Team-vanHuu-Haa

Some more Wedding Pictures

2011-04-10T13:05:00.001-07:00

A few more pictures of the Wedding :)

Introducing Mr and Mrs vH-H (!)

2011-04-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

Well, after a few weeks of rainy, miserable weather, the gods chose to shine on our wedding day (and the rest of the honeymoon) with absolutely gorgeous weather in the mid 70's.

The ceremony was held at the Swedenborgian Church in Pacific Heights San Francisco on March 30 at 11:00am. The church was nicely lit by candles and the natural light streaming in the windows. Surrounded by close family we said our vows, shared a unity candle ceremony with our 5 children and were pronounced husband and wife.

Our thanks to Reverend Moss, Charles Calhoun on Organ and Valentyna Hohl our host for everything going perfectly.

There was one small issue before the ceremony when Ron notied that eh had forgotten his shoes, and only had running shoes to wear...Jason came to the rescue and swapped shoes with Ron... Thanks Jason!

We then shared some wonderful food in the parish house. We took the rolls royce down to the Palace of Fine Arts and eventualy to Chrissy Field for photograph taken by Jere Visalli see just a sampling attached.

Thanks to our wonderful kids for all the help, thanks to our families for making the trip and celebrating with us, and especially to Lisa's sister Christine for all the work on the beautiful dress.

We had the pleasure of spending our wedding night on the 48th floor of the Mandarin Oriental with stunning views of the San Francisco, the 3 bridges and Much of the bay. We were blessed with beautifully clear waether making for a wonderful sunset and sunrise.

The honeymoon included a trip up the cost to Mendocino, a bike ride and party in Napa Valley and a couple of days in Big Sur... but that will be the subject of another post ( including some pictures).

~~Mr and Mrs ~~

Wedding Shower

2011-03-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I were treated on Saturday to a wedding shower hosted by Tessie Oandasan and Sara Fitzpatrick. Lots of Lisa's colleagues were there and as you can see below lots of wonderful food.

There was even more food in the kitchen area as well...If you left hungry it was your own fault!

The 'piece de resistance' of the food table was certainly the "Team vanHuuHaa" cupcake tower - complete with racers on bikes. How neat is that? :)

We also got a marvelous gift certificate to a local Glass blower in Sacramento (girlglass.com) so we can commission a custom made piece to go on the empty pedestal in our living room. As well as a few lovely bottles of wine :)

A big ~THANK YOU~ to Tessie, Sara and all the others who helped and came to wish us well!!
This has certainly made the wedding much more real for both of us.

Ron and Lisa

In the Saddle Again! finally

2011-03-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

Well after a rather protracted convalescence to allow my wrist to mostly heal after the crash in Park City Utah in September... and many X-rays, Fluoroscope scans and an MRI.. it seems the wrist is healing - albeit slowly. On top of all that, with the wedding planning, Lisa's Doctorate program and business at work we have not been on the bike for months...

Saturday was a gorgeous day upper 60's and Lisa and I got on the bikes to jump-start a couple of weeks of training to ensure that we are able to participate in the Wedding Celebration Rolling party on April 2.

We took off from Roseville and headed up Fiddyment and out Sunset looping through the flat lands of the Sacramento Valley and Lincoln and back into Roseville. So there was no climbing - only steady spinning base miles.

After the recent rains there was lots of standing water in the rice fields and that attracted HUGE numbers of birds which would take flight as we passed making for quite a spectacle - but also making us a bit concerned about possible "bombardment" :)

We did a loop of about 36 miles averaging 16.2mph and were feeling the months of inactivity by the end of the ride - but it was great to get out and enjoy a beautiful day...

Hope where ever you were, you had a wonderful day as well

Ron and Lisa

Sparkling Wine on a Sparkling Day

2011-02-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

So we needed to choose some bubbly for the wedding....We asked our Professor at the recent Sensory Evaluation of Wine course for a recommendation and so we found ourselves at Domaine Carneros near Napa on Sunday ( the day before Valentines Day') - yes its a rough life...

Domaine Carneros looks like a French Chateau with sweeping stairs leading to the large patio in front of the "chateau". The Patio is setup with tables and chairs overlooking the vineyards where you can taste the sparkling and red wines and enjoy some cheeses..

We order a flight of sparkling wines ( the Brut(dry), Rose ( a little fruity but dry), and the Demi-sec
We also bought a glass of the top of the line Le Reve ( yummy!). Ben was our sommelier and he was a fountain of knowledge and he brought us another Rose and eventually 3 Pinot Noir Reds to try. We also ordered a cheese platter with some excellent local cheeses.

So we sat and enjoyed a gorgeous day, with great champagne and lots of information which eventually allowed us to choose the Rose for the wedding. We also bought 3 magnums of the Carneros Estate Pinot Nior red - which we enjoyed on Valentines day - awesome :)

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's day and that is well where you are

Ron and Lisa

Ah... The Joys of Wine

2011-02-17T08:47:00.000-08:00

Lisa signed us up for a very fun and informative course at UC Davis called - The Sensory Evaluation of Wine.

This was a 2 day course that gave us an in depth introduction to color, aroma and taste of wine - both white and reds. We got to test wine defects ( taste and smell) as well as practice to pick out the smells and relate what we smell to a name for it using the Aroma Wheel.

We had some very well known professors lecturing and got a chance to taste a huge number of different wines, from all over the world. We had the chance to try classic styles of wine and to catalog the traits... We also had some very nice lunches and some aperitifs and Port.

Strangely after tasting wines for 16 hours my guess is that I actually drank only maybe 3 or 4 thimbles full the whole time... a lot of taste and spit going on

Our enjoying of wine will never be the same LOL

Yes its been a while since we blogged...sorry:)

2011-02-17T08:39:00.001-08:00

So it has been a very busy time... organizing the wedding, tastings, guest lists, venues etc etc etc.

To top it all off, my wrist - which I damaged back in September in Park City Utah... was very stubborn about healing...eventually I had to stop cycling and we decided ( very reluctantly) to cancel our trip to the Vuelta de Puerto Rico. ( very sad)

Anyways I went to the Orthopedic surgeon yesterday and reviewed the X-rays, the MRIs, was poked and prodded and asked if this or that hurt ( none of it did) and finally we went to the fluoroscope to see the bones in my wrist in real time while I made a fist - very cool!

In the end he decided that what ever little anomalies he saw in my bone positions what the same on my other wrist and since it seems to be healing (albeit very slowly) I should keep doing what I have been doing and see him in 2 months...

So the good news is NO SURGERY ( yeah!)

We did do a 20 mile ride on Sunday and the wrist felt about 95% but BOY are we out of shape... we better get training again before the rolling bike ride we will have before our reception :)

Hope everyone is well

Ron and Lisa

The Rings

2010-11-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

Well Ron's ring has been chosen and purchased and now the rings are comfortably sitting side by side in their case waiting the special day on March 30

:)

R & L

Dillon Beach Ride with Team Donate Life

2010-11-20T08:35:00.001-08:00

A beautiful day... 100 miles and 8000' of climbing through the coastal mountains and sonoma wine valley... what's not to like?

We stayed at the Flamingo resort - complete with neon pink 100 foot high sign... and met a bunch of the Team Donate Life Race Across America (RAAM) riders for some beautiful pain :). I was 2.5 weeks into being back on the bike after the crash and vacation - with most of my riding on the trainer in the garage so I was a bit apprehensive.

As expected my climbing pace was not up to the pace of the leaders but I felt pretty good. The colors were showing and we had cool but perfect weather for riding. The route took us from Santa Rosa over into Glen Ellen and back ( about 3500 feet of climbing and then on rolling hills to the coast and Dillon Beach / Tamales - where we were greeted with a bit of mist and lunch). At the 50 mile mark my wrist was screaming "ENOUGH" so I joined Rachel in the sag wagon and took pictures.

