Weekly Pano: Conness & North Peak

This past weekend, I finally got to get out into my beloved Sierra mountains.  It's been sooo long since I've climbed an alpine route in the Sierras, and I was glowing all weekend in bliss.  It was also my first time going ice climbing, when we climbed the N Coulie of North Peak.  We were planning to continue on to the N. Ridge of Conness, but the snow, as well as the thunder & lightening... and the 3 hours of sleep... forced us into making the right decision... and we hiked back out to Saddlebag.

Kayaking around Treasure Island!

Wile E Willy has been neglected for a bit... and it's been HOT here.  (We're talking 80s folks!)  So I've been finding opportunities to take him out whenever I can.  Tim, Laina, and I did the support strokes paddle last weekend put on by our neighbors who own California Canoe and Kayak.  And this weekend, I decided to venture out a bit further to Treasure Island.

Here's the map of my route from Endomondo....

The waves got pretty big around mile 3 up until mile 5.


And here's a vid of my escapades.

Old Caz 300km

Been busy taking care of the most important thing in my life.  A baby boy... so yeah, this blog will slow down a bit....

So the weekend after Jeff and I completed the Davis night 200km, we decided to go for the Old Caz 300 km brevet.  After reading the description, how could anyone resist?
http://www.ridebike.org/2011/old-caz-300k/

Highlights included:

• bread pudding!  
• river crossing
• sunrise & sunset over the g.g. bridge
• beautiful roads
• riding with the box dog bikes folks... great company.  

This took us 15+ hours... left a 5:30 am... got back at 9 pm or so.

Bike route 390494 - powered by Bikemap 

Here's a long time-lapse... look for the helicopters towards the end.


From Jeff:
On highway one at the top of the climb after Stinson beach there were two helicopters and bunch of police and an ambulance at the top of the cliff. One copter was grounded and the other scanning the shoreline below. We saw a rope being lowered over the cliff to (presumable) pull someone up. The road was closed but luckily they let us go by.
I just found this story online so I assume this is what happened. Adnan you should pay close attention to where they landed!
http://www.ktvu.com/news/28720669/detail.html

Other links
http://veloflaneur.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/1146/
http://www.boxdogbikes.com/old-cazadero-300k-this-weekend/

the night I became a randonneur...

That's right... according to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randonneuring)
"A rider who has successfully completed a 200 km brevet is called a randonneur. This is a lifelong title."  So my official title is going to be "Yu Kuwabara, MS, MPH, Randonneur", which will be impressive to anyone that doesn't know French.  


So this past Sat night, Jeff and I did the Davis night 200 km Brevet, an event put on by the SF randonneurs.  These guys host a number of these types of rides... and 200 km is one of their "short rides."  They also have a good ride archive site, a good resource for those looking to do those 400 km rides in the bay area.  This ride started in Hercules, crossed the Carquinez bridge, up to Davis, and back... and it was actually more like 230 km, not 200 as advertised.  Alas, now that Kimbo is ready to go into labor at any moment, I've gotta stay in the bay area... so the bike is keeping me busy these days... also explains my absence in the Sierras... 


There were around 30 riders on the ride, all various ages, on a variety of bikes (touring, road).  Jeff and I ended up riding with James and Masa who were training for PBP!  (the pic above is of us at the end of the ride, at 6 am!)  Masa, a Japanese cyclist working in Palo Alto had just done a ride last week where they went 300 km on Sat and 200 km back on Sun!  James had the coolest bike I had ever seen... check it out:

Titanium frame with S&S couplings.
Schmidt Dynamo Hubs (these power the lights & the GPS - via USB)
PowerTap Hub (measuring the power output) on the rear
Heart Rate monitor, etc...

With their team work against the headwind we ended up finishing the ride a little after sunrise at 6 am for a total of 10 hours.

Here were the highlights:

• Watching the sunset while riding across the Carquinez (Alfred Zampa Memorial) Bridge.
• My first event where I did something physical all night... as in sunset to sunrise.  
• My first brevet
• Talking to the veterans about the longer rides (400, 600, 1200 km brevets)
• Seeing a house cat running along side us, then cutting in front of us for about 1/4 of a mile... never seen a cat move so fast.
• No mechanicals...
• Beef Jerkey at my second control point (mmmm)
• Sunrise on the Carquinez Bridge

And the not-so-highlights

• my butt... on such a flat ride, you are in the same position for so long... 
• The crazy headwind for the final 20 miles
• the drive home...
• sunday at noon, being in delirium after a short nap.

Weekly Pano: Shasta Sunrise

Went on my annual pilgrimage up Shasta for my 16th summit.  Woke up with a headache, feeling a bit sick, and coughing... but this sunrise gave me a bit of power to push my way to the top.

Weekly Pano: Jenner Beach

    A mile down the road from where D's 30th B-day carnage took place.  Where the Russian River meets the  
    Pacific Ocean.  Hoeft and I kayaked out there later.

Weekly Pano: Strawberry Music Fest

Rainbow! With Strawberry man in the middle...