Cool Breeze 2005

BID #1992 Cool Breeze Metric Ride (60 Miles)
Event Date: 08/20/05

Yesterday I awoke at 3:30 am made my friends (Alondra and Rico) pick me up at around 5:00 am and off we went to Ventura. Why? To the starting off of yet another cycling event but this time I didn’t ride 100 miles instead I did 60 miles.

I was pretty nervous about completing this ride simply because I was not prepared for it. Also in the past rides in which I participated I had difficulties in each. The Cruising the Conejo ride back in May I had difficulties with my legs and couldn’t finish the full metric and had to quit. Then for the Tahoe Century ride in June I had a chain the kept popping off every time I tried to go up hill. With the many hills and cold weather finishing the century ride took every single ounce of energy I had. For this event I trained 3 times on the road for max distances of 25 miles and few spinning classes here and there. Knowing this I still went ahead and prayed I finished the ride okay.

At the event I gathered with my riding partners for the day, Erica and Ed whom I met while training for the Tahoe ride and Erica’s friend Sam. My goal was just to get to each resting zone. The fewer miles I had to think of the better. So first break was 14 miles away, easy I can do that. On the way there I got a flat on my back wheel. ARG!!! Okay so we stop pull to the side and Ed changes the tire and helpful support guy from cool breeze brings a floor pump and get the tire all fixed up. Great! Ready to go again and we continued to ride on. The road was mostly flat at this point and I was feeling so good that I even waved hello to the camera with both hands while riding. We made it to the first stop and met up with Alondra and Rico my personal support team for the day. It was great to see a friendly face waiting.

Then we took off and we headed for the hills. Oh yes now I remembered why I was nervous. My heart rate went up, my breathing was a little difficult and I kept pushing hard but riding slower. I recalled my past training, controlled my breathing and paced myself and continued on. I even had a chat with a woman about team in training and her bad experience of falling and cracking her helmet in four places. I gave her some tips on how to climb the hills and wished her luck as we reached the top and I zoomed away.

GOING DOWN HILL WAS GREAT. That’s it.

Most of the ride was fairly flat; OH we even got to ride on the Ventura freeway. That was interesting. It was scary yet fun because the wind of the cars gave us a boost and a nice break. We saw beautiful homes going up and as we came back we had a beautiful coastal view.

It’s a SNAKE. Yes on the way back we not only had to be careful of pedestrians as the sign said as we entered the bike path, but the sign forgot to mention snakes. I was right behind Ed and he rolls over a snake lying on the pathway. I had no other choice but to roll right on top of it as it curled up from the impact. Cliped into the pedals I tried to raise my feet and I yelled SNAKE and looked at my wheels to make sure it didn’t get trapped in them. Frightening experience and thankfully no one got hurt, well exept for the poor snake taking in some sun.

We got to the finish line with a smile on our face and everyone safe. WE FINISHED. I was so surprised I did so well considering I didn’t train. It was a great ending and I think it only took about 5 hours.

Like my friend Alondra says we are crazy. YEAH sure lets do a ride around LAKE TAHOE, okay or Yeah sure I’ll ride 60 miles and not train for it. Let me tell you it feels good to be crazy. Till the next ride, maybe I’ll do another century in Arizona.

Thanks to all my team mates and Alondra/Rico for making the event fun.

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