11 November 2007

Sunday afternoon UCSC loop

In contrast to the cloudiness of Saturday, it was clear and sunny on Sunday, despite the earlier forecast of rain. So, even though I was still a little sore from yesterday's ride, I had to take advantage of the nice weather and ride. I decided to go around the loop 5 times instead of the usual 4.

It was a little windy, so I had a headwind on the climb and a tailwind on the descent. So my times on the climbs were slow, around 7 minutes, and fast on the descents, under 3 minutes.

The view to the right on the descent showed clouds to the south over the bay. There were patches of dampness on McLaughlin from yesterday's rain.

There were buses going up on 3 of my climbs. The first time, the bus turned onto Hagar a bit ahead of me, and then I didn't see it after that. The second time, the bus turned onto Hagar at the same time as I did. I saw it again stopped on McLaughlin as I finished the climb and started the descent. The third time, the bus passed me on the bottom part of Hagar. I passed it just before it pulled out of the bottom stop. I saw it again pulling out of the stop by East Remote far ahead of me. I passed it again at the stop just before the steep bit at the top of the climb.

I backed off on my effort quite a bit on the descents. I probably could have gone somewhat harder on the climb after recovering on the descent. I think I held back too much due to going around 5 times instead of 4 times, since it really wasn't that much more.