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From here forward,

all posting activity for our 7th annual National Mayors' Ride 

will take place at our National Bicycle Greenway  site. 

See it 

HERE !!

Eagle worthy 15 as 40% hill work 4-13-09

In the picture at left, if I would have gutted it out to the top, my reward  would have been a view of the freeway  and all its noise. For the day, however, I did do a worthy amount of  hill work, enough to make up for the fact that I didn't get 5 or 10 more miles today. 

I am riding more for miles than for skill, so before I got to the hills, I was pleased when I did a 3 step mount on the sidewalk in front of the Post Office. With only ten feet to make the move, flanked by mail boxes and headed for a parking lot driveway that fed a parking lot blinded by the building, I got up and on!! Yahoo!! 

My spirits were lifted about an hour later when, a good ways into the  Los Altos Hills rollers, a woman walking called out to me as I biked past, "Have a safe journey".  While earlier, a couple that watched me navigate down a little path that led to nowhere I wanted to go, said, "Well, there's that famous bicycle!"  WoW, I'll bet Jay over at the Palo Alto Weekly would be happy to know that his newspaper has such a huge reach that people are still coming out of the woodwork to offer blessings for my ride!! 

I spent a lot of today trying to figure out how I  am going to make my ride real now that I lost my main sponsor. If you missed the 2  posts I drew up about it, go HERE.....

       

Above is the beautiful 

Los Altos Hill Town Hall

THX 4 all of U!!  

Route 

Start 0ft
1 3.08mi Hanover - always formidable but getting easier every time
2 3.91mi Tried unclipping saddle as stayed seated - hill too steep - had to turn around to reclip as I rode
3 4.81mi Enter rolling hills of peaceful Los Altos Hills
4 5.10mi Go down little path here
5 6.09mi It only went up from here
6 6.86mi Got very steep here at the end. I was wanting to turn around before as I could hear the freeway getting louder and louder - so I did not suck it up and turned around ..
7 7.86mi Wanted to see where this road went. It was not flat ....
8 9.09mi Not a very interesting place to end but now I know another way to get into the hills of Los ALtos Hills
9 13.37mi Get on sidewalk here
10 13.54mi Whole Foods buy too much weight in groceries to keep looking for road work. Also met a kombucha purveyor who might sponsor my ride with product....
End 15.41mi

Eagle Atherton | find bike bridge short cut | Sprint home 4-12-09

Since Easter is a time of renewal and a time of new beginnings, I  used it to line  out the next three weeks before I take off. Of which there is a ton of planning work and loose details that much needed to be attended to. While I cleaned and reorganized the garage in between the 36 miles worth of two rides I did yesterday, I didn't get into Easter Sunday until 3:30 in the PM today. 

All flat miles, I did end the day with a few miles of solid sprinting. I also discovered a "short cut" to the bike bridge to Menlo Park (Allied Arts neighborhood) - if not shorteer, it is at least far more pleasant.......

     THX 4 all of U!!  

The picture above is of the talisman Ines Brunn brought over from China for me to  have with me on my ride. It petitions for safe travel! I feel so blessed that a woman, many see as a bicycle god herself, wants to make sure my journey is protected!!

