Wildcat

Jefé flexing while Curtis studies map

Saturday headed to Santa Cruz with Curtis and Andrew to do a little adventure race/ride. It was called The Wildcat and was like an Alley Cat with a lot of dirt thrown in. 

Met up with Jeff and Cam and Brian in Santa Cruz and started racing/riding around 12:30---finished around 4:30!

It was pretty crazy-you had to follow a map and hit places all over Santa Cruz, collect utensils, eating vessel and something to share as well as play Bingo along the way. Oh yeah and ride a lot. I borrowed A. Brooks' Ibis Hakkalugi which I am attempting to procure from him (for over a year it seems) and had a blast. 

VERY fun. Got to meet a lot of great folks and ride in new areas I had never been.

VERY challenging trying to keep up with my group of way faster riders--mostly out of fear of getting lost as we had like 4 maps to review and follow as well as find check points.

In the end we were all on the bluffs over the beach, drinking beer, eating really good fresh stew and pasta and sharing stories of the day. 

I would love to send a huge Thank you to Josh and crew for putting on a great event!

Pics on Flickr.

Retrotec SS Progress

About 7 months of waiting in line and scraping $ together have finally come together...the SS is tacked up

Last weekend I was able to help cut and bend tubes for my future Retrotec SS. Really cool as well as nerve-wracking!

Just sold off a bunch of parts from my old SS (Avid SD Ultimate brakes/levers and My King non-disc SS wheels fetched mucho dinero on eBay) to finish off the $$ needed as well as pay Steevo for Pink King Disc wheels...now I just need to figure out disc brakes (leaning toward Shimano XT)...

Now I have to finalize the color scheme, which will definitely be some shade of pink (in fulfillment of a legacy that began almost 7 years ago when Chris and Matt talked me out of painting my Ventana El Fuego that color)...

Pretty cool. Now the dilemma continues-should I sell my Ventana El Toro fame?

More pics on my Flickr (also  swiped and placed on Curtis' Flickr)

BMX Track

Last Sunday we headed over to the BMX track. As a dad I am at odds with myself-both wanting to see Jake rip it around course, while at the same time biting my fingers as he goes "too fast". Well he rocked it out there! Totally at ease over bumps and on berms, it was incredible. After 3 laps and a dad mandated rest, he was off again. This time disaster struck... and not in the course itself. Jake was crossing through some weeds and dirt clods and took a digger-right on his face. Poor little guy had a drop of blood in his nose, a drop on his tongue and a slightly scraped chin. I held him and made sure all teeth were intact and he was OK. After a few precious minutes he started to come around. We still rested and then he wanted to go again. I strongly cautioned to go easy, but then he was off! His little cranks are so close to the ground, he sometimes hits the top of jumps. A few times getting tossed to the side. One of which was kinda painful, brought out a few tears and then he said "I'm OK" and was off again. We ended before folks got too tired (me included) and on the way home stopped for an ice cream at Foster Freeze.

Riding is fun. Riding with your son is better than anything on earth.

here's a really choppy video (taken with my Canon Elf) to try and show you how much he rocked...(sorry about side-ways, freakin' Blogger won't properly upload my rotated movie).

Grasshopper-Kings Ridge

Pre-race with Lemurian Class Winner A. Brooks...

Grasshopper#4 was a blast! Good ol' Levi Leipheimer showed up again as did a BMC pro Scott Needham...of course Levi won.

The week proceeding was filled with all sorts of nerves..how much climbing would we be doing? Could I do this? All further  frenzied by A. Brooks incendiary emails and warnings to bring our "A" game. "A" game? C'mon now, I'm like a Category 8 rider. I'm heavy. I can't climb well. "A" game! Anyway, I mistakenly looked up the course profile before the event and freaked a bit more, but then settled in to whatever mode. If it gets too hard, I can always walk. I bought Bicycle Works out of processed food stuffs, tubes, CO2's and new brake pads. Ate at Azzurro the night before and even had breakfast the day of. I was ready as I was ever gonna be.

