Tag: map

The Three Sisters

I ran at Forest Glen this morning with the Buffalo. This is the hardest trail in the area. It’s 11 miles long with some big hills (which happen to be concentrated towards the end). The last mile, in particular, has three monster hills, which have been dubbed the three sisters. I don’t know the full story behind the name, but that doesn’t stop me from using it. Once you conquer the third sister, you’re pretty much done with the trail.

Forest Glen trail run this morning (photos)

The run was at an easy enough pace that I was able to repeatedly stop and take pictures (I brought a camera along in my waist pack) before catching back up with the other five runners. The trail was in pretty decent shape. Someone had run through when it was muddy, then it froze a little unevenly. The wooden planks across all the stream crossings were a bit icy and required extra caution. There was one stream crossing without a bridge that required a single step in the water. That woke me up.

Forest Glen trail run

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The Tecumseh Trail Marathon

Preparation

My first marathon didn’t go so well. Six months after I ran Chicago I trained for another marathon. I injured my knees a scant two weeks before the race, so I called it off. A year after that (in the spring of 2003) I ran a second marathon, which turned out to be my second most horrible running experience. The course in Frederick, MD was much hillier than I had expected and a freak snow storm blew through dumping 3″ of snow on us during the race. Perhaps racing such a long distance wasn’t for me.

I didn’t run another marathon after Frederick. In the 5.5 years since then I ran an ultra-marathon, then took 3.5 years off of running, then ran two more ultra-marathons. These runs were all far more pleasant than the earlier marathons. First of all, they were on soft trails rather than hard concrete. Second, I didn’t race them as fast as I could go, I just ran nice and easy.

About six weeks ago I was feeling somewhat ambitious. I noticed several friends from the local running club were signing up for this race called Tecumseh. It is a trail marathon–a genuine 26.2 mile foot race on trails through the woods rather than through streets of the city. I hesitated because of my earlier bad experiences with marathons. On one hand this had the potential to be every bit as bad (if not worse) than my earlier road marathons. On the other hand, I knew I was in much better shape than I was 6-7 years ago and I knew I could handle the longer distances better now. Just before the race reached its 600 entrant limit I took the plunge and signed up.

In the six weeks since I registered I did weekly long trail runs. I spent hours running through the woods of central (and northern) Illinois, sometimes alone, but more often with Ellen, or Don, or Brian, or Ken. These are the Buffalo, the friendliest trail runners around.

Pre-race

On Friday evening 18 Buffalo invaded a retreat between Bloomington and Nashville, IN to stay at a cabin the night before the race. I caught a ride with Jack and Bill. We stopped on the way for some great homemade pasta at So Italian in Brownsburg. We stumbled across the restaurant kind of randomly simply because it appeared in the restaurant search results on my iPhone.

Cold room

The temperature bottomed out at 17˚ during the drive and rose back to 20˚ by the time we reached the cabin. It was cold. We went into the cabin to find Bob, Matt, Katie, and Mark already there. The cabin’s little heater was on full blast, but it wasn’t helping much. There was a thermometer on the wall of the cabin which read 42˚ (though we think it was probably 5-10˚ warmer than that). More and more Buffalo arrived over the next few hours, bringing along with them food, beverages, and plenty of good conversation.

Just as the party was getting started the heater shut off for no apparent reason. Nothing we could do got it going again. Someone went to look for the retreat management, but they were nowhere to be found. Perhaps they were playing late night paintball (there was also a paintball area). Facing potentially very cold night in the cabin a handful of people departed in search of a warm hotel room in one of the nearby cities. The rest of us put on more clothes. Eventually Cousin’ Don (not my biological cousin) found someone who came to help us out. Apparently a fuse blew and this guy was able to replace it. The heat came back on, crisis averted.

By this time it was late and all of us had a long way to run in the morning, so it was off to bed. I was plenty warm in my sleeping bag wearing a couple layers of clothes. In the morning we awoke, ate some breakfast, and headed out to the race venue.

Race

It started to snow. I began to have flashbacks to Frederick and it was making me really nervous. My last marathon was on a hilly course in a snowstorm, and now it looked like this marathon was also going to be on a hilly course in a snowstorm. The snow wasn’t quite as bad as it was at Frederick, but I would soon find the hills to be much, much worse.

Tecumseh course map

The Tecumseh trail marathon is a point to point race. We parked near the finish line. After picking up our race packets we boarded busses and rode almost and hour to the start of the race. The entire time I kept thinking, “We’ve been on this bus forever, we can’t possibly have to run the whole way back.” I guess the busses just took a less direct route.

Even after arriving at the race start we stayed on the warm bus until the just before the race start. During the 10 minutes between getting off the bus and starting to run I was freezing. I kept thinking what a huge mistake I had made in my wardrobe choice, I must be totally underdressed. Fortunately it didn’t last long. The very moment we started running I warmed up and I stayed plenty warm the entire run.

