Articles by CyclistRick

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Mr. Subliminal at the ToC Women’s Crit

February 16, 2009 in Cycle Racing, Cycling by CyclistRick | 3 comments

Apologies to Kevin Nealon

The Wife in the rain at ToC

The Wife convinced me [threatened me into conceding] that doing a bike tour of the Sonoma wine country was not a good idea this weekend [or any other between Oct and Apr] due to weather concerns. She still wanted to watch the Women’s Crit in Santa Rosa [and check out George H. in person] so we made plans to spend a couple of days up in the northlands as a combined ToC visit/Valentines Day celebration.  Sunday morning we did our obligatory training [relieve the guilt] sessions in the garage, The Wife on the trainer and me on the rollers.  We then packed a few clothes, jumped in the toaster and drove [paddled] north to Santa Rosa.  Fortunately, everyone else seemed to be working on important business [nursing hangovers] so the drive through San Francisco was not too unpleasant.

After our arrival in Santa Rosa the first order of business was lunch [or suffer The Wife chewing off my arm] so we wandered around the barricades looking for some eateries that were open.  A few along the closed streets seemed to think it was a holiday, but we soon found a serviceable establishment near where the GoldSprints competition was setup.  A quick snack [and some beer] and we were ready to find the start/finish for the Women’s Crit [as soon as the downpour stops].  On our way we ran into Cathy and the mouse squad preparing for some GoldSprint action [better them than me]. A chat with some volunteers [guys in XXL orange shirts] and we were oriented to where the race was to be held.  We were only about 15 sec late for the start, enough to see a split starting in the field as they rounded the first corner. TBeth tries to find Michael Ball in rainy Santa Rosa Working our way towards the start/finsh line we found Beth [thorn in Michael Ball's side] cheering on Karla [looking for a sponsor] who was in the break and looking strong.   We lined up along the railing and cheered on our favorites [friends] consigned to the reality that we were going to get a bit wet [soaked to the bone].   Tibco Director Linda J. kept coming up alongside me, watching the action, then passing info into the radio to here riders which I ignored [relayed to the competition].    By the time the officials started the lap countdown it was clear that the break would stick, so pre-race favorites Brooke, Ina, and Laura VG were going to be denied podium positions.  I have to give major props to all the ladies who went out and endured that sloppy mess.   After Emilia [roowr] Fahlin nipped Lauren T. at the finish for the win, it was time to move towards cover [see if I could get a glimpse of Amber].

We had two-and-a-half hours before the men could be expected to arrive in town, so an opportunity to relax [spite the schedule planners who thought we would shop].  Time for some coffee, some relaxation [standing in restroom queues longer than a football field], and some stretching [yawning]. As the time for arrival of the men’s field got near we went back out into the rain and aligned ourselves at the barricades [knocked a couple of youngsters out of the way] to cheer the final laps of town. After a few [far too many] VIP cars and a flotilla of CHP motorcycles and cars passed there appeared …. a lonely rider [soggy body on a bike]. We waited for the rest of the field to arrive in town, then wondered why no one was driving it on the circuits to catch the lone flier. We learned later that the officials decided to neutralize the circuits after the first crossing of the finish line [when it was evident Levi wouldn't win]. I think it was the same official who made the ‘neutralize after crash within 10km rule’ [or else Levi would be too far down in time] rule a couple of years ago.

We finished the day driving north to the Dry Creek Inn in Healdsburg where we told us we would receive a free room upgrade [they gave our room to someone else]. After changing into dry clothes, we made our way to downtown Healdsburg for dinner at Scopa [don't look down while walking down the street or you will miss it] The restaurant was great; excellent food, appropriate portions, and superb service; highly recommended but make reservations [or be prepared to offer a good bribe]. Next time we go to Sonoma County we will look for better weather and maybe even do some riding [rather than sit on our duffs].

Do I feel lucky?

