5D5W: 9/17 Skyline 6:30 Peet's

ride report:

it's really someone else's turn to write this, but you are all just as shelled as me it seems, so here you go, a 19% effort to go with my 19% legs.

12 sorry saps staggered into peet's about 06:20, devoured space's latest baking extravaganza (homemade strawberry pop-tarts, of sorts, see attached), and rolled into the mire of golden gate park, where the sinister Trinh awaited.

upon reaching the first hills of skyline, it became abundantly clear that my legs' "muscles" were more akin to waterlogged 50-lb. gunny-sacks of portland cement, mixed with lead shot and ingots of plutonium-238, and attached by heavy iron shackles to the Queen Mary's dual anchors, which weigh over 30 metric tonnes each.

ThEPO, on the other hand, had without question applied not one but two testosterone patches to appropriate places and beer-bonged a 12-pack of CERA and HGH, garnished with ice cubes of his own blood, which had been harvested and concentrated by centrifuge after 30 days of continuous mount everest hill repeats.

other noteworthy events included a surly police officer hurling a torrent of insults at mild-mannered xton, who graciously stopped and chatted while the rest of us escaped to Cañada.

for breakfast, I enjoyed two abandoned and partially burned bagel halves (both bottoms) topped with dessicated lentil paste.  best example of that dish i ever had.

-sc

5D5W: 9/14 Joe Gross 6:30 RRR

Editor's note: Yours truly was remiss in not posting Faye's hilarious & compelling account of Day 1, which is herein presented.

Ride report

Bueno Serra.  Not sure about anyone else, but I didn't sleep a wink
due to excessive consumption of chocolate cake while watching Breaking
Away and, of course, anticipation of the first day of 5 days 5 ways.
I made it to ritual in good time to caffeinate before rolling, and
acted on some strange impulse to get a tea instead of a proper
machiato- inausipicious decision that no doubt contributed to my flats
later on.  Trinh was already present and Brian Kemler and Brett Lider
showed up shortly followed by Ted and maybe Eric.  Everyone else
straggled in later... even later than usual.  Our fearless leader
looked particularly dead with his eyes rolling back in his head as he
consumer his small coffee.  A complicated flat repair was taking place
outside... Mike G. was riding his Felt and went through a good 3 inner
tubes outside of ritual.  I went out to ask if he wanted a coffee, and
encountered Shoumen on his folding bike in sneakers and running
shorts!  This did not stop him from motoring up the grades on Mission
at break neck speed, however.  Space arrived with amazing blondies and
beautifully and individually wrapped protein bars (that I did not
sample due to their healthy sound).  Who would have thought he could
top that salted chocolate layer cake, but the blondies were just
amazing.  Anyway, we started off with 15 riders, I think, including
Scott, Brian, Trinh, Theo, Space, Jim (on fixie), Xton (on fixie),
Eric (on fixie), Brett, Yoyo, Shoumen (on folding bike), Ted, Mike,
Mark, and me (on Creamy, my beautiful creamsicle bike).  I think we
hit about every possible light as we slowly made out way up Mission
and somehow to El Camino.  On the stretch of road before Colma, land
of the dead,  Scott authorized me to "attack" or as I prefer to think
of it,  try to take the pace up a notch.  Just as I thought we were
rolling at a decent clip, I had my first flat.  For anyone who was not
there, on Friday, I got a flat just before the steepest part of
tunitas, so I thought I did my time!  Grr.  Anyway, the flat was
annoying, BUT the scene around it was definitely the highlight of the
ride for me, and I sure wish someone got some photos... as I yelled
out that I had a flat, there was this mass frenzy as no less than
Mark, Ted, Xton, Theo, and Space with encouragement from a few others
rushed to fix it.  It was an impressive scenewith tire levers, pumps
and tubes flying everywhere and I felt like a Very Important Person
with a harem of flat fixers.  I was informed that my tires are crap
and told to get new ones pronto.

Anyway, we continued down El Camino stopping and starting about every
75 meters and with a few stares of wonder and comments of
encouragement or alternatively explicatives from drivers on their way
to work.  Soon after we hit the side streets that Parallel El Camino,
my tire went flat again.  Everyone very dutifully and politefully
waited and I was very grateful.  Xton and Space again fixed the flat,
with Xton transferring a metal splinter from the tire to his finger.
After that I was really paranoid that my tire was flat and kept
touching it to check at every stop sign.  I thought for sure I would
be relegated to the caltrain and 5 days 5 ways would be over before it
began.

The ride continued in the same vein... stopping and starting and
stopping and starting with us hitting about every possible red light.
We rode through the old race track- a wider space with no cars where
the fixies decided to race each other.  Not surprisngly, Xton won that
little sprint.  When the construction noise did not drown it out, I
noticed the impressive noises Mike's bike was making.  The sun was
shining and it was pretty warm, and despite our very late rollout and
my 2 flats, breakfast at No Name remained within reach.

After turning off of Middlefield in PA, we re-grouped to wait for the
folding bike and Yoyo, and debated invoking the 4-k rule on Bayway.
The invocation was overruled and we continued on at a civil pace.
Brett Lider was particularly dilligent in calling out all of the turns
and the moment at which we needed to down shift to make it up the
pedestrian bridge on 101.  The bridge was slippery as hell and I
almost bit it, but I made sure to be  behind everyone so that I could
hide any evidence.  With breakfast in sight and miracle of miracles, no
lights, we cruised at 23ish mph down bayshore, with Shoumen spinning
so fast on the folding bike that he looked like a wind-up toy, but
managing to mostly hang on to Scott/Mike's wheels,  and were rewarded
with victuals and sun at Google.

Having been told repeatedly what crap my tires were, I plotted my
immanent trip to SB to get new ones (done!).  Aside from a couple of
tubes, no casualties that I know of on this ride, and an entertaining
and light hearted start to 5 days 5 ways.

-FF

Re: 5D5W: 9/16 Grand Bayway(R) 6:30 RRR

Lider lollipop?

2009/9/16 Scott Crosby <crosby@google.com>:
> ride report:
> arriving as I did at Ritual in the predawn blackness @ 06:20 to find it
> utterly empty, I at once feared I'd gone to the wrong coffee place.  so I
> ordered an elaborate Clover-made Kenya AA and took my sweet time going over
> the fine points of their sustainable farming practices and roasting.  mmmm.
> anyway, while that was brewing, a swarming hive of riders appeared all at
> once in a mighty torrent, and soon 21 spandexed gladiators jammed the place
> to the gills.  one nameless rider even had the temerity to order a drink at
> 06:35, take it to go, and show everyone how to drink it while riding,
> perform a spectacular endo, fly over the bars, and end up standing/grinning,
> coffee unspilled.  do not try that at home!
> that drama subsided, we made our way down Mission and up the usual Guadalupe
> Canyon road toward the MSB summit.  like clockwork, the powerful M. Gaiman
> launched his attack, and held off his pursuers to the zenith.  frustrated
> and vexed, xton, mark, and ariel launched a rival attack up Radio Rd.
> without waiting for any argument on the subject.
> having never ridden RR, I was personally delighted by the misty,
> fog-shrouded forest, which rained giant drops upon us, and found the
> pavement and grade very satisfactory.
> the view was obscured by swirling mists and fogs, but it was still awesome
> and much recommended.
> the next variation, the burlingame lagoon, was pleasant and sunny, and that
> would have been that if Lorenzo had not attempted a difficult power-slide at
> the bridge entrance, which resulted in wreckage of man & machine.  rear
> wheel destroyed by spoke pulling thru the rim bed, he carried on to a local
> shuttle stop and was checked off as a casualty of the road.
> next was coyote point, which was universally hailed as lovely and
> philosophical.  no wrecks.
> 2 variations were skipped in the interest of time: the san mateo hill detour
> of kinetic sculptures, and the Lider Lollipop.  another day.
> total miles: 50 even.  time: 3 hrs. riding.
> side note: for the 3rd day in a row, another challenged raged -- could Space
> actually bake *another* breakfast treat, even more delicious than the last?
>  the vegas oddsmakers had it at 7:1, considering the
> banana-espresso-chocolate muffins of tuesday, but incredibly this feat was
> accomplished, and today's treats were ravaged well before ride's end.
>  again, all who failed to attend should throw themselves from a bridge and
> end it all, since your lives are unworth living.
> -sc
> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
> 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,
Jim
http://phython.blogspot.com

5D5W: 9/16 Grand Bayway(R) 6:30 RRR

ride report:

arriving as I did at Ritual in the predawn blackness @ 06:20 to find it utterly empty, I at once feared I'd gone to the wrong coffee place.  so I ordered an elaborate Clover-made Kenya AA and took my sweet time going over the fine points of their sustainable farming practices and roasting.  mmmm.

anyway, while that was brewing, a swarming hive of riders appeared all at once in a mighty torrent, and soon 21 spandexed gladiators jammed the place to the gills.  one nameless rider even had the temerity to order a drink at 06:35, take it to go, and show everyone how to drink it while riding, perform a spectacular endo, fly over the bars, and end up standing/grinning, coffee unspilled.  do not try that at home!  

that drama subsided, we made our way down Mission and up the usual Guadalupe Canyon road toward the MSB summit.  like clockwork, the powerful M. Gaiman launched his attack, and held off his pursuers to the zenith.  frustrated and vexed, xton, mark, and ariel launched a rival attack up Radio Rd. without waiting for any argument on the subject.

having never ridden RR, I was personally delighted by the misty, fog-shrouded forest, which rained giant drops upon us, and found the pavement and grade very satisfactory.

the view was obscured by swirling mists and fogs, but it was still awesome and much recommended.

the next variation, the burlingame lagoon, was pleasant and sunny, and that would have been that if Lorenzo had not attempted a difficult power-slide at the bridge entrance, which resulted in wreckage of man & machine.  rear wheel destroyed by spoke pulling thru the rim bed, he carried on to a local shuttle stop and was checked off as a casualty of the road.

next was coyote point, which was universally hailed as lovely and philosophical.  no wrecks.

2 variations were skipped in the interest of time: the san mateo hill detour of kinetic sculptures, and the Lider Lollipop.  another day.

total miles: 50 even.  time: 3 hrs. riding.

side note: for the 3rd day in a row, another challenged raged -- could Space actually bake *another* breakfast treat, even more delicious than the last?  the vegas oddsmakers had it at 7:1, considering the banana-espresso-chocolate muffins of tuesday, but incredibly this feat was accomplished, and today's treats were ravaged well before ride's end.  again, all who failed to attend should throw themselves from a bridge and end it all, since your lives are unworth living.

-sc

5D5W: 9/15 Bayway 6:30 RRR

Photos!

First off we have Theo hydrating at the water stop... how many
calories are there in a sip of Maker's Mark?

See below for Eric's story of the other photos.

-Lina

Re: 5D5W: 9/15 Bayway 6:30 RRR

The Landbaron has creaked for a while, which I've always pinned on:
(1) creaky easton seatpost, (2) grinding of grit in the 0.2mm
clearance between the spider bolts and the chainstay, and/or (3) a
chain which is cleaned and lubed once or twice per year. Today it
sounded worse, so at the water stop I flipped it over and discovered a
crack through the down tube and seat tube, about 3/4 of the way around
the two (with a new hairline fracture visible on the remaining metal).

Trinh, in graciousness, offered his bike to me. Being of basically
the same stature and shoe size (though I am 10 or 15 pounds more
corpulent than he) made the swap easy, and he limped along to work on
the crippled Landbaron, trying not to snap the bottom bracket shell
off the bike while getting used to speedplays and his first time on a
fixie.

In the Landbaron's defence, it was a $120 titanium frame found from a
sketchy bike shop in Texas that claimed it was a factory second. I
got 2 1/2 years of pretty brutal abuse out of it (who bunnyhops curbs
and carries 50lbs of Costco loot on an aero TT frame?); I shouldn't
expect too much more.

An autopsy will be performed. Photos will be posted. The results
will be analyzed, and I will pursue one of three options: (1) sweet
talk a new frame out of Sibex, despite the fact that this one was
clearly defective and not intended for sale, (2) purchase of a new
city fixie frame of appropriate obscurity and uniqueness, or (3) the
glomming of a half pound of carbon fiber and epoxy on the bottom
bracket cluster in an attempt to render it roadworthy again.

