jobob
04-03-2004, 04:23 PM
My husband and I rode the Tierra Bella in Gilroy today, put on by the Almaden Cycle Touring Club.
We stopped off at regstration to say hi to Snapdragen, whose newly red hair looked very nice. :)
We rode the 100K (there was also a 60K, a 100mi and a 200K). The first 40 mi or so, which overlapped with the 60K route, was pretty flat and took us around a couple of reserviors - very scenic. The wind started kicking up along a long flat open stretch, where I learned the joys of drafting :D
Then we started the climb up to Gilroy Hot Springs. Oy. I don't know how steep that climb was; the ride description said there was about 2000 feet total climbing and I think it was pretty much all right there. I couldn't do it all in one go; I made it about 2/3 of the way up but then had to take a breather (and I had plenty of company at that turn out, heh) and soon after that I had to stop again to get into the shade for a few minutes. But I made it (waaay ahead of my husband I may add :D).
Soon after that we had a much-appreciated rest stop. Right when we were leaving the rest stop I realized I had a flat front tire- my first! - but I picked a good place to have it , at least. And I'm very glad I found it then rather than further down the road, since further along we were rewarded for our climbing efforts with a spectacular downhill route that looked out onto the valley. Whee!
The rest of the ride, while mostly flat, was into a headwind :p. My legs were starting to feel like lead near the end! But there was a nice shallow downhill grade for the last mile or so which was a nice way to end the ride.
This was a very well-organized ride, great SAG support, lots of volunteers standing at remote corners making sure no-one made a wrong turn. Very well done!
We stopped off at regstration to say hi to Snapdragen, whose newly red hair looked very nice. :)
We rode the 100K (there was also a 60K, a 100mi and a 200K). The first 40 mi or so, which overlapped with the 60K route, was pretty flat and took us around a couple of reserviors - very scenic. The wind started kicking up along a long flat open stretch, where I learned the joys of drafting :D
Then we started the climb up to Gilroy Hot Springs. Oy. I don't know how steep that climb was; the ride description said there was about 2000 feet total climbing and I think it was pretty much all right there. I couldn't do it all in one go; I made it about 2/3 of the way up but then had to take a breather (and I had plenty of company at that turn out, heh) and soon after that I had to stop again to get into the shade for a few minutes. But I made it (waaay ahead of my husband I may add :D).
Soon after that we had a much-appreciated rest stop. Right when we were leaving the rest stop I realized I had a flat front tire- my first! - but I picked a good place to have it , at least. And I'm very glad I found it then rather than further down the road, since further along we were rewarded for our climbing efforts with a spectacular downhill route that looked out onto the valley. Whee!
The rest of the ride, while mostly flat, was into a headwind :p. My legs were starting to feel like lead near the end! But there was a nice shallow downhill grade for the last mile or so which was a nice way to end the ride.
This was a very well-organized ride, great SAG support, lots of volunteers standing at remote corners making sure no-one made a wrong turn. Very well done!