Bike Diary December

I've been off the blog for months now.  The remainder of 2011 has been shaping up according to plan.  I did 200k brevets in July, August, September, October and November.  I've ridden into the office several more times, but I've lost count how many.  Maybe 10?  Anyway, I wont be making it to 50.

Last weekend I did a 100k permanent (the East Bay Sampler).  Total time start to finish was 5 hours to the minute, including controls (and stop lights).  I started 29 minutes late and waited for several minutes for my last receipt so my recorded time was 5:32, still a personal best for a 100k.  That brings me to 2831k of official approved RUSA distance.  I'm signed up for a 200k permanent in Corona on December 27th to round out my R12, and to get to 3000k for the year.  That will conclude my 2011 season.

2012 is a lot more ambitious.  For starters, I plan on doing a full SR series by May12.  200k in January.  200k in February.  300k in March.  400k in April and 600k in May.  There are numerous 200s and 300s on the SFR calendar, and a mixed terrain 400k.  That means I only (only!) need to find another 600k to be a double SR in 2012.  There's a 600k in Iowa in June, and a 600k in Oregon in September (the Big Lebowski)  , and a Santa Cruz 600 the following weekend.  If I do all the planned events, that could total up to 6000k of brevets.

My training approach in 2012 will have a couple changes.  I intend to focus predominantly on climbing "quality miles".  The ride up to my house from Del Norte BART counts as 400ft vertical (500ft if I go to the top).  The ride to the office is 2500ft.  The East Bay Sampler is 4000ft.  The brevet schedule itself includes a lot of climbing.  It's not out of the question to shoot for 500,000ft of vertical in 2012.

Bike Diary 7-1-2011

Day 1 of the second half of the year.  I'm way behind trying to get in 50 rides into the office, but I did another today.  I 'rocked' my new Rapha bibshorts.  They are cushy. 

That makes 18 rides in and 3249km.

Next Brevet on the calendar is July 16 200k to Cloverdale.  Maybe a 200k back as well on Sunday. 

Catch up on the bike diary

It's June 27th and a bit of cycling has happened between the last post and now.  The last post I had ridden 16 times into the office and 2729km total. 

I rode in to the office once last week, bringing that count to 17.  I've also done two more 200k brevets.  I did a 200k in Cayucos with the PCH Randos.  Yesterday I did my first solo Permanent 200, the Mt Hamilton Challenge.  That keeps the R12 on pace, and roughly gets us up to 3189k.  I might have missed a ride into the office, but that's what you get for being sloppy. 

Bike Diary 5-6-2011

16th ride in to the office, 2729km total

This was my first distance ride on my new-old Trek 770.  This 1984 model bike I picked up on craigslist and parted out most of the Campy Super Record bits to finance setting it up somewhat more modern.  The bike did quite well.  The low-light was the left Suntour retrofriction shifter couldn't hold the Suntour front derailleur in place.  Out of the saddle in the big ring, the front der would begin to rub on the high side.  I'll need to try a different washer configuration to get that taken care of.  Otherwise, I think that's going to be a good bike for me. 

Bike Diary 5-4-2011

Last weekend was the Grizzly Peak Century.  I did the full century route, which was nominally 109 miles.  Including the ride to and from my front door, I logged 185km, for an annual total of 2649km. 

Bike Diary 4-27-2011

I have taken a couple weeks essentially off since the Santa Cruz 300k. 

Last weekend I did a 20k trail/road ride on the lately trail-configured Hillborne, and I rode into the office yesterday.  That should make it 15 times I've ridden in, and 2464k total. 

Tomorrow I'm doing a 100k to keep my P12 going.  Sunday is the Grizzly Peak Century.  My cyclometer on the Hilsen seems to have erased itself, which makes me glad that I've been logging distances here. 

Bike Diary 4-11-2011

After a week of basic recovery, I rode the first leg of the dirt commute to Hayward on Sunday.  Wildcat Canyon is still pretty muddy in a few sections, but it was mostly passable.  I'm calling that 30k on Sunday.  I rode into the office today for the 14th time this year.  That brings the yearly total to 2384km. 

Also last week I rode each of the kids to school on the Burley Piccolo.  Henry on Wednesday and Sofia on Friday.  They want to repeat that again. 

Bike Diary 4-6-2011

The Santa Cruz 300 went really well.  I had targeted 15 hours for the ride, and managed to do it with a massive 2 minutes to spare.  I should have paced myself more, ha ha.  That puts me well over 1000k of brevet riding this year and 2294km total for the year.  I've stopped including the 5km per day of riding up the hill to BART, but I might start doing that again.

Friends from SFR have encouraged me to do a 400 and a 600 this year and to even consider PBP this year.  I'm not going to do that, but it was gratifying to receive the encouragement. 

A small cycling related feat today was that Henry and I rode to school at Harding Elementary.  He rode his Piccolo on the back of my Hillborne.  Friday I'll do the same thing with Sofia. 