The big climb of the day was the ironically named Joy Road up to Occidental - A 3 stage monster with sustained climbs totaling about 4.5 miles of 14 - 18% ( I admit to being glad I was in the car following the riders!)

All in all a fantastic ride with a fantastically fit and friendly bunch... Thanks for the invite TDL!
And everyone if you need a cause to get behind consider TDL in their RAAM challenge for this year!

Keep the rubber side down!! ... really:)

Mount Diablo - climb and a half

2010-11-09T08:13:00.000-08:00

October 31 - members of the Cycle Folsom Peloton and Performance groups tackled the ascent of Mount Diablo. Starting from Walnut Creek, we warmed up for 5 or 6 miles on the city streets and bike trails and then started up NorthGate. The weather was perfect with almost no wind and a temperatures in the 60's making the hard work of climbing 3900' in 11 or so miles much more comfortable.

After a number of weeks off the bike after the crash in Park City Utah - and the vacation in Canada I had a week or two of spin class and trainer riding in the garage under my belt - but no where near the fitness required to keep up with the rest of the group. But I kept the heart rate under my thresholds and made the top to the encouragement of the group.
The descent down Southgate was fun but a bit painful due to the strained ligaments in my left wrists - even with the brace so I took it easy.

One strange sight was tthe tarantuals on the road... really! Also we got stared down by a coyote.

We then pacelined out on Blackhawk Road for a few miles and returned to climb Southgate to the junction and then down Northgate back to the cars

We re-fueled at Chipotle afterwards with burritoes, tacos etc

All in all a great day, great ride with a great bunch of riders

Going No where - Fast

2010-10-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Well the weather is changing and we are seeing the first rains in Northern California. At the same time the days are getting a lot shorter and we are needing lights on the bike by about 6pm...

So that means it time to move our spinning indoors - at least on week nights etc. We have thus set up our trainers in the garage - side by side and have set up a TV, with computer, DVD player, fans and boom box in order to get our hours and training in.

We are now about 90 days from our current goal - the Vuelta Puerto Rico where we hope to be able to hand with the 18mph peloton over the 3 days, 375 miles and 12,000 ft of climbing. So we are buckling down to some dedicated training of about 150 miles per week which means about 2 hrs a day 5 days a week. Given that much of that will be on the trainer we have gotten some training videos to keep things interesting... currently we are using some Suffer Fest videos from www.thesufferfest.com and some training tours in Italy from Global Ride...

:) cheers

Fall Colors in Canada

2010-10-18T14:51:00.002-07:00

Lisa and I just returned from a nice whirlwind tour of Ontario and Quebec, to see Ron's Family and the fall colors.

We flew into Buffalo and drove across the border and then spent a day in Niagara Falls, Ontario. While the falls were lovely as well as the park nearby - the Vegas-style glitz with the casino, wax museums etc were a little hard to stomach. We took some pictures at night and then during the day (unfortunately in the rain)

We then drove through the Niagara-On-The-Lake wine region to Missisauga and had a lovely dinner with Ron's brother Mitch and his wife Jan (thanks guys:) and then headed over to the other side of Toronto to overnight at Ron's Sister's ( thanks Paula:).

We spent the next day in Toronto catching the Terracotta Warriors at the Royal Ontario Museum and then wandering around downtown Toronto. After a nice dinner that Paula made - we drove to Peterborough and spent the next couple of days with Ron's Mom and also visited her cottage north of Peterborough.

Then we made the long drive (10 hrs) to Quebec City - we got stuck in horrible traffic in Montreal and we noted that quite possibly all of Canada's manufacturing capacity is geared to the production of traffic cones!... there were cones everywhere by the thousands!! We did catch a small orchard on Lake ontario and bought some Spartan Apples (If you've not had them - you are missing a wonderful apple:)

We grabbed some wine, cheese, sausage and crackers in Quebec City and had a nice dinner in. The following day was raining but that meant no tourists and we had the run of the very lovely old town as well as the Citadel Fort. We found a farmer's market and purchased some delicious raspberry brandy and some rasberry and maple port...yummmm

We then drove along the Gatineau hills to Ottawa - lovely colors! and spent a nice day and a half in Ottawa. We definitely did not have enough time in Ottawa with old buildings, the museums etc... but we were on a timetable and we drove back to Peterborough for the evening. The next day we headed to Toronto to Ron's sister's for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner (we brought a nice California Fetzer wine :)

We then headed back to Niagara falls for a final night and the next day we drove down the Niagara River to the Whirlpool and then explored the US side of the falls - which we liked a lot better for it park-like setting, close access to the falls and much fewer tourists.

After a nice lunch at cheescake factory, we headed to the airport for the flight home, which involved a late(midnight) arrival and a bit of a wait for the supershuttle...

All in all a great vacation

R & L

Oh! Canada

2010-10-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

So Last years traveling adventure was Vienna to Prague... this year its back to Ron's roots with a 10 day trip to Canada.

We start in niagara falls, then up through Toronto to see Ron's Brother and Sister and families. after a short stay its on to Peterborough Ontario and hopefully a day at the cottage out side of Buckhorn.

From there we drive for a few days in Old Quebec City and return to Peterborough via Montreal, Kingston and Ottawa.

We will celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with Ron's Sister and family in Toronto before returning for a last night in Niagara Falls.

All of the recent hurricanes ( one of them named Lisa as it turns out :) and tropical depressions are giving lots of rain to the east coast so we may be in for a soggy holiday. We will also have top se how we can maintain our bike training in gyms and with maybe the odd rental of a bike here and there.

Hope Fall is lovely where you are

Ron and Lisa

Recap of Park City UT Training Camp

2010-10-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I went up to Park City UT for an awesome training camp with 20-30 folks associated with Team Donate Life. The camp was supported by Max Testa, Mike Brown and who have some great pro riding credentials.

The camp started with Lactate Threshold testing on Thursday Oct 15. Lisa did a new test as a follow up to her test at Athleticamps in late May. The encouraging results were that Lisa's power had increased by about 20% from 2.8 W/kg to 3.5W/Kg(!) normalized to sea level.. This is impressive and explains why I am always watching her disappear up the hills.

The Fall colors were happening and the roads and hills around Park City were gorgeous which made for some stellar riding and climbing. We had some easier days and then some hard climbs with grades up to 16% ( all at 6500+ feet elevation) Also on tap was a 12 mi time trial and sprint races.

The whole camp is geared toward goal setting and intelligent training based on your current fitness, LT zones and goals and in this some wonderful one on one with Max Testa and Mike Brown was indispensable. We returned on Sunday after a great long weekend. For Many is was also an opportunity to hear more about Race Across America and start training for a place on a RAAM team next summer

Unfortunately for me on day 2 while descending on some wonderful new pavement I discovered that the pavers had raised the road surface 4" but failed to raise the manhole covers with the pavement... I went down hard and fast ( about 35mph) which resulted in a trip to emergency, lots of road rash and a large investment in bandages and antibiotic ointment etc at the local Rite Aid. The bike did OK but needed new DuraAce shifters, New carbon bars, bartape and wheels re-trued.

All is pretty well mended and repaired and I managed to get some nice photos from the Sag vehicles on the remaining days and still participate in the lectures and other activities.

Thanks to Jared Ellison and every one that made this a great Camp!

Best regards

Ron and Lisa

A Couple of New Rides

2010-09-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

Now that we are comfortably in our new place in Roseville - we need to discover some new bike routes that are convenient to the new area. With this in mind, we set off on two separate new rides...

Loop Around Sac International Airport...
This route takes us on mostly lightly traveled roads including the E. Levee Road, Garden highway, PowerLine Rd and parts of Elkhorn near the Airport. Baseline Rd is busier but has a decent shoulder for most of the ride.

