Run then Ride - Senorita Century Ride Report

Tooth update: I no longer look like Quasi or Marlon, but I still have to go back to finish the root canal, so stay tuned, that may change.

Despite my dependence last week on painkillers, I still did manage to get in a pretty nice run over the weekend, and one pretty challenging 40 mile ride.

First, the run, briefly. My goal was to meet up with Mik and Elsie with the track club at Coronado. The club is up to 2 hour long runs. I am no where near that, but they were running around Coronado, which is lovely, so I figured I could do one lap, about 6 miles.

Sadly, the Tylenol 3/Ibuprofen combo interfered with my plan to get up early on Saturday to meet Mik and Elsie, so while I managed to pull my ass out of bed EVENTUALLY, I missed the actual start of the track club by about 20 minutes and didn't see EITHER OF THEM on the run.

That being said, there may be no place better in all of San Diego County to run than around Coronado. The homes are beautiful, the streets are wide, and there is precious little traffic other than when we cross 4th street, which is the street that goes into the naval base, and this particular Saturday morning there was plenty of this...

Ahhhhhh. I love running by the ocean. I'll never get tired of it. Never.

Beautiful weather...Clear. Cool. Sunny. Perfect place to run an easy 6 miles.

But the big story of the weekend, had to be the Senorita (sorta) Century. This was the inaugural event of this all women's metric century ride. Our Heffer team consisted of Mik, Betty, Wilma, Alberta, and Me.

We learned that we CAN put four bikes in the back of a Honda Pilot...and also have four seats for riders (this is VERY important information) 

At the start, Yours truly, Alberta, Mik, Betty, and Wilma. It was Wilma's virgin organized ride. 

My initial plan was to do the metric century - 64 miles. My longest ride so far this season has been 36 miles, but I figure, if I can do 36, I can do 64 right?

We took off from Torrey Pines High School and headed down some nice hills toward the coast (oh yeah...we'd have to get back up those hills at the end). I was cruising along, about 15 miles into the ride, with a nice group of women. Alberta and Mik were a little bit ahead of me (we'd gotten separated at a light), and suddenly, I see Alberta's daisy shirt. She was on the side of the road, bike upside down, with a flat. So OF COURSE I stopped to help, even though, as we all know, I am not a fast tire change. We examined the tire for awhile, and I'll admit, I didn't try that hard to deal with it because this was an all women's bike race, and so I called the SAG bus to see, and a really nice guy showed up to change Alberta's tire.

Yes, I was a wuss. I admit it. I didn't want to break a nail.

Our own personal tire changer...and yes, Alberta was texting someone about it...or maybe she was posting it on FB, or maybe that was me doing the FB posting. 

I'm not sure how long Alberta and I were dealing with the flat (or more accurately, watching our SAG guy deal with the flat), but I knew by the time we started riding again, that there was no way I was going to catch up to Mik, and if I didn't catch up to her, that I wasn't going do the full 64 because I'd be doing the hardest part of the ride, all the hills, by myself...and with all the meds I'd ingested all week, I thought this was the excuse I needed to just take it easy.

Quite frankly, as we found out later. Alberta's flat was a very good thing.

We made it to North Carlsbad and to Magee park, the first rest stop. I'll just say that the Rest Stops were AMAZING. This one had croissant sandwiches, cucumber water, too many different pastries, coffee, tea, freekin' quiche...who could eat all that and get back on a bike? I have no idea. I nibbled a little bit, drank a lot, refilled my water bottles.

I did walk in on a guy in the men's room. I mean, it was an all women's race. The line to the ladies room was long. Who would expect there to be an actual DUDE in the men's room. His back was to me. I didn't look. I am a lady after all.

Mik, of course, has no patience with long rest stops, so she'd already taken off for the hills, and so I decided to ride the 40 miles and head back to the start with Betty, Alberta, and Wilma.

On the way back we advantage of the photo opportunities. Forgive the inside joke, but Betty knows that I was thinking about a snorkel and flippers for the rest of the ride after we took this shot.

So...now that I've gotten past the spoiler alert (I didn't do a full metric century), Here's my route

Uh...remember that nice downhill part at the beginning? To be honest, neither did I...but I do remember the up part now...I think it's mean to make riders climb in the 39the mile of a 40 mile race...really I do.

Wilma crossing the finish line...which brings up the observation...THAT'S the finish line? I missed it...I wasn't the only one. It really wasn't well marked 

As for the finish line festivities? Well, unlike the rest stops, there was a food truck with what they called Thai food (white rice with some chicken stuff or beef stuff over it...I mean really. It was called The SENORITA Century. Don't you think that warrants a taco?

Also... huge props to Wilma. There were some pretty long climbs...maybe 8% to 10% grades at places, and she's still pretty new to cycling. She hung in there. She finished the race. I'm so proud!

She really deserved a taco...and probably a margarita, but that would come later.

We were the main cheerleaders for all who came in after us. We do look happy to be finished.

And that's Mik... She is such a stud. She finished a really, really, really difficult 64 (she called it horrible, which coming from Mik is something) only about 20 minutes after we all finished our 40. Here was her climb.

See those little descents and climbs at that I was just complaining about at the beginning and at the end of the ride...then take a look at what Mik did between Miles 50 and 90...we just rode the flat part. Again...she's a stud.

We figured we needed something more than meat-type foods on rice, so we ended up at my house, where we consumed beverages and snacks and relaxed about the day.

I know...it's not a stellar shot of any of us...we were tired and VERY focused on food, drink, and relaxing at that point.

So..some observations about the Senorita Century.

The Good Stuff

1. The 40 mile route was beautiful and for this beginning rider, challenging enough
2. The 64 mile route was very challenging, and I'm glad I didn't do it at this point of my training, but I'm proud of Mik for doing it for us.
3. The rest stops had great food, maybe too much good food.
4. The race organizer was super nice and answered all of my emails, sometimes within an hour or so.
5. It was a small field, and for an inaugural, that's probably a very good thing

The Not-So-Good

1. It was kinda expensive. The full registration fee was $125.00. No race jersey. The medal at the end was kinda cheap. I'm glad we got in on a "tres senoritas" discount, so it was about $65 a person to ride. The only reason I ended up with a race jersey (it's a nice one) is because I signed up 6 people, and they messed up our registration once, so the race organizer sent me one. Let's just say that if it wasn't for the discount, we'd have never done it.
2. The race end was really disappointing. A food truck? The food was cold? There was no beer garden (granted...we were in a high school parking lot, so of course there was no beer), but still. The finish line was completely unmarked. I felt bad for the race organizer (who was EVERYWHERE that day. As individuals crossed, she would chase them down and hand them a medal. 

So, we enjoyed the ride on the coast, and of course being with friends. We are all signed up for the Gran Fondo San Diego in about a month, so more fun will ensue then.