The Chainletter

We had a great turnout on Saturday for our ride from Half Moon Bay down the coast to Pigeon Point and around to Pescadero and San Gregorio. Fourteen riders joined me (the most I can remember for a non-Jersey ride in years!) for this beautiful roller coaster of a ride. The weather was chilly and breezy, as exemplified by the photos. We all felt like Cat 3 racers heading down Cabrillo Highway, but paid our dues heading back north into strong headwinds.

Veteran DSSF riders, David Gaus, Wanderson, Jeff, Steph, Roger, Cameron, Rob, Tia, Doug O, Scott, Nancy and I were joined by Joel (on loan from Chicagoland for some ALC training) and new DSSF riders Shane and Carl. Everyone did great, despite the strong headwinds on the return trip north, and we were rewarded with a tasty picnic lunch at the Pescadero General Store and Bakery.

David G had a few flats, and one member had to bow out of the ride for lack of shoes (sadly, she could not borrow Cam’s shiny white shoes). Other than that, a grand outing was had by all!!

This past Sunday, two veterans and three new riders met at the Claremont Peet’s and began what will hopefully be a new monthly ride in the East Bay to cater more to club members and enthusiasts who live on that side of the bay.

Alfred S and I were joined by Ge, Jean and Vanessa on a beautiful Sunday am ride up Tunnel Road, south on Skyline and around the picturesque Pinehurst loop for a ride that finished around noon and clocked in at 26 miles and just under 3,000 feet of climbing.

While my goal was to post this ride on the 4th Sunday of each month, the next several months present challenges to this…Memorial Day, Gay Pride and our July outing to Calistoga. So check the ride calendar for more information about

… are in! For the second year in a row, Larry L’Italien maintained the lead with the most miles ridden in March: 853! Doug Dexter completed 643 miles and Cameron Ross was right on his rear tire with 633 miles, so very close!

Both Doug and Larry completed the Solvang Double Century with the longest single ride (197.3 and 195.8 respectively) It was also Larry’s first double, and didn’t die, congratulations!

Larry also lead the most days of riding, with an impressive 26 days, and Doug and Cameron tied next with 14 days, followed by Jerome with 13 days.

Those who achieved or exceeded their mileage goal starts with Cameron and 140% of his goal completed, followed by Doug with 128%, and myself at 103%. Those who came close to their mileage goal include David Goldsmith, Larry, Sharon Lum and Jerome Thomere.

Everyone who joined the challenge and rode during the month is a winner! Overall we completed 4,202 miles of the 5,250 total mileage goal with $442 raised for Project Inform by 13 participants! Thanks to all who participated in this year’s Saddle Challenge. Great job everyone!

So now it’s the end of the third week of the 2009 Saddle Challenge  (SC) and with 13 riders register now, we’re making progress. To be on target, those participating should be 71% complete.

Cameron has logged an impressive 93.5% of his goal miles, taking the lead, by percentage complete. Close on his heels are Doug (76.8%), and then the three DGs, David Goldsmith at (74.2%), myself (74.1%) and Dave Glidden (68%).

Larry is the high mileage leader with 549+ miles logged to date. He is followed by Cameron (421 miles), Doug (384 miles), myself (296 miles) and David Goldsmith (223 miles).

Larry has also logged miles 18 out of 21 days!

Thomas, who just started riding a road bike with clipless pedals last month, has logged 204 miles!  Congratulations Thomas!

So far, 2,777 miles (52%) have been logged, our SC goal is 5,250 miles, despite some rainy days, we’re still within reach of making our goal!!

And the early forecast for this coming weekend looks good for getting some more saddle time in! Yes, I know that they also said that for this weekend too! ;-(

This coming Saturday brings two options on the Ride Calendar. Join Steph, Nancy and Alfred for the Century Prep Ride #2 — Cinderella Here We Come a nice 52 miles East  Bay ride accessible by BART. Or for the more adventurous, join Joseph for the Marshall Wall, 105 beautiful but challenging miles in Marin.

Check the DSSF website for more details:
http://dssf.org/dssf_html/calendar/calendar.php

Next update will be after the 31st!

