Still don't want to leave

So, I finished the death defying experience of summiting mount whitney via the mounatineers route and making it back down.

I just rode tonight with some good riding friends while setting up for the poker ride the next day. Afterwards, the usual bar for food and beer. I've got a good group of riding friends. I developed a good group back in VA too. But, the riding is SO much more accessible here. And, I still don't want to leave.

Living the good life

Yes, I'm living the good life. But, on the downside...I know it will come to an end. And soon.

Living in Monterey has been amazing. I get to ride my bike to work every day. I can ride it to run errands too, though I don't as often as I should. I've had some great experiences in Tahoe, Downieville, and Yosemite.

Speaking of Yosemite...H's birhtday gathering was planned around the "moon bow" event at Yosemite Falls May 7th-9th. That friday, in preparation for another trip, I wanted to hike upper Yosemite Falls. If you aren't familiar with it...there are actually two seperate falls. Upper and lower. Distinctly different. Yosemite creek first falls over the upper falls. Then runs again, then falls down the lower fall. Getting to the creek is a 2700ft + elevation gain in about 3.5 miles. I loaded up my new Osprey (great pack by the way) backpak with about 30 lbs of stuff including 5 liters of water to try and train for my next event. I din't think I'd need that much water and didn't bring the fitler. I gave away a liter of water too, thinking...4 liters is more than enough for a hike.

The hike itself was pretty damn neat. The falls were raging with the spring runoff. Thunderous, I shit you not. It was pretty warm too. On the way up, talking with a fellow hiker coming down, we discover some dude is "slack lining" across the mouth of uppper Yosemite Falls. Wow. We can barely see a red speck and a line. Nuts. We got to the top eventually and got to see him walk out on the slack line (he is tied into the line iteself). Still Nuts. We try to hike even further to yosemite point or something like that. About 1000 yards into that endeavour, I cry uncle. I can tell my water supplies are running low and I know my body well enough. It is time to turn back if I am that low on water. My feet thank me as well as I had some really good hot spots on the back of my heels. I ended up running out of water with still about 1000 feet to descend and my legs shake every time I try to stand still. My knee kills me. I am reminded of why biking, and mtn biking specifically is the past time I have settled on after trying many many recrational hobbies/sports. I have tried lots of activities...Mtn Biking is by far the most agreeable to my body with its joints that are much older than my calndar age would inidcate.

So, I made it down. Next day, a shorter easier hike. But, man was I sore. Then we went to see the moon bow. It finally came out around midnight. Spectactular experience. Freezing and wet from the spray of the falls, constantly fiddling with the camera to capture the moon bow image. That in itself made it an epic event...but I don't think it is all that enjoyable if you don't have a camera to play with that is capable of capturing the image. You can't see color in the moon bow very well, if at all. The long exposure time on a camera (I ended up using 13 seconds) allows the collors to come through. So, we got our shots. The next day, and the day after, my calves and quads protested fiercly over the previous days hikes. My right leg was much worse than the other. I think I alterd my gait on the hikes to alleviate the knee pain and ended up using muscles more that aren't used to it.



Anyway, back to the good life. I'm almost completley calling the shots in my schedule now. If I want to work on stuff, I work. If I want to play, I play. I've never had that opportunity in 12 years in the Navy and surely never will again. (with that in mind, I need to pick my next career wisely). Friday, I got in a good ride with Peter. Dairus and his wife Lisa as well as Chris V met Peter and I at Ol'Factory for some food and beer after we rode. Saturady I got up and hiked up some trails at Garapata State Park, just north of Big Sur. Really nice views, and a good hike too. Only about 1800 feet of elevation gain, but again, it was WARM and I went through 3 liters of water rather quickly.

