Friday, December 19, 2008

things canadians say

Off topic: There are some things canadians say that give them away without their knowledge. Not the obvious things like "out" and "about". The following are dead giveaways that the speaker is canadian:
  • "phone" as a verb. "I'll phone you later". Only canadians say that. Any normal person says "call".
  • "to-more-oh", instead of tomorrow.
  • "sore-ee", instead of sorry
Cagey canadians will effectively filter most other cover-blowing terms, but the above consistently escape their notice.

Re: NRLB 12/19 bayway RRR Caffeine 6:20, roll 6:30

that.sucks. But Gavin, you look like such a bad ass with all the mud on your face! I'm sure that picture, along with the epic ride report, made it almost worth it. ...almost -Heather

Re: NRLB 12/19 bayway RRR Caffeine 6:20, roll 6:30

ride report: EPIC FAIL wow. Wow. that was a lot of flats. things started innocently enough as 6 rain-shmain riders converged upon ritual and motored into the saturated grey twilight, caressed all along by cheery, gentle drops of holiday dew. but soon enough, the Fates cast a blight upon us, it seems. first was the dumbass in the F-350 who turned left INTO gavin at the bayshore/silver rd. intersection, causing brakes to lock up and a collision of bret into my bike, thru no fault of his. i then wisely went after the guy and slapped his truck like the bitch it is, which at least got the punk to stop so we could berate him in a civilized manner. theo's technique was to slide out and sprawl himself on the asphalt, which i thought pretty effective. he did at least utter an expletive or two while carrying out his unusual plan. carrying on, nothing noteworthy transpired until the holly rd. overpass (skipping the BTN due to insane mudiness), when i noticed a swish-swish-swish sound coming in rhythmic waves from gavin's rear tire. flat #1. fixed and rolling in a couple minutes, but with gavin suffering bloody cuts to his fingers by the selfsame shard of glass, a real bugger. meantime lina and matt carried on in hopes of scoring mini-burritos. a few minutes later in the climate-best-by-government-test paradise known as redwood shores, I feel that uncomfortable "am i standing on a banana slug?" sensation myself, and it's hello gatorskin failure #2. as i looked down to examine the flatness, i nearly impaled an equally oblivious pedestrian with my face, and received a righteous scolding by another F-350 driven by a fake Santa. coal for me this year he seemed to imply. we told him what he could do with this grumpy self. in the course of fixing flat 2, i noticed a puncture to the RIM of my ksyrium ES helium 20th anniversary edition, great. "fixed" that with a tube patch. WTF? how did that happen? no idea. not much later, just past the charming Graniterock facility, I got the next flat to that same tire, surprisingly not caused by the compromised rim -- this time it's a random slice by the valve stem, weird. no shards in tire. this time we were out of spares and had to patch the previous tube, in the rain, sitting in a gutter. super. that done and air holding, we made it past the EPA bridge to the parking lot when gavin says "oh (brother)!" and yes, the fourth flat is ours. we are 2 miles from home at this point and attempt a "pump it up real fast and ride till it's flat again", which happened one meter into bayshore. really tired of changing flats, I suggested a "blast it with co2 and hope for the best" approach, which got us almost to san antonio. then we faced reality and patched flat #4 1 mile out, and rolled into G at -- get this -- 10:45. wow. ride time: 2:28. total time: 4 hours flat. -sc
On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 12:38 PM, T-Bone wrote:
Sweet ride and happy holidays. I just wanted to throw out a thanks to everyone who showed up to ride this morning. I had lots of fun in my first every rain ride minus the one armed super man stunt on Silver ave while trying to back up Scott with the complete idiot driver guy. -Theo On Dec 19, 6:02 am, "Lina Mårtensson" wrote: > yaaaaay!
> > On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 6:01 AM, Scott Crosby wrote: > > let's ride biznatches. it's not appreciably raining. light mist at most. >
> > On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 7:21 PM, gherinm wrote: > > >> +1 if there's now rain. > > >> On Dec 18, 6:02 pm, T-Bone wrote: > >> > I might have been over optimistic about this one or it could have been > >> > the marginally reliable yahoo weather app on my iphone. NOAA says 50% > >> > chance of rain tomorrow so, I think this is the best plan. If it is > >> > raining at any point between 6:00 and 6:30am I am going to travel the > >> > dryer but not nearly as amusing Caltrain -> San mateo route. > >> > Otherwise I will be riding in. If you decide you do want to ride > >> > definately bring what ever rain gear you have in case it does start to > >> > drizzle and if you don't have any that is an excellent excuse not to > >> > ride. In addition I am only riding to Foster City so after that > >> > someone else will have to sweep. I am crossing my fingers cause if > >> > you have been watching the weather it is suppose to be wet all of next > >> > week. > > >> > -T > > >> > On Dec 18, 2:45 pm, "Bret Lobree" wrote: > > >> > > +1 as long as there is no appreciable precip > > >> > > On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 4:53 PM, T-Bone & > >> > > wrote: > > >> > > > The gods have blessed us I think... It looks like the weather man > >> > > > has > >> > > > changed his mind about Friday. Baring any sudden change from the > >> > > > weather man or Mother Nature, who is in? > > >> > > > -Theo- Hide quoted text - > > >> > > - Show quoted text -

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Re: Dec 16 Tuesday 6:30 RRR bayway

Ride report:

It was cold, dark, and raining when I set out this morning -- since so many of you are Californian, I'd say it was "pouring", but being an Oregonian I just can't state that in good faith. Since Sean had cancelled, I was riding solo, but I brought a Napolean pocket full of Les Claypool to keep me company on the way.

The first few miles were great: rain, rain, and even lightning as I passed Paul st (or maybe it was another random Bayview garage explosion). My Helly Hansen ultralight hooded shell was 100% waterproof and the base layer and insulation had me warm and toasty and dry. The Chiba winter gloves and mickey mouse booties covered my extremeties and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

Out towards the hotels, I started realizing that the water seeping down through my tights into my booties was actually a problem, and in addition, the booties are not actually waterproof (I'd assumed they're neoprene, but they're not). Around the airport, I realized the Chiba gloves were not waterproof either. This is also around when I developed "Rabies Knee", where the knit of my tights worked the water around the knee into strangely shaped foam deposits. Bizarre. Starting to get cold, and visibility is bad...

I took the deadly lagoon detour, a bad idea on a day when you're getting numb and can't see; I had one hand off the bars and one of the cracks of death launched me straight on to the pavement. Nothing catastrophic, just a little blood and some interesting new curves to my legs that appeared as time went on.

Cold, numb, and bruised I forged onwards. The rain relented and I even got some sun, though it was little comfort as my feet sat in puddles of December water. Things were fairly uneventful til EPA, where I apparently picked up some tiny shards glass in my front tire, since it sagged to flat on the marsh path just after. Undeterred, I located the glass, removed it, patched the pinhole, reflated, and rolled along.

At Embarcadero, I realized that there must have been more glass, because my front tire was sagging again. I picked up speed, hoping to make it to Google before it went totally flat. No go. Half way down the stretch to san antonio, I was riding on the rim, but lacking any more CO2, I kept going and slowly rode the last 3 miles on a flat tire.

To add insult to injury, as I was pulling up Rengstorff, a guy passed me on a G-bike.

Hope for sun tomorrow.

