White Tires Can Kill

So I've been wanting to upgrade to white Conti 4000 tires for a while, but they didn't make 'em. I've got white bar tape these days. When I had to get a new saddle, I looked longingly at the white racing saddles at PA Bikes, but if you have to ask how much...

Anyway, the day after I bought a black saddle, I went online and discovered that you now can get white Conti tires. Yay! Now I just need a set of white padded shorts -- you can visualize on your own time.

Put two of the three new tires on yesterday, as part of an overall bike wash. Very slick look. Here's how white tires look after they get their first 40 miles:

Anyhow, today Steve and I went round the West Alpine loop. 28 minutes up OLH, which is a minute better than last time. The new tires rock. Current theory? Heat reflecting from the tires provides extra lift off the pavement. Hard to justify this theory, due to the cold day, but perhaps the effect will be more noticable when it gets hotter. Strangely, going downhill, they are a little slower. Coming down 84 where I can get up to 40, I only hit 35.

Another discovery is that Hammer Gel Tropical Flavor with 25mg Caffiene is pretty damn good, and it'll get you up Alpine road like you have rockets strapped to your saddle. Highly recommended (relished?) by this pickle. Plus, its almost like being in Hawaii.

Coming down Page Mill, on Kirkman Hill, I had a surpise when the air explosively left my front tire, and I was smacked against the asphalt at 25 miles per hour. The penalty seems to be one scuffed front tire, one scuffed bike, and a achey cyclist sitting at home with an iced ass and shoulder. If the shoulder is still very sore tomorrow, then it's off for X-Rays. Zap!

Oh, and a smashed helmet. I guess if there's something that you can be glad to see smashed, its a helmet. The darned thing absorbed a lot of energy, and I can still count and recognize food. Pass me another hat -- I'm still hungry.

Here's hoping that the damage is superficial. TUC is in two weekends and I'm hoping this is not my year of great excuses for missing long rides.

Thanks to Steve for circling back to check my vital signs, and to Julia for picking me up and all that ice, too.

Dr. Pickle

ps. The Death Ride water bottle on Kirkman Hill is mine, if you see it.

UPDATE: A broken clavicle (something hard in the shoulder area) will keep me off my arm for about 4 weeks. Spinning class here I come!

He Who Stands Longest, Stands Best

Hmm, it's been a while since a posting, not due to lack of thoughts while cycling. Here's a specific recount, and maybe another entry is due with a general catch-up.

Last weekend was the Tierra Bella 2009. Steve Folkman, Rick, Rune and I were signed up for the 100 miler.

The Tierra Bella starts out of Gilroy, and goes all around the east and west sides of the valley down there. Avid readers will recall that Rune and I rode it two years ago in a rainstorm. This year, there's a new route, which substitues E. Dunne (to Henry Cow park) for Metcalf road, plus the route is clockwise, instead of counter-clockwise.

The weather was fantastic. There'd been a windstorm a few days before, but during the ride, there was but a gentle breeze, a cool morning, getting pretty warm (hot) by mid-day.

Due to a sad decline in his cat's health, Rick wasn't able to join us at all.

I arranged to pick up Steve and Rune early on the morning of the ride. While loading my bike, I noticed that the saddle was wobbly. I looked at it and decided that the metal rod had come loose from the rear on one side. It looked undesirable, but rideable.

Picked up S&R and we drove down to Gilroy. Took 101, which is apparently 5 minutes slower than 85 from Rune's house. No donuts or coffee.

We started out very smoothly. In fact, we set a very good early pace -- about 22mph, up and around Uvas resevoir and so on. It's fun, because at the beginning, everyone is checking each other out, and searching for just the right paceline to join.

At about 10 or 15 miles in, we stopped at a break area for a pee. I noticed that my saddle had gone from "wobbly" to "broken rail on one side." The rail had snapped at the attachment point to the seatpost. It all seemed to be holding together, so I figured I'd ride as far as I could.

On the next stretch, we were overtaken by a bigger, uber-peloton. We were all together, but spread out. I couldn't see much because of sweat on my eyeglasses. At the next break area, R&S stayed with the peloton, and I stopped, not able to see them or anything else.

Back on the road. shifting my butt a bit to favor the unbroken rail. Another 20 miles, across the valley to the East side. Rest area; back on the road...

Suddenly, a ping as the broken rail falls out of the saddle and goes away. Then the rear of the saddle drops down as the second rail breaks off.

Now, I'm riding along with the floppy padded seat hanging onto the post. Mostly standing up, with little sits now and again. Then ping! and the pad falls off with the other broken rail. I pick up the parts and head on.

It's pretty obvious that I'm not going to ride up E. Dunne at this point. I'm considering doing the other big hill climb, which is a loop around Gilroy Hot Springs. Skipping the hills, it's about 25 miles back to home base.

I could have called for SAG, but I felt that, since I'd started the ride knowing that I had a problem, it was my responsiblity to get back, as long as I was able to do so. In the end, I decided to skip any extra hill climbing, and followed the route back to Gavilan college.

Standing up wasn't too bad, but it got old after a while. I had to go about 25 miles, I think. It's kind of funny, because on Tuesday, riding with Rune up Page Mill, I found standing up much easier.

I ended up hanging around the college from 11 to about 3pm; it was an awesome day, and I had a nice nap, laying in the shade. Plenty of Lasagna and ice cream too. Rune showed up early, because he'd gotten bad directions from one of the support people, and ended up missing the Hot Springs loop.

