Grizzly Century

OK, I've gotten a good week of riding in - starting with last Sunday's ride partway up Diablo then up Morgan Territory, several good rides during the week and then a great ride doing the Grizzly Century with some other TnT alumni. Lots of great scenery, like this photo. Yes, that's Yosemite Valley we're looking down on in the background. As always, click on the picture to see a full-resolution version.

This was a cold day - as in 35 degrees at 7:00 in the morning, when we met to start the ride. The organizers decided to not use one of the roads due to snow and ice! Not to fear - they had a backup plan. We still rode 100 miles (and then some), but lost some of the climbing. We did about 9,500 feet of climbing instead of the advertised 10,000. Still enough to leave me leg-sore and tired at the end of the day.

It was cold enough that I started second-guessing how warm my layers would be - I had a base layer (aka t-shirt made out of the same material as a cycling jersey), the cycling jersey and a wind vest (aka a sleeve-less windbreaker). I also used knee and arm warmers and long-fingered gloves (and comfy wool socks - sometimes the old-fashioned stuff works best). The temperature briefly got above 60 degrees - but we spent most of the day riding in very chilly temperatures. There were patches of snow on the side of the road for a while, and even a bit of slush on the road.

I was riding with a great goup of folks, all from the last Team in Training Death Ride Season. I'm still the slowest climber of the group, but I'm still working at it! I still manage to make up some of the lost ground when we start going downhill.

The hills were not horribly steep - just long, really long. Basically it was the kind of ride that if you weren't climbing, you were going downhill. I felt a bit bad - everyone was nice enough to wait for me at the top of the climbs, and then each time there was a descent I'd take off (knowing that they'd pass me again on the next climb).

Overall, just a nice ride with great scenery. It could have been warmer, but you never know what you're going to get this time of year in the mountains.

JB

PS - I'm still fund raising for Team in Training! Please visit my fund-raising website.