Gateway Cross Cup

Cyclocross

Gateway Cross Cup snuck up on me this year. I was out of town at a conference in Chicago the weekend before the race. The Cat 4 race was 40 minutes. I hadn't ridden a bike for 40 minutes in several weeks, let alone raced. But, whatever.

I took the afternoon off work and went over to Heman Park. It had rained heavily the entire day before the race and the course was ridiculously muddy. I was the last person to register for the race and was unfortunately placed at the very back of the pack for the start (last year I was in the front row). This made things difficult. I spent the entire race going slower than I needed to and trying to find the right place to pass people. I steadily moved up the whole time. I caught up with my teammate Mike with about a lap to go and passed him with half a lap to go. We finished 14th and 15th. I moved up through more than half the field, but I just started too far back to have a chance at a good result.

Cross Country

A couple hours after the bike race was the "5K" cross country run. This year it was only a half mile longer than advertised (last year it was a full mile longer). The turnout was even smaller than last year with just 9 starters. From the gun one guy took off and would never be seen again. I hung back in a small pack but broke free about a mile into the run. I ran the last 2.5 miles alone and finished in 2nd place. Just like last year. There was a payout for finishing 2nd that exactly covered my entry fees for both races, so I broke even on the day. Just like last year. I also received a bottle of Michelob Ultra, which I gave to Melissa.

More Cyclocross

I stuck around for the Men's Open race, the Women's Pro race, and the Men's Pro race. It was a lot of fun to watch really good riders on the extremely sloppy course. Here's a bunch of photos.

Quantum Mesa Cycles in the open race:

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Pro race:

Frozen Feet

Training for my upcoming 50K race debut at Fuego y Agua has, well, not gone 100% according to plan. I had knee problems in November and back problems (unrelated to running, but every bit as frustrating) in January. My back finally recovered a bit, I got a couple weeks of solid training in, and I decided I wanted to test myself with a race before Fuego y Agua. I picked the Wildwood Frozen Feet 12 mile "trail" race on January 28. Of course, all but one of those miles were on a paved trail, but I didn't know that until just before the start. This is why it pays to check out the course ahead of time.

12 miles is a weird race distance for me in the same way as a half marathon. It's short enough that I'm capable of running fast the entire way. But it's long enough that it's really going to hurt if I do. I've done very little speed work since October, so I knew I wasn't going to run that fast. And I didn't want to hurt myself either. My plan (here we go again) was to start relatively slow and speed up as the race progressed. I actually stuck with it. For about a mile. Which is about a mile longer than usual.

I let a bunch of people fly past me at the very beginning and I ran quite conservatively for the first mile. I was proud of my self control. Of course, that couldn't last. I felt so good with 11 to go I decided to pick up the pace a little bit. Then a little bit more. And so on. I passed about 20 people, running the next two miles around 6:20-ish pace (much faster than I should have been going at that point). I made it as high as about 6^th by the time we hit the actual dirt (mud) trail, which slowed me down a bit. And, as per usual, I never really recovered from there.

Half way in we hit a two mile long hill, which slowed me down. The temperature was 33˚F, and it had rained all night, so the pavement was wet. The shady areas were riddled with invisible icy patches, which further slowed me down. To be fair they slowed everyone down a bit, but I was already struggling. Half the people I surged past earlier flew by me (again). At least at the top of the hill we would turn around and have a nice two mile long downhill section, right? Oh right, the ice. It was worse on the way back down.

At the bottom of the hill we still had two miles left to run. Into a headwind. People were passing me left and right. I finished in a time of 1:22:55, not even close to what I was hoping to run. My 16^th place finish was my second lowest finish in a foot race in the last 18 months. I didn't even win an age group award.

Adding insult to injury, running the race left me with a sore back the next morning. It wasn't as bad as the pain that kept me from running for 10 days earlier in the month, but it was impossible to ignore. And it was only the beginning. Two days after the race I had another back spasm (again unrelated to running) that knocked me out for another 10 days. This is absolutely not what I needed three weeks out from the big race. On the bright side it forced me to take a three week taper, which I wouldn't have done if I were healthy. So maybe I'll be super-refreshed at the starting line in Moyogalpa. Maybe.

Forest Park Cross Country Festival

I screwed myself again, or so I thought. The week before I ran the Macklind Mile in July I did a really hard speed workout, you know, to prepare for the race. Instead what happened is that my muscles were sore the rest of the week, including on race day.

