「加」是指加州，不是加拿大。加拿大作為全球第二大國，要辦橫跨全國如環法環意的比賽實在不易，其實環加也是名不符實，一星期的賽事只是由北至南（或由南至北），中文傳媒硬加一個「環」字。這項賽事歷史雖遠不如環法環意等悠久，但不經不覺也已經舉辦了十年！本地聖荷西市是唯一一個十屆都有一站的城市，可見大會對矽谷社區的重視！電視轉播比賽沿途吶喊助威的觀眾，我也是一份子，算是對車壇的一點支持。當然，這些賽道不只可以觀看，更加可以親自踩踩，比賽期間播放California Dreams Big系列廣告也強調這一點：其他體育界知名場地，如非頂尖或職業運動員，相信試玩的機會不大；但公路單車就不同了，職業車手所踩的路線，你我皆可踩！雖然要完全跟隨也不易，除非有人接載，因為通常起點和終點不同。看了一週的賽事，啟發我在週末也要踩踩比賽路線，這次踩的包括了去年和今年部份路段：去年賽事由San Jose Mt. Hamilton Rd (130)上山，今年賽事路段則是在山腳（註：今年方向相反由Livermore那邊上山往SJ）轉入Quimby Rd,再上一小段至Summit 2200ft（有一Buckeye Ranch），然後在短短4英里急降2000尺，真是看也腳軟！接著踩San Felipe Rd入Evergreen區，越踩越少人煙，在Metcalf Rd（今年Stage 3終點）的Motorcycle park回頭，全程～50英里
說起單車比賽，也想提提剛看完的香港無線電視劇《衝線》，其實我甚少看電視劇，看此劇是因為其中一個主題和單車有關，出現了不少在台灣踩車美麗風光鏡頭，雖然劇本及演員水準相當一般，踩車練車鬥車情節也完全脫離現實，不過如果拍得像環加一樣，師奶觀眾肯定不明所以。（例如主角在台灣租的單車有問題，以他們的經驗，肯定不會將問題置之不理，就算自己不動手維修，也會立即回程退換）無線最成功的可算是不停洗腦式播放主題曲《美好的時光》，此曲已成為我踩車在腦中自動播放的歌。吳若希唱的無線劇集主題曲實在不錯，另一首《愛我請留言》我也相當喜歡。
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Road biking route suggestions
The previous post was for mountain biking. Now I'd like to mention a few good ones for road biking:
- Stanford cycling team's favorite routes listed a lot of the steep climb that I've done, like the famous Old La Honda, King's Mountain, Montebello and hidden gems like Moody, Joaquin, Golden Oak and Westridge.
- The Egan Ride is a group ride that starts at the Egan Middle School in Los Altos. Their page listed many local routes from 15-30 miles with GPS/map. Very useful.
- Monta Vista Velo's page listed quite a few looooong rides (>50 miles) which includes Big Basin, Jefferson, Portola. All familiar names!
- Some routes in South San Jose Santa Teresa area.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Bay Area mountain biking
I came across this website when looking for trails. It's quite well-organized: by region, by technical difficulty, etc. Single track trails are really not my type but I do enjoy riding double tracks/fire roads/gravel trails. I'm looking forward to riding some, like this one at the El Corte de Madera Creek (the easy option) or this one in San Jose.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Sunset to San Bruno Mountain State Park
灣區單車路線我對半島及南灣那些比較熟悉，至於由三藩市出發的，金門公園北上金門橋，或者東往Ferry building, 也踩過幾次；記得以前刨單車路線指南介紹過聖般奴山州立公園，summit可遠望北灣景色，今天決定由金門公園南下試踩，路線其實不複雜：由Ocean beach海傍Great Highway到Lake Merced這一段以前也用摺車踩過多次，入35公路倒是第一次，這段35和半島那段一樣車多且快，不過路肩很闊，倒也覺安全，至Westridge Ave, 轉右即U-turn便等同安全轉左，然後右轉Mayfair，左轉Westmoor, 基本上是一條路穿越Daly City, 這一段相當繁忙，尤其是橫跨280那幾個街口，真要打起十二分精神！直至望見山腳即開始上山，這一段不太斜卻頗長，踩一會園口就在左面，閘口指示牌教轉右行Summit road,一條路一英里多一點可上到1236尺的頂峰，雖然不如Old La Honda般長及斜，也算頗有挑戰性。
特別鳴謝以下網站提供之參考路線：7x7, RideWithGPS
Monday, July 7, 2014
Tour De SF
It's that time of the year again, i.e., motivated to ride because of Tour De France. And I got a perfect reason for last Sunday: rode from home to SF for the Fillmore Jazz festival, where it's hard to find parking. Years ago I searched for published biking routes between the peninsula and the city. Found one using mainly roads West of 101 through residential and commercial area, which I thought was too busy with traffic and traffic signals. I googled again on Saturday and found a group