Half Moon Bay

The photo doesn't do justice to what a beautiful cycling day it was in Half Moon Bay last Saturday. Its a ride I was dreading for the difficulty and distance but the weather and scenery helped ease the pain of the day.

Today we rode with our new assistant coach Jodi Z since Coach Steve isn't able to ride...he however, was with us on and off throughout the ride...coaching and observing from the SAG vehicle. It was like big brother was watching when we would hear the faint hum of the SAG mini-van lurking in the distance.

This was a ride that we really had to go out slow and pace ourselves since we had 70 miles in front of us and over 5000 feet of climbing to do in the process. Most of the climbing didn't happen until about mile 40...so we need to conserve our energy...easier said than done when you are on fresh legs speeding down Highway 1 in gorgeous conditions!



The first climb started subtlety and was became very long and relentless as we searched around every curve hoping to see the top. This was a great test for my mental game and to trust myself and abilities to the top and beyond. We were briefly entertained at the top by couple of our fallen teammates that were taking pictures, dancing and rooting us on...thanks to them my grimace faded into a smile! This was a day about working as a team so at the top of each hill we stopped to re-group and stay together. I must admit that I did enjoy the break.


The first hill might have been the longest but it was just the beginning of some other steep and ruthless climbs throughout the remainder of the ride. We were blessed with 3 SAG stop on this ride which helped us to re-fuel between climbs. It was also nice to be on a lot of back-roads with very little traffic to worry about.

After the last climb, the temperature had really dropped and gotten very cold...especially on a body covered in sweat soaked spandex clothing. The skies were getting very dark, so Coach Wayne sent the group of us waiting at the top, to go ahead and finish out the ride...at this point we were only about 5 miles from the finish.

As I began my decent I could feel the mist turning to showers. It was a very narrow, curvy and steep hill with blind corners. I was riding alone and focusing through the rain around to the left...when suddenly all I saw was the grill of a Toyota 4-runner! I quickly skirted around the outside of him since stopping wasn't an option for me at that moment...and found enough road and balance to safely get around him...it was truly a holy crap moment! I felt very lucky and blessed to have narrowly escape what could have been a tragic end to my day...since my options were vehicle, cliff or about 3 feet of road in between...yikes!


After surviving the last decent, I found my self catching up with some of my other teammates as the rain came pouring down. We were soon back on Highway 1 and traversing traffic to head towards the finish. It felt so good to roll in knowing that accomplishing this ride means that I have what it takes to finish Solvang!