Hmm, it was 9/11 and it did not register - no catastrophes and no crazy foolishness - just a chance to experience a truly beautiful ride through Contra Costa county. I was pushing my mileage to the max on this ride - from 36 miles previously to 50 on this ride. Let's see how it went.
I met my new friend, Pete, an avid cyclist from Sacramento, in Clayton at 9:30. It was cool and sunny, light breeze - perfect cycling weather.Our course took us along Marsh Creek Road, behind Mt. Diablo, to Deer Creek Road, then to Balfour Road into lovely Brentwood (just to get some extra mileage), then a loop back. Total distance just over 50 miles. You can see the ride here.
The first few miles are through Clayton, which is just east of Concord. It has a really cute, old downtown. Funny, it's a place I had never visited until my bike took me there. Marsh Creek Road narrows and becomes very rural - quite beautiful for riding. Pete and I plugged along at a nice pace - trying to not be too Type A on my rides, but hell, I have an odometer, wireless no less, and it tells me how fast, how far, pedaling rate (for you bikers, cadence) and distance. So easy to get attached to the numbers. We kept a pretty steady pace on the flat parts between 15-20 mph. Felt good. Having a minuscule bladder, it took me less than 30 minutes until I had to pee. The gods were with us - there was a California Department of Forestry firehouse conveniently placed at the 30 minute mark - the perfect place to stop and ask "could I use your bathroom"? One of the guys showed me where the bathroom was - through their dorm - oh my god, I was in heaven! But alas, only the bathroom (which I was thankful for), no sleeping firemen.
The ride through Brentwood and Antioch was uneventful - just some flat mileage (13 miles to be exact) and moderately busy roads. It was nice to get out of suburbia and back to the country ride on Deer Creek Road. By now, I was starting to feel the ride. Deer Creek Road has 2 nice hills and I definitely felt the second one, as well as the heat, which was pushing 95. As we were chugging up the hill, Pete asked me if I had a song going through my head - funny, because I did. No longer have a clue about what it was, but Pete thought it was something common for many people - helps you push through something challenging.
Reached the intersection of Deer Creek and Marsh Creek (getting the picture of lots of creeks?) and took another food and water break. Feeling pretty tired by this point and I know it's only 13 more miles, but alot of climbing. This was where I brought Peter Shelton to mind - the guy I am dedicating my ride to - the hardships he faced and dealt with - the challenges of the training and riding that I deal with - my discomfort, pain and hard work fall easily into the proper perspective.
The songs were really flowing through my head now as I cranked up the long hills. Pete was a great riding companioin, waiting for me at the top of each hill and urging me on. God the last hill looked big, but I did it! No spills, stupid maneuvers or injuries. All good news. Got back to the cars, packed up the bikes and Pete headed back to Sacramento, me back to Oakland. That's when I realized how blazing hot it was - car thermometer said 98 - wow.
Here are the ride stats:
- Distance: 50 miles
- Time riding: 3 hours 50 minutes
- Did not record average speed, but pretty sure it was around 15 mph
- Hungry, hungry, hungry
- Lousy sleep Saturday night, so was pretty tired on Sunday
- No aches or pains - very nice
- Decent strength on Monday, so overall recovery was short
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