--eric

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Eric Altendorf wrote: > We shall ride, no excuses this time! > > Brisk pace, though I'll be slowed by mint-green colored knobbies. > > --eric >

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

tues 11/18 bayway RRR 6:31

ride report: derrick, bc, the hobinator, and yours truly rolled at exactly 06:31:00 as specified. a garden-variety, plain-vanilla bike ride to work until it was discovered that, upon arrival at the san mateo dog park, elapsed time was 1:02. so then the usual hijinks ensued, as you'd expect. ~20.1mph/2:03, close but no dice. maybe some charts forthcoming via hobe's cycletracks dealy. taking tomorrow off. http://cycletracks.appspot.com/activity/public/agtjeWNsZXRyYWNrc3IZCxIEVXNlchgFDAsSCEFjdGl2aXR5GNEZDA

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Re: thurs 11/6 bayway RRR 07:00 sharp

Ride report: Yours truly, altendorf, hobinator and freshman rider matt ghering rolled out of ritual about 7:05, armed with steely determination to have a pleasant, uneventful ride. For almost 30 miles and within reach of the bridge to nowhere, we prevailed in our vanilla quest, but then without warning, matt was gone. Circling back, I found him on a forlorn, windswept stretch of path hard on the 101, looking dejectedly at his cool polished aluminum late-90s GT, fearing a date with a yellow minivan or a long walk to caltrain, and not without cause. soon enough the culprit was appparent: catastrophic derailer impalement upon the spinning spokes of death. the hanger was ripped clean in half, the ol' 8-speed 105 was demo'd, and the chain was actually bent/twisted 1/3 rotation longitudinally.

What to do? knowing hobe was well-equipped with supplies, I called eric, who was up the road a spell w/ hobe. eric returned with a chainbreaker, and we set about the macgyvering. The only conceivable solution: Field conversion to single-speed.

The pit crew thus deleted the stricken derailler, the superfluous shifter cable, 5 inches of chain, and the GT was reborn as a cool single-speeder and what do you know, we rolled in to G 11 miles later, all spinning a nice low gear like matt. some pics attached.

morals of the story: check your derailer travel limiter screw and bring a chainbreaker-equipped multi-tool. saved our bacon. -sc
On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 7:42 AM, Heather Whitney wrote:
oh my gosh -- so embarrassing So when I woke up this morning and saw Scott's email about riding at 7 I thought, "oh wow...I'll be running past Ritual like 15 minutes after 7... so if they are late (which seems feasible), I'll totally run past my bike homies!" So there I was running down Valencia and I saw a group of bikers right out side Ritual. At first I was like "slackers!! It's got to be past 7:15 at this point" -- but then I was overcome with excitement. So from about a block away I totally thought I saw Scott. So "Scott" and this tall girl were sort of looking at me as I ran up -- so what did I do? I had on this huge smile and was waving my hand like a crazy person. And then right when I got near them I let out a huge "Good morning!" right at the exact moment when I realized that was in fact not Scott... and in fact, I'd never seen these people before in my life! Thankfully they said "hey! Good morning!" back and then I ran away... :)
On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 6:04 AM, gherinm wrote:
What's the pace gonna be like? You up for having a newbie along?
On Nov 5, 10:34 pm, Ruth Emerson wrote: > late to this thread... but i'm planning to head down closer to 6:15 > tomorrow if anyone wants to go eaaarly. > > On Nov 5, 9:39 pm, "Daniel Hobe" wrote: > > > +0.5 depending on oncall tonight. > > > On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 9:03 PM, Scott Crosby wrote: > > > ok fine, I'll ride to work tomorrow, twist my arm. > > > > i got a 10am, so 7am should work. > > > > who's NOT in? I'm guessing about 400 of you will want to jump on this > > > opportunity, so just let me know if you're opting for the dreary, grim, > > > depressing 101 or bike-hostile caltrain instead of your bike, which seems > > > completely insane, but diff'rent strokes i guess... > > > > -sc
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ info: http://sf2g.com | blog: http://blog.sf2g.com | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Friday, October 31, 2008

10/31: Rainy Bayway 630 RRR

-1

Ankle injury acting up again :-(
--

wussy.

ride report: sean, ed, mike, tivo HD kit guy (sorry didn't catch your handle), and yours truly met in the predawn blackness at ritual and, donning rain capes, set out to conquer the elements.  unexpectedly, an unknown rider emerged from the gloom of cortland and joined our skulking retinue; fearing the presence of a highlighter-toned wraith, I timidly inquired of the apparition what manner of spirit it was, but instead of inflicting greivous wounds upon me, the answer came a cheerful "Hi, I'm Ruth from Stanford!"  This good witch of the Castro summoned another rider on the unlit, rainswept corner of Paul/San Bruno, who turned out to be another Stanfordian wisely mounted on a 'cross bike, and whose name was something exotic, perhaps of the Steppes of the Caucasus, starting with an S.

sheets of rain and mighty unabating headwinds assaulted us relentlessly, but we carried on in grim defiance, unmoved.  the 'cross section was particularly noteworthy today, as it received just enough rain to form a new type of supergoopy gluelike substance, which resisted all streams and jets of water from the hose following the bridge to nowhere.  Recommendation: bring the 'cross bike w/ knobbies next time, as traction is limited.

mud-faced yours truly attached.

-sc

I had every intention of nailing the CX section, but my wheels
instantly jammed from mud buildup.  Oh, also, speedplay pedals are not
an ideal CX pedal...

-sean

Thursday, October 30, 2008

crash!

(by steve a.)

So I meant to write something up about Fridays ride or really crash.
The ride was fantastic up to that point, 16 riders from Ritual and
another 3 from Martha's.  I think another rider got picked up along
the road.  Anyhow it was an amazing day with the sun rising once we
were on the road tho I am sad to say the fixed gear ridership was very
under represented.

Anyhow the carnage all happened on the final right turn on Haven Ave.
in Menlo Park, just before the Bayfront Expressway/Marsh Rd.
intersection.  Andrew was in front, I was second and Yuko was third
around the corner.  Andrew was probably 1-2 bike lengths ahead of me,
I think Yuko was right behind me and according to my GPS we were doing
something like 19-20MPH.  I had just grabbed my water out of the cage
thinking it was my last chance to hydrate before the inevitable sprint
on the bike path ahead.  Right as I got the bottle to my lips I saw
Andrew slide out.  I tried to maneuver to the left around Andrew,
unfortunately being a little bit off balance with the raised bottle
and 1 hand on the bars I couldn't really do much.  Andy's sliding bike
and my wheel intersected and next thing I knew I felt my helmet slam
the ground and I remember sliding to a stop.  Then sometime in there
was some more commotion and Yuko joined our mess.  I think Michael and
Eric rolled up right after that.

Everyone pulled over to the side of the road to assess injuries and
Yuko pretty quickly figured out she was in bad shape.

Gallery of my gruesome parts here:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067114&l=0ed96&id=11612915
you probably don't want to click that.

End result is hopefully just sitting out a few days of riding, new
helmet, new brake lever, new leg warmers, possibly a new seat and new
rear wheel.  BTW:  if you have a Giro helmet crash replacements are
available at a 30% discount from the manufacturer, I think they prefer
it be less than a year old.  I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I
call.

ride safe!

-s

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Re: UPDATE 6 - Half-Moon Bayway: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

New photos added!

Stage 4: http://picasaweb.google.com/ericaltendorf/SF2G5d5wStage4#
Stage 5: http://picasaweb.google.com/ericaltendorf/SF2G5d5wStage5#

Enjoy.

