A Few Final Thoughts

What's a blog without a wrap up? Even if done from the comfort of home several days after the ride end....

As was the case when I first rode Climate Ride in 2011 (on their NYC to DC route), I found the whole experience to be fun, challenging and more than a bit inspiring. In total, there were about 130 of us, most of whom rode the full 330 (or so) miles from Fortuna, CA to San Francisco in the course of 5 days.

Again, I was very impressed by the passion and commitment of the mostly younger folks on the ride (even if one of them said, in what I believe she thought was a compliment, that I "so reminded her of her dad." Sigh). Many of them work in businesses or roles affiliated with the "green" economy or climate change, and they talk about what they are doing, and trying to do, articulately, intelligently and with enthusiasm.

The participants' energy and optimism - and general overall positivity -- carried over to their biking and the whole trip experience. They were friendly, encouraging and helpful in all respects that I can think of. I love living in New York City, but it's too easy sometimes to become somewhat jaded and cynical as a result. Climate Ride was a real recharge of my batteries, and reminded me that each of us individually, and all of us collectively, can make a real difference.

In sum, it was an excellent experience. I'm proud of the riding I accomplished -- the hills, the distances and the wind -- and awed by the scenery and views. As importantly, I'm delighted to have helped raise monies for such excellent organizations as Climate Ride and I Challenge Myself. Obviously I couldn't have done it without your help and support. So thank you all for giving so generously to supporting these causes, and my riding, with your donations. It was very much appreciated.

Maybe even a few of you will consider doing Climate Ride yourselves in the years to come? I would heartily recommend it -- even (maybe) the camping part! I am also pleased to report that the organizers no longer proudly tout special vegan days or meals -- instead, opting to provide "omnivore" and "vegan" options at each meal. Yes!

Yours, one last time, from the (figurative) road.

Roger

P.S. If you're feeling flush or generous or both, contributions can still be made on my donation page here.

Day 5 -- Over the Golden Gate Bridge and Back to San Francisco

If I had thought (albeit incorrectly) that Day 4 was going to be a piece of cake, surely Day 5, in going from Olema Ranch, CA to San Francisco, CA, with only about 41 miles of distance and 2260 feet of climbing, was going to be a less arduous day?

Not so fast, I'm afraid.

First, the Climate Ride organizers wanted to get us over the Golden Gate bridge, into the parking lot of Sports Basement (where we originally gathered on Day Zero to take the bus north to Fortuna), by 11:15. This was so that we could then all ride en masse to San Francisco City Hall, for scheduled speakers on environmental topics, starting at Noon. Unfortunately, this schedule meant they wanted us eating breakfast by 6 a.m. and on the road by 6:30 a.m.

Didn't quite happen. At least for me. Although I'm proud to say that I did at least pack up camp and make it out onto the road by about 7:30. Where some pretty strenuous climbs, including one Category 4 (our only non-Category 5 climb other than on Day 2) awaited. And although the total climbing for the day was "only" about 3000 feet, the gradients of the climbs were as, if not more, consistently severe -- in the 8% to 12% range -- than anything experienced to date. It was some seriously hard riding. Although with some seriously excellent payoffs in terms of views at, and descents from, the top.



It was also pretty thrilling to get over the last large climb and ride down into and through Marin County and Sausalito (where we were warned that the cops like to ticket bicyclists who go through red lights), with the knowledge that the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco proper, were not too far away.

Of course, even with time being tight, I insisted on stopping and taking some pictures, and otherwise tried to enjoy the ride in my own way. Which meant that I narrowly missed the gathering at Sports Basement and had to ride directly to City Hall, arriving in the proverbial nick of time at about 11:55 a.m.!

Consistent with Climate Ride protocol, the obligatory bicycle hoisting photographs were taken, and we all collected to listen to Paul Hawken (noted environmentalist and author of numerous books, including The Ecology of Commerce) and others speak.Definitely a fine and fitting ending to the day, and the week.

America's Cup Racing In San Francisco Bay!

With Bob and Rachael Loper

This time also with our new friend, Libby

Paul Hawken addressing the masses....

Blake Holiday and Caeli Quinn, two of the principals of Climate Ride (Caeli is a co-founder  with Geraldine Carter, not pictured)

I made it!!

