Yesterday Sunday Sep 30, 2007 in the afternoon, the 2nd Sunday Mike's Bikes Ride took place in the Mt. Tam area. A group of 6 met at the Depot in Mill Valley. From right to left, the riders were: Celia, Julio, Chad, Dana, Steph and Alan.
Dolores, Tom and Amy tried to join us but they were always running a little late. So I don’t think they should be counted as part of our ride. However, they should be mentioned as they did the same loop Chad planned, just about 30 minutes behind.
We rolled around 2:00 pm and as soon as we hit Old Rail Rd our group started to split in two: Team A and Team B. During the first part of the climb I was proud of myself thinking I was going to be able to keep up with Chad, Alan and Steph (Team A members) and leave Dana and Julio as Team B members. Right away though, Team A dropped me. After recovering from such humiliation, I decided that instead of suffering trying to keep up with Team A I was better off waiting for Team B to pedal at a better pace for me that also allowed me to take some pictures since the day was just spectacular, crispy, blue skies, blue waters, incredible visibility of the ocean, San Francisco and Marin.
Team A and Team B re-grouped by West Point Inn, when Tom was able to reach us after hammering up Old Rail Rd. But he needed to wait for Dolores and Amy who were climbing at a leisurely Team B kind of pace.
Team A took off, and so did Team B after waiting a bit for Dolores and Amy. And when Team B finally got to the top of Mt. Tam, Team A was fresh, ready to hit the descent via Elderidge. Instead, Team B was dying needing a little brake.
Dolores, Tom and Amy tried to join us but they were always running a little late. So I don’t think they should be counted as part of our ride. However, they should be mentioned as they did the same loop Chad planned, just about 30 minutes behind.
We rolled around 2:00 pm and as soon as we hit Old Rail Rd our group started to split in two: Team A and Team B. During the first part of the climb I was proud of myself thinking I was going to be able to keep up with Chad, Alan and Steph (Team A members) and leave Dana and Julio as Team B members. Right away though, Team A dropped me. After recovering from such humiliation, I decided that instead of suffering trying to keep up with Team A I was better off waiting for Team B to pedal at a better pace for me that also allowed me to take some pictures since the day was just spectacular, crispy, blue skies, blue waters, incredible visibility of the ocean, San Francisco and Marin.
Team A and Team B re-grouped by West Point Inn, when Tom was able to reach us after hammering up Old Rail Rd. But he needed to wait for Dolores and Amy who were climbing at a leisurely Team B kind of pace.
Team A took off, and so did Team B after waiting a bit for Dolores and Amy. And when Team B finally got to the top of Mt. Tam, Team A was fresh, ready to hit the descent via Elderidge. Instead, Team B was dying needing a little brake.
Team A: Chad, Steph and Alan.
Team B: Julio, Dana and Celia.
I realized then that Amy, Dolores and Tom were not going to join us in this ride. They ended up riding the same loop Chad planned, and they were happy at the end (I talked with Dolores that night to check in).
After Team B recovered, we descended Elderidge. Steph was right after Chad who was leading the descent, she was staying on his wheel, was going very fast until she got a flat tire. The hole on her inner tube was big which means she was going quite fast.
Since Steph, a member of Team A got the flat tire, Team B took advantage of this opportunity and went on descending Elderidge all the way to Hoo Koo E Koo. We knew this was our only opportunity to beat Team A. And we almost did! But right by the intersection Chad reached us and it was all over. After that the climb started again to get back to Old Rail Rd, so once again, Team A was in the lead.
We hit together the Tender Foot trail. This singletrack trail is challenging and it has some spots that are quite hard. Chad was showing us how it is done. Alan broke his back wheel hub and I crashed... humiliating… but I did power yoga today and put myself together again for the next ride.
Ride stats:
Riders: 6
Ride duration: 3 hours 45 minutes (Moving time 2 hours 30 minutes)
Climbing: 3,000 ft
Mileage: 17.6 miles
Mechanicals: 1 flat, 1 shot hub, 1 crash
Click below for the MotionBased GPS Ride Stats:
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