tracey pooh's Blog
Sunday, June 15, 2008
12:45 AM
Finished the ride! Pictures online!
Pictures! We did it! We made each of the 545 miles over 7 days together without injury or accident. Hooray!
THANK YOU SPONSORS!
Click below for my 140 image photo album of the entire week of challenging fun.
Friday, June 6, 2008
4:25 AM
150 miles from LA!
Hunter and I are doing great and having the time of our life! We have just two easish days left now
PLEASE CLICK ON ANY PICTURE BELOW to see the newest pictures...
Saturday, May 31, 2008
8:47 AM
about to start! off to registration...
This entry should automatically show the 10 most recent images uploaded from the ride from my iphone!
I will scoop the images together for a better page with descriptions either mid-ride (day 3) or right after the ride finishes!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
4:40 PM
less than 10 days to rollout!
uh, yes, that means i'm a bit nervous.
i got my new lighter/smaller sleeping bag (that is identical to hunter's and will "open face" to zip up together).
we got our air mattress from before (with a new rechargeable smaller inflator) and a new air pillow for me, too (princess gotta sleep after all the long miles!)
we have a hotel one night in the middle to take a break from "tent life" *and* to wash our clothes (and the holiday inn having a jacuzzi is a nice perk too)
other than that, prolly should get a few more rides in by sun/mon so that we can rest w/ no biking the last week to ready up for The Big Day!
THANK YOU ALL TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE DONATED TO AND SUPPORTED ME FOR THIS HUGE LIFE-CHANGING EVENT!!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
3:29 PM
Jonathan Pon 150mile weekend ride and camping!
Hunter and I had a GREAT weekend biking from Sausalito to Russian River (and back!) this weekend. It was the Jonathan Pon Memorial Ride and we rode with our Positive Pedalers friends who organized the event to memorialize the life of the founder, Jonathan Pon. It was fun and successful. Best of all, I didn't feel particularly tired on either day -- in fact, thankfully, both days seemed pretty easy for me, phew! So I am thinking and hoping that, so long as all goes well, there is a good chance I can manage to bike 7 days in a row (which averages out to about 78 miles a day).
We had a blast with everyone and took a lot of photos so please see my photo album.
I am SUPER excited for the ride in June (in just over 3 weeks!) now! Hunter and I attended a "packing seminar" and got some supplies we needed and so only have a little more shopping/readying left at this point. We are looking forward to fitting our queen size 6" deep air mattress into our gear (muhahahaaaaa!) so to make sleepytime a lot more pleasant.
Yay biking!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
7:38 PM
hot dam! mt tam perfect day
We had a beautiful sunday ride w/ a small group of ALC riders, the Cat 3 version. (nice thing was there was an easier and a harder paced ride that day. we chose the harder so got to leave and sleep in one hour later, yay). We biked over the GGate bridge and it was already pretty nice weather. The ride through the valley to the start of the Alpine Dam approach was nice as usual. The climb of rollers to Alpine Dam was beautiful, but VERY hot. I had to stop once in the shade just to cool down (since I cooked myself on a similar hot weekend ride up Mt. Diablo weeks back). Then the wooded (shade!) climb from the dam / reservoir to the "ridgecrest" road. This was pretty too -- lots of panoramic vistas of bay and the ocean and these killer green and flowered hills. OK, the "seven sisters" (or "seven .itches" as i heard it alternately called) of going up then down was noticeable -- but at that point, I was psyched because I knew we were almost done climbing for the day and still had tons of energy to go.
Then we fininsed with pretty quick descent down and back to SF. All in all, I think I drank the most liquids of any ride I've done in a looooong time. In the 90s weather will do that!
Knowing we still had plenty of daylight and warmth to spare, I suggested we grab sandwiches at my favorite deli (mmmm. "Marina Deli" on a corner at Chestnut St. is so good) and try out Baker Beach. You'd think after 6 years of living in the city and even more than that of working in the Presidio that I'd have been there by now. Nope! It was *great*! Got to park the car where we could see the bikes inside the cargo bay (we lay them atop each other w/ the back seat down and they just fit!) and then enjoy watching all the great SFers drinking beers and smoking w33d. After about an hour of being giggly geeks on the blanket in our bike gear, we headed on home. What a perfect day!
Proof! 
Thursday, April 24, 2008
1:31 PM
2005 video of spring bikeride up Diablo
i just thought i should share this!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
12:24 PM
Bike gears -- jamming a triple into a double
When my local bike store set me up with my new great ride, I agonized over getting the easier-to-shift double (2 ring) front gearset vs. a triple (3 ring) easier-to-climb option. Turns out, you can have your cake and eat it, too!
I used this amazing
gear resource and customized it to help me compare options to see if a different rear
cassette could bridge the gap. It could! I get a higher top speed/ring now
with a double and my easiest gear is now only about 66% harder than my old bike's triple. So yes, climbing is a teeny harder, but it's nothing like how much harder it would have been with the standard cassette!!
Ladies and other bikers -- don't fear the double when you can get a compact double and larger rear cassette!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
10:36 AM
sympathy for the devil
Hunter, Peter (of Pos Peds), and I did the east bays most well-known "Three Bears" plus a "half climb" up Mt. Diablo, twice in one week! (Sunday scout ride, then Saturday ride with group of 13).
