I jumped at the opportunity to join the Redwood/Wine Country crew for a ride out of Santa Rosa around 1pm on Saturday. I can't remember the last time I slept in, so this sounded like the best idea EVER!
Unfortunately, I didn't consider all of the facts. Like that Santa Rosa is about an hour and a half away from Oakland or that it would be over 100 degrees by noon in Sonoma. I had gone to my friends' wedding the night before, so my hydration was lacking to say the least. We had a great ride group: Me, Moddie, Mike Kyle, Paul Kinney, Megan, Sedonia, Les, Wendy, Tony and Dan. We set out on our "short" 60 mile ride. Around mile 15, we started our 30 minute sustained climb up Pine Flat. The ride was beautiful, but it was hard to notice with the unbearable heat. The wind felt like the gust you sometimes get when opening a hot oven. My eyeballs were hot. At 29 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, my heart rate was too high and I needed to stop. As soon as I clipped out, I started feeling dizzy. I felt like I was on the verge of fainting, so I put my bike down and took deep breaths. Eventually, the spins went away and I headed back down the hill.
As planned, we all met at the country store to buy some more ice. Mike K. had a broken spoke and Megan slashed her tire on the bead, so their day's were over. At this point, I was so overheated and dehydrated that I needed to go to plan B, and that was to shorten the ride. A group of us crept on to finish at 45 miles. I've learned that I need to do more to prepare for hot days. Once I get to the point that my stomach doesn't want to digest calories, I know I'm in trouble. And let's face it, Louisville is going to be HOT.
Pine Flat is a famous road for cyclists. Earlier this year, Team Asatna came out to Sonoma to train and used Pine Flat to simulate the long climbs on the Tour. Check out this video that some local cyclists shot.
Condition: Wilted
Unfortunately, I didn't consider all of the facts. Like that Santa Rosa is about an hour and a half away from Oakland or that it would be over 100 degrees by noon in Sonoma. I had gone to my friends' wedding the night before, so my hydration was lacking to say the least. We had a great ride group: Me, Moddie, Mike Kyle, Paul Kinney, Megan, Sedonia, Les, Wendy, Tony and Dan. We set out on our "short" 60 mile ride. Around mile 15, we started our 30 minute sustained climb up Pine Flat. The ride was beautiful, but it was hard to notice with the unbearable heat. The wind felt like the gust you sometimes get when opening a hot oven. My eyeballs were hot. At 29 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, my heart rate was too high and I needed to stop. As soon as I clipped out, I started feeling dizzy. I felt like I was on the verge of fainting, so I put my bike down and took deep breaths. Eventually, the spins went away and I headed back down the hill.
As planned, we all met at the country store to buy some more ice. Mike K. had a broken spoke and Megan slashed her tire on the bead, so their day's were over. At this point, I was so overheated and dehydrated that I needed to go to plan B, and that was to shorten the ride. A group of us crept on to finish at 45 miles. I've learned that I need to do more to prepare for hot days. Once I get to the point that my stomach doesn't want to digest calories, I know I'm in trouble. And let's face it, Louisville is going to be HOT.
Pine Flat is a famous road for cyclists. Earlier this year, Team Asatna came out to Sonoma to train and used Pine Flat to simulate the long climbs on the Tour. Check out this video that some local cyclists shot.
Condition: Wilted
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