Today, I rode in the morning again with Peter. I good longish route. We even scoped some camp sites for the upcoming 24 hour race. Then, I went home and watched the Wings play pretty well. I liked the desperation they showed at times. Playoff hockey is the best sporting event to watch in my opinion. After the game, I took the Mustang out to run a couple of errands and give her a good flogging. Man that car is so much fun to drive! Temps in the low 80's I'm guessing....tunes blatsing, windows rolled down, and the sound of a 351W through JBA shorty headers and 40 series Flowmasters in a 5 speed car.....NICE! Hitting the curves on reservation road out to Hwy 68...nice. Then, back home. Fire up the grill. Chicken, veggies, and the best summer time grilling...corn cooked on the grill. Throw in a bottle of Chimay. What more could I ask for?

As if that isn't enough...for Memorial Day Weekend, we are going to try the Mountaineers Route to reach the summit of Mount Whitney (the highest point in the lower 48 states). I don't know if I'll make it. But, it is a challenge to say the least. After that is the 24 hour race (I'll be on a team, not solo). Then, I take my 2 weeks off and grab the bikes and the camper and get out and live life 100% on my OWN terms.

Yes, I'm living the good life. I know I am lucky. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of the journey getting here, past and present. Maybe I'll post some of the Yosemite photos later.

Racing...

So, I did my first real race today. The Cat 3 (beginner) XC race at the Sea Otter Classic in the 30-34 mens group. I had fun and I hated it at the same time.

My only previous experience trying to race was on a 10 man team for a 24 hour event. I don't call that a real race because I didn't train for it, and we certainly were not trying to win it...just there to have a good time.

I live abut 5 miles from where the race starts and when I left the house, it was kind of chilly. Sill about 58 degrees, but sunny. I thought I'd be able to get away with (2) 24oz water bottles and hopefully pick up another one at the feed zone which is 8 miles into the 19 mile course. I'd been drinking as much water as possible for the last couple of days too.

Well, the race started and we ride around the Laguna Seca race track for a bit (I think we were going the opposite direction though). That was kind of neat. But, man, my hear rate was going nuts! Too much adrenaline. And, all of the guys in my age group bolted like crazy too. I didn't want to let them get too far ahead of me...some will surely hold me up once we hit downhill single track.

Sure, enough, that is what happened. I think there was even a non racer on the course holding a bunch of us up at one point. Going down the first part of trail 50 some dude was holdingl like 10 of us up considerably for probably 500 yards or so before he stopped and got out of the way (single track with no where to pass). Driving me nuts. I can't tell you how many times I had a dude pass me up on a climb to get in front of me...just to slow down and skid all over the place (kicking up dirt/dust for me) when we hit singletrack on a downward slope. Some dudes just did not get it either...complete hacks...but they had stronger legs/lungs than me. Guess that is why folks were telling me I should have been in the sport/cat 2 class...yeah, I would have gotten spanked even harder on the climbs in cat 2, but I don't think I'd be slowed down as much on the singletrack.

So, we head down the beach (trail 60...a sandy mess...thus the nickname of "the beach"). Before getting to the beach, I am already way tired and feeling like I want to puke and pass out. I can't seem to control my heart rate. Every time I look at it...it seems to be at 170 at least, and mostly in the 180s. I let some gaps build up for folks in front of me cause I don't want to get trapped by someone bailing right in front of me going downt the beach. That pays off as I see at least 3 or 4 riders (all ones that passed me at some point) off the bike becasue they couldn't negotiate the deep sand. By now, it is getting warm and I'm worried about water. I go through probably 30 or more of my 48 oz of fluids I have with me at this point. Damn....it is warm and I'm THIRSTY! I feel the heat and the effort of climbing up 82.

I survive the climb up 82. Do some of the ridge riding on top trying to slow myselfy down. I can't maintain this pace for all 19 miles. Hit the pavement and just coast down. Little bit of fire road...then yes...the feeding zone. Grab a 24 oz water bottle and a small cup of water. It is still warm. Is this going to be enough?

