Saturday, March 12, 2011

12 March 2011

Saturday harbor ride

It was slightly chilly in the morning with the sun glaring on the eastern horizon. Heading down 7th, there was a sign with a tsunami warning saying that coastal roads were closed, but the roads all turned out to be normal. On San Andreas, I found myself at the back of the pack, and then, around Renaissance School, the tail end of the pack fell apart. After the little climb after Buena Vista, I got into a rotation of 4 riders for the rest of San Andreas and Beach until we got back to the pack. I didn't notice anybody heading south from Watsonville. The group going up Hazel Dell, or at least the back half of the group, broke up on the climb up the last part of Mt Madonna. I was in another rotation of 4 riders for the part of Hazel Dell before the bridge where the climbing started, then dropped off. I overtook one of them before the summit. On the descent, a couple of riders blew by me and I couldn't stay with them. From Corralitos, I took Hames, Day Valley, Valencia, Trout Gulch, and Soquel back.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

5 March 2011

Solo ride

It was cool and partly cloudy. Parts of the roads in the shade were wet. I headed up Hwy 9 and Glen Arbor to Boulder Creek, then Hwy 236 and up Jamison Creek. I started up Jamison at 12:26 and got to the top at 12:53, which was slightly disappointing, as I felt pretty good during the climb. I headed back on Empire Grade. A little north of Alba, a squirrel was doing something in the middle of the road. As I approached, it darted towards my path. Just as it was about to cross my path, it paused, and just as I was going by, it jumped into my path, and I felt both wheels go over it. When I looked back, it was gone, so it couldn't have been hurt too badly.