The Fires of Gilroy
83.4 mi, 2614 ft
This ride was lovingly planned with mileage in mind. Lots and lots of miles, to bridge the distance gap from my previous lengthiest ride (72 mi) to the Bike MS century. In fact this ride was planned to be precisely 80 miles, but a combination of my slightly poor Google mapping, and somewhat egregious navigation from a team mate, added a little extra treat.
With the aggressive heat wave of the prior three days firmly in the rear view, three of the team set off from Santa Clara on this overcast morn, braced for excessive heat which did not materialise. We wended our way through increasingly froo froo neighbourhoods of San Jose, southbound. After approximately 10 minutes a fierce headwind arose. It is well known that the wind direction in the South Bay switches in the afternoon. Inwardly and outwardly I sighed, confident we would be contending with headwinds the entire day.
Leaving San Jose, we rolled through some slight hills up to the reservoirs, which had been the venue of my first ever long ride 15 months prior. That day, the team had really suffered in a violent heatwave. This day, the weather remained delightfully overcast, mixed with smoke haze from the wildfires ravaging California.
Upon attaining Gilroy, it was discovered to be really quite on fire in the mountains just to the south. The town was enveloped in a thick blanket of sun-blocking smoke. We stopped for lunch at the aptly-named "Heavy's" golf course cafe, which serves solely fried food. "Is Gilroy going to be evacuated?" I queried the proprietor. "Oh no, they have the fire under control." Funny that, because I just saw a couple of hobbits toss a ring into the downtown.
After an intense carb-loading session we turned back northward and fled the smoke. As we rolled back past the reservoirs, intense pain gnawed at my shoulders, neck and back. Frantically gobbling ibuprofen attenuated the aching just enough to continue. And thus, I survived my longest ride yet, and indeed the longest training ride before the main event.
Sightings: buck deer, baby deer, roadkill deer, roadkill squirrel, roadkill cat :(, roadkill raccoon, roadkill chipmunk, roadkill bird (black with red throat), roadkill other bird
This ride was lovingly planned with mileage in mind. Lots and lots of miles, to bridge the distance gap from my previous lengthiest ride (72 mi) to the Bike MS century. In fact this ride was planned to be precisely 80 miles, but a combination of my slightly poor Google mapping, and somewhat egregious navigation from a team mate, added a little extra treat.
With the aggressive heat wave of the prior three days firmly in the rear view, three of the team set off from Santa Clara on this overcast morn, braced for excessive heat which did not materialise. We wended our way through increasingly froo froo neighbourhoods of San Jose, southbound. After approximately 10 minutes a fierce headwind arose. It is well known that the wind direction in the South Bay switches in the afternoon. Inwardly and outwardly I sighed, confident we would be contending with headwinds the entire day.
Leaving San Jose, we rolled through some slight hills up to the reservoirs, which had been the venue of my first ever long ride 15 months prior. That day, the team had really suffered in a violent heatwave. This day, the weather remained delightfully overcast, mixed with smoke haze from the wildfires ravaging California.
Upon attaining Gilroy, it was discovered to be really quite on fire in the mountains just to the south. The town was enveloped in a thick blanket of sun-blocking smoke. We stopped for lunch at the aptly-named "Heavy's" golf course cafe, which serves solely fried food. "Is Gilroy going to be evacuated?" I queried the proprietor. "Oh no, they have the fire under control." Funny that, because I just saw a couple of hobbits toss a ring into the downtown.
After an intense carb-loading session we turned back northward and fled the smoke. As we rolled back past the reservoirs, intense pain gnawed at my shoulders, neck and back. Frantically gobbling ibuprofen attenuated the aching just enough to continue. And thus, I survived my longest ride yet, and indeed the longest training ride before the main event.
Sightings: buck deer, baby deer, roadkill deer, roadkill squirrel, roadkill cat :(, roadkill raccoon, roadkill chipmunk, roadkill bird (black with red throat), roadkill other bird
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