Moraga Ride - St. Mary's College

My Saturday ride to beat the Sunday rain was in Orinda and Moraga, on some fairly flat roads. Flat to start to build more endurance - goal was to ride with faster cadence for an extended period of time. I was frequently able to keep my cadence above  90 - very good pace for me and I really felt it in my hamstrings.

The ride started at Orinda BART. You can see the route here. The ride was made up of 4 five mile blocks: Moraga Way to St. Mary's Rd. to Moraga Rd. and then back on Moraga Way to the Orinda BART station. Much of the ride is relatively flat, which allowed me to really start working on pedaling technique. I focused on faster pedaling as well as effective pedaling - practiced some drills I've been reading about. The roads were in great condition - my only complaint is that there is much traffic and the shoulders are small to non-existent. I'd recommend this ride early in the morning, before traffic gets bad. Nice country feeling though.

The early highlight was a quick visit to St. Mary's college. Here's another example of a place I have known about for the 30 years I have lived here, but have never seen and it was biking that got me to see it. Gotta love this sport!

St. Mary's is a very small college in Moraga. Nice mission style architecture, gorgeous setting too. The church dates from the mid-1800's if I remember correctly. Here's a shot of the church. I did not get a chance to go inside.














To the side of the church is Galileo Hall. I had to get a picture of that - how ironic that a Catholic institution of learning would name a hall after Galileo - who the Church excommunicated. Nice to know that however things are at any one time, they will change. Anyone see gay marriage in the air?











From St. Mary's college, I rode the remaining 5 miles up St. Mary's road to Lafayette. Pretty, but non-spectacular ride. The thin to non-existent shoulder on the road was a bit hairy. I'll do this ride, in the future, earlier in the day, before traffic gets too thick. In Lafayette, turned onto Moraga Road. Funny, I totally forgot the climb on Moraga Road - 400 feet over 3 miles, not too bad, just a surprise. No problem doing it though. 5 miles on Moraga Rd., past a place that I have swum at, Campolindo High School (Soda Aquatic Center) - great memories and great pool there! Turned onto Moraga Way to do the last 5 miles back to the Orinda BART station - really started to feel my hamstrings at this point - the faster pedaling and pedaling drills were doing their thing - obviously works the hamstrings more than I was used to. Nice to know I was building up some new fitness!


Statistics

• Distance: 21 miles
• Time: 1.5 hours
• Average Speed: 14 mph
• Average Cadence: 75 (not certain)
• Wind: 10-15 mph. Some headwind, for perhaps 15-20% of the ride.

Physical Feelings

• Definitely kept breathing almost normal, so pace was for endurance
• Some achiness in left hip again
• Soreness in hamstrings from new work, nothing bad, just new
• No arm, shoulder or neck achiness
• Good energy during and after ride - no feeling of being wiped out.
• Ate big pasta meal the night before, may have been a good meal pre-ride.
• Ate single bar afterwards, drank one bottle of water.