From: bushnell@iscnvx.lmsc.lockheed.com (William D. Bushnell)
Subject: RIDE STORY: January Century (Two Loops Around the South Bay)
Organization: Lockheed Missiles and Space Co.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 03:15:12 GMT

Route Log:

Loop 1:
-------

We started from the Palo Alto Cultural Center at about 8:15a.  Our route took
us down the Bryant St. "bike boulevard" to Meadow and then to Alma.  We turned
left on Alma and continued on Central Expressway to San Tomas Expressway
whereupon we headed north.  We continued on Montague Expressway until Milpitas
Blvd where we turned left.  We continued on Milpitas Blvd., Warm Springs Rd.,
Osgood Rd., and Driscoll Rd.  This is all the same street but with four
different names.  We turned left on Paseo Padre.  After stopping at
Fremont's Central Park, we turned right on Stevenson Rd. and then left at
Mission Blvd.  We continued on Mission Blvd. to Alvarado-Niles Blvd. where we
turned left.  We continued on Alvarado-Niles Blvd. all the way to Union City
Blvd. where we turned left.  We continued south until we reached Paseo Padre
(again) where we turned right.  We continued to the SF Bay Refuge Center and
then across the Dumbarton Bridge.  We turned left on Willow Rd. and headed to
downtown Palo Alto for lunch.

Distance so far is: 55 miles
climbing: 570 feet

Loop 2:
-------

After lunch we headed north out of Palo Alto on Middlefield and then turned
right on Marsh Rd.  We continued on Marsh Rd. and turned right again on
Bayfront Expressway before heading out over the Dumbarton Bridge.  On the
other side, we headed right on Thornton and continued through Newark to
Fremont Blvd.  After a right on Fremont Blvd. and a left on Peralta, we
continued to Mowry and then to the Fremont BART station.  We rode Civic Center
Drive to Stevenson, then turned right, and then left on Paseo Padre.  We
passed by Central Park and then turned right on Driscoll and headed south to
Milpitas on Driscoll, Osgood, Warm Springs, and Milpitas Blvd.  At Montague
Expressway we turned right and continued to Trimble Rd. where we turned left.
We continued on Trimble Rd. to Central Expressway and then turned right and
rode Central Expressway to Middlefield Rd.  Then we bore right on Middlefield
Rd. and continued back to the Palo Alto Cultural Center.

Total Distance: 101.7
Total time: 8:45
Riding time: 5:44
Average Speed: 17.7
Maximum speed: 26.0
index: 106
irp: 12
mirp: 18
climbing density: 10 ft/mi
climbing gradient: 0.00190

*Climbing density is (gross feet climbed)/(miles_ridden), which usually
 results in a nice number between 0 and 100 for long rides.
*Climbing gradient is (gross feet climbed)/(miles_ridden*5280), a unitless
 quantity to satisfy the purists.

--------------------------

At the request of Jude and others and to meet Pamela Blalock's
(pamela@keps.kodak.com) "Century-a-Month" challenge, I decided to plan a
100-mile ride that we could complete comfortably in daylight.  I also wanted
to make sure I could ride 100 miles in one "sitting" since my last such ride
was last September 5!

The route is mostly flat.  What I call the "loop around the South (San
Francisco) Bay" is a good long-distance route near home that offers an
opportunity to practice a variety of bicycling skills including riding in a
paceline and riding at a reasonably fast and constant cruising speed on flat
land, something we haven't been doing too much lately.

--------------------------

Saturday 1/16/93 - January Century (or Two Loops Around the South Bay)

Brent (brent_silver@qm.sri.com), Jude (judek@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us), and I
start out from the Palo Alto Cultural Center at about 8:15a.  The day is cold
and damp.  Rain is forecast for the evening, but it looks like we'll be able to
ride at least one of the loops before things get wet.

Our route takes us through Palo Alto and south on Central Expressway.  We
manage a good pace of 18 to 20 mph between traffic lights, but as we warm up,
our speed increases.  I lead, Brent follows, but Jude prefers to hang back out
of our wind shadow; he wants to practice spinning in a lower gear which for Jude
means a cadence in the mid-80s.  He also wants to complete the ride without the
aid of drafting!

We stop briefly for the first time at a gas station near US-101 and San Tomas
Expressway.  A few minutes after we resume, Jude gets a flat.  To make the
delay less tedious, Brent offers us some still-steaming hot home-baked raisin
bread that he had packed along.

Once back on the road, we continue to Milpitas Blvd. and then head north.  The
road is wide, but there are too many traffic lights through Milpitas!  By the
time we get to Fremont, the road has changed names to Warm Springs Rd., and then
to Osgood.  On Osgood the busy two-lane road alternates between narrow and
broad.  It seems that the city didn't want to spend the money to build the road
consistently wide.

