Day 1 was a ride along Sacramento's American River Bike Trail. The whole thing. I started from my house at 9:30am, and from there to the trail was like one of my old commuting rides. But upon reaching the trail I turned toward downtown instead of the other way. The bike path is mostly pretty flat, following the river and ever so slightly downhill as we head downstream toward downtown. I was riding Robert Allen's Nimbus 36 with Schlumpf hub. A very nice ride for the flat, once you get used to it. My goal was not to ride fast but to get it done, but my average speed is slowly creeping up on that thing in its 54" gear. My average speed on the Nimbus for that portion of the ride was 18.1 km/h, with a general cruising speed on the way downtown of 20 or better. My GPS says my top speed was 29.2, of which I'm skeptical. I arrived in Old Town Sacramento, along the riverfront at the end of the trail, at 11:00am where I met up with Aaron Needles, a relatively new Coker rider from Davis. He joined me on his new Coker Big One (aluminum frame). Our pace was a little slower heading back up the river, but having company is really nice. A word about wildlife: This bike path follows a greenbelt area along the American River from Folsom all the way to where it joins with the Sacramento River near downtown, then follows the Sacramento River to Old Town Sacramento. Along the way is lots of wildlife habitat, even if it's in a semi-urban setting. This day I saw three deer, a coyote (which was a first for me on the bike path), lots of wild turkeys, including males with all their feathers displayed for the ladies, some big, white egrets and a couple of turkey buzzards in a tree, which Aaron coaxed into taking off as we passed. But no rabbits or rattlesnakes, the two other types of critter I've seen along there. Also this weekend was the 3rd annual Mather Field Air Show, so we were treated to some distant views of aerobatic flying with smoke trails, and a few glimpses of the Blue Angles! Aaron wasn't sure how far he was up for, being relatively new to the Coker, but he stuck with me from end to end of the bike trail and partway back, about 36 miles for him. Quite burly! We maintained a good pace all the way back the direction I'd come, past my point of entry to the trail, and out to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, which is a convenient parking lot for the bike trail right where it crosses Hazel Avenue. There we were met by my team's support person Jacquie with sandwiches from Subway! We took a break to sit and eat. For the next part of the ride I changed cycles. Hopping onto my own 1st-generation Coker Deluxe with 125mm cranks, I felt like I could go 100 miles per hour! That's what it feels like after riding a 1.5:1 gear on a 36" wheel for a while. The next portion of the ride is along Lake Natoma. We took the Folsom side, which is more interesting and also has dirt trail along the side. We took the dirt. It may have been Aaron's first dirt-riding experience on his Coker, but those trails are very Coker-friendly and he enjoyed it. Once we were through with the dirt section we were close to Old Town Folsom and about to hit the climb. We were both pretty weary by then, and my one knee had a pain inside the joint, one that I'm familiar with from long rides in the past. I was just going to have to deal, and hope it would not be a problem for the next day. 6 km and about 100 meters of climbing later, we were at Beals Point, near Folsom Dam, a place made famous by Jess Riegel and Zack Baldwin with Trials videos. It's the end of the (paved) bike trail, the high point, and our turnaround point. Another 6 km back down, and I led Aaron to the terminus of the light rail track, where he caught a train within 5 minutes and was on his way back to his car downtown. Jacquie picked me up right there, and I was done.
Weather ranged from 50-65 degrees f, with light winds and a tiny bit of sprinkles. Generally a perfect day for cycling. Total ride time was about 5:18, plus lunch and various short stops along the way. Overall average speed 16.2 km/h. I probably would have gone a little faster without Aaron, but you can't put a price on having company on such a long ride. Thanks Aaron!
