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I was taking no chances this time.  While Tom was not SAGing for this ride he was SAGing for me.  And since I was still feeling my cold a little bit I was reserving the right to bail if I needed to.  I asked him to come along more for piece of mind than for any other reason.  Also he was going to meet me at each rest stop and I would be reapplying chamois cream each time.  It was an experiment to see what was causing my butthurt.  (I ended up using WAY too much this time, but hey no butthurt! Yay!)

The route this time did go over the bridge.  That part was familiar from the last time I went over the Dumbarton.  However, what I was not prepared for was the road work in process.  Which turned out to be a lot.  It even gave a few people flats.  My quote was “Hey, what’s up with all this cyclocross shit?”  And the road after the bridge was crappy as usual.  It gave the COBL GOBL-R a good workout.

The first rest stop came quickly, but sadly it was the slowest Starbucks known to man and waiting for bottled water put me way behind especially with spending extra time putting on the cream.  While in line I chewed on some Perpetuem Solids.  Someone’s gonna have to convince me that they’re worth it – they were nasty and I think I’ll go back to Shot Bloks.  (The Endurolytes worked though.) When I came out Andrew (my favorite TRL of all time – my two favorite TRLs are named Andrew) was waiting for me as the sweep and we had to book.  It turned out that Niles Canyon Road was closed due to a car crash.  We missed a turn but Garmin let me know eventually and we caught up with everyone as they were waiting where the road was closed.  Just as Chris was going to explain an alternate route they opened the road so off we went! The police even held cars for a few minutes to give us a head start.  Thanks so much!

So the good news was that we didn’t spend nearly as much time on highway 84 this week.  The bad news was that it was because we were climbing Palomares, the ride that one of my compatriots last weekend pointed out as an epic climb.  Yeah, it kicked my ass pretty hard.  I was starting to worry if I’d have the juice to meet the challenge of Calaveras again after that bit of fun.  We had caught up with the other TRL Andrew and eventually made it to lunch.  I got a sandwich from the Bagel Street Cafe.  Turns out they make a really good sandwich!  And the fruit cup was great!  I only ate half of it and sent the other half with Tom to meet me at the last rest stop. 

After lunch it was time for Calaveras…again.  This time I decided to not be in a hurry.  I took many rest stops.  I had a gel.  I drank LOTS of water.  And you know what?  I survived.  I may have been faster the previous week (when I felt the sweep pushing me on) but I made it.  And that’s what matters.  My final speed for this longer, harder ride was faster than the week before, so maybe going easy on the hills is a good thing.

The downhill after Calaveras seems way too short.  But while on it I had a run in with a cranky motorist.  Since I was doing 35 mph (or…uh…maybe slight over), which was the speed limit, I had every right to be in the lane.  The fellow in the sporty beige Camry behind me seemed to disagree and leaned on the horn a lot.  Then he unsafely passed.  What a nice guy!

The next rest stop was a welcome sight.  Only 15 miles to go and I had no specific complaint other than fatigue!  Tom was waiting again, and after the second half of my sammich and a cookie (my only “cheat” of the day) and a quick re-apply of the magic cream, we were off.  Similar to last week, but this time past the new stadium and up to Great America Parkway.  (Last week we rode by it on the outbound leg.) There was a tailwind on GAP so I was happy with that and making good time.  Then up Central. We were supposed to go all the way back to the starting point but I live on Central Expressway and didn’t feel I needed the extra mile.  So a quick 5 miles and I was back home.

At this point I am pretty sure I am in shape to do any one day of the ride.  It’s doing all 7 I worry about.  I went out for a short ride today and it was fine, but we’ll see what happens next weekend. 

Saturday afternoon we got home from Las Vegas and I had been a little bit worried that the fellow next to me had been sneezing on me the whole flight.  It turns out I was right to be worried, because I think I was feeling pretty run down most of the next day.  An hour or two after I got home from riding the cold came on full force and pretty much ruined last week.  So that’s strike one.

Also, my bike shop had tried to be nice to me.  The prior weekend, after the ride to Pacifica, they called and said they they had a new toy for me.  However, I hadn’t really had a chance to test-ride my new seatpost before this ride.  So the bad news was that while they had followed the measurements given them by the fitter the mechanics had measured to a different spot and my seatpost was 14mm too low.  Everything was off and that really kind of messed up my day because my knees were very cranky and sore.  That was strike two.