Having just completed three days of bike racing during Gateway Cup I decided to take it easy last week and only run once. But it was a doozy. You see, the heat just broke and we've had a few 60˚F mornings--approaching ideal running weather. I took advantage of this to knock around five minutes off my fastest time for my 10-mile Forest Park loop. Once again, this left my muscles sore the rest of the week, including race day. But I've been looking forward to this one for a while, so I was going to run no matter how awful I felt.

The Forest Park Cross Country Festival is mainly a high school event, but they have an "open" race for non-high-schoolers. The race is 4km (around 2.5 miles), so it's short and fast. The 2km grass loop has two small hills. I told myself what I tell myself before every race: start slow then build from there. The bizarre thing is that I actually did it this time, and I think it was due to my soreness.

Dozens of runners passed me in the first couple hundred meters. After a half mile I started to pick up the pace a bit. Then around three quarters of a mile I really picked up the pace. I passed the first mile in 5:41--fast, but not killing myself. But I was still accelerating at this point, passing runner after runner. I ran the entire second loop by myself, with the next closest runner unattainably far ahead. I passed the second mile also in 5:41--even splits, perfect.

I finished about 30 seconds faster than last year (when I was in very good shape), and I did it with sore legs (which were now incredibly sore). When they posted the results I was shocked to see that I actually came in 4^th place overall (after finishing 25^th last year). Okay, the competition wasn't quite as good as last year, but still, a good result is a good result. It was especially helpful as a morale booster after Monday's awful bike race.

Maybe I should run more races on sore legs… or maybe not. Melissa was sick of hearing me complain about my pains and she suggested I might be doing to much athletic activity. I responded that I only did one workout last week… well, and four races.

Edwardsville Crit

Due to my knee problems over the winter I got off to a late start with competitive cycling this year. I've been doing the Tuesday night practice crits at Carondelet Park the the past six weeks or so. Today I finally rode my first race race of the season, the Edwardsville Criterium.

The race started at 1pm. It was 97-ish˚F. A fairly large group started, seemingly well over 50. Despite my best effort to get towards the front at the start I found my way to the back of the pack and I spent the first third of the race yo-yoing off the back. I had to close a number of gaps left open by riders in front of me. By the halfway point I moved up about midway through the dwindling pack.

(photos from cat 3 race)

The race didn't particularly suit me. It had seven corners, four of them sharp and narrow. Let's just say cornering isn't my specialty. It was flat. I prefer hills. It was hot. I'd take 40˚F over this any day. That having been said, I've been making strides in each of these areas.

When the lap-remaining count reached single digits I started moving up a few places each lap. When the bell rang with one lap to go I was sitting comfortably in the top ten and still moving up a bit. Unfortunately my efforts to move up from so far back took their toll and I had nothing left for the final sprint. I got swarmed with about 200m to go and fell to 17^th before crossing the line. 42 riders finished.

So it was a good race, not great. This was actually the first cat 4 crit where I finished with the lead group (it's been over a year since I last raced). It was also the first race where I brought my spare wheels to the wheel pit, though thankfully I didn't have any mechanical incidents so I didn't have to use them. There was one crash about five laps in that I safely navigated around. I don't think anyone was injured.

I recognized a number of other rides from the Tuesday night races, but I don't actually know any of them. The only person I knew there was former Wild Card rider Mike, who rode the cat 3 race later in the afternoon. That race had a nasty crash in the final corner of the final lap, with two or three guys flipping over the barricades into the crowd. Yikes!

July 2011

Photo of the Day

Running

I had a decent race to start the month, vacation, and a handful of 9-10 milers in brutal heat. The good news is that these slogs really paid off, as I'm handling the heat much better now.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
February	33.47 Mile	7	4.78143 Mile
March	71.64 Mile	10	7.164 Mile
April	31.12 Mile	6	5.18667 Mile
May	71.9569 Mile	10	7.19569 Mile
June	85.87 Mile	11	7.80636 Mile
July	49.47 Mile	7	7.06714 Mile
Total	357.067 Mile	54	6.61235 Mile

