Climbing Club February

[jobob]

I got in about 8000 ft. this month

Most of it was on this ride:



It took me over some climbs I hadn't done before - Bear Creek Rd (aka The 3 Bears - Papa and Momma Bear are pretty apparent, but Baby Bear, I'm still not sure of its whereabouts) heading north, followed by Pig Farm Hill at mile 58, which as the name implies is quite the stinker

By the time I reached my car at mile 94 I was kind of whupped and couldn't get up the gumption to loop around an extra six miles for a full century.

Oh yeah, and there was the ride from my house to Palo Alto for the ToC prologue and back. I told Kim it would be about 100 feet of climbing, so she was irate when it in fact turned out to be a bit over 200 ft each way - I neglected to factor in a couple of freeway overpasses.

[maillotpois]

Jo - that ride you did looks great!

I am so eager to get back on the bike!! But I have to try not to fall into the trap I fell into last year coming back from the PEs. I think I really overdid it too soon (my Spring mileage progression month to month went 0, 317, 172, 580 , 672), and that's part of what led to the evil butt thetans - and a general late summer burn out. So I will try not to do that again. Live and learn.

At least given what it looks like out there today I will be REALLY happy to be indoors.

[jobob]

That was a really fun ride, made more so by the fine weather and especially the company - we had a great turnout of guys from bikejournal (gw_12, tenbrooks, LOS) and bikeforums (taxi, allain, s&sb, bostic). Glenn was so sweet, he rode back with LOS & I over the Bears. This guy who does repeats of Sierra Road at lunchtime was perfectly happy just hanging back & chatting with us slowpokes. (Of course then he fired up the afterburners at about the last 30 miles and took much of the group on a time trial back to the start )

I might do this route again next Sunday, or at least the hillier parts of it. Depends on the timing of our volunteer shift is for the rescheduled SF 300K the day before. My route conveniently passes by lots of BART stations.

But I have to try not to fall into the trap I fell into last year coming back from the PEs. I think I really overdid it too soon (my Spring mileage progression month to month went 0, 317, 172, 580 , 672), and that's part of what led to the evil butt thetans - and a general late summer burn out. So I will try not to do that again. Live and learn.

I hear ya! After my fall burnout I'm being a lot more careful as well. I'm basically gearing up towards the Mt. Hamilton Challenge at the end of April, with my major goal being Mt. Shasta in August. The RUSA R-12 would be nice but I don't want to burn myself out in the process.

[maillotpois]

Glen's truly a gent!

You will love the MH Challenge. That was my first ever 200k in 2005, used it (plus WCC 200k) as prep for Davis, which was my first ever double. Oh those were the days! Anyway, I will never forget seeing David (Dagaus) at the MH C rest stop last year while I was doing DMD and envying him his CIVILIZED ride!

For the MH C - resist the urge to pack everything in those bags they take to the rest stops for you. I really packed WAY too much stuff. Though it is in the middle of no where, so it helps to be prepared with some extra Paydays.

[Beane]

so do you all have gps units? if not, how do you calculate your elevation change?

[maillotpois]

GPS with barometric correction. I used to just have a barometric altimeter, which worked fine.

I think most people have barometric and/or GPS. (Our friend Glen has both. )

[jobob]

I have a CicloSport CM436M computer with a pretty good barometric altimeter. It downloads to my computer and makes nice graphs to boot.

Naturally it's not make anymore.

[solobiker]

Gosh, I need to make my way to CA to do some riding. The winter back here in the mountains has been heavy on the snow this year. Every weekend it seems like there is a snow storm that is dumping 10-20 inches. Great for the backcountry skiing, not so great for the biking. My back has also been bothering me which has kept me away from some of the hills.

[jobob]

Yeah, you would have loved to be here this weekend.