June 17th rides

[makbike]

I did walk three times today for a total of 6 miles. Gosh I miss my bike and I can't wait to go for a ride. Maybe, just maybe my doctor will reduce my "recovery" time when I return for my post-op appointment on Wednesday.

[Popoki_Nui]

Geez...my buddies just moved to a place with "no saucer parking"!

So how are they doing? Settling in ok, I hope?

[Zen]

First chance to ride in a couple of weeks. Windy as usual, but a quick and pleasant 55km jaunt on "Vee" thru rolling farmland on the Saanich Penninsula. A nice mix of highway/ backroad/ trail riding. Just had to photograph this sign in Lochside Park (don't you hate it when you just can't find anywhere to park your saucer??? And they call this a tourist-friendly city...!)

All this time i thought those signs meant "yield to Amish hats".

[jobob]

On Sunday morning I was thinking I'd head out from home and go up Palomares / Redwood / Pinehurst to Grizzly Peak Blvd. & back, about 80 moderately hilly miles. And maybe once I reached the vicinity of Skyline & Grizzly Peak I'd give bikerz a call to see what she was up to.

Once I reached Palomares Road, a moderate climb between Fremont & Castro Valley (about 4 miles, 1000ft, with an avg grade of ~ 5% and some steeper sections), I got the bright idea that I'd see how fast I could go up it.

About halfway up my stomach started getting queasy & I lost all energy and motivation !

(I'm thinking either the Endurolyte capsules, or the Perpetuem, or the combination of the two, just don't agree with me when I'm climbing with any sort of effort. What is up with that??? I only take one Endurolyte capsule. I'm almost out of Perpetuem, so I'm going to try Sustained Energy next)

I seriously wanted to just turn around and head back for home. Instead, I talked myself into just gearing way down & taking it very easy the rest of the way to the summit, and then decide from there if I was going to turn around or not.

Well, soon I felt much better. I managed to make it to the top of Palomares at almost exactly my current best time, which, considering how I took it really easy the last half, cheered me up a lot and motivated me to keep going.

I had my usual very fun 40+ mph descent towards Castro Valley. At the bottom of the descent there are a few rollers which are really fun to zoom over with momentum.

I must have been off in la-la land over the last roller, because as I crested it and started going down the shallow descent on the other side, I rode off the pavement into a ditch adjacent to a steep up hillside.

Since the ditch contained a lot of dirt I couldn't regain enough control to hop back on the pavement, and braking wasn't working well either. I did manage to slow down enough so that when I had the inevitable el-face-o into the hillside it wasn't bad - my shoulder and upper arm took the brunt of the impact. Lucky for me, the hillside was dirt and not rock!!

I just lay there for a few moments thinking "well, this could have been worse" and then finally, very gingerly, got up. Gahhh, my whole right side was just covered with red clay dirt, and poor Dusty was filthy - but otherwise we were both unscathed. A couple of guys pulled up in a pickup truck as I was getting up, and they asked me if I was hurt. I managed to laugh and answer "just my ego!". They hung around for a few moments to make sure I was actually OK and then they went on their way - it was really nice of them to stop.

I spent a while just hanging out along the side of the road, brushing dirt off me & Dusty, and making sure there really was nothing amiss with my bike. My right shoulder and upper arm were pretty scratched up but that was about it.

Altho my bike & I were OK, I wasn't up to continuing on. But I also wasn't too keen on turning around and climbing back over Palomares, so I decided to take the longer but much less strenous route back along Foothill Rd and Sunol. I rode back at a very leisurely pace since I was still a bit shaken up. But the rest of the ride went fine.

By the time I reached the AC Trail I was feeling really good again so I cranked it up for the last 8 miles or so into the wind tunnel. (In preparation for my double century at the end of October, my "coach", maillotpois, had suggested that I work on speed & power over the months of June & July, so I started doing intervals and short power power rides weekday mornings for the last few weeks.)

Well, was delighted to see I could maintain a 16-18 mph pace into the afternoon head/side wind along the Alameda Creek Trail (with a couple of kicks up to 20 mph, woo woo), where previously I could only eeke out maybe 13 mph and nearly die trying. Progress!

I managed to get in about 48 miles altogether. I was so glad to get home and jump in the shower, and give Dusty a bath.

While this ride didn't go according to plan, I was able to see a noticeable improvement in my speed, so it still turned out pretty well.

[Velobambina]

Jo--What a ride. Talk about dusting yourself off and getting back in the saddle. You go girl! Glad you are OK.

[bikerz]

Jo! Ouch!

But no big scores from the passers-by, huh? (Oh, the humiliation! I know it so well!)

I hope you are not too scraped up, and the the arm and shoulder feel OK! Good for you for turning back, and I am way impressed with the wind-tunnel performance!