Cycling

I'm not getting out of the house as frequently as usual (fewer short rides), but I've been ramping up the longer rides for the first time this year. I've been racing the practice crit at Carondelet Park almost every week, gradually improving.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	16.2 Mile	2	8.1 Mile
Pocket Rocket	11.76 Mile	1	11.76 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	241.57 Mile	8	30.1963 Mile
Total	269.53 Mile	11	24.5027 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile
February	0	0	0
March	3 Mile	1	3. Mile
April	36.25 Mile	7	5.17857 Mile
May	272.94 Mile	25	10.9176 Mile
June	344.02 Mile	26	13.2315 Mile
July	269.53 Mile	11	24.5027 Mile
Total	961.06 Mile	74	12.9873 Mile

Walking

Again, less total distance here, but a bit more quality with some hiking in place of the usual treks to daycare.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	56.9 Mile	16	3.55625 Mile
February	47.6 Mile	14	3.4 Mile
March	83.4 Mile	24	3.475 Mile
April	84.3 Mile	26	3.24231 Mile
May	64. Mile	19	3.36842 Mile
June	57.3 Mile	17	3.37059 Mile
July	14.5 Mile	7	2.07143 Mile
Total	408. Mile	123	3.31707 Mile

June 2011

Photo of the Day

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Running

I ran pretty well in June, despite the daily 90˚F+ heat and ridiculous humidity of St. Louis. In previous months I had no problems running my morning 9-10 mile loop without drinking anything, but that's simply no longer possible... I have to stop, usually multiple times, for water. Also, now that Will is spending fewer days at daycare, I've moved one of my three weekly runs to the evening after he's gone to bed and the temperature has cooled (slightly). Mainly it's the blazing sun that gets me.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
February	33.47 Mile	7	4.78143 Mile
March	71.64 Mile	10	7.164 Mile
April	31.12 Mile	6	5.18667 Mile
May	71.9569 Mile	10	7.19569 Mile
June	85.87 Mile	11	7.80636 Mile
Total	307.597 Mile	47	6.54461 Mile

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Cycling

After taking it easy on my recovering knee for a few weeks I started adding some intensity to my bike training. And when that went okay I started racing again after over a year off. I've done the tuesday night crits at Carondelet Park four times now, each week showing gradual improvement (25th, 23rd, 13th, 11th). Statistically speaking, it's just a matter of time before I win one, right?

My first race scared the hell out of me. Every lap I lost 5-10 places rounding the fast 35mph downhill corner. The good news is that I was easily able to make up that deficit and more going back up the hill. After a few more races I'm now holding my position there while still moving up when I want. This past week I felt really strong on the last lap for the first time, I just hesitated a bit too long before making the final jump. I'll judge it better next time.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	60.3 Mile	10	6.03 Mile
Big Red	4.4 Mile	1	4.4 Mile
Pocket Rocket	29.85 Mile	3	9.95 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	249.47 Mile	12	20.7892 Mile
Total	344.02 Mile	26	13.2315 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile
February	0	0	0
March	3 Mile	1	3. Mile
April	36.25 Mile	7	5.17857 Mile
May	272.94 Mile	25	10.9176 Mile
June	344.02 Mile	26	13.2315 Mile
Total	691.53 Mile	63	10.9767 Mile

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Walking

Slightly lower numbers here now that I'm not walking Will to and/or from daycare every day. I still try to get out and stretch my legs with low impact walking on a regular basis. Will loves to walk.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	56.9 Mile	16	3.55625 Mile
February	47.6 Mile	14	3.4 Mile
March	83.4 Mile	24	3.475 Mile
April	84.3 Mile	26	3.24231 Mile
May	64. Mile	19	3.36842 Mile
June	57.3 Mile	17	3.37059 Mile
Total	393.5 Mile	116	3.39224 Mile

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Scooter

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	3 Mile	1	3. Mile
Total	3 Mile	1	3. Mile

University City Memorial Day Run

A scant few hours after my last race I slammed my knee into a wall trying to step over a baby gate. You wouldn't think this would knock me out of commission for several months, but you'd be wrong. All winter I struggled with running and particularly cycling. It took forever just to be able to do any training, let alone the type of training necessary to begin racing again. It's a shame, because last fall I probably had the best fitness of my adult life.

