ken cummings

Ken here in central Sonoma wine country. When I'm working mostly flat miles to and from. When between jobs out crawling up walls. Join me on the Pine Flat Challenge on the 15th. The serious types start in Santa Rosa. I'm just gonna drive to the Jimtown Deli at the bottom of the hill and do the 3100 feet in 11.2 miles. Join me?

SesameCrunch

Hi Gang! My real name is Alan. Been riding for about 3 years. 52 yrs old, with a 3 year old son. He's the reason I got into cycling. When he was born, I did the math and figured I'd better start exercising if I wanted to keep up with him as he grows up.

I recently moved from San Mateo to Half Moon Bay. Living right off Hwy 1 has been great for my cycling hobby. So many great rides along the ocean or up the hills. As a result, I already have 1,000 miles this year, and it's just starting in earnest. If any of you want to ride around the Pacific coastline, just let me know!

I'm training for the Davis Double this year also (my first). Won't think about the Triple Crown until after I get the first one under the belt. If I survive, I'll think about it. As part of my training I did a century up Mt. Hamilton last week. Doing Mt. Diablo tomorrow. Then the Tierra Bella and Primevera centuries in the next two weeks. I'll have 4 centuries this month already! That's what I did all of last year!

Looking forward to a great riding season...

Dalton

My name is Jon, I live on the west side of SF and work as a freelance Illustrator. I am 40 years old and have recently gone through a mini mid life crisis. I ditched my road bike, crossbike, cruiser and a trials bike in preference to a fixed gear bike. I ride an 06 Bianchi Pista to work. I got the gang green one. The single gear gives a mean workout on the hills. It’s a whole new kind of fun. One of these days I will have to drive down to San Jose and ride my track bike on the actual track!

spingineer

Hi Jon,
You mean you don't want to ride down to San Jose, do the track, then ride back up? Builds character ... but then again, I'm not the one with enough balls to ride fixed gear on the road.

Dalton

You know I have actually thought about how absurd it is to drive a car to ride a bike on a track. I guess that’s why I don’t do it. If I want to go in circles I just ride the bike to the Polo Fields at the Golden Gate Part. It’s a very smooth track for exercise but in no way like a Velodrome.

I could strap the track bike to my back and ride my road bike to San Jose. Or maybe I can get a bike trailer for the track bike.

Riding a track bike on the street is in fact really fun. It only took a day or two to get accustomed to the fixed sensation. I installed a front brake and am very careful. You can’t cost down hills and that’s about the only thing that gives me trouble. You can control your speed very accurately with just your legs thought and that’s a lot of fun.

scottmorrison99

Scott from Fairfield. Started riding again in 2005 after getting fed up with getting fat and buying gas all the time. Started commuting on a mountain bike, now commuting on a fixed gear. Last year I started riding a road bike, joined a club, and plan to start racing next year. I've lost 80 pounds and save enough gas money each year to take the family for a Disneyland trip every year.

jobob

Hi, I'm Jo, I'm 47 and I live in Union City. I've been road biking for a few years now, and this year I started getting interested in longer distance cycling, especially randonneuring. I've done a couple of 200K rides so far (the Santa Rosa 200K brevet, and the Davis 300K which I DNF'd after 200, oops).

I plan to do many more century/double metic rides this year - some on my own, as well as organized rides such as the SLO Wildflower, the Wine Country 200K, and Little Red Riding Hood in Utah. I don't plan to do a full brevet series this year but I hope to finish a 300K (or a double century) and perhaps even a 400K later this summer. My husband isn't into the distance riding thing, but he's very supportive.

It's really great living in Union City, I have a lot of excellent places to ride. I can go directly from home and head up Palomares, Redwood Road and other points north, head east to Sunol and over Calaveras or south to Alum Rock park, or west over the Dumbarton out to Woodside and other great destinations on the peninsula. Not too shabby!

