San Diego and Coronado Island

With my next race a few weeks away in Bakersfield I thought it was time for another travelogue. I spend every other weekend in San Diego and on Saturday, I always ride with my club, the San Diego Cyclo-Vets. This ride is intense, loaded with race simulations, so on Sunday I look for a scenic recovery ride. The ride I currently favor is traveling from our apartment, located in the Serra Mesa neighborhood of S.D., to the silver shores of Coronado and the bike path called the Silver Strand. We've got friends in Coronado, so I make it a one way trip and my wife, Esmeralda, is waiting with the family car. The way I've composed the ride, it is 35 to 43 miles depending what you do in Coronado. The shorter ride is straight to our friends house, the longer version is to the end of the strand, ride through town, and stop at the Ferry Landing. I prefer stopping in Coronado, but I've seen others really make it an adventure and ride the Ferry back to San Diego and home.

Here's the shorter version via MapMyRide:


Coronado Island is really not an island. It is connected to "mainland" San Diego at the South end and the Town of Imperial Beach. The North end of the Coronado is connected to San Diego by the Coronado Bay Bridge but bikes are not allowed on this bridge. When I created the MapMyRide route they still had not opened a new extension of bike path that skips riding into Imperial Beach or IB as the locals call it. That part of my ride was not the high point of the route but you don't have to worry about it anymore. Right before mile 29 you pick up a new bike path that will completely avoid IB and take you directly to the Silver Strand.


Star of India

My version of this ride takes you past some pretty cool scenery. It does have some areas that are pretty congested though, so I like to make this ride first thing in the morning. The best views, prior to arriving in Coronado, are riding past Sea World, coming into the harbor area and the tourist attractions of the Star of India, and the USS Midway. You pass under the North end of the bridge and travel South past the Navy base. The route is pretty straight forward but look at it closely. Finding the first bike path can be a little tricky. On my map, it is between mile 23 and mile 24, at the end of 32nd street. It looks like I'm traveling on the 5 freeway but you'll be on a well constructed bike path to the west of I5. You want to cross some water (Sweetwater River) on the Gordy Shields' bridge (A San Diego Cyclo-Vet legend) so head straight for the I5 and avoid what looks like a bike path over water just west of Gordy's bridge.

Enjoy the ride!

I'm Ready

Bouquet Canyon Reservoir
Photo Credit: http://image14.webshots.com/14/5/67/57/159356757VieLLu_fs.jpg

(see other pics below)

I just finished punching the right buttons on my computer and paying for my entry into the Bakersfield Masters' Championships held in Bakersfield, California on Saturday, June 6th. Am I ever ready for this race. I've entered the Masters 50+ category in keeping with my blog's name. My race will be held 7:30 am and will be 31 miles long - check out my previous post for a map of the course.

How do I know I'm ready? I've been tearing up the club scene for a couple of weeks now. Granted, most of the club riders are not racers but you don't have to have a racing license to be a hammerhead on a bike. Last week I was riding with my Cyclo-Vets group on our usual Torry Pines ride and I was easily first to the park, the first race simulation. I was third going up Torry Pines where I'm usually around 7th to 10th, and I was first up the sprinter hill of Carroll Canyon (if you don't count Arnie and Janette on a racing tandem - I still find it hard to beat a 5 time National Champion in the captain's spot on the tandem, with a current pro-racer as his stoker.) I took 4th on the flat sprint at the end of the ride on Kearny Villa road but was actually first in the sprint with my chase group. A group of 3 guys, got off the front and I let them go as I felt they left too early - big mistake, they extended their gap and fought for the "podium" among themselves (and the damn tandem that I think won.) I fought it out with a large chase group, pulled away from the group with two other guys, and out sprinted them at the end.

