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August 21, 2008 / Thursday

Hello? Where Is Everyone?

Headed to Chabot after work yesterday for the Wednesday evening ride. Pulled into the parking lot just uphill from the marina and found it empty. Where was everyone? Was I early? Nope. Got my stuff together and decided to go for a solo ride. I'd been smart enough to print a map of the trails, but stupid enough to leave it on my desk at work. No matter; I figured I could ride from memory, or at least do an out and back.

I headed out on Ten Hills, then up Brandon. At the top of Brandon, I decided to see where the downhill fork on the left went. It took me to the family campground entrance, which I recognized from my first group ride there a couple months ago. I continued out on Quail, then on Lost Ridge, and was amused to find that I had inadvertently retraced the route from that ride in reverse.

I backtracked to a trail fork just before the campground and took Live Oak back toward the parking lot. After short jaunt on Cameron Loop and back up the top portion of Ten Hills, I arrived back at my car. Total distance: 9.7 miles. Thank you, trail junction signs with directions to the marina!

Afterward, I looked up the group ride online, and it seems to have disappeared. I guess I'll be riding with the Tuesday group from now on. I suppose I could ride by myself again with a map, but Chabot feels just a wee bit too big for me to feel comfortable riding around solo with so little light left. The farther out I went, the more uneasy I felt. (Granted, I'd probably feel less uneasy if I could locate myself on a map.) What if I crash? What if my bike breaks down and I can't fix it? What if I bonk? What if a mountain lion eats me? What if space aliens hover overhead and try to beam me away?

Hey, you never know.

Too bad the Tuesday ride moves to Pleasanton Ridge next month. Maybe I'll ride solo at Chabot after all.

07:02 PM | Mountain| Comments (6)

August 13, 2008 / Wednesday

Pleasanton Ridge

Finally rode this park today with a former coworker who now works near me. It's conveniently located just off the freeway on my way home from work, but I don't think I'll be spending much time here after today.

Despite the name, Pleasanton Ridge is anything but pleasant on a bike. It's miles of featureless fireroad that just go up, up, and up, leaving you with nothing to think about but how much it sucks to be pedaling, pedaling, pedaling in such a boring park.

It didn't help that I wasn't feeling very well. I've been staying up way too late watching the Olympics, and it has taken a toll. My legs were tired and my stomach felt queasy. How ironic; the Olympics is proving to be bad for my fitness and health.

Now if you'll excuse me, men's gymnastics is on.

11:14 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

August 10, 2008 / Sunday

Arastradero Trails Go Round And Round

I'm over a week and a half late with this post, but I'm backdating it to August 10th, when Aaron and I paid a visit to Arastradero. It's an easy park, but I wasn't really feeling it that day, and therefore not up for the intro to Skeggs, a.k.a. El Corte de Madera, that Aaron had planned for me.

This was a little different from our previous visits to Arastradero; we carried a map this time, and used it to do a few loops and cover almost every trail in the park. Nice, mellow fun.

I've ridden a couple times since then, and if I can manage to keep my dirt legs under me (I lose them if I don't ride often enough, and feeling comfortable on dirt makes a world of difference), maybe I'll feel up to trying Skeggs next time.

11:19 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

August 05, 2008 / Tuesday

Yay, Dirt!

Got back on the mountain bike today for my first decent ride in almost two months. (Rancho Cañada del Oro doesn't count because I was totally illin' from altitude sickness and thought I wasn't going to make it back.) One of my coworkers from our Oregon office is in town, and we met up with a weekly local shop ride for an after work spin at Lake Chabot.

I think we ended up riding most of the loop around the lake. It was a little less organized than other rides I've been on in terms of distinct groups; people split off into packs at trail junctions depending on what they wanted to ride. At one point, we lost our group, but were picked up by another one soon after.

The ride was fun, and it was really nice to be back out there on the boingy bike. I'm finally starting to feel like me again.

Two thumbs up for this ride. I think I'll come back. :)

11:19 PM | Mountain| Comments (2)

July 06, 2008 / Sunday

Hey Stomach, You're Back At Sea Level Now. Behave!

Well, I thought I was feeling better. Woke up this morning, had pancakes and a latte for breakfast, then headed off to Rancho Cañada del Oro for some mountain biking. There was a bit of a delay in getting to the park because Aaron's bike broke a spoke and needed a detour to the bike shop, but once we got to there I ate a mini Luna bar to top off on fuel and we got to riding.

Rancho Cañada del Oro is a park they recently opened up to mountain biking. It's only about 11 miles to ride out, make a loop, and ride back, but the route includes a decent amount of climbing, some of it fairly steep.

I wasn't fast on the initial uphill, but I attributed that to my usual snail's pace warm-up period and still-tired legs from the big hike. It was hot out, so I sipped from my hydration pack at a reasonable rate. After 3.1 miles we found ourselves at the loop. My stomach felt a little strange. I mentioned it but continued on. More moderate uphill followed by the real climbs less than a mile later. I worked hard to stay on my bike through them and rode up a good portion of this section of trail, but the exertion left me in a really bad state. With the same amount or more of this steep climbing to go, my limbs felt like jelly, my stomach was queasy, and my balance was starting to go.

Well this just sucks! Another trail outing where I have to turn back? Lame! But then, I really didn't want to get stuck out on an exposed trail on a hot day. You know, part of that whole dying-is-not-my-objective thing. So we turned back. Again. Sigh.

The ride back was slooow. The downhills were fine, but there was also a decent amount of climbing required to get back to the trailhead. I super duper snail's paced it back up about 900 feet at ~2.5 MPH. When I reached the parking lot, I did a couple left-right swizzles for fun and nearly fell over because the world tilted a LOT more than expected. Okay me, get off the bike. NOW.

So I guess I'm still recovering from that 14,000 feet icky stomach feeling. When does that stop? Before Tuesday, I hope. There's hockey on the calendar!

11:15 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

June 11, 2008 / Wednesday

I Love Me Some Midweek Dirt

Finally motivated myself to do an after work ride today. Brought all my stuff and looked for a local group ride. Lucky me, I found a Wednesday night ride at Lake Chabot. Showed up, met a bunch of cool folks, and racked up another 11.2 miles plus 1421 feet for the week. The weather was great; the afternoon's high temps had cooled down quite a bit by ride time. I rode with the C group (glute is still a bit unhappy, boo), which was fun and chill, but a little slower than I'd hoped for. But then, it was mostly because someone in the group bonked hard on the first big hill. It happens. What to do next time? I'm thinking about starting with the B group. If it goes well, great, and if not, I could just wait for the C group to pick me up. In any case, WHOO DIRT!

Funny tidbit from the ride: We chanced upon the A group toward the end of the ride and stopped for a little on-the-trail chat. There was a round of introductions, followed by some joking about how people here didn't remember names and faces, only bikes. Someone in the back piped up, "Yeah, there was a girl here a few weeks ago. She had anodized nipples!" Bike puns rule.

10:59 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

June 08, 2008 / Sunday

Joaquin Miller

"Why did you pick this park?" Aaron asked as we drove home.

"Because I like the name," I replied. He didn't believe me, but it's true. I saw it on a map last week while looking for East Bay rides and decided I wanted that one. That one! So that one it was.

Joaquin Miller is a small but fun park. I like the terrain, the tree cover, and the bazillion trails all over the place. I'd have liked it even more if we'd had a map, but all the trailhead map bins were empty. We'd heard that there were maps available at the ranger station, but we couldn't find the ranger station without a map. Hrmph.

There were two trails at this park I kept reading/hearing about: Chaparral and Cinderella. These were supposed to be the two most difficult (and, therefore, most fun) biking trails in the park. We headed down Chaparral, and after a while I decided I was not having any fun riding down what was essentially a giant staircase built with railroad ties, so we turned around and looked for Cinderella. After a full loop around the park, we finally found Cinderella, which was considerably more fun... right up until the very last portion, which scared the living daylights out of me.

This very last portion, it was steep. Steep so I couldn't stop, and littered with consecutive 1-2 foot drops that had me doing everything I could to pick a reasonable drop, steer for it, and ride it without killing myself. I don't know how many times I repeated "Don't try to stop!" and "Keep your weight back!" in my head. I seriously thought I was going to go flying over my handlebars. But finally, I reached the bottom, rubber side down, with nary a scratch. My quads were shaking, but not because they were tired. I think it was from all the adrenaline (or simply from being scared to death about... death!). Later, when I looked at my HRM graph, I noticed a strange little section where my heartrate went up dramatically going downhill. (Usually, my heartrate goes down on the downhills because I don't have to pedal.) Bottom of Cinderella? Yes it was.

I'm pretty sure I cheated death. Hooray for all those 1up mushrooms I keep everywhere. :)

10:38 PM | Mountain| Comments (2)

May 22, 2008 / Thursday

Easy Dirt Dawdle

Took advantage of my extra flexible schedule this week and got a midweek mountain bike ride in at Fremont Older. (Why do I always ride there? Because it's practically down the street from me!) I rode easy to keep my glute happy, and realized that the big long steep climbs of last season aren't really that big or long or steep anymore. I dawdled up the peaks and didn't even break 190. (The HRM is back, hoorays!) Cool.

