Larry's training log... T-N-T Death Ride

Today I ride…

2011-07-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

So this day has finally arrived. It has been five months coming, a couple of thousand miles in training rides, thousands and thousands and thousands of feet of climbing, jugs of electrolytes, cases of Gu shots, bunches and bunches of bananas, lots of sweat, and lots of soreness. Today I ride the Death Ride: Tour of the California Alps with Team-in-Training. I ride, but together we raised $5,250 dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Together we rock!!!

By the time this gets posted and it is read, I should be ascending Monitor Pass to a breathtaking sunrise. I’m a huge fan of sunsets but on this day I’ll pretend this sunrise is a sunset and that I’m sitting on the porch swing at camp with my mom. I’ll pretend that she is right there with me and that the pain of missing her is really just the pain from a 12%+ grade. I’m not usually the talkative type, but I’ll fill her in on everything; it will be easy.

I’ll remember my godmother, my Aunt Mary, whom I wish I had gotten the chance to say good bye.

I’ll remember my Aunt Kathy, whom embodied everything that a person should be.

I’ll remember my Uncle Dick, whom I never knew that well but did know he shared the same familial ‘dread’ about our genes that I do…tick tock, tick tock.

I’ll remember my Memere, whom I remember only speaking French, yet for some reason I understood exactly what she was saying. Yet today mon francais est tres bad.

Over this long day, I’ll pretend to get the chance to talk with her about how her death impacted career choices I’ve made. I’ll take some comfort that I’m in the lab daily trying to make my small impact on finding a cure. I’ll share with her my life with Trevor and would she believe that we’ve been together nearly twenty years. I’ll thank her being such a good role model that it helped me get through those tough times. I’ll share with her my opinion that those idyllic happy times in a relationship are great, but those hellish trenches are what make the foundation one of granite. I’ll talk about my Dad, and how now that I’m grown, I have a much better appreciation for what he’s gone through. I’ll share that Beverley has been a great companion for him and that I love her dearly too. I’ll share with her that her impact on my life has been huge, and that is an understatement.

By mile sixty or seventy, I’m sure I’ll be cursing her because she’s the one making me do this ride. I won’t curse too loudly, because her Rosary will be in my jersey pocket.

I’ll share that I’m incredibly blown away by the support and well wishes I have received since starting this journey five or so months ago. I’ll share stories of the training rides and of all the great people I’ve shared them with.

As my legs start to cramp on Ebbetts Pass, I’ll remember that even though cancer is devastating, and that it has decimated this family, I’ll remind myself, that not only am I riding for those that have already passed I’m riding for the survivors too. I’ll remind myself that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society had a small part in developing the treatment that has helped my cousin Connie fight and survive her B-cell Lymphoma.

I’ll remind myself that I could be back in Maine celebrating my cousin Jackie’s wedding, sharing one of the more momentous occasions in life. I’ll hope that my small part in this ride may help her overcome her cancer. I will celebrate with lactic acid buildup and from afar.

If I am so lucky that I have survived the front and back climbs of both Monitor and Ebbetts, I’ll turn my thoughts to the real reason I’m doing this ride with TNT. I’ll allow myself to start thinking about that last pass, Carson, and the future. I’ll think about my nieces, Samantha and Juniper. I’ll concentrate on the fact that my mother dreamed about the day when she would have grandchildren. I’ll concentrate on the fact that my pedal strokes may allow my mom’s dream to become their dream.

Today I ride...because I can.

Love eternally,

Larry

I can’t be any more ready…

2011-06-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien

Eastbound ascending Wilson's on one of the last major climbs of the day.

Yesterday was the last ‘epic’ Team-in-Training ride in preparation for the Death Ride on July 9^th. I have to say I’m quite amazed and happy with the way the ride went. Yesterday’s ride was 118 miles with 12,000 vertical feet of climbing. It included jaunts up Mount Tamalpais twice; travel up Highway one to Marshall battling moderate headwinds and the rollers; Olema Hill; Marshall’s wall; Wilson’s Hill (both sides); and the backsides of Alp du’Fromage, Nicasio, and White’s.

I can not speak more highly of the training program that Karen, the TNT head coach, put together or led for this season. The training program allowed me to make a ton of mistakes earlier in the season, which gave me ample time to correct those mistakes so that yesterday’s finale was ‘relatively’ painless. I was hydrated and stayed hydrated, I started slow and conserved energy so that I would have a little something for the end, I ate on the bike, I filled my water bottles with Hammer Gel (Montana Huckleberry is gross, Orange is good), I kept rest stops to a minimum, I took off my shoes at the later rest stops to give my feet a breather and keep ‘hot foot’ at bay, I applied sunscreen, I enjoyed the burn, I didn’t cramp.

I am still fearful of riding in the heat, as it has been a cool spring and early summer. Even though SF is always cold it does get hot in the surrounding areas and that hasn’t happened yet this year. In years past I made it a rule that if the temperatures approached 90 I wouldn’t ride. The Death Ride has been known to get hot, so let’s hope it doesn’t get too warm. To help allay that fear, I’ll be leaving well before dawn to help minimize the amount of time in the mid-afternoon sun.

So cheers to the last big training ride. From here on it is taper and rest. What a great season leading up to the Death Ride!!!

Ps. As of Friday morning, we have raised $5,050 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!! Never in my wildest dreams did I actually think we would reach the goal I had set. My heart can not thank you enough.

Know why - No why!! (part III) [sometimes a picture says it all]

2011-05-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a picture says it all...

Clockwise from left...

Nana - Stomach Cancer (age 60)

Mom - Multiple Myeloma (age 53)

Aunt Kathy - Esophageal Cancer (age 59)

Aunt Mary - Vaginal Cancer (age 67)

Uncle Pat - Heart failure (age 55)

& Uncle Dick - Esophageal Cancer (age 59)

I ride for them...
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien

Know Why - No why (part I) - http://larrysorelegs.blogspot.com/2011/05/know-why-no-why-part-ii.html
Know Why - No why (part II) - http://larrysorelegs.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-ride.html

Know why - No why!! (part II)

2011-05-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

part I - http://larrysorelegs.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-ride.html

This post was going to be an incredibly happy post, but events this past week have tempered it quite a bit.

First the happy part. A few weeks ago, my cousin Connie marked her two year anniversary from her last chemotherapy treatment for B-cell lymphoma and remains cancer free. In 2009 while in for an unrelated surgery it was discovered that she had Stage 4 B-cell lymphoma. As much of the cancer as possible was removed surgically at that time. After confirmation she quickly went on R-CHOP, rituxan plus chemotherapy. Obviously she responded well to the therapy for now it has been two years!!! Woo Hoo!!

Connie is nearly a big sister to me. I realize now that my youth was extremely charmed. Our extended family remained fairly close, in part to the fact that at one point or another we all lived in the same building. My parents owned a three unit apartment building in Auburn, Maine where our family lived on the top floor. For the longest time, my Pepere and Memere lived in the middle. The bottom floor was occupied by mon Oncle Bob and Tante Pauline and my cousins. Connie was the eldest. After they moved my mon Oncle Gary and Aunt Kathy moved in. I think nearly everyone on my father's side, at one time or another, lived in the apartment building. It's charmed in that it helped to keep the family more closely connected. Hence, I think of Connie as nearly a sister. Connie has one of the most kind and gentle hearts there is (Trevor is another). Everyone else, including me, are simply mean SOBs compared to those two. She always has a smile and always non-judgmental. There are so many times I've stopped myself and asked 'what would Connie do?' to help make my decision.

I'm beyond happy that she has remained cancer free.

Jackie

Yet this week I learn that yet another cousin, Jackie, is stricken with cancer (Hepatocellular cancer, i.e. liver). Jackie holds an extremely rarefied place in my memory. I so wanted to be like her as a kid and still do. As a kid, I remember her being FEARLESS and that is what I wanted to be. I hadn't seen her in years but I got to see her last year at my Dad's 70th and it made my year. Forgive me if my tone is poor or my sadness is coming through. This sucks...cancer sucks!! I wish I could be there to give her a big old hug.

I ride for Connie...

I ride for Jackie...

I ride for you...

I ride for me...

Please click on through and donate as little or as much as you would like. Every little bit helps, even $1.00. With checks in hand and employer matching I'm almost at the $4,000.00 raised mark. Merci, but send some warm thoughts my cousin Jackie's way first.
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien

Holy Headwinds Tomales!!!

2011-05-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

The group of us in Tomales!

{my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fund-raising page may be found here (http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien)}

The email from Alex arrived mid-day last Friday. It was the route sheet for the following day's ALC training ride that I was helping to co-lead. I looked at the route, lifted my head and I looked out the window. I see trees, I see trees that a billowing. I look back at the route; COUNTER CLOCKWISE to Tomales!!! I start felling a sense of panic overcome me, COUNTER CLOCKWISE. You see I've done this ride, or very nearly this ride, a few times. It is absolutely gorgeous, but after the first two times doing it counter clockwise, people would tell us/me that we were 'idiotic' for doing it in that direction. The reason we were called idiotic is the WIND goes WEST to EAST or NW2SE!! It is the reason (at least in my mind) why ALC goes from SF2LA and not LA2SF. After getting home from work and a glass or two of wine, I was calmer. The wind wouldn't be bad two days in a row, could it?

I detect a hint of a smile underneath that grimace.

Alarm goes off at 4 am, I like to ease into the day. Before I roll out of bed, what do I hear? the WIND. Wind at 4 o'clock in the afternoon in SF, no big deal, that is to be expected. Strong wind at 4 am just means trouble. I get up, put all my stuff together and check the weather on-line. Current wind gusts are 27 mph. Big frown crosses my face, I resign myself to the fact that for a good chunk of the ride I'll be lucky if I travel more then 8 mph on flat land. The section from Petaluma to Tomales Bay is going to be brutal!!

and it was!!! enough said....still a fun ride though!

{this post originally appeared at larrysorelegs.blogspot.com}

Growling like a Grizzly Bear

2011-05-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

View West towards San Francisco from the top of an early morning Skyline. Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, SF, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen.

{my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fund-raising page may be found here (http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien)}

Unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to go for a ride this past Saturday as I had pressing work to attend to. I didn’t mind all that much since I knew Sunday I would be riding in one of my favorite century rides by far, the Grizzly Peak Century. I was fortunate enough to get a transferred registration from Kevin H. Thanks!!

Climbing Grizzly in the early morning shaded sun.

I was up before dawn to get all my ‘stuff’ together for the day. I put the bike on the rack and drove out to Moraga CA where the Grizzly starts from. I loved the fact that since I was holding a transferred registration my line was absolutely empty. I could walk right up and be done. At 7 am I took a ride through the parking lots looking to see if I could find any more TNT riders as I saw Jerry and John in line at the registration table. Seeing none I headed out and started the route shortly after 7 am. The first few miles were cold. My fingers started to get numb and I regretted not bringing my full fingers. They didn’t stay numb long. Once we began climbing towards Grizzly Peak we hit some sun.

It was after the first rest stop when I ran into John Buckley and noticed he had the same Death Valley jersey on. It was a few miles later he caught up to me and we started talking about our experiences there. After a few minutes, he dropped back and I continued on my merry way as I was felling pretty strong.

Not all century riding is through gorgeous green valleys and flowering mountain tops. The Grizzly has us riding smack dab through and oil refinery in Port Costa.

After Port Costa, one of the major climbs of the day is immediately after the rest stop, McEwen. It isn’t the longest but surely is the biggest gradient. Towards the bottom of the hill there are signs every few yards. There were three in succession at a very steep part of the hill that said something like ‘you may have noticed you’ve come to a crawl…one should not fear…unless one doesn’t have a granny gear’. Further towards the top of the climb there is ‘you’ve made it to the top…but don’t put on airs…for in a few miles…you’ll face the BEARS’. Alluding to a series of three significant climbs; Papa, Momma, and Baby Bear.

Cresting McEwen

For the middle few rest stops I seemed to leap frog with Jerry from TNT for a few hours. I would catch up, move ahead a bit, and end up taking a little extra time at the rest stops. The fruit was fantastic; strawberries, pineapple, melon!! And this century has a lot of riders. It is a very social century. It wasn’t until after the Wayside Rest Stop (mile 77.6) that the number of riders ahead and behind started to become sparse. Up until this point there were always riders ahead and behind that I could see. Not now, it seemed at times that I was riding this route all alone. Also it wasn’t until after Wayside that I slowed my pace considerably. I was getting kind of tired. There were still many big climbs ahead, Redwood up to Skyline, Skyline, Walnut, Redwood, and Pinehurst. The second Redwood climb is a long slow slog. It doesn’t look that hard on the elevation chart but it came at mile 95.

Unhappily I report that my hot foot has made a re-appearance. It hasn’t bothered me in quite some time and hope that it is not a foreshadowing. I pulled into the finish shortly after 4 pm for a total riding time of approximately nine hours. Felt good for 109 miles, but realize I still have a lot of training to do to be ready for the Death Ride.

I ride...

2011-04-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

{this post originally appeared on larrysorelegs.blogspot.com}

Part I— Why I’m riding to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Mom and Dan on the camp porch

Even though the dimensions of my heartfelt pain have lessened over the years, the impact of the loss of my mother remains infinite. That pain will forever remain deep whenever thoughts wander her way.

Mom, Dad, and Cathy

There are some memories of her lasting impression which simply remain lodged in one’s brain no matter how trivial they now appear. At the age of four maybe five tops, I remember being traumatized after some family event from which I was completely exhausted. Throughout the day, I’m certain family conversation turned towards dieting of some sort, as general conversations often go. And on this day, I explicitly remember my mother telling my sister and me that she would be joining Weight Watchers and that she was going to try to slim down. Not certain at this time whether it was exhaustion or the tender age of four, I completely lost it. I remember running up to her crying, top of my head to her belly button, throwing my arms around her, and telling her I’d have nothing to do with it, didn’t want her to lose the weight, I didn’t want her to change and she shouldn’t want to either. I truly loved her just the way she was.