The ride took us out in to the levee and wetland areas as well as into the rice fields ( who knew Sacramento- with no rain for months and months could grow so much rice!) The area is a great place to watch Great blue Herons, White Herons and egrets as well as Jack rabbits etc etc.

Unfortunately one section of the Garden Highway is horrible for bikes so we will have to adjust the route to not go north of Elverta Rd...now we know what it is like to ride the cobbles in France!

Then we tried a route that takes us from Roseville into Rocklin on Park Drive. the route serves up some nice 1+ mile long climb ( up to 10%) in the counterclockwise direction, and a very steep climb ( less than a mile) with gradients up to 16% int he clockwise direction... see the route profile attached. good preparation for the Vuelta in January in Puerto Rico

Hope you are out riding as well enjoying the cooler weather

Ron and Lisa

Recording Album 3 at Expression in San Fran

2010-08-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

Just sitting in the Alan Parsons Studio at Ex'pression College recording Too Much Fiction's third album.

We have most of the basic backing tracks recorded and are recording the vocals and bass. And hopefully we will get some of the guitar solos and overdubs done.

Album 2 was mastered last week and should be out in the next few weeks.. also available at http://www.toomuchfiction.com/

Rock on!

:)

The big Move Weekend - and a trip to Napa

2010-08-23T07:49:00.001-07:00

So this was the big move weekend.

Jason and I loaded the truck on Friday evening at my place ( jason tripped while dragging the fridge and hurt his ankle) but otherwise all went smoothly. On Saturday morning, Dan and Neil from Reliable Movin helped us to drag Lisa's really heavy f urniture down the three flights of stairs from her appartment. Thanks goodness for their help! Unloading was prettty smooth and painless ( the advantage of a single storey house:)

We did a bunch of organizing and setting up of beds on Saturday evening and Sunday morning... and then decided that we had had enough of moving... so we packed up the bikes and headed to Napa.

We had fabulous weather - topping out at about 80F as we rode up the Silverado trail up to Yountville and then to St Helena.

Along the way we kept our eye out for possible wedding reception venues - and we check out the Silverado resort, the Harvest Inn and a few others. Lovely views and lots of beautiful wineries.

The Tour of Napa Valley event was going on so we saw lots of riders heading the other way on Silverado Trail

We drove back past Lake Berryessa, and through Winters to avoid any big traffic jams associated with the Indy races at Infineon Raceway.

Attached area few pictures of the Napa ride... house pictures to follow once we get some semblance of organization to the chaos :)

Have a great week

Mount Diablo Climb

2010-08-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

Busy times with moving and all so not that much time to write and advise on our latest rides but let me at least catch up on the climb of Mount Diablo in Alamo/ Danville CA.

Lisa and I did the climb on Aug 7th with a 9:30 am start and beautiful weather - not windy, not too warm.

Mt Diabolo climb about to 3849 ft in about 11.5 miles with a brief respite a few miles in through the Rock City area. This works out to an average of about 6%. This actually makes it a climb worthy of the Tour de France. By comparison a few of the legendary climbs in the tour are:

Col de Tourmalet (east) - ~4100' in 10.7 miles
Port de Bales ~3990' in 12 miles
Col de la Colombiere ~3750' in 10.5 miles
etc

Of course we were not racing - nor did we do Mt D after 100 miles or racing :) but we like to think of it as a significant climb.

We started with 5 or 6 miles of flat riding or gently climbing 1% or so to warm up and then we started the main climb. We purposely controlled out tempo to keep our heart rates below our Lactate Threshold (166-8 bpm for both of us) Lisa has been riding more than I so her heart rate was consistently about 10 bpm less than mine - but I only went over my Threshold on the last 200meter climb ( which exceeds 15 or 16%)

The climbs were busy with lots of folks testing themselves on road and mountain bikes. There was also a Vespa club that scaled the mountain on their scooters.. dressed in leathers. It was hard not to smile and imagine them congratulating each other when they reached the top:)

We did not stop at the Junction but rolled right on through reaching the top in about 1:45 with out a break and feeling pretty good.

The trip down with 11.5 miles of downhill was fun as usual.

We are thinking of organizing a group ride up Mt D in the fall for our cycling friends interested in the challenge... stay tuned:)

Regards

R & L

Vuelta Puerto Rico Revisited

2010-08-02T14:16:00.001-07:00

Lisa just received the photographs made by Kip Pierson ( http://www.kippiersonphotography.com/) during the 2010 Vuelta.

These shots - unlike the ones I took give some outsider's unique viewpoints...

We are registered to do it again at the end of January 2011 ( and hope to be in better condition for the climbs and the pace so that we can hang with the 18 mph avg group on all three days this time :)

Enjoy the pictures

Where in the World is Wilton Loop

2010-07-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

My apologies but this post is long overdue as well ( moving, wedding planning... yada yada :)

Anyways on 7-17 Cycle Folsom - resplendent in the new kit left Karen's bakery on a search for Wilton. The Peloton and Performance groups were together on the ride and we had a few new comers (Meagan and Ashton - I hope I spelled that right?) The ride took us out Sibley and Scott Rd. Then Latrobe and Dillard into Wilton.

Graham's son - with his new driver's license was a blessing with water for all at the Gas station at Wilton Rd and Grantline Rd. The ride soon split into a couple of groups each choosing their own Pace. Dan was along and was doing a fantastic job coaching and cheering on the slower riders. It was good to see you Dan!

After the Waterstop... the pace kicked up on Grantline and over to the South Folsom canal for an average of over 22mph for the return leg. Dan leg the group in pacelining practice and the odd sprint attack. The ride ended with a nice 15-18 pace back to Karen's bakery on the trail.

Although the day was hot we were lucky with a bit of an early breeze and completion o f the ride back before the heat really settled in.

Callison Road loop including Indian Hill and Shirland tract this coming Saturday.. 7:30 start time at Karen's.

keep on spinnin'

Got our new House!

2010-07-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delays in blogging... we have been riding but also caught up in wedding planning, venue hunting, house packing and getting Lisa's daughter's chihuahua's all ready for their journey up to Alaska

But on Friday we picked up the keys to the 3 bedroom+ Den, 3 bath home in the West Roseville area that we are renting for the next few years while we save for a home.

We brought over a few few personal items, set up a bathroom and the wine rack(!) and put down some runners to protect the floors while we move in.

Moving will be a slow drawn out affair with some moving happening the weekend of the 7th Aug and most of it on the 21st.

We are excited to set up a new home together and Lisa is looking forward to getting her green thumb in action :)

House warming plans to be announced when we are settled :)

Official Teaming Announcement

2010-06-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

A few days back I mentioned that new links were being forged within the vanHuuhaa team... well here is the official teaming announcement including the ring.
Still no details worked out on the exact date of the wedding but we are aiming for between March 30 and may 21 2011 somewhere in California.
Warm regards

Ron and Lisa

The Sag Gag

2010-06-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

So with some of the Cycle Folsom team diligently training for the Death Ride (a grueling 129mi 16000+ ft climbing event in the Mountains near Lake Tahoe), 4 of the Cycle Folsom Ride leaders secretly conspired to provide surprise SAG support and encouragement to the training riders... Lisa, Stan Kevin and Ron, after a few weeks of quiet preparation set out at 6:30 am from Folsom to Markleeville - via Placerville.

Ron's Jetta Sportwagon was loaded up with 4 bikes and was sporting the nice magnetic "Official Cycle Folsom SAG Vehicle" signs. Lisa had loaded up on every snack, fruit, energy bar, protiens, sandwich ingredients that any rider could possibly want together with 10 galons of water, a foldow table and lawn chairs.

At Picketts Junction we began by chalking the shoulder with Cycle Folsom Signs, Arrows and a few messages... Stan had created some nice inspirational signs including ones Like - "Go kick that mountain's ass!" and "You have Friends in High Places" - indicating the Food Oasis that we set up at the top of Ebbetts Pass.