Tecumseh race bib

I started out too fast. It’s what I do. I have always started races too fast, and despite my best intentions, this race was no exception. My watch read 7:20 when my GPS indicated we passed the first mile. I really should have been at least a full minute slower. The first two miles were on a fairly wide gravel road. Shortly after that the course turned into the woods onto a narrow single-track trail, which would make it somewhat difficult to pass people. This was one of the reasons I started too fast. I wanted to be in a decent position when we got to the first narrow sections so I wouldn’t have to waste too much energy passing people.

Rob at mile 1 of Tecumseh marathon

Rob (far right) at mile 1 (photo courtesy of Luther Prater)

I settled into a pace closer to 8:00 for the next several miles. We hit the first big downhill and, following the lead of the runners in front of me, I really flew down it. I usually take the downhills kind of slow. I don’t know what possessed me. It was becoming clearer by the mile that I wasn’t just treating this as a long run through the woods–I was treating it as a race. This thought scared the hell out of me. I knew I could handle the distance as a long easy run. I knew I could race at least 18-20 miles. I had no idea whether I could actually race 26.2. One way or another I was going to find out.

Starting around mile 8-9 I started to pass several of the people I had been running with for miles. I would pass a few, get to the front, bridge up to the next group, then pass them as well. I was passing people constantly for the next 5-6 miles. Even though I started out faster than I should have, apparently plenty of other people did too.

The narrow trail was completely covered with leaves, which were completely covered with snow. It was very slippery, particularly so on the downhill switchbacks. On one of the short road sections the guy running next to me slipped and fell on his butt. He got back up and assured me he was okay, but it looked like it hurt.

Tecumseh elevation profile

At mile 13, roughly half way, we hit a really big hill. It was on a short road section of the course. I could see it from a distance as soon as I turned a certain corner, and I actually laughed out loud. It was huge. I can’t believe we’re expected to race up that hill. Adding insult to injury, once we reached the top we weren’t even at the top. The road turned and continued skyward. I did the sensible thing and I walked up the steepest sections. One of the guys around me decided to run the entire thing (he was the only one I saw running this hill), and he would pay for it. A couple miles later I passed him convincingly and never saw him again.

I was drinking lots of water and eating very well the whole time. I carried a water bottle with me and I took a small drink every few minutes. I also had a flask of Hammer Gel with me that I used every four miles or so. Then I had some fruit snacks with me that I ate around mile 14-15. I also stopped at several of the aid stations (which were spaced about four miles apart) to drink Gatorade and eat some bananas, M&M’s, Cheez-Its, or Fig Newtons. Eating anything while running is a challenge for me, but the Fig Newtons were the hardest for some reason.

Around mile 16 I was starting to get a little tired, but I still felt good. At an aid station one of the volunteers was counting and told me I was in 35th place. Whoa, that was better than I expected. Could I hang on the last ten miles? This section was very hilly. There were big uphills at miles 17 and 19. I was still passing people every once in a while, but they were fewer and farther between than they were earlier in the race.

At mile 21 I reached an aid station and to my surprise saw Matt (a fellow Buffalo), who was leaving the aid station as I was arriving. Matt is fast. Very fast. He wins races. Either I’m doing very, very well or he is having an off day. It was looking more and more like the former. As we continued on he pulled away from me a little. After a mile or two I could no longer see him. I think seeing me may have provided a little extra motivation for him.

The good news was that I still had plenty of energy (which has never happened to me at the end of a marathon). The bad news was my hamstrings were starting to cramp up (which has always happened to me at the end of a marathon). Every once in a while there would be a log I’d have to jump over and I had to be very careful not to bend my knees too far, because they would immediately cramp if I did. My form got worse and worse. I started to fade by mile 23 or so. My last three miles got slower and slower. Fortunately, the last few miles were almost entirely flat or downhill. I was all by myself. I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me or behind me.

Rob at mile 26 of Tecumseh marathon

Rob at mile 26 (photo courtesy of Richard K. Breeden)

I was still shuffling along pretty well when I hit the last mile. I was slightly demoralized when I turned a corner and saw one last huge hill to climb. I walked it, as I had been doing on all the hills in the last half of the race. Once at the top I shuffled on into the finishing area. The finish was on a road which was incredibly icy and slick by this point. I actually had to slow down the last 100 meters so as not to fall down. I was incredibly happy to cross the finish line in 3 hours 54 minutes and 44 seconds. Moments later, I saw Matt standing there. He finished about a minute and a half ahead of me. Moments after that I turned around just in time to watch Ellen finish. She won the women’s race! It found it hilarious that the three of us finished back to back to back, within 2.5 minutes, but we didn’t run together.