named SF2G (yup, that G stands for Google) These folks have figured out several different routes and organized rides. The most straightforward one is called Bayway. I usually tried to understand the route as much as I can before I start. Ideally I would upload the route to my Garmin watch beforehand, which doesn't have a map but still helpful enough to find my way as the GPS would warn when I'm off course. The SF2G site only has routes on Strava and non-paying member cannot download them (which is understandable 'coz they need to pay their employees, I assume) Fortunately I found the same Bayway route on MapMyRide (which does allow download of GPX for free members :) Then I converted the GPX to the Garmin TCX format usable by my watch via the great Gpsies with the option of reversing the route (since I start from the peninsula instead of SF)
So, how's the ride? Interesting! The "Bayway" is mostly along 101 (on the East side until Brisbane) with a combination of trails and roads that went through industrial/airport/hotels instead of residential/commercial (until it reached SF) I crossed 101 using Willow Rd and stopped at Facebook for a selfie. Then I rode on the bike trail along the nature preserve area. Got back on the road at the Marsh road junction. Kept going and went pass the yacht club and the houseboats near the RWC Seaport area. Then it's the bike trail I see from 101 all the time. The next milestone is the San Carlos Airport (i.e., the Burger King with a helicopter) and then Oracle. Crossed the bridge which connects the main Oracle campus and their other buildings and got on the trail to Foster City. This was my commuting route years ago so I was somewhat familiar with it and knew the trail went along the coast all the way up to the Coyote point. However, the Bayway took a shortcut using Edgewater Rd which become Mariner Island Rd and rejoined the bike trail near the dog park. Once reached Coyote Point, instead of turning right, kept going (with the golf course on the left) and it reached the airport hotels (I rode this before when I went to the California audio show at Crowne Plaza a few years ago) Then I got on the "famous" McDonnell Rd at SFO to South SF, where they were more airport hotels on Gateway Blvd. The route went through the pharma companies at Oyster Point and the back of some hotels. Finally I rode under 101 to the West side at Brisbane. It's a bit confusing at the end of Tunnel Ave, which joined Bayshore Blvd. Instead of going up, the route actually went down and took a sharp turn up the less busy San Bruno Ave, which was the first climb of the ride. Took a right at Paul Ave (I only saw the sign of Dwight, which was the left part of the same street) and got back on Bayshore. Finally, turned left to Cortland (there's a Lowe's) for another climb and it reached Mission, which is the endpoint (or starting point!) of Bayway but my destination was Fillmore. I rode on Mission for a bit and found it's not really suitable for biking so I turned into Valencia when I got a chance, which was a more biking-appropriate road and the rest was straight-forward.
