Cindy dinner and ride reports!

[Duck on Wheels]

Let's see, my Cinderella ride in brief: headwind, headwind, hills, rain, *&^% headwind, hills, pouring rain, headwind, drizzle, lemon drop hill with headwind, freezing rain or maybe light sleet or hail, headwind pedaling to keep moving downhill, rain...

Ditto to that. Lay awake the night before listening to downpour, but the forecast was that it would clear up to scattered showers by 7am, so we loaded up the bikes and headed for registration. I bought some rain pants at the start area and was glad I had'em even if they are bright yellow and my rain jacket is wine red. Made it easy to find my photo after the ride. Also kept me warm and dry through the first, heaviest showers. But as the day developed it wasn't the rain that was the worst problem, it was the wind. And the anticipation of wind. You'd make a turn with a sigh of relief - out of that headwind at last! - then see the next turn just a mile up the road taking you back into the headwind again for G.d knows how far. The headwind stretches were longer than the sidewind ones ... and felt twice as long as that again! And on one expecially long one there was a dead skunk at the far (upwind) end! I kid you not! Luckily for me I have a somewhat nostalgic feeling about the distant smell of skunk (like driving home out in the countryside where I grew up), but even I was relieved when we finally passed that skunk and put it downwind of us. It was getting too close for nostalgia.

Anyways ... my first ride since - hmmm, when was that last one? I had my youngest on the kid seat behind me and my oldest rode alongside on her own. So that would be 20 years ago. We did the 34 km route, + a few more from home to the start line. DH did the long route 'round the lake and met us at the lunch stop. This time I did 43 miles. That would be hmmm 43x1.6 is 43+24+1.8= is this right? almost 69 km? Ohmygosh! That's from home to Hell and back and halfway to Hell again! I wouldn't ever have thought I could do that!

Well, I've had a long night's sleep. My quads are still sore, but less so than yesterday. No other pains anywhere, which is good. Guess my bike - clunky and heavy and inefficient as it is, at least fits well. I also learned how to deal with the ostomy problem (for those who remember my "really embarrassing" post). The solution is called Gel-X. One tab in the bag, replace every time you empty. Just carried a small pill box of spare tabs. Otherwise, my gut was being quite cooperative, letting me eat just about anything (although I still avoid high fiber items like oranges and power bars, had to use gu instead of the latter, and the bananas were great!)

Thanks, Mel, for keeping me company. I'm sure you'd have done better going a bit faster early on, before we hit those headwinds. Maybe I'll see you on another ride come June-July. Maybe by then I'll be in shape to do better at my share of pulling.

Oh, and p.s. In spite of the weather and the dead skunk, the scenery was beautiful! Service was good too. Even registration wasn't as slow as people had lead me to expect. If I weren't gonna be in Norway this time next year, I'd do it again.

[Trek420]

Bikerz,

Thanks for the invite, I'm feeling great but was having some slight shifting issues towards the end, so I need to put the bike up on the rack and/or take her to Chris. Besides, Bikeless flys back to WI tonight, dinner with nuclear fambly before she goes, hard to squeeze a ride in.

Yes, I'm going to blame the equipment.

Have a great ride and let's do the Bay Trail sometime soon.

Anyone know when the photos will be up?

[cindysue]

I woke up Saturday morning to rain rain rain. But it had stopped by the time I started loading the truck with all the LUNA gear. Went to starbucks - got a free extra shot in my Soy Latte, and headed for the parks. I always get excited when I see cars with their bikes on the way to the ride start. There certainly were fewer cars than last year - but I was still very excited to see a line of cars waiting to go into the parks when I arrived at 6:45.

With Michelle McBee's (from the Valley Spokesmen) help, i set up the LUNA tent, then went in and got my pink route sheet, rider #, and pink wristband. It was between 7:30 and 7:45 by the time I headed out. I figured I'd be able to get to the first rest stop (mile 22) then turn around and head back the same way so I could start manning the tent at 11am. I got rained on a few times but not much wind yet. I stopped and helped a gal change her flat tire along the way, then pulled into the rest stop at 9am. Saw a few friends, grabbed some goodies, and headed to the portapotties before turning around to head back to Camp Parks. I can't count the number of times people said "you're going the wrong way." I just smiled and waved "thanks"

The winds had really picked up by now, and I was pedaling hard to get anywhere against the headwinds. I was also almost knocked over several times by all the crosswinds. A little more rain, but not enough to dampen my spirits. I was excited to get back and see all the riders coming in.

Got back to camp parks at 11, but could not figure out how to get back in. The road we had come out of the parks had been gated off, and one of the military guys there sent me off in the wrong direction too. Well finally 1/2 hour later I found my way back into the parks - I ended up going back the same way I had drove in that morning.

