The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

Week 38

Hurricane Max, apparently off the coast of Mexico recently, spun a bunch of moisture into the area on Tuesday, so I got rained out for the first time in a while. On Wednesday, I pounded an 20.1 average speed after work, which nearly dragged my daily to 20 miles an hour. Sweet! I had no idea that on Thursday, I would best even that with a ridiculous 19.9 mph hammer to work and an after work ramble that dragged the whole day’s average speed up to 20.2 mph. That would be my second-fastest day yet. Woo-hoo!

Saturday was a little slower, but it got pretty windy. Despite missing a day, I pulled out another week over 200 miles.

19 Sep:  36.15 mi;  1:51:35 (19.4 mph avg; 33.5 mph max)
21 Sep:  36.22 mi;  1:48:59 (19.9 mph avg; 32.5 mph max)
22 Sep:  36.23 mi;  1:47:48 (20.2 mph avg; 34.5 mph max)
23 Sep:  36.34 mi;  1:51:35 (19.5 mph avg; 31.5 mph max)
24 Sep:  63.06 mi;  3:25:15 (18.4 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
Total : 208.00 mi; 10:45:12 (19.3 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)

Month so far:  654.75 mi. 2005 so far : 5901.26 mi (118.03% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : complete – (901.26 mi over)

Afternoon Metric Century

I got up at seven this morning, hoping to get on the road after I put my check in the bank and walked home to get into my cycling clothes. I called my brother to chat. We shot the breeze for a few hours. So much for my 9:30 ride.

I clicked into my pedals at 2:15 (yeah, just about five hours late) and decided to make the usual run up to Portola Valley. After looping around in Sunnyvale and Cupertino, I stopped at my shop, checked the Clif Shot inventory, talked to a couple of friends on the phone, and stomped against the wind to try to salvage my day. I need better time management skills.

The winds were gusty and strong and, as usual, directly in my face. The payoff was Edgewood Road, on which I achieved 46 miles per hour (I was hoping to break a record). What a magnificent descent. I continued south, trying to gain a little of my speed back after meekly chugging over the pseudo-hills (any real cyclist in the area knows that Portola Valley/Woodside doesn’t constitute real hills). I managed to slog into my driveway a little after sunset. Let’s see if I can get my planning correct next week.

Today:   63.06 mi;   3:25:15 (18.4 mph avg; 46.0 mph max) Sept :  654.75 mi;  34:14:13 (19.1 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
2005 : 5901.26 mi; 313:45:50 (18.8 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (901.26 mi over : 118.03% complete)

Auction for a Good Cause

Seth Dillingham is offering an extraordinary bundle of Mac OS X software on eBay. In early August, he completed the Pan-Mass Challenge, a 300-mile bicycling event that raises staggering amounts of money for cancer research.

The software bundle Seth is auctioning is amazing—a bunch of Mac OS X productivity, entertainment, and utility software. The sale goes to benefit the Pan-Mass Challenge. If you’re in the market for an entire complete group of applications that will make you more productive than you’ve ever been, you should jump on this auction. You’ve got about six days left.

Plus, it’s for a good cause. How can you beat that?

Week 37

After taking Monday off because of my ankle (which I sprained moving to Sunnyvale), I felt weak and timid, so I decided to go gangbusters on the rest of the week. So, I completed my week with my longest ride to date and my big 15000 mile marker, despite low temperatures (highs in the 60s and low 70s (°F)) and breezy winds.

Not a bad week, particularly considering the missing day. I really wish my Saturday rides could be a little bit faster, though.

