Mr. Pete's Marin Adventure ride

Mr. Pete lead the usual gang from Norcal Bikeforums.net on a ride Sunday, April 13. What an adventure. Tricia and I took BART to the City and met the crew at the clocktower at 10 AM. The weather was amazingly warm and we were able to head out over the Golden Gate without jackets, leg or arm warmers. We rode through Sausalito to San Anselmo and on to lunch at Point Reyes Station, enjoying the great views and climbs all along the way. Pete took us through the secret roads of Ross, avoiding most of the heavily trafficked roads in the area. I thought he was just lost, but we ended up where we were supposed to.

The ride went well until sometime after lunch. We'd just gone through Samual P. Taylor State Park and were headed down narrow and annoyingly bumpy section of road. I was waiting for a car to pass so I could drop back and ride with Tricia. When I looked back I didn't see her, and she'd been right behind me just a moment before. I turned around and saw her bike laying by the road and went into a panic. I couldn't see her! I rolled up and still couldn't even see her. I can't think of the last time I was so scared. Then, there she was. Her handlebars had rotated suddenly when she hit a pot hole, tossing her forward and her cell phone into the road. She'd walked back to retrieve it. Pete had tool and her bars were quickly reset and we were all on our way again, like it had never happened, except for the remaining shaking in our hands and stomachs.

After that it was on to the Golden Gate, where the fog was rolling in (Jacket time!) and then through the City to Pete's. He rides there a lot and is comfortable. Tricia and I pretty much hated the whole city riding experience. I'm just glad we escaped intact.

All in all, a great day, 87 miles or so, plenty of climbing.

BikeForums.net Marin ride

I went on a NorCal Bikeforum.net ride on Friday, a day I surprisingly had off due to weird scheduling at the college.

I drove through too much fog to get to the Marin Civic Center to meet up with two other riders, Pete and Sean of BikeForums.net. Once I got to the start the weather was stunning. We sounded like some bad tape loop most the day, constantly telling each other "Is this great, or what?"

The new bike was just perfect. It feels both light and solid at the same time. And it just looks so cool I can hardly believe it.

We had a pretty mellow ride... That was until Pete took offense when a T-Mobile pink jersey clad dude zipped by on a steep climb. He jumped and matched him and together they went off into the distance. Thankfully the testosterone wore off and he waited for us at the next turn.

We had very tasty sandwiches in Point Reyes. I think they cater to cyclists, and may be putting something special in the fixin's. We felt so good the rest of the ride is was almost weird. I'm hoping they open a sandwich branch somewhere closer to home so I can feel like that more often.

Around mile 55 when our brains just started blurting out random noise, Taxi and I discovered that all the women we aren't married to but have crushes on are gay. We don't know what that means, but we figure it's best for all involved it worked out like that.

At the top of the last hill when we stopped for that rock photo my phone rang. It was Tricia
"Where are you?"
I Explained.
The phone rang again.
"Where are you?" she started.
It was out friend OrbeaJ proposing a ride.
Then, I swear this is true, it rings again.
"Where are you?"
It's my 17 year old daughter.
While I'm on the phone I can hear Taxi explaining where he is to his wife.
It's great to be missed.

Tricia knew we'd started at 9:30. I think she was figuring "OK, 22 MPH, no stopping. Less than 3 hours for these studs. He'll be home by 2, even counting the drive afterward."
But in reality, 14mph on bike average and lunch made it a longer day (but don't tell anyone. We like to lie about our amazing speed.)

Here's a link to the route.