Half Dome from Glacier Point - 9/2007
Reload page to see different photo.
All web site content except where otherwise noted: ©2026 Bill Bushnell
Background texture courtesy of Iridia's Backgrounds.
Please send comments or questions to the .
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 67.4 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 5170 feet |
| Total Time: | 6:07:43 |
| Riding Time: | 3:28:02 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 19.4 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 39.1 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1200 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 1126 |
| Wh/mi: | 16.7 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 45.6 |
| Peak Current: | 46.4 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 788 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Mount Hamilton, November 26, 2015 - The final climb of the Low-Key Hill Climbs 2015 series promised to be cold. Coordinator Kevin Winterfield had driven up the mountain the day before and had posted on Facebook chilly-looking photos of the road with snow alongside and the mountain enshrouded in cloud. It had been several years since we had had a cold ascent of Mount Hamilton, so we were probably overdue.
The hardest part about biking in the cold is stepping out the door. Once I'm on my bike and have warmed up a bit, the cold isn't so unpleasant. So it was on this day. The first few miles of riding from home to the start were hard, but as I warmed up, I forgot how cold it was.
When I arrived at Alum Rock Avenue and Mount Hamilton Road a short queue had formed at the check-in area. Yet, the number of participants seemed lower than in warmer years. In the end there were 88 participants, only slightly more than half the limit of 150. Although I was slightly disappointed not to see better turnout, a smaller group had its advantages. It would be easier to manage at the start and to check-in at the finish line.
On the shorter climbs earlier in the season I had asked for a 10-15 minute head start so that I'd have time to get positioned for taking photos, but with the longer climb, I had no need for this special dispensation. I started a few feet ahead of the main group that queued at the start of Mount Hamilton Road. We all took off as soon as Kevin beeped the car horn and started for the summit ahead of the group.
The first climb started well. The sun had risen and temperatures were rising. The road was mostly dry and clear in the corners. But my good luck would soon end. Near the top of the first climb I overtook a motorist driving slowly as if unfamiliar with mountain roads. Fortunately, she saw me and pulled over leaving enough space to let me by, but only after I had followed her for about a minute.
On the first descent I did not go as fast as I had last year. A couple of the corners can be treacherous with dampness, leaves, or gravel. My delay from the aforementioned motorist probably killed any chance I had of beating last year's time of 50:05, the occasion on which I recall having wasted no time at any point on the course. So, I saw little to be gained and much to risk by attempting to make up the loss on the downhills or in the corners.
Today was also the first use of my new bicycle horn, a device I have used only for the Low-Key climb up Mt. Hamilton due the curvy road and the popularity of the climb on Thanksgiving Day with other groups of cyclists who often ride abreast in the lane.
My old horn gave up the ghost a few curves before the finish last year. When I disassembled the old horn during its post-mortem to discover why it rattled, several pieces fell out. The old horn had been shaken to death.
My new horn, another Ebay special, looks sturdier and has a more fearsome look, its sounder buried deep in the throat of a flared bell. Consistent with its appearance, it produces a louder tone than the old horn.
While the new horn makes more noise than the old, I cannot select the style of tone. I liked the polite and consistent "beep-beep" sound of the old horn, but this horn employs a variety of rotating sounds that differ each time I press the button, from something that sounds vaguely like a European hi-low siren, to a buzzer, to a whimsical circus calliope, none of which is the beep-beep sound that most recognize as a bicycle or moped horn.
On the few occasions I used the horn to notify cyclists riding abreast that I wished to pass, a few cyclists were likely confused by the variety of sounds it produced and did not make way in a timely fashion. Since I was no longer riding for my best time, I was not upset by these small delays. But this could be a problem in the future.
About half-way up the third and final climb I felt the temperature drop, and I noticed that I was unable to get the full 1000 watts out of the battery. The low temperature was causing my battery voltage to sag as I discharged it below 35% state-of-charge (SoC). I could manage about 700-800 watts at a comfortable cadence or the full 1000 watts at an uncomfortably low cadence. I opted for a comfortable cadence. Next time I do this climb on a cold day I will carry an extra battery to avoid having to discharge below 35% SoC on the climb. The extra 3.5kg is more than made up for by having another 150 watts (at the wheel).
