New Years Day Ride

[jobob]

It was really nice out here today, so I did a metric century. Although it was chilly, I have the wool layering thing down.

I stayed pretty much on the flatlands today. I rode the Alameda Creek Trail out to the bay, circled Coyote Hills Park, then headed to the other end of the AC trail & on Niles Cayon Rd. out to Sunol. There was mighty stiff wind blowing from the southeast which made the ride out to Sunol a bit of a slog, but then I turned around and headed back and enjoyed the tailwind for a few miles. I then headed up to Mission San Jose - that 4% grade up Mission Blvd seemed a lot steeper in the wind. Since Mission Coffee was closed, I treated myself to a hot chocolate & croissant at Starbucks and then headed down Mission back to the Niles end of the AC Trail.

And then, when I thought I was going to enjoy a lovely tailwind cruise along the full length of the AC Trail out to the bay, the wind up and quit !!!

So, no tailwind assist out to the bay - rats. By the time I reached the bay turnaround (at about the 50 mile point) I was getting very achey. I stopped at the benches at the turnaround and stretched out a bit, downed a couple of vitamin I's and chatted with an older gentleman who was also taking a break from his ride. I meet some of the nicest people at that bay turnaround.

After that brief break I felt waaay better. I headed back to Coyote Hills park and looped around once, headed back out to the bay one last time (but didn't stop to chat w anyone this time) and then headed for home.

About 65 miles, 800-something feet of climbing, and a whopping 13.5 mph. A nice ride to start the year.

[makbike]

The queen of the weather wimps, that would be me, stayed inside today just to darn cold outside. It was snowing and the wind was blowing - just a nice winter day. I did give the trainer a good workout through and rode 21 miles in my warm, cozy living room. The scenery was okay but I did not have to calculate a wind chill factor so life was really good.

[Susan126]

Sorry to hear that a few of you are sick. I hope you all recover and are feeling better soon!

I enjoyed reading what others did today. Whether it was brrrrr taking a dip in ice cold water, a workout on your trainer, snow shoeing, a long ride, a short ride at least you got out!

I think we are all off to a good start for 2008!



Sue

[sundial]

We went to a friends house to ring in the new year. At 12:05 a.m. we hopped on our bikes and rode around the block shouting,"Happy New Year!!".

Later in the morning we met with another couple and hubby, me and his friend rode our mtb's on a hilly gravel road in the boonies. We put in 12.5 miles or so. I was pooped after all the climbing.

[ehirsch83]

Ment to do this yesterday, but now is better than never!!
We woke up at 4:30(so yeah went to bed at 9:30 on new years eve) to be ready to leave the house by 5:30! Rode an easy slow paced hour north to Boca for the first grouping point(about 17 miles from my house). There was a group of about 40 people at the meeting point in Boca and from there we all rode out. A slow paced ride north(say 17mph) to Lake Worth for the start of the actual ride. (so I rode 35 miles approx. to get to the ride,hehe)

The Lake Worth ride started at 8, but the BF and I were told it was an 8:15-8:30 start, so we ventured to 7-11 to get some fuel. We get back to the start of the ride at oh say 8:02 and find an empty parking lot. We have never been on this ride, so we have no idea of the ride route!! We start riding and then realize there is no way to find them and we should turn around, but then a guy comes up behind us and it turns out he knows where he is going!! So he leads us, but is sort of slow, so once we get to the point that we are going straight the BF hops in front and pulls us at about 26-27mph(mm how I love watching those legs!!) We finally see the group and we haul gluteus maximus and catch on.

It was a gorgeous ride, we went north through the neighborhoods up to the Palm Beach Inlet and then the ride went south down A1A to Hillsboro Blvd. Once the ride turned at Palm Beach, to go south, it split off into a couple groups and I stayed with the front group the whole way!!(most of the time about 28-30mph with some random slow downs and sprints) This was the turnaround point for the ride(it would of made it about a 60 mile ride if you only did it from lake worth and back). I opted not to turn around and go back north, but to go home since I was only 15 miles from home. It was also neat, when we got to the stopping point at Hillsboro to realize that there were two Aaron's Furniture girls out on the ride(pro team out of Atlanta) and then a lot of the local pro guys were out(Mapei, Herbalife, and Aerospace)

It was a gorgeous day! 5 hours and 45 minutes from the time I left home till I got back home, that includes all of the stops(first grouping, 7-11 at lake worth and then the stop at hillsboro to refill bottles). and I got 100 miles in!

It was a beautiful day to bring in the new year and it was amazing to see how many people stayed in the night before so they could get up and ride the next day!!

[tulip]

I did about 10 miles max in and around Williamsburg, with stops at some shops, gardens, and all things Colonial. It was a great and beautiful day with my beau and my bike.