The Boyfriend and I did the Tour de Max, a benefit ride that involves 7,000 feet of climbing. The route we did (and one The Boyfriend often does by himself) is just about 70 miles:
Menlo Park -->Sand Hill Road -->Alpine -->Arastradero -->Page Mill Road -->Alpine -->Pescadero Road-->Stage Road -->Hwy 1--> Tunitas Creek -->Kings Mtn. -->Woodside -->Menlo Park.
We did this ride last year and it was the first time I climbed Page Mill Road as well as done any serious climbing. The Boyfriend was kind enough to accompany me to the first rest stop on Arastradero before leaving me. No doubt he was relieved to leave me as I whined all the way. It was early and it was cold and I was hungry.
I had no difficulty climbing Page Mill other than my feet fell asleep and I had to stop to shake the numbness out of them. I was jumping up and down when the SAG people stopped thinking I needed assistance. I must have looked silly or even frightening like I was having a seizure.
I met a woman on Page Mill who said that she was delighted to see another female on the ride. I counted about 10 altogether though there may have been more. I said, "Estrogen rules honey" to which she said, "Oh, I love that. May I borrow it?" I think she may have been going through menopause and that got me thinking: a pause from men. You know, not a bad idea, sometimes.
By the time I arrived at the second rest stop somewhere on Page Mill, I was ready to do the entire ride. The road to Pescadero involves exciting scenic descents and some rollers in the redwoods. It was rather chilly in parts. You know, I've visited or lived in a lot of beautiful cities -- Paris, Munich, Brussels, Florence, Rome to name a few, but I think my two favorite towns in the whole wide world are Pescadero and Alviso.
As I approached the rest stop in Pescadero, the guys clapped. Most people were riding with buddies or coupled up with a partner. Very few of us were alone. I liked the attention! This year, unlike last year, I didn't do much joking or flirting with people. I mostly stared at the road while climbing or looked at people's legs. Leaving the area, you go along Stage which starts out like the photo below.
The top photo is of Stage as well; I biked for awhile with a woman. This year, unlike last year, I was always surrounded by other bikers. The last climb involved Tunitas Creek (photo below). I borrowed the photos from some guy's Flickr set.
It's a hard climb and it seems to go on and on. And then suddenly you're out of the woods and flying down Kings Mtn and almost home again (where once again, a few guys cheered me on). By the time I got to Woodside, my avg. mph was 10.0. By the time I returned to Menlo Park, I got it up to 10.4 avg. mph. Last year, I finished with an avg. mph of 10.2. However, this year, I felt much stronger. The ride took me 6 hours 15 minutes. The man and woman who had parked next to my car and who had started out with us, finished a few minutes after me. The Boyfriend finished in 5 hours 15 minutes (though he did lose some time by being chivalrous - escorting me at the start). The tour organizers plan to post photos of this year's tour; so, I may add another post. Next up - a biking weekend in Napa.
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