And the windmills stood quiet…

Each time I had done the Mt Hamilton Challenge, I had run into riders climbing Mines Rd. Since I learned they were doing the “Devil Mountain” Double Century, I got curious… I had done double centuries before (13 since 1999), but one that included the two big summits of the Bay Area, Mount Diablo and Mount Hamilton, sounded appealing. It became a bit scarier when I learned that the organizers, not quite satisfied with these two mountains, had included all the climbs they could find in the route: Mt Diablo, Morgan Territory, Patterson Pass, Mines Rd, Mt Hamilton, Sierra Rd, Palomares and Norris Canyon!

In particular Sierra Rd was a particularly nasty inclusion: by itself it’s a tough hill that climbs more than 1700 feet in 3.5 miles with some long parts approaching 20%. But putting that at mile 150, after you’ve climbed already 15000 feet, that ought to be considered an “unjust and cruel punishment”.

The other thing was that it is a bit early in the season, so I hesitated a few years before taking the plunge this year. I tried to log as many miles (and feet) as possible during the Saddle Challenge, did the Solvang Double Century as a training ride (!) and try to ride all the parts of DMD separately in the weeks before (to get a sense of what that means, you can view my GPS logs here for the south and here for the north part).

It seemed to have paid off. In the first climb, Mt Diablo, I got a bit worried because I kept seeing many more riders ahead than behind, so I was not sure I could make it to the 1 PM cut-off at Mines Rd. That’s also at the top of Diablo that I saw Will for the last time – I was not going to see until the finish, where he had been already asleep for 2 hours when I arrived!

As a matter of fact, during the entire ride (the 19 hours of it…) I felt surprisingly good. The hardest part was probably the back side of Mt Hamilton, because it was still pretty hot. Even Sierra Rd went ok, and I got rewarded by a beautiful sunset on the whole Bay.

What about the title? Oh, it’s just that I had done as a training ride the north part of DMD and my most difficult moment was something nobody had warned me about: Patterson Pass. On paper, it seemed like a reasonable little climb. The problem was the headwinds: near the top, they actually prevented to ride, and I had to walk! So I was very happy, last Saturday, to notice that the windmills (they haven’t put them here by accident!) were still. At that point, I felt it was going to be a good ride.

If you want to get a sense of it, you can view the logs on my Garmin .

You can also see the results: Will finished a brilliant 52nd position, before 10 PM!, whereas I was happy to arrive around midnight, with some 20 riders behind me 🙂

Now, I can get back to normal activities…

A view of the course with Google Earth

Tierra Bella

This years Tierra Bella featured a new hellish change to the century route; no Metcalf Road climb, instead we only went as far as Calero Reservoir before returning to Morgan Hill and then on to the new challenge, Thomas Grade and East Dunne to Henry Coe State Park.

Jerome Thomere, William Bir, Larry L’Italien, David Goldsmith and I all headed out together for the loop up past Uvas. Christopher Olson was also at the ride start, but he was unsure because it was rather cold, he mentioned something about going back to a warm bed instead.

At the Uvas rest stop, David told us to go on, he was going on to his own version of the ride, and made his way over to do the Gilroy Hot Springs loop, ending the day with over 70 miles.

Topher did catch up to us at the Calero rest stop and again at the Coyote River park stop, although he had to change a tube there. He later passed me, going up East Dunne to the Henry Coe Park rest stop.

Although we did not see Stephanie Clarke or her spin class friend (who were doing the metric) before we left, or any of the other DSSFers doing the metric, we did hear of sightings by Alfred Santiago who started the metric with Stephanie Vance, along with Feney Mathews who reported she enjoyed the beautiful ride, despite winds on the return to Gabilan College.

And Almaden Cycling Touring Club definitely wins kudos for the homemade breads at the rest stops along with the post-ride meal, always great featuring pie and ice cream!

The final results are in for the March Saddle Challenge…

The DSSF March Saddle challenge has come to a close and what a
spectacular month of riding it was for our participants! Larry
Litalien maintained the lead for the most miles ridden in March: 778!
Congratulations Larry! Jerome Thomere stayed in 2nd with 740 miles
and Will Bir hit 595 miles for 3rd place! Will & Jerome both did the
Solvang Double Century in March, thus they tied for the most miles
ridden in a single day: 192.5 miles – yikes!!!

