2019 SMR 28

After a hot couple weeks, I was surprised to find TORNADO weather this morning!  I opted not to bring a jacket or arm warmers though, because it's still summer after all.

JB announced that he was only in for a Junction ride today.  Also, Ed Litton told him probably two more weeks for his frame repair.  The decals and the replacement tube are in though, so it's just a matter of finishing other stuff first.

Kind of windy for the first few miles, then it got foggy.  Above Junction it got cold and the fog was so thick that visibility was a problem.  There was a real sense of camaraderie with everyone I saw - we all smiled and acknowledged that we're in the same club of riders that don't let a little cold fog keep us away.

Where are we... Kansas?

Visibility = just enough.

Going slow enough to selfize a photo for my fans.

Sun never really came out, but the fog cleared up some.

How can you not love this view?

I'm pretty sure I would've recognized this rider if I could see.

This guy passed me before The Dips, and then slowed down... newb move.

I'm guessing these guys didn't stay in formation for the whole Mountain.

Fog condensation on my arm hairs... one of life's simple pleasures.

#sharpiegate

2019 WNR 25

Tonight's objective:  First place in the BC Climbers for Split 5.  

This is an interesting section, not too easy, not too hard, but the terrain changes make it difficult to find just the right rhythm.  Plus you're a little more tired in here after The Bump.  How much effort do I need?

Kevin's first place is from 3 years ago and I need to beat my previous best by 31 seconds to move into that position.

Results:  close but no cigar.  I think it was just a little too windy and I didn't quite come into it in my best condition... I'll try again, but not for a couple weeks - there are other segments to conquer.

First trip up was pretty hot.  There were guys stopped in the shady spots looking for relief.

Hey, is that a PG&E truck up there?  There's no power lines... whuh?

Oh, it was a Davey Tree truck - probably doing fire prevention.

I think this crack is getting worse - I used to go inside, but recently I've been taking it to the outside.

This Tieni Duro guy said he flatted coming down around this corner - he left some skin on the road.

Shawn rolled in to Junction a few minutes after we did, he must've just missed us at The Church.

I'm going to have to put my camera in low-light mode for the last bit of these rides.

2019 SMR 27

Yesterday I took The Klein to Big Dave's and had them put a new chain on for me.  Here's my reasoning:

1.  Did it myself last time, buggered it up and it broke on Wednesday.

2.  Did it myself last time, took 90 minutes and I got all greasy.

3.  I needed my bike for TODAY!

4.  For $20 labor, the mechanic had my drivetrain in perfect nick in 10 minutes, and he verified my cassette was still good.

It's that time of year when riding down Walnut Avenue at 7:45 am puts the sunrise right in your eyes.

I put that chain to the test today too - lots of big gear, low cadence, power stroking; it felt strong and smooth.  

Cal jersey day today.   I got a lot of "Go Bears" shoutouts on The Mountain this morning.

Me and JB tried to get some conversation going - we tried Hurricane Dorian, Medicare Part B... nothing really seemed to stick, so we rode in silence most of the way.  I can't even think of good photo captions.

Cal Jersey Autoblog

It's that time of year where people put up their Alma mater flags in my neighborhood.

Cal Jersey Autoblog

2019 WNR 24

Recently I've taken on the challenge of having the best times of my Wednesday group for each of the NGR Segments.

Today's objective:  Segment 4... BING!

Good weather, not too many bugs.  Broke my chain just before Junction on the second lap though.  It started skipping gears a couple miles earlier and I thought I had that stiff link problem returning, so I was kind of soft pedaling - when the chain snapped I got my foot out of the pedal and stopped without falling over or racking myself.  Walked to Junction and then Charlie and Colin helped me fix it good enough to get back to The Church.  I think I'm going to have Big Dave install the chain this time.

This rider saw me in the middle of my PR attempt - she probably assumed I'm always that fast.

This is my "pretending not to pose" pose.

Round Two:  Joined by JB, Colin, Charlie, Shawn, Kathryn, and Donna.

Shawn had to quit at the Upper Washout (the wuss-out?).  So I got an early selflie... filming into the sun like a newb.

Charlie takes the inside line around Chainbuster... chain maintains.

Yup, my chain looks busted.

Peer review confirms my conclusion.

Yeah... the end is near.

2019 SMR 26

I felt great today.  Got up a little earlier than usual.  It was supposed to be hot, but it didn't really get warm until around Juniper.

At The Gate, Parry rode up to me and I didn't recognize him at first from our previous ride together, but told him he was welcome to ride with me and JB, and he thought that would be a good idea.  So on the way up we talked about ClifBars, mountain lions, and tubeless tires.

This guy made a joke about how JB was working than me and Parry because he was on his commute bike.

There was an organized trail run going on today, and lots of hikers, and lots of riders who looked like this was their first time - WELCOME all.

Sad story - as our ride is ending, approaching The Gate on the way out of The Park, we were about to pass this guy, and he looked over at Parry and then drifted off the road into the ditch and crashed.  He was hurt pretty badly.  Parry went up to tell the Kiosk Ranger and he got the paramedics called .  We were trying to help him but he was confused and in a lot of pain.  Fortunately someone who knew him rode up and he was a bigger help and agreed to stay with him until the ambulance came.  We found out the injured guy's name was Steve.  Fast and complete healing to you Steve.

An instant before Steve's crash.

2019 WNR 23

Shawn and Kathryn said they weren't coming, but old friend Robert said he could.  Robert used to work in the office with all of us but was actually a client.  I remember walking by his cube once and seeing his vintage Italian steel bike and then invited him on the ride and he was a regular for a while.  So with me, JB, Charlie, and Robert - there wasn't a current BC employee in the BC Climbers group.

I got an early start and I had selected a PR on Split 3 (The Bump) as my goal.  I have been looking at all my split segments for whichever ones I'm furthest down on the leaderboard for, and I knew The Bump was going to be a hard one, but I knocked 35 seconds of my previous PR, so that's a win.  Of course I didn't KNOW I beat my best until a couple hours later when I uploaded the Strava file. Never really recovered from that effort though and my legs were rubber for the rest of the day.

Wildlife Encounter:  one deer, just little short perky antlers.

Roadkill Report:  lots of birds for some reason, and higher than average number of squirrels.

This is the official end of The Bump Segment... I pushed all the way through.

I *earned* this feeling of oxygen debt and lactic acid burn.

This guy came up the Easy Side, and looked like I felt after my successful PR attempt.

If Robert were paying me for coaching advice, I'd tell him his saddle is too high.  I'll just tell you instead.

This guy with the "robin egg blue" Trek is a regular on Wednesday nights too.  He passed us with souplesse.

Hips are rockin', saddle's too high.

I never noticed this before, but there's a culvert where the Sink Crack is (now partially repaired).

JB's Della Santa has been in the shop for three weeks now.