SF Cyclotouring

Ride reports and other ramblings from a San Francisco cyclist.

12/30/2006

2006.12.30 - Afternoon Ride to Woodacre


Carlos on the Bridge
Originally uploaded by jimgskoop.
Left around noon with a plan to head to Nicasio and then back home again, figuring I'd get some nighttime riding in to test out some bike lights...I bumped into Carlos near Woodacre on his way back from a long ride, we decided that traffic was quite heavy and that riding at night on Sir Francis Drake probably wasn't a good idea, so I turned around at that point and rode back with him.

Date: 12.30.2006
Mileage: 54
Bike: ADVN
Time: 12pm-4:30pm

12/25/2006

2006.12.23 - Ride to Point Reyes Station


Overall view
Originally uploaded by jimgskoop.
After a late start and some crossed wires, Cyclofiend and I managed to sync up and ride out to Point Reyes Station for lunch. We rode out through Fairfax via the usual route, climbed White's Hill and rolled through Samuel P Taylor Park, passed by Olema, and finally reached Pt. Reyes Station. After grabbing a couple of sandwiches at the deli, we rolled up Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, hung a right onto Platform Bridge Road, and cruised back through the park towards Fairfax. I stopped at the Java Hut for some revival java to get me home, and Cyclofiend continued on towards home.

A tough ride for me, I moronically stayed up far too late the night before converting my Fuji CX into [yet another] brevet machine (adding 700x35 Paselas, Esge/SKS P45 fenders, a custom front mudflap, and a Nashbar front mini rack with custom light mounting). Then I woke up feeling as if I was coming down with a cold, and almost bailed on riding altogether. After puttering around the house, getting dressed, and eating something I felt well enough to attempt riding, but of course by this point I was quite late to the meeting point. I'm pretty sure that I phoned ahead to let people know that I was late, but my wife insists that I didn't, and there's no record of the outgoing call in my cellphone. Strange? At any rate about halfway through the ride I hit a wall and ran out of energy -- it was all I could do to turn the cranks to maintain a meager 12mph. I wasn't bonking, I think it was my body beginning to fight off whatever bug I've caught and I simply didn't have the extra energy.

At any rate, 82 miles were covered from about 9am to 4:30pm. On a bike weighing 38 lbs loaded...yikes!

So I forgot to mention -- I didn't take any pencam photos on this ride because I was too cold and tired to deal. Fortunately Cyclofiend snapped a few...

Date: 12.23.2006
Mileage: 82
Bike: Fuji
Time: 9am - 4:30pm

12/17/2006

2006.12.17 - Nicasio Loop Ride


Cruising on Nicasio Valley Road
Originally uploaded by jimgskoop.
Rode w/Carlos to Woodacre Deli for sandwiches, then onto Nicasio. We completed the loop, taking Petaluma-Pt. Reyes Road down to Platform Bridge Road, then returned through Samuel P. Taylor Park. I got a pinch-flat on the final dirt road in the park when I hit a rock. Also, it was quite cold today!

Date: 12.17.2006
Mileage: 76
Bike: ADVN
Time: 8:30am-5pm

12/05/2006

Learn to Braze the Netflix Way

A friend just sent a link to http://smartflix.com.

This seems to be a
Netflix-like website where you can rent technical how-to DVDs for $10,
keep them for a week, and then you have to return them. They state
that the DVDs they send are mostly in DVD+R or DVD-R format and ask
that you check that your player is compatible -- but that makes me
wonder whether there's any Macrovision protection. ;) At any rate,
they have a lot of videos on machining and welding, including one on
brazing!

http://smartflix.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=343

2006.12.03 - Paradise Loop Ride


Zalman's Serotta
Originally uploaded by jimgskoop.
An old route I haven't revisited in quite a while... a Paradise Loop ride today with Stork and his friend Zalman. Stork unfortunately bailed just after crossing the GGB, despite all my pestering. Zalman and I continued on and rode about 45 miles, stopping for the usual Bell Market deli-lunch in Tiburon. We saw some off-road unicyclists...and Zalman has a really cool bike: a custom titanium Serotta sport tourer!

Date: 12.03.2006
Mileage: 45
Bike: RB-1
Time: 11am - 4:30pm