Weekend Ride Reports

[BigPiney]

I was able to sneak in a good ride on Saturday morning. Started early in temps of about 45 degrees, which rose to about 65 by the time we finished.

We took one of my favorite routes into the hills, with an extension that adds about 10 miles and some big climbs.

Overall it was 58 miles with just over 5,000 feet of climbing. I got to do one of the steeper sections, called Buzzards Roost, twice after we thought we lost one of our buddies. We went back down the mile climb to look for him, while he was pulled off the road taking a "natural break". He soldiered on while we were back down the hill, thinking we ditched him and just kept going up the hill. We finally found him about 20 miles later at the store eating some grub.

It was a good ride. The legs were climbing well and we all had plenty of zip to hammer some fun sections of road toward the end of the ride. I'm not quite there, but am feeling on track in my training for the Death Ride in a few months.

oh, and we added a new guy to the group this week. Young guy just moved into our ward that is a roadie. Its always nice to have more bodies on the big rides.

I am jealous. I wish I had people to ride with. I did just over 50, but only 1000 of climbing on Saturday. I did do 2500 ft in 24 miles on Friday night, so I could still feel it a bit on my longer ride.

Good news for me. Yosemite has plowed the road, but will not open to cars for a while, so hopefully on Friday I can head up there and ride undisturbed through the park. Should be about 60 degrees in Tuolomne Meadows.

I do not feel ready at all for hte Death ride, but I am going to hit it hard till then to try and get ready.

Planning on 3000 ft in about 20 miles tonight. Can you tell I am on the verge of panic?

[Pheidippides]

I am jealous. I wish I had people to ride with. I did just over 50, but only 1000 of climbing on Saturday. I did do 2500 ft in 24 miles on Friday night, so I could still feel it a bit on my longer ride.

Good news for me. Yosemite has plowed the road, but will not open to cars for a while, so hopefully on Friday I can head up there and ride undisturbed through the park. Should be about 60 degrees in Tuolomne Meadows.

I do not feel ready at all for hte Death ride, but I am going to hit it hard till then to try and get ready.

Planning on 3000 ft in about 20 miles tonight. Can you tell I am on the verge of panic?

You guys that can climb make me feel like an amateur. I suck at climbing even small hills.

[RC Vikings]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/174187375

I felt like Boonen for about three miles today, of course it took a 30 mph wind at my back to get there.

[Viking]

I'm stoked. I'm spending three weeks in UT this summer armed with my Lemond Ti. I cannot wait to do the Alpine Loop.

[mtnbiker]

I'm stoked. I'm spending three weeks in UT this summer armed with my Lemond Ti. I cannot wait to do the Alpine Loop.

Give me a call. I'll ride it with you.

[Viking]

Give me a call. I'll ride it with you.

I'm fat and anti-social. Not a very good riding partner. But maybe we can get a quorum and see what happens. The larger the group, the more my impact is diluted and the happier everyone will be.

[mtnbiker]

Just posted a video of the downhill portion of my lunchtime ride from today. Let's see if it'll link.

[YOUTUBE]VyFE8ThtnYc[/YOUTUBE]

[ERCougar]

Just posted a video of the downhill portion of my lunchtime ride from today. Let's see if it'll link.

[YOUTUBE]VyFE8ThtnYc[/YOUTUBE]

Nice flow-y trail--looks fun.
So what did you use to mount your camera? I tried a homemade mount last year and the picture was way too bouncy.

[mtnbiker]

Nice flow-y trail--looks fun.
So what did you use to mount your camera? I tried a homemade mount last year and the picture was way too bouncy.

It's a GoPro Hero mounted to the stem. They sell a number of different mounting options. It gives remarkably good HD video for such a small unit. I got some fun boogie boarding video at the beach last year, just holding it in one hand and holding the boogie board with the other. I guess I'm going to have to record the downhill again, because I don't like the angle the camera was pointed. I need to point it down a bit more, so I can get more of the singletrack in frame.

[RC Vikings]

Just posted a video of the downhill portion of my lunchtime ride from today. Let's see if it'll link.

That looks fun. I'm not a fast desender but I love getting out on my mt bike. I don't do it very often but I plan on doing a lot more of it this summer.

[PaloAltoCougar]

We had a nice ride up to Calaveras Reservoir, following a portion of this Tuesday's Stage 3 in the Tour of California (btw, the weather and scenery will be great this year--be sure to tune in). For years, there has been a bald eagle's nest--not the type from which I am scornfully excluded at courts of honor, I'm talking the real deal here--atop a power pole next to the reservoir.

