Agave

2806.3; 100.8 miles!

Sometimes in crossword puzzles, they have the clue "century plant" and the answer is "agave." Very near to halfway through my ride today, I saw an agave plant.

Well, I got started, and I just kept goin'! Lunch at the Dry Creek Store is becoming a popular destination for me. Started north on Dry Creek Road, but ran out of shoulder and came back to Lambert Bridge Road and cut over to West Dry Creek, SO much nicer. At Yoakim Bridge Rd., no choice but to take it over to (East) Dry Creek, but the shoulder wasn't bad from there, and traffic fairly light.

Then, Dutcher Creek Road, a pretty substantial climb in mid-afternoon heat, and then a long cruise downhill to find myself in Cloverdale with over 45 miles on the meter!

Ice Cream! Couldn't find the drive-in/walk-up ice cream stand I had imagined I'd seen before in C'dale, and had to settle for a vanilla bar with chocolate coating from the freezer at a Mexican deli. Ate about half of it.

Decided the known evil was better than the un, so back over Dutcher Creek Road I went. I followed the same route back to the Dry Creek Store, by which time I was ready to eat the second half of my sandwich and refill my hydration pack. Then back through Healdsburg, Eastside (I hit 75 miles at the Riverfront Regional Park--another new favorite stop), Laguna, bike path, the usual, but I saw that I was gonna be about three miles short of 100, so I took a half-mile detour into Santa Rosa and then rode south out of Sebastopol til I had 99 and headed for home. All told, about 11 hours, including two lunch stops, ice cream, various rest stops.

Again didn't really hit the wall until about 60 or more. Oddly, no leg pain. Quite a lot of butt pain, and a bit of shoulder soreness, and I'm sure my leg muscles will be sore tomorrow (and the next day....), but I have my 120 for the week (137, actually), and less than 200 miles now to go to 3000!

Now that I've done a century, what next? Well, there's always 110! Seriously, I think I'd rather settle in to a good routine, and I don't really see a need to do more than 60 miles at a time, except for special occasions.

Burnside Burn

2705.5; 21.0 miles

I started out with a much longer ride in mind, and noticed about three miles out that my odometer wasn't working. On closer inspection, it appeared the cable-tie holding the sensor on the fork had been sheared off by my loading of my bike with another on the car rack yesterday. Miles the odometer doesn't see? They don't exist. So about 6 "ghost miles" back to the bike shop (West County Revolution), where they kindly affixed TWO cable-ties. By then I was rethinking my ride, not sure where I wanted to go, but no longer in the mood for 50+. I gravitated toward the mighty, fearsome Burnside Road ("English Hill" on this map, if it shows terrain as selected):


View Larger Map

I'd never before climbed this hill without at least two stops. It gains about 1000 feet in about 4 miles, all told. Today, I found I couldn't get into the lowest front gear without a derailleur adjustment that requires a phillips screwdriver, which my not-so-handy bike tool doesn't have!), so climbed it in 2-1 at best, and WITHOUT STOPPING, in about 40 minutes. Whoo-hoo! (It's a spectacular view up there, one of the best in the county!)

The other side could easily lead to 40mph+, except it's so badly potted and, in some places, slick, so I was seldom much over 30 mph, and riding the brakes for most of it. All in all, a slow start on my week, but I'm still easily in the running for a 3000-mile year.

I drove it later and filmed the climb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiN8zFlZq6g

Swimming in Place

2668.7; 31.5:

Just trying to get my 120 on the week without aggravating the hip/knee soreness from Tuesday's epic ride, I squeezed by (124.2 if I don't ride any more this week--probably will try to get another 16 tomorrow). This is already my biggest month ever; will wait till the end of the month to post that mileage.

Uneventful. Early start; the usual Forestville run, and then back to the start for the Santa Rosa round trip, allowing for decent miles without getting too far from home. Got farther without leg pain, and found it going away after rest stops; so I think that'll be okay.

Trader Joe's macadamia, cranberries, almonds, and ginger is a good trail snack. Add some of those tart montmorency dried cherries next time!

West Best

2620.5; 76.0

New record, one that I hope won't stand for too long. Left a little late for a "longish" ride--had no definite plans other than to check out West Dry Creek Rd., which continues north beyond Healdsburg from Westside Rd., and probably figures into any century I might do this summer. Home by 6:40, so almost exactly 10mph average... obviously, need to leave a bit earlier if I want to do a century!

West Dry Creek is about another 11 miles of rolling hills among vineyards (Raymond Burr is for sale...), really pleasant with quite a lot of shade interspersed with sun, a slight upgrade, I think, and an eventual dead end so there's not much traffic (and that upgrade means a downgrade on the return trip).