The trails were parched and cracked. No wonder the Summit Fire is raging today. I guess the wind gusts don't help, either. Seeing the Santa Cruz mountains burn makes me sad.

Still readjusting to dirt. How quickly I forget. I guess that means I need ride more. :)

04:35 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

May 18, 2008 / Sunday

Soquel Demo Forest

Finally rode SDF yesterday, with a little bonus jaunt into Nisene Marks on the ride in. I was bummed that I had to leave Val's birthday party so early, though. I got there, gave Val her present, everyone else got there, and then I had to leave. I'd hoped to start riding later in the day, but I guess Aaron's friends had to get back in time for something in the early evening. Finding several free hours in four people's schedules, not easy.

I was pretty apprehensive about the ride going in. I haven't ridden on dirt since my race at Sea Otter; I pulled my right glute midway through the race, completed the race despite the pull, and it still hasn't healed yet. That, and after much gushing by more than one person about how difficult (or painful, depending on the person) SDF is and how I really shouldn't ride there, I'd crossed that park off (the top of) my list. And now, suddenly, it was on my schedule, before I really felt ready to pedal up a dirt trail. How the hell was I going to ride this thing? I seriously thought I wasn't going to make it out of there intact.

But I went anyway. I didn't want to, but I went. I don't know why. I rode slowly; after a month off I was unaccustomed to dirt, and I really didn't want to push too hard and worsen my injury. I think that killed our schedule quite a bit; sorry Aaron's friends about our late return. On the upside, I didn't eat it, but on the downside, I tried to push up a really short stretch of trail and immediately felt a twinge. Suck!! At least we were at the top of the first climb by then.

The downhill (on the least difficult of the trails so I wouldn't die) was not bad. I suppose it'd have been more fun if I hadn't taken a month off the mountain bike. I did at least learn that it's bad to brake when your wheels are off the ground, since they pretty much stop and skid/jar a bit when they land. There were a few fun looking things there that I detoured around; my goal was simply to do the ride and go home in one piece. To that end, I was successful.

The ride back up to the car took forever, partly because I was even slower than before. I eventually locked out my suspension and just mashed up the steeper parts; mashing doesn't hurt the glute, except if I try to come off the saddle on the injured leg. I'm glad it wasn't so steep that I would have had to sit to maintain traction.

Made it back to the car, stopped at the Summit Store for drinks, and headed home. It was good to get my dirt legs back (I finally felt comfortable on dirt at the end of the final stretch), but boy, that was one uninspired ride.

Woke up this morning to glute pain and once again last minute bailed on the hockey clinic I'd wanted to go to. I think that officially makes me a flake. Boo, me, boo.

04:12 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

April 19, 2008 / Saturday

Sea Otter XC Race

First, some good news: I finished the race and I didn't eat it.

Second, some sucky news: Despite finishing the race with an official time, I have no idea where I truly placed because the signage along the course was confusing enough that a bunch of people ended up (inadvertently, I hope) riding a shortcut that took over a mile off the course. It confused me too, and I actually waited so I could ask a couple riders coming from behind which route to take. Since there's no way to show who did or didn't take the shortcut, there's no way to fix it.

This is sucky because one of the main reasons I entered this race was to see how I'd stack up against other women in my category. Now, because of this shortcut, I won't get to find out.

Other suckiness: The confusing website that couldn't agree with itself on where our race was going to start, and the staff who had no idea either. Good thing it was obvious once we got there.

Additional suckiness: The race was billed as a 10 mile loop, the posted GPS showed a 12.8 mile loop, and my bike computer, which reads a tad low, showed 14.3 miles. I signed up for a 10 mile race. While I don't mind riding 14-plus miles, I would expect that an organized race would be more accurate about things like, oh, say, race distance?

Okay, enough about suckiness. How about a race recap? They started the categories in waves separated by about 5 minutes each. There was about half an hour's worth of waiting in line for race start, which meant that even though I did a warm-up, I had cooled back down by the time the race started. Unfortunately for me, I am a terrible rider when I'm cold. Terrible, as in, slow. Just ask Aaron.

Down the track we went toward the trail. By the time we got there, I was way behind midpack. That's okay, I thought, I'll catch them on the trails once I warm up. And catch them I did. Well, some of them, anyway. The problem with being slow early is that it's hard to pass once the trail narrows.

I caught a couple riders on the first dirt uphill, then a couple more on the first downhill. Then we hit the singletracks and switchbacks, and the group slowed way down. Traffic jam! It was a tad frustrating, since I could ride faster than some of the other riders on that terrain but didn't have room to pass. People fell or stepped off their bikes whenever there was a steep climb or a sharp turn, but I only gained position from it some of the time. (There was a bit of, "Oh, we'll all wait while you pick yourself up and get back in line," from some of the other riders. It's a girl thing, I guess, and while it wasn't very racey of them to do that, I understood and appreciated the sportsmanship behind it.) Mostly, it just separated me more from the leaders. Damn my sucky slow start!

The race results are up. I looked at them just now, and they made me really mad. It's not that (most of) the riders who took the shortcut were trying to cheat, but the end result is that a lot of the riders took a shorter route (which also meant less climbing) and thus registered a faster time.

• • •

I took a break from this post to go to bed, and spent the entire night having fitful dreams about stupid race shortcuts. Lame.

Some good things about the race: I didn't eat it in the gravel, I didn't eat it in the deep, steep sandy downhill, I can handle riding in sand a lot better than I could a week ago, and I'm better overall at picking a line and just going for it (screw caution, just go!). I never felt the need to do that last one until this race; there's nothing like being forced to learn to do something.

Despite being pissed about the shortcut, I'm happy that I rode the full course, and that I pulled off an average speed of 8.8 MPH. That was my goal based on my calculations from last year's race (which was inaccurate because the course distance was wrong), and the fastest I've ever ridden on the trails.

While I don't have an accurate comparison of numbers, I got a feel for where I stand in my field. The best riders are strong and skilled. They're better than I am, period, and I'm okay with that. Most of the riders out there are stronger than I am on a flat or a reasonable uphill. I'm not quite sure how to address this one; I bike, I weight train, I cross train. I'm not naturally strong (oh, genetics, you kill me), and no matter how hard I work, I'll max out at some point. C'est la vie. A lot of these riders, however, are slower on the downhill, can't make it up a steep uphill (which requires technique as much as strength), can't take a sharp corner, and slow down on singletrack. I can do all these things, but it doesn't help me much if I'm behind them. Yup, I definitely screwed up my race start.

Anyway, I'm happy because I finished the full course, and did so intact. I'm happy because I set a new personal speed record. I'm happy because the other riders were cool folks. And all of that happiness is tainted by a short length of trail with a black and yellow arrow pointing at it. That wasn't our arrow, people. I wish they'd told us that.

• • •

I keep thinking about this every few minutes, and it pisses me off that I'm forever immortalized as having finished 18th out of 30. I'm not bottom half, dammit! All the top finishers took about a mile's worth of time off the top finishers from last year. Last year and this year's times for the men (who don't have this "shortcut" option) were about the same. What does this tell me? Shortcut! *#$^*(&^@!!!

Annoyed. Really annoyed. All that work just to be compared to a bunch of people who rode a shorter course than I did. Pfft.

• • •

Update: 2008-04-22

I wrote to the Athlete Services Director, described (and illustrated) the course issue, requested that this issue to be noted in the official results, and asked them to please take extra care to avoid potentially confusing signage in the future. I got a prompt reply that said thanks for the e-mail, there were issues but it was mostly rider error, the confusing sign was a different color and thus clearly different from the course signs, and that they'd take my comments into consideration for next year's race.

To which I say, there was rider error because the "clearly different" signs were confusing! But whatever, complaining about this year's race is like beating a dead horse. I'm thinking about next year. Do I enter this race and risk disappointment again? If I do and the same situation presents itself, do I ride the shorter route because other people will? I want to be "fast" too!

Phoo.

11:14 AM | Mountain| Comments (5)

April 13, 2008 / Sunday

Sea Otter XC Pre-Ride

With five days to go, we finally got around to checking out the course for the Sea Otter XC race. I knew I needed to go, but I didn't want to: I had a hockey game at 7 and I wasn't sure whether I'd get back in time, but Aaron assured me that we would. 2 hours there, 2-3 hours ride, 2 hours back, he said. But I don't wanna! Yes you do. No I don't! Yes you do. Okay, FINE. I stipulated that we had to leave at 10.

We left at 10:30, stopped at Noah's for breakfast, stopped at the bike shop so Aaron could pick up his new tires, stopped at the gas station, stopped at Safeway so I could buy some Aleve, got to the track, parked, and then waited while Aaron put on his new tires. We headed out on our bikes around 1:30.

I figured this wouldn't be a problem, since we'd estimated ride times of under two hours for both our courses. Leaving Laguna Seca at 3:30 to arrive home by 6 seemed reasonable. So that was the plan, and we all know what happens to plans...

