Sunday Ride

Cold and windy but you wouldn't think so looking out the window. Sunny. But with the weatherman's promises I dressed in heavy jersey and jacket and started out on a FTP ride.

The second I got away from the house I started wondering about that. At least a 17 mph cold headwind that kept my cold legs from getting over 12 mph. In the gusts I would be knocked all the way down to 11 mph even on the slight descents that wouldn't even register on the meter but you could feel in your legs. As I turned onto Doolittle Drive I was wondering what General Jimmy would think of this area now which used to be all salt marsh. The turn put me slightly across wind and so I could go 14 mph for about a half mile before the road turned into the wind again and I was knocked back down to 11. There were a ton of bikes out but all riding downwind. I was wondering what they would think when they turned around. Of course they might have gone out 3 hours before when the wind was a lot quieter and this was their return trip.

The road kept turning more and more into the wind and the wind continued to increase as I got closer and closer to the bay. As I was going through the industrial area of Bay Farm Island There were lots of bikes passing going the other way. When I got up to the road you turned on to go to the San Francisco Ferry dock about a dozen people came by. Expensive bikes and kits. I went through the Ferry parking lot and onto the road that leads down to the shopping center. We normally stop here in normal times for a coffee. But the only thing open is the supermarket and the deli section doesn't have coffee now.

So I rode through the parking lot and turned around and rode dead into the wind for the mile up to the Ferry parking lot. There was almost the normal amount of traffic out today. People are getting tired of the Democrats power grabs.

By this point I was probably two miles behind the group that I saw. I now had a tail wind and kicked it up to 20-24 mph. I started passing people at rather great speed. I was holding over 20 mph over the rises and I couldn't quite make out why I was passing people so rapidly. I was on the Lemond so it isn't as if I was on a particularly light or aero bike.

About 200 meters from the first guy I had seen while I was going the other way, he was riding in the middle of the bike path and this crosses Hegenberger Rd. that leads into the Oakland International Airport. It crosses three streets that lead into and out of the terminals. As he went down the driveway I went by directly behind him and I pulled out into the street and immediately dropped him. In the next 200 meters it turns into the wind then crosses a bridge over a creek and when I looked in the rear view mirror he was already dropped. I continued at speed passing whole families riding together in the other direction with the cover of built up hillocks here in the dog walk area and bay trail. As I hit the top of the small climb I had about had it. I was doing 10 mph.

I rode the dirt trail over to the exit and got out of the park and hit the area that marked my 2 1/2 mile left mark. I shot up that road at about 18 mph but my legs were failing and as I turned dead downwind for the final mile I couldn't push it more than 15 mph.

Getting home I had averaged 14.2 mph counting all of the stops at red lights and stop signs on the way into that damned headwind. And today my legs are really sore so that was a pretty good ride. No one passed me and I passed people who had a 2 miles head start on the downwind leg.

It will take me another month of good weather to get back in shape again but I should be ready for the Prima Vera if it is held. I signed up and paid but will they run?