I am so embarrassed! I made it all the way to the end of Canada and back, passing the Stanford group twice – but I was tired all the way. Maybe it was yesterday’s chasing after the Spectrum ride, maybe I am turning sick – I barely made the 19 average on my way home! I even had to stop at Stanford to just eat something. I was so starved that I needed a kick of sorts.
Continue readingThis time I joined them for real! I even waited for a good twenty minutes at Edith, with two guys that couldn’t have been frostier.
It was officially the first fall ride. In the sense that I had to don the longjohns, which made me quite unhappy. But I rode with them all the way to Alpine and Arastradero. I had decided not to push it and ride behind, which was quite a stupid idea, because all the catastrophes ended up having only two witnesses: me and my brakes.
Continue readingOk, it’s late, but I am about to leave to get to the Grand Prix. Jim, a colleague of mine and apparently a quite good cyclist with AV, is there and invited me to join him. I will see to it that I get my camera with me, hoping to be able to stand somewhere on Fillmore and take pics of the pack.
Too bad I have to ride my bike to get there… But maybe I can manage to get to the beach, too!
Well, I finally managed to join the Spectrum ride. Of course I did so in my very own special way, having lost them at Arastradero. Somehow I managed to spend too much time in line for coffee at Peet’s in Los Altos, checking out new bikes and bikers from Alto Velo and Lombardi. Both clubs gather there before heading out to their own rides, and it’s fun to see all those bikers in their color-matched outfits. Sad that the teams don’t talk to each other, though.
Continue readingSlow day, not the wonderful Saturday ride I had envisioned. I missed Spectrum again, saw them on Canada and lost them. I am really barely able to keep up with those guys!
Then, on a shorter evening ride, a flat. This one was particularly annoying: a nail that punched right straight through the tire. It stuck so deep it took me a lot of convincing to get it out. Remnant of the work they are doing at the intersection of Arastradero and Foothill.
Continue readingAnother wonderful Saturday morning, and the first time I tried to get into the Spectrum ride. It’s been three weeks, now, that some Spectrum rider tells me I should join them, so I tried. Of course, I got delayed by something irrelevant (this time the discovery of friendster, the newest dating site that features degrees of separation. Check it out, I think the concept is one of the best around!
Well, in any case, I got there too late to join the group. I saw them in the distance, but lost them at Arastradero. They must have turned left where I went straight. Didn’t see them at all from there on, but hit another two groups. With my trying to chase Spectrum and by virtue of having to chase the other two groups, I clocked in really nicely. You can check it on the bike log, but I think I made 57 minutes to Canada, and 53 coming back! Much better than last week, where I barely made 1:02 and 59!!!
Continue readingLooks like the season is in full swing… I am riding to work every day, and there are more and more bikers that I greet every morning. One skinny guy from Webcor/AV rides against my direction towards Foothill and is as reliable as a clockwork: if I meet him after El Camino, I am fine – otherwise I am late.
Of course, this can mean only one thing: it is about time to start thinking about my trip to Hawai’i at the end of next month. I think I will take Bianchi with me, I don’t trust the airline with Ti. Will have to get the old goose up and running again, it has been faithfully waiting for me for over a year now.
Continue readingIf you go to Palo Alto Cycle’s web site, you’ll find a list of rides in the area. The first one (at this press time) was called the “Ring of Fire”. Sounded interesting, and it was about around the area that I peruse anyway.
I left home and rode peacefully on Foothill to El Monte. A sharp left turn there and I was on my way up Moody Road. Ah! Moody! A virtually flat ride all the way, I had thought of it as a short cut while trying to conquer Page Mill Road (another Ring of Fire thing). I knew it by heart by now, and I surely was glad that’s where I would start the Ring.
Continue readingMore successful at collecting food stamps than at spending them, I ended up giving the last four away. I had been riding every single day, although I forgot to turn on the bike computer half the time. In the end, it worked me out and it was fun. California in the summer is really a blast, and riding home at night still occurs at daylight.
My colleagues that left for the Tour are back, proud of having mastered Alpe d’Huez and Mont Ventoux. Lucky them! The only hill I did in the last weeks was probably Golden Oak, and I am turning into quite the slob.
Continue readingMy company came up with something smart: for the month of July, every ‘alternative commuter’ will receive a coupon to be redeemed at the cafeteria, covering lunch. Initially, only carpoolers would benefit, but then the other alts complained and the program was extended.
Now, of course, each morning I fight my own cheapness instead of my laziness, and it’s nice to be on the winning side!
