6:45am: Lu Lu's. Slapping my camelbak down on the counter and pulling money out of a plastic bag the barista slides the jet black americano across the counter. Stacy pulls up and after a few sideways glances we cruise coffee in hand to the Santa Cruz metro station.
7:15am: Running to the bus, we grab the last two bike racks and plop into the seats for the ride to Aptos. The guy behind us seems nervous and stares out the front of the bus while making a throat clearing noise. Across the isle a Mexican woman scribes a crusifix in front of her as the bus departs with her right hand, in her left is a plastic bag with two cans: a Tecate and a Natural Ice. To my left two young girls obviously departing an all night party sleep leaning against each other. I love public transit Dropped off near the train tracks in the morning fog we strap on the helmets and depart.
8:00am: I'm standing up and cranking up the fire road of Nisene Marks State Park, roughly 3 miles in to the ride. Ol' Yeller and his one aged gear are in top shape (relatively) and my legs feel outstanding. Unfortunately single speeds are an antisocial ride machine. I simply HAVE to crank ahead and maintain speed or I am stuck. Stacy pulls up shortly at the pull out I've chosen for a stretch.
9:10am: 9.2 miles of constant sandy uphill has me stopped at Sand Point Lookout. I chat with a few guys as they get ready to descend and they ask what I'm riding. I tell them "Braille. We're headed for the Demo." The long haired blonde guy sporting a Mark Weir mustache eyes my one rear cog and flimsy tensioner and says as he lets 10 lbs. of pressure out of his tires, "Oh man, on that?" Yes my friend... on this. If you could only cast a glance at my yard, Leon in parts and then my bank account, you'd have a clear idea why. Stacy pulls up not long behind smiling huge and stoked! Stacy never seems to lose her positive swing on anything! She's just as happy about this ride as she was 9.2 miles before. The fog obstructs what would be a clear view down to the ocean, but adds a cool temperate feel to the ride. The ride up from Aptos to Sand Point seemed at this point, well, kinda easy. Ok, at least it went by faster than I thought...
10:00am: Intersection of Aptos Creek Trail and Ridge Trail, 12.2 miles into the ride. Stacy swings by as I'm stretching out on a tractor left behind from the recent fire. "Ok, we had to earn those last 3.5 miles." Stacy replies, "No KIDDING!" The climb, which has yet to relent once immediately went steep after Sand Point. My calves already sore from the work out two days before were screaming. Not the scream of a fresh muscle being stressed, but of a tired muscle giving that stinging stale ache that begs, "What are you DOING to me?" The 3.5 miles to the top of the Ridge Trail were brutal, broken only by two brief downhill relief sections. I feel strong, but a fair bit less interested in climbing anymore.
10:15am: Stacy leads us down Ridge at an impressive clip. I enjoyed watching her navigate that trail with skill that she has learned in such a short period of time! Ridge soon leads to Braille and after negotiating the dips and drops of that awesome trail, we are spit out onto Hihn's Mill Rd. Realization sets in. We're roughly 15 miles into the day, just under 13 of which were straight f-ing uphill. From where we sit I estimate we're roughly 33 miles from my house, and NOT as the crow flies! If a crow ever flew the route we had to take to get home, I'd slap its silly face.
10:45am: I always hated that climb out of the demo. Least of all after climbing up from Santa Cruz, made worse still without the luxury of a granny gear. 18.2 miles into the ride, I chill with Stace in the only slim patch of shade in that god-forsaken parking lot, where on a normal day rides begin and end and where today I would NOT be loading up my bike for the drive home. No, we needed to saddle up and climb back to the top of Ridge. Halfway up, in the now shinning sun I can see the damage of the summit fire and just how close it came to our riding paradise. Halfway up I begin to feel my right knee ache every time it raises up the upstroke. Halfway up Stacy exclaims, "I'm hosed..." After a brief discussion on the medial collateral ligament and a brilliant insight on the knee when pedaling by Stace we're off again. This time were offering less excited encouragement..."We're almost there..." "Not much longer..."
11:15am: Top of Ridge Trail, 25 miles into the ride. "Ouch" says the legs. I'm guessing that at this point our total elevation gain has to be in around 3000', but i really have no idea... I feel daunted by the 12.2 miles left to Aptos, and the 10 miles left to get to my house. A nice loud POP! relieves the pressure in my knee, and the ache in the MCL abates. We relent to the trail almost in resignation. Our legs are TIRED, dusty and shaky. Luckily we have a LOT of downhill left, but that goes fast and was ever so relaxing! It reminded me of being a kid when Zach and I would take the old mountain bikes up Centerville Rd. to the rim of the canyon I grew up in, then turn around at a look out on that dusty gravel road and ride MILES back down. Fast gravel downhill turns are scary but aways remind me of that.
Sometime in the afternoon: Aptos. I've lost track of time, and Stace seems to as well despite the time keeping machine strapped to her handlebars. The ride is done, but the getting home has yet to happen. It seems twice as daunting as the initial ride up did earlier that morning. These 10 miles not only include hills, wind, etc., but cars... We wait forever to get going, and I exclaim, "You realize we're subconsciously waiting for a bus or a friend to happen by..." With a chuckle we head off... The ride through town was agony. As we turned through a stop sign to climb out of Capitola Village a Mexican dude on a bike too small for him pulls up next to me and grins a huge grin as he says, "Wanna Race?" I must have looked an easy target at that point... I won... barely. A brief swing by Family and we are able to dribble tri-flow on our ridiculously dry dusty chains. This adds a relief from the noise and drag, but does nothing to take away the remaining 7 miles...or whatever...who cares...
Some other time in the afternoon: Seabright Brewery. We got some odd looks as we plopped down at our outside table. We must have looked haggered, but all we could think of was food. We toast to an amazing ride and devour our food. Once we gather ourselves, we complete the remaining miles home. After parting ways and noting the total milage: 48 miles. We proudly hug and head to respective homes to crash. I have since fallen asleep three times in 30 minutes. The Demo rules, and there is no better way to appreciate it than getting yourself up there on your own power! Downieville, here I come!!
Good luck to Dusty and any of the other Miracle racers competing in the Central Coast Cross-Country tomorrow!
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4 comments:
OK, how FUN was that?! I'm still smiling ear to ear from such a huge and awesome experience! I have to add one critical part to the story, to illustrate JUST how hosed we were on the final few miles back through town.
So...we're riding along the levy (well, if you can call it riding. We were limping along, but happened to be sitting on bikes, still pedaling numbly). It's totally flat, and we're emotionally and physically drained from the ride. The slightest deviation from flat was greeted with a very big "HELLO" from some very sore quads, glutes, and calves. We encounter a slight rise in the pavement, and Jesse sighs, "oh no, not another hill".... as we slowly amber over a.....speed bump. I looked over at Jesse and busted out laughing. You know you're totally worked when a speed bump looks big. What a fabulous day.
Oh snap, Looks like it's gonna be a battle for the Downieville classic. FYI though coach is getting ridiculously strong. I used to hang but he just fades away now. We're gonna go get our feet wet at the race tomorrow.
Sounds like a heck of a ride! Sorry I missed it. I'm just impressed you were able to ride 40+ on a single speed!
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