9/24 6:40 Skyline RRR fast train to breakfast

After todays ride a few things became obvious.
1 - Max is capable of some serious power2 - Max is loves pancakes3 -
Max is scared to death of Beckett
I could spend time here trying to determine what this all says about
Max but mostly I keep picturing the elephant from Saturday morning
cartoons cowering in the face of a tiny mouse.

The morning train rolled up Mission to Cortland where the 7 Skyliners
bid adieu to Yuko and her Bayway rollers.  An uneventful ride up
mission to John Daly led to the first of the real sprints the group
was in anyway together for.  Max was talking some crazy about trying
to get everyone to 'keep it in their big ring', yeh sure homie :).
The climb up Skyline would be the first of many climbs that i unhooked
from the Brooks/Max train in order to save a little for later ( hello
not bonking! ).  At the top of Skyline Dave Blizard nonchalantly
rolled up saying something about having been chasing due to the
dynamic nature of this mornings departure time.  We regrouped multiple
times along the way with the last real time being just after SCT (
which we bypassed ) where Dave B turned off and Max ever vigilant to
Beckett-sign pushed us onward.  Max, Brooks, Jason and I did some
pacelining for the rest of Canada  ( at some point Jasons evil MTB
from the early 90s finally taking its toll and dropped him from the
rotation).  The water at Roberts was delicious and cold and we opted
for the shorter Manzanita road ( once we actually made the turn).  Max
and Brooks possibly sensing Becketts approach kicked in the turbos and
disappeared over the horizon once we hit Junipero Sera so Jason and I
finished to Page Mill where I abandoned to actually make it to work.

Total roll time for me was 2:06 which is a pretty quick Bayway time.
Putting it in on Skyline is friggin awesome.
thanks dudes!
will definitely ride this one again.

-s

On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 11:30 AM, Max wrote

Thanks guys, today was straight up awesome -- fast but mellow, not too
cold and not too warm, clear and gorgeous views. Wish all Skyline
rides were like that.
As advertised, we rolled at 18mph, and most of the flat sections were
handled at 25mph or less. Eggs and pancakes were plentiful at our
chill 9:15 arrival.

http://www.strava.com/rides/190158
Nice riding with you all, very much look forward to doing this route again.

--Max

P.S. I did occasionally insist we picked up the pace, for fear of
being caught by Beckett's ride 8-O

Dave

I've realized that by showing up at ritual 10 min after the group has
departed serves as a great training regimen. The effort expended
trying to catch the group had me in the "lung puking" zone for a bit.

Skyline doesn't get any better than today.. weather was epic! Good ride guys!
You can practice that on FFFF; start at the back of the pack, work
your way as far to the front as possible.

Gets a bit lonely at times, though.

D

On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 9:49 AM, Jason Thorpe wrote:

On Sep 23, 2010, at 6:54 PM, Max Levchin wrote:

> 6:30, RRR it is.
>
> I will be there at 6:20, but won't roll until 6:30.
>
> Pancakes!

Solid ride today, guys.  Pretty sure that was my fastest Skyline.

    http://www.strava.com/rides/190128

17.8 ave for me, but I had a solo slog down Foothill with some
elevation gain that brought the ave down, so I'd say we were rolling
~18.1 ave or so before that.

Perfect conditions today, too!

-- thorpej

A Beginner's Middle East (Bay) Way Ride Report (Tuesday, 7/20)

Vital stats:

Departed 16th and Mission BART at 6:22 am, arrived San Leandro 6:54 am

Riding time: 2:28

Mileage: 35.6

Avg. rolling speed: 14.4

Full stats: http://www.strava.com/rides/139906

Summary: I really enjoyed this ride and would recommend it to anyone who wants to change things up from Bayway or Skyline. It’s exhilarating to be on a commute to work where at times you can see no other buildings or people - it makes you feel much farther away from civilization than you really are. There are 3 dirt sections - sections 1 and 3 are easier technically, while section 2 is a little more challenging. If you haven’t ridden on dirt before, this is a good introduction. Section 1 gets you used to the feel of dirt and by the time you’ve arrived at section 2, you can handle the slightly rougher terrain. I have no special tires or equipment and I was fine.

Details: We got off BART, biked for about 10 minutes and then entered our first dirt section. It was definitely dirt, but I had pictured something much more intimidating - something like the deep grooves of BTN mud, which in my opinion, share some of the same tire trapping properties as MUNI tracks.

We exited dirt section 1, rode on pavement for another 10 or so minutes, and then headed on to dirt section 2. This section was more difficult because the stones over the path were larger than on the previous section. Still this was totally do-able for an intermediate cyclist like myself. I only slipped once here - and did not fall - w00t!

Somewhere during the ride, we rode through Hayward, where there is no bike lane and a few rushed and rude drivers came within a foot of our bikes. There was very little traffic on the road though, so luckily the cars were few and far between.

In Freemont, we entered a bike path, which started as a paved trail, and then transitioned to dirt section 3. This section was similar to the easier dirt of dirt section 1. By this time, I felt comfortable on the bumpy terrain and even found it fun!

As we continued on, we took our requisite photos with the Christina Maria:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/4812860480/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/4812232923/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/4812852872/

(Now I know you all want to go on this ride for your pictures w/her!)

As we finished our last dirt section, we headed across 84 surrounded by the bay. Then it was back to our familiar Bayway stomping grounds - Sun, EPA, and finally Goog.