Half way up Ebbetts Pass, Lisa decided to give it a go as well and managed a very impressive speed up the last 5.1 miles of the climbs.... followed by a fun descent back to Markleeville with Phil and Jeff.

All riders were surprised - and I believe very grateful for the bopunty set out at the top of the long climbs - Lisa had stocked us so well that we had plenty for any and all riders that showed up at the Top of Ebbetts so we got to meet a lot of others training for the Death Ride as well...

Lots more pictures of the Sag Gag at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/starcaster/9262010SagGag#

All in all a very fun fun day - And now we give a shout out to the team to crush the Death Ride in a couple of weeks!

We now Have The Official Sag Vehicle Signs so doont' be surprised to see us somewhere else :)

Have fun!

New Links being forged in Team vanHuu-Haa

2010-06-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends:

I would like to make the ecstatic announcement that after some careful consideration, my sweetheart, Lisa decided to accept my proposal of marriage and hence the links in the team will become stronger than ever :)

We celebrated the moment with a bottle of white Chateau Valtice Neuburske from the Moravia region of the Czech republic - which we brought back after our Vienna to Prague adventure. The wine was shared in some lovely Waterford Crystal Lismore Essence glasses I got for the occasion.

A LARGE crystal 'diamond' was offered as a temporary stand-in till rings could be chosen. We have not thought much about wedding dates or honeymoon plans etc etc but I do expect there may be a bike ride involved :)

Thanks to all our friends that have given us both their love and friendship...
we send our love and joy in return...

more details to follow

Ron

Lactate Threshold Testing at AthletiCamps

2010-06-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Its been 8 or 9 months of fairly hard riding, with the Vuelta Puerto Rico, 3 Double Centuries, a handful of Centuries and some challenging rides with Cycle Folsom - and yet Lisa and I felt that we were not improving, not getting faster or stronger...So Lisa searched for a place to get some coaching and training advice and maybe take a step back and restart.

As a result of her search Lisa discovered that we in Sacramento are lucky to have AthletiCamps right in Folsom beside Folsom Bike
7610 Folsom-Auburn Rd. Ste. 130 Folsom, CA. 95630
Check them out at http://www.athleticamps.com/ AthleticCamps does Testing, Bike Fitting, Training Camps as well as is associated with Nutrition experts and more.

AthletiCamps has been around for 9 years but only opened the Folsom Office last Fall. Bruce Hendler - the owner and coach is a fountain of information and infectious enthusiasm and so far he has us pumped to work on this, lose some weight, lower our body fat % and hopefully see the results in stronger, faster performance and better recovery.

On Memorial Day Lisa went in for a Lactate Threshold Test and based on the results of the test Bruce designed a training regimen for her. After watching and listening to the analysis I decided to do get the package as well... which I did Sat June 5. The test is done on your own bike on a Computrainer and generally starts with a 20 min warm-up, followed but 3 min intervals of progressively higher power (resistance) at a maintained cadence of 95rpm, while Bruce samples a drop of blood from your earlobe to measure the Lactate (painless).
For me the tests were done at 100w, 130w, 160w, 190w, 210w, 240w, & 270w. Based on the heart rate measured and the lactate Bruce can determine your three training zones and your lactate threshold.

So the result is that we have found out that we have been training at too high a heart rate and that explains our lack of weight loss (since fat burns most effectively in the low and medium intensity zones) and also our training has not concentrated properly on base and endurance training (low intensity zone) and strength training using Slow Frequency Revolutions - basically hill climbing at about 45 revolutions while keeping the heart rate below 145 bpm.

Anyways... Tomorrow Lisa and I are off on a "rubber legs" ride - cycling in our lower zone at 95 rpm with no coasting and maintaining heart rate even on the down hills... should be an adventure
:)

Davis Double - DONE! - Triple Crown Winners

2010-05-18T11:45:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay on this...been kind of busy

Well we lucked out with the weather! 57F as we set out on the 200 mi ride and a high of about 90F by the last climb at mile 136. Compare that to the 105F temperatures of last year and we were lucky!

We had the company at the start of Phil and Jeff from Cycle Folsom and we started off at about 5:30am - just as the horizon was starting to lighten. We were in a good sized paceline for about 15 miles but as the pace started to climb to 22-24mph Lisa and I decided that we would dole out our effort at a slightly slower pace. We saw Phil and Jeff at the first stop ( about 23mi) and left before they did... and never saw them again - since they must have passed up on one rest stop and went on ahead. We saw them the next day at the Tour of California Stage 1 and they indicated they completed the ride in 13 hours - Well Done!

We made good time averaging 18+ on the flats and Lisa was nice enough to wait for me at the top of the climbs :). After a stop at that base of the 7 mi climb to Cobb we headed up the biggest climb of the day- the grade was mostly in the 8-10% but a few sections of 14% grade and the rising heat made me drop off the pace and come in to the rest stop a mile from the top a handful of minutes behind Lisa. Lisa had an advantage over me though since she had her sumo wrestler thumb puppets to take her mind off the steepness, and heat :) ...Lisa was waiting with a coke for me :)

The next two climbs were not bad but the temperatures were climbing and Lisa struggled to take in food. As well as we started south after mile 145 we had a bit of a headwind but luckily it was flat of slightly downhill for most of the remaining 50 miles. Since we were out of the climbs and back in my element ( the flats:) I did a fair bit of the pulling as Lisa was beginning to feel the lack of fuel.

We took a few extra minutes at the 2nd and 3rd last stops and but rode by the final stop (only 7 miles from the end). We ended up in the dark by the time we finished but were pleasantly surprised at our on bike times - about 13hr for Lisa and 13:15 for me (due to the slower climbs) giving us an average over the 203 miles of about 15.6mph - an improvement over the Solvang Double and Camino Real...

Now I think we will give the double centuries a rest and do a few of the other things that we have been neglecting as we trained to do the 3 doubles :)

Regards

Ron and Lisa

Fund Raiser for Conner Ellison's RAAM ride

2010-05-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday May 8th A number of Cycle Folsom Riders rode a version of the French town Loop from Folsome to EDH to Shingle Springs and back via Deer valley Road. The ride was organized by By Conner and his Family and Friends for Team Donate Life and Conner's planned Race Across America Ride coming up this summer.

Conner is an amazing athlete already at 12 years old with a Liver disease and a mission to spread the word about organ donation and the motto for the ride was "Are you stronger than a 6th Grader !?"

For more information check out:
www.teamdonatelife.com/6thgrader/6th_grader.asp

I unfortunatley was not feeling very strong and had to really buckle down to finsh the ride. Lisa was fortunately riding strongly with Kevin but that left me watching them dissapear up the road and plodding on on my own for maybe 66% of the ride..

Anyways a great Cause and a fun Ride...

GO CONNER!!

Caption contest

2010-05-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

Phil and I were supposed to lead the Biking 101 Beginner's Ride on Sunday but did not have any takers so we rode the Lake loop together with a few other friends :)

So far these are the suggested captions for the picture from the Cycle Folsom Crew...Steve W as usual snowed us under with suggestions till we gave up :)

Enjoy - feel free to add a caption in the comment section !

Caption Suggestions:

ON YOUR LEFT!!!
The LAST time Phil gets to set up the paceline...
BIKING 101 rider getting “pipped” at the line by two geese
Beak Quiet!!
Blowing by a couple of old Geesers.
Honkies on the right!
Pardon me, I think someone in your pace line is losing chunks of rubber off their tires; it’s all over the path back there.
South? No, this path heads east.
Pardon me: do you have any Grey Poupon…for my foie gras?
BIKING 101 rider getting “pipped” at the line by two geese
Yes, we do own the road, human!
Biking 101 imprinting – ducks out of water.
Goose Up!
"Hey Phil, is that Lance Armstrong riding on the other side of the bike trail? I told you we should have taken that route instead!"
Damn Canadians!
SINGLE FILE EVERYONE...GEEZE!
OK you beginners ... first thing is you are gonna need bikes!"

