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cycling
Cycling As A Child
Early 1960s
Cycling for me started early growing up in Minnesota when I was probably 6 or 7 years old. My dad bought and rebuilt 2 sturdy bikes for my sister and I. We were in heaven. However one time another kid slid against my front tire and I went forward off the bike. Before I went over my chest hit the handlebar without a handle cover. It knocked the breath out of me and I had a semi circular scar on my chest into my 30s.
Cycling for Transportation
Fall 1968 - Spring 1970
In Junior High I bought a 10 speed. I used to save the bus money my parents gave me and ride my bike all the way from Kensington to Adams Jr. High in Richmond. Let's say I was in very good shape!
1970 - 1975
I was on the bike a lot as it was my transportion. A took a couple of spills and broke my left wrist. Then one day it got stolen out of our open garage. I think my parents thought that was a good thing.
Cycling For Work
1979
When I moved to San Francisco I worked for Rudy Gomez Photostats. Beside shooting photostats, one of my jobs was to deliver jobs to local clients with a big Schwinn with a delivery basket in the front.
Cycling For Conditioning
1984
For my personal use I had bought a 35 lb. Schwinn which I rode around the Presido a bit. My neighbor Mandy Bucoy had a beautiful Tommasini road bike and I became convinced to get a "professional" bike.
I searched ads in the SF Chronicle and finally found a Bianchi in some faraway town called Vacaville. Little did I know that I would eventually live most of my life 10 miles southwest of there in Fairfield! I went and bought the beautiful Celeste painted speedster. It was hot in Vacaville and I asked the store employee when do they ride in this heat - he said "real early in the mornings". I gave it a test drive - the bike was light as a feather compared to the Schwinn and power off the line was incredible!
• Backside
Le Tour De San Francisco
Spring 1984
My first race. Not sure what I was doing in it because it was for serious riders and some amateurs like myself. Anyways I didn't do too badly - I found myself passing up a lot of people on the Lincoln grade next the ocean. I attribute it to the Schwinn heavy clunker I had before - I actually had built up quite a bit of leg strength.
Hooked on Cycling
I now had a mean machine and found myself cycling most weekends. I would look for various club rides in the bike tabloids and started meeting other riders.
I met a fellow rider on one of those club rides - Michael (Last name?) (architect worked on Green St. SF across where I used to work for Hodes) and we did a (century?) ride in Marin. We didn't do the the century option - I think it was more like 50 miles.
We were learning all about "breaking wind" not what you think - basically 2 riders trade leading and "breaking" the wind - the guy on the end gets pulled in the vacume and barely pedals. The scary part is that to be effective you have to be with inches of the front persons back tire.
We met a cute blonde rider you was dragging a bit. We pulled her into our rotating crew and made her ride a lot easier. We soon started riding together on future rides - to include the Banana Classic.
Skyline Cycling Club Link
Banana Classic
Summer 1984
My first century ride with friend Michael and ? (short blond haired girl we met on Marin Century ride). The ride left West Valley-Saratoga College parking lot. The ride went straight up Highway 9. About 3/4 up the 10 mile climb, of continuous standing up on the pedals, I felt a twinge in my right knee. Pain is common in heavy road cycling - you take it for granted - but I wasn't familiar with severe tendonititis - which is what I had. I rode the rest of the 90 miles in that condition - that was a mistake. I could have taken advantage of a sag wagon but just didn't know any better and rush of the ride was too exciting. 10 hours later back at the finish we ate food like crazy.
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Injury and Rehab
The week after my knee was really sore - tried getting on the bike - I pressed down on the pedal with my left leg and the pain was great. I couldn't ride for probably a month.
I loved bicycling and didn't want to stop. I determined that needed to get serious about my conditioning and get educated. I bought books and learned that I needed to keep a log and adhere to a exercise plan.
I think this was a life lesson that you can't take serious endeavors lightly - you may have to carefully plan a path to success at everything you do. Rah Rah!
Stewart Bartlet and Steve Garson after the St. James Century. What's not showing is how sore we really were!
• 1960 - 65 Cycling - Minnesota
• 1965 - 75 Cycling - Kensington
• Adams Middle School, Richmond, CA
...Attended: Fall 1968? - Spring 1970
• 1979 Cycling - San Francisco
• Le Tour De SF - Spring 1984
• Banana Classic - Summer 1984
• 1985 Cycling - Recovery
• 1986 Cycling - The Plan Working
• Gold Rush Century April 19, 1986
• 1987 Cycling
• St. James Century Mar. 09, 1987
• Hekaton Classic - Sept. 06, 1987
Cycling / Training 1985
1985 was a learning and training year. My inital training ride was the Presidio circuit which was about 10 miles and SF to Ross and back - about 35 miles, rides with my buddy Jon Berg - Paradise Drive Tiborun loop and club rides with Marin Cyclists, etc. I did one ride with my blonde friend from Sausalito to Highway 1 along the ocean. A bee flew up her shorts and stung her. My assistance was unfortunately denied. Later back down the mountain the new hub on my back wheel was cross threaded and stripped leaving me stranded. She had to ride down ride up the 240z and get me while I waited.
Cycling 1986
Started the year off with "The Plan". Within 5 weeks I was up to 100 miles a week. Week 6 was my 2nd and much more successful century ride. Did this ride in 6 hours knocking my time almost in half.