After I reached the summit I rode straight to the post office where the rest rooms were open and the heat was on. I changed into dry clothes I had brought with me, 3 layers on the head, 5 above the waist, and 3 below. When I finally emerged to find a photo shoot spot, I was feeling warm, dry, and comfortable.
In years past I had taken photos on the prow of the mountain at the final curve before the summit. The light is good there, but the painted pattern on the retaining wall behind the subjects is distracting. My first thought this year was to photograph cyclists rounding the bend as they make the turn from the main highway to the Lick Observatory access road.
I was about to head down to this spot when I noticed that no one was set up to take photos at the finish line. After I confirmed this with Kevin, I changed my plan to photograph finishers at the finish line.
Getting good photos or staying warm would be mutually exclusive. If I sat in the sun to be warm, I'd be shooting into the sun. I chose to get good photos, which meant sitting on the cold ground in the shade. Pat gave me a spare clipboard to sit upon. It would at least insulate my tush from the cold driveway.
After checking light conditions and taking a few test shots, I settled on the following camera settings: 1/500 second (for crisp subjects, even if my tracking was imperfect), f-5.6 or wider, exposure bias of +1.0 EV initially, reduced to +0.7 and +0.3 EV as the sun rose further. Even with the positive bias I had enough light to shoot at ISO125.
Photos out of the camera gave properly exposed backgrounds but underexposed subjects, even with the exposure bias. I shot in RAW mode and illuminated the subjects using "virtual flash" in post-processing, the low ISO giving me enough latitude to do so without introducing too much noise grain. Compensating for under-exposure usually yields better results than compensating for over-exposure. The downside is that this ended up being quite a bit of work, each photo requiring two or three radial filters to pull up the subjects in a pleasing manner that I hope is not too obvious. The intended effect is one of properly-exposed subjects against a recognizable if motion-blurred background.
I would have preferred that the other volunteers and spectators had positioned themselves behind the finish line so that each subject would be against only the railing and a distant background. While the stage hands were slightly motion-blurred, I further minimized their presence by desaturating their colors as much as I could without creating noticeable "dead spots" or colorless halos in the background scene.
That said, Carol, in particular, the most frequently seen in her many-tentacled stars-n-stripes cap, created some interest as she interacted with each finisher, interrogating them for their number, occasionally with a pointed finger. In one case a finisher had stopped 20 feet short of the line, and she ordered him to keep going. I don't think she missed anyone.
I managed to get at least one shot of everyone in the event, except for the Wholeys whose finish time came past my cold-tolerance time.
I decided to leave in the final set all shots of finishers that turned out well rather than to choose what I thought was the single best shot of each finisher.
My descent went uneventfully except for the moment near the helipad some distance down from the summit when a large buck leapt across the road 20 feet in front of me as if from a stylized highway advisory sign.
As I climbed the Trimble/US101 overpass I saw that I was not able to pull more than about 350 watts from the battery. I could see that my computer was limiting power output to protect the battery from heavy current draw as the battery voltage dropped to 22 volts under load near the end of its discharge. I continued home under power but at a somewhat slower pace than usual. After I arrived I estimated I had less than 1 amp-hour remaining.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 80.3 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 7980 feet |
| Total Time: | 7:20:05 |
| Riding Time: | 5:07:32 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 15.6 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 48.0 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1800 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 1185 |
| Wh/mi: | 14.8 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 46.5 |
| Peak Current: | 41.4 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 830 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Mountain Charlie, November 21, 2015 - I was out the door at 0630, a half-hour before sunrise. It was my first ride this season leaving home in the cold and dark, but there was not too much of either. Temperature was no less than 5C, and the eastern sky was already light enough for me to see the road without tinted lenses.
I thought of riding up Page Mill Road, then south to CA9 into Felton and around to the gathering spot in Scotts Valley, but the usual delays in getting out the door counseled for a more direct approach. In the end I rode up CA9, over Castle Rock and then down Skyline and Summit and down Mountain Charlie. I rationalized the decision to shorten my ride by using the opportunity to check road conditions on Mountain Charlie and to settle on a spot not too far from the top from which to take photos.
