Punch it...

Last time I rode, home specifically, I encountered another rider heading my way. He passed me when a light changed and, mainly because I was in the @$$-end of my ride, the part where no matter how great I feel when I'm putting along my legs start to die on me, I decide to pace him. Keep in mind that I was in mountain shorts (nobody wants to see me in spandex these days) and had a pannier on the back end full of clothes, and my semi-companion was in nothing but bike clothing with a wee-little Camelback.

For about 2 miles (out of my 10) I went harder than I've done for a while - held better than 17 mph and cranking at around 85 rpm. It felt great.

The next morning - not so much...

I am stronger than pizza (tonight)

Tonight was my first bike commute in a long-ish time, probably a couple of months. It felt much longer than it was given that it took me the same time it always has (around an hour). There's one stretch where I always feel whooped and wish I had SAG support and for some reason when I hit that spot tonight (it was already full dark) I wanted pizza so bad I could almost taste it. Then, just a few blocks from home I passed a Little Caesar's and I still wanted pizza, even if it was pizza pizza.

But no, I'll be good and heat up my stew.

A newly discovered treasure

Tonight I needed a ride. Work is moving back into being stressful and it's been a few weeks since I've been on the bike, so I decided to check out Oyster Point Regional Shoreline. It's a smallish park only a short distance from my house. The downside - getting into the park means going past the "Davis Street Station for Material Recycling and Transfer" aka a non-permanent dump site. Oh, and the San Leandro Rifle and Pistol Range.

Once into the park it was easy to forget I was only 10 minutes from home. Well, except for the airplanes landing just across the slough.

All in all it was a great place to ride and will probably become my new training site. It has paved flat stretches running around the perimeter and a number of fairly wide dirt trails running over and across the hilly interior, providing opportunity for some speed training and for some mild climbing (since I'm not ready for serious climbing yet). Since it's only a short distance from the house it's not a problem for me to head over after work, get an hour or so in, and get home before it's too dark.
On top of all that it was just nice to be out on the bike after a long day at work.

My "100 miles of nowhere" ride

Last Saturday I participated in the 2nd 100 Miles of Nowhere Ride, from the one and only Fat Cyclist. (Note - he is the only capital F capital C, I most certainly am a fat cyclist.) The whole thing got kicked off last year when Fatty had the (INSANE) idea to raise some money for LAF by doing a century ride, on his rollers. He took "bets" in the form of donations on whether or not he would finish it (he did). This year he opened it up to other riders (read suckers/nuts). For a small entry fee you got some great loot and the comfort of making a donation to LAF, oh, and the opportunity to hamster-wheel yourself a century.

The day of the "race" was the day before I had to get on a plane for a 5+ hour flight to Hawaii (don't get jealous, I'm working including working on Memorial Day) so I didn't have as much time to set aside as I'd hoped. I also realized that I didn't have a computer on the bike hooked up to the trainer making accuracy a problem. So I opted for the "5 hours of nowhere ride" with the following logic: my average roadspeed (baring wind) is 13 miles/hour; my goal was a metric, which is about 62 miles; at 13 MPH 62 miles should take 4:45; so if I ride 5 hours I can call it a metric and we're good.
In total, I spent about 6.5 hours for the ride, with some stretch breaks and bathroom runs. I ripped through most of the last half of The Black Donnelys (Netflix), with some breaks for Simpsons to mellow things out. It was about what I expected - uncomfortable after a while (I don't have a good seat on the trainer bike), not very exciting, and surprisingly fun.

Oh, and I'll probably do it again next year if it happens.

A disappointing ride

Sunday was a perfect afternoon for a ride - mid 60s, light breeze, sunny - but I just couldn't do anything with it. I attempted a ride that I used to do regularly with almost no problem, and died at the very beginning. I knew that I hadn't been riding much, let alone climbing, but I had no idea that I was that shot.

A short distance from my dad's place is a decent hill - Ygnacio Valley Rd - and I had planned to head over it to where the Contra Costa Canal Trail (Ygnacio Valley Trail) crossed, and head along the trail for a little while before heading home. That was the plan, but the reality is that I got about 1/2 up the slope leading to YV Rd and my legs died. I pulled a U-turn and headed along the same route I took two weeks ago.

It is very emasculating to realize that rides that were simple only a few years ago are completely out of my reach. I will be riding a lot more often now to try and rebuild that capacity.