Fort Ross / Coleman Valley on a bum achilles

So I went to the doctor and yes, I managed to partially tear my achilles. Classic old guy injury. Having my foot immobilized in a ski boot all season and then coming off the couch to chase an elite pro triathlete for 100 miles in the hills is bound to leave a mark. Anyway, I took it easy for a week and stayed off the bike, then I did a solo ride of an abbreviated King Ridge loop last weekend. So abbreviated it was, that I never even rode King Ridge but instead cut across to the coast on Fort Ross Road. Weather was fantastic, and I finished with the classic climb up Coleman Valley Rd. Awesome day, but paid for it with more swelling in the Achilles.

A subsequent doctor visit confirms that I have a bum achilles and I need to cut the riding and start some physical therapy to rehab. I'm off to Singapore for a week, so that should help...

Album:

Ft Foss Coleman Valley Ride, March 2010

Ski Season and the First Big Ride of 2010

Not much posting about cycling lately, as we're in full ski mode here. I've still been doing the work commute, but weekend rides have been relatively few since the fall. It has been an incredibly rainy winter here (i.e., snowy up in Tahoe) so riding has been kept to a minimum, while powder skiing has been the favored mode of smile generation.

A big group of us did a cat skiing trip up to Retallack in British Columbia. Ironically, the snow conditions up there were just OK, while back home in Tahoe we were hit with a massive storm. Oh well, we still managed to find some great powder turns under bluebird skies in some of the most incredible terrain I've ever skied.

Once back from BC -- with hardly any cycling miles under the belt since September -- I was seduced by a window of good weather and made the mistake of doing a 20 mile solo loop out to Muir Beach, and then chasing Meredith and Frankie for another fast 80 miles up to Marshall and back. A few days later, my right achilles is very swollen and painful. I'm thinking a doctor visit is in my future. Bummer.

Muir Beach. The best backyard ride anywhere.

Surveying the massive terrain at Retallack.

Diary of a Great Day

5:30am. Wake, work/check emails from Europe and NY. Coffee.
7am. Make kids breakfast, get out the door for school
8am. Tiburon Ferry to SF


5pm. Riding home along Crissy Field with friends.


5:30pm Quick detour up the Marin Headlands to admire the view and get the blood pumping. Not a bad way to get home!

6pm. Home. Dinner with the family.

Douchery on the Golden Gate

An otherwise great ride home marred today by some self-absorbed prick who insisted on blowing by all four of us at warp speed with millimeters to spare, having dispensed no courtesy warning whatsoever, and the dastardly deed having been consummated just as we were slowly and courteously passing a dad with his little girl on the west side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Ths Shitbox nearly crashed all of us into the family. Unreal behavior. Guys like this are what cause everyone to hate cyclists. [and before you make assumptions, no, we were not dragging ass and taking up the entire path -- this guy was just in some kind of hurry and treating the bridge as his own personal time trial course].

In happier news, it was a glorious day out there and the ride was fantastic but for the douchery described above. It was almost 80 degrees on the sunny side of the bridge and fog free. Could the good fall weather be here at last? Hope so.

Seven Sisters

HOT today. Got in an early ride on the regular loop. Stunning Wx this morning -- 100 mile views and no winds. Farallons and Pt. Reyes were so close you could almost touch them. Incredible. Now off to Outside Lands!

Shop Ride

Did the Sunday shop ride with the folks from Studio Velo Mill Valley. This is a great local shop with some very nice high end bikes and accessories. More importantly, they provide superb service and are fun guys to ride with. An added treat yesterday was the ride start at Cibo, Sausalito's newest cafe and lunch spot. GREAT coffee here. Check it out.

The weather was (and has been for too long!) pretty cold and foggy in the mornings. Sunglasses were not required and in any event were covered in mist almost immediately. We rode from Cibo into downtown Mill Valley, then up to Four Corners where we listened to the SV guys give us some important reminders and tips on descending skills. We put these into practice on the increasingly curvy road down into Muir Woods. From there, a good tempo up the coast to Stinson, and a very fast ride up and over Panoramic Highway. For the first time on this ride, not a single car passed our group from Stinson Beach all the way up to Pantoll Summit. Very nice.

I'm hoping the fog/wind cycle breaks soon, and we start getting that classic "Summer in Fall" weather instead of the dreaded "Winter in Summer" weather.

How do I get one of these kits?

"dznuts. Protect your junk". Classic.

And apparently dznuts comes with video instructions on how to apply it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtZv6Z53lFE