9 May 2009

Alba

I was still a little sore from the time trial on Thursday. It was a nice and sunny day, but I still wanted a short ride. I headed up Hwy 9. Between Santa Cruz and Felton, in two cases of clusters of 3-4 cars coming the opposite direction, one of the trailing cars blasted its horn. I guess they were impatient with the lead car in both those cases.

It was 11:49 when I started up Alba. As I got near the top, there were clouds of bugs flying around. It was 12:23 when I got to the top. I think I was in 34/23 the whole way, and I meant to check once I got to the top, but I forgot. I also kept feeling like my rear tire was going soft. Eventually, I ran over some sharp bumps to reassure me that it was fine. On the initial descent of Empire Grade, there were more clouds of bugs. I kept my mouth shut as they bounced off my face. Somewhere between Pine Flat and Felton-Empire, the bug clouds were gone and I didn't have to deal with them for the rest of the descent.