Vertical Feet of Climbing

This past Thursday's night ride went very well. Went hard. No pictures, no video, no extra water bottle. I really felt "on" and pushed fairly hard. Sure, that is a relative term nowadays, and I'm not sure I can use the word "hammer" anymore, but for now I went hard and fast for me. Same 30 miles that I have been riding lately.

Saturday, I caught the warmest part of the day, maybe close to 65 degrees. Sun shining, birds singing. I rode the same 30 to start, then rather than descending Spruce St. coming out of Tilden Park, I turned left on Grizzly Peak to add another 5 miles and few hundred feet of climbing.



Which brings us to the recurring discussion of route elevation.
KLIMB shows 2,900 feet of vertical climbing.
Mapmyride http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/28209968 shows 2,650 and my barometric pressure altimeter watch shows 3,200.

Fundamentally, I think the differences arrive from the number of measurements. My watch takes a reading every 20 seconds, the other systems I cannot say for sure but are using elevation recordings for the area. I have been in many discussions about which is correct and I have to come down on the side of whichever you want. Rather than comparing varying elevation gains across different systems, I use one system or the other and compare different routes to determine hilly, from very hilly. Then I just round up a few thousand feet and swagger around the juice bar bragging about my greatness.
http://contour.com/stories/descending-pinehurst-road-into-canyon-ca
http://contour.com/stories/claremont-2-12-11

Tuesday Night February 1

I rode a terrific 30 last night: Wildcat Canyon > Pinehurst 30 miles. It was a clear, calm night and the roads were mine. Sure, the problem exists that anybody else on the roads thinks the same thing: the road is mine and nobody else is on it. I've come across a runner in the middle of the road with not even the slightest bit of reflective wear. But last night was just terrific.

I mounted my second headlight low on my front forks hopefully to see better when I next run into fog. I stopped at Inspiration Point to bundle up before descending into Orinda and took these photos of my bike, trying to show the headlights.

Well, that was January

This is actually the first year that I zeroed my odometer at the beginning to record monthly totals in preparing for a summer goal. In January I had some good rides, and a good cold/flu/virus/whatever that put the kybosh on riding for two weeks. This month certainly left room for improvement next month. 140 miles. wow.

Last summer, after preparing for the LIVESTRONG Challenge San Jose century ride, I rode the most meaningful 10 miles of my life with Dale and Terrence at the Challenge. My goal this year, is to help Dale ride the 65 mile loop of the LIVESTRONG Challenge Davis.

Check in periodically to see how it goes. This should be another great year.

The other day, I was riding at night again.

Long ago when I raced, most of my training was in the early morning before the sun came up. My lights were crap. They did not light much when working, and they tended to suddenly stop working while riding at speed in complete darkness. Rolling down through Canyon, CA on Pinehurst Road, it can be kind of dark at noon in the summer because of the trees heavily shadowing the road and the steep sides of the valley. Before the sun rises in the winter, the moon doesn't stand a chance. When my light failed there at about 30 mph, I couldn't see bupkis. Back then, we had these sketchy arm lights helping riders show up but doing nothing helping to see where you were riding. I took that off my arm and held it in my hand as I rode along at walking pace looking for the stripes in the road.

Currently, I have lights that sometimes get drivers flashing their high-beams at me. Lights have come a long way. I was in the hills the other night with one of these lights mounted on my handlebars and one on my helmet. Light the night!





Many sections of the roads in the hills have no lights at all. The only light you get is what you bring. The up-side is viewing stars and the city lights below.



Fog and rain remain difficult. This is on a clear night.



Fog and rain reflect in my lights making it hard to see.



This is looking across a bit of valley to a large house with Christmas lights and a big star at the top. In the rain and fog. hhhmmm



Come on Daylight Savings Time!!

"Dos" and "Don'ts" in the Berkeley Hills

Yeah, I know that this is a bad idea, but it seemed like an OK idea at the time.
I'll put that idea in the "done pile" not to worry about doing again since I got away with it once.




This sort of pass I've done hundreds of times, but I'm beginning to think that this sort of riding ought to stay safely locked in my past too.




50 M.P.H. "Safe & Sane" nearly traffic-free cruising will suffice just fine.

Downhilling? Yeah, we got that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIfBEAqo2aU

Yeah, I know, turn off all that wind noise.
Blurry and jumpy, kind of like what I see at speed on a rough road.

The Days are Shortening

I got in two good 25s after work last week.
Skyline-Redwood-Pinehurst-Tunnel

I greatly enjoyed getting in my rides during the heat-up last week but as the days shorten this fall, I am running out of light for a ride that long after work. I'll shorten down to hour rides next week. I have a nice headlight, but I hate riding in the dark. I just cannot see enough.

Five and a half miles of climbing and gaining a view over Oakland, the San Francisco Bay and the coastal range from near the summit on Skyline.



But on the way back down coming home, it is getting just a wee bit dark.



But it is pretty.
That is Mt. Tamalpais at the coast.