No really, 130 miles. Somehow I how got from Mountain View out to Livermore (Altamont Pass) and back in 8.5 hours of riding time.... but I think like 12 hours actually out on the road.
I met with Chris' CAT 3 riders at 6am on Saturday morning. 6am and I am wearing a tank top and feeling perfect, not too cool not too warm. Goes to show you how hot it was really going to be!
We headed out 'round 6:45 or so, 35 riders and only about half of them planning to do the full 130 miles. The rest took the 88 mile route and got back in as early as 2pm. We had 6 rest stops (all Starbucks Coffee shops) and a vehicle SAG so I felt like hey maybe I could actually do this. Really I only wanted to get 100 miles in the saddle so in the back of my mind I figured at mile 100 I'd hop in the car with Bill. Turns out I was feeling pretty good after all.
So lets see, we headed over the Dumbarton then thru Union City to Niles and then up Niles Canyon to Sunol. It was there I figured out who was doing the 88 miles (Dylan, you whimp!) and who was really hardcore (John and Wly of course!) So we headed on out Foothill and on toward Livermore where the temps at 9am were already in the 90's. Luckily there was a steady breeze that cooled the sweat that was pouring off my face-- so it wasn't oppressively hot. We stopped at the Quiznos on Las Positas for lunch (a cobb salad for me) before heading up toward Altamont Pass. It wasn't so bad, just windy. Chris had us only go up to the Summit Garage then head back down the hill... which was blowing headwinds directly toward me. I plugged in and pedaled hard.. so hard that I missed a turn and headed about 1/2 mile in the wrong direction before I looked down at my mileage and figured I had missed a turn.... right about then I turned around and heard Mary (a TRL) calling my name ... chasing me down to tell me I missed the turn. (thanks Mary! that was a little embarrassing... LOL!)
After that I caught up to the others and stopped at another Starbucks on Foothill (Pleasanton, I think) and had this lovely green tea, lemonade slushy thing. It was close to 100 degrees at this point and we still had Norris Canyon to climb. I headed out shortly after Mary, Richard, Jose, Julia, Dave and Larry- it took me a little bit of time to catch up but by the time I got to 580 I had Mary, Richard and Julia in sight. From there we rode together to Bollinger Canyon and then Norris Canyon. Norris Canyon road is sunny on the way to the top, so it was hot, dry and a slow ascent for me. Near the top I came upon Dave who literally almost stopped in his tracks at the top until I yelled-- "pull up, pull! pull!" talking about pedaling. We forget when we climb that not only should we be pushing down on our pedals, but we are connected to them and have some hamstring strength left that we could be using. I'm sure I annoyed Dave, who was pretty much out of breath. We hit a false summit (damn that!) but soon got to the top where Larry was waiting for us with of course, his camera. :-)I met with Chris' CAT 3 riders at 6am on Saturday morning. 6am and I am wearing a tank top and feeling perfect, not too cool not too warm. Goes to show you how hot it was really going to be!
We headed out 'round 6:45 or so, 35 riders and only about half of them planning to do the full 130 miles. The rest took the 88 mile route and got back in as early as 2pm. We had 6 rest stops (all Starbucks Coffee shops) and a vehicle SAG so I felt like hey maybe I could actually do this. Really I only wanted to get 100 miles in the saddle so in the back of my mind I figured at mile 100 I'd hop in the car with Bill. Turns out I was feeling pretty good after all.
So lets see, we headed over the Dumbarton then thru Union City to Niles and then up Niles Canyon to Sunol. It was there I figured out who was doing the 88 miles (Dylan, you whimp!) and who was really hardcore (John and Wly of course!) So we headed on out Foothill and on toward Livermore where the temps at 9am were already in the 90's. Luckily there was a steady breeze that cooled the sweat that was pouring off my face-- so it wasn't oppressively hot. We stopped at the Quiznos on Las Positas for lunch (a cobb salad for me) before heading up toward Altamont Pass. It wasn't so bad, just windy. Chris had us only go up to the Summit Garage then head back down the hill... which was blowing headwinds directly toward me. I plugged in and pedaled hard.. so hard that I missed a turn and headed about 1/2 mile in the wrong direction before I looked down at my mileage and figured I had missed a turn.... right about then I turned around and heard Mary (a TRL) calling my name ... chasing me down to tell me I missed the turn. (thanks Mary! that was a little embarrassing... LOL!)
Dave and I "high five-ing" at the top of Norris (I think he was tired of me by then, lol!)After that it was a nice long descent back across 580 and into yet another Starbucks in Hayward. It was there that I decided on a Mocha Frappuccino and some petite vanilla scones.. figuring I could use the caffeine and sugar for the long ride thru Hayward and into Fremont. I was right.
Dave,Mary,Richard, Bill, Julia, Me, Jose, Dave & Larry at RS 5.After riding out with Julia, Mary, Jose and Richard we hopped on Mission Blvd in Hayward for the 9 mile stint into Fremont. About 4 miles into it, Julia got a flat. Her first ever (pretty good considering how many miles she'd done in training thus far). So we all stopped and I got to give her my best lesson in changing a flat. Since it was later and hotter in the day, I simply did my instructions but did the actual changing myself, explaining it all as we went along. Soon John and David caught up to us and David had fun taking pictures of our tire changing seminar.
130 miles!! I can't remember the last time I road that many miles... ok the double metric of the wine country century one year with Charlie, but I think that was the last time. I felt pretty good- 8.5 riding hours and an average of 15.1 mph. Not bad, but I don't think I'll be riding that many miles in the heat any time soon. Major bike hangover today, and I forgot to put sunscreen on my back so got a gnarly sunburn-ouch!
Tib Loop on Thursday, 74 mile Pt Reyes ride on Friday and then a leisurely Potluck on Monday, Memorial Day. Then this show is on the road!
