Tierra Bella Report Picts

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taxi777

Bear with me... report later to tired...Primavera tomorrow. Believe me there's a story to every picture...What a ride! Great,,no, wicked awsome ride! here's some picts and I'll load them as I crop them.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/IMG_2407.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Alan1.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/DeyonPete.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Alan3.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Cutie2.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/CurtisTrish2.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Deyon1.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/AlanFast.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Cutie.jpg

The BikeForums Team

-adv-

This is an archived thread, you can find the full version of this thread, with images, links and more content here.

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Cya on the forums,
- The BikeForums Team
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spingineer

Pete,
You must be tired. Not only did you create two identical posts, but in this one, you posted the pic twice ... :lol:

taxi777

Pete,
You must be tired. Not only did you create two identical posts, but in this one, you posted the pic twice ... :lol:

For some reason the picture is not appearing in my browser when I load it? I'm going to reboot... Just weird that you can see it and I can't , maybe a memory issue so reboot time.. I'll be back

taxi777

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Tandem2.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Tandemdou.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/ThreeAmigos2.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/ThreeAmigos-2.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/TrishBooboo.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/TrishCurtis1.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Vierw1.jpg

kb5ql

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Alan1.jpg

Hey, Alan! You have to show me that cool trick with the bar-wrapped windbreaker. Better than schlepping a handlebar bag for the entire route I'm sure.

cccorlew

Here's our part of the ride report.

I might have guessed this would be a weird day when I realized I'd not placed my prescription lens in my riding glasses, and my bike computer went all finicky.

None the less, at 7:35 we launched with Mr. Pete (Taxi777) into a cool morning and a mild headwind.

By the second rest stop the day was turning warmer and starting to feel hopeful. Tricia and I had gone through Morgan Hill, dropped down Anderson Lake County Park and just started the big climb of the day when...

Tricia threw her chain. She popped it back on and started uphill, and dropped it again. She executed a no-speed fall over, banged her knee tweaked her wrist a bit. When we flipped her bike over to try and figure out what was going on we realized she was missing three inner chain ring bolts on her triple. No wonder she was having problems. (note to us: check those hard-to-see bolts)

We were now in a low spot, and either direction was a big climb. We did the sensible thing -Called SAG.

After much discussion of possibilities, the SAG drivers, who I swear were Bartells and James, the two goofy guys from the old ads, took us to the Sunshine Bicycle Shop in Morgan Hill. These great guys popped on new bolts and didn't even want to charge us.

We realized we weren't that far from the route, and tough Tricia decided we could just rejoin our ride, and so we did. We got to ride through a very beautiful section near Gilroy Hot Springs, surrounded by green, a river and some delightful rolling hills with a few climbs.

Coming back was another story. By the time we had 20 miles to go the wind had kicked in. We rode straight into a huge head wind that lowered our speed to 9 mph for miles. Then we turned and had it from the side. Twenty to twenty-five mph with gusts. I could actually see Tricia leaning into the wind to stay upright.

It was a relief to turn on the last leg and get all that as a tail wind. Zoom zoom zoom, and back we were. We ran into Mr. Pete and had a good post ride dinner (with pie and ice cream!) We rode 85 of the planned 100.

I awarded Tricia a new jersey, purple heart, and new gloves in honor of her swellness and toughness.

SesameCrunch

I got home late last night, so was too tired to post. Here's my version:

I got the the registration and had just missed cccorlew, tricia and Pete. I called Pete and caught him at the end of the parking lot. No sign of anyone else, I was really sorry not to meet up with NYGirl777. It was COLD as we started out - 48 degrees. Whew. So, we all started slowly to warm up. After about 15 miles, a tandem came by and Pete and I jumped on. It was a nice pace, 24, 25mph. At mile 20, we saw BottleRocket, who happened to be staying with his parents nearby, and was doing his own ride.

At the reststop at mile 21, Pete says he's feeling warmed up and wanted to find a tandem to latch on to. So we saw the orange tandem (pictured above), lurked near them until they left, and we jumped on. What a choice. This was no ordinary tandem couple - this was a tandem couple on steroids!!! For the next 15 miles we did not drop below 25mph. Most of the time we were at 27, 28, 29 mph! The train lost a couple of riders along the way, but Pete and I managed to hang on. BottleRocket was in the portapotty when we left and was about a minute late. He never caught on, as strong as he is. This was an insane ride, but boy, was it fun. The tandem couple are new to road riding, but apparently are strong mountain bikers. Wow, what a thrill. Of course, as I was struggling to hang on, the thought occurred to me that I shouldn't be doing this so early in the ride, and with Henry Coe right before us. But, the testosterone was pumping, as was my pride and there was no way I was dropping of this thrill ride! Luckily, the next stop was only 15 miles out, and we stopped there to stock up for the climb.

It was my first encounter with Henry Coe. I was kind of cavalier about it before-hand. I'm a tough guy. I can climb anything. But, it turned out to be the single toughest climb I've done. Over 3,000 ft in about 9 miles. No letup. Very few flats or downhills to recover. And oh, yeah, the little 24% section near the top, just in case you still have anything left in the tank :rolleyes:.

Pete, BottleRocket and I went up the bottom part together. We were all going to pace ourselves up and not burn out too soon. After a couple of miles, Pete ran into some woman friend, and, hung back to flirt in his special dirty-old-man way. I climbed up most of the way with BottleRocket. He was a stronger climber than me, so I was pushing myself to keep up. Of course, as I was struggling to hang on, the thought occurred to me that I shouldn't be doing this so early in the ride. By the time I got to the top, my quads were complaining.

After a long-ish lunch break ( to allow for more Pete flirting), we left. BottleRocket had taken off to go home, so it was down to Pete and me. Brr, it was cold coming down the hill. We were worried about Curtis and Tricia since we had still not seen them. About 3/4 of the way down we found out why. We saw Tricia's bike on the back of a SAG wagon in a parking lot. Heard their story, luckily, she was OK, just a small cut on the knee. Took a picture to commemorate the occasion, and we took off again.

By this time, the wind had kicked in. Pete and I pretty much rode by ourselves, with no tandem to hitch behind, and we were pushing it again. Don't ask me why - we're guys. By the time we started climbing up Gilroy Hot Springs (mile 75), my quads were cramping up. All that macho speed riding in the first half had come home to roost. I decided not to do the climb, and ride back to the finish. Pete went on, and we parted company. I had another 10 miles to go, but it was all wind, and I was by myself. I had to stop a couple of more times to nurse the cramps, but made it back OK. I finished with 86 miles.

There was music, food, and home made apple pie a-la-mode at the finish. Made it all worth while, especially the second helping.

The overall ride was very very good. Support was excellent! Route was very nice. Coe was memorable. I'm bummed that I didn't manage the ride well and burned out. But it'll just give me another reason to come back next year.

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

SesameCrunch

[IMG]

Hey, Alan! You have to show me that cool trick with the bar-wrapped windbreaker. Better than schlepping a handlebar bag for the entire route I'm sure.

It was a feature on the jacket I got. Wasn't anything I figured out :o:o

nygirl777

Hey guys sorry I missed all of you.......we were late as usual :) However we had to hustle to get back to the Sea Otter - we wanted to see the Pro Race........I even skipped the delicious lunch meal...........now that is unusual :) Anyhow it's too COLD out there.........YIKES.......but the beautiful scenery compensates. Thanks again Aaron for the registration............maybe I will see you all at the Giro de Peninsula....My husband and I even sported our Nor cal Kits. :D Too rushed to take pictures - not that I would have removed my gloves anyhow. :eek:

BigSean

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