Sequoia Mountainous Metric

According to the Western Wheelers Sequoia Century descriptions of its rides, the 100K route that I did today is considered mountainous with 6,000 feet of climbing whereas the 100 mile and 9,000 feet of climbing that The Boyfriend did is only "scenic." :)

Given that I was doing a mountainous not a scenic bike challenge, I decided to get a good night's sleep and start at 8:30am from the Palo Alto VA parking lot. The Boyfriend started at 6:30am in order to handle the "scenic" route. Oh oh, I'm going to be in trouble....

As I left the parking lot, a volunteer began waving his orange flag wildly at me. Ah, I thought, my first flirter of the day. Well, apparently, he was waving me down to let me know that I was headed in the wrong direction. Back on track, I began the ride. The climbs included Redwood Gulch, parts of Highway 9 and Skyline, Stage and Tunitas Creek.

Along Skyline, I stopped to put on my jacket. We were blessed with mostly good weather except for a patch on Skyline where I thought I'd turn into a popsicle. Some guy whizzed past me calling out my name in an English accent. Ooh, my second flirting opportunity. It was The Boyfriend! He'd already done 40 miles to my 16! Photo of him at my first rest stop-- now that's what I call scenic. I saw him once more as I entered the lunch stop and he was just leaving.

My reflection at the San Gregorio store. While I didn't do the steepest part of Redwood Gulch, I did climb all of Tunitas Creek without stopping. A sign along the way said to proceed slow so I called out to all the men around me, "Hey, make sure you're going slowly, you got that Mister." Lots of laughs amidst heaving breathing. I also sang to them, "I'm a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania" in my best Daffy Duck imitation. I had quite a following! Oh, alrighty, they were following me because they were behind me but I tell ya, several men called out my number (pinned on my back) to flirt, I mean, talk to me during the ride. The Boyfriend is probably shaking his head and sighing. I am very proud of The Boyfriend who did the 100 mile challenge in 7 hours. What a cyclist. Mushy alert, Mushy alert: He gave me a bouquet of pink and red roses for my effort. What a man.

Thank you Western Wheelers volunteers for a great ride and a tasty lunch.

Just the stats:

67 miles

11 avg mph

34.5 max

6 hrs (my goal!)