Greetings, one and all! Some pix from the CA Death Ride on 7/14:

[Shine]

I'm back from the CA Death Ride (2800 cyclists, 125 miles, 5 mtn passes, 16,000ft of climbing, all in one day!) and from two weeks vacationing back east. I was able to complete the entire ride and do all five passes on my first attempt, so I'm pretty stoked. :bounce: Thanks for all your good ju ju, loungers, I'm sure it helped. The ride was intense and I really had to dig deep to finish. The last 15 miles were the hardest, but I was triumphant, in the end.

We started the day, in the dark, with helmet lights, at 4:40am and ended at 8pm. Whew!! I probably burned over 10,000 calories that day, seriously.
Total time, including breaks: 15hrs, 20min.
Total saddle time: 12 hrs, 10 min.

A view of the sun rising over the Sierras, as we make our way up Monitor Pass, the first climb of the day.


Heading toward Carson Pass, the last big climb of the day, in 95+degree heat.


On the top of Carson Pass, getting ready to eat our well-deserved ice cream bars before the long ride back down the mountain. (I'm the one on the left) :)


Here I am, signing this year's Death Ride poster. Only the 5-pass finishers get that honor. As you can see, since we came in so late, it was hard to find an area that wasn't already covered.


At the end of the day, we were victorious, happy and TIRED!!


It's good to be back home. :hi:

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Hey Shine! I had been wondering where you were.

Looks like it was a beautiful, if toasty, day for a very long ride.
Kudos to you and all the others who participated.

[Shine]

3. Thanks, Gormy Cuss!! I'm glad I could pull it off.

I tell ya, after two weeks back east in the hot sticky humidity, I'm happy to be back in the cooler climate of coastal summer fog.

:hi: Hope all's well on your end. How's your garden doin'?

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Tomatoes by the bushel and I have corn just about ready.

The humidity really does make the heat hard to bear, especially since the nights don't cool off like the lovely ones we have around here. I never liked 90+ degree days in New England but here they're not so bad. That's a good thing since I live in the appropriately named Diablo Valley. ;-)
:hi:

[Shine]

7. What do you do with all the tomatoes? Make salsa, tomato sauce? Give 'em away?

Wow, corn too. That's cool. While in the rolling humid hills of WI for a huge family reunion, we saw fields and fields of corn. They brought back memories of my childhood, growing up in the midwest.

I took a training ride up Mt. Diablo a few weeks ago. That must be in your area, right? It was beautiful, up top. Nice views...

[Gormy Cuss]

27. Yep, I can see Diablo from my backyard .

Corn was an experiment and with the guidance of some posters in the Gardening group I seemed to have figured out how to grow it here. Our test ears were a little immature but sweet and tender.

Our excess tomatoes always find good homes. We have friends in the city who depend on us for their summer tomatoes and the rest go out on a table in front of the house for the neighbors who don't grow their own. We do eat lots of salsa, tomato and basil salads, and make sauce base for the winter -- quarts of pureed tomatoes with basil. It's a great treat.

[AllegroRondo]

2. Awesome!

looks like you had a great time.

Whats next? how do you top a ride like that?

[Shine]

4. I don't think you can top a ride like that, unless you do it again....

which, at this point, I'm not planning on! :D I think it was a one-time deal.

MrShine and I are signed up to ride in the Napa Valley Century on August 19th. It'll be a "mere" 100 miles, with 5,000 ft of climbing.

No problem!! :rofl:

:hi: Thanks for your good wishes, buddy. Good to see ya! :pals:

[billyskank]

6. You're awesome.

:loveya:

[Shine]

8. Back at ya, baby!!

:loveya:

I'm happy to see you today, billyskank. Hope all's well on your end. :hug:

[seemunkee]

9. That is wonderful

Congratulations. That is one hell of a long day in the saddle.

[Shine]

10. Yes, it is, seemunkee!

Can you say : "Butt Butter"? :evilgrin:

Seriously, the chamois butter....and all the training I did...really helped.

:hi: Thanks!

[seemunkee]

11. Chamois butter sounds better

and its not magic pixie dust. The training and determination is what got you up those passes.

