Muse back!
August 16, 2008 / Saturday
Mmm, Tasty Ride
After my 17 mile road ride a couple weeks ago, I said I'd go for 34 the next time around. 34 miles happens to be the approximate distance of the Portola loop from home, so Portola loop it was.
A couple miles into the ride, I realized that I'd forgotten to take my pre-ride Aleve. This was bad news, as my knees are wholly unable to go any decent distance without the aid of an anti-inflammatory. Aaron was smart enough to look for Aleve at shops along our route, and picked some up for me at the Walgreens in Los Altos. It got me through about 30 miles of the ride; my knees started aching a bit after that, but fortunately the pain subsided a few hours afterward.
We continued up Foothill, up Sand Hill, and then onto Portola. Even though I was eating, I seemed to be having trouble getting enough calories in me. But then, hallelujah, we came across a lemonade stand along the road. When we stopped, the girls at the stand sheepishly told us they were out of cups. Oh, but we had water bottles! They filled one of my bottles and one of Aaron's. "How much?" we asked, and after some confused discussion, they decided that two water bottles of lemonade was worth two dollars. Aaron handed them a five and told them to keep the change. They were surprised, and happy. So was I. Lemonade! Calories! Hoorays! Plus, kids and lemonade stands, super cute.
The lemonade energized me, and when we reached Alpine, I decided I wanted to ride up to the end where it turns into a dirt trail. I love that stretch of Alpine. Smooth pavement, few cars, a beautiful creek surrounded by trees for most of the way, plus a few extra miles and some climbing.
I'd noticed that the ice cream place at the Rancho Shopping Center had switched from a Dreyer's to Lappert's, so we stopped on the way back for some ice cream. I ended up with a super flavorful coconut sorbet. Sorbet! I never eat sorbet, but I guess coconut is different because it's fatty and creamy on its own. Good stuff.
When we got home, I managed to lock my keys (including both my copies of the garage key) in the garage. I ended up borrowing a ladder from my neighbor, climbing up to the balcony, and entering my apartment through the sliding door, which I had left open. Thank goodness! After some searching, my neighbor found her copy of my garage key (she's also something of an apartment manager), and I was reunited with my keys. Phew!
Total distance pedaled: ~43 miles. I can't download data from my Polar wrist unit until I get an IR adapter for my laptop, so no detailed data until then.
[ Update: I forgot to mention that we saw an Ariel Atom zoom by around a curve on Sand Hill near the Portola junction. Sweet! The driver had a full face helmet on. I wanted to offer to trade him my bike for his car, but he was gone before I could say anything. ]
August 16, 2008 05:50 PM | Road
Comments
i did the same thing - A while back i locked myself out of my town house on a day it was like 98 degrees out. And I had NO shoes on. I knocked on my neighbor's door and asked if i could borrow a ladder............. and a pair of shoes - as I had some hot nasty terrain to cover.
Posted by: Christy at August 17, 2008 07:16 PM
Oh man, that must have sucked. Hooray for neighbors with ladders!
Posted by: Viv at August 17, 2008 09:44 PM