Saturday I rode the SFR Populaire. I volunteered at the start, which meant getting up at 4 in the morning, and leaving my house at 5:30. Hello full moon. It is a bit creepy strange riding through Golden Gate park at the time of the day, but riding through the Presidio is a little different. It's wild and calming/still at the same time.
I was the first to arrive at 10 minutes to 6.
Note to self, maybe an hour is all I need for breakie, shower, whatnot before the ride. Also, no one seemed to arrive right at 6. Sleep is good.
My plan for the ride was to take it slow, I average about 12-13 mph. I figured that if I rode at 11, I would finish a half hour before our allotted 7.5 hours. The ride is 114k/70 miles. I had no knee pain! Going to the bike fitter when these issues arise is awesome.
I started out after most of the main herd, and rode by myself out to Pt Reyes Station. This was also part of the plan. I had no expectations to ride with anyone, 'keep up' or 'get dropped'. This was awesome for my brain, with no pressure to be like anyone else, I just rode for myself. What a relief.
The ride out to Pt Reyes Station was beautiful, we had golden light and a little wind and chill. My only regret on the ride was that I didn't stop to photograph the stretch between White's (shitty) Hill and Samuel P Taylor park. The hills on that section of Sir Francis Drake are uniquely shaped, with these strange rocks in the middle. My friend Diane put it best, she said they look like aliens dropped them from out of space into the landscape. So bizarre. At that time of the morning, they were truly bathed in the golden light of the gods, with strong dark shadows making them pop out of the green. Another note to self, invest in a small camera that is easier to deal with than my phone so that I can stop and document the lovely.
In Pt Reyes Station, I got my thing that got me my receipt to prove that I was there. Then I chatted up miss Kimber and we set off together for the second half of this expedition.
It was nice to have a buddy to chat with, chatting and telling stories makes climbing so much easier/faster.
Right, right so that was Saturday. I finished! It was fun. I was not completely wrecked and tired though I did get sick. It's likely asthma related so I'm taking it easy. Next up: Two Rock Valley Ford/200k on Feb. 17th.
Monday night in Apparel Arts I tried on my yoke skirt with the slit and it is super cute.
So 3 weeks in and I have a pattern that fits perfectly!! YES. I am transferring this one to oak tag and I'm planning on making a finished skirt soon. Also my teacher is going to help me with some issues I'm having on a shirt that I'm making for Bill. She rocks.
There is an AIDS/LifeCycle Expo this Saturday. I might do the Cat 2 ALC ride out to Fairfax Sunday. Not sure yet.
Here's a photo from the start of our brevet. There was a 200k out to the Lighthouse/Marshall on the same day. About 200 folks rode that day. Rob said SFR is the biggest RUSA club in the US. WOW.
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