22 November 2008

Saturday harbor ride

It was cold and sunny. It was quite cold in the shade. It was warmer in the sun, but there was a lot of shade early on. The sun was low in the east sky, glaring in my eyes. At San Andreas, the pace seemed slow at first. After Manresa, a truck and a gray Prius went by, the Prius had its horn blaring throughout, for at least 10 seconds or so. A little before Sunset Beach, a gap opened ahead when I was at the back of the pack. I was on a wheel, and he made it back to the pack, but I couldn't hold the wheel, and got dropped. The pack receded maddeningly slowly, but I didn't have enough get back on. After the bridge, a group of 4 came by and I hopped on, and got back to the pack after it slowed down on Beach.

It was a small group doing Hazel Dell this week, but it split on Mt Madonna well before the steep climb, and I was at the back of the trailing group. I went to the front of that group. At the steep part, I hammered up. There were 2 Giant Strawberries riders ahead of me. I gradually closed the distance on them up the Hazel Dell climb, catching up a little before the summit, and followed them into Corralitos.

From Corralitos, I headed back solo over Hames, then lollygagged a little heading over Day Valley and Valencia before picking it back up on Soquel between the red lights. It was warmer, but it still got pretty cold in the shade.