Then the climb up the fire road to hit "outhouse" trail. I seem to be doing okay..but my heart rate is NUTS! I can't get it down. My legs feel okay..but I just can't seem to calm my heart rate down. Anyway, hit outhouse and once again, we bunch up. Me behind a bunch of dudes who passed me on the climb. One dude was really clueless. Some young guy was yelling at him to get over. He eventually did, but only let that one guy by...not the 10 or so of us still behind him. I try to pass off trail...not a smart move and try to regain the trail but some dude jumped up into my spot. I almost caused a wreck trying to get around homie. I'm getting pissed that I have to expend a LOT of energy just to get around someone. I guess that is racing.

After outhuse...the "sisters" are tough. Again, I feel like I want to puke. Heart rate consistenly in the 180s...sometimes I see 192. Man, it feels hot too. I'm wearing my roadie outfit...all lycra and even my raodie helmet because it breathes better. No camelback. I should be doing okay with this setup to keep cool...but I still feel like I'm close to overheating.

We hit the east side Fort Ord trails and I'm trying to conserve energy. We hit a couple more sandy spots and people again piss me off by not being able to ride. I keep my mouth shut, but some hardcore sandbaggers (guys that look like they could be racing Cat 1) start berating the dudes that aren't skilled enough to ride those sections smothly/quickly. Then we hit the new little bit of singletack before hitting the road (jack's road?) that takes you up to climb the upper half of "goat trail." Again, I'm frustrated with being held up.

I hit the pavement. For some period of time...my chain kept skipping whenever I gave it a lot of torque. Played with the tension on the shifter, but didn't do much help. Bad grinding noises too that I can't tell where they are coming from. I think maybe a quick realeas on the front or back wheel is loose. So, I stop on the pavement to take a look. Can't find anythign wrong, so I pedal on to Goat.

Goat seems okay to climb. I go in spurts...I feel good, give it some gas, and quickly run out of gas and start crawling again. Then on over to skyline. Hmmm...wind is picking up. Felt like a good 15 kts steady...maybe 20 kts...almost right in your face too. This sucks. I'm tired. But, again, I go in spurts. Work hard, fall apart. Work hard, fall apart. I find a dude that I draft off of for a while on Skyline climbing back up to the top of Laguna Seca.

I reach the end of the climbing...but I feel okay for the most part...I can give it some gass...really go all out because I know the end is near. I give it all I can give it. I cross the bridge over the race track and hit the single track just on the other side. I'm feeling powerful again...I come up on another rider right at a corner where there is a tree and an option to go left or right. Some dudes are standing there saying "go left!" I know what is there and I go for it. There are some roots there and there is a bit of a drop. I'm feeling good and I take those roots as a drop. I hit it and do okay...I think passing some dude while I do it. Then, I hit a little rise and try to power up it. SNAP! Fucking chain breaks! WTF!!!!???

I half try to coast, half try to run without holding others up. Now it all makes sense. At some point about 8 miles into the ride, a link bent on the chain. That was causing my shifting problems. I've had this happen 2 or 3 times now with a realitvely new Avid PC 991 chain, and it happend again. I probably had 150 miles, certainly less than 200 on that chain. So, I coast where I can, and then run to the finish line. One hour, 56 mins. At least by my watch. We will see what the offical time was and who I placed in my catergory/age group.

Holly Heart Rate Batman! I just downloaded the data from my Heart Rate Monitor. My AVERAGE heart rate for the race was 174. That is average. My normal average for an every day ride is usually 145-151. It also says I burned 2069 calories in that 1 hour and 56 mins...with 2600 feet of climbing.

WTF am I thinking?

That is exactly what was going through my head as I was headed out to do a pre-ride of the Sea Otter Classic XC course yesterday. The race is Friday.

