Road Bike - What to get?

I've been looking into roadbikes a bit lately. Definitely a complex field and it's hard to make a decision on what to get.

First of I need to define what kind of riding I want to do... Looking at the terrain around here it will most definitely involve tons of climbing. As far as I gather popular rides in the area are between 20 and 60 miles. That would call for a light frame... Aluminum or carbon.
Other things to consider:

• Do I want to race my bike? Probably no, except for a Tri perhaps.
  
• Do I want to tour? No.
• Do I want to commute by bike? Unlikely.

Alright...

What else is there to consider?

• Gearing: Questions here: Double or triple? What cassette? 12-25? 12-27?
  
• Wheels: Box vs. Aero? Which tires? 700-23? 700-25?
  
• Components: Compagnolo or Shimano? Which level Ultegra? 105? Dura Ace? (or equivalent)
  
• Size: Probably in the neighborhood of 62cm
  
• Cost: Yeah... well...
  

Perhaps it's time to hit the shops and look at some bikes... I hear the most important factor is fit...

Comments anyone?

El Corte de Madera OSP ride

Last Saturday I met Les, Chris and Dan at Skeggs Point on Skyline Blvd at 9:30 in the morning to go on a mountain bike ride in the El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve. My past experiences at ECDM are not the greatest, because of the rather technical trails, and my limited- to non-existing skill set on a mountain bike. However I had felt rather comfortable on the last rides inspite of my sprained ankle and I had made sure that the Resolution trail would not be on our route.

When I got to Skyline it was pretty chilly and quite damp, so we didn't linger for long but rather got going quickly. I don't recall the exact trails we took, but we took the Manzinita trail descent into the valley. Here was my first mistake... I had made sure that we wouldn't take Resolution, not realizing that Manzinita is as bad... oh, well... Of course I made the beginner mistake and went too slow...taking a spill in the first technical section of the day.
Somehow I made it down the hill and enjoyed the next part of the ride...again: I have no idea which trails we were on, as I was just following the blue and orange dots of Dan's and Les's shirts between the trees. At some point we started climbing again on the North Leaf trail... which was about the point where I was ready to throw my bike in the ditch and hike out. I kept unclipping and picking up my bike. Twisting my and loading my injured left foot more then I had wished for. At some point I thought: "Oh, that's why I only rode my bike 5 times between last June (last time at ECDM) and now: It's just not that much fun!" I really couldn't get back to the parking lot fast enough! Apperantly this is a common problem though, since Lesley had a similar experience at Waterdog the previous week. It would have helped if I had slept better the night before as well...
Long rides are taxing... almost more mentally than physically...

After 2.5 hours on (and off) the bike the beer and burger at Alice's was highly welcome!

Week 14

Mon: Rest
Tue: Spin class at PG SV. My first spin class ever. I liked the workout but the instuctor was really bad. If one does a count down it should be consistent and not something like 5-15-8-5-3-3-3-2-1. WTF??? On another note: I think the marathon in SD is not going to happen for me. My ankle is still very unhappy if I try to run. However the chances of me getting a road bike are increasing...Need to do some research on that. Look out for the post!
Wed, Thu, Fri: Off
Sat: Climbing: Reed's Regular: first two pitches, Ejesta
Sun: Climbing: bolted routes on Pat & Jack's Pinnacle

Mid Peninsula OSP Mountain Bike Ride the 2nd

Did about the same ride as last week. This time with a larger group though...
Dan, Chris, Les, Marcus, Brandon and I.

We took a different start through Russian Ridge and a different turn in Monte Bello.



Map/Elevation profile: Screenshots off Ascent... look for a review of this program soon...

Mid Peninsula OSP Mountain Bike Ride

I haven't been on my bike since the end of November. Training for a few races and the trips to Germany and New Mexico had kept me busy. After last week's ankle sprain I was still in no condition to run, so I joined Lesley on a ride across the Peninsula Open Space Preserves. This ride had been on my to-do list for quite a while and it was fun to get on it.

We started at the Russian Ridge parking lot, headed through Russian Ridge to Coal Creek, on to Monte Bello, up to Upper Stevens Creek, through Longs Ridge and Skyline Ridge back to our starting point. It was a total of about 15 miles, with a few serious climbs in it. The total time was around 3 hours.

The burgers we had at Alice's were an appropriate end to a gorgeous morning!

This weeks workouts

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 5.5 mile easy run on SCT
Wednesday: climbing at PG Belmont w/ Daniela 10 climbs
Thursday: mountain biking at Monte Bello w/ Lesley and Marcus (approx. 1hr 15 min)
Friday: bouldering/climbing at PG Belmont w/ Ben 5 boulder probs/5climbs
Saturday: 5 miles easy on SCT
Sunday: yoga w/Eric at PG SV

10 and a half hours...

