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| "A" Group tackles Moeser Lane |
I established a new, "Elite" P 1,2 group this year, and it was well attended, and those guys really beat each other up good. Amazing speeds on the climbs all day. I will let Elite guide Josh Dapice describe his group (see below). The "A" group was also the most competent and fast we've ever had, and many were able to latch on to, and hang with, the Elite Group. The "B" group was also super competent and fast, led by Gaston McMillan. Bill Dunn led a very small "Nifty Lite" group.
My "A" group was about 15-20 riders strong, and the pace was pretty hot from the gun. I dangled at the back, pushing a bit at the top of each climb to catch up, so that I could lead the tricky descents. Everyone rode well, very safe, yet fast. I was especially thrilled to have my Marc Pro - Strava teammates along, Christopher HD, Glenn Rawlinson, Kevin Susco, Kevin Keenan, and George Smith.
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| Marc Pro - Strava guys at rest stop |
I have some preliminary results below for three segments of the ride. Marin KOM demonstrates a rider's maximum climbing ability while fresh, on a short, steep climb. Claremont/Grizzly/Vollmer shows a rider's ability on a longer climb late in the ride while fatigued. And the overall moving time demonstrates the rider's speed over the entire course. Some data is missing. Some Elite riders took a slightly longer detour, and hence the times are not perfectly accurate. But since they took a "long cut" vs. a "short cut" it isn't necessary to DQ them as I had threatened. Gaston's B group report is below the results. If you know where you placed on the Marin climb vs. your peers, but did not upload to Strava, let me know and I will insert you in the results.
Special thanks and kudos: To Gaston, Josh, and Bill, for leading their groups. To Clif Bar for bars, gels and blocks at the rest stop and Gu, for some Roctane products at the start. To Clark Foy for helping out with the course.
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| Large group at rest stop |
First thing in the morning, I saw blue skies to the East, and I thought that we'd have some killer views later in the day. But some rather brisk Westerly winds blew in the marine fog, and dampened the views. On the bright side, temps were cool and comfortable for climbing hard, and we had a nice tailwind going up Claremont partially compensating for the rubberized legs, and making times slightly more respectable. It was overall a great day and a very successful event. My only regret is that we didn't have more women participating in the ride. With 70 or so riders, we only had one woman, Alison Chaiken. I hope to see more women participating next year.
Bill Bushnell rode the Nifty on his hybrid electric bike. Bill has a great blog and does wonderful, very descriptive write ups on his adventures. View his blog entry here:
http://mrbill.homeip.net/
Results for overall moving time are approximate and only show those who uploaded to STRAVA. Those who circled at the top of climbs, or went backwards to help another rider will have slower times. Elite group, and some "A" riders took a slightly longer course, probably adding 5+ minutes to their time.
Note: If you uploaded to Strava later, and do not see your results below, please let me know and I will add them. macpaulster@gmail.com
Marin Ave KOM Climb #3
Christopher HD 6:58 (Overall Strava KOM, Nifty Record, Sub 7!)
