

27. May 16 – ACTC Legion of Honor

28. May 17 – Reservoir loop all by my lonesome

29. May 23 – Santa Cruz to Monterey with the usual suspects.

30. May 30 – Longmont to Boulder loop with Steve Saeedi

31. May 31 – Boulder to Carter Lake and back with Steve Saeedi. I’m half way!!!

June

32. June 6 – SFR Dart with Robert Sexton,

33. June 13 – ACTC Giro di Bici

34. June 20 – ACTC with Stan Lim

35. June 27 – Trainer Metric Century

July

36. July 3 -Solo ride from work to home after feeding the Finance folks

37. July 4 – ACTC Pancake Breakfast to the office to get my car

38. July 5 – South Bay Loop with Jamey Slaton

39. July 11 – SF to Cloverdale 200K

40. July 12 – Cloverdale to SF 200K

41. July 25 – ACTC Ride for Ahmed Masood

42. July 26 – Wharf to Wharf followed by 100K ride back home

August

43. August 1 – ACTC Ice Cream Social

44. August 16 – Tour of Napa Valley put on by the Eagle Cycling Club

45. August 22 – ACTC Santa Cruz to Monterey and back

46. August 29 – Old La Honda with Samy and Sheila

September

September 4 – South Bay Loop

September 5 – On the trainer

September 6 – ACTC Canada Loop

September 7 – ACTC South Bay Loop

September 12 – ACTC Giro d’ Bici

September 13 – Reservoir Loop

September 18th thru 21st supporting the TasNedian Devil at the Silver State 508.

September 26 – ACTC Impromptu Ride

September 27 – South Bay Loop

October

Rides in California. Maybe Southern California.

October 25 – South Bay 100K and BBQ

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May was a milestone month for my cycling. I started the month in Northern Ireland, my 10th week of travel for the year. While there I came down with chest and ear infections which took several days to overcome with help from antibiotics. BTW, the UK has it right when it comes to medical coverage. The only thing I told the people at Urgent Care reception was my name then I told the doctor how I was feeling. I tried to ride once but after 5 miles in the drizzling rain with my Foyle Cycling Club buddies Brendan McMenamin and James McCafferty, I had to get back to the hotel. Not a great start to the month.

I did have the pleasure of seeing Stage 1 and 2 of the Giro d’Italia while I was in Northern Ireland. I joined 40+ members of the Foyle Cycling Club on a bus ride Friday the 9th over to Belfast to see the Time Trial then I spent the night in Belfast to see the start and end of the 218K Stage 2. The first time I’ve been anywhere near one of the European big races. Marcel Kittel took the stage with a super sprint at the end. This is a photo I took of the racers blazing down the last 200 meters toward the finish line in front of the Belfast Hall of Justice.

The following Wednesday I rode to the top of Mt Diablo with Ken Emerson and Steve Saeedi to see the finish of Stage 3 of the Tour of California. I was lucky enough to get VIP passes for the three of us allowing us to be up close and personal with the finishers of the stage. It was another first for me having never been so near the finish line of a professional bike race.

A week after arriving home from Northern Ireland I rode the Davis Double with Team Spotted Ass (Ken Emerson and Steve Saeedi) and Sharona Steed. I was surprised at how good I felt the first 120 miles but then hot foot started to become a problem. It really is frustrating to push the pedals up a hill when my feet are burning and aching. Since then I’ve gotten some great advice that is really helping. But back to Davis: at some point I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me because I started to hiccup which has never happened to me on a ride. The hiccups were so violent at times it was hurting my chest and I was cursing each time so much that Sharona decided to ride on up ahead. Finally at the Fire Station at mile 191 I decided I was going to tough it out and eat one of their famous grilled cheese sandwiches which came back up in the parking lot about 10 minutes later. I didn’t feel much better and didn’t feel like getting back on my bike so I asked Sharona’s very significant other (Robert) to SAG me back so I got a big fat DNF for my trouble.

That problem with Davis caused me to re-think my Hoodoo 500 aspirations. Not just the stomach issues but the feet. I gave it another week and led a very tough ride from Los Gatos to Half Moon Bay where hot foot cut it short from the planned 108 miles to 90 and 9000 feet of climbing. The next day I led a 108-mile ride from Santa Cruz to Monterey and actually felt pretty good all day with only minor foot irritation but it’s mostly rollers and only 4000 feet of climbing.

However, with the Davis debacle and knowing it would be awhile before I could climb like I need to in order to prepare for Hoodoo I made the decision to withdraw and take it easier on my feet. My last ride of May was actually on June 1st in the form of the Sequoia Metric Century but I’ll count it as May for this update. I did the 70-mile route and set 24 PRs in the process, mostly on climbs thanks to some great advice from friends which greatly reduced my foot pain.

Next up is the two-day Santa Rosa to Pope Valley and back, June 7th and 8th. I’m riding the 200K Saturday to Pope Valley but I may take a short cut back to Santa Rosa Sunday.