Crazy ride, really cool with tons of climbing and virtually no cars. Was involved in my first crash. Coming back down the road (missed turn) with two friends, I was leading and started to slow to ask directions from riders heading other direction, just in time to hear my friend Chris (behind me and much bigger than me) yell, "Ken!" He hit me from behind/back side (I stayed upright somehow) and went flying off the road onto his back and then bushes. Then my friend Michael hit Chris' rear wheel and flipped into dirt on side of road. While Chris was in the air his rear tire exploded, scared the hell out of everyone. Luckily no one was really hurt although Chris' jersey was shredded on the back and his helmet was destroyed. Michael's chi-chi R-Sys wheel snapped a spoke too. Chris is super human, he brushed it off, fixed his flat and was asking who else was going to join him back "on route" for the 7 mile dirt descent! I stayed with Michael and his broken Mavic-we had to cock it a bit in the drop out so it wouldn't rub on the fork. Bear in mind we were about 40 miles into an 80 mile ride!

Michael nursed the Mavic through some seriously screaming downhills (18% signed grade on road) onto Jenner. I convinced him that we only had 10 or so miles to go and he went along. Funny thing though the remaining 10 miles were mostly a dirt road climb! He flatted 2X with his Michelin Prorace 3's (I had swapped to heavier Conti's in anticipation of dirt).

Anyway, we finished the ride which was really cool and had a blast in doing it. Didn't end up being the total crusher I feared, we skipped two sections (dirt descent and a serious steep climb), but still got 70 miles with 7,500' or so feet of climbing. And spent Sunday pretty slow with Jake-mo as I was much more sore than I imagined!

And yes, we didn't "officially" do the entire ride...I did notify them of fact at finish...guess I was assuming that given the circumstances of the day (crash and all), my general ranking (somewhere near the bottom of the event) and the fact we at least made it back without hitching a ride-all qualified my fat ass as at least nearly last and not DNF.

Here's a comparison of my ride and my friend Peter's ride (way to go Peter you and Andrew were the only ones of our group to finish the entire ride correctly)...

My MotionBased suck-etude

Peter's MotionBased

Of course, I am fully willing to take my punishment—how about I race the final G-Hopper and then Tamarancho? Maybe even do Tamarancho on my SS...

Pics? Yep, lots of them, go to my Flickr page.

Thanks again everyone who organized the Grasshopper, they are truly outstanding events with great courses, and really fun folks.

6 Seconds

So close...so, so close...

Great race none-the-less, I am sure if Leslie was in proper form, we'da been smoked...

Here's the full results, congrats Jeff and Kathleen and George Hope you guys are crushers.

It was nice to see Steve Tam, Coby, and all the other folks out there too, these races and stuff are pretty fun...especially from mid to back pack!

Grasshopper #2

Here I am...Grasshopper #2
Photo courtesy of kimdow at Flickr

Quick one on Grasshopper #2 as I had a dead battery in camera and not too many pics to show the incredible ride we had Saturday.

The nutshell goes a little somethin' like this...

All the online weather folks were calling for the end of the world on Saturday--thunderstorms, lightning, 70% chance of rain and on and on...I was in until Curtis said Jeff and Cameron (much stronger riders and his barometers of whether to go or not) were saying no way (that was on Friday night)...I was fine either way, he agreed to call me first AM Saturday and we'd decide then.

7:00am rolled by, then 7:30...OK cool, I'm doing the Azzurro ride, no need to worry about braving the weather in Occidental...ahhhhh, then like 7:35, the phone rings..."we're going! and Peter's going too!"
Oh damn, it's on. At least with Peter I would have my familiar wing-man out there suffering along with me...so get up, dress, down coffee, down cereal, say goodbye to Jake and hop in Scion for trip out.

Rain? Uhhh, no. Try blue skies and wind. Still had jersey pockets stuffed liek a squirrel for winter with heavy-ass rain coat, food, electronics, money, license...There were a ton of people out there, at least 150. One dude stood out, none other than Levi Leipheimer was there to race. Mind you this is a free event, no support, no prizes...guess the lack of a tour invite puts him out with us folk--pretty cool I had to admit. By the way the only time I saw him was at the start. He won (of course), did 65 miles with 6,000 feet of climbing in 2:59:00...