Carl Nielson 7:05 (3rd overall Strava)
Bill Laddish 7:11 (5th overall Strava)
Josh Dapice 7:13 (6th overall Strava)
Clark Foy 7:51
Rob Manchester 7:59
Jim Whimpey 8:00
George Smith 8:02
Kevin Susco 8:05
Ken Cluff 8:09
Graham Cooper 8:12
Daryl Spano 8:16
Kevin Keenan 8:16
Brian Vaughn 8:20
Marcello Pederson 8:23
A P 8:32
Glenn Rawlinson 8:38
Sae Stunna' Mark 9:07
Steve Shores 9:11
Paul McKenzie 9:15
Tom Ferreira 9:25
Ron Portola 9:44
Patrick Herlihy 10:03
Van Sutton 10:09
Floyd Williams 10:15
Alan Weatherall 11:05
Lenny Lesser 11:38
Gaston McMillan 12:20
Vladislav Luskin 12:26
Janos Roja 12:49
Eric Bain 13:06
Bryan Culp 13:19
Wilson Tai 13:26
Dimitry Livdan 13:23
Brian Kelleher 13:32
Paul Liu 13:36
Peter Widjaja 13:46
Dodeca Rokolla 13:53
Bruce Burkhalter 15:34
Mike Gill 16:00
Bill Bushnell 6:10* (*Hybrid Electric Bicycle)
Claremont/Grizzly/Vollmer Climb #10
Christopher HD 21:20 (2nd overall on Strava)
Josh Dapice 23:21 (Josh has Strava KOM on another day)
Bill Laddish 23:21 (3rd overall Strava)
Rob Manchester 23:47 (4th overall Strava)
Daryl Spano 25:10
Clark Foy 25:44
Glenn Rawlinson 25:45
Paul McKenzie 25:56
Kevin Susco 27:09
Kevin Keenan 27:13
Carl Nielson 28:14
Graham Cooper 30:24
Floyd Williams 30:45
Ron Portola 31:36
Alan Weatherall 31:56
Brian Vaughn 32:03
Lenny Lesser 32:37
Sae Stunna' Mark 32:40
Matt Price 35:09
Gaston McMillan 35:13
Frank Meltzer 35:22
Patrick Herlihy 37:16
Van Sutton 37:34
Dimitry Livdan 38:20
Vladislav Luskin 39:16
Mike Gill 44:22
Paul Liu 46:51
Peter Widjaja 48:26
Dodeca Rokolla 52:31
Bruce Burkhalter 55:05
Eric Bain 58:46
Bill Bushnell 25:14* (*Hybrid Electric Bicycle)
Overall Moving Time (4 Hour barrier is broken!)
Josh Dapice 3:58:00
Christopher HD 3:59:00
Bill Laddish 3:59:00
Glenn Rawlinson 4:04:00
Clark Foy 4:08:00
Kevin Keenan 4:08:00
Daryl Spano 4:11:00
Michael Golub 4:15:00
Matt Price 4:19:00
Paul McKenzie 4:20:00
Carl Nielson 4:21:00
Kevin Susco 4:21:00
Jim Whimpey 4:25:00
Bryan Davis 4:29:00
Brian Vaughn 4:29:00
Graham Cooper 4:33:00
A P 4:34:00
Marcello Pedersen 4:40:00
Alan Weatherall 4:43:00
Ron Portola 4:50:00
Floyd Williams 4:51:00
Patrick Herlihy 4:56:00
Matthew Santillan 5:00:00
Lenny Lesser 5:04:00
Van Sutton 5:05:00
Sae Stunna' Mark 5:07:00
Dimitry Livdan 5:08:00
Gaston McMillan 5:08:00
Dodeca Rokolla 5:31:00
Vladislav Luskin 5:33:00
Peter Widjaja 5:34:00
Mike Gill 5:51:00
Paul Liu 6:19:00
Eric Bain 6:32:00
Bruce Burkhalter 6:35:00
Bill Bushnell 4:38:00* (*Hybrid Electric Bicycle)
Josh Dapice's Elite Group Report:
I should have known that something was up when our “9:30” group was all assembled and ready to go at 9:15. Looking forward to a brisk morning with a few climbs through the east bay hills I figured there was no harm in getting started. We had a small but top notch group consisting of Bill L, Carl N, Chris HD, Clark F, Daryl S, Rob M and Tom R. We immediately headed off up Moeser lane at a pace that had my Garmin spitting out some remarkable watts. Pretty interesting for a day that promised 10,000 feet of climbing!
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| Elite Group (l to r) Daryl Spano, Clark Foy, Rob Manchester, Josh Dapice, Bill Laddish Christopher Harland-Dunaway. Photo: Carl Nielson (also an Elite Group member) |
• Clark setting a diabolical “welcome to the NTF” pace on Moeser. Definitely set the tone for the day.