Looking back these 35 plus years later (gasp for both time that has passed and my age now), the event seemed inconsequential. It shouldn’t have registered in such a prominent place in my memory. Yet it does.

Fifty-three years of age is young.

Mom (circa 1952)

There are so many memories of spending summers at camp. I remember watching many sunsets from our favorite spot of all, the porch swing. Often times, it was after my back had sunburned (don’t judge it was a time when baby oil was considered suntan lotion). She would patiently peel off the blistering skin, a tender moment in my childhood which seems like a lifetime ago. I remember being shewed out the door to play in the yard as she watched her Soaps. To this day whenever I hear the theme from the ‘Young & Restless’, I’m brought back to the sand-pile just outside and the matchbox cars I played with there. I cherish the memories of Sunday mornings spent at the tiny church near camp, and not just because we got to go for ice cream after every mass. I remember the pennies from heaven, which would liter the floor for my sister, my cousins, and my friends to find after the adults played a night of poker. I remember hating thunderstorms as they raced across the lake towards us; but loving, after the storm had passed, that she then encouraged us to go outside, to run and slide in the puddles, and then to jump in the lake to clean off.

I remember being in bed and rocking back and forth muttering under my breath that I hate you, I hate you, I hate you; whenever she “sinned” by putting me down for a nap. I remember the hideous plaid pants she made me wear to Merrill Hill School in the first and second grade; yet I really love plaid today. I remember her (& my father) torturing me by bringing me to the Auburn Fire Department's Minot Avenue Station when I was little because they thought it would help me overcome my incredible fear of fire trucks, especially the sirens. It didn't. I remember her slipping down the back stairs to the backyard, in order to fulfill my request to have my wagon there. I remember waking on Sunday mornings, my sister and I running into our parent’s room; we would wrestle and tickle them awake.

Zoanne, Mom, and Carol

I remember mom covering for me when I used an SOS pad to clean the family car. I just wanted to get it cleaner and didn’t realize it would also scratch the paint. I also remember her covering for me when I would swipe quarters to go play Asteroid at the Big S with John T. I remember what she told me when I asked, ‘where do babies come from?’ I remember the sunny afternoon she said that she was pregnant with what would be my baby brother, the one I had prayed for such a long time. It was many years ago, but I remember……….

Me, Mom, Dan, and Cathy

Fifty-three years of age is young. I remember…

I remember the time she announced that she had cancer.

I remember the chemotherapy treatments.

I remember the loss of her hair, the nausea and this sickness she endured.

I remember being at home the last few days of her life.

I remember her wasting away and watching the mother I love become so frail.

I remember joking with her about that time she came home to let us know she was joining Weight Watchers, and my refusal to allow her to change. Damn you weight watchers.

Mom holding Aimee

I remember her wish of wanting to survive till my brother graduated high school; she never did.

I remember her request that I look out for him and my dad after she was gone.

I remember the exact time she was last conscious enough to communicate.

Tante Nancy had just arrived for a visit. Before leaving to go check on my sister’s cat and leaving her and Nancy alone to visit, I bent down to kiss her and give her a big hug. I remember the tears in her eyes. It was a Wednesday evening; she passed early Saturday.

Fifty-three years of age is way too young to die. I remember….

That was my mother’s age when she finally succumbed to the effects of chemotherapy for the treatment of Multiple Myeloma.

Mom, Dad, and Elvis

She departed this world, this realm, in May of 1994, just a few weeks before I graduated from college. My younger brother was a sophomore in high school while my older sister had yet to be blessed with her awesome daughter, what would have been my mother’s first grandchild, who carries her name Samantha Claire. My father was not yet retired and still working at Bath Iron Works. The porch at camp still had screens, not the fancy windows of today, nor the concrete foundation. She did however get to meet Trevor. I did get the opportunity to ‘come out’ to her, although one of her first questions at the time was, did Trevor turn you gay,’ and my response was, no mom he didn’t. She never had the pleasure of meeting my Sister-in-law, and will never get to meet my brother’s baby L’Italien, who will soon join us. I can go on and on and on. There is so much she has missed; and there is so much we have missed.

I ride for her.

I ride for those who are suffering and will suffer from cancer.

I ride for a cure.

I ride for all those who will someday face the need to remember.

I ride for you.

I ride for me.

I ride…I ask for your support
{http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien}

Donor Incentives!!!!

2011-04-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

{originally posted at larrysorelegs.blogspot.com}

As promised, below are the donor incentives I've come up with for your donations to my Leukemia and Lymphoma Death Ride fundraiser. Not only will I pedal for you, I will also cook for you...stop that snickering. Gone is the $1,000.00 donor incentive of me riding the 129 miles in drag, but rather yummies for your tummy.

Any donation no matter how large or how small will have my sincere appreciation and gratitude. You’ll also get a picture of yours truly from atop the very last mountain pass. It will be signed with love.

large vat of awesomeness

$75.00 donation: one container of homemade spaghetti sauce (mom’s recipe), must be local as not shipping overnight. We can probably arrange something if you are located back east in Maine. This way you can have your very own sauce-on-bread for breakfast, lunch, and supper.

$125.00 donation: your choices of homemade peanut butter fudge or whoopee pies (gluten-free optional). The fudge will be made with the real Fluff and not that jet-puffed crap I can only get out here. You decide whether you trust me to make them or have my father make them. If I am not able to deliver personally, I will ship treat on ice pack, via USPS (if it fits it ships).

Gluten-free whoopee pie

$200.00 donation: Both peanut butter fudge and whoopie pies.

Peanut butter fudge and whoopee pies will arrive near the holidays to avoid the summer heat.

the change bucket is here.

{http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien}

Coleman Valley!!!

2011-04-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

I have a few more roads to add to my FAVORITE's list after today!!!!

Yesterday's Team-in-Training ride (April 23, 2011) had me traversing roads that I have never ridden before. There are so many good riding roads in Marin that I usually just start my ride from home and not drive to a start location. By not driving, I save gas, but it limits my northward riding distance to Tomales and back, which is 120 miles round trip. Today I drove to the Cheese Factory and then started riding with TNT. This allowed me to venture further north on roads not previously traveled.

Bay Hill Road, just outside of Bodega is phenomenal!

Leaving the Cheese Factory shortly after 8 am, we traveled familiar roads: Hicks Valley, Wilson Hill (the short but STEEP direction) and Chileno Valley Road to Tomales. This early in the morning there were no headwinds to speak of and the pace-lining got us through pretty quick. After a very brief stop in Tomales, I took off with a smaller group so that I could go at my own pace and not feel as if I had to 'keep' up. Not that I couldn't keep up, but if I was not having a good day I didn't want the added stress of not being able to keep the pace. Besides, I like to stop and take pictures and let the surroundings settle in. Often the views are more breathtaking then the riding and the smells can be just as breathtaking. I'm talking the eucalyptus trees and not the manure.

On Dillon Beach Road, can you spot the black sheep of the family?

After the stop in Tomales, we headed north on Dillon Beach road. My friend Joseph, has always wanted to get me to ride this road to Dillon Beach and now I can see why. Some nice rollers with green hills and sheep galore.

View from Vally Ford Franklin School Road towards Tomales Bay

From Valley Ford we headed Northwest on Highway One towards Bodega and my new favorite road, Bay Hill Road. Such a narrow, eucalyptus lined, almost path. I loved it!!

Catching up with TNT group 2 riders on Bay Hill Road

I am extremely thankful that our small group caught up with a few riders ahead of us. I was following Lisa G and another just outside of Bodega where we made a right onto Coleman Valley Road. I surely would have missed this road had I not been following. Similar to Bay Hill, it is a narrow winding road that is unmarked and could be easily missed. However that is the only thing that could be easily missed. Coleman Valley was our main climb of the day, and a climb it is. I figure there is a good mile, mile and a half, of 12%+ grade and numerous cattle grates too.

The view from Ocean Song, the top of Coleman Valley Road

The descent into Occidental was nice, again not for the speeds or bumpy road, but more because it was wooded and narrow. Joy road was a joy.

SAG support at last rest stop at mile 62 on Whitaker Bluff

The last leg of the day brought us back near Tomales, where we took Fallon-Two Rock Road to Alexander to Tomales-Petaluma Road back to Chileno Valley Road. On Chileno we slowed the pace a bit as we were getting tired and wanted to save a little something for the last climb of the day, Wilson Hill before getting back to the Cheese Factory.

Kyle cresting Wilson's with John G in background

John G and Jerry after Wilson Hill and mile 80-ish

All-in-all it was an awesome training ride. Once again tired and sore after 85 miles and 7500 feet, but not cramped nor dehydrated. Plus I now have a few more favorite roads to add to my list!!

Tomales!!

2011-04-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

Somewhere on Highway One near between Marshall and Hamlet

Last Saturday (April, 16, 2011) Joseph was leading a Different Spokes ride from SF to Tomales and back (120 miles). I decided to do this ride because Will, a friend from work, was interested in meeting us in Fairfax and riding the best 70 miles with us. The 20+ miles to Fairfax are usually pretty mundane and tedious; when did crossing the Golden Gate get tedious?

I broke out the camel pack and cleaned it as I said I would do after the Mt. Diablo ride. After a hellish finish on Diablo, my goal was slow and steady, 120 miles is a long way and a long day.

Will and Joseph, I made them stop so I could get pictures of those pretty yellow flowers

From Fairfax, Joseph took us on a clockwise route through Samuel Taylor State Park, Olema, Point Reyes Station, Marshall, Hamlet, to lunch in Tomales!! Last time Joseph and I rode this ride we took the counter-clockwise route and that was just dumb. We had encountered not only fierce headwinds on Chileno Valley Road but also coming out of Tomales to the coast. Coming out of Tomales last year must have been the worse headwinds I've ever encountered. Even worse than the 2009 Tierra Bella headwinds in Gilroy.

In Tomales, we ran into a small group of AIDs/Lifecycle riders lunching.

After Tomales, we continued in the clockwise direction to traverse Chileno Valley Road. As we suspected we had some awesome tailwinds pushing us southwest. Those poor riders heading in the other direction. After Chileno Valley it was up and over Wilson Hill to the Cheese Factory and eventually to Fairfax and back home. Arrived home around 5:30 pm, tired, but no cramps and plenty hydrated. A very successful training ride that was a ton of fun too.

A foggy Tomales Bay

Hellish Mount Diablo + Morgan Territory

2011-04-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

So this ride hurt, two days out and my legs are still sore. I even asked 'why' and 'what did I get myself into', but there is a saying Team-in-Training uses which is 'No Why'. I'm now familiar as to why 'No Why'.

The ride start was at Osage Park in Danville at 8 am. I had planned to take BART to Walnut Creek and ride to the start but when I went to leave I found a flat front tire which needed changing. I had replaced both my front and back tires the evening before and I made the rookie mistake of getting my tube caught between the rim and the tire. Luckily the flat was a blessing in disguise because the additional twenty miles would have pushed me over the edge.

Climbing Mount Diablo in the early morning.

The ride was a nice 68 miles with 7000 feet of ascent. The climb up Diablo felt great, nice and strong. The descent was cold and slow. After the major climb we headed north to Walnut Creek and then east to get to the Morgan Territory. Morgan Territory is a narrow road that ascends through beautiful woods for 2000 feet. It was here the challenge really set in. Half way up the climb I could feel my legs start to cramp. As usual I slowed my pace and started to drink even more. By the top I was pretty beat.

Top of Diablo

The descent is one of the best in the area. A generally long slope with few sharp corners. Yet after the descent the ride turned north and west the headwinds appeared. I tried my best to stay with the group in a pace line to help buffer the headwind, but my legs were quickly turning to Jello. About 8-miles out from the finish I decided to drop of the back and give my legs a bit of rest at a slower pace. I'm sure they are thanking me.

I've decided that I need to break out my camel-pack. I find that even though I've been staying pretty hydrated, I stay more hydrated with the pack. Besides, I've been told that on the Death Ride temperatures can get in the nineties, which is usually my limit. I generally do not ride with those types of temps. Hence, I'll need the pack for more hydration.

TNT's Page Mill/Old La Honda

2011-03-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

TNT Death Ride Riders before departing.

This weekends training brought me to familiar territory down on the Peninsula. I have often ridden these roads after work or on the weekends. I used to go in to work start an experiment and then head off for a ride in the nearby hills only to return to finish the experiment after the ride. I vividly recall one of my very first rides after I bought my first bike in fifteen years, or so. I had no idea of what the local terrain was like and looked at a map and sketched out a ride of approximately 18 miles round trip from work. I was thinking an hour, maybe and hour and a half tops. On the 2-D map, highway 84 looked flat…I was gasping for breath before I ever reached the half way mark. I know I was taught to read a topography map in school, but at the time I had totally lost that skill.

Saturday’s ride was my first ride joining a very friendly group of Team-in-Training Death Ride Riders for a fully supported training ride. Unlike ALC, or other century ride training, the route was less about total distance and more about total climbing. We started at 8:00 am sharp with a verbal descending clinic followed with a ride out towards Palo Alto and Page Mill Road. Page Mill is a significant climb totaling an approximate 2,000 feet over 8 miles. A rest stop waited at the top. If I wasn’t chatting with random riders on the way up, I was signing Eminem in my head.

and because Eminem isn't the best music to get one up a hill, this soon replaced his music.

