First off, we’re heading into the rainy season here in Northern California and I have made some riding commitments for this year that are gonna require me to ride rain or shine. I went down to REI and picked up some warmer bicycling clothes because I was just sick and tired of freezing all of the time. All in all, I would just like to say wool is gooder.
Not a lot to report this week about things other than mileage, and that I’m having a good time training at the moment. It provides a nice break in my day and gives me a chance to clear my head each day. I’m also focusing on my diet trying to shed some weight to help ease the effort required per mile, it seems cheaper than buying a lighter bike. So I’ll probably be giving information about that when I do these weekly updates.
Information of interest for the first week of 2010 were :
starting weight : 242 lbs (Unfortunately, I weighed in the evening for the starting weight, and in the morning for the ending weight. This skews the results for this week, but all future weighing will be done first thing in the morning)
ending weight : 234.5
total mileage : 124.2
total ride time for the week : 9:40:14
total calories burned this week while bicycling : 8,622
Got a call Sunday morning from Mike “wanna go for a ride?”. So I got up made coffee and started putting together the things I needed for a ride. I have been looking for my cycling shoes for the Cannondale for about 3 weeks now and haven’t been able to find them so I decided to take the Centurion out for the day.
When I went up to Washington to be with Mom and Dad while he was dealing with cancer my Dad gave me his old Centurion Elite, the frame is a little big for me but it actually fits quite well once I’m up in the saddle. So one day to get Dad out of the house we went over to REI in Redmond and picked up parts for the Yakima rack for the Honda and got parts for me to get the bicycle back on the road. I rode it a few times while I was in Washington but then Dad’s health really started to go downhill and leaving the house became more difficult to do. I brought the Centurion home and have been using it to do riding and run errands like going to the post office, it’s a good solid bike, very comfortable and has a rather unique personality after having spent the last few years on Cannondales.
Anyways, I popped up to BART and rode out to Millbrae and the rode down to San Mateo to Mike’s place and we went down to the bike path along the shore and rode south to Sun’s campus then across to Palo Alto for lunch. Then we went through Woodside and back up Canada road to a bike path and then dropped back down into San Mateo along what I think was CrystalSprings Road. We talked for a bit and then I headed back to BART on the bicycle to catch a train and get home.
It was a good day and I had a lot of fun, got a sunburn but I got to lose myself for a while and just ride. The best part was that when I got home Amy had found my cycling shoes so that search is over and I can get to doing some serious riding. I had a great laugh with Mike on the ride when I told him that when I was riding regularly I spent more time at gas stations than anywhere else. Gas stations being the best place to buy water and fuel for the next 20 miles, it brings back good memories for me.
So the ride was most excellent and today I’m pretty tired but it was definitely a highlight of the last several months.
On Thursday afternoon Mike hit me on instant messenger and mentioned that he was thinking of doing 50 miles or so on Saturday. However, he wasn’t sure committed to the plan yet so I should give him a call on Saturday. So first thing Saturday morning after putting in my time on ClikClock I gave him a ring Saturday and made plans to meet him for a ride.
I went back and forth in my head on which bike to take and ended up taking the fixed gear but flipped it over to the freewheel side for some single speed love without all of the drama. After some logistical issues we finally ended up in the same parking lot and were able to eventually meet up using cell technology and successive approximation. Pleasantries were exchanged and we set off to the south.
Now it’s a funny thing, I haven’t ridden in MONTHS, except for a couple of mountain bike rides in Marin with the fellas out there and I’m just wanting to keep up with Mike. Mike has ridden the loop we’re going to be doing pretty regularly and has had 150 mile weekends at least once in the last 2 months. So I’m just trying to stay up next to him and keep myself from burning out. However every time I pull up next to him he goes a little bit faster, pretty soon we’re cooking right along.
We made pretty good time to the midway point for the day’s ride and then pulled in at a gas station and raided the convenience store attached to it and sat under a tree coming up with the next big idea that was going to make us fabulously frustrated in our inability to actually finish the project. (Always keep in mind that these are the same pair of minds that brought you cackl.com – I came up with the domain name, he did all the work 
) Anyways we started back and Mike began to point out places that he had taken breaks before, the closer we got to being done the more he pointed out premium resting spots. “Joel, If you need a break, we can pull over here so you can recover”
Now I appreciated this but I didn’t want to be the one to take a break so I just kept trying to keep up with him and he kept going faster every time I got alongside of him. We finally made it back to our starting point and got the bikes put away and headed to Fuddruckers for a bite to eat before we went our separate ways. It was during this meal that Mike said “I haven’t ever ridden that trail that fast, but I was trying to keep up with you”..”Huh? I was trying to keep up with you!?”..I suppose that’s the danger of having unchecked feedback loops.
Please note: the events of this story might be slightly altered as I tangled with some Jagermeister, Black Horse, and Macallans last night and I think the three of them pretty much beat the hell out of me. Mike’s version of the events might be different and most likely a lot more amusing than my mine.
I haven’t been doing enough bicycle riding for the last six months. Because of this, riding my fixed gear as my “daily driver” was becoming more and more difficult. So I decided to change my main cog until I get back into shape. While I was ordering parts I also put a freewheel cog on the other side of the fixed hub. Just in case there’s times that being able to coast would be useful.
After I put on the new cog I got a call to meet Frank for beers over at the golf course. I had a couple of other errands I had to run and thought it’d be a good test ride. After the beers, it was dark as I headed across town and picked up some materials I needed at home depot. The Iron Horse trail runs right past the home depot, and there’s an access point very close to there. The only problem with the access point is that there’s not a lot of light at night to see what’s going on.
When I rode onto the trail through this access point I wasn’t able to see very well. So I was a little startled when I heard something running and realized I had scared a cat as it was running along the trail. Unfortunately, there is a fence along the other side of the trail with no way for a cat to get out. So as I approached the cat it stopped running and turned around to start running back towards me. The cat then realized it was getting closer to me and turned towards the fence to try and get away.
It was at this moment that I realized that the kitty had two white stripes running down its black back and a very bushy tail. It was also apparent that as I was rolling towards him that Pepe was assuming a fully-defensive posture and charging the main guns. I realized in that moment two things, stopping would put me directly next him, and the only thing that I could do was speed up get as far towards the other side of the trail as poosible and hope.
Thankfully, that ended up being enough. I heard the spray hitting the fence leaves behind me as I swept past and spent the next few minutes laughing about the whole thing and thinking about how interesting it would have been to actually get sprayed. Not because that sounds like fun, but I was actually on my way to the BART station to catch a ride back over the hill towards home. It would have been hysterical to see how fast everyone in a BART car would leave if I walked on “freshly annointed”.
So I haven’t written about the CPMC since may. I finished the ride in May and was starting to feel that I wasn’t prepared mostly due to the fact that my recovery times from the century were about 1.5 weeks and then I had very little time for building more of a base before I had to taper down for the next century.
Between this and having a lot of work starting to come in, I chose to cut the challenge short this year and spend the rest of the year building my base back up to the levels I had when I was commuting every day. Unfortunately, I stopped riding completely for two months to focus on work which killed the base that I had.
I’m now getting back on the bike, and I’ve added a new element to my riding, a mountain bike. This has been a lot of fun, because I’ve been able to find some people to go riding with me on Wednesday evenings out in Marin and I’ve been getting great workouts while seeing some beautiful scenery.
So, the current plan for CPMC is to prepare to try again next year starting in January. I know this is going to be difficult because january to march are the worst months to ride in Northern California. I don’t mind the rain as much as I get tired of being wet for two hours a day while I’m training. ( then again, maybe that’s minding the rain )