Then I cut over on the Yoakim Bridge Rd to (non-West) Dry Creek Rd.--a MUCH less pleasant proposition, with 50mph limit and slim shoulder. Had lunch at the Dry Creek Store, a really nice stop (note: that's included in my total time and ~10 mph avg). I ate half a Pannini with turkey and cheese--still have the other half. I also ate three graham crackers, about 10 cherries, and a small package of trail mix at various stops on this ride.

Had enough of Dry Creek and decided to cut over on Lytton Springs and Chiquita Rds., which turned out to include a pretty big climb with seemingly no reward, just a big vista and the Healdsburg airport at the top and seemingly almost no downgrade into Healdsburg. Then Eastside, Trenton-Healdsburg, Laguna, Guerneville, Willowside, and the bike path.

I did NOT hit the usual wall at 35 miles--felt I was just getting started then! I made sure to stop and rest regularly, drink lots of water, and just enjoy the ride. It wasn't till around 60 miles that I started feeling tired and slow (and sore! left hip and knee, and hands going numb), but I kept pushing on with reasonable rest stops and actually started to come out of it near the end, at around 70.

Saw a jackrabbit before it saw me, and got as close as maybe 20 feet before it saw/heard me and took off. Red-shouldered hawks still screaming everywhere--I'm guessing they're juves still trying to get food from the parents, but maybe the just like to scream. One notable red-tail; no other hawks. Looking forward to migration time soon, cooler weather and more big birds.

In these cases at least, West is Best: Westside Road more pleasant than Eastside, and West Dry Creek far better than Dry Creek. I could've come back down West Dry Creek and crossed over to the store on the Lambert Bridge Road.

Not a bad ride!

Starr and other astronomical problems

2544.5; 39.6

Lots of energy today for powering into sun and wind, wanting to get a sizeable chunk of the roughly 500 I need to get to 3000 miles on the odometer in the next 30 days. Also wanted to get 125, if possible, on the week--not to difficult with 87 already logged--just a question of which route to take. So I did the usual start out to Forestville and decided to widen the 30-mile loop a bit via Windsor, and come bak via Fulton Rd., and I could decide at the bike path whether I wanted to loop through Santa Rosa for 10 miles or cut across 12 for about 5. Before that, though, there was a matter of a flat tire and tube replacement, conveniently occurring next to the Fulton Youth Park, with shade and a nice rock wall to sit on. Done & done, quick buzz home from there, and we're looking good.

At 29 You Get Ice Cream

2458.4; 40.9

And I'm on the home stretch of a year owning this bike, trying for a little over 100 miles a week for the next four weeks to put it up near 3000 miles (any bets?).

I scouted Sweetwater Springs Road on Friday. It's an eight-mile back road with some pretty serious climbs, twists and turns, one-lane stretches, and a lot of cow gratings. Very little traffic, as it's mostly vineyards, ranches, and lumber mills. I decide today to just try to get to the top of the first big hill and not go too far down the other side (though it goes through to Armstrong Woods near Guerneville, the roads from there back home aren't very safe, as far as I've seen, so any hill I go down, I gotta come back up). About 2-1/2 miles in I reached one such pass and so turned around maybe a little earlier tan I'd've liked. That was 18 miles into the ride, so I still had other hills to climb. I stopped at the Wohler Bridge and looked at the map and decided to try a new way back. So instead of crossing Wohler bridge again, I went back to Westside Road and followed it to the end on River Rd. It was quite warm by now and I was "feeling the burn" from a weekend of no exercise, so I stopped at a little store I've visited one before on River Rd, now 29 miles into the ride. I was willing to pay 89 cents for a banana, because I was a little worried about cramping up. Also willing to buy a plastic bottle of water to somewhat refill my pack, and a Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia bar, just because I could (actually only ate half of that, but it WAS delicious). So from here, I didn't want to stay on River Rd., which has flocks of drunken teens driving 60mph with no shoulders (on the road, not the teens), and a guy I like to call "Inky" out there driving somewhere, who bought a 12-pack of Miller Genuine Draft, and whose tattoos ran all the way up his neck to his chin--won't HE be interesting if/when he's 65 and the jowls fall! So I found Martinelli Rd. on my handy SCBC BikeSonoma Map (and it IS a nice map and I'm glad to finally have one with me on these rides!

