I just got to Albany California for my second and more succesful training trip in 2 years. The weathers been ok, chilly and rainy, but after today it's suppose to be sunny and fairly warm. My first ride here was nice. just kinda gettin to know the roads again and get use to climbing so much. The second day was another story.
The ride started off in the rain which is fine, but not the easiest thing to come out of your house into. I head up the nice climb up Spruce street and head down Wildcat Canyon and take a right and head to Moraga. About 2.5hrs into my ride it really started raining but I was keeping warm and my legs felt nice. I went pinehurst and ended at the top of Skyline which is where I begin the nice long descent back down to Grizzly peak, then to Spruce and voila the ride is done. It's always such a good feeling to get to this point as even if you have an hour of riding left, it's easy and fun. Turns out skylines closed due to a mudslide... this is really bloody bad because I had to stop to kinda get my bearings, and all my heat decided to leave. So I start shaking uncontrollably and start a superfast descent down Snake road, having no idea where i'm heading. I decide to start making the extra effort of an even more miserable face than I already naturally had with the hopes that someone would feel bad enough for me and give me a ride. Being lost in the mountains is almost worse than being lost in the city, and I was about to experience both. I eventually ask for directions and a nice lady with gps tells me where to go as her daughter busts out laughing about the guy that's "freezing cold out there" yeah i'm bloody aware of it sweetcheaks. So I finally get on my way with new directions and as the streets start appearing how they're suppose to my morale begins to lift again as I realize i'm almost to Washington street, aka home! I turn down washington and go down to the end of it......... nothing looks familiar.. okay maybe it's the other end of Washington....... not even close. So i'm freezing my buns off and trying to figure out if i'm 50 miles from home or 5, so I begin to look for a bus map on the side of the road and fail to see this groove in the road that my tire decides to lock into. The fall felt so slow I had time to think about things like, "why is this happening?" "are you bloody kidding?" "i wonder what kind of pancakes they're serving at the cafe down the street." my glasses go flying down the road, my head bounces off the concrete and my shoulder, hip and wrist all have this awesome throbbing pain. I stand up and look around for awhile, pick up my bike and bend my brake lever back in place and inspect for damage.. nothing too bad so I continue searching for a map. Turns out i'm in bloody downtown oakland.. I knew this place looked sketchy: really built up city, with not alot of people walking around, and shitty ass roads. I eventually get directions from some not-completely-there security guard at a hotel. I'm on my way avoiding the syringes and used uzzi clips scattered about the road and I finally make it to San Pablo and eventually make it home after sprinting about 45 minutes through stop lights and heavy california traffic in the rain.
So I come inside, strip my soaking clothes off, take my seatpost out and turn my bike upside down, put on my trunks, get my towel and haul ass downstairs to go jump in the hot tub.... that isn't there anymore.. god crap it?! I think I convinced Tim to set it back up again though.
Todays ride was nice though. Tims friend Aaron and his friend Neil that I got to ride with last time invited me out for a 3 hour ride. Aaron has more bloody bikes, and bike equipment than a freaking bike shop. My legs felt awesome and the weather wasnt half bad, rain on and off till 3 minutes from home it started pouring so hard it stung to look up. Sunshine weather from here on out says weather.com though so i'm hopin for that.
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