Yesterday, with my Antelope Valley group, I found myself head to head with Eric, a usually unbeatable climber by me and the rest of our L & 20th group. Follow along with the map at the end of this post. Our first challenge is the small rise at mile 11 or so. This steady 2 mile, 3-5% climb starting at 70th street and topping out at 90th has always been treated by the L & 20th group as our first race simulation. Yesterday's ride was no exception. I easily powered away from Eric and took this first "preme". Not a real challenge, as Eric is not a sprinter and the 70th street hill is very much a sprinter's hill. Roger and Randy, both excellent sprinters, were not on this ride and either one would have given me a tough run. Eric and Roger are both ex-racers but don't let their lack of a current racing license fool anyone - both can dish out the pain in a ride.

The next race simulator starts at mile 19 and finishes at around mile 23. This is Munz Ranch Road and it's steady 6-8% grade is right up Eric's alley. Usually he reaches the top with me a hundred meters back but today (and for the last month actually) he fell behind me quickly and was never a challenge. He made one run at me at around mile 20 or so but I turned up the speed and drove hard up the hill. My current philosophy on hill climbing is that you are better to be the one leading the hill climb and dishing out the hurt rather than just sitting at the receiving end of someone else putting out the pain.

The next challenge came with the 3 Canyon's ride. Look at the map and you'll see 3 spikes right after mile 24 - those are the spikes of the 3 Canyons - San Francisquito Canyon, Spunky Canyon, and Bouquet Canyon. Francisquito, in this direction, is almost all downhill. You do have to crest a short 10-12% section before you crest and Eric is usually all business here. Again, I cranked hard and crested the hill in front and by myself - no challenge detected. We regrouped at the stop sign where we go left and head for Spunky Canyon. As we approached the climb up Spunky, at mile 28, Eric jumped into the lead and began to beat out a high tempo pace. I jumped on his wheel and then I dropped back 5 meters or so and matched his climb rate. He was pushing out the watts and I felt it was all I could do to stay on his tail but I wasn't going to let him get away. I didn't feel I had the power to pass him at this point so I stayed 5 meters back so nobody could say I was wheel sucking and allowing him to pull me up the hill. I have never beaten Eric up this hill in the several years we've been riding Spunky and it was clear from his cadence that he was not going to let me easily have this one. Somewhere around mile 30, with the crest of Spunky at mile 31, Eric increased his tempo in another bid to gap me. My heart rate was now above lactate threshold and was in the high 160's. I know from racing that I can go into the 170's for a short time so I said to myself that it was now my turn to dish out the pain. I accelerated on a steep part of the hill and passed Eric on his left side. I moved my hands as close to my stem as possible and began to drive hard with my legs using as full extension as possible. Eric tried to match my acceleration but with my heart rate passing 172 (my maximum rate is around 180) I began to lengthen my gap over him. With one last bump coming up, I stood on the petals and began to drive at maximum power - I felt great. My heart rate was in the mid 170s but I felt like I could continue this forever. What a strange sensation it is to be operating at near maximum heart rate and feeling good about it - in a few words; I'm ready to race again!

Spunky Canyon
Photo Credit: http://www.ridesaroundla.com/Rides/Spunky.jpg

As we neared the finish of the ride, Eric came up to me and said that he was sorry he didn't offer more competition on this ride. Of course, it was quite the opposite. Without him in the group I would never have pushed myself like I did. Had I been riding alone, I would have pushed hard up the canyons, I always do, but I would have stopped far short of blasting into the 170's as far as heart rate is concerned. In short, I would have worked hard but just put out enough power to feel good about my climbing workout. With Eric present, he turned an average workout into an exceptional one.

Spunky Canyon, South End
Photo Credit: http://www.pashnit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=78062&d=1219024031


View of Bouquet Canyon Reservoir from looking South on Spunky
Photo Credit: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_dqiper7Fm7g/SDOy8YuVRUI/AAAAAAAAAyY/hvmQeahBLWI/highres_3588590.jpg

3 Canyons is going to be one of the courses I'm going to miss in the Antelope Valley. It has everything you can ask for in a training ride. In two months time I'll have moved on to the Napa Valley and the excellent rides provided by that area. The Antelope Valley is also an excellent place to train though. The draw backs are the extreme temperature in the summer and winter, and the ever present 20 - 40 mph winds in the afternoon (what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.) But in minutes you can be away from the city and riding hard over country roads with only a few cars to cause you any problems. If you get a chance to ride in the Antelope Valley, use my map below and ride the canyons.

