Saturday, April 30, 2005

Again.. .Slacking. 5 miles tuesday. Wether didn't cooperate until friday but was to busy. Today I rod my local 4 mile single track. I haven't ridden it since fall. The uphills seemed less harsh, and the downhills a little easier. There is a little 12 inch drop that used to freak me out. I was watching out for it today. I rolled over it and realized only AFTER that that had been it. It seemed small to me now. It's nice to be able to see improvement in your own skills.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

I slacked on writing this week... Tuesday 5 miles, thursday 4 miles. Today, 7.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Ooof... Ouch.... Ooof

I rode out at wilder today. On the wide stuff I did great. On the narrow, deep rutted single track, Ooof. I tipped over four times. Fortunately into grass, which was nice and soft... I ran into a group of 6 riders in their lat 40's. They all commented on my road rashed leg from the fall a couple days ago. One of them held out his leg. Pretty much the same thing. We laughed a little and chatted for a few minutes, and then continued on our respective way. It was a good ride. 6 miles all said and done.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

King Of Fools

So yesterday my parents came up from Hollister to go for a ride with me. I was a little worried that riding on dirt might throw them a litter. They've ridden on bike paths and roads some fairly impressive distances, but on dirt, the rules change. They handled themselves well. We road up the fire road at Nisine Marks. From the parking lot near the Britannia Arms up to the Loma Prieta trail head, and then made an attempt on the Incline up to Sand Point. We got about a mile and a half up when I think my dad realized that it wasn't going to level out and we turned back. In general we rode slower than I generally, but it was fun. The only accident of the day was, of course, mine. At low speed I strated to tip and panicked trying to unclip and of course could not get free of the pedal. I scraped up my knee a small amount. My Mom looked a little worried. I was laughing my ass off. It was really funny. Good day.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Poing!

Went for my 5 yesterday. It was nice.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Set Me Free

I rode my 8 mile paved loop today. I would have really liked to ridden on dirt, BUT I bought a set of "clipless" pedals and shoes yesterday, so I figured something nice and smooth would be a good idea, less likely I'd need to clip out suddenly and take a slow motion tumble to one side. The first mile or so, I was clipping in and out of the shoes quite often to get used to it. It took several minutes to get the hang of clipping in. While standing still, sitting on the seat, leaning against the wall of my stairs. Clipping out was MUCH easier than I expected. Basically move your foot to the side like you would to put it down, and the rotational movement pops the clip out. While riding the pedals have a "Floaty" feel that was initially unpleasant after riding some pretty sticky platform pedals for a while, but once I began to trust that my feet were locked in tightly, I got used to it, and didn't even notice after a while. I'm not sure if it was the clipless pedals letting me use my legs up stroke to put power on the ground or I'm in better shape, or some combination of the two, but that loop seemed much less difficult than it has in the past. When I got back on the flat land towards home I sprinted up to about 25 MPH. I'm rather proud of that. There have been many times riding that stretch where I was so tired it was all I could do to keep up right. But today... I was sprinting.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Ride On Shooting Star

I rode out at Wilder today. I rode along the bluffs, and then turned inland, riding up the Baldwin loop trail (Which was a brutal muddy slog) and then down the Wilder Ridge trail (Dry and loose, on e hell of tha thrill coming down). It was a good day to ride.