Jeff and Mark cresting Old La Honda

From the top of Page Mill it was a 7 mile jaunt along skyline with all the speeding cars and motorcycles to Alice’s Restaurant and Highway 84. We descended Hwy 84 to Portola and over to Sand Hill to reach the next major climb of the day, Old La Honda. Old La Honda is a benchmark climb in the bay area. It is said that speed skater Eric Heiden holds the speed record of 14 minutes 10 seconds. Unfortunately my fastest time up OLH is only 25 minutes. I did not do it in 25 minutes today. After the OLH climb we continued north on Skyline to get to King’s Mountain Road. Usually I head south from King’s Mountain Road on Skyline and never remember that it is actually a pretty significant climb heading north (~800 feet). I kept say the top was just around the next bend. Can you say ‘cry wolf’. As much as I enjoy the climbs, I dislike the descents. I hate switchback descents. The descent down King’s was cold and slow but we eventually made it back to Canada and the parked car.

Corinne, my TNT mentor, cresting Old La Honda with a smile

It was a beautiful day to ride. Many thanks go out to Jeff, John G, Mark, John B, Alissa, and Jerry for being such great riding company. Thanks also to Kevin for ride support, as well as all those peopling the rest stops. Those potatoes and salt hit the spot on top of Skyline.

Marshall's 104

2011-03-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

my Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraising page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/touralps11/llitalien

Some days I feel like a turkey too, but not today

(Just before the Marshall Wall climb).

This past week I had the luxury of deciding what weekend ride I wanted to do this weekend. I could chose from TNT’s ‘Buddy’ Ride starting in Marin and probably would have included some variation of Alpine Dam/Mt. Tam, Chris’s Mountain View 70-miler, Joseph’s 100+ Marshall’s Wall, a few other organized rides, or strike out on my own. It had been so long since I had ridden with Joseph that I opted to head for Marshall.

Saint Helen's in Marshall, CA

Ride-out was at 7:30 am sharp from Peet’s coffee in the Castro. In fact Joseph was just leaving when he saw me approach from down the street. I must not be so tardy in the morning. The route was the usual route to Fairfax which is two hours plus/minus a minute; god those stop signs get old. We had traversed the eastern walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge as we had heard the staging had gone up on the western side and that the North Parking Lot was all torn up. We only had to dodge one large group of Japanese tourists and a few hot runners. It isn’t till we hit White’s Hill that the ride starts to become really enjoyable. The sun was out, the temperature was warmer than expected, and some orange poppies were blooming. We pushed a steady but moderate pace up White’s, up Nicasio, and up Alp du Fromage, arriving at the Cheese Factory near 11 am in good time. The objective of the day was all about moderation, budgeting, and pacing myself so that I wouldn’t have a repeat of last weeks cramping.

A semi-large group of Marin Cyclist that arrived at the Cheese Factory shortly after we did.

From the Cheese Factory we headed east to Hick’s Valley Road and then north through a gorgeous green valley. It was here that Joseph gave a tutorial of serpentinite, a green and scaly metamorphic rock that has huge formation throughout California. They run in bands and can be seen from satellite photos. This next stretch of road is really what today’s ride was all about. It was about taking our time rolling through these valleys enjoying the views and enjoying the nice long climb up Marshall’s Wall (~550 feet).

Joseph climbing the Wall.

Joseph refueling at the top.

View Northwest from the Wall looking towards Tomales Bay.

After riding the wall, we headed south towards Point Reyes for lunch at Whale of a Deli. I’m sure they weren’t the best pork tacos I’ve ever had, but they definitely tasted like they were after 60+ miles and numerous climbs. After lunch brought Olema Hill, the backsides of White’s and Camino Alto, and lastly Sausalito back into the city. I was worried that we wouldn’t beat the rain, but we did. We were home, shortly after 5 pm. Tired and sore but not cramped. Successful day of pacing and budgeting.

Sneakers atop Marshall's Wall.

Just to the right of the post in the far off distance,

Mt. Tam is observed and just past that would lie the city.

A long beautiful day of riding in some of the best Marin has to offer.
larrysorelegs.blogspot.com

An Arbitrary Start

2011-02-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

I hereby mark this date as the date I start journaling my training and my rides once again. Why, because I can. However this time I’ll be raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Today was a very cold day. I think it is the coldest weather I have ever ridden any length and distance. Thirteen gents and one woman gathered for an ALC Cat3 training ride I was helping to co-lead in near 37F temperatures. Last winter I swore I would never ride in temperatures below 45F. It had been rumored that San Francisco was going to get its first snow in something like 40 years the night before. The snow was a no show. Just as the clouds were peeking from behind the clouds we departed 8:30 am sharp for a leisure jaunt to Point Reyes Station and back. The route was the usual route to Fairfax where we stopped for a quick breather. Rather than the usual coffee, pastry, and chit chat, the group was on the move to stay warm. We had two significant climbs ahead of us before we reached Point Reyes for lunch, White’s Hill and Olema Hill. In between there was also Samuel Taylor State Park with the Marin Bike Path through the Redwoods. This was a very cool section with what appeared to be black ice in spots. We were in Point Reyes just before noon. I think this is the fastest ALC training ride I have ever co-led.

Here they are lunching and sunning in Point Reyes Station.

Lunch was eaten hastily and we then were all off for our return trip. Rather than retracing our steps entirely, we headed for the Platform Bridge and traveled clockwise around the Nicasio Reservoir. Did I say this group was flying? Nicasio and a last re-group in Fairfax came next. It was in Fairfax that I had texted Trevor and found out he wasn’t doing well at home sick. I grabbed a Red Bull from Perry’s and headed out with a group back to the city so I could be nurse. There were two significant climbs still in the way though. The backside of Camino Alto is my nemesis. On long hard rides, the backside of Camino Alto tests my limits severely. In the past, half way up the climb I’ve found myself on the grass doubled over in pain from cramps. This ride was cold and fast AND I neglected to drink as much as I should have. Sure enough, I started cramping as I was climbing Camino. I slowed my pace to make it to the top and over the other side without having to make nice with the grass. At the light at the bottom I drank an entire water bottle containing electrolytes to see me up the last significant climb, Sausalito Lateral. I was home by 3:30 pm.

All-in-all, it was a great group of friendly and fast riders. Refresher lessons of the day are to moderate my pace and to drink even more. An awesome Arbitrary Start…

Total Slacker

2009-06-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Day 1

Okay, so I'm a complete and total slacker with updating this training blog. I FAIL...I've found Facebook has made this kind blog a tad redundant. After laundry, work, bills, contemplating, and decompressing, I hope that within two weeks I'll have a ride report all sketched out and all my pictures from ALC8 organized and ready for sharing. In the interim the pics below represent the most striking things I think I'll remember from participating in AIDs/Lifecycle 8. I'll elaborate more in my ride report to come....

Year-to-date miles ridden: 3,243 (as of 6/6/2009)

Day 6

Day: 1-6

and of course there was Day 5...

‘Everyone looks like they are going to die’

2009-03-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

‘Everyone looks like they are going to die’

Those were Trevor’s words to me a little while after finishing my first Double Century, the Solvang Spring DC. He was wondering what on earth could possess grown people to put themselves through such pain as riding 200 miles in a day. I answered him by saying ‘I think that is the point’.
For I think that neatly encapsulates the point of attempting such a ride. For me it is the challenge that as I get older and my doomsday clock keeps a ticking; I want to push my body physically and my mind mentally to the limits. Trust me, riding a double century, even one as ‘moderate’ as the Solvang Spring DC, is both just as much a mental/psychological challenge as a physical one. If not more so.

I have been thinking about this ride for more than a year and training for months. My longest training ride was a few Saturdays ago, when I rode the SF Randonneurs Point Reyes 200K route (200K+ from home, 140 miles) with around 8,000 feet of climbing. I would be completely lying if I said I thought I wasn’t afraid of attempting a double century. I was nervous as hell.

A friend Doug and I were chauffeured to Solvang by Trevor on Friday. We arrived in Solvang late afternoon. I had to ride down to the local bike shop to get a new saddle bag after finding the one I purchased in the morning not fitting on my bike. Earlier in the week I busted my previous saddle bag after taking a tumble on a dirt rut on my commute to work. After registering and going to eat we quickly tried to get some shut eye. I spent a good while looking at the ceiling trying to get my nerves under control.

The alarm goes off at 4 am. Up out of bed I jump. Into my bike shorts, checking the weather to see how many layers I needed. I decided to use arm and leg warmers, extra socks, a vest, bandana, and some warm full fingered gloves. I tucked my regular gloves, an extra tube, my phone, and some sunscreen in my jersey pockets. Checked to make sure I had placed some ibuprofen in my saddle bag for surely I was going to need it and figured since I was checking I should take some immediately as a preventative measure. Shortly after 4:30 am, Doug and I leave the Holiday Inn Express to be joined by other bicyclist coming from the same hotel and from others down the road and we all journeyed the 3 miles to Buellton CA where the ride was starting from the Marriot no earlier than 5 am. I was definitely starting to get excited. Just about as we are hitting Buellton we begin to see riders departing in the opposite direction. We got to the Marriot, had them mark our rider numbers, and off we started.

It was a cool morning, around 42 degrees, with a ton of stars shining and a beautiful crescent moon. It was awesome!!! I absolutely loved heading down CA246 towards Happy Cannon Rd as a part a long procession of bicyclists with their lights on and blinkies blinking with hardly a car to be seen. I found I had a tendency to be entranced by all the blinking lights. It was an almost primal reaction, such as ‘I must catch the blinky ahead of me’. I found myself starting the first few miles strong but than trying to calm myself ultimately convincing myself that I wasn’t racing and I should slow down because it was going to be a long day. Yet off I continued after the next blinkie.

It wasn’t long before we turned onto Foxen Canyon Road and began our first ‘climb’ of the day. What was incredibly interesting was the climbing through the thermoclines, it being much warmer at the top then in the valley below. Foxen Canyon Road is an absolutely gorgeous road, sprinkled with vineyards and cows and horses and pastures with flowers. Just as the sun was rising, we hit this road. We passed Firestone/Curtis, Koehler, Fess Parker, and Rancho Sisquoc. I nearly tossed in the towel when I surprisingly passed Zaca Mesa winery and called it a day, but I mustered all the will power I could find and peddled on. Shortly after passing Foxen we arrived at the first checkpoint/rest stop in Sisquoc after about 40 miles. After spending a little over 10 minutes at this checkpoint I got incredibly chilled and decided I needed to get back on the road to warm up. Doug was at the checkpoint by now, but being chilled I didn’t stay to chat.

From Sisquoc we traveled northeast on the eastern side of Santa Maria with only a slight climb on Bull Canyon Road. What I remember most about the roads between Sisquoc and San Luis Obispo is the strong riders I was riding with and the pace lines formed sporadically all the way to the second check point (mile 80). (Many thanks to Jerome for imparting pace line etiquette tips a few months back). The heat had been turned on by this checkpoint, in my estimation it was around 80 degrees if not above. All the extra warm layers I had on were taken off and rolled so that they went in my jersey pockets. The sunscreen I was carrying was liberally applied.

Leaving San Luis Obispo I ended up riding with Bill from Grizzly Peak Cyclists. I recognized his jersey and introduced myself. We ended up chatting a bit as we road and took turns in the lead as we headed north on Highway 1 into Morro Bay. We were traveling at a pretty good clip, overtaking riders ahead of us, but none joined. If I remember correctly we made it to the Morro Bay mandatory checkpoint by noon. In Morro Bay we had to have our numbers checked so that it was confirmed that we road the entire way. This is a pic of the rock in Morro Bay. Here we caught up with a person I think I recognized from Chris’s Old La Honda/San Gregorio training ride the week before. He was busy sending off a text notifying someone of his making the half way point. At lunch it was confirmed that he was on the training ride last week and that he was riding in ALC8 this year with Topher (someone I know from DSSF). Ryan, Bill, Blue guy (don’t know his name, he was wearing a blue jersey and shorts), and I pretty much stayed together all the way to the lunch stop where Subway sandwiches were waiting for us. I stopped to take these pics just before leaving Morro Bay.

Lunch was mile 118. The time was 1 pm. It was only while I was eating did the speed demons that were being timed catch up, blow into the rest stop, and immediately breeze back out. Keep in mind that the people wanting to be timed left at 7:30 am, nearly 2.5 hours after I did. After being absolutely shocked I was quite proud of making it all the way to lunch before they caught up with slow poke me.

I would have been in absolute heaven if the ride stopped at mile 118.5, lunch. I felt strong, not too tired, and in good spirits. After lunch the muscles started talking back, the energy dissipated, and the mental games began. I started noticing the bumps in the road a bit more. I recognized the hot springs that I stopped at with Will, Chris, and Roger, amongst others during ALC7 last year. From there it was a familiar route into and out of Pismo Beach all the way to Hwy 1 and Mesa View Drive. It was here that I started to get panicky and started asking what the hell I got myself into. The reason being was that I started to remember this stretch of road from ALC7, or more specifically the stretch of road that I was about to reach. Mesa View Drive was a slight climb maybe 200 feet if not a little bit more, which wasn’t bad. It was the stretch of Hwy 1 from the top of the climb all the way to Guadalupe. It is down right ugly in that the cross winds and head winds are absolutely profane inducing. If there was a bicyclist hell in California, this stretch of road into Rest Stop 4 in Guadalupe must be right up there contending for the top spot. So forgive me if it was during this stretch that I started cursing the gods, doubting what I was doing, etc…yet I could only peddle on. Just as I remembered the horrible cross/head winds, I also soon remembered in the middle of a curse the wonderful and beautiful TAILWINDS that would push me out of Guadalupe into Santa Maria!!!!

