Recently in biking Category

In early June Timber and I finally made a run for Tioga Pass so that we could ride our road bikes over it since we had been talking about doing it for the past few years. We missed the weekend when the road was closed to cars but open to bikes (it was only opened up to Olmstead Point). We left the house really early, and when we got there we debated on where we should start from. I had the thought that we had to do a minimum of 70 miles on the ride but Timber wanted the ride to be as short as possible. After stopping to look at bears a few times we finally decided on a place to start, got our gear set, and rode. We started by going up hill for a while, then finally got a break from the climbing and went down a for a while. The entire ride was a lot of up and down, and by the time we got to Olmstead Point we decided that there was no need to go any further. We sat under a tree and had our lunch in the view of Half Dome and Clouds Rest. After that we turned around and worked our way back to the car. Our total ride was about 27 miles. Luckily for us there were not a lot of cars on the road because there are places where the shoulder is very small. Overall I would recommend the ride because the scenery is beautiful but you should be careful because the road can be narrow at times and drivers may be paying more attention to the scenery than the road. Our photos are posted here.

This past Sunday Timber and I finally did the Mount Hamilton road biking trip. It is something she has wanted to do for a long time, and we had been doing some pretty serious (for us) training to get ready for it. We trained because it is a 19 mile (mostly uphill), 5000 feet or so elevation gain bike ride. If you don't train for it you probably won't make it to the top. I was aiming to have us do it in about 3 hours. We moved the ride from Saturday to Sunday because it was going to be significantly cooler on Sunday. So we started out at 6 AM on Sunday, and an hour into the ride I got 2 flat tires. I knew after the first flat that the day was not going my way, but after the second flat I decided to not tempt fate and aborted my summit attempt. After I fixed my second flat I turned around and headed downhill to where I had parked my truck, and I told Timber to go on without me. My plan was to put my bike on the rack and then drive up the road to be her support crew. I did exactly that, and stopped in 3 spots along the way to make sure she had enough water, food, and motivation. I was also a great opportunity for me to document her feat with pictures. She did eventually make it to the top in 2 hours, 55 minutes. I was (and am) very proud of her for making it because it is not an easy ride. I will have to try it another time and hope that I have better luck.

On Monday Timber dropped me off at work so I could ride my bike home because her car was in the shop.  As the afternoon wore on I was feeling the urge to ride more than just the 5 miles home that I was slated to do after work.  So when the work day was over I went for a 20 mile loop near work, and then after that loop I rode the 5 miles home.  Later in the evening I had a soccer game with my co-ed team.  My team won that game 2-1 when the other team scored on themselves with about 30 seconds to go.  After the game I found out that we were actually playing in the playoffs, and since we won we had to hand around and play the winner of the game right after ours.  then I started to wonder why the other team scored on themselves.  :-)  I was not too happy about that since we were really low on subs, and I didn't know how we would handle playing another game with basically no subs.  So we hung out and watched the game and then we played the winning team.  We ended up winning that game, which apparently was the championship game, 3-1.  And as a result each person on my team gets a t-shirt.  So at least we ended up getting something for hanging out and playing an extra game.

On Sunday timber and I did a 32.5 mile bike ride, which is our longest bike ride yet.  We rode from our place to downtown Los Gatos and back.  Our total ride time was 2.5 hours, and once we got to Los Gatos we returned some headphones that I had bought from the Apple Retail Store and we had lunch/early dinner at Willow Street Pizza.  Overall the ride went pretty well, but we were both ready to be done by the time we got home.  We are almost to the point where we can attempt Mount Hamilton.  That ride is 19 miles each way with a ton of climbing on the way to Mount Hamilton.

Over the weekend I finally pulled the trigger and got a road bike. I had been looking off and on since last year, but I decided this year was the year to pull the trigger and get on with it. I did a lot of research and pretty much settled on the Trek 1000/1.2. The 1000 is last year's Trek entry level road bike and the 1.2 is this year's Trek entry level road bike. They are basically the same thing. Over the years, the 1000 and now 1.2 has won several awards for being the best entry level road bike for the money. And when it came time for me to get a road bike I wanted something that was entry level but still pretty decent because I can always upgrade later if it is something that I really get into. Some of the reviews I read can be found here, here, and here. The next step was to actually go for a test ride. So after several delays I went to the Trek Bicycle Store of San Jose to do a test ride. The day I went (Thursday), the shop was really busy and it was 10 - 15 minutes before someone asked me if they could help me. By that time I had found the Trek 1.2 and had gotten a chance to check it out. I told them that I was looking for an entry level road bike, and that the 1.2 fit the bill, and I wanted to test ride it. Unfortunately the only trek 1.2 they had in my size had already been sold, so they told me to come back tomorrow and they would have one ready for me then. So the next day (Friday), I went back at the prescribed time (and I brought Timber with me) and did a test ride on two sizes, the 54 cm and 56 cm. The 56 cm fit better, and I took it on a nice ride around the block. It felt really smooth, comfortable, and effortless. I don't know how fast I got it to go, but it felt pretty fast compared to my mountain bike. The shifting was not the smoothest, but from what I read the more you pay for components the smoother your shifting should become. So overall I was pretty happy with the bike. After the test ride I told the guy that I would want to think about it a little bit and would be in touch. After talking to Timber about it for a little bit it pretty much came down to two choices. (1) buy it from the bike shop or (2) buy it online (ebay, craigslist, etc...). I did some research online, and found a few of last year's trek 1000's in my size, and assuming the postings were legit I would save a decent amount of money by buying it online. So here are the pros and cons of each approach:

Buying from a local bike shop -> get properly fitted (pro), knowledgable staff to help guide you to the right bike (pro), warranty (pro), someone you can turn to in case of problems (pro), a couple of free tune ups and inspections (pro), higher price than found online (con), supporting your local bike shop (priceless)

Buying online -> better price than the local bike shop (pro), you may end up getting the wrong size (con)

In the end I decided to buy it from the local bike shop because I wanted to support the local bike shop and build a relationship with them. So on Saturday morning I gave them a call and told them I wanted to buy the 56 cm Trek 1.2 and that I would be there later in the day to pick it up. So after taking care of a few other things first Timber and I went to pick it up in the early afternoon. This time the bike shop was especially busy but we got helped right away. After the guy grabbed my bike I walked around the shop picking out the accessories that I needed to take it for a ride that day. I got a bag to go under my seat, an extra tube, water bottle cage, water bottle, and a bike computer. The bike computer was nothing fancy, just something to tell me the time of day, ride time, distance, speed, average speed, high speed, etc... After I picked everything out paid for it they took my bike in the back and put everything on it for me. After they brought it back out we made a few adjustments and off I went, a happy customer.

After we got home I took a few pictures for insurance purposes and got ready to go on a ride with Timber. We did a 17 mile ride with a decent uphill section. Overall the bike felt effortless compared to my mountain bike on the same ride. I even beat Timber to the top of the hill by a little over a minute, and on the way back down the same hill I hit a top speed of 32 mph. Overall it was a very good first ride. Going forward I think it will take a little while to get used to the difference in handlebars and gears, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'll eventually get some better pedals and riding shoes and a few other accessories. But there is no hurry. I will also ride it to work when my schedule and the weather permit. It will be interesting to see how many miles I put on it up through the fall.