Is anyone doing the Foothill Century?

[Melody]

Is anyone doing the Foothill Century out of Sunnyvale? Here's the link: http://www.sphds.org/foothillcentury/main.htm

Hubby and I are attempting the 100k (theoretically). We'll have to see how bad it is, though, I think this ride will be a bit easier than the last. :) *crosses fingers* ;)

Mel

[jobob]

Looks like a very nice route - it overlaps a lot with my favorite Tour de Woodside routes. I already have plans for that day, otherwise I'd join you (sorry).

[Bike Goddess]

The route passes my place on Page Mill Road where I grew up! :D Them thar hills I used to do on my 10 speed road bike back in the days when there weren't any freeways and lots of places with horses and barns. Dates me, huh? :p :p

It's tempting! :) :)

[Melody]

Dates me, huh? :p :p

Bah. You're only as old as you feel. :) It's why I'm 298. ;)

Mel

[melissam]

Melody,

Thanks for posting this! I haven't been riding much since last summer (various things have been more of a priority than riding) -- I think I have a whole 50 miles under my belt since last summer.

Now that things have settled down for me and the weather is getting a little nicer, I'm thinking that the 25 mile route may be the perfect 2005 Come Back Ride for me.

Good luck on the 100km route! Maybe I'll see you & your husband at the BBQ after the ride.

-- Melissa

PS Nancy, we probably passed each other on Page Mill Road back in the day. I used to board my horse at a couple of those barns. Excellent ride up to the top of the hill -- you could see for miles! Also, fun to trail ride from the barn, up Arastradero, to Rosotti's AKA Alpine Inn. Great memories...

[jobob]

Woo-hoo melissa, welcome back !!

[slinkedog]

Melody... do you know if they have day-of registration? If so, I might try it. I doubt I could do 60 miles since I've barely ridden, but it might be fun to try.

[Melody]

Melody... do you know if they have day-of registration? If so, I might try it. I doubt I could do 60 miles since I've barely ridden, but it might be fun to try.

Slinke, I'm not sure, but you could contact the people who are running it. Their email address is foothillcentury@SPHDS.Org :)

Melissa, you're welcome. I'm not sure how well I'm going to do though. I ended up twisting my ankles a few days ago while taking out the trash. :( So at the moment, I'm hobbling along. I rode into work today and so far everything seems to be fine, but walking just sucks. at the moment.

Oh well, I'm still going though :)

Mel

[slinkedog]

Mel, are you ready for tomorrow! I hope you have a great ride. Please let us know how it goes!! :)

[Bike Goddess]

Melissm/Melody- Rosottis- Yep I remember that and the Alpine Inn, too. Do you remember the Kingston trio when they used to play there?

Melody- You are such a little smarty pants! :p :p 298- right. Now, what does that stand for? :rolleyes:

[Melody]

Uh oh! Does 298 actually mean something? I kind of made that number on the spot, so if it does and it's bad, I apologize. :P

Slinke, the ride isn't till Sunday. :) I'll see how far I go. Ankle is still hurting a little, but I really really really want to ride. :)

Mel

[melissam]

Melody, how's your ankle? Did you ride in the Foothill Century?

I did the 30 mile ride on Sunday. It was fabulous!

The people at the registration desk were very nice, and were more than happy to take day of ride registrations. Lots of people were there with their families, planning to do the short six mile route. Nice to see a good turnout with some very young cycling enthusiasts.

The 30 mile route took me up Wright Ave, to Homestead Road, and up Foothill Expressway until I got to Arastradero. Up until this point, the ride was mostly flat, with very little wind. I turned left onto Arastradero, and road started to go uphill, just a bit. At this point, I realized that I hadn't warmed up quite as well as I should have. Oops. Oh well, onward and upward.

Shortly before Arastradero crosses Page Mill Road, it really starts to go uphill. Back in the day, I'd been able to jam up the hill and enjoy the brief downhill before I got to the stop sign at Page Mill. No such luck on Sunday. I was struggling up the hill, grateful that I had a triple chainring and a very light carbon fiber frame. Guys on recumbents were passing me up the hill, but they were very nice about it, encouraging me that I was almost at the top. Got to the top (no walking), and wilted down the hill. Up on Page Mill for a bit, and then right onto Arastradero.

At this point I should mention that the route wasn't marked as well as I'd have hoped. I missed the little blue arrow and continued on Page Mill for a second or two before stopping to consult my route sheet. Yep, needed to turn onto Arastradero. (Good news, because I really didn't want to go UP Page Mill.)

I should also mention that it was on this stretch of Arastradero Rd. that I made a very keen observation: there must be more Volvos per capita in Palo Alto than in ANYWHERE else in the world. Picture this: you're on a relatively low traffic two-lane road, where a car might pass you every minute or so. I swear that 75% of the cars that passed me were VOLVOs. What's up with that? It's not like they're common on the freeways here. Oh, and the different Volvo models were well represented: S60's, a V70, one of the Volvo SUV's, and older model. Oh well, it was a good distraction for a tired cyclist.

At the end of Arastadero is the Alpine Inn. And I was really, really tired at this point and considered turning around and going back to the start. But what good is that? After my personal, impromptu rest stop and the Alpine Inn, I turned left onto Alpine Road (or is it Portola) and kept goin'! In fact, I was about to pass my first cyclist (rather than be passed, whoo hoo!) when he started to talk to me. This was funny, because I was so tired that I barely had enough breath to talk back to him. He asked what size my rear dropouts were. Excuse me? Actually, I had no idea and told him so in between huffing and puffing. Fortunately, he quit asking questions for the most part and carried on a very nice, one-sided conversation which distracted me from how tired I was. Unfortunately, he was hard of hearing, so when he did ask questions, I had to repeat myself (and huff & puff.)

