Bay Tripper

I am seriously running out of ways to title Monterey posts.

We went to Monterey for a few days. It was our first visit since March. The intervals between visits have been much longer the last few years due to real estate activities. We have completed a number of renovations, and these are time consuming tasks. Quite frankly we deserved more than a few days in Monterey, but it would have to do for now.

We rolled into town on Tuesday at around 3:30 p.m. After checking in and unpacking, we walked to Peter B's for dinner.

We had a nice meal and watched the Kings get dismantled by the Spurs.

The next morning we secured our coffee and walked along the water. I tried out the Leica LUX app I downloaded for my iPhone. It is supposed to mimic the look of various Leica lenses, both new and old. The app also gives you full manual control of aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, etc.

I chose a black and white film filter and started shooting.

I like the look and it was undoubtedly more fun to fiddle with settings like a real camera. And I definitely prefer it over the overprocessed and oversaturated, AI-driven "photos" the iPhone produces.

We rode the bay trail later in the morning. The detours are still in place due to the bus route project and the camp ground being built in Fort Ord Dunes State Park. Going into the dunes is the best part of that ride, so that was a bummer.

That evening we ate at the Alvarado Street Brewery. The food was great and my beer was fantastic.

The next morning we rode into Fort Ord. This is my favorite place to ride in Monterey, but the trail closures/detours do make it a little tougher to get there on safe roads.

Our last few trips into Fort Ord included the climb up to Laguna Seca. We enjoy this route, but the ride back down to Monterey via South Boundary Road does have some traffic and with that comes a little stress. Instead, I mapped out a loop within Fort Ord so we could return to Monterey on the bike trail.

It was a nice, peaceful 27-mile ride with a moderate 1600 feet of climbing.

It was at this point my Leica app stopped working. Apparently you are limited to a handful of pictures as a free preview before the monthly fee of $6.99 kicks in. I enjoyed the experience enough that I may consider a subscription in the future, but for now we return to our regularly scheduled programming in fake iPhone color.

Yuck.

You may have heard about the high sea levels along the coast of California. There are a number of reasons for this, which you can read about elsewhere, but we definitely noticed it in Monterey. The surf was always much closer to us.

Typically we see a whole lot of beach in front of Monterey Beach Station, a popular wedding spot near Municipal Wharf 2. These two pictures from the web show the normal expanse of sand.

You can see the water way off in the distance in front of the building.

And here's what it looked like after our ride Thursday:

Not much room for a wedding. The sandbars on either side of the building are a recent addition to the normally flat beach.

After a shower and some lunch we took a long walk to Pacific Grove. Monterey was about as quiet as we've ever seen it. This is Cannery Row at 3 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon.

Part of it is the time of year, of course, but the economy is definitely playing a role. It's obvious some of the businesses are struggling. The wonderful French bakery we discovered a couple trips ago, the one I was eager to visit on our first morning, closed permanently sometime between visits. Although we had only recently found it, the Paris Bakery had been a local fixture for over 40 years.

In addition to the lack of people, there was also a lack of wildlife, which contributed to the weird vibe. There were no sea lions to be found and very few sea birds. The silence was eerie.

We made out way out to Pacific Grove through town, browsed in a few shops, then walked back to Monterey along the water.

Another thing we noticed was the clarity of the water. It was unbelievably clear.

This is another phenomenon being reported up and down the state. I looked it up and unfortunately, it isn't a good thing.

El Niño is causing Kelvin waves, which are massive, slow-moving underwater pulses of warm water that travel along the equator from west to east. In addition to contributing to the high sea level, these waves also push cold water deeper and raise temperatures near the surface. Without the normal upwelling of deeper cold water, the nutrients don't come to the surface. This is the food plankton depend on. And without plankton, the water is clearer and the food chain is broken: No bait fish, and no birds or marine mammals that depend on those fish.

Luckily, this is a somewhat normal outcome for El Niño years, and the environment recovers in subsequent years. However, this El Niño is unprecedented. Time will tell.

