I'm Back!

Is it over already? Ah yes - re-entry from vacation is always tough, but after a terrific four days of riding, visiting, relaxing, eating and drinking, this re-entry seemed especially difficult. I know - cry me a river ;-).

At Alice's Restaurant - Saturday

Last Tuesday, Becky and I boarded a plane to head to sunny California. There, we connected with our friend Jennifer in Menlo Park to start a cycling vacation - 4 days of riding in and around the bay area. We ended our vacation on Saturday - 163.3 miles and 13,412 feet of climbing later.

Wednesday - Alexander Valley - 42.3 miles - 2397 feet

After assembling our bikes, and getting breakfast, we headed North from Menlo Park, through San Francisco, and on to Healdsburg, CA. Jennifer had booked us a cottage for the night, and this would be our base for today and Thursday. A quick change of clothes, and we were off for the first ride of our trip. Jennifer had sent a description in advance: moderate riding with one hill climb on Chalk Hill Rd that is 3 miles long. She neglected, however, to include ANY information about the headwind... Yikes!



We enjoyed a stunning ride through part of Sonoma, with vineyards everwhere. The scenery was spectacular, and I was amazed that there were very few cars on our route - hard to believe we were really in California!

Thursday - Coleman Valley - 36.6 miles - 4048 feet

Today's ride description (from Jennifer): very steep climbing. Let me add - cold and windy.



We started our ride in a town called Freestone, and climbed up into Occidental - the true start of the loop. Here, we turned onto Coleman Valley Rd, and began the real climbing:

All the climbing paid off when we got to the top of the ridge however - we were treated to stunning ocean views. The amazing thing to me was the invisible line we crossed somewhere on the top of the ridge - the one where the temperature seemed to plummet from the 80s to the 60s (it didn't really), and we again hit that dreaded headwind.




Coming down the steep descent to the ocean was cold, fast and frightening! The Tour of California climbs this road, and you could still see much of the road graffiti (although someone needed a few spelling lessons). The most terrifying aspect to me was having to descend over cattle gates - imagine going at speed and coming across a grate that looks like it is going to eat your wheels for lunch. Scary - at least for me (and yes, I do admit walking around one of them, and having to get up my nerve a second time for two others - I'm a wuss).

Once down on the coast, we decided to follow the designated loop out to Bodega Head. This was a beautiful road along Bodega Bay. Unfortunately, I knew we were in trouble - we were riding out at about 25 mph with little effort - coming back was going to hurt. We reached the point, but given the strong wind and cold temps didn't dawdle before turning back, and getting SLAMMED with a vicious headwind. At times, the headwind changed to a cross wind, and I literally had to lean my bike just to stay straight. Cold and tired, we actually stopped on the way back, and had a bowl of delicious clam chowder at the Crab Shack.




Warmer, and with fuel for the rest of the ride, we headed back into the wind and out to Bay Hill Rd for the climb back up the ridge, and into the valley. It was awesome to have a tailwind going up the hill ;-). We did see one snake in the road on our ride - decided not to stop and investigate though.

Friday - Half Moon Bay - 46.2 miles - 4882 feet

Wind, wind, wind. Oh, and some climbing. Two snake sightings and one rattled warning (didn't see that one, but didn't go back to look either). Do I really need to say any more? ;-)










Thank goodness we were rewarded with ocean vistas and redwood forests on the ride, and beers and tasty food at Half Moon Bay Brewery afterwards!

Saturday - Woodside - 38.25 miles - 2085 feet

Our last day of riding, we went from Jennifer and Mike's place to Woodside, and did an out-and-back ride along Canada (pronounced can-ya-da). The weather was stellar (and little to NO wind - yahoo!), and we must have seen about 300 other riders! I usually wave at all oncoming cyclists, but had to give up as there were so many!




After the efforts of the previous day, this was about spinning and enjoying the scenery. It was a great way to end our riding, and we followed up with delicious food and beers at Alice's Restaurant, made famous by Arlo Guthrie.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. I had a great time riding and hanging out with good friends while on vacation. Now, it's back to reality.

Where's Cathy?

I'm away on vacation! I'll post my adventures when I get back. In the meantime, here are some more flowers from the garden to keep you amused.

Pat's Peak Non-Race Report

Yup - my race at Pat's Peak ended before it even began yesterday.

Got up to the venue plenty early for my race - we were there by 10:00 with my race at noon, and Mike's at 2:00. When I registered, I even requested my number - 977. I've won two previous Root 66 races with that number, and I figured it would bring me some luck.

After socializing with teammates, Teri and I headed out to warm up and pre-ride some of the course before our race started. The trails were stellar - loamy singletrack in the woods with just enough technical aspects to make them fun (at least what I saw of the course). I came out of the first piece of singletrack, over a bridge to cross the ski slope and followed the line of the rider in front of me to the left of the mud puddle. MISTAKE! Should have ridden through the puddle.


Somehow, something must have caught my derailleur, and I snapped the hanger completely off the bike. Teri rode up, and I told her my race was done. Helmet off, I walked the bike back down the slope to the cars, but we didn't have a spare hanger, and no one around had one either. Sweetly, Teri offered me her bike to race (note that Teri is about 6 inches shorter than I am - that wouldn't have worked well, but it was great of her to offer!), and Wayne also offered me his (glad I didn't take him up on it - he went on to finish 2nd in his race!). I dejectedly took off my riding gear, and went to the sidelines to cheer on all my teammates as they started their races.

I was bummed. What I saw of the course looked like fun (although I didn't get to see the worst of the climbing, or the washboard descent), and I thought I may have had the opportunity to do well there. Not to be.

I thought it really funny though when Colin and Linnea came up and tried to convince me to race expert, and I could do it on CTodd's bike! Not that bummed, I guess, since I declined the offer ;-).

So, I spectated, cheered, took photos, offered [unsolicited ;-)]advice, and provided course intel to my teammates, friends and Mike. Teri ended up 3rd in the Sport Women race I would have been in, and I was psyched to see her do so well. Wayne finished 2nd in his race, and Scott B ended up 5th in his race - great results for the team!

Finally, after 4 hours of waiting, it was Mike's turn in the Expert race. Cris R also raced in her first Expert race, and I was their support crew (and cheering section). Mike had a terrific race - the first lap he came by, he had at least 2 minutes on his 2nd and 3rd place racers. He extended that lead to about 8.5 minutes by the end of the race - a terrific win for him! Cris, after warning all the rest of us about the hazard, went down crossing the first pipe on her first lap! She chased for much of the remainder of the race, and ended up 2nd in her category.





So, not a great day for me, but the team was successful overall! Also had an interesting observation from Colin (who races for IBC) - he commented on the number of NEBCer's showing up at the MTB races this year. Apparently, we're making quite an impression!