Chapter 16: This One Goes to 11

This Saturday morning, our trusty Death Riders find themselves gathered around a Pumpkin Patch.  How exciting!  But there are no pumpkins because the patch is closed.  And it is May.  And how would we carry pumpkins on our bike?  So off we go!

First up on our adventure is up Mines Road.  This is a very pretty road, winding up the hills of the San Antonio Valley.   But why is it is called Mines Road?  Is there a Mr. Mines?  Was there a Mine?  Was it Gold?  So many questions asked and no answers because we are on our bikes.  And Googling While Riding (GWR) is a no-no.

Sometimes, when you are tired and feeling a bit blue, all you need is a viking to cheer you up.  Aren't we lucky!  This ride is getting better and better!  Hello Mr. Viking!

Even though there was a viking, we are actually in a remote area.  Remote means not a lot of people.  But there are lots and lots of ground squirrels.  So it's not remote for the squirrels.  Maybe it's like New York City for squirrels.

On our way to our next hill, we saw lots of dead squirrels on the road.  I saw four in a row.  I imagined that the squirrels were in a dual.  Maybe over some prime squirrel property.  Or a lady squirrel's honor.  They met a dawn and stood back to back.  Each walked 10 paces and were ready to draw their little squirrel guns, but then a car came fast down the road and killed them all.  Poor squirrels.

Now that the squirrels were all dead, we decided to head up to Mt. Hamilton.  Up, up, up we go!  Sometime we like to chat while we bike.  And sometimes we just grunt when the hills are steep.  Grunt grunt grunt.   We are not being mean.  We just don't have enough air in our lungs to talk.  So we think alot, and ask questions like,  Why is it called Mt. Hamilton?  Is it after President Hamilton?  Which president was he?   Why is Coach Jim so mean?  What exactly is at the top that we really want to see?

Again, since we have a No GWR rule, many questions are left unanswered.  But at the top, we did find the Lick Observatory!  How pretty!  The building has a round top and marble floors, which feels nice on your sock-footed feet.  There is a No Cleat Rule in the Observatory.  There is a sofa in the bathroom, but we know that we are not allowed to nap in the bathroom because that is kind of gross.  And coach Phil would not be happy with us.  This ride has many rules.

After we have a snack of soda and potato chips (mom would not be happy), we ride down, down, down!  Weeeeeeee! It's very fun to go fast.  I like the feeling of the wind on my face and the sweat stinging my eyes.  It makes me feel happy or like that time I sprayed sunscreen in my face.  On my way down, I hit a big bump.  Boom!  I see my water bottle fly off of my bike and go bump bump bump along the road.  But when I look down at my bike, my water bottle is still there.  Uh oh.  Must be something else, like my phone.  Good thing Coach Phil was with me.  We go on a safari in the weeds on the side of the road.  I pretend I am a wild animal hunting for prey.  I search high and low and far and wide, but cannot find the phone.  I decide that hunting is taking too much time and our teammates will be annoyed with me.  So I give up and go back to my bike.  When I pick up my bike off the ground, I see my phone hiding under the rear wheel.  Tricky phone!

Onward! Soon we are somewhere deep in San Jose.  We are headed for our last climb of the day. It is very hot outside and I am very tired already.  So the best thing to do in times like this is to climb the hardest, steepest f'ing hill of your life.  Sierra Road is 4 miles of hardness. On a scale of 1-10, it is an 11, like they say in that funny movie about fake rock stars.  I learn that I can go 2.7 miles per hour and not fall over.  It's sort of like a science lesson.  Only I'd rather be in science class dissecting the intestines of a rat then on that hill.

Sometimes you have to have talks with yourself.  Tell yourself you are allowed to stop, if you make it to the next spot of shade or the next tree.  Or tell yourself you are allowed to vomit, but only after you make it over this bump in the road.  Or that your stupid, sick husband who is at home and napping on the sofa is the lamest person there ever was and you are way cooler than he is, but only if you don't walk your bike.  All the talking works, and we arrive safely at the top of the hill!  Hooray!


And finally, we get to go down down down all the way home back to the pumpkin patch.

The End.

PS.  Do you like my story?  If so, consider making a donation to my fundraising effort.  All this storytelling is not just to entertain you, after all.  It's so we can cure cancer!  I'm trying to read $5000, can you help?  Maybe I'll even write another chapter if we get to $5000!

Children's Book Part 2

Up up up!

More long rides and more chapter titles for my children's book:

[Previous chapters:

• The Sorting Ride
• A Llama with a Sweater
• Fish Granola
• Rainy Day Death
• Let's Design a Jersey!
• Popsicle Angel
• My Angry, Angry Ass]

New Chapters:

• My Longest Ride Ever (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4)
• The Sad Tale of No Beer
• Making Friends with Tunitas 
• A Confusing Day: Jim and Sam Wear the Same Jersey

The chapters themselves are HI-larious as I write them in my head. Perhaps one day I'll remember enough of one to write it down.

Refueling with Chris at GPC

Anyhow, the last few weeks has been busy and momentous on the training front. Two weeks ago we completed the Grizzly Peak Century.  102 miles and 8500' of climbing all mostly on familiar territory.  It was like stringing 4 rides I've done together into one long, long day.  Our ride group did well and kept a good pace.  12.5 mph on average, which is pretty good for me.  This has helped me think through my timing of the Death Ride event. I've had many concerns about being too slow and not meeting the cut offs, but knowing that I can average this pace makes me realize it is actually doable.   I still have some doubts as to whether we can add 30 more miles and 7000' more feet of climbing, but we'll see how it goes.

Another nice milestone was that I hit 42mph on a decent, which wasn't even terrifying.  I'm definitely making progress on both my descending and climbing.  One of my old coaches from my first bike team two years ago was riding with us for a while.  He came up to me and told me I looked very comfortable on my bike, which at the time, seem ridiculous --- because there's nothing comfortable about sitting on a saddle for 8+ hours.  But his kind point was well received after I got off the bike.  I have made a lot of progress since he saw me last and definitely feel more adept as a cyclist.

Stage Road, one of my favorite roads!

And this past weekend we did an amazing ride.  Maybe one of my favorites of the season.  93 miles and 8500+ feet as well.  We revisited two hills we had done earlier in the seasons - Page Mill Road and Tunitas Creek.  The first time on both of them was terribly humbling.  But this time, it wasn't so bad.  Boosted my confidence quite a bit.  I actually really enjoyed the 8 mile climb up Tunitas.  Felt strong, managed to enjoy the amazing Redwood forests, and kept a nice steady pace to the top.   We've got 2 months left in our training and it was really nice to measure my accomplishments on the training front.

And on the fundraising front, I'm doing very well!  I've hit $3000 ($2000 more for my goal) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and surpassed my goal for Barb's Race and the Vineman Charities.

It's amazing what one can accomplish in a few short months.  Thanks to everyone who has kept me going so far.  2 more months to go!