They never happen the way they're supposed to. Let me explain the courses a bit. I ride a loop. Aaron rides a larger loop, which is mostly my loop with an extra little loop to add mileage. Thus, we start and end on the same course. Simple, right?

We headed out and followed the red course arrows. We both rode at our own paces, which meant that Aaron was out of view before I could so much as say, "Have a good ride." That's okay, he had a good ride anyway. Unfortunately, I didn't.

A few miles in, toward the bottom of a speedy downhill, lay a patch of gravel. This patch of gravel continued downhill and turned right. I saw this patch of gravel and thought, "Oh crap! I don't want to get to know this gravel." Too bad, the gravel wanted to get to know me. And it did. You should see my left knee and shin; it's got some character. Purple, red, and brown character. My arm gained some cuts and scrapes, too, but they're pretty minor, and should go away in a day or two.

Later, I discovered that all my training on dirt was for naught; this course is actually built on a giant sand pit. Sand, sand, EVERYWHERE. I have a vague idea (at least now I do) of how to get around in the stuff, but it really does not mesh well with my love of traction. Sand hates traction; instead, it loves sliding, floating, slipping, sinking, and grabbing my front wheel and twisting me sideways. Sand, I hates you. Yes I do.

So as I mentioned above, there were red course arrows at trail junctions. At some point, I saw yellow arrows pointing out the course for a 10 mile fun ride. I'm not sure if I was supposed to follow the yellow arrows, but the red arrows took me onto the extra loop that was part of Aaron's course, which I didn't realize until I was already halfway through the loop. While I'd had the foresight to load the turn-by-turn description of both courses on my phone, this description didn't have distance information, and I didn't have a map on me to see where I was. Sigh. I backtracked to where I *thought* our courses branched. As it turns out, I was wrong, and after taking a road that I thought was part of my course, I followed the next set of red arrows I came across back onto the tail end of the extra loop.

In all, this screw-up added an extra 5 miles onto my ride. It bummed me out and wore me out; I was really tired and hungry by the time I got back to the car. Aaron rode back from the car and met me for the final few hills; that was nice, since I was really not feeling like making the final big climb to get back.

Back at the car, I realized that it was 4 o'clock. Crap. I was feeling too tired for hockey, but I am not one to say I'll be somewhere and then not show up. I needed to get food, get home, clean up, and get to the rink in time to patch myself up and change. Crap, crap, crap. I was not pleased, mainly because I didn't want to be a flake.

There were some painfully slow cars and nasty little patches of traffic along the way, but we made it home just before 6. Aaron unloaded everything (yay, and thanks!) while I cleaned up. I made it back on the road by 6:10. Phew!

So, the verdict: I think I'm still game for the race. If you'd asked me anytime this afternoon I'd have said no, but now, having thought about it, I want to do it again so I can do it right. That said, ask me again after my next shower. I'm sure my knee will tell me how much it does NOT want to go back.

Speaking of my knee, earlier this week I was going through my medicine cabinet, and I could not for the life of me remember why I had so many alcohol wipes and giant gauze pads. Well, now I remember, and I'm really glad I have some handy.

10:08 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

April 08, 2008 / Tuesday

Las Trampas Regional Park

I needed to get some saddle time on dirt, so I brought my bike into work today and made a quick afternoon hop over to Las Trampas Regional Park. I'd originally planned to ride Pleasanton Ridge, but Las Trampas is closer, so Las Trampas it was.

My body is still recovering from the weekend, so I'd planned to take it easy and just use the ride as a way to stay comfortable out on the trails. I figured since it's not a very big park I'd do a couple easy loops and call it a day. Boy was I wrong.

The park's not big, but there are no easy loops. For one thing, there aren't enough bike trails for loops. For another, after I got past the initial boring stretch of fire road from the staging area I turned the corner and found myself looking up a giant hill. I climbed the giant hill to a non-fire road trailhead and saw an even gianter hill. At some point, I started pushing my bike up the gianter hill; I just wanted to see where it went. At some point later, I stopped, because it's really hard to push a bike up a 32% grade (says my Polar setup), especially when it consists of tree roots and leaves.

Back to the staging area I went. The fire road was loose with gravel, so the decent was not much fun. I then took a trail on the other side of the park. Another boring fire road. It got steeper and steeper, and I eventually found myself struggling up a 16% grade (says my Polar setup again), pushing, panting, and looking up to see a bunch of cows staring back at me. I'd have been staring at me, too. Who on earth would want to ride this trail? There's nothing on it but pain.

I got to the top, rode a little ways, and saw that the trail ahead dropped straight down the other side of the hill. Riding down it would have meant having to ride up it on the way back, and given that I'd wanted an easy ride, I decided to head back.

Maybe the next time I'm looking to torture myself with pain and boredom* (which magnifies the pain because there's nothing else to focus on) I'll come back to Las Trampas. Until then: been there, done that, no need to do it again.

* While the trails were boring, the rolling green hills were beautiful. Spring is a great time to be out and about around these parts... as long as you remember to take your anti-histamines.

04:23 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

March 29, 2008 / Saturday

My Tires, They Did Not Asplode

Woke up today when my phone rang. My boss needed to talk to me, so I got out of bed and did a little work. I figured since I was up I'd just stay up, so I made some ice cream and did the rest of the season stats. We're missing a Maroon scoresheet; I am sad. After that, I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom so my friend Kimmy wouldn't have reason to "Ew!" when she and Tony visit this weekend. Did you know I have four bottles of Scrubbing Bubbles-esque products, all of which are mostly full? I keep buying them thinking they'll use themselves.

I kept thinking I should go for a mountain bike ride (I'm supposed to be training, after all), looking out the window at the overcast sky, and deciding I didn't want to ride after all. Besides, my new tires weren't mounted yet. I decided to go to the garage and take care of that.

Mounted the tires in record time and did a really quick test bounce in the tiny parking lot behind my apartment complex. That did the trick; I wanted to see the tires in action on the trails.

Got my gear together, loaded up, and headed out. One block from my destination I realized I didn't have my shoes. Headed back, picked up my shoes, and headed out to try again.

Finally, time to ride! I parked a little more than a mile from the trailhead so I could warm up on the roads leading to the lot I usually stage from. Today's ride was interrupted by lots of little stops to adjust my seat, dump rocks out of my shoe, etc., but I think I made it to the first peak a little faster than on my previous rides. Goodie.

Next came the big crazy downhill. I did it just fine the last time, but this week I was convinced that I was going to die halfway down. It probably had to do with the fact that I was still apprehensive about wheel issues on fast descents from last week. By then, there was nothing I could do but ride it out, so ride it out I did, and whaddaya know, I'm still alive.

Did my usual favorite loop, then rode up Toyon. The final huge hill did me in again; I stepped off, caught my breath, finished the hill, and stopped to see if my heart was really going to asplode. It calmed down after a minute, and I headed on up to the next peak.

After doing all the peaks, I took the big long trail down to the parking lot on the other side of the park. It's about an 800 foot drop in just over a mile and a quarter, and riding down meant that I'd have to ride back up. Normally, I wouldn't do this (I have this fear of getting stuck if I ride down instead of up first), but I need to train, and this was a good way to force myself to do it.

I took another detour before heading back to the car. Final stats: 14 miles with 2,402 feet of climbing. The more time I spend back on dirt, the more confident I feel cornering on the downhills. Every second counts, so the faster I can go around those corners, the better off I'll be.

As for the new Specialized Roll X Pro Duals, they'll do. They're grippier than my original tires, but not as good as the Panaracer Fire XC Pros that blew off my rim. Of course, I'll take not blowing off my rim over a little extra cornering traction any day. Sliding out in a corner costs some skin and maybe some bones, but eating it due to complete tire failure costs a heck of a lot more.

Still, I'm tempted to try the Panaracer Fire XC Pro Kevlar tires next. If the bead is a different material I get to consider it a different tire, right?

07:20 PM | Mountain| Comments (4)

March 25, 2008 / Tuesday

More More More

Went for a ride up Piedmont with Lucinda on Sunday. I remember when I first did this ride back in July 2006 I was exhausted after I got back. This time, armed with a road bike and many more miles behind me, I returned feeling... warmed up. I'm itching to knock that metric century off my list. Then I can work on an imperial one. :)

But first, I need more dirt! It's been hard to find time to train on the mountain bike. Too much going on during the week. And what's this? There's rain on the way? Boos.

12:23 AM | Mountain:Road| Comments (0)

March 22, 2008 / Saturday

So Much For Planning

So the plan was to do a test ride of the race routes at Fort Ord today. Of course, the thing with planning is that what you plan often doesn't end up happening. Aaron's some sort of sick, and I'm waging something of an internal war against either whatever Aaron has or pollen. Add to that the fact that I've been too lazy to load the race route onto my GPS (or figure out how to use my GPS, for that matter), and our Ford Ord plans went out the window.

Despite feeling tired and sore, I wanted to do at least a small ride, so I headed over to Fremont Older, a.k.a. the closest hilly dirt trails from home. I pushed hard, and was able to reach the usual landmarks faster than I normally do. I even dared to ride down the steep little section of trail I avoided all last season. So far, so good.

