Andy's words » Century

Penumbra of Climbing

andy — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:16:06 +0000

On Saturday I did Terrible Two and with that completed California Triple Crown Stage Race.

Here is a recap:

Mulholland Double ~ 208 miles, 16,470+ feet of climbing
Devil Mountain Double ~ 206 miles, 18,600+ feet of climbing
Terrible Two ~ 200 miles, 16,480+ feet of climbing

It was totally awesome; I recommend to everybody.

As for the individual doubles I did so far, here are my comments:

Solvang Double ~ great first double. It is relatively mild and the scenery is great.
Davis Double ~ looking at the profile it would seem easy, but it is really hard because of 100+F all day. Make sure to start early, get those flat miles in as quickly as possible and have insulated water bottles.
Mt. Tam Double ~ lots of climbing, but you do it early in the ride. I recommend this one to everybody.
Knoxville Double ~ shares a lot of roads with Davis Double. When I did it it was not nearly as hot and it was still hardly bearable.
Mulholland Double ~ absolutely mind blowing scenery. It is a lot of climbing with one of the longest climb towards the end.
Devil Mountain Double ~ unlike Mulholland, which has relatively mild climbs, this one is in your face climbing. Just when you recover from one climb, there comes the next one. The toughest climb is Sierra road at 160 miles. And to hit you again, there is another climb at 200 miles.
Terrible Two ~ pretty nice scenery of Napa and Sonoma. That said, Sonoma county has in my opinion the worse roads in the area. Be prepared for some serious potholes, gravel, non-paved roads, etc.

From organization stand point, anything organized by cycling clubs is best. Knoxville Double and Devil Mountain Double trump everything else. Their organizers go above and beyond. Mt Tam, Terrible Two, and Davis come close behind. Lots of quality doubles, for example Mt Tam and Terrible Two, will have valet bike service at the rest stop. This way you can go grab some food, while they take care of your water bottles and your bike. Solvang and Mulholland on the other hand are organized by Planet Ultra, which for some reason has some serious organizational problems. They do rides on awesome roads, but they do beginner mistakes, such as forgetting water, running out of food, no sunscreen, etc.

But hey, go out and ride!

Sedulous Hours on the Bike

andy — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:47:50 +0000

On Saturday, I did it… I completed my third double century. This one was Mt Tam Double in Marin county. Check out its route. Unfortunately because of California’s budget problems, they closed Mt. Tam, so we rode around it, but it was just as fun.

Here are some stats:

* 200 miles
* 14:20 hours
* 14,500 feet of climbing
* Over 10000 calories lost
* 12 hours of huge grin on my face
* About 8000 calories lost by running my mouth
* Spending gorgeous Sunday outside… priceless!!

This was by far my favorite double century. The roads were nice, scenery was outstanding, and provided food was exactly what I needed. The only drawback that I can imagine was the wind. There was a lot of head wind.

But, just for the record, with this one I completed California Triple Crown. California Triple Crown is an award given to every rider who completes three qualified 200 mile bike rides (double centuries) in one calendar year. I did the following three double centuries:

* 3/28/2009 ~ Solvang Spring Double ~ 7,200 feet of climbing
* 5/16/2009 ~ Davis Double ~ 8,400 feet of climbing (at 100 F)
* 8/1/2009 ~ Mt Tam Duble ~ 14,500 feet of climbing

Solvang was fairly easy. Davis was hard because of the high temperatures. The interesting thing is that last year it was supposedly even more hot. The high heat makes sure that water you are drinking is warm and not refreshing.

So, what next? Well, there are still several double centuries before the end of the year. Perhaps I could get 1000 miles in. Or, maybe I will focus on something else. So many things to do, but so little time. No matter what, I think I will do some biking.

Doughty Descents

andy — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:29:49 +0000

One more year, one more Death Ride. This time JC and I came to Tahoe area a bit early and camp on top of Ebbetts Pass. There is a lot of things to do there. Like most people we did some riding, but in addition to that, we did some other fun stuff. On top of Ebbetts Pass, there is a little lake and I did take a medium sized log for a joy-ride around that lake. I had to build an oar, but a little duct tape and some sticks and I had a great oar.

