19 August 2006

Pescadero to Half Moon Bay

The club ride to Half Moon Bay was to start in Pescadero, so I started off north on Highway 1 early before the wind. This was the second time I had ridden up the coast to Pescadero, and the first time this early, so, without the wind, I overestimated how long it would take. I rode up Highway 1, Gazos Creek and Cloverdale to Pescadero in 1:50, which was less than my estimate of 2:15, so I arrived very early and watched the runners in a 10k and half marathon event that was being held there go by. The route went up Stage for a regroup in San Gregorio, then continued on Stage, Highway 1, Tunitas Creek, Lobitos Creek, Verde, Purisima Creek, Higgins-Purisima to Half Moon Bay for lunch. After lunch, I took Highway 1 all the way back to Santa Cruz.

5 August 2006

Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge

I started off up Hwy 9 and Hwy 236 to the rest stop at Little Basin, where I had volunteered to help. This was the second rest stop of the ride, and the first riders started showing up just after 9. At around 12, most of the riders had passed through, so I set off to climb Jamison Creek, which I had yet to climb since my crash two weeks earlier, so I wanted to assess how I would do climbing it. After that, I had planned to stop a little at the next rest stop, then take Empire Grade back home.

As it turned out, climbed Jamison Creek in just about 29 minutes, a new personal best, so I wasn't feeling too bad. After talking to some people at the lunch stop, I decided to do the rest of the 100km course, to see how I'd handle the Felton-Empire descent. At Pine Flat, I decided to turn right to do the 100 mile route for that portion. It would rejoin the 100km route at Felton-Empire. Along the way, I decided to do the rest of the 100 mile route. So I climbed Zayante, which was quite painful, as I had gone hard up Jamison Creek, instead of pacing myself in anticipation of what I hadn't decided to ride at the time. I took an extended stop at the next rest stop on Summit, then continued on Summit, Old Summit, Summit, Soquel-San Jose, Laurel Glen, Branciforte, Granite Creek and Glenwood to Scotts Valley High, where I got more food and drink. I then returned home via Scotts Valley Drive and La Madrona.

The total time was about 12 hours. I spent about 7 hours riding, about 3 and a half hours working the second rest stop, and about an hour and a half at the other rest stops and Scotts Valley High.

30 July 2006

I wanted to assess how riding felt for the first time after my crash. I went along West Cliff, then wound up heading up Hwy 9 to Felton. Rough roads were painful, but, other than that, it wasn't too bad. Mainly, my lungs were weaker. I then headed up Felton-Empire. At the steeper bits, it hurt to stand, so I was just letting my weight push the pedals without putting any additional force into it at those parts. I then headed down Empire Grade back home.