60 Mile Mermaid Ride

But first let's talk about surfing. Surfing? Yes, surfing. Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, warm, October day in Capitola and the Mermaids had the opportunity for an impromptu surfing lesson. By the way, surfing uses some of the same muscles as swimming but in a completely different way. I knew after about two hours that every muscles in my torso was going to be sore the next day. And, I ended up mystery bruises on my arms. I didn't stand up but had a good time. The funniest part was I was wearing my tri wetsuit and was on a slick board. One of the guys gave me a push into a wave and the board slid right out from under me. One of the real surfers said to be patient she spent three years on her belly before she stood up. So, we will see.

Proof that I was in the water with a board.

60 Mile Ride - What was I thinking? I haven't been on my bike in two weeks. At all. But off I went. The beginning was fine I was able to keep up. Then the hills began and kept coming. I'm 100 times better on hills than I was at the beginning of this year, but I am still really slow on the steeper hills. I was pretty much riding by myself which was kind of a bummer. We finally got to Portola which I love. It's nice and smooth with a wide bike lane and long descents before long inclines. I was joined by my coach's husband and we had fun checking out and commenting on the fancy spreads along the roads in well-to-do Portola Valley. I was going along pretty well and was joined by V who decided to tackle 60 miles for her first long ride, she did great! The route took us down Canada Road which is closed to cars on Sunday and it was really nice to have the road to ourselves. Then we ran into traffic for the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. It wasn't a big deal for us as we flew by the traffic, but are pumpkins really worth this?


Almost to the turnaround. We had to ride passed the lunch stop (waannhhh) and ride another few miles before we got to the turn around. All. Up. Hill. I was tired, hungry, and probably thirsty. Which leads to cranky. Jill, who was heading back down the hill "whoo-hooed" at me and I just shook my head. My coach's husband was quite amused at how pissed I was, "She was so mad." Then I was fed and watered and started to feel better. And, everyone was ready go. Already? The ride back was a little better. There was a lot of down hill and I was with my buddies Gina, Wilma, & V. We had about 20 miles to go and I kept telling myself, "you love Portola, it will be fun." I got some miracle energy and cracked up a long incline on Portola at 10 mph. I don't know were it came from as my legs were pretty much toast. But I just kept pedaling. V and I made a slight route change to avoid the hills from the beginning of the ride and headed down to Juniperro Serra which turns into Foothill Expressway and takes us all the way to the end.


Heading back along Crystal Springs.

60 miles. ~5 hours. 4,747 calories burned.

Ride to Gilroy? And, back?

Okay, I guess so. My crazy-awesome friend Molly is training for Ironman Arizona and I decided to join her for part of one of her training rides. The part I was going to do was flat so I thought I might not fall too far behind. But just in case I brought Amy, a swimming buddy, along with me. The plan was to meet in south San Jose, ride through Morgan Hill and San Martin, into Gilroy and back. We left at 7am when it was 50 degrees out. Ummm . . . yeah. I don't have any cold weather riding clothes.

X-mas List:

• one of those really light weight wind-breakers that can fit in a bike jersey pocket
• leg warmers
• gloves
• toe covers
• long sleeve, warmish jersey

Anyway, I braved the cold in my shorts, running jacket, arm warmers, & running gloves. It worked. My legs were numb after about 5 miles. Just as we passed the sign "Welcome to Morgan Hill" my front tire felt a little squishy, I looked down and yep I was getting a flat tire. :-( Amy and I pulled off on the sidewalk of a little sub-division to take care of the problem. I knew Molly had a big training day ahead of her so I texted her to keep going. Once I got my super tight tire off, it turns out a teeny-tiny thorn caused the flat. Amy and I had to struggle through my super tight tires twice. We think the CO2 cartridge blew out the first tube. Great, I left my second tube back in the car. Luckily, Amy had a tube. Fingers crossed that we wouldn't need another tube! After about a half hour we were back on the road to Morgan Hill.

Morgan Hill was a little trip down memory lane. We passed the duplexes where we lived when I was a baby & toddler, the park where we had fun 4th of July parties, the site of the first Nob Hill Foods, and the school Dad taught at for 30 years. We headed east and Amy and I had a great time riding through rural areas. There was very little traffic so we were able to ride side by side and make snarky comments about the giant McMansions out in the middle of no where.

When we got to Leavesley Road in Gilroy we decided to make a slight change to the route. We stopped for a potty break, had and exciting sprint at the intersection with 101, and rode through Gilroy to Santa Teresa Ave. (Road?) By the time we go back to the edge of Morgan Hill both Amy and my butts were done with the ride. Too bad we still had another 10 miles to go. I got a text from Molly saying they were back at the cars and were heading out for the first of the hilly loops. Amy and I continued on and on and on. We finally made it back to the cars and Molly's husband was there waiting for Molly and Nigel to get back. They showed up about 10 minutes after we did. Amy and I were done! Molly and the guys had more work ahead of them.

Amy invited me back to her place for brunch. Score! We got there and her husband had made an egg, zucchini, mint, & parmesan cheese thing and had fruit all ready for us. And, coffee! It was so nice. Especially, since I didn't have much at home.

Sore butt, tired legs, 40 miles in 3:18 = a well deserved nap and a day of vegging out.