You know you are addicted when you need to have a road bike ride to feel good. That as soon as you put your body into position, and clip in those cleats, you feel a sense of both calmness and excitement. That the bike feels like an extension of your overall body. #addicted
So after my mountain bike ride on Saturday, and not quite feeling this sense of calmness, I searched for another bike ride. Didn't expect to find much, and up popped Tour de Peninsula. I woke up at 6:15 in the morning for the 7am start and thought "I should sleep"...but that #addicted drive drove me to jump put of bed and hustle to the start line.
Started at 7:30am and thought I was done for, but as it was more of a group ride than a "race" it was actually fine. Many people started at the same time as me, so I joined in with various groups and met people along the way. There were about 1500 bikers and I think I spoke to only 100 or so (hee hee only)...here are 2 journalists I met and had a "Meet-up" lunch with.
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| Lucy and some new biking friends |
I looked at the route the night before and saw there was a short 30 mile version and a long 65 mile version. I opted to get the longer route in for a workout. I had pulled a muscle in mountain biking (with the cold weather not really letting them warm up) and thought it might not be the easiest of rides, but hey, gotta get a good workout in! Or maybe this is another example of being #addicted
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| Map My Ride - 65 mile version |
What I didn't know about the ride was the elevation. Oh man! I'm not the best hill biker - maybe I can blame having the wrong crankset and a tri-bike vs a road bike?
The route showed Skyline and I thought...does that mean we have to bike all the way up to Skyline (just like it sounds...up to the heavens!). And yes it did mean I was biking non-stop uphill for over 5 miles.
That doesn't really sound like a lot, but my knee went into serious pain (the OTHER knee as well to the usual soap opera drama!) and I could not bear any weight on it. So the whole 5 mile uphill was on 1 leg, leaving me in a sitting position the whole time, and using a push-down / pull-up action only! Ouch! But I also saw it as a good training opportunity...this was not a race after all so I got to learn how to adjust my body, self-massage, rest and stretch, and of course bike on my 1 weaker leg.
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| Elevation of the 65 mile route. 2000 ft climb in 5 miles |
I did make it to the top though! And had to take a photo to celebrate!
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| Made it to the top of a long long hill...using 1 leg only! |
The weather was not what I was expecting either. Usually I escape to the Peninsula to get some sun away from the city. But it didn't really clear up on this ride. Check out this photo of Canada road. Going up the mountain there were some beautiful areas of dense fog that as I biked through, I felt a wave of dew wash over me.
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| Felt like SF City weather even though I was on the Peninsula! |
I enjoyed the ride overall, and took the shortcut for a 56mile bike ride overall and had a biking time of 4:10 hours but an overall time on 5 hours. Guess I put my chatting skills to good work!
Off to foam roller that knee now....and yes, my #addicted sense feels fulfilled. So no need to bike on Monday!
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