SkyeC

I'm Skye, 25, and live over on the Oakland side of Piedmont. I got back into riding last year when I noticed that I was picking up a little weight and wanted to exercise without having to hit the gym. A Trek 1000 started me off but the Tiagra/Sora stuff was pretty cheap feeling and the aluminum frame wasn't too hot on anything but smooth roads and MUPs (pedestrian dodging trails) so I decided to switch over to a fixed gear set-up until I wanted to plunk down the coin for a steel-framed roadie w/ 105 or Ultegra. Ended up with an '06 Pista and changed out every part so far except the frame and headset. Building another frame up now, probably could've bought that roadie I talked about by now but I love riding fixed so I wanted to do a new build on a much nicer frame.

I commute to work everyday unless there's a serious downpour but it's only 3 miles each way so not much of an achievement there, huh? If I'm not too tired after work I try to tack on another 5-10 miles before I call it a day. On my weekends I usually do 10-25 miles depending on the weather and how much energy I have-- I go longer if I end up running into faster people than me along the way so I can bum some draft action and work to keep up with roadies.

Velodiva

[QUOTE=law_in_motion] i'm looking forward to meeting some of you this sunday on the easter ride. QUOTE]

Hermes and I look forward to meeting you on the Easter ride tomorrow - we'll be riding our singles rather than the tandem.

Dchiefransom

I'm Dave, and I'm also a Clydesdale. 53 years old and delivering mail to keep the bills paid. I live in Newark and am the membership guy for the Fremont Freewheelers.If anyone is riding our Primavera Century on April 22, I'll be running the water stop on Greenville road on the 100 miler. I started riding again in 2002, the Tour De Cure in Woodside, and joined the Fremont Freewheelers in June of that year. I have an older Trek 420, but have 250 miles so far on my new ride, a Rans Stratus LE, and only about 1,750 more miles to go to build my 'bent muscles.
The big ride I'll be getting ready for this year is the MS150 at Tahoe in September. In the meantime, I've got the 50 miler on the Tour De Cure in Napa on May 6, and if I'm up for it in August, my favorite metric, the Tour of Napa Valley. I also plan on the Giro D'Vino in November in Lodi.

cantdrv55

Hi Ed, I don't know if we've met but I am a BBC member though I haven't ridden with them in a while. I'll send you an email in a few minutes.

Dalton

Right on bother!

bikingshearer 

Richard here. Born and raised in Livermore, live in Moraga now. I get to join the 50+ forum, cpme August. I've been strictly a road guy over the years, including some very low-grade racing many moons ago and some serious fully-loaded touring, although I sort-of promised Siu I'd borrow a mountain bike and let her show how that's done. I am a Cydesdale, and if and when get down to fighting trim, I will still be Clyde by a wide margin.

My main ride these days is a 1967 Paramount frame with more modern, mostly Rivendell-purchased components. I also have 2000 Lemond Zurich frame with an ecclectic collection of parts that I ride some, a 1993 Trek 520 that needs an overhaul to be rideable, and a Burley Bossa Nova tandem that currently lives in Palo Alto with my friend and sometime-stoker so he can use it to ride with his 8 year old son. I do most of my own wrenching.

I'm up for doing some rides with interested folk. I've recently done a few with bigbossman - good guy. Just be aware that when the road tilts upward, my average speed heads south in a hurry.

SteveE

bikingshearer -

Please, don't go there. That road only leads to doom and despair!

dauphin

Hey Richard, where is Moraga?

cantdrv55

Don't know if Richard got back to you yet. Moraga is on hwy 24 just before the Caldecott Tunnel going west.

bikingshearer 

Moraga is the ultimate suburban cul-de-sac. As you travel east on Highway 24 coming out of the Caldecott Tunnel from Oakland/Berkeley, you first come to Orinda. You next come to Lafayette. From either one, Moraga is roughly four miles to your right as you head towards Walnut Creek on the freeway. If it weren't for the ree-dick-yoo-luss housing prices, it would be just about ideal: nice weather (a notch in the Oakland Hills means we get the cool air before any other inland locale, and that makes it 5 to 10 degrees cooler in the summer than the worst hot spots), good schools, nice people, great roads and trails for riding. A little more racial diversity would be nice, but that's starting to happen, too.

Whereabouts is y'all at, Dauphin?

