Gee3

[Edit] Sorry, didn't realize I made it so long....!

Well, we all finished the ride! We even got to meet Jo and Veronica on the Amici Veloce team! So that was really cool!! Also thanks to everyone on the NorCal team for participating with me! Hopefully we can do it again next year. If we do Thien said he'd come up with some MS specific jersey designs. Although the "alternative" jerseys got lots of compliments by several riders on the tour. Some even wanted to know where to buy them. So we, of course, sent them to NorCal bikeforums!

As for the ride report here's my report... sorry for the delay. I took the day off yesterday to recover and it looks like some of the others did as well! hehe!

Day 1: Physically Tough!

After waiting for Craig for a while and not finding him we took off from the ballpark at around 7:30ish and rode across the bridge. From there we headed to the beginning of the torturous hills of the first 36 miles. I'm not sure of the elevation we hit but most of the 7500 feet of climbing was during this stretch. I believe that the ToC also went through part of this stretch as I saw riders names and Team Slipstream's name spray painted on some of the streets heading uphill. So we can say that we rode pro-level hills! But at least for me... just not at pro-level speeds! haha!

Being that I started riding last year in flat Dallas, hills have been quite the challenge for me physically and mentally. But with a steady tempo, cadence and flat out anger, er, I mean determination, I was able to make it up each climb without walking my bike up any of the hills. But Lord knows I wanted to!!! I believe that was the case for all of us on the team! No slackers!!

But once up top the views were outstanding and worth the struggle! Hopefully Andy, Curtis or Thien can post some pics they took. And rolling along Hwy 1 was great too!

Overall, Day 1, for me at least, was physically tough and demanding. (Although I did tweak something in my knee area that I hoped would go away after a good night's sleep.) But well worth all the climbing. It was very scenic and satisfying that we were able to get over the big hump of Day 1. And while we were slowly filing in from the ride to get our dinner Curtis and Tricia were already washed up and changed. So much for them saying that they were slow!! hehe!

Day 2: Mentally Tough!

Day 2 started out at a balmy 43 degrees at about 6:30am! And by the time we started at close to 8am it probably rose to the high 40's!!! DOH!! Not bad if you had a jacket or some arm warmers. But if you were Andy (NeCrO632) you felt every bit of that cold!! Uummm, Andy... I guess I forgot to teach you the importance of a shell and/or some arm warmers. They come in handy at times! hehe! But he's no girlie man so he toughed it out while the rest of us were nice and toasty. I told him to get some warm pancakes and stuff it in his jersey but he wouldn't do it. Maybe if I told him not to use syrup and butter he would have changed his mind!? hehe!

To me, most of the Day 2 ride wasn't very scenic. But we did see Unicycle Girl again and the Amish Lad. We are still wondering how Unicycle girl got up and down the hills from yesterday! And we never did see her cross the finish line on either day... But I digress...

After probably spending too long at the lunch stop my knee started really acting up again. So that sucked for me! I guess I didn't stretch out as good as I thought. So I had to play catch-up several times when the pain subsided. But I thought to myself, if my friends with MS can deal with their pain, I too can deal with mine. So I continued on... Although their were times when I looked at the mileage on my computer and thought about SAG'in my sorry butt in. But I refused to quit since I made the commitment to ride, pain or no.

Also on Day 2, the bad roads took it's toll. My rear light fell off and as Andy was getting ready to run across the road to grab it a car ran it over prompting me to say to Andy that "I didn't want it anymore, but thanks!" hahaha!

Another casualty was after a nice descent Andy noticed his bracket for his GPS was loose. So we stopped to tighten it up. But later on the cradle holding his GPS couldn't take the shaking and finally gave up. Luckily Andy saw it before it completely broke off.

Oh yeah... I also got some cyclo-cross experience in. I was trying to look back and I accidentally veered of the road into some sandy dirt area and had I not continued to pedal in this sand to give me time to unclip I would surely have fallen over right in front of the two women riders right behind me! then I would have had to bury my head in that same sand!

Other than that the day was pretty much filled with rolling hills and lack of food at the rest stops. Then when we got about 15 miles from the end we finally hit the vineyards and the scenery perked up again. But as the scenery perked up, my knee began to act up! So basically during the final 11-12 miles Andy ended up pulling me to the finish line. At what I thought was going to be about 2-3 miles left to the finish I began to pull. But the headwinds were picking up and my pulling wasn't too effective. But luckily for me the 2-3 miles more to the finish turned out to be only a mile or so. So I ended up no help to Andy anyway and we rolled to the finish line.