SCNCA Road Race Championships

The Golden Empire Classic and SCNCA Road Race Championships are coming up on Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7th in Bakersfield, California. I would like to race in both.

Silly me. My last post discussed racing up North in San Jose on May 25th and that this would be my first race back after my accident. Well, I forgot that is the birthday weekend of my youngest child Jade. She'll be turning 8, and though I'm a fanatic when it comes to bicycles, I certainly know what's more important between the two events. So scratch San Jose to Livermore and bring on Bakersfield.

Saturday, June 6th is the Masters' Championships. At the time of this writing, the Kern Wheelmen site has not put up a profile or race map. I did find a race description on their site and created a MapMyRide map, which can be checked out below. Their site does promise a video of the complete course to arrive on May 1st - so I'll look for that. The course is 31 miles and I plan to enter the Men 50+ group that goes off at 7:30am. We only do 1 lap but the course looks challenging, with one good hill and a few rollers tossed in.

On Sunday, June 7th, we have the Elite Championships on the same course. I would like to enter the Men 45+ 3/4/5 group going off at 7:15am. Again it's only 1 lap of 31 miles. Now I've got to talk my family into staying in Bakersfield for a couple of days. No disrespect intended toward the City of Bakersfield, but that might be my hardest sale for the weekend.

Mark Reynolds San Luis Rey Road Cycling Classic

Here I sit in room 214 at Littlerock High School waiting, more patiently than my students, for the bell to ring at 12:13. It's only 11:13 and my kids finished their State mandated STAR testing over an hour ago - just another hour of baby sitting on my side, and another hour (might as well be 100 hours)of socializing on their side. I thought I would put the time to good use (at least use)and post on the next upcoming race on my schedule. I'm still on the fence for this race but I really need to get back in the saddle and put a race behind me after my accident. My wife has to leave race day for Calistoga so my attendance in the race is "up in the air."

The race is for Sunday, May 3rd, and is in honor of Mark Reynolds. Mark was killed by a mountain lion while mountain biking in SoCal.

The race is an 11.6 mile loop (my MapMyRide says around 11.3)with a fair amount of climbing to separate out the riders. I believe I will compete with the Masters 45+ to take advantage of the more experienced racers - didn't help me at Murrieta but let's hope my accident was a fluke.

Here's my MapMyRide with profile:

Napa Valley - Bicycling Paradise

I'm pretty recovered from my bike race injuries but continued headaches made me drop my April lineup of races - the headaches are now over and I'm looking forward to May. Something new has popped up though. My wife is the new school superintendent of the Calistoga Joint Union School District in the beautiful Napa Valley of Northern California. She officially starts July 1st but we recently spent 5 days in Calistoga, and yours truly got a chance to do a couple of rides there. So I thought I would dedicate this post as a travelogue of sorts on the two rides of hundreds that exist in this cool place. Hell, Levi Leipheimer left Montana to look for the best place to train as a pro-rider and found Santa Rosa (right next door to Calistoga)and never left. He's been there 12 years and I believe he has been quoted as saying it is one of the best places to ride in the U.S. I have to agree. In one hour you can ride through redwoods, hit the Pacific Ocean, ride great hills and valleys. So here's a couple of rides that I mapped on MapMyRide.com.

Photo Credit to: Travel4California.Com

The Silverado Trail from Calistoga to Yountville:

Around 40 miles total in this out and back route right down the center of the Napa Valley. It's a fairly flat ride through the vineyards with pretty vistas on all sides of the road. The traffic is fairly heavy but there are wide bike lanes on both sides of the Silverado Trail. I was not alone on this Sunday morning ride as many, many, other roadies were out and about. Here's the link via MayMyride:



You've got options in this ride. You can continue past Yountville and travel down to the city of Napa and come back. You can make it a loop ride by using highway 29, etc. All in all, a 5 star ride.

