Day 1 of the ride San Francisco to Santa Cruz

Today was a bit of a challenge for me. Quite possibly the hardest thing I've done to date 

READ ON- I started the day awake from excitement bout 3ish am. Got up and ready by 530am it was off to the Cow Palace. Excited rider everywhere. We dropped our bags, went to retrieve our bikes. Filled water bottles and tires. The positive riders riding out first with such courage, bravery, and strong will off they went. The rest of the riders rode out one by one. How exciting. My first ride ever!! 

82 miles head of unknown. 

 My best friend in the front cuz he's super fast and fearless(he's young) and me bout 5 min behind. Road was long. Then came the hill. I was feeling strong and was using anger to get up it or when I felt I wanted to quit! Oh and LOTS of swear words loud and proud. This one hill was a true test of patience. I passed making the best of a less then best situation. You see it was a 2 lane highway, windy up hill grade that was (or should have been slow and steady. Problem was the bike lane was super narrow and at parts was none existence add that with cars and super slow challenged riders, it was dangerous. I was forced to walk the hill. Which wouldn't have been a problem but it wasn't a walk. It's a ride and I fell terribly behind. I was upset about that. But hey.. Ya really can't be upset at anyone. We are all trying to get to the end. Safely.

 After I got over the hill I had to make up for lost time. I was pushing myself extra hard. It was working.

 Bout rest stop #4 I approached the bike tech tent to see if I could get new clip ins(mine were worn from the up hill walk), got those replaced. The bike tech asked, who adjusted your bike for you? My reply, Bev Hills bike shop where I bought the bike.. He said you realize you've been riding with your seat to high?? Like 2-3 inches to high? I knew something was off but trusted that the bike shop knew what they were doing. They were wrong!! He said it was putting extra stress on all my joints, back, hoo ha, knees etc. Boy could I feel it all at that point. Ouchie. He then adjusted my seat. 

 With lots of determination I finished the rest of the ride. Sore and unsure of anything more. Hour by hour is how I've been living life lately. 

 Got back to my room, hot bath, a beer. Them sleep. Tomorrows a new day! 

XX