My "spy shot" of Levi...I had dreamt I would be able to get a better one at end of race..maybe if I finished closer to him (which is physically impossible for me)

Out we headed in a neutral roll-out, although this time it was a bit faster paced and a little jumpy. We owned teh road for 8 miles until the fist pee-break. I was ready to pop and needed it. Of course with shy bladder, unit hanging out side of road-style and some other dude intent on talking to me while I tried to pee didn't help...it was a no go for too long. When I finally got the deed done, I was fighting to catch back onto the end of the pack. After a few miles I did, got up to Peter and just kept pedaling (sorry Peter, my nerves got the best of me). I ended up joining Alexis from Norcal Velo and a guy named Jim-we ended up staying together the entire time, and boy did we need it-the wind was a crusher and would have sucked to be alone out in it (again-sorry Peter, you are the man for doing it alone).

We rode in some really cool areas near Dillion beach, along Tomales Bay and out to the Marshall "Wall" lots of climbing and super fast descents with the wind blowing you side-ways. If you haven't guessed it, I hate the wind. It was maddening. I couldn't hear, it was in our face for like 2 hours at least and made things pretty tough all-around. With the course calling out 70 miles or so, at 63, I was stoked to know we were close. On last climb up to Occidental and Alexis and I rolled across the line together at a healthy 4:28:00, Jim was 2 minutes back after he discovered his seat bag was open!

Burritos and good company were in order as we waited for Peter. He made it across about 1 hour later and we headed back to Napa and saw at 4:00PM the first rain! Oh yeah, a necessary stop for fresh, organic bread at little bakery in Freestone was in order too, yummy goodness...

I really am glad I am getting out to do these rides and spend time with new friends and folks, it's a great spirit in the air and a wonderful time to be had while punishing yourself physically! See you all at #3...

As always, check out my Flickr, The Grasshopper Flickr Page or Motionbased for all the details I could acquire...

Saturday with Grady

Headed to Ess Eff on Friday night to prep for a good long road ride with ol' G-Sharp Saturday. He and his wife Dena have an incredible house in Bernal Heights neighborhood, and we planned to use our location to hang-out, get some food and maybe do a little drinkin' (something I haven't done for a real long time). I also remembered my good friend Rich lives in the same general area, so a call was made, plans enacted to meet later and off we went. How did it go? Reaaaaal nice. Sharp is one of my closest friends, and given what is going on, I needed a sound mind to share with. His advice and insight are always appreciated—essentially what the weekend was about...listening and sharing.

Anyway, there was some Al Green records to listen to, some red wine to be drunk and then off to eat some sushi at a place called Moki's. Real good place, really fresh maguro and large Sapporo helped out. Headed to a neighborhood bar where we met up with Rich, some Guinness, the old pal Jameson and very entertaining conversation with a transplant from Akron on her way to New Orleans...ah to be young and totally naive...

Morning came a bit too soon given the amount of drinkin', but Dena hooked us up with some good strong coffee, eggs and, you guessed it, BACON. God bless the swine. Thank you so much Dena!

Well there was nothing to do, but do it, so we headed out groggy and ready to test our mettle through the city. I am always amazed at the variety of neighborhoods, each one filled with new restaurants, shops and people...totally cool, totally alive.

Bernal is on one side and Marin on the other end, so the wiggle through neighborhoods and such was eye opening and helped get us out of groggy and into being alert. Soon we were dodging hammers on the GG bridge, thankfully Grady had full command of his bike bell... Another stop in Sausalito at Cafe Trieste for more coffee and we were off to Fairfax. There were a ton of riders out there that day, especially given how beautiful it was. Best part is getting out onto backroads, Alpine Dam and Tam. The climbs were rough given our night before, but the purpose was to cruise and enjoy the day which we did successfully. All told we got like 67 miles with a little over 6000' of climbing in on an incredible day. Dena again came through with a delicious dinner of grilled chicken covered in Tapatio, arugula and Goat Cheese salad on some grilled beets, and red quinoa with corn...My plate was cleaned!!

A huge thank you goes out to both Grady and Dena, your hospitality and insight are well received and much appreciated. I look forward to many more rides and times together.

More images on my Flickr page...

One more Grasshopper Pic

The cool thing about the interwebs is how much sharing you can now do. On the Grasshopper, I met another rider shooting the same spot I had just come upon. After looking around on flickr, I found his photos (very nice I might add) and this one of me (which I had no idea he took).