Looking over the day, Rune remarked that Rick rode 0%, I rode 50%, he rode 75%, and only Steve got the whole 100% ride. Even though I missed out on some great riding, I had a great time, and plan to try again next year.

On Monday, I took the saddle in to PA Bikes. I bought a new Terry, similar to my old one, but with Ti (Titanium?) rails. My buddy Adam called Terry to see if they'd give me any warranty credit, but their best offer was to redo the tubes for $25. Since the seat was pretty worn anyway (I was getting ready to replace it), I decided to pass.

Next long ride? TUC!

Happy Thanksgiving ye Cornichons

Yesterday, on Thanksgiving, it seemed half of the Bay Area was biking up Mount Hamilton, as was I for my first time.  A bit out of shape, but I didn't do too badly (photo at the top of the mountain by J.Hadley):

http://www.lowkeyhillclimbs.com/2008/week9/results.html

It was a beautiful ride up and up and up ... seemingly never ending ... but at the top, after 4300' of climbing and over 18 miles, we were above the clouds with beautiful views of mist and clouds partially obscuring the hills with a brilliant white cover.  The descent was not too pleasant with many cracks and potholes in the road, some wet curves and gravel and rocks in some places.   But the descent was not part of the race and I could take it easy and enjoy the scenery.  A very good start to the Thanksgiving weekend!  See the link above for a more detailed description.

I highly recommend the Low-key Hillclimbs!   With all my other activities and a trip to Norway (2 weeks ago), all I had time for was 2 of the 9 hill races.  I zoomed up the short but super steep Bear Gulch a few weeks ago.  The first time ever up that hill (notice the dude in the death ride jersey in the picture).

http://www.lowkeyhillclimbs.com/2008/week4/results.html

This year the Cornichons have been conspicuously absent in biking events.  I did not do a single century, super-century, or deathly ride (although I debuted in several new types of events, such as a couple of swim races, a couple of running races, a couple of international distance triathlons).   Next year, we should perhaps do more centuries, but also hope you will join me on the 2009 low-key hillclimbs!

In the midst of Int'l Pickle Week

Well, this is the Mrs. Lil Green Pickle. Since it IS the middle of International Pickle Week, I have to post what I had merely emailed, so it stays in the blog of all that's pickly...

A la carte: All in a pickle over frozen sour pops

By Aleta Watson
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/14/2008 01:33:45 AM PDT

Did you know that International Pickle Week starts Friday?
Of course, there are weeks devoted to just about anything you can imagine, but this one is the perfect excuse to write about one of the oddest food items ever to arrive in the Food and Wine department's mailboxes. We're talking Bob's Pickle Pops, ice pops made with - believe it or not - sour pickle juice.
Thank the Internet for making these chilly, mouth-puckering treats a national curiosity. Created at a South Texas roller skating rink last year, they've spread across the Lone Star State, and are now available to pickle fanatics everywhere through www.bobspicklepops.com.
John Howard began making the pops by freezing leftover juice from pickles he sold at his rink and arcade in Seguin, Texas. They proved so popular that he began squeezing whole dills in a hydraulic press to make more juice. Then he got out of the skating business altogether to sell his pickle-sicles full time.
Now, I like pickles well enough. I always eat the dill spear that comes with sandwiches in the company cafeteria. But pure dill pickle juice is more vinegar and spice than I can handle. I couldn't find any takers, either, until I wandered into the newspaper's library the other day. There I ran into a true pickle addict who happily took the pops off my hands. I last saw her slurping away on a pale green stick of ice.
It just goes to show, one person's culinary oddity is another's cherished treat.

========

And from the listed website, I found other links:
http://www.duncanwells.ca/pickle.htm (pickle song)

Spring update

It's been a busy spring, and the size of The Unposted has grown unmanageably. Here's the stuff I can think of off the top of my head:

Solvang Century
Leo and I rode the 50 miler in Solvang. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time. Leo got kind of bonky at about 35 miles, but with some rest and gel products, he found his mojo and pulled it off. Time was about 5 1/2 hours.

Tour of the Unknown Coast
Leo and I signed up for the 100K and Julia and Simon for the 20M. Due to a road collapse on the Avenue of the Giants, both the 100K and 50M rides were shortened to 48M, and the 100M ride went on the freeway around the washout.

The weather was fan-tastic. It was clear and pleasant until about 5pm, when the icy fog started to come in. 100M riders said the wind was not too bad at the coast. I really was sorry I didn't do the whole thing.

It turned out later that Leo was coming down with a cold, and he felt bad on the ride from the start. We ended up doing about 10 miles, then turning around. Since we got back early, I joined Julia and Simon on their ride, which retraced the path, then turns right and goes up a canyon. It was all pretty nice.

I finally remembered to check my raffle tickets, and I won a huge can of Heed energy drink. It tastes bad, even when its free.

Sequoia Upcoming
The Sequoia century is in a few weeks. I don't think we're signed up, and at this point, I think its not going to happen. I know Rune is signed up for it. Next year, I'll get back to it...

Shasta again?
The Patmore-Zarcone family has planned to ride in the Shasta century again this year. Probably not more than the 100K. Anyone else want to come along? We had a great time visiting that great cabin in the woods.

David