Category Archives: 2013 Rides

2013 Coastal Overnight

Coastal Overnight Day Two

This was the much longer day two of our overnight coastal trip. Ruth was very excited all day that she had stayed in a hotel.

Anne wasn’t quite awake when we started, so I took the first turn with the trailer. It was misty, but not enough to really need rain gear. Before too long, Anne warmed up and was ready to take it back.

We didn’t have much of a lunch with us today, just some bread and peanut butter. We though we’d find something at the gas station near the hotel, but they were still closed when we passed them. We decided to take a 1.7 mile detour to the La Honda Market, even though we weren’t sure of our when they would open. Lucky for us, they were open so we got some yummy sandwiches before continuing up Alpine.

Anne took the trailer all the way up, and she still kicked my butt. I was not having a very good climbing day. But we eventually made it to the top, and got to enjoy the ups and downs of Skyline.

Finally it was my turn for the trailer again. The descent on Tunitas Creek was nice – at first anyways. It started out nice and gentle, but then got fairly steep. Anne took the lead, and every time she disappeared around a corner, Ruth would ask where Mommy went. Then she would get very excited when we caught up again. “There she is!”

We had a short uphill section before rejoining Highway 1. Even though it wasn’t too steep or too long, it took a lot out of me. Fortunately enough, there were cows and horses to keep Ruth entertained.

I believe this was the longest bike ride we’ve done, in terms of time elapsed (we’ve done more miles, but not with any significant climbing). I feel pretty good, although tired. This ride was a little more intense than our biggest day scheduled for the Oregon trip, so I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to pull that off.

PS: Anne was sad I didn’t mention the artichoke farm yesterday. We rode past a artichoke farm both today and yesterday. Hurray?

2013 Coastal Overnight

Coastal Overnight Day One

We decided a while ago that we should try to do an overnight trip as part of our training. We ended up scheduling it just a week before the big tour, so I guess it’s kind of a dry run more than anything else.

As we were getting ready to leave the house this morning I heard a funny noise. I looked outside and saw that it was pouring! Still sunny though. After about 10 minutes it stopped. Quite an auspicious start.

Today was a pretty quick ride down Highway 1. Tomorrow we take the long way back. Nice views of the ocean, although parts were pretty foggy. There was more car traffic than I would have liked, but there was a pretty nice shoulder most of the way.

We stopped for lunch at Pomponio State Beach. Anne took Ruth to see the ocean. Apparently she freaked out at the waves coming over her toes, but calmed down once Mommy told her it was just the ocean giving her a kiss.

We arrived at our lodging fairly early, so had a chance to walk around a bit. It’s a pretty nice place, with regular hotel rooms, RV campsites, canvas cabins, and also horses! We’re in a hotel room – I’m quite fond of a proper shower after a bike ride.

Ruth is now “sleeping” on the floor next to the bed. She actually playing with the room phone (unplugged) and ducking out of sight if I look at her.

Animal sightings: cows, horses, goats, some lizards flitting in the bushes

Mechanical problems: none

2013 Tour Prep

Mt Tamalpais and Alpine Lake loop

This ride makes the third and final installment in our Bay Area mountains series. Two weeks ago was Mt Hamilton, last all was Mt Diablo, and this week was Mt Tamalpais. Even though this was the lowest summit, I think it was the hardest ride.

First off, the heat. We got a fairly early start, but it was still 75 degrees already when we started rolling at 8:30. Temperatures were in the mid 90s before we were done.

Climbing out of Mill Valley we hit a surprisingly steep grade before we had really warmed up. We needed to walk up some of it, then I took an early turn with the trailer, and still with all the bags.

Mt Tam has a sneaky approach to the East Summit. You climb and climb and see a bunch of communication gear and think you’re just about at the top. But then you turn the corner, and see that you need to descend down, follow the ridge line, and climb up to the next peak. Then you do the same thing again. Finally you get to the real East Summit, although you can’t bike all the way to the top.

I took the trailer back for the descent. Of course that meant some short climbs, too. It was too hot and too soon after lunch for me to handle it well. Anne helped a bit, until we got to the real descent. There were still a few short climbs, but mostly we could just coast back up them.

We made it down to the Alpine Dam, and Anne took the trailer back for the next set of climbs. Just as we were crossing the dam, I noticed a funny dinging vibration coming from my rear wheel. We stopped to investigate, and figured out it was the spring in my brake pad bouncing off the rotor. I had worn a hole through the pad, and the spring poked through it.

Fortunately enough, just the day before we went to the bike shop and bought spare pads and were shown how to install them, and I tossed the spares in the bag that morning. We weren’t able to get the brake fully adjusted, but we’ll enough. I knew I had reduced braking power, so I made Anne take the trailer for the rest of the descents, which she handled nicely.

At some point, my cleats started popping out of my pedals, too. That meant I couldn’t pull back in my shoes, so my toes were really sore by the end. I guess it’s time for new cleats.

Animal sightings: a turkey on the road that thought it was a bike/turkey land, horses at a stable (supposedly), much evidence of woodpeckers, circling vultures at eye level

Mechanical problems: failed brake pad, failed cleats

Smelliest moment: when I stopped to drink some water I though I smelled pretty bad. Then I saw the very dead deer just off the shoulder

Most daredevil toy: Baby, who got thrown from the trailer twice