Friday, May 15th, 2009

Road: A BOOB (Bohlman/On Orbit/Bohlman) Ride

BOOB — Bohlman/On Orbit/Bohlman

Erik and his buddy Derek wanted to do this ride after work on Friday. I wasn’t going to miss out the fun, um, I mean, the pain. The traffic was surprisingly light when I drove down to Saratoga. I was glad that Derek showed up late because I needed the time to swap my pedals from my mountain bike to my road bike because I forgot to bring my shoes for the road bike.

A short approach took us to the bottom of Bohlman. “Rolling start!” The boys took off sprinting. I wasn’t going to participate in their silly little game, so I took it slow. It was not very far into the climb, I caught Derek. I could hear him still breathing hard — recovering from the sprint effort.

This was my second time on this climb. Bohlman before On Orbit turned out to be easier than I remembered, and On Orbit turned out a little harder than I remembered, but not too bad. I took a wrong turn at the top of On Orbit and ended up climbing up to a Cul de Sac and had to turn back. I forgot that On Orbit ends with a steep descent back onto Bohlman. Bohlman after On Orbit turned out longer than I remembered and I passed a rider in San Jose Cycling Club kit pushing his standard double slowly. I love my tripple!

When I got the end of the road, Erik was leaning against the “End” sign taking notes of our times. This is what he posted to the Mud ‘n Crud forum:

My Name Is Mud 37.22
Mudworm 41.05
Delbomber 44.23

We had a good chat afterwards at some pastry shop. Their muffins are delicious!

Update on May 22, 2009 (a week after):

MyNameisMud  36:24
Mudworm 36:51
Delbomber 43:59

I guess it helped to know what turns to take and what not to take. Also, I did not brake at every short downhill curves on the upper part of Bohlman this time. I knew I could make some improvement this time, but I didn’t expect this much. Pleasantly surprised.

Ongoing updates can be found in this thread.

2 Responses

  1. # Alison Chaikenon 22 May 2009 at 6:47 am

    Well, you beat me:

    http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2007/week3/results.html

    The LKHC went all the way to the end of the road. Don’t tell me that your time includes going all the way to the end of the road *and* a wrong turn!

    I have climbed BOOB only once since then. It is a fun challenge!

  2. # mudwormon 22 May 2009 at 8:57 am

    Okay, I won’t tell you then. We might do this this afternoon too. Come and join us!