On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Saturday, October 28, 2006

So, all 54 of us were at the start line for the Mt. Diablo Low Key Hillclimb when I, fiddling with my computer clock, toppled over, unable to clip out in time, resulting in a very red, bloody and bruised scrape on my knee. Brilliant, eh. While I was still trying to get my computer clock to work, the timed ride to the summit started. Hey, wait for me.....

There were 10 women on the ride, including the women who had responded to an email I sent earlier to the Velo Girls list. Take a look at the results to see how hot these women were! But so were the 2 unicyclists -- they stole the show. This was one fit and fabulous group. The event organizers and volunteers were encouraging, funny and just downright super; I look forward to attempting more of the rides.

The weather was clear, sunny and quite warm as we climbed a total of 3,849 feet and 10.9 miles, affording us scenic views of the Bay Area. The final 250 meters tested all of us with its 15% grade. See more photos of the event and commentary of a past ride by a few Chain Reaction cyclists.

I finished just under 2 hours with an average of 6 mph, a good time for me, though I was the last of the women to finish. There were cyclists, female and male, who had to walk that final stretch. What about me, you ask? Well, there was my knight in shining spandex (aka The Boyfriend) waving to me as I stayed on the bike all the way to the top.

Naturally I smiled for the camera.