The Fig

For most of us cycling in California's Central Coast, The Fig, also know as Figueroa Mtn. Rd. is the monster climb. There's two ways to approach the top. Most directly you can leave Los Olivos on Figueroa Mtn Rd and after about seven miles of fairly level road you start up many miles of very steep ramps. Alternatively you can ride south and take the Happy Canyon approach to the ridge, which is marginally easier, and by that I mean it is a little further up the mountain before the inclines get ridiculous. You can make a loop out of it or out and back from either direction, but no matter what your choice, it will kick you ass. I'm pretty certain that no less a rider than Lance Armstrong said it was one of the toughest climbs in the country, and one of his favorites.
Yesterday my first full day as a 65 year old I thought I'd have a go at it. I've done the complete loop from both directions before and have done the climb and back from both ways. I've also been brought to a standstill a couple times on both sides and had to turn back before the top. Yesterday was one of those days. I took the steeper harder north route and after about five miles of climbing, or only a bit more than half way up I had to call it a day. I couldn't face the next steep ramp up to the ranger station. I knew the slopes leveled out above the station, but it didn't matter I was cooked.
The encouraging part of the day was checking the Strava segments afterwards and discovering that I was the fastest 65+ on one of them and in the top 3 in all of the steeps I climbed. And, I wasn't on my lightest bike or even on that good of a day. It should be fun over the rest of the summer posting times on many of the local Strava segments as a 65 year old. It looks like I may be for a while at least one of the dominant riders in the category.

The Cote 2015

This was the 6th annual running of this "outlaw" race. It was the 2nd year without a formal sponsor since Tolosa pulled out. I got a bit of a late start organizing it and getting the word out, yet 25 or so riders showed up so not too bad. The course was a return to the pattern on the first three. It most closely resembled the third Cote. We left from Bang the Drum on Orcutt in SLO at a few minutes after 8:00. We rode through town to Cal Poly and then up Stenner Creek Rd. to the RR tracks. A couple miles along the tracks and then dropped onto the Stagecoach Rd. From there up and onto TV Tower Rd for 10 miles or so of tough mostly vertical riding. Then straight down some challenging single track to Cerro Alto campground. Highway 41 to Morro Bay, and then back to town via Turri Rd, and LOVR with the official finish at the top of Foothill. The day was foggy and cool, which was ideal. The winning time was 3:05 at a 17+ mph average! My own average a much more modest 12mph. I approached it this year more as a ride than a race choosing the MTB over the skinny tired touring bike as the more comfortable rig. While the MTB was less punishing on the dirt, it was so slow on the pavement, I'm not sure it was the fastest choice. Regardless I got a great workout. My legs were still deeply fatigued this morning commuting to work.

Podium

When I first began racing bikes at age 35 my goal was always to take a top ten in the District Road Race Championships. Northern California where I was at that time was and still is a highly competitive district so this was to me both a lofty and a realistic goal. I would never have set winning or even a podium place as a goal knowing my limitations as an athlete. I finally achieved a top 10 result in my 40s on the long Fort Ord course, a real killer, and was very happy to have done so. I was in a group of 3 towards the end and I knew that only one of us was getting top ten, and turned myself inside out to get it. A couple days ago, racing the 65+ SoCal District Road Race Championships, I finally managed a podium finish. It would have been hard not to. There were only three of us who turned up at the start. The other two guys rolled up to me as we were lining up and said, "We're the podium." It sounds easy, but there's no such thing as an easy day road racing. They let us loose with about 15 60+ racers so we had a decent sized pack, but we had to keep their pace. Near the end of the first lap of four one of the other 65+ guys flatted, so I thought, "Wow, failing a crash or mechanical failure, I'm going to take the silver medal". I got sawed off the group shortly after that, and so had 37 hilly miles to ride solo at race pace to accomplish this. As it was an out and back course I could judge how far ahead of the third guy I was. By the final turnaround and 12 miles to go I realized that he was making up time on me and so started really giving it the stick. I put my head down and suffered. With about a mile or so to go I looked back. There was no one within miles of me. I kept the best pace I could to the line, and miracle of miracles ended up with the silver medal, and a small cash prize. I was delighted, and buzzed with happiness all the way on the two hour drive home. What I never hoped to accomplish through athletic gifts I've managed to achieve through dogged persistence, and a certain degree of luck.

Sew ups

I know that everyone calls them tubulars or tubs these days, but in the early '70s when I first started riding serious bicycles they were called sew ups. They were the only option for high quality tires, and they were then as now a pain in the ass. Back then the best of them ran $10-20, and they could be had for $5, but a full on race bike could be had for $450 brand new. So, in some ways today's $100 tubulars are a bargain relative to the price of a new racing bike. I spent lunchtime today mounting a pair of Conti Force and Attack sew ups to some carbon race wheels. Even though I'd stretched them for a few days they were recalcitrant to mount to say the least. But after much grunting and cussing I finally got them onto the rims. Contis have always been hard to get on. I remember giving up on a pair of Sprinter 250s many years ago and taking them to the shop to mount. The mechanic said he didn't think his thumbs would ever recover. These carbon race wheels will take close to a pound off the rig, and Saturday is the District RR Championships so the pain will be worth it. I still need to mount the carbon specific pads, and a new cassette. Let's just hope it all test rides correctly tomorrow. If not it's back to the normal clincher rims for the day after's race.

