Really long training rides...

[F'ueco]

Hopefully, Mount Hamilton tomorrow morning, along with the loop through Livermore. Should be right around 100 miles.

 Then I'm off to Folsom for a Cinco de Mayo BBQ at my friend Doug's house. 

[F'ueco]

 Done and done... 111 miles with ~8000 feet of climbing. 

 The ascent of Mount Hamilton was not as hard as I had anticipated. But that north wind through the wind tunnel along Mines Road nearly finished me off.

[mudworm]

Nice. Did you take any rest stops?  Storm always wants to keep going and rest while peddling, but I like to take a short break after every major climb to stretch and eat and drink.  But usually the legs feel it more right after a break though.

[F'ueco]

Other than a half-hour break in front of the Lick Observatory; the only times I stopped were to pull a granola bar out of my camelbak to keep in my pocket. But when I got back into Fremont I did stop at 7-11 and get a tuna sandwich, gatorade and some cookies. Then I sat out front in the shade to eat.

Normally on the longer rides I stop at a few different coffee shops or for food. Yesterday I was in the mood to just push through.

[Delbomber]

Hi F'ueco, How long did this take you to do?   I would be interested next time you are going to do a long ride, but I don't want to slow you down.  I very slow, but usually can go the distance. 

Delbomber

[F'ueco]

It took a little more than 8 hours to do the full ride, which included a half-hour rest at the top of Mount Hamilton. It also might have been faster had it not been for the high winds and the fact that I didn't put on any sunscreen. 

 I plan on driving SAG for my dad when he goes for that loop; possibly this coming weekend if the weather cooperates.

[F'ueco]

  I rode Mt. Hamilton again this morning before chasing down my dad in my car so I could SAG his ride...

 My time was the same as last week; but I'll use the excuse that I started way earlier, and it was almost cold up there... The summit temp must have been around 45 when I was up there.

 My dad's ride went very well, and he finished the 115 mile loop with energy to spair... Enough that is to climb onto the recliner and watch TV for the rest of the afternoon! 

[mudworm]

Hey, F'ueco, nice "meeting" you.  Did you lose your granny gear somewhere? 

And congrats to your dad. Tell him that he totally inspires a century-rider wanna-be here he doesn't even know. 

[F'ueco]

Granny gears? We don't need no stinking granny gears!

 53-39 up front and an 11-25 in the back will get you up almost anything... Except (apparently) Redwood Gulch Road. But honestly; my new bike will have a 50-34 on the front and an 11-26 cogset. That really should get me up anything.

 You should be hitting the centuries in no time. My dad has only been riding for about a year and a half. Of course, he was a hardcore distance runner before that, so the pain threshold is built in...

[F'ueco]

 Here's the ride I did today. That's Mount Diablo at the northern end. 

Good times!

[mudworm]

F'ueco, how many miles is that and elevation gain? What GPS are you using? I have Garmin Edge 305. So far, liked it. Also, I've been using motionbased.com for my rides. It lets you export your rides into Google Earth format (satellite image).

[F'ueco]

 My best guess is around 7500 feet of gain and 115 miles total. I don't have a GPS, so my elevations are estimates. Mount Diablo itself is a 3800 foot climb, and the climb over Calaveras is about 1500 feet. The rest are the smaller hills along the way...

[F'ueco]

Anyone want some climbing?

 I'm thinking of doing the following hills this coming Saturday (June 16): Kings Mountain, Old La Honda, Montebello, Mt. Eden/Pierce, and Highway 9. The questionable one will be Highway 9, and will depend on how much time I have (I need to be in Milpitas at 4:00 PM for a friend's birthday). I'm aiming for a 6:00 AM tee time, so the first hill will start somewhere around 8:00... 

[mudworm]

I can't speak for Mr Mud, but I'll be in a wedding on Saturday and will be busy helping out/preparing whole day.  Otherwise, I'd love to join you (at least for part of it).  We are thinking about doing an MTB ride on Sunday though.  The Downieville ride is getting closer every day, but I still don't know how to ride a mt bike yet. I could use a smiley face for panic here.

[F'ueco]

After getting off to a late start this morning (7:30), I was going fine throughout the morning. I crushed Kings Mountain and then descended Highway 84 and headed up Old La Honda (my slowest time yet!) which I suffered mightily on. Then I headed south to go for Montebello, which I haven't been up in years; and never on a road bike. I made it about a mile up the hill before I realized that it was just too hot up there. So I headed back down and climbed over Mt. Eden/Pierce and onto Highway 9. I gave up any thoughts of climbing that one, since I had no time left. I got back home at 3:40 and headed off for bowling and Malaysia food. =)