My tent had been taken down by the time I arrived. The winds were so bad it was blowing around. Everything I tried to put up got knocked down. Finally a couple of the other vendors helped anchor my tent and other stuff by bungee cording it to their tent.

Apparently only about 1000 women showed up (out of 2800 registered) and not too many people were interested in haging out in the vendor area where it was cold, rainy, and windy. I know if it was me, I'd have got my soup and got the heck out of there!

But I did get a visit from several TE gals including Nancy, Shannon, Cari, Becky, Dita, and Lorri. I didn't see Kim, but someone said she said to say hi. I'm sure there were others but I can't remember at the moment.....

Anyway - all in all a good day, I got in 43 or so miles and was really happy to see some of the gals who had joined our training rides finish the whole ride despite the conditions.

Looking forward to LRRH!

edit: fixed typos

[cindysue]

Dinner

Dinner was GREAT! Nancy picked me up and we headed out with the evening commute. The carpool had ended by that time so no advantage there but it was really nice to have someone to chat with for the ride to the restaurant. We got there just as Dita and her sister arrived. It was great to see Dita again and meet her sister. I was disappointed that spazz couldn't come due to a migraine, but hope to see her soon. There is some talk of a progressive housewarming party that would have dinner at one house and dessert at the other (BikerZ and Spazz). It was so nice to see Francie and Ann again - it had been too long. I really enjoyed catching up with Ann and hearing Francie's stories from biking abroad. It was also great to see Melody again and I think I'm forgetting someone.....

I have to say though that I was quite embarrased that whoever booked the reservation didn't change it once we knew the numbers had dropped off. The eight of us arrived to a table of 20. The look on the waiters face when we said "only eight" was not pretty. And we were late on top of it, so that table must had sat empty for 1/2 hour before we arrived. Poor guy probably lost a lot of money that night. Lesson Learned for next time I guess!

anyway, gotta run to Cinderella #2

[slinkedog]

Well, I'm incredibly disappointed that I didn't see ANYONE I knew on the ride, except for the gals I started out with. I saw CindySue at the Luna tent, but that was it.

Woke up in the middle of the night to the ungodly screaming of my 4 year old. Turns out the power was out and her room was dark. Daddy brought her in with us, and I got up and got my cell phone to find out what time it was. 4:30. Half an hour before I wanted to get up. Set the alarm on the cell phone and laid there for half an hour with my mind going 1,000,000 miles an hour. Got up. Got ready by flashlight.

Mountainpuddles came and got me and we stopped for food since I couldn't cook anything (darned electric stove) . Drove through the pouring rain to the start location. Registration was incredibly quick! Thanks VS folks! The field where we parked was a sodden, muddy mess, and by the time I had my bike ready to go, my feet were pretty wet. Thanks to my kind hubby for giving me his booties. My feet would have frozen otherwise.

Did someone already mention the wind? Oy. Started out not too bad. The early part of the ride was gorgeous and I was really enjoying myself. The first rest stop was fine and the food was great and everyone was incredibly friendly. Then it was off to Tesla and Cross Rd. Rain. Lots of rain. It was pouring down my face and streaming down my glasses. Wet tights and cold, achy knees. As I was climbing Cross, my glasses were fogging up because I was heating up, and then a welcome blast of wind would come and de-fog them for me. The descent was a drag because of the wind... kept me from going as fast as I would have liked, though I was nervous because I knew my brakes and rims were pretty wet.

Then the headwinds got pretty ferocious. The aforementioned skunk was just a lovely treat along the way. So was the dead rat the size of a house cat. Pedal FASTER!

The lunch stop was great... it was fun to see all the costumes. I saw a witch, lots of hula dancers, many feather boas and tiaras, and Lady Godiva even graced us with her presence. Headed out of the stop with Carimail and, did I happen to mention the wind? It was so bad at this point that I was in one of my granniest gears and going 6.2 mph, at which point (about 2 miles out from the rest stop) I realized I was cussing at the wind, my knees were hurting and was no longer having any fun whatsoever. I kept trying to get on someone's wheel but I just kept getting dropped. It was very frustrating and discouraging. I finally stopped, rode back to the rest stop and SAG'd back to the finish with Lady Godiva and some other frazzled souls. And there were a lot of them!! I think the line was 20 deep when I left. I made 42 miles total (on my bike, that is.)

Got back, ate yummy soup, looked at pictures, shopped and talked to some nice folks. Overall, I loved the ride and had a good time! Just wish someone could have turned off the wind. Feel fine today except for sore knees and shoulders... I was very tense in the wind.