Today, one could see at least two eaglets in the nest with their mother perched to one side. Meanwhile, dad flew lazy circles high above the aerie. While we snacked and watched, the dad (we're making some gender assumptions here, I admit) disappeared for a bit, and then returned to the nest clutching a small animal in its talons. Breakfast was served. I felt like Marlin Perkins as I called the play-by-play.

[RC Vikings]

We had a nice ride up to Calaveras Reservoir, following a portion of this Tuesday's Stage 3 in the Tour of California (btw, the weather and scenery will be great this year--be sure to tune in). For years, there has been a bald eagle's nest--not the type from which I am scornfully excluded at courts of honor, I'm talking the real deal here--atop a power pole next to the reservoir.

Today, one could see at least two eaglets in the nest with their mother perched to one side. Meanwhile, dad flew lazy circles high above the aerie. While we snacked and watched, the dad (we're making some gender assumptions here, I admit) disappeared for a bit, and then returned to the nest clutching a small animal in its talons. Breakfast was served. I felt like Marlin Perkins as I called the play-by-play.

That sounds like a great day. I love watching those big birds just glide. People that only see nature from inside a car miss so much.

I pounded out 46 miles today on the mean streets of Burton, Archer and Lyman. A beautiful day and starting to feel fit made for a nice ride.

[bluegoose]

After our Stake Fathers and Sons campout on Saturday we blasted out 33 miles in the mid day heat. Air temps were about 93 degrees, but my bike computer registered 106 degrees on the road.

[mtnbiker]

The past couple of years I have had very few flat tires. I guess the odds are catching up to me. In my last 3 rides I've had 3 flats.

Last Friday, my tire was getting mushy from a thorn poke, so I put 150 pumps into it with my mini pump. It didn't help, as I got multiple snakebites coming down a steep rocky section. The tube wasn't worth patching at that point.

The next ride, on Monday, my tire started getting mushy again, so I stopped and checked it out. Again, a thorn. I figured I'd just sit down with my patch kit and fix it, since I found the hole pretty quickly. Even though the rubber cement tube hadn't been opened, it was all dried out and useless. So I put on my spare tube and gave it another 200 pumps to finish the ride. I patched the tube and put a new patch kit in my saddle bag.

So today I was just starting to get into my ride when I felt my tire get mushy and heard the telltale hiss. I checked the tire and found that the sidewall had been cut or torn, and the tube was leaking badly. Sick and tired of fixing flats, I walked the bike 2 1/2 miles back to work.

And just a week and a half ago, when flying down the South Fork road, I had a snakebite flat on my road bike when I ran over an unseen rock that was lurking in the shadows. Let me tell you, the back end of the bike was weaving all over the place before I could get slowed down and stopped. I almost felt like Joseba Beloki when he crashed big time right in front of Lance Armstrong. Fortunately, I kept the bike upright and didn't end up with a broken femur like Beloki.

All the flats were on the rear tire. I'm ready for the odds to go my way again for a while.

[BigPiney]

This was last Fridays ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/179514066

The plan was to do an additional 2000 ft of decent and climbing, but as I was going along I could not get the chain up on the big chain ring (cable issue) and then the crank stated making some noises like a bad bearing, so I turned around and started climbing back towards home. I only saw 3 cars on the whole ride and I did not want to get stuck out in the far reaches of Death Valley National Park with a broken bike and no hope of cell reception. Took the bike into the shop that night, so the hope is that it will be ready to ride tonight for after work.

This was a fun ride though. Only a few parts are really steep, most of it is just a gentle climb where I can sit around 7 or 8 mph. The wind was really blowing, so going downhill I could not reap the benefits of all the hard work. I usually can go 10 - 15 mph faster down these hills, but the wind was preventing any of that.


From a few weeks ago: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/174766510
Amazing ride through the Yosemite high country on Tioga road. Road was still closed to vehicles, but open to bikes, so I got to ride right down the center line. Had a little issue with the GPS that reflects on the map. It should really show that I started at the finishing position.

Parked the car at the 9000 ft sign and climbed up and over Tioga pass and then continued on through Tuolomne Meadows past Teneya lake to Olmstead point, where I had a wonderful view of Half Dome from the backside. Ate some food and enjoyed this by myself for 20 minutes and then turned around and climbed back home.

Riding in the park is amazing with no other vehicles except the occasional ranger or maintenance worker. Every year they allow this to happen for 3-4 days before they open it for the summer and the thundering herds of tourists, but this year was the first that my schedule has worked out that I was able to enjoy it. One of my best rides ever. It was cold that day, imagine that at 10000 ft, so I was not a prepared as I would have liked. Only had some arm sleeves and a wind jacket and fingerless gloves. It was freaking freezing on the descents, but worth it completely. I'll try and upload some pictures later.