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By sherrick, December 29, 2011 8:52 pm

Chance and luck of the draw will determine the exact ride we do that day. What I can tell you for sure is that we will start at Heather Farms Park at 9am, do something around 60 miles with probably less than 3,000 feet of climbing, return to Heather Farms Park, and then have a party at the Sports Basement across the street from 2 – 4pm. They will provide food, (party platters,) and drink (soda, juices, wine and beer). June and I will supply bubbly and dessert. Sports Basement will offer a 10% discount on all purchases that day, and will donate 10% of what we spend to a non-profit organization of our choice. Since we’re not a non-profit, I’ve chosen the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association.

Here’s how the ride will work. When we gather at HFP, I’ll have 3-4 mystery envelopes. A club member will choose one of them. Inside, it will tell us where the first regroup is, Danville, Alhambra Valley, Moraga Commons, who knows? There will also be an assortment of 3-4 possible rides radiating out from that regroup spot. When we get there, luck and chance will determine the next regroup, and so on until we run out of time and gas. In other words, we won’t know which way we’re going until we get there.

I’ve got the routes planned so that any combination will ultimately get us back to HFP with somewhere between 55 and 65 miles. The longer routes will have less climbing, and vice versa. It’s quite possible that we’ll end up doing one of our typical Saturday rides, or merely string the usual roads together in a slightly different way. Of course, anyone is free to turn around and head back at any time, and just meet us at Sports Basement around 2pm for the party.

Speaking of which, we need to give Sport Basement some idea of numbers for the party, so if you plan to come over after the ride, please RSVP by email to Stephen at sherrick at athenian dot org by Wednesday, Jan 18.

As always in the winter, weather is a factor. 30% chance of rain for Walnut Creek on www.weather.com cancels the mystery tour and the party. If you still want to ride, it becomes a show and go. Check the web site for cancellation notice if things are looking iffy.

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By sherrick, November 20, 2011 2:22 pm

A Cyclist’s Guide to Dressing in Layers

I know when the 2011 winter season started in Northern California. It was Friday night, November 4. I know because Saturday’s Tourning of the Leaves had been canceled because of rain, and I was trying to get ready for the in-town option and couldn’t find my toe warmers or skull cap, neither of which I had needed for the last 9 months, and had no idea what drawer or closet I had last put them in.

So, in case this happens to you, here’s a handy “Cyclist’s Guide to Dressing in Layers” to help you plan ahead as the seasons change. Of course it’s only a guide. Some people seem to be able to wear shorts and sleeveless jerseys right through January. Maybe they don’t own anything else. On the other hand, I would rather be too warm than too cold. Note, this doesn’t take into account rain or wet. I’ll save that for another time.

So, for riding when it’s:

Helmet and shoes. Hope he remembered the sunscreen

90º F and over:
You really don’t NEED to wear anything except shoes and helmet, (no helmet, no ride,) and a base layer of sunscreen. But since we are a club and do ride in pace lines, let’s assume for the sake of modesty a basic kit of helmet, sweat band, goggles, short fingered gloves, shoes, light weight socks, and please, shorts and sleeveless jersey. I’ll leave the undergarments to you.

80º and over, add or swap:
You can probably get away with the same kit as above. Some folks will want to trade for a short sleeve jersey, but others who are concerned about how their tan lines look in an evening gown will hold out for the sleeveless as long as possible.

Basic Kit

70º and over, add or swap:
Definitely want the short sleeves, and you’ll be asking yourself, do I need a base layer or vest today? I’m putting on the sleeveless, high-tech-wicking, base layer myself.

60º and over, add or swap:
Definitely the base layer, and the vest for insurance. Here’s where I add arm warmers as well. Knee warmers or knickers start to sound appealing.

50º and over, add or swap:
Knee warmers/knickers for sure. Bibs add another layer on top. Arm warmers, or just go with a long-sleeved jersey. Full fingered fall gloves. Do I need toe warmers yet?

Dressed for comfort, not for speed

40º and over, add or swap:
Long tights, short sleeve base layer, long sleeve jersey, winter vest, warm socks, toe and ear warmers.

30º and over, add or swap:
Long sleeve base layer or jacket, winter gloves, heavy socks, full shoe covers, ski mask, and bring your Road ID and Medical Insurance Card just in case you end up on the side of the road after hitting black ice or suffering from hypothermia. Personally, when it’s this cold, I just add another layer of down quilt on my bed and sleep in for a change.

Below 30º
To all the above, add a straight jacket, because you’re certifiably crazy to be riding in these conditions.

Not your average wimpy Californian

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By sherrick, October 25, 2009 8:47 pm

Everything conspired to make this a great weekend for riding. The 3^rd Annual Tourning of the Leaves was set amongst beautiful fall foliage in the vineyards, and the inaugural ride over the two bridges was warm, sunny, and hardly any wind. Pretty much everyone got to do at least one new road they had never done before and vests and arm warmers were packed into back pockets for most of the day. Just another reminder of how lucky we are to live in such a gorgeous and diverse area. Ward, Jay, and Craig took lots of pictures, so watch the web site to see when they get posted.

The Tourning of the Leaves was around 65 miles and featured a new option over Sweetwater Springs Road. It’s a beautiful, winding, one lane road along a forested creek until it kicks up for a mile and a half of steep climbing, but the view from the top is worth the effort.

Present for the ride were: June, Jack, Jay, Johnna, Joe, Joe, Ward, Beth, Andy, Tom, Vic, and Stephen.