But on with the route.  It was kinda interesting.  We went to Central Expressway and got off at Fair Oaks, just like going to Fry’s or Sports Basement.  Shortly after we got off of Central a driver tried to kill me with the classic right hook.  We all yelled at her and went on.  We ended up riding to Mission Blvd and kept going north (never thought I’d ride in that neck of the woods).   That was the first rest stop where we were encouraged to buy our lunches.  Our super epic SAG driver Diana ferried them to rest stop 2.  

Then it was Niles Canyon Road.  While riding along 84 the nice lady riding with me (a TRL from the Orinda series) pointed out Palomares Road saying if I wanted a really nice climb to try that some time.  (Uh, yeah.  I did.  The following week.)  Highway 84 was pretty stressful – almost no shoulder and plenty of fast moving traffic.  I was glad to exit.  And I was glad to already have lunch – there was nothing at all there.  

Then the big hill of the day – Calaveras.  The thing that sucks about it is that while there is a nice long climb and it’s nice and gentle – there is also the fact that when you’re at the top there are evil rollers.  They are evil for two reasons: 1) you’re still going up, so the top of the next little hill is above the one before it and 2) there are hairpins at the bottom of most of them so you don’t keep nearly as much momentum as you think you should.

And all this with a bike whose fit is off.  Not fun.  I was so cranky about it that I called the shop from the final rest stop to make a Monday appointment to get my fit checked.  (That’s when we found the error).

Eventually I made it back home.  And boy was I glad to have that ride out of the way.  Oh wait…

The good news was the weather was amazing.  I had managed to duck out of NYC just before a major storm hit.  However the weather in California that Saturday was stunning.  For the first time on a training ride this year I didn’t even need my wind vest (although I did wear my arm and knee warmers all day and I also had a base layer on).  It was so nice that it put me in a good mood right away.  Also we started an hour earlier than before.  The extra hour plus only being 7 miles longer than the last ride made me feel like I didn’t have to worry about running out of daylight as much.

It was my first time on a route that I guess is common for many of the Mountain View rides – heading out Foothill Expressway until it becomes Junipero Serra.  (The road has been torn up by PG&E so we’ve kept off of it.)  Eventually you make a little jog across Sand Hill and it becomes Alameda de las Pulgas.  (It really means “flea street”.  Who knew?)  Normally we would take a route through Mountain View, into Palo Alto, and up Sand Hill and then onto Alameda.  I liked this way better.  Foothill was mostly slightly downhill so you look down and realize you’re cruising at 20 mph with little effort.  That’s always fun.  But it’s also a popular route so we got “buzzed” by a huge peloton of cyclists who were not really playing nice.  It gives one an appreciation for why some drivers don’t like us – and that’s frustrating because ALC has taught me to play by the rules. 

Eventually we got to Woodside Road and turned left.  I hadn’t gone this way before – it’s another one of those slight climbs.  But it was uneventful and we got to Robert’s Market.  Partly up Woodside friendly TRL Bob, who was sweeping, caught up with me – I ended up riding with the sweeps most of the day.  On the cat 2 rides (which have a 10 – 12mph requirement) I’m a middle to front rider but the cat 3 rides (which are 12 – 15mph) are just barely within my reach.  Sometimes I feel bad that I’m holding up the sweeps and keeping them from meeting their own training goals.  But Chris has kept encouraging me to stick around – I’ll do so until told to buzz off, I guess.

After a brief stop at Robert’s Market it was time to head up Cañada Road.  I do love this road to ride on – especially knowing there are bathrooms hidden on it.  (Yay bathrooms!)  I made ok time and then hit the Ralston bike path which is a nice little climb.  Then down onto Polhemus and up Crystal Springs and onto the Sawyer Creek Trail.  None of this was really new since I had done it with my friend Bob (the first time I met him, actually).  The new part was that we kept going north, even with a brief stretch on Highway 280.  (Yep, it’s legal.)  Eventually we made it to Pacifica, so we turned the corner and headed down.  

Now that’s an amazing descent! Not for any technical reasons but because you turn a corner and there is the cute town of Pacifica and the ocean right in front of you.  The weather was so awesome and so clear that I just had to stop and take a picture.  As usual the friendly sweep was with me, and he actually took a picture of me.  I immediately send said picture to Tom, still in NYC, to taunt him with our glorious weather.  

