Sunday I set a personal best of 88 miles. That's with 7,556 ft of climbing.
Here's the route we did.
It was hard, to say the least. I never climbed so much. BUT, I made it!! Not without some sacrifice though. I had to get up at 5am, meet the group at 6:15 and we rolled out of the Presidio around 7am. From there we went across the bridge through Sausilito, which I couldn't help thinking is so amazingly lovely in the morning. Only the early birds were up as we pedalled past the bay. It was almost completely still. There was no wind. Then we went through Tiburon, up Camino Alto which seems to be getting shorter each time I climb it, Larkspur, more climbing....lots and lots. At one point we go up the hardest climb I've done yet. Black Mountain I think it is. Or maybe it was Nicasio. Either way, I was breathing hard. But I was fast. I passed a few folks on my way up. There's nothing worse than losing your speed from the wasted slowing down when you're behind someone. At the top the sag team was there. With their cow bells, cheers and whistles. They're fantastic. Now that the rides are getting longer they're out in full force. I am more than grateful to these volunteers. Because, I knew if at any point I couldn't go on they were there. It felt good. Like someone
cared. When we got to the top I heard one the guys talking about how his gums were throbbing as he climbed that hill. He was pushing that hard!! Wow!
When we coasted down the backside of that crazy mountain I started to feel something. Hungry? Tired? I wasn't sure. I wanted to stop, we all did. But, this woman pedalled up to us and told us it was a measily 10 miles to the lunch spot. So we pressed on. But, we should have stopped. 10 miles = about 1hr. Too long. At that point we were pushing 52 miles with no real food. Bad. The temp dropped and the wind picked up as we approached the coast.Those miles took forever.
I'm not joking. I started to feel shaky. When we rolled into Point Reyes Station my legs were quivering. Everything looked like something I should eat. I stumbled into the first cafe I saw and bought a coffee and drooled as I looked at the giant carrot cake behind the counter. I was coming back for that bad boy.
Erin-Kate, my most prized new friend and favorite training buddy pulled me over to the grocery store where we just stared at all the food till someone made a descision.
Oh god was it good. A chicken pesto apple sandwhich that was heated. I sat down and drank my coffee and hoped beyond hope that my knee, my body in general could finish these last 38 miles.
We waited and were eventually swept by the ride sweep. "Hello, Ladies, time to go"
So we did. Guess what? More hills! Ha!
Then we went into the woods for the strangest ride I've done yet. Overhanging trees and a small paved path. Of course I almost went over the cliff at one point because my tired got stuck in a gravel rut but somehow, miraculous as it was, I bailed. No injury this time! Yay! Erin-Kate was relieved. She would have had to watch.
Before I knew it we were climbing Camino Alto once again. But this time it was 4pm and we had been on the bike for almost 8 hours. Then came Tiburon and the winds had picked up. Bad timing. I could see Sausalito in my sights and just wanted to get there. But the head wind slowed everyone down. Once we got to Sausilito I stopped to use the restroom and eat that pb&j that I had been saving. It tasted so good. I was ready. The last bit of climbing...here it was. If I could make this, I could do anything and I did. I made it. Rolling into Sports Basement in the Presidio around 5:45pm. That was a long freakin day!!
No comments:
Post a Comment