The theme for these century rides seems to be green, green grass! “tierra bella” is the correct name for this one, as we were constantly exclaiming over the beauty of – CAR BACK!- ahem, our surroundings.
Jan and Nancy
For this ride I was with Nancy and Jan, and so I knew already that the day would be filled with hilarious fun. Again we started out later than imagined, but it’s a ride not a race, so no worries really. We decided to do the full 100 mile course, with an option to skip the 22 mile ride in and out of Henry Coe Park and the loop at the end that goes around Gilroy Hot Springs.
First stop: Uvas reservoir. The countryside here is just beautiful, with loads of lupines, both purple and light pink. At the rest stop we took our obligatory pictures and ate too much and chatted with friends. Oh, we know everybody! Then back to rolling hills and more lupines.
...and Nancy and Me! (we couldn't fit all three in the frame at once)
Second stop: Um, somewhere else. Wasn’t really hungry yet, but ate more oreos and so forth. As we were gearing up to go again, we spot wild turkeys across the field! One of them is fanning his tail. We exclaim as though we have never seen them before and set off again.
Going down a steep curving hill, I am swarmed by a bunch of fast guys, most who pass on the left, but two surprised me on the right with no warning. This pretty much sets a theme for Nancy and I- taking note of who says “left” when they pass and complaining harshly when they don’t. Most people on these rides are nice and chatty and (eventually) I decided to just be friendly even if snubbed and that way I win. We certainly enjoyed our grumbling though!
Tiny black dots in the middle are the turkeys. We could see them much clearer with our actual eyeballs.
Out of the hills then, and into the flat. Very flat! You don’t get flatness like this in Santa Cruz. Farms, residential neighborhoods, pretty green hills dotted with oaks. La la la!
Our next hill is a ramp that goes over Hwy 101. Whee! Ok, now what? Oh, a rest stop!
This one is almost done, they’re kind of packing up. I didn’t think we were that late, but I guess we started late for the long ride. Here is where we figure out that if we are going to go up to Henry Coe we have only a few minutes until the time cutoff. Jan emphatically states: “I’m not going up there.” So we take our time, eat and drink, fill bottles, talk to our other spandex clad bretheren.
Pony or Miniature Horse? Nancy says Pony...
We probably could have made it (to Henry Coe); but Nancy didn’t want to get up there with possibly no volunteer support, and to be honest, I have driven up there and was scared of the hill in the car, so I was half disappointed and half totally relieved to skip this section.
Continuing past this point in the ride, Jan keeps asking about the other turn she could make to skip the OTHER climb into Gilroy Hot Springs. Nancy and I are bound and determined to make her ride it with us, and with the help of a volunteer at that crossroads, we bully her into continuing. YAY! This is where we saw the cute pony.
From here we ride into the foothills and there is a flag person with a sign that says DOWN SHIFT, STEEP HILL. Ok, well it’s steep but not Patterson Pass steep (see my Cinderella Ride post). It’s nice and woodsy and cooler in here. The climb continues, and then there’s more of it! Now a switchback, now a straight upward climb. Ooh, a goat! Is that a Zebra? It is! More climbing.
It's the juxtaposition of the white bark against the green hills, and the resulting line quality that I like here...
Of course we are rewarded with a nice descent in dappled shade along a creek. Nancy and I pick a pretty spot to wait for Jan. (that’s it to the left). Of course the other riders call to see if we are ok and we say “Yes, we’re jsut waiting for our friend” and then to entertain ourselves “have you seen her? She’s in a colorful bike jersey and black shorts” Ha ha. “and she’s swearing!” we do this three or four times as people pass. Then here comes Jan, and as if on cue, lets out an emphatic “M@%&!*?!”. It is a perfect moment, really.
It turns out the next rest stop is just around the corner. We get excited to see COKE as well as the usual baked goods and salty snacks. Sometimes you just want some carbonated carmel coloring!
This is the point where Nancy decides to tell me the descent is terrifyingly steep. Oh boy! Now I get to be scared for my life. I thought we avoided this with Coe, but, here we go! As we go up toward the summit and eventual, possibly terrifying descent, we are greeted with , yes, beautiful green rolling hills and a cow mooing insistently. (It apparently did that all day because we heard similar reports from people who had been there earlier.) It is lovely bike terrain and I keep wondering how scared I will be. The top of the hill affords a terrific view, and reminds me of the San Juan grade, which I am able to ride without fright. Volunteers are holding a sign that says “STEEP HILL- SLOW DOWN” and I get all worried. Ok! Time to ride the brakes into oblivion!
First bit- steep, all right, some turns, oh it’s flat, release the brakes, ok, not so bad, ok another, more brakes, ow my hands hurt, am I slipping off the brakes, crap, more turns, adjust hands, now it’s flat, release the brakes, AH!, ok, and again…. and then I am on a fast, flat road, and judging by the scenery I must be at the bottom already. Well, that wasn’t that bad! Even a little short. Yay. Shady spot, wait for friends. Here they are!
We had been at the top of this hill...
The next corner I will mention because a volunteer had another warning: turn right, heavy traffic. As if to illustrate, three semi’s go by. Well, I guess they’re not kidding! It amused me at the time, anyway.
The rest of the ride was flat. We passed our pony again and filled up with water. There was limited talking as we were basically ponies going back to the barn at this point.
Back at the parking lot, there was some crazy talk about skipping the meal they provide. Then we overhear people talking about the ice cream they’re serving. WHAT! We get ourselves over to the food.
It’s Very Good Food they serve here! We enjoyed lasagne, garlic bread, green salad, and ice cream over apple pie. We found Cyleste and Marty snarfing their ice cream and recounted our stories (they heard the cow too!).
I did not feel exhausted when I got home, but I was in bed by 7pm, asleep soon after. >SNORE.<
