I was wondering how this would go; my first long ride of the year, after 6 weeks off the bike for my fractured pelvis, and then continued bad weather that kept Kevin and I from getting in any other long rides. But in the end it’s just like any other endurance event; you just put one foot in front of the other and keep pushing on.

As usual, Kevin and I left from our house in Redwood City, riding to the start at Foothill College in Los Altos, so, as usual, we left the official starting place a good hour later than everyone else on the 100 miler. The good thing about that? Nobody faster is going to pass you! The bad news? You’re reaching each rest stop close to when they’re going to close, or in the process of closing. That wasn’t an issue though; we had plenty of food and drink fro the excellently-provisioned & staffed rest stops.|

The mean thing about the Sequoia is that it starts out by heading up Moody. And then continues up Page Mill. A rough way to begin a ride! But we shouldn’t have been complaining about that, since we rode 15 miles to the start. So, in theory, well warmed up. Doesn’t matter. That’s still a nasty climb!

The winds were very unusual, blowing from the south. Kind of nice for us, because we dealt with the headwinds first, going out Cloverdale, then had tail winds all the way back to Tunitas. Those on the Aids Lifecycle ride weren’t so lucky.

We finished just 15 minutes behind last years’ pace, which I felt pretty good about, all things considered. I even rode more strongly than Kevin at times, probably because he’s skipped a few rides lately. This too shall pass.