I felt like I was breathing really hard, and that my heart was beating really fast, but I have no idea because my stupid HRM doesn't pick up my HR properly anymore. Pfft!

So yeah, I felt kinda crappy (I was feeling a little nauseated, too), but I pushed on. I went up all four peaks and then hit the Toyon Trail from the top. The top section of that trail is in terrible condition right now; there were deep ruts running along some of the steeper sections, which forced me to ride down them much lighter and faster than I usually do. Not wanting to die is good training!

Then, right after clearing the gnarly rutted downhill section, my front tire blew off the rim. I stared at the now-gigantic tube that had squirted out. WTF??

I flipped my bike over and fixed it up. But now I had a problem: I no longer trusted my tire. Going uphill was fine, but if that happened again on a fast downhill I'd be toast. Really, really broken and scraped up and bloody toast. Maybe dead toast. Not in any condition to do anything toast. I didn't want to be toast.

Not trusting your wheels is terrible training. I took the least technical route possible back to the parking lot and rode my brakes all the way down the normally wide and speedy downhills. Overall, I got a workout (at least it feels that way, but it's probably because I'm not feeling well), but my numbers for the ride are all screwed up now. Pfft again.

So here's the new plan: I'll get different tires for my bike, start taking Claritin, get to know my GPS, and go for a ride at Fort Ord next weekend.

You know what's lame? I just put these tires on a week and a half ago. Today was their second ride ever! Stupid me for buying them because they have pretty red sidewalls (and what I thought were decent reviews). I'm going to slap some Specialized knobbies on there instead.

04:13 PM | Mountain| Comments (1)

March 17, 2008 / Monday

I'm Training For Something Else!

Well, maybe. I haven't signed up yet, but I'm thinking about entering a cross country mountain bike race at Sea Otter this year. Went for my first dirt ride of the year yesterday at Arastradero. I love that park; there's lot of variety in trails, a nice view, and it's pretty close to home. We rode for just over an hour, with a few breaks to check out the park and some scenery. Total distance: 8.8 miles with ~1,100 feet of climbing.

Including breaks, this puts me at an average speed of 7.8 MPH. The race is 12.8 miles with with ~2,300 feet of climbing. Based on last year's numbers, if I maintain this pace for the race, it'll get me in at around mid-pack in my category and age division. The winner of that category/division last year averaged 9.8 MPH. I tend to average between 7 and 8 MPH. I have a lot of work to do.

Today, I rest. I'm sore; mountain biking is much more work than road cycling. It's also more challenging, which makes it more fun. My goal is to ride fast enough for a medal. The top five finishers in each division get medals, and last year the fifth place finisher averaged 8.5 MPH. I look at that and I think, I can do it! I'll have to work damned hard, but I really do believe that I can ride fast enough to place.

And who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'll finish dead last. But I'll finish dead last trying.

So it looks like I've gone from thinking about entering the race to believing that I can do it. Thanks, blog, for helping me sort out my thoughts. Or maybe no thanks for helping me fool myself into a race that's going to kick my butt. I'm going to go sign up now.

03:29 PM | Mountain| Comments (1)

September 26, 2007 / Wednesday

Old Trail, New Challenge

I decided last week to ride the Toyon Trail in the uphill direction, and today it was time to do it. My legs were unevenly sore from hobbling around on my foot the last few days, but I figured it'd be good to even them out with some pedaling. They felt pretty uncomfortable until I got warmed up, but once I did they felt just fine.

I flipped my usual route around so I could hit Toyon before my legs got too tired. It's a lot less fun in the uphill direction, but definitely a better workout. I worked hard, but didn't feel I was going to die like I did the first (and only) time I rode it. As I approached the steep hill to the gate at the top, I remembered the last time I was there, hating life and cursing Aaron for telling me it was a good trail to ride. I threw the bike into low gear and slowly spun my way up the incline, trying my hardest to keep enough weight over the front wheel. Then, a mere five feet from the gate, I pushed down on the pedal, the front end came up, and I had to clip out. Damn! So close!

I much prefer the other direction, but I am going to ride this trail uphill until I can make it to the end without clipping out. I can do it, dammit. I can do it.

After Toyon, I rode up to Nob Hill, back down, and then turned off onto a single track along the edge of the preserve that I've never ridden before. It was a nice change of pace from the usual fireroads, and I eventually ended up on the Buena Vista and Fern Trails. Once I got back on the main fireroad, I rode up to the unmarked half peak, then backtracked uphill to ride up to Maisie's Peak. Back down I went, to the other side of the preserve, and up to Hunter's Point.

As I left Hunter's Point for the Seven Springs Trail, I passed by a guy riding up. He said hello, I said hello. Everyone says hello on the trails, so I thought nothing of it. Thirty seconds later, I heard someone charge up behind me on Seven Springs Trail. Turns out it was the guy. I stopped at the next fork to let him pass, and instead of passing, he slowed, then paced me and said, "I don't see many girls here! Are you riding alone? Want to ride with me?" I told him I was almost done riding and to go ahead, since he was faster. He rode ahead for a bit. At the next fork, he stopped again. "When do you ride here? We should ride together! Come back Friday, okay?" Sorry, I told him, Friday evening is boyfriend time. That didn't seem to bother him. "Come back Friday!" he said.

I won't be back Friday, but I do need to ride there again before the rains come and the Toyon Trail closes for the season. Next week, probably. I want to make it up the trail so I can start looping down it again.

10:35 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

September 18, 2007 / Tuesday

Fremont Older Nonstop

Rode Fremont Older again tonight. I went alone this time, so I got to do the entire ride without stopping. Did the usual Seven Springs loop, the four peaks, and Toyon, then went back to do Sevens Springs in the reverse direction. I figured this would put me at around 10 miles, but that extra loop wasn't as long as I thought, and I finished the ride at 8.9 miles. Total time: 1 hour and 20 minutes, with 1719 feet of climbing. For some reason those numbers seem low to me, but today's ride was actually farther and higher than I've ever ridden on the mountain bike in that amount of time. While I didn't seem to think much of the ride, my legs certainly felt it, and despite chugging some post-ride milk, I felt so tired I thought I was sick until I ate dinner.

The HR numbers weren't bad. I broke 190 only once, and for only half a minute during the steepest part of the longest climb of the ride. It's pretty cool to be able to ride now without having to stop, and without my heart beating so hard that I feel like my head is going to explode.

Maybe next time I'll ride Toyon going the other direction. The only time I've tried it was over a year ago, and it hurt so bad (or, more likely, I sucked so bad) I thought I was going to die. I've avoided riding it that way ever since.

I just admitted to myself that I'm avoiding it. That means I should ride it. Next time it is!

10:06 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

September 04, 2007 / Tuesday

Tuesday Evening Dirt

Went for a ride on the boingy bike after work today. Hit up Fremont Older, rode the Seven Springs Trail, the Toyon Trail, and up each of the four peaks (only three of them are named, though, so maybe it's more like three and a half peaks). I tried not to stop, except in a couple spots to confer with Kirk. I was there to work, dangit!

Why? I dunno. Maybe I just wanted to see if I could do the whole ride without stopping and/or dismounting.

Halfway through the ride, Kirk's seat fell off. I heard a clunk, I looked back, and there was his seat, on the trail. Well, that's not good. Turns out he had a bent bolt. Seat remounting was not an option, so he took the post out and headed back to the car. I continued on to two more peaks and Toyon.

The numbers: 6.8 miles, 1299 feet of climbing, and a max heart rate of 186. A dirt ride without breaking 190, awesome, but darn, I'd hoped for something closer to 10 miles.

Next time, more trails! :)

08:32 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

August 30, 2007 / Thursday

St. Joseph's Bump

Rode St. Joseph's Hill for the first time in almost a year tonight. I drove to Los Gatos, got ready to ride, waited for Kirk, waited some more, and waited, and waited...

Finally, he showed up and said, "I can't ride." He'd remembered his bike, but forgotten his gear. D'oh.

By then, it was 6:45, which meant I had a little over an hour of light. I was a few miles from the trail head, and I wondered whether I had time to ride to the top and back before it got dark. It took about 15 seconds for me to decide that I should at least try; after all, I was there, and ready to go.

Today's ride followed a similar route to the one we took the first time I rode SJH with Veronica. That time, I struggled on the first climb, and even more on the one halfway up the hill. Today, I just threw the bike into granny gear (I wasn't out to really push myself too hard; I just wanted a ride) and leisurely spun my way to the top. On all the stretches I had trouble with last season, I rode up them today thinking, "Huh, this is easy. Was I that out of shape last year?"

Too bad my HRM wasn't working. I would love to have compared today's heartrate numbers against a set from last season.

Hrm, where to ride next week?

09:03 PM | Mountain| Comments (1)

August 25, 2007 / Saturday

Downhill Ass Kicking

Aaron, Ted, Wayne, and I went downhill mountain biking at Northstar today.

I will sum up the day in three words: dirt, rocks, pain

Dirt, as in, loose dirt galore. Dirt, also as in, all over us, after quite a few ungraceful dismounts from our bikes. At the end of the day, that dirt was all over the inside of our cars. That's what happens when you rolling in the stuff.