We continue when the road changes to Driscoll, and after turning left on Paseo
Padre, we stop at Fremont's Central Park for a more extended break, being
careful not to sit upon the abundant piles of bird guano.

After a moderately long 20-minute break, we continue to Stevenson Rd., then
Mission Blvd, and then Alvarado-Niles Rd.  Alvarado-Niles Rd. passes through
what must be the old downtown of Niles.  Some of the old-style shops still
stand along the road.  Several miles later after riding through more recently
built-up areas of Union City, we reach the old downtown of Union City shortly
before turning left on Union City Blvd.

I'm beginning to feel tired now, but we still manage a swift pace south to
Paseo Padre and then to the San Francisco Bay Refuge Nature Center.  We decide
not to ride up to the building.

"Jude, do you mind leading for a while?", I ask.

"No problem.", Jude replies.

We continue down the frontage road along the eastern approach to the Dumbarton
Bridge.  Following behind Jude makes pedaling a piece of cake, except that I
can't see anything in front except Jude's back.  I'm not as accustomed to
following as I am to leading, so this is something I'll have to get used to.

The sidewalk on the Dumbarton Bridge is a dreadful mess, especially the west
side of the bridge.  Rocks, sand, broken glass, nails, metal shards, plastic
shards, and other debris have been washed off the roadway by the recent rains
and into the bike/ped. lane.  Miraculously, none of us flats.  Once on the west
side of the bridge we make our way swiftly to Willow Rd. and then to downtown
Palo Alto where we stop at the Togo's sandwich shop for lunch.

As we eat, heavy-looking clouds begin to pass overhead.  Rain is forecast after
dark, but these clouds look thick.  As long as we can see the Santa Cruz
Mountains, I figure we'll stay dry.

Since we've ridden over 50 miles on the counter-clockwise loop, we can shorten
the clockwise loop.  After taking more than 45 minutes for lunch, we ride
slowly out of downtown Palo Alto.  I have decided that we'll return across the
Dumbarton Bridge via Marsh Rd.  We ride north on Middlefield to Marsh and then
to the Bayfront Expressway.  Perhaps mistakenly, we decide to brave the traffic
lane rather than cross the highway to the bike path.  There is no shoulder on
the four-lane road, and traffic passes closely at 55 mph.  When we reach Willow
Rd., we use the bike path and continue back across the Bridge.  Again each of
us passes, tires intact, through the debris on the bridge sidewalk.

This time we stop at the Nature Center for a short break and a group picture.
The clouds look thick, but the mountains stand etched in the sky across the
bay.  No rain comes from these clouds.

As we leave the Nature Center we continue on Thornton through Newark to Fremont
Blvd, and then we zig-zag to Peralta and continue to the Fremont BART station.
Why stop at the Fremont BART station?  Because I need to know the distance and
climbing from Fremont BART to Warm Springs Rd. and Auto Mall Parkway for my
cycling map.

After a short break we continue on Civic Center Drive to Stevenson and Paseo
Padre, and then we turn right on Driscoll and head south to Milpitas.  By
my calculations, if we arrive at Montague Expressway with our mileage over
82.3, we will be over 100 miles by the time we reach the Cultural Center in
Palo Alto, and we won't have to add gratuitous loops at the end of the ride
to get our odometers to pass the 100 mark.

As we ride south I can feel a slight headwind that makes it difficult to
maintain a 20 mph pace, yet when we stop at traffic lights, the air feels
still and heavy.

When we reach Montague Expressway, our mileage is about 84.  We turn right and
continue to the Shell Station at the corner of Old Oakland Rd., where we make
our last stop of the ride.

We continue by taking Trimble Rd. to Central Expressway.  This cuts a few
tenths of a mile off of the Montague to Central Expressway route.  The ride up
Central Expressway is uneventful.  We can still see the mountains, so it looks
like we'll make it home without getting wet.

Brent is about 11 miles ahead of us since he rode from Sunnyvale to Palo Alto
before the ride, and it looks as if his energy is flagging.  He's not quite
able to keep up the 20+ mph pace even while following.  Jude and I wait up for
him at Wolfe Rd. where he'll be leaving the ride and heading home.

After saying goodbye to Brent, Jude and I continue quickly up Central
Expressway to Middlefield and then to Palo Alto.

"Do you mind if we stop at Haltek?", I ask Jude as we pass Linda Vista Street
in Mountain View.  "I need to get a replacement LED for my VistaLight."

"Well, I'd rather not today.  I'm getting hungry, and I don't want to start
digesting my stomach.", Jude answers.

We continue north to Palo Alto without incident and end the ride at over 100
miles.

-- 
bushnell@lmsc.lockheed.com	(Bill Bushnell)