Mt. Diablo

Being new to the area, yesterday (Nov. 29) was my first day riding in the East Bay. And what better way to experience it than climbing Mt. Diablo, especially on such a beautiful day with, ahem, memorable winds at the top (averaging 43 mph with peaks around 63; no joke, check Diablo Winds etc). That must be what Mt. Washington feels like at the top.

Thanks Marco (uspspro) and Ruth for driving me out to the start of the ride. And Pete (Taxi777) too, for hooking me up with the powerful Gladiator crew. It was a blessing to be with such a strong group of riders with great skills, gladiators no doubt. The course was a 60-miler from the Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station, up the south side of Diablo, down the north side, into Walnut Creek (well not actually into the Creek, we rode alongside that, but into the town with said name), then back south with lunch in Danville and finally a short ride back to the starting point. It was about 12 miles to the base of Diablo from the start. Diablo is an 11.0 mile climb gaining 3300 vertical feet. In other words, it's awesome.

uspspro and Taxi777

Normally I am more of a punk rocker, or Pink Floyd, etc. but for some reason I was listening to the Brandenburg Concertos on Friday and this was on my mind throughout the ride. Allegro, baby! It really helped me up the mountain:

As I recall the climb: near the beginning I said to myself, "You better catch up with the guys at the front." That was a good call. They were in sight so with a little effort, I motored up to Colin (CRSturdivant) and Don (dl33), passing a few people on the way. Then it seemed like for the next few miles, until about halfway up, we rode at a blistering pace. I was able to just hang on to the back and stay within myself. At one point, CRS is just pushing it and he explains, "I want to catch up to that guy ahead" who had been ahead of us for awhile but not by much. Was that Beaker? I am not sure (ed. no, it turns out). dl33 takes the cue and just closes the gap. But opens a new one... I was able to hang on for awhile, CRSt ell back a little (after a long hard pull...) and so now the gap was between dl and the rest of us. But the guy slowed down a lot, we caught on and passed him, regrouping and then dialing it down a notch. We chatted and climbed. And climbed and climbed. And then came the severe wind tunnel less than a mile from the top. Oh boy! Here was my main contribution to the climb as it was the only time I led the group (for probably less than 3 minutes, but 3 minutes of hell), trying to get through and get it over with as fast as possible. I definitely maxed out the HR, but at least there was some recovery time between the worst of the wind and the wall. And some tailwind here and there. When we got to the wall, dl33 jumped out of the saddle and took off but CRS was all over it. Me? I looked up at the daunting prospect and thought, "I just need to make it up there. Bye, boys." And they were gone, But I made it. I believe CRS crested first with dl33 having the same time. I don't know - I must have been 10 to 20 seconds back. Taxi777 came cruising up the hill, looking very strong. Check it out:


The weather was in a way perfect. Yes the winds were extreme but there was definitely some stretches of tailwind on the way up. And it was so cool, that there was not much sweating or overheating, and in fact, I was freezing about 20 seconds after reaching the top. Luckily, I learned the meaning of alee with a nice sheltered sun spot near the peak. And the final brutal climb had no headwind. The descent down the north side was notable for the extreme winds which parried with us and set many of us on edge as it played games with our directional intentions.

In retrospect, you could say the ride was easy. Yes there was 11 straight miles of climbing, but the other 49 were pretty much flat or downhill. And we went very fast through much of it.

show off

Thanksgiving - Beer, Taters and Apple Pie

Unfortunately, I took no photos yesterday since this blog idea came later but hopefully I will get some shots to show soon. My plan was to go to San Francisco, at my friend's sister's-in-law little gathering. Thanks Katie it was great meeting you and I had a great time. And thanks Molly and Jon for inviting me.

Like a dolt who forgot he didn't have a car, I volunteered to bring the beer, the mashed potatoes and the apple pie. That's some serious heft-age to transport. Oh well, I planned on consuming a lot so all's fair. But then I also became concerned of quality because from my experience, mashed potatoes don't work so well as leftovers, or the next day. And the pie can be a somewhat delicate item to transport. What did I get myself into?!

So I realized, OK, I've been putting it off, now I need some kind of basket and a rear rack for cargo. So last weekend, I got a rear rack and accom-panying basket (Topeak with its kind of cool Quick Track System). I never had one of those before so it was a bit of a learning experience to install, but not to bad. I'll probably have to get the panniers that fit the system, but am a little concerned since I've broken 2 rear spokes and I don't normally break spokes. And I hit nothing more than a small pothole here and there, maybe gently over curbs. So I am worried about weight on the lame wheels but...

My commute would be a 2.5 mile ride to the Redwood City train station, then CalTrain to Millbrae, then BART to the Mission. Then the final leg, the reason, I could leave my bike at the train station instead of taking it into the city, was that I would meet my friend Jon and his car at BART for about a 2 mile ride to the final destination in Bernal Heights. Hills! This is becoming clear: I will depend on other people's cars out here so that has to be acknowledged. The one time I rode my bike in the city, I got a ride with someone via an email list - 3 of us car-pooled to the city start. We cruised the Golden Gate Bridge and climbed Mt. Tam that day. Tomorrow, we ride Mt. Diablo but I have to meet a new friend in San Mateo for a car ride out to Dublin to meet the group. So these are awesome rides where I needed a car ride. So thanks to the community and new and old friends for helping me out.

