“I am in no shape to be going up Mt. Hamilton with you guys,” I mentioned to my fellow Tri-Club members who had planned on ascending it as part of a local Bay Area training ride. “Which is unfortunate since I will be doing the inaugural Bass Lake Powerhouse Double instead, which has even more climbing…”
Indeed, between the Great American Western Road Trip, a rock climbing ascent up Half Dome, and deciding on where to live, I had only ridden 168 miles in the last 2 months which hardly constituted expert training. I mean, that is less than what I’d be doing in one day during the BLP. Continue reading »
“My last day in the area will likely be July 23rd or 24th,” I replied to friends who had learned that my home, indeed, had been sold and that I was about to move out very soon to embark on a new chapter of my life. “That is, after all, the weekend of the Bay in a Day Double Century.”
Ah, the Bay in a Day. I had never even heard of it (this was its inaugural year), until a friend of a friend mentioned it to me one day in April. Of course, it practically being in my front porch, I had to do it — never mind that the front porch would soon be going to the home buyer in short order! Continue reading »
Torrential thunderstorms, mechanical problems, and organization that was almost like a disaster makes for an epic now fondly referred to as “Butterflood.” What an amazing adventure! What a mind-boggling experience! Continue reading »
These are the most challenging events I’ve ever done, listed in order of difficulty. The difficulty is completely subjective, but it gives you an idea of what I think are harder: e.g., double centuries vs. marathons! Continue reading »
Note: More photos are here.
I was sick and tired. That’s right, sick and tired… but not of double centuries, but because of work! Continue reading »
“It’s 10pm,” said my friend Venus, who was visiting from Oklahoma for the entire week. “Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep?”
“What, and miss the 2nd half of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’?” I wryly replied, alluding to the movie we were watching in the living room the night before the Mt. Tam Double. For a moment, I thought about my (mostly inadvertent) pre-double-century tradition–that of getting minimum sleep–and decided that, just maybe, she was right. Continue reading »