--eric

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 3:53 PM, Scott Crosby <crosby@google.com> wrote:
> Victory!
>
> Full ride report coming, but for now, since it's hard upon beer-o-clock,
> this must suffice:
>
> 6 powerful riders of the apocalypse have conquered all known roads of SF2G
> and have rightly claimed Triumph in their Olympian, titanic battle. They
> are:
>
> altendorf, heather, yuko, jim morrison, marius3, and yours truly. in
> addition, 3 worthy gladiators joined for the final, most taxing conquest:
> kemler, lorenzo, and wickman (othman joined for about 5 miles)
>
> Summary and photos:
>
> http://sf2g.com/5d5w_2008.html
>
> note to riders: I propose this agenda for this afternoon:
>
> - 4:30: TGIF (social) w/ many, many beers and some band
> - 6:37: caltrain bullet to 22nd st., thence to Bender's @ s. van ness/19th
>
> at last, rest cometh!
>
> -SC
>
>
> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
> info: http://sf2g.com | blog: http://blog.sf2g.com | terms:
> http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/prep.html | unsub:
> http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
> -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
>
>

Friday, October 10, 2008

Re: UPDATE 6 - Half-Moon Bayway: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

Half Moon Bayway was a magnificent way to finish the challenge.  Can we do the week all over again?!?!  I never thought I'd say that.

And thanks for the lunch at Google!  My ride ended with a flat - but not until I got back to my office. 

And what a shame, the bullet train doesn't stop at California Ave or Palo Alto :-(


On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Heather Whitney <heatherwhitney@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm a rider of the apocalypse!! what up!

Who cares that my ass pretty much actively burns as I'm typing this, I'm still alive!!

Thanks to everyone for waiting for me (over...and over...and over) today!

Especially to Jim -- if you didn't make sure I made all the turns, who knows where I'd be right now!

My guess: keeled over from hopelessness and exhaustion on some mountain road... feebly writing SOS text messages that t-mobile would never send.

:)


On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 3:53 PM, Scott Crosby <crosby@google.com> wrote:
Victory!

Full ride report coming, but for now, since it's hard upon beer-o-clock, this must suffice:

6 powerful riders of the apocalypse have conquered all known roads of SF2G and have rightly claimed Triumph in their Olympian, titanic battle.  They are:

altendorf, heather, yuko, jim morrison, marius3, and yours truly.  in addition, 3 worthy gladiators joined for the final, most taxing conquest: kemler, lorenzo, and wickman (othman joined for about 5 miles)

Summary and photos:

http://sf2g.com/5d5w_2008.html

note to riders: I propose this agenda for this afternoon:

- 4:30: TGIF (social) w/ many, many beers and some band
- 6:37: caltrain bullet to 22nd st., thence to Bender's @ s. van ness/19th

at last, rest cometh!

-SC





--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
info: http://sf2g.com | blog: http://blog.sf2g.com | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---


Re: UPDATE 6 - Half-Moon Bayway: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

I'm a rider of the apocalypse!! what up!

Who cares that my ass pretty much actively burns as I'm typing this, I'm still alive!!

Thanks to everyone for waiting for me (over...and over...and over) today!

Especially to Jim -- if you didn't make sure I made all the turns, who knows where I'd be right now!

My guess: keeled over from hopelessness and exhaustion on some mountain road... feebly writing SOS text messages that t-mobile would never send.

:)


On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 3:53 PM, Scott Crosby <crosby@google.com> wrote:
Victory!

Full ride report coming, but for now, since it's hard upon beer-o-clock, this must suffice:

6 powerful riders of the apocalypse have conquered all known roads of SF2G and have rightly claimed Triumph in their Olympian, titanic battle.  They are:

altendorf, heather, yuko, jim morrison, marius3, and yours truly.  in addition, 3 worthy gladiators joined for the final, most taxing conquest: kemler, lorenzo, and wickman (othman joined for about 5 miles)

Summary and photos:

http://sf2g.com/5d5w_2008.html

note to riders: I propose this agenda for this afternoon:

- 4:30: TGIF (social) w/ many, many beers and some band
- 6:37: caltrain bullet to 22nd st., thence to Bender's @ s. van ness/19th

at last, rest cometh!

-SC


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
info: http://sf2g.com | blog: http://blog.sf2g.com | terms: http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/prep.html | unsub: http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---


Re: UPDATE 6 - Half-Moon Bayway: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

Great job everyone!

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 3:53 PM, Scott Crosby <crosby@google.com> wrote:
> Victory!
>
> Full ride report coming, but for now, since it's hard upon beer-o-clock,
> this must suffice:
>
> 6 powerful riders of the apocalypse have conquered all known roads of SF2G
> and have rightly claimed Triumph in their Olympian, titanic battle. They
> are:
>
> altendorf, heather, yuko, jim morrison, marius3, and yours truly. in
> addition, 3 worthy gladiators joined for the final, most taxing conquest:
> kemler, lorenzo, and wickman (othman joined for about 5 miles)
>
> Summary and photos:
>
> http://sf2g.com/5d5w_2008.html
>
> note to riders: I propose this agenda for this afternoon:
>
> - 4:30: TGIF (social) w/ many, many beers and some band
> - 6:37: caltrain bullet to 22nd st., thence to Bender's @ s. van ness/19th
>
> at last, rest cometh!
>
> -SC
>
>
> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
> info: http://sf2g.com | blog: http://blog.sf2g.com | terms:
> http://sf2g.com/terms.html | bike prep: http://sf2g.com/prep.html | unsub:
> http://groups.google.com/group/sf2g
> -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
>
>

--
Thanks,
Sean Dawson

UPDATE 6 - Half-Moon Bayway: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

Victory!

Full ride report coming, but for now, since it's hard upon beer-o-clock, this must suffice:

6 powerful riders of the apocalypse have conquered all known roads of SF2G and have rightly claimed Triumph in their Olympian, titanic battle.  They are:

altendorf, heather, yuko, jim morrison, marius3, and yours truly.  in addition, 3 worthy gladiators joined for the final, most taxing conquest: kemler, lorenzo, and wickman (othman joined for about 5 miles)

Summary and photos:

http://sf2g.com/5d5w_2008.html

note to riders: I propose this agenda for this afternoon:

- 4:30: TGIF (social) w/ many, many beers and some band
- 6:37: caltrain bullet to 22nd st., thence to Bender's @ s. van ness/19th

at last, rest cometh!

-SC

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Re: UPDATE 5 - Skyline: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

I believe the route originated w/Salim, prior to his Google employment...mapped originally as the "Krispy Kreme Run" when the only location around was the first store in Mt. View. We rode it once and consumed/inhaled 2 dozen doughnuts in about 5 minutes. Then we tool Caltrain home, post sugar-high.

-Jim G

Re: UPDATE 5 - Skyline: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

I dunno, i find the fauna of the Feral Cat Route more appetizing, venison is too gamey. also, while I did execute phase I of the slingshot maneuver (suck wheel until everyone else is tired), the plan had two flaws: 1) space doesn't get tired, 2) I could not muster a sprint due to the rather taxing effort of chasing onto the TTTrain after I foolishly stopped pedaling for a few seconds to take a picture and a large gap opened up (see photo). 99% heart rate for 2 minutes catching on precluded any further efforts for quite some time. an otherwise completely accurate assessment. -SC

Re: UPDATE 5 - Skyline: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

If my memory recalls, Salim or Birdsong were originators of this fabled route. Despite only riding it once, I heard about it over three years ago when I was interviewing at the Willy Wonka factory. I heard Salim rode it once with a one armed chainring "just because."

-chalky

UPDATE 5 -- Skyline: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

haiku:

at six thirty meet
pedalling with great élan
a perfect skyline!*

* Today's ride was the great classic: Skyline. Of unknown origin but perfected by generations of SF2G riders, the route yields many a fruit for its various labors. A warmup climb is followed by delicious flora, and appetite-enhancing fauna (Eric and Scott find delight, I'm sure, in the aforementioned flora). It is concluded by the legendary Cañada team time trial before warming down on the Portola loop.

With 13 caffeinated comrades, the convoy was assembled. Great relief was sensed in the 6 saddle-sore 5d5w contenders when Space, the harbinger of great pain and voluminous lactic acid, promised a dimished yield due to "training for a marathon" and "had a really bad run yesterday."