Over the past couple months I've been gradually increasing my training, both running and cycling. For the most part now I can run and bike without much (if any) knee pain, though my knee is generally still a little sore after workouts. Last week when I was in Urbana I ran the Second Wind fun run at Meadowbrook park. Without any fast training I ran three miles in 18:41 with a friend, with some serious negative splits. On a lark I decided this meant I could probably start racing again any day now, just in time for the Memorial Day 5K run in our new hometown of University City.

I ran much better than I expected, finishing in 18:25 (5:55/mile pace), only 30 seconds slower than the Danville Memorial Day 5K last year. This was good enough for 8^th place out of 850 finishers, and 1^st in my age group. I felt no knee pain. I dealt with the 80˚F morning heat and blazing sun as well as I could have hoped. I dealt with the couple of hills as well as I could have hoped. I think with a few more miles in my legs this spring I wouldn't have slowed down so much during the 3^rd mile, but I'm still pleased.

Forest Park XC

The first weekend I stayed in our new house in St. Louis I saw there was going to be a huge cross country race at nearby Forest Park. While the event was mostly aimed at high school runners, they had a 4K open race (2.5 miles). Having just whet my appetite for cross country at the DHS alumni race a few weeks prior I decided to run it. There aren't a whole lot of open cross country races around, so I wasn't really sure what type of people were going to show up. The answer is good runners. A lot of them.

It poured down rain all the previous day and night so the course was ankle deep water in many places. It only took a few steps of my pre-race warmup to give up all hope of keeping my feet dry. A sizable crowd lined up for the 7:30 AM open 4K and then we were off. The start was very fast and I was quite a ways back even after I started faster than I should have. The first mile was 5:32, and I slowed down from there. The second lap was a lot of back and forth, notably with a 13 year old boy and a 22 year old woman who went on to win the women's race. Around two miles in I repeated to myself "I'm too old for this shit", by which of course I meant races that short and that fast.

I finished in 14:50 (5:58 pace), 25^th overall, and I somehow managed to get 3^rd in the 30-39 age group. Despite the fact that I actually had a pretty solid race, I was a ways off the top 5-10% I would have expected for this sort of race... indicating the competition was really good.

I stuck around a short while to watch a couple of the early high school races before heading back home. It's been over 10 years since I watched a high school XC meet. It was a good time.

July 2010 Stats

I guess the big news is that we're moving to St. Louis. We've been traveling back and forth a lot. We found a house nice and close to the Washington University campus, Forest Park, and The Loop.

We had a fairly successful garage sale early in the month. We're gradually getting organized, packed up, and ready to move. I won't lie, it's pretty stressful. On top of that I'm once again busier at work than ever before. Let's hope we all keep our sanity in the coming weeks.

Photo of the Day

Running

Photo by Melissa

It's too hot to run, though somehow I wound up with more mileage in than last month.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	109.05 Mile	10	10.905 Mile
February	76.18 Mile	8	9.5225 Mile
March	84.86 Mile	10	8.486 Mile
April	83.15 Mile	9	9.23889 Mile
May	57.95 Mile	7	8.27857 Mile
June	17.98 Mile	3	5.99333 Mile
July	54.62 Mile	8	6.8275 Mile
Total	483.79 Mile	55	8.79618 Mile

Cycling

Photo by epon

It's almost too hot for cycling. I think the people I ride with are getting tired of the steady stream of sweat dripping off my face and flying back onto them.

August 2010 Cycling by bike

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	21.6 Mile	6	3.6 Mile
Big Red	22.9 Mile	3	7.63333 Mile
Pocket Rocket	51.36 Mile	4	12.84 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	294.73 Mile	6	49.1217 Mile
Total	390.59 Mile	19	20.5574 Mile

January-August 2010 Cycling by bike

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	278.6 Mile	43	6.47907 Mile
Big Red	49.4 Mile	8	6.175 Mile
El Fuego	40.9 Mile	11	3.71818 Mile
Lynskey	31.8 Mile	2	15.9 Mile
Pocket Rocket	266.1 Mile	13	20.4692 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	1672.38 Mile	47	35.5826 Mile
Total	2339.18 Mile	124	18.8644 Mile

January-August 2010 Cycling by month

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	166.25 Mile	20	8.3125 Mile
February	140.67 Mile	12	11.7225 Mile
March	508.83 Mile	18	28.2683 Mile
April	318.98 Mile	13	24.5369 Mile
May	365.89 Mile	20	18.2945 Mile
June	447.97 Mile	22	20.3623 Mile
July	390.59 Mile	19	20.5574 Mile
Total	2339.18 Mile	124	18.8644 Mile

