Tour of California

As far as epic rides, the route taken by Stage 7 of the Tour of California has to be in the top five toughest I've ever attempted.  With over 10,000 feet of climbing in 78 miles, it's equivalent to many of the mountain-top stages in the Grand Tours.  Yesterday, I started from home (adding another 10 or so miles) and tried to ride it, and except for the section of 39 through Azusa Canyon (Saturday traffic from a host of alcohol-guided vehicles chased me to the safety of the support car for 15-20 miles of relative flat road with no shoulder), I finished...although not without a great deal of difficulty.

The climb starts up Euclid and quickly gets steep as it climbs up the Mt. Baldy road, topping out after 4000 feet of grinding on Glendora Ridge.

What follows is one of the most enjoyable pavement descents I've ever ridden, 20 miles of twisty asphalt that doesn't require over-braking.

After jumping in the car and shuttling to Glendora Mountain Road, Part 2 of the climb began.  6000 feet of total climbing, with about the last 2500 feet scrunched into the final 3.5 miles.  If not for the support and encouragement of my family, I probably would have abandoned...

Yeah...that's what it felt like.  This was my favorite view:

Knobby Time Finals

Let me start off by giving a huge congratulations to Steve Sealy, who had never raced a mountain bike before this spring.  It's been great having you participate with us in all these rides, your enthusiasm is infectious, and you've improved tremendously!

Take a look at Steve showing us how to take the S-bend in the singletrack, he got through it quicker than any of us:

I'm very proud of the boys this weekend, despite the heat and an extra lap, they hung in and capped a great series.  Jeff fought back from going out a little too hard on the start and finished second in the race, and third in points for the series.

This was a tough course for Sam...heat and endurance.  The winner in his group was riding a 34x30 gear, if that tells you anything.  But he stuck it out...and was rewarded by winning the Open SS overall for the series!

My race...fast for 3 laps, then detonation.  I was 39 seconds out of the lead, then just couldn't suffer anymore.  The last 2 laps were hell, and I just finished, getting passed by the sport riders.  I ended up second in the series overall, and I have to say this was tough, but REALLY fun!

Ergon Bar Ends

OK, just let me state right up front that I'm an old fart, and this probably is painfully obvious to everyone else, but these things have had me befuddled for some time.

The Ergon bar end/grip combo GC3 (now replaced by the GP5) has an aluminum ring on the inside with 2 different diameters.  The inner ring (larger diameter) fits over the grip handle, and with the plastic sleeve, it feels like you've pushed it on the handle bar all the way.  Don't be fooled like me.  No matter how tight I wrenched it down, the bar ends were still loose (one time the whole grip came off in Jeff's hand while descending!).

It's the damn outer ring that clamps to the bar, but the diameter is significantly smaller than the standard XC bar, so you need to pound a screwdriver into the expansion slot to get the ring to open up enough to slide over the bar.

When installed correctly, the expansion slot, is...well...really expanded.

Damn I'm old!

Venus Transit at JPL

Fortunately, my job gives me the opportunity to play a little.  One of the astronomers brought three of his personal telescopes to the lab and set them up for all to enjoy yesterday's transit of the sun by the planet Venus.  The work part meant researching filter densities and examining a home-built solar filter for pinholes.  The fun part was getting a great view.