Larry continued his almost daily riding routine throughout the month
for a total of 28 riding days! I was next with 27 days (in case you
haven’t guessed it, we both commute to work on our bikes).

The Saddle Challenge is also about achieving the mileage goals that
we set at the beginning of the month. Will topped that list at nearly
120%! Others that reached their mileage goals included Sharon Lum,
Larry Litalien, Jerome Thomere and myself. President Gaus and Don
Dodge came very close to theirs as well.

When participants registered for the Saddle Challenge, we gave them
the option to continue supporting Project Inform in the name of Ron
Wilmot – a former DSSF member. This could be done in a pledge per
mile basis or a fixed lump-sum contribution. Collectively we raised
over $500.00 this year!

Thanks to everyone that participated this March! We hope this has
helped to get you on your way to a great year of riding! Be sure to
continue watching the DSSF Ride Calendar for upcoming rides.

Viel Velovergnügen alle!

Evil Step Sisters

April 5th DSSF had our own metric century — the Evil Stepsisters timed to coincide with the Cinderella Classic, with Michael S, Joe H, Ann D, Wanderson, Jeff P and Erik L. It was a real pleasure to have
Marty C. join us. Marty said he hadn’t been on his bike in nearly a year. He’d been at a Battlestar Gallatica season-opener party the night before. He started talking to Michael. Got inspired and got up
at the crack of dawn game for taking on Mt. Tam.

The route is the Alpine Damn loop and we took the Fairfield first route. The group was small and stayed fairly close together. We had a pit stop at Ruilli Gran Cafe in Larkspur, where we picked up some food and another at Fairfax.

It was a great day for riding — sunny but pleasantly clear and cool.

Lunch at the dam was a tranquil as usual. Alpine Dam is such a peaceful place. Climb up Mt Tam — check. But the seven sisters were the real evil stepsisters on this ride. Big. Ugly and Hostile.

Little did we know that during this time Roger C and Will B were leading a later ride hoping to catch up to us. Apparently, they just missed us at the PanToll station but Schmuki was able to have a coffee with them when they met up a Peet’s.

Aaannnndddd they’re off!

Well, most of them anyway…

The first 10 days of March have passed and the DSSF Saddle Challenge participants are starting to rack up some serious mileage – collectively they have logged over 1,400 miles! Larry L’Italien leads the way with 263 miles ridden in 9 of the 10 days – just over 40% of his 650 mile goal. The President, Mr. Gaus, is catching up with 232 miles, and Jerome (the frenchman) is not far behind with 226 miles!

When we registered for the challenge, we set a mileage goal for the month. The highest percentage achieved to date (73%), as well as the most days ridden (10 for 10) goes to yours truly 😉

David Gaus currently has the most miles ridden in a single day: 101! I suspect this was the day of the Solvang Century. That record may be broken before the month is over though – there have been rumors of a couple of people doing a double century in the weeks ahead.

The weather has been beautiful so far this March – let’s hope it keeps up!

Happy riding everyone – hope to see you on the road soon!

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

Aaron reports on Tuesday’s By the Light of the Silvery Moon ride. He was joined by new member Thomas Outt, along with Bill (who was a Tuesday nite regular last summer) for a beautiful ride last night! The weather was stupendous with fresh clear air, no winds, calm waters and diaphanous views of glittering lights around the SF Bay. The city itself was just glimmering like the jewels of the Modonna!

Thanks Aaron!

February Jersey Ride

Saturday’s Jersey ride was quite the spectacular February day! Following up on January’s hazy and crisp Jersey ride, a clear morning and with temperatures in the 60’s it was a welcome break from the rains of the previous weekend.

Chris, Jerome, Michael, Will and myself led the ride out with members Wly, John, Larry, Aaron, Raymond and Cameron, the newest member having just joined the day before. We were joined by Harold, Pierre, Ely and Jeffrey as we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge shortly after 9am. At the bridge, we were joined by Dave, Roger and Jeremy.