Post-race

Within minutes of finishing I got really, really cold. I slowly walked across the parking lot, soaking wet, shivering like crazy to get back to Jack’s car, where I had dry clothes. He was good enough to give me a key before the race. Without that I would have been screwed, because I didn’t see him or Bill for over an hour. I started the car to turn on the heat. I dried off and put on every single article of clothing I brought with me (which it turns out was a lot). While sitting in the car for 20 minutes or so I watched Pat, Marla, and Bob finish. I wanted to get out and cheer them on but I just couldn’t. I was so cold.

Pat & Bob

Pat & Bob post-race

I finally warmed up and went back out with my camera while a few more Buffalo finished. Don came in, as did Katie, and Brian. Then I grabbed some hot chocolate and vegetarian soup and sat with friends in the (somewhat heated) picnic shelter.

Marla & Brian

Marla and Brian post-race

One by one the rest came in. Unfortunately, Jack had a hip injury and was unable to finish. After even walking became too unbearable he stopped at an aid station around mile 23 and a volunteer gave him a ride back to the finish. It was unfortunate. He just fished a 50 mile race a few weeks ago and he is doing a 24 hours race in a couple weeks, so this was just training for him anyway. I have a feeling he’ll be back at it in no time.

Bill finishing

Bill finishing on the slick road

Well that was the (long) story of my first trail marathon. I really had no idea what to expect. I’ve done (bad) marathons before. I’ve done long trail runs before. I haven’t actually raced this far on a trail ever and I wasn’t certain how my body would hold up. I was confident I would finish. I thought I could likely keep up with fellow Buffalo Don & Brian. I thought if I had a great run I might be able to keep up with Ellen. It turns out I did have a great run. I finished 31st place overall, out of 490 finishers. Best of all, I didn’t injure myself (which is always a worry for me, given my history of knee problems). I’m feeling better about the upcoming Illinois marathon next spring.

Update: While reading someone else’s race report I was reminded about one of the coolest parts of the race. Around mile 22 we entered a beautiful pine forest for a short stretch. The trees were very tall and very close together. It was like nothing I had ever seen in the midwest. For a moment I wondered whether I was in the Pacific northwest. There were a few times during the race when I definitely wished I had a camera with me, and this was most certainly one of those times.

Update 2: This blog has a great video from the race. About four minutes into the video there is footage of the really neat forest I mentioned above.

The Indy Marathon Chase

“Whoa, check out that guy! He makes Speedy Gonzalez look like Regular Gonzalez!” –Philip J. Fry

Melissa runs marathons. I chase them.

Saturday she ran the inaugural Indianapolis Monumental Marathon.

I rode my bike to several different places on the course to cheer her on and take pictures.

The marathon went rather well for Melissa, and as a result, less well for me. For you see, she ran so fast that half of the places where I went to watch the race I arrived too late and missed her. The first time it was clear that she had already passed so I didn’t wait around long. The remaining times I waited several minutes before I could be sure she had already passed.

We were both wearing GPS watches, so using that data I put together this animation using Mathematica that shows our locations throughout the race. Melissa’s path is blue, Rob’s path is red. It’s kind of funny to watch my red path wait around at a certain location while Melissa moves farther and farther away.

Update 2009-04-17: I have written an entry for my company blog showing in great detail how I made this movie.

The Big 3-0

Q: Was there a defining moment in your life when you made a decision that changed the course of the rest of your life forever?

A: I walked out of a bar on my 30th birthday and ran 30 miles cold turkey. It hurt bad, but it changed the course of my life ever since that faithful event. –Dean Karnazes (Ultramarathon Man)

Today is my 30th birthday. The Big 3-0. We spent the last two nights partying with friends and family. Today, I spent much of the day running. Inspired by the story of Dean Karnazes, now one of the best endurance runners in the world, I decided to run 30 miles on my 30th birthday. And as if that weren’t enough, I also chose to run the 5.5 mile Allerton Park trail race.

Foo Dog statue at Allerton Park

more statues at Allerton Park

Last night at dinner with my family we reminisced of my first trip to Allerton Park as a young boy with my grandparents, aunt, & brother. My grandmother and aunt talked with disgust about rumors of wild parties & orgies that supposedly took place at the Allerton estate while Robert Allerton was living there decades ago. They then asked me if I knew what an orgy was, to which I (as a 9 or 10 year old) apparently responded, “No, and I don’t want to know.”

Gardens near finish line

In addition to the beautiful gardens on the grounds, Allerton Park has some of my favorite trails in the area. The only other time I ran the race was 2003. That year I was in very good shape. I ran the entire race in 10th place. Then in the last half mile seven people passed me. This year I am in roughly equally good shape and I hoped to equal or better my previous result.