Martinelli Road was very pleasant after the frantic rush of River Road, but it delivered me onto a short uphill stretch of frantic, rushing Hwy 116, which ALSO had almost no shoulder and cars zooming by at 55-60mph. And "Inky" could well be coming up behind me at any moment, four of five beers into that 12-pack by now. But it was short, and soon I was back on the familiar bike path and home. So, almost 41 miles--it really felt like 50, given the heat and the climbing. And I'm certainly in good shape for a 100-mile week.

Westside, Eastside, Northside, Southside

2310.3; 52.2. Yeah, longest ride so far, but only by about half a mile. Really tried to keep the energy up, via 8-mile rests and small snacks. STILL got sluggish around 35 miles, but did manage to continue for (evidently) 17 more, stopping more often, but pressing onward. Man that WIND! It seemed particularly bad on the last stretch, the westbound Rodota trail. Stopped in at the shop to make appt for tune-up and ask about tire life. He says (a) if you're not getting regular flats, you probably have some mileage to go (b) the "tread" (really just angled grooves in the basically smooth tire) still has some depth, and you could probably keep going even when it doesn't (unlike a car), (c) If the tire spilts, you can use a dollar bill (?) for a temporary repair, or electrical tape you have ready by winding it e.g. around the seatpost.

Is a century doable? Jeeze, that's a tough call. It's basically two of this, but the second one a LOT harder, I'd imagine. I'm looking at Cloverdale as a probably round-trip destination for it. Lunch in Cloverdale, definitely. With an early start, on a good day, I think I could make it. Need to map out 60, 75, 80, 90-mile rides first, maybe, but I might also just get on the bike one day and go for it...

Some Miles Are Tougher Than Others

2258.1; 20.9

I snuck in five miles on Saturday with John, going up to Andy's produce for a veggie drink and some fruit to bring home.

Today, I just never got comfortable; never got in any kind of groove like I usually do. It seemed like every inch was Work--even the downhills were uncomfortable.

I will attribute it to my "weekend condition," nyuk nyuk, having not ridden (seriously) since Friday.

Further, I started hittin a sugar low at about 10 miles and had to stop and eat (new macadamia/almond/cranberry/cherry/ginger mix is quite good--so probably bad for me). A mile later, still didn't feel right, so consumed this "hammer" gel I've kept in the pack for times like this. One or the other kicked in and I felt okay by the time I got home.

Nonetheless, I did the Blank Road hill, the quite steep Orchard Station Rd. hill, and the short but tough Hessell grind, all without stopping.

Got a chin-up bar today; It may not work in this house, with tops of doorways only about 6" from the ceilings. If not, I'll make a place in the garage for it. Need to diversify my exercise portfolio AND have something to do when it rains or is too hot or windy or whatever for biking.

All Twos

2232.0; 49.4

If I'd known I was this close to 50, I'd have gone around the block! Usually I remember the starting mileage and have it running in my head all day, but today I wasn't sure.

Another Petaluma lunch run. I rather like these, because I feel I can eat and drink whatever I damn well please after riding 27 miles over hill & dale to get there--BUT keeping in mind that I have to ride similar mileage over hill & dale to get back, so must exercise a little moderation. So, ice water and thai peanut noodles with chicken. Couldn't finish the gigantic portion. Saw the ex-boss and a couple of ex-coworkers; that was a tough one, that job, but I'm proud of having turned things around as I did in the last year, and I always like to keep the network open, so was happy to make this little connection. And it's an excuse to ride to Petaluma and back.

New speed record: 43.1 on Spring Hill Road heading into Petaluma. I had to ride the brakes when it got a little rough--still could go faster on that hill!

I passed 2222.2 on the odometer right at the Washoe House on the return trip, which in turn is apparently almost exactly ten miles from home on this route.

Wind, wind, wind, nonstop. It was bad enough to slow me down on many of the good downhills, and to actually blow the bike around a little at speed.

Some of the hills and roads on this route are really daunting: Canfield Road hills; Bodega Highway with headwind and traffic; Spring Hill Rd. going up from the west; getting out of Petaluma; the Chapman and Eastman hills in the old 'hood; Stony Point with full-on headwind; Roblar with no shoulder and 50mph cars; the Hessel hill; then 116 with traffic and headwind. A weird thing happens, though--you just keep pedaling and eventually, you're there! I geared way down a lot of times in the face of the wind, and just took it easy getting on my way, so no time records today. I have to remind myself to stop and rest, for the sake of my numb hands and wish-it-was-numb butt. But it does seem this one was a tiny bit easier than the last one (which, granted, was about 2 miles longer).

And that's a 133-mile week!