The tailwind was nice, but once I turned south again on Black Road the road conditions was less than ideal. I suspect that it may have been a simple fact of being tired and noticing all the bumps and potholes a lot more. However, the road (Hwy 135) into Los Alamos and the last rest stop was horrible and would be under any amount of rest. After resting for a little while, psyching myself up for the last major climb of the day up Drum Canyon Road, having a lot of M&M’s and soda at the last rest stop I texted Trevor to give him my ETA at the finish line. It was shortly after 5 pm and I gave him an ETA of between 6:15 and 6:30 pm. As bad as I thought Hwy 135 sucked, Drum Canyon’s poor road conditions would take the title of worse conditions for the day. I settled in and slowly started to climb the ~1500 feet in over 3.4 miles. I’ve definitely climbed harder hills, but not after 177 miles before. The slow and steady pace still enabled me to catch and pass other riders on the climb and it wasn’t long before I passed over the cattle grates at the top. The descent was the horrible part. The poor road conditions made a technical descent even worse. The riders I passed on the way up now passed me on the way down. I stopped to take a few pictures of the valley and some flowers. Flowers pretty, potholes ugly.

Since I found the climb not to take me as long as I feared, I decided to slow down my pace a bit because I had given an ETA and didn’t want to get there before Trevor (however if I had known he was already there…). Any how from Drum Canyon Road it was a left onto CA246 with an easterly heading into Buellton and the finish line (just after 6 pm) and a smiling Trevor and his beer which I immediately stole. After checking in, I settled in with a beer and another and let the sun and alcohols warm my bones.

So yes I felt a little bit close to death, physically and mentally, but the fact that I made it through to ride in another one still smiling means everything in the world.

Blah, Blah, Blah

2009-03-22T18:12:00.001-07:00

Via SeeingtheForest

I'm riding!!!

2009-03-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Haven't been posting lately, been riding a lot!!! I'll start posting more regularly soon.

In the mean time here is the general route and some brief information about each day:

why did the chicken cross the road...Fremont Peak

2009-02-08T15:42:00.000-08:00

why did the chicken cross the road...

These and other chickens above made my day on Saturday. After a nice climb up Fremont Peak on the way to lunch at JJ's in San Juan Bautista these chickens were criss-crossing back and forth across the road. I was tickled as could be.

I had never ridden down in the Hollister area, where David G lives, ever before. I had decided that since he was leading a ride up Fremont Peak that I should drive the less than two hours to Hollister and make the climb. I left SF around 7 a.m and was there near 9 a.m., not too bad. As I exited Hwy 101 in Gilroy onto Hwy 25 the fog was extremely thick. I was not going to risk my life riding in that fog, but the sun was peeking though in Hollister before we departed.

Above: the fog and clouds that we climbed though to get to the peak which provide a nice view west towards Salinas

Below: the clouds shrouding Fremont Peak from JJ's in San Juan Bautista. This is where Vertigo was filmed, so Dave tells me (another film I haven't watched).

Below:...and of course a trip back at the mission

Updated (2/8/09): okay I'll eventually write a real ride report, but until Uber WW Cyclist will have to do it for me.

View Larger Map
44.25 miles

3,215 ft of climbing

and lest you think it doesn't get cold here in sunny California, it was down right frigid on the descent.

Mt. Hamilton in the Winter

2009-02-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

Above: Sierra Mountains off in the distance as viewed from Lick Observatory (Yosemite?)

Above: View from Lick Observatory towards Santa Cruz Mountains

Below: Riders climbing

Above: Lick Observatory sitting on top of Mt. Hamilton

Below: pretty winter flowers

Above: L2R; Cameron, David G., Jerome, David E.
Below: the peanut gallery

It was a perfect day to lead a ride up Mt. Hamilton. It was also my first time. Although Mt. Hamilton is the highest peak in the Bay Area, the grades were not all that steep. By the end I was tired, a bit sore, but not cramped. Not bad for nearly 80 miles for the day. Besides it was great riding with such a nice group as well as all the others met on the way. Including the friendly cow wandering the road that said hi.

total miles for the day: 79.01

~5800 ft of climbing

approximate route

January totals: thankfully this horrible month is now over.

335.30 miles

2 spin classes

rivers of tears

Sweet sweet dreams my gentle one…

2009-01-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

Eight or so years ago, almost a year after Trevor, Thor, and I moved here to San Francisco I obtained an email in my in-box at the Gladstone Institute. It was a heartbreaking email, sent institute wide, from a woman that had a dear cat that she was no longer able to keep. She was asking for someone to please adopt her cat by that Friday afternoon, otherwise she was going to have to bring the cat to the San Francisco SPCA. Even though the SF SPCA has a ‘no kill’ policy it was tearing her apart to have to put it up for adoption there. I knew Trevor would kill me if I voluntarily brought a second cat home so I waited until the very end of the day on that Friday before inquiring whether she had yet found a home for her pet. She hadn’t…it was breaking my heart too; so I offered to take the cat into our home till we could find a good home for it. Trevor was not happy when I informed him that we were going to foster this cat, not one bit; he threatened to take it to the SF SPCA that very next morning himself.

That night we introduced Thor to Smokey and Smokey to Thor. I remember a lot of hissing and screaming. We placed a screen door dividing the house in two, one with Thor in it and the other for Smokey. They could easily see each other and smell one-another, and yes argue at each other all night. Trevor was even more determined to send Smokey out for adoption. When Trevor was cleaning the house the next morning, he got fed up with having to constantly move the screen in the process of going from room to room. We finally decided to let them go at it, without interference, and let the best cat win. We thought for sure our boy, Thor, would dominate; he did but it was much more than we expected. We soon discovered that after all of the madness from the night before, they ended up chasing each other; which soon turned into wrestling, and soon followed into sleeping beside each other. In this manner, Smokey had become Thor’s best buddy in less than six hours. Trevor instantly realized that Smokey was a keeper and that he had worked his way immediately into our family. He has loved all of us and we have all loved him.
Today it tears the three of us to pieces to report we have had to say our good-byes to the gentlest soul. It has not been an easy decision to say good bye; we’ve spent days showering him with love, crying, and coaxing him to eat to no avail. Although he was still alert and somewhat ‘active’, as late as today, it was absolutely clear that he was in pain and was not going to get better. Many years ago we had a cat we loved, Trouble, who also had internal tumors. With Trouble we discovered them way too late after he had been in immense pain, dehydrated, and had stopped eating. We swore from that day forward that we would never let a cat live in such pain ever again.
We love our Smokey. We will miss your snoring (the loudest out of the four of us so says Larry); your screaming at us to get up out of bed and feed you; your constant demand for water from the sink or tub and not from the water dish; your wrestling with and chasing after Thor; your sleeping next to and licking each other’s heads; your peering up at us from underneath the flowers in the backyard; your getting everything covered with your fur; your love of brushing; your getting high from catnip and not just eating it like your brother; your playing with string and feathers; your love of string cheese and the finest steak we could buy as well as your new found love of turkey; we will miss your absolute ownership of Clingy Chloe’s carrier when she visited; your big beautiful green eyes alerting us to your skittishness; we will dearly miss your love and our ability to show you ours in return; and lastly we will miss your purring that made everything seem right in the world!
*****

You are and always will be our gentlest of souls!!!
Sweet dreams our love…we will remember you ALWAYS!

hurting heart...

2009-01-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

As many know, Smokey has been ill lately. Smokey has always been a very slow and finicky eater but lately he just hasn't wanted to eat. We've tried wet food, wet food mixed with his favorite dry fish flakes, turkey, steak, tuna; you name it. His appetite is just not there. Last weekend we brought him the vets to get checked out and have some blood drawn. The blood test showed 'liver' problems and tonight we had an ultrasound done on his liver/abdomen and have gotten very bad news. He has two 'masses' on the outside of his adrenal gland and outside of his intestines. These 'masses' are almost certainly the underlying cause of the impaired liver function. He's is not very happy but he's staying overnight at the vets to get some nourishment and fluids. His dads are devastated. We so want to go get him tonight and hold him close. So tomorrow night Trevor and I will go get him from the vets, bring him home, and try to get him to eat as much as he's able; but more importantly to make him as comfortable as possible and to shower him with even more love. This may sound deterministic but we've been here before and know how this is most likely to go. Knowing the probability, we still pray like mad that the 'masses' are nothing and that treating his liver impairment with antibiotics to fight off an infection (which ever so slightly may be the underlying cause) will help him rebound.

It's funny how pets work their way deep into one's heart.

the haystack needle

2009-01-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

the haystack needle

oh happy day...

2009-01-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

photo via theleftcoaster

Many sincere congratulations to the Obama's and to all of us...even this old skeptical heart is hopeful today. May my deep cynicisms be proven wrong. Cheers to that.

Los Gatos Hills (i.e. Redwood Gulch)

2009-01-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

David, Stephanie, and Jerome, in Los Gatos.
Season is starting off to a real slow start. After an awesome vacation in Paris over the holidays, Trevor and I arrived back in SF for work to immediately become sick. At least we made it home before succumbing. It was a Cold/Flu thingy. For awhile there I thought it was going to be pneumonia. My chest was heavily congested feeling as if a vice was gripping and tightening. It made it very difficult to breath. This lasted a few days and then one morning I get up, get all ready to head out the door to go to work but sit down on the couch watching the weather because I had a few minutes and I never got back up. Ever have one of those moments when you just realize that things were going to get bad; well I slept for two entire days straight with a high fever to boot. Not fun.

Stephanie and Jon at the top of the hill.

I declined to train for an entire week afterwards to make sure I had recovered sufficiently. Yesterday was my first real ride of 2009. David Gaus, DSSF, was leading a ride in the South Bay so I grabbed the bike and went. David, another David, Jon, Stephanie, Jerome, and I, rode a figure 8ish loop from Sunnyvale to Los Gatos and back. Jerome and I opted to ride up Redwood Gulch while the others chose Mt. Eden. Let’s just say I’m in such bad shape and with my heart rate beating around 198bpm I decided to walk a portion up Redwood. Last fall I would have made it, but after over two months off and being sick, I was literally near death ;-) Very, very humbling, I’ll have to retry soon.

Wondering whether Jerome headed to the top, top or already descended.

View Larger Map
53.53 miles
3,280 feet of climbing
(63.05 miles total for the day)

Paris III

2009-01-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

For those that haven't seen the pics I posted to Facebook...

Day 6 - Versailles

Day 7 - 8 - 9

Paris II

2009-01-18T12:02:00.001-08:00

For those that haven't seen the pics I posted to Facebook...

Day 4 - Picasso

Day 5 - Louvre

Paris I

2009-01-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

For those that haven't seen the pics I've posted to Facebook...

Day 1 - Notre Dame

Day 2 - La Tour Eiffel

Day 3 - Sacre-Coeur

End-of-year

2008-12-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

Above: The design for my cards/magnets. Many thanks to dear friend Brent

(Sutton Communications).

oops, I can't even spell my name correctly :-) it's L'Italien

....

So on this showery and damn cold evening, I'm resigned to the fact that my road bike will stay nestled in its rack for the remainder of the year. I'll be spending the next few days making sure everything is set for Trevor and my European Christmas Vacation. We depart for Paris on Christmas Eve and arrive the next morning. To say that we are looking forward to it is an understatement. I truly hope it isn't too cold or I'll never hear the end of 'we could be on the beach in Hawaii now'.

...

I figure mileage wise for the year 2008, I'll end with nearly 5,200 miles ridden. That seems like a hell of a lot to me, but I'm thinking I can do more next year. With all your help I hope to raise over $3,000.00 for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and participate in the 8th California AIDS Lifecycle. You know, 545 miles from SF to LA the first week of June.

....

In the spirit of new year's, I might as well post a short list of personal goals I'm thinking about planning for 2009 ;-)

1. Raising greater than $3,000.00 for the SF AIDS foundation and riding every mile of the Lifecycle.

2. Complete the Death Ride.

3. Complete at least one double century (I'm already registered for the Solvang Spring Double).

4. If I end up surviving the 15-18 hours on the bike for the Solvang Double, making a run at the California Triple Crown (3 doubles in calender year).

5. Loose 10-15 pounds (ha, ha, ha, already know this one is going to bite the dust).

6. Participating in numerous organized centuries and reach 7,000 total miles for the year.

7. Make it to Germany to visit Trevor's Sister and her family (maybe a side trip to Italy??).

8. Spending lots of time with good friends and family, new and old.

9. Loving Thor and Smokey and all the cuddling they can handle (that goes for Trevor too).

10. and being thankful that my doomsday clock has not yet rung.

...

Wishing you all a great holiday

and sending out the warmest of thoughts and prayers.

Love always,

Larry

Update: (12/22/08)

2008 end-of-year totals
5,143.02miles,
53 spin classes,
10 flat tires (tubes),
4 tires replaced,
replaced 2 wheels,
one broken frame, and one stolen bike.

I'm in....

2008-12-11T12:13:00.001-08:00

as well as the Solvang Double Century.

5001...5002...5003

2008-12-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

2008 year-to-date (as of December 6, 2008):

5,084.44 miles,

45 spin classes,

9 flat tires (tubes),

3 tires replaced,

replaced 2 wheels,

one broken frame, and one stolen bike.

Home-2-Work via Alice's Restaurant

2008-12-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

I had a couple of hours of work to do this afternoon so I rode in but took the hard way. Climbed Highway 92 to Skyline and followed Skyline to Highway 84. At the junction of the two sits Alice's Restaurant. Alice's and the store across the street are a gathering place of sorts for motorcyclists and bicyclists (leather and lycra)...

Above: Crystal Springs Reservoir from the Sawyer Camp Trail. If you haven't bicycled or jogged or walked Sawyer Camp trail get off your duff and do it. It is beautiful.

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58.27 miles; 4,278 feet of climbing

Pre&Post Turkey Burn

2008-12-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving and all the eating that entails I decided to ride the day before and the day after. On Wednesday I woke to cloudy sky's and wet roads but the weather report said showers only. I climbed aboard my bike and headed out to Ocean Beach to Skyline to Sawyer Camp Trail to Canada Rd. Once I hit Canada those showers arrived and they arrived as RAIN. I was drenched by the time I cycled the last 10 miles into work.

