7 March 2009

Alba

It was sunny and cool. It was still damp in the shade from having rained all week. I headed up Hwy 9 to Felton, then up Zayante to Quail Hollow. Since I realized that I had forgotten to eat breakfast after I started off, though I did have a banana, I stopped for a break and ate a snack. Then, I headed over Quail Hollow and down Glen Arbor to Ben Lomond, then up Hwy 9 and Alba.

It was 12:02 when I started at the bottom. The air was not that clean. At the bottom, there was the smell of smoke from fireplaces. Throughout the climb, there were cars and trucks and motorcycles, some of which gave off foul diesel exhaust. Parts of the road were still wet, and parts had gravel or debris, which, on the steeper parts, would cause my rear wheel to slip when running over it. The big potato-shaped graffiti rock was painted over with gray paint. It was 12:35 when I got to the top, so I did the climb in about 33 and a half minutes, which was pretty good compared to the disappointing times I put in the last 2 times.

I headed down Empire Grade, then Pine Flat and Bonny Doon. After the bridge just below the steep part of Bonny Doon, it was very windy, which is pretty typical for this descent. I stayed low and kept my front wheel pointed along the road. On Hwy 1, there was a good tailwind back to town.