Riding into Spring

After one last dose of winter rains in March, Spring has fully arrived in Sonoma County. This weekend was simply gorgeous in a way that can only occur in Spring. Even Levi Leipheimer was moved to comment on the weather in his Twitter post on Sunday. So in honor of all of you still dealing with a winter season that is too stubborn to move on, we went for a ride.

It was a small group that headed out last Saturday. Only 4 of us. The plan was to ride out towards the town of Tomales, near the coast, and back in a big 65 mile loop. We met at Aroma Roasters for a pre-ride coffee and chat. All fueled up it was time to ride. So Pat, Sarah, Dennis and I hit the road to start the day.

I was afraid it was going to be a long day from the start. I just wasn't feeling it. It might have had something to do with the Friday night "glasses of wine to hours of sleep ratio" which was 8 to 5. Still, after a few miles I began feeling stronger and settled in to enjoy the day.

The ride to Tomales was beautiful and uneventful. There was only one weird thing. I seemed to have very little strength on the small climbs we went over but always recovered and took strong pulls on the flats. I usually ride the other way around with stonger climbs and semi-decent pulls. Oh well, somehow I chalked it up to Friday night's festivities.

In Tomales, we stopped for water and goodies at the local bakery. Sarah ran into someone from her spin class. Small world! So once again we were fueled and ready to ride when 2 guys from a bike club in San Francisco stopped and asked if there was somewhere nearby to buy tubes. They had already had flat issues and were completely out. Well, Tomales is in the middle of nowhere so you can guess the answer. However, we had plenty of tubes between us so we just gave them one and everyone headed out.

Out towards the coast we dealt with some fairly strong winds for a while before turning inland. Once again, I am weaker on the hills but turning in pulls on the flats of 20+ mph. Then it finally dawns on me. Coach Tim has me doing power and speed intervals right now. They must be working.

Towards the end of the ride we ran into another friend, Paul, who joined us for the ride back. Paul races and can fly so he and Pat take off while I take front with Sarah and Dennis. On the final pull into town we were holding 22 mph and I was feeling very stong. Coach Tim's drills must really be working.

Finally, back to Aroma Roasters for the post-ride coffee and chat. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning in Spring.

Ciao!