Day 4 -- Recovery from an Inauspicious Start

Day 4, from Duncan Mills, CA to Olema Ranch, CA, was going to be a piece of cake after yesterday's Century. A "mere" 60 miles and 1900 feet in cumulative elevation (at least according to Climate Ride). Not surprisingly, it turned out, according to my Garmin, to be closer to 62 miles and 3900 feet, but that was the least of it.



First, as you can see from the map profile above, we headed inland a bit to start the day -- which with strong winds out of the NNW, was a pretty good ride. And it also didn't have a lot of climbing. But, as you also can see from the profile, from about mile 30 to about mile 45, we had to head back out to the coast, surmount some significant climbs and, to boot, battle a headwind that was regularly 15 to 20 mph and certainly gusted above 30 mph. Ugh!

Second, I had not started the day too auspiciously. Somehow, while eating breakfast, I managed to get scrambled eggs into my windpipe -- or at least I think that's where they went. In any event, they caused a choking, not able to breathe very well, response, with the result being that I spent about 45 minutes on my knees, sporadically vomiting eggs. A lovely image, no? (sorry, no actual pictures.) And definitely not how I wanted to kick off the day, especially after already feeling a bit fatigued from yesterday's long ride. I will say, however, that the Climate Ride EMTs nearby were very nice, comforting and patient with me as I, ahem, worked through this little problem.

They suggested that I might want to shuttle some or all of today's ride, but yours truly, having made it through yesterday's marathon, wanted to complete the full week's course. I figured that I could take it slow and see how I felt. So I did. And, fortunately for me, the ride for the first 30 miles, before turning back out to the coast, was pretty easy. By which point I felt pretty recovered. In fact, recovered enough that when we reached Pt. Reyes near the end of the day, and stopped at the renowned Hog Island Oyster Company restaurant, which has a lovely deck outside perched on the edge of Tomales Bay, I enthusiastically (albeit somewhat trepidatiously) joined the oyster shucking and eating festivities (and, yes, there was even some beer drinking too).

Definitely a better ending to the day....

Oh yeah. It got pretty cold at night!

Day 3 - A Century Ride Down the Coast

Today's ride was from Caspar Beach, CA to Duncans Mills, CA, and offered ride options of 54, 65 and 102 miles. Under each scenario, everyone started from the same place, but if you selected either of the shorter options, you would be shuttled by van to the end of the route.

And therein lay the rub. A number of the participants had done the route before on prior Climate Rides and, uniformly, they all said the shuttled section (i.e., the last 30 miles or so) was spectacular and offered the best views of the day, if not the entire week.

Geraldine Carter, one of the co-founders of Climate Ride and a super cyclist, has dozens of Century rides under her belt, at locations all over the world, and offered (in her unbiased view, of course) that this Century route was in the top 3 she had ever done.

So what was a self-respecting 55 year-old cyclist to do? The last two days of riding, each at or around 65 miles, had left my legs somewhat tired already. And tomorrow's ride was another 65 miler. Plus I've already done a handful of Centuries and felt no burning need to prove myself in this context with another.

And then there was the elevation. Climate Ride gives out the cumulative climbing footage and elevation profiles before each ride, and it was clear that the full route today added two huge climbs after mile 80, when I certainly expected to be fading.

So I compromised to start with, deciding to keep an open mind about the full distance and make a choice mid-ride depending on how I felt at the time. But in the back of my head was the thought "after coming all the way to California, how can I skip the best views of the ride?"

Fortunately, my decision was aided by a very strong tailwind out of the northwest, which really made a huge difference. And unlike long jumping, no one asterisks your bike ride as wind-aided!

Now although the wind was a significant net positive for riding the full distance, it presented two not insubstantial negatives. First, the ride hewed very close to the coastline, which because the coast is naturally jagged (fractal theory anyone?), means the road dips inland and then hairpins right back out, time after time. "Dip" and "hairpin" being the operative words. All the turns inland, presumably because of the imperatives of road building, were sharp, speedy descents, thrilling in their own right as you would build up speed and lean into the hairpin, usually at bike speeds above the posted 15 or 20 mph warnings for cars. But once around the turn, you would be faced with a steep ascent, usually with greater than 10% grades. And the friendly tailwind would now be smack dab in your face. So you would push the hairpin speeds even higher, in the hope of sustaining a bit more momentum against these dual forces, but still end up standing on your pedals in lowest gear, inching along at 5 or 6 mph. It became a real love-hate affair: "Oh boy, another downhill!" Followed quickly by: "Oh boy, another impossible climb into a fierce wind!"