Vine Hill Non-Stop

2182.6; 34.3

Almost the same loop as Monday, but on a whim more or less, I took Vine Hill Rd. instead of Laguna Rd. I managed to do that full section of Vine Hill without stopping, so I guess I've progressed! It added only a mile to the loop, but added a pretty major elevation gain too. I think I'm good for Petaluma Friday.

West County Trail near O'Reilly: woman reins in her kid as I approach and then for some reason lets go of him and of course he toddles right out into the path and I literally had to lock it up to not hit him. I like kids, but the parents really piss me off sometimes. I try to be polite on the byways, though, and generally do very well. At worst, I'll just say nothing and move on.

Trenton-Healdsburg Rd: Pickup truck couldn't wait to pass me safely, so barreled by right next to me. No shoulder there, not much to be done for it. Shortly after, teens in a sedan yelled something as they passed me; startled me, but no harm done.

Talked with a guy who may or may not have had a mental disability of some kind, on the Greenway near Santa Rosa. He'd just bought a mountain bike and the high gear wasn't working well. I offered my multi-tool, which he didn't accept, so just sat and chatted while I ate my Clif bar.

Then, on the Rodota trail near Sebastopol, homeless guy oddly veered his shopping cart right in front of me and again I had to slam on the brakes. WTF? The guy is always out there, usually oblivious, though he once said hi to me. Who but the republicans and neocons do we have to thank for this kind of person being left to wander the landscape unassisted?

Back in the Saddle Again

2148.3; 32.9

And so almost 50 miles on a week where I hope to clock a hundred (I did the short Forestville round-trip yesterday). Nothing much to report, except a little more fearlessness on the big downhills, and another 2 lbs lost at naked weigh-in this morning, for an even 200 lbs. and officially halfway to my stated goal.

Nice day for riding; not too hot or bright out; not a lot of people on the roads and trails; headwind not too daunting.

I plan to ride significant miles Wednesday and do the Petaluma lunch ride (though probably not the 50-mile big-loop version) Friday. And get more work done when not riding.

Two Thousand Miles

2009.5; 38.4

It's kinda (not) interesting to land on mileage that corresponds to the current month and year...

Hope to get one or two more rides this week, try to keep my weekly average around 100.

Headwind

1939.8; 32.9

That's total miles on the Marin bike, and mileage for today. Other info I track:

Miles per week (61.7), month (241.1), quarter (513.3), and year (799.0);
calendar days since start of quarter (50) and year (140);
riding days since start of month (7), quarter (17), and year (33);
Average miles per calendar day this month (12.7), quarter (10.3) and year (5.7);
Average miles per riding day this month (34.4), quarter (30.2), and year (24.2);
% of riding days this month (35.0), quarter (34.0), and year (23.6).

I track my blood sugar on the same spreadsheet. There's probably some clever calculation wherein I could show bike miles reducing that number, but in very simplistic terms...
Q1: 285.7 miles, blood sugar average 139.1;
Q2: 513.3 miles so far, blood sugar average 100.4 so far.

Once again, just trying to keep up momentum. Out to Forestville and back, then out to Santa Rosa and back, all on bike routes. Seem to need about 16 mph to ride hands-free, so with the headwind, didn't ride hands-free much today. Bought a second extra tube and have it on the rack now. Tires say 26" x 1.4. Tubes come in 1.75 or 1-3/8 widths--what's up with THAT.

I know I shouldn't say anything, but I'm about due for a flat--the last one was probably reported here, and was probably about 500 miles back. Well, I'm ready for it.

Will probably take a rest day tomorrow and then go for 40 or so, possibly to Petaluma again, on Friday.

Maintenance

1906.9; 28.8

Just a "short" ride to maintain the momentum from the big 40+ rides last week and before. Windy but pleasant riding on the Rodota trail to Santa Rosa and the Greenway back out to Willowside--a reliable 13 miles. Then took Willowside up to Guerneville Rd., to Vine Hill, to Green Valley, to the West County Trail. Instead of heading directly home from there, I went on out to Forestville and back first.

Felt sluggish at first, but oddly, had good power throughout--the Guerneville Road climb, usually a real slog for me, seemed like a snap today.

I have a sunset/supper hike with Sonoma County Land Trust tomorrow night, so I get a bit of cross-training there; haven't decided if I'll ride tomorrow or not.

I'm eating so much less of the fats and carbs and sugars, and with all this exercise, I FEEL the results even if I don't SEE 'em. But man, it's discouraging. I feel I shouldn't have to be starving myself here, and really, I don't know how I can reduce my intake so much without seeing SOMEthing. Afraid to weigh myself for fear I'll still be the exact same weight and might as well have gorged myself on Trader Joe's potato chips and Ben & Jerry's ice cream this whole time.

