Wow! What a ride!
We all met up on Friday morning in the parking lot of the Sports Basement. FInally around 10:15 2 busses arrived to take us up north to Ft. Bragg. The bus ride was fun, I sat with Charles, Jay and Barbara. We talked about the training, what we'd been doing lately, how nervous we were about the weekend. Soon it was close to noon and my stomach was growling....
Eventually we pulled into the town of Willits, where (surprise!) we boarded the Skunk Train for a ride through the redwoods on our way to Fort Bragg. That was an excellent trip! I was not really looking forward to hanging on a bus for hours on end, so being able to eat lunch and hang out on the train while chatting with others was just my speed.
Once we got to Ft. Bragg, we headed over to our motel for the evening. It was called the Beachcomber Inn. It was a nice little motel that sat right on the beach. In fact our deck looked right out at the soon to be setting sun.
I've got to add-- not everyone got to stay here at the cute Beachcomber Inn, just the top ten fundraisers! I must say it was quite nice to have a room to myself each night. I'm really not much fun after riding 100 miles in one day, so it was a good thing for all that I didn't have to share!
That evening, 17 of us shared a table at a little Italian restaurant and feasted on pasta and pizza. It was nice, and fun to get to know the other riders a little more.
Soon we were off to our hotels and into bed for a meet time Saturday morning of 6:15am! (yes it was still dark!) My cell phone alarm clock woke me up at 5:15 and I dragged myself up out of bed and got myself into cycling gear and made a little pot of coffee in the little coffee maker in my room. The brew was not Peets, but strong enough to get my pulse moving a bit quicker. I made my way downstairs at 6am and Jason was there with a shuttle van to take us to the start.
We stretched, ate some great baked goods and heard the safety speech. Soon, the sky started to lighten 'around 7:15am and we were off on the first leg of this epic ride!
I don't remember a whole lot of specifics about the route itself, except that it was very hilly. And even that is an understatement! The route started on Highway One in Fort Bragg, and continued all the way down Hwy 1 until we reached Jenner. There were two major climbs I remember, one at about mile 30 which was short but a bit of a wall. The other was at mile 90, my legs were so tired already from all the steep rolling hills, and I couldn't imagine climbing any more after rest stop 4. But climbing is what I did. The hills were steep in some places, but that also meant the downhills were AWESOME! If you like descending like I do, it was truly one of the best routes.
All in all I'd say that was one of the toughest routes I've done in my 6 years of riding. Do-able, but tough!
After making a left turn after Jenner, onto hwy 116 it was a ten mile ride into Guerneville where we spent the night. That was the longest 10 mile stretch, a cool down ride mind you, but when you've already ridden 98 miles it can be the most tiring, and dangerous if you're not careful.
We spent the night in Guerneville, exhausted but definitely ready for the next days riding.
Because of Niz' (my mom in laws) 70th birthday party scheduled for 1pm the next day, I cut my riding short on Sunday. I rode only 37 miles, from Guerneville into the town of Tomales where Mike picked me up. I got home, showered and headed over to the party.
Halfway thru the party, I asked Mike for the car keys so that I could sneak away and head on over to the Finish Line to see my co-riders come in to the end. It was about 5:30 by the time Cris C swept in the final rider. It was so fun to cheer everyone in.
It was truly a ride of Seismic proportions... and now I am Seismically tired, and have a Seismic appetite!
Oh, and I raised $7,001 and was the number TWO fundraiser for the weekend! woohoo!
