Tuesday Climbing Ride

Nice ride everyone! 14 cyclists took on the slopes around Folsom and El Dorado Hills; there were some brand new faces riding along with the familiar faces. This past Tuesday we did the clockwise loop around Folsom. I'm not sure if Gary went too early or if he was leading us out, but Ed & I came around him for the county line sprint on Green Valley. I got the sprint, only to get dropped on the climbs a few minutes later. After regrouping at the park, the front end of the group got pretty fast. It was partly my fault. I gradually increased the tempo heading south on Sophia up the gradual climb to E Natoma. I thought if I kept the pace high no one would have any gas left for the Folsom City limit sprint. Wrong! Patrick C. & Ed were right on my wheel, & Patrick easily came around me for the sprint. After regrouping at E Natoma after the sprint, John & Patrick hammered the pace to Cote de Costco. After the summit it was every man for himself. Ed, Erik, and myself caught John and Patrick at a red light. Green light, hammer down, & the race to the bike trail was on! Patrick, John, Ed, & myself slipped away off the front with a nice rotation, but were later caught at a red light a couple of miles from the trail.

My Garmin broke a few weeks back, so I don't have good stats for the ride, but my overall average speed for the 27+ miles was 17.5 mph. Oz got me setup with is old Garmin, so next time I'll be including elevation.

Tuesday Climbing Ride

I think we all had a great ride Tues night! The route was cut a little short due to the waning daylight, but what we lacked in distance and climbing was made up with speed.

We all rolled out of Folsom on time. I really only had one goal for the night even though the “Big Dogs” RSVPed on the Meetup site: me, I just wanted to keep the whole group together until we got onto Green Valley (mile 4.5). It’s no fun to blow the group apart before the ride really even begins. So, for me, the ride was a success when we all lined up at the red light and then rolled onto Green Valley on the green double file. However, I knew things would blow apart once we turned onto Sophia.

Sure enough, on the first little climb up Sophia to Elmores, all the Big Dogs began to amass at the front. Once we turned onto the slopes of Elmores, the splits were made that mainly stood for the following 18 miles. I tried to follow the wheels of Steve, Curt, Jeff, Tom, and Frank, but I totally red-lined my heart rate and I was gasping for air and had a cramp in my side by the time I got to Brittany. Chad flew past me with no mercy; no chance to catch a wheel. The next thing I knew I was in Purgatory on El Dorado Hills Blvd: cyclists getting smaller on the horizon in front of me, and no one visible behind me! That’s when I had to let my ego go and focus on a quick recovery on the false flats of EDH and get ready for the queen climb of the night, Ridgeview.

This is what I suspect happened on Ridgeview up the road from me: Curt and Steve put the hammer down and rode up the steep slope like they had wings. Chad bridged up to either Frank or Tom, and then regrouped with Jeff, so they had a group 4 strong. But this is where things get a little gray. Somehow, after suffering up Ridgeview, but bombing Powers & Beatty (51 mph), and sneaking a short cut to Sophia (I didn’t go around the park; I admit it!), the next cyclists I see are Steve & Curt soft pedaling on Sophia. I ain’t stupid! You bet on boogied on over and caught onto their wheels! It sounds like Jeff et al. took the longer route down Ridgeview to Powers and added a little more distance and climbing. Somehow I leapfrogged over them, but they were all the stronger riders. I’m just a sneak, a cheater, and had good luck!

In arrears, Patrick & Tim (riding his TT bike on a climbing ride!) were working together as a small group, Kevin was riding solo, but in no way throwing in the towel, and Stan & Krysta were helping each other out.

I yo-yoed off the back of the Steve & Curt Fright Train, but more or less hung with them, probably because they had to stop for the lights on Iron Point. I was surprised we didn’t get caught by Jeff, Frank, Tom, & Chad; I kept looking over my shoulder for the rest of the night!

We all rolled back into the start around 7:05 -7:15 with smiles on our faces!

Tuesday Climbing Ride

Tonight's evening climbing ride of 14 riders split-up into two groups (OK, maybe 2 1/2 groups): the Billy Goats doing the full clockwise route, the Easy Riders opting for the easy clockwise route, and the Junior Billy Goats knocking out the easy clockwise route, but at a faster pace than the Easy Riders. I opted to cruise with the Easy Riders.

Chief Billy Goat, Jeff, was gracious enough to lead the front group and take Frank, Andrew, Patrick, & Tim on the romp through the foothills of Folsom. I'm not too sure of what all went on in their group, but I think Frank was the first one back that did the full route (but also skipped the water stop at the park). Jeff and Andrew were not far behind and had an average speed of 17.3 mph. Nice riding guys!

