Our home in Utah is situated where we can bike from home and climb up to over 8,000 feet.

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.

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We had a great time visiting Sara and her family in the state of Washington. It is great to see everyone and the grand kids love to see their grandmother.

Our schedule to visit Sara and family was around Andrew’s Baptism. After turning eight years old, he was ready to be baptized. Mike’s dad, and sister and family also flew to Washington for the event. On Saturday morning we drove over to the church to get some pictures.  I don’t mean just a couple of pictures but many many pictures.  Here is just one of them.

The must have coordinated what they were wearing because all the women were wearing blue and white.

It was a wonderful baptism.  Anne and Mike’s Dad, Al, gave talks.  Mike performed the baptism of Andrew.

That afternoon we all headed to Bainbridge Island for dinner.  There are two ways to get there and we choose to go the round about way over some bridges.  We all had a great dinner.

We decided to go back a different way, using a ferry that takes you to Seattle.  I checked on my iPhone and found the ferry schedule and we saw we had about 20 minutes to the next one.  We wanted a bit more time so we drove over to the ferry and after paying, parked on one of the lanes to the side.  We waited for all the cars to board that ferry and then moved into the lanes so we would be the first ones for the next ferry, whcih was scheduled one hour later.  We left the cards locked and headed on foot back to look around.  We found a park where the kids could play.

We could not wait too long because our cars were in the lane to board the next ferry.  We were headed back and could see we need to move quickly.

The drivers of the cars had to start to run and we got to our cars less than a minute before we had to start driving them onto the ferry.  The others walked on board and we found each other on the passenger deck.

It was a great view of Seattle as we approached.

Then it was back by freeway to Sara’s house.  It was a wonderful day.

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While visiting Sara and family we went on a couple of bike rides along some of the routes we had discovered in the past.

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.

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I decided to take my new iPhone 3GS on the run today with Anne.  It is not exactly small enough to run with but I wanted to test out the GPS function.  My original iPhone did not have the GPS.  I used the MapMyRide application that recoreded the run.  I also used my Polar heart rate monitor with a footpod which I have previoiusly calibrated.  We ended up with 7.40 miles per the Polar and 7.42 miles per the iPhone.  Remarkably close.  The iPhone application also saved my workout and route we took, as you can see below.

Categories: Computer, Running
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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.

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We couldn’t help but be intrigued by the ride posting of 18 billy goats (hill climbs in our bike club). We realized that would be impossible for us to do but the ride posted by Russ and Sheila had the great flexibility of offering three sequential rides, or laps, with a fixed route and optional billy goats. I guess if you did them all you would do more climbing than on the Devil Mountain Double. Russ and Sheila are getting ready for the Terrible Two Double Century next week.

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.

Categories: Cycling
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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!

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It has been a delightful Memorial Day.  This morning we got up and watched the TV with some of the feature stories on the sacrifice of our military men and women over the years.  A touching story was about an organization that had made it possible for many of the WWII veterans to travel to Washington DC to see the monument devoted to their comrades who had died in the war.  It helped us appreciate the sacrifice of so many for us and our children, and their children.

After cutting the bike ride on Saturday short due to the cold weather, we wanted to get in a good long ride today.  We decided to go 64 miles and do the Canada Loop, then head up and ride up to the Henry Coe State Park headquarters.  It was still overcast in the morning so we kept waiting.  We thought that once it reached 55 degrees we would head out since the forecast was for a nice day.  We had only gone one block before Anne decided to add the sleeves to her jacket because it was still brisk.

By the time we made our way to Canada Road, it had warmed up to about 60 degrees and we could see that the sun was attempting to break through the over cast.  We quickly warmed up during the climb and by the time we reached the summit the sun was now shinning.

We went all the way down Roop Road, up a short hill and down a descent, past some very nice homes then on through the back roads up to Morgan Hill.

Before we started to make the big climb we stopped briefly while we shared a sandwich we had brought along.  We no longer needed our arm warmers or vest. The weather was absolutely perfect for cycling.  Part way up the climb we stopped to enjoy the view.

We were glad when we reached the end of the road.

We didn’t stay at the top long because it was now mid afternoon and we had not eaten much yet.  It was a moderate paced descent down to the valley.  Franz was doing much better braking with his left hand and the drag brake on the tandem really helped.  After we made our way over to Erik’s Deli, we shared a sandwich, sitting on the patio area.

From there it was 10 miles back to our house.  We had timed it it just right because it was now starting to cool off a bit.  We finally made it home after 5:00 pm, with a total of 64 miles and nearly 5,000 feet of climbing.  It was a very nice day.

Categories: Cycling, Holidays
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For the ride on Saturday we were considering doing the 77 mile Long Distance Training club ride but we were concerned about the traffic on that route.  So instead we went on another club ride, near the same area but on some back roads.  In the morning we checked the weather forecast and it looked like it would be cooler than it had been but still in the upper 50’s and low 60’s.  Never believe the weather forecast in this area with all it’s micro climates.

As we left our house at 8:30, the sun was just about to break through the overcast sky so it looked very promising for a nice sunny day.  We headed by car over Hecker Pass Highway toward the ocean.  As we neared the summit, we saw the thick fog and the temperatures were dropping.  As we descended down towards the coast, the fog became thicker.  The ride started in Corralitos.  About 6 other people were there but they had been smart enough to wear tights.  Ann had brought her jacket and arm warmers but Franz had only brought along a vest and arm warmers.  Neither of us had tights, knee warmers, long finger gloves or an ear band.  We could have used all of those.