At this time I would like to take a detour onto the subject of TRLs and sweeps.  On ALC training rides there are always “TRLs”, or Training Ride Leaders.  They know the way of the secret ALC Kung-Fu and are there to instruct us n00bs on the way to do things.  There is always one of them riding as the last person – “sweeping” anyone who has gotten lost or whatnot.  If you’re riding with them that means you’re the caboose – and since Chris’ training series attracts some pretty hardcore and fast riders I usually am towards the back.  I want to thank all the sweeps who are pretty nice to us slower guys.  I especially want to say that Bob, who was sweeping from the start to RS1, and Andrew, who was sweeping from RS1 to lunch, are especially awesome.  Andrew has the best energy of any TRL I’ve met.  He is super positive energy and for some reason I always feel in a better mood when he’s on a training ride.  It’s awesome.

Lunch was a quick bite at Subway (yay, BMT) and then time to head out.  Before we started Chris had said that Sharp Park Dr. was like climbing Mt. Eden.  However what I didn’t know, was that he meant climbing Mt. Eden from the “hard” direction.  I’d only done it the “easy way”. Sharp Park Drive just kicked my ass.  I saw numbers on my heart rate monitor that I hadn’t seen before.  I had to stop pretty often to let it get below 160.  It was not steep enough to walk but after all the climbing we had done already it was steep enough.  Then there were the rollers on Skyline which I really didn’t need at that point.  Eventually we came back to Crystal Spring and headed down and to the Starbucks there.  I was feeling tired enough that it was time for my secret weapon – the margarita-flavored Shot Bloks.  They taste nasty but have extra salt.  I was sure I needed it.

The stretch from rest stop 3 to the end wasn’t too bad.  Somewhere in there I hit 42.1 mph on a descent.  Towards the end even the little rollers were getting to me – climbing up a small hill on Alameda de las Pulgas I really started feeling cramps on the back of my legs.  But eventually we made it back to town.  My favorite part of that stint was turning onto El Monte because from there on out I knew it was all very slightly downhill, which means easy cruising at 15 – 20 mph.  Shortly we were home.  I was glad I hadn’t ridden over but instead had brought the bike on my truck because I was DONE for the day.  I dropped the bike off at the shop for an upgrade, grabbed some elicit fast food, and headed home.

I felt good about finishing the ride.  It is similar in difficulty to Day 1 of ALC – and I still have 2.5 months of training to go.  The only downside is that after resting in my chair at home I started to get leg cramps in my dominant leg.  The application of heat helped but I won’t have a heating pad on the ride.  I need to figure out how to solve this problem soon.

The ride began with a route I was pretty familiar with.  Head out from downtown Mountain View to Foothill Expressway, and stay on that until it turns into Stevens Canyon.  But instead of going up Mt. Eden road we stayed on Stevens Canyon until it hits Redwood Gulch.  Now keep in mind that this is already a fairly gradual climb – about 500 feet over 10 miles or so.  Nothing major but you feel it a little.

I did have an ace in the pocket.  While Tom was not officially a SAG driver for the day he was out there for me.  I had told him to make sure I made it to the top of Redwood Gulch and then he could go on about his day.  Having him on the road with me is such a huge piece of mental insurance.  I know I can go all out and just not have to worry because if I need to I can just throw the bike in the truck and go home.  His willingness to be there has been greatly appreciated.  

I knew Redwood Gulch was gonna be crazy.  It’s often 18% in places.  It’s THE CLIMB by which many local climbs are judged.  However, I was not interested in hurting myself, so I ended up walking most of it.  This frustrated me because it made me feel weak.  And even with my cleat covers on I ended up being very uncomfortable walking that far in bike shoes.  Maybe in a couple of years, when I’ve lost another 40 pounds and have become a cycling god, I’ll try that again.

After climbing to the top of the hill we were promised a glorious descent.  But we were also told to keep within the speed limit because the cops would ticket cyclists.  One of my concerns on the downhill became managing my brakes because getting over 35 mph was trivial.  I’m sure 45+ would have been easy.  Also there is no bike lane on Highway 9, and since I was going the speed limit (and thus impeding no one) I was entitled to “take the lane” as they say.  However the motorists (who are usually quick to decry cyclists as scofflaws who run red lights) were for the most part greatly exceeding the speed limit and seemed to resent my staying to it.  They would express their resentment by attempting to run me off the road.  So nice.  But I did make it to the first rest stop without being killed.