I felt like crap right from the beginning. Going up 82 didn't help that feeling either. Over on that side of Fort Ord, it was kind of warm too and I was sweating like a hog. Why am I trying to RACE this? Why do I want to give myself an un-shakeable headache, push myself to the point of feeling like I want to just lay down and quit, and constantly agonize over the pain in my legs and the pounding between me ears? All the while watching people pass me by because I didn't train enough.

Hopefully riding the XC bike and with less stuff in the camelback, I'll do better on Friday. But, I suspect, there will be a lot of "Why the hell am I doing this again?" running through my head.

72 miles of solitude

So, H had a friend doing her annual b-day clebration camp-out at Pinnacles National Monument. She wanted me to go. Only two problems. She didn't want me to take the camper. And, more importantly, there is no mtn biking. I'm not even sure if inside the park they let you ride a bike at all. So, my only way to compromise was to ride my bike from home to there.

I got some input from folks on the route, but 75% of it would be over roads I have never been on. Saturady turned out to be one of those perfect cycling weather days, and I set out to do this ride.

I ended up doing the ride and enjoyed it quite a bit. I left my house around 1130 or so and headed up along my normal route to hit the Fort Ord trails. Continued on past to pick up intergarrison and then headed over to Reservation, Blanco and North Davis. I think I was 20 miles into the ride as I watched what would be my last visible chance to stop and load back up on water and gatorade. But, 20 miles into it, feeling fresh and with four still nearly full water bottles on the bike, it seemed too early to stop and refuel. Having never driven any of these roads beyond the Salinas mall, my reconnaissance of the route relied mostly on things like mapquest and google maps. It looked like most of my route was in moderately populated areas except for the last 25 miles or so down Hwy 25 to Pinnacles campground. Thus, I figured there would be some decent opportunities to find a gas station/convenience mart to resupply. It even looked so probable, that I considered riding with just two water bottles. But, knowing my tendancy to drink excessively while on the bike...I threw on the behind the seat double water bottle holder. Turned out to be a good choice.

From north Davis I picked up San Juan Grade. Once away from the houses clusterd along the roadside, I started riding into hilly ranch country. The hills were still a bright, vibrant green making the scenery just as nice as Henry Coe the weekend before. Moderately smooth road surface with little to no traffic, great temperatures and what felt like no wind was fantastic. Pretty easy grade to climb too.

At some point, the road turns into Salinas road and drops you down the backside of the hills toward San Juan Bautista and Hwy 156. I think exactly at the San Benito County line sign...the road turned to pure garbage. It was a bone jarring, tooth rattling decent down the back side to get to Hwy 156. I would have loved to let gravity to its work and rip down the back side of that hill. But, road conditions as such...20mph seemed plenty fast enough.

Hwy 156, at least the stretch I was on, wasn't bad. At least there was a decent sized shoulder/bike lane that wasn't too muddied up by the farm equipment. I then headed to Union road to skirt the south side of Hollister and pick up Hyw 25/Old airport road. By this point, I think I was 40+ miles in and hadn't refilled any of my water bottles. From a water standpoint, not knowing where I would be able to get water, I was getting nervous. Looking at the online maps, my chances really started to slim down the further south I got along 25.

Finally, I reached Tres Pinos and a gas station. 1 Liter of water, a 20 oz gatorade and a chocolate milk. I thought that should get me through as I had 25 or less miles to go at this point. But, strangely for me at this point...I still had not felt the urge to go to the bathroom at this point...hmmm...that must mean that I am getting more dehydrated than usual. But, I shrug it off and keep going.

The scenery again is fantastic. Rolling country side. Nice smooth roads. Very little traffic. Again, it seems that sometimes it is just me, the bike, the road, and the cows. I think somewhere after dropping down from San Juan Grade to 156, I bottomed out at around 180 feet above sea level. From there, it was a long gradual climb. Most of the time rolling such that it didn't seem that I was in a net elevation gain. Then, sometime after Paicines, the road pitches up with a little more vigor. Just about the same time I start to think maybe I should have gotten more water in Tres Pinos. I also get that ever so familiar feeling of "okay, I think I am ready to be done by now." I think that was around mile 60 or so. I keep climbing...up to a peak of about 1500 feet or so at around 68 miles in. Then, finally, a descent. Again, nice and smooth. Very little traffic. I can finally let the bike just run out. I only lost maybe a couple of hundred feet in elevation, but it sure was nice. Then, into the park and the campsite...and even a warm shower after I make a solid effort in re hydrating myself.