Anyway, it's visual proof I at least started...

That's me in fat-hiding argyle, next to the fastest Inglis out there.
Photo courtesy of Jon Suzuki

Grasshopper #1

Today marked my second "race" of the year. I say "race" because for me, for my fitness level and shape, it is far from being competitive, it's closer to being alive.

As my life takes an entirely new direction, I made a vow to myself to not succumb to utter sadness and negativity. Although not easy and not accomplish-able everyday, I intend to honor my personal vow and do what I can not only for my mental well-being but my physical as well. That means riding my bike more. It means pushing myself a little bit harder than before to see what I can actually do when I set my mind to it. The application will be applied not only in cycling, but also in my highest priority, my son, and my everyday life.

To that end, I come to my second race this year. The first in a series known as the Grasshopper. Most are held in the rugged hills around western Sonoma county and involve a road bike at times, a cross bike at times and you guessed it, a mountain bike. Today's journey was 50 or so miles on paved and unpaved roads/trails via the recommended cross bike. All told there ended up being about 5000' or so of climbing which kicked my butt. The leaders crushed the course in 3 hours. I survived the course in 4.

My weapon of choice was my trusty Cannondale XS800 which has been with me longer than any of my bikes (had it for 8 years), taken me up and down Romero Canyon in SB, from Halfmoon Bay to SB on HWY 1 and all kinds of adventures in between. On Curtis' recommendation I swapped teh cross tires (knobby bits) out for my 28C Conti Top Touring 2000's. In hind sight, I think a knobby rear would have been a better choice, but I made it through upright and in one piece! Swapped seat out to my Fizik Arione for comfort and basically kept the headshock in the "on" position for 40+ rough miles---that 1" of travel is nice on rough roads--especially with the aluminum frame.

Walking was involved on the last climb as my upper legs were doing that thing they do just before a serious 2 legged cramp. I must say it was incredible! The feeling I got, being so far out into the middle of (seemingly) nowhere was awesome...mustering up my courage (I'm a bit shy at first) to meet new people is coming easier with each outing as I generally go with a group of much faster people and do the rides/races alone.

Anyway, there seemed to be about 200 riders out for a race that had no entry fee, no prizes and no support. We rolled out peloton style for about 7 miles—a neutral roll out which saved me I am sure. The pace was higher, but do-able. The road turned quickly to a supersharp driveway (essentially-it was a road, but very narrow and small) which designated the first climb. What a killer! The pavement went away after a gate and more climbing on leaves and rocks was under-way. The downhill that followed was a blast, I was doing pretty well until I heard my front tire blow out. Damn! My adrenaline and nervousness kicked in as I fumbled to change it as quickly as possible. The group, including my appointed (by me) riding partner flew by, never to be seen again.

Well I settled in and took a ginormous climb or two or three in stride and slowly and soon was back onto flat land headed to HWY 1. My map reading skills (we were all handed a laminated map to help not get lost on the small roads and trails) were lacking and I just wan't sure exactly were to turn. After waiting about 5 minutes another rider came along and we rode together.

My next enemy, headwind reared it's head as I tried to keep up and help pull the much stronger rider. Then, the rain came! WTF! Just minutes before I was on a ridge in 60 degree sun and now it's raining on me. I didn't have time to plop the arm-warmers back on and continued in short sleeve jersey. I was soon dropped by my riding partner, but picked up two more folks who I introduced myself to and joined for the remaining 15 miles or so.

The last climb seemed to go on forever, so a little walking was involved. Then just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, I saw Curtis parked by the final gate snapping my pic and cheering me onto the finish...Grabbed some more water, said hi to his dad and rolled onto the sweet paved downhill and finish line.

After the ride, Curtis said none other than Levi Leipheimer rolled up to him in full Astana gear and asked where the lead pack was! Crazy!

Damn fine. I wish Kirby, Steve, Grady and Johnoss could join me out on the next one...It's a true test of yourself and topped off with incredible views and great company. I'd like to thank the race organizers for a great day, a well organized event and a fun time...see you at the next one in a couple weeks

A little panorama from the day...

It's official, my time listed was 4:19, good enough for NOT last place! Looks like I was 112/~140...nowhere to go but up right??

