Fred Haines, owner of Bistro 33 and one of our biggest sponsors, held a ride for Team Revolutions. There were three possible routes: 15 miles, 40 miles, and 71 miles. Randy and I did the 72 miles, which was riding from Bistro 33 in El Dorado Hills to the Bistro 33 in Sacramento and back. The route was the easy, low-key American River Trails (lol at ART being "low-key"). Our first rest stop was at Folsom Bike and Grind, where they had coffee, bars, water, and a bunch more for us. There was a second stop at the Sunrise park, where Bistro 33 had some food and water for us. We got off on Guy West Bridge and headed through a bit of Sacramento to get Bistro 33 where there was a bunch of yummy food and water.
This ride was a relaxing one for us. We took our time and had fun socializing with out teammates. At the end of the ride, Bistro 33 in El Dorado Hills had an after party, which was fantastic! We had a lot of awesome food, good music, drinks (both boozed and non-boozed.. which I had the non-boozed because of this damn Death Ride!), and good times. Fred knows how to throw a ride and party!
June 20th: Father's Day Mormon Emigrant Trail
Randy's dad, Ron, wanted to do a ride for Father's Day. As Randy's parents live right by Sly Park and MET, we decided to do that as an easy and enjoyable ride.... HAH! MET is a challenge for sure, but it's a great ride! We headed out and had a good time. Turned around at a good spot so we could go back to the house and have lunch with the Glaeser family. I was getting some good speed on the downhill when I realized that the guys weren't behind me. So, I turned around. Turned out that Ron had gotten a flat and told Randy to go get me. Randy and I rode for about 2 miles (I was a good ways away, apparently!) and when we all met up again, we rode back and a much reasonable speed (no 48mph for me! My highest speed that day must have been 46).
The good thing is that I wasn't struggling on this ride at all. Last year, I was struggling with 30-25 gearing and exhausted by the end. This year, I was going at a very comfortable "spinning" cadence with 39-28 gearing and still had energy. I think it's a great improvement from last year! While this wasn't a hammer-fest ride (hey, we gotta enjoy our families on rides, too, whether they are hard ones or not!), it was still great to see that I was able to feel and ride much better than last year.
I went to wish my dad a father's day that evening, too, who was doing a lot of studying for another certification. Every man celebrates differently, I guess, haha.
June 27: Death Ride Pre-Ride
Yvette, Jason, Randy and I decided to ride a few of the Death Ride's passes. While it's only Yvette and me riding the actual Death Ride, we had some good support from the guys. We rode both sides of Ebbett's first, which are passes 3 and 4 of the ride. I went out a bit too hard on the first hill, so I decided to take it easy for the rest of the ride. Both ascends went great, when we saw an SUV with two road bikes stop by. Lo and behold, it was two Team Revs teammates, Pam and Steve! The team had done a pre-ride the day before, but we couldn't make that, so we went the day after. They stopped and gave us some of their left over water, at least to those who didn't have an 11-pound camelpack like I did!
The second descent was a bit shadier. Even though I had zipped my jersey up, I had a big fly into it and bite me. I had to come to a full stop and see what it was. I was freaking out because I'm very allergic to bees, and a bee sting is what ended my Death Ride last year, besides the fact that I'm at the top of a freaking mountain with only an epi pen and a bike to get me to the car! Cell phones? Hardly any service. Jason saw me pull up and stopped to see if I was okay since Randy had told him I'm allergic to them. Randy was in front of me, so he didn't realize I had stopped until he looked back and saw that Yvette was passing him, so he turned around (yup... CLIMBING Ebbett's again. What a great boyfriend!). I rolled up to Jason and told him that I didn't see a stinger, so it may not have been a bee, but we'll see in 10 minutes. Yup... there was a bit of nervous laughter. I rode to Randy and told him what happened, which he then decided that we were going to ride close together (even on the hard descent) just in case I had to get stabbed with my Epi pen. I didn't. It luckily wasn't a bee, but I decided that I was going to zip my jersey all the way up, as in chocking all the way up, to take that risk out.... at least from there. I still had my arms, legs, and head.
Up to Monitor we went, and I decided to take Monitor REALLY easy since it was really hot and I still had 8 pounds of camelpack on my back. Yvette and Jason took off, Randy and I stayed back and took it nice and easy. It was a comfortable pace, we were able to talk and laugh. When we got a bit over mile 4 into the pass, we saw Yvette and Jason pulled over on a side road, and I asked them what was up. Yvette was out of water, Jason had a bad head ache. Randy was low in water, and I still had nearly 2 bottles (maybe 3/4 of each filled) and some of my camelpack. I told them I was taking it easy because 1. It was hot; 2. I was keeping my target heart rate; 3. I've had heat stroke twice, I know when it's coming, and I wasn't going to risk it when the ride is less than two weeks away. The decision was to turn back, though I was ready to do the rest. It was a good decision. We had two rides with no water (I gave Randy some water from my Camelpack. Yvette said she didn't need it for the descent), and one rider with a head ache. So, down we went. We stopped in Markleeville to rest (Okay, I wanted to rest because my ass was killing me... will never forget to Chamois Butt'r my chamois!). Two miles of easy climbing later and we were back at Turtle Rock, where we started.
It was a great ride and I'm glad I went to pre-ride the passes. I know exactly how I'm going to start the ride. The elevation didn't have any effect on me (good ol' elevation training has paid off). I think this ride will be painful, but very doable.
After, we all went our separate ways and we stopped at Randy's parent's, where we had dinner and hung out a bit. Then came home. It was great being over and talking about bikes, the outdoors, and any random subject that came out! Definitely a great dinner and fun times.
I'm glad to have some great support on this ride. Randy will be going to the ride to be my "mechanical and beer" support. I haven't been drinking at ALL because of this ride (ever gone bar hopping with friends and just order a soda? Yeah, you get teased, haha!). When I roll to the car at the end of the ride, I will have that beer handed to me and I'll chug it. I may pass out on the bike, but dammit, it'll be worth it!
Let the countdown begin!
No comments:
Post a Comment