The group swiftly and skillfully negotiated the exchange of kinetic and potential energy on the approach to Daly City. Heather, previously apprehensive, is now more agreeable with this aspect of Leibniz' work.

Thereafter, the convoy split into several cohesive units. These are stealthier, but also less harmful to the elderly wanderers on the miscellaneous trails that comprise this part of Skyline.

With great authority and contrary to his claims of dimished capacities, Space appropriated pain and suffering to the various crazies that followed him on Cañada. The team time trial was concluded by a final sprint, where Scott employed his famed slingshot maneuver to finish in front.

As a special treat, Space revealed the etymology of his name. This will remain a Skyline legend, inaccessible to those who choose to participate merely by email.

altendorf^, marius^, heather^, yuko^, jim morrison^, scrosby^, space, dave, trinh*, andy, hobe, sean, tivo ed

^ 5d5w contender as of this ride * unrelenting climber-of-skyline, and also terminates in san mateo

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

the sweetness of day 3

16 riders rolled out of the mission and set a spirited pace. 

the climb to 'the top of the hill' in DC was accomplished with ease.  the rapid descent past the graves of Colma flew by
 at speeds around 35MPH and shortly thereafter we were back on the standard bayway route.  We anxiously awaited the lagoon
detour promised by our fearless leader, but when the time came he got caught up in the excitement and we cruised the normal
route.  on arriving at the midway rest stop Cedric and crew lingered at the edge for approximately 3.2 seconds before blazing ahead.
after everyone dumped their effluvia and water bottles were topped off we set out in chase.  many feral cats came out on this day to
wish us well.  the rest of the ride proved fairly uneventful, team Cedric was caught up around Marsh road and they cheerfully joined in the
peloton for the Bayfront sprint.


Monday, October 6, 2008

Re: UPDATE 2: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

Ok relapsed from normal alzheimers condition... Dave was rider 13, if
I'm not mistaken.

On 10/6/08, Scott Crosby <crosby@google.com> wrote:
> This just in:
>
> 13 conquering commuter commandos today vanquished Day 1 of the mighty *5
> Days, 5 Ways SF2G.com Challenge*, a full 20% of the mission (by some
> measuring techniques).
>
> Victors over the roads of the peninsula included altendorf, marius, wickman,
> jacob, murph, yuko, heather, lorenzo, hobe, jim, steve, trek-with-rack-guy
> (sorry, i'm really bad w/ names) and yours truly
>
> A moderately glorious ride overall, with the most notable feature being a
> battle that we witnessed the aftermath of between a semi and a caltrain...
> guess who won.
>
> Some photos, including semi-vs.-train...
>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/scrosby/SF2GCom5Days5WaysChallenge?pli=1#5254166392537400946
>
> Day 2 will be a standard Bayway. see you at Ritual, 6:30 yo!
>
> -SC
>

UPDATE 2: SF2G.com 5 Days, 5 Ways Challenge, Oct. 6-10 2008

This just in:

13 conquering commuter commandos today vanquished Day 1 of the mighty 5 Days, 5 Ways SF2G.com Challenge, a full 20% of the mission (by some measuring techniques).

Victors over the roads of the peninsula included altendorf, marius, wickman, jacob, murph, yuko, heather, lorenzo, hobe, jim, steve, trek-with-rack-guy (sorry, i'm really bad w/ names) and yours truly

A moderately glorious ride overall, with the most notable feature being a battle that we witnessed the aftermath of between a semi and a caltrain... guess who won.

Some photos, including semi-vs.-train...

http://picasaweb.google.com/scrosby/SF2GCom5Days5WaysChallenge?pli=1#5254166392537400946

Day 2 will be a standard Bayway.  see you at Ritual, 6:30 yo!

-SC

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

9/24 Bayway 6:20ish departure RRR

Ride report:
An unnatural team of rivals consisting of otherwise sworn-enemies Palm, Google, and LinkedIn convened at Ritual for today's Rogering of the peninsula, and a swashbuckling time was had by all. Pictures do not lie:
talented trick-rider Cory swills some Ritual in the pre-dawn darkness of Valencia...
A rare appearance by Phillippe the Frenchman
Brett sports unholy alliance of green/nuke colors while pointing out road hazard ahead.
[Cory] We are aiming to leave at 6:20a from RR so us LinkedIners will have time to eat at the Google cafeteria. Scott brags nonstop about his breakfast burritos so it's about time I see if Scott is full of sh*t or if he speaks the truth. What do you all think....in general, is Scott full of crap?? :-)

9/23 Skyline Peet's 6:30

Woo new route!

Just got home, drinking that wine I had to put away last night, waiting for my roomie to finish cooking a yummy Thai dinner...

After doing HMBway recently, I've been itching to do some more climbing (Tunitas was awesome), and wanted to incorporate something along those lines in Skyline since HMBway unfortunately is slightly incompatible with work. Solution: more Skyline!

It was a beautiful morning, with the sun out even in Daly City, which definitely made route extensions a compelling option, although I didn't say anything about my plan as I hadn't quite committed to it myself (yeah yeah, I'm lame and non-committal). Despite the sun, SCT was freezing cold (wtf?!) and I think I saw a couple of Michael's fingers lying on the side of the trail, having fallen off due to lack of adequate gloves. But after all, the sun _was_ out and it was beautiful, and Trinh gave me a cue and said it would be nice to go all the way to Santa Cruz on a day like this (I swear I didn't set it up!). I unfolded my devious plan to lure Ed and Michael up the mountain with me. These brave gentlemen did not hesitate for long and we headed off.

In anticipation of the upcoming climb, I even forgot to exclaim my usual "I hate hills!" as we pedaled up towards 92 on Skyline. And here we parted ways with the Skyline route as we know it, turned right on 92, did not get killed by trucks, and arrived at - Skyline! (Wtf is up with that road? It just keeps disappearing and reappearing in different places.) Again, we did not get killed by trucks as we did a left turn onto Skyline (this was quite an accomplishment).

Going up was beaaaautiful! The road goes along a ridge with views both of the valley and the ocean. Well, it would have had views of the ocean if the ocean hadn't been all fogged up. We climbed and looked and climbed and looked and climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed. Pesky rolling hills of Cañada begone! Well... at the top there were actually a few rolling hills, meh. But they were at least steep enough to properly identify themselves as hills, as opposed to Cañada where you just suddenly find yourself inexplicably weak until you realize that the road is, in fact, not as flat as it looks.

At the top, Michael called me an evil woman while Ed stopped to fiddle a bit with his wonky breaks, thinking they may be of use during the descent on King's Mountain Road. I'll blame him dropping me on the descent on my functioning brakes. Ed had a scary near-car experience on the way down but we still all enjoyed the twisty road. It's kind of like a roller coaster, except way more fun and less safe! Whee! Helpful tip: do slow down when the street signs claim you should. This is not SCT. Once down and having reached Woodside, Michael said I wasn't an evil woman anymore.

After a somewhat eventless ride back on Sandhill Rd/Junipero Serra we reached Google way past breakfast time.

Strengths:
- 2000 ft more or so of climbing!
- Avoids pesky rolling hills on Cañada
- PRETTY! Depending on weather, may beat HMB for most scenic route depending on weather.

Areas for development:
- Oops. Very late arrival at work, although not as bad after HMB.
- 92 is not great but tolerable, turning left onto Skyline really sucks though

Total time: 4h15 perhaps?
Rolling time: 3h39
Distance: 53.5 miles
Added distance compared to Cañada: 6.4 miles
Route: Kind of like this, except SCT isn't on the map.