• Bill, Carl and Chris taking off from the very bottom of Marin. Bill and Chris posting incredible times even after taking a few breaks at Hilldale and Keeler.
• The awesome rest stop set up by Paul near the Brazil room. Great spot to recover a bit and grab some Clif Shots and pretzels.
• South Park – Bill going berserk at the bottom and sticking it all the way to the top via his endless surges.
• Sharp eyes spotting Mr. Strava himself Michael Horvath on Grizzly Peak Blvd. coming the other way.
• Snake Rd – beautiful climb that inspired some race-style attacks. Even towards the end of the ride guys were making huge efforts (joined by Ted H. from the earlier group).
• Daryl committing at the bottom of Hiller, almost the end of the ride and one of the steepest parts of the day. I have no idea where he found the energy.
• Chris trying to work out how to get home from Domingo Peets, unaware that we had one, final 1,500 foot climb to the top of Vollmer yet to go. Chris ended up crushing the rest of us on the climb regardless.
This has to be one of the best ways to post good Strava times. It obviously wasn’t a race, which lent itself to extremely aggressive climbing. The East Bay has many superlative riders who ride these climbs regularly year round (OK maybe not Marin or Hiller) so it was pretty impressive to see where our group stacked up. I’ll be eager to see what folks can do next year.
I wanted to thank the guys I rode with for (a) being in such a good mood all day, (b) riding safely, and (c) tolerating a few routing mishaps. Thanks Paul for a great day. Click on names below to see their Strava file.
Bill L
Carl N
Chris HD
Clark F
Daryl S
Rob M
Gaston McMillan's "B" Group Report:
There is something beautiful and elegant riding with a group of new
friends; streaming downhill in a serpentine line making our way to the
next climb and seeing the riders ascend to the top of the ridge. And on a
day like today, through the course of the Nifty Ten Fifty it happens
again, and again, and again. As the guide, or 'B' group leader, I lead
most of the descents through the twisting turning course and would glide
back as the stronger guys in the group make there way to the top where
they could have a rest.
In truth, the 'B'
group was great, many or most, like myself, were taking on the challenge
of this ride for the first time, and there is nothing like a new shared
experience to bring people together. And we stuck together really well
through the day. I think there were about 35 people at the start, and we
were about that size coming into the last climb.
Moser
and Terrace kicked us off, not really a warm up, not quite a suffer-up;
we made it to the parking lot of the school as a nice big, perhaps
overly optimistic group. Of course, Marin tried to crush that optimism,
to no avail. We took off for El Toyonal in good spirits. it's true that
after Marin, El Toy doesn't seam that hard, even though we know it is. I
think we also expected to see the Elite and 'A' group about the time we
were reaching the top by the steam trains, even taking a moment to
water up. We were doing well, keeping them at bay - for the moment. From
there I missed a left turn, which we went back to make as a right, and
then made our way through the Alma mater of some of the riders before
heading up Centennial. Someone said they thought it was longer, I felt
it was long enough. After heading down to Wildcat we made short work of
Canon before the rest stop.
At the rest stop,
everyone converged and we lingered. Everybody was happy to get some food
and drink as well as catching up with each other for a few minutes. The
feeling was charged, palpable. We'd made it through the half way point
and everyone was doing well and feeling good.
The
2nd half takes us to some of the great neighborhood climbs of Oakland,
after Southpark to bring us up where we make the longest ride between
climbs for the day. We all were looking forward to Snake and Broadway
Terrace as they weren't out to strike us down like Marin or the upcoming
Hillier. It was on these two climbs that the strong men of 'B' group
made their way off the front pacing their way to the top. It was on
Snake that we got, for a very brief instance, to glimpse the climbing
acumen of the Elite and 'A' group. They passed me so fast I started to
put a foot down and step off my bike.