Where the Wild Things Are

The course starts in Windsor, and rolls through the Alexander Valley, over Chalk Hill, down Westside, and River Road into Guerneville. From there, it follows the Wine Country Century back to Eastside and the start. It’s designed to be a relaxed metric century to wind down the season and to take advantage of the beautiful fall colors. We weren’t disappointed. With the recent rains, there was a lot of green in between the browns and oranges and the blue sky set it all off.

Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and on their best behavior. We kept a good pace up Chalk Hill, then regrouped and held a pace line across the valley and in to the first rest stop at the deli/market next to the Lambert Bridge. Rolling on, we see that the iron cows are still playing poker in the sculpture garden,

Who's the cow now?

and the rollers on West Dry Creek and Westside roads can still hurt. One group turned off to do Sweetwater Springs. I was surprised to find that no one else on the ride had ever done it! Just goes to show that there are always new roads to look forward to. Tom wisely figured it was best not to try it on his recumbent, and poor Andy thought he was taking the easy way around until June and Johnna took off like babes out of hell trying to be sure they beat us to Guerneville! Jay and Ward stopped near the top to take a picture, and I swear I don’t know how they ever clipped in again on that grade!

We regrouped near Armstrong Redwoods in Guerneville, took a break, then crossed over the Russian River to more one-lane roads and a couple of attention-getting climbs. Graton still smells of apples, and the Haunted House on the Hill

Say "Cabernet!"

was surrounded by a vineyard at the peak of its foliage change. There were even some grapes left on the vine for us to pirate.

Getting close to the end, and the rollers never seemed to end, until finally they did, and we were done. Some of us had to leave right away, while the rest headed over to our favorite outdoor patio restaurant for beers, burgers, shakes and salads. Can’t wait until next year!

Sunday’s ride over the two bridges was also a lot of fun. Present on that ride were: June, Jack, Joe, John, Ward, Don, Brian, Craig, Tom, Dave, Chris, Stephen, and 3 relatively new riders, Brian, his wife (Karen?) and Sean. The route follows the usual path out to the Crockett Waterfront, and then crosses the Carquinez Bridge. After a quick photo-op at the scenic view,

Everybody back up about 5 feet!

we headed south across Vallejo then into the Benecia State park with a rest stop at another drop-dead-gorgeous view looking up the Carquinez Straight. From there we left the park, crossed Benecia, and then over the Benecia Bridge, which was also a first for most of the club. It was a fun ride, nice to do the new bridge, and hopefully one we can put in the library for future Sundays.

Next weekend we set our clocks back an hour, and the sun will be setting before 5:30pm. Then it’s only a matter of time before it starts raining, but for now at least we can be happy we had one good last weekend of perfect weather and great cycling.

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By sherrick, September 8, 2009 9:50 pm

OR…Don’t think about this the next time you’re descending a winding road.

Ask any cyclist how you steer a bike, and they’ll probably tell you that it’s a combination of turning the handlebars in the direction you want to go, and leaning into the turn, right? Well, not exactly. Although balancing and steering a bike is something we take for granted, and do automatically, it’s actually a very complex skill to describe.

BALANCING

We learned quickly about balancing. If the bike started to fall over to the RIGHT, we had to steer RIGHT, into the fall to straighten up. But think about it for a moment. When your mass began falling to the RIGHT, the act of steering to the right actually exerted a force on your mass in the opposite direction, bringing it back to the LEFT towards the upright position.

STEERING

So what about steering? Next time you’re out on flat ground, try the following experiment, but make sure you’re going very slowly! You’re going to isolate the two movements, steering and leaning. First, try to steer into a turn without leaning. In other words, if you want to go left, turn the handlebars left but remain upright on the bike without leaning into the turn. Whoa! I hope you pulled yourself out of it in time, because steering LEFT just caused you to fall RIGHT. Try steering right without leaning, and you’ll fall over to the left. In other words;

Steering in any direction will actually cause you to fall in the opposite direction.

Now try just leaning into a turn, but without turning the bars. The faster you are going, the harder it is to lean over anyway, but when you do manage, if you don’t steer into the fall, you’re just going to topple over.

COUNTER-STEERING

Which brings us to the concept of counter-steering. To initiate a RIGHT turn on a bike, you actually have to first, exert a force on the bars (steer) to the LEFT. This causes you to start to fall (lean) towards the RIGHT. Now you can move the bars right, (steer into the fall) to try to catch up until you are pointing in the direction you want to go, at which point you have to OVER-STEER to push yourself back upright. If you want to turn LEFT, you start with a counter-steer to the RIGHT, etc.

THE RULER ANALOGY

Imagine what would happen if you were trying to balance a ruler upright in the palm of your hand. If the ruler starts to fall over to the right, you have to move your hand to the right to catch up to its fall, and then overshoot it by a bit to bring it back upright. Now suppose you have the ruler under control, and you want to move it over to the right. If you start moving your hand to the RIGHT, the ruler is just going to fall over to the LEFT, so that won’t work. In fact, what you have to do is first make a small movement to the LEFT, which causes the ruler to fall towards the RIGHT, and now you can move your hand right until you reach the point you want to be at. So then, how do you stop the ruler from moving or falling further? You over shoot the fall to the right, which pushes the mass of the ruler left, and hopefully brings it back to upright.

SUMMARY:

When you want to make a turn, you have to:

• First counter-steer in the opposite direction, which causes you to fall (lean) in the direction you want to go.
• Which then allows you to bring the handlebars around and steer into the fall until you are pointing in the desired direction.
• Now to bring yourself out of the turn, you have to over-steer even further into the turn, which will push your mass opposite and bring you upright.

Have fun on those hairpins next time out!