It’s the first week of the 2009 Saddle Challenge (SC) and with 11 riders register, we’re off to a great start! To be on target, today those participating should be 29% complete.

Jerome is currently at 29.4% of his goal, right on target, with 117.5 miles logged out of his goal of 400 miles.

Larry is right there at 24.7% but with an impressive 247.35 miles of saddle time!

Will, Thomas and myself are right there with them with between 94 and 116 miles.

So far, 808 miles have been logged out of a goal of 4400 miles, despite a rainy first day of the Saddle Challenge, this past weekends weather helped get the Challenge off to a great start all, congratulations all!!

And the early forecast for this coming weekend looks good for getting some more saddle time in!

Tomorrow night, join Ken Martin for the Full Moon Ride meeting at the Fairy Building at 7:30 for a ride along the waterfront and Chrissy Field, across the GG bridge and up Conzelman and back.

Saturday is the Jersey Ride, with options for 27, 47 or 59 miles, meeting at Peet’s Coffee at 8:30 Saturday for a 9am ride out.

A few of us are heading down to do the Solvang Century.

Check the DSSF website for more details:

http://dssf.org/dssf_html/calendar/calendar.php

It’s never too late to join the Saddle Challenge, to register go to:
http://www.dssf.org/dssf_html/sc/

Registering is easy, enter your First Name, Last Name and the password: SC2009.

Then enter your mileage goal for the month, and if you so chose, a per mile or lump sum pledge for a Project Inform donation.

Then start logging your miles. Don’t worry if a date is past, you can enter your miles back to March 1st! Join us!

Next update will be next Monday!

Let’s ride!

But what is this Saddle Challenge, you ask?

The Saddle Challenge is an annual Different Spokes event, where each March we challenge each other to get out on our bikes and get some time in the saddle!

So choose a goal, for example, 25 miles per week x 4 weeks. Whatever you feel comfortable with, no goal it to small or too big, it’s your goal after all.

This is also a way for members to also (optionally) raise money for Project Inform. You can choose a per mile pledge or a lump sum figure. At the end of the month, we will ask those members who did pledge to mail their checks (made out to Project Inform) to the DSSF post office box, so we can send all money raised on behalf of Different Spokes?

Why? Because a long time member, Ron Wilmot, started the Ron Wilmot Ride for Project Inform, a fundraising event that no longer happens, but we continue to do our part each March. Again, the pledge portion is entirely optional!

So let’s challenge each other to get ourselves into shape, and have fun! Time to dust of that bike that’s been in the garage all winter, lube up the chain, pump up the tires and enjoy!

How do you sign up?

Go to DSSF home page and under Upcoming Events, click on The Saddle Challenge is on!

Just enter your First and Last name and the password (SC2009) to register, then enter your goal mileage, and optionally your per mile or lump sum pledge. Then log in after you ride (make sure you use the same name every time you log in), and choose thh date and enter the mileage. Try and get the mileage entered by each Sunday. I will be posting a weekly update here and on the DSSF Yahoo! Group.

–Let’s Ride!

Despite the forecast of a 50% chance of light showers most of the day, and rain by the afternoon, Thomas, Larry, Nancy and myself were joined by Rob, a prospective member, to see if we could complete the Jersey Ride before the rains. Jerome met us at the Golden Gate Bridge making six brave

We regrouped in Sausalito and again at the bend of the bike path, where Rob took the direct route to Tiburon. Nancy mentioned an alternate route after the Camino Alto climb from the intersection of Corte Madera Avenue at Tamalpais Road that avoids the busy crossing of 101 and two onramp lanes we pass through, and we were all game.

Immediately after turning onto Tamalpais at the stop light, we then turned left onto Montecito Drive and a short distance down the road, is the bike path on the right side. Where the path had a split we stayed to the right and it appeared we were on a Rails-to-Trails path, which took us right to Paradise Drive after we crossed under 101. We continued on the path around the east side of The Village at Corte Madera where we picked up the normal route at San Clemente Drive and then back onto Paradise. It was unanimous that this was much preferred to the normal route.

In Tiburon, we lunched at Café Acri and then headed back, with a short lived tailwind. Once back on the bike path, we were riding into a full headwind, and Jerome took the opportunity for a quick tutorial in pace lines.

