Sunday Ride

[Tom Kunich]

I did about 41 miles today. Niles Canyon and started up Palomares Rd but I could only make it about 1/3rd of the way up until I simply couldn't climb the road anymore and turned around. Not having climbed since getting a cold and then having the problem with my medication has really set me back. So I will be scratching and working my way back to harder climbs. The section I had to turn around is one of the 10% sections that runs for about a mile with a slight let up in the middle where it drops back to 7%. Once past this section it drops back down to 5 and 6% except at the very top where the final 100 meters is 8%. From where I stopped another 1/3rd of the way up is the monastery and there is a short 9% section followed be a short downhill. Well, it's something to build back up to.

[Tom Kunich]

On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 2:04:29 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
> I did about 41 miles today. Niles Canyon and started up Palomares Rd but I could only make it about 1/3rd of the way up until I simply couldn't climb the road anymore and turned around. Not having climbed since getting a cold and then having the problem with my medication has really set me back. So I will be scratching and working my way back to harder climbs. The section I had to turn around is one of the 10% sections that runs for about a mile with a slight let up in the middle where it drops back to 7%. Once past this section it drops back down to 5 and 6% except at the very top where the final 100 meters is 8%. From where I stopped another 1/3rd of the way up is the monastery and there is a short 9% section followed be a short downhill. Well, it's something to build back up to.

Checking my ride yesterday I note that where I gave up and turned around the altitude was 500 feet - the top of Palomares is 900 feet. I would have continued but there was another steep section ahead followed by a false flat and then another steeper section at the Monastery. Though that one is only a couple of hundred meters. I guess I'll just have to build up to it again.

[William Crowell]

I think you are doing pretty well, Tom. You're still doing rather hard rides, and you're even older than I am. Right now my endurance will only allow me to do a "short snort" that has a fair amount of climbing. Last winter's layoff was too long, and I ate too much, so I'm hoping to get into better shape. I would like to have the endurance to do a longer, harder ride. I'm going to give it a try one of these days.

[Tom Kunich]

My weight is also too high from last winter's continuous rain. The weatherman is hinting that we may have another wet year too. There is still damage to the hill roads and where I stopped yesterday was just past a single lane where the road had washed out on the creek side - that was after it had washed out on the cliff side and been closed for the better part of a year.

It the hill roads hadn't been destroyed the extra weigh would slowly have come off and then at one point my climbing comes back.

[Tom Kunich]

I went out and did the early 600 foot climb. My medication was hitting me about that time so I had to watch the road carefully. I was also riding the Land Shark which is the heaviest bike I have. After doing that climb I descended back almost to sea level and then did another 600 feet though this wasn't as steep it felt long. This brought me to the western end of Proctor Rd.

I followed this to Redwood Rd. and followed that down (at 36 mph) to the road closure. Working my way around the closure I started up the closed off road. When I came to the total collapse of the road, you can work your way around it because the far right used to be a pull-off. When I got to Muriel Gate, the fence had been repaired so that passage was no longer possible. You could work your way around the fence on the downhill side but there was a lot of poison oak on that route. But there was also a lot of bicycle wheel prints.

Instead I retreated to the old chain fence that was originally used to demarcate the edge of the park. I reached up and hung my bike on the fencepost and then climbed up a nearly vertical face which crumbled away and caused me to fall back down a couple of times. But I finally made the 7 or so feet, lifted the bike up and took a walking trails bypassing the road fence.

I then road out of Mariel Gate and down Redwood road. There was a surprising amount of traffic on the road considering it dead-end in Mariel Park. At the bottom of the hill I had been planning on riding up Pinehurst to the top of the hill on the Southern end - "little Pinehurst" and then turning around and retracing my steps but since I have an appointment at 1 pm I decided instead to ride up Redwood road to Skyline and come down out of the hills. So I continued on Redwood Road which at this point is part of Oakland. There was heavy traffic on this road from, I suppose Walnut Creek taking this back road to Highway 34. I am completely out of shape and the climb up to Skyline on a busy narrow road being slowly destroyed by the heavy traffic was very tiresome. I had to stop twice to let 8 or more cars past since there are some cautious drivers that do not want to pass. By the time I had climbed the 500 feet to the top I was totally exhausted. Turning left on Skyline is a damned 10% climb for a quarter mile. I waited at the traffic light to rest and then had to dodge idiot drivers who were taking Redwood Rd to the Valley. In the best of times this is a dangerous road but with this sort of traffic I'm surprised that they don't have many more accidents as the play racers are doing 50+ mph on a road designed for 35.