I arrived early to get in a good warmup (and start working on my 30 for the day). I’ve run this trail 4 times in the past month, so I knew it fairly well. I was amazed to see how high the water in the Sangamon River was, givin the small amount of rain we had this week. Apparently this river has a very large watershed. The trail was very muddy, and flooded in dozens of places. Most of the flooded areas could be avoided by running to one side of the trail or the other. There were four or five places where the water simply could not be avoided so we had to run through. A few were only ankle deep. One was close to knee deep.

The trail was very muddy, with four or five water crossings

I started the race near the front. I was in 6th place at the first turn when we headed into the woods. I stayed in 6th place almost the entire race. I passed another runner around mile 3 to move into 5th, but that runner passed me back around mile 3.5.

The 5.5 mile race course makes a loop around the Sun Singer statue

With my heart rate over 180, I was really starting to tire by the time we reached the Sun Singer. I generally try not to look behind me in races, but I did at this point and I was kind of glad to have a lead of around 40 seconds over the next runner behind me. From there I eased up a little and cruised the remaining 1.5 miles. I still ran hard, but I tried not to overdo it. I finished in 6th place overall (out of 396 finishers), 2nd place in my new 30-34 age group. I was very happy with the placing. My time was slower than I would have liked, but so was everyone else’s time. The trail was really slow today.

Rob finishing the race (photo by Kelly Bails)

I chatted with some friends at the finish line, grabbed some water and bananas, walked back to my car, changed shirt/socks/shoes, and started running again. Very slowly. Along the way I helped out my friends from Second Wind Running Club (who organized the race) by taking down the flagging tape that marked the course as I ran. I cut the loop a little short so I could make it back to the finish line for the awards ceremony. I received a race towel for finishing 2nd in my age group. As I sat on the grass I stretched out quite a bit. Running that hard really left my muscles tight, and by that point I had only run 12 miles.

After the awards I ate more and started running again, still very slowly. It was rather uneventful until mile 22 or so when I started to have a lot of pain in my right hip flexor. I stopped to walk, but that didn’t help much. Around that same time Melissa called me on my cell phone to offer moral support, which helped. My plans were in serious jeopardy and I was still 2 miles away from my car. So I walked about a mile. My hip wasn’t getting any better. I started running again. I immediately noticed my hip hurt less when I was running than when I was walking. If that wasn’t motivation to keeping running I don’t know what was.

I limped along at 12 minute per mile pace for the remainder of the run. I passed the imaginary 26.2 mile mark (marathon distance) at 5:09, probably the slowest I’ve ever covered that distance in five attempts. I’ve previously done 2 marathons and 2 ultramarathons. Even though this 30 miler wasn’t actually a race, I’m probably going to call it an ultramarathon anyway.

Running through the water crossings on the last lap of the 5 mile trail was pretty unpleasant. My feet and been wet for over 5 hours and now they were sopping and I feared I would get blisters. I looked at my watch as I passed 29 miles and realized I could finish under 6 hours if I didn’t dally. So I actually picked it up and ran closer to 10 minute pace for the last mile. I finished the 30 miles in 5:59:04.

After the run I hobbled back to the car, took of my wet shoes & socks, and drove 30 miles home barefoot. I shoveled food and gatorade into my mouth the entire way home. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to stand up without too much difficulty when I got home and my hip no longer hurt at all. Even now, 7 hours later, I’m still able to move around. Tomorrow will be another story though.

This was the farthest I’ve ever run (I’ve done 28.4 miles on two occasions) and it hurt. It hurt more than I expected. It was the race that did me in. Had I run slowly the entire time I don’t think I would have had as much difficulty. Fortunately, I never bonked, and my muscles never cramped up. Had it not been for the late hip flexor pain (or the water crossings) it would have been a truly delightful day in the woods.

The Glen

As a child growing up in Danville I used to love to go to the nearby county and state parks with my grandparents, aunt Marcia, and brother Travis. We would go hiking and fishing for hours on end. Kickapoo, Kennekuk, and Forest Glen were my favorites. As an adult living in nearby Urbana I still visit these same parks, though I forego the hiking and fishing in favor of trail running and occasionally mountain biking.

This morning I went with a group of local trail runners over to Forest Glen county park southeast of Danville. We ran the backpacker trail, which is somewhere between 10 & 11 miles (there’s so much elevation change the GPS I was wearing did a poor job measuring the distance). I’ve run this trail twice before and every time I come away thinking this is one of the hardest trails in the area to run.

The first third of the trail is deceptively simple. The middle third becomes challenging. The final third is brutal. The latter half of the trail follows the Vermilion river bluffs and the trail traverses many hills that are steep and/or tall. This most difficult section comes right at the end when you’re already tired from all the previous hills.

A few of the runners brought their dogs out. I was half expecting pandemonium, but it worked out pretty well. I only tripped on a dog one time :)

The Overpass to Nowhere

I was just reading an email on the ChampaignCountyBikes.org mailing list that discussed the possibility of building a new overpass on a county road over some railroad tracks. I’m not all that familiar with the area in question, so I can’t really say whether it would be a worthwhile project. The email did include a figure that I’ve been wondering about for a few years. Apparently the cost to build such an overpass is estimated at $9,700,000.

