She’s pretty but tiring, because she comes late to the party after you’ve sort of petered out on food and drink and are ready to take a nap. I’m talking, of course, about Paradise Loop’s Camino Alto climb. Going in the normal direction (as opposed to Reverse Loop, which I do more often) Camino Alto comes last. Again, after a few months of riding, this loop is an easy breezy bombing run. In January, after holiday treats and rains and in my case no sleep thanks to wee Z, it’s a great workout. On the road bike, like earlier in the week, thanks to the efficiency of gearing choices, its a fast loop. And if you’re a little low on energy towards the end, no worries, that’s what that derailleur is for. But on fixed, no such luxury!

Since the plan, as it stands, is for Team Lope Tyre Clubbe to do AIDS/Lifecycle fixed this year, we’re doing as much riding fixed as possible. Mid-year in seasons past I would usually have one of my fixed gear bikes at the office, and be commuting in from SF on the road bike or another fixed gear whatever the case may have been on any given day. So I would tend to do Paradise fixed, and I always found that the descents were more tiring than the climbs, merely from the work involved in maintaining a limited speed downhill. This time I’d say it was about the same degree of difficulty up and down, given my fitness level being what it is so far. It’s still really early, and I’m pleased at having enough juice in general for rides without injuries or over-exhaustion. We were in good form yesterday.

After a quick breakfast of bagels and coffee, Lung and I set out from my house in Mill Valley and started Paradise later in the morning than usual, which meant more cars but warmer air (still high 40s). During summer, it’s practically impossible to do some of these rides mid day because of the onslaught of tourist cars and such, but it’s January and cold and not many people were out, bikes or cars alike. Since we had originally intended to do Tam, but decided to go fixed instead, we were fired up for a little more work, so we did the Strawberry extension to Paradise Loop, which adds extra miles and three or four hops to it, which is a great warm up. I don’t do Strawberry at lunch all that often because it pushes the ride duration out longer and I like to get back as close to an hour later as possible. After Strawberry, you’re nice and warmed up (despite the air) and ready to hit Tiburon and the climbs up into Paradise Cove. We made a very good pace, and pushed on through up through all those great windy hills and then finally down into Corte Madera, up to Camino Alto, and then stopped to take these pics at the top of that climb before descending into Mill Valley.

I was feeling the strain on Camino Alto, though Lung shot up that hill with impressive speed. My asthma was giving me grief, and I burned my bagel up, so I was lower on fuel than I’d like, but still pushed through at a solid pace and hopped out of the saddle at the end for a sprint which felt great. The funny thing about climbing on fixed gears is the reactions from others: some girls doing roadside cleanup cheered us on which was nice, especially since they knew what a fixed gear WAS, and a few roadies were complimentary of the bikes and our riding of them. Often, roadies’ reactions to a fixed gear on climbs range from incredulity to scorn to bewilderment. I’ve seen a lot of it, riding these hills and also commuting from SF and back on them. So many misconceptions about what CAN be done (inf not what SHOULD be done) on fixed gears among roadies and city hipster riders alike. The fact is, like Lung enjoys pointing out, fixies are great trainers regardless of what you normally ride. GREAT workout on climbs, no coasting or excuses, and you do what you can with the gear you brought. I love it.

Anyway, great ride, and nice to come home, warm up and Q the buffalo burgers for science!

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