On Friday I was up and on my way to San Rafael mid-morning to meet up with other DSSF'ers for a ride through Lucas Valley, Alp de Fromage, and Marshall's Wall. It would be my first time through Lucas Valley and up Marshall's Wall so I was looking forward to the ride. Lucas Valley, on the back side towards Nicasio, is unbelievably gorgeous as you descend into the tall Redwoods. Absolutely stunning. Marshall's Wall was meh. Jerome was right that it's a nice climb but short. With Jerome, Topher, Doug, Stephanie, David, and Nancy, riding we kept a real moving pace going.

Above: Alp de Fromage (Cheese Factory Hill)

Below: Nancy at the Cheese Factory

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61.68 miles; 3336 ft of climbing (not all that much)

Below: Looking towards Marshall from atop Marshall's Wall

View Larger Map

44.25 miles; 2,229 feet of climbing

Morgan Territory and Palomares

2008-11-17T07:12:00.000-08:00

Above: F Market Street car early in the morning before I hit BART to Concord

Below: Stephanie, Don, Tim, Ken (on bike), and Will, before we head out

Great day for riding and an absolutely beautiful ride through the East Bay. Morgan Territory is a lightly travelled road that skirts Mt. Diablo, stunning. One day soon I will tackle Mt. Diablo, I hear it calling my name ;-).

total miles for the day: 66.72 miles (182 more miles to go till I reach 5,000)

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Join the Impact - San Francisco

2008-11-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

The pic above is one of my favorites of the day.

Those that have known me for some time now that I've done my share of marches, protests, and just plain civil disobedience. So when it came time to march on SF City Hall* in the Join the Impact protests against California's ban on same sex marriages, I wasn't very excited in the least. I've learned that protest marches have there time and place and that very few are very successful (yeah I'm jaded). However, Trevor has recently become 'politically' active on this issue and after 17 years living with and being married twice to the guy this just isn't something Trevor does. So I dragged my ass out of bed this morning to join the march for him. It was a gorgeous day to be out and about speechifying, chanting, and marching. With a lot of hard work we will eventually get this abomination repealed. Really now, how in the hell can Trevor and my boring life really be all that much of a menace to society? It must be that we are happy.

*marching on SF city hall seems a little bit like preaching to the choir, does it not?

and for our Morman brethern...

Back-2-Back…

2008-11-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend (November 8 and 9) was the first weekend where I’ve ridden ‘moderate’ miles on consecutive days in quite some time. On Saturday I had a few hours of work to do so I rode from SF to Palo Alto and Caltrain-ed it back home.

View Larger Map
While the pitter patter of the rain on Saturday evening was nice and relaxing, the sun was shinning brightly as I woke early to get ready to ‘lead’ a DSSF ride up Mt. Tam. I met Doug at Peet’s Coffee on Market St. in the Castro shortly after 8:45 am and rode out very quickly. I do not wait around for others to show up at the 9:00 am ride-out time that I published if they don’t RSVP. It was rather a good thing we left a tad early because I had a flat tire just as I was riding the short climb into the Presidio on Arguello. We stopped and quickly changed the tubes finding glass embedded in the tire. Once the glass was removed I used a CO2 cartridge to inflate. Not being satisfied with the tire pressure we rode downhill to the SportsBasement to use their pump to inflate it adequately. From there Doug and I climbed to the Golden Gate Bridge to meet Will.

The forest just before descending to Alpine Dam.

We took off from the south side GG bridge and crossed for the nice descent into Sausalito and onto the Marin Bike Path which we quickly fell off staying on route 1 into Mill Valley. The left in Mill Valley continuing on Shoreline marked the beginning of the first major climb of the day, nearly 3 miles to the Panoramic Hwy. After turning onto the Panoramic Hwy there are a few rollers as you approach the turnoff for Muir Woods. At the turnoff we continued straight for the 2nd climb up to the Pan Toll rest area. After a regroup and some water we headed up the steepest part of the climb, Pan Toll, to the intersection with Ridgecrest. I hadn’t planned on taking the right to climb all the way to the ranger station on Mt. Tam but Will and Doug were wanting to so I gladly went along. The view towards the city is gorgeous.

Above: The view from near the top of Mt. Tam looking back towards SF. The picture below is looking in the same direction except a little lower as we were climbing Pan Toll.

The next series of rollers were the ‘seven sisters’ to the Bolinas-Fairfax road and a very technical downhill to Alpine Dam. The rain the previous evening had made sure to leave plenty of debris to watch out for. Sunday happened to be the last day the road would be open to through traffic because the road is now closed for a few months to repair some landslides. The thing about getting to Alpine Dam is that it is located in a valley and once down at the dam there is nowhere to go but up to climb back out. We climbed towards Fairfax and I encountered two turkeys along the side of the road. The decent into Fairfax isn’t all that technical but after nearly 4500 feet of climbing that day and riding the day before I started to cramp. I have never cramped on a decent before. Usually if I cramp it is on the climb, but the coolness of the day and the previous climbing was getting to me. We stopped at Coffee Roasters for some food that I badly needed. After some nourishment, we slowly rid back to SF where we all departed tired after a good ride. I was sleeping by 8 pm.

Saturday: 52 miles, 2442 feet of climbing

Sunday: 65 miles, 5793 feet of climbing

Above: Doug stopping on the climb up Pan Toll as I snap a pic.

Below: Ridgecrest Road

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500 miles more…

2008-11-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

I will ride 500 miles more...(just 500 more miles till I reach my goal of 5,000 miles bicycled in 2008)

"If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve"

2008-11-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

God damn friends. :-)

ps. My vote went to Sheehan, not a chance in hell but Pelosi's a putz.

Pss. Vote No on H(8)

No on H(8)

2008-11-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

'In my heart'

2008-10-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

...don't give me that f'ing crap about Trevor and my relationship not being 'real'. Vote No on 8(hate). In my heart...

via Digby

Permission

2008-10-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

h/t Marti Phillips

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

2008-10-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

Short post just to say that this was an excellent book and I highly recommend it. Every year I peruse the Man Booker Prize longlist and select a few books that I think I would like to read. I chose three this year (the White Tiger, The Secret Scripture, and The Case of the Exploding Mangoes). I read the first, am nearly done the second, and will start the third a bit later. However, the Man Booker announced the winner of the prize yesterday. Aravind Adiga highly deserves the prize for such a great novel.

The 2008 Man Booker Prize

New colors!!

2008-10-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

Before we left for our Maine trip the building our apartment is in was white. Voila, we've got new colors. Although we squabble that these may not be the exact colors we would have chosen, we like the change a lot.and we (Maria, Trevor, Scott, and I) planted a new Queen palm today in the front planter box. The wider one we've named Larry and the thinner one was named Trevor.

As the season starts anew...

2008-10-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

The boys (Thor and Smokey) in Clingy Cloe's house.
Poor girl, our boys annexed her house as we watched her while her dads were traveling.

2008 year-to-date (as of October 11, 2008):
4,371.74 miles,
29 spin classes,
7 flat tires (tubes),
2 ruined tires,
replaced 2 wheels,
one broken frame, and one stolen bike.

It will not be long now before I start training for AIDS Lifecycle 8 and start begging and pleading for donations to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation seeing that this is a charity ride and I need to raise a minimum of $3000.00 to participate. Of course it will be awesome if I can raise $5000.00. This will be my second AIDS Lifecycle ride. Lots of training, not lots of weight loss; lots of 'community', lots of dedication and training, but only some pain.

PS. I promised my friend Wayne that I would take a picture of my choice for Prez when my ballot arrived in the mail. I find Obama way to moderate for my likings, thinking we need a much more progressive president than I fear Obama will turn out to be. However, it is just plain lunacy to vote otherwise this year and being lukewarm tepid is better than being outright disgusted.

PSS. Trevor and I will be holidaying in Paris (Dec. 25th - Jan. 2nd). It'll be our first time and a long, long, long, overdue vacation together with nothing but touring and relaxing to do.

Dan and Jen Jafarzadeh-L'Italien Wedding; September 20, 2008 Mosquito Head Martinsville Maine

2008-10-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit biased but this wedding was absolutely stunning and near perfect. The idea of having a small wedding on the coast of Maine at first didn't strike me as one that I definitely would have chosen, but consider me converted. My brother Dan and his new wife Jen, rented this old farmhouse near the mouth of Penobscot Bay in Martinsville Maine (FYI: I had never explored the Maine mid-coast region between Bath and Belfast before). The wedding was small, immediate family and friends; a larger wedding just would not have been possible at this location.

The pic below is from behind the old barn looking out towards to shore. That is the longest walk down a wedding aisle I've ever seen by far, it's a wonder Jen wasn't in hiking boots and sweats rather than a wedding gown. Come to think of it, I never did notice what was on her feet (I'm not observant that way). The view north from the shore.

Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions, and this one was definitely that, but I managed to nearly cry me a river. This wedding was an extremely emotional one for me that happened to cap an extremely emotional week. The week prior, at my cousin Molly's wedding and visiting with my Aunt Kathy, who is struggling with Stage IV esophageal cancer, began to make my emotions raw. The memories of our mom, who had also struggled with cancer and passed away in '94 at the age way too young age of 53, came rushing to the surface. It isn't that the pain of her loss has never gone away, it hasn't; it's just that when I think of the loss the pain is just as deep.

Dan and Jen wrote their own vows. So I ended up crying when Dan read his vows (FYI Dan, the 'weary soul' part nearly started me bawling ;-)). I ended up crying again when Jen read her vows (damn you two). Finally, I completely lost it when I was trying to relay a story as I was giving a toast a bit later. That be the last time they ask me to give a toast anywhere.

My sister Cathy, Dan, and myself

When I was just a wee boy of yea height, I asked my parents 'where do babies come from' (stop rolling your eyes!). Instead of an abbreviated G-rated birds and the bees lesson, my mom replied that if a person wants to have a baby they must pray to God, and if God deems it so, then that person is blessed with a baby. I remember praying and praying and praying some more for my mom to have a baby. I had been praying for so long that when our parents sat us down to say that my mom was pregnant and that we were going to be welcoming a baby to the family that I ran the entire Hazel Street neighborhood knocking on doors, interrupting peoples suppers, letting them know that my mom was going to be having a baby. Yes, I was that excited and filled with this happy joy that my prayers were finally being answered. I was yelling it from the top of my lungs to the world. Once that prayer was answered I then started praying that I would have a baby brother rather than a baby sister. I already knew what having a sister was. Having two big prayers answered is quite the accomplishment let me tell you. Now my parents often joked that my brother Dan was a surprise baby. Not to me, I had been praying, but to them. You see, we've been told that my mom wanted to have a large family but she wasn't able to have children without taking a fertility drug which she took to have my sister and me. Dan showing up without having taken any fertility drugs was truly a surprise. An act of God?

In a nutshell, that was the story I was trying to relay as way of expressing that our Mom would have been just as excited and filled with joy in welcoming Jen as I was on that evening I ran the neighborhood. I also asked that as we were giving toasts to raise the glasses just a bit higher for those that weren't able to be present.

Of course my emotions got to me about halfway through as my thoughts went over that painful spot in my heart for the loss of our mom.

Jen's family

John, Erin, and Dan

Boogie in the barn

This wedding was absolutely beautiful, right down to the bald eagles fishing just off the shore as they were exchanging vows. Love to the both of them.

Dan and Jen's Lobster Feed at Camp, Friday 9-19-2008

2008-10-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

The week between the weddings

2008-10-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Trevor and I spent the majority of the week in between my cousin Molly's and my brother Dan's weddings visiting with Trevor's family in the foothills of Maine in Carrabassett Valley (i.e. Sugarloaf). Let's see, Carrabassett is not the city. No it is not that. Other than the awesome time visiting with his parents we did the following: 1. went to the Farmington Fair (on old folks day apparently), 2. gave Mandy a flea bath, 3. fished stones out of the Carrabassett river for Jen to potentially use, 4. house hunt on Ira's Mountain (for when we win the lotto and go nuts for wanting to live in the sticks; although it is closer to Montreal than to Boston), 5. visit Small's Falls and Rangeley (which actually has a nice little wine shop), 6. watch Price is Right, 7. attempt to shave Mandy girl, and 8. go looking for Moose.

Above: Russ, Connie, and Trevor at the Farmington Fair. That's me below with the monkeys.

Trevor wadding into the Carrabassett river for some rocks, brrrrrrr.

Molly and Erik's wedding; Newcastle Maine 9/13/2008

2008-10-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

Below: Aunt Kathy (my mother's sister) and Angus.

Above: Trevor and I with Molly (and yes we were horrible and wore jeans to a wedding. In our defense let me state three things: 1. this is Maine, 2. we were wearing sports coats, it was just too hot in the sun at the time, and finally 3. the jeans were more expensive than the snazzy dress pants I recently bought).

Below: Uncle Zoie dancing up a storm.

Visiting with the Inglins

2008-10-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Kevin, Kellum, Shae, and Keifer

Trevor and I were extremely fortunate to have our Maine trip overlap with Trevor's sister Shae and her family (Kevin, Kellum, and Keifer). It has been literally years since we've seen them last and it was our first time getting to meet Keifer. Here were all hanging at the farm. We'll have to plan a Germany trip late next year for another visit. Now if we can only bump into Trevor's brother, Sean, on our next trip back.

Just look at these ears!!!

2008-10-03T21:06:00.001-07:00

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2008-07-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

Stretch!!!

Now that the ALC7/Lifecycle is over I'm having difficulty getting motivated to update this blog all that much. I'm still riding, just not as much as previously.

2008 year-to-date (as of July 24, 2008):
3,571.24 miles,
23 spin classes,
5 flat tires (tubes),
2 ruined tires,
one broken frame, and one stolen bike.

If you are really interested in how much I'm riding, my actual journals can be found under mainexileinsf here:

Bikejournal and/or Motionbased

I'll periodically check in and post pics of my/our goings on when the muse stikes.

