Well, I asked for it in my last post, and we got it! RAIN!! There were at least 10 - 15 people who showed up at the usual meeting place, Monta Vista Park in Cupertino. Surprisingly to me though (only because they were already out and it wasn't raining too hard - maybe a light sprinkle), some people decided to back out of the ride. Even Coach Patrick, who had a "training hangover" from yesterday, decided not to do the ride today. I think Coach Don also scared some folks when he said that the hill was going to be pretty dangerous since it was wet and going downhill could be pretty scary. Oh well, risk management right? :o)
I suited up, put on my golf rain jacket and off I went. There were at least 7 or 8 riders who decided to ride. I took off ahead of everyone and told Coach Rick, who was leading the ride today, I would meet them at the bottom of Mt. Eden. About half way through the 3 mile ride to the bottom of Mt. Eden, I hear someone call out my name and it was Coach Rick. He had caught up to me and told me that 2 other people backed out of the ride and that he wasn't sure how many others were still going. He asked me if I still wanted to go and of course, you all know what I said! :o) I mean c'mon, we were already out, already wet so why not! Coach Rick and I went for it.
When we got to the bottom of Mt. Eden we waited and 3 others from the team showed up. The funny thing is that it was only coaches and/or mentors and then me. Yup, I was the only participant on the ride! It was very cool of the coaches/mentors to keep me company while I trained on my most favorite hill! :o)
The rain started to really come down and it was pretty "interesting" coming down the hill. One of the mentors, Butch, got hit by a falling branch (albeit small branch, but still could cause some problems) while coming down Mt. Eden. Ok, is someone trying to tell us something? We decided to only go up and down Mt. Eden 3 times instead of the scheduled 5 times.
Fighting the hill and the rain at the same time definitely takes a lot out of you. Oh well, still a good workout as it was about 1 hour and 10 minutes of cycling for today, only about 12 miles and total climbing of about 1150 feet. Not bad for a wet Sunday morning!
It would have been so much easier to back out of the ride and go home. But when I think of the actual century coming up in February, I need as much saddle time and training as possible. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to do more hill climbs! The coming weeks will bring longer training rides so I want to get as much in as possible. Let's hope it helps!
I suited up, put on my golf rain jacket and off I went. There were at least 7 or 8 riders who decided to ride. I took off ahead of everyone and told Coach Rick, who was leading the ride today, I would meet them at the bottom of Mt. Eden. About half way through the 3 mile ride to the bottom of Mt. Eden, I hear someone call out my name and it was Coach Rick. He had caught up to me and told me that 2 other people backed out of the ride and that he wasn't sure how many others were still going. He asked me if I still wanted to go and of course, you all know what I said! :o) I mean c'mon, we were already out, already wet so why not! Coach Rick and I went for it.
When we got to the bottom of Mt. Eden we waited and 3 others from the team showed up. The funny thing is that it was only coaches and/or mentors and then me. Yup, I was the only participant on the ride! It was very cool of the coaches/mentors to keep me company while I trained on my most favorite hill! :o)
The rain started to really come down and it was pretty "interesting" coming down the hill. One of the mentors, Butch, got hit by a falling branch (albeit small branch, but still could cause some problems) while coming down Mt. Eden. Ok, is someone trying to tell us something? We decided to only go up and down Mt. Eden 3 times instead of the scheduled 5 times.
Fighting the hill and the rain at the same time definitely takes a lot out of you. Oh well, still a good workout as it was about 1 hour and 10 minutes of cycling for today, only about 12 miles and total climbing of about 1150 feet. Not bad for a wet Sunday morning!
It would have been so much easier to back out of the ride and go home. But when I think of the actual century coming up in February, I need as much saddle time and training as possible. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to do more hill climbs! The coming weeks will bring longer training rides so I want to get as much in as possible. Let's hope it helps!
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