Here's a link to the Grasshopper Blog/Info

I posted more pics on my Flickr page....

County Line

So you're thinking, "It's time to ride my SS, where should I go?..."single track is always nice, some climbing is OK,the woods, mountains". It never really crossed my mind that 40 miles on Hwy 1, railroad tracks and sand would be ideal, and it isn't, but damn if I didn't have fun! what's it called? County Line.

My inability to ask questions beyond, "sounds good-let's do it", led me into this one. The whole time, up to the night before, I assumed it was alike a mass "ride" of SS'ers, spending the day riding in less than ideal conditions. Well, the night before, I clarified with Curtis that it was more like a race and he let me know I wouldn't be seeing him or the other folks I headed down with-but not to worry as long as I heeded several warnings ... things like;

bring extra socks
watch out in bum alley
look out for poison oak somewhere around the 4th bluff
and make sure you head to the beach when the train racks start to slightly bend away from the beach somewhere outside of Santa Cruz beach boardwalk

So I was a little freaked as I do not race, but I was going and I went. What can I say? It was hella™ hard. There was like 60-70 riders (maybe more),I believe we did something like 12-15 miles on RR track gravel (not the packed kind either), like 10+ miles on the sand and the balance on the shoulder of HWY 1. Good thing I listened and geared up--normally running 2:1 (32:16), I swapped out to 36:16 and being so flat it worked out great_I don't htink I stopped pedaling for the whole 3 hours.

Finished the ride/race in 3 hours, headed to Hunter Cycles shop for food, fun and new friends. To say I was cracked was an understatement. During the post-ride party, I began to have the cold sweats, felt like puking and Mitzi said I was pretty pale white. It passed and so did the ride home.

Overall a great day (wish I could say the same about my late night at home) and I look forward to putting myself through it again next year.

8AM we leave to pick up Jeff

Mitzi and Max...Mitzi was a life saver-driving the course so we didn't have to shuttle

Last time I saw Curtis and Jeff until the end of ride...I actually broke my chain 100 yards from start and was saved by a powerlink from another rider

Group Start HWY 1

Riding HWY 1

Riding above RR tracks--the only way to go, when you could!

The beach...I was solo on her for an hour at least

The line up out side of Rick Hunter's shop

**No RR track pics as there was no way to shoot while riding...

Smile more

Thanks Andrew for the candid pic from the Appetite Seminar ride Thanksgiving day on Tam. In the face of all that is currently going on in my personal life, it is a pleasure to see myself truly smile! 

Actually works really well in to a book I am reading right now, "Peace Is Every Step". The act of smiling is actually beneficial to your health and well-being—I am doing it more everyday.

Giving Thanks

I have to take a moment from the usual bike riding and outdoors escapades to give some thanks.

Where is this coming from you ask? I dunno exactly, but it is something I have been thinking about a lot, especially on (you guessed it) my mtn. bike rides alone.

The question really came into focus early last month. I was informed by my brother via phone while I was at work that my childhood best friend, Jay had been killed in an auto accident. To say I was stunned was an understatement, but it was mixed with a weird detachment that came with being out of contact with Jay for the last 5-7 years and being preoccupied with work at the moment. To be honest, the feeling has yet to truly sink in, but it has made me take pause and re-evaluate myself, my friends and friendships.

Where to start?

Jay and I were inseperable from third grade all the way through high school, a like in so many ways—our desire to hunt lizards and snakes was borderline obsessive. Sure there was a time in high school that we didn't speak for a few months, but Jay was MY best friend. At a time that I felt like I had so many good friends, he stood out as always being there, someone who shared my passions for snakes and drawing and Farside cartoons. We got into so much trouble at times, we had our parents wondering. But not a day went by that we weren't down by the river building forts, looking for snakes or hiking around. Times were so simple then...

Highschool found our sorry asses last in line to get driver's licenses so you would be guaranteed to find us walking everywhere. And did I mention our obsession with rap music? At a time when everyone was listening to new wave or Metallica(1987 and on), we were up to our necks in Kurtis Blow, Dougie Fresh, MC Shy D and Troop shoes.

Original wiggers for sure.