Rocks, as in, all over every trail. Rocks, also as in, scraping us after those ungraceful dismounts from our bikes. At the end of the day, however, I'd learned to ride both over and around them. In the morning, they were challenging, but by the end of the afternoon, they were fun.

Pain, as in, bumps and bruises from our various ungraceful dismounts. Pain, also as in, cuts and scrapes from the aforementioned rocks. In time, however, we'll all heal. Even our bruised egos.

Still, I had fun. It's hard not to have fun on two wheels. Plus, because these conditions were so foreign to me, I learned a lot over the course of the day. I'm now much better able to handle rock-littered descents. Not that I've all of a sudden become an expert, but I've definitely gained a point or two in the rocky downhill skill and comfort departments.

I won't go into everyone's unplanned dismounts (honestly, there were too many to count), but here were mine:

(1) A short section at the top of a black diamond run that consisted of several dips and jumps strung together. I got a little overconfident, took the thing at full speed, and ran myself into a bush. The bush retaliated by puncturing my thigh with a thick branch. I rode this section later in the day a little more cautiously, scrubbing off some speed after each bump, and completed it without issue.

(2) A two log, two foot drop on another black diamond run (the only other section of black diamond I rode the entire day). I saw a log, saw a drop, figured I could ride it, realized too late that there was a second log, dropped off them going just a little too slow, and ended up with my weight forward on the landing. Because the dirt was loose, my front wheel dug and I went over my handlebars. I picked myself up and considered doing it again, properly, but I was hurting quite a bit, and decided to just continue on.

At lunch, one of my bumps from the endo bothered me so much that I had trouble throwing my leg over my bike seat. I returned to the car and popped a few ibuprofen. That did the trick; I was able to get in a pretty good afternoon once it kicked in.

When I count all my injuries from today, I'm tempted to bring back my sidebar list.

Bump count: a big bump just below my left hip, a bump on my left thigh, two bumps on my right thigh, and a bump on my left shin.

Scrape total, in order of severity: left elbow, right thigh, left shoulder, right elbow.

Most worrisome is the bump below my left hip. It reminds me of the grapefruit, pre-grapefruit. If I land on it again, will it explode into a ball of painful faux fruitiness? I considered skipping tomorrow's hockey game, but it's the last game of the season, and I don't want to miss it.

Stupid? Yes, but did anyone actually think I would choose not to play?

• • •

I just remembered that I got the pre-grapefruit bump at Northstar. In fact, that's the last time I was there, and I went splat just before lunch, just like this time. I think should stick with Kirkwood from now on.

My archives tell me that two weeks passed between the pre-grapefruit incident and the grapefruit incident, which means if the bruise below my hip is as bad as I think I won't be in the clear for a while. Good thing we're between hockey seasons.

10:35 PM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (0)

August 16, 2007 / Thursday

Monte Bello

It'd been over a month since my last dirt ride, and since this was my first free post-school weeknight with non-achy knees, I decided to take the bouncy bike out after work. My plan was simply to ride my usual 6-10 miles at Fremont Older, but as luck would have it, it's Thursday, which means that Kirk e-mailed me about french fries, I e-mailed him back about riding, and the next thing I knew I was meeting him and a couple other coworkers at Monte Bello.

This turned out to be a very good thing. Tom and Jonah also showed, and we had a pretty good assortment of riders. Jonah led and pretty much rode circles around us (okay, more like, up and down the trail past us) on his single speed. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed. I lagged a bit at first, but once I warmed up I got into a good rhythm and tailed Jonah the rest of the way up. We rode all the way to the top along the Bella Vista Trail, which was indeed a muy bella vista.

Riding all that way was not easy, though, and by the time I reached the top I was out of fuel. I kept remembering that I had a GU in my saddlebag, then forgetting to take the thing out and eat it. By that time, the sun was starting to go down, it was starting to get chilly, and I was having trouble producing heat. Uh-oh.

The ride down was cold, and got progressively darker, to the point where I had to use the LED on my keychain to put my bike on the rack when I got back to the car. My feet went numb and my legs started feeling weak. Oh, and then there was my poor night vision. The trip back down forced me to focus as hard as I could, and pretty much ride by the feel of the bike and trail. Actually, I think it turned out to be an excellent learning experience. Scary, but good for me. :)

Oh, and on the way down I dropped off a 1.5-2 foot ledge and didn't die. Hooray!

We ended up riding 14.4 miles with 2221 feet of climbing. Not bad for an after work ride! My knees felt fine (hooray again), although the right hamstring twinged a bit as usual. I suppose I should stretch more.

But first, I must finish inhaling my dinner.

09:45 PM | Mountain| Comments (1)

July 13, 2007 / Friday

Saratoga Gap Plus

My coworker Kirk suggested we go for an after work ride today and gave me a choice of Fremont Older or Saratoga Gap. I jumped at the opportunity to ride someplace new, and off we went.

Well, not really. I got stuck behind a bunch of slow cars on the way there, and, upon arrival, discovered that I'd left my HRM/speedometer/odometer/altimeter/cadence sensor doohickey at the office. Fortunately, Kirk has something similar on his bike, so I was at least able to get some data for today's ride. What a bummer, though, to hit a new park (two, actually, since we rode Long Ridge also) and not be able to graph it. We ended up riding 8 miles in an hour and five minutes with 1350 feet of climbing, although that number sounds a bit high to me. (No pun intended, at least originally.)

The first half of the ride out highlighted how pampered I've been. I'm used to relatively smooth hardpack, and the rockiness and rootiness of the trails at Saratoga Gap made me a little uneasy. It was a nice challenge, though, and by the end of the ride I was feeling much more comfortable with the trail conditions. I was enjoying it, even. I like having more to think about and keep track of. Plus, it'll make me a better rider.

It was also a nice to be following Kirk on this ride. He's a better rider than I am, but just enough that I want to push a little extra to keep up. On downhills, he's more cautious than I am, so having him in front keeps me from killing myself on tricky parts of new trails. On that note, I think my propensity for trying to do more than I'm able has some of my coworkers a little worried. One of our fellow work riders told Kirk before the ride that he was to return me in one piece, which meant specifically that he was to ride in front of me and keep me in check. Hah!

I'm learning/working on a couple other things out there, too. I'm finally over the whole "should I lean my bike or my body" thing and just leaning my bike through higher speed turns. It's been hard to make myself do that since it's the opposite on my motorcycle. (But maybe that's because I don't own a dirtbike? Ooh, does that qualify as an excuse to own a dirtbike?) Really, I just need to stop trying to compare the two. In any case, turning, maintaining traction while turning, and not thinking that I'll die while turning, have all improved. I'm also standing and mashing on my pedals more to climb. It sure makes those moderately steep short hills a lot less boring!

I took a few pictures, too, and posted the two most interesting ones on Flickr. Enjoy.

Going home was great fun; there wasn't a single car in front of me the entire drive back to downtown Saratoga. What a great way to wrap up a great ride. :)

09:31 PM | Mountain| Comments (1)

June 21, 2007 / Thursday

No New Injuries, Hooray!

I went for a mountain bike ride after work today, and I didn't fall. Of course, that was probably because I opted to walk my bike down the ridiculously steep part of the Woodhills Trail that I was crazy enough to ride down last year. Either it's because trail conditions there have changed, or I'm older and more chicken now. I think it's the latter.

We had a large group of riders today with a pretty diverse skill set. There was me, Kirk, Veronica, and Victor, i.e. the folks from work. Veronica invited her friend Bond (James Bond ... just kidding, Bond's his first name), who was there with three other guys: Marios, Alex, and Ash, who showed up with a single speed, which actually didn't look as difficult to ride as I thought it would. But then, I wasn't the one riding it.

We hit the peaks and the two best trails: Seven Springs and Toyon. In all, 7 miles and just over 1,300 feet of climbing. I probably would have gotten lazy and ridden something closer to 5 miles if I'd gone by myself, so it was good to have better riders in the group to push me.

I found myself losing traction more than I should. I noticed it the last ride, too. When I got home, I took at look at my rear tire. I have about 1.5 mm of tread left in the center. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but at the very least, I now have an excuse to buy new tires. :)

09:01 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

June 17, 2007 / Sunday

I Seem To Have Developed A Bad Habit

Took the mountain bike out for a spin at Alum Rock Park with Aaron. We did my usual route: the little warmup "hill", the switchbacks, and Eagle Rock. On the way back, we took a trail I normally avoid, mainly because it's rocky and steep. Today, I figured I might as well take it, since Aaron was with me and I wouldn't have to wait to be found if I totally ate it.

I didn't totally eat it, but I ate it ... again! 8 days is too short a period to fall off my bike twice! I rebruised the still healing bruise on my right shin from last week, lost some skin from the fingers on my left hand, added some scrapes to my right shoulder and left shin, and some cuts to my right forearm and knee.

Ah, poopies.

04:27 PM | Mountain| Comments (7)

June 04, 2007 / Monday

Lake Chabot Bike Loop

Between a trip to SF and my hockey game yesterday, Aaron and I squeezed in a ride around Lake Chabot. The bike loop there runs 12.4 miles around the lake and has some decent downhills with some not-too-nasty climbs. We managed to ride the loop in 14.6 miles. Wrong turn, d'oh!

