ride on president's day?

[jobob]

Perhaps we in the N. Cal region could get together for a ride on President's Day (Feb 21), or some day during that 3-day weekend? I'd prefer either that Sunday or Monday, myself.

some thoughts:
The ever-popular Assault on Diablo
A ride through Woodside, Portola Valley, Palo Alto etc. - I'm envisioning maybe something between this smaller loop (http://www.chainreaction.com/theloop.htm ) and this larger loop (http://www.chainreaction.com/bigloop.htm )
A ride up in SadieKate's neck of the woods

Jo "likes her 3-day weekends" bob

PS- I'd really like to do that Woodside loop sometime, if not on Prez Day then some other time. Lee & I rode it on Christmas day & it's a great ride. We started out from the parking lot of Bicycle Outfitters in Los Altos.

[SadieKate]

I'd love to but we've got the Rice Valley Tandem Rally on Sunday (if it doesn't rain) and the San Rafael Fly Fishing Show on Saturday. I might be persuaded into something on Monday, but I may have to go on energy levels and willingness to get back into a car.

The Rice Valley Tandem Rally welcomes singles and goes around the Sutter Buttes. Last year we saw a field of cranes. Very cool. Of course, as it is organized by Chico Velo, the food is might tasty also.

[jobob]

Hah, I just signed up for the Bike Around the (Sutter) Buttes on April 16. It'll be my first century - luckily the course is flat as a pancake ( but don't remind me about the headwinds :p )

[Veronica]

I'm off that day as well and would be up for a ride. I'd rather not journey to the South Bay by myself - Thom has to work - but if akaKim was going we could carpool. I haven't ridden in that area in like ten years. We used to ride up over Route 9 from Saratoga and down the other side and camp. I remember thinking how strong I was the first time I made it up Route 9 on my old mountain bike with slicks and loaded panniers. I think I'm way more fit now. :D

Veronica

[aka_kim]

Both the smaller and larger loops look interesting to me, I haven't ridden in that area in years. I'm not sure if I get President's Day off, my company doesn't recognize most holidays -- but I'll have to check.

aka_kim

[Veronica]

Well, I just found out Thom has that day off, so a ride either Sunday or Monday in the Woodside, Portola Valley etc. region sounds good to me. If the weather gods cooperate. :p

V.

[snapdragen]

That's one of my favorite areas to get lost in, I'll give it a try. Sunday or Monday for me too...

snap "gasping for breath on Arastradero" dragen :eek:

[slinkedog]

The shorter loop on Monday looks good for me. Maybe we can get a sitter and Blaine can come, too. I might need a push up some of those hills!

[jobob]

Well, great!

Here's what I propose:

Leave from the parking lot in back of Bicycle Outfitters in Los Altos at 10 am.
(would that be an OK time?) I'll post directions.

We can do the small loop and if any are so inclined to branch out, that's fine. I'm thinking of also doing Canada road, but we can play that by ear. I'll post more details in a bit.

So, who can make it on Sunday the 20th and who can make it on Monday the 21st?

I'm leaning more towards Monday myself.

[slinkedog]

Monday for me. Sunday is church. :) This sounds like a blast!

[jobob]

Fair enough, let's make it Monday then.

We'll meet at 10 am in the lot behind the Bicycle Outfitter.

http://bicycleoutfitter.com/site/map.cfm?ID=1

[snapdragen]

Me too! Me too! :D

See you then!

[slinkedog]

I'm getting nervous about the weather. Are we going to ride no matter what or what? ;)

[jobob]

Hi - I figured I would wait until Monday morning, long-range weather forecasts are not particularly accurate this time of year!

I'll post here a 9 am on Monday to let you know if I htink we should have the ride.

If it's raining at 9, or if it was raining heavily earlier that morning, then it's a no-brainer, we'll do it some other time.

On the other hand, if it's yes-no-maybe, I'll see what my magic 8-ball has to say.

If it helps any, there was a chance of rain predicted for our Mt. Diablo ride last weekend but we went ahead anyways, and the rain didn't start until late that afternoon, long after the ride was finished.

- Jo.

[jobob]

OK, it's Sunday night, and they're predicting thundershowers for tomorrow. Maybe they won't materialize, but I'm not willing to take a chance.

In the "we live to ride another day" spirit of things, I hereby cancel the President's Day Tour de Woodside.

If it turns out bright and sunny, feel free to lash me with an old inner tube. If'n you can catch me :D

- Jo.

