We started out strong on our ride out of San Francisco. Unfortunately there was still fog over the Golden Gate Bridge when we left, so the ideal picture opportunity did not take place, but it was still a good morning. I was leading the pack for a little while and felt pretty good, but then I had a flat tire and I was less than 15 miles into the course. That set me back about 15 or 20 minutes and I was unable to find anyone to ride with to try and catch up to the front riders. So I rode solo for quite a while and finally caught a group doing the century course at about mile 50. There was a lot of elevation change throughout, but my training definitely paid off as I was able to get through the hills pretty well. Once I met up with some of my buddies, we rode the rest of the 50 miles together up some more hills and luckily the weather was perfect with the temperature in the high 70s most of the afternoon. Some of the riders in my pack were set back a bit due to bad cramping, but I didn't let them bail out and do the easier route to the finish. We all finished together around 5:30p and it was good to get some real food! We are in tents tonight at the Coastanoa Resort, but they have real beds and electiricity, so we aren't roughing it too bad. I am pretty tired and definitely need some sleep. I am unable to upload my statistics from my Garmin GPS today because of a slow internet connection, but I finished at 104+ miles with 10,000+ feet in elevation gain. I think I burned around 6,000 calories, but I am too tired to turn it back on and check for sure. I will try to post the details tomorrow.
I am dedicating day 2 of my ride to the volunteers who make this ride possible. Fred Isaak is the leader of the pack and puts in hundreds of hours throughout the year to make this tour possible. There are many other people who have supported him throughout the year who also deserve a great deal of recognition including Connor Donnelly, Tim Whittler, and Chris Young. Then there are also the volunteers who assist us throughout the 8 days of the tour who are Hannah Kook, Ryan Lederer, Michael Leinweiber, and Melissa Hosmann. These guys put in some long days and put up with a great deal of requests from the cyclists and help make this tour enjoyable and possible. Without the volunteers who travel with us on the tour, I would have to tie my suitcase to my back. I sure would not have made it up those hills today with a suitcase on my back. Thank you volunteers!
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