Wednesdays are my favorite day for the lunch ride. It's a long and fast route, and I usually am able to hang with the A group the entire time. I've got most of the attacks covered, but always get dropped on the descent leading up to a nasty cross-wind section right before the long stretch home. Today we had a pro in our midst. I didn't catch her name but she had an entourage of photographers following us in a van for most of the way. I managed to hang with her and the chase group before dropping them in the last few miles.
Who's the Boss?
I did another easy ride at lunch, this time with my boss, Frank. Everyone at Specialized is a rider, and there's nothing better than going over meeting notes than while on a bike.
Recovery
Yup, recovery. Everyone needs those days. I actually need a day off the bike completely, but I just can't seem to stop! Too much fun. I held back from chasing down the A group and rode with a friend at a friendly pace.
From Recovery to Hammer
I spent the beautiful Sunday afternoon doing a recovery spin up and over Mount San Bruno. Hardly a recovery ride, but I meant to keep it short and sweet. That was until I ran into my buddy Jeremy, whom I just rode with yesterday, passing by with another rider. I changed directions and caught up to them and asked to join their easy spin. Once we started to roll it quickly turned from a friendly ride into a total hammer-fest. I got to ride a few new sections of road alongside the airport and up into the hills near Skyline.
Wettest Ride
My Saturday ride at Skeggs with my buddies turned out to be one of the wettest mountain bike rides I've ever done. We thought we'd have perfect dirt after having rained the night before. Twenty minutes into our ride the sky opened up and poured on us. Along the way we past a huge group of bikers. A few of them shouted out my name as they rolled past from the other direction. They were my co-workers! Really cool to see them up in the peninsula. Shortly after half of our group split, those of us who had enough and those that wanted more. It was only myself and my friend Jeremy that wanted to brave the warm rain. It just got progressively worse and worse, but it was really fun, actually. Reminded me of riding back in New York and back home in Seattle/Portland. We crossed paths with my Specialized crew a few times before calling it quits after an hour of slogging through the mud.
Off the Back
Oh Fridays. Another day of attacking on the lunch ride, aka World Championships. I held my own for half of the ride with the A group. I knew exactly when and where the split would occur, a long grinder halfway through the loop. I found myself off the back. I wasn't the only casualty on the road, as I caught up to one of my coworkers.
Civilized
Our reverse Uvas loop was very civilized, in that there weren't any surges or too many attacks. I practiced staying in a group that rotated more often, working less and ultimate catching up with the lead group. That worked until the route turned upward where the groups started to split again.
Cañada Loop
A lot of people are out at Interbike this week, leaving the Specialized headquarters rather quiet. On those days a small group likes to rally a ride out to do the Cañada loop. It sits on the south side of Henry Coe State Park and rolls through some beautiful NorCal scenery. We covered nearly 40 miles, averaging 19mph and climbed close to 1500' in two hours.
We had eight strong riders as we worked our way up into the hills at tempo. We began to split as we made our way on the latter half of the loop, finishing off the ride with a bombing decent before the long headwind filled stretch of road back to work.
That Was Scary
Tuesday's lunch ride brought us onto Day Road, where the group clocked in the fastest time on the sweeping stretch of road. There was cross winds, tail winds, attacks on top of attacks. Fortunately I was able to keep up with the main pack, but it got really hairy in a few sections. At the first stop light, as the pack regrouped, we sat there in shock of how fast we were moving. It didn't stop there. Once the light turned green we were off again, battling for position and more speed.
Mondays
A fast and furious Monday lunch ride.
Sunday Peaks
I explored the peaks of the city, hitting Bernal Heights and Twin Peaks before dropping down through Golden Gate Park, up and over Sea Cliff and back home through the Mission. It was a beautiful day out on the bike.
Recovery in the Headlands
After watching the Vuelta stage this morning I was inspired to go out and summon my inner Horner. The long commute from yesterday left me feeling rather run down this morning. I dialed down my ambition and did a lap around the Headlands. There were a ton of trail runners out for an ultra marathon of sorts, but luckily the course didn't overlap with my route too much. I was definitely feeling the fade on each climb, but it was good to get out onto some dirt.
Friday Ultra Commute
I rode to work this morning, a steady 70 mile effort straight through the Silicon Valley corridor. I left around 5am, geared up with my lights, and pedaled my way into the dark for the first couple of hours. The route I take isn't that exciting. It's a straight shot all the way down El Camino Real before cutting onto the long stretch of Monterey Highway. For some reason I kept hitting all of the stop lights as I made my way through the Stanford area. Very annoying. It cut into my moving speed quite a bit, not to mention the quick accelerating is taxing on my legs when I should be conserving my energy by steady pulls.
The worst part of the commute has to be the long stretch from Morgan Hill back into San Jose later in the day, where I face the dreaded headwind that seams to persist every single day of the week. It builds character, but makes an otherwise easy ride home not so pleasant. Normally I'm completely spent and unable to push a high gear at the end of the day, but with proper pacing earlier in the morning I was able to find some power, especially as I approached downtown San Jose and into the Diridon Caltrain station. I hit rush hour as I saw the bike car fill up, but it was nice to sit back and watch the same road from this morning unfold.
Nibali
Nibali watches over my steed. This week I've been on every lunch ride at work, a first considering the two days my dog, Marlow, is with me. Tomorrow I plan on riding into work, skipping the Friday Worlds race. It feels good to get in some solid and consistent miles in this week. I hope to keep it up during the fall and especially the winter.
Bailey
As I wind down my race season I can feel my body gradually changing. Today's lunch ride was an indication that I'm ready for hibernation mode of sorts. While the intensity is high I'm finding it harder to motivate myself to keep turning the cranks over for longer. I haven't been able to go on longer rides, and my weekly training hours have slowly dwindled down. It's all good, though. All part of training.
Levi's Gran Lunch Ride
Ex pro peloton athlete, Levi Leipheimer, was in the house today. He stopped by to say hi and joined us on the lunch ride. Halfway through, as the group began to split, I had the humbling experience of trying to hang on his wheel. It was a no go for me, but I was happy to be off the back of the A group.
Pong
The best part about forgetting my shoes for the lunch ride today was finding out that people love to play ping pong here, and you all know how much I love ping pong. I got my game on and broke a nice sweat. I was a bit rusty, but eventually found my rhythm.
Back for More
I had to get out for more McLaren trails and then some. I discovered some new sections at the top of San Bruno mountain before making my way up to Twin Peaks and back. Someday I'm going to connect all the legal sections of dirt into one amazing urban assault.
McLaren Short Track Challenge
I managed a solid 5th place out of 20 racers in the expert 35 and under class. I managed to blow myself up early in the first lap, getting the hole shot at the start of a rather nasty climb, and didn't have the power or ability to recover. I held on and suffered for five painful laps. It was an afternoon race and the sun was out, roasting everyone for each hour long wave. It felt more like a cross race than anything.
The festival was great, and it was amazing to see all the support from the SF mountain biking community. So many familiar faces and friends out on course cheering everyone on. The best part was that it all happened just miles from our place.
Team Muscle Milk Specialized
I'm excited to announce that I'll be joining the Muscle Milk Specialized team for 2014! The team has been around for only a year, but in that short time it's made a name for itself with strong appearances in the NorCal mountain/road scene. It's a grass-roots team made up of Cat 1 crushers, most of whom I work with at Specialized. I'll be riding/racing my Open for the remainder of the season before I make the switch. I also have the opportunity to design their new kits for next season. So happy and excited to be a part of the hard working team, and hope to have another solid season.