It was a bit windier than I expected, but not horrible, as we crossed the bridge. On a gorgeous day like today, it didn’t matter. At the Conzelman parking lot, we met up with Stephanie and were soon joined by Nancy (who had to hurry by Sports Basement and get a new helmet.) This brought the rider count up to 20 riders!

Will and Harold headed on to do the longer Conzelman route, and the other riders had already headed on down to Sausalito. Jerome decided to also do Conzelman, and so Roger, Stephanie, Nancy and I headed after the others.

At Camino Alto, Jerome caught up with us and we caught up with the others at Sharks Deli in Tiburon at lunch. Most of the riders were done with lunch ahead of us and headed back. We said good bye to Aaron, who was returning to the City by ferry.

Thanks for coming out and riding with us!

Many Thanks to the Ride Leaders!

What a year for Different Spokes San Francisco! By estimates, we rode together as a club for nearly (if not over) 23,000 miles!

Special thanks go to Aaron, Jeremy, Will, Stephanie C, Stephanie V, Jerome, Chris T, Cory, David G3, Ken, Patrick, Alfred, Jen and Liz who posted and led or co-led more than one ride. Thanks as well to Chris and Anne for leading most of the Jersey Rides, our monthly ride around the Tiburon loop. And not to ignore members who led or co-led a single ride, thanks also go to Mark, Nancy, Jeff, Rico, Laura, Kim, Erik, Sharon, Russ, Coy, and Tim. And that does not include the DSSF supported organized rides we did as a group, such as Chico Wildflower, Wine Country, AIDS/LifeCycle, the Death Ride, Marin Century, or Konocti Challenge in 2007.

Jeremy took the Alpine Dam/Mt. Tam the “hard way” to new levels, leading this a dozen different times, under some rather amusing names too (I Hate My Sisters, Test of Strength, Dam Tam Fever, Vote for Pedro and Toe Fungi).

Will led 10 different rides and co-led another, starting in January with the Brief Tour of Napa, March with the Del Puerto Canyon and Napa Spring Forward century rides, the Firecracker 4400 and Lucky 7 Double Devil rides in July, three fabulous different rides for the Gold Rush weekend in Amador County and finishing the year with the HMB HWY 1 S ride from Half Moon Bay. He also co-led the Fall Social 3 Bears Loop with Stephanie C, and hosted the Holiday Party at his home.

And we had great representation from the women of the club too! Stephanie V led the East Bay BART to BART rides, Coyote Hills via the Alameda Creek Trail, Tiburon from the Golden Gate Bridge and co-led a Pleasanton Coffee Ride too. Stephanie C started the spring rides with the Marin One Bakery Loop, along with a Cinderella Warm-up training ride, co-led the Half Moon Bay-Gazos Creek-Canyon loop and the East Bay Parks & Reservoirs rides, showed off her new bike with the Shiny New Bike Ride in September, and finished the year with the GLS Tour of San Francisco (with Nancy) and continued the post-Thanksgiving ride series with the Turkey Burn/Marin One Bakery Ride (with David G3.)

Attempts were made to get the club out riding before or after work too (in addition to Aaron’s Tuesday After Work Ride, of course!) Liz started the morning work out by posting the Cap’n Crunch rides (the Conzelman loop) and Jen followed in early summer with the East Bay After Work Ride.

Kim lead the Fast & Flat work out in the East Bay, Chris & Anne led the Nicassio Loop the Easy Way, Laura led the Rosie the Riveter ride for the Fall Social and Sharon finished the year with her classic Mt. Hamilton in the Fall ride.

Different Spokes members ride mountain bikes also. Ken, who competes with Jeremy for the most amusing ride names, started the year with Un Cañon Muy Puro, an 80 mile challenging ride from Millbrae over Kings Mountain Road and down to the coast and back. Tim led the Mountain Bike Ride in Redwood Park before the Fall social (and who can forget his post for riders… “like I said, if it’s only me and I fall and no one is there to help me and I have to drag myself back to the road with only my left arm, that’s ok too!” And Coy ended the year with Anyone Want to Ride a Boy Scout? well attended by six riders in all!

The longest ride posted was the 120 mile Hell-Devil-Liver-Ham (in that order) Happy Ride, led by Ken in early April He followed that epic journey with the Girlie Men/Manly Girls (Arnold? Are you there…?) ride taking Amtrak to Sacramento and then bike 30+ miles along the Sacramento and American Rivers to downtown Folsom for lunch, then return.