The next morning we packed up and headed home. It was a shorter trip that we are used to, but it was still good to get away.

Later.

Wolverine Update

When I traded for the Wolverine way back in January, it was in dire need of a new chain. Since I intended on swapping out the entire drivetrain and shifters to some new 11-speed SRAM I have tucked away in The Archives, I didn't want to invest in a Shimano chain that would be short-lived. The desire for a drivetrain change was because at first, jumping back and forth between STI and the Double Tap on my other bike was very frustrating. However, the human brain is pretty adaptable, and eventually it made the connection that the orange bike equals STI. I might miss one shift at the beginning of a ride, on either bike, but then I would lock in. No problem.

The other thing that happened was I kind of liked shifting with STI again. When I first moved to SRAM almost eight years ago, I thought it was superior. Perhaps it was the novelty, or a new take on shifting, or the fact that my Dura Ace shifters were very old that swayed me. Who knows. Now that I am using both, I am not so sure.

At any rate, I decided the STI would live on for a while longer. I replaced the shitty KMC chain and E-Thirteen cassette with an Ultegra chain and a Deore 11-42 cassette.

Afterwards she ran a lot smoother, as new parts tend to help with. The drivetrain was a bit noisy on the first ride, but I know this is simply a Shimano quirk. It goes away. By the time the third ride rolled around, my bike was smooth and virtually silent.

There are people who will tell you any old chain will work fine with a Shimano cassette. Sure, I guess it will work. It just won't work as well. To assume that a group of Shimano engineers aren't designing their own cassette-chain interface to work better than any other combination is asinine. All those ramps and slots, the short teeth and twisted teeth, are working in conjunction with the specific shape of the chain. But go ahead and get that cheap chain off of Amazon and tell everyone it works better than Shimano. You do you.

At any rate, the Shimano versus SRAM battle will rage on in my garage. Currently Shimano is winning 5-3. Jenn's single speed looks on with mild indifference, the Switzerland in this drivetrain war.

In the end, difference is good. I have a number of bikes because after over 40 years of this, jumping back and forth between bikes keeps things fresh. In much the same way, bouncing back and forth between STI and Double Tap also keeps things interesting. Vive la différence!

Later.

T6

Over the years I managed to convince a few businesses that I was worthy of some financial and/or equipment support. Sponsorship is nice, especially for a mostly mediocre racer who occasionally did well.

In May of 2007, I received an email from a new company looking for riders to wear their gear. I have no idea why I was chosen or how they found me. After a short back-an-forth email interview, I was welcomed to Twin Six.

It was kind of cool having a bio on the website.

Unfortunately the clothing didn't show up until late July when most of my racing was over. I was only able to wear my gear in two 2007 races. The first was the Whiskeytown 9 to 5:

And then a Sac cyclocross race in the fall:

In 2008 I had big plans for a full race schedule, starting with the TBF racing series. I raced the first one on January 20:

And I broke my wrist about 15 minutes after this picture was taken.

When I was invited back to T6 for the 2008 season, I told them I had just broken my wrist, but I would be ready to race later in the season.

They ghosted me. No "sorry to hear that" or "maybe next year" or anything. Just silence.

Even for a lowly weekend warrior, that is the harsh reality of sports. I was just a body, a vessel to wrap their clothing in for exposure. I was a temporarily broken toy, and quickly thrown away.

I still have a T6 jersey but I don't wear it much because it's terribly uncomfortable. The material is weird, and the collar is abnormally tall so the zipper digs into my throat. The company still exists, so I guess they managed to find some success without me.

Later.

Life and the Inevitability of Death

My mom died after a battle with cancer on this date 10 years ago, only five days from her 68th birthday. As time goes on it becomes easier, but anniversaries tend to bring our feelings back to the surface. Today I really miss her. Today I can allow myself to be sad.

Truthfully, it feels more like 20 years. So many good things have happened to my family since then, and I really wish she could have witnessed it all.

She was a teen mom, barely 19 years old when I was born. I have obviously aged ten years since she passed, so I am now only nine years younger than her when she died. And it makes you think: How much longer do I have? Hopefully more than nine years.

