Sunday, October 7, 2007

Grizzly Century


OK, I've gotten a good week of riding in - starting with last Sunday's ride partway up Diablo then up Morgan Territory, several good rides during the week and then a great ride doing the Grizzly Century with some other TnT alumni. Lots of great scenery, like this photo. Yes, that's Yosemite Valley we're looking down on in the background. As always, click on the picture to see a full-resolution version.

This was a cold day - as in 35 degrees at 7:00 in the morning, when we met to start the ride. The organizers decided to not use one of the roads due to snow and ice! Not to fear - they had a backup plan. We still rode 100 miles (and then some), but lost some of the climbing. We did about 9,500 feet of climbing instead of the advertised 10,000. Still enough to leave me leg-sore and tired at the end of the day.

It was cold enough that I started second-guessing how warm my layers would be - I had a base layer (aka t-shirt made out of the same material as a cycling jersey), the cycling jersey and a wind vest (aka a sleeve-less windbreaker). I also used knee and arm warmers and long-fingered gloves (and comfy wool socks - sometimes the old-fashioned stuff works best). The temperature briefly got above 60 degrees - but we spent most of the day riding in very chilly temperatures. There were patches of snow on the side of the road for a while, and even a bit of slush on the road.

I was riding with a great goup of folks, all from the last Team in Training Death Ride Season. I'm still the slowest climber of the group, but I'm still working at it! I still manage to make up some of the lost ground when we start going downhill.

The hills were not horribly steep - just long, really long. Basically it was the kind of ride that if you weren't climbing, you were going downhill. I felt a bit bad - everyone was nice enough to wait for me at the top of the climbs, and then each time there was a descent I'd take off (knowing that they'd pass me again on the next climb).

Overall, just a nice ride with great scenery. It could have been warmer, but you never know what you're going to get this time of year in the mountains.

JB

PS - I'm still fund raising for Team in Training! Please visit my fund-raising website.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Mount Diablo and Morgan Territory

Hey, everyone,

Well, I'm still not riding as much as I want to - life keeps getting in the way. I'm now an assistant coach for one son's soccer team, business has been busy and I'm buying a new townhouse. All of this has conspired to keep me very busy.

I did manage to get in one good, long ride on Sunday, Sept. 30th. We went up to the junction of Mt. Diablo (about halfway up), then continued on a long, hilly ride that culminated with climbing Morgan Territory Rd. This road is very remote (yet still only 20 miles or so from Oakland as the crow flies). It circles around the backside of Mt. Diablo, and is basically one lane (as in if someone is coming the other way, both cars have to get over on the shoulder to squeeze by) with really, really bad pavement. It is also a good, tough climb. Some sections hit 20% (or more). After that is the real treat - one of my favorite descents in the area. It's fast, not too technical and wide open enough that you can see if a car is coming several turns ahead. We ended up riding just under 70 miles, although I'm not sure how much climbing we did. My riding partner had an altimeter, and he had it pegged at more than 6,500 feet.

Here's a picture of me climbing the rollers just south of Morgan Territory Regional Park:Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

I did the ride with an acquaintance from bikeforums.net - we were pretty well matched and had a really nice ride. I took it easy since I'm doing the Grizzly Century next weekend, which promises to be very tough - especially since I really haven't been riding that much. We'll see how that goes.

I'm still training with the Team in Training Tucson team, but I haven't been able to make a team ride in a few weeks. Now that my new home is closing I should be able to make some more of those, and do a better job of sticking to the weekday training schedule as well. Otherwise, if I'm not careful, I'll start losing fitness as the event approaches - not good!

Team in Training is a fund raising arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - as always, donations are for a good cause! Jon's TnT donations page

I've been asked a few times about the jersey I'm wearing - it's a Peet's Coffee jersey, and the net proceeds (aka profits) from the jerseys are donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You can get one at the Peet's Coffee website.