Tour de Peninsula
Aug. 14th, 2011 07:14 pmThe ride last weekend was awesome! It was still pretty challenging, but it was an infinitely better experience than the previous week's practice ride, and I felt fantastic afterward. It certainly helped that I didn't fall off the bike beforehand this time.
The hills were pretty rough, but I managed them. There was a bit of a break after the first climb (which I had to stop and rest in the middle of) as the route descended onto the Sawyer Camp Trail, a scenic recreational path that winds around the Crystal Springs Reservoir, and during that part of the ride I was surprised to find a moment of the same blissful, zenlike feeling I enjoy on my less-challenging weekend rides along the Bay: fully present, not thinking about what I'd done or what was coming, just moving forward through the beautiful terrain and enjoying the feeling of flying under my own power. That moment only lasted until I saw the next hill looming, but it was a nice reminder of why I was on the bike doing this crazy thing in the first place: because it's fun.
The next couple of hills were very slow going--I was moving at about the same speed of the people who were walking their bikes in front of me--and the last one was especially frustrating because I'd completely forgotten about it and had already taken myself out of the "kill the hills!" headspace. But I tackled each of them without stopping, and the reward was a thrilling descent through residential Millbrae that had me shouting "Wheeee!" I even let off the brakes a little for some of it. :)
The rest of the ride was easy going, and I found the big ring and a good cadence and spent the last 5 miles or so joyfully zooming along right behind Valerie at an average of 15mph, which is well over my previous top speed in the flats. When we crossed the finish line I was almost--almost!--ready to go again. Instead Valerie and I waited for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
byronium and gayathri so we could cheer for them as they crossed the finish line, and then we had a nice recovery picnic with fruits and cheeses and salty things and hung out with princeofwands and karenbynight and their crew for a bit before it was time to part ways. I felt great for the rest of the day, and was barely even sore the next.
I can't imagine having done this without the support and encouragement of my amazing friends.
The hills were pretty rough, but I managed them. There was a bit of a break after the first climb (which I had to stop and rest in the middle of) as the route descended onto the Sawyer Camp Trail, a scenic recreational path that winds around the Crystal Springs Reservoir, and during that part of the ride I was surprised to find a moment of the same blissful, zenlike feeling I enjoy on my less-challenging weekend rides along the Bay: fully present, not thinking about what I'd done or what was coming, just moving forward through the beautiful terrain and enjoying the feeling of flying under my own power. That moment only lasted until I saw the next hill looming, but it was a nice reminder of why I was on the bike doing this crazy thing in the first place: because it's fun.
The next couple of hills were very slow going--I was moving at about the same speed of the people who were walking their bikes in front of me--and the last one was especially frustrating because I'd completely forgotten about it and had already taken myself out of the "kill the hills!" headspace. But I tackled each of them without stopping, and the reward was a thrilling descent through residential Millbrae that had me shouting "Wheeee!" I even let off the brakes a little for some of it. :)
The rest of the ride was easy going, and I found the big ring and a good cadence and spent the last 5 miles or so joyfully zooming along right behind Valerie at an average of 15mph, which is well over my previous top speed in the flats. When we crossed the finish line I was almost--almost!--ready to go again. Instead Valerie and I waited for
byronium and gayathri so we could cheer for them as they crossed the finish line, and then we had a nice recovery picnic with fruits and cheeses and salty things and hung out with princeofwands and karenbynight and their crew for a bit before it was time to part ways. I felt great for the rest of the day, and was barely even sore the next. I can't imagine having done this without the support and encouragement of my amazing friends.