Walking

It seemed like I walked more than usual, as I frequently walked to work last month whilst listening to live Tour de France coverage on my phone. I guess the previous month's trip to San Francisco added more miles than the Tour.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	28.66 Mile	9	3.18444 Mile
February	51.45 Mile	16	3.21563 Mile
March	34.7 Mile	10	3.47 Mile
April	44.35 Mile	11	4.03182 Mile
May	48.75 Mile	14	3.48214 Mile
June	64.2 Mile	16	4.0125 Mile
July	56.3 Mile	15	3.75333 Mile
Total	328.41 Mile	91	3.6089 Mile

Freedom Day

I ran the Freedom 5K this morning at 11am. It was 90˚ and sunny, very undesirable conditions for a short, fast, violent effort. On top of that my legs weren't moving quite right after 75 miles of cycling yesterday. Yeah, that was a bad idea.

For some reason this race has way more competition than all the other local 5K races. All the area high school runners show up, which is not typical. This means about 20 runners will finish under 18:00, whereas a typical local race will have 2-5 runners that fast. Of course, the race started super fast. I was well off the leaders' pace and I still passed the 1-mile mark in 5:32. Ugh, too fast.

It was blazingly hot and I started to fade. My second mile was slower, and my third mile was even slower. I finished around 20th place or so. The clock read 17:55, though my watch read 18:09, a substantially larger discrepancy than usual. Other runners mentioned the same thing. I wonder what the official time will be... The race went okay, considering the horrible weather.

After the race I quickly changed gears and got the family ready to ride Big Red in the parade. Each year the Champaign County Bikes advocacy group invites members to ride in the parade. We've done this a few times before. This would be Will's first parade.

Ready for the parade

Two sweaty guys

Again, it was blazingly hot. We stood around in the staging area for a little before finding a tree to rest under for a few minutes. Just minutes before we were to start the parade the rain began to pour. Everyone else ran for cover, but I relished the welcome relief from the heat. I was soaking wet and it was the best I had felt all day. The rain slowed to a drizzle as we began on wet streets. A few blocks into the parade it stopped. By the end the roads were dry.

Parade start

Champaign County Bikes in the parade

Melissa's view never changes

Gary rides the "Jazz-cycle"

Team Ragfield in parade mode

Finally, after the parade Will took his first swim in his new pool.

Good times were had by all. We're not watching fireworks right now. The boy's asleep and we're exhausted, so that's probably a good thing.

Peoria Classic

We traveled to Peoria on Sunday for the Peoria Classic (formerly Proctor Classic) bike races. I did the cat 5 crit in Peoria in 2006 and 2008. Both times I was separated from the main field by a crash directly in front of me and I finished off the back all by myself. I didn't have high expectations.

Four other Wild Card riders were in the cat 4 race this year, Luke, Jason, Nick, and Mike. At the start of the race they announced the names of the top five riders in the Illinois Cup series. Jason was 5^th and Mike was 2^nd. None of the other three riders were there so two guys from our team made their way to the starting line before everyone else. This meant everyone else in the race would be keeping an eye on us. I would have preferred to fly under the radar.

The race started and I somehow ended up leading the pack into the first turn, so I figured I'd get things started. I lead for most of the first lap before moving aside for the next guys in the line. I dropped back into the pack nearly at the back, where I stayed for most of the race.

The race was fast (26 mph average speed for 40 minutes) and there were eight turns per lap. Turning at high speed in tight packs is not my favorite thing, but I handled it much better in this race than in any previous crit... which is good. The first five turns were straightforward. After the sixth turn (into the headwind) of every lap I had to sprint to catch back up to the group, just in time for everyone to slow down before turn seven. On the finishing straightaway I had the opportunity to move up a few places and start the whole thing over again. My average heart rate was 171, right at my aerobic threshold. So I was definitely working hard.

With four laps to go I moved up a few too many places on the finishing straight and somehow went off the front. So, like the first lap, I lead the group for most of a lap, then pulled off and dropped back again. The race was super hot and by the end it was really taking a toll on me. I stayed with the pack the final few laps and into the finish. I had nothing left on the last lap to move up much. I finished near the back of the lead pack in 26^th place out of 42 riders. Mike was 4^th, Luke was 12^th, Jason was 17^th, Nick stopped just before the end after trying to help set Mike up for a strong finish.

