Spetember 21st Rides

[andtckrtoo]

I did the Tour for Woodside today! It was a very fun ride - I did the 55 miler. Sorry, but I don’t have any photos. It’s too bad because parts of this ride were absolutely stunning. We started off from Woodside high school about 7AM and the first three miles were uphill – not too steep but constant. Then the road turned into rolling hills paralleling highway 280. About 5 miles into the ride we started riding beside a reservoir and the views were beautiful. We did a big circle and came back to riding along the reservoir and back into Woodside. That was about 20 miles and at mile 17 there was a well supported rest stop

At mile 23 the climb began and continued for a good 4 miles to the top of Kings Mountain Road. That was tough, but towards the top, it started to rain of all things. I think it was just very heavy fog. One thing about cycling in California is that if you ride the mountains at all or travel any distance you have to prepare for the weather to change. It can be a 40-50 degree temperature difference with a 30 mile radius. So, instead of being very hot, I was chilly as I reached the summit (to a bunch of Woodside Cheer Leaders cheering us on – that was a cute touch) and the next rest stop (they had cream cheese and peaches sandwich – according to the woman at the stop, that’s what they feed the Tour de France riders – I had some – good sandwiches!

Then it was off again – up another climb (no, the climbing wasn’t over yet) of about a mile. We were climbing and tired but the sun was starting to peak through the clouds in there in the woods we were riding through the rays of sunshine that were reaching the ground (you know what I mean – the rays were actually visible). It felt as if heaven was pretty close (but we just needed to get through the hell of the hill! ). Once we hit the top of that hill, we had literally 7 miles of down hill. What a blast! Just a nice decent – not too steep – but fast and fun. I really enjoyed that.

We rode by some horse ranches ($$$$ area), and back into town, then turned towards the second loop of rollers we had. At the point there was about 12 miles to go. This part went by quickly except for my new nemesis – Alpine Road – what a sick joke. I swear there were places the so looked to be down hill, but were instead a continuation of the climb. We were on that road for about 4 miles and I swear it either looked flat or down hill, but I could not get above 12 mph and that was pushing it!

FINALLY we came to our last rest stop. Another very well supported one - for a local ride supported strictly by volunteers, they did a very good job and everyone supporting it was friendly and sincerely appreciated the cyclists). Then came the last six miles! These were all rollers until the last mile – it was all down hill back into the school and the finish line! YEAH! We put the bikes away, then sat down to BBQ Chicken breast, pasta salad, green salad and choco chip cookies!! YUM! This is definitely one I’ll consider next year. What a fun ride!