RIDE REPORT
PRE-RIDE
It started as an early morning with a 5:20am wake up call. A friend of mine drove me down to Vallejo to catch the ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco. I was a little nervous about making sure i would have everything that I needed but I checked my list twice. I got to the ferry in time to take the 6:30 ferry to SF and arrived there at 7:30. I got some funny looks from all the morning monday commuters who were wondering what I was doing all suited up in my ride gear.
SAN FRANCISCO
Stop #1 was the SF Golden Gate Bridge. The ferry drops off at Pier 1 so I had to ride down the bay to get there. Navigating SF was a little difficult on the fly, thank goodness for the iPhone map app.
After the bridge I made my way along the coast dropping down next to the beach. It was really nice for a few miles with the south bound lane closure I had the road all to myself.
PACIFICA
After leaving SF I headed down the road to Pacifica. I knew this would be the hardest/trickiest part of the ride. For a brief few miles the Highway turns into Freeway and I found myself descending at 40mph + right next to cars. That was some really sketchy riding for a few miles and then I had some relief dropping into town.
HALF MOON BAY
Heading out of Pacifica was difficult as well with a nice hill waiting for me just outside of town. To make things worse there was absolutely no bike lane and road construction was going on with an occasional 18 wheeler passing by. At the top of the hill I waited for traffic to clear and I bombed down the coast taking the lane all to myself. Descending "Devils Landslide" was a technical descent with speeds of 40+ again.
After the descent the road opens and I had a wonderful bike lane to work with all the way into half moon bay.
SANTA CRUZ
The rest of the coast was full of rollers and beautiful scenery. Lots of time spent descending for a mile or so and then ascending right back up. This equated to 30mph for a minute and then a few minutes of 13-15mph then repeat. The legs held in there pretty good and I was relieved to roll into Santa Cruz. I am pretty sure I was cracking smile at that point realizing all I had left was to cruz through town and shoot over to Rio Del Mar. The ups and downs and starts and stops of town broke the rhythm of the ride and reminded me of my tired legs.
STATS
Runkeeper overall stats were a
Total distance = 92.55 miles
Average pace = 17mph
Total elevation climb = 7,275
Here is a link to the stats: STATS
2 comments:
Nice ride David. Would have loved to have joined you! Great job! Thanks for posting.
Looks like a lot of fun, wow total vertical 7k.
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