Fairytales on Wheels

Posted by Sandi

Today Rachel and I participated in a metric century ride known as the “Cinderella Classic.” We rode with our friend and speed work (for track workouts) mentor, Jeanine. Despite Rachel’s initial hesitation in taking on the mileage after a few 20+/- mile training rides (and our 38+ mile wine tasting tour), I think we both had a blast. The cool thing about the ride is that it is hosted by men for women riders.

After parking and prepping our bikes, we headed over to the check-in area. It was COLD! Fortunately, the check-in area was inside. We picked up our bike bibs and wrist bands, and then grabbed some pre-ride fuel. They provided quartered bagels with cream cheese, peanut butter or jam and coffee.  

It took us all a while to warm up once we got on the road. The route was pretty awesome with great views of gently rolling slopes and the vineyards of Livermore.  While the wineries and vineyards we passed were inviting, there was no wine tasting today during today’s ride.  There were some decent hill climbs in the route, which really highlighted our climbing skills. The unfortunate thing about the ride is that I realized how much we need to work on the flats and down hills; although we passed several riders on the uphill efforts, we got passed by the same riders on the down hills. 

We had to deal with a few repeat mechanical issues including flat tires and locking breaks, which did not help the passing issues.  In addition, there were several back to back traffic lights in the route that made using higher gears and momentum difficult.

While this may not have been the best training option in preparation for the Boston Marathon, I think (and hope) I will still benefit from the aerobic effort.  There was an option for to add mileage and elevation, but I thought that would be too much to take on today. I would definitely ride this route again during our official IM training.

I am pretty sure Katie is skiing up in Tahoe this weekend, and if so I am sure she is having a blast! Finally, best of luck to Chen in her half marathon tomorrow!!