Is anyone doing the Foothill Century?

[Melody]

Is anyone doing the Foothill Century out of Sunnyvale? Here's the link: http://www.sphds.org/foothillcentury/main.htm

Hubby and I are attempting the 100k (theoretically). We'll have to see how bad it is, though, I think this ride will be a bit easier than the last. *crosses fingers*

Mel

[jobob]

Looks like a very nice route - it overlaps a lot with my favorite Tour de Woodside routes. I already have plans for that day, otherwise I'd join you (sorry).

[Bike Goddess]

The route passes my place on Page Mill Road where I grew up! Them thar hills I used to do on my 10 speed road bike back in the days when there weren't any freeways and lots of places with horses and barns. Dates me, huh?

It's tempting!

[Melody]

Dates me, huh?

Bah. You're only as old as you feel. It's why I'm 298.

Mel

[melissam]

Melody,

Thanks for posting this! I haven't been riding much since last summer (various things have been more of a priority than riding) -- I think I have a whole 50 miles under my belt since last summer.

Now that things have settled down for me and the weather is getting a little nicer, I'm thinking that the 25 mile route may be the perfect 2005 Come Back Ride for me.

Good luck on the 100km route! Maybe I'll see you & your husband at the BBQ after the ride.

-- Melissa

PS Nancy, we probably passed each other on Page Mill Road back in the day. I used to board my horse at a couple of those barns. Excellent ride up to the top of the hill -- you could see for miles! Also, fun to trail ride from the barn, up Arastradero, to Rosotti's AKA Alpine Inn. Great memories...

[jobob]

Woo-hoo melissa, welcome back !!

[slinkedog]

Melody... do you know if they have day-of registration? If so, I might try it. I doubt I could do 60 miles since I've barely ridden, but it might be fun to try.

[Melody]

Melody... do you know if they have day-of registration? If so, I might try it. I doubt I could do 60 miles since I've barely ridden, but it might be fun to try.

Slinke, I'm not sure, but you could contact the people who are running it. Their email address is foothillcentury@SPHDS.Org

Melissa, you're welcome. I'm not sure how well I'm going to do though. I ended up twisting my ankles a few days ago while taking out the trash. So at the moment, I'm hobbling along. I rode into work today and so far everything seems to be fine, but walking just sucks. at the moment.

Oh well, I'm still going though

Mel

[slinkedog]

Mel, are you ready for tomorrow! I hope you have a great ride. Please let us know how it goes!!

[Bike Goddess]

Melissm/Melody- Rosottis- Yep I remember that and the Alpine Inn, too. Do you remember the Kingston trio when they used to play there?

Melody- You are such a little smarty pants! 298- right. Now, what does that stand for?

[Melody]

Uh oh! Does 298 actually mean something? I kind of made that number on the spot, so if it does and it's bad, I apologize. :P

Slinke, the ride isn't till Sunday. I'll see how far I go. Ankle is still hurting a little, but I really really really want to ride.

Mel

[melissam]

Melody, how's your ankle? Did you ride in the Foothill Century?

I did the 30 mile ride on Sunday. It was fabulous!

The people at the registration desk were very nice, and were more than happy to take day of ride registrations. Lots of people were there with their families, planning to do the short six mile route. Nice to see a good turnout with some very young cycling enthusiasts.

The 30 mile route took me up Wright Ave, to Homestead Road, and up Foothill Expressway until I got to Arastradero. Up until this point, the ride was mostly flat, with very little wind. I turned left onto Arastradero, and road started to go uphill, just a bit. At this point, I realized that I hadn't warmed up quite as well as I should have. Oops. Oh well, onward and upward.

Shortly before Arastradero crosses Page Mill Road, it really starts to go uphill. Back in the day, I'd been able to jam up the hill and enjoy the brief downhill before I got to the stop sign at Page Mill. No such luck on Sunday. I was struggling up the hill, grateful that I had a triple chainring and a very light carbon fiber frame. Guys on recumbents were passing me up the hill, but they were very nice about it, encouraging me that I was almost at the top. Got to the top (no walking), and wilted down the hill. Up on Page Mill for a bit, and then right onto Arastradero.

At this point I should mention that the route wasn't marked as well as I'd have hoped. I missed the little blue arrow and continued on Page Mill for a second or two before stopping to consult my route sheet. Yep, needed to turn onto Arastradero. (Good news, because I really didn't want to go UP Page Mill.)

I should also mention that it was on this stretch of Arastradero Rd. that I made a very keen observation: there must be more Volvos per capita in Palo Alto than in ANYWHERE else in the world. Picture this: you're on a relatively low traffic two-lane road, where a car might pass you every minute or so. I swear that 75% of the cars that passed me were VOLVOs. What's up with that? It's not like they're common on the freeways here. Oh, and the different Volvo models were well represented: S60's, a V70, one of the Volvo SUV's, and older model. Oh well, it was a good distraction for a tired cyclist.

At the end of Arastadero is the Alpine Inn. And I was really, really tired at this point and considered turning around and going back to the start. But what good is that? After my personal, impromptu rest stop and the Alpine Inn, I turned left onto Alpine Road (or is it Portola) and kept goin'! In fact, I was about to pass my first cyclist (rather than be passed, whoo hoo!) when he started to talk to me. This was funny, because I was so tired that I barely had enough breath to talk back to him. He asked what size my rear dropouts were. Excuse me? Actually, I had no idea and told him so in between huffing and puffing. Fortunately, he quit asking questions for the most part and carried on a very nice, one-sided conversation which distracted me from how tired I was. Unfortunately, he was hard of hearing, so when he did ask questions, I had to repeat myself (and huff & puff.)

Before I knew it, I was at the rest stop. Whoo hoo! I ran into (no, not literally) some of my friends from last year's Cinderella Training rides who were doing the metric century and looking very, very fresh. I had a bit of gatorade and other goodies at the rest stop, where the friendly workers were more than happy to hear about my car/town observations. "Now Los Altos, that's a BMW town. At least 10 BMW's at any given major intersection." Not so many Volvo's in Los Altos, tho.

From the rest stop, the route pretty much doubled back to Sunnyvale. I was still tired, but going back didn't seem as tough as getting to the rest stop.

They had a very nice kosher BBQ at the end of the ride. From there, I rode back to my truck, loaded up, went home, showered, and took a nap! Never thought 30 miles would be so draining. :-) I've GOT to start riding more!

-- Melissa

[slinkedog]

Melissa... thanks for the ride report! I was wondering how this went!

If you're interested in riding this weekend, I'm going out to do just about 30 miles and would love a riding partner. I hate riding alone.

[melissam]

slinkedog,

I would love to go riding with you sometime, but I'm not sure about this weekend.

I'll PM you....

-- Melissa

[slinkedog]

It's looking like a few folks from the board are coming down here to ride on Memorial Day. We'd love to have you, and anyone else who is interetsed, join us!!