Cycling Logs - 1986
Basically the conditioning plan was - ride 10 miles week 1 then add 10 miles week 2 for 20 miles. If you missed a week or went less miles then planned then you had to drop back down 10 miles. Really simple plan but you had to keep good records and be honest!
Basically the conditioning plan was - ride 10 miles week 1 then add 10 miles week 2 for 20 miles. If you missed a week or went less miles then planned then you had to drop back down 10 miles. Really simple plan but you had to keep good records and be honest!
Log 1
Feb. 1986 - Apr. 13
First recorded ride
Feb. 1986 - 19.1 miles
7 9th Ave. (home in SF) across the GG Bridge to Ft. Cronkite and then back home. Notes say: hilly, short (ride), beautiful trip, views tremendous, saw a bobcat on high peak w/ abandoned radar.
Log 2
till Sept. 9, 1986
04/19/86 Gold Rush Century - see below!
05/12/86 Start new job at Sobel Advertising
08/07/86 Rode to work in San Rafael - 28 miles.
08/23-24/86 To Palisade/Sierra Neveda with Doug Moss 6k ft. up and down.
"Second Ever"
Gold Rush Century
April 19, 1986 • 100 miles • Log 2
Merced - Hornitos - Highway 49 - Hornitos (Lunch) - Back to Merced
My first real test of my new conditioning program - man did it work! 6 hours or 16.6 mph. It was hot and I remember the last leg back to the Merced school start point seemed endless.
On the way up to Hornitos I felt I was doing well, but struggling a bit - I could hear loud talking and laughing behind me. It was a group of 3 guys plowing right up the hill on past me. Obviously in much better shape than I thought I was.
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St. James Century 100k
May 9, 1987
Log 3
till Nov. 9, 1986
09/18/86 Rode from home to work and back - 49 miles. Evening over the foggy, misty, slippery GG Bridge is spooky - noise of the foghorn nearly blows me off my bike. Sometimes this route back over the GG Bridge presented problems - if i didn't get to the bridge by 9pm the 10 ft. high cyclone gate was locked and blocked the walkway access across the bridge. It happened to me once and I had to throw my bike over the fence.
09/29/86 Break 1,000 miles on odometer.
11/01/86 Home up to Mt. Tamapalis to home. 48 miles in 3:30 hrs.
11/09/86 Go on Sierra Club ride - Ft. Mason - Paradise Loop - Ft. Mason. I picked a speedy looking cutie all in black to team up with. Melinda Morris turned out to be one of the slowest - but gave us time to get to know each other. We dated for a year untill I moved up to Fairfield.
1987
Log 4
till March 7, 1987
01/13/87 X- Country skiing Tahoe Donner and 1 day at Sugar Bowl.
03/07/87 Mt. Tamapalis 3:45hrs/48 miles/12.8mph
Log 5
till June 4, 1987
04/18/87 Dublin - Mt. Diablo - Dublin with Melinda 2:30hrs/41 miles/16.4mph
St. James Century
March 09, 1987
Davis • 5hrs/67miles/13.4mph
With Stewart Bartlett. Starts in Davis and goes around the flatlands and near the hills west of Davis. Stewart had a dirt bike and a century was a bit much as he started to hit the wall but gutted it out to the end.
My right knee was a bit sore after the ride so had a 2 week layoff.
Log 6
till end of 1987
06/08/87 to Sunol Regional Park with Melinda 2hrs/20miles/10mph I remember there was some kinda bbq at the park and we did some square dancing.
06/22/87 Sierra Club ride Yountville - Moskowite - Swim in Lake Hennessey - was hot out - Yountville
07/01/87 Sobel (work in San Rafael) - Lucas Rock - Sobel. Exhausted from too much work and too much exercise - I crash - go to hospital. I take time off from work and reaccess my "take the mountain at any costs" attitude and realize I need to pace myself better. If work is too heavy got to back off on the exercise.
08/01/87 Do China Camp loop with Jon Berg
08/15/87 Fully recovered I do Home - Paradise loop - home with new riding partner Christine. 3:30hrs/42miles/12mph
08/24/87 Carmel - Down Hiway 1 - Carmel with Melinda 1:10hrs/20miles/17mph
08/30/87 Allosauri
Samuel Taylor Park - Pt. Reyes ocean - STP 2:30/38miles/15mph
Hekaton Classic
September 06, 1987 • 6hrs/100km or 64.5miles/11mph
With Melinda and Karen. Karen gets a flat - I fix it or so I thought - less that 100 feet later, another flat. Turns out there is a metal sliver stuck in the tire that keeps punturing the inner tube. Fixed and back on the road.
• Larger view • Side http://www.basecamphq.com/tour2
10?/87 Melinda house - Livermore Valley - Melinda house 2hrs/23.5miles/11.75mph
01/02/88 Moved to Fairfield
Cycling in Solano County
Things changed quite a bit with the move to Fairfield. Not the plethora of cycling clubs/rides.
02/15/88 I do a ride with Roger Madison out on Grizzly Island but a lot of it on gravel roads. 3hrs/30miles/10mph
Ride up to Vacaville and back.
Best ride is out to Gordon Valley Road.
I've taken it further by going out to Moskowite Corner and back.
I'm writing this 02/24/08 and haven't been on the bike in over 5 years or more. Been replaced with high octane basketball that doesn't take as long and weight lifting.
I do miss cycling - the scenery, traveling to different places, meeting like minded people and just the general physical rhythm of cycling. You really have to think about your body - my eating habits greatly improved.
707 439-5323
me@
stevegarson.com
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