Just below the Submarine House a large tree branch had fallen half-way across the road. As I was stopped checking to see how easy it would be to move the branch, Frank Paysen came by and together we decided to leave the large branch be. Even if our combined strength had been sufficient to break the remaining fibers that held the branch to its stump, the branch might then have fallen entirely onto the road, blocking it. We pushed it aside as far as seemed prudent and necessary and settled for breaking off the smaller hard-to-see eye-pokers that were sticking out into the road. As long as riders were paying attention, no one should run afoul of the larger fragments.
I found a couple of possible spots near the top for photography, but none of them was ideal. Most were too shady, or had dreaded speckled sun and shade, that leads to hot spots on the subjects. The first location in full sun was the one I chose, although it ended up being sub-optimal. Another spot almost two miles from the top seemed too far down for me to have time to set up properly after I finished my run.
Mountain Charlie Road (in combination with Bean Creek Rd.) is my favorite route for returning to the south bay area from the Santa Cruz area. I had never ridden it at maximum speed (that was on average still under the posted speed limit), and I knew it would be technical due to the poor surface, the sharp blind corners, and the downhills, often in combination. Fortunately, course marshalls had been stationed at the worst of these.
I could not use maximum power for the entire climb, and in a couple of blind curves I had to delay before passing other cyclists, so my score suffered somewhat. I doubt I'll climb it as aggressively again.
After I reached the finish line I returned down to the spot I had chosen and set up for photo-taking.
In hindsight I could have reached one of the lower spots, but by the time I realized this the lead group was nearly upon me.
Using shutter-priority at 1/400 second with a variety of zoom settings (that depended on subject arrival density), moderate apertures, ISO125, and lots of post-processing, the final result was competent if unexciting, unlike the images Carl Werner took from a curve not far up from the bottom of the climb that offered good light on the subjects against a dark background and captured some feeling of speed in the curve.
I retraced most of my outbound route inbound, riding with Dan Connelly as far as Upper Zayante, then in proximity to Dan Pankratz as far as CA9. To avoid riding back through too much of the city I took Pierce and Mt. Eden over to Stevens Canyon on the final inbound leg.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 70.1 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 5230 feet |
| Total Time: | 6:08:46 |
| Riding Time: | 4:00:54 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 17.4 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 48.5 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1200 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 1012 |
| Wh/mi: | 14.4 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 39.9 |
| Peak Current: | 44.0 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 709 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Old La Honda, November 14, 2015 - This set of photos on the dark overgrown road proved to be the most challenging.
I rode to the start to check-in, then at about ten minutes to the hour I left to ride to the base of Old La Honda. After I turned right onto Old La Honda I continued up the hill without pausing, reaching the top about 12 minutes later. I made a U-turn at the limit line, then coasted downhill a short distance to my favorite spot on this climb where two large ivy vines hang low from a branch about 30 feet above the road. The scene reminds me of sections of Old Mamalahoa Highway on the east side of Hawaii or on the north shore of Kauai.
Although the view of these vines is more striking from the downhill side, I stuck with this spot as there was a convenient place to park my bike and to sit while photographing riders climbing the hill. The spot was less than 0.2km from the top, making rider identification straightforward.
Since I was photographing cyclists not ivy vines, the latter do not figure prominently in any photo. But ivy covers the ground in that area, providing a neutral background allowing the riders themselves to contrast nicely in the scene. The main problem was low light.
Having stopped at this spot on a similar day recently and checking exposure levels I knew light would be dim. ISO would be 1000 to 3200, the latter producing noticeable grain in the images.
For these action shots I prefer to use shutter speeds between 1/250 and 1/500 second so that the subjects (cyclists) are reasonably sharp while still giving some motion blur to the background as I pan and shoot. I decided to risk a slightly longer shutter speed of 1/200 second. The slower shutter meant less noise-producing grain at the risk of increased motion blur. Slower shutter than 1/200 second would have resulted in less grain but more motion blur and more shots that were too blurry to use. Cyclists climbing a hill at their greatest effort tend to bob and weave on their steeds more than they would otherwise, and this effect can be seen in a number of images. A faster shutter would have given more grain and perhaps images that were too dark, the camera or post-processing unable to compensate. The images turned out better on the whole than I expected, though still not up to the quality I'd expect with more light available.
