As the DSSF participation was seriously reduced in the Out Games in Montreal, so was the number of medal grabbed. Especially since Different Spokes didn’t send their smartest member…

The competition started indeed pretty badly with the Individual Time Trial. Not that I had a poor time, nor even that I got a flat or any kind of mechanical incident. No, I simply chose to take a wrong turn and made a loop around the rowing basin instead of following the Gilles Villeneuve circuit as everybody else. Imagine my frustration and my humilation when the rowing organizer asked me to walk my bike as I was crossing the rowing start (hi, Roy!) 😦 Anyway… let’s move on from this pityful event.

The Road Race went much better. It consisted of 9 laps around the same circuit (but this time, I couldn’t miss it, I just had to follow the pack). This was more technical that Chicago, because there were at several very hard turns in each loop. And the pack was faster. All thos e European who (luckily for me) didn’t go to Chicago, they are fast… So I tried to stay with the front pack as I had manged to do on Palos Hills, but for some reason, they were accelerating the hardest right after each turn. Finally, I got dropped in the seventh lap. I managed to finish 6th of the 40-49 category with a time I was pretty happy with (you can find all the results here – fortunately, they only list the medals in the ITT).
The Criterium got resolved (at least for me) even sooner. Unlike Chicago, this was a real Criterium. It was a 45 minute race around a one kilometer loop in Little Italy. Which means approximately 120 right angle turns and as many occasions to get dropped. They dropped me at the second (where I nearly fell, due to a combination of a man-hole, a bump, a pothole and the pavement rendered slippery by the thunderstorm). After that, it was a fairly solitary race, where I finishe sixth, again.
But we still had the Team Time Trial. During the Gay Games, I had met Keith Wright, the president of Different Spokes Houston. He was also doing the Out Games and we decided to make a team “Different Spokes” with another member of DS Houston, Hana Pinard, who had already competed very sucessfully in Chicago. The fourth teammate was Michael Spata, a German guy they had met at Mc Gill University where they were staying. Since our team was a mixed team, we had a pretty good chance.

We still trained quite seriously the day before, to get the pace line moving smoothly. And on Friday, the day of the race, it went indeed pretty well, so we ended up with a Silver Medal! Thanks to a wonderful team! After the Chicago experience with Dave, Joe and Tom, and this, I must say: racing in a team time trial with a good team is amongst the coolest moment I can experience on a bike.

Our team: back: Keith and Hana. Front: Michael and Jerome

Epilogue: meanwhile, another DSSF member, my boyfriend Ron, got a gold medal in badminton in mixed double with his partner Laura… all the while playing in a skirt! See the first picture in the article. By the way, I wish a cycling magazine would have the same kind of article about the gay Games or the Out Games.

The reach of Different Spokes knows no limit! I am happy to report two more medals for a DSSF member, one gold one bronze..

…in Badminton.

Indeed, Ron got one gold medals in the Men Single and one bronze in the Mized Double with his partner Laura.

Last Saturday was the Death Ride, also know as the Tour of the California Alps. It is a 125 mile ride with 16000 feet of climbing. At least that’s what they said but I had never been able to figure out how four passes with less than 3000 feet each and one of 1550 feet could add up to 16000.

Well, now I know: it’s a myth. My GPS recorded 14913 feet of climbing and I think MotionBased is even exaggerating a bit.

In any case, this Death Ride (my seventh) turned to be a memorable one. Because of the last 3 miles. That last climb to Turtle Rock Park (the start/finish) generally leaves you some memory, either becasue you cannot wait for this ordeal to be over, or because you’re getting thrilled with your accomplishment. This time for me, it was because lightning started to strike all around me with thunder that was so close that there was no delay between the light and the sound. Then it started to rain. And to rain more. And to pour. And to pour more. And then hail. I am actually glad I was climbing, and it didn’t happen during the fast descent that was preceding. I would have frozen.

Otherwise, apart from those last 15 minutes, the weather had been perfect. Not too cold, and more importantly not to hot, especially in Woodford Canyon, the part that precedes Carson Pass and where I suffered many times in the past. I had started ahead of Bill and Bart, so I only saw them when I was climbng back the parts they were descending at the same time: the back side of Monitor and the back side of Ebbetts.

In the end, that made a pretty dramatic ending for what maybe my last Death Ride. Because I am starting to feel a bit over it (one year might be enough to change my mind, though :-)) I saw a lot of riders with “Climb to Kaiser Finisher” jerseys and that could make for a change. We’ll see…

Maybe I should have been a tad more reassuring in my description… Maybe slower spokers would have been encouraged to join, and not leave me alone with those three cruise missiles. In any case the turn out was four times higher than my first edition of this same ride 🙂 mostly due to slightly nicer skies. But it was a constant struggle to keep up with Bill, Erik and Raymond, even weightened by my secret french weapon: the quatre-quarts I forced them to eat before starting.
In any case it was a pretty nice group to ride with sweep. I had a disppointment in Pescadero, because the line to get sandwiches at the bakery here was so long that we had to fall back on breads, croissants and rolls. There are some advantages in riding in the rain…
West Alpine Road kept all its promises. This 3000 foot climb (if we include the climb on Pescadero Rd) from Pescadero to the top of Page Mill Rd is equivalent to a mountain pass and the end can be a bit tough in the heat, the shade becoming pretty sparse towards the summit. Fortunately the temperature was not too painful that day.
After that the descent to Palo Alto and the ride back on Caltrain would have made the last part a breeze, if it hadn’t been for the real breeze gale we had to face in the last stretch from the station to my place, on Geneva Ave , exactly where ALC 5 had started two weeks before.
Some more details on motionbased.com and a few pictures in the gallery.