The Easy Riders got dropped by the Billy Goats about 4 miles into the ride, but they caught a couple of green lights. Ya, OK, they were flat-out faster, no excuses. I lead Krysta, Cesar, Stan, Danny, Rowland, Oz, Bruce, & Kevin over the local cols. Junior Billy Goats Bruce and Kevin were itching too much to go faster and attacked over the top of Ridgeview and disappeared off the front. However, the Easy Riders skipped the water stop at the park and scooted on up Sophia toward Cote de Costco and slipped up the road, leap-frogging the Billy Goats and the Junior Billy Goats. That didn't last long! Up near the little climb on Sophia near E. Natoma, a blur of cyclists shot by us as the Easy Riders were searching for lower gears! That would be the last time till the ride's end that we would see the Billy Goats & Junior Billy Goats.

The Easy Riders cruised over Cote de Costco and suffered through the lights on Iron Point, but put in a solid effort for a great ride.

My Easy Rider stats for the evening were 25.4 miles in 1:37 ride time for an average speed of 15.6 mph and about 1,800 feet of climbing. I was happy to have a mellow ride keeping my average heart rate at 134 bpm.

Thanks for the ride everyone!

Tuesday Climbing Ride

Hot! Hot! Hot! We were feeling hot, Hot, HOT! At 5:30 pm the temperature in Folsom was about 103 degrees! A dedicated group of us rolled out despite the heat to get in a ride: CF regulars Phil, Gary, Kevin, Stan, Carl, Krysta, Curt, & myself were joined by Chad and Bob for a counter clockwise jaunt around Folsom.

The group started to split up on the first real climb (Carpenter Hill) and, combined with the heat, some folks decided to pull the plug and head back to the start. No problem! It's all about riding within yourself and knowing your limits, and then come out swinging another day.

Curt, Carl, Chad, Bob, and I crested Carpenter Hill (Costco) more or less together and made a moderate run down Sophia to Beatty. Curt must have been wearing an ice jacket under his Road Rash jersey because he flew up Beatty unfazed by the heat. I was in no hurry to kill myself just yet and kept a high-moderate pace. We all regrouped at the top and Gary was able to latch back onto the group. We dropped down Montridge at 45 mph and then watched Curt sprint to the top of Wilson. We soft-pedaled on EDH a little ways to get the group together, and then shot down EDH at 25 mph to Brittany. After a little more climbing and a mellow descent, we stopped at the park for shade and water. Phil caught back up with us and we all rolled out 7 strong.

Curt wasn't messing around with the final miles to the ride start. He went to the front on the little climb on Sophia to E Natoma and hammered it. I was barely able to hang onto his wheel, but others were put through the wood chipper and spit-out. Curt and I made a good run into Folsom, but had Phil and Carl hot on our heels. Chad and Bob rolled in not too far behind. Gary split the route to go to his house. Great riding guys!

Stan gets big kudos! Our Chief Evangelist was opting out of the climbing ride at the beginning of the ride due to the heat and was thinking of doing a ride on the bike trail. We gave him some friendly encouragement (Come on you loser! What are you talking about?!) and he stuck with the ride. Way to go Stan!

My ride stats: 27 miles in 1:40 ride time for an average speed of 16.3 mph and about 1,900 feet of climbing.

Tuesday Climbing Ride

12 of us rolled out of down town Folsom for a 30 mile clockwise loop of the local climbs. We all stayed together more or less onto Green Valley and Sophia. I'm not sure what happened to Rowland and his two friends; I thought everyone made the light onto Green Valley.

Jeff was off the front up the first climbs of Sophia, Elmores, & Brittany starting the splits in the group. Oz, Jeff, new rider Jim, and I formed a small lead group and were happy to let Jeff pull on El Dorado Hills Blvd to the base of the Ridgeview climb. We all settled into our own personal pergatory up this climb, but the climbing gods were smiling on Big Ring Jeff; we wouldn't see him again until the park. Jim, Oz, & I were gruppo compacto at the bottom of Montridge and more or less were together up and over Powers. We met up with Kevin along Powers; I guess he had some route finding issues & happened to take a short cut. We all met up at the Park after dropping down Beatty at 50 mph. Bruce met up with us after a late ride start, and Tim was also able to catch back on.