-Lina

It was a pretty route and the King's Mountain Road descent may have
become my favorite in the Bay Area.

Here's the MB for more detail:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6833849

Good suggestion Lina!

Mike

Sweeet!

But it says 5k6 ft of climbing. That doesn't seem reasonable? (Well,
if you ask my legs it is... but not if you ask me. :) It's just 2k ft
added to the normal Skyline route, and then we still avoid the rolling
hills on Cañada.

-Lina

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

tues 9/23/08 bayway

Nice tranquilo cruise w/ Hobinator, Heather, and yours truly.  Unremarkably bucolic and nice, one flat, on-time 9:24 arrival.  Mr. Sun out in force -- see photo.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Friday III

WTF this is I don't know. Cool-looking anyway.

More friday...

View to the city from foster city bike path

Fri 9/19 bayway nrlb

Passable sunrise over lagoon road west of the 101, Brisbane.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

joe gross IV

The home stretch over the 101 from palo alto to mountain view.
Entertaining barriers/chicanes to worm thru while on upward leg.

joe gross III

No, thank YOU bay meadows, R.I.P.

joe gross II

Brett enters the now closed-to-traffic bay meadows lot.

joe gross route day

Despite bay meadows' closure, you can still ride your bike thru it.
Demolition is already underway.

Ride Report:

while less grandiose than the hmbway, i'm super glad scott suggested this ride. the following hombres rolled out at a casual 6:40 - brett crosby, naveen, bk broiler, steve and the burr twins: bryan and scott. decent pace, rolling maybe 2:10? despite bay meadows being closed, the pedestrian/bike path through the parking lot was still open, though achtung! pay attention or you will be decapitated by the caltrain platform just before old county rd. for various reasons, brett gave the route the proverbial thumbs down. too many lights / stop signs. i say hogwash! nothing like basking in the warm glow of nostalgia -- old county rd breakaways, colma cemeteries, crazy fixie guy, a belly-strong and head-sure marius attack, more dooring opportunities per mile than any route, and a little bit of real-life grand theft auto: redwood city.

only one mechanical (flat, mine, sorry) and near-miss (me leading the pack into the path of a moving truck, sorry again.) i promise to be better next time.

looking forward to the next installment, a few weeks away!

--Brian Wickman

i admit it was an excellent suggestion, and despite the incessant moanings of that woman kemler and brett's caesarian thumbs-down (route not executed despite that), i think all generally had a jovial good time.

one point of clarification: brian w. and I are now to be referred to as the "Burr Brothers", as indicated below. why? upon reaching no-name, it was decreed that a custom burrito must be ordered by all, forthwith. the sous-chef(?) took our bowls o' modifications (soyrizo/fake kielbasa/avocado/cheese, mmm) and wrote down on a Post-It note the following:

"Burr Scott" and "Burr Brian"

so after waiting a while and seeing no burritos being made, they finally yelled out "OMELETS FOR SCOTT AND BRIAN BURR!!!"

we decided complaining was petulant/discretion-the-better-part-of-valor and ate our delicious omelets, despite brett's orgiastic moanings over the flavor of his burrito...

-SC

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Cory, 'crossmaster

Another successful traverse by LinkedIn's very own Cory...

Cyclocross section I

Murph negotiates treacherous tree bark...

Friday, September 12, 2008

Friday morning: SF2G via Tunitas Creek!

I think if you drank 6 beers before you rolled out it might be more exciting.
 
On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 1:46 PM, Nils Tikkanen wrote:
Glad to hear it worked out.  So this might become a weekly ride?  I'd love to make it out soon.

-- Nils


On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 1:26 PM, Topher  wrote:
Lina, Topher and of course Stephan himself celebrated the 33rd anniversary of his birth.  We all had such a great ride that we decreed (by a 2/3 majority) that Stephan shall have a birthday every Friday!

Hwy 1 over Devil's slide wasn't so bad.  Thank you Nils for the helpful suggestion getting through Pacifica.  The temperature was just right once we got going.  No fog, just clouds, and those cleared up as we climbed Tunitas Creek.

62.6 mi, approx 4390 ft ascent, 4:13 rolling and 5:04 total.  Times up Tunitas from Cabrillo to Skyline:
Topher 56
Lina 1:03
Stephan 1:04


On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 8:34 AM, Eric Altendorf  wrote:

Happy birthday!  Hope you're having fun out there.  I slept in today :-D

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 11:15 PM, Stephan Ellner  wrote:
> let's see if we do it again next week, but tomorrow is my birthday, so
> tomorrow is not negotiable ;)
>
> On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 10:40 AM, Eric Altendorf
> wrote:
>>
>> I'd like to do this (I suggested a half moon bay way earlier this
>> week), but not on friday.  I've done 3 rides already and if I ride
>> friday, it will be lazy-like.  Next week?
>>
>> 2008/9/10 Stephan Ellner
>> > Mission -> Skyline -> Sharp Park -> Pacifica -> HWY1 -> Tunitas Creek ->
>> > Kings Mountain -> Woodside etc. -> Googleplex
>> > about 60 miles, expect > 1 hour of serious climbing, RRR 6:30am, hope to
>> > arrive at work at noon latest
>> > Google map (approximate route)
>> > Anyone crazy enough to join?
>> > Stephan
>> > FAQ http://go/roadbikes
>> >
>
>








--
Andreux Fort (afort@choqolat.org)


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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Tues 9/9 Bayway

Post-regroup update:  attack, attack, attack, mountain view.  Showered and fed just in time for a 9:30 meeting.  Anyone for a recovery bayway tomorrow?

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 10:46 AM, Ksenya Gusak  wrote:
ride report:

gloomy non-summery morning. kemler, hobe, sean from linkedin, ed from tivo, jay, and moi rendezvoused at ritual. marius was a negative one as he forgot the "essential equipment" called his bicycle in mtv.

everyone got a buddy and rode in pairs until a regroup at the bathrooms to switch dance partners.
no sightings of skin-shedding rattlesnake, some sightings of dog, and a couple of alligators.

i've come out of a six week bike sabbatical to bid jay farewell (trinh and lina, who've been spreading the rumours of my retirement, missed the occasion). 
jay will be celebrating his emancipation from mountain view with more sf2gs this week, stay tuned.

Ksenya

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 10:56 PM, Ed  wrote:

i may be +1 too. i ate a bad burrito tonight for dinner, so we'll see
how i'm feeling tomorrow morning.

> > >> On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 11:06 AM, Jay Boren  wrote:
> > >>> It's my last week in Mountain View and I'm trying to get a few SF2G rides
> > >>> in.  The forecast looks cold and foggy but I could go for a skyline ride if
> > >>> that's the consensus.  Otherwise, 6:30 RRR.


Friday, September 5, 2008

My Crash: My hip/booty's point of view

You're looking at my left hip/booty about 24 hours after the crash. It was (and by "was" I mean was and is) oh so painful.

And oozy...did I mention oozy?

The cuts on my back and arm weren't nearly as impressive.

-Heather :)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

8/7 Bayway Racepace RRR 6:30 - One for the record books!

(re-sending photos from this day, since blogger devoured them last time)

minor road rash on s. crosby and the group (sandor, julian, crosby, space) at the end of the 1:59:22 bayway

Detour no more!

It was like this on Monday too, and last Friday... but... construction
continues and it is liable to close again, so watch for signs.

On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 5:24 PM, steve <armijo@subgeni.us> wrote:
>
> Everyones favorite detour is now no longer necessary.  Tuesday a group
> of 3 non G riders broke off the front and checked path conditions.
> Verdict was the path is now open and very ridable once again.  The
> cyclocross section also seems to have improved but only the long
> course is available, the former dirt lot is now a dirt lot circled by
> hurricane fence which buts right up to the bike trail leading to the
> bridge to the floating trailer park.
>
> -s

thing I like about skyline rides

If deer are 5 points, cougars 20 points, then bagpipers are 100
points.  Good job!

