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.