The second wind negative was its gustiness, often coming from the side. And this on twisting roads, on cliff edges, often with no guardrails. Fortunately, since we were riding south, the westerly gusts would blow me inwards, and not towards the cliff edge. But it was very hard at times to control my steering, and one time I literally was pushed by a sudden strong gust into the oncoming lane - fortunately without any cars passing in either direction - but a scary experience nonetheless. I rode with a bit more tension in my arms after that!

All that being said, it was one of the best days of riding in my life! The roads were well-paved, smooth and twisty. The climbs were challenging and rewarding. The views of the coast were spectacular and exhilarating. And the final climb of the day left us at about 600 feet, looking down on a whole bunch of switchbacks leading to the town of Jenner at sea level. What a descent!  I hope the pictures below, many of which used the panorama feature of my phone, give at least a little sense of the extraordinary beauty encountered during the day.

At the end of the ride I had ridden 98 miles and climbed a cumulative (and mind-boggling) approximately 8200 feet. Both of which require a bit more comment.

At the 97 mile mark, there was a direct route into camp of about a mile, but the Climate Ride organizers, knowing the magic to many of the number 100, threw in an extra loop at that point (past and then back to the camp) to extend the day's mileage to slightly over 102 miles. Truthfully, I had no interest in that. My goal in riding all the way without a shuttle was to experience the journey and get the views, climbs and scenery, not to hit a magic number. Readers of my cross-country blog may recall a similar decision, when I happily (ok, almost happily) settled for riding a cumulative 3970 miles, instead of pegging on an Astoria, Queens loop at the end to roll over to 4000.

Doth I protest too much? Maybe, but I'm kinda proud of not letting those sorts of factors impinge on my trying to get the maximum enjoyment out of a ride.

As for the elevation, that's by far the most I can remember doing in a single day, which is noteworthy because Climate Ride "advertised" the day's route as having "only" 4100 feet. A significant underestimation that they had already committed on days 1 and 2, for which they indicated cumulative gains of about 3000 and 3750 respectively, whereas my Garmin GPS unit (as well as my online ridewithgps mapping tool), gave results closer to 4300 and 5800, respectively. But I can't really begrudge Climate Ride the underestimations. I might have been scared off of the Century, or even the whole ride, if I had known those daunting figures in advance.

Below (after the photos) are today's route and more precise elevation details. My Garmin malfunctioned in terms of saving my data at the end of the day (but not before I looked at the results and saw 8200 feet climbing total), so I've uploaded the route itself, which, I think, overstates the cumulative elevation by about 1400 feet (as explained in an earlier post, I think by including valley ascents that are spanned by bridges). But still a lot of climbing!

Oh, and lest I forget, Bob got to camp ahead of me (as always), but in doing so stopped and sourced two bottles of lovely Avalon Cabernet Sauvignon. Made for a very nice evening sitting out under the stars!

Others, in addition to Bob, had wine too!

Days 1 and 2: Some Data and More Photos

My combined Days 1 and 2 post from the road was pretty slight -- since I wrote it in the middle of the Day 2 ride, during the only period in which I had connectivity. So herewith some more detail and data, written at a bit more leisure (but, admittedly, less "you are there" verisimilitude) from the comforts of home. Not quite Wordsworth's "emotion recollected in tranquility," but it will have to do!

Day 1 started in Fortuna, CA and ended in Richardson Grove, CA, after about 63 miles. Here's the RidewithGPS profile (since, as was the case with every day except Day 5, my Garmin corrupted, and failed to preserve, my actual ride data whenever I tried to save the information at the end of the day). Fortunately, I always studied the data first, and my recollection is that the actual cumulative climb on Day 1 came out closer to 4300 feet, as compared to the 4551 feet below. It could just be inaccuracies in the Garmin's altimeter, but I also suspect the RidewithGPS profile might include ascents from valleys which are actually spanned by bridges, thereby tending to overstate the total climbing. If anyone has a better theory, please comment away!