Turning left and climbing up past Skyline High School which appears to have built a housing area behind it now, there is quite a bit of climbing but it is a wide road with a good sight line so it is a safe road. Then there is a fast descent and a short steep climb past some houses that used to be the only homes on Skyline, a descent and then a climb up a steep hill of 10 to 12%. i had to stop and rest about half way but I managed to clip in on the first attempt. Then the road was so bad that I ran out of energy about 20 feet from the top and again had to stop. There was a lot of cracks in the road here and I could not clip in again and a lot of traffic came by then so I walked the bike up the 20 feet. The other side is a descent though some really broken up roadway but I know when to pull into the other lane to avoid some 6 inch high bumps (in 3 or 4 areas). Then a long slide down a fast broken up road where a lot of people park to go into Grass Valley Park. There is Grass Valley Road that descends sharply with a lot of old houses on either side and nut cases pulling out on the road from their driveways without looking. But just clear of there the road descends hard (39 mph) and turns onto Golf Links Rd. There is a large clear spot for over 1/2 miles where the locals dump trash on the side of the road and where Oakland has not repaired the damage from last winter's rain.

This is a descent that turns into a downhill fast right turn and then a left ascent to a flat before another descent to a stop on Mountain Blvd. Under Highway 680 and then up a very busy climb to a side road where you have to cross this traffic that believes they are still on a Freeway. That side road still after 5 years has not repaired the ruptured sewer line and the acid from the urine has cut 5 inch groves in the asphalt as it crosses the road. You have to be extremely careful crossing these with a bike and then you have a terrible road the rest of the way down the hill to Foothill Blvd. At this place there is a Freeway exit so the traffic is again moving 50+ on the city street. But after crossing that you only go another couple of blocks to enter San Leandro where the street narrows enough that the traffic is forced to slow.

3 miles and I was home with 28 miles and 2500 feet of climbing. If I had taken my original route it would have been safer and with another 400 feet of climbing. but I have to gain my fitness back. Hopefully it will return even though I am getting close to 79. The 80 year old's I'm riding with on some rides are faster than me. So hopefully that's something to shoot for.

[William Crowell]

We're having perfect cycling weather here, and I am trying to convince myself that tomorrow I'm going to do the Starkes Grade loop:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c03AeUshUZAzjdyi6Xvf7HLA0gxn0Qyd/view?usp=sharing

We'll see if I really do it.

[Roger Meriman]

I was in Wales on the weekend and was far from ideal weather, ie mist with
varying amounts of visibility from the hill your approaching can’t be seen
to, can only just make out the old 2nd world war radar bunker 2 meters
away!

Very glad I knew the area as I could imagine folks who wandered off getting
lost and possibly intt trouble as the temperatures dropped on the higher
ground.

My shoes are still slightly wet now!

Roger Merriman

[Tom Kunich]

There is a local easy climbing ride that I intend to take today but make it three times harder. Let's see if I have the strength to do that.

[Roger Meriman]

What gearing are using? In my experience now I’m not old but middle aged,
but the first year after my brain injury I was weak and quite ill and
lacking in power but using the old MTB with its 22/34 gearing would spin up
if slowly even 25% grades.

Roger Merriman

[Catrike Rider]

On Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:10:26 GMT, Roger Meriman <ro...@sarlet.com>
wrote:

>Tom Kunich <cycl...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> On Monday, September 18, 2023 at 4:10:54?PM UTC-7, Roger Meriman wrote:
>>> William Crowell <retrog...@gmail.com> wrote:

When I was younger, a few days without a ride was not a big deal, but
today, I felt the 11 day lapse...or it might have been the six days of
500/600/700 miles of driving.