February 9, 2009 in Cycle Touring, Cycling by CyclistRick | 3 comments

A few years back, 2004 to be exact, The Wife (then just friend) and I were thinking of something to do for President’s Day weekend, which included Valentine’s Day as the first day of the long weekend.  We are the anti-Valentine’s Day crowd, not that we are opposed to the sentiment but rather it is opposition to the price gouging consumerist event it has become.  After some discussion we decided to spend the three days in the Napa Valley.  We decided that if the weather was good we would do it as a bike tour, and if the weather looked like it was going to be bad we would just drive up for the weekend.

As that weekend approached the weather forecasts kept switching between rain and no rain, and our plans kept shifting with the forecasts.  By that Friday the forecasts had narrowed down to a good start of the weekend, but increasing clouds on Monday with a storm coming in on Tuesday.  Armed with that information we decided to take the bike tour option and prepared our bikes, packed the panniers, and mapped out the route.  After a final check of the forecast on Saturday morning we departed from my place in Mountain View and rode to Millbrae to catch BART to San Francisco where we could catch the ferry to Vallejo.  The weather was wonderful, sunny and bright through this part of the trip.  From Vallejo we rode north to Napa, where we ate lunch, then continued on to the northern part of town where we had room reservations, all while a few high clouds starting to move in to the picture.  After checking in at the Inn we checked the weather forecasts again; it had changed slightly, now with the storm coming in late on Monday rather than Tuesday.  Not what we wanted to hear, but still not a problem since we planned on returning home by mid-day on Monday.

Sunday we spent riding (aka dodging cars) through the main part of the Napa wine country, heading north along roads through the hills west of the valley, then down into the Highway 29-Silverado trail corridor of vineyards and wineries, with short ride up towards the Pope Valley after lunch.   It was overcast all day, that is until we left the last winery we visited and headed south back towards our accomodations in Napa.  During that stretch we started to get a light drizzle, but nothing we could not handle.  And by the time we left to walk out and find dinner that had stopped, so still no major weather concerns.

In the middle of that night it became apparent that the weather forecasters had missed the mark, as I woke up to hear a steady rain outside.  Oh well, we had come prepared with rain jackets, water proof socks, and enough experience to know that a little rain was not the end of the world.

By the time we awoke on Monday morning the main part of the storm was starting to move in, and by the time we had some breakfast and were ready to leave it was right on top of us.  This was not your garden variety storm, though.  Later news reports were that the rain that morning was coming down at the rate of 2″/hour, which turned out to be quite a bit more than the storm sewers or the river could handle.  In hindsight, I should have gotten a taxi to someplace where we could rent a vehicle large enough for us and our bikes.  But we were crazy enough to ride in that mess.  We had to wind our way through flooded streets, detour around road closures, go through water hub deep in places, and then brave a few miles of Highway 29, to get to the Vallejo ferry terminal.  Of course, rain gear was all but useless in those conditions and we were soaked within minutes of leaving the dry and warm refuge of the Inn.

This coming weekend will be the five year anniversary of that trip.  And, by coicidence, we have decided to head north again, this time to Sonoma County.  The primary objective determing the location is we want to see the Tour of California Women’s Crit on Sunday, the 15th, in Santa Rosa.   So we will do our small Valentine’s Day/President’s Day weekend in wine country once again.   I wonder if I should suggest that we do it as a bike tour?

Is the cure worse than the disease?

January 27, 2009 in Cycling, Health by CyclistRick | 8 comments

When I was working in Peru, as a field biologist, one of the guidelines we followed was to never camp near sandy river banks.   Sandy areas attract sandflies, and sandflies in most of  the tropical regions of the world carry leishmaniasis.    One of my colleagues did contract the disease, and at that time the only available treatments involved antimony based chemicals.  A tough position: live with ulcerous sores all over your body or ingest relatively large quantities of heavy-metal compounds.  He and I used to joke about the cure being as bad as the disease, though he did go through with the treatment.

As part of the followup to my crash and injuries of last June the orthopedic surgeon ordered a DXA bone scan to check for bone density.   I’ve had the results for 3 months, but her and I just had a chance to talk about them a couple of weeks ago.  Bone density of my arms is normal (for a 30 year old male, the standard, so above normal for someone my age), the lumbar vertebrae are a bit below normal, but still OK, and the measurment of my left femur is in the realm of osteopenia.  That last number is the one the orthopedic surgeon wants to concentrate her attention, and she has prescribed a three part regimen to deal with the ‘problem’:

  1. Take calcium, lots of calcium (at least 1500-1800 mg/day) .  Interestingly, she did not prescribe Vitamin D to go with it.
  2. Walking, at least 30-40 min/day beyond normal ‘maintenance of life’ movement.  Basically this is weight bearing, and the only weight bearing activity she wants me to undertake involving the legs/hip at this time.
  3. A bisphosphonate drug for ‘osteoporosis’.

I can accept #1 and #2, but #3 is where I have a divergent opinion.  I am not a big fan of pharmaceuticals in general, but the bisphosphonates are particularly troubling.  There are high rates of ‘troubling’ side-effects, including but not limited to severe muscle and joint pain, gastric issues including esophogeal erosion, and upsetting the bodies electolyte balance.  More troubling is the increasing association with necrosis of the jaw.   The more one reads about these compounds the more it seems that they are likely worse than what they are meant to cure.  I think I will pass on them.

Buzzing bees

January 22, 2009 in Cycling by CyclistRick | 5 comments

During the first ride with the Velo Bella’s during their training camp, a nice 70 mile loop from San Luis Obispo through the hills of the south county area, a number of folks kept asking what that strange sound was that emanated from my bike. Finally, about mile 60 or so, Meh-wee-uhn pulled about behind me and gave the answer: Chris King hub. Given her experience it stood to reason that she would be the one to recognize the distinctive bee-swarm hum of a CK rear hub.

Finishing off the old, starting the new

January 2, 2009 in Cycle Touring, Cycling, Food, Recreational Cycling by CyclistRick | 5 comments

The Wife does an annual Christmas ‘letter’ (now an email, rather than a standard old-school snail mail offering) to keep friends and family up with what has happened in our lives over the past year. That is a bit too much work for me, given that most of what has happened over the past year has been covered here in blogland. But it has been weeks since I have posted, and though not much has transpired it is time to put 2008 to rest and ramp up for 2009.

The Quest

During our brief trip to Hawaii I was reunited with one of my weaknesses.  Yes, I admit it; I have this thing for cinnamon rolls.  Island Lava Java in Kona does a fitting version.  Since we returnied I have been on the quest to find a local version that stands muster.  Unfortunately, so far all the candidates forget that cinnamon is the operative word.  Some I have tried in the past couple of months have hardly any cinnamon, and try to cover the omission by layering on too much tasteless ‘frosting’.  Others use commercial grade cinnamon that has barely any taste no matter how much they use.   Come on bakers of the world; a good quality Vietnamese, Chinese Cassia, or Korintje is so much better than that flavorless commercial grade Schillings or McCormick’s and not that much more expensive.  I wonder where I can find a ‘cinnamon roll’ worthy of the name without jumping on a plane for Kona, and without breaking out the yeast, flour, etc. on my own.

The Trip

The Wife promised her parents that we would escort them on their first bike tour, a short run from southern San Luis Obispo county to the Santa Barbara area.    That was our major event of the holiday season, a two day, 97 mile journey.   I’ll let her fill in the details, but the genesis of the route selection was my former desire to do the one day version of the trip, returning northward on the Amtrack Surf-Liner.   I now would like to do that one day trip as my endurance and power gets back to normal.  Time to start thinking of when I might be able to pull it off.  I’ll be back in the area on two weeks, accompanying The Wife as she participates in Bella training camp, but I suppose I will have enough to do then working as pack mule.

The Odometers

I finished with 2008 with a bit under 4K miles, total, on the odometers of the various bikes.   The least since I started keeping track in 2001, and only sligthly more than 2002 when I had my last recovery hiatus.   I feel like such a slackard, looking at the chart showing 9K miles two years ago next to less than half that this year.  I will be trying to get back to something more respectable this year, especially since I believe I need to spend some time in the saddle to build back the endurance I have lost since my accident in June.

I Resolve

Actually, I do not resolve.  I am not one for New Years resolutions.   To paraphrase from ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’:  resolutions?  resolutions?   I don’t need no stinking resolutions.

So don’t look for me to fall off the resolution wagon.  If you don’t make them, you can’t break them.  Stay tuned to see what does transpire.

Comcasted

December 18, 2008 in Cycling by CyclistRick | 8 comments

We awoke this morning to our cable TV signal showing a lot of noise, and the cable modem showing that we had no network connection to the outside world. I called Comcast, ran through their ‘we want you to add more services’ telephone obstacle course, to land at the headset of a customer service rep. His first tact was to blame it on my equipment. Excuse me, I said, but both both the TV box and the network modem are having connection issues, so you expect me to accept that two pieces of equipment in my house both went on the fritz at the same time? So he started putzing around, had me reset the two boxes, and still nothing worked. He tried to do a remote reset, but (surprise) our box did not receive his signal (hint: if the cable line is not working, a remote signal sent down the cable probably is likely to not work. But hey, that is the advanced class, and this customer service has not made it there, yet). A bit confused, and apparently under orders not to admit they had a problem, the CR rep puts me on hold. A couple of minutes later a woman comes on the line and acts as if I had just called in. She wants me to power cycle my equipment (didn’t the guy who passed me off tell me we had done this?), then it is time to start the sales pitch: she tells me that if they have to dispatch a technician to diagnose the problem that I might have to pay for their time, but I can add a service guarantee to my monthly fee and then I will not be charged. Huh? I decline and tell her I need it fixed, but she wants me to sit at home all day and wait for a technician, but then again I might have to pay if they send the technician out since I do not have the service guarantee. Sheesh. Poor old me, I have only been designing, building, and maintaining information networks for 3 or so decades, so I cannot possibly understand the complexities of their system and the fact that the problem must be in my house since no one else in my neighborhood has called to report a problem …. at 5:45 AM. So I have to resort to the old ‘fix it or I walk’ ultimatum, at which time she agrees to escalate the issue, but then again unless I have the service guarantee I might have to pay for the technician’s time.

I thought Comcast would have rid themselves of the AT&T service mentality and customer service reps when they bought the old AT&T cable division. Apparently not.

After finishing the call, and seeing The Wife out the door, I started to get ready to go to the office (can’t work from home if there is no network, but that was a non-issue since the money man who pays me wants us all in the office today). By the time I was dressed for work all the cable stuff in our home was working. Wonder if they are going to bill us for the technician’s time?

Bundling up

December 15, 2008 in Cycling by CyclistRick | 2 comments

It has been cold here the past couple of days, or at least as cold as it normally gets in Northern California.   And for the doubters, I do know cold; I once lived on the side of a mountain where it rarely got above freezing from late October through early April and nighttime temperatures could plunge down below -40 degrees (no need to specify Celsius or Farhrenheit as -40 is the crossover temperature).    Back on track here; it is time to dig for the cold weather gear when heading out on the bike.  The Wife thought she was ‘Sta-Puft Marshmellow Girl’ with all the layers of clothing she had to wear for our ride Saturday.   Now is the time to have the proper attire!

Copenhagen Cycling ChicMy idea of proper attire is usually some sort of wool base layer, a heavier than summer-weight longsleeve jersey, some thermal bib shorts, and wool socks.  If it is really wet or cold I may add the SealSkinz socks over my wool socks, and if there is a cold rain I will add my Showers Pass jacket and maybe the Showers Pass rain pants.  I thought that with that full regalia I was a bit over the top.  Then I was perusing recent pics on Copenhagen Cycle Chic.  Why wear SealSkinz socks when you can wear a seal skin jacket.   If that is not your style, perhaps some other form of fur, either in a coat or boots might be your style.  Not sure how comfortable those jackets would be around here. I think I might get a bit overheated. I’ll stick with what I have for now.

That transitional time of year

December 8, 2008 in Cycling by CyclistRick | 8 comments

The days are getting shorter, the mornings cooler, and despite the lack of the expected rains I know we are in that period of time where fall starts to move to winter.  It is a time of transition.  I have transitioned from wearing shorts and short sleeve jerseys to tights and a long sleeve jersey with a wool base layer on the morning rides, and from wearing T-shirts and light pants/shorts during the day to long sleeve shirts with jeans.  No more worrying about the tomato plants but rather trying to conquer the thick carpet of oxalis trying to grow up in their place.   No longer do I sleep with the windows open at night, but am searching for any drafty leaks at all the windows to plug to keep the warmth inside.

Another sign of transition is all the cyclists wearing different kits than they did a month or two ago.   This was expecially apparent this past weekend.  The Wife, who is in transition from being a V’Girl to being a Bella (in part; she will maintain club relationships with the V’Girl posse) wanted to ride the Bay Area Womens Group Ride organized by Kat Curri Mathis on Saturday.  She received her new kit on Friday and decided Saturday’s ride would be a good time for her coming out in the new kit.  When we arrived at the Los Altos Peet’s at the appointed time it was mayhem with parts of three rides overlapping; the A-V ‘B’ ride, the Women’s Group ride, and a much smaller contingent from the club with which I am affiliated all gathering for the morning’s socialization rides.  Amid the chaos and the greeting of folks we have not seen for a while I realized that there were a number of folks who had changed affiliations since our last encounters.

Angela and Sarah check out each other's kits

Angela (left) and The Wife (right) check out each other's new kits

Lindsay's new kit is hidden under the vest

Lindsay's new LGBRC kit is mostly hidden by her Dewar's vest

Anny is new member of the Mintie Mafia

Anny is a new member of the Mintie Mafia

Alas, I was not allowed to ride with the Women’s ride so I reversed their loop, in part, so I could get a bit of climbing to Skyline under my belt.  Another transition, me going back to adding elevation gain to my ride profile’s.  After the ride the day was spent getting ready for holiday extravaganza thrown by the company The Wife works for at the present time.

Sunday I got an early start to head 25 or so miles south to be a course marshall for the 4-person TTT put on by the club with which I am affiliated.  A transition to worker rather than racer, a condition that will be true for a while still.  It was an interesting race to watch, as the teams looped by several times each, some of them getting a bit smaller and more ragged as time went on, but everyone seemed in good spirits.  Except I do not think a couple of teams believed me when I told them to watch out for the boat coming up fast behind them.

Santa at the helm

Santa at the helm

Cellular luddite

December 5, 2008 in Cycling by CyclistRick | 4 comments

I freely admit I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to cell phones. I am not apologetic. I have worked in technology related fields for almost three decades, and I appreciate many of the new innovations. But that does not mean I need most of them.

My current cell phone is a Motorola V600. Has to be getting close to five years old now, and it does all I need at present, which is not much. And it fill all my requirements for a cell phone, which are a bit more stringent than most folks I know. Here is my list of requirments:

  1. GSM – The world is GSM.  Outside of the U. S. CDMA technology deployments are sparse (even Darrel Issa’s [same man who brought California the gubernatorial recall in 2003] thinly veiled attempt to get the U.S. to build a CDMA network in Iraq because GSM was ‘French’ was widely ridiculed as creating a cellular island in a GSM sea).   If you want a phone that will travel the world it has to be GSM.   Even places where CDMA had a foothold are pulling back as Qualcomm twists arms for higher licensing fees.
  2. Quad band – The U. S. always has to be different.  The world (outside of North America)  runs GSM on the 900 and 1800 MHz bands, the U. S. uses the 850 and 1900 MHz bands.   Canadians follow the U. S. for obvious reasons.  For a GSM phone to really work around the world it must be quad band.
  3. Unlocked – Locking a phone to particular carriers network is crazy.  It came about due the carriers subsidizing the phones and wanting to make sure that the customer used their network, only.   But it locks the customer to unreasonable, in my opinion, restrictions.  If I take my phone to Europe, and stay locked to my U. S. provider’s network, I can expect to pay exorbitant fees for all incoming and outgoing phone calls.  Last time we were in Europe the cost was $2.00/minute.  That call had better be important if I am paying $0.03333/second of connect time!  It is so easy, and much cheaper, to have an alternative SIM on another carrier and pay as I go.  And many of them have free incoming calling plans.  We have travelled with TeleItalia, Orange, and Amena SIMs in the past, now I have a more ride-ranging pay-as-I-go SIM that is UK based.   And the very worst case scenario is being locked to AT&T’s network.  By far the worst customer service outfit in the world, hands down.   And I won’t even go into their political contributions.
  4. Batteries that can be replaced by the customer – too crazy to put something that will die inside a device and then tell the consumer they cannot open the device to replace it.  I always travel with a spare battery for my phone … just in case.  Try to find and Apple store in the Alps to get your iPhone battery replaced.

