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