... on a plane brought me back to Germany last Monday.
It has only been three months after I was out here, but I needed to get away from some things.
This led to the fact that I didn't do much during the last week besides watching the Tour de France, reading (the Bill Bowerman biography is AWESOME!), and thinking about the future... My Jul. 1st post had a quite optimistic feel to it, but unfortunately that changed a bit... I really need to figure out how to proceed from here.
I went on a few bike rides last week, nothing special though. If the weather stays stable I'll go for a run in the afternoon. For the weekend I am planning on getting some outdoor climbing in...
Between now and then I have a few appointments, which require some travel... So I will be on the road for a bit before I head back to the Bay Area next week.

The last week in workouts

Last Friday I started to realize my plan of getting up earlier and get some workouts in before work. A quick and easy run would be a good start. I had planned on getting up at 6:30 and hit the trail at 7, but Lesley, who wanted to come along had an early morning meeting and wanted to go earlier. Ah well... 6:30 it was. The 3 miles on the Stevens Creek trail felt pretty hard, and were quite slow that morning. Perhaps it was related to the climbing session I had the night before, which was pretty good, and which had taken quite a bit out of me.

On Saturday I hit the climbing gym with Daniela, after a hilly 5 mile hike. The gym session was good again! We did several lead climbs, as well as some hard top-rope climbs.

Sunday I was back on my mountain bike in El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve.
GOSH! The descent down Resolution Trail was scary! I need to practice on technical sections a lot! The climb bach up to Skeggs Point via the Methusalah trail was long, steep and fun...Bring on more climbing :-)

Monday was a rest day before hitting the climbing gym again on Tuesday. Here it was mostly hard top-ropes, a few cracks and a chimney. The chimney, rated at 5.8, took it out of me at the end of the day.

This morning I went for my second early morning run...4.5 miles this time. Again it felt hard and slow...Well, looking at the time...It was slow :-( Both nights I slept plenty before the runs, but they just don't feel like evening runs... Perhaps I have to change the snack I have before heading out.

Tomorrow I'll be in the climbing gym again. I'll also sign up for a intense crossfit class this coming weekend. I've been talking about this for quite a while now. So I am really excited to take the class!

In other news: I am excited to get to climb outside again! Yay! Tuolumne next weekend!

Dirt on the bike again

Yes! After not using my bike in pretty much exactly half a year, and cleaning it three weeks ago, I got it dirty again today. I rode a loop in Monte Bello Open Space Preserve. I have no idea on how long it was, but it was pretty fun. And although I had not been on a trail in a while I did not feel like a complete idiot :-)

The ride was also good to clear my head. After spending pretty much all of yesterday in a weird kind of delirium it was good to get out again. I also made the resolution to work out before going to work. I'll skip tomorrow though and start on Friday!

This was the third cool workout this week, after a long and good gym climbing session on Sunday and an amazing 4.5 mile run on Monday night. I hope to find a climbing buddy for tomorrow evening, or for the weekend to head to Tuolumne.

"This needs some love!"

That's a quote from Daniela, when she last saw my mountain bike.
I last used my bike about half a year ago, and the last time I worked on it, e.g. cleaned it was...
well, never.

So I devoted this afternoon to bike cleaning and tuning. I have to admit that I don't have a clue about bikes, but Wendy is a pro...She build up one of her bikes from scratch. She was willing to show me the tricks of the trade. It was quite fun to take the thing almost completely apart, clean the components and put it back together.

After we finished I wanted to go for a ride, but having an eye on the Diablo 25 in two weeks I decided to go for a run instead. It was just a quick 3 miles on the Stevens Creek Trail, but I am looking into logging a long run at Rancho San Antonio tomorrow afternoon. I am really looking forward to the race on Mt. Diablo! I just hope it won't be too toasty!

I was supposed to climb Washington Coloumn this weekend, but I didn't feel to great in the last couple of weeks, so I cancelled my plans. And looking at the weather in Yosemite yesterday that was a good choice. I hope that I/we will be able to try the South Face route later this year, perhaps in September, when the temperatures in the Valley are back to bearable...

End of the hiatus

This weekend my hiatus of two weeks after the 1/2 marathon ended!
During the last couple of weeks I had to take care of a lot of different stuff, so that my physical activities were reduced to bouldering at the gym twice. Taking a "break" felt actually pretty good...Getting out on Friday felt even better :-)
Friday afternoon I took my mountain bike up to Monte Bello Open Space Preserve for an hour long ride. I have to check the stats of the ride... I can't even remember which trails I took.
Since this was the first time on my bike since mid-September, I felt a little rusty. That didn't keep me from hitting the climbing gym later that evening. Despite being tired from the ride I had a good couple of hours climbing with Dan. I am making progress on the 5.11c... only one hang this time.

Saturday afternoon I went for the first run after Las Vegas... And, Dang! Did it feel good. Only then did I realize how much I missed running. But also here the break was helpful. I ran approx. 5 miles on the SCT in just under 40 minutes. It would be great if I could keep that up for the 1/2 in San Francisco in February!