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.