8 September 2007

Pescadero to Half Moon Bay

Machine-gun man on Stage Rd The club ride was scheduled to start at 9am at Pescadero, so I gave myself over 2 hours to get there, since it took just about 2 hours last time into a headwind. This time, there was no wind. The wind sock near Waddell was hanging straight down. It was mostly overcast, with patches of sun.

I made it to Gazos Creek Rd in under 1:20. Just after the turn, I ran over two big spots of gravel. There were 4 or 5 more of them a little later on. They looked new and weren't there 4 weeks earlier, the last time I rode this way.

I made it to the start and got signed in. It was a moderately small group of a dozen or so. None of the fast guys were there, so I knew I'd be riding back solo. We got started up Stage. I took a picture of the machine-gun man sculpture as I rode by. I took it easy over the first bump, hanging around the 3 women who were the front group. As we went by Pomponio Creek Rd, one guy went screaming by. He's usually on a tandem, so maybe he was letting loose a little on the single bike. Naturally, I chased after him. I could catch him on the climbs, but would fall behind on the descents. That pattern would hold the rest of the way to Half Moon Bay. We regrouped at San Gregorio. There were no other cyclists there when we arrived, but, by the time we left, at least two other groups had stopped there as well.


Half Moon Bay We headed up the last bump of Stage, down Hwy 1, up Tunitas Creek, then Lobitos Creek and Verde. It had become mostly sunny at this point. At the end of Verde, the shorter option was to turn left and take Hwy 1 to Half Moon Bay. We took the longer option and turned right, heading up Purisima Creek, then took Higgins-Purisima to Half Moon Bay for the lunch stop. I had a lemonade and a focaccia.

After lunch, I headed back solo. At first, there seemed to be a slight headwind, but that soon was gone as I headed up and down the dips for the creeks. On a right curve on the descent to Tunitas Creek, a white Pontiac passed me close. I think there was over two feet between the left edge of the car and the center line. And after passing me, for emphasis, it went all the way to the right edge of the shoulder. What a jerk. At the time, I was in the shoulder, right of the stripe, so it wasn't as if I was even in the lane.

It was cloudy just south of Half Moon Bay, but it was mostly sunny after that, with a few patches of cloudiness. However, there was no tailwind to speak of for most of the way. At Waddell, I saw one kite in the air as I approached. When I looked again while passing by, it was gone. The wind sock was at maybe 10 degrees, and mostly indicating a crosswind. Finally, around Davenport, the tailwind picked up a little.

When I got to Western, I was still feeling pretty good, so I powered up in 5 minutes, much better than the over 9 minutes it took on Labor Day after bonking.