9.7. Million. Dollars.

The reason I’ve wondered is because a few years back I came across the most bewildering sight while bicycling by myself just north of Mansfield, Illinois. I was in the absolute middle of nowhere and I passed a small county road with an overpass over a set of railroad tracks. Every other road had level crossings over these tracks, including some with way more traffic (though still not much). Why on earth would this one particular road, with little-to-no traffic, have an overpass? Why would some governing body waste millions of (presumably taxpayer) dollars on such an overpass to nowhere?

Below is a map of the overpass. If you can determine why it’s there, I’d sure like to know.

View Larger Map

The C4[2]

This past weekend I travelled up to Chicago to attend a Mac software development conference called C4. This was the third year the conference was held (named C4[2], the previous two editions were C4[0] & C4[1]), though it was the first time I attended it.

It shares much in common with WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference, yet there are many stark contrasts. WWDC has been growing at an unmaintainable rate. This year there were around 5000 attendees. This C4 conference had 170 attendees, including many well known and respected names in the world of Mac software development. Both conferences include technical presentations on various development topics. WWDC sessions are presented by Apple engineers, but C4 sessions are presented by other application developers.

C4 is not widely publicized and I just happened to find out about it by reading other developers’ blogs and Twitter posts. I quickly became excited and signed up a few hours after registration opened, which was fortunate because it filled to capacity a couple hours after that.

The trip started last Friday morning when I rode the Pocket Rocket to the train station in Champaign. Melissa accompanied me on her bike to see me off. When we arrived at the station I folded up the Pocket Rocket, put it in a big nylon carrying bag, walked in, picked up my ticket, and sat down in the waiting room. The Amtrak train was almost an hour late, but before I knew it I was showing the conductor my ticket and boarding the train. This was a somewhat new and interesting experience for me, as I had never ridden on a train around these parts.

I arrived in Union Station in Chicago and headed straight to the food court, as it was past lunch time by now. I lucked out to find a Mexican restaurant, where I could get a veggie burrito, connected to a Cinnabon.

After partaking in the delicious meal I headed outside, unpacked my bike and rode off. I had a little time to kill before the start of the conference so I took a quick trip over to the lake shore path. Next I hit up the Michigan Ave. Apple store. I arrived at the hotel where the conference was to take place plenty early and waited around for a few hours. Lots of other conference attendees were arriving during this time and I chatted with a few of them. The conference started with a dinner and a couple opening sessions. It was after 11 pm before the conference ended. I whipped my bike back out and rode about four miles north to my cousin Scott’s apartment, where I would be sleeping. Or so I thought.

I arrived. We caught up a bit and talked about bikes. I met his friends. It was now approaching midnight and his neighbors were still having a raging party upstairs. The music was unbelievably loud and people were literally jumping up and down. I finally fell asleep somewhere between 1 am – 1:30 am. The party was still going on. Thank goodness I can sleep through anything.

I woke up bright and early at 6:15 am. At some point Friday evening a bicyclist from Chicago I knew from races we have done together contacted me and suggested I join his team for their Saturday morning training ride. I hadn’t been expecting to do this sort of thing, so I was a little unprepared, but I like to be spontaneous. I met riders from the XXX Racing team at Wicker Park and we took off heading north.

Chicago has ridiculous traffic, lots of stop lights, and plenty of potholes. I had been wondering how these guys trained in this and I got a crash course (not literally) in big city training. A group of nearly 60 (3-4 times the size in my normal training rides) rode about 25 miles to Highland Park. It was a pretty easy pace on the way up. Half (including me) turned around and headed back to Chicago. The ride back was a lot crazier. It basically turned into a road race where 20 or so riders were all jockeying for position at 28 mph. Meanwhile traffic was all around us. We had to slam on our brakes for a couple stoplights. It was a little more dangerous than my typical training rides, but it was never out of control. I handled it pretty well on my little bike and I got lots of surprised comments about how well the bike did. I love this little thing.

I ended the 50 mile ride back at Scott’s, then showered and biked back downtown to the conference. There were more interesting talks all afternoon. Between talks, during meals, etc. I met lots of really interesting people who were working on a wide range of projects. There were developers who worked solo in their spare time, people from small, 3-15 person companies working in small teams, people (like me) from medium, couple hundred person companies, all the way to people from Adobe, which employs thousands.

That night was a pizza party, where I met more interesting people. Again I rode back to Scott’s late. Again his neighbors were throwing a wild party. Again I fell asleep despite them.

