Short Coast

We took a short trip to Monterey. Three nights is probably our shortest stay in many years, but it was just fine.

We only went on two rides which was also unusual. The first day we rode south on 17 Mile Drive. The roads were very quiet and it was a peaceful, contemplative ride.

The next day we rode north on the coastal trail with a loop through Fort Ord.

We saw a few people on gravel bikes as we first entered Fort Ord. After that we were all alone except for the occasional wild animal, like the coyote below.

I really can't get enough of this place. It's so cool to link together rides on car-free roads, and you also have gravel and singletrack options.

The climb up to Laguna Seca is tough, but Jenn did great and even pretended to like it.

Once we reached the racetrack (1000 feet), it was mostly downhill back to the hotel (barely above sea level).

All told we clocked 28 miles with 2000 feet of climbing.

After a shower and a snack, we had a great Russian Imperial Stout at Dustbowl.

One of the unusual things about this visit was the smell. It was . . . not great. This was caused by an unusually large presence of anchovies in the bay. This leads to more predation in the bay, attracting larger fish, sea lions and birds. These predators produce a lot of organic waste matter, and the process of breaking down all that waste creates a hypoxic environment, meaning there isn't enough oxygen to support all the fish. The anchovies are dying off because of it. Most of the dead are consumed by predators anyway, but basically the whole chain reaction results in a bad smell that we could never totally get away from. I could smell it in our hotel room even with the windows closed.

We have seen large numbers of sea lions before, but in different places. This is Sister City Park and I don't think any of the benches or tables will be salvageable.

Nobody likes a crowd:

Pictures will never do justice to just how many birds there were. We have visited Monterey more times than I can count and there were easily 20 times as many birds as I have ever seen.

Anyway, other than gagging on a few occasions as we passed sea lion central, it was a good trip.

Later.

Hidden Falls

For a while now Roger and I have been trying to get together for a ride out at Hidden Falls, but one thing or another prevented it. Last time we had a date set Roger caught Covid. The time before that Jenn had a conflicting appointment, and since we are currently sharing one car (my Camry now lives in Los Angeles with the kid), I had to postpone.

Today the planets finally aligned and we got it done.

I took a look at the map to familiarize myself with the area, but I didn't learn much except there were many trails and they ranged from easy to difficult.

Hidden Falls Regional Park is about eight miles north-west of Auburn. It took me about 50 minutes to drive there from Folsom on winding country roads. I arrived a little high on nostalgia because these roads were part of our vast training grounds when we were younger. The flashbacks were vivid and frequent. Every twist and turn brought a new "this is where" memory, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The roads and countryside have changed very little except for one important facet: The traffic. Back in the 1980s we could ride 30 minutes between cars passing. Now we would be lucky to get 30 seconds.

I arrived at the parking lot to find the temperature was 12 degrees colder than at my home in Folsom. I forgot about the elevation change, and I was horribly underdressed for 46 degrees.

We took off and started on a long downhill and I was very cold. After a long summer of heat it was shocking. We probably could have started later and at least let the sun come up a bit more.

The trails are mostly smooth and fast, with just enough turning to make it fun.

Hey, look, sunshine!

We took a side trip to the namesake falls, and I was surprised there was any water flowing at all considering the time of year.

Towards the end of the ride I was starting to blow up, and we had only gone 12 miles. Roger was on his eBike and I felt compelled to peg it on every climb so I wouldn't slow him down. I was in a heart rate zone I hadn't visited in a while, and it cost me. I usually ride about 25 miles on my mountain bike rides, and I always climb at a good pace, but not like this.

I opted out of a longer ride and made the last climb back up to the parking lot.

In the end we only did 14 miles but with a solid 1700 feet of climbing. Again, this is significantly less than the 2500 feet I do on my local ride, but not at race pace.

We had a nice lunch at a drive-in burger place in Lincoln after the ride.

It was a great introduction to a new trail system and I look forward to doing it again and not killing myself to prove I am just as fast as an eBike.

Later.

