Category: Just for fun

Chasing Legends

Thanks to the heads up from Roger Sayer, he had seen a poster up for this being shown at the Castro, so I checked my schedule, arranged for a place to stay for the night and put it on the DSSF calendar. Sophie, Roger, Doug D and myself met up, Doug O caught up with Jaime and Roy (!). I thoroughly enjoyed it, the scenery, the interviews, and a bit of history thrown in, with a few laughs.

Chasing Legends Synopsis

Every so often a film will grab hold and entertain its audience in a way that leaves them begging for more. Known for their ability to produce such award-winning work, the rag-tag crew known as Gripped Films once again lives up to their name. Independently funded, filmed and produced with as much grit, passion and determination as their subjects, Gripped Films presents Chasing Legends, a feature length documentary following the HTC-Columbia Team through the 2009 Tour De France.
All of cycling is desperate for heroes they can believe in, Gripped Films gives them Team HTC-Columbia like they have never seen, through an intense and personal glimpse inside the most winning professional cycling team as told by the riders, current and past heroes. Included in the film will be commentary from Eddy Merckx, Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen, Jens Voigt, Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Mark Cavendish and many others.

Chasing Legends highlights the greatest heroes in professional cycling with a dramatic show of teamwork and panache from Team HTC-Columbia through the 2009 Tour de France. The film takes viewers on an absolutely epic ride into the race action. Using a multitude of high tech, high def cameras mounted on bikes, motorcycles, helicopters and team cars, Gripped Films will also include historical race footage, artistic travelogue of the European countryside and villages with narration from the voice of cycling for the USA, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.

Morgan Territories and Palomares, or not…

Not… for me on the bike anyway. Maybe I was doomed because I did part of this in the spring as an ALC training ride. For whatever reason, I forgot my shoes for this ride. Worse? I was maybe 10 miles from the home when I wondered if I had everything. I quickly dismissed it, I have such a routine now. I grab my shoes, helmet, pump, glasses, gloves all in one pass off of the storage in the garage. The second pass, I grab the floor pump and handlebar bag, then load my bike on the back of the car. Like clockwork. If I had only stopped and checked the back of the car…

11 riders from Concord BART, less me

I provided SAG and photography for the day, though!

Full photo gallery here!

Saddle Challenge final results…

…are in!

Doug rode the most miles in March, with 703 miles, followed by Larry (483) and David Gaus (417).

David Goldsmith smashed his goal by more than 50%. Doug, Will and David all exceeded their goal. Larry, David Stouffer and Evan came very close!

For the second year in a row, Larry lead the most days of riding, with 12 days, followed by Doug (11) and David Stouffer (10).

The biggest day was March 21 with an impressive 385 miles, even more so since it didn’t include a double century!

Everyone who joined the challenge and rode during the month is a winner! Overall we completed 3,158 miles of the 3,340 total mileage goal with $320 raised for Project Inform by 10 participants!

Those who pledged money for Project Inform can send your check to the club PO box and they will be send in on the club’s behalf, in memory of Ron Wilmont.

Thanks to all who participated in this year’s Saddle Challenge. Great job everyone!

My first google map ride

Last Saturday, I went on a BART to BART bike ride through the 3 bears and Mt Diablo (up to the junction). I knew most of the route, but there was some parts I was not to familiar, around Pleasant Hill, and some part where I knew only not bike friendly routes (north of Dublin).
So I decided to use the new bicycling route from Google Maps. It took me literally 20 seconds! Here is what they come up with:

Google maps direction from Orinda Bart to Dublin Pleasanton via 3 bears and Diablo junction

Mostly I was very happy with the results:

– I discover some nice street in Pleasant Hill that connected to the Contra Cost Canal Trail

– The last part of the Trail (south of Pleasant Hill BART station) I was familiar with, but they made me leave it to cross Ygnacio Valley Rd, which I think was better than what I usually do.

– Then they make you reconnect with the trail, but with misleading indications, using the street names. Fortunately I knew that part.

– Much later on, they finally made me discover southern part of Iron Horse Trail, that very nicely connect to the Dublin Pleasanton BART station.

One problem is that it is sometimes hard to follow their indication when on a trail, because cross streets are very rarely marked.

I am pretty sure that won’t be news for some of you, but it opens new perspectives for the rest of us.

Final Saddle Challenge results…

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

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

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

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

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

Third week Saddle Challenge update!

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

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

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

Larry has also logged miles 18 out of 21 days!

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

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

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

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

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

Next update will be after the 31st!

First week Saddle Challenge results in!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check the DSSF website for more details:

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

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

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

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

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

Next update will be next Monday!

Let’s ride!

March Saddle Challenge is on!

But what is this Saddle Challenge, you ask?

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

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

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

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

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

How do you sign up?

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

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

–Let’s Ride!

Santa Monica Mountains

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

From Tuna Canyon.JPG

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

Sherwood Lake.JPG

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