On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:13 AM, Liam Stewart wrote:
>
>
> I took skyline this morning instead of the usual friday bayway. It was
> great.
>
> - it was foggy through GGP / great highway / skyline until the middle of
>  the last hill at which point the fog suddenly ended and the skies
>  became clear. I looked back to see a wall of fog where I had just come
>  from and fluffy white cotton candy clouds covering the city.
>  Beautiful.
>
> - a herd of deer off to the side on the first bike path and two more
>  deer along the second part of sawyer camp trail.
>
> - a webcor / alto-velo guy was being motor-paced down canada.
>
> - there was a guy practicing bagpipes at the end of canada. he was
>  pretty good and it made for a nice break from silence and car
>  engines.


Accident Report :(

Hey all,

First I just want to say a huge warm loving "thank you" to everyone whose sent me "thinking of you" emails. While I didn't respond while in the ER to anyone, I did get a few when I was still in there and it made me feel a lot better :)

So now on to what happened...

So I find this entire accident from hell thing particularly ironic because, as my emails earlier yesterday suggested, it's been a super stressful week at work. And, sitting in my office late last night, debating whether to sleep in Mountain View or not, I said, "Heather...riding a nice happy Friday ride totally aids in de-stress-ness... so just pack up late, take the late shuttle and ride. It's worth it."
 
sucks.

So anyways, yes, Stegman and I were trying to re-catch up with the front group (which I lost pretty much right after the break-point) and I was leading for a long while and then Stegman says "Heather... I've been drafting for a long time. Want a turn?" and so I gratefully switched spots. So we were going along in or new line-up for, oh, a minute (while all the while I'm thinking "damn, this drafting thing is a total win situation" when the badness happened.

I guess the little kid swerved in front of him and from what I can remember/gather Stegman braked super hard to miss the kid and I, sitting maybe 3 inches off his wheel, didn't even have a chance to break. I just blasted into him... flew... and the first thing that hit was the left side of my head --- and then the rest of my left side just skidded for a second.

No lies... about a milisecond after I hit my head (and a milisecond before I started crying) I thought "wow... that was a really hard hit to my head... I now totally get the whole "always wear a helmet" thing"

So about a second after all that my jaw sort of locked up and the very lower part of my head and upper neck hurt really bad. Plus my left hip-booty area was killing me (later I saw that I skidded pretty much the entire left upper side of my shorts off).

I was crying and holding the top of my helmet as Stegman was trying to see how bad I was and if he should call 911. I kept saying (though the sobbing) "No no... ambulances are like a zillion dollars! Just give me a minute"

but of course... the more it hurt and the more I realized it was a head-injury primarily, the more I realized a trip to the ER was pretty much an inevitable part of my future.

So I got to cry in front of a lot of firefighter dudes and got strapped to a board and all that so they could make sure I didn't move my neck and all.

Now I think the pain plus the fear of having broken something in my neck/head no doubt added to me having poor baby tears streaming down my then totally encased head all the way to the ER. The nice ambulance dude was quite nice, though. Someone held my hand for a bit. I felt like I was two.

So anyways they cleaned up all my cuts and road rash -- actually they got the resident hard-core bike dude to do it. So as he was cleaning the blood and dirt out of my totally destroyed left booty-bit and left back side generally I
1) lost all dignity
2) got to hear a lot of really bad bike stories. Which sort of put it all into perspective :)

They also did a bunch of x-rays to make sure nothing was broken. Turns out-- no breaks!

So my friend, who came to the hospital and brought me new clothes and allowed me to hold his hand and cry into his stomach for a bit longer, drove me down to Google (because I was supposed to go to LA this weekend for fun and an epic ride) where I basically hung out at work in my friend's shirt, shorts half on (so the giant nasty area wasn't being pressed on by my pants), and my (now unlucky) socks with my flipflops (might as well be comfy at that point)

The only question is a concussion... which I don't think I have. I felt a bit nausea and apparently asked my friend at work the same question three times, but I think I'm just a bit shook up. I've never had a "real" crash before (I've only fallen off my bike once! And it was me...going about 4 miles an hour...and a curb)

So I'm ok. My left side hurts a lot and my head is still hurtin' but I'm a trooper! (though the crying would perhaps suggest otherwise) :) If anything changes with the head-stuff I'll be sure and update. I'll need rotations of hands to hold :)

-Heather


8/29 Bayway NRLB? or, heather's head

omg....  that's terrible.  i'm glad she's more or less OK.  does
anyone know any updates?  if she's still in the hospital, a get-well
visit might be in order....

(and yeah ... pacelines on those narrow bike paths are super sketch
due to the number of pedestrians/dogs/kids/unstable-cyclists ... be
careful out there, and if you paceline on the paths, always keep in a
position where you can see over the shoulder of the dude in front of
you ...)

--eric


On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 2:43 PM, Naveen Viswanatha  wrote:
> For those of us in the "chill" group this morning, I wanted to provide an
> update on the accident that one of our own was involved in on the bike trail
> in Foster City.  Heather (Whitney) was the victim of a clueless adolescent
> cyclist who veered into her lane and caused a paceline collision.  When we
> arrived shortly after it had happened, there was a cop and firetruck pulling
> up on the scene (the kid had mysteriously dissapeared at this piont).
> Heather was fully conscious, but had hit her head on the pavement and
> probably had some road rash as well.  To be safe, they immobilized her and
> took her to Kaiser in Redwood City.
>
> Her co-worker sent me this earlier today:
>
> "...She's basically OK. She's waiting for the x-rays to come back to confirm
> the diagnosis, but there's no apparent head trauma. She has a sore neck, and
> her left side is scraped up quite a bit, though"
>
> Fellow googler Shou accompanied by the dude from Linked In (I think, sorry I
> forget your name man) double rode her bike to the CalTrain station and
> presumably brought it safely into work.
>
> Moral: Gaper factor is high on that stretch of road now that school is back
> in session so be extra cautious when rolling through.
>
> Best wishes for speedy recovery Heather!
>
> Naveen
>
> BTW, I think Shou probably still has your bike.
>
> On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 9:40 AM, boring_ghosts
> wrote:
>>
>> Hey, this morning was fun... hope you all made it safely, see you next
>> week!
>>
>> Derrick
>>
>> On Aug 29, 12:05 am,  wrote:
>> > I'm in from Milbway - will be there at 7:30.  Godspeed.
>> >
>> > -Zach
>> > 510-414-2650
>> >
>> > On Aug 28, 8:29 pm, "Heather Whitney"
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > > Let it be known that I just got on a shuttle to go home just so I can
>> > > ride tomorrow
>> >
>> > > Ocd or love: you decide
>> >
>> > > On 8/28/08, steve wrote:
>> >
>> > > > Yowza, if my pager cooperates I'm in from Martha's on Cortland.
>> >
>> > > > -s



Friday, August 22, 2008

Friday 8/22 bayway NRLB

Nice job Lina!

Lorenzo, Julian, Derrick, and I managed a moderately-paced break away.
 Nowhere near the record, but we put up a ~19mph rolling average which
got me to Crittenden well in time for breakfast.

Also, this time I didn't crash, which made me happy.

