A few fun rides this weekend

With Lisa out of town, and the Cycle Folsom Weekend ride cancelled for this week, I was on my own.

So I decided it was time to find Beatty Hill. I parked at the Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma, headed up the trail to Iron Point Rd, up and over mount Costco and down Empire Ranch to Beatty Hill.

The Hill is in two section ( the 1st about 0.78 mi long with grades of 13-15% with a couple of 16% sections thrown in). The 1st section climbs up about 370 ft - enough to get the heart rate up to max. Then after a short dip it climbs again at an 11-13% grade for another 0.5 mi. There are some nice views of Folsom lake to be had, and a nice fast descent.

I tried a bunch of other climbs in the area and eventually crossed over the Folsom Dam and back down the trail to the Aquatic Center.


Later in the afternoon, Jason and I hit the single track around Lake Natoma on the mountain bikes for a good 12mi loop.

On Sunday, I joined the Cycle Folsom Leaders for the 2nd Beginner ride - unfortunately we did not have too many attendees but it was a fun and relaxing recovery ride. I tacked on an extra 12 miles for fun.

I brought our Felt bikes to Folsom bike for a little tune-up and it also turned out that Jim Felt, owner of Felt Bikes, was hosting a Demo Day at Folsom Bikes - so I chatted with him for a bit and then took advantage of the opportunity to ride a couple of $7000 carbon bikes - the F-1 and the AR-2. They are very light, stiff and really put me in an agressive race position ( especially the F1). They are also a bit noisy compared to my F-55 since the thin carbon tubes act like resonators. The F1 was very responsive and almost twitchy when standing , while the AR2 was more comfortable and stable. Fun stuff - and now I just need to win the lottery :)

Have a great week
( and a shout out to Lisa on the other coast!)

Folsom-Old FrenchTown-Deer Valley Loop

Saturday was a gorgeous northern California spring day, with lush greenery everywhere, flowers and more than a few wild turkeys strutting their stuff. We road from Roseville, 9 miles to Karen's Bakery with a little chill in the air - but a good warm up for the climbing to come.

The 7 of us in the peloton group left from Karen's bakery and headed out of Folsom out Blue Ravine , up Iron Point and over highway 50 onto Scotts Rd and then on White rock up into El Dorado Hills.

The route climbed almost continuously for the first 40 miles of the 60mi total. We took Steve Ward's suggestion of taking Cothrin Ranch Road in order to limit the amount of riding on Latrobe Rd - which tends to be busy and has little to no shoulder. The road is gorgeous with wonderful views but with lots of climbing on gradesof 14-15% and up to 18% . We did go astray once and climbed a very steep hill we did not need to up to Grazing Hill Rd. After only one ride in 3 weeks following the double century in Solvang Lisa and I were not able or willing to keep pace with Joel, Bruce, Kevin and Stan - but we regularly regrouped and had a great ride

After hitting Motherload the group split with Ron, Lisa, Bruce and Ryan heading straight to Green Valley while Stan, Kevin, and Joel took the road up to Missouri Flats before turning back to Rescue. In Rescue we stopped for water about 10 or 15 minutes ahead of the others and Lisa and I decided a ham sandwich at the local pub sounded good - and it was :)

Recharged we headed up on Deer Valley and Malcolm Dixon before the run back on Green valley over to the Folsom Dam Crossing and Folsom Auburn Road. Ron Ryan and Lisa got caught by the light on Green valley and lost contact with the other and made our own way back to the start point. We then retraced our step back to Roseville just as the wind started to pick up.

So we ended up with 75 miles and about 5200ft of climbing.

For other pictures of the peloton group on the ride... check out the post:
http://cyclefolsompeloton.blogspot.com/

cheers
R & L

Folsom Lake Loop

I will make this report short and only post a few pictures - since the ride is also reported on the Cycle Folson Peloton blog:
http://cyclefolsompeloton.blogspot.com/2010/04/folsom-lake-loop-first-goal-ride-of.html

A big group of 26 riders headed up up Auburn Folsom to the Dam crossing and over to Salmon Falls Road... Just before Salmon falls a few of us were caught out by a couple of traffic lights and hence lost the group till the top of the first real climb ( Zee Estates).

After that we did our pace and I hung with Ryan and made good time over the climbs and down to the confluence - It seems that we actually passed the main group which made a water stop at the Pilot Hill Market ( since we passed behind the market and on to Cool without stopping) . At the bottom - the confluence Ryan and I turned Left up to cool - made our water stop at the first gas station we met and then headed to Folsom. We had and average of 13.5mph after all the climbs but recovered this to almost 15mph by Karen's bakery. A couple of the group coauhgt us at Douglas Blvd. and we pacelined into Folsom. Most of the rest of the group came in 5 - 10 minutes later.

Thanks for the company Ryan! - we did well to keep the rest of the Peloton behind us as long as we did :)

Lisa had a windy and cold /overcast day at the Cinderella Classic and when i get some pictures I will post more on that ride :)

On Sunday we drove the Davis Double (200 mile Route) at a slow pace ( in the rainy weather) and we had 3 gps systems going in order to record the route and give us gradient information for our planning of the ride on May 15. We have a good idea of what we are up against and are now able to plan our our effort, our stops and refueling points. Gonna be a beautiful ride though - 80% of it is on rural or wilderness roads - lovely!

Have a great week!

Valley Spokesmen: Cinderella Classic

Well team vanHuuHaa is splitting its efforts this weekend...

Lisa and Lauren going to the Cinderella Classic in the Danville/Livermore area.

The Cinderella Classic hosted by the Valley Spokesmen ( http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinderella_classic.php) is a 100-kilometer (65-mile) bicycle tour for women of all ages that winds through Amador, Livermore, Diablo, and San Ramon Valleys. It is mostly flat with a few moderate hills. From the start at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, the Cinderella Classic circles through town, out through the vineyards of Livermore, then north and along the base of beautiful Mt. Diablo to Danville, where it turns south and winds back to the Fairgrounds.

Charming Princes will be at three rest/food stops along the way, with a cold lunch at the second. Our SAG service patrols the entire route to provide rider assistance if required. A Cinderella Classic ride patch is awarded to every rider.

As Lauren's first big organized ride - I am sending best wishes, great weather and a tail wind for the whole course(!) and of course many charming princes :)

I will be joining the Cycle Folsom Peloton for a circumnavigation of Folsom Lake - taking in Salmon Falls Road, the town of Cool, the drop into and the climb out of the confluence and the run back to Folsom on Auburn Folsom Road ( 47 miles and 4000')

Have a great weekend what ever you do!

Chasing Legends - The Movie May 15/16 in Sac!

Hi Folks...
Just a heads-up on the premier of the movie: Chasing Legends - which follows the HTC-Columbia Team with George Hincapi and Mark Cavendish et al. through the 2009 Tour de France.

It opens at the Crest Theatre on May 15th (same day as the Davis Double ) -also happens to be the night before the Amgen Tour of California 1st Stage.
It plays again on the 16th at the Crest before moving on....

Check out the links:

Info here: http://chasinglegends.com/
Synopsis: http://chasinglegends.com/press/synopsis.html

Cheers!