Friday, November 14, 2008

Enough, already!








































Ok, kids - I guess some folks really are reading this blog! I've gotten a surprising number of requests (as in more than one) to actually update this more frequently than once every 4 months, so here goes:

Crater Lake Century

This was fun! A small group of Death Ride alumni got together and rode this ride in south-eastern Oregon at the beginning of August. It goes around the crater in Crater Lake National Park, and features some good (but not Death Ride-ish) climbs. The one up to the crater itself really isn't bad - long but gradual. The ride around the rim is another story - I figured it would all be easy-ish rollers. Nope - these were pretty steep, and there's quite a few of them. My legs definitely knew I'd been on a bike ride after this one! There's almost 30 miles of flat easy riding at the very beginning, and another 20+ plus of descent and flat to end the ride, meaning there's more than 7,000 feet of climbing crammed into the middle 45 miles or so of the ride. Beautiful scenery, and fun camping with some old friends. Of course, I've got some pictures:































Bunny Ears!
































































Laziness sets in

So, now that you've done the Death Ride, what's next? Well, it wasn't Disneyland, and it wasn't a whole lot more bike riding either. Sure, I did a few rides with friends - around the Livermore hills, up Mt. Hamilton (where it became very clear I was rapidly loosing my base fitness), messing around on some flat rides. However, on the weekends I spent most of my time involved with my kids' soccer teams and hardly rode at all.

Lighthouse Century

This ride is billed as a tour of the lighthouses near San Luis Obispo at the end of September. The weather is pretty unpredictable (with all due apologies to my fave meteorologist) on the coast this time of year. Well, the fog rolled in, and as a result the only lighthouse I saw was this one at lunch:



























The ride itself is pretty nice - we did the hilly option, which gave us a nice climb up about 2,000 feet, before dropping us back down to the coast and then the rolling hills along Rte. 1. Some parts were clear, but we were fog-bound for quite a bit of the ride. I did ok, but my lack of fitness started to show as we headed for home, and I got consistently dropped over the last 25 miles.

Here we are on the morning climb (I'm in the blue jersey):




























So, what now?

Interesting question! I've ridden exactly 6 times now since the beginning of October - all that hard won fitness is out the window! I went on a 60 mile ride yesterday, part of it with some friends, and I felt ok - but I was taking it very easy. Time to get back on the horse (er, bike) and start riding again! I'm trying to figure out next year's goals - I'd like to do one or more double centuries (there - it's in print (blogged?) so now I have to do it!). I'd also like to do the Death Ride again, minus the back pain (and hail!). Plus there's a whole lot of Spring and Summer centuries in Nor Cal that I haven't even thought of doing. Plus dropping a whole bunch of weight, so I don't get dropped so much on those BF rides! I guess I'll turn this list into my New Year resolutions, although I better get started on the riding now!



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Consider this my first form letter to my friends:

So here we go...I'm very lazy tonight:

Dear,

* Chris Phipps Elite Racing
* M.E. Rider
*Caligurl
* Knubby Blog
* Phoebe
* Cathys Art
* Ron's Chronicle
* Curtis Corlew
* daniellemusto
* Diablo Scotts History of Klein!
* Jack aka Batillog Blog
* Jo's Blogs Randonneur Girl
* JonsBiking
* Namrita
* Robertas Blog and weather too!


It's become my nightly habit of going through my bloglinks and seeing what everyone is up to! Somewhat like sitting around the dinner table and hearing what everyone did today. I just realized how much I really enjoy this...I feel like I'm in a big "orphanage" Thanks for the entertainment...seriously! You guys are interesting and fun.

and "please sir I want more"...Oliver Twisted...

Ok...that's it...Really! Pete

Hey new stuff!! Yeah!