Actually, the wrong turn turned out to be a good thing. In addition to gaining some fun downhill, we got to ride our way back up on the Ten Hills Trail, which, as the name suggests, is comprised of a series of up and down hills. The hills were just short enough that I could stand and grind my way to the top of each one. I got a lot of practice climbing out of the seat, something I hadn't done successfully before today.

The right knee bothered me a bit between miles 4 and 8, but felt fine the rest of the time. We finished the loop in just under two hours, which left enough time for a pit stop at Jamba Juice.

I'm glad we finished the loop, but didn't like the pressure of having to return by a certain hour. It would have been nice to just ride wherever we wanted without concern for the clock. I'll have to plan better next time.

01:54 PM | Mountain| Comments (2)

March 31, 2007 / Saturday

ARP Again

Headed back to Alum Rock Park for a solo ride. My legs were tired from Friday night hockey and lard ball training week, but I managed to make it up both the switchbacks and to Eagle Rock without stopping on the climbs. My legs were killing me, though. By the time I reached the picnic table bench at the top of the switchbacks my quads were screaming.

I was happy to see progress on the short steep minihill leading up to Eagle Rock. The only time I've tried to climb that was on my first day almost a year ago, when I pretty much had to push my bike up after I lost traction and momentum near the bottom. Today, I got into the right gear (Granny gear!) at the right time (early!), properly balanced my weight over both tires for traction, and pedaled fast enough to maintain momentum yet slow enough not to spin my wheel. Piece of cake! ;)

What was not a piece of cake, however, was this one pesky turn on the switchback descent. It hadn't given me any trouble in the past, but today it did. Today, I think I simply overthought the turn. I tried to ride back up it, then down again, and had to step out both times. Some days you're just off, I guess. No worries, I'll be back.

The right knee felt a little stiff after about 5 miles, but I couldn't identify any true pain. Better than last time, so no complaints there!

04:05 PM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (0)

March 24, 2007 / Saturday

First Dirt Ride Of The Season

Mountain biking season is here! Met up with Lucinda for my first dirt ride of the season and her first dirt ride ever. Drove over to Alum Rock Park, where I learned to ride last April. Warmed up on the not so steep partly paved mellow trail (sorry, no map or trail names), then headed up to the switchbacks.

I was pleased that the trails all felt much easier than they did the first time I rode here. Noticable progress, whoO!

On our way up to the switchback, we came upon a snake sunning itself on the singletrack. I suppose if I'd been descending I'd have tried to hop over it, but since I was climbing that wasn't an option. I stopped, eeked (Snake! A snake! Oh, it's a snake!), and stared. It stuck its tongue out at me a few times and slowly backed away into the grass. Phew. (Badgers badger badgers ...)

Lucinda did great, riding her way to the top to enjoy the picnic table bench, tree shade, and view. I remembered being totally beat by the time I made it up there on my first day, but she didn't seem all that fazed by the climb. Cool. :)

My right knee started to hurt a little toward the end of the ride. My repeated bounce bounce bouncing probably didn't help much, but then, gratuitous bouncing is part of what makes mountain biking so fun.

When do I get to ride again? I wonder how my knees feel about tomorrow.

*bounce*

05:21 PM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (2)

September 15, 2006 / Friday

Legs. So. Tired.

I guess I'm not quite in shape enough to do 56 miles of riding in a week without paying for it at the end.

Finally had time to rejoin the weekly after work ride at St. Joseph's Hill. My legs were already tired from 46 miles since Sunday, so I wasn't sure if I would make it to the top. I took it easy and rode slowly, and actually managed to get up there without being too winded. My legs were really feeling it, though.

The big upside to riding at a slower pace, aside from feeling less winded, was that I had more time to think about how I was riding, how I was balanced, and what lines I was picking. I took the Serpentine Trail on the way up, also known as the only trail on that hill I've ever fallen on, and instead of the usual bumps and slides, I maneuvered effortlessly around and between every obstacle. Cool.

Next time I expect to do the same at my usual pace. ;)

10:34 AM | Mountain| Comments (0)

September 07, 2006 / Thursday

Pedal Pedal Pant Pant

It's been over three weeks since I've done any off-playa riding. Today I decided to get back on the trails. I headed over to Fremont Older after work for a quick three mile loop. I'd intended to do more, but my body said no. Plus, the trails looked mighty weird with one eye blurry and seeing double. The gigantic runoff cracks running parallel with and in the trail were especially scary. I figured the less time I spent out there the smaller my chance of running into or off of something painful.

Still, it was good to get back on my bike. I did yet another eek-while-in-the-air hop while going downhill. It was my first hop of the day, and I somehow got myself slightly diagonal to the directional in which I was travelling. Fortunately, I stuck the landing, and my visions of rolling/skidding along the dirt trail and losing massive amounts of skin soon faded away.

Today's outing served a dual purpose: this was my first successful geocaching trip. I had a travel bug from Josepi to place somewhere in California. I looked up a cache at Fremont Older near Hunter's Point, and decided it would be good practice for my big geocaching mission later this month. Cache found, log signed, travel bug placed. I even remembered to take a picture.

Hey, that was pretty fun. Thanks, Josepi!

06:40 PM | Geocaching:Mountain| Comments (4)

August 16, 2006 / Wednesday

Fremont Older Again

More fun in a group!
Even with the extra stopping.
Actually, that's probably why I didn't feel like I was gonna die.
You know, like last time.

09:31 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

August 09, 2006 / Wednesday

Interesting Ride

"Interesting" in this case would be a euphemism for, "Holy crap, how many things went wrong today?"

I'm sure I missed a few, but here's what I remember.

1. My hydration pack is kaput. It drip drip drip drip dripped when I filled it up at the office before the ride. It was really hot out, though, and I had no other containers for water, so I decided to deal with the drip and use it anyway.

2. There is a strange squeak coming from my bike. I tried to isolate it before our ride, but no luck. Maybe the crank, maybe the rear gears or hub. No biggie. At least not compared to all the things that went wrong on Victor's bike.

Today was Victor's first ride. He purchased his bike used from a coworker (I think) a while back and never got around to riding it. Or to tuning it up. That made for an interesting first ride.

3. Victor's front brakes were on. On, as in, they rubbed against the rim, and it took a good 10-15 minutes to adjust them before we took off.

4. Victor's toe clips didn't fit his foot. He turned them over and they scraped the ground when he turned. We stopped and I took them off this bike before we reached the hills. I bungeed them to my leaky hydration pack.

Speaking of my hydration pack, my lower back and ass were pretty soaked at this point. With ice water. Good thing it was hot out.

5. Three police cars, two firetrucks, and an ambulance came down the hill. Er, that's St. Joseph's hill. We should have taken that as a sign.

Victor and I eventually made it to the trails and onto the first landing, where Wayne and Veronica were waiting. We continued uphill in reorganized staggered groups. I went to the top and headed back down, where I met Wayne at the first junction. I convinced him to ride down the hilly bumpy windy trail with me.

6. Wayne successfully rode all the difficult parts of the hilly bumpy windy trail and then pulled a muscle trying to clip out while falling on a really boring part of the trail. Good job, me, for convincing him to ride it.

On a side note, (much) later I dared him to ride down a flight of concrete steps, but Veronica thought we'd had enough bad luck in one day and said no.

Anyway, after Wayne stretched out his pulled muscle, we rode around the corner and saw Victor and Veronica stopped on the trail. Veronica was working on Victor's bike.

7. The chain broke on Victor's bike. Veronica reconnected the link, but it was warped, so I suggested we remove the warped link. By then it was starting to get dark, and no one could get the pin through the links. Then it got darker. And darker. Finally we decided to just coast the bike back down the hill. We got ready to go.

8. Wayne's rear tire was flat. I figured it was a slow leak, so I whipped out the pump and filled it back up. No time to fix; we needed to get off the moutain, and fast.

By this point, my bike shorts were completely soaked with ice water. And it wasn't hot out anymore. And water was streaming down my legs and into my shoe. And I had been standing around for a long time. And there's not much exertion to be had going downhill (but lots of cold wind), which was all we had left.

We rode back down the trail slowly. It got darker and darker as we went, and toward the bottom everything just looked dark grey to me. I rode in the back to make sure we didn't lose Victor, and the only way I could see him was by looking at his white socks.

Finally, we made it back into town. We had no headlights, Victor had no chain, and Wayne had a leaky tire. Veronica called her husband, who came and picked us and our bikes up in their gigantic truck. Phew.

I think it's time for me to start carrying a master link. And maybe some lights.

11:14 PM | Mountain| Comments (3)

August 04, 2006 / Friday

Fremont Older

The weather is nice, I'm not drowning in work, I probably won't get a chance to ride this weekend, and I've been meaning to check out Fremont Older. So I left work a little early and went for a ride there.

The verdict: I like that it's close to my house. Most of the trails are open fireroads, though, which is kind of boring. On Aaron's recommendation, I rode the Toyon Trail, which had plenty of tree cover, was more narrow, covered in leaves, and full of turns, dips, and climbs. A fun trail, but perhaps not the best thing to be riding the day after a lower body workout. The legs were not happy, and they made sure to let me know.

