I decided to ride the Sequoia Century 100km on Sunday, June 3, 2007 on my new Merlin Works CR 3/2.5 although its lowest gear is a 39×25 vs. the 34×25 on my Trek Madone 5.2 SL. The Merlin seemed to be a very good climber in a test ride on the Los Altos Hills loop, so I decided to go with it on the 100km ride. In retrospect, I should have gone with the Trek since I had to traverse the steepest sections on Pagemill and West Alpine road. The previous weekend, I had climbed up West Alpine on my Trek, and I didn’t need to resort to a traverse to clear the steepest sections. On the less steep sections though, the Merlin was a very good climber and very sure on the fast descents on 84, Skyline and Highway 9. The two rest stops put on by the Western Wheelers were a very nice break with their fluid and food refreshments. At the first rest stop at Sam McDonald Park, I filled my water bottles with Gatorade, and took a break sitting down while I ate some fruit and Fig Newtons. I then went on the West Alpine climb which is a beautiful narrow road overshadowed by redwoods which soon becomes steeper and sunnier. I’ll definitely have to ride West Alpine more in the future since it’s a very quiet road with glorious scenery. There were some downhill sections at the top of West Alpine which had a layer of loose gravel and sand over them, but fortunately, those sections weren’t too twisty and steep.

On Skyline, my legs felt a little sore from all the climbing, and I felt some slight cramping in my right thigh, but I alleviated the cramping with rests on the downhill sections of Skyline and a Mocha Mocha Clifshot. I followed the rolling terrain until the next stop at the Saratoga Gap fire station and decided to take another break for food and fluids. I ate some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the second stop since I needed something a little more solid. Right before I left the rest stop, I felt a sharp twinge in my inner thighs as I pulled my knees up to my chest to stretch out my legs, but I was fine after walking around a little. At this point, the finish was only 20 miles away and mostly downhill, so I wasn’t too concerned about finishing. When I entered the descent on Highway 9, I had the unfortunate luck to be riding behind a lady who going very slowly and constantly applying her brakes. I wasn’t able to pass her safely until 2/3 of the way down to Pierce road, and then I had a lot of fun descending. I overshot the Mt. Eden route on Pierce road, but I realized it soon after I passed Quarry road so I didn’t have to backtrack too far. As I backtracked, about 10 other people on the ride shot past me, so I don’t think I was the only one who missed the left on to Mt. Eden. There was a steep short section on Mt. Eden, but it was over pretty quickly, and after that, I was on automatic pilot on Stevens Creek and Foothill back to the VA. There was a mild headwind on the way in, but nothing too serious.

Between riding to the start and the 100km ride, I rode 70 miles that day according to the bike computer (I had attached a Cateye Strada Wireless the day before, and it has a small size and nice stem mount). I could have ridden home, but I was fortunate enough to have my wife and kids come pick me up at the finish and drive me home. It was a welcome sight to see my daughter bringing me my sandals, and I split an It’s It for her and her brother. The two big revelations for the ride were that I definitely need the lower gearing of a compact crank if I decide to do a long ride again through the local hills, and that the Fizik Arione is a very comfortable saddle for long rides. I rode the Trek to work today, and the Bontrager Race Lite saddle on it seems way too fat, so I’ll be replacing it soon with an Arione.

Western Wheelers did a great job with the rest stops and finish, and the many sag vehicles. At the finish, it was good to see and say hi to Terry Morse whom I haven’t seen since he dropped off some Myrmidon software at the office many years ago. At the rest stops and finish, there was quite a display of nice rides with a high concentration of Colnago and Calfee frames. The weather was warmer than last weekend when a layer of fog covered the ridgeline and everything west of it, but it was probably good for the overall safety of the ride since the ridgeline was also pretty wet at some places last weekend. I was happy with how the ride turned out, and I look forward to completing my first century after doing my first 100km ride.

Since I put in a shorter stem and narrower handlebars on my Merlin CR 3/2.5, I had to get rid of the excess cable and housing for the brakes and derailleurs. I stayed up till 1:30 AM cutting brake and derailleur cables and housings wearing my Oakley M-Frames for eye protection. I could have probably done it a lot faster, but I took my time, and I kept taking computer surfing breaks. The shifting and braking are a lot smoother now on the Merlin with the shorter cable runs. The nasty thing about cutting cable housing is small sharp pieces of metal go flying off when you make a cut. I had to retrieve them to make sure no one would get cut on them. I also used a Dremel tool to smooth out the rough areas of the cable housings where I had made the cuts. The sparks flying off the Dremel disk while I was sanding away the metal in the cable housing was a little disconcerting at first, but I quickly got used to it. The new bike seems to climb really well – not sure how much of that is the placebo effect with a new bike though.

Mountainbikes — The Company

Once upon a time, if you said you owned a Mountain Bike, it meant only one thing. You owned a bicycle built on a Tom Ritchey frame, assembled and sold to you by Charlie Kelly and Gary Fisher out of their little shop in a rented garage at 1501 San Anselmo Avenue in San Anselmo.

This is such a sweet and nostalgic page about the origins of MountainBikes – the Company, and mountain bikes. The most interesting part of the page is how Tom Ritchey was singlehandedly tig-welding all the frames for the nascent company. Because he didn’t depend on lugs, he could quickly produce the frames. Being in his young 20s, he could burn the midnight oil to keep up with the demand.