Sunday, while Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador et al were having a lazy day cruising around the Champs-Élysées Joe King and I were out on a real ride. We went out and did a loop over the “soft” side of Cantelow, which still really hurts. We met three or four guys from the Davis Bike Club up on top. They commented that the problem with Cantelow is that it is so short you just want to do it again and again, this was there 4th time that morning. (I personally don’t find that Cantelow has that effect on me) We then swung down to Vacaville, over to Dixon and back home to Davis. About 65 miles in all. I can tell Joe is in better shape than me this year with all his century ridding, guess I better pick up the pace.

My commute to work

Rode my bike to work the other day and used my iphone to map my ride. Wish it was really as short as it says it is but I can't really fly over Woodland in a diagonal like that

San Francisco (sort of) to Davis

So on Sunday I rode home (Vallejo Ferry, back to Davis) from Heiko's 40th Birthday party, pie fight, scavenger hunt, and bonfire, (very fun but that is another story.)

I missed the 12:40 ferry so I did not arrive in Vallejo until 3:10.The last time I did this I missed the ferry too, and did the ride froom Richmond. That was a mistake so this time I waited for the next ferry while sipping coffee and enjoying the sunshine on the bay. There was an awesome tailwind up from Vallejo to Napa and I enjoyed it. It was a hot slog up the mountains out of Napa though and I thought I was gonna die, misjudged my eating a little and was really struggling with the heat. So I took a break and enjoyed the view a bit, eventually a cool breeze came up and cooled my overheated body down. So I got back on the bike and enjoyed the foothills through the evening light, beautiful. In the Google earth screenshot you can see where Hwy 121 sneeks over the mountains and down into Wooden Valley. In this picture it looks like the approach from the east is steeper but it sure did not feel that way on Sunday.

Nice to get in a longer ride (about 75 miles) probably my longest yet this year. I took some comfort that Lance Armstrong described this ride this past winter as the hardest day he had had on a bike. Of course he was talking about the cold weather, but it's nice to know that it is a tough ride. I need to catch up to Joe King who did the Livestrong Century yesterday (Go Joe!) and the Mt Tam Century a few weeks ago. Maybe we will have a group of riders do the hundred mile route Saturday this year.

Riding at the Coast

This year I’ve been doing some more training in the Mendocino coast hills and a little less on the flats of Davis. I have taken to the idea of riding up the mountains from the coast and heading North through the hills, then fly down to the coast. The beauty in this is that the wind is from the North so you can usually have a tailwind headed down the coast. You can see what I mean in the image below. The road from Fish Rock up to the yellow road on the left is about 5 miles or so and tops out at over 15% grade (It hurts), but then you have a quite ride north on the ridge top and spectacular views on the coast as you come South.

Top of Cantelow

When you ride in Davis Ca, you spend a lot of time on the flats. So unless you want to go up and down the overpass all day to get ready for riding the hills out at the coast on the Waves to Wine you have to go out to the hills. We ride through Winters about 25 miles out and go over Cantelow. It's pretty short and steep climb. This photo is from the top the first time over it this year. I did not have to stop going up which is a good thing. If you go over from the west side you are doing the steep side, but that's the way to go for me because the down hill is one of the greatest bike rides there is. A winding roller coaster with just the right steepness to get you flying but keep you on your bike. It makes the climb worth it. When the roller coaster is over though you are still 20 some hot, long flat miles from home though, best to have some friends with you and a full bottle of water.

Lance in Davis

This Winter the Tour of California began in Davis and we got a glimpse of Lance before his first race returning to racing. Can you see him?

Mountain Biking with Vince

So I have to give Vince some credit here. Vince is my friend from my undergraduate days who is responsible for me cycling in the first place. He talked me into fixing up and old bike and touring with him from Rochester to New Jersey at the end of one school year. I think it was 350 miles in 5 rain soaked and countless flat tire days. I'm surprised I didn't give it up altogether. So over the years we have gotten to ride together here and there, in Oregon , Pennsylvania, Illinois. At Christmas time Portland was Snowed in so instead of bringing my road bike with me to ride Vince fixed me up a mountain bike and we went to ride the melting snow covered trails of Forest Park. You can see how much fun we had. (Thanks for cleaning up the bikes Vince!)