I don't know about you, but when I descend without first climbing, I start to worry about the climb I'll have to make to get back out. That pretty much summed up many moments of the Toyon Trail for me. And with good reason. When I finally made it to the next junction I thought I was going to fall over. From standing.

I did, however, manage to take the following picture. Believe me, it wasn't easy. My hands were shaking a LOT. That was take number five.

After the earth stopped spinning around my feet, I pedalled on to visit Maisie's Peak and Hunter's Point. In my spinningness I didn't visit Nob Hill even though I was right by it. Next time, I guess. I wanted to take a picture to document reaching the top, but it was a little hazy out, and the top isn't actually that high anyway.

In any case, hooray! That was a good way to start the weekend. :)

07:04 PM | Mountain| Comments (1)

July 19, 2006 / Wednesday

New Trails, New Flop

Despite having ridden St. Joseph's Hill numerous times, I still haven't covered all the trails. I rode a couple new ones tonight, both of them more narrow than the fireroads I've taken on my previous visits. I got a little carried away on one of them (a fun hilly bumpy windy one!) and fell over. Great, more cuts and bruises. I'd like some replacement legs, please, while my current ones heal. One thing of note, however, is that I fell left this time. That's the first time I've fallen left in years. My last 5 years worth of falls (a.k.a. flops), both on my bike and on my motorcycle, have been to the right. Now I know the joy that Zoolander felt when he finally turned left. Hallelujah!

My heart rate monitor pegged my max at 191 bpm. That's low for me. I guess it's time for a bigger hill?

Not until I ride the fun hilly bumpy windy trail a couple times without flopping.

10:36 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

July 15, 2006 / Saturday

Wilder Ranch

It was pretty hot in the Bay Area today, but we managed to find more temperate riding weather in Santa Cruz, at Wilder Ranch. We were supposed to get there at 2:30, but because of traffic didn't make it until 3:00, which would have been okay if it weren't for the fact that we were supposed to meet my coworker in the parking lot. I apologized profusely when we finally arrived, and even though I could tell he wasn't happy about having to wait, he good naturedly accepted the apology and we headed out for the trails.

The trails we took were decent: steep enough to give me a workout but not so steep that I couldn't ride up them. There was a section of single track under tree cover that I found particularly fun, despite the fact that it included an uphill section that tired me out enough that I completely failed in my attempt to hop over a little log at the end of the climb. To make it even more interesting, when I hopped and flopped I ended up on top of a hoard of big angry red ants. Fortunately they were too busy being angry about something other than me, and caused me no injuries on top of what I had just done to myself, which included light bruises on my left thigh, right shin, and right thigh, a welt just above my left knee, scrapes on the bottoms of both forearms, and a cut at the tip of my now-sore right elbow. Despite the length of the injury list, there was no severe damage. I feel pretty good, actually.

We rode on and eventually reached the other trailhead, i.e. the top. We rested a short while, and during this short while I happened to notice a fly sitting on the cut on my right elbow. I think it thought I was a cow, and was getting ready to lay eggs in my wound. Ew. And moo.

In non-fly news, I finally got to try out my new heart rate monitor. I'm still familarizing myself with it, but here are the numbers. Max heart rate: 195 bpm. Average heart rate: 170 bpm. Total distance: 10.5 miles. Total climb: 1345 feet. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to install the cadence sensor before today's ride. Next time, Gadget, next time!

After the ride we stopped for ice cream at Marianne's. So many flavors, all very tasty. I had a scoop each of the Macapuno and Mandarin Chocolate. The Macapuno was impressive; there were huge chunks of baby coconut in the ice cream. The Mandarin Chocolate was no slacker either. Super rich and flavorful. Must visit again!

08:12 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

June 28, 2006 / Wednesday

Wednesday Is ...

St. Joseph's Hill day. Rode it with Kirk from work. (Whoo, that rhymes.)
That hill is now officially too small for me. (Whoo, go me.)
I should warm up my legs next time before I try to ride uphill. (Ouch, that hurts.)

11:55 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

June 21, 2006 / Wednesday

Pedalling Solo

Went for my first solo mountain bike ride after work this evening. I headed to my usual Wednesday night destination, St. Joseph's Hill. I chose this for two reasons: (1) I wanted to solo ride something I already knew and (2) I wanted to ride to the top without stopping. The last two times I rode this hill my friend and I stopped short of the top and rested at trail intersections. It left me feeling like I had unfinished business with the hill. I wanted to know that I could do the whole thing in one climb.

I parked on Main Street in downtown Los Gatos and made it to the top in 31 minutes. I didn't stop at all, but I think I could have done better. I might need to start farther away next time, since my legs didn't feel warmed up until almost midway through the ride.

In any case, success! Hill closure achieved. I won!

Heh, I won against a wee baby hill.

I don't care! I'll take it!

09:39 PM | Mountain| Comments (2)

June 14, 2006 / Wednesday

Progress?

Rode St. Joseph's Hill again tonight. It felt much easier than it did last time. Have I gotten better, or is my new setup better? I'm inclined to believe that it's the setup and not me because of my current lard level. Speaking of setup, I forgot to mention that I got measured and adjusted on my bike when I went to pick it up from the shop. Hrm, perhaps I should rephrase that. I got measured. My bike got adjusted.

I got my first flat today. I picked up a few burrs at Arastradero this weekend, and one of them poked a hole in the tube. Fortunately, it happened well before we reached the trail, so it didn't interrupt our ride much. And I got to use my cool new pump. I likes.

I think that about sums it up. Uphill less painful. Downhill more fun. I noticed a few more things to jump and/or ride up on today, so I jumped and/or rode up on them.

Hooray for boing.

11:02 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

June 10, 2006 / Saturday

Yay Pedal

Finally made it out onto the trails again. Joined a ROMP group ride at Arastradero. It was pretty close to the type of ride I was looking for today: mellow but not total beginner boring. We did 7 miles of trails, including visits to both bowls. A great workout, especially since I haven't done much in the way of exercise the last couple weeks. I blame that on the busted back. Waah.

The ride leader brought a full suspension tandem mountain bike, and his wife/gf/partner rode on the back. It was quite a sight ... but not as much as the other tandem bike we encountered on the trails. This one two sets of pedals on the back, one for tall people and one for shorties. He had his elementary school age daughter with him. Totally cute. :)

My right quad is tight. That's what I get for being a lardball.

05:17 PM | Mountain| Comments (2)

June 02, 2006 / Friday

Pumped

My new bike pump finally arrived!

It not-so-secretly pleases me that the anodized red parts of the pump (including the internal stem, not shown in the picture) match the anodized red frame of my bike.

Carbon fiber and anodized red. Mmm ...

11:17 AM | Mountain| Comments (2)

May 30, 2006 / Tuesday

Grant Ranch

Went riding with Aaron at Grant Ranch yesterday. I got my ass kicked. Ow, my ass. No, actually, "Ow, my back," as you'll find out shortly.

There were only two types of ass kickings, so it's pretty easy to cover them all here. Ass kickings numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 ... n occurred on the many too-steep-for-me hills we had to climb. I lost count of how many times I had to dismount and push my bike. I guess part of it was that my legs felt tired the entire ride. Some days your body just isn't ready to ride, I suppose. No biggie; the uphill push is a great calf workout.

And now, for ass kicking number 4 (approximately). It came a little after mile 4. After all that climbing, we were rewarded with a downhill. A very steep and rocky downhill. There was even a warning sign posted at the top. The descent was split into alternating sections of steepness and eek steepness. I made it down every section but the last. Halfway down the final chunk of eek steepness, I tried to slow, lost traction on the rear wheel, and as the back of the bike came around to my right, did a flying diagonal endo. I caught some decent eek steepness downhill air and landed completely on my back on the edge of a rough rock path at the bottom of the hill. Upon landing, I rolled right about a quarter revolution, and then my bike landed on me. I'm discovering that one of the features of clipless pedals is that when I flip, my bike flips too.

My first reaction was to try to kick my bike off of me. Then I realized I couldn't breathe. I kicked some more, then gave up, because I was more concerned about trying to breathe again. You know what they say about getting the wind knocked out of you? I finally understand now. Before this crash, I'd only had the wind knocked out of me for a couple seconds. This must have lasted at least 15, and I consider that a conservative estimate. I remember laying there, making funny noises trying to breathe, stopping, thinking to myself, "Try again, your breathe will come back soon." Trying again, and again, then thinking, "I sure hope my breath comes back before I run out of oxygen."

At some point, Aaron ran back and pulled my bike off me. I knew he was looking at me to see if I was okay, and I knew that he had no idea I couldn't breathe, so I mustered what little air I had left in my lungs and managed to say, "Wind!" A few more seconds passed, and finally my diaphragm stopped spasming and I could breathe again.

As with all my crashes, I wish I had this on video. I need a little camcorder angel over my shoulder to record all the stuff I do to myself. The first person perspective sure is exciting, but what does it look like from the outside?

