Friday, May 05, 2006

Palo Alto Baylands Ride



Took an easy ride to the Palo Alto Baylands to clock up some mileage in my legs.


1242 track points (blue diamonds) laid by the GPS unit.




It's about 10 miles (via Central Expressway) from my apartment to this paved trail by NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View. This 1.1 mile straightway is part of my inline skating route.




Again, this gentle uphill, coupled with a stiff breeze coming from the bay, makes for great training on inline skates.




It's about 18 miles (28.8 km) from Santa Clara to this point.




Watching the sunset over San Francisco Bay at the end of the elevated walkway.


Epilogue
Total distance: 35.7 miles (57.1 km).
Elevation climbed: 540 ft (164.6 m).

Ride conducted solo.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!

I'd love to bike over that wooden bridge. It's very hilly where I live and it kills me to ride, but I love it!

Great photos...

-ben said...

Thanks, Amy :-)

Yes, that elevated walkway over the pickleweed marsh is quite long.


It's very hilly where I live...


Perhaps lower gears might help? Maybe an 11-32 or even a 12-34 cassette? (Don't forget to use a longer chain and check if your deraileur is a long-cage type first!)

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I do use lower gears on the uphills (I have a 15 speed) but I must be out of shape. I get totally winded! I'm working on it, though.

-ben said...

Ah! Some caveats though. Make sure your seat is high enough. A rough guide should be that your knee should be slightly bent when the crank is at the 6 o'clock position. (Make sure your seat post can go that high without going beyond the maximum line). This is very important as too long a seat places severe stress on the front of your knee (knee cap). The axle of the pedal (spindle) should be directly under the ball of your foot.

A very, very rough guide is: if you are seated on your saddle and both your feet can touch the ground easily (i.e. not tippy-toes), your sadle is set too low.

Pain in your hamstring / back of knee = saddle set too high.

Pain in the front of your knee (e.g. knee cap) = saddle set too low.

heatxsink said...

Man I miss those sunsets!! Those are some great photos!

-ben said...

Thanks, budd!

Yes, I love it when everything turns into orange, blue and black. That's when you need techno music on, man!

Anonymous said...

I just took my husband through some of these photos. Really great. Thanks for sharing the beauty of California with the rest of us!

-ben said...

You are most welcome, Amy!