One funny story about the tent. The first night we came at 3 AM, so we quickly put the tent up and start getting ready to sleep. But, when we came back to the tent site, the tent was gone. Turns out there was a gust of wind that rolled the tent into the bushes. So, the tent was placed back and some extra stakes were placed to hold it in place.

But what I wanted to talk about is Death Ride. Last year I did not complete. But this year… I guess all those double centuries payed off. Not only that I finished, but I finished in style. The whole thing started in the middle of the night (3:30 AM), when the alarm went off and soon afterwards the marching band started making a huge noise around the campground. Where do you find a marching band these days?

We started riding not that long after and got in the middle of Monitor Pass when the sun came up. Bombing down the back of the Monitor pass was fun as always. I got speeds of close to 52 miles per hour there. Climbing back up was not a problem either. Especially with a bunch of volunteers running and refilling people’s water bottles. Of course I also got speeds of over 50 miles per hour on the front side of Monitor.

Ebetts Pass was more fun for climbing and we also completed it with no problem. On the back side of Ebbetts, some beginner rider pretty much stopped in front of me, as I was flying down at 45 miles per hour, so I had to break. My bike fishtailed, but fortunately I was able to regain control without accident. After completing the back side of Ebbetts, we stopped at the lunch stop. At lunch, there were some racers that were previously bragging about how they will dominate the ride, but now they were sitting there complaining about how hard the ride is. Karma…

Finally after Ebbetts Pass, we continued pass the start to climb Carson Pass. This one is the easiest and hardest depending on how you look. It is the last one, so you are pretty tired by then. But, it is also fairly easy slope, so it is easy. Then again, there was a head wind most of the way, so it is hard. However, there was a rest stop half the way, so you can take a break. And so on. In any case, we completed Carson Pass and got the deserved icecream. Oh, and we signed the 2009 Death Ride poster.

After hanging out at the top of Carson Pass for some time, we rode down towards the finish. The good thing about the Carson descent is that it is about 15 miles long and steep enough, so you actually gain enormous speed. We were flying down this thing at over 50 miles per hour, passing cars, other cyclists, and time itself. The ride finished with a little bit of rolling hills with some refreshing rain. We completed the day with some long deserved dinner, where we met some other friends that also did the ride.

So, Death Ride? Well, took me two tries, but I got it. I think camping on Ebbetts Pass helped. Also, eating proper food and being with friends added to a overall fantastic experience. I am looking forward to the next year’s Death Ride.

Propinquity to the Glorious Finish

andy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:55:45 +0000

I finally completed my first double century: Solvang Double. Here are some highlights.

Double century is actually not that much harder than a regular century, provided that you eat and drink all the time and don’t stop too much
I wish I asked the organizers about the food, so I wouldn’t have to drag stuff with me. Turned out that they had enough vegan options.
I should have a small tube of sunscreen with me, just in case. On the first rest stop, they did not have sunscreen, so I borrowed some from another rider. Of course I did not apply enough of it, so now I have some funny tans.
I wish I didn’t spend that much time on the rest stops. I should really just have a quick snack, quick bathroom break, and go.
I got to get a smaller camera, so I can take it for the rides with me
I wish I dropped my clothing somewhere around Saint Luis Obispo and pick it up next day.
Either I have to get a better GPS that lasts longer or I have to finish the ride in less time. The GPS ran out of juice after about 12 hours, so I only have 190 miles recorded.
Two more and I have the California Triple Crown.
I will still call this one as a part of Century a Month.

Propinquity to the Finish

andy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:06:29 +0000

I finally completed my first double century: Solvang Double. Here are some highlights.

