Tierra Bella 2012

Last weekend was the annual Tierra Bella ride.  It's a local organized ride that I've been participating in for 3 years now.  I signed up for the 100K, which was probably a little too aggressive considering how untrained I am at the moment.  But, it was still an amazingly beautiful day.  All the rain we had recently made the ride super green.  


Despite this having been my 3rd year in a row, I managed to miss two turns.  On top of that, the wind was with with us the whole day.  I didn't end up finishing the whole course.  At the 3.5 hour mark, I was only at mile 35, which was way too behind where I should have been -- partly because of getting off course, partly because of the wind, and partly because the climb up Gilroy Hot Springs was a swift kick in the pants (at least I stayed on my bike).  But I finally made it to the first rest stop.  And, even though Nick and I did not ride together, he was patiently waiting for me at the fire station!

The ride down is one of my favorite descents and is around 1000ft in about 3 miles.  Every year, a volunteer we have nicknamed "Death" is waiting at one of the curves with a "slow" sign.  I didn't get a picture of Death this year (but I found this one taken from last year).  You can't help but smile when you see "Death" as you come around a turn.  

One the way back I missed another turn.  Seriously?  At some point, I was thinking how I really needed to pay better attention because I didn't recognize the area from when I was riding out.  But instead of thinking I may have taken the wrong turn somewhere, I just thought I was oblivious.  I finally told myself there was no way they would have the course on such a busy road.  I didn't recognize my surroundings because I didn't see them on the way out!  Thankful for technology and smart phones and cell service, I was able to figure out where I was and how to cut over to the 60K route.  


So while I didn't get my 100K in like I intended, I did get in over 50 miles and a tough climb.  Next year, I'll bring the map.