4 March 2007

Flamingo Ride

Arcangeli's It was another beautiful day for being outdoors. I headed down to Another Bike Shop (which was closed) to join the Flamingo Ride, billed as a fast-paced 90-mile ride. I had ridden with three of the guys there before, including the one guy on a mountain bike, as the frame of his road bike was being fixed. I think there were 13 riders, including 2 women. Two of the riders joined us on High St. We headed out pretty slowly, winding our way to Hwy 9. It was a little cool on Hwy 9, but, since I was sitting at the back of the pack, the wind was not as chilly as it would have been if I were riding alone.

By the time we reached Felton, everyone was warmed up, and the pace ratcheted up. By myself, I usually ride 17-18mph from Felton to Boulder Creek. We were going around 21mph. I stayed near the back of the pack. Just after Redwood Elementary School, we stopped for a break. Even including that break of about 4 minutes, the time from Boulder Creek to the upper Hwy 236 intersection was only 2 minutes slower than my best time, and faster than most of my times. At Saratoga Toll Rd, I tried to shift to my small ring and dropped my chain. As I recovered my chain, the pack split up. I moved up to join the group in front, spending a lot of energy. It soon became clear that I couldn't keep up, but I hoped to stay with them until Hwy 236. No such luck. After a half mile or so, I had to fall back. When I passed Hwy 236, they were still in sight, but pulling away quickly. There was also one guy a few hundred yards behind me. The lead group soon disappeared ahead. Eventually, the guy behind me dropped out of sight as well. I made it from Hwy 236 to Skyline two minutes faster than my previous best, then turned left and headed to the fire station.

Regroup at the fire station. I got a Sprite and refilled my bottle with water. I think one guy turned off at Hwy 236, and another turned right at Skyline, so the group was 11. A few other cyclists also stopped at the fire station. After the break, it was a fast ride along Skyline to Alpine. During this stretch, a guy behind me pointed out that I lost the top to one of my bottles. It was my empty bottle on my seat tube, so I guess I'll have to buy a new bottle. At the top of Alpine, there was group of cyclists, and they warned of sand on the road. On the descent, I fell back, with only the guy on the mountain bike behind me. Since the last time I did this descent was 10 July 2005, I stayed pretty cautious on the turns. It took me about 19 minutes from Skyline to Pescadero Rd. The last time, it took about 34 minutes. Eventually, mountain bike guy and I caught up to two others, and then the four of us caught up to one more. The five of us rode together to the Pescadero Rd, where there was a short (from my point of view as the last to arrive) regroup.

On the climb up Haskins, a group of five rode ahead. I stayed with the group behind for a while. Then, one guy went off ahead, and I stayed with him until a few hundred yards short of the summit. On the descent, he got a few hundred yards ahead of me. Eventually, I caught back up as he negotiated past a slower guy in a red and black jersey. A while later, I asked him about the flamingo house, which I had been looking out for, and he said we just passed it, and the flamingos had been removed last year. There seemed to be a slight headwind, and the rest of the group caught up and the six of us rode to Pescadero together.

We stopped for lunch at Arcangeli's. I got a pastrami sandwich and a coke, then went back out and took a picture. Then I saw that everyone else and their bikes were gone. I sat down on a bench and ate my lunch. It turned out that everyone else was sitting at tables behind the store that I didn't know about. After I finished, I headed out by myself to Cloverdale. On Cloverdale, I saw a beautiful white bird with a long neck off to the right. It looked like a snowy egret. There was a bit of a headwind, so I slowed quite a bit until the hilly part. Then, I took Gazos Creek Rd out to Hwy 1. On Hwy 1, the headwind reappeared, so I slowed to around 14mph. About a mile later, the group came zooming by. I jumped to latch onto the back of the pack, going by Año Neuvo. On the little climb to the county line, I couldn't keep up and fell off the back. The climb after Waddell was unusually difficult, so I geared down and took it slowly.

After the climb out of Scott Creek, I started seeing a cyclist in a blue jersey far ahead of me. On the climb out of the dip after Davenport, I made a lot of the distance and caught up a bit after Bonny Doon Rd. He was at the back of the pack and got dropped on the climb out of Waddell. He also told me about the tables behind Arcangeli's, clearing that up for me. We rode together back to Santa Cruz. At Western, I said goodbye and turned left.