(Just for a little perspective, I've biked 766 miles so far this year--480 of that in April + May... and as you see, I'm very close to 2000 miles on the bike, which I bought last August.)

Well, for now I'll just keep going on faith. Maybe I can find ways to improve my intake for weight reduction, but really I'm not sure how much I'm willing to do--maybe I'm just *supposed* to carry this extra weight around. :-(

Peta-Loop

1878.1; 51.3

Bigger ride still. This also included some major, major hills, and the corresponding downhills, one of which (on Spring Hill Road) got me a new speed record, I think, at 37 mph--without even pedaling!

I had guilt-free pasta and half a beer for lunch in Petaluma after 26 miles. After lunch, it was a bit of tough going for a while, but I stopped for a longish break in Cotati and seemed to recover. I expected Stony Point to be really windy and was pleasantly surprised to have almost no wind, and in fact a little bit of a tail wind when a truck would pass me, making those last 10 miles easier than they could've been.

One problem with riding around this area: you want scenery, you get hills; you want flat, you get traffic, industry, commerce. That seems to be the trade-off.

I'm wondering about the headaches, always on the left side near my eye. Maybe I should start taking ibuprofen before riding on sunny days like this, or maybe my helmet isn't fitting right. I did remember sunscreen on my face and neck, but got sunburned a bit on arms and legs.

I don't see how I can do 100 miles, ever. This 50-mile ride took about five hours including the breaks, and I NEEDED every minute of break, so we're talking at LEAST 10 hours to make 100. However, if I can work out the formula for not hitting the wall at the 35-mile mark, maybe that'll make it all more feasible. We'll see. At any rate, gotta feel good about a week with 48- and 51-mile rides.

Two Rides

May 11: 1803.0; 48.1
May 13: 1826.8; 23.8

Neglected to blog the 48-mile ride, longest to date on this bike (longest ride ever: 65 miles, but that was not intentional!). It was good.The 22 miles from here to Healdsburg must be one of the nicest rides in the county, at least on a weekday. On the bike path from Sebastopol to Forestville, then down the hill to the river and Westside Road following the river. Rode back on Old Redwood Highway, which isn't the nicest route but probably is the flattest. I thought it might be shorter than the Eastside Road route from last time--not so. Though I had a long "lunch" stop in Healdsburg, I was still beat by the time I got home, and really struggled to keep up any speed the last few miles, and my hands were numbing out from riding so long--it seemed to take so much more energy to ride hands-free (and upright) I couldn't do it for very long periods towards the end. But still, a milestone and something to build on.

So today, I was okay with just a short ride--but not TOO short. Thus I went up High School Road from Sebastopol to Occidental, across the Laguna, left on Sandford, right on Hall, left on Willowside, and onto the bike path. I could've taken that straight home for 18 miles, but felt I should do 20+ to keep up my pace, so turned left on Llano, right on Todd to the south end of Sebastopol, and into and through town and home on 116. Kept up a pretty good pace throughout--didn't time it, but suspect I did better than my usual average of 12-13mph. Felt good.

Back in the Saddle

1754.8; 39.5

The usual 8-mile start out to Forestville, down the Mirabel hill, along and across River Rd. to Wohler and Eastside. Then a deviation over to Windsor Rd and up through the town of Windsor, before heading back south on Old Redwood Hwy, to Fulton Rd., and then to the old familiar bike path again. After about a week of rain, I was very much ready to get back out and continue piling on the miles.

Lately I've regained the ability (confidence, really) to ride no-hands, which is VERY beneficial on a longish ride like this, and probably necessary for anything over 50 miles if I don't want permanent numbness. I wasn't prepared for the additional wind resistance that entails, though! Just sitting upright in the saddle seems to change me from a low-slung sports car to a cement mixer truck.

Considered going around the block at the end to get to 40 miles, but it really doesn't matter. I was happy just to get out and get more than 30 miles, and to pass 1750 on the trusty Novato, knowing I can build on that in the coming weeks.

Down By the River

1715.4; 33.1.

This ride's getting familiar. 8 miles of West County Trail to Forestville, down to River Road and then Wohler > Eastside > Trenton/Healdsburg > Laguna > Guerneville (I guess all that's about 12 miles) and the 13 miles of bike path boomeranging through Santa Rosa.

Bit of a chill and a pretty strong headwind today, and it felt like the tires could use a little air (but not quite enough for me to actually stop and pump air into them), but all you can do is keep on pedaling. Still, weary now.

Forestville-Laguna Rd-Santa Rosa loop.

