Orinda and Climbing All Over Creation - Training Ride 7

Distance: 74.83
Time: 6.52.32
Average Speed: 10.8 mph
Max Speed: 34.0 mph

Started the day at 5am. That, in and of itself, is a feat for me! I headed south toward San Francisco and met up with a large group of ALCers at the Orinda BART station. Mary, the ride leader described the route... or at least that's what I thought she was doing. But really she was just telling us the turns. There was no indication about the hill climbing I had gotten myself into!

We started out climbing Wildcat Canyon out of Orinda, which was very pretty. I got some beautiful views of "some city" and "some body of water." No time to ask about such things. We headed through Tilden Park, up Grizzly Peak and along Skyline to Redwood, Pinehurst, to Moraga, and back to Starbucks in Orinda where we had the option of calling it a day or going on to the second half of what I now know is "Mary's Adventure!"

The ride was billed as 80 miles. I, however, took a shortcut at one point and knocked off 5 miles. A normal person would be happy about this fact but I was actually quite bummed as I really wanted to hit 80 today. I left the first rest area with a guy who wanted to follow me because I had a ride sheet. That should have been my first clue! But he said he also knows the area pretty well because a friend lives there. Long story short, he convinced me to go one way when I knew that the ride sheet said there was supposed to be a stop light. He seemed so sure so I went with him. I realized it once we got to a corner where we could only turn left but the ride sheet said turn right. Darn! He was very apologetic and I know he meant well. But... DARN!

For those of us who decided to brave the second half, we were in for a long hard HOT day! I don't know what the temperature was all day but there were times I felt my lungs were burning. And not just from riding! lol Anyway, we climbed Pig Farm Hill, which was so short and so steep I felt compelled to yell an expletive when I got to the top. After a brief downhill, it was a gentle climb up Franklin Canyon. After a yummy lunch at Velona's Deli and Market in Crockett, we returned to Orinda via Hercules, Pinole Valley, Castro Ranch, and San Pablo Dam Road.

Sounds pretty innocuous when I'm writing it here. At lunch I talked to a man who has done ALC 15 times. This is his 16th. And he said that this is the hardest day of riding he has ever experienced. After I finished the ride with Kathy, a Training Ride Leader, we were talking about today's ride and she said, "OH! You've never been on a 'Mary's Ride' before?? Well if you can ride with Mary, you can do any part of the ALC!" Good to know!

There were supposed to be 2-3 SAG vehicles but there ended up being only 1, unless someone else joined later in the day. I was actually in front of it all day so I don't really know what they were doing. But they did have water and food. The water I could definitely have used at one point. It was just nice to know that if I decided to call it quits and sat down on the side of the road, someone would have come to get me and Hi-Ho. 

I also have to note that I haven't suddenly gotten into so much better shape than I was before. Though I actually have gotten into better shape. Running and spinning have helped. But the other thing that helped me be successful today was that I took my bike in to have them check out my derailleur and such because I wasn't able to get into the big ring on that last ride.... and then not into the middle ring. I also asked them to just go ahead and do a tune-up. So they replaced all the cables, cable covers, the brake pads, and the chain. I had forgotten what it was supposed to feel like when I shift gears. I had just gotten used to the poor performance.

So it was a pretty incredible experience. I have to admit that much of the time I was climbing toward the end, I was questioning whether I even want to do the ALC this year. I keep going back and forth. Why would I want to be so miserable and why would I want to use so much vacation time to be miserable and spend so much time away from Bozo? It also doesn't help that I haven't even raised $1000 of the $3000 required.

Regardless of what I decide there, this day has shown that I am a tough ass! (=