Stephanie Clarke was reading an article in the New York Times, about the Grizzly Peak Century held earlier this month.
She says: “When I saw the photo, I thought to myself, I saw that guy out on the course. Then when I looked behind him, there I was. I’m the one in yellow, standing to climb a hill on my bike, aka, “The Shiny New Bike.” I’m a little out of focus, but I think you can still tell it’s me. We always knew I’d make the Times!”
You can read the full article here!
While it was foggy in the City and on the drive up from Hollister, it was nice to see this pocket of sunshine in Palo Alto, as a group of us met at Gunn High School on Arastradero (right off Foothill Expressway) for the Velo Girls Bike Skills 201: Climbing & Descending clinic. Stephanie, Nancy, Chris, Larry, Wly, Doug, Raymond and his friend Charles signed up. Each of us had different skills we hoped to improve on, and some hope to overcome our fears some, by learning better handling skills.
We started out in the parking lot with Bike Handling Skills. Did you know that you should not be “steering” with your handlebars? First we did a bike/body separation drill, where we rode around the parking lot and changed out positions out of the saddle; first out on the top tube, then way back off of the saddle, then off to the left and off to the right. We then focused on steering the bike with hips, first by standing at the bike and practicing hip swivels, left then right. Then we got on the bike to use this same motion to ride through a cone slalom.
Counter-steering was next, and when explained it does seem intuitive; that for a right turn you would stand on the outside leg, in this case the left, and then your inside hand is weighted and pushing on the bar (you should be in the drops). And then you lean your body in the opposite direction. Practicing this in the parking lot, I finally got it!
Then we learned about riding techniques, hands, feet and weight distribution for either seated or standing climbing and for either technical descents or fast descents. We then rode up to the Arastradero Preserve for a quick break, and then we headed up to Alpine Road, above Portola, where we turned off on to Indian Crossing Road to practice both the climbing and the descending, with Lorri and Kim watching and providing feedback. It got to be kind of fun, we were doing mini-hill repeats, climbing in the saddle, then out of the saddle where it got steeper, even shifting into a harder gear on the climb. And then we got to come back down, quickly gaining speed, many of us seeing 38 mph, before turning around to do it again!
And then the climb to the end of Alpine Road, it’s about a three mile climb, the road is nicely paved, with not a steep grade except here or there and until the last stretch. And then the payoff, the technical switchbacky descent down to our regroup at Willowbrook Road, near the Windy Hill Open Spaces. And then from there, the long straight descent down Alpine, and then returning to Gunn High School. Group consensus was the A+! We all got new skills to practice and added confidence in both climbing and descending.
Thanks again, Lorri and Kim!
The temperatures were a bit chillier than the clear sky indicated, but that did not faze the 18 riders on the May Jersey ride. It was also great to be joined be DSSF founding member Howard Neckel. Returning member, Kepa Askenasy joined us on her new Bianchi, having replaced her 17 year old Specialized. Several members joined us along the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, those wanting that extra bit of sleep on a Saturday morning.
Raymond Pelayo and Michael Schmucki lead the morning Conzleman loop, joined by Joseph (5,000 miles before ALC) Collins and Larry L’Italien. Chris Contos, Patrick Heryford and myself led the rest doing the Camino Alto-Paradise Drive Tiburon Loop meeting up at Shark’s Deli, including Cameron Ross, John Coundouris, Wanderson Carlos, Yew Hoe Tan, Jeremy Jacobs, Rico Nappa and David Goldsmith. Unfortunately, we lost one guest rider along the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, David’s friend Rhette who came up from San Jose. We were also joined by Rob, a friend of Joseph’s, and Doug.
On the return trip, Chris and I opted to do the Conzelman loop, and Joseph and Larry opted to repeat it with us, we considered returning thru the tunnel and coming back up under the bridge, but ultimately decided to climb back up McCullough and then back down Conzleman. Joseph took us an a detour through the Presidio to an old dilapidated former leper hospital, soon to be renevated to.. what else? luxury condos. Jospeh and Larry dropped off towards their respective homes and Chris and I arrived back at Peets to have coffee with Michael.
Look forward to seeing you all next month!
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
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!
On Sunday, Team Different Spokes San Francisco held our Fourth Annual team fundraising party at Michael Schmucki’s house to eat, drink, and talk about the upcoming AIDS LifeCycle.
We had a wonderful turnout and we raised a ton of money.
San Francisco AIDS Foundation volunteer Beau Thomsom spoke about the ride, the organization and the spirit of the ride.
Different Spokes members and guests to date pledged $7736.00!
We want to thank everyone who came to the party and made a contribution.
For those who could not make it but would like to lend their support, please visit AIDS/LifeCycle Team 146. Every dollar goes to support the programs and services of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and is tax deductible.
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!
Peter Bejger attended the first (of a series of three) open houses at Magnet, the gay men’s health center and community space in the Castro yesterday. This was a last minute showing on the part of Different Spokes, and big thanks to Peter, who agreed to represent the club at the last minute. Peter contacted Jaime Guererro, who had also shared the information about this event and was attending with the San Francisco Hiking Club.
Peter reported that Jaime was very helpful in throwing together some print matter for display and distribution. The DSSF banner was also displayed at the event. Not terribly busy but some traffic and some nice networking with other sports clubs.
Thanks Peter & Jaime!
Photos courtesy of Bob Callori SF Track & Field Club
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.
Last night Different Spokes held the 2008 Kick-off Membership meeting at the new Sports Basement Potrero Hill, and what a great turn out! Over 30 members, several having just joined, and many returning members came out to meet the 2008 board and kick-off this new year of cycling and events for Different Spokes.
Highlights included:
* Stephanie Clarke, Ride Coordinator
She spoke to members about the need for rides. There is a growing library of routes available in the Yahoo! group Files section, both member developed and routes from various organized rides. She also mentioned a great way for first time ride leaders to jump in, ask a member or board member to help one co-leading a ride!
* William Bir-Event Coordinator
Will announced the club’s weekend trips and dates for the year. Back this year is the ever popular Russian River weekend, 7/25-27, with a ride to the River on Friday, various ride options on Saturday, and a club dinner being planned for Saturday night. The Amador County weekend returns with three days of riding in the Sierra foothills, staying at the Far Horizons 49er Village, 10/16-19.
* Lorri Lee Lown-Velo Girls
Our guest, USA Cycling Coach Elite, Lorri Lee Lown did a presentation and demonstration on bike fit, with yours truly as the guinea pig on the Computrainer. She went over the issues cause by an incorrect fit and spoke of technique and correct positioning and while we ran out of time, members had lots of question and issues. For more information on a bike fit session with Lorri, check out Velo Girls Coaching Services.
We closed the evening with a raffle and then all members hurried off to shop and take advantage of the 20% off beads for those attending, compliments of Wendy at the Sports Basement. I heard the check out line grew quite long, so we were glad to know that members did take advantage of the discount!
Special thanks to — Chris Contos for organizing the space with SB, Roger Chapman & Chris Contos for coordinating the pizza and beverages, Patrick Heryford for handling reception and the raffle, Lorri Lee Lown for her time and knowledge, Raymond Pelayo for photographing the event, and Sports Basement for providing the space.
The Chain Letter 