[slinkedog]

Well, it's clear out my window right now (about 7:00 a.m.), but I can't see over the Santa Cruz mtns from this vantage point. Blaine and I were thinking of doing a McKean/Bailey/Santa Teresa and back to our house loop if our ride today got cancelled. I guess I'll go turn on the tv and see what the radar looks like.

[jobob]

Here's an on-line radar view:

http://radar.wrh.noaa.gov/radar/loop/DS.p19r0/si.kmux.shtml

I don't know what to say. It'll probably turn out to be a fine day, but the weather reports haven't backed off from "Showers and thundershowers likely." It's the threat of thundershowers that I'm not too keen on.

Hope you have a great time, that's a nice route! I love going down Bailey Rd (up's no so bad,either).

[Veronica]

We're thinking about a ride about Diablo, probably ten o'clock at the parking lot. Gotta get in the second trip for the month. :D

V.

[jobob]

that's nice, have fun.

[Veronica]

It all depends on the weather gods. I wish they would arrange it so it only rains during the week and never when I'm off. I do have more cookies if you want to join us. :p

V.

[slinkedog]

Well, we decided not to cancel the babysitter and go to the mall instead. We both need clothes. I'm hoping for a trip to the bike shop to get some new shorts, too. We'll see.

[aka_kim]

I'll be a ninny, and say "be careful descending when the pavement's wet." And the pavement will be wet on some sections of the mountain.

Have fun. I may do my lunch-time loop to Heather Farm and Castle Rock, and pass by Arbolado on my way back. I'll swing by the parking lot if so.

Now, back to work (for those poor souls who have to work today).

[snapdragen]

I'm hearing the first faint thunder-bumpers!! :eek:

[SadieKate]

Big grumbling up here! Guess we'll have to turn on the evil Coach Troy. Let's hope V and Thom are off the hill.

[jobob]

Our friend Angie came over to our house this morning and we headed off towards Alum Rock Park, one of our favorite rides - about 50 mi round trip, good roads, lots of rollers, a couple of righteous hills so you can feel good about yourself, and gorgeous scenery this time of year. And lots of coffee & snax stops to choose from along the way, what more can you ask for?

So we're riding along in the glorious sunshine and I'm chiding myself for cancelling the Woodside ride. Then, at roughly 15 miles out, the wind, which was blowing a bit from the start, noticeably kicked up. Looking towards the south it seemed like some weather might be a-brewin'. After some hemming and hawing I suggested maybe we should turn around and head back up Mission, stop for the obligatory cup at Mission Coffee, and consider what to do next. We had a nice break (where we ran into a couple from the ACTC, Rita & Greg, who are in charge of safety for the Tierra Bella and very easily talked us into helping them out, since that's what we wanted to do in the first place! - so Janet, now you know what we'll be doing for the TB) and headed on back towards home, with a side loop through Coyote Hills park.

At Coyote Hills we had a great view of the South Bay, and it was still bright and sunny out, but looking towards the south we could see sheets of rain heading our way :eek: So we hightailed it towards home, but not before the wind shifted so the last 2 miles or so was in a nasty headwind :p

We rolled into our neighborhood just as it started to sprinkle. Angie stayed and chatted with us for about 15 minutes, and as she was pulling out of our driveway the heavens opened up and the rain came down in torrents - complete with thunderclaps. Whee.

I'm so glad I listened to my instincts and had us turn around when we did !(pats self on back). And I don't feel bad anymore about cancelling Woodside. :)

Hope the rest of you had a good day !

[Adventure Girl]

I was waiting to see how the weather looked before I decided if I wanted to do the ride the President’s Day Tour de Woodside. When Jobob posted last night that it was cancelled, I was somewhat relieved. I didn’t want to ride it in the rain, but I didn’t want to miss it if it was clear!

But then this morning the skys looked pretty clear, so I headed out for my regular 50-ish mile loop that takes me to Pebble Beach (it’s a beautiful ride!). There’s not too much climbing, but the wind along the coast makes it challenging. The ride was going ok. I was riding a little slower than usual because it was pretty windy. Also, I did a pretty tough mountain bike ride on Sunday that took quite a bit out of me.

Well about a mile from the turn-around spot I flatted. Damn… So I changed the tube, pumped it up and I was back on my way. Just like in Jobob’s story about her ride, the wind started to kick up. It got really gusty. I felt a light spray on my face… Then a few drops… then a few more… and a few more… and more and more and more….. until I was riding in a down-poor! I had to ride about 20 miles in the rain. Ughhh! :mad:

But I finished the ride and loaded up my bike. I’m glad I did it. I hate to waste a day off by sitting around the house! And now I have an afternoon project—gotta clean my bike!