So, how's the ride? Interesting! The "Bayway" is mostly along 101 (on the East side until Brisbane) with a combination of trails and roads that went through industrial/airport/hotels instead of residential/commercial (until it reached SF) I crossed 101 using Willow Rd and stopped at Facebook for a selfie. Then I rode on the bike trail along the nature preserve area. Got back on the road at the Marsh road junction. Kept going and went pass the yacht club and the houseboats near the RWC Seaport area. Then it's the bike trail I see from 101 all the time. The next milestone is the San Carlos Airport (i.e., the Burger King with a helicopter) and then Oracle. Crossed the bridge which connects the main Oracle campus and their other buildings and got on the trail to Foster City. This was my commuting route years ago so I was somewhat familiar with it and knew the trail went along the coast all the way up to the Coyote point. However, the Bayway took a shortcut using Edgewater Rd which become Mariner Island Rd and rejoined the bike trail near the dog park. Once reached Coyote Point, instead of turning right, kept going (with the golf course on the left) and it reached the airport hotels (I rode this before when I went to the California audio show at Crowne Plaza a few years ago) Then I got on the "famous" McDonnell Rd at SFO to South SF, where they were more airport hotels on Gateway Blvd. The route went through the pharma companies at Oyster Point and the back of some hotels. Finally I rode under 101 to the West side at Brisbane. It's a bit confusing at the end of Tunnel Ave, which joined Bayshore Blvd. Instead of going up, the route actually went down and took a sharp turn up the less busy San Bruno Ave, which was the first climb of the ride. Took a right at Paul Ave (I only saw the sign of Dwight, which was the left part of the same street) and got back on Bayshore. Finally, turned left to Cortland (there's a Lowe's) for another climb and it reached Mission, which is the endpoint (or starting point!) of Bayway but my destination was Fillmore. I rode on Mission for a bit and found it's not really suitable for biking so I turned into Valencia when I got a chance, which was a more biking-appropriate road and the rest was straight-forward.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Training at Lake Del Valle
It's no secret that my next challenge after riding Gran Fondo in the past years was a sprint triathlon. Thanks to advices from my friend and this blog post (with pictures and routes), I've finally trained in open water.
Swim:
When I entered the Del Valle Park in Livermore, I just followed the sign for swimming. Turned out that's the West beach, which has a roped area watched by lifeguards yet deep enough that I wouldn't touch the ground. I swam for ~50 min there (basically did end-to-end 2 times. Not sure that's enough for the 0.5 mile that I'm preparing for) BTW, I bought a pair of TYR Special Ops Polarized goggles to replace the cheapo Speedo (which I bought for $10 at Sports Authority and used ~ a dozen time. The rim started to fall off after 5 times. Even before that it's leaking like crazy and fogged up in no time. The new goggle had no such problem)
Bike:
I visited this park before and always interested in riding that kinda-steep road in and out of the park (Mines Rd, Del Valle Rd, a Cat-3 and a Cat-4 climb out-and-back) I rode my 9-speed folder with some non-working gears (rather not leave my better bike unattended) from the West beach parking lot. It's tough as expected as I didn't have the largest gear available but I wasn't in a rush. It's fun to watch the folks flying their RC gliders near the summit. After the downhill and exit to the Mines Rd, I watched my GPS and realized I could turn back ~1 mile more so I did that and rode back up the hill again to go back to the parking lot to complete the 12 miles. I guess I'm prepared if the real route has climbs like this.
Run:
My run started at the "pier" next to the West beach. First, I ran up "north" onto one of the trail along the lake shore. It was rough and steep but I figured I should go harder during training. This round-trip ate up ~1.2 mile and I went "south" from the pier, on paved road this time all the way to the campgrounds at the south tip of the lake and back to make up 3.11 miles. I was 30% slower than running on my usual flat route. Still, it's good training.
This was a really nice environment. I will definitely come back if I race again in the future. Maybe try out the East beach next time.
Swim:
When I entered the Del Valle Park in Livermore, I just followed the sign for swimming. Turned out that's the West beach, which has a roped area watched by lifeguards yet deep enough that I wouldn't touch the ground. I swam for ~50 min there (basically did end-to-end 2 times. Not sure that's enough for the 0.5 mile that I'm preparing for) BTW, I bought a pair of TYR Special Ops Polarized goggles to replace the cheapo Speedo (which I bought for $10 at Sports Authority and used ~ a dozen time. The rim started to fall off after 5 times. Even before that it's leaking like crazy and fogged up in no time. The new goggle had no such problem)
Bike:
I visited this park before and always interested in riding that kinda-steep road in and out of the park (Mines Rd, Del Valle Rd, a Cat-3 and a Cat-4 climb out-and-back) I rode my 9-speed folder with some non-working gears (rather not leave my better bike unattended) from the West beach parking lot. It's tough as expected as I didn't have the largest gear available but I wasn't in a rush. It's fun to watch the folks flying their RC gliders near the summit. After the downhill and exit to the Mines Rd, I watched my GPS and realized I could turn back ~1 mile more so I did that and rode back up the hill again to go back to the parking lot to complete the 12 miles. I guess I'm prepared if the real route has climbs like this.
