Ride report 1, this morning’s ride:
Portola Loop, backwards from usual (Santa Cruz > Alpine > Portola > Sand Hill).
DST: 17.5mi
AVS: 13.9mph
MXS: 39mph according to the computer, but I think really about 32-33mph
Time: 1:15 riding time (about 1:25 total)
I had a really wonderful ride this morning. I decided to go in reverse from the way I’ve done Portola Loop before, to find out what it was like to climb Alpine. Answer: weird. Alpine starts at about 3mi from home for me, but the climb-that-feels-like-a-climb doesn’t start until about 5.5 or 6 miles (and ends at about 7.5 with the turn to Portola). But the whole thing feels like a downhill going the other way, though a very gradual one.
On one of the steeper early sections, I was being passed a fair bit by other cyclists. This happens to me a lot when I’m out in the hills, because 14mph is a fairly slow average speed for a road cyclist (why I’m pleased our W2W team is called Team Slowpoke :) and my hill-climbing skills aren’t the best anyhow. However, I found myself extremely content to be doing exactly what I was doing at that moment. It was sometime between 9 and 9:30, a warmish, calm morning with the fog slowly clearing, gradually creeping up from Menlo Park into Portola Valley, and I was delighted to be alive, to be there, and to be riding, and to be riding at the speed I wanted to ride. I had a similar moment yesterday on the way to the train station. It’s wonderful to be in the moment and be happy to just be riding.
(In my training program, weekend rides are done at “Pace” speed, which means the speed you plan to ride during the event, and I’ve decided I’m not going to try to get faster than 14mph AVS. If I do, that’ll be a bonus. This is about endurance for me rather than speed.)
The rest of the ride was lovely too. I took one brief rest stop before Portola, and then had an incredibly fun screaming descent onto Sand Hill at Whiskey Hill. That’s where I was going the fastest, but I’m pretty sure my computer got confused later on by a sensor, because I wasn’t going 39, more like 32ish. It was exhilarating.
The downside of doing the loop that way is coming back on Sand Hill. The 280 interchange there is not as well designed as on the other side; the bike lane doesn’t carry through, so you have to be very careful about merging motorists. Also, Sand Hill has a number of traffic lights, which Alpine doesn’t, so descending, although incredibly fun, is apt to be interrupted by a few lights and by people turning right who fail to merge correctly. My mirror helped me avoid a few potential trouble spots.
Still, I enjoyed that route tremendously and likely will take it again. One advantage is the slow climb up Alpine; another is that the Alpine/280 interchange area is safer than the equivalent on Sand Hill (the stop signs require people to use lower speeds). There’s also more variation in the up-down profile that way, because Sand Hill goes up again before it goes down, instead of only going down.
One other advantage is that it can more easily hook in with other routes that way. For example, you can go off to Arastradero at one point, or you can take Mountain Home or Whiskey Hill to Woodside, and even go all the way up Cañada to Edgewood or 92 if you are just that crazy. Someday I probably will when I am scheduled for longer rides. Right now I’m just in the last week of base-building before training, so 17.5mi is plenty.
Ride report 2, a coworker’s first ride to work!
I don’t have the statistics for this one, but I wanted to recognize/congratulate a friend of mine at work who rode her bike to work for the first time on Friday. She has been talking about buying a bike and riding to work for a while now, and gas prices lately have provided more motivation to do so. So she is the proud new owner of an Electra Townie and rode it from home to work (and back home, I imagine) on Friday. Go K!
On Friday she very kindly thanked me for the support I’ve provided in suggesting bikes, equipment, and routes, and explaining traffic laws and safe cycling. I’m glad to have helped her do what she wanted, and I’m glad that my help is helpful, because it bodes well for my potential attempt to become an LCI.