Saturday, August 27th in Monterey?

[bikerz]

Great directions AG - I'll see you all in a few hours!

BZ

[BikeMomma]

Thanks for absolutely grrreat day on the bike, Ladies, Lee, and Mr. Ed, too!! It was sooo much fun, and great to meet more of you TE folk (Slinkedog, akaKim - what an awesome name you have - , and BikerZ). The sea air and scenery was wonderful.

Back to reality....just on the other side of the Pacheco Pass, the wall of sweltering valley air hit me like a brick wall. Uggghh. Muggy and hot!!

-BikeMomma

[BikeMomma]

Not going to be able to make it. I'm just not up to 50 miles at this point... I've hardly been riding at all. However, I would love to do this ride in October if you guys schedule another one. Please keep us posted!

You did super, Slinke!! I'm so glad you came out after all.

[aka_kim]

Thanks Adventure Girl for hosting the ride. And thanks to Mr. Ed (oh, poor guy doesn't know he's been assigned a handle) for putting up with us. It was fun, and what a beautiful area!

[slinkedog]

Thanks to everyone for a great day and thanks to AG for putting it all together and riding with me the whole time!! (Yes, I lagged quite a bit.)

The scenery was amazing and the 17 mile drive was a really nice ride. The tourists made for some interesting moments, but it wasn't bad. Can't wait to do this route again soon!!

So, other than Lee's near emasculation courtesy of a stubborn lip of concrete and his bike stem , it was a mishap-free and very fun day!! (Sorry, Lee, someone had to bring it up!! )

I want to do the whole thing next time. (Someone remind me of that when we get to that nasty hill on the bike path.)

Can't wait to see Jo's pictures. Did you guys know that she can ride her bike and snap a photo at the same time? I can't even get my water bottle out of the cage without stopping. She's truly gifted.

[SadieKate]

She's truly gifted.

But, of course!

Who is this mysterious Mr. Ed? A horse? What? Do tell.

Sorry I wasn't there to share in the fun and meet BikeMomma, et al.

[bikerz]

That was a really great ride!! Fantastic scenery, great company, perfect weather and a nice "step up" for me on my ride ability. My legs are a little tired today! As always, you TE gals (and your gentlemen!) were truly supportive and helpful.

Tricks I learned yesterday:
1) from aka_kim - how to prop a bike up on a curb using the pedal
2) from Leebob - when standing up a hill, point toes down and let your weight "drop" your leg down rather than pushing - that really helped! (Leebob's my new hill coach! He really stuck with me on those early "little climbs" on that "flat ride"!)

AG - Thanks again for getting us all out there (and safely back again!), and it's great to have faces to put to BikeMomma and SlinkeDog' posts now!

On hwy 156 heading east to 101 the temp went from 66-96 in 20 minutes!

Hey - since I was "flying without instruments" yesterday, anyone care to toss out some ride data? I know it was 46-point-something miles, but I have no idea of how long we were riding... I know any of your average speeds will be higher than mine was, but I'd love to have a ballpark idea... TIA.

[BikeMomma]

On hwy 156 heading east to 101 the temp went from 66-96 in 20 minutes!

and How!!

Hey - since I was "flying without instruments" yesterday, anyone care to toss out some ride data? I know it was 46-point-something miles, but I have no idea of how long we were riding... I know any of your average speeds will be higher than mine was, but I'd love to have a ballpark idea... TIA.

I have:
Total time: 3:27.34 (that'll be slightly different than everyone else's, as Mr. Ed put the hammer down at the end, and I gave chase! Sorry for leaving you gals, but couldn't let the man get away girl-free!! hehe)
Distance: 46.12 miles
Max Speed: 28.4 mph (probably on some downhill somewhere...don't think Mr. Ed and I hit that on the way back...came close tho')
Average Speed: 13.3 mph (the low speed undoubtedly thanks to the sea of tourists we had to negotiate through down by the wharf)
Feel-good factor: Infinite quantities!! Thanks again, AG!

-BikeMomma

[BikeMomma]

But, of course!

Who is this mysterious Mr. Ed? A horse? What? Do tell.

Sorry I wasn't there to share in the fun and meet BikeMomma, et al.

Sorry I couldn't meet you, as well, SK. I'm sure we'll have other opportunities, though. I think we were discussing another one in October.

Mr. Ed was a very nice guy (who was he again, AG??? Friend of yours I think....I missed that piece of info!) who ended up leading us almost the entire route. He wore a cool (hot??) flame jersey and matching socks, I noticed.

[cindysue]

sounds like a great ride! Bummed I missed it, but loved seeing my friends in SoCal.

[bikerz]

Thanks for the data, Bike Momma - I was definitely slower than you and Ed! By the time I met up with the endlessly patient AG for the last few miles, you guys were not even visible in the distance - but it's good to have a general idea of the ride time.

[Adventure Girl]

What a great ride! I have probably ridden this route at least 25 times. But this was by far the most fun! Thanks to everyone who made it possible. I talked to Mr. Ed today. He said he had a great time and to say, "Hi" to all of you.

I'd love to do it again soon. September and October usually have the nicest (warmest) weather in this area, so maybe we can squeeze a ride in there sometime.

And for those of you who had pre-ride anxiety about this event (you know who you are!! ), you did GREAT! I knew you would. I hope this helped build a tiny bit of confidence. Don't put limits on yourself!

[slinkedog]

Just wondering when we're going to get to see all those nice pics that LeeBob took!!

[jobob]

oops, my bad. I was just mentioning to snap last night that I forgot to post the photos! (We were out waay too late last night, and me with an 8 am meeting this morning, auuuugh). I'll get them up soon. No wizecracks about glacial timescales.

[BikeMomma]

Just wanted to tell you I was thinking of all of you today.

My hubby and I were in Monterey last night/today for our anniversary (#11!!). Of course, I had to bring Flicka too, so she and I slipped away early this morning for a solo ride around 17 Mile Drive. There were TONS of cyclists out (I started out about 8:30am). I even rode with a group of about six for a short stretch when they came up on me from behind. I sped up and hung out with them until we got into traffic. It was truly heaven to be out there again.

From my hotel in Pacific Grove, I rode around the same roads, past Pebble Beach Resort where we had our lunch stop that day, and continued on up the hill (yyyeouch!) almost to the Hwy 1/Carmel entrance. Coming back down was wwwwhhhoooo-wheeeee fun! Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how fast I got up to, since the battery on my computer is pretty much dead. It only recorded part of the ride before it went kaput.

I didn't have time during the week/friday to get on the computer to invite you all for an encore ride (and they finally blocked the site at work...grrrr ), but the thought was there, at least. Wish I could have met up with you all again....next time!

Funny, I actually think I saw Mr. Ed on my way back in!! No jokes! AG, if you see Ed soon, tell him that if he was out near the wharf at about 10:15/:20 and he recognized me, I did see him (just wasn't SURE it was him!).

Jobob...looking forward to those pics. I was wondering about those myself. I know you took at least one of them. I was a witness.

Have a good Sunday, all....
-BikeMomma