A couple of interesting side-effects of the low-light conditions and subsequent increase in gain to compensate, bike tail lights cast more light than is otherwise observed such as Rupesh Kapoor's tail light creating a eerie red glow on the bottom of his saddle, or the sunlight reflecting off the "200m to go" sign appearing as a flaming torch.
I selected images that rendered the bike hardware and writing maximally sharp. Four participants' images were too blurry to include in the final set. Several were taken from unflattering angles. I had the hardest time getting good shots of every cyclist in a group of three or more. I found that I tended to focus on the cyclist leading and trailing in such a group. I generally kept one image for each cyclist, but if I got more than one good image, I selected two for the final set.
The images are on the soft-focus side of what I prefer, and I had to use quite a bit of noise reduction to soften the grain though still short of an amount that turns the subjects into cartoon images. These are best viewed in small to medium-sized browser windows.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 62.7 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 6390 feet |
| Total Time: | 6:01:08 |
| Riding Time: | 3:47:27 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 16.3 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 44.0 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1200 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 1037 |
| Wh/mi: | 16.6 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 41.0 |
| Peak Current: | 45.5 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 726 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Bohlman, November 7, 2015 - After self-timing myself up Bohlman Road (using a GPS device) I returned to a spot about a half-mile below the finish area that I had considered for photographing riders on the climb.
Catching riders on a downhill at a curve is difficult to do, but when it works, it makes for a more dramatic photograph. After trying this for the first time on the Page Mill climb, I decided to give it another go.
The curve I selected had good light and was at the bottom of a slight downhill, so riders would be moving fast and be leaned over in the curve. Following the curve is a sharp uphill that would catch many off-guard in too high a gear, giving me time to snap a back-up shot if the in-curve shot didn't turn out.
The curve had a bit of dust and gravel. In the short interval I had between my arrival and the arrival of the leaders, I brushed some of the gravel with my gloved hands and moved it to the center or edge of the lane. It was all I had time to do. I figured that an experienced cyclist will know to pick a line that follows one of the two auto tire tracks through debris on the road. A broom would have taken 5-10 minutes to completely clear the gravel and dust from the road, but I had not brought one, and once riders started passing, it would have been hazardous for me to try any sweeping there even if I had.
Kieran Sherlock passed before the leaders, and on his way back down the hill he stopped 100 yards below the curve to shout warning of gravel in the corner. Although this was, of course, the prudent thing to do, my in-the-curve photos ended up being less dramatic. About 2/3 of the riders heeded his advice and slowed to the point that they hardly leaned at all. The rest either swung through heedless or swung wide, a couple of times nearly into my position seated at the outside. No one went down or off the road.
The back-up photos of riders passing me while climbing the short steep hill after the curve were technically better--the light at the curve was flat, causing the subjects to blend into the background too much.
Camera settings were 1/250 to 1/500 second, f-stop 7.1-11, and lens zoomed moderately. ISO gain was low due to the good light.
After the climb I rode back to the end of Bohlman then continued through El Sereno Open Space to Montevina Road. On my way over the high point I encountered a group of Low-Key'ers stopped by the road making a valiant effort to snap a recalcitrant saddle nose back onto its rail. Then later at Saratoga Gap I caught up with another group that had come the same way and continued to Page Mill Road with Bruno Acklin, then onto Old La Honda Road to scout out possible photo shooting spots.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Distance: | 6.2 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 1800 feet |
| Total Time: | 2:24:08 |
| Hiking Time: | 1:58:35 |
LKHC: Purisima Creek, October 31, 2015 - Frank Paysen and I carpooled to the Skyline Blvd. trailhead for the Purisima Creek Trail. Frank planned to ride, and I planned to hike/walk the climb. Frank rode down Tunitas Creek Road, and then via the coast to the lower end of Purisima Creek Trail while I hiked down the trail to Grabtown Gulch Trail before returning up the hill while on the clock. If all went well we'd arrive at the top at about the same time. Hiking down the course would give me the opportunity to photograph others climbing from the other direction, some of whom were not doing the Low-Key climb, and some of whom might have wondered who was this weird guy with the wide-brimmed hat and camera snapping their photos and calling out their names as they ride by. I took photos of everyone I encountered while I hiked down the trail.