Brett insists that I tell you that I pulled him from Sun to GOOG ;) - and this was possible because I still had lots of energy from trying a new ride! For me, this ride was easier than a Millbraeway - it’s about 5 miles longer, but we were going significantly slower. This ride is more technically difficult than our standard routes, but that shouldn’t prevent anyone from trying it out. For beginners, you may feel a little wobbly on the dirt, but let’s face it, if you do fall (unlikely), it’s not going to hurt as much as falling on the Bridge to Nowhere...not that I know anything about that. ;)

The Bottom Line: If you’ve done Bayway and Skyline, this is the next ride to put into your ride portfolio. The ride is probably best in summer when it’s drier and the mud is less muddy, so you have plenty of time to test it out before the winter rains come back. What are

you waiting for? GO!

DOUBLE FAIL on Fri 7/9 Millbway style II

The day started out good;  Made the BART train on time, snuck in a
coffee, and rode down to Millbrae listening to Le Show.

Fooled around with the add-fare machine and managed to get rid of one
of my many $1.10 tickets lying around the house.

There was a +1 followed by a -1 and I expected to ride solo, so I was
pleasantly surprised to find Michelle Cheng (hope I got your name
right!) waiting at the bottom of the escalator.

Off we rode, and made the left onto Millbrae Ave.

SNAP     And there goes my chain.

Michelle was very optimistic that between her chain tool and someone
more experienced than either of us eventually riding by, my chain
could be fixed.  Looking at the missing link piece, I was unable to
muster such confidence, so I confirmed that she was cool with riding
on by herself, and said goodbye.  I called my wife and asked if she
could throw the boy, the dog, and the bike rack in the car and come
pick me up, walked back to the station, and took the BART back to Glen
Park.

They were waiting for me when I arrived, which was really nice, and I
went around the back, pulled out the rack, stuck it into the slot, and
turned the crank to tighten it into the hitch receiver.

SNAP   And there goes my bike rack.

We made it home on the cotter pin and slow driving.

This is the 2nd time the attachment system on my rack - Thule "Helium"
- has broken.  I'm going to insist on getting it replaced with
something different this time.  Never again.

So much for my glorious return to SF2G.  Next week maybe.

--Andy

--
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7/9 Regular Bayway Style 3, Philz @ 6:15

Little chilly for a summer morning, and other than a small crash a
successful ride. 8 riders and we managed to pick up a few more along
the way, although we split into two groups by EPA.

Photo is after John took a corner with his inside pedal down and
caught some minor road rash.

Perfect style 3 pace at 14.7 mph, 3:05 (rolling time, including an
extra 3 miles that I rode to get to Philz).

http://www.strava.com/rides/133733

Nick

On 7 July 2010 20:11, Nick Pelly wrote:
> Not quite a NRLB, but we'll be taking it really easy, so if you think
> you can keep up 15mph for the distance you should be ok. Already have
> 2 riders confirmed.
>
> Roll-out from Philz at Folsom & 24th.
>
> Nick

Middle East (Bay) Way - Starting at West Oakland BART via the Posey Tube to Alameda Island

ToC (Table of Contents, not Tour of California)

1. New: West Oakland BART and the Posey Tube

2. New: Alameda Island to the San Leandra Marina

3. The rest of the way

4. Conclusion

5. Appendix

1. New: West Oakland BART and the Posey Tube

The ride starts at West Oakland BART and heads down 7th Street. I started a little after 6:15 AM and the streets were relatively empty, so it made for a chill start, just like Ammon and I had done some months back.

Up next was locating the Posey Tube, which for car traffic is the easten direction of travel. By some genius of urban planning, only one of the four possible walkways in the two tunnels to Alameda Island is open to pedestrian and bike traffic, and so when we had in the past tried to cross under via the westbound Webster Tube, we were looking in the wrong place. Once you know to go for the other tunnel, it is easy to find. This photo kinda says it all.

The Posey tube is loud and stinky and narrow. Stinky like sucking on a big rig's diesel exhaust as it gears down to climb up the highway 80 pass towards a Reno roadhouse. Loud like you can't even think to wonder where all this traffic came from. Narrow like the skinny jeans on an angry bike messenger working out their issues with authority while squeezing through FiDi traffic. (Enough with the poetics already.) The major concern for us bikers is the width. You can't ride fast, because there's a seam in the middle of the pathway that throws you off. And if a biker is coming the other way (like the dude with the motorcycle helmet and about 5 headlights I came across on this fine morning (sorry, no picture)), you both have to get off, squeeze to the sides of the walkway and slide past one another. It's totally doable, its just little bit of a pain. Kinda like the Bridge to Nowhere, it gives the ride some character. I recommend this ride for the mildly adventurous riding in a group of 10 or fewer.

2. New: Alameda Island to the San Leandra Marina

Once you are through the Posey Tube, you simply continue across Alameda Island to the waterfront and hop on the Bay Trail. There's a bike/ped bridge at the end of the island that takes you over to the land that the Oakland Airport is on. The only tricky bit here is that when you are just past the entrance to OAK, the trail starts up again, taking a sharp right out to the bay. From here to the San Leandro Marina was straightforward: just follow the trail along the water, and when the trail ends, stay on the surface streets next to the water until you reach the Marina.

3. The rest of the way

Same as previously documented. This day happened to have a stiff wind (10mph or higher) out of the west, so the ride became quite a slog for me. But every other time we have ridden this route, the wind has either been calm or helpful. Even though it was windy, I was tired and took time to take pictures and do minor route-finding, I finished the ride in 3 hours for a 15mph overall average (total of 45 miles).

4. Conclusion

I support adding this as a canonical SF2G ride. Thoughts? Shall we ride it together tomorrow?

5. Appendix

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/sets/72157624444878624/detail/

Route: http://www.strava.com/rides/128490