Run:
My run started at the "pier" next to the West beach. First, I ran up "north" onto one of the trail along the lake shore. It was rough and steep but I figured I should go harder during training. This round-trip ate up ~1.2 mile and I went "south" from the pier, on paved road this time all the way to the campgrounds at the south tip of the lake and back to make up 3.11 miles. I was 30% slower than running on my usual flat route. Still, it's good training.
This was a really nice environment. I will definitely come back if I race again in the future. Maybe try out the East beach next time.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
North Portland (Mt. Tabor, 205, Columbia River, Portland airport)
Portland is the No.1 biking city in USA (according to the Bicycling magazine.) There's no reason NOT to ride! It turned out our Hotel (Rose) offers complimentary bicycle to hotel guests so I took full advantage of it (also included a lock and a helmet!) There was only 1 minor challenge: I have never ridden a beach cruiser with coaster brake only. All of my bikes have hand brakes. I almost rented one like this at Vancouver but decided not to take unnecessary risk when riding with kids. I ended up doing alright with this bike by riding slower and with extra caution. I also brake way in advance, which coincidentally was the advice my son gave me after the ride. He had a lot of experiences with coaster brakes :)
As far as finding a good route to ride, I trusted good old MapMyRide: simply searched for routes over 30 mile and pick one from the result. I figured it would be interesting to loop (square) around the city (the Northeast quadrant of it) For those not familiar with the area, there is a river dividing the city to an East side and a West side. Our hotel was on the West side along with the Pioneer Courthouse Square (and the upscale Pioneer Place Mall) There are many bridges connecting the two sides. First, I crossed the Hawthorne bridge and rode along Hawthorne st then Lincoln st which lead to the Mt. Tabor park. Once I was in the park, I took one of the Tabor Drive loop to reach the Summit (it was not that high but it felt like Mt. Diablo on a beach cruiser :P) I exited the park from SE East Tabor Dr to Yamhill St (it was not continuous but have a few breaks instead but not that hard to follow) which eventually led to a T-junction that intersect with the I-205 multi-use path. Turned left there and I basically rode along side the northbound freeway I-205 on a bike path separated from traffic. Again, it is not completely continuous but the signs were clear enough. Eventually I reached the Columbia River (another T-junction that I turned left) I saw many bikes at the junction and realized there was a race going on! I pedaled towards the airport and left the crowd (there was a bike path closer to the river but I rode on the road instead by accident. No car on the road anyway) This was one long and straight stretch with a great view of the river (even saw a few dragon boats practicing!) After passing the Portland airport (PDX) I got back on the road, Marine Dr and then Bridgeton Rd, which has a dead end and one must turn left to get back on the Marine Dr towards the West for a little bit before crossing the freeway (99E) Followed the sign for MLK Blvd (which was the freeway I saw) but it's OK to ride. Turned to N Vancouver Ave and got on the Broadway Bridge and I was back on the West side and ended my ride.
Note: I originally planned to cross another bridge, the Steel Bridge, but I was detoured by a parade. The Steel Bridge seems to have easier access to the Waterbank Park trail on the West side. And instead of riding back to the hotel directly, I stopped at the Portland Saturday Market before I reached the hotel. Good food and good art there.
It's easy to see why the Bicycling magazine picked Portland as No.1. with many bike path separated from traffic. And when you have to ride on the roads, they are actually quite bike friendly. And the signs are pretty good at helping cyclists to find their ways.
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| The yellow beach cruiser and the view from the top of Mt. Tabor |
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| Junction of the I-205 bike path and Marine Dr at the bank of Columbia River |
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| Lan Su Garden at Portland Chinatown |
Note: I originally planned to cross another bridge, the Steel Bridge, but I was detoured by a parade. The Steel Bridge seems to have easier access to the Waterbank Park trail on the West side. And instead of riding back to the hotel directly, I stopped at the Portland Saturday Market before I reached the hotel. Good food and good art there.
It's easy to see why the Bicycling magazine picked Portland as No.1. with many bike path separated from traffic. And when you have to ride on the roads, they are actually quite bike friendly. And the signs are pretty good at helping cyclists to find their ways.
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