After
these two climbs we headed to Hillier, a tough 'ol climb that kicks off
the ramps through Claremont Hills. The 'B's stuck together really well
through here, it's a twisty trail of turn and climbs that eventually
lead down to Tunnel and then to Peet's for a cup of coffee. Except when
we got there the idea of stopping just didn't sit well with most of the
group and we headed directly to Claremont and Vollmer Peak.
I'd
like to say I was in roughly the middle, finishing in 5:17, with about
an hour of stopping added to that. And it was a great group to be in the
midst of; everyone enjoying themselves, keeping us all together,
watching out for each other, riding at a steady yet challenging pace,
and being safe. I wish I could remember everybody's name; some I'll find
on Strava, some I'll recognize when I see them on the road, all of them
having shared the experience of an amazingly fun and sometimes
difficult day riding in the Eastbay Hills. I can't express my appreciate
enough; to the 'B' group and everyone who showed up for a great ride
among friends, and especially to Paul McKenzie. Thank you, everybody,
very much.
Bill Dunn's Nifty Lite Report:
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| A group of Nifty finishers on Vollmer Peak |
The
Nifty Lite (aka The Thrifty Nifty) is offered both as an intro to the
Full Nifty and as the lessor of all evils. The route typically
avoids Moeser, Marin, and Hillier as well as the
southern neighborhood climbs ad then ad libs some extra climbs,
generally garnering between 6,500 to 8,000 feet of gain.
This
edition ran with 3 or 4 coincidences and one, maybe two glitches. For
the last few years the thrifty group has been composed of Paul's wife
Janet, myself, Brian Crowley(who stopped by to say Hi at the start) and
Becca Heald, a local friend of Janet's who joins us for a part of the
ride; basically one gal and two guys for the whole thing. (With all
the hits that Paul was getting on the website we were expecting more
this year.) This year it was Barry ____ , a local who can be seen in
brown and white front and center in the Rest Stop photo, and Alison
Chaiken from Mt. View.
So two guys and a gal again.) None of us were sure about how much we
could do, but we were all wanting to go just like the other groups.
As leader, I did tell Alison (who was cautious descending) that we'd wait for her, but I didn't tell her that we'd wait at every actual turn, so
when she saw the El Toyonal sign on Wildcat Canyon she turned off, then
realized her mistake, and continued on down. By that time Barry and I
decided that she must have cut over so we went ahead hoping we'd run
into her, maybe find her waiting at the top of Lomas Cantadas. As luck
would have it, Barry and I stayed on El
Toyonal while Alison followed the prescribed route (thereby gaining a
shortcut) and then ran into us as she emerged.
As
we continued Barry saw that he was feeling pretty good so at the rest
stop he decided to go with the B group. We saw him later on the
southern descent of Grizzly Peak Blvd looking like he was having a fine
time fitting right in.
Alison
and I enjoyed the wonderful South Park climb and the climbs just off of
Hillier and then made our way to Peets where Alison declared that she
just couldn't take... another long descent! Truth be told we had be
riding in cloud and mist up to that point and she had gotten chilled,
and it made sense for her to wind her way back to the start along the
flatlands. That left me to enjoy the tailwind going up Claremont Ave
all by myself, where I found myself missing Janet and Brian to help egg
me on to keep going. I found, however, that even though my flesh was
weak, my spirit still wanted to GO.
I
really like the Nifty Ten Fifty because it serves as a wake up call and
as an eye opener to both steep, steep climbs that you'll probably never
see in such succession the rest of the year, and to the fact that even a
"Lite" rider can climb through some number of them without pulling
ones legs out of the hip sockets!
Finally
the last coincidence came at the afterglow pizza party attended by Bill
Bushnell, Gaston, Paul and I: Bill Oldham usually leads the B group
and even though he couldn't make it this year, we still had two Bills at
the
party!
Thanks Paul and everyone: it was great fun once again!
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