25 August 2007

Felton-Empire and Bonny Doon

Top of Felton-Empire It was cloudy when I headed out to Capitola for the club ride. At three straight intersections on Water and Soquel, as I sped up on approaching green lights with cars approaching on the cross streets, the light turned yellow, so I had to stop, which was annoying. I got to the start early, and got signed in. As is typical with the Felton-Empire ride, the turnout was light, with about a dozen riders at the start.

We headed out, taking East Cliff, around the yacht harbor, East Cliff again, then the riverside path, where we lost a rider to a flat, but gained a tandem and another rider. At the upper end of the path, we crossed the parking lots to River Street and headed up Hwy 9 to Felton, where we regrouped at New Leaf. Two riders had second thoughts about the descent on Bonny Doon and decided to head up Mt Hermon to Scotts Valley instead.

I forgot to note the time at the start of the climb up Felton-Empire, but it was 10:22. I started up in a group of three. About halfway up, it became a group of two. After the steepest bit that followed a left curve, I felt a little like puking and couldn't keep up. I was the second to the top, and it was 10:50. Since I didn't know what the time was at the beginning of the climb, I didn't know how long the climb took, but I was hoping for something under 30 minutes. This would be the third time I climbed Felton-Empire since breaking my leg, and the times were 45:17, 38:36, and, for today, 28:17, 17 minutes faster than the first time, and a new personal best, beating the old best of 28:36. My gearing was 34/23 for the entire climb.

Regroup at the top. The tandem headed off on Empire Grade, because they live nearby. We continued onto Ice Cream Grade. Near the school, three riders were headed in the other direction, so we stopped and they joined us. They had climbed Bonny Doon Rd rather than Felton-Empire, which was not an easier climb, but does have less traffic. We then looped around on Bonny Doon Rd, which was the ride leaders favorite part, and stopped by the winery. Then came the big descent that was a little windy as well, before heading up to Davenport.

We had lunch at La Costa. I got a burrito that was pretty big. After lunch, I was feeling stuffed, so I sat in all the way back to Santa Cruz. I was still feeling full on the initial climb up Western, and I felt like puking again, so I took it easy after that.