Ron

Tour de Cure - Perfect Weather!!!

2010-05-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

The event was a fund raiser for the American Diabetes Association and by the look of it there were over 300 participants so a good success.

Along with 7 other Cycle Folsom Riders and a couple of other we headed out from HP Roseville about 15 min after the first pack. A nice paceline formed and we ramped up the speed over the first 20 miles to about 19mph. After the first rest stop, the climbing began and a few of us decided that, given that we have been on the bike only once or twice in four weeks, we would not be keeping up with the faster Cycle Folsom team mates.

Tour De Cure organizers set up a very lovely route, on mostly rural roads with very little traffic and fantastic scenery. The ride had an early 2 climbs shorter climbs in the 8% range to take us to Far West reservoir. Then after the second rest stop, followed by some steeper climbs ( up to 15%) of Crater and Bald Hill for over 25 miles as we neared Applegate.

Most of the final 35 miles were down hill or flat thought Bowman Road hit us with some 12+ % climbing to keep us humble.

Our lack of riding over the past couple of weeks showed as we faded a little on the flat run in to Rosevill and missed the 6 hr goal by 9 minutes but with an on bike average of 16.25mph for the ride.

Post ride we enjoyed some burritos from Chipotle to help recover...now we turn our sights to the Davis Double in 2 weeks time...

Better get some miles in before then!

Ron and Lisa

A few fun rides this weekend

2010-04-26T07:00:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-13T06:55:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

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!

Solvang Double Century done!!

2010-03-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

This is an updated post with pictures to replace the blackberry post I put up right after the event.

On Sat 3/27/2010 Lisa and I tackled the Planet Ultra Solvang Double Century (200 miles)... which took us from Buellton through Solvang, up to Morro Bay and back again. Along the way we climbed beautiful Foxen Canyon (in the early morning) and Drum Canyon (in the early evening).

We took off at 5:10am and rode through the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. Temperature was about 45F to start, so we had cold feet by the time we made it to the first rest stop at mile 41.

Once the sun rose, the temperatures started to climb (into the low 70's eventually) but so so did the wind. The wind started as a bit of a tail wind into Morro Bay, but then became a stronger headwind in to San Luis Obispo - and eventually a tail wind into Los Alamos.

At the final rest stop (177mi) in Los Alamos they served hot cup-a-soup... yum! just what we needed before Drum Canyon.

We were lucky to make it over the 3+ mile Drum Canyon Climb during daylight hours - since the descent is very steep, and twisting with terrible pavement- we only turned the lights on a couple of miles out from the finish line.

So the final numbers:

12hr 20min on the bike.
14hr 27min total time
Average speed 15.6 mph
~7500' climbing
So we bettered the on-bike
time of our first double by
1 hour and 10 min..
We reduced the overall time
by 40 min.

On Sunday we drove back up though Morrow Bay State Park and took a couple of pictures of the flowers - nature in all its glory!

Hope you had a great weekend too!

R & L

Countdown to Solvang Double

2010-03-23T10:23:00.001-07:00

Well we have 4 days till Lisa and I tackle the second of our goal of 3 double centuries this season - the Solvang Double Century - from Solvang to Morro Bay Ca, passing through Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach etc. At this time of year we will be blessed with lots of wildflowers ( especially the California poppies) and lush greenery, and nice mild temperatures.

Weather forecasts suggest we will start at 47F and hit a high around 67F with NNW winds at 10 - 12mph ( a blessing as we head home southward along the coast).

The route will hurt at either end with some long 10-20 mile climbs including Drum Canyon at about mi 170 with grades that Topo suggests may be up to 20%. We will try to make it over Drum canyon in the light since the road is poor and very curvy and steep descending...it will be good to have the supper bright mountain biking headlights for that section.

The bikes are in at the bike shop getting tuned up and we are collecting all of our supplies so we look good to go.

We will let you know how it goes:)

R & L

Folsom-Rescue-Cameron Park Loop

2010-03-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

Ah! the first day of spring... time for some biking in the hills around Folsom!

With that goal in mind, we rode from Roseville down to Folsom to join the Cycle Folsom Peleton and Performance groups for a 40+ mile ride up into the Rescue/Cameron Park/ El Dorado Hills area. The Performance group joined us for the warm-up over the Folsom Dam Crossing and then split off to tackle their own ride.

I took off 10 minutes in front of the main peloton in order to try to catch some frontal photos of the group passing (instead of the usual shots from behind)... as a result I had some chasing to do:)

I also did not take Deer Valley Road but instead climbed Green Valley to Rescue - which shaved 1.6 miles off my route so I could get ahead of the peloton for some more shots.

One of the group, Danny, was sharing his wealth of knowledge on training and climbing with the group as well as cruising back and forth up the paceline encouraging everyone. The ride included a spirited climb up to Beal's Point as well before the return to Folsom.

We also managed to drop in on Folsom Bike shop (a nice new shop at Auburn Folsom Rd and the Folsom Dam Crossing) and they took a look at Lisa's derailleurs, which had been causing trouble on the hills for the last few rides. Since she still had the mountain bike rear derailleur it was decided that now was the time to put the standard DuraAce road one back on. On Sunday we brought the bikes back in for a full tune-up overhaul in advance of our Solvang Double 200 mi event next Saturday.

All told we did about 62 miles with around 3000 feet of climbing at an average speed just under 17mph

Hope your Saturday was a good one as well :)

CRUD Road Racer Fenders

2010-03-17T07:40:00.001-07:00

I suppose it might be getting a bit late in the season for this little product introduction but I just got them and installed them on my bike and wanted to let you know about them. Lisa has a set as well

They are called the Road Racer Mud Guards from CRUD products ( more known for their original mountain biking fenders. Unlike their MTB cousins these are very light and almost unnoticeable on the bike... they attached to sound plastic eye loops placed on your fork or seat stay with a couple of O rings and a removable zip tie - so they can be fairly quickly removed although there is almost no reason to... I road both Sunday's 3P century with them and the Fox and Hound ride out to Ione and never really noticed them. When off the bike the little eyelets can be left on the bike.

The fender is just slightly larger than the width of a 25mm tire and run 3- 5 mm above the tire.

They are made by CRUD Products www.crudproducts.com . They cost about 30$ and will keep you back and front dry and most of the splatter off your bike.

A couple of pictures are attached and a link to a review if interested:)

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/just-in-crud-roadracer-22881/

Maybe I will not need them too much for the next month till the rains stop... we will see...

See ya out there...

The Story of the 3P Century

2010-03-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

It was a rather cold and windy day but no rain so that was nice.

We left from Las Trampas Regional Park near Danville and after 1.4 miles (of nice downhill) Ron realized he had left his bottles in the car - DOH! so a nice climb back to the car - while Lisa was good enough to wait while our peloton left without us.

We rode over to Livermore where after a brief stop at a Starbucks we headed over the Altamont pass - well actually sort of beside it - as we were spared the climb that the highway takes. There was a good little North wind developing which was mostly a side wind.

We turned and started to head back west climbing Patterson pass....Ouch! This 6 or 7 mile climb has some stair-stepping sections of 15% or more and a couple of false flats that make you think it is over - but is isn't:) see the pic attached

Lauren was a very welcome sight after descending from Patterson pass - with banannas, water, peanut butter sandwiches... THANK YOU LAUREN!!

After that the wind picked up and Lisa and I pacelined to the next stop in Sonol -where we caught the Peloton that we had been chasing most of the day.

Next up was the climb up Palomares - a steady 6 mile climb and then the 4 mile climb along Hwy 580 into Dublin.

Finally a 12 mile grind back up to Las Trampas into the wind ( we had some help from two young lady riders who helped pull in a paceline for a few miles.)