Mike

On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 11:07 AM, Scott Crosby wrote:
> Glad you could make it Ed, we need more non-google people on this ride, i'm
> sick of them!  (i was on the orange steelman, btw)
>
> Ironically, i sold my small tivo holdings yesterday... gotta buy bike
> parts... anyway,
>
> Ride report:
>
> - ~19 riders roll out about 6:40, pretty on-time except for Euro elitists
> Stephan and Lorenzo, who insisted on double cappuccinos and leisurely
> sipping thereof
> - immediate flat suffered by Naveen "Machine" Viswanatha; "scalpel!" nurse
> services provided by yours truly as the pack rolled on
> - 2nd flat sustained at the airport by me, all flat-changing apparatus
> exhausted, hopes of catching the group dwindling
> - several more riders in two distinct factions join at millbrae (not
> witnessed by us lantern rouge types), bringing the total to ~26 i'm told
> - as a lifer domestique, I grind away like a farm animal while gamorous
> sprinter Machine coifs his mane in the draft
> - pack sighted and rejoined in foster city among the feral cats
> - elusive sean mcbride espied on the Redwood City bike path (now open!),
> volunteers to sweep millbraeites, pack picks up steam
> - jenna and i collide on bike path in a good-natured high-five of hips, no
> one worse for the wear
> - trinh the Agitator launches series of searing attacks, peloton caught
> unawares
> - kemler takes bayshore green jersey points, yet hungers not, and motors on
> to the ghettoplex @ 1300 charleston
> - leisurely breakfast had by all
> - toast made to the mighty endurance of Lina, who completed a 5-day,
> 250-mile sweep. and I drink some Gløgg to that!
>
> lina, you should put yourself on this page:
> https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/google.com/ccc?key=pBM3TN5pvp64mwSnI__IbGA&hl=en
>
> -SC
>
> On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 10:35 AM, Ed wrote:
>>
>> Hey it was nice meeting and riding with all of you (i'm the guy from
>> tivo) - and thanks for the great ride. I'll definitely be doing this
>> more often!
>>
>> -ed
>>
>> On Aug 22, 12:00 am, "Nathan Mehl" wrote:
>> > argh, belatedly: -1; a social engagement ran late tonight, and there's
>> > no
>> > way I'm going to be up early enough to do this.  Next week.
>> >
>> > -n
>> >
>> > On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 4:34 PM, Steven Cary  wrote:
>> > > +1
>> >
>> > > On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 12:43 PM, Scott Crosby
>> > > wrote:
>> >
>> > >> the summer is waning my feathered friends, and so I advise you in no
>> > >> uncertain terms to get the bike out before you need lights in the am.
>> > >> pretty soon the discussion threads will turn to high-intensity
>> > >> discharge,
>> > >> candlepower, lumens, and nimh vs. li-ion... and you know you shudder
>> > >> to
>> > >> think about that!
>> >
>> > >> - meet @ ritual roasters 6:20am
>> > >> - guzzle double shot
>> > >> - rollout at 6:30
>> > >> - carry-on and gallyvant down to G
>> > >> - eat breakfast
>> > >> - adjourn
>> > >> - possible partycar home
>> >
>> > >> who's in?
>> >
>> > >> NOTE FOR MILLBRAE TYPES:  aim to be at millbrae/old bayshore at 7:30.
>> > >>  we
>> > >> will probably be later than that, but better than the opposite.
>> > >>  recommend
>> > >> the 6:56 train from 24/m bart.
>> >
>> > >> -SC


Friday, August 15, 2008

Skyline Interrupted

My Skyline was punctuated by a puncture on 35 by the Olympic Golf Course. Unfortunately, my cry "flat" fell on deaf ears ahead of, thus stranding me sans pump. I remembered my spare tubular tire, but in switching bikes, I forgot to take my little repair bag.

Minutes later another cyclist stopped with C02 while I struggle to remove my tubular which was so tightly glued to the rim it seemed welded on. The good samaritan didn't want to wait, but did graciously leave his C02 behind allowing me to inflate my spare after spending a half an hour wrestling with the tubie. I made it to Daly City where the GF picked me up, whisked me home and then lent me her car to allow me to drive in.

The photos show the casing still attached to the rim as well as the new "step technique" developed on the fly allowing me to put on the spare tubie in record time.

--Brian


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Fwd: 8/12 Sandor's Skyline Express 630 Peets

Beaut!

Here's the view from the back:

The night before I swapped out the battery in my HR monitor as I've
been
missing it and I know I've been running a bit hotter than I've
intended
on some recent rides.  It probably won't stop me but at least I'll
know
just how for over I've gone.

Rolled out the door in Bernal about 6:37.  Later than intended and
foggier than
expected.  I was doing the math in my head as to how fast I'd have to
push to
make it to Great Highway by 7AM.  I was rolling down Sloat about 6:59
and
noticed a rider heading up Skyline, I hoped that was the last of the
fast
group.  I could see the turnout up ahead and there was either a small
group
of riders gathered or maybe a sign.  It was a sign so I rode through,
squinted
through the much denser fog than was covering the mission and could
only make
out cars heading for me.  I remembered that solo rider and adjusted my
position from off the back of the fast group to off the back of the
chill
peloton.  I headed back towards Skyline and was thinking I should try
to
catch them on the hills since once we got to the down or Sawyer Camp
Trail
progress would essentially be nil.  I was pushing up the hills and
trying
to remember what they topped out at, squinting through the fog for any
sign
of other bikes.  Finally 2 riders materialized out of the soupy
atmosphere
but instead of up ahead they came from behind.  Once they caught up I
recognized Space and Trinh.  I jumped on their wheel and hung for oh,
20
seconds before I realized the folly.  Then came another rider and
again
I started to hold his wheel and glancing down at my HR sanity was
restored
and I went back to my own pace not wanting to start a bonk this early
in the
ride.  We regrouped up at the top of the hill and our numbers grew
from 4 to
maybe 9, the missing riders having been slowed by a flat tire.  Once
we set
off we were pretty cohesive.  There wasn't a lot of pacelining, pretty
much
everyone cruising down in a loose pack.  As we passed under trees the
condensation had made puddles and our tires were kicking up rooster
tails
giving us a little taste of the road.  Once we got to Swayer Camp
Trail things
were fairly chill but moving at a good clip.  We exited and returned
by
the 280 on-ramp.  Things picked up a bit and we were buzzing around
corners.  I was having a conversation in my head trying to remember
the difference between early and late apex when I over cooked a corner
and
piled it in.  I bled off as much speed as I could before I hit dirt
and
kept it upright.  Then the dirt shoulder dropped into what was about a
3
foot or so ditch and I knew I was going down.  There was a fallen
branch
I tried to not impale myself on but aside from that I just let the
endo happen.

Final count was popped lip, scratch on chin, some leg scrapes, hole in
leg
warmers, off kilter front brake, off center rear wheel and my left
front
lever slipped over a bit.  Sore shoulder but no broken clavicles (yay!
last
time I endoed this was not the case).  Trinh stopped and rode with me
up to
the end of SCT.  From there Trinh turned off and my busted ass
rejoined the
group the TTT started but honestly my legs were pretty cooked and it
was all
I could to to hang on.  I finally dropped off the back at the point
where
my ODO indicated 30mi and I was happy to ride the rest solo.  Once I
rolled
through the intersection at Woodside I spotted the rest of the crew.
They
had feigned another flat but I know in my heart they were waiting up.
From
there 1 other rider dropped off and I followed his lead at about mile
39.

All told my ride clocked in at 2:40 moving time, avg HR of 165 and
46.76 miles.


Fwd: 8/12 Sandor's Skyline Express 630 Peets

Not so much.  It was a solid effort, but mildly hampered by howling headwinds/rain/fog in SF, a couple of flats, Steve's faceplant on SCT, and a bit of miscommunication.  I didn't know that "TTT" meant "Trinh Time Trial", which means "surging off the front in an attempt to weaken by repeated accelerations the other riders".  Clearly Nils and Trinh are in league under the aegis of Team Bubble Up.