Seven us rolled out of the park and into the head wind on Sophia/Empire Ranch with our sights set on Cote de Costco (Carpenter Hill). I knew Jeff would be knocking out another KOM on Carpenter Hill; I thought I'd do my best to sit on his wheel and draft considering the wind. He went over the top a ways ahead of me, but it was no holds barred on the descent to Serpa. The key is to carry your speed onto Serpa to roll over the next little hill. I put in a dig here and was able to go over the top of Jeff. I was hoping to keep the gap until the next pass of Cote de Costco, but just as I swung back onto the climb and looked over my shoulder, yup, there he was. So, for the second pass I tried to ride out of the wind and on his wheel.

We all regrouped at the top of Carpenter Hill for the run down Iron Point. I wanted the pace to be high, so I rode at the front and tried to keep the pace around 23-26 mph. Everyone was on board, but unfortunately the lights were not our friends. We cruised a moderate to high pace along the trail as the sun was setting.

This was a great ride with a lot of folks staying in the lead group. My ride stats were 29.6 miles in a ride time of 1:46 with a 16.6 mph average and about 2,275 feet of climbing. Jeff was the first one over every single climb and averaged 17.2 mph.

Krysta and Stan did the whole route and had a great ride doing the 29.6 miles in 2:06 for an average pace of 14.1 mph. Great riding guys!

Tuesday Climbing Ride

Wow! Ten of us set out to conquer the local cotes: new or returning Cycle Folsom riders John & Brad, Peloton group regulars Joel, Kevin, Bruce, Stan, & Krysta, and Performance group regulars Jeff, Patrick, & myself. The group stayed together on the warm-up along the trail and Iron Point. As expected, the first pass of Carpenter Hill (Cote de Costco) started stringing folks out, and the second pass sealed the split. John was strong over the first two climbs, but had to bail-out on the ride due to time. Jeff, Patrick, Bruce, and I formed a small group off the front and took pulls at 25-30 mph along Empire Ranch/Sophia. Bing Ring Jeff decided to drop us all on Beatty, but Patrick put in a dig to stay with him. I had to drop down Montridge at 45 mph to catch back up to them & Bruce was close behind. I thought I'd take a dig on EDH and try and ride the others off my wheel on the false flat. I think I had a gap for a little ways, but the lights were not my friend. We all swung onto Brittany where I got dropped on the little climb up to the school. From there it seemed that route finding became an issue. I got back to Karen's first, but I think Bruce & Jeff just rode home. Patrick showed up a few minutes later followed by Krysta. Not too long after that Joel and Kevin rolled in. Unfortunately, Stanley Steamer got a flat at the bottom of Beatty and rolled in a little bit later.

All in all it was a great ride and I'm glad everyone showed up! My ride stats: 30.8 miles in 1:48 ride time for an average speed of 17.1 mph and about 2,300 ft of climbing.

Tuesday Climbing Ride

Colleen, Patrick, Phil, and I set out to conquer the local buttes in the regular clockwise direction. We all stayed together until we hit the climb up Ridgeview. Some of the folks short cutted the Montridge climb due to route finding, but Colleen and I did this nasty little climb on the sun baked slope. I don't know if it was the heat frying my electronics, but I was surprised to see my Garmin 305 record a reading of 15% grade on Montridge. This may have been part of the reason why Colleen ducked out a little early from the ride. But she also said she "was feeling the weekend" (too much riding or too much partying? I'm guessing the former).

We all met up at the park for a nice water stop and then headed south on Sophia giving Colleen a tow to E Natoma where she headed back for the barn. Patrick, Phil, and I did the two loops around Cote de Costco and enjoyed the climbing in the shade; Phil liked it so much that he had to do it in the Big Ring. The three of us kept the pace high (20-26 mph) on the run down Iron Point, then backed off a little to cool down as we returned on the bike trail.

My ride stats: 29.7 miles in 1:46 ride time, with an average pace of 16.7 mph (my max speed was 48 mph, Beatty), and about 2,290 ft total climbing.

Tuesday climbing ride

Finally! An evening when the temp wasn't 95+ degrees! Kevin, Joel, Bruce, Gary, and I were joined by first-time Tuesday Climbers Patrick and Krysta (my partner) for the full counter clockwise route. The weather gods smiled upon us with temperatures in the mid 80s and a mild south-southwest wind that propelled us on Sophia & EDH Blvd, but hammered us on the return on E Natoma.

