Ah well, if it isn’t the Cinderella Century Ride, a ride I have been avoiding for some years on the grounds that there are no boys there. So what’s the point, right? This year, the point was to ride up to 100 miles with my friend Stacey. Normally this ride is 65 miles, but we opted for the 30 mile “challenge loop” which brought us up to somewhere around 95 miles. I say “somewhere around” because there was a discrepancy between the purported mileage on the route sheet and the garmin that traveled with us, but it’s close enough for me! I just like to ride my bike.
The Comedy of Errors
There’s always one, right? So I was a little late meeting Stacey at her house- I misunderstood mapquest, at least that’s my story, but we set off anyway. On our way there we missed two exits while jabbering away in the car. Then when we arrived, we decided to walk to registration to sign in and get our route slips. On the way there, we noticed it was a long walk. Should we go back to get our bikes? (Yes, we should have!) So by the time we signed in and then walked all the way back to the car, it was quite a bit later than our expected shove off time. I made us later by not having pumped up my tires before, and the phone kept ringing (it was Lori, she and Claire were going to start without us), but we set off, myself, Stacey and her friend who will from this point on be referred to as Lisa. Stacey immediately fell out of her clips in the parking lot. We set off again. Lisa made a noise, I think her bike number came off. Ok, so we all had dorky things happen to us in the lot, we will have a seamless ride! Right?
The First Part
The first 28 miles were packed with people! I wormed my way to the front of our little ride group and led us along, darting ahead when I could. I know this ride is not a race, but I can’t help myself! This is how I roll. (literally, ha ha ha! I am HILARIOUS)
After a few miles of riding in the pack like this, I hear a familiar voice behind me, talking about some other ride. Then I hear some swear words. It’s Lori! We had caught up to them and passed them without noticing as there were so many people on this ride.
At the first rest stop, there were the usual goodies, but also some horses! Fun. We saw Lori and Claire and a few others we knew and then hurried off to try to make the time cut off for the challenge course.
The Challenge: Patterson Pass and Altamont Pass
I have to say, this part of the ride was aptly named! I’d heard it would be hilly (Lisa described it with swear words) but I shrugged this off as I consider myself a “climber” and I told them to just follow me and to “remember how alive the hills are with the sound of music”. (they were too, it was a gloriously beautiful day!)
Right where you turn off to the challenge course, the crowd immediately disappeared and we rejoiced in our breathing room (and some goats over on the hill). There was a sign that said: Caution STEEP CLIMB and I thought Pah! I eat steep climbs for breakfast! We went up a little shelf- no problem- and it leveled out again. pedal pedal pedal. Up another shelf and another level. And then I saw what they were talking about- a wall of road that went up and off to the side after a short bump. I was still not really worried; I usually just hunker down in “gear tiny” and steadily get up the hill. So here I go.
It was a bit longer than the very steep climbs I am used to and halfway up I got a major asthma attack. I have ridden through these before, I can usually just power through with my legs and keep going. This time I could feel that my legs were not getting enough oxygen, and by the time I reached the bump at almost the top, I realized my two choices were Clip Out or Die. I clipped out (whew), pulled off to the side and wheezed like, well, someone who can’t get air.
After a minute or so I see Stacey’s smiling face (why is she smiling on this hill?) and she is handing over the inhaler she is smart enough to bring with her. I get my breath back and then Lisa appears over the steepest crest. She immediately puts her foot down and with a very cross look says “Don’t you take a picture of me!” So of course Stacey does. (see Stacey’s Blog for her actual language) To me the funny part is the contrast of this beautiful soaring landscape behind her.
We get our comedy act to the top of the hill- they rode, I pushed my bike so as to help my lungs spazz down, as it were. Right around the corner is another spectacular view, with windmillls liberally sprayed throughout the landscape. (ah! so now I know where we are, the place with all the windmills!)
Our vast reward was a fast and swooping downhill for more miles than our climb had been. Wheeee!
At the next rest stop we were given “challenge pins” which was REALLY EXCITING and then we were off to Altamont Pass, this time a gradual climb through what is normally a wind tunnel (note the number of windmills around us). Lucky for us the wind gave us a break, and we were able to enjoy the beautiful colors and abundant livestock of the countryside.
After this we were rewarded again with another swooping, soaring downhill flying festival. It was the sort of terrain where you are required to let out a whooping sound, or crow like a rooster, or something. At the bottom I sidled up to Stacey, who turned to me and said “that ROCKED!!!!!!”. It sure did.
Lunch and the rest of it
We realized at this point that the next stop was lunch. Right! I forgot we still get lunch! At the lunch stop, we were greeted with sandwiches, lemonade and a very nice girl who said “do you want some M&M’s?” YES we said. We were totally high from our fantastic descent. Other riders were agreeing to be bussed back, which I could not fathom, I felt so happy to be out there, riding all day! Lisa was a little worried that we would not make it back by 5pm, which was the cutoff for being served more food and receiving the patch and water bottle (must… get… free… stuff…) so we attempted not to dawdle too hard and got back on the road.
The rest of the ride was gentle rolling hills and smooth flat roads. Ah! The highlight of this part (aside from the continuing parade of livestock) was “lemon drop man hill”, a hill with rhyming signs (ala burma shave) all attributed to “lemon drop man”. At the top we were pleased to find he was a real man, handing us lemon drops as we rode by! Yum.
We neared the finish through Danville and enjoyed their lovely bike path. I cracked up at a sign that said “rough road” on account of the small bump the sign must have alluded to. I have to say, during this entire ride, every road we were on was perfectly paved and smooth. I have never encountered this, and certainly not 90 miles worth of smooth road! WOW! Mind-blowing.
The Finish
We got back in plenty of time to collect our prizes and eat like horses at a trough. (Or like whatever animal eats a lot of food at a trough.)
It was a very fun ride. Hooray for us!
By the way, all photos were stolen straight from stacey’s blog. She said I could!
Tags: Century Ride, cycling