{"id":206,"date":"2009-01-25T21:54:06","date_gmt":"2009-01-26T05:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mxi2000.net\/mudworm\/?p=206"},"modified":"2009-01-25T21:54:06","modified_gmt":"2009-01-26T05:54:06","slug":"bohlman-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mxi2000.net\/mudworm\/2009\/01\/bohlman-black","title":{"rendered":"Road Biking: Survive Bohlman\/On Orbit\/Black\/Gist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erik’s post<\/a>:
\n====================<\/p>\n

Mudworm and I were given an excellent tour of one of the tougher Bay Area loops today.\u00c2\u00a0 The ride ended up being about 40 miles and 5,550 Hundred feet of vertical according to my GPS.<\/p>\n

A local racer gave us a tour.\u00c2\u00a0 He seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of local roads.\u00c2\u00a0 This ride we went down Homestead Road then wound around local back roads until we mysteriously came out in Saratoga.\u00c2\u00a0 From there we headed up Bohlman road.\u00c2\u00a0 This road is incredibly steep with some fairly sustained sections.\u00c2\u00a0 It hurt.\u00c2\u00a0 From there we turned onto On Orbit.\u00c2\u00a0 On Orbit has some steep sections and some rather sustained sections.\u00c2\u00a0 My heart rate went well into the 170’s.\u00c2\u00a0 At one point I was in my granny gear with the Triple and found myself looking for another gear.<\/p>\n

Jimmy when he dropped back was able to talk fairly normal and fill me in on the local history.\u00c2\u00a0 Amazing.<\/p>\n

At the top a short ride along a fireroad took us to a fun fast decent and dropped us at the bottom of Black road.\u00c2\u00a0 Black is steep yet not so bad compared to Bohlman and On Orbit.\u00c2\u00a0 We then turned onto Gist with just keeps throwing steep sections at you.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually I had to drop into my granny gear and Jimmy just road away.\u00c2\u00a0 After a bit he looked back.\u00c2\u00a0 At one point Jimmy and I stop when some dogs came out and waited for Mudworm.\u00c2\u00a0 After she came by and they received and scolding from Jimmy we took off at which point my calf seized.\u00c2\u00a0 I played it off as though I blew my clipping into my peddle.\u00c2\u00a0 We caught Mudworm at Skyline.<\/p>\n

From the Skyline and Gist it is about 500 to 700 feet more climbing before the summit and a ripping decent to Foothill Expressway.<\/p>\n

From the car we drove over to Los Altos to have coffee with Jimmies Wife and the 4 Month old son.\u00c2\u00a0 We beat Jimmy there by about 2 minutes.\u00c2\u00a0 He road his bike.<\/p>\n

It was an incredible day finished off with a few hours at the gym.\u00c2\u00a0 When ever I sat around by calf’s would twitch reminding me of one of the tougher days in the saddle for quite some time.<\/p>\n

Here’s to sweat in your eye<\/p>\n

My post<\/a>:
\n======================================<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stats:<\/b>
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<\/p>\n