Photography under forest cover is notoriously difficult due to the high contrast and varying light conditions. I used shutter priority at 1/320 second and let the camera adjust gain as needed. Aperture remained pegged at fully open. 1/320 second is fast enough to give reasonably crisp images while panning yet still give a pleasing background blur. The subjects would be passing nearby, so I kept the lens near full wide angle. I used no in-camera exposure compensation, but while post-processing I compressed the highlights and shadows to reveal detail, and enhanced color.
Most of the photos turned out acceptably, some surprisingly well, and others were underexposed and barely usable.
Frank started up the hill about five to ten minutes behind me. He called out as he approached me from behind so I could pause to snap his photo. Other than Frank, I took no other photos until I reached the top of the climb where I took a posed photo of the Kennedy brothers, who had also just finished.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 60.7 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 1940 feet |
| Total Time: | 5:16:30 |
| Riding Time: | 3:08:29 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 19.3 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 35.2 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1200 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 901 |
| Wh/mi: | 14.8 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 35.2 |
| Peak Current: | 43.7 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 631 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Mill Creek, October 24, 2015 - As I had left home a little later than planned, I rode over to the gathering point for the climb up Mill Creek Road by the quickest route I could think of.
After speaking with Janet Gardner at the check-in area, I rode over to the bottom of Mill Creek Road just as Janet and other volunteers were arriving to set up the starting line.
As soon as Janet had set up the start line cones, I lined up, checked to make sure my GPS unit was functioning, then started. I wanted to get to the top and back down a short distance to where I knew I could find a good spot to shoot photos, and I wanted to get there well before the first arrivals.
The climb up Mill Creek Road was unexpectedly exciting. Low-Key cyclists were warming up on Mill Creek, and while there really isn't an alternative road nearby, I thought this put unnecessary traffic on the narrow road. In one case a group of three were spread across the road, taking almost the entire width. I timed my pass so that I had just enough space to get by on the shoulder without slowing down too much and where I could see there was no oncoming traffic—I apologize to the cyclist I passed most closely, if I startled you. I probably should have installed my horn for this climb.
I passed a few small parties of people walking on the road, and for them I slowed down a bit and passed with as much room as I could. I encountered them on uphill sections, so I wasn't going fast. Further up I passed a parking enforcement officer driving down the hill in her jeep who yelled out her window to remind me to, "Ride carefully!" Mill Creek Road was as crowded as Times Square.
I have no doubt that my time was longer than it would have been had the road been empty.
As I got further up the hill the crowds thinned. I saw no more walkers on the road after I passed the first gate connecting to Mission Peak Preserve. Perhaps the walkers entered the preserve at that point.
When I got to the end of the road I coasted up to the gate at the utmost point before pausing and turning around. Volunteers had just set up the finish line cones some distance back and were busy getting ready for the finishers. I lingered only for a minute then descended to my photo shoot spot that offered a nice view of the east bay and Mt. Tamalpais in the distance.
I found a spot in the ditch next to the road such that I was shooting toward the view. I'd get multiple shots of each cyclist, unless they were in tight bunches, and I could choose the best for the online album. Some of the shots would have the view, others would be close-up with facial detail at 45 degrees, and others would be very close in profile view at 90 degrees. At a cyclist's climbing speed my tracking focus ought to be able to track adequately, but to be safe I set the f-stop to at least 7.1.
The photos all looked 2/3 of a stop too dark out of the camera. Fortunately, the underexposure was easy to correct during post-processing, but I'm puzzled how this occurred given the even and direct light available. In any case the shots were mostly in focus this week, and in many cases I had a hard time deciding which shots to cut out to avoid duplication. I ended up allowing more than one photo per rider if the additional photos were of roughly equal quality but offered a different perspective.
Carol Ordemann came by first, surprisingly me before I had taken my camera out of its bag. So, I only got one slightly out-of-focus shot of her.