The next stretch wasn’t too bad.  Down into Saratoga and such.  We had nice tailwinds to the pretty reservoir.  It turns out there was a gradual climb there which I didn’t really notice.  That made the descent on Bailey even more awesome because it felt like a freebie.  Who doesn’t love a free descent?  The only trick was that those tailwinds then became crosswinds, and from the side I am not very aerodynamic.

We then proceeded onto Santa Theresa Blvd., or as I heard it called the “Santa Theresa slog”.  The tailwinds became headwinds and they were strong.  After a couple of miles we made it to the lunch stop and I was so ready for it.  (Yay Togo’s.  Much nicer than Subway.)  The winds were still there after lunch, and I think it was only about 12 miles from lunch to the last rest stop but it was a sucky 12 miles.  My speed was only around 10mph for that stretch.  

Finally we made it back to Mountain View.  I finally understood why the ride needed a 12mph minimum – the sun was clearly going down when we checked in.  (I only ended up with a 11.8mph average).  The daylight was clearly against us.  I was starting to worry about making it home before dark (I live about 2 miles from where the rides start and end) but Tom was there to meet me with my truck so I threw the bike on the back.  After a day like that I didn’t feel I needed any more miles.

The day started very clear but a bit cold.  We got up around 7 – both of us because Tom was not just going to be shadowing me for the day but he actually volunteered to be an official SAG driver for this ride.  Having a SAG wagon out there is great for psychological support – knowing that if something does go wrong you’re not completely stuck helps a lot.  Having the SAG wagon being driven by your partner is an extra special bonus.

We got to the meeting spot around 9:15 – enough time for a bit of chit-chat before the briefing started and enough time for Tom to get his bearings regarding his official duties.  After the usual pre-ride routine – stretching, going over the route, and safety briefing – we were off.  

The beginning of this ride started out very similar to my ill-fated first ride of the season.  Out to Sand Hill Rd, then to Alameda de las Pulgas.  I quickly lost touch with some of my friends but given the climbing coming up I didn’t feel like rushing myself in order to keep up.  I wanted to keep as much in reserve as I could.  One thing that was interesting – I went farther on Alameda de las Pulgas than I had before – so after that point there was plenty of new scenery.  I did my own pace until the first rest stop where I tried to be efficient.  A quick visit to the rest room, some water, some Shot Blocks, a quick hug from Tom, and I was off.

Then the climbing began.  The first thing after the rest stop was a hill they call “Alameda de las Steeps”.  It was a nice little wakeup call, and made me thankful for my big cassette in back.  After that Parrot Drive was up and the real fun began.  And by fun I mean not fun.

I will say this – it did match up with what Chris promised.  And I did climb it.  I had to walk a couple of spots near the top of the last hill (it’s really 3 hills), and at the stop signs I had some trouble getting going again.  Tom was waiting at the bottom of the hill so I got to proudly tell him that I didn’t walk it.  I scarfed down a gel (WTF is “Montana Huckleberry”?) and got back on with it.  It felt like a really long ride to get to the second rest stop and I was REALLY hungry.  A nice BLTA (BLT + avocado), a nice sized rice-krispie treat, and I was a happy camper.

After lunch it was some more familiar roads back home – except that there was one big hill left.  One completely unnecessary hill.  La Cresta.  I’m going to assume it means “the crest”.  But we had to get UP to the crest.  And there was only one way to do that – by going up.  Yay, more climbing.

After La Cresta we were pretty much done.  It was mostly flat/downhill all the way home.  And I’ve never been more glad for that!

I woke up an hour late (8am instead of 7am), so I was rushed going out the door.  I really hate that.  Especially since when that happens I tend to screw something up, which is how the kitties escaped that one time.  But today I took care to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid like that today.  And I also made sure I remembered locking the door so that I didn’t have to go back and check it.  I did end up getting away about 10 minutes later than I wanted to at, leaving at around 9:10am.

The ride to Fremont and Mary was pretty simple.  I don’t quite like the stretch of Mary between Central and El Camino.  It’s listed as a “bike route” but it’s not very comfortable.  I think I see why Google Maps wanted to send me a different route.  I felt a bit under pressure to get there on time…and I pulled in to the parking lot at exactly 9:29am.  That works out well.  For now I think I’ll ride there – the extra 6 miles didn’t hurt.

