9 August 2008

Swanton and Bonny Doon

The club ride was starting at Natural Bridges, which was close to home. It was sunny and cool when I started off. I headed down Western, waiting for a bus as it stopped at one stop while there was oncoming traffic in the opposite lane, then going by it at the next stop and zipping down to Hwy 1, by the farmer's market, and over the tracks to the start and getting signed in.

For some reason, I was anticipating a relaxed pace, and that's how it started. The pace picked up a little on the way to Davenport, and I contributed a little to that, but it was still not a hard pace. After a break, I headed out with a small group. It was again an easy pace out to Swanton. On Swanton, there was wind, but I stayed shielded from it for the most part. The pace was also picking up. On the climb, the hammering started. We regrouped at the top, then headed down for the return along the coast.

There was a nice tailwind on the return. After the climb out of Scott Creek, the pace was getting pretty difficult for me, perhaps spurred on by a rabbit, a little guy that had gone by us while we were stopped at the top of Swanton. After the railway tracks at Davenport, I wiped myself out catching back on. So after the climb out of San Vicente Creek, I dropped off the back.

At Bonny Doon Rd, the rabbit continued on Hwy 1 way ahead of me. The other 2 guys turned left way ahead of me. When I got there, a car turning left from Bonny Doon onto Hwy 1 started driving at me a couple of times before I could make the turn by him. Before the climbing started, the 3 of us came back together. The climb was a tough slog, but it was a beautiful day. There were several groups of cyclists descending too. After a break at Smith, we continued on Smith and Empire Grade back down.