And Cory returned to the club in spring with Morgan Territory Circumnavigation, Chilly Hilly, Mary Go Round and a Woodside, Tunitas Creek, San Gregorio, Old La Honda kicker before injury sidelined him for the summer. Not to be held back, he returned in the fall with the Easy Canada Roller, and the Woodside Fast and Flat rides.

And returning member Chris T. brought even more Peninsula rides to the club with the Palo Alto to Los Gatos, South Bay Mellow Metric, Loop Around the South Bay, Stanford Plus Loop, and Mountain View to Pulgas Water Temple rides. He also brought DSSF to the Central Valley for Fresno in the Autumn!

Another competitor for the longest ride, Mark Y led the Los Altos to Davenport Double Century training ride, getting ready for the Terrible Two.

And thanks to Jerome for leading the China Camp loop ride to the Club Picnic and for co-leading the Morgan Territories-Palomares loop. Thanks to Erik for the Tam Quickie, Rico for the San Pablo Bay Loop, Patrick for Patrick’s Birthday Ride, Alfred for the Pleasanton Coffee Ride, and Jeff for the Nicasio Reservoir loop.

So what will 2008 bring? It’s up to each and every one of us as members. The road and dirt track are just waiting for you to lead a group of happy and enthusiastic Different Spokers on a wonderful cycling adventure!

Let’s Ride!

January Jersey Ride

When I left Hollister at 6:15am headed for the City, I was a bit concerned about the 39 degree temperature I saw while on Highway 25. I was relieved to see that as I headed north, and the sun came up, that the temperature was finally approaching the 50’s. Shades of last January’s ride we did in the 40’s, which wasn’t all that bad, as I was dressed for it.

Dave, Michael, Patrick and I led the ride from Peets, joined by Larry, Wly, John, Nancy, and Les, along with Stuart, who had enjoyed one of Aaron’s Relaxing Rides in the past, and came out to give DSSF another whirl. At the bridge, we were joined by Don and Jerome bringing our number to an even dozen.

Nancy and Larry were doing the Conzleman longer loop, and she headed out first, missing the last minute group photo. They arrived in Tiburon together, having kept each other company, while the rest of us opted for the standard Tib loop.

Thanks for joining us!

Post Thanksgiving Turkey Burn

Stephanie & David posted this ride on the Different Spokes calendar and I had been looking forward to it. It’s now a “tradition” of sorts (do 2 years make a tradition?) to have a day after Thanksgiving ride, and with today’s weather, what a fabulous ride it was! David has cross posted the ride to the AIDS/LifeCycle forum and that brought Rod Wong out to join us, along with Will. I had not met Rod before, but I “knew” him from ALC and he is also a Training Ride Leader.

Todays ride was the Classic Marin One-Bakery ride, starting at the Millwood Community Center on Lucas Valley Road. We head out Lucas Valley and the first climb is up to Chimney Rock. From there it’s a nice downhill as we rolled through the redwoods and on to Nicasio, our first regroup point. From there, we headed out around the reservoir and up and over Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Road to the Cheese Factory, our second regroup. We had expected traffic to lighten up from here, but I think the clear gorgeous day brought out more cars and motorcyles.

Leaving the Cheese Factory, we turned onto Hicks Valley to head to the big, big hill called the Marshall Wall. From the top, what a gorgeous view of Tomales Bay. This was the first time to descend the Wall on the “new” bike and after some tips from Lorri with Velo Girls, and I must say, I felt more confident and comfortable on this than I recall the last time, which would have been the Marin Century in 2006.

At Highway 1, we head south about 10 miles to Pt Reyes Station and the Bovine Bakery for a late lunch. I had as slice of pizza, and David bought a cinnamon roll that he shared. A quick stop at the fire station to use the restrooms and then we started heading back. Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Road took us back to and around Nicasio Reservoir, and then it’s a gentle (mostly) climb back up Lucas Valley Road to Chimney Rock and the final descent back to the cars. All in all we were done just after 3pm, with just under 4 hours of moving time, averaging 15.6 mph!

Route profile