About half way through the event I moved my position about 30 feet further down the hill to avoid getting my bike in the profile shots.
After I was finished I rode down the hill, passing three motorcycle police with lights flashing. Perhaps they sought an improperly parked car. (There is no parking on Mill Creek Road.)
My route home closed the loop around the south bay by continuing north through Fremont and Union City before heading south for the Dumbarton Bridge and then home on the usual bike route.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 78.9 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 7210 feet |
| Total Time: | 6:45:00 |
| Riding Time: | 4:23:12 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 17.9 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 50.3 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1800 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 1399 |
| Wh/mi: | 17.8 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 55.4 |
| Peak Current: | 44.0 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 979 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Alba, October 17, 2015 - The weather report sounded more threatening than it was. "Scattered showers with thundershowers possible", intoned the weatherman. All weather web sites had the chance of precipitation in Ben Lomond in a tight range from 0 to 10%. Those were good enough odds, and if I got wet, it wasn't that cold anyway. My main concern was slick roads on account of not having had a good cleansing rain yet this season. The worst I saw all day was a little dampness on CA9 south of Saratoga Gap.
I left home at 0720 and pedaled with modest effort. Due to the long distance I didn't need to pedal hard to get a good warm-up, just hard enough to stay warm on the climb while wearing short sleeves.
I took CA9 most of the way and encountered several small groups of cyclists, one of whom yelled as I passed, "We're going to the same place!" It's nice to see participants riding to the start of the event, even though it's a pretty long warm-up from the valley.
I arrived in Ben Lomond almost exactly 2 hours later to meet Dan, Cara, Lane, Giles, Pat, and the rest of the crew who had set up a table in front of Ben Lomond Park. I also stashed my spare battery in Frank's truck so I wouldn't have to carry the extra 8 lbs, 3% of my total weight, up the hill.
Since I had planned to take photos some distance down the hill from the top, I started early so that I'd have time to get set up before the fastest guys came by.
Before I started at the bottom of Alba, I spoke with Carol Ordemann, the other e-bike rider who was worried her motor might quit on her before she reached the top. On her reconnaissance ride earlier in the week, her motor/controller overheated 2/3 of the way up, forcing her to stop and wait for it to cool. I advised her to pedal harder in a lower gear to help the motor. She must have heeded my advice as she got further up the hill, this time almost to the top, before her motor quit on her, and her son-in-law competition, Dave Collet, overtook her.
On my climb the bike felt sluggish, the controller surging a bit. It tends to do that when I'm trying to pull more than 800 watts from the battery and my generic Chinese controller is running warm, as it is not perfectly tuned to my motor, and the negative feedback that caps my input power at 1000 watts probably contributes to the oscillation. It hasn't yet quit on me under these conditions, but the problem is annoying. Fortunately, I seldom try to pull the maximum 1000 watts continuously.
After I reached the top I made a U-turn on Empire Grade Rd. and descended quickly to my photo shoot spot.
Cloudy skies today would provide a pleasing light without harsh shadows, so I chose the only sunny spot along Alba Road where I knew I would get the most light, increasing my likelihood of getting quality shots.
After last week's photos suggested I might do well to increase depth of field, I shot today's set in aperture-priority at f6.3-f7.1. A thicker cloud came over just as the first arrivals went by, and my shutter speed dropped to 1/125 second, a little too slow to get crisp images of the subjects. I noticed that the camera was in auto-ISO mode and favoring ISO 200, so I forced it to 400, enough to allow me to use a faster shutter, but not so high that the images got too noisy. This kept the shutter speed at or above 1/250 second, the minimum that provides a higher likelihood of a crisp image of the subject in "pan and shoot" while still offering noticeably pleasing speed blur. Although 1/125 second works well if I pan with the subject's motion accurately, a range of 1/250 to 1/500 second is less risky, the shorter shutter better if a sharper subject is more important than speed blur. Once I had it dialed in I stuck with this setting for the rest of the set.
After the last cyclist climbed by, I started up the hill briefly until I encountered Frank, who was descending, I then turned around and descended with Frank to his truck in Ben Lomond to retrieve my spare battery.
