16 December 2006

Davenport, Swanton, and Smith

Davenport It was a cold, cloudy day, with rain forecast to start in the afternoon to evening, so it was a chance to get in a ride before the rain arrived. The rainy season has arrived. I didn't ride last weekend due to heavy rain. The club ride was scheduled to start at 8:30, 8 or 9 from Capitola, which caused some confusion. I decided to show up between 8:30 and 9, and arrived at around 8:45 and got signed in. Some who arrived earlier had already started off, since it was cold, though not freezing. One guy, arriving later, when unloading his bike, had a spoke in his front wheel caught in his pedal. It took some time to get that untangled.

And then we were off, getting warmed up along Brommer, around the yacht harbor, by the boardwalk, along West Cliff, to Natural Bridges, where some of those who had started earlier were waiting. After a little more waiting, we headed for Davenport, first taking the bike path paralleling Hwy 1, which was being cleared by mostly Harbor High students on their mountain bike team. After going through Wilder Ranch, we turn onto Hwy 1, forming a train being pulled by a tandem, whose riders had earlier this year ridden across the country, so they were pretty strong.

Davenport was a stop for coffee and snacks. I took a picture, which I'll add to this post once I'm able to access it. While we were there, a big tourist bus pulled in. Eventually, I went with a group headed off to Swanton. Somewhere along the way, I remember hitting a rock on the road that I didn't see. After the descent into the valley, the two fast guys went off ahead, and I went with them. Near the top of the climb, I felt my rear tire going soft. It must have been the rock I hit earlier causing a slow leak. I replaced the tube and pumped it up. It took a lot of strokes to inflate the tire to a reasonable pressure. I was stopped for about ten minutes, most of which was pumping up the tire. I continued up and over the summit, and back down to Hwy 1, then headed back to Davenport.

At Davenport, those that I was riding with earlier that were going to climb Bonny Doon had already left or were about to leave. I stopped and had lunch with a few others that did a shortened out-and-back along Swanton. After lunch, I headed off solo to climb Bonny Doon, about a half hour after the others climbing it. After working up a sweat on the climb, the initial steep descents of Smith Grade chilled me. The road was also lined with duff, so I had to be careful. The last part of Smith Grade climbed steeply to Empire Grade, so I was again working up a sweat, only to be chilled on the Empire Grade descent.