Updates should pick up with more frequency as training begins for ALC8.

All the best,

larry

Above: at SF Pride
Market and Castro
Above: Now why doesn't every wedding have a part with a parade around the block? Ran into this joyous couple's parade on our way out to eat in the Castro.
at SF pride again

Smokey says all mine, MINE i say

June 27, 2008

2008-07-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

June 27, 2008

2008-06-15T20:42:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the California Supreme Court, Trevor and I will be at City Hall making our relationship on the up and up (Friday June 27th). After seventeen years and one annulled marriage in 2004 (by the same CA Supreme Court), we will finally be exchanging rings. These aren't the rings we've ordered, but until they come in and we can take a pic they'll do. We always wanted our minister Johanna Nichols (formerly of Auburn Unitarian Universalist Church) to marry us, but with the referendum coming up in November we felt we couldn't wait. We know she would approve.

Day 7: June 7, 2008 (Ventura to Los Angeles)

2008-06-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

61.68 miles

Again commentary kept to a minimum. I want to get these pics posted and I'll come back at a later date and give you all my wisdom gleemed whether you want it or not. ;-)

Above: The Ventura beach in the morning.

Below: Angles sending us off.

Where's Brent????

Below: Michael, Jon, Dave (front) and David and Cameron (back) at Rest Stop 1 not looking too bad for a week on the road.

Below: Patrick arriving at Peet's Coffee a few blocks from the finish at the VA center.

The remaining pics are from outside Peet's Coffee.

Larry's ALC7 Day 7 slideshow (a few pics from after and of course Thor's welcoming home):

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Day 6: June 6, 2008 (Lompoc to Ventura)

2008-06-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

86.10 miles

My ass stopped being sore by Day 6. The soreness was prominent on Day 2 and 3. I only once used Butt Balm on Day 3, not too bad. The route from Lompoc to Ventura was a pretty hefty one considering we've been riding for 5 days. This was my favorite day of riding though.

Above: Randy posing while waiting for the route to open.
Above: Rest Stop on Highway 101 (Vista Point)

Two things that made today my favorite ride day is that the stretch of road between Rest Stop 1 and the Vista Point on Highway 101 is absolutely stunning (especially the canyon) and the stretch of road from Vista Point to Tuckers Grove Park was the absolute most fun riding of the entire ride. The PROPERLY spaced ride line (because WE DO NOT FORM PACE LINES ON ALC) was a blast. The riders I was riding with were a blast. Nice cruising speeds were met on roads with little interruptions by pesky stop signs and lights.

Below: Fellow riders waiting for us to be released from the Vista Point. Caltrans had to shut one lane of Highway 101 so that it would be safe for us to cross. Of course Caltrans had screwed up the placement of the cones initially so nearly 1700 bicyclists ended up spilling out of the Vista Point rest area. The extra time gave a chance to chat all around.

Above: Trying to save the day at the Vista Point.

Above: Santa Barbara

Below: Paradise Pit in Santa Barbara. Ice Cream, cookies, and strawberries galore.

Above: Surfers off Ventura.

Larry's ALC7 Day 6 slideshow:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Day 5: June 5, 2008 (Santa Maria to Lompoc)

2008-06-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

44.01 miles - Red Dress Day

Above: Chris painting my nails red. (pic stolen from Joseph)

Below: David and I.

Below: They've got the spirit

Originally 'Dress in Red' day so that it would look like a long red ribbon as riders climbed this day's hills.

Above: Cameron and John

Below: Michael and the long line of red.

I'll keep my commentary to a minimum so that you can enjoy the pics in all there fabulous-ness. Probably the hilliest day per mile by far. Told they will give names to the ones encountered on this day for next year to join the ranks of Quadbuster and Evil Twins. I'm partial to one of the names I heard floating around which was 'Heartbreak Ridge'.

Lesson of the day for next year = I must do better in planning what I wear. Some were just gorgeous. They say the ride changes lives. Never did I think I would be scoping out dresses for Red Dress Day as I pass shops.

Larry's ALC7 Day 5 Slideshow:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Day 4: June 4, 2008 (Paso Robles to Santa Maria)

2008-06-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

97.56 miles

Second longest day of the ride. Unlike the morning in Santa Cruz, everyone was up and moving from the tents much more quickly. Everyone up early and on the road early. Guess everyone learns their lessons :-).

Day 3's ride surprised me in the ride being more beautiful than I had expected. Large oaks lined the roads. Of course it may just having been riding through the vineyards that made me think it was so nice. Day 4, I had been told had a little bit of everything to ride through; farmland, woods, canyons, beach, city, etc... Today as we rode through Pismo Beach it felt, for the first time on the ride, as if we were transitioning from Northern California to Southern California. Pismo Beach is a gorgeous beach with the surf shacks and surfers to go with them. One of the most enjoyable riding days scenery wise.

Above: Waiting for Bike Parking to open at 6:00 am.

Below: View from Rest Stop 1.

A few miles after rest stop one begins the climbs up the 'Evil Step Sisters'. Two large hills to climb as far as the Lifecycle is concerned. At the top of the second is the official 'Half Way' mark. It's a beautiful outlook over the valleys all the way to the coast. The wind was blowing strongly. Mind you all week I'm hearing stories of how much fun descending the Evil Twins is with some riders 'claiming' to reach speeds of 49-51 miles per hour. Hogwash!! With the headwind going down the back side I was lucky if I reached 35 mph. It was a nice looooooooooong downhill, but to put that in perspective the tailwind going into King City that was pushing me up a hill had me going 22-25 mph. I felt as if I should have asked for my money back.

Above: Me strong.

Below: The cheering kids in San Luis Obispo.

Rounding a corner in San Luis Obispo to loud cheers and screaming was an awesome surprise. I treasured the pipe-cleaner contraptions the kids made and gave out. It was a great moment.

Today was also the day I was talked into going to the Hot Springs by Will. Very glad I took the time to stop and rest in the warm water. Good for the sore muscles. I do sincerely apologize to line of women I was passing towards the end of the day. Lifecycle does a great job of drilling into your head the need to be mindful of others safety at all times and to follow vehicle laws so as to not put the ride permits in jeopardy. All week I've been screaming 'On your left' or similar warning as I passed riders. For some reason as I was passing these women, I was saying 'On your RIGHT'. I was completely oblivious to what I was saying till I was passing the last rider and I realized what I was saying and corrected myself. Of course the last rider was shaking tell me that I was scaring her. She heard me on the left, but I was saying on the right, and I confused her. My apologies.

I was scared later as we were climbing El Campo. I was flashed by Ms. Bullhorn lady towards the top of the climb. Nearly fell over when I saw her chest ;-) To be fair, I don't think she was flashing me, but rather the woman in front of me. Thank God.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Day 3: June 3, 2008 (King City to Paso Robles)

2008-06-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

65.51 miles, Quadbuster day

The longest mileage day is followed by a relatively short day with one of the 'toughest' hills named Quadbuster. If you've followed my training I've done much more difficult hills (i.e. Henry Coe) but I was still grimacing a bit at the top. I should mention I had my morning routine down pat by day 3 and was standing in line waiting for the route to open before 6:30 am.

Below: The line-up waiting for the route to open.

I actually thought the approach to Quadbuster was more of a pain then Quadbuster itself. The approach was an ever so gentle incline that just went on and on and on. Literally a pain in the ass. The first rest area was just shy of the hill.

Above: Sunrise at Rest Stop 1.

Below: Smiles cresting Quadbuster. That's Michael 2nd in the background.

Lunch on Day 3 is in a tiny little town named Bradley. Of course we have to ride on Highway 101 and unbelievably bad pavement to get there. You have the option of having the ALC lunch or purchase some greasy cheeseburgers from the folks of Bradley. It cost, as it is fundraiser for the school, but after two days of chicken a nice greasy double cheeseburger hit the spot.

Above: Once again ahead of the packs in Bradley.

Below: Riders coming into Bradley as I get ready to leave.

Above: Grease theme at rest stop 4. I was a tad early. Shortly after noon. Filled water bottles had a snack and then was ready to go and head the last bit into camp but they were about ready to start a show. Parked my ass in a chair.

Below: I saw this bicycle as I was leaving Rest Stop 4. What caught my eye was the emblem of the state of Maine. This bicycle was made in Maine. The name 'Aegis' is also a Navy weapons system that is/was on a class of battleships that I worked on in a past life back at Bath Iron Works (summer jobs in College).

I was in Paso Robles fairly early and it was HOT!!! Paso Robles is a great place for people to princess because the hotels are so close. Princess = riders who sleep in hotels rather than tents on the ride. It was so hot that my brand new tire 'exploded'. The heat must have warmed my tire just right that it burst. The note below was strapped to my tent when I got back from swimming at David's hotel and AW root bear float. The tire had less than three hundred miles on it. I put them on just before the ride. Had to buy a new tire and now the front and back tires don't match. The horror. I kind of wish I was there when it exploded. I was parked directly behind the bike parking tent and I'm sure it blowing scared the bejeebus out of a few people under the tent. The bike also spent the night in the mechanic's shop overnight so some shifting anomalies could be fixed. I kept looking for Red Head Ranch but I don't think I rode past.

Larry's ALC7 Day 3 slideshow:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

ALC Day 2: June 2, 2008 (Santa Cruz to King City)

2008-06-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

Above: Miss ALC7. Rest Stop 4

Below: Otter Pop Stop at Mission La Soledad

105.70 miles

If Day 1's lesson was to stay ahead of the pack, then Day 2's lesson was how to repack on the fly in the morning. Poor Michael covered for my lack of repacking experience by taking down the tent in the morning, which he had put up the previous afternoon. I clearly was not pulling my weight when it came to tent duties. No fear, it only took me that morning's repacking experience, the jumping and sitting and stuffing of the suit case (see day 6's post when it comes for a great light bulb going off moment) to figure out I needed a routine in the morning. On days 3 - 7 it went something like this: 1) Get up and go rest room around 3:30 - 4 am, 2) get another half hour of shut eye, 3) Michael gets up and out of the tent around 4:45 am, 4) I get dressed into my bicycling clothes that have been pre-warming in my pillow case, and put warmer clothes over 5) pack up my stuff (wake all the neighboring tents while I let air out of air mattress, roll sleeping bag, etc...) 6) exit tent and beat the lines at the breakfast tent 7) While I'm eating, Michael finishes and goes back to the tent to get ready 8) I finish eating, go clean up, and head back to tent, 9) I arrive back at tent while Michael is getting finished and I start to pack up the tent and then strip off my layers and squeeze them into the suitcase. That routine worked for the most part the rest of the week, but that was nothing at all like what I was doing on that first morning in Santa Cruz. Lesson learned again.

I was out of bike parking and on the road shortly after the route opened at around 6:45 am (route opens at 6:30 am). I was a lucky one from the horror stories told later. Evidently much later and I would have been in the packs trying to leave. I heard stories of it taking 45 minutes to leave bike parking and another hour to make it across Santa Cruz because of all the bicyclists. I repeat, learning to stay ahead of the packs was so yesterday's lesson.

Above: David, Michael, Patrick, and Jon at the first rest stop.

Below: I know it doesn't look like much, just waves crashing on the beach. But expand the size of the pic and see if you can find the pod (school?) of dolphins. I counted upwards of eight dolphins. Of course that tale stretched to 12-15 later in the day.

Below: Passed through a lot of agricultural areas on Day 2. Strawberry picking going on.

Day 2 is the longest day mileage wise. It also has the most 'distractions', such as the Ugly Mug in Santa Cruz, Artichoke stand, Otter Pops, Skinny dipping bridge, and the Cookie Lady. This being my first year and not sure of my abilities I only stopped at the Otter Pops (Awesome Bears) and the Cookie Lady (Awesome cookies, ugly drag ;-)). I would have stopped at the skinny dipping bridge but there was no one there when I went by. Next year maybe I shouldn't leave first thing in the morning ;-).

Above: Diane and Carol sharing a cooking.

Below: The Cookie stand.

After the cookie stand it is only a few short miles to Rest Stop 4 and the Miss ALC7 pageant. I should mention that all the rest stops all week generally have themes. Rest Stop 4 generally had the most decadent and delicious. The first pic of this post is of the 'contestants'. Leaving Rest Stop 4 there were 15 miles left before arriving at camp in King City. Usually I would be crying after 90 miles and knowing I had 15 miles more, but damn there was a nice tail wind pushing us up a hill and into camp. That tailwind is why the ride never goes from LA to SF. On day 1, there was a tail wind into Santa Cruz. We passed Sequoia Century riders going in the other direction and they did not look happy. Once into camp, I was able to set up the tent since Michael wasn't in yet. Not as tired as Day 1 overall. Felt great after 105.70 miles.

Larry's Day 2 Slideshow:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

ALC Day 1 - June 1, 2008 (San Francisco to Santa Cruz)

2008-06-14T15:43:00.000-07:00

81.60 miles

Day 1 came and went. Alarm goes off at 3:30 am, I stumble out of bed around 4 am. Not too bad. Excitement/nervousness starts to set in immediately. I know I trained and trained and trained , with hours in the saddle, but the nagging question of was that enough still lingered. I had finished my packing the evening previous and fit all 'essentials' in one smallish suitcase, which I found after one night was not big enough. Every days clothing packed into labelled Ziploc bags, etc.

Above: Michael (tent mate) and I bringing our luggage to Truck E.

Below: David, John, and I (front) with Steve, Scott, and Trevor (rear). David and John are MEGA fundraisers, I'm talking 5-6 times what I was able to raise (EACH!!) . Damn good.

