The riding was beautiful, and although I got a late start, by lunch I had passed a good portion of the riders, and left the claustrophobic feeling of navigating through Santa Cruz in rush hour.
About 35 miles in - my first flat. It had to happen sooner or later - I have been lucky, in the over 2000 miles I have put on my bike, I have never gotten a flat. How could that be? Fortunately I was ready with a spare tube that I keep tucked under my seat, and I have practiced the change-out...it would have been a two minute job, except for the ingenious system they have; when you are stopped by the side of the road, and you need assistance, you let the other riders and road crew know by holding out a "thumb's down." Fair enough - however, when you are in good shape, you also need to signal that by showing "thumb's up." Trying to change a tire with your thumb up is difficult. I mean, really, why take away our gift of opposable digit? And people want to help... "Thank you I'm fine! Thank you I'm fine" COuld be worse...
Lunch at a park in Salinas - I ran into an aquantance from home, and my tent-mate, who was starting to stress out about her overstressed tendons...bemoaning the fact that she had to be sagged in...
>I started the ride with one person that I knew through my greater circle of Burning Man friends. He had so far been very nice to me, what with checking in with me, and sort of explaining things, but it became apparent when I ran into him at lunch that we were not ideal ride buddies. He had a very laid back attitude...slept a little longer, lingered over breakfast a little longer...while at times I wish I could be that kind of person - I am just not. I am more of the "lets hurry up and get there so that we can relax" variety - rather than the "lets relax along the journey."
I never really think of myself as competitive, mostly, because I don't usually "win"...but I still kind of have that drive - useless as it may be.
I hit the road, and two miles out, tire feels weird...I pull over, and "POP!"...I take the assistance of a passing cyclist, 'cause, why not....we get the wheel off, the tire off, and see that the tire has separated from the bead...oh, that's bad. But I have an extra tire! Oh, its in my backpack, on the gear truck....sigh.
That's Ok - I am only two miles away from lunch, where the fully stocked bicycle mechanics are waiting to help us with all our bike problems.
I started to roll back to lunch when the sweep van came by and swept me up.
Back at the mechanic's tent, I was given the inevitable news - that they were all out of 650 tires. Was I going to have to be sagged? On my first century? Nooooooo! Long story short, the angels at Mike's Bike's drove to a local bike shop and bought a new tire and tube for me. I did not have enough cash on me, so they took an IOU.
I was going to get back on the road...the challenge though, was that waiting for the gear and change out, made me the VERY LAST PERSON TO LEAVE LUNCH. In fact, anyone that that wasn't waiting for their bike to be fixed was sagged....
Woah. OK. Last. That's OK...
The thing is, that I totally respect the people that are not cyclists, and have worked so hard to get into shape and are slow...riding that many miles, no matter how fast or slow is a major accomplishment. I have heard that those folks are much more satisfying for personal trainers to work with, because their progress is so measureable. I have been one of those people. My triathlon coach said I was his favorite, 'cause I tried so hard...and it seemed to me I was just way to slow to be with the group.
But I wasn't one of those people any more - and the people cheering me on, the last person, they thought I was. Who cares? Why did I feel like stopping and explaining that I had technical difficulties? That I was NOT slow? Ego - ego -ego- Hello that is so not what this ride is about.
I had 65 more miles to think about that - and had a wonderful day getting back to camp. At Rest stop 3, Jim's stop - they had a much tighter "casbah" theme than the day before. I ran into a very old friend from years back and we had fun racing past each other on the way to rest stop 4...
I was pretty elated when I got into King City...as many miles as I have ridden, I had never before hit the 100 mile mark. Pretty cool.
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