3/16/2008
171
Day 2 was, at Nathan Hoover's suggestion, Mt. Diablo in Danville, CA. It packs all the points I'd need into only 35.2 kilometers of riding. That's because it's 1100 meters up and down. I had done it once before, on a 29" wheel with 140mm cranks. That one previous time was the only time I've done that much uphill *riding* in a day. I think we did considerably more on a day of group MUni riding in Switzerland in 2006, but I walked up most of that. For day 2 I started out on my brand new Coker V2, with 150mm cranks. I questioned whether 150 was long enough. After the fact I can say that I made it, but longer probably would have been better, at least for the climb. Jacquie was with me, and the idea was that she would drive up and I'd have the option to change cycles at the top if I wanted. But I forgot how narrow and windy and sharp and droppy that road is. Jacquie has some vision problems that make that sort of driving especially difficult so when she met me at the crossroad about halfway up, I told her she didn't need to go any further. With the V2 having its brake on there, I'd be good to ride it back down as well. So, Mt. Diablo is quite scenic, especially this time of year when all the hills are green. But there are tons of hairpin turns all the way up, and when they turn to the right they're really steep! I did a lot of riding toward the center of the road when there weren't any cars coming. But it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so there were plenty of cars, and tons of bikes! And I got loads of encouragement from the cyclists, as well as from people in cars. I started just before noon. Temps ranged around 55-60 degrees f, not counting the wind. STRONG WINDS! That upped my score from 153 to 171, allowing for 10km of that. Though sometimes they were mercifully at my back, mostly they were from the side, in front and/or randomly gusty. The second half of the ride up is steeper than the first. I guess this is typical for mountain roads. The last couple of hundred meters of climbing were really tough, and I made lots of stops. I only stopped once between the Athenian School (starting point) and the crossroad station. But then finally I rounded the corner onto the final 1/2 km or so, the steepest part by far. I don't know what the grade is there, but it's evil-steep. I made two stops along that climb, but I was determined to ride it all the way up. My legs were arguing with me though; trying to remind me we still had to ride back down, with twinges of crampiness in my calves. But finally I reached the top, at an altitude of 1180m where it was cold, windy and beautiful!
Mt. Diablo offers a view of more area of California than any other spot on the ground, supposedly. Also there's a survey marker up there that was used as a reference point for surveying most of the northern half of the state. Also it's pretty. You can see San Francisco, the entire bay, the Sacramento River delta (which becomes the bay), lots of big bridges and towns, a couple of windmill farms, the U.S. Navy's mothball fleet and much more. Okay so I was freezing. I went to the bathroom, took a few pictures and, with great trepidation, started heading down the equally steep (other one-way) road down. Time to learn to work the V2's brake lever! The lever is mounted with a very simple bracket under the KH-style seat, in a position where it can't touch the ground. But would I be able to hold it comfortably in the "sweet spot" for the next 17 km? That first 1/2 km was the real test, where I really had to rely on the brake a lot. Riding downhill is very hard on my knees, one of my main learning experiences from my one previous ride up and down the mountain. But the brake was strong, and worked very well! I was proud of myself because I'd apparently set it up well, and I'm not much of a brake setter-upper. I noticed there were bits of snow under the trees on the shady side of the peak. How rare to see any snow at all in that part of California! So heading down the more "normal" grades of the mountain, I at first was worried both of my hands would eventually turn into cramped-up claws from gripping the brake, but I found a pretty comfortable hand position where I could tweak the lever and still grip the seat handle pretty well. It worked out nicely. And the V2 frame is probably the best one out there for precision brake control due to its extreme rigidity. I think on any other frame I would have had to deal with unevenness of braking power as I cranked my way around the steep switchbacks. So far my impression of the Coker V2 is that it's definitely great for off-roading, climbing and descending! Along the way down I dealt with the crazy crosswinds, and enjoyed the (relatively few) sections where I could let go of the brakes and spin faster. I don't like going fast with the brake on, especially with a semi-healed collarbone. :) I arrived back at the car around 2:30pm.
It was about 2.5 hours going up, and one hour coming down (which included several stops trying to get a phone signal). Total distance 35.2 km, total climb 1100m. I ate half a Clif Bar and two things of Power Gel. That stuff's great for uphill!