Heard only about 1,000 ladies showed up yesterday. I thought the field looked pretty thin. Mountainpuddles and I drove home (she and Carimail both finished strong), and mp asked me to drive as she was pretty zonked.

Good day... glad I went. Would like to try it again next year if I can get a good weather guarantee!!

Edited to mention that we had two gals collide at some point... result was a broken ankle for one and broken collarbone for the other. Also saw a gal being attended by a whole bunch of emergency vehicles on May School rd. Anyone know how she's doing?

[SadieKate]

I just heard from my friend, Marty. CindySue, Slinke and Jo met her at the Benicia Jelly Belly Ride and, at 50 miles, Marty's PB to date. This is my 65 yr old co-worker/friend who had been riding a little comfort bike 10-15 miles on the bike path last summer and came to me after the LRRH in June and said, "Do you think I could do that?" I said yes, with a training plan, a road bike and commitment. Last fall she rode 2 half metrics and bought a roadbike. Yesterday, she rode her first metric and a brutal one at that. Rain, wind and hail - she persevered. She said there were times if a SAG had pulled up next to her and offered her a ride she would have gotten in, but she stuck with it. She rode by herself with no companions, which I think makes it doubly hard from a mental view.

I am so proud of her and admire her grit and determination. She said she's tired today but not sore or having any spasms. She's feels good and she's on track for the LRRH. Gosh, I'm going to be smiling about her accomplishment all day.

[withm]

Just wondering - what was the general wind speed & temp?

[velogirl]

Just wondering - what was the general wind speed & temp?

Thankfully, it wasn't cold yesterday. I don't know the wind speed (I'm sure there's some way to look it up online), but it was stiff. At one point, I looked at my PowerTap and I'm pushing over 200 watts, sitting on someone's wheel, on a flat road, and we're only going 13mph. Sheesh!

I've done Cinderella a handful of times and this was the slowest (by over 3mph).

I never thought I'd use the words brutal or epic in the same sentence as Cinderella, but those are the two words that keep popping into my head.

For everyone who finished, you're studs. For everyone who started, congratulations! It was a truly epic and brutal ride. But that just made the soup at the end so much better!

[SadieKate]

Hourly reports for yesterday's weather in Livermore. Hope this link works.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recre...=0&when=032506

[E2theD]

Hey gals, new to the board and first time poster. I did the Cindy yesterday with a few hardy women and I'll tell you by the end of the ride that patch was one of honor. Our group of 4 started out on the course at 11, pulling up the rear. BikeMomma lead the pack and thank dog because she is one strong rider. Emily sagged back in at the first stop to work the LunaChix tent and the 3 of us kept on. We missed most of the rain but picked up the really strong afternoon wind. At some points I was frustrated but I have to say the great group I was with kept me from ever thinking about throwing in the towel. Can't imagine finishing that ride on my own and can honestly say I had a great time.

The forecast for the day called for 20-30 mile per hour winds and when I got home and watched the news they reported gusts up to 35mph ! I think one of those gusts came close to putting me in the ditch.

Lorri, sorry I missed you at the booth but thanks for sending out my new VG jersey in time for the ride. I wore it proud even if it was under a few layers.

Off for a quick mtb recovery ride now...

Erin

[Melody]

So, I *finally* have some time to post. Work has had me tied up (not literally though!) for the past week. :/

Thanks, Mel, for keeping me company. I'm sure you'd have done better going a bit faster early on, before we hit those headwinds. Maybe I'll see you on another ride come June-July. Maybe by then I'll be in shape to do better at my share of pulling.

Bikeless, I still disagree. I'd have killed myself earlier if I wasn't with you. You rode at a nice steady pace which kept me from going to fast early and dying.

And you did a *ton* of pulling and IMO you did more than your fair share of pulling. I really enjoyed riding with you. Having someone to talk to always makes the ride more enjoyable.

I won't go into my specific ride report since it was similar to everyone else's... headwind, drizzle, more headwind, hills with headwinds, flats with headwinds, downhills with headwinds, oh and I think Trek mentioned headwinds... Other than the headwinds, however, the day was pretty beautiful for most of the ride. Much nicer than I was expecting... esp since I was all up in my rain gear.

Mel

[Trek420]

did I mention headwinds?

[BikeMomma]

Maybe it's because I'm watching Monty Python at the moment, but while reading Melody's post, the SNL "More Cowbells" skit came to mind. It could be altered slightly to "More Headwinds".

"We need more headwinds! Make more headwinds!"
"NO, we don't need more headwinds, it's fine the way it is."
"Well, how about more driving rain, then?!?"

(Hey, I'm half British....really corny humor runs in the family...).
heehee
~BikeMomma