15 December 2007

Saturday harbor ride

Laurel Ext by Beach Hill It was pretty cold. But the sun was shining, and it was warmer in the sun. However, it was still early, so the sun was low in the eastern sky, making it more difficult to see when going east.

There was still work being done at Soquel and Capitola, closing the right turn lane. I turned right onto Capitola, then right onto 7th, leading to the start by the harbor. The ride started with the usual slow precession on East Cliff and Opal Cliff to Capitola, the pack growing along the way. Then it was up the little hill and out on Park and Soquel through Aptos Village to Freedom, over the freeway, then Bonita to San Andreas.

On San Andreas, the pace wasn't driven up as much as the last time I did this ride, so I was able to stay in the pack instead of falling off the back. As a comparison, last time, I went from Seascape to Buena Vista in a little over 8 minutes before falling off the back. This time, it took over 9 minutes and I didn't have to work very hard to keep up. Then, it slowed down for the approach to Watsonville. Going through Watsonville, there were lots of red lights. A substantial bunch turned off for the long ride to San Juan Bautista. Most of the rest turned off for the short ride at Holohan, leaving me in a group of 6, and one guy had a loud flat before Casserly, so it was a group of 5. All 5 of us went for Mt Madonna and Hazel Dell at the next option point.

I was anticipating falling off the back at the steep run-up to Hazel Dell on Mt Madonna, but the others were taking it easy, so I stayed with them. On Hazel Dell, we overtook a small group of cyclists and saw another few bunches coming the opposite way, including one bunch stopped at the summit. Two riders wanted to take it easy or were waiting for the guy who flatted, so they dropped back. So, eventually, I was leading the other 2 to the summit. On the descent, they went around me, so I sucked their wheels as they traded off the lead all the way to Corralitos. Then we went up and over Hames. Somewhere after Pleasant Valley, I lost the other 2 and continued solo, taking Freedom and Soquel back to town. I still had energy in my legs and sprinted at a number of stale green lights, making it through some of them, and not quite making it through some of them.

When I got to downtown, I turned left and headed to Beach Hill for a couple of times around before heading home on Bay.