But I never make excuses for weak performance (much), so I have to chalk up the failure the wimpy riding by all but space, who gamely attempted to go as slow as the rest of us, but alas failed.

stats:

- 2:07:10 rolling time from sloat/GH
- 19.8mph rolling avg.
- ~50% attrition

with marius, nils himself, and some teamwork I think <2h is definitely possible (from sloat).

-SC


On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 10:54 AM, Michael Gaiman  wrote:

So... did you guys break the record?

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 5:17 PM, murphstahoe  wrote:
>
> EZ.
>
> If the leaders are taking the SCT, we take the freeway and rejoin the
> lead group on the south end of the SCT.... we'd need some sort of
> tweet to indicate peletonic progress...
>
> On Aug 11, 11:14 am, "Scott Crosby" wrote:
>> the problem here is that a space-marius-nils-trinh group would certainly be
>> faster than one that waited around for crosby+other nonclimbers, even with
>> the added help on the cañada-esque TTT sections.  so any record set would
>> only last until the climbers got organized and made another attempt...
>>
>> -SC
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 10:14 AM, Sandor Dornbush
>>
>> > wrote:
>> > +1
>>
>> > I guess I can not shirk off this one.  I am kind of afraid of who will turn
>> > out for this and hanging on to Scott, Julian and Space's wheel won't be as
>> > effective on Skyline.
>>
>> > On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 10:09 AM, Nils Tikkanen  wrote:
>>
>> >> +0.0, but good luck!  Sorry I won't be there to help. :(  If you're
>> >> doing Portola Valley, please do get a time offset for Sloat & Great
>> >> Highway.
>>
>> >> -- Nils
>>
>> >> On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 9:55 AM, Sean Dawson
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > +1
>>
>> >> > On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 9:52 AM, Trinh
>>
>> >> >> Who wants to help Sandor establish the SF2G Skyline benchmark? I don't
>> >> >> think there is an established record from Peets to Goog but a 2:15
>> >> >> rolling time seems like a good mark to shoot for.
>>


Thursday, August 7, 2008

Fwd: 8/7 Bayway Racepace RRR 6:30 - One for the record books!

As penance for dropping off the back at San Carlos, John and I got
lost after the EPA
bike path and turned the wrong way on Embarcadero. This led us past a
dump and
onto an unpaved bike path section where we were joined by a member of
the Google
Cyclocross team on his brand new Ridley Cross bike. When we finally
rejoined the route
and hit Bayshore, we were passed by Kemler who was using his superior
route knowledge
and a cheeky run of a red light to leave us groveling OTB in our
bonked out state. Happily
John invited me into no-name where I could commisserate with Scott and
briefly congratulate
him on his accomplishments until I realized the full impact of the
wonder that is a
Google Cafeteria.

Final Stats:
1 ancient Clif Bar on the bridge to nowhere
3 scrambled eggs with various goodness
Apple Muffin
Mini-burrito
20 or so strawberries
20 or so grapes
OJ and water

You guys are living the dream.

-murph


8/7 Bayway Racepace RRR 6:30 - One for the record books!

From: Eric Cattell ☮
NOOOOOoooooo!   I liked having the record!  Congrats.  You might have just inspired me to try and ride to MV again ;-)



8/7 Bayway Racepace RRR 6:30 - One for the record books!

ride report:

Per Sandor's command, 8 SF2G gladiators convened at the colosseum (Ritual) today at 6:30, faced with the grim task of dethroning reigning team-time-trial champions Hobinator & Cattell on the mortal roads of the bayway.

Knowing nothing less than a 21+ mph average pace would challenge the 1:59:58 record, a fast pace was decreed from the start, and a rare paceline was observed on even Valencia.

As Trinh took the front, Kemler opted out early (despite good fitness), as the pace was inconsistent with his Tranquilo state of mind.  Trinh proceeded to throw down an unsustainable pace, knowing his services would cease in san mateo, and kept the average creeping ever upward.

Space & Julian then took over, churning out a disciplined 23-26mph over long stretches, and got up to 20mph average by millbrae.  The group split in two around foster city, but a Menchov-like slick-surface solo crash by yours truly (see attached) in the tight-left just after the 92 underpass enabled a regrouping, and the speed was increased to compensate for the delay.

Somewhere around the Holly/Whipple detour, the group shrank to 4, and the average peeked over 21 mph coyly, then recoiled in the confusion of the Bridge to Nowhere, which was extra loose and featured freshly applied redwood chips (ideal for road bikes).

Calculations revealed a new record was within reach, and speed ratcheted up again.  Tremendous leadouts by space and julian stretched the elastic but it didn't break, and at Charleston/Rengstorff, the clock stopped.  Final stats:

- 1:59:22 total rolling time - new record! (provisional)
- 21.2 mph rolling average
- 2 crashes (me and John, no significant injuries)
- 4 riders at the end
- 8:50 arrival time, ~2:07 actual elapsed time ritual->G
- wind: 3mph NW (per weather.com) - mildly favorable
- riders: space, trinh, murph, john, kemler, sandor, julian, yours truly

nice work dudes!

-SC

---

I am moving out of the city and I want to set personal records for
both bayway and skyline.  I'm going to start with bayway this week and
probably do Skyline the following week.  I have already gotten Trinh
to agree to set the pace/break but I think he will not make it all the
way.  His endurance has really gone down recently ;-)  Scott said he
wants to break the all time record of 1:59:58 but said something about
not being able to do it alone.  I think he needed some help pedaling
his bike.  Space also commited to the ride though I am not sure if
that was skyline and bayway or just skyline.

The pace will be fast.  People will get dropped.

So who wants to set a new course record Thursday morning?
[I'd like to do it earlier but I have to recover from the marathon yesterday.]

--

I'm planning on being there, we need Hobe and Sean Dawson. I'll
actually go to Google and take my pulls if you guys can sneak me into
the cafeteria - and if we do a general regroupment after Cortland and
San Bruno to make sure all the roulers are in place.

We will need to decide how to address the San Carlos section - do we
take Veterans to Maple or do we cross at Whipple and go over the
bridge allowing Sandor one last bridge to nowhere run.
I'll be there, definitely.  By the way, taking Maple these days is soooo slow with all the lights.  It's gotta be whipple to have a good shot at the record.  Sandor, when do you leave?  If you could delay the bayway attempt until the bike path has reopened, and Marius and wickman et al can go, it might be better.

-murph

---

    I'll be there, definitely.  By the way, taking Maple these days is soooo slow with all the lights.  It's gotta be whipple to have a good shot at the record.  Sandor, when do you leave?  If you could delay the bayway attempt until the bike path has reopened, and Marius and wickman et al can go, it might be better.
----

 I am leaving at the end of the month.  Unfortunately I may only get two more sf2g's in.  There will also a racepace skyline.  I know that is more Maruis' style so we should get him and some of the other's out for that.  I think Hobe is out.  I saw his status this morning said Dublin or someother faraway site.

I am open to other routes, but this one does not look like too much fun, a lot of time on Camino Real.  I guess I would rather do a good time on the std bayway and not break the reccord than to try to cheat for a good time by going a short cut.  I actually have not done the San Carlos since the closure.  I will have to punt to someone who has done bayway recently on the best way through that.

-sandor


            yeah the detour is an issue, as it's kinda hectic going over holly overpass and getting squashed by an SUV is a high price to pay for the record.  there's also quite a bit of traffic in general on the detour.  we could try for the as-yet unset "bayway while the water main is being replaced in redwood city" record ;)


    but it might be best to try this after aug. 15(?) when the old route is back in force.  bonus: hobinator and m3 will be available.

    -SC