16 February 2008

Saturday harbor ride

It was cold and cloudy in the morning, but it was supposed to warm up in the day. There were various strategies from the riders at the start -- some dressed up, some dressed light. At 8:57, I was the first to the start, and waited a few minutes as more riders showed up. There was the usual slow procession through Capitola and Aptos, with the pack growing along the way.

The right onto San Andreas was followed by usual pace jumping up. It slowed down more than I expected on the little climb by La Selva. After that, the pace was faster than on the previous rides in which I hadn't been dropped. It seemed to me that I was hanging onto the tail end of the pack, even though I had gone by some riders early on. Perhaps the pace was just high enough to string things out. On the descent after Sunset Beach, the pace cooled off a bit, and I was able to coast at times. After the bridge, I saw two guys off the front sprinting hard for the sign. This was the first time I had been close enough to the front to even see the sprint, though they still were way ahead of me.

Then came the slow ride into Watsonville. We exchanged waves with farm workers in the fields to the right. The group split off for the different routes. I took the Hazel Dell option as usual. The pace was pretty relaxed, and the group stayed together up the first steep bit up Mt Madonna and down the initial part of Hazel Dell. After Green Valley, the road started climbing, and I eventually had to drop off the back. I still beat my previous best time by 30 seconds, though. Then, I headed into Corralitos and took a short break.

After the break, I headed solo up Hames, then Day Valley, Valencia, and Trout Gulch back to Soquel. At one point on Soquel, police had flares on the road, blocking the right lane. There were some people standing around on the sidewalk. It was not obvious to me what had happened. I eventually went by on the left lane. It was sunny and fairly warm as I headed home.

9 February 2008

Monterey and Pacific Grove

Goodie's in Pacific Grove The club ride was to start from Kirby Park at 9, so I started out a little before 7:30, which would have made me late. It was sunny and a bit chilly, but warmer than it had been recently. The sun was low in the sky and mostly pretty much in front of me, so the glare made it hard to see on the way out. The work at Soquel and Capitola that had been going on the last few times I rode by there was complete. The right turning lane onto Capitola had been converted to be bicycle only.

On San Andreas, after I saw a couple of Cal Giant jerseys headed in the opposite direction, an older guy rode up and started chatting, which turned out to mostly be about the Saturday ride from the harbor. On Trafton, he turned around to join the Saturday ride, which was due to thunder down the end of San Andreas in about 15 minutes. There was quite a headwind from the east and southeast. I got to Kirby Park around 9:09 and got signed in, but didn't get to see a route sheet, as they ran out, so I had to follow someone for the route.

By the end of Elkhorn, I wound up riding with one other guy. We traded pulls along Dolan, Hwy 1 and Molera. There was quite a headwind on Molera, and the last time he pulled off, I jumped a little too hard and left him behind. We rejoined, taking a break at Pezzini's, where there were some cars from other riders doing a shorter ride. They had already left. We continued on Monte, Del Monte, then the bike path. On the path, we overtook a folding tandem, also doing our ride. Eventually, we had a tailwind heading into Monterey.

After fisherman's wharf, we slowed down for the crowds out for the first nice weekend in long time. At Asilomar, we joined up with others on the ride and headed to the lunch stop on Lighthouse Ave, Goodie's. I had a coke and a sandwich. It turned out to be a pretty good sized group of 25-30, including those who arrived as I was getting ready to go. There was a card for a rider who had fallen from his bike and broke his hip the day before that everyone was signing.

On the way back, I was riding with 3 others, when one of them had a loud flat, and the tire took quite some damage. After he replaced the tube, the damaged spot was bulging out somewhat. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, he flatted again. So this time, he put in a boot. I hope that was enough to get him back. At Tioga in Sand City, I had been pulling, and jumped on the wheel of a CSUMB rider who went by. When I looked back, everyone else was a ways behind. So I sucked the wheel of CSUMB guy for a while, until he started having some shifting problems, so I went by and rode the rest of the way by myself. It was mostly a headwind at first. I was quite tired, and had a long way to go, so I took it pretty easy.

After the end of the bike path, I took Del Monte and Monte, then turned left on Nashua, which became Molera. There may have been a little tailwind, but it was not really noticeable. For the left at Hwy 1, I had to wait a couple of minutes for a break in the traffic. I continued on Hwy 1 through Moss Landing, then turned left onto Jensen, then took Bluff, where the tailwind finally kicked in strongly. Then, there was the sandy right turn onto Trafton, which caused me to skid a little due to carrying too much speed due to the tailwind. I was also overgeared for the little upcoming climb.

I was almost out of water, so I needed to stop somewhere. I took McGowan and Thurwachter to Beach, then San Andreas. I decided to stop at La Selva, where I got a coke. The water spigot had a hose attached, so I decided not to fill up. I continued back on San Andreas, then Bonita, briefly on Freedom, then Soquel back to Santa Cruz, and then home.