[Shine]

12. Yeah,you're right. Sheer will power and good ju ju got me through at times.

esp toward the end of the day when I was feeling like hurling and my stomach was a mess. That's when I remembered all the good people who were wishing me well and holding me up, in their thoughts and hearts. :loveya: It made ALL the difference, trust me. :D

[malta blue]

13. Shine! You are one AMAZING woman!

:yourock:

It's nice to see you back. I hope you had a great family reunion and that you found some time to really relax after the Death Ride.

Missed you!:pals: :hug:

[Shine]

17. Thanks, malta blue!! It's nice being back home

We had a great family reunion, but the humidity back there was hard to take. I'm glad to be back home to the dryer CA cool and coastal weather.

:hi: :loveya:

I'm still playing catch up, with the laundry, mail, etc....Slowly, but surely...

xoxo!! :hug:

[Road Scholar]

14. Whoa! Shine, very good. I can see you guys had a great time.

Good to see you back. Maybe they should change the name so your friends wouldn't worry. :hi:

[Shine]

18. Yes, the name is intimidating, I agree.

for the longest time I swore I wasn't interested in riding in any ride which had the word DEATH in it.

I obviously changed my mind. :D


I'm just glad I survived it!! :hi: Good to see ya, friend. :pals:

[LSK]

15. wow that is impressive

Good for you!

:toast:

[Shine]

20. Thanks, LSK! I'm happy I made it, on my very first attempt.

:toast: All that training paid off!

[grace0418]

16. Congratulations! That's astounding.

Good for you!

:hug:

[Shine]

21. Thanks, grace!

:toast: It was certainly the longest and hardest ride I'd EVER done in one day. I'm glad I made it! :hi:

[SPKrazy]

19. Beautiful Pics Shine!

You look really happy and I'm duly impressed with your physical fitness!

:thumbsup:

:hug:

:hi:

[Shine]

22. Thanks, Southpawkicker. I've been feeling positively slothful lately.

I've done absolutely NO exercise in the past 2+ wks since the ride, due to being back east for vacation. I'm jonesin' to get back in the saddle, though. I'm sure I packed on a few lbs, what with all the eating, drinking and general merriment of the past couple weeks. :D

Hell, I deserved it, dammit!

:hi: :hug: Good to see ya, buddy! :pals:

[SPKrazy]

23. you too!

I aim to ride me some bikes like that :P

Need to join a riding club I guess

:hug:

:hi:

[Maddy McCall]

24. WOW! I'm impressed!

What an awesome achievement!!

:yourock:

[Shine]

25. Yeah, I've got major bragging rights for a while now, don't ya think?

:toast: Thanks, Maddy! :pals:

[Maddy McCall]

26. Oh hell yeah.

I'd tell everyone I know!

:pals:

I'm just awestruck by this achievement. Major congrats!

[Ptah]

28. Congratulations, Shine.

What a ride!

:thumbsup:

You da champ.

[Shine]

30. Thanks, Ptah!

yup, it was quite a ride, alright. I'm fully recovered, thank goodness.

:toast:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

29. My dear Shine!

Wow, sweetie, what a terrific accomplishment!

It makes me tired just looking at those hills.....

You go girl!

Glad you're back...

You have been missed...

:hug:

[Shine]

31. Yes, it was pretty huge accomplishment, so I'm proud of myself. Thanks, Peggy!

It's good to be back home. :hug:

Hey, when do you start your class?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

34. It's a Tues-Thurs class...

So, not till August 28th!

I cannot wait!

I just posted a new one a few days ago...

Check out my journal for it...A Poem for Today, I think...


:hug:

[Shine]

37. Great, Peggy!!

I liked the imagery and how you wrote it from the man's perspective. Very cool. :thumbsup:

[wildhorses]

32. you legs are rock hard, aren't they? don't lie!!

i can feel them from here;)

:yourock:

:applause:

:woohoo:

:bounce:

[Shine]

33. chuckle, chuckle.....I don't know about that, wildhorses.

parts of me are hard, but bigger parts of me are soft. LOL! I guess I'm soft and hard in all the right places. Yeah, THAT'S the best way to put it. :evilgrin:

:hi: Thanks!

[NV Whino]

35. Congratulations!

NV will be a piece of cake compared to that.

[Shine]

36. LOL, exactly. That's what I've been thinking, too.

:hug:
I'm still planning to give you a call when we're up there. :hi: