This past week Anne reached a new milestone, having bike over 7,000 miles so far this year, quite a few more than the total for 2008.

Franz has reached 10,000 miles so far this year, but that is more than 1,000 miles less than last year at this time.

Running

This has not been much of a year for running, although Anne is much closer to her 2008 level of total running miles than Franz is.  We decided to run the Salt Lake City Half Marathon in April, so we have been taking our miles up.  You can see from this chart that  that Anne continues to out-run Franz.

At the end of the ride we stopped for a sandwich. It was getting late in the day as we were biking back home.

Great roads, great weather, and friendly riders again sum up our experience with riding the Cache Valley Century. On Friday we drove up to Logan Utah to stay the night. After a lousy experience at an expensive Italian restaurant in the town last year, we decided to eat at the Olive Garden, which was much better.  We returned to the motel to get an good nights sleep, although Franz didn’t think he slept that well.

Right at 6 am, we got up to get ready. The Best Western motel we were staying at had a great breakfast buffet so we fueled up before heading up the 12 miles to Richmond for the start.

We started at 7:40 am, along with two Utah Velo riders we knew.  Last year we had damaged the rim on the front wheel of our tandem while we were in a pace line because the rider in front of us didn’t signal, but did manage to escape it himself.  Riding a tandem is more difficult than a single bike because you can not try to bunny hop over such a hole.  So this year we decided to not do much drafting.  It would be fine if other riders wanted to ride behind us, but we didn’t want to get into a large pace line nearly as much.

We rode mostly solo, or with one or two other riders behind us for the first 35 miles where we made a stop at the second rest stop (we skipped the first one). After a short stop we were back on the bike, skipping the 3rd rest stop with a plan to stop at mile 69 for lunch.  About five miles before the lunch stop, a very long train passed us and we decided to get into the line, being a bit weary of taking the headwinds all alone. That group was going very fast, 23-25 mph.  We had to join near the rear and some of those riders were erratic, so we made our way up to the front and ended up taking a 1 mile pull.  So the four miles of drafting was about it for the ride and after lunch we went back to solo riding.

We rolled into the finish averaging 19.2 mph, a total of about 5.25 hours riding time, and about 35 minutes of stopping time. It was a lot of fun. When comparing it with last year, the solo riding did end up taking another 13 minutes to finish and reduced our overall speed by about 1 mph.  But it was much easier than being on constant guard trying to ride a tandem in a pace line.

Here are the stats for the past two years.  It is interesting that Franz’s average heart rate was exactly the same.

For the third year in a row, we completed the Ulcer Century, around Utah Lake.  Once again we rode our tandem.  We were joined this year by my brother, Mike and his friend, Steve.  The four of us stayed together for the entire event.  One of their friends also started with and another friend was on a tandem, with his 14 year old son and rode much of the ride with us.

My Brother Mike

Whereas the weather was hot the last two years, this year was cool.  There was even a forecast of rain so we carried rain jackets along, but fortunately we never needed them.  The cool weather really helped because we were not overheating. We started out with arm warmers and a vest but for most of the ride we were in short sleeves.   We made our first stop at 26 miles because some of the other riders in our group were off the back.  Our average speed to that point was 21.2 mph.   After waiting for them to arrive at the rest stop, one decided to switch to the 60 mile route, so we headed back.

This year they changed the lunch stop to mile 47, right off the shore of Utah Lake.  But we did not expect a lunch stop so early in the ride and flew right by it.  Consulting the route sheet indicated there was no food until mile 68, so we plugged on.  Before we reached that rest stop the winds started to pick up and it looked like we might have a headwind.  Our speed started to slow slightly but we continued to make good time.  When we finally reached mile 68, our overall average speed had dropped to 20.3 mph.

It was not like the lunch stop last year where they had sandwiches we could enjoy sitting on the lawn of a park.  It was more the typical rest stop stuck on some corner in the gravel.  But we were running low on fuel and needed to eat what they had on hand.  The other tandem arrived before we departed and joined again with us.  We didn’t want to stick around too long so after about 14 minutes we headed out at 11:18 am.

It was now only about 40 miles to the finish, not bad I thought.  We should be able to finish that in 2 hours and certainly come in before 1:30 pm.  But as we started to bike we realized the turn we had made now had us heading into a headwind.   The last two years that 40 mile stretch was a tailwind and we were thinking something was not right because we had not enjoyed any tailwind on the way there.  We started to realize that it was one of the rides where it feels like a headwind the entire loop.

Driving into a headwind was made worse by a long series of rollers that went on the far side of Utah Lake.  The combination made it seem to go on forever.  After about 20 miles we made another quick stop, mainly just to get some relief from driving into the wind.  Our average speed for that 20 mile segment was 18 mph, still not too bad.

Even though our stop was only 7 minutes, it seemed like someone had turned the wind fan up another notch.  I wish we had some way to measure the wind speed.   The last 20 miles were our slowest, averaging only 16 mph.  So that last 40 miles took us quite a bit longer than the past two years when we had a tail wind on that section.

We don’t have a picture of us, so here is the one from last year.  Notice how it was sunny in 2008!  Also this year we wore our Keen cycling sandals for the whole ride instead of cycling shoes.

Franz’s average heart rate of 150 was slightly higher than last year.  Looking at the segments is more revealing.  For the first 68 miles to our first stop for food, the average heart rate was 152, and we averaged 20.3 mph.  The next 20 miles into the wind the average heart rate had increased to 155 and our speed dropped to 18.3 mph.  For the last twenty miles fatigue was setting in and Franz’s average heart rate was now down to 144 and the speed showed a corresponding drop to 16 mph.

This table shows a comparison with the last two years.  Overall we were very happy with how we did, especially considering the headwinds at the end.

We did make a stop on the way up for a photo op.

Heading down American Fork canyon we went cautiously.  After dropping 2,500 feet, we arrived at Mt. Timpanogas Cave National Monument, where we stopped at the snack bar.  As soon as Franz got off his bike, he could tell his rear wheel was not rotating completely free.  It was rubbing against the right chainstay.  That was odd and even after getting greasy hands and trying to take the wheel off and put it back on the bike, it kept rubbing and would not rotate freely.  It was as if the frame had become bent, which is not possible with a carbon fiber frame.  Franz then noticed that the connection betweent he metal dropout and the carbon fiber chain stay had started to seperate, which was forcing the wheel off center.  Yikes, what to do?

After making some adjustment, tightening the wheel and opening the rear brake, it was finally able to rotate freely.  We then headed down carefully, stopping a few times to make sure the seperation was not increasing because if it came apart it would be disastrous.  We decided to ride directly to the Trek bike store in American Fork.  There they confirmed that the frame was broken and advised against riding it even one mile.  They were kind enough to switch the pedals with Anne’s bike and Franz took it to ride the 12 miles back to the house to get the car, while Anne waited behind.  Anne offered to make the ride herself, but Franz couldn’t pass up a chance to get in more miles!

The Trek store will not send the frame into the factory where they will either do a repair or hopefully a replacement with a new frame.  It might be 3 weeks before we get the bike back.  It is a good thing that Franz brought both of his road bikes so John could use one for the race on the 22nd.  We are hoping we can get the one bike back from the factory before that date.  We are also glad that the whole thing did not come apart during the descent.  Franz had come down the same canyon road last week at a much faster speed.  We are lucky that Anne wanted to descend slowly today.  Sometimes in life it is smart to slow down.

Squaw Peak

On Tuesday we decided to climb up Squaw Peak, on our single bikes.  It is only about 7 mile ride from our home to the base of the climb.  We made the climb in just over 40 minutes.  The grade is steady until the last half mile where it gets rather steep.   This was the first time Anne attempted this climb on her single bike and her time was very good, not much longer than our best tandem time.

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Alpine Loop

On Wednesday we decided to go over the Alpine loop.   It is about a 3,000 foot climb from the start.

It was then down American Fork canyon.

After descending down the canyon road, we made a lunch stop at Timpogas Cave park headquarters.

It was then back through the valley back home.

Nebo Loop

On Saturday we joined a club ride that started in Payson, up Payson Canyon road.   It was a very long climb, over 20 miles when we reached 9,000 feet..

The ride was going over the summit and down to Devil’s Kitchen.

Just past the summit we could see Mt. Nebo.

On the way back, we stopped to enjoy the beautiful meadow.

We ended up with about 50 miles.  It is a great ride.

Bike to Steilacoom

On Thursday we headed out from Sara’s house on a route that took us to Far West, then on to Steilacoom.    We made a stop at the Pioneer park where they were having a street fair.

Anne went to buy some goodies at the street fair.

Someone offered to take our picture together.

We then rode to do a loop around Graverly Lake before heading back home.   It seemed like a long ride with all the traffic, but we only ended up with 28 miles.  We used the iPhone to plot out the course we had taken.

Biking to Yelm

The next day we decided to go on a longer ride so we put the tandem in the car and drove about 10 miles to past Lacey to ride on the bike trail out to Yelm.  It is an interesting ride and a way to avoid all traffic, except at some of the roads where the trail crosses the streets.  The trail went under an old rail road bridge so we had to get a photo of that.

We stopped for lunch at Yelm, thinking to try a different place than we had ate at before.  But I guess there are just not any good places so next time we should pack our own lunch and enjoy it at one of the picnic tables along the trail.  We returned to the car and then headed the other way on the trail to see where it went, but after a couple of miles it came to a busy street so we went back to the car.  The parking lot for the trail is right next to a lake.

You can see the route we took on this map.

This past weekend John was able to stay over an extra day after a business trip. Jeff also drove over on Friday, bringing his road bike. Both joined Anne and Franz on a 33 mile  bike ride around the reservoir.  The weather was perfect for cycling.

We had a great time.   I think this is the first time Anne and Franz rode together with both John and Jeff.  We love it when the kids get a chance to visit.

On Saturday, John and Franz  joined a club ride that was going up Mt. Diablo and then climb Morgan Territory.  Franz was hoping to break the 1 hour barrier on the climb but was not quite able to do that.  Near the bottom a fast rider went by us and John jumped on his wheel but Franz kept the pace.   Franz lent John his second Polar heart rate monitor so we could capture the data for both riders.  It is amazing how close the heart rate curves were during the climb.   Since this was John’s first time up Mt. Diablo, he stopped before the final steep section, thinking he was already at the top, so his real time would have been closer to 58 minutes.

We got so far ahead of the other club members that we decided to descend part way down and then climb the top portion again.  We then biked with a couple of other club members over to have lunch.

After lunch the four of us headed out but since John was on a red-eye flight that evening, we went ahead.  We made a brief stop at the top of Morgan Territory for a quick picture (using the iPhone)

It was then a fast descent to the valley floor and then a stiff headwind for 15 miles back to the car.  We ended up with nearly 70 miles and over 9,000 feet of climbing.  Good training for our Tour of Utah race next month.

We skipped trying to make it to the 6:00 am start for Lap 1. Besides we already went up Quimby West on the tandem this year and once a year is enough. But we were anxious to climb Mt. Hamilton so we got there in time for Lap 2 at 8:30 am. Although there were eventually over 25 different riders on the 3 laps, about 20 of them were on Lap 2. It was a cool day for June. The group split as soon as we started the climb. The two tandems and several guys on single bikes went out ahead. We decided to get some pictures before we got dropped.

The temperature dropped as we climbed and soon we were in heavy fog. We made a stop at the observatory and then headed down the backside. Those who had skipped the stop at the summit were already headed back up before we reached Isabel Creek. After we made a U-turn, I started the timer to see how long it would take us to climb up the backside. One of the other rides had a jersey that said “If you think this is too steep, you are getting too old”. That kind of inspired me to push even harder up the hill. With about 500 feet of climbing left my legs were about to give out but I said to Anne, I am not going to give up now after all this hard work to climb fast. She replied, “what are you talking about, you are not timing this climb are you?” “Of course”, I replied. I then realized that although I was pushing my heart rate over 160 all the way, Anne must have some reserve energy left, which really came in handy. It looked like we could come in under 50 minutes so I took my heart rate up over 170. We finally reached the top and set a new KOM time for ourselves. Although we are old, I guess this hill was not too steep for us.

By the time we reached the summit the weather was much better than the first time up. It was a bit cool but there was some sun. We headed down to do Kincaid but decided we would only go out to reach Russ and Sheila coming back. The road on the first part of Kincaid was newly paved and nice to ride on. The clouds were beautifully set against the blue sky. We wanted to to a picture but with no one else there, we took pictures of each other and later merged them using Photoshop.

Before we reached the bridge, we met Russ and Sheila coming up the hill. They stopped to wait as they could see were going to make a U-turn and join them. When they stopped they noticed they had a cut in their front tire and the tube was starting to protrude through. Their politeness of stopping to wait was rewarded with them discovering something that could have caused a blow out while they were later descending down Mt. Hamilton road. Like many of the tandems, they had a spare tire and quickly replaced their front tire.

After deciding to skip Quimby East we were making the short climb up when I saw another snake in the road. “Did you see the snake?”, I asked. “No,” Anne replied, “You can see what is in front of you, I can only see a behind“.

Back at the start we loaded our tandem in the car and went over to chat while Russ and Sheila were refueling for Lap 3.

Some new riders were now showing up for the last Lap, which would include Sierra, Caleaveras, Welch Creek and many other options for those who want to prove that no hill is so steep that it makes them old.

I was wondering how many miles and feet of climbing Russ and Sheila would get in. Maybe not all 18 Billy Goats, but enough that next week’s Terrible Two will not seem so terrible, I bet.

It has been a long lull in serious training, with Franz’s cycling accident on April 8th, then the travel to Washington State, Utah, Atlanta and Florida.

After returning from Atlanta, we started our crash recovery course on cycling, quickly getting ready to do a Century ride in Utah that Saturday. It was the first time for quite awhile for both Anne and I to reach 200 miles of cycling in a week. The next week we were now back in California and it we should  have cycled more than we did, but the long ride we were planning on that Saturday turned out to be short due to very cold conditions.

Today we decided to join the club ride “Lunch in Pescadero” but started at McKenzie Park, in Los Altos, so we could get some additional miles.  Russ and Sheila were planning to bike on their tandem from home and we met them on Foothill.  Barley had joined them also.  The five of us biked up Sand Hill Road, then over to Woodside to meet the rest of the riders who had driven to the start.

It was then over to Old La Honda, down Highway 84 then over to Pescadero for some lunch.  We needed a break because keeping up with these young riders took a lot of energy. The forecast had been for cloudy and cool but the weather had turned very nice and it was sunny in the mid 60’s.

After splitting a sandwich, it was over Stage road to San Gregorio.  But there was no stopping there, so we went on to Highway 1, then over to Tunitas Creek.  Russ & Sheila and Barley were going to put in even more miles so we said goodbye at the bottom of Tunitas Creek, and then started the long climb of 2,000 feet in 6 miles.  The difficulty of the climb was greatly minimized by the beauty of the surroundings.  We are lucky to be able to do a local ride and be biking right up through the redwoods.  We just had to stop to get a picture.

Going up Tunitas Creek road

We finally reached the summit and made a brief stop, the fist one since we had left Pescadero.  Then it was down Kings Mountain, to Woodside and back to the car the way we had come. It was about 80 miles and 6,500 feet of climbing.  See map of route.

We feel we are finally in shape for the 10 day bike tour we will be starting in a little over a week.   Anne has now biked 3,300 miles so far this year, even higher than last year at this time.   Taking a look at the miles we have both biked so far this year, you can see that Anne’s mileage is much closer to that of Franz than in prior years.

We really enjoy biking on the tandem.  You can see that we had a period when we were not able to bike on the tandem while Franz was recovering, but for the past two weeks we are doing even a better job of getting ready for Sierra to the Sea than we did last year.  It was over 280 miles on the tandem this week.  Time to put on a new chain!