Here is the route I took today

Route 

and here are the notes you will find there

Start 0ft
1 3.34mi Bike bridge over San Francisquito creek
2 8.80mi Bike bridge over San Francisquito creek
3 8.98mi Quiet service road
4 9.29mi Short cut to bike bridge to Menlo Park (Allied Arts neighborhood) -f not shorteer, at least far more pleasant
5 10.49mi Bike tunnel
6 11.11mi Curb hardly even noticeable , the faster I go off of it
7 11.82mi Molly Stones for bread
8 11.89mi Bike tunnel
9 11.91mi Re-mount and don;t miss start one again - very few missed starts today as I an learning how many steps based on which pedal position and the degree of road slop
10 12.00mi Got call rom Faye Saunders who wanted to take some photos of my shadow. So I had to race to El Camrello school to meeet jher
11 12.21mi A trike was waiting at light and it turned green just as I got theere - no rest from my sprint
12 12.48mi Must have been holding a 17 mph pace (with a 50 inch wheel!!)
13 12.71mi Bike Bridge = I use almost daily - it was here in 2007 that I did a face plant when a chunk of tire got caught between the rim anf fork. Scared the crap out of me. Lucky I did not break any teeth - huge swollen mouth, grew a mustache to cover shredded   skin
14 12.84mi Faye not at school so keep racing as she said if not infront of school she's be walking Bryabn looking for shadows to photograph
15 13.19mi Call Faye to find out where she is = S ourt
End 14.14mi

Eagle Conquers Dumbarton Br 4-11-09

On the road at 7AM, I got the Eagle over the San Francisco Bay on the Dumbarton Bridge. Up until a few weeks ago, I was intimidated by this, what I saw as an obstruction to west to east travel. In Feb when I got the Eagle, and could barely get it going on flat land, let alone try to do any kind of uphill work, it scared me to think about ascending a bridge path walled in by noise, barricades, wind and noisy 65 mph traffic. But I did it! And easily! I even took pictures which you can see here. Yahoo!!

What challenged me was not the bridge but the atrocious condition of the frontage road that leads off   of it into Fremont.  I did discover that the side closest to the water is a wee bit smoother as water may drain off  of it easier. It was bad for me on the Eagle, tho not nearly as bad when I came though here on my Ordinaries. As I say at the map I drew up for today's ride, the wretched asphalt is  a real detriment to cyclists wanting to explore this area or either side of the Bay. 

It almost seems as though CalTrans doesn't want cyclists to use this bridge for transportation because once you then survive this horrid 3 mile road (pictured at left as it leads away from the freeway while you cannot see the little rocks poking out where the rain has washed away the asphalt that makes it all smooth - with more of it before you reach Thornton Rd), instead of being able to go over the toll plaza where there is a bridge fed by a path, you cannot access the road (Quarry Rd) that takes you up to Paseo Padre because they have it all fenced off. 

On the way back, a guy in an 18-wheeler did lift my spirits when he gave me  a couple toots and a thumbs up sign. 

Remember these? This phone booth was in the parking lot at the  Don Edwards Natl Wildlife Refuge. And it looked like it was still usable!

This is what the salt ponds look like if the horrible road does not distract you to much.

On the way back, the traffic is coming right at you......

The land mass south of the rail bridge is San Jose. The gap you see on the hills leads to Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay Area

Well below the present Dumbarton lies the original bridge that was the first to cross the Bay in 1928. 

25 miles in all, what a confidence builder this ride was.  I think the Eagle and I are just about ready!!

btw: I added twelve more miles this evening with a few warm down errands. At this Route. you ca see some of the amazing, almost rural, bike paths I get to  use here in Palo Alto.....

This is the string of bike paths I used:

Hanover Hill to Bol Park Bike Path secret - Photos !!

Barron Park Bike Path - Photos !! 

Los Alto Bike Path - Photos !! 

       THX 4 all of U!!  