13 Sep:  34.59 mi;  1:47:32 (19.3 mph avg; 31.0 mph max)
14 Sep:  35.48 mi;  1:48:54 (19.5 mph avg; 31.0 mph max)
15 Sep:  34.56 mi;  1:45:35 (19.6 mph avg; 32.0 mph max)
16 Sep:  36.37 mi;  1:51:50 (19.5 mph avg; 35.5 mph max)
17 Sep:  66.82 mi;  3:42:09 (18.0 mph avg; 35.5 mph max)
Total : 207.82 mi; 10:56:00 (19.0 mph avg; 35.5 mph max)

Month so far:  446.75 mi. 2005 so far : 5693.26 mi (113.87% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : complete – (693.26 mi over)

Long Ride Against the Wind

Early this morning, just after I got up, I knew I wanted to be a little more on the ball today. I mapped out my route early and got myself ready. I probably waited too long to eat, after spending the morning putting $90 worth of change through a machine at a grocery store. I ate about a pound of pasta a little over two hours before my ride. That should do the trick.

I didn’t bother to check the weather. Instead, I decided that, unless something really bad happened, I was going to try to follow my route as closely as possible. It wasn’t going to be easy. The route I mapped out looped around Sunnyvale before heading south toward the mountains—up through Saratoga toward the gap, climbing past Mountain Winery and over the very steep grades of Mt. Eden Road, around Stevens Creek Reservoir, up Foothill Expressway against a blustery wind, up to Portola Valley, through Woodside, down the hill, and home through Stanford’s campus and a sweep through Los Altos. The wind was strong today and I battled headwinds for most of the ride.

As I was about to turn down De Anza Boulevard for the beginning of the first section of climbing of the day, I finished my 15,000th mile since I started cycling in 2002. No time to quit now, though. Still have more than 50 miles left to go today. A street festival in Saratoga messed me up, but they let me ride through, before I started to lose my speed averages in the foothills.

After stomping up the hills just north of Mountain Winery (oh, my goodness, they are STEEP), I started to regain some of my clock on the way through Los Altos. But, by the time I finished climbing through Portola Valley, I was cramping and starting to hurt. I filled my water bottles, walked off the spasming muscles, and got back on my mighty steed for the last 30 miles home. The crosswinds coming down the Woodside plummet were strong enough that, despite my hoping for a descent over 40 miles an hour, I ended up with a fairly puny maximum speed. I mustered the power to maintain a decent enough kick on the way home (although the sun set on me fifteen minutes from home) to avoid putting an average speed in my log under 18 miles an hour.

This ride was my longest yet by more than 3 miles. I need to ride this one more. You don’t get to be strong on hills by riding on flats all the time, do you?

Today:   66.82 mi;   3:42:09 (18.0 mph avg; 35.5 mph max) Sept :  446.75 mi;  23:29:01 (19.0 mph avg; 35.5 mph max)
2005 : 5693.26 mi; 303:00:28 (18.8 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (693.26 mi over : 113.87% complete)

Fifteen

September 17, 2005. 15:24 PDT.
Prospect @ S Blaney
Saratoga, California
This marker: 15000 miles

 

Week 36

A four-day riding week this week, because of my moving. On Monday, I ran out of daylight. On Tuesday, I felt like I’d spent the last couple of days lifting weights (oh, yeah, I kinda did) and found it difficult to walk. On Wednesday, I mapped out a route that didn’t involve riding straight to work. My new place is only three miles from my office, so I was going to have to find a better commuting route.

I found a good loop and resumed commuting to work on Wednesday, along with a nice 26+ mile loop after work to finish out my mileage for the day. One nice bonus about living so close to work is that I can drop off my backpack (full of my work clothes) around my fifth mile and do the rest of my ride without carrying that thing.

The metric century on Saturday was exhausting, due to brisk “high” temperatures, breezy winds, and a late start. But, once I get into a good routine at my new house, perhaps my cycling will become more consistent.

07 Sep:  34.99 mi;  1:48:10 (19.4 mph avg; 30.5 mph max)
08 Sep:  36.21 mi;  1:52:22 (19.3 mph avg; 34.5 mph max)
09 Sep:  34.64 mi;  1:48:03 (19.2 mph avg; 34.5 mph max)
10 Sep:  62.82 mi;  3:23:24 (18.5 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
Total : 168.88 mi;  8:51:59 (19.0 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)

Month so far:  238.93 mi. 2005 so far : 5485.44 mi (109.71% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : complete – (485.44 mi over)

Windy Metric Century

I wasted so much time today. I had planned on heading out for my ride around 1 in the afternoon. As is my seemingly unbreakable tradition, I stepped out about 3:30, instead. That gave me about four hours to do today’s metric century.

