jobob
07-02-2005, 06:50 PM
Well, first and foremost, it was Day One of the Tour which automatically makes it a grand day in my book. We got up bright and early to watch the pre-race blithering (which, I'm ashamed to admit, I really enjoy, but ask me again in another week or 2).
But soon we had to leave the rest of the race recording on the TiVo to head out to Woodside for an ACTC club ride. It was our first time taking part in a series called "Tortoises Climbing Hills". This series of rides goes on the big climbs in the area but a leisurely pace, and no one is left behind. Nice bunch of people, a few we already knew, and a few more we met on the ride.
The ride took us up Old La Honda Road (http://graphics.stanford.edu/~lucasp/grade/oldlahonda.html) which is used by many around here as a benchmark climb to gauge fitness. The Western Wheeler's club uses climbing time up OLH as a guideline to help people decide what category of ride they're suited for. The B category rides would be suitable for people posting a time of 60-40 minutes up OLH, the C category 40-30 minutes, D 30-25 minutes, E 25-20 minutes and F less than 20 minutes (the 'official' record up OLH is something like 14 minutes. :p )
Never having done this climb before (another first), I thought it would be fun to see where I stacked up in the Grand Scheme, so when Waldo & I reached the 'official' start of the climb (a small bridge over a creek) I glanced at my wristwatch. I figured all those miles trying to stay within sight distance of V. and SadieKate & Kim up Mt. Diablo must have amounted to something :o , so I hoped finishing under 40 minutes would be a realistic goal.
OLH is a very pleasant climb - very shady and quiet. There weren't many cars on the road, and the pavement was fairly smooth for the most part. So I settled in and enjoyed the ride. I knew the climb was a bit under 4 miles but I didn't want to psych myself out by keeping track of how far I had to go, so I switched my computer readout from mileage to % gradient (hah, way to not psych myself out, eh?). I wasn't lollygagging, but on the flip side I didn't want to kill myself, I just wanted to go at a reasonable pace for me. It's a very popular climb in the area and I was passed by a lot of people on my way up, many as though I were standing still (must've been the F crowd :rolleyes: )
At one point, as I was passing by someone (this didn't happen very often, trust me), I glanced at my watch and saw about 30 minutes had gone by. I thought, cool, hopefully I'm about 3/4 of the way there. So I asked the woman I was passing how much farther we had to go and she told me we were almost there! :eek: Come to find out we were at about the 90% mark - she told me that the house numbers roughly refected the % duration of the climb, and we were passing the 900's (or was it 9000? whatever) at that time. Well I was jazzed let me tell you! I ended up finishing the climb in a bit under 33 minutes, yee hah!
I must take this opportunity to extend a big 'ol thankyee kindly to the TE girls' hill training program, couldn't have done it without ya's.
Well, what goes up must go down - time for another first, one that I was sure I would never attempt. Seems one of the most popular ways of descending after climbing OLH is to go north a couple of miles on Skyline Blvd. and then plummet down windey highway 84 back into Woodside. I've driven this stretch of road many times in the past and was always amazed and appalled by the cyclists careening down this moderately busy road, many going waaay faster than me in my car (and more than a few doing boneheaded things like passing on the left or on the right, tailgating, that sort of thing :p ). Even after I'd been road riding for quite some time, I figured that descent was for the crazypeople, not I.
Well, my descending skills have improved a lot over time, so I figured I'd give it a go, and call me crazy, it was an absolute blast !!! I had an ear-to-ear grin going all the way down, what fun. Our little group really lucked out, we had no cars in front or behind us for the entire descent ( and I am ashamed to admit we exceeded the speed limit much of the way down :o :o :D ). It was a nice smooth wide road with well-banked turns and good sightlines for the most part. I averaged about 30 going down, maxing out at about 35 at a couple of places - I shudder to think how fast V. would have done it. At one point a woman from the Webcor team blew right past us (after very politely calling out), she must have been doing 40-ish, whee.
And when we reached our cars, one of friends suggested lunch at the Alpine Inn, also known as Rosatti's or "Zotts", a fixture in the area but one I've never been to, another first. We enjoyed burgers & fries and Sierra Nevada on tap (yummm) under a shady tree in their backyard seating area. Good place, I'll be back.