After us, Craig rolled in and then Hubert. Then Thien and Carol finshed up the group. We never did see Curtis and Tricia so I'm assuming they had finished long before us. No surprise there!

Thanks again for everyone's support and good wishes, especially to the spouses, girlfriends, families, etc! And thanks to everyone on the NorCal Bikeforums team for making this ride a succesful one! So far our team raised about $3600!!! With a few more donations rolling in we may even break the $4k mark!! Woohoo!!

Hopefully someone on the team can post the stats and some pics as well.

Thanks again everyone!
Gary

Gee3

Here are some pics from Andy:

At the parking lot at AT&T Park:


L-R: Thien (AzureDrpTp), Carol, Hubert, Curtis (CCorlew), Tricia, Gary (Gee3) and Andy (NeCrO632) (Missing from photo: Craig)

The NorCal train led by thien in the "yellow jersey":

ROJA

Congrats on an AWESOME accomplishment and I'm bummed that I couldn't be out there with you guys. Maybe next year!

cccorlew

I was great o meet other NorCal BFers. (Is that a real term?)
Saturday views were great, amazing!
Sunday was really cold. I hurt so much in teh morning, evn though I had a base layer nd warmers. My fingers were in pain. But after lunch it was great.

I did see the Uni-girl finish on day 1.


Here's another photo I like



and my favorite of teh day, soon to be a poster for Tricia's classroom

AzureDrpTp

I didn't take as many photos as I thought I would have... Guess I was too busy kinda taking it all in, Day 1 like Gary said was very scenic and it was beautiful... Day 2 was more cow than vineyards. The last 15 miles or so was the exact same route as the Wine Country Century ride and that's pretty much what got Carol and I through to the end. Being as it was very familiar...

Anyhow here are a couple pictures for now.

Day 1 Lunch Stop


Day 2 First Rest Stop

These two are serious about finding a cure!

ricebowl

Congratulations guys! Sounds like a fun time while raising money for a good cause. Was the wine and beer flowing on Saturday night?

AzureDrpTp

Uni-cycle girl was pretty amazing... if you haven't noticed, she did it all barefoot! She was kind enough to stop and keep Craig and I company when I got a flat. I think she sag'd in from the lunch stop though. She was also not very happy with the lack of food the second day.

jobob

Yes indeedy !

Dchiefransom

Glad to hear it was a good ride. No food on the second day can be a big problem. I wonder how many riders they had?

Rincewind8

Here is her blog/report:

https://graciesgallivanting.blogspot.com/

Rincewind8

I started day one at 6:30 with my team. I met Curtis and Tricia (<- I hope I got that right...) when I I was about to leave the rest stop in Stinson Beach.
On day two I started at around 7:00. Again I met Curtis and Tricia. This time at the lunch stop.

I kept looking for other BF NorCal jerseys, but I didn't see any of you guys besides those two.

I had a lot of fun both days.

Gee3

Yeah, we lagged behind... we didn't start Day 2 until almost 8am. You guys were long gone by then! Doh! Sorry we missed ya though Rincewind8.

cccorlew

Smart. My fingers HURT so much. I shivered as I rode. It was soooooo cold. I was in pain for an hour. My toes didn't recover till lunch.
The first few miles I prayed for sun the entire time.

BlastRadius

I like that picture... kinda good cop, bad cop'ish.

SesameCrunch

Good job riding, guys!

Thanks for the report and pics.

superunleaded

Good going guys.
Give us a heads up next time, I might be able to join you guys.

-gas

Gee3

Come next year we'll plan to get the word out sooner and maybe get some custom NorCal jerseys made just for the MS ride! That is if Thien is willing to design another jersey! hehe!

Here sre some more pics of the second morning at about 44 degrees...

Can you tell who was the coldest?


Thien in the yellow jersey with the rest of his domestiques...

Gee3

Or "good cop" trying to get something out of his teeth... Doh! haha! Oops, that's me...

cccorlew

Just a note on tired and beat:
For the record, Tricia and I both got up early Monday and, as we alway do, rode our bikes to work.

Gee3

Show offs! hehe! j/k!!

I could have gone to work but I got a bad case of the lazies! lol!