We headed out with the group for the easy climb up and over Hazel Dell.  The temperature was about 51 but with some moderate climbing we seemed warm enough.  Then we made the tough climb up Mt. Madonna road, which climbs over 1,500 vertical feet.  The road was wet from the heavy fog and we knew the decent would be difficult and cold.  We were the first ones to the top but only waited a short while, figuring it would be warmer at the base so we headed down.

We stopped half way down to get a bit warmer.  You can see the fog was still thick.

At the base we stopped only briefly, then it was back over Hazel Dell.  Near the summit, one other rider had a flat tire so we stopped while he was doing the repair.  It was now 49 degrees and we started to get real chilled.  There must have been a slight wind because we were definitely colder than earlier.  Then we had to do the descent back down to Corralitos.  When we got there we felt cold, too cold to be having fun.  We went into the store and Anne bought a hot chocolate but Franz was so cold he went to the car to warm up.  It was probably 15 minutes before the rest of the riders showed up.

We got out of the car and headed back over to get on the bike to go up Eureka Canyon.  It was now past noon and the fog was still thick.  It was looking like it was not going to clear today.  We remembered how it was going to be sunny back home.  So we decided to go back home and bike there.

When we did return home we felt so tired.  It was coldest we had ever felt in late May.  After getting some recovery we decided to go out on a run instead.  But we vowed to get in a long bike Ride on Monday, Memorial Day.

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It has been a few weeks off from cycling, starting with Franz breaking his hand in a cycling accident and then us traveling across the US from the Northwest corner to the Southeast corner. We tried to get in some exercise most days, but mostly it was running with some time on an exercise bike. When we returned from Atlanta to our Utah home on Tuesday, Franz’s younger brother called and asked if we would join his team to do the Salt Lake Century ride on that Saturday.

Normally we would not be too concerned with that since we had been on club rides this year already over 100 miles and Franz had already finished two double centuries. But during the past 6 weeks we felt we had lost a lot of conditioning and so far Franz had not attempted to get back on the road bike with the splint on his left hand, keeping to riding only the mountain bike on pavement.

But with 3 days left to get in some training, and one day to rest, we felt why not? So our “getting back in shape” training was 25 miles on Tuesday, 35 on Wednesday and 55 on Thursday, with taking Friday off, before the Century ride on Saturday. It is not the training program we would ever recommend, any more than cramming for final exams is very helpful. But we needed to get some confidence and Franz needed to learn how to ride the road bike with the splint on. We did not have our tandem, so that meant single bikes.

The Salt Lake Century is an interesting century. It gets about the same number of riders as the Tierra Bella and also offers short options of 35 and 70 miles.  The proceeds go to assist the Salt Lake City Bicycle Advocacy Committee to build and maintain bicycle routes and trails and promote cycling in Utah.  Unlike the Tierra Bella, it has one mass start at 7:30 am with police escort blocking all the traffic so this massive peleton could cruse through the streets through the stop signs and traffic lights. We kept our pace up during that stretch, going over 20 mph with a slight tail wind, but keeping plenty of space between us and the riders ahead, especially since Franz was mostly limited to using the rear brake with his right (and good) hand.

After about 6 miles, the riders were much more stretched out and we were no longer with a police escort. The first rest stop was at 17 miles, but we thought that was a bit too soon so we blew by that rest stop and eventually reached the 2nd rest stop at 35 miles. This was the point where we were going to decide to turn around or go on. We both felt fine so decided to do the entire 105 miles.

That extra portion was an interesting one because it takes you out to Antelope Island State Park, an island in the Great Salt Lake.  The largest of the Great Salt Lake’s 10 islands, Antelope Island is part of the Utah State Park System. Visitors can reach the park by boat or as we did over a 7 mile long causeway.

Biking along the causeway was interesting because you are surrounded by vast water on both sides of the road and where there is water there are bugs, and we mean a lot of bugs.  We wanted to get through all those bugs as quick as we could so we kept the pace around 20 mph.  One group we passed must have thought an older couple should not go by them, so they passed us but eventually they could not hold that pace so we ended up passing them again.  This time they were content to draft behind as Franz pulled the rest of the miles to the island, with Anne right on his wheel.

Anne at finish of Salt Lake Century

Once we reached the island, the route took us several miles on a road that circled the island.  This route served as a time trail course in the Nationals a couple of years ago that some members of ACTC participated in.  The weather was now perfect cycling weather, in the low 70’s.  On the far side there was a water stop where we made a brief stop.  Then it was to continue around the island and then, yikes, we had to go back across that causeway with all the bugs.  So we did the same thing again, keeping the pace over 20 mph to get through that section as soon as we could.

At mile 70 we stopped a the lunch stop where they had all the fixings to make a sandwich.  We saw Franz’s younger brother there.  His team was leap frogging us all day.  They would go past us between rest stops but they were taking longer stops than we were,  so we ended up seeing them at every single stop.

Franz after Salt Lake Century

After resting for awhile, we headed back over the 35 mile course we had taken that morning. But unlike the morning we did not skip the rest stop at 17 miles from the start. But there the stop was brief and then we finished the 105 miles.

It was a great century ride and one we really enjoyed. We averaged 17.8 mph for the 105 miles. That was not as fast as we have done on the tandem, but a pace we were very happy with on single bikes.

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