Photo Credit: © 2007 Solage Hotels & Resorts

Pope Valley Loop:

The 2nd ride, which I did on a Monday morning was perfect. I decided to check out the climbs and ride a big part of the 2009 Tour of California, Stage 1 route (by the way, the Silverado Trail route is also a part of the TOC.) Stage 1 brought the riders from California's Central Valley (the town of Winters) over the mountains and down into the Napa Valley. I rode it backwards, leaving Calistoga, riding up over the hills to the Pope Valley and then deviated from the TOC route because of lack of time, and made it a great loop. Check it out in MapMyRide:



This ride, another 5 star, had almost zero traffic once I cleared off of the Silverado Trail. The climb up to the town of Angwin was tough but harder yet, was the descent down to the Pope Valley. Definitely a technical descent. Later, talking to locals, I was told to use Ink Grade Road which has a better descent. It looks good on the map and I can't wait to get back to Calistoga to give it a try.

I should have a race in May, though the coming move to NorCal may make racing problamatic in the short term. I for sure will have races in late summer, as NorCal has a lot more road races than SoCal. I'm going to write off crits, as I don't want my daughters to see me lying in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm again.

When you come to the Napa Valley for the wine, make sure you look me up and I'll hook you up with all the rides the Valley has to offer!

My Colnago C40

With my training time curtailed by injuries and the fact that a business trip will knock out my next race (San Diego Omnium) I thought I would do a post on my racing bike. I'm on my spring break so I've got some time.

C40 Frame:

The 2001 frame is beautiful and gets a lot of attention wherever I ride. Handling is great with the Colnago sweeping into turns w/o much thought on my part; the Colnago just seems to sort out the turns why I just watch my line. This is a great bike particularly for racing. It is stiff enough to sprint well and is a great descender. I have done 100 miles or more on the bike without problems.

Strengths:
Light enough to win a mountain stage
Stiff enough for Tour strongmen to sprint on
Great longevity/durability for carbon
Pedigree
Appearance
almost everyone else ISN'T riding one (darn elitist mentality)
Get a used one for less than most new junk costs

Weaknesses:
would prefer 1&1/8 inch fork- but not a big deal.
odd size seatpost (28.0mm) means you need an expensive colnago post (or a Thomson), unless you buy an adapter shim (28.0 to 27.2) allowing you to run whatever post you want.

Thomson Masterpiece Seat Post:

Strengths:
The lightest, strongest, best made, safest, easiest to adjust seatpost BAR NONE!!!!

Weaknesses:
None (Well, a little pricey)

Fizik Arione Seat:

Strengths:
cool looking, light weight, a lot of real estate.

Weaknesses:
Mr. Happy goes to sleep if I'm careless in my positioning.

Gruppo:

I have the Campy Chorus 10 set with some modifications; I dropped the stock crank and installed an ultra torque chorus 10 crank. I did the installation myself and it was much easier than dealing with traditional bottom brackets. The cranks are nice and stiff and I like the beefier bearings you get with the ultra torque.

My old rear derailleur was getting worn out and a friend had a Campy Record RD with less than 500 miles on it. He didn't need it and sold it to me for a song - it took a little time to settle in but now runs great.

Look Keo Pedals:

I have the carbon body with the chromoly spindle. I've used Looks since they were the first to come out with clipless pedals. The Keo's are light and strong but there was an issue about a recall notice; see past post.

Strengths:
Weight, easy to enter and exit and easy to service.

Weaknesses:
Cleats wear pretty fast.

Headset and Fork:

I use a Chris King headset which is just about bullet proof. In fact one of my buddies with years of bicycle mechanic experience said the my bike would crumble eventually around the headset. King makes a great headset - enough said.

My front fork is new (old Look fork destroyed in crash) and is an original Colnago carbon street fork with an alloy steerer tube. I've been riding my time trial bike so I still don't know how this fork will affect my ride. It was tough to find as by bike has a 1" steerer tube with most bikes using 1 1/8" now. Anyway, the Colnago fork does go nicely with the C40 frame so I just have to see how it rides.

