Eight riders strong showed up at O'Neill's bright and early on Saturday morning to do the clockwise city loop (route here) a 53 mile cruise around the city with a long, long hill right at the half way point. The riders this fine morning were Olga, Evil Gary, Laura, Greg, LeeAnn, Peggy, David, and first time rider (with us) Carol! Also, for the first time in our history, we had more lady riders than gentlemen riders. As we gathered in the morning, Laura was quickly operating on her front tire - a problem that would return again. But after a slight delay, we were off on the route.
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| At the start of the ride |
We managed to get separated not far into the ride, as a catastrophic water bottle failure delayed half the team as they performed a quick field repair. Eventually we all grouped up near the airport before the descent down into the valley to pick up the Bosque trail at Rio Bravo. From there it was quick sailing to our first rally point at Tingly beach. From there we headed north along the Bosque to play everyone's favorite summer time game - Bosque Frogger! We dodged cyclists, runners, roller bladers, walkers, and dogs to finally make it to Alameda open space. There Laura again fixed her front tire, but luckily we did it under the shade of the Bike MS info tent (thanks Scott & Selena!) and enjoyed the huge poster promoting the ride, featuring a great photo of the Penultimates peloton from last year.
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| At the Alameda Open Space Bike MS info tent! |
From there we headed out on the long slog up to the top of the tram, heading north on 4th before heading east on Tramway, a long 15 mile climb. But just as we turned east through the traffic circle, we had a rider take a spill on some loose sand on the road. Luckily there no traffic close by when it happened, and 2 different motorist and the team were able to get there right away. As of writing this, I think we just had some road rash on the knee and maybe an elbow, but it was bad enough that the Sag vehicle (thanks Eric!) had to come and rescue him. For the record, our tough as nails rider biked ~3 miles to a gas station to await pick up. First time in our ride history that someone did not complete the ride.
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| On the uphill to the Tram. |
Most of the team waited until he was collected (leave no one behind), while the slower of us riding (ahem, me) kept going up the hill. A long 15 miles later we were at the top, with all riders catching me just before the top of the hill. Gary and Peggy, sprinted up to the base of the tram while the rest of us refueled at gas station. From there, it was the last 15 mile sprint to finish up the ride. After all the delays, equipment problems, and accidents, we rolled into O'Neill's around 11:30, about an hour later than we expected. A good ride though, and we wish a speedy recovery to Greg!
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