1631.1; 33.0

Just tracking miles on this bike now, since it's pretty much the only one I ride anymore unless it rains. New goals for the 2009 "biking season": keep riding; get to 2000, maybe a bigger round number; do one or more "centuries."

Last two rides, I've gone for bigger miles off the "end" of the West County Trail in Forestville, continuing down to the river (and make no mistake--that's a drop from what seems more or less a plateau, about 200 feet in about two miles.

Took Laguna Rd. back up and out this time, and it's much easier than Vine Hill Rd., doable for me without stopping or even going down to the smallest ring in front. Also, three 30mph+ downhills on this part. Unseasonably warm weather again today, allegedly 86 F right now (about 1pm). Glad I got out early.

Recorded Works That Changed My World

The meme:

"Think of 15 albums (CDs, if you're under 40), concerts, or other musical events that had such a profound effect on you that they changed your life; dug themselves into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut is what I mean. Now, imagine you're one of those pompous, pretentious 'rawk' writers. Are you with me? When you finish, tag others (including moi). Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it..."

Now maybe if you're a dilettante, you have just 15 of these. For me, 15 isn't nearly enough. Having thought a bit about this, I'm just gonna try going chronological.

• Mary Poppins soundtrack. Hey, don't laugh! It's the first album I bought, and with it came the realization that one could have one's own personal music in the house--and that music could evoke a remembered experience and thus activate emotion, etc. etc. Honorable mention: My friend's dad's Tom Lehrer album: That Was The Year That Was. Unlike Poppins, I still love this one!



• Everything the Beatles released. I don't remember much about their arrival in the US (I remember hearing "The Beatles are Coming," and picturing a row of insect beetles marching into the country), but I remember the tremendous anticipation of each new album, and the joy of bringing it home and putting it on the record player and being immersed in their world. Everyone talked about it the next day at school. Eventually, everyone from your parents to first-graders listened to them. The Beatles were universal like no entertainers had been before or will be again, probably. Honorable mention: the Rolling Stones, for a while there.



• Movies: Hard Day's Night, Help!, Head, The Song Remains the Same, The Kids Are Alright, Baby Snakes, Urgh! A Music War, This is Spinal Tap...



• The Monkees. Yeah, they were a prefabricated rip-off of Hard Day's Night-era Beatles, but I was only about 10, and they were also in our living room once a week, and so here were guys I "knew" producing music. This is where I first entertained ambitions of being a musician and living that zany life. The Beat! The Chords! The Girls! Honorable mentions: The Raiders, the Turtles, and a hundred other 60s AM-friendly pop groups.



• The Guess Who: American Woman. First "real" rock album. I stared at the cover while listening endlessly, thinking about which guy played what instrument, what the songs meant.



• Simon and Garfunkel: Bookends. My parents' music (and my mom was named "Mrs. Robinson"), but I came to love it. So profoundly witty and introspective. Honorable mention: Harry Nilsson: Harry.



• The Who: Tommy. An album that made a coherent and cohesive statement, with a high-minded concept, and that French Horn! I did a book report on it at school--teacher didn't figure out that it was a musical album, and thought it was a very strange book.



• Elton John: Elton John. Before the big glasses and platforms and superstardom, before he was gay, there was this unassuming little album that played constantly on the basement stereo.



• Alice Cooper: Love it to Death, Killer, School's Out. I liked some music for entirely non-musical reasons, and am amazed to find later how good these albums actually were musically. Also the first concert I attended alone, during the "Killer" tour. How can you not like a band that hangs their lead singer at every show? :-)



• Grand Funk Railroad: Closer to Home, Survival. Okay, guilty pleasure. I find much of it nearly unlistenable now, but back in the day I listened to it on eternal-replay. Their cover of "Gimme Shelter" is pretty good.



• Firesign Theatre: Four or five classic albums. If rap is music, then this is certainly music. The Firesign Theatre, in simplest terms, was four guys doing comedy. However, this is how comedy would sound if the Beatles did comedy: multilayered, full of multifarious references all over the intellectual map, and slyly funny, with its own set of catch-phrases and one-liners, but much more, and it bore repeated listening. I *still* hear new stuff sometimes.



• Jimi Hendrix: War Heroes. This is the one where I first saw clearly what Jimi did. Electric Ladyland was his best mainstream release, but this is still the best Hendrix album you never heard (most of the songs have been released on Hendrix family reissues now, but it still bears listening as delivered). Ask nicely and I might make you a copy.



• Led Zeppelin II. Monstrous. I'd choose this one to introduce the Zep to an alien or hermit emerging from a cave. Honorable mention: Deep Purple: Machine Head.



• Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow. Don't take the brown, but if you can find some of the purple, "tell me how do you feel...?"



• Various: Woodstock. I was too young for the concert, but the album and movie were cultural touchstones.



• Johnny Winter And: Live. Serious blues chops. Played along with this album over and over and OVER, and never did catch up.



• Allman Brothers Band: Beginnings. Another album I attempted to play along with. Honorable mention: Eric Clapton/Cream/Derek and the Dominos. Guitar-playing 101 through 199.



• The Who: Live at Leeds. Whenever you need to turn it up to top volume, here's your album.



• Dylan: Greatest Hits 1 and 2. I came to Dylan late, but spent a good deal of time with these three LPs (vol. 2 was a two-LP set), and of course took to writing imitative poetry which I certainly hope has all been destroyed.



• Grateful Dead: American Beauty, Terrapin Station. These albums have pretty much everything there is to like about the Dead and little of what there is to dislike. Initiated a short but enjoyable Deadhead period in my life.



• Neil Young: After the Gold Rush, Harvest. Everyone had these albums. There was an era before Nirvana when everyone wore jeans and flannel shirts. For better or worse, following on James Taylor's heels, this was the blueprint and model of the 70s sensitive male, and I studied it probably more (a LOT more) than I should've. Honorable mentions: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: So Far (First/only Greatest Hits package released after only two albums?); Cat Stevens: "Tea For the Tillerman."



• Spirit: Spirit and Clear. These were repackaged as a double LP when I found them. Beautiful combination of psychedelia, folk, rock, and jazz, with a liberal dash of humor.



• Frank Zappa: Apostrophe'. Get past the Yellow Snow for amazing guitar work and excellent writing. This is repackaged on a single CD with "Overnite Sensation," which is not a bad thing.



• Steely Dan: Countdown to Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied. The first six or seven albums are capital-G Great, though I do think of the first, "Can't Buy a Thrill" as something of a warm-up, and the sixth and seventh, Aja and Gaucho, as somewhat more mundane and jazz-derivative (when the rest of the world discovered them, BTW). These albums came with my first serious girlfriend, and brought new levels of cynicism AND musicality to my world. Did you know there are time signatures other than 4/4? Chords other than major, minor, and seventh?



• The Who: Sell Out. You could buy it just for the cover, but after that it might just get lodged in your top ten of all time.



• Sarah Vaughan: No Count Sarah. I rate Sarah above Ella and Billie, maybe just for this album (and to a lesser extent, "Swingin' Easy"). Check out "Doodlin'" for starters. Thanks for this one too, Mom!



• The Kinks: The Kinks Kronikles. A two-record set that introduced me to a quaint little village (and sold me 10 or 12 additional albums).



• Aretha Franklin. With Aretha or any of the Motown artists, you don't really usually talk in terms of "albums," but in terms of hits, and in some cases, of entire bodies of work. Aretha deserves much more than "Respect."



• Chet Atkins and Les Paul: Chester & Lester (repackaged on CD with "Guitar Monsters"). Every guitarist should own this and study it.



• Compilations: Nuggets and Nuggets II. If you liked anything about the music of the 60s, you need both of these.

(****Had enough yet? Okay, let's move on. ****)

• David Bowie: Heroes, Low, Lodger. The Berlin trilogy. Bowie here merged art and rock in a way that made you feel smart for listening to it.



• John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band. This was something entirely different--pure, raw, emotion. So personal, it was hard to listen to at first.



• Talking Heads: Fear of Music. Scary brilliant.



• Compilation: Warner/Electra Loss Leaders: Troublemakers. This introduced me to the Sex Pistols, Jonathan Richman, latter-day Marianne Faithfull, Gang of Four, Devo, and to some extent, to Punk Rock and New Wave as a genre (And a general huzzah to Warner for all of the "Loss Leaders").



• Compilation: Life in the European Theatre. Introduced me to another swath of punk/new wave acts, including the Clash, the Jam, XTC, the Undertones, the (English) Beat, the Specials...



• Compilation: The Last Stiff Compilation. The Stiff label produced some of the best music of the late 70s. Here we find the Damned, Madness, the Cure, John Otway, Lene Lovich, Wreckless Eric, Motorhead... (Honorable mention: Stiff Records Box Set: some of that glory reproduced on CD.)



• The Jam: Setting Sons, the Gift. Lumped in with punk, they were really a logical progression from the Who. Very musical and articulate, with a solid conscience and you can dance to it--I'll give it a 10, Dick!



• The Clash: London Calling, Give 'Em Enough Rope. I actually drove an intransigent roommate out of the house with the latter.



• Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool, Labour of Lust. Like the man said, "Pure Pop for Now People."



• The Pretenders: The Pretenders, and everything since. Chrissie seemed to me the first woman who really rocked. She always has great backing too.



• Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs. I loved this. It hasn't aged that well...but better than Grand Funk.



• XTC: Drums and Wires, Black Sea, English Settlement, Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons; and Dukes of Stratosphear: 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot. D&W was the intro, but each of these albums went a little further, from raw, minimalistic punk to lush psychedelia.



• Kate Bush: The Dreaming (and all others). Complex, virtuosic, beautiful.



• Van Halen: Van Halen. Okay, yeah. Eddie was really the first person to do anything new with a guitar since Hendrix. The bombast of DLR made it fun, which is why Sammy didn't work nearly as well.



• King Crimson: Discipline. Adrian Belew also took the guitar to new places, on the wave of intricate, mesmerizing Frippertronics, Tony Levin on The Stick, and Bill Bruford pounding skins. I saw them doing most of this album live at the time and it did change my life.



• U2: War. Nothing of theirs since has really grabbed me like this one...



• Butthole Surfers: In general. No particular album, just various tracks across the years. But really: revelatory.



• They Might Be Giants: Lincoln, Flood, Apollo 18. Nerdy geek-rock!



• The Austin Lounge Lizards. A National Treasure. Why haven't you heard them?!? I suggest you start with "Employee of the Month."



• Posies: Failure, Dear 23, Frosting on the Beater. My mom's one-time tenants made some wonderful music.



• Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes and the "Crucify" EP. And she was something to see and hear in concert, just her and the piano.



• Nirvana: Nevermind. A breath of fresh air. Honorable mention: Pearl Jam: Ten.



• Richard Thompson: Rumor and Sigh. But you really have to see him live to appreciate that he's playing ALL THREE guitar parts.



• Compilation: The Money or the Gun. 22 versions of Stairway to Heaven by Australian bands. One of my most prized possessions!



• Compilation: Ferrington Guitars. A coffee-table book of beautiful custom-made guitars with accompanying CD on which you can hear some of them. Beatiful, warm, production; amazing guitar-playing.



• Breeders: Last Splash. Women rock again!



• Tempest: Serrated Edge. Somewhere near that tiny sub-genre "Celtodelic," Tempest played Bay Area clubs in the 90s, and actually helped me get in at one place when I forgot my ID (tho I haven't looked under 21 since I was 14). I loved learning these on guitar, and added bonus, singing the "Gilligan's Island" theme to "House Carpenter."



• Compilation: If I Were a Carpenter. Just for Sonic Youth's brilliant, transforming cover of "Superstar."



• Liz Phair: Whip-Smart, Whitechocolatespaceegg. I know, "Guyville," but these two just affected me more.



• Alison Krauss: Now that I've Found You, Live (w/Union Station). If angels sing (and are female), they sound like this. But they probably wouldn't have that dobro.



• Compilation: Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits. Introduced me to some groups (Wax, "Happy Happy Joy Joy") and delivered necessary songs from others (Violent Femmes, "Eep Opp Ork"; Ramones, "Spiderman"; Butthole Surfers, "Underdog"...).



• Compilation: Sing Hollies in Reverse. Rare tribute that is mostly as good as the originals, and that sent me back to them for another listen.



• Compilation: Alright, This Time, Just the Girls. The Sympathy for the Record Industry label collected some absolutely wonderful stuff here. It sold me on Candypants, the Stool Pigeons, Matson Jones, and others. Honorable mention: the preceding comp, "Their Sympathetic Majesties Request."



• Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Revival, Hell Among the Yearlings, Time the Revelator, Soul Journey. Touches the heart in a funny way.



• Stool Pigeons: Rule Hermania and Gerry Cross the Mersey. An unfinished trilogy of British Invasion tributes. Much-better-than-the-original covers of Herman's Hermits and Gerry and the Pacemakers.



• Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication. I liked the Chili Peppers before, but LOVED this album; they seemed to me to show some maturity here and create something more worthwhile and lasting. And my band covered the title song.



• Compilation: Short Music for Short People. 101 songs on one CD! Maybe more artists should limit their output to ~30-second bursts.



• White Stripes: White Blood Cells. A breath of fresh air, again (see Nirvana)! Brought rock back to the garage, and me back to my guitar.



• Steve Earle: Jerusalem. The most coherent response to 9/11 I've found.



• Green Day: American Idiot. The most coherent response to George W. Bush I've found.



• Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Absolutely lovely. Stirring. I am running out of adjectives.

As soon as I publish, I'll think of ten things I forgot.