After eight years of trying to convince Spokers at least to try this ride, which IMO is one of the most interesting I know, finally they came. What makes Mt Hamilton Challenge nice is the fact that most of the route is in very remote scenery. Notwithstanding those silly first (and last) miles visiting Silicon Valley. Otherwise, at least 70 miles of the rote are spent in areas where no developments have taken place.
Yet.

As usual I have put the GPS information on GPXchange so you can get the exact route.

One of the drawbacks of this century is that it starts by a long climb, which tends to spread apart any group that may start together. Which might explain the absence of any spokers in my photos.
In other words, I was by far the slowest and never catch up with the rest of the group.
Joe was already turning the corner from the start with Doug when I arrived, so he must have finished when I had lunch. His boyfriend Mark left after me but quickly passed me to catch up with him, which was even more impressive. Bart and Bill left us at the beginning of the climb and I kept up with them for time to time only because they had decided to make the most of the rest stops (and even off the rest stops, since they decided to enjoy Junction Cafe). How they manage to stay together is a mystery that I will leave to People’s readers.

So, most of the pictures I have taken were pretty cyclist-less. But the views were beautiful, especially the last part of Hamilton, riding above the clouds and amongst the wildflowers , an exceptional sight on San Antonio valley, due to the heavy rains these last months.

There is a variant of the ride, the Mt Hamilton ascent, which consist in clibing to the top and getting back by retracing your steps. That the option that Doug and David chose. How reasonable.

The only thing that bugged me was running (twice) into other cyclists doing the Devil Double Mountain.
You dont’ want to know.
All right…
It is a double century including Mt Diablo, Morgan Territory, Altamont, Mines Rd, the back side of Hamilton, Sierra Rd and Palomares. I told you, you asked for it.

I felt like such a slacker…

I think this was a very nice ride. And nobody will contradict me, because nobody else showed up 🙂

I am talking about the “SF to Pescadero Hills” ride posted here.
Granted, it was a bit wet up until Hwy 92, but nothing any decent rain gear would be unable to manage, and once I had gone over Skyline on the coast side, the weather was cloudy but quite pleasant. I guess those wimpy Californians need much more to get out of their beds!

As I had posted, it was rather hilly: 8735 feet of climbing for 85 miles. My favorite climb might have beeen Higgins Canyon, but Stage Road was nice too, especially when all the scenery around is so green! Of course, not to forget the main course of this menu, West Alpine Road which, associated with Pescadero Hills, makes for a 3000-foot climb. Here is a glimpse of what my GPS showed me:

Other details on gpxchange.com

Finally, the best reward was coming down Page Mill Rd. It is generally pretty, with views over the South bay and the Valley. But this time there was one of the most spectacular rainbow I had seen in a long time, staying there all along my descent. Quite a finish for a DSSF ride!

My real regret is not to have been able to share those moments with any other Spokers. But I am still hopeful, I’ll post and lead it again soon!

This ride saw a pretty substantial turnout, for such a short notice. Originally it was decided after the board had agreed on a date for the board meeting, and then decided to ride beforehand, which is why it got only posted on Thursday. The idea of going to China Camp (on San Pedro Rd near San Rafael) came from a ride I did last July around the San Pablo Bay. I then noticed how gorgeous that 11 mile stretch around Point San Pedro was, and that it would make a nice change to the Tiburon Loop.

Group on the Bridge – A Cove in China Camp

The ride departs from the Tiburon loop at Paradise Drive, where it gose north through San Rafael and San Quentin (well not really through, unless you’ve done something very bad). China Camp is located on the north side of the Point San Pedro. At the end of that road you can also admire the Marin Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, then the route goes towards Manuel T Freitas Pkwy, with a steep climb to a bike path that lead over the San Rafael Hill down to San Anselmo. The rest of the ride would be familiar to people coming from Fairfax.

Group picture in from of the Marin Civic Center ( see more on the web site)

Apart from the members of the board, Bill, David, Dave and Jerome, a surprising number of new or less new Spokers showed up: Erik, Don, Lesley, Jeff… They gave this ride a pretty serious pace.
We were then joined by Michael who had succesfully chased us since the Panhandle, and by Brian and Joseph coming back from their more butch ride to Point Reyes.

I put the GPS information on this website where you can get the GPX file, the map of the route and even the KML file if you have Google Earth, to retrace the route!