21 June 2008

Saturday harbor ride

It was a hot sunny day. On my way to the start, four traffic lights turned yellow just as I approached, and I had to stop at each one.

By Freedom, I was at the back of the pack. I moved up a little on the Bonita climbs, then moved back on the descent, so I started San Andreas at the back. On parts of San Andreas, I could smell the smoke from the Trabing fire. At one point there was a 20-25ft gap to a group of 5 that I closed. There was a larger gap ahead of them to the lead pack, but I just sat on after that. Guys from behind swarmed around and closed that gap. After Buena Vista, I had drifted to the back again. On the little climb, I got out of the saddle and the guy next to me said, "Don't bump me." I didn't bump him. I was able to hang on without going over my limit for the rest of San Andreas.

A pretty good sized group of at least a dozen or so went on to Casserly. The pace was high. In fact, it was the fastest I'd ever gone from Hwy 152 to Hazel Dell. This was the first time I'd gone faster on Casserly than the first time I did this ride, on 27 Oct 2007. This time, I was within my limits, unlike that first time, where I was barely hanging on. It was getting very hot, though. I managed to stay with the leaders up Mt Madonna and the initial descent of Hazel Dell. I had to drop off after Green Valley, when it started to climb.

I stopped at Corralitos to refill my bottle, which was at around 15%. Then, up and over Hames, Day Valley, Valencia, and Trout Gulch, and Soquel back to town. My bottle was empty by the time I got home.