As humans age, most of us tend to place more value on time, specifically the time we have left. I am no different. I won't be going to extremes like some of the tech bro billionaires with their longevity obsessions, but it makes sense to make better choices regarding what I put into my body. My choices are not always great.

I started riding when I was a skinny teenager and for the most part I have stayed that way for well over 40 years. I can eat pretty much whatever I want, especially now in retirement, and not have to worry about weight because I ride a lot. But I need to worry at least a little.

I don't want my sons to be writing the "I miss my dad" post for many, many years.

Later.

Midterm

We are at the midpoint of the year and I am at 3,271 miles. At this pace I would eclipse my annual personal best by about 300 miles.

This month I rode 670 miles, which was a personal best for the month of June (since I started tracking miles in 1995).

June has generally been a low mileage month for one reason or another. Back when I was a working stiff, I participated in our office May is Bike Month mileage competition. This often resulted in low mileage totals in June. Some examples:

It was difficult to put up big mileage numbers back then. Not only was I working full time, there were other responsibilities like yardwork, coaching baseball, etc. How I managed to ride 825 miles in 2014 I will never know.

When June came I was usually sick of riding and I had to catch up on tasks that were neglected during May. I also got sick a few times. Getting up at 3:30 a.m. to ride 40 miles to work will eventually wear you down.

These days it's very easy to ride five or six hundred miles every month and get plenty of rest. Retirement ain't so bad.

Later.

The Skinny

Over the last six years the vast majority of my rides have occurred on plus tires, either on one of my two Jones bikes (3.0") or my Salsa Timberjack mountain bike (2.8").

My gravel bike saw little use while I was inFATuated with big tires. Mostly it was relegated to indoor use on the stationary trainer in bad weather. I was pretty content riding slower with the big tires and being more comfortable with the upright position the Jones bikes gave me. I also lived in the foothills surrounded by rocky trails, so the Jones bikes were perfect.

When I acquired the Wolverine in January, I started to mix in a little gravel riding here and there when I wasn't riding with Jennifer (who also rides a Jones). The Wolverine fits me really well and the position is much more comfortable than my other gravel bike. I found that the 55mm tires were a pretty damn perfect compromise for mixed surface riding around my new home area. The bike opened up a fresh way to approach the rides around here that were starting to bore me. It was fun to go fast again.

Then a couple months ago, Jennifer broke her foot. During her recovery I shifted to riding the gravel bikes almost exclusively. As I jumped back and forth between the two bikes, one running 45mm tires and the other 55mm tires, I thought a lot about tires and how far we have come since I first stared riding over 40 years ago.

♦♦♦

My first mountain bike was a 1984 Ross Mt. Whitney. It was a pretty good starter bike and the gateway to my lifelong passion for riding.

At this point in our lives, my friends and I were transitioning from BMX to road bikes. After deciding to buy mountain bikes, we actually rode all three disciplines for a while. It was hard to completely leave BMX behind, but eventually we did as mountain bike fever took hold of us.

My Ross came with 2.125" Snake Belly tires. These tires were pretty common at the time for both BMX and mountain bikes. They looked like this:

This is a Panaracer reissue that stays true to the original.

You can see why they were called snake bellies.

The mountain bike guys simply borrowed the 26" version originally made for BMX cruisers. Here is Tom Ritchey rocking a pair of red snake bellies in 1981:

In BMX we basically had two tires sizes to choose from: 1.75" and 2.125" (not counting sew-ups and speed rims). In our circle the use cases were pretty clear. We used 2.125 for general riding (jumping!) and 1.75 for racing. There was no way you would run 2.125" tires in a BMX race because they were noticeably slower.

My buddy Steve catching air.

That same mentality prevailed when we decided to race mountain bikes in 1985. We believed that 2.125 inch tires were simply too wide for racing. We weren't the only ones. The 1984 Stumpjumper Team, a purpose build racing bike, came with tiny 1.5 inch Tricross tires.

