Cycling Makes Everything Better

Saturday began as a horrible awful no-good day. I woke up at 5AM (too early) but finally fell back asleep about 6.30 (I need the sleep before the 70 mi ride. I woke up again, tired and hoping for some more sleep but when I looked at the clock it was 8AM. Yikes! I have to be on the bike and ready to roll in one hour.

I scramble through my morning routine, skip the usual pre-ride breakfast - no time! Run out the door and back inside a few times to grab forgotten water bottles, gloves, helmet. I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!

One sacrafice I can't make pre-ride is the Peet's coffee stop. Ugh! Ethiopian is the drip of choice today. I HATE ETHIOPIAN (coffee, not the people or the food) So I order a latte and pastry for breakfast. UGH! Latte is too hot to drink and it never cools during the drive. I arrive at Orinda BART and still have no caffine in my system. This ride is going to be hard.

I see Jen H getting out of her car so I pull in the spot next to her, make a face and miss the stop before hitting the parking bumper - SCRAPE!!!!! A very subtle entry.

Coach K.Sue gathers us all together with great news: the ride will only be 56 miles but there will be about 2800 ft of climbing. We head out into the shady winding roads of Orinda, riding in an unofficial pace line. All of a sudden everyone in front of me slows & the rider behind me screams (yes, screams) SLOWING! This throws me off, I can't stop in time, I swerve to the right to miss the bike inches in front of me, I manage to unclip enough to pad the fall, I land in a fluffy pile of fallen Oak leaves - soft? no. I'm up in 2 seconds and looking for a gap in the line to rejoin the team. Coach comes back down the line "Is there a rider down?" "oh yea, that was me... continuing the worst day ever"

I put my frustration into the pedals and ride - after about 20 miles my mind has wandered off and I'm enjoying the day. My ride group had four or five flat tires - so it turned into a long day. Seven hours on the seat is more than I wanted. But I finished strong and felt good through the whole journey. From Orinda to Danville to Pleasanton to Castro Valley to Moraga to Orinda. Phew!

One of the tiny hills of the day:
Turn baby, turn:

I know - my complaints are nothing compared to what cancer patients go through. Please help me help LLS find a cure. Donations still accepted I'm 68% to my fundraising goal.