Route

Start 0ft
1 2.99mi It was here in 2008 that we got the Buscycle up to 21 mph!
2 3.42mi Nice baseball park complex to the left here
3 3.57mi Enter bike path on dike
4 4.07mi Cross Slough here
5 4.72mi Dirt path begins here
6 6.57mi Enter bike path - I was here in 35 mins! (trail at 84 and University) 
7 7.70mi Enter bridge bike path - concrete walls ~ 4 feet tall on both sides - noise is astounding - ear plugs advisable during rush hour
8 8.28mi Take picture here on way back of rail bridge that you can see in the bay just south of here - this could make for an excellent bike crossing of the Bay and could become a recreational feature of this region that would also encourage family use...
9 8.95mi Enter frontage road - wretched asphalt, a real detriment to cyclists wanting to explore this area or either side of the Bay. As on bike path leading up to it from the Peninsula side, at least the noise of the freeway is less here as it is not walled in by the concrete barricades
10 11.42mi Small hill here
11 11.72mi A left turn here take you on a path that goes over the top of the toll plaza for the bridge. But if you are using this route for transportation you may as well give up. The only alternative is to use slow, out of the way dirt trails to ultimately get to Paseo Padre. TO REMEDY THIS, A GATE SHOULD BE PUT IN THAT CYCLISTS WITH A CARD CAN OPEN SO THEY CA GET ON QUARRY RD AND THEN TO PASEO PADRE SAVING THEM EASILY HALD AN HOUR OF TRAVEL IS GOING TO HAYWARD, OAKLAND OR BERKELEY, ETC
12 11.96mi Parking lot for Don Edwards Natl Wildlife Refuge
13 15.14mi Remembering that I actually saw about 5 cyclists on the bridge today. 2 coming toward me and three that passed as I was taking pictures!
14 17.98mi Horrible asphalt for a few blocks here
15 19.06mi Timed the light just right so I could hit the overpass from a green light
16 19.68mi This left is a first for me. I usually take University all the way into downtown cuz I like seeing all the mansions on the way
17 20.14mi I should have turned left to Melville - next tme.....
18 22.18mi Post Office Box
19 22.23mi Molly Stones - buy brown rice
End 24.00mi

Eagle 21 with good mix of conditions 4-10-09

At left is a picture of the real Hillview hill that some of you thought I was referring to when I really meant Hanover which is more formidable and much steeper.  This is the part of Hillview, a little over a mile from my house, where Xerox has its research lab named PARC where the mouse was invented and other important computer innovations were concocted. Nestled here in the foothills behind Palo Alto, all of the office buildings out here are in a wooded setting with many walking paths, horse trails and nearby pasture lands where wide open thinking is readily encouraged. 

As I passed through this area, a guy called out from a car window, "Good luck on your ride - I read about you!!" I said  thanks! It also made me feel good as I could tell he was happy to have spotted me.

After reaching Arastradero, I kept going straight, instead of turning left and gave myself some more hill work in Los Altos Hills, where as I've said in other posts there is not much in the way of cars speeding by on narrow roads. And since the Eagle encourages me to explore,  I took a little road that was introduced by a hill. Not what I was looking for, it ended up being a short cut to downtown but I did notice something about climbing on turning ascents. I  just have to be pay more attention to using my arms to jockey the bike  back on forth...

After working my way back into the quaint shopping village of Los Altos,  another man called out to me as  rolled by him. He was on foot. He exclaimed, "You should roll into a bar and tell everyone, the hi-balls are on me". I expressed my pleasure at his originality.

From there I  stopped at Whole Foods in Los Altos for an energy bar, then rode a busy but tolerable El Camino for a ways to El Monte Road which soon turned into Springer (at right). What a pleasure these two roads were! With bike lanes so wide in some  places that there is a sign that says it is illegal to pass in them, I much enjoyed this east west run across this part of the Silicon Valley. The speed limit is 30, the three widely spaced stop signs still  kept the cars moving well within the posted 30 MPH speed limit and after this road nurtured me for just under two miles I was ready for the little more aggressive Foothill Epwy which I rode to Homestead and  back.

On Foothill on the way back, I stayed in the saddle for the underpass (pictured at left) at Loyola Corners Indeed I have come a long way. It used to be hard to keep the front end on the ground even when standing on  the pedals because I was afraid to throw myself too far over the handlebars. And now, in a month I will be doing this kind of road grade for 40 miles when I undertake Mormon Immigrant Pass in the Sierras!! 

I was taking a picture of the cars passing me on San Antonio Rd, when the huge truck at right showed up in my view finder.....