Hardheadmandca

I'm Brian. I am 50 and a Clydesdale, and in training for my first Century in June. I live in Fresno - no man's land, I guess, between SoCal and NorCal, but we have both great flats and hills here.

I have been out of cycling for a number of years, and just got back into it with the Team in Training group. I have a 2000 Specialized Sirrus road bike ( recently dented, see accident story below), a 1987 Chrome Diamondback Ascent "mountain bike" which is my heavy commuter, a fixie a friend of mine built for me from a vintage frame, and a 2002 Calfee Tetra Pro.

If anyone is out this way and wants to ride in about three weeks, let me know.

The reason I say 3 weeks is that I am recovering from a severely broken finger (which seriously slows my typing) that happened on March 15th (the Ides of March) when a car door was suddenly opened in front of me during a lunch time training ride. I get the pins out on the 18th and should be cleared to return to training on the road a week or so later. Untill then, it's spinning classes and trainers for me! ;-)

Hardheadmandca

Gary, I'd be interested in the MS ride - though training with you could be difficult - Daly City and Fresno.

Gee3

Brian, worse-case scenario... I can just meet up with you for the MS ride come Sept! We can train via email! haha!

Gary

BigSean

Im Sean and Im 40, live in San Jose and seem to be injured with back problems alot these days. Hopefully Ill be back on the bike soon. Ive been riding 3 years but just started on the road bike a year ago, now its my bike of choice. I love climbing, although I weigh 200 lbs I still love to climb. I ride alot in the Woodside area and Mt Hamilton.

Red Rider

Hello, all, Deborah (aka Red River, aka Mrs. CGallagh) here. I rode a bike when I lived in south Jersey in the early 70's for transportation as well as for fun. I wore Dr. Scholl's & no helmet -- my, how times have changed!

Fast forward one husband, two kids, two continents & many states later to July '05, when a good friend asked me to help her get in shape for the Lance Armstrong Ride for the Roses 50 mi. that Oct. She had her brand-spanking new Trek 5000, I had my 7-yr.-old greatly ignored Specialized Hard Rock. We rode all over Vacaville until I realized that I was a serious roadie & needed a new bike. That December I bought myself a Specialized Dolce Comp & four months later we rode our first century, in Solvang. I used to be a sprinter, not an endurance rider. I like those long rides, wherein you find a Zen within, like yoga on a bike.

Chris posted our tandem history. As for road bikes, I'm giving serious consideration to getting an Orbea diva in the near future (opinions welcome). Meantime, I try to get out at least 3 times a week, even if just for a couple Cantelow repeaters. A day without a ride is like...depressing.

Enjoying reading all these N. CA. posts. And a toast to he who proclaimed that N. CA. riders are quieter than S. CA's because we're actually riding our bikes, rather than talking about them.

ConstantRider

Hi, I'm Greg, 42, live in SF near Golden Gate Park.

In February, I did my longest ride to date -- the SF Randonneurs 300K -- and ended up really hurting my knees. Had trouble riding even a few miles without pain for most of March, and am just now starting up again. I'm signed up for the Grizzly Peak Century and the Davis Double, both of which are fast approaching, so hopefully my knees will cooperate.

tprevost

I'm Tracy and I just recently returned to NorCal (after 6 years in SoCal). I live up in the sierra foothills near Sonora and am working on finding local routes and riding partners. Been riding for quite a while but pretty much stopped between 1998 and last year; when I bought a new road bike and started riding again.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to ride with many of both the SoCal bunch as well as a few of the people up in NorCal... I'm looking forward to more! My SO is also moving up near me so I'm hoping to be able to do a lot more exploring in the near future!

Oops.... I'll be 42 in May and I ride a Roubaix Comp and a LOOK, along with a Juliana... I'm still very much a beginner as I have not been very consistant w/my training but I will definately be joining in on the group rides (like the one yesterday!) as much as possible

ps. Jobob... are you and Lee staying for the whole wildflower weekend? If so, wanna grab a dinner or breakfast?

spingineer

Welcome back to cycling again, Tracy. The SoCal riders .. they are a lot of fun ... and very active on BF.