Knowing that this will be a demanding season, I have been trying to front load my year with travel so I will be able to have focused training on the roads around home when I get closer to race season. We are in the second week of February, and I already hopped on my seventh flight of the year this week!
My previous trip was to Eau Claire, Wisconsin where temperatures dipped to -30F - needless to say, I didn't get any real training in. I rode the exercise bike and ran on the treadmill at the Hampton Inn attempting to keep up with training - plus I actually had an opportunity to go to a curling center and try curling, which wasn't training, but it was fun, and now I understand the sport a bit.
This week's trip was to visit Google for a few meetings in Mountain View, CA. Knowing that I would have warmer weather, I scheduled all of my meetings for Monday and Tuesday morning, leaving Tuesday afternoon free to actually get a ride in outside.
Monday consisted of an attempt at two minute intervals on the exercise bike at the Marriott - this was only bearable because I knew that Tuesday would see me enjoying the roads outside of Silicon Valley in 65 degree weather.
I wrapped up as quickly as possible on tuesday, and I headed to Mike's Bikes in Palo Alto. I remembered that they had sweet high-end rentals from a previous stint in the area a few years back, and I wasn't disappointed with their selection this time. The staff there was super friendly, and they hooked me up with a Specialized Tarmac with SRAM Red. They also pointed me to the quickest route to traffic free roads in the hills outside of Mountain View. For anyone traveling to San Francisco, San Jose, or anyplace nearby, I would highly recommend looking into renting from this shop rather than dragging your bike through the airport or shipping it.
I wrote down some quick notes to guide me on the selected route, adjusted the saddle height, and set off for my first ride outside since a January trip to Orlando. I was pumped to be off the Computrainer! The ride started with some gentle rollers through fields smaller communities, and it provided a perfect warmup prior to the "awesome" climb on Old El Honda. Keeping in mind that I am a criterium specialist, I found it hard to believe that the words "awesome" and "climb" could be used in the same sentence.
After about forty minutes of riding, I saw the left hand turn to Old El Honda. I had no idea how long or steep the climb would be. All I knew was that the guys at the shop said that it wasn't to be missed. In my mind I was picturing something like Hurricane Mountain Road in North Conway, NH with pitches exceeding 20%, so I have to say, I was a bit nervous.
Once I started up the climb, the road quickly narrowed to a lane and a half wide without any lines - much like Hurricane, but happily the average gradient was only 8%, and the switchbacks weren't very steep, so I set a tempo pace and progressed uphill from rather open fields to large redwoods and damp forest climbing for about 40 minutes until I reached Skyline Drive at the top. Amazingly, not a single car passed by the entire time I was on the climb! Once I hit Skyline, I turned right until I reached 84, which was promised to be an awesome descent. This did not disappoint either - the road consisted of many switchbacks and smooth pavement taking me back to the valley. The bike I was on sliced through the turns nicely, and the run was over much too quickly. Looking at the time, I figured I could make one more go at it and still make it to the shop before dark - so I hit it again, and hustled
back to the shop just before darkness, sporting a huge grin all the way back.
I have a few more trips over the next few weeks, one to Arizona, where I will definitely get some ride time in, one to NYC where riding won't happen, and finally to our training camp in Ashville, NC. Between now and Arizona though, it is back on the Computrainer.
Thanks for reading...
Jeff
My previous trip was to Eau Claire, Wisconsin where temperatures dipped to -30F - needless to say, I didn't get any real training in. I rode the exercise bike and ran on the treadmill at the Hampton Inn attempting to keep up with training - plus I actually had an opportunity to go to a curling center and try curling, which wasn't training, but it was fun, and now I understand the sport a bit.
Monday consisted of an attempt at two minute intervals on the exercise bike at the Marriott - this was only bearable because I knew that Tuesday would see me enjoying the roads outside of Silicon Valley in 65 degree weather.
I wrapped up as quickly as possible on tuesday, and I headed to Mike's Bikes in Palo Alto. I remembered that they had sweet high-end rentals from a previous stint in the area a few years back, and I wasn't disappointed with their selection this time. The staff there was super friendly, and they hooked me up with a Specialized Tarmac with SRAM Red. They also pointed me to the quickest route to traffic free roads in the hills outside of Mountain View. For anyone traveling to San Francisco, San Jose, or anyplace nearby, I would highly recommend looking into renting from this shop rather than dragging your bike through the airport or shipping it.
I wrote down some quick notes to guide me on the selected route, adjusted the saddle height, and set off for my first ride outside since a January trip to Orlando. I was pumped to be off the Computrainer! The ride started with some gentle rollers through fields smaller communities, and it provided a perfect warmup prior to the "awesome" climb on Old El Honda. Keeping in mind that I am a criterium specialist, I found it hard to believe that the words "awesome" and "climb" could be used in the same sentence.
After about forty minutes of riding, I saw the left hand turn to Old El Honda. I had no idea how long or steep the climb would be. All I knew was that the guys at the shop said that it wasn't to be missed. In my mind I was picturing something like Hurricane Mountain Road in North Conway, NH with pitches exceeding 20%, so I have to say, I was a bit nervous.
 |
| Old El Honda and the Redwoods |
back to the shop just before darkness, sporting a huge grin all the way back.
I have a few more trips over the next few weeks, one to Arizona, where I will definitely get some ride time in, one to NYC where riding won't happen, and finally to our training camp in Ashville, NC. Between now and Arizona though, it is back on the Computrainer.
Thanks for reading...
Jeff
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