All in all, a good ride...72 miles...3300 feet of climbing, all in just under 4.5 hours of pedal time. Great scenery and even better weather. If fact, the weather was about as perfect as you could ask when spending the day on a bike. I gave half the thought to riding back home the next day since Sunday morning started out nice and peaceful. However, a stiff wind quickly stirred up and I was glad I wasn't out on the bike suffering in that wind all by myself. I'll take the ride back in the car....

Friday night lights

Man, I enjoy the bike. But, if you are reading this, you already know that. I think I enjoy even more so when I am in shape and the bike seems easy to pedal.

Headed out for the Friday night ride. But, I dusted off the Giant for this ride. My XC ride. I just got my new Schwalbe 26x2.10 tires via UPS today. Figguring that is the tire combo I'll run for the Sea Otter Classic XC race in a couple of weeks, I needed a chance to see if the bike was still okay. I also plan on using the Gaint for an inevtibably painful but epic ride on Suday at Henry Coe state park. Too much painful climbing there for me and the Ventana...though, I know, it is mostly mental.

Anyway, I took the lighter weight wheel set that I orginally had on the Giant but had been running on the Ventana for about 6 months or so, and put the new tires on it. Threw the combo on the Giant. As such, the Giant is weighing in at about 26.5 lbs. Putting the heavy duty wheelset back on the Ventana upped her weight just sub 29lbs to 30.5 lbs. That is going to suck at some point.

So, taking the Giant out for the Friday night ride...it felt real good and responsive. That thing accelerates so much quicker than the Ventana in terms of responsiveness to pedal input. Not nearly as smooth or confidence inspring as my trusty Ventana, but man that thing responds to the pedal input. I felt real froggy with that ride underneath my legs. Darius and I kept playing cat and mouse, sprinting ahead of each other. Until we got to 82 of course. Trying to climb that thing...I hate it. Every time I climb 82, I think "why am I paying money to enter a race to try and kill myself going up this damn thing." Even with 2 pounds less of a bike, much more efficient pedaling and being in better shape...82 will still be my weakness come race time.

I still felt good overall, despite 82. I finally feel like my fitness is improving. Like I could be satisfied with how I will do come race time. I still dont' think I am competitive with the 150 lb, every day lycra wearing dude on a 21 lb bike....but I think I am happy with my level of fitness and think I am on the right path.....

Pedal like the wind

NOT! Steady winds over 20mph today. Gusting at 40 to 50 mph. Usually, I'd stay off the bike on a day like today. But, I have some work to do. My first real race will be the Sea Otter Classic in mid April. I pre-rode the course with Darius and Darren last week. They are both racing it as well.

One thing I learned from the pre-ride...I have some work to do! I also managed to let myself slip up to 190+ lbs. That pre-ride hurt. And, I wasn't even going race pace. I'll be up against a bunch of every day lycra wearing dudes on 20 lb bikes while my "XC" light bike is at leasat 27lbs. Man do I have some work to do.

So, today I wanted to get out and just go at my own pace for about 2 hours and get in some good climbing. It turned out just short of 2 hours and about 2300 feet of climbing. Not bad. But, man, that wind was nuts! Most of the time while on top of ridges and what not, it was a cross wind...probably near that 40mph mean speed. I've never had to lean a bike that far over to go straight.

But, all in all, a decent ride. Didn't feel like crap. Felt like I got in some work, and just enjoyed being out there on the bike.