2015 Eroica California

I was initially ambivalent about this ride. Mostly because of its steep entry fee. But, luckily, my better half encouraged me to sign up. I had to have a new set of rims laced onto the hubs of the Cinelli due to an untimely rear wheel failure a month or so ago, but otherwise ran the bike in its stock original 1970 form with a 42x26 gear combo, and all 25 lbs. of Italian artistry. I choose the middle route - 69 miles of very tough terrain. The group I left with at about 9:00 contained the founder of the series, a a ton of Italians, and Andy Hampsten no less - one of the great heros of modern cycling. There was a little confusion getting out of town and then off for the initial 30 mile loop out east of Paso. Mostly pavement, but one section of steep gravel road that had me walking just after the first stop. There were so many beautiful old bikes it was like a rolling museum of all the nicest bikes mostly from the '70s and '80s, but there was a guy on a '53 Claude Butler I rode with off and on that was really something. Initially I did not feel strong and was tempted to opt out of the middle for the short route, but pride forbade it. My legs started perking up towards the beginning of the second half. I was feeling really strong on the Kiler Cyn. climb when I managed to blow out the rear tire. I fixed it and then noticed I'd cut the sidewall so I had to start over and use a dollar bill to reinforce the tire. I managed to get it going again, but never recovered the fine tempo I'd had before the flat. At the last stop where there was lunch I was sitting only a few seats down from Andy Hampsten and so couldn't resist taking his picture. The last 15 miles or so I joined a group of 10 or so elderly racer types. It was fun to ride in a group after spending most of the day solo or in short temporary groups. These guys had great form and an easy style that only experienced racers do in groups. I was happy to find myself fit enough to hang in with them, and in the final climb where everyone lit up the afterburners only two guys got to the top before me. A short descent and then we were into town and over the finish line. A very fine event. I found my rear tire was again flat by the time I was unloading the bike at home - perfect!

anniversary

While I don't remember the exact date it was sometime in late October of last year that I sold my car and decided that I didn't need another. I wasn't driving it all that much anyway. And my wife has a car so if I need to go get a bunch of groceries then I can. So, mostly what changed is that I have now for the last year pretty much ridden to work every day instead of driven. Figuring 4 days a week for most of the year and 7 days a week during harvest I think I've ridden the commute close to 250 times. So about 2,500 miles of commuting. What has that done? It has had a more profound effect on my fitness for sport riding than I would ever have guessed. My general strength is up. I don't worry too much about getting training rides in anymore except one long ride midweek and another long one over the weekend. The year's not quite over yet, but it looks like my hours of saddle time will top 500 - near a record for me. There's 150 gallons or so of gas that I didn't burn. That's 2,700 lbs. of carbon less in the atmosphere, which I'm pretty stoked about. That's $600 on gasoline I didn't spend not to mention the insurance and repair and maintenance. I'm guessing I'm a couple grand to the good. Even with my somewhat obsessive spending on all things bicycle I think I came out about even this year. So in one sense getting rid of the car has eliminated or more accurately offset my bicycle spending. I arrive at work a bit more alert in the morning and I get home with my head a bit more cleared out - both good things.

Wrenching

Harvest is slowly winding to a close as it always does at some point. This is when I typically recommence my athletics. I start with a couple days a week in the gym doing circuits with light weights, and try to throw in a longer hillier ride both mid-week and on the weekend. Yesterday, I took the afternoon off fully intending to put in a couple hours of saddle time in the hills, but I was feeling more lethargic than motivated after lunch so I bailed on the ride. I still wanted to devote the afternoon to bikes so I started in on the myriad bike related projects that have piled up over the last two or three months. First of all of course fixing the flat on the Cinelli commute bike that I got coming back from the gym a day or two ago. Then replaced the brake hoods, housing and cables on the Sam Cotton. I used these incredibly trick looking braided housings made by Orange. they really dressed up the bike. Whoever had that bike before me had it set up fairly funky. The front brake was on the right instead of left and the cable routing was whacked as well. Took the opportunity to tune and lube the brakes at the same time. Next up was the Graphtex. It needed to have the rear brake installed and the housing and cable run. I got the brake on, but realized I didn't have the cable only the housing. I think I'll get another set of the braided cables from Orange and put those on. I also need better levers and a better front brake for this rare beast so it may be a few more weeks before this project is complete. The Steve Rex needs a complete rebuild of it's gear change systems. I'be got all the parts, but will wait till I've got most of a day to dive into this project.