Since I was relatively early at orientation on Day 0, it just so happened that my bicycle was parked towards the end of the line as we were leaving the Cow Palace. I figure it took close to an hour for everyone to embark. Although I wasn't at the very end, I was probably in the later half to leave. Within two miles, before reaching Highway 1, a rider was down. Firetrucks, ambulance, etc. were quickly on the scene. As I passed the injured bicyclist was up and moving. However in Santa Cruz I learned that there were three crashes on Day 1 and that two of the three had thrown in the towel and gone home. Crashes can be extremely scary and hurt. I just hope that the packs of bicyclist on Day 1 didn't scare them too much, because the packs did spread out a bit on the following days.

Above: Joel and Jon in the center of a pack shortly after leaving the Cow Palace.
Below: A pack of riders climbing Skyline.

Day 1 was a definite learning experience. Although I had been warned by Michael, I stopped at Rest Stop 1 anyway. I had been warned, so I can only blame myself, but stopping at Rest Stop 1 cost me an hour riding. It seems everyone was stopping. The lines for the Porta potties took 30 minutes. The line for snacks and water refill another half hour. Thirty miles into the ride I figured out that I needed a strategy to keep ahead of the packs so that I could reduce the amount of time spent in lines. Lesson learned. Lunch was at one of my favorite places, San Gregorio State Beach. Above: Lunch at San Gregorio.

Below: The climbing of a hill placed immediately AFTER lunch.

Below: Lighthouse on Route 1.Finally made it into Santa Cruz in the mid-afternoon. 3ish if I remember correctly. Michael had the tent all set up before I pulled in. I was beat big time. After showering, watching riders arrive, and eating, I was in the tent and my head was aiming for the pillow by 7 pm. I think I even beat Joseph to sleep that night. Of course falling asleep at 7 caused me to wake at midnight thinking that it was time to get up and ride. I figured out on the way back from the bathroom that it was still a tad too dark to be morning. A few more hours of sleep and then awake every half hour starting at 2:30 am. I was fearful of oversleeping and having to be SAG'd. Stupid, I know. Above: Joseph and Cameron setting up Cameron's tent.

Below: Chris and Patrick, I think I feel asleep shortly after.

Slideshow of Larry's ALC Day 1:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I'm tired.

2008-06-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

It was phenomenal. I need to rest and then I'll start posting pics and recaps.

Big hugs and kisses to all.

I liked it so much that...

for

In memory of...

2008-05-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

Norm and his sweet gentle heart,

Don who looked fabulous in drag, NOT (I hope I'm just as trashy on Thursday) and his motto '...it doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad person...',

Larry who blazed a trail for others to follow,

Bob and poker and UU and friends.

I ride, in part, so that I won't forget them.

Many, Many, Many thanks to all of you who helped me raise

~~$3,893.00~~ $4,093.00

for the SF AIDS Foundation. See you when I return. Big Hugs and Big Sloppy Kisses.

ALC Day 0 - I must finish packing

2008-05-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

It's time!!!!
Bicycle parking line at ~9 am.

Registration lines after Safety video.

Safety video = orange arm band, Registration = red (No-vegetarian)

L'Italien means 'La-Me'.

Above: just because.
Above: Line for Safety video after I've been all through the lines.

Below: Joel and others attaching their numbers to bikes.

Above: That's me, #1004

Below: Trevor would love this recumbant (christmas?)

Week ending Saturday May 31, 2008

2008-05-31T15:00:00.000-07:00

spin classes: 0

commute miles: 42.84
training miles: 0

weekly miles: 42.84

2008 year to date: 2,596.21 miles, 21 spin classes

Week ending Saturday May 24, 2008

2008-05-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

spin classes: 1 (Tue 6:15 am)

commute miles: 47.61

training miles: 0 (resting up for the ride in a week)

weekly miles: 47.61

2008 year to date: 2,553.37, 21 spin classes

Week ending Saturday May 17, 2008

2008-05-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

spin classes: 1 (Tue 6:30 pm)
commute miles: 122.58

training miles: 151.67
weekly miles: 274.25

2008 year-to-date: 2,505.76 miles, 20 spin classes, three flat tires, one broken frame,
and one stolen bike.

Tiltiing at Windmills - Double Metric: May 17, 2008

2008-05-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

I should be riding to Marshal and climbing Marshal's Wall, but I'm not. Trevor is off running Bay2Breakers with Diane and I'm getting ready to do some maintenance to my bike that is sorely needed. With the temperatures so hot yesterday, the rubber on my tires became so pliable that I blew a tube. While changing it I looked more closely to my tire and I could clearly see some threads, not treads, threads. Hairy little protrusions. So I must change out my tires today. While I'm at it I need to swap out my break pads for new ones and change my cleats on my shoes. So instead of riding the 100-mile training ride today, I'm working on the bike and drinking wine as I do it.

Yesterday's ride was HOT!!!! 130 miles out to Livermore and the Altamot Pass and back. Quite a flat ride Norris Canyon the only significant climb of the day, which is less than a mile. Feeling good and strong.

Below: A smaller group of us at the next to last Rest Stop (mile 91). David (ernie and bert) rescued me from my flat with his CO2 cartridge. My new pump with it's fancy pressure gauge is a piece of crap. I was struggling with it for a half hour before he caught up. He broke his chain earlier in the day, so I was surprised to see him pass by but really glad he did.

Above: Mary

Below: David and David

Above and Below: Julie and David high fiving at the top of Norris Canyon

Above: Mary cresting Norris

Above and Below: getting ready for the 6:30 am ride out

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s) 12:24:59, 5:42 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 8:30:06, 3:54 pace
Distance (mi ) 130.35
Moving Speed (mph) 15.3 avg., 38.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)+/-3,836

Heart Rate Data Avg, Low, High
Heart Rate (%max) 72, 42, 95
Heart Rate (bpm) 132, 78, 176

Temperature (°F) 76.6°F avg., 86°F high
Wind Speed (mph) NW 8.5 avg., NW 14.9 max.

Ride2Work Day; May 15, 2008

2008-05-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Early Thursday morning Alfred and I left Peet's coffee on Market and started our way to Palo Alto. Brisk pace, down Valencia and out Skyline to Canada and Sand Hill. Ran into a fellow SF train rider who also rode from SF at the Sand Hill Energizer station. Gorgeous morning. HOT HOT HOT afternoon. Since the trains were going to be more of a zoo than normal I decided to try riding home. When I hit San Carlos, I decided that it was too hot to attempt, but one of the trains had broken down. Back on the bike I followed the tracks, more or less, towards SF. The first train didn't pass till I was between San Mateo and Millbrae. Decided to ride all the way.

Above and Below: Dubuce Bikeway PM Energizer station with a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence.

Above: Brisbane Lagoon looking towards the city.
Below: Alfred at a short rest stop near Edgecomb.
route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s) 13:07:57, 9:46 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 5:44:51, 4:16 pace
Distance (mi )80.56
Moving Speed (mph) 14.0 avg., 34.6 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)+3,915 / -3,903

Heart Rate Data Avg, Low, High
Heart Rate (%max) 65, 36, 97
Heart Rate (bpm) 121, 67, 180

Temperature (°F) 82.6°F avg., 93.2°F high
Wind Speed (mph) SSE 7.7 avg., SSE 19.5 max.

VeloGirls Climbing&Descending Clinic

2008-05-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

This chicken little needs practice descending badly. Lori Lee Lown and another spent the day giving us tips and critiques on our climbing and descending techniques. Like I said my descending, especially around the corners, needs some work. Great clinic.

Above: Lee, Nancy, and David, on the inside with Lori showing us her finish line technique.

Below: Chit Chatting at the top of Alpine.

Distance: 21.52 miles
Elevation gain: +/-1982 feet

Week ending Saturday May 10, 2008

2008-05-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

This is my replacement folding commuter bike for the one that got stolen earlier in the week. Isn't it so cute? It's Bike Friday's 'Tikit2ride' model and folds up all nice and snug that I shall never ever be bumped from Caltrain because of all the fair weather bicyclists (which is really really good, more people should ride [but baseball fans going to the SF Giants games are just a pain in the ass]). I need to make two modifications to the Tikit: 1. Swap out the current pedals for metal SPD combination pedals because these plastic ones will just not do in the rain as my feet will slide all over the place and 2. Swap out the shorter stem for a longer one to give a more horizontal ride as it currently rides quite vertical. I'm just not used to that. Alas Trevor hates the bike, says it looks funny. Since he refuses to let me get a Smart Car, which would make me happy as a clam, this geeky looking thing will have to do.

spin classes: 0
commute miles: 32.07
training miles: 174.90
weekly miles: 206.97

2008 year-to-date: 2,231.51 miles, 19 spin classes,
two flat tires, one broken frame,

one stolen Dahon Zero G folding Mountain Bike (the thieves best not ever ride CalTrain),

and a partridge in a pear tree.

DSSF Jersey Ride: 5-10-2008

2008-05-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Nice relaxing stress less day of riding with DSSF. Raymond, Joseph, Michael, and I, broke off from the larger group to do the Conzelman loop followed by the Tiburon/Paradise Loop. Arrived at Shark's Deli as the others were finishing lunch. David, Joseph, Chris, and I, did an extra Conzelman loop at the end.

Below: David, Joseph, and Chris, still happy.

Cool skull on, if I remember right, what Joseph said was once a Lepers hospital on 15th Ave. Soon to be condos, but building needs a ton of work.

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s) 6:54:54, 6:42 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 5:15:23, 5:05 pace
Distance (mi ) 61.86
Moving Speed (mph) 11.8 avg., 38.8 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)+4,978 / -4,961

Heart Rate Data Avg, Low, High
Heart Rate (%max) 71, 40, 103
Heart Rate (bpm) 131, 74, 190

Temperature (°F) 60.2°F avg., 62.6°F high
Wind Speed ( mph)WSW 13.8 avg., WSW 23.0 max.

G'd damn it...

2008-05-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know there isn't a chance in hell, but does anyone know where my commuting bike went? My commuter was stolen from my place of employment in Palo Alto today sometime between 8 am and 4:30 pm. It was locked at our bike racks towards an entrance. There is not much non-employee foot traffic, it's not like I work downtown. It was locked with a heavy cable, but it was a combination lock. I never figured I would need a heavy lock with all the employee traffic and security cameras all over the place. The lock is gone too. So I'm a bit bummed about losing my bike today :-( It looks like the one's pictured below but with mud flaps, bike computer, lights, SFBike Coalition stickers, commuting tires (not knoby). I'd love to have it back.

Grizzly Peak Century - May 4, 2008

2008-05-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

Friday night when I got home from work I had every intention of riding Chris' 108-mile Mountain View to Gilroy ALC training ride on Saturday, but I ended up changing plans. Two weeks ago I hemmed and hawed all week about whether I wanted to attempt the Grizzly Peak Century yesterday that by the time I decided I wanted to the Century registration was full. I'm learning that if you snooze, you loose, on some of these rides. I must plan ahead even better. So when I checked my email Friday evening to find that Jerome, who had successfully registered, was not able to go and could transfer his registration, I jumped at the chance. Actually I waited a half hour to see if anyone else on the DSSF list wanted to claim it first, but then realized most would be doing the Wine Country Century on Saturday.

I don't have many pictures to share because I didn't stop to dawdle. I had never done a ride of this length combined with an ascent climb of this magnitude before and was nervous about how I would do. I shouldn't have feared. The ride was a phenomenal ride. Started off the morning in cool fog at 6:45 am and quickly climbed Grizzly Peak. Wish I could say the view was awesome, but with the fog, and the 'redwood rain' (large ass drops of water from the tall redwoods) I was only hoping that my tires would stay inflated as I passed biker after biker stopping to change their flats. My least favorite part of the entire ride was the riding between Tilden Park (1st rest stop - mile 20) and the Port Costa rest stop (mile 44). That section was mostly flat and the part going directly through the gas refineries was just hideous. Immediately after the Port Costa rest stop was what I think was the most difficult hill of the day, McEwan. McEwan is basically 600 feet of climbing in one mile. After McEwan there was Pig Farm Hill and Mama Bear before the third rest stop, Briones (mile 61). The picture below is of the Briones rest stop.

After Briones, I wished I had stopped to take a picture because the line of bicyclists climbing Papa Bear looked like ants on a hill. Lunch was at mile 73, back where we started at Campolindo High School in Moraga. After 73 miles my legs and energy felt good, but the wind picked up, and the temperatures dropped a bit (or at least if felt like it). Before heading out for the second part of the ride, the south loop, I put on my vest and armbands. Now I sort of psyched myself out for the second part of the ride. All the ride information says that the second part is much hillier than the first (which is technically correct), but all morning I'm thinking the biggest climb in the afternoon is Skyline. I've never ridden in the East Bay and I'm thinking of Skyline in San Mateo and Woodside, between Highway 92 and 84, on the Peninsula, and that Skyline is one mean hill. So I'm climbing some road called Redwood, which is fairly tough, to get to Skyline. Once I turn on Skyline I stop to take some Double Shot Energy gel and get my mind set to climb Skyline. Well the climbing didn't last long, and then it was descending a bit, then a lot. I guess I was so worried about the mean hill that I ended up climbing it without realizing it. But the next picture is from somewhere on the descent, can't remember exactly where.

The last and final rest stop was at mile 97. As you can see from all the lying about on the lawn, in the pictures below, that the mileage was starting to take its toll.

There were still two more significant climbs after this rest stop, RedWood and Pinehurst. I ended up back at the High School a little after four in the afternoon for nearly 10 hours total (riding + rest stops + lunch) and a little more than 8 hours moving. I was tired, muscles sore, but a good sore. I felt good. The ride was mostly beautiful, not too cold, not too hot, with Mama and Papa Bear thrown in for good measure. I'll be riding this one again. THANKS JEROME!!!

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s)9:50:32, 5:12 pace

Moving Time (h:m:s)8:17:32, 4:23 pace

Distance (mi )113.40

Moving Speed (mph) 13.7 avg., 42.1 max.