[Tom Kunich]

Today I did ride that was 30 miles long and had just short of 2,000 feet of climbing. I started getting very tired in the last 2 miles. My average speed was only 10 mph but almost the entire first 20 miles was climbing. When I got home I forgot to take the Garmin off of the bike so I went out immediately and moved the bike into the garage. This also gave me a chance to set the rear derailleur limits. I felt much better today after Tuesday's torture. Just as I got to the top of Cull Canyon two guys in their late 30's passed me and stopped at the top. I turned right around and came down. By this time I was showing fatigue so I wasn't descending the Canyon as fast as I used to. But I still beat them to the bottom. Perhaps they rest for a minute up on top. But since there's nothing there a minute is a long time unless you've totally burned yourself out on the way up. There's the possibility that they saw me off in the distance and decided to catch me and tired themselves out. But it isn't as if I'm fast anymore. So they would have to be pretty slow to wait more than a minute before starting down. Near the bottom there are several rises where I am slowed almost to a walk so they might be pretty slow on the descent because of the condition of the road.

[Roger Meriman]

I get stiff legs! If I don’t ride for a while though that’s partly that if
I’m not riding it probably means I’m somewhere that I can’t move much
either.

Though fitness and health in general does decline quickly one of the
reasons hospitals are so bad for folks is the immobile nature of it.

Roger Merriman

[Catrike Rider]

On Wed, 20 Sep 2023 11:12:25 GMT, Roger Meriman <ro...@sarlet.com>

>>>>> varying amounts of visibility from the hill your approaching can?t be seen

>>>>> to, can only just make out the old 2nd world war radar bunker 2 meters
>>>>> away!
>>>>>
>>>>> Very glad I knew the area as I could imagine folks who wandered off getting
>>>>> lost and possibly intt trouble as the temperatures dropped on the higher
>>>>> ground.
>>>>>
>>>>> My shoes are still slightly wet now!
>>>>>
>>>>> Roger Merriman
>>>> There is a local easy climbing ride that I intend to take today but make
>>>> it three times harder. Let's see if I have the strength to do that.
>>>>
>>>

>>> What gearing are using? In my experience now I?m not old but middle aged,

>>> but the first year after my brain injury I was weak and quite ill and
>>> lacking in power but using the old MTB with its 22/34 gearing would spin up
>>> if slowly even 25% grades.
>>>
>>> Roger Merriman
>>
>> When I was younger, a few days without a ride was not a big deal, but
>> today, I felt the 11 day lapse...or it might have been the six days of
>> 500/600/700 miles of driving.
>>
>I get stiff legs! If I don’t ride for a while though that’s partly that if
>I’m not riding it probably means I’m somewhere that I can’t move much
>either.
>
>Though fitness and health in general does decline quickly one of the
>reasons hospitals are so bad for folks is the immobile nature of it.
>
>Roger Merriman

Very little exorcize and lots of driving, partying, and eating for
eleven days. I paid dearly for that on my ride yesterday and I'm still
feeling it this morning.

The trip to Colorado was worth it though. Good friends and relations
out there and one in particular recovering from a serious medical
situation and a stay in the hospital. None of them and my wife and I
are getting any younger and we needed together time.

[Roger Meriman]

Strava says it’s a 1.5% average climb and 5.5 miles hence some folks are
sub 20mins some close to 10 mins looks like a big ring climb! Does look
like might have wee kick at the end but Strava hill curve grades as with
all aren’t reliable!

https://www.strava.com/segments/636879?filter=overall

I’d not assume they are racing/going full gas’s folks ride for all sorts of
reasons sounds more likely they had a chat at the top etc. or maybe just
coasted down, some hills I’ll pin the way down others just let the bike
roll.

Two guys may well have stopped to have chat and continued on way down it.
After all it’s a fairly gentle hill if Strava gradient is correct which it
should be over 5.5 miles!

Roger Merriman