My Blog

More than 1,000 wildfires were sparked by last weekend’s electrical storm in northern California. This week’s riding scheduled was altered a tad from the original goals to stay indoors and out of the smoke-filled air.

Sunday, June 29th, the last major effort: 7 hours of riding, 8.5 hours total; 90 miles; 9,200 feet of climbing. Palo Alto/Page Mill Rd –> up Page Mill to Skyline –> Skyline to Kings Mountain Rd –> Woodside Rd –> up Old La Honda –> down other side to town of Old La Honda –> Pescadero Rd –> Stage Rd –> Old La Honda Rd –> up Alpine Rd to Skyline –> down Page Mill and return.

What a ride of laughs! Four of us met at 7am and got ourselves on the road by 7:30am. Aaron (high school friend and fellow closet hill-lover), Caspar (ready for his first Death Ride), Heather (just finished the week-long AIDS ride) and I began in light fog with a hint of smoke in the air.

In terms of fundraising, I’m close to $6,500 – we’re getting there! THANK YOU to all who have donated, passed on my email to others and sent encouragement. I depend on your support to keep me going and it means so much to the kids.

Saturday, June 28th: 45 minute swim.
Picked my bike up from Hyland Family Bicycles in San Jose where it had been dialed-in and cared for by the best. It is now Death Ride-ready – thank you Hyland!!

Friday, June 27th: 40 minutes gym cardio; 30 minutes core/strength training

Thursday, June 26th: 2 hours, 45 minutes; Japantown –> up Calaveras/Felter –> down Sierra –> up Sierra –> return to Japantown. Smoky, but trying to get the last of the hard hills in this week.

Wednesday, June 25th: Day off – lower back and knees sore, overall feeling of being tired and slightly overdone – chose to rest instead of train.

Tuesday, June 24th: 30 minutes gym cardio machine, 40 minutes core/strength training

Monday, June 23rd: 2 hours; 22 miles; ~3,000 feet climbing. Japantown –> up Calaveras –> return.

I found myself leaving Bear Valley Village this morning (Sat. 6/28) to explore for the first time Highway 4 over Ebbetts Pass. I basically followed the same route Leah did 2 weeks ago from Bear Valley to Markleeville and back covering the up and down of the Death Ride Passes 3 and 4 and some pretty steep road up the east side of California Grade. BTW, there’s still patches of snow next to the road. I also explored a little of Monitor Pass, but not too much. 71 miles, 6 1/2 hours total time (about 6 in the saddle) and whatever elevation Leah figured- 8,000ish? ? It felt like more. It was hot, a little windy (not much smoke) and took a lot out of me. My knee continues to be bothersome. I chose to carry a Camelback so that fluid wouldn’t be a problem and really tried to stay on schedule with liquids, ecaps, and food and I think it paid off. I was testing Fig Newtons on a ride- not bad.

So the result of the “acid test”- I think I’m good for 4 passes and will definitely have to dig deep to finish all 5. It will be more than anything I’ve done this year (or any other year) by far. It will help as I won’t carry my Camelback so I’ll be lighter and will start much earlier. I’m finished with big training rides for the next 2 weeks leading up to the DR, but will spend some time making the pedals go round and round, fine tuning my bike, gathering food and supplies and working out the details needed to flee the country within the next 2 weeks.

A side note- At my turn around at Carson River Valley resort they were having some kind of a Harley club BBQ and get together. I felt a little out of place in my cycling duds amongst all the leather, but I really wanted some cold water. I did receive some suggestions. One guy said I should try apple Cytomax. I hadn’t heard of that flavor and he said, “No wonder, it wasn’t very good.” Oh, OK, thanks. On my way out as I was joking about trading my bike for one of theirs, it was suggested that I might do better if I had Red Bull in my Camelback…. mixed with Vodka. I passed on that one too. I wish I could have stayed for the BBQ!

Monday was Los Gatos- Shannon up, Shannon down, Hicks up, Hicks down, Hicks up, Hicks down, Hicks up, Hicks down, Kennedy-up, Kennedy down. Have you figured out the pattern?

I’ve got to find another form of entertainment besides my brain on rides. Enough said.

Wednesday- a very short ride. I was overcome with guilt and chose the family dinner at Dad’s and Mom’s.

Upon request, here’s my top 10 list of what has helped me survive all 5 passes:

1. Be mentally prepared for a really long day. It’ll probably take between 9-11 hours to finish.

2. Keep pedaling. Don’t linger at rest stops, don’t sit back for too long at the lunch stop. Refuel and keep moving.

3. Slow and steady. Best advice I received before my first Death Ride was ‘start out at marathon pace, then back off’.

4. Strategize your calorie intake – don’t stray too much from what worked on your long training rides. The rest stops are loaded with options, but your stomach can only digest so much so fast, overdo it and you’ll regret by the top of pass 4. I have 1 bottle of Cytomax (drink served on the ride) and 1 of water, swig of both every 15 minutes. Every 30 minutes, 1/3 of a power bar (which I carry with me – only Clif Bars at rest stops). If I ate at rest stops, I had mostly fruit (water & sugar). Lunch was PB&J and took one for the road.