Bars and Stem:

My old bar and stem were also wiped in the crash so the new ones are untested but here's what Trek says about:Bontrager's Race X Lite Blade, VR Road Handlebar is light, strong, comfortable, and a great upgrade for your road machine. Its high-compression molded-carbon construction is feathery light, damps road vibrations to fight fatigue and has the most natural shape you have felt in a handlebar.
- Blade refers to the flat and wide top section that distributes hand pressure better and allows for more hand positions.
- VR stands for Variable Radius, and refers to the Lance designed bend that is ergonomic AND was optimally designed for modern shift /brake levers.
- Double cable groove works with Shimano,SRAM and Campy
- No Rider weight restrictions (Like all Bontrager products)
- Compatible with Clip-On Aerobars
- Only 228 grams (42cm) and much stronger and more fatigue resistant than light weight aluminum bars.

I'm using the 44cm bars as I've got pretty wide shoulders. I bought it with a matching stem: Bontrager Race XXX Lite OS Carbon Road Stem. From a review: The Race XX Lite OS is the latest carbon stem from Bontrager, and it their first road-only offering. It's made from high compression moulded uni-directional carbon fibre, with a forged aluminium (and very highly polished) front plate. With the high price it's going to be hard to justify this stem from a value perspective, but the performance is certainly without question second to none. I feel price may not play a factor in the decision to buy this stem though…

Both the bar and the stem were price listed at around $250 each but I got them from the Trek Superstore for around $225 for both - a special they have going right now.

Campy Vonda Wheelset:

I like this set and like the looks of the G3 spoke pattern on the rear. They are strong, and I'm tough on wheels. They run about 1660g which is not too bad for a $600 wheel set. They climb well and spool up okay when sprinting. When replacement time comes I'm thinking about the William system 38s.

Strengths:
Very smooth, sort of aero, faily light, and quite strong.

Weaknesses:
None noted, especially at this price.

For rubber I use Michelin Pro Race 3. If you look at my bike pic you'll see that I have a Pro Race 3 gray on the front and a Pro Race 3 blue on the back. I buy them in pairs and got a good deal on the grays from ebay. I'm one of those that rotate tires. When my rear starts going flat (shape not air holding ability) I take it off and rotate my front to the rear. I usually get around 2400 miles plus on these tires. They're pretty flat resistant for a racing tire, light wt., and really stick to the road during turns.

Well, there it is. I'm sure this post will bore my usual half dozen readers and my wife would only roll her eyes at this post. Of course, she's not one of my half dozen readers!

Back in the Saddle Again

With my Colnago C40 still in the bicycle shop waiting for my new fork to arrive, I finally felt good enough to go for a short ride on my Felt time trial bike. The Colnago is sitting in the Trek Bicycle Superstore in San Diego after my crash in the Tour de Murrieta circuit race, in Murrieta, California (see previous post.) It seemed to come off the 30 mph end over end accident fairly well, if you can call having to drop over 6 bills "coming off fairly well." The carbon fiber, aero handlebars are toast, the stem had the mounting screws that hold the handlebars sheared off, and the fork is suspect, though we haven't looked for steerer tube damage yet - just seems the sensible thing to do, as the fork is completely carbon fiber. It was a Look fork that I'm replacing with a slightly heavier Colnago fork that is also carbon fiber but has an alloy steerer tube and should be stronger for when I repeat the accident in the future. The left shifter is suspect but seems okay right now, will know more when I get the bike put back together.

The big story here is my Giro Monza helmet. Without question it saved my life. When the numnut sprinted up on my left and hooked my handlebars with his, he was driving at full speed. My handlebars were immediately pushed hard to the right causing my front wheel to follow and the bike literally tipped straight over and drove me into the pavement head first. I took the impact on the left side of my helmet and was immediately knocked out for several minutes by the impact. The helmet sustained fatal injuries, cracked in more than 3 places - see pics below.

I now have a lot of faith in Giro and have replaced my dead Monza with a new Giro, Ionos model.

Left Side of Helmet

Note double crack on either side of helmet front

Note crack through yellow safety decal