Another great ride!!

On Saturday, June 16, 2007, Mel and I were able to bike around Marin with Jerry and his crew for another beautiful ride. Mel and I got up early (funny how easy it is to get up early for a bike ride, than for something like, say, work) to drive up to the city and we all met up at Crissy Field. There we were joined by Gerson (an adult rheumatologist), Mary, and Greg. All six of us set off across the incredibly windy Golden Gate Bridge and did 1/3 of the Marin headlands climb.
We didn't climb the entire headlands loop as shown in the map above, but cut across at one point. It was pretty foggy, chilly and windy, but here's the view we had...
We then went through a scary tunnel, and rode through the quaint little city of Sausalito. We continued the ride, along with tons of other weekend cyclists, along Richardson Bay, close to the water. It was really pretty and a nice, leisurely ride. The really gorgeous part of the ride came after lunch at Shark's Deli in Tiburon, when we went around Paradise Cove to Corte Madera. The sun was starting to shine, it was warming up, and the views of the bay were lovely. The ride was a nice series of little ups-and-downs, totally manageable, and we were all happy and well-fed after lunch. That definitely was my favorite part of the day. We reached Corte Madera and had two major climbs ahead of us...Chapman Avenue, which was actually shady and agreeable to get back to Sausalito. Getting back up to the Golden Gate Bridge was the second challenge, since we were all the way beneath it:

Here we are, taking in the view before the arduous climb to the top. I had it already in my mind that I would stop and walk for a little bit, especially since it was at the end of our ride, around the 40 mile point. By then, pretty much everything was hurting--back, shoulders, arms, hands, thighs--oh, and my knees as well from my new bruises after a little collision I had with a bush when I failed to make a sharp right turn (that was soooo embarrassing!). However, we just took it slow and kept winding up and up until we finally made it! I had to stop a couple of times, and Mel didn't have to at all (great progress on her part!).

Here's Mel and me with our CCC coach and trainer, Jerry! We are all so happy in this photo because we had just finished our big ride! Overall, it was 44.5 miles and 2300 feet of climbing.

This week is back to basics for me, as I adjust to my new clipless pedals. I've fallen a few times, once on my head, but I'm getting more accustomed to the fancy pedals. Next Saturday, Jerry is doing a killer ride in Big Basin that Mel and I can't do, so we'll figure something out for us to do for training instead.