1 March 2008

Solo ride

Zayante Due to the rain, I hadn't climbed Jamison since December, so this would be my chance. It was cloudy early in the morning, but since I was riding solo, I could start later, and by 10am, it was sunny. I headed out up Hwy 9. A little before the tracks, a bunch of cars passed me, including a pickup spewing clouds of noxious blue smoke. At that point, a couple of guys passed me, so I hopped on their wheels and let them pull me into Felton, where they turned right at Graham Hill. I continued on 9 to Glen Arbor, then over Quail Hollow and up Zayante. I took it easy almost all the way, only briefly ramping up the intensity for the steepest bits.

Then, I headed down Bear Creek into Boulder Creek. There were a bunch of girls and their mothers selling Girl Scout cookies in front of Johnny's Market, and they were shouting at the motorists, pitching the cookies. I continued along Hwy 236.

It was 12:56 when I got to the bottom of Jamison. Since I had mostly taken it easy up to this point, I could increase the intensity for this climb. On the 1.33 sign, there was still a trace of the skunk tail on the right side. There was also a very new looking little US flag stuck on it. At the right curve around the 1 mile point, the right edge of the road had been scraped off, a patch 3 or 4 inches wide. A little ways before the 0.48 sign, I guess around 0.6, a white limousine went by going up and emitting the most noxious smelling fumes, just the thing for someone gasping for air on a tough climb. What the hell is a limo doing heading up Jamison? My effort seemed a little less than it had the last few times I did this climb, so I was able to finish strong, and it was 1:21 when I got to the top, so I definitely had a new personal best. My old personal best was 27:08 on 3 March 2007, pretty much exactly a year ago. My new personal best is now 25:32. It must be due to the weekday morning UCSC hill repeats that I've been doing the last few months.

After the climb, I felt fresher than I usually had after that climb, and turned left and headed home on Empire Grade. After Felton-Empire, the mostly sunny parts felt nice and warm.