Cinderella Classic: a very late report

I understand that my numerous fans have been waiting for over a month for the exciting report of my first 100km ride. My apologies to my devoted fans.

The pain and exhaustion of my epic ride has faded, which may be a good thing for you. But first I have to start at 7:00am the Friday before the ride when I rolled my ankle while walking the dog. Some of you know my dog and she is a bit of a spaz, but she didn't do anything to make be sprain my ankle. I just stepped on the edge of the sidewalk. That led to a few hours of fretting and trying to decide if I would be riding. Finally, after an email exchange with coach and comments from friends, I decided to ride with the sprained ankle. (It wasn't a very bad sprain.)


The day started very, very early with meeting the Mermaids to caravan to ride start. Gina, Jill, & Naama did the Challenge (longer with big climbs) and Diane, Wilma, and I did the Classic, 67 miles. As Molly pointed out, the is 5 miles longer than a metric century.

We headed out for our epic ride at around 7:45 am. It wasn't raining, but it was just about the windiest day I have seen in long time. Great. We started out from the fairgrounds in Pleasanton. It was nice and green.

and checking in behind me


We pedaled and pedaled and pedaled through Pleasanton, which I don't know at all so I was really hoping the directions were correct. Mostly, I followed the women in crazy costumes.


We got to the first rest stop at 23 miles, I think. We refilled bottles and I discovered the rest stops had circus animals cookies. Score! We headed out for the next section which included our first climb of the day. Nothing horrible, just a long steady climb.


Some people stopped to regroup before the climb.


And, some of us just went for it. One of the good things about the climb was that it wasn't windy. I was about 2/3 of the way up the hill when I realized that I wasn't in my granny gear, I was still in the middle chain ring! Woot, woot! Which of course, meant I had to finish the hill in that gear.

There was a killer descent after that climb. Nice long, but not too steep hills. Sa-weet!! And, then we really hit the wind. Crosswind. Which I have decided is worse than headwind.


Self-portrait in the wind.

Then our next stop was lunch. Mmmmm . . . food! Diane and I met up with Wilma there, she ditched us on the climb.


Refueling. I probably should have had more to eat.

After lunch we headed back out. Back out into the wind. We were on a slight descent that we should have been able to go about 20 mph. Instead we had a headwind and I was having trouble maintaining 10 mph. :-( I was not happy.


That sky looked scary, but didn't produce much.


And, this was the last we saw of Wilma. She had a hot date and needed to finish faster than I could.

We had one more climb that was very pretty. When we were dealing with the headwind I thought I would much rather have climb. But once I got to the climb I wasn't so sure. But, really I think I will taking climbing over the &#$@! wind. After we finished that climb we had our last rest stop. What I really want was caffeine. Coffee, coke, diet coke, tea, mountain dew, jolt, I didn't really care. But there was no stimulants to be found. :-( Keep in mind that by now we were riding through Danville and could have stopped at any number of places for caffeine. I have no response to that.

As we were driving through Danville, something felt funny, kinda squishy. I yelled back to Diane, "Do I have a flat tire?" Her answer, "Yes!" Crap. We stopped and sat down on the sidewalk to change my tire. I had all the stuff I needed but was really hoping for one of the SAG wagons to drive by. I got my tire off, which was amazing because it is really tight. I got going on changing the tube when Diane spotted a SAG. She almost didn't wave them down, but thank goodness she did because it turned out I had a hole in my spare tube. D'oh! They got me all fixed up and on the rode again.

Diane said they must have filled my tires with magic air because I took off and was yelling "on your left" over and over. (Really, I think it had more to do with all the downhills and the 30 minutes of rest.)

The last 5 miles were torture. We were back in the wind. My ass hurt. My ankle was achy. I was done. But we finally made it back to the start. It was a good ride, but I would have been perfectly happy with a true metric century, I didn't need the 5 bonus miles. Diane (and Wilma before she left us) was a great partner and we had a good time. Just as we were pulling out we saw our buddies doing the Challenge route roll in. (I'm so glad they didn't beat us.)

When I got home it was time for a very long, hot shower and pizza.


The End.

Burn out and getting back in the groove

It has been almost 2 months since I posted here. What have I been up to?

Burn out. One thing I've discovered about myself is that I need a break after my "A" races. Last year after the 1/2 AquaBike, I was done. I was not interested in training and didn't care about the next race. The same thing happened after my 10K, I was d-o-n-e. I didn't want to run again. Ever. I was also not terribly interested in riding. I was doing the Cinderella Ride training series and "dropped out." Which was unfortunate since I was supposed to be getting ready for my first 100K ride, the Cinderella Classic, on April 10th. After two weeks of wallowing in burn out it was time to get moving again.

Getting back in the groove. With the Cinderella ride and the Mermaid Run (yes, my life is a Disney movie) approaching, I had to start doing something. A month before the ride I finally had a plan that involved long rides every weekend and time on the trainer.

The first back-in-the-saddle ride was with fellow Mermaids Jill and Wilma, 40 miles. We rode from Wilma's house to Uvas Reservoir and back. It was beautiful with all of spring greenery.


The next weekend, 50 miles with Diane, Lisa, Jim, and Sara as SAG. I planned a lovely route from Uvas Reservoir, across the valley, up the east hill to Gilroy Hot Springs, and back to Uvas. I went into the ride with trashed, sore legs so it was a little more challenging than I planned.


Heading up to Gilroy Hot Springs. Note the climb in the distance.


A view of the valley.


Done!

After an "ice bath" in the reservoir my legs were feeling much better.

And, then there was this Saturday, the 60 mile ride. After last weeks ride I was kind of dreading this ride. I am amazed that with each ride more people were willing to come along. There were six wonderful Mermaids on this ride. This time I came up with a route that included only hills that I knew I could climb. ;-)

Photos courtesy of Diane, I was too busy pedaling.


At a rest stop with Lisa. Making sure I don't "bonk."


Beautiful winter grass on the Peninsula.


The Supastar Mermaids near the end!

I'm still in awe of how far we rode yesterday, from my place to Woodside and back. I RODE TO WOODSIDE and back. The more I ride the more I'm amazed at how close things really are. Or, maybe I'm impressed at how far I can ride. I can't decide.

Next week the Cinderella Classic 100K (65 miles)!