31 January 2009

Saturday harbor ride

It was sunny, with the sun low enough to glare in my eyes, and cold in the morning. It had been a couple of months since I last did this ride, and I was a little worried about being out of shape.

At Bonita and San Andreas, there was a parked SUV blocking the right turn. The pace on San Andreas was relatively easy, and the pack stayed bunched up, so I was never in danger of being dropped. After Sunset, I saw 2 riders a little off the front. After the bridge, there was a bunch of 6 or so off the front.

There was a big group going over Hazel Dell. When I got to the top of the steep part, there was a 30-40 foot gap to the lead group, so I blew myself out and just caught the tail end of the pack at Green Valley, and then promptly dropped off. On the climb, I could see the pack ahead split up, while a few riders caught up from behind me. I started the descent alone, but got caught and latched onto a couple of riders. A few more riders joined on the way to Corralitos.

On the return, I rode with another guy for a while, taking it easy. When I got home, I felt much better than I did after the ride two weeks ago, so I wasn't that out of shape any more.