It was really windy. I headed out from my new place in Sunnyvale and did this big loop north of my place, before winding back down Homestead and hammering up Foothill Expressway. There was a stiff headwind, but I powered on, anxious to get my riding done by sunset. As I climbed toward Portola Valley, I felt that I could do it. The three minute water stop at Portola Valley turned into five. With a hard headwind to battle and cool high temperatures, I was feeling a little chilly. There’s only one way to cure that.

The wind seemed to come from whichever direction I was heading, no matter which way I was going. The stomp toward Edgewood was a serious battle against a strong crosswind, but the payoff was a screaming 46 mph descent down the hill. Continuing to fight the crosswinds, I kicked toward the southeast and my new home in Sunnyvale.

Sometime in my recent move, I lost my wonderful Bollé Tourney Leader shades. On Wednesday, I bought a new pair of Ryders, which come with three lenses, at The Bicycle Outfitter. About halfway between Page Mill and Fremont on Foothill Expressway this evening, I decided to stop and swap my lenses. It was dusk and it was becoming increasingly difficult to see. After fumbling around a little bit, I installed the amber lenses. Then I put them on my face.

Oh, my goodness, I had no idea. The dusk was suddenly mid-afternoon. I could see perfectly clearly, unless I looked around the edges of the glasses. I completed my breathless stomp around the loop and closed out the metric century exhausted.

Today:   62.82 mi;   3:23:24 (18.5 mph avg; 46.0 mph max) Sept :  238.93 mi;  12:33:01 (19.0 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
2005 : 5485.44 mi; 292:04:26 (18.8 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (485.44 mi over : 109.71% complete)

Finishing the Move

I still had not finished dragging all my stuff over to Sunnyvale yet by the time today rolled around. It was to be my last chance to do it. Tomorrow, Steve’s friends are coming to move all of his stuff and they probably won’t know which stuff is mine. So, I headed up after my ride and quickly loaded the car—after spending an hour in shredding credit card receipts. Once the car got full, I still had a bunch of crap that wasn’t going to fit.

Looks like it’s two runs to Sunnyvale tonight. I zipped my crap down to the new place, turned around, and headed back. I always considered Sunnyvale to be a half hour’s drive from Menlo Park, but quickly realized that, while that is the case at 7:30 in the morning, the streets are empty at midnight. Shortly after midnight, I loaded up my purple car, unpocketed my digital camera, and started my last wander through.

I took about 80 pictures. I shot the room I have lived in for two years from lots of angles, the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, that little bathroom under the stairs, the bike locker where my Trek 520 slept every night, the front of my apartment complex, the entry way, the neighbor’s van which is a replica of the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo—the entrance staircase to my apartment. I climbed the stairs one last time, looked around at everything, climbed down the stairs, made sure I didn’t miss anything, left the keys and a note, and walked out. I took one last picture of the door behind me, got in my car, and drove away.

Happy trails, Steve. It’s been a great six years. I wish you the best of success and happiness.

Moving Day 2

Well, it’s Labor Day in the United States. After I unloaded the truck this morning, I took it back and shuffled some things in my new room around. Then, I headed up to Menlo Park to get some more stuff. I figured that using my car is far, far cheaper than using the truck. I shuffled more things around. I found my library books that I checked out right after getting splinted last summer. I took them over to the public library with two heavy boxes of books I don’t need. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t accept the donated books in lieu of my fine, but the fine was only about $13.50 (for 355 days overdue!).

After loading up the car again, I realized I wasn’t going to haul everything tonight. As the sun began to set, I also realized that I was not going to ride my bike back to Sunnyvale today, so I dug the rack out of my trunk, secured it on the back, and put both of my bicycles on. Then, I wussed out and half-assedly loaded up the car with some stuff, still leaving about a load left in Menlo Park, grabbed a slice at Avanti on the way to Sunnyvale, and called it a day.