Double century is actually not that much harder than a regular century, provided that you eat and drink all the time and don’t stop too much
I wish I asked the organizers about the food, so I wouldn’t have to drag stuff with me. Turned out that they had enough vegan options.
I should have a small tube of sunscreen with me, just in case. On the first rest stop, they did not have sunscreen, so I borrowed some from another rider. Of course I did not apply enough of it, so now I have some funny tans.
I wish I didn’t spend that much time on the rest stops. I should really just have a quick snack, quick bathroom break, and go.
I got to get a smaller camera, so I can take it for the rides with me
I wish I dropped my clothing somewhere around Saint Luis Obispo and pick it up next day.
Either I have to get a better GPS that lasts longer or I have to finish the ride in less time. The GPS ran out of juice after about 12 hours, so I only have 190 miles recorded.
Two more and I have the California Triple Crown.
I will still call this one as a part of Century a Month.

Vacuous Challenges

andy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:26:11 +0000

I signed up for two events that will challenge my body and my mind. Why? Why not!!!

The first one is the San Francisco Half Marathon the coming Sunday. I ran more than 13.1 miles before, but never as a race. I have been ramping up my running to several times a week and hopefully I will be able to finish it. I am under no pretenses of actually getting a good time, since this is my first running race.

The second one is the Solvang Double Century. This is around 200 miles of gorgeous California countryside. My longest ride before was 180 miles in the Napa, so this will be interesting. It is organized and fully supported, so I don’t have to carry too much stuff. I may want to do some upgrades on my equipment (hint hint…)

Why don’t you try to challenge yourself? Try something you haven’t done before.

Full of Wanderlust

andy — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:20:49 +0000

Talking about starting a new year with a bang. First JC, myself and a bunch of other people did a 70 mile bike ride from San Francisco over Golden Gate bridge all the way to almost top of Mt. Tam. Phenomenal trip. Spectacular views of everything from gorgeous City by the Bay and the ocean. The visibility was so good that we actually saw Farallon islands. My friend BC has a bad luck of hitting Golden Gate in bad weather. For some reason I only bike across when it is spectacular.

So, yesterday, I took my bike from my place in San Jose over Calaveras road, all the way to the top of Mt. Diablo and back. This was my January Century a Month ride. What was the most amazing is that the temperatures were in the 70s. And this is in January. Felt like summer all the way there and back.

Cornucopia of Happiness

andy — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:47:02 +0000

Vigorous Climbing In Slovenia

andy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:50:19 +0000

Here is a little video from my recent trip to Slovenia, where I did a lot of cycling. Among other, I biked from Ljubljana to Koper and then to Novi Grad, Croatia. All together about 107 miles.

Enjoy.

Spending Time Alfresco

andy — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 06:44:29 +0000

As it stands, I have only two more months left to complete this year’s goal of a century a month. Last couple of months, I did everything from trying to challenge myself on Santa Cruz mountains, finishing my fastest century on Waves to Wine, go on unsupported century around Mt Hamilton, and finally did an unsupported almost double century in Napa. I wonder what I will do in November and December.

So, since there is two months left before the new year, I am asking you to help me find a more challenging goal for the next year. Here are some suggestions:

6 double centuries
24 centuries
12 unsupported centuries
Century on a unicycle
…

Well, let me know.

Riding With Cupidity

andy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:02:44 +0000

On Saturday I was riding the famous Tour of The California Alps: The Death Ride. It is a 130 mile bike ride with 15,000 feet of climbing on which you go over five passes. Well, you really go over three passes, but you go over two of them twice.

Let’s see, where to start. I loved the terrain. I so want to go back and do it again. Overall the ride was relatively easy. Yeah, there was a lot of climbing and hot, but the climbs were relatively mild and the views were spectacular. The toughest climbs were in the 10% grade, but most of it was around 6-7%. It was also great to see so many riders. The organizers closed most of the roads, so cyclists were uninterrupted by the drivers.

I finished the first part of the ride without any effort. Riding over Monitor pass was great and bombing down the back side was super fast. I was getting speeds of 50 miles per hour. The views were out of this world. Also, the road was super smooth. It was a bit tricky to pass slower riders and at the same time avoid riders coming up on the other side of the road. But I came to the bottom without any issues.

Ebbetts pass was a bit trickier, since it has more turns and the road is not in as good of a shape as the Monitor pass. However, it was just as enjoyable. From the Monitor pass, the views were mostly of the valley, where as from the Ebbetts pass, the views were of the canyon and trees. Again, I did not have any problems going up Ebbetts pass, but I did feel slight stomach discomfort. Since it was nothing bad, I ignored it.

