Bohlman - On Orbit - Black - Gist

[mynameismud]

Mudworm and I were given an excellent tour of one of the tougher Bay Area loops today.  The ride ended up being about 40 miles and 5,550 Hundred feet of vertical according to my GPS.

 A local racer gives us a tour.  He seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of local roads.  On this ride we go down Homestead Road then wind around local back roads until we mysteriously came out in Saratoga.  From there we head up Bohlman road.  This road is incredibly steep with some fairly sustained sections.  It hurts.  From there we turn onto On Orbit.  On Orbit has some steep sections and some rather sustained sections.  My heart rate goes well into the 170's.  At one point I was in my granny gear with the Triple and find myself trying for another gear.

Jimmy when he drops back is able to talk fairly normal and fill me in on the local history.  Amazing.

At the top a short ride along a rolling fireroad takes us to a fun fast decent and drops us at the bottom of Black road.  Black is steep yet not so bad compared to Bohlman and On Orbit.  We then turn onto Gist which just keeps throwing steep sections at you.  Eventually I had to drop into my granny gear and Jimmy just rides away.  After a bit he looks back.  At one point Jimmy and I stopped when some dogs came out and we waited for Mudworm.  After she came by and the dogs received a scolding from Jimmy we take off at which point my calf seizes.  I played it off as though I blew my clipping into my peddle.  It is not often that I cramp 30 miles into a ride.  We catch Mudworm at Skyline.

From Skyline and Gist it is about 500 to 700 feet more climbing before the summit and a ripping decent to Foothill Expressway.

From the car we drove over to Los Altos to have coffee with Jimmies Wife and the 4 Month old son.  We beat Jimmy there by about 2 minutes.  He rode his bike.

It was an incredible day finished off with a few hours at the gym.  When ever I sit around my calf's  twitches reminding me of one of the tougher days in the saddle for quite some time.

Here's to sweat in your eye

[mudworm]

Whew, survived. For a moment, it didn't seem that I would. People seem to consider On Orbit harder than Bohlman, but for me the toughest pitch was on Bohlman. At one point, I thought I would tip over.  So I felt great that I did not get off my bike.

Jimmy was impressive. He raced pro (against people like Lance Armstrong) when he was younger. Although retired from racing, he is still not your average recreational cyclist. He sports a double crankset. When I was dying pushing my granny gear, he rode in circles around me. Wow!



Stats:
Distance (mi)     39.0
Elevation Range (ft)    202 - 3110
Total Ascent (ft)    6188
Moving Time    03h 31m 25s
Stopped Time    00h 09m 57s
Average Speed (mph)    10.6

[F'ueco]

Excellent work! I haven't done the On Orbit part yet, but Bohlman is rather tough on a double! Up at the top, I very near tipped over backwards (my front wheel came off at any rate). Crazy!

 I did Black after Bohlman, and it seemed casual by comparison. I'll have to go for Gist next time. 

 Joan and I just did any easy ride today, a mere 60 miles out to the end of Canada Road and back...

[mynameismud]

The upper part of Black might be harder than Gist.  Gist is nice since it does not recieve much traffic and still has some steep pitches.  Bohlman and On Orbit definitely redefine steep.

[F'ueco]

How do you think it compares to Quimby?

[mudworm]

Gist is comparable to Quimby in steepness. I like the scenery on Quimby better though.

[mynameismud]

Bohlman, Orbit, Black, Gist, Skyline is now my favorite road bike loop.

[salad]

looks like a nice run.

[F'ueco]

I'll check out this loop on Wednesday... 

[mudworm]

Did you do it, F'ueco?

[F'ueco]

Nah, I chickened out...

I decided to take today pretty much off (I'll probably ride downtown later, but that's only 15 miles r/t). I've worked out a bit hard the last few days.

[mudworm]

I see. I can understand. There are days when I want to take it easy too.

[mynameismud]

Geez, what is the problem.  It in't like it's 200 miles.

[mudworm]

So says someone who has not worked out at all since Sunday. Pfffft!

[F'ueco]

Geez, what is the problem.  It in't like it's 200 miles.

 Spoken like someone who didn't swim 3 miles last night!