Now Terri, who plans the rides, seems to REALLY like to make me ride back home at the start.  This time it was EXACTLY the route I take home, going right by Whisman and Gladys (which is how I go home).  Then she made me go to work…as in riding right by Yahoo!.  Then around to Caribbean (which I hadn’t been on before on a bike).  After that it was a bike trail I hadn’t been on before and a lot of urban riding that isn’t really worth describing in detail.  It was a good route, but I couldn’t tell you where we went.  I just did what the Garmin told me.

I will talk about the pace, however.  I made sure to leave with the front group, and my hope was to stick with them until the rest stop at least – and I pretty much did that.  But I was spent.  I left it all on the road.  After the rest break I was much slower.  However, my resulting pace being at 14.5mph over 40 miles – I’ll take that.  

Using Ride With GPS I modified a training ride from a couple of weeks ago with a suggestion from the Cycling Goddess to add a few more miles.  The day was pretty grey.  Cloud cover was present the whole day – although it was looking at times like it might burn off.  It was cool, but not cold.  I had on knee warmers (like I probably almost always will) but I didn’t need full finger gloves, for example.

I started out from home and headed out Grant Road all the way to Foothill Expressway.  That was a good thing to do, because now I have an easy way to get out there.  Once they’re done tearing up the road I suspect I’ll be doing that quite a bit.  Foothill eventually became Stevens Canyon Rd and went through the lovely park as before.  And then I got to the stop sign where Mt. Eden Road is.  But unlike last time I turned right and continued on Stevens Canyon.

Even if the skies hadn’t been grey it was going to be pretty dark back in there.  Lots and lots of trees and lovely cover.  I came to the stop sign where Redwood Gulch is, and having researched that particular road (well aware that one of the TRLs wants to take us up it in 3 weeks), I shuddered.  And then I kept going until Stevens Canyon came to an end.  It was a very gentle climb, just enough to get the heart rate up a little.  Then I turned around and headed back down.  The road was rather bumpy which I felt more on the way down, vertical compliance or not.  But when I got back to the Mt. Eden stop sign I noticed something – I was VERY dirty. Parts of the bike were caked in mud.  Oh no, not my baby!

Well, nothing to do about it except keep going.  The ride up Mt. Eden seemed even easier this time than last.  Although I missed having company to distract me it was just a pretty simple and easy climb.  I stopped at the top, scarfed some food, and bombed down.  Since I had gotten a late start I wanted to try and keep things quick so I did not dilly dally.  I bombed down the descent and came back to Sunnyvale-Saratoga.

The thing I like about going back to Mtn. View after being up in the hills is that it’s all very gradually downhill.  So I can crank along and see myself doing 18 to 20 mph in the bike lane and feel like a cycling god.  I know I’m not but it is more fun to go fast than to go slow.  Especially when you know there is no more climbing to be done.  I made a brief stop at Leeann and Mike’s house to say hi and show off my bike.  I hadn’t expected it to be quite so dirty though.

After I got back from the Expo up in the city I did the only thing I could do.  I washed my bike.  No way I could let it stay that dirty!  

As with last week Her Highness, Princess Bob, was full of positive energy this morning.  I fear he may be a “morning person”.  I, as some can attest, am not.  We did a bit of stretching, and then usual review of the route.  Bob mentioned an option for “extra badass points” and I was feeling a need for a challenge.  Or my brain wasn’t fully awake.  Either way, I was thinking “why not?”.  Then the usual safety speech and we were off.  

The interesting thing about the first part of the route is that it basically took me back home – or within 500 feet of it anyway.  This was good for me to do, since I’ve been thinking about starting to ride to these rides anyway.  The effort of putting the bike on the truck and whatnot isn’t worth saving a little bit of riding.  We’ll see how I’m feeling about it next weekend.  As the rides get longer I’m not sure the extra 5 miles might be necessary.  Also the group was moving VERY fast to start with – 15+ mph on the straights.  

However that speed was not to last, and the climbing started.  I’m not a climber…yet.  We did a few familiar hills and eventually ended up at Robert’s Market.  As I was coming up to Robert’s Market I heard a honk behind me and it was Tom.  I pulled in to the parking lot and said hi to him.  He commented we were fast – I had to explain that we weren’t stopping here.  I was mistaken and thought we’d end up at the *other* Robert’s Market but I was wrong.  He was at the right Robert’s Market – we were going to be looping back around to it. 