Back at the car we reviewed the numbers... not bad at all considering the wind and basically riding just the two of almost the whole day:

Distance 98.8mi Lisa (101.6 for Ron due to the waterbottle issue :)
Climbing: 5500 ft
Time on Bike: 6hr 55min
Total time: 7hr 39min

We did a ride with Cycle Folsom on Sunday out to Ione...
but I will leave that story for Stan S. of Cycle Folsom to tell on his blog http://cyclefolsompeloton.blogspot.com

Cheers

Midweek Training Ride - Folsom S. Canal

2010-03-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

We had a great time with 7 of us from Cycle Folsom. Some started at Karen's Bakery and others from the Hatchery and we tried out the Folsom South Canal Bike trail.

Many of us, like me had never been on the trail so it was a pleasant surprise, as we had the trail almost to ourselves and could ride for most of 10 miles with only 2 stops.

We practiced the single rotating paceline and averaged about 18.5 or so.

Near the end 3 or 4 powered out of the group which was doing about 23mph.

A great training ride and a lot of fun and a nice alternative to the American River trail for some fast paceline riding!

Cheers

R & L

Google Maps now Features Bike Routes!

2010-03-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

New feature started today can be used to pinpoint bicycling trails in more than 150 cities

ref:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35799063/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

" MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google Inc.is adding a bike lane with its latest online mapping option.

The new bicycling directions available on Google Maps starting Wednesday supplement the guidance already provided to motorists and pedestrians. The biking directions initially will be available only for the United States.

Google spent the past six months tweaking its mapping service so it could recommend routes that would steer bicyclists away from big hills and heavily congested streets. The feature can be used to pinpoint bicycling trails in more than 150 cities."

It looks from a quick look that it is capturing Bike lanes as well as bike paths

have fun!

Getting ready for the 3 P Century on Sat

2010-03-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

So ... Just looking over the profile for the 3P Century in the East Bay this coming Saturday...and may I just say ...Yikes :)
We have got some serious climbing in store with some 15 and 18 % grades to deal with (at least according to the Delorme TOPO program) and something like 6 or 7000 feet of climbing.

Check it out and decide for yourself....
There is still time to join us!!

Have a great week
:)

Great ride on a perfect day

2010-03-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

We were blessed with a beautiful spring day - Light winds, sun and highs in the upper 60's. Every where the grass was green, the trees where in fabulous bloom and the wild flowers were just plain showing off :)

After a 9 mile ride from Roseville to Folsom we headed out with the Cycle Folsom Peleton group we headed up into the foot hills passing Granite bay, Loomis, Penryn, Newcastle, and Auburn ( with Shirland Tract thrown in) before we returned to Folsom and then back to Roseville

All told - about 59 miles, ~3000 feet of climbing...

A beautiful day - hope you had an enjoyable one as well :)

R and L

Evening with Jim Felt - of Felt Bicycles

2010-03-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight- together with Lisa and some other Cycle Folsom riders we were privledged to attend a reception at Folsom Bike with Jim Felt.

Jim answered questions about Felt Bikes, His company and his plans as well as told stories about how he came to create the company.

There was food and wine from Peloton Cellars of San Luis Obispo ( very nice:)

Finally at the end Jim signed the Felt bicycles of owners that had come to see him..

Now we ride!

Challenging ride with Cycle Folsom Groups

2010-03-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday Feb 28 was the make up day after the heavy rains on Saturday the 27th and the Cycle Folsom Peloton, Performance and some Endurance riders met in Folsom to ride to Discovery Park.

Lisa and I rode down from Roseville for a bit of a warm-up (9 miles) to prepare for the hammer that was sure to be dropped by the performance group... which it did... just after Hazel. I was not paying attention and ended up with the performance guys for a couple of miles at 24mph or 25... till I had to say I will not make the 75miles of our day at that pace and I dropped back to find the peloton group.

I suffered a flat at about mile 35 and stopped to change it while the group went on... Unfortunately I had failed to put tire levers back in my seat bag after the double century - doh!... I pumped the flat up enough to get to Performance Bike but they were closed... Luckily the manager let me in and gave me some levers - Thanks!!! and I was back in business. I caught up with the group returning from Discovery park at about Northgate and turned around and latched on.

Eventually at about mile 60 the pace got the better of me and Lisa and I slowed it down to about 18 for the rest of the ride back to Roseville. Average pace for the 75 mi 17.7 mph, 1100 ft climbing

All in all a good training ride - although with the weather improving, and more and more folks on the trail I feel that our days on the trail are numbered in large groups and high speeds...it's just not safe... Time to head for the open back roads... maybe Old sac to Winters? or ride down to Walnut Creek and through the Vineyards? or into the foothills.

Unfortunately Lisa and I will miss this Saturday's ride as I am in the recording studios in Emeryville and Lisa will be climbing Mount Diablo!

Maybe a Sunday long ride along the Sacramento River is in order?

Stay safe!

New Carbon bars for the next Double :)

2010-02-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

OK so while the Ritchey WCS aluminum bars that I had put on after the carbon felt bars gave up the ghost on the felt did the trick for the last day of the Vuelta and the Camino Real.... I picked up a great deal on a set of Easton Carbon bars (EASTON EC90 SLX3 ) at Jensonusa.com - 100$ :) regularly 249$

So we will try them out on Sunday at the Cycle Folsom Peleton ride.

Have fun out there!

Apparently We Didn't Learn Our Lesson :)

2010-02-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

So if the pain and torture of the Camino Real Double Century was not enough.... We have signed up for the Solvang Spring Double Century.

The route has two big climbs... one from the start and one near the end. We travel from Solvang up the coast to Moro Bay and then back

The event will happen on March 27 2010, and if completed would make double century #2 of a possible 3 for the season. Getting 3 done would qualify us to get the California Triple Crown Jersey of accomplishment http://www.caltriplecrown.com/info.htm.

:)

Keep the rubber side down~!

We survived the Camino Real Double Century:)

2010-02-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

So we completed the Camino Real Double Century - 198 miles and about 8800 ft of climbing.
We were questioning our resolve and sanity in the last few miles but we did well.
(the jury is out on whether there will be any further 200 milers in our future.... we will see)

The day started at 5:30 am heading out from Irvine CA... we had about an hour or so of rain which ended just about as the sun was rising.

The rest of the day was mostly cloudy with light to medium winds with temperatures from 45 to about 60 or so.

We began the biggest climb of the day at mile 150 which took us up for about 30 miles and then finally mostly downhill back into Irvine.

We arrived back at the start at 8:40pm for a total of 13hr 35min actually riding and 1hr 35 min stopped (either at stop lights or at rest stops)

Anyways a great ride and our bikes held up fantastically in spite of riding through mud and water and down highway I-5 for 10 miles with big truck whizzing by and lots of debris on the roadside)

now time for some recover :)

Cheers

If my head was not attached....

2010-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

So Lisa and I met for a little tapering ride before the big double on Saturday... and all is well except that I forgot my shoes and helmet...DOH!

So instead of wasting the trip I biked in my running shoes on my clipless pedals and w/o my helmet - for the 13 mi around Lake Natomas. It is really hard to climb the last steep bit to the Hazel bridge(!)

Took it easy and felt kind of exposed without a helmet - and really don't recommend a long ride in running shoes on clipless pedals ...

I better double check that I have everything on Saturday!

(making a list and checking it twice)

R

An interesting product LOL

2010-02-17T07:39:00.001-08:00

Hi Folks... worried about the air where you live? doing a double century and maybe need to carry a little O2 to help out... have I got the product for you :)

check out:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10454345-247.html

Oxyfit, a lightweight backpack-with-tube that is touted as "the world's first compact personal oxygen supply."

Just what I need for those tough climbs

Cheers

2010-02-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

We spent a little time with Garmin Training Center and Photoshop to lay out the main features of the 3 days of the Vuelta Puerto Rico.