Before I knew it, I was at the rest stop. Whoo hoo! I ran into (no, not literally) some of my friends from last year's Cinderella Training rides who were doing the metric century and looking very, very fresh. I had a bit of gatorade and other goodies at the rest stop, where the friendly workers were more than happy to hear about my car/town observations. "Now Los Altos, that's a BMW town. At least 10 BMW's at any given major intersection." Not so many Volvo's in Los Altos, tho.

From the rest stop, the route pretty much doubled back to Sunnyvale. I was still tired, but going back didn't seem as tough as getting to the rest stop.

They had a very nice kosher BBQ at the end of the ride. From there, I rode back to my truck, loaded up, went home, showered, and took a nap! Never thought 30 miles would be so draining. :-) I've GOT to start riding more!

-- Melissa

[slinkedog]

Melissa... thanks for the ride report! I was wondering how this went!

If you're interested in riding this weekend, I'm going out to do just about 30 miles and would love a riding partner. I hate riding alone. ;)

[melissam]

slinkedog,

I would love to go riding with you sometime, but I'm not sure about this weekend.

I'll PM you....

-- Melissa

[slinkedog]

It's looking like a few folks from the board are coming down here to ride on Memorial Day. We'd love to have you, and anyone else who is interetsed, join us!! :)

[melissam]

Memorial Day sounds like a plan. Hope I can keep up with you all....

[SadieKate]

Melissa, your post made me laugh. I suddenly feel like there has been a Volvo hatch! I got rudely passed on the right last night by a Volvo driver thinks offramps are passing lanes and then there were 2 at the coffee house this morning. What have you spawned?

[melissam]

What have you spawned?

It's not my fault!!!! :eek:

Seriously, tho, I thought Volvo's were known as the "safe car," so I assumed Volvo drivers would be safe drivers, not "passing in the right lane on the offramp" maniacs. I mean, that's a feat for us crazy Porsche 911 drivers! ;)

-- Melissa

[SadieKate]

I mean, that's a feat for us crazy Porsche 911 drivers! ;) Ok, now there's going to be a Porsche hatch. I can feel it coming! Run for your lives!!! :D

[melissam]

Oh well, in my world, a Porsche hatch is a very good thing! I'm perfectly prepared to take full responsibility for any Porsche hatch that spawns. :D

[snapdragen]

Oh! We can all run out and try to catch the wild Porsches! Hmmm, what to use as bait.........

[melissam]

Oh! We can all run out and try to catch the wild Porsches! Hmmm, what to use as bait.........

A quart or so of Mobil 1 usually works. Or maybe a few gallons of Chevron Supreme... ;)

(OK, now this thread is officially off topic.) :D

[SadieKate]

A quart or so of Mobil 1 usually works. Or maybe a few gallons of Chevron Supreme... ;)

(OK, now this thread is officially off topic.) :DAnd it's kind of on food, just for a different beastie. Sounds like our normal conversations.

[melissam]

And it's kind of on food, just for a different beastie. Sounds like our normal conversations.

Oh good; hopefully people aren't finding my obsession with cars *too* annoying.

-- Melissa (I like cars, what can I say?! But I like bikes too!)

[CorsairMac]

Oh! We can all run out and try to catch the wild Porsches! Hmmm, what to use as bait.........


My male friends always call Porsches "babe magnets" so maybe we need to find a babe?

Corsair "never understood why a pig would care about a Porsche" Mac

[Melody]

Melissa, I did get out to the Foothill Century, but we ended up attempting the 30 also, most notably due to the fact our alarm didn't go off and we were too late for the 100K.

However, ultimately, it was for the best. Due to the ankle hurting, and thus not being able to do any decently long rides, I was in _terribly_ shape for this ride. :( By the time we got to Arastadero on Foothill, my neck was absolutely screaming in pain. Ankle was fine, but neck was not. :( I made the decision to drop out of the race at this point since I couldn't safely keep my neck up and watch the road in front of me. Luckily, this intersection is relatively close to our house, so I rode home instead of attempting to go back to start.

I had my husband go on though. He enjoyed the ride. :) Plus I made him pick up the t-shirts. ;)

One thing I did like was that the organizers put SAG and Radio captain's phone #s on the route sheet. I was able to contact them, let them know I'm ok, no assistance needed and that I was dropping out. I then sat for the next 30 minutes on a bench as my neck relaxed so I could ride home.

Once again, I'm disappointed. I just have the worst luck in the world. :( Well, that and I just suck. *sigh*

Mel

[melissam]

Mel,

Thanks for bringing the thread back on topic! ;)

No, no, no, you do NOT suck. Let's see, when you got to Foothill & Arastradero, you'd put in about 10 miles, which is really not a bad ride. Better than the majority of people out there. I'd bet that 99% of the human race haven't even ridden a bicycle for 10 miles during their entire life.

Sorry to hear about your neck; hope you're feeling better.

-- Melissa

PS I'm glad you'd mentioned the SAG and captain's phone numbers. It was a nice touch, and the support for this ride seemed well organized.

[Melody]

PS I'm glad you'd mentioned the SAG and captain's phone numbers. It was a nice touch, and the support for this ride seemed well organized.

I agree. I thought it was great they gave out the phone #s. Allowed me to inform them of what was going on without having to find/wait for a SAG wagon. :)

Mel

[Trek420]

Mel, you so do *not* suck, you rock.

Those are hallmarks of a good rider; you made a decision based on your own safety, you listened to your body not just on the ride but after, you took care of your neck afterward too.

A lot of people would not have been able to start that ride much less ride what you did. Rest up, take care of your neck and range of motion, you'll come back stronger.

oh, and I forgot...you delegated...made DH get the t-shirts!