Elevation Gain (ft)+9,809/ -9,833

Heart Rate Data Avg, Low, High

Heart Rate (%max) 81, 54, 101

Heart Rate (bpm) 150, 100, 187

Temperature (°F) 59.5°F avg., 64.4°F high

Wind Speed (mph) S 18.6 avg., S 21.9 max.

Week ending Saturday May 3, 2008

2008-05-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Above: Sunrise from Ocean Beach looking towards Sutro Tower on my way to work.

spin classes: 1 (Sat 9am)

commute miles: 89.37 (Home2Work 52.83 miles Thurs.)
training miles: 61.44

weekly miles: 150.81

2008 year-to-date: 2,024.54 miles, 19 spin classes

Wow!!! Just Wow!!!!

2008-04-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday April 27, 2008

What an absolutely gorgeous day and from the top of the seven evil step sisters (bitches on a bad day) I'm reminded of why I love living in the Bay area. Just check out the views!!!

Above: The reservoir at Alpine Dam.
Above and Below: The Dam.

Below: Resting atop the dam.
Below: The view from atop the seventh sister. DAMN!!! no more captions for the remainder, just look at the pictures and see why I love it out here.
Hand gliding anyone?

Where's Waldo (GG bridge)?

route and data:

View Larger Map Look above at the elevation graph. That blip at ~mile 16 is Camino Alto and ~mile 53 is Sausalito. Then look at the big ass thing in the middle. That's Mount Tam and to think that I used to dread the Sausalito hill (pat, pat). Alpine dam is that little dip at ~mile 31.

Total Time (h:m:s) 6:23:55, 6:13 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 5:06:19, 4:58 pace
Distance (mi ) 61.57
Moving Speed (mph) 12.1 avg., 38.3 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)+5,841 /-5,821

Heart Rate Data Avg, Low, High
Heart Rate (%max) 77, 48, 100
Heart Rate (bpm) 142, 88, 185

Temperature (°F) 63.2°F avg., 71.6°F high
Wind Speed (mph) S 5.9 avg., S 11.5 max.

Week ending Saturday April 26, 2008

2008-04-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

spin classes: 0
commute miles: 36.40

training miles: 88.34
weekly miles: 124.74

2008 year-to-date: 1,873.73 miles, 18/ spin classes, two flats, and one broken frame

ALC Day on the Ride - Saturday April 26, 2008

2008-04-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

A little tardy posting, El Rio called on Sunday afternoon and with the sun and the salsa music and the Margaritas, well you know what took priority. ALC Day on the Ride was a hoot. Closest thing to the actual ride with the rest stops and tons of bicyclists. Rode most of the day with fellow DSSFers until Jose there in the red below turned into speedy gonzales and took off like a speeding bullet. That boy's fast, I'm a little more methodical and plodding.

Above: Michael, Chris, Jose (Joseph) , and David, before the start.

Below: Bikes and Bikes

Above: Safety Speech listen going on.

Below: Bikes and more bikes.

Above: Cameron and David at Rest Stop 1.

Below: Dave* fixing his cleats. *there are a lot of Dave's in DSSF.

Above: Cheese Factory Hill (it's bigger than it looks)

Below: Karen look this way.

Above: Looking towards Cheese Factory Hill.

Below: I've fallen and I can't get up. Massive group resting before attempting said hill. Squeeze those butt cheeks.

Above: Riders on Nicasio Valley Road.

Below: Dave and Michael at the last rest stop with only Camino Alto and Sausalito Hill left to go.

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s) 10:11:34, 6:55 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 6:20:56, 4:18 pace
Distance (mi ) 88.34
Moving Speed (mph) 13.9 avg., 40.7 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)+6,191 / -6,098*

Calories 5,230

Heart Rate Data Avg, Low, High
Heart Rate (%max) 74, 42, 102
Heart Rate (bpm) 137, 77, 188

Temperature (°F) 62.8°F avg., 75.2°F high
Wind Speed (mph) ENE 6.1 avg., ENE 24.1 max.

*That's it. The algorithms in various software to calculate Elevation gain/loss is so completely f'ed. MotionBased says 10,000+ feet, Garmin Training Center says 4,757, Ben (Cat 2 series) says something else, hell Garmin Connect shows what's above. I have absolutely no idea how many feet I'm climbing. From here on out I'm using only Garmin Connect to calculate so I can do some apples-2-apples comparisons (Granny Smiths please).

Week ending Saturday April 19, 2008

2008-04-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

The sailboats in Monterrey

spin classes: 1 (Thur 6:30 pm)

commute miles: 29.31
training miles: 123.53
weekly miles: 152.84

2008 year-to-date: 1,748.99 miles, 18/ spin classes, two flats, and one broken frame

weight: 172 pounds

Tierra Bella Hell...

2008-04-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

I wimped out!!! I decided NOT to ride the ~94-mile Sea Otter road tour in Monterey today. I was plain tuckered out from the 99.64 mile Tierra Bella ride on Saturday. Little did I realize that Tierra Bella means 'Hell on Earth' :-) This ride was a lot harder than I had expected. It wasn't necessarily the eight mile climb up to Henry Coe Park. It wasn't necessarily the killer headwind that we seemed to be riding into the entire friggin' day, or that it became incredibly strong in the afternoon which made peddling into even more hellish. Rather the icing on top of the cake was the DUST the wind kicked up. I swear I sneezed for 40-miles straight, and that was on top of that 2,000 some odd feet climbing Henry Coe and the headwind. I was one tired bicyclist at the end of the day and once horizontal on the hotel bed was not moving till well past day break. Feeling a little bit wimpish right now because my legs are fine, my sinuses are fine, and I feel rested. I probably could have riden today, shhh.

Above: David and Jerome at the first rest stop still smiling, little did we know what lied ahead.

Below: Jerome at the fire pit on top of Henry Coe.

Above: Gratuitous butt.

Below: The line waiting for the porta potty. It was so cold on top of Henry Coe that the pavement was the best source of heat.

Above: David just getting to the top.

Below: David, Topher, and Jerome, comparing notes on the climb.
Above: Diane in Monterrey.

Below: More gratuitous butt (Trevor's pic from when they were waiting my return from hell).

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s) 9:33:05, 5:44 pace

Moving Time (h:m:s) 7:30:20, 4:31 pace

Distance (mi ) 99.70

Moving Speed (mph) 13.3 avg., 32.9 max.

Elevation Gain (ft) +6,995

Heart Rate Data Avg, Low, High

Heart Rate (%max) 77, 46, 101

Heart Rate (bpm) 142, 85, 187

Temperature (°F) 54.7°F avg., 60.8°F high

Wind Speed ( mph) SW 12.1 avg., SW 18.4 max.

test riding the new frame

2008-04-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

Taking a mini-break from work. I've got tons of errands to run tomorrow (dentist, passport, windshield replacement, etc...) and I needed a day to do nothing. Picked up my bike from the doctors last night, barely recognized it. Bring it in and I've got a silver F65 and when it comes out it's the black F55 frame below. The ride feels a little more stable than my silver one so I'm not sure if the frame is different or not. I'll assume it is slightly different, still aluminum with carbon forks and seat post, etc... I did swap out the rear 11-23 cassette for a 12-27. The hills also seemed a bit easier today, as they should with a 27. I'll be able to do the back to back centuries this weekend, Tierra Bella and Sea Otter. Above: My slick new frame

Below: The fog trying hard to leave the bridge.

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s) 2:30:40, 6:18 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s) 2:03:36, 5:10 pace
Distance (mi ) 23.89
Moving Speed (mph) 11.6 avg., 34.9 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +2,286/ -2,315

Temperature (°F) 62.6°F avg., 64.4°F high
Wind Speed ( mph) NE 3.5 avg., NE 3.5 max.

Week ending Saturday April 12, 2008

2008-04-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

The apple tree is in full bloom (lilies, magnolias, and some pretty purple flowers too).

spin classes: 1 and an attempt* (Sat 9:00 am)
commute miles: 40.86

training miles: 84.30

weekly miles: 125.16

2008 year-to-date: 1,596.15 miles, 17 spin classes, two flats, and one broken frame**

weight: 172 pounds

*I definitely have my favorite spin class leaders/instructors (Amy, Mark, Christina, Carol, etc...I actually don't dislike any of them), but a suggestion to those that substitute. When a person drags their ass out of bed to be at spin class bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for a good workout, you do not show up twenty minutes late and then proceed to do some wimpy ass spinning with 15 minutes of stretching!!! That just lends itself to riders (me, and a few others) to walk out on you in frustration. Give some respect, get some respect (vent over)

**That clankity-clickity sound that I thought was a broken bottom bracket and a quick fix turned out to be a broken frame. Nice clean cut through the chainstay. I'm guessing the bike is trying to tell my to get my fat ass down a few more pounds. New frame is on its way. I was thinking of converting my compact double (50/34) crank to a triple/granny chain ring but I'm going to swap out my 11-23 cassette for an 11-28 instead (lot less money). I get to keep the big gears plus I get some easier gears for some of those hills (Thanks to Michelle for the suggestion). I'm hoping the bike is put back together by next Friday, I had signed up to ride the Tierra Bella (Gilroy) and Sea Otter (Monterey) centuries back-2-back next weekend and am still hoping to be able to ride.

San Francisco - Point Reyes

2008-04-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Day Break

So there was a charity run this morning over both sides of the Golden Gate Bride, which meant we had to be over the bridge by 7:00 am. I had to be up bright eyed and early with the approximately 30 other riders. I set the alarm for 4:30 a.m. expecting to leave the house around 5:30 a.m. and riding to the Sports Basement in the Presidio. Little did I know that Sunday April 6th was the 'old' daylight savings spring ahead time. My nice fancy alarm clock that sets it's own time - had jumped ahead on me. So I jumped out of bed, showered, brushed teeth, and got everything set to walk out the door. That was when it dawned on me to look at another clock and realize that it was just then turning 4:30 a.m. Let's just say I was not happy about being up an extra hour early. I wondered why the boys (Thor and Smokey) were not expecting to get fed like they usually do when I get up. C'est le vie.

Not all that bright eyed, a little blurred if you ask me. The group waiting for instruction (above) and being blocked by a fence from riding across the western side of the bridge (below). Turn around and go to the east.

My bottom bracket on the bike got busted today. Spent the last twenty miles home with clack, clack, clack, clack, when ever I would have to put pressure on the down strokes. It's now at the shop for repairs. Hopefully I'll have it back by the end of the week.

The bridge at 7 a.m. (above) and the low clouds near Nicasio Reservoir (below).

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s) 7:31:56, 5:20 pace

Moving Time (h:m:s) 6:14:35, 4:26 pace

Distance (mi )84.30

Moving Speed (mph) 13.5 avg., 34.6 max.

Elevation Gain (ft) +4,702 / -4,703

Heart Rate Data: Avg, Low, High

Heart Rate (%max): 75, 52, 99

Heart Rate (bpm): 139, 97, 184

Temperature (°F) 52.9°F avg., 57.2°F high

Wind Speed ( mph) SE 4.3 avg., SE 12.6 max.

Week ending Saturday April 5, 2008

2008-04-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

I've been stealing snacks all week like Thor when we left the top of his food container open.

We hadn't realized our mistake until we heard some munching.

Why is Thor always the trouble maker?

spin classes: 0
commute miles: 53.44

training miles: 51.01 (worked all day today so not riding)

weekly total: 104.45 miles

2008 Year-to-date: 1,470.99 miles, 16 spin classes, two flats

ALC Expo & Ride - Tiburon Loop

2008-03-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Short ride, home to shower, and back to see if I could win a bike with a 'Granny' gear. No such luck :-( Gorgeous day again and suppose I should do what the shirt below says.

Trevor says his behind can't handle the bike seats so I keep threatening to get him a recumbent bike like this tandem above and below. Evidently 'No! Sore asses' need apply.

Above: Morning before 250 of us headed out.

Below: Massage afterwards (no I didn't get one).

Above: The staff of ALC Lifecycle.

route and data:

View Larger Map

Total Time (h:m:s): 4:30:01, 5:17 pace

Moving Time (h:m:s): 3:43:38, 4:23 pace

Distance (mi )51.01

Moving Speed (mph): 13.7 avg., 32.8 max.

Elevation Gain (ft)+6,201 / -6,197

Heart Rate Data: Avg, Low, High

Heart Rate (%max): 74, 48, 99

Heart Rate (bpm): 137, 88, 183

Week ending Saturday March 29, 2008

2008-03-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

spin classes: 0

commute miles: 66.14
training miles: 187.35
weekly total: 253.49 miles

2008 Year-to-date: 1,366.54 miles, 16 spin classes, two flats

weight 174 pounds

Mountain View to San Ramon

2008-03-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Relatively flat, the ride only had one 'real' hill in Norris Canyon. Niles Canyon and Norris Canyon are beautiful, but all in all the South Bay is ugly. It's all strip malls and suburbia. Don't mean to offend, sorry.

Finally had the flat that I've been expecting for awhile now. The roads were wet this morning from drizzle, and when the roads are wet the chances of flats increase because things stick to the tire. I noticed the puncture as soon as it happened, phtheet.....phtheet......phtheet. Can't really complain it's my first flat with this bike (~2000 miles) and the tire is starting to wear with cracks and holes. If I start getting more flats, I'll purchase new.

Above: Niles Canyon with the low hanging clouds shortly after my flat.

Below: The source of god's elixir, a vineyard off from Foothill. Maybe I'll have to track down the specific vineyard.

route and data:

View Larger MapTotal Time (h:m:s): 7:37:39, 5:15 pace

Moving Time (h:m:s): 5:45:32, 3:58 pace

Distance (mi ) 87.02

Moving Speed (mph): 15.1 avg., 39.0 max.

Elevation Gain (ft)+4,693 / -4,693

Heart Rate Data: Avg, Low, High

Heart Rate (%max): 74, 46, 98

Heart Rate (bpm): 136, 85, 182