Nicasio

Up until a few months ago, I had never even heard Nicasio or been to this area. When I did get the opportunity to drive through it, while volunteering for another ride, I knew I wanted to find my way back here and ride it. It didn't disappoint, it was even better than I remembered...especially from the saddle of a bike, on a beautiful morning.

Other than some light fog in areas, it was perfect bike riding weather. I carpooled in early with a friend of mine, who was there to work as the roving SAG...he had a busier day than expected, trying to keep track of all these ride groups on the team. Before heading out, I noticed we had a few new team members in our ride group and some faces I hadn't seen in awhile.

Today on the ride, our focus was to learn more about pace-lining properly, as well as, ascending and descending hills properly. This ride was not only packed with beautiful scenery but quite a few hills. We climbed a relentless 8% grade...I thought we would never find the top! Of course, this made for a long and steep decent...not my favorite thing. I had my mentor (Tracy) riding with me and that gave me more confidence descending the very long hill.

I was finding more comfort with my gearing ability and anticipating changes early...so to my surprise, I guess it was time to learn something else about shifting. As I was downshifting quickly, up a small hill, with no bike lane and a lot of traffic inches from me...I dropped my chain...holy crap! It was a "don't panic" moment, as I lost all momentum...and had to un-clip and get my foot down in a split second with little pavement available. It didn't take long to get the chain on and get me back on the road...BTW, uphill starts are not fun.

Around the corner, we came up on the rest of our ride group stopped for a flat tire...the second one of the day. It was an impressive blow out that was taking a lot of work to get fixed. In the process the remainder of the group was having some crapping issues due to all the stopping and waiting we were having to do in the cool weather.

After some additional electrolytes and hydration, the decision was made, to split the group and continue on with Tracy leading us back. The group of us rode the last 10 miles back without any stops. After a series of climbs, I found myself moving up to the front of the pack. I loved the freedom of riding at a comfortable cadence and nothing but road in front of me.

There were tons of other non-TNT teams and riders out on the road training. At one point, I looked around and saw no one familiar...I found I was briefly riding with a group that was not my team...haha! I didn't realize how much my hill climbing had improved until Tracy caught up to me and mentioned I had ridden away from my team...I was deep in the zone. We slowed our pace a little and as we turned towards home the rest of the team we were riding with had caught up. On the way back, I got my first experience of how much more difficult it is to ride when someone is drafting off of you...it is like having a small anchor attached to you while pedaling.

Coach Wayne cheered us into the finish and it felt great to be done...since I was starting to experience a little saddle soreness...sorry about the T.M.I., but it happens! It also felt good to be back early enough to cheer in the other people finishing. I look forward to getting an opportunity to ride in this area again, either with friends or as a team...it was a wonderful experience.