The first ride, it was the freaky HOT windless summer day out here where it was between 85 and about 98 degrees. The Diablo climb is about 1700 feet of mostly un-shaded time in the sun, so I think I minor-ly cooked my brain (possible heat exhaustion or partial sunstroke). On a happy note, during the descent, a coyote, right on cue, popped up on the roadside, stared at us whizzing down towards him/her, then danced across the road to the other side just before we crossed paths! By the end of the ride I was limping along in noticeable headwind, way under my normal capacity. I simply could not take anymore sun! We stopped at the underside of a bridge near the end and I kind of fell apart (steathfully) and was crying in pain and frustation. "I'm a better ride than this!" I beat myself up, worried my training was falling off track. Thankfully, a "do over" was soon...
Yesterday, with 20 degrees cooler and breezy (air! I can breathe!) Hunter and I got to be honorary "TRL"s (Training Ride Leaders) and helped guide the other 10 with Peter, Hunter and I for a Pos Peds bi-weekly ride. It was really exciting for us because the majority had not done Diablo before so we got to share with them this special ride and climb. Diablo South Gate to North Gate is my favorite ride in the world. This time, the ride was cake (although I had some minor knee and leg pain due to a bit where I spun/torqued my knee a teeny I think). Peter says this is likely to become a "traditional" ALC ride in the books for leaders to pick in the future, yay!
It was most rewarding to see some of the riders hit the top of our climb at the ranger station and photograph and congratulate them! Congrats to their firsttime brave accomplishment!!
PS: in my 10+ Diablo rides, I've seen: coyotes, foxes, tarantulas (fall mating season!), snakes, hawks, gophers, and squirrels!
Monday, April 7, 2008
6:46 PM
planning to summit the devil...
Yay, Positive Pedalers are game to try a suggested half (full optional) climb up my favorite Mt. Diablo.
Peter, Hunter and I are going to try/chart it out with bikes this Sunday and then unleash it to the group the following Saturday. Peter has added in the three bears, too, so it's going to be a lot of beautiful country climbing where, FEAR NOT! we can all go easily at our own pace up the hills (the grades are pretty reasonable).
Sunday, April 6, 2008
6:40 PM
HeadWind and the Angry pInch
doh! what should have been a pretty "cake" 75 mile ride on Saturday from SF presidio to the charming and affluent Woodside (and back) was great for the first half (had a wonderful warm/sunny lunch at Roberts Market that was memorable). however, the middle of the 2nd half (return) was rough with heavy 20-40mph headwinds which felt like a hand on our chests holding us back. when we returned to the SF "great highway" right on the ocean, we got sand blown in our face/nose/bikes/ears (you name it!) to boot. yucks! but we smartly diverted course one block parallel to get less andblasted. when we returned through the golden gate park, at least things were fine from there on.
i got, um, a little rubby angry blistering small thing from short/skin/saddle rub-a-dub-dub somehow, so throw in an angry pinch.
still, nothing will take away one of my favorite lunches in one of my favorite sleepy OMG-look-at-the-money-walking rural towns. yay beautiful CA country!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
10:04 AM
89 mile ride
well we did it! we did a tough 87 mile 5000-feet-of-climbing ride ourselves a couple weeks ago, then last weekend with the mountain view ride group, we did a slightly-easier-but-longer 89 mile ride! So that is our longest ride ever! In two weeks we attempt our first "century" -- 100 miles in a day.
Saturday's ride was punctuated by multiple flats (like 12+ i heard, with about 40 riders) but hunter and I managed to escape tire damage. Our favorite ALC person (who is also a ride leader), Bob Katz, apparently shredded a tire or something so had to cut out early! 
So we missed our favorite lunch date.
Highlight of the day had to be the gentle climb through Niles Canyon from Fremont-ish area and through the east bay hills to Sunol. That was our first time on parts of the road and first time in that direction, and it was simply beautiful giant green hills surrounding the twisty valley with a stream next to it. The sun finally peaked out around then after some misty and very short light rain early parts. Two riders slipped and fell while crossing a wet railroad diagonal track so that was pretty scary to see.
My personal highlight was taking my bike through the McDonald's drive thru to get a chocolate milkshake. I had figured "what the he**, why not try it?" and the workers were laughing at the window when I picked up my drinky...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
5:53 PM
upgraded and training up!
Wow! I bought a new bike after 4 years of weekly cycling with my aluminum bike.
My new bike is from the new Trek line and is really sweet.
This week I did 100 miles for maybe the 2nd time ever. Hunter and I are training now with 2 great groups -- the "Positive Pedalers" and a group out of Mountain View. We alternate weekends with them and average a brisk 12-15 mph. We did our 2nd longest ride last Saturday at just over 70 miles. With my new bike, I had two short 15-17 mile rides before the big ride, so I bumped 100 miles.
Friday, January 18, 2008
8:11 PM
signed up!
Hunter took me to his first training ride last Saturday and it made me think more seriously about trying the ride this year.
By the end of the ride, I decided to do it!
We hit the kick off event at SF Design Center on Sunday and signed me up as #3287.
The hardest part for me will be the needed 5 months of training and trying to get up to being able to do my first "century" (100 miles in a day) ever, and then more! (The ride will have 1 century day and 1 95+ mile day in it!)
I'm committed to doing this challenge to help my favorite cause and charity!
tracey pooh Jaquith's
Hunter and I had a GREAT weekend biking from Sausalito to Russian River (and back!) this weekend. It was the Jonathan Pon Memorial Ride and we rode with our Positive Pedalers friends who organized the event to memorialize the life of the founder, Jonathan Pon. It was fun and successful. Best of all, I didn't feel particularly tired on either day -- in fact, thankfully, both days seemed pretty easy for me, phew! So I am thinking and hoping that, so long as all goes well, there is a good chance I can manage to bike 7 days in a row (which averages out to about 78 miles a day).