We went out yesterday and did a nice casual, interesting ride. It was all Claire’s idea as she had heard rumors that there was a way to get from Wohler Bridge over to the River Front Regional Park which is off of Eastside Road. We put Mathilda in the trailer and Claire hopped on her trusty Ibis SS while I road my Cannondale cross bike. Here is a link to our loop. We did some exploring around Sonoma County Water Agency property. I am pretty sure it was all legal. We ended up at the park and we rode around the lake.

Well, Claire and I finally got back out on our mountain bikes. It had been quite a while, and the last time was quite muddy. We had to go into the shop early so that I could pull apart my shock and regrease the bearings and rebuild the oil cartridge. The great thing about those Cannondale Headshocks is that the come out as good as new with some TLC. Anyway, we got out of the shop at a little before four even though there was lots of tune-ups to do. It was too nice of a day to not get outside. Here is a map of our loop. Claire stopped and took a picture of some turkeys that were strutting their stuff on the side of the trail. Mathilda stayed back and guarded the Hub Bus while we were out. Claire took her picture, but since we haven’t washed the back window since the last rain, it is sort of bleary.

It has been a while since I have written. Things have really picked up at the shop, so I don’t feel like I have a lot of extra time to put stuff in here. I have been out a couple of times since early March. I have gone for a couple of runs where I felt great. I ran the Elmo loop the other morning and felt really good. Then a couple of days ago I went out for my neighborhood run and felt a little tightness in my lower calf at the end.

Well, yesterday was the first Grasshopper race of this year.  The weather was beautiful, but as A1 would agree, not perfect.  The perfect weather for this race is a good steady rain storm with plenty of gusty winds, but you can’t have everything.  I don’t want to get my facts wrong, but I could swear there were over 200 people there at the start, it was huge.  Claire was on her trusty Ibis SS and I was on my favorite Cannondale cross bike with my retro brakes that don’t slow me down.  Claire and I were positioned in the last third of the group as we headed out of Occidental.  As we FLEW down Bohemian Hwy., I was sort of moving up through the group and chatting with old friends as I went.  It was a pretty safe trip down Bohemian compared to some of the rainy years in the past.  Claire had moved up in the pack also, and we ended up riding together out to Duncans Mills.  At one point there was a little split in the pack, and everyone behind us was happy to leave Claire out there to pull it back together.  As we turned on to Hwy. 116 and headed back towards Duncan Road, I made sure that I was getting up into the front third of the group.  When we turned on to Duncan Road, we came to a complete stop.  For those of you who have never turned onto Duncan Road, you basically go from level ground to a climb that hits around 20% at a couple of points.  The road also narrows down to around 10 feet wide or so.  At this point I actually got off my bike and ran part way up the hill, passing many of those stubborn cyclists that don’t believe in running.  There was another log jam at the gate entering the dirt section, but it wasn’t too bad.  Again, I got off my bike and ran up the first dirt section, which is faster than riding.  Thank goodness for my blue canvas Shimano Hightop mountain bike shoes (I have four pairs of them).   

Well, for some reason my Garmin decided to combine my ride on the rollers a couple of days ago with my hour long run over the Scenic Loop.  Here is a link to it, but it is all messed up.  It says that I was going for 49 hours, which was how long the Garmin was sitting around between the two activities.  I know the Garmin was off the entire time also, so I don’t know what is going on. I was doing my favorite workout of 5 on, 3 off, 5 on, 3 off, 4 on, 3 off, 4 on, 3 off, 2 on, and so on.  That is the graph above. 

I felt terrific on the run.  My lower leg didn’t hurt one bit.  I hadn’t been able to run for awhile, so it ws a blast to get out there.  Here is a graph of the elevation compared to my heart rate.

Well, I got out on Friday with Claire and A2 for a little lunch ride.  We did the Roblar-Valley Ford loop.  It was very pleasant out there.  I think A2 had a good time.  He is a jack-rabbit on those uphills.  We had to be back at the shop for a meeting with our C-dale rep.  We are real excited because we have a bunch of the 2009 bikes on the way.

Claire and I went down the basement and rode our bikes in the yesterday morning.  We did a Chris Carmichael workout that we had on tape.  These videos are a great way to stay on the trainer for an hour without going crazy.  You can purchase these on DVD at The Hub Cyclery.  I rode the rollers while Claire rode her Cyclops Fluid trainer, which is available at The Hub Cyclery.  We did the time trial workout, which I think is one of the harder ones.  Here is a graph of my heartrate.The workout consisted of some 5 minute intervals with 5 minutes of rest in between each, with a final 12 minute interval at a little bit lower intensity.  Today we hope to get out with A2 for a lunch time ride.  A2 is really getting into mountain biking, and doesn’t get out on the road all too often.  Now that he has a new Cannondale 29er singlespeed, he wants to spend all of his waking moments in the dirt.

Yesterday I went out on my cross bike and did my favorite loop.  Actually, that was not a link to my ride yesterday since my Garmin decided that it would not let me download my info.  I decided to race my last time over the same loop using the courses feature of my Garmin.  That was pretty cool and I was able to keep up with myself except for heading through Willow Creek State Park where it was a lot muddier that it had been last time.  I also had some trouble at the very end since the wind was right in my face on the way home on River Road.  My average heart rate was higher than the last couple of times.  I think I averaged 167 beats per minute instead of 150ish the last couple of times.  I got poured on a couple of times during the ride, but except for very cold feet, I was quite comfortable.  I finished 2 minutes slower than last time.

Well, it was great having the time off in January and riding a bunch, but now it seems that we are back to our once a week rides.  The shop has been way too busy for February.  Anyway, last Monday Claire and I rode with A1 and Melinda.  We were on tandems and we did the Dillon Beach loop.  It has been a while since Claire and I had done this loop.  It used to be a weekly ritual, or so it seemed.  The wind was in the totally opposite direction as usual, so it was interesting riding out Fallon-Two Rock Road and being pushed along.  A1 and Melinda were real troopers as usual.