This was the day for redwoods, with the highlight being about 25 miles ridden on Avenue of the Giants, through amazing forests of these majestic trees. It's tough to photograph them and capture the scale, but of course I tried:

And, of course, there were some cows along the way (for those readers who were missing them -- you know who you are):

Day 2 saw us doing some serious climbing to get out to the coast. The start was at Richardson Grove, CA, and we ended up at Caspar Beach, CA, about 67 miles later. Here's the ride profile (my recollection is that the actual cumulative climb, as recorded on my Garmin, was closer to 5800 feet -- tough enough, but not nearly as staggering as the 7648 indicated below would have been):



As may be evident from the profile, we had two serious climbs before getting our first real glimpse of the Pacific at about mile 37. The first was an approximately 5 mile long climb, with a gain of 1400 feet -- a Category 2 climb. The second was shorter, "only" 2 miles, but steeper, gaining about 700 feet in that time -- a Category 3 climb. For those non-bike geeks out there, significant climbs generally fall into categories of either 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, with 1 being the hardest and 5 being the easiest. The categorization depends on both duration and gradient. Of course, there are a lot of climbs that aren't considered difficult enough to have a categorization (and purists reject even the concept of a Category 5). And then there are the dreaded climbs that are known as "hors categorie" (think Alpe d'Huez in the Tour de France) -- because they are so tough and cruel that even Category 1 doesn't sufficiently capture their difficulty. Fortunately, we didn't have any of those (or 1s) on the ride -- a single Category 2 and Category 3 on the same day was plenty!

Our first glimpses of the Pacific were breathtaking -- and a wonderful reward for all that climbing. The rest of the day was equally stunning, with the road clinging to the coast and offering spectacular views of the ocean and jagged rocks peeking out of the surf. So, of course, you get a few more pictures:

All is Excellent - Except on the Connectivity Front

I'm writing this while still out on the road on day two of riding. It has been a spectacular day - a huge amount of climbing but unbelievable views of the Pacific and craggy rocks, accented by hawks gliding overhead. We've been biking down the coastline, on California Route 1, and the views have been simply breathtaking.

Why blog now? Sixty  miles in with 10 miles still to go (and 4900 feet of cumulative climbing already)?  

Because I have cell service for the first time in about 36 hours. Which also explains why there was no blog entry for day one. Which in and of itself was also pretty spectacular - although a " mere" 64 miles. For much of yesterday we rode through miles and miles of redwood forests. Pictures alone cannot capture the majesty of those trees, although of course I tried.

I'd be remiss if I didn't add camping, so far, hasn't been bad. It's actually even been fairly pleasant, sitting out under the moon with some wine in the evening and then reprising that in the morning, but this time with the other nectar of the gods, coffee. And Ben, for what it's worth, the tent I brought would've been ridiculously small for the two of us, so we kind of dodged a bullet on that front.

If I have any connectivity in camp (and energy left) I'll try to post another entry with additional detail on the past two days. But it's also possible I'll be data and Wi-Fi free until Thursday.

But it's been a great ride so far.

Yours from the road,

Roger

Bus Ride to Fortuna

Today was what the Climate Ride organizers call day zero:  The day before we all start riding. We all met in the San Francisco parking lot of a sporting goods store, Sports Basement, and then took two giant tour buses about 300 miles up to Fortuna to the start of the ride.

And proceeded to set up camp. Doesn't look too bad does it? Kind of looking forward to testing it out - sleep, I hope,should be facilitated by tonight's activity - visiting the nearby Eel River Brewery.

Baby Elliott Interlude

After that downer of a last blog entry with the news about Ben, I'm pleased to report that I just finished a lovely two-day stay in San Francisco with my niece, Emily, her partner, Christina, and their new, two-month old baby, Elliott.

There's something about babies and biking. Last time, when I was undertaking preparation for my cross-country trip, my nephew Alex, Emily's brother, had just had his first baby, Clementine. She got her blog entry then, Elliott gets his now.