5. Keep hydrated. Last year’s temperatures were very high and I saw a lot of dehydrated riders on the side of the road. To the fellow cyclist in Captain Needham’s cycling clan, listen to his voice insisting ‘hydrate!’ every 15 minutes.

6. Watch out for the descents – no need for super speed. I think all of last year’s crashes stemmed from too much speed combined with a lot of riders, blind corners and debris/dirt in the road.

7. Don’t pedal down the descents – conserve your energy for the hills.

8. Layer well. It can be really cold at 5am and a pair of full-finger cotton gloves can go a long way until you’re ready to toss them at a rest stop.

9. Get in a pace line between the bottom of the 4th pass and beginning of the 5th pass. It’s about an hour of flat riding from the base of the east side of Ebbetts, past Markleeville (and your car) until the base of Carson. The last two years it’s been between 90 and 100 degrees by that time of the day and we were riding into a headwind – easy to waste a lot of energy if riding alone.

10. Remember that the ice cream bar at the top of the 5th pass. It’s going to be the best ice cream bar you’ve ever had, so you better get there.

In my car for during (if I needed it) and after:
- back up of everything for riding: extra socks, shorts, tubes, CO2, gloves, rain jacket, power bars, etc
- cooler with post-ride drink, snacks, water
- towel (to dry off with and cover my car seat with for the drive back)
- wet-wipes (because you’ll be covered in sunscreen, dirt and sweat when you’re done – unless it hails again, then you’ll just be wet)
- change of clothes/shoes

Sometimes I get work and pleasure mixed up. I wonder where “pain” falls in? Let’s see if I can get these right.
Pleasure- Monday 6/9, Our youngest son, Taylor graduates from High School as one of the Valedictorians and delivers a marvelous speech before several thousand. Yep, we’re definitely proud parents. He did the work, he deserves the reward.
Pleasure- No time to ride until Wednesday, but it’s ok as I still hurt from the last century.
Pleasure- Back to riding: work to home via Metcalf. 2K climbing, 26 miles.
Work- Thursday morning ride. Well it is work, that’s where I rode to.
Pleasure/work/pain- Mixed on Saturday- BAWSI girl bike picnic in the morning. 30+ young ladies received new bikes for all their hard work in the program and we were lucky enough to be part of it. Afternoon ride up Mt. Hamilton (hot!). A new record of 2:06 from Alum Rock to the Post office where I collapsed for awhile before going back down (about 50 minutes). Turned around at the car and went back up for a few miles and back down. Had to hurry for Father’s Day dinner with my oldest daughter and her new husband. What a treat! Pleasure! They paid.
Work- You guessed it, a flat spin to work.
Pleasure, work, and a lot of pain- Third ride with Leah, her choice (yes, that’s always trouble). Downtown San Jose to and up Sierra Road, down Felter. Now for the good part- turn around and go back up Felter and down Sierra. Back to the shop after dark because for the 2nd out of 3 rides with Leah, I flatted again. I clocked 41 miles and guess about 4k+ climbing.
Pain- That just describes the next couple of days. It’s hard just getting out of bed.
Pleasure/pain- You figure out which- no work out Thursday or Friday because it was too hot! Saturday to the Nascar races at Infineon and then to my High School reunion that night. No I’m not going to tell you how many years ago, except to say that Leah, Deb, Derek, Sarah and about a third of the world’s population weren’t born yet. Gas prices during the shortage that year skyrocketed from 38 cents to 55 cents/gallon a year later. Elvis Presley is still going strong. Richard Nixon starts his second term. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is released. The World Trade Center officially opens. The Watergate scandal becomes public. Skylab is launched. The Battle of the Sexes: Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs.
Pain- The realization that I’m getting older. Pleasure- The journey to get there!

1,250 miles covered; 110 hours spent; 97,800 feet climbed and over $4,000 raised!! And that’s just since May 1st…

Although the training is going strong, the fundraising is a bit behind for this year. Still working at it though – knowing that the bikes need to be purchased now for the December build is very motivating. On to this week’s training…

Sunday, June 22nd: 75 minute flat/spinning ride; 75 minute yoga class

Saturday, June 21st: 30 minute cardio work out, 45 minutes of core and upper body strengthening.
Not off the hook, even though I was in Chicago for my cousin’s graduation from Northwestern. Cousin Lindsay rocks!

Friday, June 20th: Hours – not sure how many – walking around Chicago with cousin Ian and seeing ‘the bean’ live and up-close.

Thursday, June 19th: 3.5 hours; 45 miles; 5,000 feet elevation gain: Japantown –> top of Mt. Hamilton –> return.
This ride took longer than I had expected and had I known I would have pushed a bit harder. Had to get out on the road very early to get a ride of any decent length in since I was leaving for Chicago the same day for the weekend. With medium-high effort, made it from Alum Rock/Hamilton intersection to the top in 1 hour 50 minutes. Wonder if I can beat that…

Wednesday, June 18th: 1 hour: core strengthening/gym

Tuesday, June 17th: 3 hours; 33 miles; 4,200 ft gained: Japantown –> up Sierra, down Calaveras –> turn around, up Calaveras & down Sierra –> return to Japantown.
Rode with teammate and ‘Master of the Flat Tire Change’ Dave Rodrigues. Good climbing ride – lower back fatigued the next day, which means form was bad and probably haven’t rested enough.

