nesdog

The ride has now been picked up by the Amgen cycling Club. Here are the details:

https://bikestyleusa.com/documents/TORideFlyer.pdf

There are two routes this time, with a 50 mile Rock Store version plus the 25 mile Hidden Valley option.

Vicki is thinking about doing the 25 miler. If so, I'll do that with her.

Sheldon

nesdog

Well, she has decided she will go for it...as long as we get my mom to stay with our daughter while we ride and it's not rainy or too cold!

Sheldon

Happytime

I might be up for the 50-miler, Sheldon. It would be cool to "roll with Bob Roll"

nesdog

Last year, he took off with the first wave. (riders are sent off in batches). It was raining like heck up until 1 hour before the start and then backed off to partly sunny skies. There was a live band and various booths at the finish as well.

Come on down! If Vicki bails, I'll ride the 50 with you.

Sheldon

merider1

I'd consider the 50 miler for sure. Looks like a great ride.

Kar3368

I am in for the 50 miler since I won't be @ Palm Springs the day before....

nesdog

Vicki and I signed up for the ride this morning. Online registration closed yesterday but was re-opened due to several of us asking for a last shot at the lower price. Thanks to Amgen for the courtesy!

This will be Vicki's 2nd organized ride. We did a 33 mile route in Cambria last June, Country Coast Classic. This one is a bit shorter at 25 miles but includes the exit from Hidden Valley, which she has never climbed and is a bit concerned about. It's pretty short so I think she will be okay. Geez, she works like a dog on Coach Troy's sessions so I'm not worried about it.

Should be lots of fun and the weather better than last year when we all got rained on just prior to the start!

Sheldon

nesdog

We just got back from the ride. Basically, the short ride was a bit over 21 miles, with mostly flats and a climb out of Hidden Valley to Newbury Park.

Crowd was much smaller than last year, probably 350 riders instead of twice that many. The weather outstanding! Warm and beautiful.

Checked in and spent a few minutes speaking with Karen, decked out in pink and ready to attack the longer course with Rock Store. She gave my wife, Vicki, some encouraging words as it was to be her first time going up the big hill out of the valley.

Short time later we were off!

Vicki did very well, although a bit wary of riding in a large group of people. We've al been there! Took a while for her to get used to the proximity of other bodies around. We followed the mostly flat route to the rest stop, grabbed a few figgies and continued onward.

Through Hidden Valley, she rode my wheel and averaged about 17-1/2 miles per hour for that part of the cruise. Nice...

Finally the big one...the hill! She dropped into the granny and spun away. I stayed with her helping to point out rocks, etc. She huffed and puffed a bit but powered up well.

Near the end of the ride, a rider passed by us and said "Is that your daughter? She is really strong and handled that hill great!"

I asked him "does this mean I look old or she looks young?"
"Definately young...how old is she?"
"Hey Vicki! How old are you?"
"49"
"No Way!"

That made her day.

We finished off the course, had a nice lunch provided by the event and enjoyed the time under the sun talking with other riders and friends. All in all, a good day! I was really glad to get to ride this one with my [young] wife!

Here is a pix of us together last year in Cambria:



And another more recent with my [young] partner!



Sheldon

merider1

Nice pic, Sheldon! And Vicki looks younger than I do! Glad you two had a nice ride. I kept it very low key today and decided not to join, but I'm glad you both enjoyed.

nesdog

I looked for you but figured you wanted to take it easy. Hope you are having a nice day anyhow and enjoying the return of summer-like weather!

Sheldon