Of course we didn't know any better, being from the mean streets of Napa. We just knew that the whole McDonalds paycheck HAD to go to the newest Air Jordans or the sweetest Le Coq Sportif sweatjacket. Napa High school didn't know what hit it when we showed up with the sweet Troop LL Cool J or Ice Lamb shoes and lines shaved into our hair... damn! I can't forget the highschool and (later) Mormon dances. What better place to show off the latest moves, the Kid-N-Play, anything Hammer was doing, wicked renditions of the running man. Jay especially. He got so into dancing he was like in a trance. Hitting up the Junk Rock, Lipps Disco or any one the bay area clubs, we ran wild.

Jay settled after high school and found Mormonism. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it was great for Jay. I was really sad to see him head out for 2 years on his mission and it was then, the Junior college days, that we drifted apart. Girlfriends and new friends came into my life. Mountain Biking entered the scene around 1989 for me and although we exchanged some letters and calls, our friendship was going the route many do as we grow older. Not so much away, but apart.

Even when I was in Cal Poly and after, staying at my parent's house we would somehow hook up and spend hours in my parent's garage just shooting the shit. Never really talking about much but talking none the less.

The last five years I only saw Jay a couple of times. We both had families (he had me beat on that one with 4 kids), but we still sporadically saw each other. What's so weird about the whole thing, even after my last time seeing him at Kennedy park less than a year ago (where he recounted that he had just recently rolled his giant Ford SUV on black Ice in Tahoe-thankfully no one was hurt), no definite plans were made to see each other again. It was just if it happened it did. Life is funny for me that way I have found. My friendships, especially from childhood-the one's I swore back then would be forever-are quite far apart. When we do see each other, my friends from then and I are really close (I think), joking and seemingly not missing a beat, but life and life styles dictate that we aren't like then.

What am I getting at? If you hang with me, I think I am trying to get at a lot of things.

One is that I hurt terribly that Jay is gone-especially for his family that he left behind.

It is still a little hard to grasp that he is gone-especially given that I didn't know if I would ever see him again (he was moving to Utah). I guess I always just thought we would, but on a chance. Now that chance is gone and a friend that I had known for over 20 years will never be able to hear that I am thankful for all that we shared...

And that leads me back to my thoughts on my rides and title of this post...There are so many people in my life that don't have the faintest idea how much I appreciate and love them and how thankful I am for knowing them...

My mom and dad for providing for me and helping (good and bad) me become who I am.

My brother for always being there, always selflessly lending an helping hand or freelance job. You are a true inspiration, I don't know that I could ever thank you enough...

My sister for being there too. we're not as close as we should be, but I hold out hope that you can see that there is a lot you can do and are capable of, and I will work harder to be around for you too...

My wife for putting up with me and sticking with a family that wasn't necessarily planned. I know I am a bear to be around and who knows what will happen to us, you truly represent all that I look for in a soulmate and I'll always remember that spark I felt when we accidently touched in my kitchen so long ago. Your patience and thoughtful heart are an inspiration for this hardened soul, I can only hope to achieve 1/100 of your character.

Grady, you're a great friend, one of the best. A true sounding board for so many ideas and ideals. I want you to know I'll always be there for you...

Kirby, you taught me it was OK to ride alone. Something I hold dearly today for the soul empowering and mind clearing benefits it offers. Before meeting you, I was too scared to consider it and now I relish the solo ride...

Squiggles for showing me how to go 130% at something anything. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But damn, you have it in you to do things right. Your cooking skills and confidence are sorely missed. Now that you apply that drive to doing all your own home repairs/construction, I stand in awe...

Johnoss, you've been a really supporter in a wacky, weird way. Our time together really is awesome whether in Tahoe, CVC or on a phone. You've been more than generous with bike gear and help and I truly appreciate it.

Justin B, Ken N. ,Allen, Lukman, Rich, Jed, Seth, Otto, Stacie, Todd, Paul...I could go on and on, there are so many people that I need to at least have read that I know they are there and I wouldn't be half the person without knowing them and sharing my life in both big and small ways with.

I write this blog for anyone to see to know that I am thankful, I love my friends and family and I will do my best to not take anything in life for granted because you never know what might happen and when it boils down to it, we all have a lot to be thankful for...