The is an even longer list of features I do not need.  A camera is ’so-what’ feature I can take or leave.  MP3 player?  Forget it.  Corporate e-mail connectivity?  A minus in my book.   I can connect to ‘open’ IMAP4/POP3 mail servers from my old Motorola if/when I want to, but the ‘open’ generally obviates corporate systems.  And that is fine with me.  The 4 GPS’s I own are all better than any in even the newest cell phones.  Web browsing is sometimes useful, but it is not a make or break for me, and the old Motorola can even do some of that.

So you will not find me out looking for that new whiz-bang phone anytime soon.   I am comfortable with my luddite status.

Above the clouds

November 27, 2008 in Cycling by CyclistRick | 5 comments

The Wife and I had mused on taking a few days off and doing some riding around the Bay Area this week.  Our schedules, the weather, and other stuff conspired to make that untenable, so we figured we would just do a few easy rides around the area on the weekend.   Yesterday I got an IM from The Wife asking if I wanted to ride up Mt. Hamilton.  Surprise, surprise.   I had asked her last weekend if she wanted to ride up Hamilton, half in jest, and got shot down.  And, to be realistic, I had done a couple of short hills since the accident but Mt. Hamilton is another ball-game with almost 5000 ft. of climbing over 19 miles of road; probably not the best choice for the first real climb during a recovery.

Santa Clara valley filled with fogWe met Dana and the rest of the pink crew at the junction of Alum Rock and Hwy 130 just before 8 AM and there were already a bunch of cyclists gathering in the area.  Rather than start right into the climb the ladies voted to make a bio-diversion into Alum Rock Park first in what turned out to be a fruitless endeavor; the restrooms were locked with huge chains and signs stating that for budgetary reasons the restrooms would be closed every Thursday.   Just our luck.

The pink squad started at a mellow pace but The Wife was trying to stay close to her training plan and do most of the ride in zone 2 so we took a slightly more relaxed pace.  It soon seemed that a good percentage of the local cyclists were on the hill or amassing at the bottom, which seemed a bit strange to me that so many would come out to climb the mountain.  Angela caught up with us and told us her Hunny would be doing the ‘low key hill climb’.  Doh!  That is why there were so many folks on the hill; the standard club and recreation rides inter-mixing with the faux-race of the low-key climb.  It was great to see so many folks we knew, many we had not seen for a while.  Ravi, who lives a stones throw away, was leading a group of his friends up while pedaling his fixie.   For most of the trip we were doing shoutouts to or visits with someone or another we knew, and met a few we did not know before.

Sarah and Rick at the topThe real payout for the ride was the view once we broke through the overcast.  Stunning views of the valley filled with fog, just the tops of the tallest peaks of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo range poking through.  We got that view for the top 3 miles or so of the climb, then a bit more on the descent as the cloud layer shifted.    All the sprawl of the Santa Clara Valley below us erased for the momen;, just us, the mountain, and the fog with the local family of acorn woodpeckers keeping us company.

For me the good news is I made it without any problems.   I even did a bit of a push for the last 3/4 mile or so just to see how the legs would react.  Perhaps it is time to schedule a few more hill climbs while the weather is cooperating.

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