Thanks Emily and Christina for a lovely stay. It was great to see you guys and, of course, Elliott.

Bummer. Ben Drops Out.

The good news is that it's going to be roomier inside my tent. The bad news is that I'm not going to have Ben with me on this ride.

Ben goes to college at Macalaster, in St. Paul, Minnesota, where there has been snow on the ground until last week. Last week, he had finals. And a sinus infection. So with zero riding preparation and still not feeling well, Ben, surprisingly, was not all that enthused about undertaking this trip. Even the prospect of camping with Dad didn't change his mind (ok, I admit that's not exactly a strong inducement)!

As Bob, my riding buddy from cross country, succinctly put it upon being informed of the news: "There's a lot of wisdom in Ben's decision." Hard to argue with that.

Ben, you'll definitely be missed, but Bob (and you) got it right. Feel better soon. But I'm still expecting you to guest author a blog entry!

Training has Ended (that was fast)

Well, yesterday I finally did a ride of over 50 miles -- to Nyack and back, about 52 in all. Of course, 4 of the 5 days on Climate Ride are over 60 miles, so I'm not deriving too much comfort from today's effort. On the other hand, I deliberately took the hilly route -- River Road, followed by County Rte 5, giving cumulative elevation for the day of more than 3400 feet -- which is pretty good. And my legs, quadriceps in particular, feel it this morning. However,I'm not sure that I'm going to have any more training opportunities before flying to San Francisco on Thursday morning, so I guess I'm going to have to ride myself into shape on the trip!

Training has Started (and I'm already behind)

If I had a nickel for every one who said "hey, you rode cross country, this Climate Ride can't be a big deal," I would be a rich man. But the truth is that the physical benefit of that ride has long ago faded and I'm not really in great bicycling shape. So I'm trying to get some training rides in, hampered a bit by the fairly cool weather we're experiencing here in New York.

On the other hand, on the mental side, it's true that riding cross-country has definitely give me more confidence that, even without being in top physical shape, I can pull off a five day ride of this sort.

My early spring regime has actually been going to spin class two or three times a week at the new Flywheel location on the upper West side.

I'm not sure it's going to help my long-distance bicycling, but it sure does help me walk up subway stairs without getting winded. And don't knock that benefit!

So the start of my outdoor training was on April 24th (3 weeks until the ride, gulp). My favorite loop -- 30+ miles, with some decent climbing thrown in -- to the Alpine Station in New Jersey and back -- along the River Road going, back on 9W. Hey, it's a start...



It was also my first time across the George Washington Bridge on a bicycle since returning from the cross country trip on September 8th. (See pictures below) Not the same emotional impact, but I'm glad to be back!

This was on April 26th -- up to Scarborough -- putting on a bit more mileage, but still no Climate Ride distance!



This ride was with Laura on a gorgeous Sunday (April 28th) -- just a couple of loops around Central Park. Easy! Except the cops were out in force, requiring full stops at red lights. I stopped and chatted up one officer. She said they were really focusing on the bikers blitzing through lights and crosswalks when moms with baby strollers are trying to cross. She said she couldn't condone going through the light, even if I stopped before hand (i.e., essentially treated it like a stop sign), but she did say that that sort of riding behavior was not their target. Cold comfort of a sort, I guess....




This ride was on Tuesday, April 30th -- actually, a combined train ride and bike ride. First, I biked to the 125th street station, then took Metro-North to Larchmont to visit my father-in-law (Carleton) and begin an oral history project with him (a story for a different time and blog). I bought a round-trip train ticket, but when it was time to go, it was so nice outside that I decided to ride home. I'm glad I did, but I was distressingly tired afterwards (distressingly in that the distance was less than half our typical Climate Ride planned day).




This ride was on Tuesday, May 7th, really one of the first picture-perfect riding days in a while. Even felt pretty good afterwards, although, in truth, it's only a little over half (both in terms of distance and overall elevation) of what will be our hardest/longest day on Climate Ride. I've got to try to get in at least one or two 50-60 mile rides before we leave next Thursday!



This is May 10th. A speedy (relatively) three and a half loops in Central Park. Still avoiding the serious distances, but at least getting some saddle time.