A lovely ride...

Today, I was rather aimless all morning. I did laundry, I worked on my bike (fine-tuning the positions of the seat and handlebars, fixing a flat, re-taping the bar); but I just couldn't find any motivation. Finally, around 4:00 PM I got my lazy ass out the door.

Even when I started, I had no idea where I was going. As you can see from the map, it turned into a nice ride... Wink

I was on my fixie, so no real hills. I did get up to Stevens Creek Resevoir (I had to go and pay my respects at the site where Kristy Gough and Matt Peterson were killed last Saturday).

The riding was good, and the weather was especially nice. I managed to avoid almost all of the little cells of rainfall, and fought fierce headwinds for a lot of the time. But what good is a training ride with no suffering?


The highlights were riding south on El Camino at sunset (the setting suns works wonders on the colors of thunderclouds) and stopping at Taqueria La Bamba in Mountain View. Their chile colorado burritos are especially tasty 58 miles into a ride... Grin

Yeah... Good times. 67 miles and perhaps 1000 feet of climbing.

The Year In Sports #2

Yeah, so this one is a couple of weeks late...

I went to see a football match at the Oakland Coliseum (or whatever its official name is these days) on March 2. The game was between the under-23 sides from Mexico and Australia. Basically this was a tune-up for the Olympic qualifying matches coming soon. Apparently FIFA and the IOC agreed that only under-23s would be eligible for the Olympics so that fewer conflicts would come up between club matches and international matches.

The entire venue was filled with painted, costumed and generally rabid Mexico fans. i spotted 3 Australian flags and perhaps a half-dozen genuine Aussie fans. The atmosphere was absolutely electric. If only we American "soccer" fans could be so obsessed with our teams... Ah well, that's kind of a pipe dream isn't it?

Lots of fun, despite the fact that Mexico couldn't put a ball in the goal. Their goal came from an own goal from one of the Aussie defenders. And it almost stood as the game-winner. But then in the 87th minute Australia equalized. I couldn't help but celebrate just a little bit... =)

This was a great experience, and I look forward to the next match at the Coliseum. That will be the San Jose Earthquakes v. Chicago Fire on April 12.

These Hills Were Made For Climbing...

I did a lovely 55 mile ride today with about 5000 feet of climbing. Absolutely beatiful day for riding! I warmed up by riding over to Saratoga, and then proceeded to suffer my way up Bohlman Road. I opted out of the side-trip of On Orbit Road (I basically wussed out... Really, who wants to add a mile of 18%+ grades to an already steep climb?). From the top, I took to dirt road over to the top of Montevina Road and took that down to Lexington Resevoir. Then after a brief rest, I ascended Black Road to Skyline. And then flew down Highway 9 back into town.

Bohlman is probably the steepest hill that I have climbed in the bay area. There are a few 20% sections going around switchbacks. Pure madness... Black Road isn't much easier, but after Bohlman it seems pretty casual.

These stats don't do either climb justice...
Black Road: 4.6 miles, 1820 feet
Bohlman Road: 4.3 miles, 2030 feet