Coyote Creek and reservoirs, a.k.a headwinds and tailwinds

47.4 mi, 1,367 ft

The 2018 training season kicks off with what promised to be a gentle ride along the Coyote Creek trail to Morgan Hill, followed by some pleasant rolling reservoir hills on the return.  Five riders convened at the unseemly Saturday hour of 9 am.  Apparently there had been a request to start even earlier.  It is of course important to embrace the weekend, but not overly strongly.

The gentle Coyote Creek trail transpired to be unexpectedly gruelling, owing to vigourous buffetting headwinds.  At the rest stop just 18 miles in, I was thus... deflated.  Various of the riders proceeded to guess at the distance traversed thus far.  "Ten miles" was the first punt, resulting in general nodding.  Apparently riding for a significant portion of the morning in ghastly headwinds was such a breeze for everyone else, that it felt like a mere 55% of the actual distance had been consumed.  This transaction was then followed by the remark that it was about that time of day that the winds switch direction, and we would probably have headwinds on the return too.

After some dispute regarding whether to stop for pizza, vetoed as frivolous by the more schedule-driven, the flotilla set sail across Morgan Hill and up to the reservoirs.  Straight into a potent yet merciful tailwind.  Praise be.  The heat escalated, but not yet close to the firey southern hell rides of latter years.  Large birds of prey circulated, but not vultures on this occasion.  Otherwise, the main glimpse of nature comprised a dead raccoon.

Great start to the season!


If you enjoyed this content, please consider sponsoring my Bike MS 2018 ride!  The process is as easy as clicking this link and hitting "Donate to Jessica".   Despite the button label, it is in truth the National MS Society that receives the donation, and not Jessica herself.

 http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/jessicaadams

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