Unfortunately that is where the fun stops. On the ride down Ebbetts pass, I started having serious problems with my stomach and, well, think of a waterfall but while riding. At the lunch spot, I sit there until my stomach calmed down and then I continued the ride. Unfortunately my stomach was acting up for the rest of the ride. At the bottom of Carson’s pass, they had showers for the riders, which felt really good, but in retrospect was a bad idea. I continued the ride up Carson, but got caught in a hail at the Picket’s junction. This together with me being cold at this point and not being able to ride fast to warm up because of my stomach, pretty much put a kibosh on the ride. I stayed there hiding under the trash can cover and a in the warm van until the hail and rain stopped and then hitched a ride part of the way down the mountain. I had an ok time that evening but I started getting sick again next day and the day after.

So, what caused all this mess? Who knows. It may have been Subway or cantelope that I usually don’t eat. I also tested a bunch of goodies at the expo. Perhaps it was the pasta dinner. Or maybe something I had during the ride. It might have also been elevation, heat, rapid decent, rapid ascent… Or finally it could be a combination of all those factors.

However, taking all this into account, I would still not miss it for the world! The sights are phenomenal, the roads are great, and support was out of this world. Looking forward to finishing this next year.

Vehement Climbing

andy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:29:32 +0000

All I can say is yeehaa!!! Sequoia Century, 112 miles plus ride from home and back; 130 miles (or 6.2 English Channel widths (at the shortest point); 43 Mont Blancs; or 24 Mount Everests) and 9000 feet of climbing (or 8.5 Eiffel Towers; 3.4 Burj Dubais (after completion); or 26 football (soccer) pitches according to SensibleUnits.com). Century a month all the way…

How many times do you have opportunity to zip at 25 miles per hour down the coast with phenomenal views or down the hill at 50 miles per hour with nothing to protect you but your bike and your helmet. And finally, have you ever drafted a house?

During the ride, we were passed by a truck with a trailer driving a house at almost exactly 35 miles per hour. At that point one of the riders from my group pushed the pedals faster to catch the truck and draft it for the next five to ten miles. When we finally saw him again, he had an extremely large grin on his face. He said he was pedaling in the highest gear with almost no effort.

The climbs in the second half of the ride were challenging, but nothing I could not do. On the ride guide the second half of the ride looked like a steady climb over 30 miles, but in reality it was a long series of short steep climbs. It was especially hard on a relatively steady climbing section, where the route arrows pointed towards a country road that was super steep. But at the top of the climbs there was a rest area with refreshments.

Also, toward the end of the ride, I realized that my leg warmers I showed in my pockets fell out somewhere during the ride. That means I unintentionally littered the gorgeous California hills. Sorry…

I feel bad for people who missed this ride. It was well supported, great roads, perfect weather, and finally, great group of cyclists.

Multifarious Bike Ride

andy — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:07:09 +0000

On Sunday I continued my Century a month series by attending the gorgeous Strawberry Fields Forever Century. Don’t really know where to start. How about the fact that there was probably more people on unicycles than on tandem and recumbent bikes combined. There was a guy with a huge gorilla on his bike. Several people with other odd bikes including the stepper bike. To make things even more multifarious we stopped at Calfee Design which manufactures bamboo bikes.

The ride started in fog, so I was worried the visibility will be bad. I also forgot my arm warmers, so I thought I will be freezing. But, soon, the fog went away and the views were awesome. And I even got some sun burns. Finally, at the end I got bunch of strawberries and I even played with a real live snake.

Some cool photos from the ride:

Halcyon Ride

andy — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:28:46 +0000

Century a month ~ Yeehaa!!

This time, though it was more than 100 miles. We are talking 120 long miles (or double metric century). The event was Tierra Bella. Pretty awesome ride. The only problem was that in the last 30 miles, the first 10 miles was towards the really strong wind. Makes you feel like you are climbing even though you are on flats.