A day of epic & fun firsts.
But soon we had to leave the rest of the race recording on the TiVo to head out to Woodside for an ACTC club ride. It was our first time taking part in a series called "Tortoises Climbing Hills". This series of rides goes on the big climbs in the area but a leisurely pace, and no one is left behind. Nice bunch of people, a few we already knew, and a few more we met on the ride.
The ride took us up Old La Honda Road (http://graphics.stanford.edu/~lucasp/grade/oldlahonda.html) which is used by many around here as a benchmark climb to gauge fitness. The Western Wheeler's club uses climbing time up OLH as a guideline to help people decide what category of ride they're suited for. The B category rides would be suitable for people posting a time of 60-40 minutes up OLH, the C category 40-30 minutes, D 30-25 minutes, E 25-20 minutes and F less than 20 minutes (the 'official' record up OLH is something like 14 minutes. :p )
Never having done this climb before (another first), I thought it would be fun to see where I stacked up in the Grand Scheme, so when Waldo & I reached the 'official' start of the climb (a small bridge over a creek) I glanced at my wristwatch. I figured all those miles trying to stay within sight distance of V. and SadieKate & Kim up Mt. Diablo must have amounted to something :o , so I hoped finishing under 40 minutes would be a realistic goal.
OLH is a very pleasant climb - very shady and quiet. There weren't many cars on the road, and the pavement was fairly smooth for the most part. So I settled in and enjoyed the ride. I knew the climb was a bit under 4 miles but I didn't want to psych myself out by keeping track of how far I had to go, so I switched my computer readout from mileage to % gradient (hah, way to not psych myself out, eh?). I wasn't lollygagging, but on the flip side I didn't want to kill myself, I just wanted to go at a reasonable pace for me. It's a very popular climb in the area and I was passed by a lot of people on my way up, many as though I were standing still (must've been the F crowd :rolleyes: )
At one point, as I was passing by someone (this didn't happen very often, trust me), I glanced at my watch and saw about 30 minutes had gone by. I thought, cool, hopefully I'm about 3/4 of the way there. So I asked the woman I was passing how much farther we had to go and she told me we were almost there! :eek: Come to find out we were at about the 90% mark - she told me that the house numbers roughly refected the % duration of the climb, and we were passing the 900's (or was it 9000? whatever) at that time. Well I was jazzed let me tell you! I ended up finishing the climb in a bit under 33 minutes, yee hah!
I must take this opportunity to extend a big 'ol thankyee kindly to the TE girls' hill training program, couldn't have done it without ya's.
Well, what goes up must go down - time for another first, one that I was sure I would never attempt. Seems one of the most popular ways of descending after climbing OLH is to go north a couple of miles on Skyline Blvd. and then plummet down windey highway 84 back into Woodside. I've driven this stretch of road many times in the past and was always amazed and appalled by the cyclists careening down this moderately busy road, many going waaay faster than me in my car (and more than a few doing boneheaded things like passing on the left or on the right, tailgating, that sort of thing :p ). Even after I'd been road riding for quite some time, I figured that descent was for the crazypeople, not I.
Well, my descending skills have improved a lot over time, so I figured I'd give it a go, and call me crazy, it was an absolute blast !!! I had an ear-to-ear grin going all the way down, what fun. Our little group really lucked out, we had no cars in front or behind us for the entire descent ( and I am ashamed to admit we exceeded the speed limit much of the way down :o :o :D ). It was a nice smooth wide road with well-banked turns and good sightlines for the most part. I averaged about 30 going down, maxing out at about 35 at a couple of places - I shudder to think how fast V. would have done it. At one point a woman from the Webcor team blew right past us (after very politely calling out), she must have been doing 40-ish, whee.
And when we reached our cars, one of friends suggested lunch at the Alpine Inn, also known as Rosatti's or "Zotts", a fixture in the area but one I've never been to, another first. We enjoyed burgers & fries and Sierra Nevada on tap (yummm) under a shady tree in their backyard seating area. Good place, I'll be back.
A day of epic & fun firsts.