My route home took residential roads through Ben Lomond, through the secret passage at the end of Hihn Road to Mt. Herman Road, then into Scotts Valley before climbing up Bean Creek and Mountain Charlie Roads. The remainder of my ride home proceeded without incident.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 48.7 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 3190 feet |
| Total Time: | 4:17:52 |
| Riding Time: | 2:35:54 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 18.7 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 42.4 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1200 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 745 |
| Wh/mi: | 15.3 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 28.8 |
| Peak Current: | 43.2 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 521 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Page Mill, October 10, 2015 - Big toenail was still broken and loose, but there was no longer any pain. So, today I rode the hill climb up Page Mill Road.
Since my first two preferred photo shooting spots were spoken for (finish line and Montebello parking), I decided to try capturing participants on the short descent near Alpine Road. The idea of catching cyclists on the descent would be an interesting change from the usual shots on climbs, and it would also present a challenge.
To assure that I'd have time to return down the course and get set up, I requested and received an early start time. Those extra few minutes would help.
I found a spot at the last downhill corner before Alpine Road where I had a few seconds warning before a subject moved into the shoot zone.
My position was less comfortable than it first appeared. The sun shone hotly, and there was no breeze. I had left my wide-brim hat at home, thinking fog might still be present. The slope of the ground had me sitting facing uphill, and this made my back sore after about a half-hour.
At one point I lied down on my back to rest my back, head at the downhill end. This must have looked too unnatural as many cyclists returning down Page Mill (and up the short hill past my position), thinking I wasn't well, stopped to ask, "Hey dude, are you OK?"
Most of the photos were taken at 1/1000 or 1/2000 second, so I expected crisper images on the close-ups. I might have gotten sharper images had I fixed focus at the apex of the curve, but that would only give me one chance to catch each subject. Continuous shooting mode and tracking focus gave me up to three opportunities. With groups it would be hit or miss.
I found the limit of my camera's tracking focus feature. At the higher speed the subjects were moving, tracking focus was too slow or too late. It would establish a lock, but there's a short delay between focus lock and shutter, and during that delay the subject would move quickly out of field, resulting in out-of-focus blur. Argh! In hindsight a deeper depth of field (higher f-stop) might have helped, but I didn't want to raise the gain (ISO setting) too high to compensate, while keeping a short shutter. Graininess had been a problem last week.
Sky, nondescript walls, grassy fields, or other plain backgrounds work well. The oaks in the background were a little too busy. To help focus the viewer's attention on the subject, I sucked the color out of the background during post-processing.
I'm trying out a new photo presentation package with this set. So, let me know if you like it or not.
Error corrections are welcome.
| GPS track: | GPX |
|---|---|
| Bike Ridden: | Power Gold Rush |
| Distance: | 26.5 miles |
| Cumulative climbing: | 2360 feet |
| Total Time: | 3:24:20 |
| Riding Time: | 1:35:45 |
| Avg. Speed (moving): | 16.7 mph |
| Max. Speed: | 37.8 mph |
| Nominal System Voltage: | 24 |
| Battery energy capacity: | 1200 wh |
| Battery energy consumed: | 461 wh |
| Wh/mi: | 17.5 |
| Battery Amps-Hour Used: | 17 |
| Peak Current: | 39 Amps |
| Motor energy to rear wheel: | 323 wh |
| LKHC: | Results |
LKHC: Montebello, October 3, 2015 - I didn't ride the event today due to my having broken the big toenail on my left foot and having slept poorly the night before. So, I showed up to take photos from a spot with a nice view toward Mt. Hamilton.
Although the view was nice, the subjects were back-lit, which means I had to do a lot of post-processing to even out the exposure. I also saw after the fact that I should have used a longer zoom on many of the images that were cropped severely to obtain a reasonable subject size. These photos will look ok in a medium-sized browser window, but don't try to blow them up too much, or you'll see the noise.
Because I wasn't near the finish line and couldn't rely on the finishing order to identify all arrivals, I relied on memory and guessing a few times to identify the participants. Error corrections and missing names are welcome.
All web site content except where otherwise noted: ©2026 Bill Bushnell
Background texture courtesy of Iridia's Backgrounds.
Please send comments or questions to the .