Plethora of Miles

andy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:16:41 +0000

This time Century a month for the month of March was from Sunnyvale to Santa Cruz. This is a really nice ride with one unfortunate problem. There is no really good way to make a loop. It is pretty much there and back. Not that that makes it any less of a fun. During the ride I noticed couple of interesting things. One is that after crossing Skyline, it seems like you are going down hill all the way to Santa Cruz, but on the way back, it did not seem like I am climbing all the time. Second thing is that there is a cute “Healthy Fast Food” place in Santa Cruz. It is in the downtown and it felt really great. Finally, there are annoying drivers everywhere. After whole day of biking, some idiot wanted to do some road rage behind me, then he passed me super dangerously and then in the next intersection the whole thing repeated. What can you do.

While riding through the Stevens Canyon, I stopped at the memorial site for Matt and Kristy. Check out some photos from the ride.

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Great Ride Desideratum

andy — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:31:59 +0000

I was selected as a rider in the Death Ride: 129 miles, 15,000 feet of elevation gain. It is either going to be super crazy, or super crazy!!

Aplomb Climbs

andy — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:23:05 +0000

Century-a-month going as planned. I did a century during the Tour of California and it was awesome. The roads were empty of cars and full of riders. The ride has substantial amount of climbing, but it was not the Death Ride . That said, there were some spectacular views from the Ridgecrest Boulevard in the Mount Tamalpais State Park.

Part of the ride was on Route 1, opposite direction to what Tour of California was doing. Route 1 is usually super busy, but this time the road was almost completely empty. Here and there, there was a car, but overall, the road was dominated by cyclists. Close to Point Reyes station, we had to pull over and we watched the Tour ride by. It is interesting how much anticipation and buildup there is, but once the riders approached, they flew by in the matter of seconds. Well, if you care about sports, you can always watch it on TV.

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Quixotic Plans, Try 2

andy — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:15:09 +0000

Just like last year, I intent to participate in Waves to Wine. In addition to participating, this year I will be a team captain. Currently there is not a whole lot to do, but I will try to organize some bake sales etc. Hopefully we will have a big group this year.

Waves to Wine is a two day 150 mile cycling event starting in San Francisco and ending somewhere in Sonoma wine country. The money raised is used to help with research and services related to finding cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

If you want to support the effort, please pledge some money to the cause.

Copacetic January

andy — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:42:46 +0000

I got my first century of the month done. It started as a quick 50 mile ride with Alto Velo (B Ride). Alto Velo are a great bunch. They are perfect pace and not too much stops. That said, it was mostly on flats and rolling. So, when we came to Old La Honda road, couple of people including me did that instead of continuing the Portola loop. Once on top, the sun started to shine and I figured out this is my last chance to do the century in January.

So, I rode all the way to the coast (down Old La Honda and then 84). Then I did some super windy rolling on Route 1 and finally in at Pascadero. In Pascadero, there was some flooding, so I had to ride through about half of a foot of water. Then the trouble began. I ran out of food and water, which was not good. Some riders gave me some water, but that helped only a little bit. You know, I was planning to ride 50 miles, so I was way over.

Anyway, riding to the top of west Alpine road was hard, but once I got to the top, I stopped at the Page Mill water fountain. That water fountain saved the day.

Anyway, here is the Map of the whole path.

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Gerrymandering the ride

andy — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:48:08 +0000

Ok, I must start writing more. Or not.

Well, here we go, quickly: I bought a bike. Yes, another bike. I have three now. This one however is a road bike. It is a full carbon Giant and it is an awesome bike. Since then, I did lots of miles. Several 30+ mile trips but then there are the big milestones:

IDIDARIDE 75 miles
Heather‘s Night Century 75 miles night ride
MHCC Century 100 miles twice
Heather’s Sweat ‘n Shower 85 miles in the poring rain
Heather’s Tri-state 70 miles
Heather’s Sweat ‘n Ice Century 95 miles in the freezing rain
Several rides with friends – priceless…

Oh, let just say it this way:

But I would ride five hundred miles
And I would ride five hundred more
Just to be the man who rode a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
Da da da da
Da da da da
Da da da dum di dee dum

And so on. So, I guess that is it. Let’s continue to gerrymander this world with environmentally friendly transportation.