Note that Training center has a tendency to smooth the gradients (even with smoothing turned off) such that the max gradient seen during the climb is usually 1.5 -2 % greater than that seen in the graphs after processing by Training center....

In any event you can see there were a number of good climbs on the three days...

Enjoy

Ron and Lisa

Getting ready for the new Challenge 200mi in 1 day

2010-02-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

So we are in the last few days before we head to Irvine CA for the Camino Real Double Century. 200 miles and 8500 ft of climbing.

I guess we are a ready as we will get. The weather looks to cooperate with mid 40F when we start and end (in the dark) and up to about 70F during the day - so sounds perfect. We hope to do the ride in about 15 hours... we will see... it ends with some serious climbing (pray for no cramps:)

We have tried to plot the course and dissect it a bit for some strategy regarding stop points.

On the weekend we stretched the legs with Cycle Folsom ( and hurt abit - still not recovered from Puerto Rico I think... and then a nice easy ride on Valentines day w Lisa :)

Hope you all had a nice Valentines day <3

Back In California

2010-02-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Hi there...

Wed had a fantastic time in Puerto Rico and certainly hope to visit again!

My colleague Josue was kind enough to pickus up and deliver us safely to the airport where we had no problems to check in and our flkihgt to dallas was on time.

Flight was bumpy but uneventful. We were also lucky in Dally to have our plan on time given the storms in Washington and Chicago etc delaying flights.... We safely arrived in Sacramento about 6:30 pm and JEff pciked up.

A quick check of the bikes showed a bit of scratching from a wheel axle on Lisas downtube... My fault for not quite getting the protection around that tube lined up right - sorry, Lisa :( !

Other than that the end of a great adventure. Checking the scales at the gym this mornign I am 10 lbs liughter than 2.5 weeks ago - must be still dehydrated :)

Stay tuned for the next adventure:
Real Camino Double Century ( 200 miles in one day) on Feb 20th in Sother California with Planet Ultra... should be a 14 - 16 hour event starting at 5am

Cheers and keep on having fun!

Ron and Lisa

Last day and heading home

2010-02-09T02:37:00.001-08:00

So we had ... a nice day wandering old town San Juan

we apacked up the bikes and hopefully they will do well on the trip back

We met up with about 24 other bikers for the 1.5 hour drive out to the N E corner of the island ( Fajardo) to do the bioluminescent tour in the kayak.

The kayak tour was really quite magical... the night was pretty dark with no moon and little city lights nearby so we saw tons of stars above us and then "stars" and in the water> as you move the paddle or your hand through the water it lights up as a glowing froth... very neat!

We got back about 10pm after fighting traffic due to a car accident on the hiway and looked for some dinner but ended up with just a snack.

Back we go to CA in a few hours :)

Have a great day!

Ron and Lisa

2010-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

For Stan, who suspects I made up the broken handlebars story to avoid a butt kicking from Lisa :)

here is the photographic evidence

Cheers

TA-DA - We made it!

2010-02-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

SO we finished the 139 mile final stage of the Vuelta PR from Mayaguez back to Old San Juan.

The Day served up some serious climbing over the first 50 miles as well as some spectacular scenery past some wonderful little villages on the ocean

Since we started on the West coast of the island we had some shade for the first few climbs and then had a head wind for most of the last 100 miles but we were in a large peleton so that helped to cut thru the wind

We left at 6am in the dark and arrived in Old San Juan at 6:30pm to a wild welcome with the streets lined with people cheering helicopter over head etc. We were given our finishers medal and treated to a nice dinner and live music

Tomorrow we have a day to relax a bit start to pack up and in the afternoon/evening we go kayaking on the bio-luminecent bay... should be fun

Hope all is well with you:)

Ron and Lisa

Day 2 completed

2010-02-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

Updated with a few Pics:)

Hi everyone:

after the 148 miles of Day 1 we expected an easier day at only about 97 miles. The day started well with a 3 mile 5:30 am ride to the downtown and then off with the whole group using lights at 6am.. we covered the first 22 miles in just over an hour and 15 min and had breakfast in an unusual open brick building... neat.

After breakfast we climbed for a while and then rolled in to a rest stop at mile 42... Ron noticed at that point that his carbon handle bars had broken.. we think maybe at the breakfast stop when the bikes fell over... not sure - either way it was the end of the day's ride for Ron and he spent the rest of the day riding in the Van while the mechanical support took his bike way to try to get him a new handle bar (He got the bike with new bars about 6pm) so only 45 miles for Ron..

Lisa continued on and under some hot windy conditions and many steep hills she finished the day.. advising that it was infact a more difficult day than the first. She may have gotten on film as the Travel channel film helicopter buzzed over her climbing to the light house :)

Off to bed around 8 pm and up for a 6am start on a 133 mi ride which looks to be a difficult one as well and likely into the wind and with lots of hills especially in the first 50 miles>

Ron and Lisa

We survived day 1!!

2010-02-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

We completed the first day 150 miler... we both rode with the B group which averaged supposedly 18 mph...however there were lots of 26 mph 5 or 6 mile sessions... Total climbing about 4463ft and lovely ocean views and rain forest

We stopped for water and fruit about every 20 miles and at mile 112 - r
Ron was hurting so Lisa continued with the B group and eventually ended up in the A group(!!!) o
averaging over 21 mph for much of the last 35 mi

Ron went with the C group and we averaged about 18 ... unfortunately Ron did most of the last 35mi on a flat (slow leak) tire and had to stop acouple of times to pump it and then catch back up

Moer later and maybe some pictures :)

cheers
team vanHuuHaa

2010-02-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone...

Up at 4:30 am then a short ride to Caficultura coffee shop, a new chic cafe in downtown Old San Juan, then headed out in our San Juan Cycling club jerseys.

We toured many areas of San Juan in a 45 person group followed by a team car and and emergency vehicle. We got to go through the red lights with the siren going from the emergency vehicle helping to hold traffic, and our fearless (really fearless) event leader William simply stopped all traffic- city buses and all- with a raise of his hand and had us deftly weaving through rush hour traffic.

Hawaii has nothing on this island. Puerto Rico is the best of Kauai and Puerta Vallarta smashed together with old world castles and artillary bases dating back to the early 1500's. And how can you beat 85 degree sunny days in February?

We stopped for drinks at a local small elementary school, rode past the University of PR, and dragged our bikes through a fruit market ( plaza de mercado) for a lovely fruit smoothie. Along the way were shouts and cheers from pedestrians either thrilled or irked to see a giant peloton riding through the streets.

After 35 miles we returned to Old San Juan for a press conference at the PR Tourism Bureau. We also learned that The Travel Channel will fly overhead in a helicopter during the 3 day ride filming for a segment on endurance ridng to air in May.

Lots of fun- now off to a pasta feed and debriefing. We feel ready to tackle the 150 mile ride tomorrow!

Hope you are all well :)

pics are being difficult so will try to upload in a bit

1st day in SanJuan

2010-02-03T14:55:00.001-08:00

After a nice breakfast and assembling the bikes we took a long walk out to Fort El Morro and thru the streets of Old San Juan. We then took the bikes and hit the streets along the North coast and eventually down to Hato Rey area to find a bike shop.

Interesting to say the least as we ended up biking on a highway strangely called an Interstate even though it only goes inside PR> we did 15 miles in temps up to 93 F and high humidity

Tomorrow we go on a 45 mile 5 hour city tour on the bikes :)

Hope all is well where you are

All packed and waiting at the airport

2010-02-02T05:22:00.000-08:00

Hi friends:
up at 2:30 am and after Kona coffee and banana bread we loaded up the truck and made it to the airport without any issues>

AA counter did not open till 4:30 but after $120 to check in our suitcase and the bike we headed to the gate... Attached some pictures of the packed up bikes :)

cheers

Resolution Century Pictures

2010-01-31T20:13:00.000-08:00

We had a great day... sun and clouds and nice weather between 48 and 60F.
We left the parking lot about 8:30 and rolled back in about 4:30

103mi and 5150 ft of climbing - 7hr20 min on the bike with the worst grades over 20% ( sheesh :)

It was a great warm up to our upcoming rides in Puerto Rico...