So, Jobob, when's the next organized ride?

[Veronica]

We rode up the mountain. The lower half was quite pleasant and sunny. Just after the Junction it began to get cloudy, as in clouds surrounding us. Huge gusts of wind. I don't normally climb all that fast, but there were times when the wind had me doing 3 mph or so. The summit was very cool. The clouds were shooting by and had lots of texture to them.

The descent was kind of freaky as we had lots of wind gusts. You'd come around a corner and the wind would just grab the bike and kind of throw you around. I descended at a much saner pace than normal. We had more sun on the descent than the climb.

We didn't get any rain until we got home and the temperature has dropped ten degrees in 30 minutes. And we're now getting the thunder and lightning show.

V.

[slinkedog]

Oh, you're all so good! I suck! We went to Valley Fair and I got a new outfit and some bras. Then we had a nice, intimate lunch of Thai food and came home. I rode the trainer for about 40 minutes, but that's it. I have a date with Evil Coach Troy tomorrow at 6:15 a.m.

[snapdragen]

Well, we suck together slinke! I hit Valley Fair too - Papyrus for cards. One "commitment ceremony" and one wedding card for a couple that have been together for over 30 years. Finally decided to get married! :confused: :)

Found a lovely little book for me too "Drinks well with strangers......" :rolleyes:


snap"not really the lush I pretend to be"dragen

I'd better introduce myself to evil coach Troy soon, or y'all will be leaving me in the dust come the Cindy!

[slinkedog]

I think Papyrus is my favorite card store, ever. They closed the one at Oakridge and I was devastated. I didn't visit Papyrus today, however. We were strapped for time, so we only went to two places.

Yes, Coach Troy is evil, but the one workout I have totally leaves my legs like rubber bands! I can't wait to get back out on the road and see if all this suffering is helping me or not!

[jobob]

Ack, poor AG! Looks like you bore the brunt of the wrath of the weather gods. :p


So, Jobob, when's the next organized ride?
Good question! My Saturdays from now through May are taken up w. the ACTC Academy (except for the Saturdays of the Cinderella, the Tierra Bella at which I'm working, the Bike Around the Buttes, and the Top Hat) so if I organize anything it'll have to be on a Sunday, sorry slinkedog! (That said, no reason why someone else couldn't organize something on a Saturday....).

There are a bunch of club rides we want to take part in over the next few Sundays, plus there's SadieKate's ride up at Lake Berryessa on the 6th (see her posting for more info on that), so it looks unlikely that I'll be organizing anything before the Cinderella ...

....unless some heathens would be interested in doing a Tour de Woodside on Easter Sunday (March 27)? (side note to V., I'm not sure if the Outfitter would be open that day either.)

This might be a better option - a couple of my friends from the ACTC are organizing a ride through Woodside on Sunday March 13 complete with a brunch stop, Lee & I plan to go on that ride. Club rides are open to non-members, so there would be no problem with any of you joining in, you would just have to sign a waiver in addition to the ride sign-in sheet. I don't know the details on the route but I suspect it's similar to what we were going to do today, I could easily find out more about it if anyone's interested, I'll see them both next Saturday. One of the organizers was actually planning to join us today on our ride. Here's a link to the ACTC ride info page http://www.actc.org/schedule/rideinfo.html

- Jo.

Who the heck is this "evil Coach Troy" anyways ??? :confused:

[slinkedog]

<Who the heck is this "Coach Troy" ??? >

Spinverals, Baby.

I'm going to try to do one of the Sunday club rides if there is an afternoon one.

[jobob]

that sounds entirely too much like work. :p

[SadieKate]

Geez, I'm glad everyone's home safe and sound. The thunder here was very loud.

Organized rides I have planned:
March 6th - the Lake Berryessa Loop
March 27 - Mt Tam (this is a non-technical mtb ride and I haven't posted it yet. Cupcakes will be served to celebrate Bubba's birthday)
April 9 - Road ride up Monticello Dam from Lake Solano, down to Fairfield and back up to Lake Solano (still to be posted)

[snapdragen]

Oh! Carole and Adele's ride on the 13th looks like fun....hmm, maybe I'll start participating more in the club rides :rolleyes: