12/14 Style 2 Bayway, 6:45am @ RRR

Sorry we lost you, Peter. We should've stayed to proffer you tubes.

Otherwise, fantastic ride today. Somehow, without any conscious effort, I've been 5 weeks off the bike (Barway exempted). With a week of travel and nearly a week of Thanksgiving, I'm amazed how easily the time slipped by.

Even in that short time, I feel everything—mind and body—has reset. I woke up with absolutely no idea why my alarm was going off so early. Yet somehow after the second snooze push, I dragged myself up. Fuelled up with my free $5.75 Ritual coffee (thanks, "Heavy Drinker" card), I was feeling pretty good setting into the rain. Danny and I were the only 6:30 holdouts, so we upgraded to the 6:45. We were by no means pushing it today. Definitely on the relaxed/slow end of Style II. We had a few rain/cross bikes in the mix, and everyone was chill. Still, by the time we hit Gateway, I was really feeling it... heart rate up, legs unhappy. We took SFO easy, and I got my second wind after that, and from Airport all the way to the Wailing Wall, I was fine. We'd even picked up some South Bay stranger named Julian by then... :)

Then, thinking my body had finally come to its senses, I tried for a pull on the Sun Sprint. Eh... not so much. Lasted about 10 seconds and fell back off the pack, utterly unable to sustain the required measly 21mph for even a second.

So, it looks like I have a good bit more riding to get in before I'm back to speed, ... a few weeks off really sets you back. But damn does it feel really really (really!) good to be back on a bike after a break! SF2G how I've missed you!

-BMW

Midway("Fleaway") Ride Report

First off - never mock a fellow cyclist, I gave Lina some shit
yesterday and flatted twice today, suffering added humiliation that
the first was because I had patched a tube with a "Lame Ass Patch"(Tm)
and the second because I failed to follow my advice to myself to
"THROW THIS TUBE AWAY" and put a tube with an undiscovered slow leak
into my saddlebag, thus having to stop twice to add air just to get to
a bike shop.

You may however mock triathletes at will. Don't ask me, ask BSNYC.

Anyway - "Midway" also known as "Fleaway"

http://app.strava.com/rides/224309#

Doing Joe Gross Monday I was thinking "There has to be a better way".
There is (IMHO, YMMV). I did a little recon yesterday on the way to a
train station, and today since Theo bagged but Bret didn't, we decided
to try it out. First, we took San Jose/Alemany which I very much
prefer to Mission. San Jose has a bit of a freaky factor but not too
bad, Alemany has a bike lane and great pavement compared to Mission.
In theory you can switch from Mission to Alemany post San Jose.

We then took Hillside headed toward the hustle but took a right on
Lawndale, left on Mission, and then just past the BART station we got
onto the Centennial Bike Path. Joe Gross is basically 200 yards West
of this bike path the whole route, on El Camino. To be fair to Joe,
when he made the route, the path didn't exist. It dumps you off onto
Huntington at San Bruno BART, Huntington is actually a pretty good
road. Then you kind of wind around in a neighborhood, crossing the
tracks twice (once on a pedestrian crossing on a path) and then under
them and down a street that supposedly has no outlet but for bikes you
go through some poles into the Millbrae BART lot, then onto Rollins
which is very comfy. Right on Broadway takes you to Carolan where you
re-intersect with Joe Gross. We were spelunking a bit but I think it
will end up roughly the same time as Joe Gross but it's a lot more
pleasant.

Carolan to right on Oak Grove, left on El Camino, right on Occidental.
It looks like we can avoid El Camino here as well and still get on
Occidental. We then took a very bucolic route through Burlingame and
Hillsborough subdivisions. So far the ride has been pretty flat
outside of the slow rise up Alemany and one tiny bump in the
Hillsborough section. Left on Crystal Springs, Right on Alameda De Las
Pulgas - Avenue of the Fleas (thus "Fleaway"). That's when it gets
fun.

Stay on Alameda/Junipero/Foothill to your preferred exit. There are
many rollers on Alameda and one little bitch of a climb entering
Belmont, Strava says 3/4 mile at 8%. Ouch. There aren't a lot of
lights, there are some stop signs, nominal traffic but overall
reasonable riding. It's not Skyline, it's not Bayway - it's in
between. In climbing, in time, in scenery, in sketchy sections.

I took Arastradero to see what the "To Google Time" would be, roughly.
I had 2:40 rolling time to Arastradero and Central. Then it sort of
fell apart with the two flats.

Moderately recommended. I like it better than Bayway, less than
Skyline. Longer than Bayway for Googlers, probably shorter for Palo
Altans/Applers, FCHSMB.

--murph