A quick hug and I was off.  Shortly I came to Alpine Road – the slight detour that Bob was offering as some extra climbing.  As I was starting up Chris Thomas was coming back down because he is a super fast badass.  (I need to stop comparing myself to him – it only makes me feel lame.)  It turns out, however, that it wasn’t a mile up to the top.  It was 2.5 miles.  Fortunately it was a gentle and very beautiful climb.  It was hard, but nothing insanely steep.  It wasn’t as much fun on the way down because of the windy and damp road.  No insane speeds were achieved.

Thankfully after all that effort lunch was next up.  Bob made a sensible choice of a turkey avocado BLT.  I saw a southwest tri-tip sandwich on the menu and had to get that.  It was tasty.  I almost succumbed to a monster Rice Krispy treat they had there but I was able to leave it behind.  I tried to eat quickly (but not too quickly) so that I wouldn’t hold up the sweeps.

While I did leave with the sweeps I wasn’t with them too long.  We soon caught up to a few people and while I would have loved to ride with them I felt the need to keep pushing.  The post-lunch part of this ride was basically a repeat of my first ride of the year and I was hoping it was going to go better.  As always the quarry in Los Altos was…creepy.  After a bit I caught up to some other ride leaders who I was with for the rest of the day.  We even caught up to Bob which was nice because he’s a very strong rider.

All in all I was happy with my performance on Sunday.  Strava gave me 15 trophies which was nice.  But more importantly I feel like I’ve made progress since the start of the year.  85 miles this weekend and many more to go.  I’m hoping that by training hard the ride won’t be too bad.  Now I just have to keep at it.

The weather reports had been looking pretty good.  But when I got out of the apartment at a bit past 9 to ride over things were decidedly wet.  I checked Facebook to see if the ride had been cancelled knowing that it was unlikely.  I decided to ride over to the starting point anyway – if it was miserable then I didn’t have to go on the ride.  I got to the meeting point with my glasses nicely smeared with rain and feeling quite soggy.  However there was blue sky off to the north which was our direction of travel, so things were looking good.  By the time the stretching and safety speech was over it wasn’t quite raining.

The ride started out going up and over Shoreline.  A bunch of folks missed the turn at Charleston but they caught up soon enough.  We rode past the old SGI headquarters (and it will ALWAYS BE SGI HQ, Googlers) and then turned north.  The rest of the ride to the bridge at this point was kinda boring for me.  I dunno, I just didn’t get excited until we got to the bridge itself.

I don’t know why I was excited to get to the bridge – it was pretty simple.  Up and over.  However the road on the other side of the bridge was this super bumpy pavement.  My hands started to feel odd from the vibrations.  I know the bike has a lot of “vertical compliance” but there’s only so much isolation it can do.  (I’m still waiting for my COBL GOBL-R.)  It was so buzzy I wondered if something was going to fall off the bike.  Fortunately that segment was short, and then we quickly came to the first rest stop.  I tried not to waste too much time – a quick trip to the loo, some Shot Blocks, and I was back on the bike.

The next segment seemed pretty short to lunch – only another 10 miles or so. But it also seemed like we had some false flats – it was a bit of an effort.  Although I had stopped only about 10+ish miles back I was ready for lunch.  Unlike my last longer training ride I didn’t skip eating this time and got some Subway for the first time in a long time.  I’m guessing it won’t be the last of this training season.  I had a nice chocolate Cliff Shot for dessert and got on with the ride.

I was a bit worried that the segment from RS2 to the end was 22-ish miles (I think) – a fair distance to go without stopping. But it actually went pretty easy.  It was flat and the winds weren’t too bad.  We went past a landfill that was nice and stinky, and then through Alviso which was kind of an interesting place.   There was a fair bit of time on a nice bike trail that eventually ended in a park…and the park had restrooms.  Yay!  (I never try to pass up a well placed restroom.)  Eventually we were right by the office and went home the “scary” way – on Moffet Park Drive.  (If I ride to work I usually cut out that part by cutting through Lockheed).  Then it was back to downtown Mtn. View via a route that was not what *I* would do, but still got the job done. But it worked.  50+ miles done, a nice 13.8mph average (according to Garmin), and another training day in the books.