Norcal Winter Weather

I remember somebody saying that here in the Bay Area we have "just the right amount of weather" for it to be interesting but not annoying. I guess March 2011 was the weather to talk about this year, since it rained for three weeks, Tahoe ski resorts got to 700 inches totals, and there was even an emergency radio message one day about a hydro situation along the Pescadero Creek.

Last Sunday ride was supposed to get me over 60 miles (finally), which it did, but the main highlight was to see how the environment looked like after so much rain. The rain certainly did something to create lush surroundings, but many small roads had rivers of water still flowing over the pavement, I saw many small to medium size mud slides and I had to watch for rocks, mud and debris all the time.
The best part of Sunday still unstable weather was a strong tail wind on final uphill stretch and this view of San Carlos hills from the Ralston Bike trail on Canada Rd:

Fifield-Cahill Trail Volunteer Training

 

A couple of months ago, I have signed up as a volunteer to lead guided mountain bike rides on a trail managed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. This Fifield-Cahill trail is open to public since 2003 but only upon a reservation and as a guided tour. The events include hiking, trail running, horse rides and biking. There is a lot of information about this natural resource on the SF PUC website here:

http://sfwater.org/msc_main.cfm/MC_ID/20/MSC_ID/176

There is an online reservation system, as well as a trail map (you have to click on the "Become a volunteer trail leader" link to see a PDF of the trail and surrounding area.

The trail is 10 miles long from gate to gate, south entrance on Hwy 92, north entrance just south of the San Francisco discovery site in San Bruno accessed from Sneath Lane. On the northern end, it connects to the Sweeney Ridge trail and Baquiano and one more trail to Pacifica (all managed by the GGRNA).

During the training day, which included a van tour of the whole trail, I have learned lots of new information about this watershed, the water system that feeds 2.5 million people in SF and the Peninsula. The scenery along this trail is amazing, with views of the Pilarcitos Reservoir, which I think cannot be seen from anywhere else, Montara Mountain, Pacifica, the Pacific coast in the west, the Bay, SFO, San Bruno Mt. etc in the east.

These three pictures show the Pilarcitos Reservoiur and Montara Mt. on the horizon (with the radio towers):

The trail surface is a very well draining fine gravel. The trail is in an excellent condition, which means no technical mountain biking, but a fast ride and a good workout, too, since the trail is far from flat. Eventually, this trail is supposed to be connected to Montara Mt. trails, which would make a pretty strenuous but fantastic loop possible.
So I am looking forward to show this place to bikers, my friends and colleagues and hopefully go for a ride or trail run there few times a year.

Full Moon January 19

The days are getting longer for sure, but leaving work at 5:15 means almost dark just before reaching San Mateo and then finishing the ride in complete darkness. I need another 45min of light / twilight! But today, riding on the Bay Trail just before reaching the Coyote Point, there was a special sight of a full moon rising above the Bay (west), while the sun was already behind the ridge east.

New Year Ride to San Bruno Mt Summit

The 2nd Annual Ride from SSF to the top of San Bruno Mt. happened on January 6th which was a pretty cold but sunny day, unlike the original date of January 3rd which was rainy.
The destination was looming in the distance as I approached South City along the Bay:

The ride is gaining popularity - this year it was five of us reaching the summit, two more than in 2010.

2010 Recap

There were several more (12) beautiful rides in November and December of 2010, including this 
King Ridge Ride

The total tally of GPS-logged activities for 2010 looks like this:

2520 miles (~ 4056 km)
210,471 feet of climbing
196 hours in saddle

No races.... Let's hope 2011 will be at least this good but I hope for better.

Down for maintenance in November 2010

Not the website or my bikes, but my body. Actually just a small but quite important part of me: my nasal sinuses. These little buggers received a thorough cleanup during a 5-hour surgery. I was "down" for nine days but recovery was good and eventually I ended up with a renewed ability to breathe using my nose and not just my mouth, as well as an ability to SMELL (after 15 years of no smell), which is great but made me realize how awful car exhaust smell is - I hope the world will switch to electric cars really soon.

Fall Big-Wheelin'

After considering a road ride, I have decided to take the 29er on a mixed trails and roads ride. Starting at the bottom of Windy Hill preserve means climbing for the first 3 miles with no warm-up, from 600 to 1800 ft. Despite the recent cool down, it was warm (78F) and few of those really steep pitches were quite brutal. Once on the "ridge", I realized how beautiful fall riding is here. Despite the trails being dusty, the views were nice, the tall grasses are all either dry yellow or gone (means no pollen for me allergy sufferer), the poison oak is almost all red and thus easy to recognize, and mainly - no fog.
I felt strong and tried to climb in the middle ring standing up. To my surprise, that's where the big bike really came alive and the rough rocky trail was nice absorbed by the big wheels with 35 psi in the Kenda SB8s. The problem is that I can hammer standing for like 5 minutes at the time, so often I resorted to spinning the granny sitting. Also, the quite worn out rear tire was easily spun out, but not anywhere as easy as on the 26" bike.
Here is a picture from the Ancient Oaks Trail, it is my favorite place to stop for a gel or bar.

The second half of the ride was on a road, getting passed by some roadies, but beating many while doing about 17mph.