I slept in slightly longer before Scott and I took a ride down the lake shore path all the way to his office at the University of Chicago. We almost went past Barrack Obama’s house, but Scott couldn’t remember which street it was on. I tried out his fixed gear bike and he tried out the Pocket Rocket. It was an interesting experience. After my recent purchases, a fixed gear bike is really the only kind missing from my collection… but I’m not in any real hurry to get one. It was a little too weird for my tastes. I never really felt safe and secure on it the way it do on… well, any other bike.

I attended more conference sessions on Sunday afternoon. The conference ended with a coding competition, somewhat similar to the defunct MacHack conference. Eight or so developers showed off simple iPhone programs they had written using GPS/location functionality with the theme “paranoia.” There were apps detailing crimes that had take place near you, all the way to a “spy” stealth distress beacon. The eventual winner was a little off-topic, but was technically interesting so most attendee voters overlooked that detail. Somehow it combined an iPhone, a Wiimote, and a Mac to build a simple gesture based drawing program. The contest winners were awarded a MacBook Air, and dozens of software applications donated by conference attendees (including a free copy of my application Mathematica).

The conference had ended a few hours before my train was to depart back to Champaign so I rode around downtown for an hour or two.

Chicago’s Magnificent Mile

The Sears Tower

After my joyride I returned to Union Station, packed up my bike, and went straight to the food court… only to find everything closed. What? It was 6:45 pm. In a panic I went back out and walked a couple blocks, lugging my heavy backpack and my bike in its bag with me. I found several restaurants. All were closed. Ridiculous. Time was running out so I went back to Union Station, bought $10 worth of overpriced junk food, and boarded the train home. The Fig Newton’s were good, but I would have preferred dinner.

The ride home was fairly smooth. I fell asleep pretty quickly in my exhausted state. When I woke up a short while later I set an alarm on my phone to ensure I wouldn’t sleep through my stop in Champaign. It worked. Another short bike ride later I was finally home and very quickly fell asleep in my comfortable bed.

So that was my weekend, and as Melissa speculated, I was rather proud of myself to have done the entire thing without the assistance/hinderance of an automobile.

The Mountain

While in San Francisco a couple weeks ago I spent one afternoon riding Mt. Tamalpais. Mt. Tam is probably the closest mountain to San Francisco, located about 20 miles north of the city in Marin County. This was the fourth time I’ve ridden it and it holds a special place in my heart as the first mountain I ever rode on a bicycle.

I started in downtown San Francisco and made my way out of the city, over the Golden Gate Bridge (which I rode 5 times during the trip). It was so foggy that day I literally couldn’t even see the bridge until I was on it. As I was approaching the bridge I passed two tourists on rental bikes intently studying a map, looking around, and pointing different directions. As I passed I called out to them, “Are you looking for the bridge?” They replied, “Yes.” I responded, “It’s this way.” I have been there several times before, but no matter where I travel I always seem to be the one who gives directions to other tourists, despite the fact that I don’t actually live in these places.

Once over the bridge there is a nice little descent into Sausalito. There are a lot of bikes in this area as well. One of the popular routes for tourists on rental bikes is to cross the bridge to Sausalito, then take a ferry back to San Francisco rather than ride back (it’s a little hillier than the average tourist can handle). The route to Mt. Tam follows the bay for a few miles before shooting inland.

Mt. Tam is a little over 2500 ft high. The main climb is 10 miles long and averages around 5% gradient (though this includes a few downhill sections, it’s mostly steeper than that). It starts on a very curvy section California Highway 1 at Tamalpais Valley Junction, just slightly above sea level. These first two miles can have a fair amount of traffic, depending on the time of day. Fortunately, this road is also heavily travelled by bicycles, so nearly all the cars behave sensibly when they encounter a bike. There wasn’t a whole lot of traffic on the afternoon I chose.

After turning off California Highway 1, there really wasn’t much traffic for the remaining 8 miles. Once I reached about 1200 ft of elevation I broke through the fog & clouds and it was perfectly clear and sunny. In fact, once I got to about 1600 ft the sun was absolutely blistering. I was sweating profusely and going through water like it was… er, water. I even got sunburned. This was not what I was expecting when I left town, given I could only see a couple blocks ahead of me.

I had been looking forward to this ride literally for months, so you can imagine how I was feeling when halfway up I entered Mt. Tam State Park and saw this:

Audrey, when they close the road they put up big signs, like this one

I was pretty devastated. I stopped riding and walked across the road to the ranger station. I found a map and started to plan the remainder of my ride (I still had a few hours to kill). Maybe I wouldn’t get to ride all the way to the top, but I would still try to find somewhere interesting to go. As I was standing there I overheard a couple of hikers chatting with the ranger. The ranger was telling them it was okay for them to go hiking up on the mountain. Hmmm. After they left I walked over to the ranger and asked about biking. I was delighted to hear that the road was only closed to automobiles, and bikes were quite welcome to continue up the road. So I can just walk around the gate and keep riding? Apparently.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because there was no auto traffic on the road for the last half of the ride. I was basically all by myself (well, there were some horseflies).