--eric

5D5W: 9/14 Joe Gross 6:30 RRR

ride report:

15 riders besieged an unsuspecting ritual barista team at 06:25.
space provided stupidly delicious chocolate-chip-cookie-brownies
("blondies", or so i'm told) AND home-made Warp 9 bars. again, all
not present are suckas who missed out.

today's route being the venerable yet rarely invoked Joe Gross, we
went that way. it kind of sucked in its inimitable fashion - millions
of red lights, glass hither and thither, and some flats. yet it still
charmed in spots - the pleasant cemetery tour in colma, the bucolic
atherton->PA zigzag, the 101 bridge chicanes/skills course (slippery!)

notable among the riders was shoumen on his
single-speed/coasterbrake-equipped Dahon folding bike w/ 20" wheels...
which is the very same he won at BFF at the Roxie not long ago.
somehow he rode over 20mph on that thing on several occasions.

a congenial ride in sum, despite a case or two of the mondays.

-sc

wed. 9/2 SRLB bayway 07:00 RRR "drop to 4" format

hello favorable conditions!

70-81F

13mph wind out of WNW, aka perfect tailwind

"drop to 4" TTT format, 22-28mph, no attacks/sprints, smooth pacelines/transitions, short pulls, max sustainable speed of 4th-fastest rider (whomever that may be).

while not a record attempt per se, the conditions should be right. however, personally I am fat, out of shape, and lacking anything like vim or vigor, so I will likely be dropped like a canada goose turd.

depart 7am sharp, arrive in time for breakfast.

-sc

Looks like drop-to-4 may have been a bit hopeful; Lorenzo's out which leaves us with 3.5. On the bright side, this means I might have a chance of being one of the four.

+1, bringing my dv46's in a wildly optimistic attempt at carrying my own weight with good pulls.

-eric

au contraire monsieur Alténdeürf.

yes the pickin's did look slim at Ritual about 6:55 as M. Gaiman, Eric, Hobinator, and yours truly sat slurping our macchiatos in grim silence. but then, as if by magic carpet, the mighty septuagenerian One-Kit Murph appeared as a green, threadbare apparition, and announced his readiness to attack the much-feared Bayway Record. at 7:08, the TTT commenced.

it was then noted that all bikes present were raw titanium, aluminum, or carbon, and paint was decreed bourgeois.

so there were 5, so one was in danger of eventual dropitude, but the miracles did not cease, and we were immediately joined on valencia by the powerful Mark and his associate Baris, who rode a blue(!) Fuji. now up to 3 could be dropped in the name of Speed.

it was then agreed that discipline and short, acceleration-free pulls in the 24-26mph range would be observed. ahh, it was a thing of beauty. 7 riders in egoless paceline rotation, all pulls under 2 minutes almost without exception. only once did Mark's excessive power and iron legs get the better of him, and he had to be reminded that his teammates could not sustain 28mph for long.

arriving at Sun, Adam the Pole-Slayer was encountered, and his head appeared unharmed. just afterward, Steve and Dan were subsumed, and Steve on his sexy, gleaming white BMC cyclocross rig joined the team for a couple-mile chat.

the group of 7 nearly arrived intact, but a looming black Escalade on University shaved the hapless Eric and Baris off the back like whiskers, while simultaneously Hobe's pedal spring gave up the ghost and he was forced to limp home unclipped on one side.

Mark then reminded us this was no laughing matter, and drilled it on Bayshore, maintaining a 26+ mph average for the entire length, with brief assistance by the team. It was then that the average crept over the golden speed of 21.7mph, and all that remained was a strong finish to Rengstorff.

final stats:

• 7 riders started, 4 finished in the lead group
• 1:56:51 elapsed rolling time (-27 seconds vs. previous record)
• 42.52 miles
• 21.8mph rolling avg speed

and despite having only one functioning pedal from EPA, Hobe still broke 2 hours, with a 1:59 something. nice.

-sc

ps - pics are foggy due to completely sweat-soaked jersey obscuring iphone camera lens. backback is also fully sweated-thru, a first.

Old Age and Treachery baby. When you are in over your head - suck wheel.

Then as soon as the struggles really begin, throw a wrench into Hobe's pedal, flick Baris and Altendorf at East Palo Alto, thus forcing the lead group to keep you around... bwhahaahaha.

-murph

Alas, we did get annoyingly get dropped pretty darn close to the finish line. I blame the absence of cytomax, <120psi>

Until next time... /shakes fist

Great ride overall.

-baris