Tuesday, June 6, Sue Kayser and I met at Pam's house at the required time. All three of us were ready to roll at 6:00 AM sharp. It was a clear sky and the sun was just coming up. This was going to be a great day. I took a vacation day from work to do this ride, so I expected it to live up to what was written in the newsletter. This was to be an "All day fun ride." I was not to be disappointed.
We had our windbreakers off by the time we got over to Saratoga. They would only go on again for some of the long downhills.
We climbed Highway 9 without a hurry. This was going to be a long ride, and we'll get there when we get there. Sue, being naturally faster (sorry, Pam), finally drifted off the front, only to be seen again at the top of the hill, patiently waiting for us. Pam and I rode the hill together, Pam pacing for awhile, then me pacing for awhile. Chit-chatting on the hills makes them go by easier.
Once on top, at Saratoga Gap, we took a quick PB&J sandwich break, then it was north on Skyline. It was still clear, so the views were great down both sides of the mountain. There was a bit of a headwind, but it wasn't a problem, as it was more downhill than uphill.
Finally over to Sky Londa and Highway 84, we were chilled just enough to put on our windbreakers for the long downhill to San Gregorio. Once down the hill, we had more headwinds while going towards the ocean, but they didn't seem too bad.
At the store in San Gregorio, we stopped for our first real reststop, having completed 45 miles so far. I bought a coke and a sandwich and we sat outside on the window ledge, soaking up the sunshine. There was a bit of leftover high-fog along the coast, but it was trying to burn off, and so the sun was beginning to poke through.
Time to go again, and I was wondering if it was tanktop time yet. Pam and Sue both said no, so I followed their advice, and we started off. The first few miles south on Highway 1 and we were riding under the high fog. So, true, it wasn't yet tanktop time.
But it was tailwind time. We were cruising at 20+ mph with no effort at all. We could see the waves coming onto shore along the coastline. We could see all of the green hills to our right. We had another 40 miles of this to look forward to before we left the coast. This was, indeed, a great ride.
By the time we got down to the Pigeon Point lighthouse, all of the high fog was finally gone, and all we had was clear skies to deal with. Now it was tanktop time. Pam and I stopped so I could change clothes and apply a bit more sun screen. Sue might already be in Davenport by this time, as she had again drifted off of the front.
Near Swanton Rd, there was road construction going on, so it was one-way controlled traffic for about a 3-mile stretch. Pam and I came alongside the long line of cars and trucks, waiting for their time to go. A minute after we got to the front of the line, the pilot car started us off. With the help of that great tailwind, we were moving along at 25 to 30 mph, and so we lost very little distance to the other traffic, and they did not finally all pass us by until we were into Davenport.
We found Sue waiting for us, just as we expected. This was our second official stop, at mile 73. We went into the Bakery and I had a sticky bun, which I thought was even better than the one I had in Morro Bay last week.
On the road again, we next regrouped at the start of Santa Cruz, then stayed together through busy Mission St, Water St, and Soquel Ave., finally stopping for our real lunch at the Anchor Deli, just off Soquel Dr near the freeway, at mile 87. Pam bought lunch for everybody, so it was lucky for her there were only three of us. Pam and I both got medium sandwiches, which were still large enough that we ate half now and packed half for later.
After lunch, we continued on busy Soquel Dr, then Freedom Blvd, Corralitos Rd, Varni, Pioneers, Green Valley, Casserly, and finally Mt.Madonna Rd. This was the start of our second and last Billygoat of the day - Mt.Madonna at mile 100. This was where you can test yourself to see just how much you have left. I think we all passed the test.
Sue again went off the front, while I stayed back and rode with Pam. The plan was for us to all meet up at the corner of Redwood Retreat Rd and Watsonville Rd, on the other side of the hill. Pam and I were to go down Mt.Madonna, which was a dirt road, while Sue was going to take the long way around via Pole Line and Hecker Pass.
It was warm on the climb up Mt.Madonna, and we were glad when we finally reached the top. We filled our waterbottles and poured a little water over ourselves. Those last halves of the lunchtime sandwiches tasted good. We were finally ready to go.
Dropping down the hill on Mt.Madonna Road was a bit harder than we realized, due to the dirt. It was slow going, and Pam's arms got tired from all of the braking. But we were finally down, and cruising along Redwood Retreat was worth the effort. We met Sue waiting for us just as we planned, so we were off again.
It was now north into the headwind on Watsonville Rd and Uvas Rd. This in itself was a challenge, as we had 120 miles and 8000 ft of climbing in our legs and now we had to deal with some headwinds and more rollers. But we just paced ourselves and kept moving along. Before too long we were at the top of Buffalo Hill.
Now we could almost say that it was all downhill from here on. And also, we were now close enough to home to start to "smell the barn". So now we were all freshly energized and were moving right along. Almaden, Camden, and Meridian all came and went pretty quickly, and we were back at Pam's house in no time.
Pam's husband, Mike, met us as we came in. He said that we were 9 minutes early, and that we should go around the block a few more times to use that time. But no, we were satisfied with our 140 miles with 8500 ft of climbing in 11 hours and 51 minutes. At an average speed of 14.2 mph, this worked out to a riding factor of 83%. Sue had a higher 15.4 mph average and a riding factor of 75% for an MB+ pace.
Great ride. Great day. Good company. This was what riding was all about. This was worth my one day of vacation. This was "an all day fun ride." I was not disappointed. I was satisfied. I was happy.
Too bad Kim Carr couldn't have called in sick and gone riding with us.