The Tour de Peninsula starts about five blocks from my house at Sequoia High School. The organized ride has been around for 15 years raising money for the parks in San Mateo County. It was my first time riding the loop (obviously – since I have only been riding since February) but I thought it would be similar to some of the loops I have done in training for my big fat ride around Tahoe. I learned that even though you know the area and the hills—road/course selection is a huge factor.

No Pain, No Pain?
For a ride that markets itself as the “No Pain, No Pain” ride—I saw a lot of people grindin’, cryin’ and diein’ on the 33 mile loop. Although it was a short loop, it managed to work in just a click over 2K feet of climbing. My only complaint about the ride was that they removed any payoff for climbing. I do not mind climbing as long as there are periods of ludicrous downhill speeds to balance out the snails climbing pace up the hills. The ride had us descending down residential streets with cones marking the course and with the number of riders and the width of the path—you would have been crazy to let loose. Instead you are working hard to keep your inertia down by double fisting your breaks. For a 33 mile loop, marketed as a no pain, no pain ride, they had us working hard up the hills and down the hills.

In the Big Fat Italian Ride (AKA The Giro de Peninsula) http://blog.scottleatherman.com/2006/07/27/a-big-fat-italian-ride.aspx the loop I did had an additional 10+ miles and it was a far easier ride with the same amount of climbing. The added miles gave you time to recover from the climbing and there were long stretches of slight downhill grades to increase your overall average speed/mph.
 
Riding with Friends in Lycra
The best part of the day was the company on the ride. I saw new friends from Team-In-Training and friends from work while I was out on the loop. It was awesome to see so many people I knew—in what would have been foreign territory no more then six months ago. It is a very cool feeling to "belong" in a mass of thousands of riders. It is still a strange feeling to see friends while wearing lycra—but I will keep that emotion close to my heart, because the last thing we need is me getting more comfortable wearing lycra in public.

Ever Feel Like You’re Forgetting Something?
Six of us met at the front gate of the parking lot—but one person forgot her bike. I am not sure how you forget your bike. Talk about not being a morning person—how can you shrink wrap yourself in lycra, strap a heart rate monitor to your chest, and put on cycling shoes that make you waddle like a duck and forget your bike. She must have had a much better night then the rest of us. (The part that kills me about the person who forgot her bike, is that she is one of the most thoughtful people I have met in a long time. I am pretty sure she was thinking of someone else when she was packing her stuff in the morning.) Because of different registration status, missing gear (or should I say a BIKE) and a little bit of lack of communication we were unfortunately split up at the beginning of the ride.

Would I Lie To You
I was riding that day with a good friend who has really stepped up his riding and was doing fantastic on what turned out to be a challenging ride. He was turning the cranks and climbing more hills and riding further then he had ever ridden to date. He pushed through some nasty leg cramps to climb the last hill—or so he thought. Some idiot told him that he only had one more hill to climb and it was short and not that steep. Then he came to find, at the top of the hill described as the last, he had an additional hill and might I add a very steep climb before he could enjoy the 5-mile descent back to the finish line. Below you will see a partial map of the tour de peninsula (sorry – I accidentally stopped and restarted my bicycle computer during the ride) the little Selle San Marco Saddle (bicycle seat) shows where my good friend cursed me—as I was the idiot who gave him the bad 411. While he was not thrilled with the new data—he did awesome and eventually forgave me—I think.




The after ride festivities looked fantastic. They had a live cover band and what smelled like some tasty BBQ going on. We did not stick around—as I had a little post ride party at my house—but next year it looks like a must.

As Teddy Intended
I loved the portion of the loop that had us cruising around Sawyer Camp Trail. It is only about 5 miles long but it is a beautiful trail that takes you down by Crystal Springs. http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/sawyercamp.html For those not familiar with the area—there is a huge reservoir in the mountains that separate the peninsula from the ocean that is a nature preserve protect by a law put in place by Teddy Roosevelt. It is gorgeous. But on any given day there are countless walkers (usually walking three across), rollerbladers and joggers wearing iPods making it a nightmare of a trail to ride your bike on. For the Tour de Peninsula, it was closed to the public. I loved loved loved charging down the twisting paths. It was the highlight of the ride for me. I will have to wait until next year’s Tour de Peninsula to be able to charge down the Sawyer Trail—but I am looking forward to it. Thanks Teddy.

Pictures From The Ride
Joe is great guy, good friend and slightly crazy. He completed the ride on a single track bike. Which means he only had one gear and his bike went only as fast or slow as he could move the pedals up and downhill. 

 
This is a picture of Amy (Joe’s Wife) who is a marathon runner. You know the type, 5’9” beautiful and in amazing shape. You would like to hate her for being all that and a bag of chips but it turns out she is even nicer then she is beautiful, tall and in shape. And at 5’9” that is pretty nice.

 
Here is a picture of two of my favorite people Susan and Drew hamming it up. Susan is also doing the Tour de Tucson with Team In Training. 

 
Here is the start of the race. They had over 2 thousand riders of all skill levels that day. It is never fun to wait for the start—but watching others is a great way to pass the time. A riders jersey and bike can tell quite a story.

Twinkies?


Here is another picture of Joe, working that single-gear up the hill to the entrance of Sawyer Camp Trail.


I need to stop taking pictures of myself (in general) but especially while riding and from this close-up. I need longer arms—no one is pretty from this close-up. Yah, like that is my excuse. . . .

Here is another picture while riding around Sawyer Camp—it is an over my shoulder picture of Drew. Unfortunately he was not reading my mind at the point in the day and I have no idea who the person is between us. However, this picture does give you a sense of why charging around Sawyer Camp without having to avoid strollers and joggers was a blast. The little two lane path is in great shape which allows you to push hard into the bends and twists of the trail. My top speed on the trail was 28 mph—too much fun!



Well that about sums it up. It was another great day in lycra.



Have a great weekend.

SDL