Pigeon Point Ride

Karyn and I were planning to go for a bike ride today to Pigeon Point. Unfortunately, Karyn had to cancel due to work obligations, so I went on my own. It was a challenging but fun fiftyfour mile ride with about 1800 feet of climbing. I am tired but I feel suprisingly good. It was overcast and gloomy for most of the ride, however that kept the tempature cool and there was some wind, but not enough to be a factor. The only downside was that several of the farms are being fertilized with manure. The ride was relatively flat which made for a nice ride. I have never ridden that far up the coast before. The area around the Pigeon Point Lighthouse is very pretty (see photo above). More info and photos on the lighthouse can be found here and here and here.



I am now feeling like I am ready for the Strawberry Fields ride. The Strawberry Fields ride is only 6 miles longer, but has close to 4000 feet of climbing. However if I take the climbs slowly, I think I will be ok. I did the ride today with no stops and no food. The Strawberry Fields ride has 4 stops and plenty of food, so I am very comfortable with my conditioning for the ride this year. Plus, I have 3 more weeks to train for the ride. (Note that having no food on a ride this long is not a good idea. If you take a ride over 3 hours or so, you should stop for a snack at some point. )




I have a habit of starting out at a faster pace and then getting pretty tired towards the end of the ride. Today, I purposely rode slower, especially at the beginning. There were several times when I could have ridden faster and normally would, however I knew that this would be a long ride. As a result I felt really strong towards the end of the ride and still feel good now.

Of course, there were lots of riders passing me. It looked to me like there was some type of bike club having an organized ride. A number of the riders had the same style jersey. I googled bike clubs in Santa Cruz and found the Santa Cruz County Cycling Club. I can not find that they have sponsored a ride today up Highway 1, however it looks like they have some nice rides for cyclists of all levels. I think it would be fun to join them sometime.

The other nice thing, is that I got home just in time to watch the Giants game. Ok, Ok, I got home just in time to fall asleep during the Giants game!