Week 4

Date
January 24, 2015

Distance
100 miles

Strava Link
Week 4

Route Map/Profile

Lovelock, NV

Weather

Picture

NV 399 in Lovelock

Ride Report
I did another 4-day block of 100-mile rides to train for Petoji and this was day 3. I drove out to Lovelock, which may not be known as a cycling destination but actually has some great roads. I started out in Lovelock and headed west on NV 399, which is a paved road that connects a mine to Lovelock. NV 399 was great. There was almost no traffic out there and I enjoyed the scenery. If you're like me and love the desert but hate traffic, this is the road for you. The pavement is pretty smooth except for the last 2-3 miles before the pavement ends.

I rode back to Lovelock and then headed east on Coal Canyon Rd. The road surface was rougher, but again the scenery was great and I saw less than 5 cars out there. Eventually the pavement ends, so I turned around and headed back to Lovelock where I rode a few extra miles to get the nice round 100. It made for a nice early-season ride. There wasn't any difficult climbing, but enough ups and downs to keep things interesting. Above all, it was refreshing to be out in the desert with nobody else around.

Week 3

Date
January 12th, 2015

Distance
100 miles

Strava Link
Week 3

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
This was day 4 of a 4-day training ride I did for Petoji. I stopped and did this ride on the middle of my drive from Death Valley back to Reno. It was colder than Death Valley, but not too bad considering that the whole thing was above 5,000 feet. The wind really seemed to pick up in the valley as I made the turn north towards Hawthorne, but the scenery was great out there and traffic was super light. You really couldn't ask for more this time of year.

My legs felt pretty good considering that (A) it's January and (B) I was riding my 4th 100-mile day in a row. I've said it before and I don't know why it is, but the 2nd day is always the worst. By days 3 and 4 you start getting into a groove. Who knows how long that groove lasts. I guess we'll find out in August.

Week 2

Date
January 9th, 2015

Distance
112 miles

Strava Link
Week 2

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Dante's View

Ride Report
This was day 1 of a 4-day training trip I did for Petoji. The route includes the Dante's View climb and the entire Daylight Pass climb. This is probably my favorite Death Valley route, with an out-and-back on 190 from the Mesquite Dunes area to the western border of the park coming in a close second.

The Dante's View climb is a lot of fun. It starts off long and steady, then finishes with a bang. The final section is 0.4 miles at 13% with a few switchbacks. It all pays off in the end with a great 360-degree view of Death Valley.

Daylight Pass is no slouch. It's 13 miles at a steady 6%. There aren't many twists and turns in the road, which means that you can really let loose on the descent if you want to.

If you've never ridden in Death Valley, you really need to give it a try. There are so many great routes to choose from and you can mix it up with climbing routes and flat routes. There's not that much traffic and most of the roads are in good shape. There are even a couple of free campgrounds. What more could you ask for?

Week 1

Date
January 3rd, 2015

Distance
100 Miles

Strava Link
Week 1

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Picture

Ride Report
Happy New Year. It feels good to be back doing this again in 2015. The weather was pretty good today- warmer than it has been recently and there wasn't any wind.

I have some time off next week, so I plan on going to Death Valley to get a few good days of Petoji training in.

2015: The Preview

Introducing Petoji.net

2015 is going to be a little different. I'm focusing 100% on one goal: riding across the country. It's going to be a credit card tour from Pescadero, CA to Jekyll Island, GA that I've named Petoji (PEscadero TO Jekyll Island). The dates are July 30 - August 22.

Riding across America has been a dream of mine for more than 10 years. I've always wanted to do it at 100 miles per day for ~30 days, similar to what America by Bicycle  does. Quite frankly, I've always made the excuse that it's hard to find 30 days off to complete the ride. I thought I'd be able to take the time off after I did this or I did that.

It's time to stop making excuses. I can take 24 days off this summer, which gives me 23 days to ride. So I made a route that starts somewhat close to home and is close to 3,000 miles. Here it is: Petoji.net

I'll have a few extra goals, but Petoji is by far the highest priority and I'll build my whole year around it. Here are the goals for 2015:

1. Ride across America
2. Ride a century per week
3. Complete another Everesting ride

Happy New Year to everybody and best of luck accomplishing your goals.