And now, the damage. I'd like to start by saying I was damned lucky that I landed on my back, because my hydration back took the brunt of the impact. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't been wearing it. My upper back is sore just behind the ribcage, but nothing seems broken. My lower back/hip area (including the infamous grapefruit!) is covered in scratches, bumps, and bruises, but again, nothing seems broken. I also banged and scratched up my right shoulder, arm, elbow, and knee, but those are fairly superficial. Finally, I have whiplash, but it's mild compared to the ones I used to get snowboarding. I'm actually surprised the damage was so light, given the speed and the terrain.

I also bent the front brake rotor on my bike. It was due to go into the shop for its 1 month tuneup anyway. Good timing, eh?

Anyway, I got up, gave myself some time to make sure everything was okay, and we continued on for another 6 miles. We rode through a fun little jagged rocky creek area right after the crash. I was all proud of myself because I made it through without having to put my foot down. I clipped a foot out at one point, but was able to clip it back in a few feet later. Yeah!

More ass kicking climbs, beautiful views, and fun downhills. By the end of the ride we'd ridden more than 10 miles. My longest ride yet, by far! And the speedometer tells me I reached over 33 MPH at some point. Cool.

After the ride, we drove up Mt. Hamilton to the Lick Observatory. By the time we got there it was closed, so we parked and went up the steps. It was kind of nice that it was closed, actually, because there was no one else up there. A great finish to the afternoon. :)

10:31 AM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (4)

May 27, 2006 / Saturday

ROMP Beginners Clinic

Went to ROMP's monthly beginners clinic at Arastradero today. The ride was disappointingly short, but it was nice to get yet another lesson on climbing technique. I hear basically the same stuff from everyone, but I find that it helps a lot to hear it phrased several different ways. It sticks a little better each time, and I find different keywords to remember and work on.

We started the clinic by going up a hill that looked intimidating from the bottom, but when I actually rode it it felt susprisingly easy. Did I initially find the hill intimidating because it was my first non-fireroad climb clipped in, or did I find the climb easy because I have (slightly) better technique and equipment now? Either way, I'm happy with the result.

After the short clinic ride, I went back out on the trails with a couple other riders in the group. I rode last, and got some great practice emergency clipping out of my pedals when the rider in front of me stalled on the uphill sections. Unfortunately, one of those stalls resulted in my having to push my bike up the final steep section of the climb. I'd really wanted to ride up the entire hill, but I'm not good enough to pull off a steep uphill start yet.

We encountered a few switchbacks on the way back, and I managed to ride down all but one of them. The one I didn't ride is what I'll remember, though, because I had to unclip midturn to keep from falling over. And I did. Phew, and whoo.

All too soon it was time to go home. I wanted to ride more, but that's okay, there'll be more riding before the weekend's done. :)

07:38 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

May 25, 2006 / Thursday

St. Joseph's Hill

Had nice little post-work ride at St. Joseph's Hill yesterday evening. It felt great to get some midweek time out on the trails. I tried to work on body positioning, pedalling technique, and relaxing my hands on the climbs. I think I'm doing a little better, but it's kind of hard to tell because I ride a different trail every time I go out. Not that that's a bad thing; I like the variety.

Had a blast on the downhill, as usual. I learned something, too. Specifically, I learned that if I am to launch myself off a bump or jump, I'd better be darned sure that I'm going straight. I caught some decent air on my way down last night, and had a moment of midair eek when I realized I was slightly diagonal. Fortunately, it really was just slightly diagonal, and I didn't biff on the landing. Good to keep in mind for future, though.

2 more days 'til I get to ride again. :-D

09:22 AM | Mountain| Comments (0)

May 14, 2006 / Sunday

Women's MTB Class

Went riding at China Camp State Park today with the REI Women's Mountain Biking class. It was a lot easier than my previous two rides with Aaron, but still a lot of fun. More importantly, I learned a little more about body position and technique (since everyone has a slightly different way of explaining things), which was what I had hoped to get out of it.

REI has a general Mountain Biking for Beginners class, but I chose to take the women's class over that one because I wanted to learn in a more supportive (less testosterone-stupid) environment. To that end, it was a great decision. At the same time, however, I found the women's class to be a bit too gentle. I wanted to to ride harder, go faster, and learn how to handle more technical trails. I didn't really feel challenged ... but then, I guess that wasn't the point of the women's class.

Still, I still had an awesome time. I spent most of the day riding behind the lead instructor, so I got to watch their line and ask them things as we rode. I got a lot out of that, and was happy that I got to ride at a faster pace than I would have had I been stuck in the pack.

Once again, I boinged my way back to the parking lot. This time, since I had toe clips on my pedals, I actually caught air on every boing.

Speaking of pedals, my cycling shoes arrived last Friday. Hello clipless pedals! Soon I will be boinging even higher. I can't wait.

05:41 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

May 06, 2006 / Saturday

Arastradero Preserve

Went for a mostly easy ride at Arastradero Preserve this afternoon. Mostly easy? Yes, except for two of the steep (for me) single track climbs I got stuck on. It seems I'm not so good at going in a straight line uphill, and once I veered off the trail to a stop I couldn't get the bike going again. I tried to start on the uphill so many times I lost count, and finally I had to admit defeat and push my bike to the top.

Single track uphill asskicking aside, I had a blast. I'm learning to shift my weight and work my brakes better on the downhills, which means (1) less eek (2) more speed and (3) more rush. I also managed to get both wheels off the ground on a hop. First time ever. Wahoo.

We stopped and played in a couple bowls along the way. Actually, Aaron did most of the playing in the bowls. I just watched from the lip 'cause didn't want to die. That is, until a couple of mountain biker chicks came by and played in the bowl, too. Goddammit, I thought, if they can do it, I can toO! So I did. And I didn't die. Hooray.

So that's it. Ass kicking climbs, bumpy downhill fun, not dying in the bike parks, and boing boing boing boing boing (full suspension rules!) all the way back to the car.

I can't wait to get back out there. :-D

07:47 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

April 29, 2006 / Saturday

Pedal Pedal Pedal

Took the new bike out to Alum Rock Park today. It's been two years since my last attempt at mountain biking. This time, however, I arrived mentally ready to actually ride up the mountain.

Climbed a few climbs and didn't totally hate it. Smiled when I got to look down from the top. Rode back down and didn't kill myself. Got my bike a little muddy so it looks the way a mountain bike should.

There was a lot more variety on today's ride than on my first one: fire trails, paved roads, hardpack, single tracks, switchbacks, a jagged rock patch, mud, running water, and a slightly hazy view of downtown San Jose. I rode through most of it, though I had to dismount a few times when I lost momentum on some of the steeper climbs.

Mostly, I'm happy that I didn't quit going up and didn't eat it going down.

So, to summarize ...

Mountain biking: fun, scary, lots to learn
The new bike: rules
The instructor: totally awesome :-*

I'm beat. It's time for bed!

10:22 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)

April 28, 2006 / Friday

My New Bike

Say hello.

You were expecting something with a motor, perhaps? Not yet.

After weeks of test riding, a decision to go from hardtail to full suspension, and a major spending limit readjustment, I decided on a Giant Anthem 2.

It's red, you say. Yes, it's true. I bought a red bike. But you see, it felt so good on the test ride that I couldn't NOT buy the bike. Besides, it's a shiny anodized red, which looks a heck of a lot better to me than the comparitively dull red of the Trek 8000, which, by the way, was the bike that started the whole "I don't want a red bike" thing. The Trek 8000 actually felt really good, but it didn't pass the prettiness test.

I ordered the Anthem last week. It came in Tuesday, and was ready for pickup yesterday. I was totally excited. We did a basic setup for me and I headed out for my first spin on the bike in the parking lot. Everything felt great, so I decided to push it a little.

I turned, I turned a little faster, I turned a little harder ... and then I lowsided. It was really weird. One moment I was turning, and the next moment the wheels just slid out from under me. Did I hit an oil slick on the pavement, or was I really turning that hard? In retrospect, I should have checked the parking lot for oil. Oh well.

The damage was light. I put a few scratches on the bike, but hey, it's a mountain bike, and that would have happened sooner or later. I wound up with a huge bruise/bump on my right knee, a few smaller bruises on both legs, a small bruise on my right hip, and a scrape on my left elbow. Nothing that won't heal, and, more importantly, nothing that restricts activity.

At hockey a few hours later, I thought about how I lean into my turns, and that perhaps I was expecting the same sort of grip from my tires. I have to remember that rubber does not dig like skate blades do. Sure, I've lowsided on the ice, but it takes a lot more lean to do it on skates than it does on wheels.

I rode the bike into work today, and I'll be taking it out on a real ride this weekend. I can't wait!

10:21 AM | Injuries:Mountain| Comments (3)

April 10, 2004 / Saturday

Mountain Biking Epiphany

I went for my first ever mountain bike outing today. During our first climb, I thought to myself, "Oh man, I didn't think we'd have to do so much uphill biking," followed by, "Duh, it's a mountain. You're mountain biking. What did you expect?!"

I know, I'm a genius.

05:41 PM | Mountain| Comments (0)