We completed the return trip via Fort Baker and underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, arriving back at Peet’s with barely a sprinkle all day. Jerome then lead the ride to City Gallery, where Ronman is showing his exhibit, Before Eve!

I heard about the Hollister Death Ride from my LBS back in 2003; it’s three out & back climbs of three different roads along with a loop out Cienega along the way for a 9,000+ foot informal century route. Intrigued, one road at a time, I did all three eventually by themselves, and then came up with my own Hollister Mini-Death Ride version with just Lone Tree Way and Quien Sabe Roads. It’s been a few years since I did Fremont Peak, and with some proding from Jerome, I listed the ride.

Joined also by Will, Doug and Larry, we headed across the valley to San Juan Bautista. where the climb to Fremont Peak State Parks begins just off of San Juan Highway through three different canyons; San Juan, Quinn and Peak Canyon before passing along the western edge of Hollister Hills SVRA up to 2900 feet. On a clear day, you have views of the Salinas Valley and can see the Monterey Bay, along with Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tamalpais and the Sierras. We didn’t get to enjoy that full of a view, but the consensus was it was a (tough) but good climb.

In San Juan Bautista, we had lunch at JJ’s Homemade Burgers and then took a spin by the Mission at San Juan Bautista before heading back across the valley, skipping the optional (lower) Quien Sabe loop. Maybe next time? Did I say that?

Fremont Peak out & back (or up & down? [Uber WW Cyclist]

why did the chicken cross the road…Fremont Peak [ALC8 - Larry’s Training Log… (Rider #4604)]

With the forecast for sunny and temperatures in the 60s, climbing Mt. Hamilton in January sounds like a great way to take in the views as the hills are turning green (although let’s hope for more rain soon!) Driving up from Hollister, I hit fog in Gilroy. Larry, Cam and Jerome left a beautiful clear City and ran into the fog at Menlo Park. There were signs that it would clear quickly fortunately.

We headed from the Sunnyvale CalTrain station for the base of the mountain at Alum Rock and Highway 130, where a new member, David Eaton, joined us for the ascent and return. We regrouped at Grant Park, and then continued to long climb to the top and Lick Observatory. We were rewarded with views of the Sierra’s, Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tam, while looking towards the west you could see a fog/haze.

The descent is technical with switchbacks, sand in the road from the recent snows (hard to believe) and gravel or rocks that fall into the road, but the descent after climbing back up from Grant Park has a perfectly paved road and was a blast.

We made our trek back across the “Silli Valley” (as Larry called it in response to my Facebook status that morning “David is going to go ride up a mountain… what was he thinking??”) past the San Jose Airport and up Central Expressway to Sunnvale. While I was ready for the ride to be over for the day (it was after sunset), I did enjoy the day and more so, the great company. Thanks again, Larry!

Mt. Hamilton in the Winter [ALC8 - Larry’s Training Log… (Rider #4604)]

What was I thinking… Mt. Hamilton in the Winter? [WW Uber Cyclist]

I thought some folks might be interested in this ride that was done last weekend (1/23-1/25/09).  It was a beautiful 3 day ride in the Santa Monica Mountains put on by Planet Ultra (the same people who put on both of the Solvang doubles, among others) and was billed the “King of the Mountains Training Camp” after some fairly stiff century rides coming up in March and April down in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The weather was not exactly the greatest, with a fairly decent rain on Friday, a bit more on Saturday, then holding off with a final mostly sunny day on Sunday.  So while Friday was a bit on the wet and cold side, overall it was an excellent adventure with about 171 miles of riding and roughly 16,300 feet of climbing over the 3 days.  This was the inaugural event for this “camp” and I’m sure they will be putting it on again since they had a decent turnout of twenty something people.  So, for those who really enjoy Will’s 3 day Plymouth trip, you might look into this in the future as a good work out with some stunning views.

The most memorable climbs included a fairly relentless 12 miler on Mulholland Highway on Friday, Little Sycamore Canyon/Yerba Buena Road on Saturday (a pretty rough road at the top in terms of pavement condition) and Latigo Canyon on Sunday.