Monday, June 16th: 60 minute flat spin, am; 1.5 hour yoga class, pm

Sunday, June 15th: 30 minutes cardio (gym), 30 minutes core/strength training.

Saturday, June 14th: WHAT A BEAUTIFUL RIDE. 6 hours; 68 miles; 8,000 feet climbing: Bear Valley (starting elevation just over 7,000 ft) –> Mosquito Lake (around 8,700 feet) –> down Pacific Grade Rd –> Hermit Valley –> top of Ebbetts Pass –> Carson River Valley and then back to Bear Valley (up Ebbetts, up Pacific Grade’s 18% grade) via Mosquito Lake and Lake Alpine.

Start of the ride – Bear Valley, elevation 7,000 feet

This was my first long ride at altitude. The day was incredibly warm – definitely in the high 80s/low 90s in Carson River Valley, but the views were spectacular and the snow melt made for a ride of constant waterfalls and flowing rivers. The flowers are out in mass and the aspens are green. I did take my camera to capture some of the scenes (which I think you can click on to see a larger image)…

On an unrelated note, I give a shout out to Steve and his buddy – the two crazy Canadians who are traveling California by van and kayak. Steve was found attempting to hitchhike highway 4 back to his van on Ebbetts pass, where he and his friend had put in the water on the North Fork of the Stanislaus River. Neither of them had been in that river before, and navigated through the various rapids, deciding when to walk around and when they could paddle through. Then they had to know where to pull out of the water. How do you figure that out if you’ve never been there before?! I don’t remember directional signs on the side of rivers. And the truly comical part was that they had no exact plan to get back to their car, some 2 hours away from their end spot on the river. And I thought I was adventurous. So to Steve and his buddy (who Steve left at the bottom of the river while he attempted to hitchhike back to their car), may you make it to Giant Sequoia National Park with all your limbs!

Friday, June 13th: Pretty much NOTHING.

Thursday, June 12th: 2 hours, 30 miles, 2,700 feet climbing. Bear Valley –> Spicer Dam –> Bear Valley. First ride at any altitude. Lack of a full day off caught up with me – dragging during the ride.

Wednesday, June 11th: 40 minute swim. Yeah for San Jose State’s outdoor pool, only $2.

Tuesday, June 10th: 2.5 hours; ~30 miles; ~4,200 ft climbing: Japantown –> up Sierra Rd –> down and back up Calaveras/Felter Rd –> down Sierra –> return to Japantown.

Monday, June 9th: 1 hour core, strength building (am); 1 hour, 14 mile flat ride/spin (pm), working on cardio fitness.

I was in Colorado Springs for work this week so I have not been able to ride.  My boss woke me up at 6 a.m which is 5 a.m San Jose time for a hike up the Incline Trail at Matintou Springs which is near Colorado Springs.  I have heard working out at a high elevation will make things easy for me when I get back into town but this run or walk was brutal.  The trail climbs 2011′ in 1.2 miles and tops out around 9000′.  The average grade is 41% with a max of 68%.  The record time is around 20 minutes but I managed a respectable 35 minutes.  I will be riding up Mt. Hamilton this weekend which should be like a ride in the park after the Incline Trail.

Knowing that Jeff has worked in the bicycle industry for years and that he enjoys riding double centuries and basically living on his bike, I thought it might be wise to secretly take a picture of his ride. I did so that I might study it and discover the latest technology he has obtained and further gain advantage towards my goal. He must know what he is doing, right?
I expect that Leah, Brennan and Jack will be making the appropriate changes as soon as they see this break-through in technology.

Sporting our new Team TurningWheels For Kids jersey I completed the Sierra Century this weekend out of Murphys. It was fun to do a supported ride and I must say the Sacramento Wheelmen do a great job of hosting this event. I was a little worried that I would wake up late in my motel room in Jamestown so I placed a wake up call request, set the alarm clock and set the alarm on my cell phone- all for 4 am. They all went off within moments of each other! I was definitely awake.
I started the ride fairly early (just after 5:30 am) and took my time since I wasn’t sure what to expect. I did notice that for the first 1/3 of the ride many riders blew by me, but I only passed 2. One must have been at least 95 years old and the other stopped to ummm…. relieve himself. The best part of the ride? The rest stops. To continue my food theme, they had great food! No hot dogs, but there were these little potatoes that were the best. The worst part? Incredibly rough roads. My poor bike took a beating.
The results were 10K+ climbing- advertised as 12,000, just under 100 miles in 7 3/4 hours. I know it was slow, but I finished. For those keeping track (yeah right) my little heart monitor watch said I spent over 5100 calories. No wonder I’m always hungry after a ride.