From 1800 ft I could look down at the clouds rolling in from the Pacific

From 2500 ft (west peak) I could see the downtown skyscrapers over the clouds

Mt. Tam has three peaks (west, middle, east). The east peak is the highest, though the road doesn’t go all the way to the top. The west peak is slightly lower, but the elevation of the road is the highest there (a little over 2500 ft). The two steepest and hardest sections of the entire ride are right as you reach the east peak and right as you reach the west peak. Go figure.

The Pocket Rocket at the east peak

At the top I filled my water bottles and ate a couple Clif Bars. There was a soda machine which appeared to have cold lemonade for $1, which sounded perfect. I reached for my wallet only to discover a lone $20 bill. Damn. I made due with water.

Now the hard work was over, it was time to coast for 40 minutes (okay, there were a few small uphill sections on the descent). The first 8 miles of descent were traffic free. About a quarter mile after turning onto Highway 1 I caught up with a car (yes, I was going significantly faster than the cars downhill) and had to follow it the remainder of the way down (there was no room to pass). I broke my $20 bill for a bottle of Gatorade at a gas station at the bottom of the descent. Then I made my way back to the city.

What a great ride. The best part was seeing how well my little Pocket Rocket held up. Not only was it great at climbing, it handled amazingly well at around 40 mph on the descent. It truly is a no compromises travel bike.

I got one last view of Mt. Tam as I was flying out of the San Francisco airport. If you follow the wing all the way to the end, then look up you can see Mt. Tam.

Ride Information
Date: 2008-06-13 1:24 PM PDT
Mountain: Mt. Tamalpais
Road Elevation: 2492 feet
Climb Distance: 10.0 miles
Climb Ascent: 2492 feet
Climb Average Grade: 4.7%
Climb Maximum Grade: 20%
Ride Distance: 49.5 miles
Ride Total Ascent: 5685 feet
Ride Maximum Speed: 37.4 miles/hour
Ride Start: San Francisco, CA (0 feet)
Ride End: San Francisco, CA (0 feet)

The Marin Headlands

We were in San Francisco for seven days. I was able to go on a bike ride five of those days. Every single bike ride I did I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. There are (at least) two reasons for this. First, the path along the northern coast of San Francisco combines with the bridge to form several miles of continuous roads/paths with very few stop lights or stop signs. Riding through the city is fun, but stopping every other block at a stop light is not the best way to get a workout. Second, just on the other side of the bridge lie the Marin Headlands.

The headlands are the hilly area at the southern tip of Marin County, just north of San Francisco. San Francisco is known for it’s hills, and while many of these hills are quite steep they are typically only 200-300 ft high. Hawk Hill, in the headlands, is 920 ft high. This is the closest big hill to San Francisco. Additionally, it provides an absolutely spectacular view of the city, bridge, and bay.

One of the routes I took to Hawk Hill

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, with the Marin Headlands in the background.

The bridge has wide paths on both sides. One is for pedestrians & bikes, the other is for bikes only.

The hills rise up immediately from the bay on the north side of the bridge.

The climb up Hawk Hill is 1.8 miles long and ranges from 3% to 12% gradient with an average of 7%.

I rode Hawk hill three times last week. The first time I had a meeting immediately following the ride, so I was really moving, around 9-10 mph. The second time I wasn’t quite as pressed for time, but I still needed to make it back in a timely fashion and averaged 8-9 mph. The third time was a much longer ride (3 hours) with no tight schedule so I rode a more leisurely 7-8 mph. At the rate I was getting slower each day it’s a good thing I didn’t stay another week or I may not have been able to maintain forward motion…

The view from the top did not disappoint. It was crystal clear on the first trip.

The second trip was a little foggy.

“Classic Rob” according to Meli

With any luck, this will be an interactive 360˚ panoramic view from the top of Hawk Hill. Click on the image and drag the mouse left and right to change the view.

The Stage Race

Last weekend in West Lafayette, IN some friends and I participated in a bike race. Actually, it was three separate bike races which together formed a stage race. My Wild Card cycling team had 6 riders in the cat 4-5 race: Thomas, Luke, Mark, Karl, Dan, and Rob.

The Criterium

The first stage on Saturday was a criterium in a residential neighborhood near the campus of Purdue University. Criterium races are okay, but they’re definitely my least favorite. The idea is that the course is very short and racers ride several laps around the course for a set period of time. After the set period of time the first person to cross the finish line is the winner. Crits are generally very fast with lots of turning in close proximity to other riders, so there’s a little bit more danger involved. Perhaps danger isn’t the best word. There’s just more possibility for mistakes, both by you and the other riders.