Feeling the Crunch

I took the gravel bike out for a ride today. How could I not? After yesterday's epic gravel stage in the Tour de France, I was jonesing to feel the crunch of gravel beneath my own tires.

Much like the Tour stage, I have to get my gravel in short sectors. We don't have long gravel roads around my home.

Here is a one mile stretch near the river:

A half mile near Lake Natoma:

The gravel road between Beals Point and Granite Bay:

I still love to get out there and haul ass on the dirt with drop bars. I don't think the old cyclocross racer hidden somewhere deep within my soul will ever die.

Later.

Dawn Patrol

I had things to do this morning, so I went out early to get a ride in.

I left just after at 5 a.m. It was warm, at least until I got near the water.

Within 30 minutes or so it was light enough to extinguish my light.

I don't hate living by a lake.

I rode about 15 miles before the sun even touched me. It was nice to ride without sunscreen.

A quick 23 miles. It was a nice change of pace to ride in the dark on empty trails.

Later.

Medio Año

Half the year is gone and I am on pace for yet another annual mileage record, which is crazy. It would be the eighth straight year my mileage has increased.

There are two obvious reasons for this. One is moving down from the foothills. Riding on flatter terrain is simply easier. You can see the mileage ramp up in June of last year after the move. In fact, in the last 10 months I have set five monthly records (in red).

The other obvious reason is retirement. What's not so obvious is my retirement didn't increase the mileage that much. After all, I retired in 2021. No, it's Jennifer's retirement that caused the major increase.

Basically, I am now two cyclists in one. I am now the guy who rides about 100 miles a week with his retirement partner, which is great. However, I am also still the guy who likes to ride his mountain and gravel bikes. I do these rides on the days that Jenn goes to yoga.

Consequently, I typically average six rides per week, and I often ride 8-10 days in a row.

As a result, I can sometimes get tired. There are days when I am very excited to get out on the mountain bike, but I find that I have dead legs out on the trails. I am also suffering from some periodic overuse issues, like sore hips, which can happen if you perform the same exercise too often. There are also days when I simply don't enjoy myself that much (which isn't completely unheard of when you have been riding for over 40 years).

In the grand scheme of things, 6000 miles a year isn't that much. I am sure back in the 1980s, before I started keeping track of stats, I was riding well over 10,000 miles a year. Of course, there are some obvious physiological differences between a young, aspiring racer and a cyclist retiree. In other words, I am old.

Anyway, I am trying to mix in more walking and weight training, and I am on the hunt for another hobby that uses more upper body, like kayaking or paddle boarding. I do live right by a lake now . . .

Later.

Intervals

Back in the day I used to do intervals as part of my training. This usually involved something like climbing a steep hill over and over (the famous puke loop!), or perhaps some sprint repeats, or sitting at 90% of max heart rate for five minutes with one minute of rest in-between. Over and over. They were painful but effective training tools. I do not miss them, though.

Today, however, I experimented with intervals. On my camera. It didn't hurt at all.

I set my GoPro to take a photo every 30 seconds on our ride today. 

It's a wide angle lens, so there is some distortion, which isn't great for general use.

Sometimes the wide angle works out like in the photo below.

Or this one.

Passing lane only.

Speaking in Italian.

Overall it was a fun experiment, but combing through 300 pictures with similar perspectives was a bit monotonous. Perhaps if I mounted the camera on my helmet instead of the handlebars that might yield more interesting compositions.

Later.

Scream

Today I went for a mountain bike ride from the house. Normally this is a fun day, but it was more frustrating than anything. Every time I felt like I was getting into a rhythm, something stood in my way.

This tree fell across a trail. With poison oak lining both sides of the trail, I didn't attempt to go around it. My momma didn't raise no dummy. Alternate route.

The state is making levee improvements. Trail gone. Alternate route.

Found an alternate route. No bikes. With three hikers giving me the hairy eyeball, I moved on. Alternate route.

This continued to happen for one reason or another for the entire ride. I was so frustrated I even stopped taking pictures. Me. No pictures. I know, right?

It's enough to make a guy scream. Sometimes you just gotta let it out.

I am sure the next ride will be better.

Later.