We rolled out on the bike trail and were briefly joined by Phil on his TT bike (Phil is going to make the podium this Thursday in his TT race series; Go Phil!). We headed up Iron Point riding at a moderate pace around 17-20 mph to loosen-up the legs. We were gruppo compacto at the base of Carpenter Hill (Cote de Costco), but as typical, everyone rode at their own pace up the first pass. I guess newcomer Patrick was feeling a little spry and jumped off the front on the upper slope of Cote de Costco when the light turned green. I wasn't interested in chasing since this was the first of 5 climbs. We were all relatively close together over the top. Krysta opted for the medium counter clockwise route which skipped the second pass of Cote de Costco and headed off towards Beatty. I thought I'd toughen up the ride a little and attacked before the stop sign at Broadstone & Empire Ranch, hitting the left turn onto Broadstone fast and carrying my speed up over the next little uncategorized climb. I slipped away... at least till I hit the red light at Serpa & Iron Point.

We all started the second pass of Carpenter Hill together. I thought Patrick had caught back on as we turned onto Empire Ranch, but it turns out he missed the turn and hit the dead end at the east end of Iron Point. Latter he let me know he finished up his ride heading out Sophia, to Green Valley, and back to Karen's. Kevin, Joel, Bruce, Gary, and I were more than happy with the tailwind on Sophia to set us up for Beatty. We knocked-out the grind up Beatty (tops out at 13% grade) and skirted the ridge up on Powers, only to drop down Montridge to have to climb back out over Wilson.

We swept Krysta up on El Dorado Hills Blvd and gave her a tow over to Brittany, but the heat was on to hammer down the short descent to set-up the little climb on Brittany. We made a quick water stop at the park and then turned south on Sophia into an uphill headwind; I think we were all happy to let Gary do the work on the front. Gary split at Blue Ravine to head home and Kevin, Joel, Bruce, & I pointed our noses toward the barn and hammered down E Natoma into a headwind at 26 mph to finish up the ride.

My computer registered 31.2 miles in 1:54 hours for an average speed of 16.4 mph and about 2,300 ft total elevation gain.

Tuesday Climbing Ride

A great group of 8 of us set-out to do the clockwise route: Performance Group riders Phil, Gary, Jeff, & myself, along with Peloton Group riders Kevin & Joel, & regular Tuesday night rider Colleen, & new to Cycle Folsom rider Megan. It was another hot night with the mercury peaking in the mid 90s. Everyone rode Ridgeview Rd at their own tempo tackling the climb that tops out at 13%. I thought it would be best to take it a little easier with the heat, so we bypassed the sun baked Montridge Way climb and rendezvoused at the park for a refreshing water stop. The south wind made itself known when we headed out Sophia/Empire Ranch; it noticeably took the spring out of the step of some folks before we got onto the slopes of Cote de Costco (Carpenter Hill). After circumnavigating Carpenter Hill and hitting the 6-9% climb on Empire Ranch twice, we were gruppo compacto on Iron Point until Jeff decided to put in a dig up the gradual slope near McAdoo. I quickly closed down the gap jumping on his wheel. It wasn't my goal to slip off the front with him; I just didn't want him to get away. So there I sat making him do the work. Phil came up from behind and pulled through off the front, and again, I was right on his wheel, not wanting anyone to slip away. With the signal lights, we all ended up being brought back into the group and worked together till the end of the ride. It was a great ride with a dedicated group of cyclists that were challenged in one form or another. My electronics registered a ride of 28 miles in a ride time of 1:48 with an average speed around 15.5-16 mph (max speed of 54 mph descending Beatty!).

Tuesday Climbing Ride

Gary and I knocked out the 2 hour training ride around the foothills of Folsom and El Dorado Hills. The climbing is a touch more difficult in the counterclockwise direction. We conquered the upper slopes of Cote de Costco twice, slogged up the steep pitch of Beatty berg, and wallowed over Wilson. We were hoping for a south tailwind on the flats of Empire Ranch and EDH Blvd, but ended up battling a western crosswind, only to turn into a head wind on the way back to the barn. All in all, it was a great training ride. Stats: 29.9 miles, 1:50 time, 16.5 mph average, about 2,200 ft climbing.

Tuesday Climbing Ride

There was more challenges tonight than just the tarmac tilting upwards. The mercury was topped out around 95 and the flags were saluting a 10+ mph wind. Colleen and I were up for the challenge & opted for all the climbs with a short break at the park. My Garmin logged 29.6 miles in 1:50 with an average speed of 16.0 mph and 2,300 feet of climbing. Folsom Tuesday climbing ride, regular route.