I'm fairly happy with how the race went for me. I wasn't expecting spectacular results, and I didn't achieve spectacular results, but my steadily improving fitness gives me greater confidence for the next race (whatever that may be). I think a couple guys on the team were hoping for better results, but we did okay regardless. There will other races.

The many hills of San Francisco

Last week the whole family was out in San Francisco while I attended Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). This was my ninth WWDC (two in San Jose and seven in San Francisco), missing out only in 2006 when Apple held the conference in August (for some reason) the week after we moved to Nicaragua.

The conference was good, even if the ridiculously growing size does get a little more frustrating each year. The technical sessions are all covered by non-disclosure agreements, so I won't discuss any of them (as if you cared).

The keynote (which some of you may remember I participated in back in 2005) was also good. Unfortunately, due to the size of the conference I keep showing up earlier and earlier to get in line for the keynote and I keep ending up farther and farther back in line. I showed up a little over three hours early this year. The line was nearly one mile long, and I barely squeaked into some of the back rows of the conference room filled with over 5,000 people. The new iPhone looks pretty awesome. In fact, William just bought me one for Father's Day. Wasn't that nice?

While we were there I purposely didn't adjust to the different time zone so I would continue wake up early to go for a ride on the Pocket Rocket each morning before the conference. The first morning I tackled Twin Peaks, which, at over 800 feet above sea level, is one of the highest points in the city. Shortly after the climb begins it kicks straight up to 17%, which was a tough first hill for someone who lives in Illinois. It stays steep for a good long three city blocks before leveling out to a more reasonable 11-12%. Of course, it was super foggy that particular morning, so I couldn't see anything at the top. If I could have seen anything it would have looked like this (photo from last year).

Anyway, I had to hurry straight back in order to stand in a really long line for hours. It was just eight miles with a total of 850 feet of climbing entirely in the third and fourth miles.

The next day I rode up one of the steepest hills I've found in the city (Kearny between Broadway and Vallejo, the road is closed to traffic). It's somewhere in the ballpark of 25-30%. I had to lean really far forward to keep from tumbling over backward. Yes, that steep... but only for a block. After that was Telegraph Hill up to Coit Tower. This climb was used in the prologue of the Tour of California the first few years of the race.

But that was just the first few miles. I followed the bay shoreline to the Golden Gate Bridge and rode across to the Marin Headlands. I intended to climb Hawk Hill, but the road was closed half way up so I took a detour to somewhere I'd never been before, which was amazing.

Tuesday's ride had 2200 feet of climbing in 26 miles.

Wednesday I took a break because I felt a little twinge in my calf after Tuesday's ride and I didn't want to risk making it worse. Fortunately the twinge only lasted a day and by Thursday morning I was back at it. I hit Twin Peaks again, this time better prepared for the steepness. Instead of turning around there I continued on through Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, past the Cliff House, the Legion of Honor, the Presidio (along the bike course for the Alcatraz Triathlon I did in 2003), across the bridge to the Marin headlands, and partway up Hawk Hill before turning around and heading home. Just for kicks I rode up Russian Hill and Nob Hill on the way back through town. Russian Hill on Hyde street is 23% for a few city blocks--too steep to sit, too steep to stop (you wouldn't be able to start back up).

Thursday's ride was 2800 feet of climbing in 27 miles.

Friday I tackled Mt. Tamalpais for the Nth time. Last year I rode Mt. Diablo instead, so I was happy to be back on familiar ground. After cool weather all week it was super hot on Friday. This made the mountain that much more difficult. I doubt I made my fastest ascent of the mountain that day, but I steadily knocked out each of the 10 miles from bottom to top.

Mt. Tam may not be as high as Mt. Diablo, but it sure is a lot more scenic, offering a lot more wooded areas, as well as ocean views.

San Francisco from the top of Mt. Tam

Here's the opposite view: Mt. Tam from San Francisco

Friday's ride was 4114 feet of climbing (2500 on Mt. Tam) in 50 miles.

Saturday I skipped a ride in favor of lots of walking and hiking with the family. Here's William and me hiking the coastal trail, which was part of the run course for the Alcatraz Triathlon I did in 2003.

We all had a great trip. Check out William's blog for lots more family photos.