Whose Idea Was That?

Yesterday we had an 80 mile ride on the calendar.  I wanted to try something new so we settled on riding Patterson Pass over to Tracy.  Five of us met up in Livermore.  It was a 42 mile loop and we were planning to ride it twice.  "Planning" is the key word here.  Only 4 miles in to this ride and we are already climbing.  Three miles later it is serious climbing.  We were riding directly into the sun and at one point I felt like I was at eye level with it.  I was sweating profusely and my eyes were on fire from the sunscreen dripping into them.  I stopped to wipe them and I noticed Mary was on the side of the road behind me.  I hoped she was ok, but I knew I couldn't go down and climb that hill again so I kept going.  

Not even to the top.  We started in the city way down there.

I finally get to the top of Patterson Pass.  You know that feeling when you are on a roller coaster and approaching the top, but you can't see over the other side?  That is what this was.  As I am approaching the summit, I can't see on the other side.  I stopped to take a quick picture of the windmills.  This picture is pretty crappy nor does it give justice to size of the windmills. 

Just like the crest of the roller coaster, once I got over the hump, I could see all the way down as I started the descent.  I rode through the windmills for 2.5 miles.  It was pretty amazing.  If I wasn't on the downhill, I would have stopped and taken more pictures as I was right underneath them and they are gigantic.  And, at the bottom of the hill were more power lines than I had ever seen (getting all that power from those windmills).  I couldn't help but think about the cancer exposure in that spot and rode as fast as I could through that area. :)


I stopped at a 76 gas station when I got to Tracy to get more water.  The guy told me it was too hot to be riding a bike.  Thanks.  I figured that part out by now.  It was 95 in Tracy.  From there I rode over the 580 through the flats and headwind of Tracy (luckily not too bad) and began my climb back to Livermore.  By now I had already decided there was no way in hell that I was going to do that loop a second time.  Around mile 30, I see a car drive up with a bike on top and much to my surprise, it is Kristie!  She said she wasn't feeling well back on Patterson Pass and turned around.  I guess Mary also wasn't feeling well and she turned around.  Kristie figured she would come support us since she wasn't riding anymore.  It was such a relief.  She gave me more ice and water and told me that Nick and Phil didn't want to ride the loop a second time around either.  Thank goodness.  Once I got back to the cars, we decided to ride out toward Pleasanton instead. Around 51 miles I was just not feeling it anymore.  I was riding with Phil and he was pretty miserable as well.  He suggested we get caffeine at the store in a few miles.  So around 55 miles we stop.  I drink half a Mexican Coke and start to feel much better.  I've never had or needed Coke on the bike before.  But we've been out for 5 and half hours and my calorie intake is lower than normal because it is so hot.  We decide just to turn around and head back.  It took me around 6 and half hours to ride 71 miles (that should have been more like 5 or 5.5 hours).  I didn't feel bad about missing those last 9 miles.  And, I concluded that this ride would be a great idea for anyone training for Death Ride in Lake Tahoe.  But, I could pass on doing that again for the flat roads of Tempe and Scottsdale.