Bike Diary 3-30-2011

I rode in to work for the 13th time of the year, bringing me to 1972km.  I rode the Davidson, and logged the fastest time for my Moeser to CastroValley section.  1:45:03. 

Bike Diary 3-28-2011

I pulled the trigger and signed up for the Santa Cruz 300k event this weekend.  I'm a little nervous.  Besides riding some this week, I also need to make sure my lighting situation is in order.  The ride starts at 6AM and the closing time to finish is 2AM the next night.  Yikes!

Today I kept my P12 going by doing an early morning weekday 110k.  It was the Contra Alameda Permanent Populaire again.  I did the ride and still made it to the office for my 1PM meeting.  That brings me up to 1912k of total riding.  I should be approaching 1000k of RUSA events as well.  If I finish the 300 this weekend, I'll be well into four digits. 

Bike Diary 3-22-2011

I rode in to work for the 12th time of the year.  This time I was on the A. Homer Hilsen with fenders and Grand Bois Hetre tires.  There has been some speculation on the Rivendell board that this combo might not work.  I have photo documentation that it does:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/5550706094/

1802km is the total for the year so far.

I'm now strongly considering the Santa Cruz 300k event in April.  300k is 185 miles (or so).  That would be the longest ride of my life.  I'm leaning towards doing this 300k because there are no organized 200k events anywhere close to me in the month of April.  So, in order to keep my R12 going, I need to either do a organized 300 or do a solo Permanent 200.  The benefits of being together with a group of cyclists, along with the challenge of doing a 300 has me leaning that way.  If the weather forecast is decent, I'll go ahead and register for it.

On a related note, I'm thinking about what mileage award(s) I might be eligible for this year.  If I do my R12 and P12, that's 3600k minimum.  If I do 2 300k events in lieu of 200's for the R12, that gets me up to 3800k.  Just one or two more populaires and I could be eligible for a 4000k mileage award.  5000 is probably out of my reach. 

Third Brevet of the year complete

I successfully knocked off several firsts this past weekend.  I traveled for a brevet for the first time, did my first ride with the Santa Cruz Randonneurs (headed by RUSA President Lois Springsteen), rode on Hwy on a sub 70-pound bike for the first time, and did my first sub-9 hour 200k (8:36).

Yet again I lucked out on the weather.  It was sunny and pleasant all day Saturday during my ride and it rained all day sunday the day after.  Other highlights included meeting Lois (RUSA #8) and Susan G (RUSA #19).  The pace was extremely fast, but I felt great the evening after.  I made it back home in time to go to the Flamenco performance with my family.

Total mileage for the year is now at 1742km

Bike Diary 3-9-2011

I rode in on the 8th and the 9th, making 11 times in to the office for the year.  I also logged two times for the 650B vs 700C showdown.  One of my bikes was designed to take 650B wheels.  It also happens to have sufficient clearance to take a 700C wheelset.  I'm going to do the ride to work multiple times in each configuration to see which setup is faster.  The 700x28 tires should be faster than the 650x41B, but there is some evidence out there that I might be surprised to find the fatter, cushier tires are also faster.

Total mileage for the year is now 1535km. 

Bike Diary 3-7-2011

On Friday the 4th I did the ride in to the office, which makes the 9th time.  41 to go.  I intend to ride in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in crash-course preparation for the Moss Beach 200k this Saturday with the Santa Cruz Randonneurs.  On Sunday I also did a ride in steady rain.  I'll call it a 60k ride.  That brings the annual total to 1415km.  Clearly the 5000km annual goal will get obliterated easily if I do both the 50 rides to work (~3000k) and the 12 brevets (2400k) and the 12 populairs (>1200k).  It seems that 5000 miles or 10,000k are better stretch goals, but first things first I suppose. 

Bike Diary 3-2-2011

Life took precedence over the last few weeks.  Since completing the Two Rock 200k (in 9:23, one minute slower than the first 200k) I hadn't been on a single ride of length.  On Monday this week, I did the ride into work, which if memory serves makes the 8th time.  That brings total mileage to 1295, including a couple rides up the hill from BART. 

The next event is a 200k in Santa Cruz.  That will be my first time to travel for an overnight stay prior to an event, another new rhythm to which I need to become accustomed. 

Bike Diary 2-14-2011

In the past couple of weeks I did another Permanent, the East Bay Sampler, and finished my second 200k Brevet, the San Francisco Randonneurs Two-Rock Valley Ford 200k. 

That brings the total mileage to 1230km. 

Bike Diary 1-26-2011 and First Brevet Completed

I did the SFR Lighthouse 200k Brevet on the 22nd and everything went nearly perfectly.  207km in 9 hours 22 minutes was well below my goal and knocked off two of my goals for 2011 (any 200k and any 200k under 10 hours).  I rode in to the office today on my road bike, seventh ride in for the year.  Annual mileage is up to 928km, and it's still January. 

Bike Diary 1-19-2011 and First Permanent Completed

On Sunday the 16th I did the Contra Alameda Permanent Populaire. 

