Cinderella Classic 100K

Yesterday, I rode the Cinderella Classic 100K bike ride. This is the second year I've participated in this all women's ride put on by Valley Spokesmen Bicycle Club. This ride is very organized with 3 fully stocked rest stops and an incredible amount of volunteers. The ride goes through the towns of Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon, Danville and maybe others. We get to ride through beautiful country roads, nice neighborhoods and the parts through town had big bike lanes :)

Last year, we were a little warm by the end of the ride. This year, not so much. The forecast was for heavy rains and gusty winds. I kept checking the hour by hour forecast leading up to Saturday and there was a 90% chance of rain from start time. Saturday morning it changed to 30% until 11:00 and then 90% so I figured we'd at least get most of the ride in before getting soaked. Wrong! I went to this ride with 2 of my friends and as soon as we got out of the truck the winds were gusty and cold. We checked in and got ready to head out. There was talk of quite a few riders deciding not to ride at all due to the weather. 

About 45 min. into the ride, the rain started and the wind picked up. It was a downpour! We got to the first stop and we were already wet and cold. I had invested in a bike rain jacket and it was earning its keep. My upper body stayed dry. I had wrapped my helmet in a shower cap so my head retained heat and stayed dry too. The lower half of my body was soaked. Between the first and second stop, the rain and wind did not stop. There were parts of the ride that really were pretty dangerous and I was surprised I didn't see any wrecks. I'm usually a conservative downhill rider but it was hard to slow down on some of the downhills that had water streaming across the roads. I would just try to keep breathing and would say a prayer!

At the second stop, about 30 miles in, my friends decided to put their names on the list to be SAG'ed (driven) back to the start line. They both were shaking and freezing cold and they didn't feel like they could safely continue. The list was long and I knew it would take a while to get to their names so I decided I could ride the additional 35 miles and get back without having them wait too long for me. There were a lot less riders on the course by that time. I hear they SAG'ed over 300 riders back to the start line. Kudos to all the volunteers. They were amazing! As I was riding I decided to keep a rider in sight so I wouldn't have to think about the route too much. About 20 miles in I caught up to a group that knew exactly where they were going and led through all the turns to the end. 

Overall it was a huge challenge for me to ride in that weather. I don't think I would plan a training ride like that! Now I know if a race comes up and this kind of weather is predicted, I can do it.