My first ride report - Cruisin' the Conejo!
I DID IT!!!!!! YEAH!!!
I got there Friday afternoon, picked up my bib number and had dinner then went to be really early. I got there at 6:30am, Caligurl and her DH drove up shortly thereafter. I'm not good at writing these reports but this was a very well organized ride (keep in mind that I don't have much recently to compare it to) the route was very well marked, the rest stops had plenty of food and were easy to access. I had decided that I would just wing it with regards to the route; it would either be the 34 (too short) or the 68 (too long) but I would decide at the cutoff depending on how I was feeling. I made it to the first rest stop and was feeling pretty good (now, you've got to know that it was only 9-10 miles in ) and I had been pacing myself to do the longer ride. The route was gorgeous, it went around some huge gorgeous houses, a lake, lots of horse properties and then... up some hills... not too bad but enough so that I was going really slowly up one of them and while I was making my way up that hill, a guy was doing repeats and did a few to my one... oh well, at least I have room for improvement huh? Anyway, I was still trying to go pretty slowly to conserve energy and at the cutoff, I felt okay so I decided to do the 68 miler which was fine until we got to this terrible, horrible, very very scary decent...OMG, I had a death grip on my brakes and the road was wet from the fog, and was slick anyway as it seemed to have been just re-paved. AND, it was foggy so visablity wasn't the best; although I decided later that it was probably for the better that I couldn't see the road ahead . Someone said it was about a 15% grade (lots of curves/turns) but I'll wait to get the official number from Caligurl and her magic computer I was scared to death but I didn't really have a choice because I couldn't stop and put my foot down or my cleats would have slid out from under me (happened earlier at a flat stop).. but, I made it and decided that if I made it through that, the rest would be a piece of cake. I was worried about my hand as it was pretty tired by the bottom but seemed to bounce back pretty quickly. I managed to make it to the 2nd and 3rd rest stop with no problems other than general fatigue. After the 3rd rest stop my right foot was starting to get hot and my hand was really aching. Thankfully, there were no really difficult obstacles; a few grades, not too steep but I was very happy to have a good granny gear - I just went into my granny and slowly got up each hill. About 10-15 miles out there was a woman who had been hit by a truck towing a boat. She was still laying in the street and had a blanket over her but appeared to be coherant and talking with the other cyclists that had stopped to assist her. I think she was going straight and the truck turned and ran right into her but I'm not positive. The police and ambulance showed up so I didn't stop since I figured she had enough gawkers and was in good hands. The rest was uneventful other than getting passed by a whole TON of riders I was really tired but nothing really hurt. I did go and get a free quickie massage and food, then waited for CG and her DH to come in. Ya know, CG looked just the same as she did when I saw her in the morning.... something is just wrong about that! I turned into a human salt block but I managed to get rid of most of the evidence with a beach towel and water before too many people could see me! The sun never came out, it was very foggy (wet) in the morning and was overcast in the afternoon with the sun just starting to peek out as I was leaving. Probably good for me because I didn't overheat and it was easier to stay hydrated.
Anyway, I finished the 68, I think my average mph was 11.7 which was fine w/me considering I was only going about 7mph down the earlier mentioned decent. It was a really nice route, much more rural than I expected and they had fabulous strawberries (along with other stuff, of course) at the rest stops. I will definately do this one again - the best thing was that the course was so well marked; riding alone, I am nervous about getting off course and not knowing where the heck I am... no chance of that w/this ride.
Well, gotta go get rid of the rest of the grime. Thanks for the encouragement everyone! AND, BC68, you should've thrown your bike in w/mine and come w/me!!!
Everyone have a great weekend!!!
Tracy
ps. I also discovered that taking an Aleve before the ride helped keep the 'hand ache' at bay for longer - YIPPEE SKIPPEE! :D
OK! finally some pictures!
