Where to begin... first let's play a little catch up!
Wildflower Century was April 27th. This is the first century of the year that didn't require us to wear layers and layers of clothes. The starting temperature was 56, hotter than the temperature when we finished some of the rides earlier in the year.
The first half of the ride is among the most scenic we have done. Beautiful oak trees, shady roads with very little traffic. Unfortunately we didn't see much in the way of wildflowers. The last half of the ride is not nearly as beautiful or shady. At the finish it was 93 degrees. We saw a few other tandems but less than we normally do.
That kind of heat just zaps the energy out of you. Lucky for us we were very close to Paso Robles and one of our favorite wineries Starr Ranch. http://www.starr-ranch.com/index.php
We highly recommend Judy's hospitality and her wine! We followed up our visit to Starr Ranch by enjoying dinner with our friends Dina and Patty in Morro Bay. Patty made a fabulous dinner and we enjoyed a night of laughing and fun!
Stats for Wildflower
5,371 ft of climbing
6:06:49 of pedaling time
14.3 mph average
45.9 mph maximum speed
We finished 23/156 people that post their rides to Strava
Two weeks later we rode Cruisin' the Conejo Century on May 11th
Yes, really two weeks later! What were we thinking when we signed up to do our April and May Century rides just two weeks apart?
We can't say enough about this ride. Very well organized and well marked. It started out in Newbury Park. We went over Encinal Canyon to Pacific Coast Highway and headed north to Camarillo. The weather was near perfect. We enjoyed running a pace line as we were going north on PCH to Freedom Park. We saw some really beautiful wildflowers as well as the devastating effects the recent fire had on coast line.
All the rest stops on this ride are organized by a local Boy Scout Troop. Can't say enough good things about the job these young men did. They were there to hold bikes at the rest stops and the food was some of the best we've had. The Scouts had lots of questions about the tandem, we were amazed at how well so many of them understood the science and engineering of carbon fiber. This is a ride we will consider doing again.
Stats for Cruisin' the Conejo
5,987 ft of climbing
6:10:55 of pedaling time
16.1 mph average
45.4 mph maximum speed
You'll notice our top speed is about the same on these rides. There's an easy explanation for that, Kathy's threshold of pain is around 45mph. We try to keep our speed under that for a more enjoyable ride for both of us!
Our next ride is America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride http://www.bikethewest.com/americas-most-beautiful-bike-ride/ This will be our most important ride of the year because we won't just be riding for ourselves but we're riding to support City of Hope and the research they are doing to treat Mantle Cell Lymphoma.
Kathy's Uncle is being treated at City of Hope for this rare lymphoma.
( Less than 15,000 people are presently affected by this type of lymphoma in the US. ) We invite you to support our ride by donating to the City of Hope call 866.683.4673 to donate. Please mention Kathy's Uncle David Parrish and ask that the funds be directed to Mantle Cell Lymphoma Research. We thank you for your support!
Onward we roll!
