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

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 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.

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

Cory, 'crossmaster

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

Cyclocross section I

Murph negotiates treacherous tree bark...

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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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.

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 :)

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