Today was packing day and cleaning the bikes. Final packing to come tomorrow... maybe a few pictures to come on that adventure

Have a great week everyone

PS - thank to our SAGs for the drinks and Snacks!!!

Last Training Rides before the trip

2010-01-29T07:30:00.001-08:00

Well we snuck in a fairly leisurely 12 miles after work before dark on Thursday. We replaced Lisa's stem reducing the length from 120mm to 90mm which should be better for the long rides ahead.

Saturday we are planning to ride the Resolution Century - 100 miles and maybe 5000' of climbing as you can see above, starting in Livermore CA. - weather looks to be cool but nice 43 - 55F and rain overnight on Friday night should be done by start time.

Then it is time to pack up the trusty steeds into their shipping boxes.

Have a great weekend everyone!

T - 5 days till we fly out

2010-01-28T06:42:00.000-08:00

One of the non cycling events on our itinerary will be the evening Bioluminescent Bay Kayak Tour

advertised as follows:
"Imagine an evening spent floating on a magical river of stars. It’s not a fantasy in Puerto Rico! Join us for an incredible night on the Las Croabas Bioluminescent Bay, located in Fajardo. This spectacular bay is populated with billions of a rare, microscopic plankton that shimmer and shine as your kayak glides through the tranquil waters. This extraordinary night is not to be missed!"

So we are looking forward to that... even though I expect there to be lots of other tours and lots of people with no clue whatsoever on how to control a kayak...bumper boats! LOL

The good news as well is that we will be going on the best time of the lunar cycle - new moon - at least acording to: http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/biobay-and-moon/

5 days and counting :)

Naturalization Ceremony

2010-01-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

Today, on a beautiful sunny Northern California Day... Ron ( as well as 830 other folks) became a US Citizen. Ron wore a lovely new tie from Lisa to celebrate :) (thanks sweetheart!)

The oath ceremony was at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium accompanied by John phillip Souza marches.

I Forgot to bring a camera so these pics from my cell phone will have to suffice

I expect that I now no longer speak with an accent - LOL

Till next time

Ron

The Route and Details

2010-01-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

Day 0 Warmup (45 miles - 4 hrs)
San Juan City Bike Tour on Thursday, February 4th
- Breakfast at the famous “La Bombonera” restaurant
guided cycling exploration through the romantic cobblestone streets in the old city, the campus of the University of Puerto Rico, the financial district of Hato Rey, the pristine beaches of Ocean Park, and the historic architecture throughout San Juan, the Governor’s mansion, the Agrelot Coliseum, San Felipe and San Cristobal historic forts, as well as the various art galleries, restaurants, and shops along the way.

Day 1 (San Juan to Ponce, 147.8 mi. ~2200 ft climbing)
Highlights:
- Lots of farily flat miles along the beautiful coast
-energy stop" at around mile 80.2 before "Camino Nuevo" (New Road) - 9.42 mile climb to lunch in the Maunabo Lighthouse including 702 ft ascent over 4.6 miles with a final 8% grade kick as you reach the top.
Final 60 miles along coast to Ponce - mostly flat

Day 2 ( Ponce to Mayaguez, 90.5 mi, ~1600 ft of climbing)
Highlights: The route snakes along the southern coast occasionally heading inland a bit
Past the Capo Rojo Widlife Refuge
Includes a dirt gravel section to the lunch stop on the S0uth western tip of the island - Punta Jaguey. Then turning north up to Mayaguez

Day 3 (Mayaguez to San Juan, 133.3 mi. ~ 2300 Ft climbing)
Highlights:
Staggered start with slower riders heading out first for a run along the North coast with a regrouping at Plaza de Dorado, (about 30 miles out of San Juan) in order for the entire 450 person peleton to ride as a group into San Juan

Getting excited!!

Ride Safe everyone

A big surprise... more rain!

2010-01-25T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well...the rain continues with some heavy rain expected over the next 2 days and then maybe a break on Wed and Thursday... maybe we can manage a ride with the lights.

As the weather map shows the storms are just lining up to hit us. Made it to the gym this morning at 4:45 for some aerobic and core stuff.

The Resolution Century south of Livermore CA on Saturday looks like it might be lucky and miss the rain - that will be the last good ride before the flight out.

Have most of the equipment for the event thrown haphazardly in the suitcase but a busy week ahead for both of us....

By the way Happy Birthday to Lisa!!!

R

A break in the Rain

2010-01-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

Well we have about a half a day's break in the rain AND the clouds so we managed to get out for abit less than 30 miles.

Dry roads, some big fluffy clouds and temps in the mid 50's... nice compared to the last week.

Unfortunately looks like the rain is returning by early to mid morning... might managed 20 miles before it come in - unfortunately temps at 7 am will be about 36F

Last week before we leave so hope we can get some rides in - maybe thursday

Hope the weather is nice where you are...Have a great weekend everyone :)

Starting to build an Ark :)

2010-01-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

Well some really serious rain is hitting California.. and especially Southern California (with flooding and maybe 6-8" of rain just today(!))

On a bit of business travel to Denver and managed to catch this shot at Sacramento Airport during a lull in the weather :)

Did manage an early morning Spin session at the hotel fitness center, and both Lisa and I are working to get out bodies onto something closer to Puerto Rico Time ( which is 4 hrs ahead of California time) That makes for some pretty early rising over the next week or so - but that will hopefully help jet lag.

Start collecting your pets etc - 2 by 2

Enjoy your day

2010-01-19T06:38:00.001-08:00

The rain continues - a few inches more expected along with 45mph wind...hmmm no riding today.

Attached a pic of our New years day ride in the rain... stay warm (and dry) everyone :)

The do expect better weekend weather with partly sunny and highs of 54F... Time for some climbing rides with our Cycle Folsom Friends (above:)

Stay warm and dry everyone

Cheers R & L

Team Huu-Haa Name Cards

2010-01-18T20:52:00.001-08:00

So I figured that given the high profile of this 2 person team we better start cranking out the merchandise so worked on the logo and then made our name card / business card to hand out on our adventures ( anything to avoid writing :)

So see the new card attached above :)

comments accepted though not likely welcomed :) lol

Rain Rain Go Away

2010-01-18T07:09:00.000-08:00

We are about 2 weeks aways from flying out to the event and the weatherman says expect rain every day (almost)- they say up to 10" of rain by Friday and over 10ft of snow in the Sierra's(!)

We managed to sneak in a ride on Sat since rain held off till later.
(Lisa did 77+ miles averaging above 18.5 for a large part of it with Cycle Folsom).

Ron managed a 12 mile mountain bike ride with kids, friends and colleagues and then a solo 40 mi ride from Elk Grove to Walnut Grove along the river.

Gonna have to be spin classes or the trainer this week.

Keep the rubber side down:)

Vuelta PR: T minus 3 weeks

2010-01-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Just firing up the blog for those interested in following our first real Endurance exploit: The Vuelta Puerto Rico - aka la Vuelta de los Nueve Faros - tour of the 9 light houses.

A 375 mile bicycle ride in 3 days clockwise around the beautiful Island of Puerto Rico... with a 40 mi warmup... so 415 mi in 4 days I suppose

For more details:
http://www.vueltapr.com/The_Tour

We Fly out Feb 2 and do a
40 mi warmup on Feb 4,
then 148 mi Feb 5,
91 mi Feb 6 and
133mi Feb 7

Then RELAX and enjoy the beaches etc:)
stay tuned