Conradstudios Blog

While standing around at the summit, I made the decision to NOT use my jacket that was in the drop bag, even though it meant I might not be able to get it until an hour or two after I finished. I was wearing a base-layer, arm warmers, short sleeve jersey, knickers, and was going to put on my little OpTik jacket that I had in my jersey pocket. I knew I’d be cold, but I figured the worst would be the first 1000 feet of descent, after that I’d be ok. After a couple pictures, I started the descent.

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Alta Sierra Challenge - April 14, 2007

When I hit the Bakersfield city limits on Friday, I called DanteB and let him know I’d be along soon. DanteB was kind enough to let me stay at his place for the weekend, and I was very happy to oblige him. After we brought in my luggage – I don’t travel light – Dante gave me a tour of his home. He’s in the middle of remodeling and doing a great job, I wish I had the skills or patience he has, but when I’ve tried my hand at it I usually stop after I create a big hole. Anyway, Dante and his wife took me to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner, and then let me run into the Trader Joes for my breakfast foods – currently I’m eating blueberry swirl bread with peanut butter before a ride – and it was bake to their home. I got to bed somewhere around 11:15 pm; I really need to figure out how to get to bed earlier.

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On the ride down to the lunch stop it was pretty uneventful. The Morro Bay area was pretty, the weather was a bit cold for part or it, and then it warmed up once we turned onto Los Osos Valley Rd. I was at the back of the group heading up the only real hill on Los Osos when I tossed a chain and had to stop to dig it out. No one noticed, but I didn’t mind, I figured I’d catch up to them at the lunch CP. After coming off the hill, with a nice tail wind I got it up to 34 and was flying along when I caught up to the group, and thankfully the road was clear at the moment so I just kept on riding. A short while later, however, I thought better of it, I still had a long way to go, haven’t ridden this far before, and would really like to finish, so I lowered my effort and dropped my heart rate back down. A couple minutes later DanteB went flying on by. We chatted for a bit, but I was getting some hard bumps on the inside part of the road so I dropped back, took his wheel, and sped to the lunch break.

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On Saturday I woke up at 3:45 to have my breakfast so I could give it a little time to digest before the ride. I’ve found that for me I do best if I eat essentially what I normally eat, but instead of my usual bagel this morning I had three slices of a wonderful blueberry bread I got at Trader Joes, and for protein I had a hard boiled egg.

I walked out the door about 20 minutes before I was going to leave to check the weather, and OMG was it cold. It wasn’t no 50 degree cold, like the forecast had lied; this was at least the low 40s, if not lower. It’s supposed to get into the low 70s, so it will warm up and I’ll be stuck carrying whatever I bring with me, so I decide to bring arm warmers, knee warmers, and a new Louis Garneau jacket and fingerless gloves. I may have opted for full fingered gloves and a base layer, however like a MORON I didn’t bring them. I DID have 4 jerseys to pick from, however, they all were light weight and not made for warmth.

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