Contra Alameda -- The name of the route
Permanent -- a ride you can do anytime, you just contact the owner of the route and they'll set you up
Populaire -- any RUSA sanctioned ride between 100 and 199km in length

It's a 110km loop through Lafayette, Castro Valley, down to Sunol, up through Danville, and back to Lafayette.  I filled out my little brevet card fastidiously, hit all the controls on-time and now have it in the mail for certification. 

I did the ride in to work today, the 6th time of the year.  Total mileage for the year is now at 653km.  I made a couple of personal bests in speed today.  Average riding speed was 24.3kph.  Total time to the door was 2 hours 21 minutes.  My next speed target is to get to the Piedmont Pines sign in under 1 hour. 

I received my cue sheet and info package for the Point Reyes Lighthouse 200k event this Saturday.  The weather forecast looks perfect.  Sunny and in the mid to high 50s.  I couldn't ask for anything better for a January brevet. 

Weekly Bike Diary Entry

I did the 58km ride in to the office last Friday the 8th, this Monday the 10th, and today, the 12th.  That's five times for the year already, 10% towards my goal of 50 times in the year.  I also did the bike/BART miles on Thursday and Tuesday.  The highlight, though, was last Sunday the 9th.  I followed the route of a permanent I found on the San Francisco Randonneurs website, and ended up doing 135km which topped off a 320km week.  Maybe just as important, I got some good practice following a cue sheet, stopping at controls, logging my times, etc.  Doing that gives me substantially more confidence that I can do the 200k on the 22nd.  Total km for the year works out to 465km.  Very good for as cold as it has been.  320km a week is a 10,000 mile year, which I've never ever even sniffed before.  This can't keep up when things get busy, but it's a solid start for sure.  I feel great.

This Sunday, I am going to do another Permanent and actually shoot for getting credit for it.  What you do is

 1.  Decide which one you want to do.  Pick your date and start time.
 2.  Sign up and pay the owner of the permanent.  The route owner sends you a brevet card and a route sheet
 3.  You do the ride, stopping at the stops instructed, which usually means getting a receipt at a store
 4.  After the ride, send in your card and receipts to the route owner, and they get it authenticated with RUSA

It's pretty easy.  This will be my first one.  It's gotten me thinking about two RUSA awards that I could use as goals.  There's the R12, where you do at least one brevet a month for 12 consecutive months.  A brevet by definition is at least 200k.  Then there's the P12, where you do at least one populaire for 12 consecutive months.  A populaire is by definition between 100 and 199k.  I might end up shooting for both. 

Bike Diary entry

One of the other measurable goals I think I'll shoot for is to ride in to work 50 times in the year, and to log a total of 5000km for the year.  I rode in to work today, which makes twice this year and a total mileage (kilometerage?) of 124km.  I've adopted metric in deference to the French founders and overseers of the whole thing, and also just that I'm working up to this 200k ride in 2-1/2 weeks. 

Today was windy and cold, and I didn't feel as strong as I did Monday.  Whether that means that I'm still recovering from Monday, or the cold affected me, or I didn't sleep as well or if it was just in my head is unknown.  I've never been good at understanding much less controlling that kind of thing, and when people say that they do, I tend to be skeptical.  When I hear a rider say "I skipped todays ride.  I don't want to overtrain and peak to early in the season." what my brain thinks is "I was totally hung over/too lazy/stayed up too late playing X-Box so I skipped todays ride."  I came really close to staying in bed this morning.  I felt sluggish, and thought maybe I'd feel better tomorrow.  I've been working hard on the house, etc.  Once I'd decided that I was going to stay in bed, though, a guilt/remorse/panic of underpreparedness kicked in, and it was still before 6:00, so I got up and did it anyway.  Up yours! laziness!

I've received some advice from San Francisco Randonneurs members to pay special attention to the Route of the Point Reyes 200k.  Sometimes people get confused and lost, especially on the return leg.  The ride starts at Crissy Field, at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.  It heads across the bridge, up around Marin and then west to the coast and to the Point Reyes Lighthouse.  Then it heads east through Marin towns that are a jumble in my mind (Inverness?  Ross?) but eventually loops back through the same city streets and back across the Golden Gate Bridge.  The time limit for a 200k is 13.5 hours.  The start-time is at 7AM, so I have until 8:30PM to finish.  Last year the average finish time was 10 hours 11 minutes.  It all sounds do-able, but still seriously challenging.  I turn 42 in a month and I haven't ridden over 120 miles since I was 30. 

2011 Bike Diary entry #1 and the first objective

I did the long commute into the office today to start off my 2011 workyear.  58km. 
The ride that I am preparing for is on Jan 22nd.  It's a 200k (125miles).  My plan is to ride in to the office 3 times this week and do a 100k on Sunday the 9th of January.   Next week I'll ride in 3 times and on Friday the 14th I'll ride both ways (116k).  Monday the 17th I'll do a 150k.  2 more rides into work the week of the 18th through 21st and I hope to be ready for the 200k.  Rain or shine.

I got a new rain jacket and gloves and tried those out this morning.  I need to do some work on my lighting situation.