     THX 4 all of U!!  

Route

Start 0ft
1 1.50mi Enter sweet little tree covered bike path - half of which is bordered by ivy covered tall cinder block walls ! Always look forward to this little escape - it ends at Hanover
2 1.78mi Hanover ascent - not a problem
3 2.00mi Hanover descent still fun!
4 2.60mi Hillview ascent begins
5 3.05mi Begin descent that I have to control c-o stop sign at bottom
6 3.38mi Enter rolling hills of Los Altos Hills
7 5.28mi Enter road that would be easy to miss in a car. I took a chance on it because hills don't scare me anymore on the Eagle
8 5.38mi And it put me right here - close to the light that crosses Foothill Expwy into the quaint Los Alto s shopping village
9 5.73mi Here a man called out that I should roll into a bar and tell everyone that the hi-balls are on me!
10 7.31mi - $ Whole Foods energy bar
11 7.37mi El Camino Real was busy but I did not feel endangered
12 8.29mi Enter wide bike laned road with nice asphalt
13 8.69mi Straight ahead of me was more pleasant riding with wide bike lanes, a few churches and only 3 stop signs the whole way that I was able to roll right up to in the bike lane
14 13.28mi I sprinted for this light and got it then had enough brake to slow down and make a U-turn!
15 14.67mi at underpass here I stayed in the saddle both down and then up. I will have 40 non stop miles of this when I do Mormon Immigrant Pass soon here in the Sierras
16 14.81mi end underpass
17 19.63mi Enter Wilkie Way bike bridge
18 19.74mi Exit bike bridge
End 20.80mi

Eagle 16 Drizzle miles - Buy a Day on the Eagle Road - 4-9-09

Didn't  head too far into the hills today because the skies pelted me with  inadvertent rain drops the whole day long. I didn't want to have to ride a long ways back home in the wet, so I did just 16 not too distant miles. By the time the day was done, I did spend the last three miles in a light rain. At left is Stanford Ave. At right, which you cannot see, is the massive Stanford Campus.

Because I now have a camera that is easy to use to 

take good quality pictures with, I am able to use  it to show  you what the trees that cover the Junipero Serra (Foothill Expwy) bike lane look like as I pedal into them.  

While I'm showing you the bike lane, at left is what I see over the tops  of six foot fences.....

At right is a photo you have seen before of the Eagle at the Stanford Campus. It is a lot clearer with this new camera!!

At left is Valapraiso Ave., a well paved road with wide bike lanes and well mannered cars that runs east to west from the base of the foothills to El Camino Real and Middlefield Roads

Besides debuting my new camera, I also collected my first,  on the street, Buy a Day on the Eagle Road to Boston space reservation. Marty Reininger who once was able to gauge my progress by the degree of red in the urine bag that sat at the end of my bed when my kidney got ruptured by an errant knee when playing football two years ago, gave me a hundred dollar bill! He had asked how my ride was coming along and when I told him I was going to ask people to buy a day on the road as a way to get around the sponsors I keep losing, he bought a 24 hour period on the spot! 71 to go as a way to pay for motor home rental, gas and food while we (crew soon to be identified) are out there beating the NBG drum.  Do see how you too can be a  part of the ride by visiting our 7th Annual 2009 National Mayors' Ride ..... Yahooo!!!! 

Route

Start 0ff
1 1.66mi Post Office
2 4.05mi Cut thru grounds for student housing dorms
3 7.54mi Fun Looking hill
4 7.73mi Stopped being fun when got too steep
5 10.94mi Trader Joes
6 12.22mi Path thru El Camino Park
7 13.52mi Go Off curb here
8 14.19mi Cardinal Bike Shop stuff
9 14.68mi Molly Stones
End 16.26mi

THX 4 all of U!!

Note: This ride is not about me but it is a celebration of all the people who have helped me get back to wholeness physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. This as I stand on the shoulders of giants to enjoy the privilege of riding this bike, the only Eagle in active use in all of the Western Hemisphere ...

