JP's ride report for the "Best of the Bay" ride...
Shannon, Anthony and I rode the Best of Bay ride Saturday. Is basically 123 mile / 10,300’ ride from Orinda (north of Oakland), south to San Jose and then back north to Fremont. It is a small ride with under 150 riders among all route distances. The roads are amazing with smooth and fast descents (I got 48 mph off Sierra Rd for almost a full mile). The rest stops were just right, the volunteers were great and a restaurant buffet at the end, instead of some crap food sitting on a chaffing dish all afternoon, was a perfect finish. The finish line was literally Sweet Tomatoes patio.
The route was closely mapped to one of the 2006 Tour of California stages with a CAT 1 climb up Sierra Rd at the 93 mm. I literally saw my speedometer at 1.5 mph at one of the 17% grade sections! Truly that was mostly because Shannon and I “went in fresh” again with only 50 miles riding in the past month of training. But also because it gains 2k’ in just 3.5 miles! Check out the link below with the pictures and Sierra Rd profile. We are keeping this ride on our radar for next year too and may use it as a training ride for the Shasta Super century (139 mi / 16.5k’). Lots of distance options and loops on great roads. You can even cut out a 25 mile loop but still hit Sierra Rd and get your “summit pin” (which most of the wussies did). Only a hand full of us did the entire ride with all options.
The joke below is that Anthony was “mislead” and somehow could not find the Sierra Rd climb loop, so he pedaled back and forth on the flats near the finish line waiting for us.
Take care,
JP