If they were good enough for the Specialized pros, they were good enough for us. Here we are rocking 1.5 inch tires at our first race:

Doug and I unloading our bikes at Sly Park.

My second race was the 1985 Rockhopper. Those tires are narrow!

Yes, my handlebars are bent.

My fourth race:

Looks like I cut my bars down, which I don't remember doing.

We suffered our fair share of pinch flats that year, many of which could have been prevented with wider tires. But we survived.

By the next season I was on my new custom Ibis using 1.95" Ground Control tires, and they were a huge upgrade in every way.

RIP, Charlie.

I bring all this up because sometimes when I am riding my old gravel bike through a technical section, the 45mm tires can feel woefully inadequate and tiny. Obviously after looking down at a three-inch tire for so many years, a gravel tire is going to look small. And railing a corner with a gravel tire is going to feel a lot different and less secure than a big three-inch knobby.

However, it's all relative. When doing the math a 45mm tire measures out at 1.77 inches. It's funny to me that these gravel tires are significantly larger than my original 1.5" MTB racing tires in 1985. I look at 45mm now and think there's no way in hell I am racing on the Rubicon Trail with these tiny things. But we did. We raced the 1985 High Sierra Challenge on those tiny tires. Not coincidentally, I suffered a high-speed pinch flat on my front tire and hit a tree, resulting in my first racing concussion. (I repaired the flat and still finished the race.)

Thankfully tire technology has improved and science has proven that bigger is better, for the most part. Even road racers, who tend to cling tightly to the old ways, have finally embraced wider tires. Back in the 1980s we wanted the narrowest possible tires, as small as 19mm. We pumped them up to crazy pressures, as much as 120 PSI. They rode like crap and we flatted way too often. Over the years I moved to 23mm, 25mm and then 28mm tires on my road bikes.

My racing bike, late '90s to early 2000s.

Currently a 30-32mm tire is pretty standard in the UCI peloton with even wider choices for more technical races like the spring classics. Tadej Pogacar ran 35mm tires in the 2026 Paris-Roubaix. These measure out at 1.38 inches, not much smaller than my MTB racing tires back in 1985. Crazy.

The UCI rules for road tires are now based on total rim/tire diameter, not width. The cap is a 700mm total diameter. There are a lot of variables involved, but for the most part this limits tire width to about 39mm. The UCI is using a super sophisticated 3-D printed device to check tire width. Incidentally, 39mm is about 1.54 inches. My first MTB racing tires might just fit in the checking tool!

In my first year of cyclocross in 2002 I was running 30mm tires, which is on the low end of road racing standards now. However, the UCI is still enforcing a 33mm maximum for cyclocross, a rule that was in place back when I raced. Why would cyclocross tires be narrower than road racing tires?

I actually understand and endorse the logic here because the point of cyclocross is to test the skills of racers riding what is essentially a road bike on mixed terrain.

District Championships, 2002.

For cross country mountain bike racing, the current standard is about 2.4 inches. The Maxxis Aspen and Schwalbe Racing Ralph are pretty popular options. These dwarf anything we could even dream of in the '80s.

On the gravel side, it's not uncommon to see 2.2 inch tires on race bikes. Manufacturers are currently battling in an arms race to see who can cram the biggest tires into a frame and still provide short chainstays, chainring clearance and a narrow Q-factor. The new Crux 5:

The winner of Unbound this year was running two-inch tires.

I don't think the tire wars have been settled yet. Tires are still evolving and racers are pushing the envelope in an attempt to shave precious seconds from their times. The cycling disciplines are all cross-pollinating and stealing bits of technology from each other. The end result is fatter tires winning races.

Like it or not, these trends trickle down to the general public. You can't go into a bike shop and buy a road bike off the floor with 23mm tires and rim brakes. A typical road bike will be equipped with disk brakes and 32mm tires now.

I for one and happy that I can have my cake and eat it too. Tires now are amazing compared to what I started with so many years ago—light, fast, supple, tubeless and wide. I am thankful to leave all the skinny in the past.

Later.