Sunday 04/22 ride up....ride down

[bikerz]

Z, you're back?

I'm back! London was great (but oh, so expensive... it will be a sad day when my credit card statement arrives ). We lucked out and had fantastic weather the whole time. I took a few funny cycling-related photos which I will post one of these days.

We met up with DirtDiva for a couple of pints and dinner while we were there - she's as charming and funny in real life as she is online!

... and now that vacation is over, I have to get riding!

[Trek420]

So far the plan is meet at 10:30, ride out 11:00.

I can call when we start so you can head down to meet up.

[bikerz]

That sound great - it won't take us long to get to the parking lot there.

[Trek420]

Bikerz and all,

Weather report says heavy rain is forcast. But what do they know?

I don't mind a ride in the rain but that descent on wet pavement? So let's keep an eye on it and IF it rains we'll try this again in 2 weeks.

[Trek420]

What's that big yellow thing doing in the sky?

[bikerz]

we're still up for a ride - we could do a longer, flatter ride instead of hills, if that works out - (Bay trail with extensions, or ACT?)

[melissam]

Well, we're back. It was a lovely day for a ride -- not too hot, not too cold, but just right. (Yah, just call me Goldilocks.)

BikerZ and I cajoled her roommate Beth to come along for the ride, since she & her boyfriend will be doing the Wine Country Century in May. BikerZ, Beth, and I pacelined down Thornhill Road and met Trek and her cousin Maury at Temescal Park. After introductions were made, we started the ride.

It pretty much went uphill immediately, and stayed that way for the next 5ish miles. We all went at our own pace -- Beth was amazing, powering up her mountain bike with big knobby tires in her tennis shoes. Maury was singing -- apparently he hadn't hit his VO2-max, so he had breath to expend. BikerZ cruised up (she wants me to write "plodded" instead of "cruised" but I think that's just mean) with her much-coveted low gears. Trek's hill riding is paying off, she was moving that Mondonico up the hill. Me? Well, I was enjoying my new low gears and the gorgeous views of the SF Bay.

At the Fire Station, Beth went home, and we continued along Skyline with Trek & Maury. We bid them adieu at Pinehurst (Freudian typo = Pinehurts) -- we opted out of that one and continued on Skyline, where we rescued a charming roadie with a beautiful custom Serotta and a non-functional Silca frame pump. He'd run out of tubes, and wasn't able to get the patch to hold or the pump to pump air. BikerZ (the biking version of AAA Roadside Assistance) gave him a spare tube and demonstrated the genius that is the Road Morph pump. Our roadie was suitably impressed -- another convert! He was willing to add the extra weight to have a working pump. Smart man.

From there, it was all downhill back to the house. Downhills are nice, but I must admit that I white knuckled it on some of the descents. Oh well, my forearms needed a good workout.

All told, it was 14 miles for us -- a good portion of it was spent fighting the law of gravity. Well, as the song says, "I fought the law and the law won." No, I didn't fall, I'm just a wee bit tired.

Thanks, Trek for organizing a nice ride and getting us out of the house on a Sunday morning. It was a pleasure to meet Maury.