Back to the potatoes, beer and pie. As for transporting the goods, I realized that using some cardboard filler, I could stack the pie on the potatoes in my new large basket. So I filled a large pyrex casserole dish with like 7 pounds of mashed potatoes, that's 7 pounds potatoes raw before cooked plus all the other good stuff. It weighed a ton. (I finally decided to make the potatoes that morning, so they would just be done as I was heading out the door. It made things a bit frantic but I think it worked, they were fresh and tasty, no worries of rubbery or concrete taters.) I am new to the pie-making art but that did not stop me from attempting to make a serious apple pie but that's a whole 'nother story.(Can anyone say "macerate"? None of us ever heard of the word - look it up. There was also some burn-age and a hybrid pie result.) It was a 9.5" pie in a heavy Pyrex plate, so that weighed like multiple bricks. The overall food weight was ridiculous. And on top of that I had my Kryptonite NY Chain lock which weighs 10 pounds since my bike would be out for at least 10 hours. My bike went from having its usual 155 pounds on it to having over 200. (The rack and basket weigh a lot.) Thank god, or at least modern development, the Safeway is right next to the train station so I could buy the 12-pack of beer there. Because that's some serious weight there as well.

I can report the ride was uneventful. I pumped my rear tire to 70 psi (40-80 range but usually I keep it at 50-60). But I realized that was not enough. The weight was so great it made the rear tire seem almost flat so I was very concerned about a pinch flat. And I was equally worried about my spokes due to previous bad experience with these lame wheels. But all's well that ends well and the ride with massive cargo went without a hitch. It took me about 12 minutes to get to the train station. I locked up and went into the Safeway, procured the beer, caught the train, had a good dinner, met some really cool, really smart people. And I was thankful to be alive and to be with them, to be in Northern California, to have such good cycling, and to have a new President that really makes me feel proud of my country for a change, and we were all happy about that which was nice. And life can be so hard and unfair, it is important to appreciate the good things and randomness of it all and this was a good day.

Oh but there was the return home, I almost forgot. I took BART to Millbrae but just missed CalTrain so I said, I might as well take the bus instead of waiting 50 minutes for the train. It probably saved me 20 minutes. So I headed to that major artery El Camino Real. It is a bit of a walk to the bus stop there and I saw the bus like a long block before the stop. It is like 9:30 at night on Thanksgiving and in the 'burbs, so not a lot of traffic. So I start running, hoping the bus gets caught at the light, but it turns green right away so he gets going, and the next light stays green, but I am running, with my cargo basket which has some leftover pie and potatoes... But the driver pulls over, and waits at least 15 seconds or so for me as I am running across the intersection, so that was cool. He said something like, "I didn't have to do that, you shouldn't be late." But of course, I was just randomly wandering out, not going by any schedule. I was very thankful he stopped for me. Turns out, he did have to go a little slow on the route so as to not get ahead of the timetable. So that was an adventure.

I am like the only white guy on the bus. No Car, No. Cal. I feel like I fit in, though. Seems like all immigrants, people with reason not to have a car. Then a white dude with a badge gets on. And it's like- is that a cop, but you see his hair mussed and he is kind of slovenly. And you realize he is a security guard, the kind that impersonate the cop appearance, except they have a total slacker look that in no way inspires confidence or security. I did that job 20 years ago in college. Thankfully, I haven't done it since but I guess I still have that slacker spirit. And I'm on the bus.

Car ride to 24th St. BART (very helpful) just past 9 pm, Millbrae 9:35, Redwood City 10:30. Home 10:50. I read the current Newsweek and Nation issues on my commute. Not bad.

(Sorry I am new to blogging and this is probably way too long. At least I can claim to be working on my rusty writing skills.)

That was easy

I just set up this blog and did not realize it would only take about 2 minutes. I guess since there are millions doing it, I should have figured.

This blog will address the trials and tribulations, the thrills and conquests, as well as the mundane reality of relying on a bicycle and living without a car in Northern California, as seen by a recent transplant from New York City

I was not sure if the title should be "No Car No Cal" or "No Car Nor Cal". I guess I did not want to say "No Cal" even though it flows naturally with No Car. But it evokes a rejection of Cal and I don't want to say "No" to Cal. And I like the way it is - almost a tongue twister. Nocarnorcal. Lots of ways to play with the title: You don't have a car and you don't have a cal? Carnal, carnival, nocturnal.

Anyway, I have been here for 2 months and have had many adventures. The cycling is great. There is a great infrastructure of bike lanes and routes here in San Mateo county. Thanks, government, even though I have to stop at lights now. You give me rights, I will take the responsibility. No rights? Anything goes - and hit me if you can.