Very small turnout this year. I heard only 198 people started, and I think that included the Ascent people also. Almost zero female types. They need to do something about this.
New start location. I didn't check my registration form so I didn't realize this until I showed up at the old start and saw that nobody was there. Drove around for about 10 minutes until I found some cyclists, then just went in the direction that they were coming from.
Lots of road construction, so driving in on Fair Oaks and Java was a complete mistake. Mathilda was messed up too but not as bad.
I hung with the ACTC group going across the valley. We had Alan Kayser, Guy Neenan, Troy Stenstrom, Jim Molinari, Stuart Wallace, Ken Kennedy, Roger Erickson, and me.
The route looped around on Carribean like last year. Then, instead of turning onto James Lick, we stayed on Tasman and it took us all of the way across, changing names to the Great Mall Parkway and then changing to Capital Ave.
I dropped off the back on the climb up Hamilton, but then we all regrouped at the top again. Very clear in the valley so we had great views looking down towards San Jose. I tried not to worry about trying to keep up, but just to ride my own pace. It worked pretty good for the first two hills, but then on the last long climb, I found myself going a bit faster so that I could catch Guy. I caught up ok, but then for the last few miles of that long 6 mile climb my legs got very tired and I had to slow down, but Guy was ok with slowing down also, so we just cruised to the top.
We dropped Roger off the back at the start of the climb, never to be seen from again, passed Paul Metz on the climb, and then found Mylo Stenstrom, Graham Flower, Art Cruz, and Ken Schwab at the top. Mylo, Graham, and Art were riding together, so they left a bit before us. I think Ken just did the front, as we did not see him again.
It was a bit chilly going down the back, but not enough to put on my windbreaker, so I just stayed in my tanktop. The others had dropped me on the descent, so I was now cruising on my own, but I was ok with this. I felt good now, and was even looking forward to the headwind that I knew we would be meeting as soon as we made that big turn to the north. I wasn't disappointed.
Climbing up over Mt.Mocho I managed to reel in Graham, Mylo, and Art, but didn't see the others until the reststop. It was comfortably warm, but not too hot. So, except for the normally-strong headwind, it was a pretty good day.
Leaving the Arroyo Mocho reststop with our big group, I got tired of hanging behind in the paceline, so I went out off the front. I had ideas of maybe waiting for them up at the Del Valle junction, but this didn't last for long. Once the peleton settled in a bit, they came cruising by. I let them go on ahead, as I was happy sitting on my aerobars.
Going across from Livermore to Pleasanton, the wind seemed to pick up a bit, or at least turn into more of a headwind. Either way, I was finally getting a bit tired of it by the time I got to the reststop.
The grass and the shade both felt good. The others had managed to make a wrong turn in Livermore, and so were there only 5 minutes before me. After about 20 minutes, the rest of the group came in. Another 10 minutes and we were ready to go again.
We left Mylo, Graham, and Art at the reststop to recover some more, as our group of 7 took off again. I felt good again, so I led them through Pleasanton and on towards Sunol. Once on the road to Calaveras, I slowly faded off the back. By the time I got to the hill I was basicly tired, and it was a struggle to keep my legs spinning as I climbed.
I stopped to eat something at the dam, then ate some more at the highest of the rollers. At the top of the last climb I was surprised to find that they were all there waiting fo me. We went on down the hill, and I stopped in to get some water and eat the last of my food. Again I was surprised to find everybody waiting at the bottom of the hill.
Now that the hills were behind us, and I had some more food in me, I started to feel pretty good again. So going across the valley went pretty smoothly, and the group was able to stay together. But I was happy to see a red light every once in a while, to get a chance to stop and rest.
We finally pulled in at 5:15. I think we started at about 6:30. I had 130.9 miles with this slightly longer route. My average speed was 14.5, and I think the others had about 1 mph higher. I had 5 PBJ sandwiches, 3 Three-Muskateers, one muffin and 1 banana. I didn't pack a lunch for the last reststop, but should have as I could have used another sandwich to get me over Calaveras a bit better.
Roger says he finished at about 8:00, having wasted about 45 minutes with tire trouble on the backside, then riding more conservatively after that. But he was happy to finish. Roger's tire had popped off the rim, as it had also done on last Tuesday's ride.