Roommates, Tod and Loren, are up at 5am! I think they’re keen. I got up about 5-45am for breakfast at 6am. Not an exciting or large breakfast – very few choices. Basically cereal, fruit, oatmeal + French toast.
After some stuffing around and very full lifts, confused check out staff (my fax from home was never delivered), everyone was lined up outside the hotel ready to go. At about 7.15am we started rolling for the “escorted” 16 miles to the beach for wheel dipping.
A hill about a mile long but not very steep was climbed after about 1 mile. This was done at about 8-12mph to stay behind the van. We had been told to “ride like we do at home” but I thought “attacking” in a non-race after 1 mile in a limited speed escort was not a good idea. The hill shattered the group anyway. After a number of stops and about 2 hours, we finally reached the beach.
It was a cool morning but the sun was shining with no clouds. The day warmed up as we moved along.
Once everyone had churned through the sand and had the obligatory picture taken, it was back to the carpark for a group photo. Everyone had their “USA” cycling shirts on that were handed out at registration. Quite a sight of about 65 cyclists!
After that it was all go – head for Fairfield using the route notes. So, we all set off – only one tandem, one recumbent tricycle, about 3 recumbents and the balance fairly standard bikes.
Navigating by following USA shirts, I lost my roommates within a minute. Powering up a good steep but short hill, my right foot came out and I had to stop. I then joined with 3 guys and we were soon on a small tiki tour. Not a problem!
The Golden Gate bridge was next and it was vastly populated with every type of cycle and cyclist (even one or two tandems!) Safely across, I waited for my navigators. Some time later they turned up as one guy had fallen off his bike (he repeated the feat almost half an hour later – ouch!)
Anyway, a lady told us how to reach the next area and so we had another bit of a tiki tour. We stopped after a while but then saw some USA shirts coming so followed them. It turned out they were led by a local resident. No problem!
After going up and down a few rises, on bike paths, many turn and sets of lights, a small detour, we hit Highway 57 and a tailwind. Sitting on 25mph was easy and we were down to a group of 3.
The “rumble bars” on the road made life quite exciting – especially when I ended up on the traffic side of them after crossing off an overbridge.
A final gentle climb of about a mile or so lead to a closed road. This was downhill and tailwind. The road had some big cracks and holes in it (hence the closure) and also 2 brand new fences and gates across the whole road! A bit of cyclo-cross, a few more cruising miles and we were there – Fairfield. Five of us were the first in at about 3pm. Some of the hotel rooms were ready!
Total cycling for the day was 86 miles. Ignoring the 1st 16 miles, the ride was 68 miles in 4hrs 19m (includes starting + stopping + time to room etc.) Max speed was 46.2mph. Max HR was about 158 (but not working too well.) The 3,200ft of climbing was not noticeable.
Dinner at Denny’s down the road was totally uninspiring – pasta, meatballs and cold chicken with bread rolls and salad. Ice cream followed – great carbo loading!
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