Last day of Rapha 500

Hard to stay in when it is this nice out.

My backyard area

My house is just there on the left

Ride: 6.1 mi
Total: 112 mi
http://app.strava.com/rides/2979792

Today is the last day and I didn't make the challenge.  I knew I wouldn't since we were up in the mountains and although I could have ridden all days I couldn't justify the time away from family.  I figure that I wouldn't be able to complete this challenge until my kids are older and I'm not racing cyclocross.  At least I was able to ride all four bikes at least once.

Bass Lake day 2

Pictures pretty much says it all.  Gorgeous sunset ride.

Ride: 9.9 mi
Total: 105.9 mi
http://app.strava.com/activities/2944478

Today was a late ride and I squeezed it in before sunset.  My son had a low grade fever so I stayed with him until after his nap then my wife gave me the okay to go.  I wrote off riding today but she knew I wanted to get out.  I've got a good woman there.

I rode up Beasore and only got the the bridge which is about 4 miles up.  It was still about 6 or 7 miles to the summit.  Still for a 48 minute ride, it has beautiful views and only saw four cars.

Bass Lake day 1

Heading up the 222

Riding along the back of the lake.  There are rollers along this road and I forgot how much I love riding rollers

I've ridden by here during the summer and it's crowded.  Funny seeing it closed for the season

An actual street sign out here and pretty much the theme of this ride

Manzanita Lake

Funky seeing a totem pole by North Fork

Nothing like riding in the Sierras

Great views of the lake

Ride: 31.5 mi
Total: 96.0 mi
http://app.strava.com/activities/2914539

I am lucky that my in-laws have this cabin with several other families.  Between them they have their own time share and works out great for us.  All the kids are grown up and we're now bringing out kids.  Being in Bass Lake is great.  We are 1.5 hours from Yosemite Valley (only 30 minutes to enter the park) but we are in the Sierras.  I love big mountains.  Unfortunately this year, the snow is late but that works out great for riding.  Of course, I would rather take my daughter out to play in the snow since that will be much more memorable for her.  Even without snow, starting out in the morning wasn't easy.  It was 38 degrees at 9am.  I know this isn't cold for other parts of the country but I live in Southern California. Actually I can't complain since I really prefer colder weather.

This loop essentially goes around Bass Lake but before I started, I headed down to the 41/222 junction.  When I started road riding again 7 years ago, I came here with my girlfriend (now wife) and this hill seemed really long.  Since then I've been on bigger mountains but it was a mental barrier and it was a good day to ride it.  Turned out it was really no big deal after all but funny how mental barriers work.  I had a great ride in the mountains and I was back in time for lunch and to take my daughter out riding her first bike.  It was a good day.

Christmas and day 3

This is "Big Wheel" and is usually my single speed 29er.  Since I'm in cyclocross season right now, I have it in 4 speed gear mode so that I keep spinning instead of grinding out the gear.  Besides my legs are pretty weak for single speed.  This is bike 3 of 4 that's been used.

I have this open space area in my back yard.  The trailhead is just 1/4 mile from my house so I usually ride on the dirt.  It is steep here so I get plenty strong (for me) riding out here.

Pictures are so much better during the golden hour

Ride: 5.4 mi (8.7 km)
Total: 64.5 mi (104 km, 396 km left)
http://app.strava.com/rides/2883233

Today is Christmas day so it was a busy day with family activities.  The kids were super excited about opening gifts and then we were getting them ready to see Grandpa for lunch.  My oldest got her first bike and we spent the afternoon riding in the park.  She loves it.  When we got home, I had 35 minutes to sunset so I went for my usual mountain bike loop.  I love having this so close to me.

Day 2

Early morning start.  40 degrees with medium Santa Ana winds (so gusts to 30 mph)

Getting ready to cross the Santa Susana Pass when I saw this train station.  This isn't on the mainline when I'm on the Metro and looks like from another decade.

Luigi is my Colnago Master road bike.  I've wanted one of these since high school and it rides great.

One flat with 5 goatheads.  I only had one spare tube and not enough patches if I got another flat.  Luckily I made it home without an issue

When I got to our driveway, my welcoming committee was there to greet me.  Actually they just found a praying mantis and was watching it.

Total for the day.

Ride: 48.7 mi (78.5 km)
Total: 59.1 mi (95.3 km, 404.7 km left)
http://app.strava.com/rides/2865147

Rapha has come up with a great idea to get people out riding during the holidays. For me it is great incentive to put in the miles. I normally average 3 hours of exercise a week between family and work so this really works on my Type A personality. Reality will come back though when we start a road trip from Monday to Thursday. We'll be up in the mountains but there is no snow so there is a chance of getting some miles in.  Of course, it will be a lot less since the hills will be tough.  I'm not sure if I can fit it in since it is family time. With next weekend being my last cyclocross race, this training block may help (I hope).

Rapha Festive 500 - Day 1

The ride started at sunset

It ended after dark but at least I had Christmas lights to see

Ride: 10.4 mi (16.7 km)
Total: 10.4 mi (16.7 km, 483.3 km left, whew)
http://app.strava.com/activities/2855739

Today is the first day of the Rapha Festive 500.  It is an activity that starts on Dec 23 to Dec 30 and the goal is to ride 500 km.  Last year was the first one but we just had our son so it wasn't possible.  This year I want to try and get close to it.  It doesn't help that we are heading away on Monday and back on Thursday.  I'm hoping to ride during that time but who knows.

Today was my last day working for this year so as usual it was a mad rush to get my work done.  Taking next week off means that I have to be ahead.  I was hoping to be done by early afternoon but it ended up being 4:00 which is 45 minutes to sunset.  Then our son was in a bad mood and didn't want to nap so it was my turn to put him down.  By the time he was down it was sunset.  No worries, I took out my rain bike which has fenders and lights.  The lights are powered by a generator hub so the light was bright and I had no issues.  "Worthington" is a 1980s Holdsworth Mistral that I have set up with a Nexus 8 speed internal hub, fenders, front rack and lights.  It is the perfect rain bike even though it doesn't rain much in Southern California.  I love riding in the rain so it is out every time it rains.

It was a short ride since we had dinner plans at 6:00.  It wasn't a long ride but it was good to get out and clear my head after a busy day.  Hoping to put in more miles tomorrow.

My goal is to ride as much as I can with every bike since I don't have the time to ride 500 km.  So I still have the cyclocross bike, road bike and mountain bike.