On the bright side the roads are closed to traffic. Err, uh, at least they’re supposed to be. After warming up a little we were informed that the race organizers were having some traffic control problems. First, the course was going to be shortened by half, leaving only a 0.6 mile loop. Second, a couple of the roads were going to be open to traffic!

In the words of GOB Bluth, COME ON!

As we lined up to start the race the officiant explained a few rules. He explicitly stated that riders who get lapped should stay to the far right of the road so as not to interfere with the lead riders. Fine.

The race started. There were 57 riders. Now on narrow residential streets that may or may not be open to traffic, we could really only ride three or four wide across the road. This meant there was a huge distance from the first riders to the last riders at the start, probably a quarter mile. The fastest riders only needed to gain maybe a third of a mile to lap the slowest riders. That’s exactly what happened, and it didn’t take long.

I started a little conservatively in the middle of the pack. The lap had a short steep hill (which was to my advantage), then a long downhill with a sharp turn at the bottom (which was to my disadvantage). I passed around four or five riders each lap for about 24 minutes of the 35 minute race. The leaders were still well ahead of me and were close to catching up and lapping me.

When I finished the lap it sounded like the race directors yelled at me (as well as everyone else) to get off the course. What? The next lap they did the same thing. The pace car passed me and the lead rider was not too far behind so I moved over to the right. When I finished that lap I heard more clearly what the directors were saying, and indeed they told me to get off the course. I stopped (many other riders had already stopped) and asked one of my Wild Card teammates what was going on. Apparently they wanted all lapped riders off the course (I actually hadn’t been lapped yet). Okay, I guess, but that wasn’t what they told us before the race. Why on earth did they change their minds in the middle of the race? I guess I’ll never know. Only 13 riders remained in the race until the finish. My teammate Thomas finished 2nd in the final sprint. Kudos to him.

I apparently tied for 17th place with every other rider who was pulled on the same lap. Since this was a stage race the finishing time actually did matter, so there was some confusion how this was going to work when the majority of riders didn’t actually finish. The organizers prorated the finishing times. I was a little over one minute behind the leader after 24 minutes of racing. Worst case scenario I would have been two minutes behind after 35 minutes of racing. So my prorated time was… 5:21 back.

Whatever.

The prorating was equally bad for everyone, so it’s not really worth getting too upset. But lots of people take themselves a little too seriously and there were about 40 super pissed cyclists after that race.

The Road Race

Early the next morning was the road race. The 22 mile race took place mostly on a four mile loop in the country that included a pretty big hill that was clearly going to be decisive. Again, I started in the middle and worked my way up to the top third or so before we reached the hill. Several riders dropped off the back of the group on the climb. The same thing happened the next lap, and each lap after.

I stayed with the lead group the whole race. The group was down to 25 or so riders by the last lap. I thought someone might try to escape on the last hill, but the strong headwind at the top prevented that. We approached the finish line as a big group. The pace started to slow, as everyone wanted to conserve energy for the finish. Thomas was again well placed near the front of the group, so I shot to the front and whipped up the pace to lead out the sprint for him. I led for 400 meters or so until the sprint started about 200 meters before the finish. Thomas finished 2nd again, though a different rider won. My teammate Luke was also in the lead group and finished 8th. I rolled across the finish line in 15th. I was much happier with the outcome of this race than I was with the previous race. It was good that I not only stayed with the lead group, but was strong enough at the end to try to help Thomas & Luke finish higher up. I didn’t really stand a chance in the sprint anyway.

The Time Trial

Finally, on Sunday afternoon was a 5.8 mile time trial. This is a race where each rider is timed individually, starting 30 seconds apart so they can’t work together. The course was the same as part of the road race, and it included the same big hill. As an experienced triathlete I generally enjoy time trials (which are identical to the bike portion of a triathlon). I also enjoy riding on hills. Perfect… except for one thing. Take a guess what that was.

The course was point to point and it was almost entirely into the wind. Heavy riders have a harder time riding uphill than I do. I have a harder time riding into the wind than many others. The reason? Physics. I’m fairly big/tall and I’m kind of lightweight so I have a high surface area to weight ratio. Higher surface area causes more wind resistance. Lower weight (mass) means less momentum one can use to counter this effect. I shouldn’t make excuses, but when it’s related to physics I can hardly resist…

I rode reasonably well, but not as fast as I would have liked. I tied for 19th place. I averaged around 21 mph into the wind, while the winner averaged around 24 mph. Thomas also tied for 19th, and Luke was 13 seconds faster in 15th place.

The General Classification

Since the time gaps between the riders were not that large after the criterium and the road race, the time trial results pretty much determined the final overall stage race results. Here’s how the team did:

Thomas 11th
Luke 12th
Rob 15th
Mark 29th
Karl 39th
Dan 46th

We were not quite as dominant as we were in Hillsboro, but we had a solid race.