Tag: Long

Call me crazy– want to ride 8, 16, 24, 32, … or 100 miles on Saturday May 28th, in 6-8 mile loops? I had The Fat Cyclist’s “100 Miles To Nowhere” mentioned to me recently. His idea is: chip in $80 towards Livestrong, and ride your own century indoors, or on some short course. Just because. That lines up with my interest in riding a century at some point but my general ambivalence towards Organized Rides or anything that smacks of racing. For a while, I’ve thought it would be interesting to ride loop after loop around Golden Gate Park, with friends and strangers joining for as many loops as they want. ...

Two “probably” rides (as usual, let me know if you’re interested, in case details change, or check the blog the night before). Saturday: fun headlands loop / luggage test ride A roughly 22-mile scenic Headlands ride (see photos from a past ride). For variety, let’s meet at Mojo Bicycle Cafe at 10AM. Casual, friendly pace, and also intended to be a “luggage test ride” – anyone who’s been interested in bike camping (or is coming camping in Point Reyes in a few weeks): this is your excuse to put on a rack, pump up your tires, strap on your bags and camping gear, and get comfortable with how your bike handles on some flat roads, a steep uphill, and a steep downhill, without worrying about pace or being too far from the city. And to stretch your biking legs after the rain if you haven’t already. ...

The rain has fled. Time for the twice-postponed hilly 53-mile East Bay ride this Saturday. Tentative plan is to meet outside the Berkeley BART at 9AM. I’m a little sluggish due to less recent riding, and it’s no-rider-left-behind enjoy-the-scenery as always, but I’d also like to do it without too many stops (maybe Port Costa, maybe not), to see how feasible it is to do in a half-day (in preparation for a potential Grizzly Peak Century in May). Bring some food, a spare tube, etc– it’s unclear how “civilized” the route will be.

Two social rides organized by others this week: Wednesday: Butterlap (7pm at the Ferry Building, a friendly 17 miles around the city with a few dozen people, mostly flat but two notable hills, Bender’s afterwards for a bit). [edit: was raining at 6pm, didn’t go] Friday: SF Bike Party (12-mile ultra-casual bike party with music, a few stops, and 400+ cyclists). This month, in Potrero/Dogpatch/Bayshore. And this weekend, something more ambitious I’ve talked to a few of you about: ...

May 1st is the Grizzly Peak Century. Here’s my map of the 109-mile route (drawn quickly based on their map, may not be 100% turn-for-turn correct). I’m thinking about doing it. For now, here are two 53-mile BART-to-BART rides I’ve sketched out that together cover most of the route (North ride, South ride). I plan to ride them some time in the next month and a half (as practice, and because they look like interesting rides– I’m not a biking-as-outdoor-spinning-just-for-the-sake-of-exercise guy)– anyone else interested? ...

Four of us rode the 60ish mile Alpine Dam Loop on Sunday at a somewhat leisurely pace. It’s still my favorite Bay Area ride – some long, merciless uphills combined with incredible views in every direction. And it gets easier every time (funny how that works). A mid-morning start at Velo Rouge: There were almost no pedestrians or cyclists on the Golden Gate Bridge (Superbowl Sunday effect?) ...

If it’s not rainy: Friday 2/4: joining the SF Bike Party, a slow-rolling evening with hundreds of cyclists and several big bike-mounted stereos (photos of the last one). Just 9 miles. 7:30pm meetup at Civic Center. Sunday 2/6: Alpine Dam. A beautiful and hilly 50-60 mile ride, meeting 9:30AM at Velo Rouge Cafe. No rider left behind, probably a stop in Fairfax for some food afterwards, no commitment to making it back in time to watch That Sporting Event (hey, at least the roads should be empty…). ...

RAGBRAI 2011 route announced. Not sure if I’ll go this year, but it’s a great time.

For variety, on Saturday I joined some people I know who were going on one of the AIDS LifeCycle training rides in the South Bay– a 46-mile loop, taking us from Mountain View (near the Caltrain station) through Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Gatos, and some towns I’d never heard of (Monte Sereno). It was a good workout and way to spend a chunk of the day, with one significant hill and a lot of fairly straight rolling-hill sections where you could get momentum going (while nominally a 10-12mph pace, the pack I was riding with made some solid 20-25mph pulls on the long flat stretches and the road flew by). However, the scenery was nothing special– lots of suburbs, strip malls, cars, and Starbucks. Given that and how slow Caltrain is, I’ll probably stick with mostly SF/Marin/East Bay rides in the future, or try some of the more woodsy (and hilly) peninsula rides.

[ edit: cancelled due to early-morning rain, though it ended up clearing up– oh well ] Tentative plan: an Alpine Dam loop ride next Sunday (1/30), about 50 miles round trip from the Golden Gate Bridge (map), with some substantial but satisfying hills. Stopping in Fairfax at Gestalt Haus (run by the people behind the original SF Gestalt Haus before it changed ownership?) for some sausages & beer before heading home. Departure time TBD in the morning (early? mid-?) and a no-rider-left-behind pace as usual, though I definitely want to get back in the afternoon, before it starts to get dark and cold on the bridge.