Strawberry Fields Forever [metric] Century

I had so much fun on last year's SFFC that I had to go again. I had planned to ride the century (as in the real century), but because I had asked Nahoko to join me, we did the metric century instead. Course I should be riding as many centuries as possible before the DR in oh, less than 2 months, but I enjoyed riding with her :). It was really exciting to see how well she did! Way to go dear!!!

Let's start off by saying it was a bit chilly on Sunday (the 18th) morning and seeing the fog, including driving through it, as we made our way to Watsonville was a bit discouraging considering neither of us really brought that much extra clothing. Granted I had knee warmers and arm warmers, without long finger clothes I'd have been numb. We both had long sleeves on (well I had arm warmers on) for the first stretch to the rest stop, but after that it was down to short sleeve jersey's (we had skipped the leg warmers and/or tights when we left the car so shorts was all we had on the bottom half).

The first "climb" of the day as we made our way out was fun. I tried to get a bit more out of it so I upshifted and then alternated between standing and sitting. I have found that forcing myself to stand has really increased my endurance for doing so. While I still tire relatively quickly compared to some, I notice a significant improvement over last year (thank god because that was embarrassing at last year's DR when even standing up, I couldn't make the bike move any more trying to go up the 3rd pass).

First rest stop was a bit busy, and the coffee line was long (but I wasn't going to miss my coffee). Nahoko didn't want to wait for me :(, so she took off, with the expectation of me to catch up at some point. What I thought was only about 15 minutes of lead time for her, must have been more like 30 because it took me just under an hour to catch her and I was moving a lot faster than she was (not that she was moving slow I just was working it hard to try to catch up) and she even stopped a few times to take pictures. I was glad I caught her because Tustin Rd was coming up soon ;).

As we got to the bottom of the hill on Tustin Rd I told her to take it slow and not to push anymore than she could do. With that I took off and road to the top (amongst all those pushing their bikes up..yes it's that steep). The only relief in climbing that (I'm still weak, that climb hurts) is that it's very short, but someone said it peaks somewhere around 18% (don't have a way to verify that though). As I neared the top, there was LOTS of people catching their breath and I'm sure a good portion had walked and still had to catch their respective breaths.

Then as I was waiting for Nahoko on the top, I saw something amazing! Nahoko was riding! And getting close! As I watched her struggle up the hill, I started thinking to myself, oh please don't tip over. I don't know how fast she was going, but it wasn't that fast....who cares she was still pedaling! With that she finished and made it to the top! So proud of her :)...

The day continued on with a nice lunch (not before another hill though that everyone was saying "oh, I forgot about this one" (I was one of them), and head wind into the next rest stop and finish. Nahoko finished her first 100km ride! Way to go!!!

Tierra Bella 2008

Been somewhat busy and haven't been posting in a while (obviously). Several rides since the last posting including a ride to the coast that included a late night return home. I got a late start when I decided to head for Page Mill and head for Tunitas Creek via Pescadero and thus didn't get home till about 8:50 PM. The return ride consisted of a ton of bugs smacking me in the face and seriously limited visibility, but I made it. Total mileage was 87 for the day with better than 6k feet I think (I forget, will have to check it out later).

This past weekend on Saturday the 19th was the Tierra Bella. I had been waiting for my opportunity to attempt the century again after last year's monsoon ride. Though the route was changed somewhat with no ride up Metcalf, the change was to go up to Henry Coe (quite climb in itself). Started out around 7:10 AM and rode to the first rest stop with my friend Scott and his dad who were doing the 60 K (our routes were the same for the first 16 miles or so). The pace was a bit slow to the first stop ;), but that was perfectly ok as it was fun to get out and ride with them both once again. They had introduced me to this tour back in 2002.

It was pretty damned cold till I finally hit Thomas Grade (the first step in heading for the top of Henry Coe) and so I was actually quite welcoming the climb for a chance to warm up. Seemed like forever when climbing up that hill, but finally made it along with dozens of other cyclists. As the wind picked up while at the top, it was clear how cold it would be on the way down and what was in store for me eventually when riding back to the start.

The last climb of the day was up to Gilroy Hot Springs, which I remember as being quite short...I must have a short memory because it was anything but short (course I was a bit sore by this point too). The wind was to my back while heading there so not too bad. After finishing the loop and heading north on Franklin in Gilroy, the wind showed just what it could do. I was barely managing 6 MPH. Turning west I could maintain 14 MPH, but the wind was constantly knocking me off balance.

What was really fun, was shortly after crossing highway 101, I reached Santa Teresa once again. As I turned south, with the wind to my back, I started FLYING! Generally speaking I'm pretty slow compared to most riders, but on the flats I can hold my own. I was averaging 28 MPH (without any real effort) and for about a min was holding 30 MPH with just about average power output. It felt great to suddenly get the boost of speed after barely moving not long before that.

As I arrived back at the college, I felt really good to have finally completed another century! Considering I tried 4 centuries last year (not including the Death Ride) and was rained on for 3 of them (one being the Tahoe Sierra with the hail and snow combined with near freezing temps over most of my ride too) I was thrilled to finally get the chance to see if I could repeat my 2nd century. Best of all they still had pie and ice cream at the end ;).