Eagle errands | New Camera!! And....... 4-08-09

Full Non-stop day:

- Reformatted home page for my ride and devised a system to pay for it now that I've lost my Main Sponsor (I will explain that in a subsequent post) I plan now to ask those of you tuned into to it to pay for a day on the road at $100 a day - see the 2009 Mayors' Ride page 

- Mounted a  video camera to my handlebars. Shown below, it helped me see how much vibration  I just take for granted when I ride this thing.....

- Bought a Casio EX-z150 point and shoot camera at Costco  for $130 with tax (charging the battery now). It is going to make for a huge difference in here. For example, Bob Sims, who I saw there is pictured below with the Peugeot I sold him. My new photo taking device will let you see the amazing restoration job that Bob did.... 

- Jeff Kitstler stopped by to install a new cotter pin that his friend Jim Thomson (pictured with me below) machined for  me out of stainless steel. Works perfect!!

- Rode 20 miles as per this Route

Notes: Start 0ff:

1 1.29mi thru nursery pkg lot
2 1.44mi hop median - 5 inch curbs
3 2.02mi Costco buy $119 camera!
4 2.14mi go down 10 inch curb here to get around backed up cars
5 3.07mi cut thru shopping center
6 4.05mi Offload camera packaging
7 5.71mi Post Office
8 6.85mi Enter beautiful tree covered foot path here

9 7.26mi Steep bump fools me - I dismount and try again - of which I succeeded
10 7.69mi End foot path
11 7.86mi Stanford dish walking trail straight ahead - everyone parks along Stanford Ave here
12 8.10mi I stayed in saddle to and from Alpine road
13 12.21mi ~50 cyclists waiting at light make left on to Old Page Mill
14 12.86mi Worthy hill
15 13.27mi downhill
16 17.60mi Whole Foods
End 19.76mi

THX 4 all of U!!  

Consumed by Ines Brunn - Train Again!!

I am just now digging out from Ines Brunn's stellar performance here in Palo Alto last Saturday April 4. Right now I am up against rain but am chomping at the bit to get out and roll the  miles. In the interim, I am still doing post event work such as getting this amazing feature on line (it all had to be scanned) that the Palo Alto Weekly did for Ines!!  

Don Loomis, who showed the excellent video he did of his 2004 coast to coast Mayors' Ride run for the NBG, shot film of Ines' exhibition. As soon as I upgrade to the newest iPhoto, I will get that on line. Nor can I say enough THX to Faye Saunders the show producer or to JohnE Cabrera, his dad, his friend, Ron, Silvie Pierce and all the other people who pitched in to help make this event happen in a memorable way!! 

 

The drizzling  finally stopped  at 5 PM and I went out and got some  miles. In order to beat the rush hour traffic, the hills I headed for were the Los Altos Hills. In all, I got 13  miles and here is the ROUTE  I took....   

THX 4 all of U!!  

Ines Brunn Arrives in Palol Alto!!

Ines and I pose with the beautiful  full page and a half feature in the Palo Alto Weekly about  her performance tomorrow! We are at Cardinal Bike Shop .....

At right, you can see the Cardinal principals.

Manny, Greg and Jeff with Ines

Here  Iness is with Chris Llewellyn who will be juggling as he unicycles tommorrow

At right, is his version  of legs over the bars.....

Manny with Ines and the Raliegh Cruiser his shop donated for tomorrow's raffle!

Rest Day - Worthy Video

Below please find  a pretty decent video representation of me getting on and off of the Eagle. You may have seen it before as this is what the Palo Alto Weekly had running on their page. However, it is a lot clearer, and to get it,  I had to go to its actual source, Youtube:

As for my training, it is a little bit in rest day mode as Ines is here and we are getting ready for her show this w/e.........

THX 4 all of U!!