This weekend was my last training ride before the Death Ride. I was planning to do a medium length ride, but it ended up being a fairly long ride. I decided to ride from home to Santa Cruz and back. This would require some significant hill climbing, but none of them too difficult.
Click for interactive map.elevation
I left home around 10:00am. I rode uphill on Highway 9, crossed Skyline Blvd, and rode Highway 9 down until it ended at Santa Cruz. I stopped there to eat lunch. It was 45 miles to get to this halfway point, so it was clear that this ride would not be "short". My return route was uphill on the Empire Grade, a road roughly parallel to Highway 9. After passing through Big Basin park, the road rejoined Highway 9, and I retraced the route back home.
I made it back to the house at 7:30pm, after 104 miles. Although this was longer than what I wanted to do, it was a great ride. I still had plenty of energy when I finished.
Unlike the organized centuries I have done, there were no preplanned snack breaks. But since I was familiar with the route, I knew where I could stop for bathroom breaks and water breaks. Besides lunch (falafel and big cup of Sprite), the only other calorie intake was the Mountain Dew I drank at Big Basin on the way back (which gave me an instant energy boost, thanks to the sugar and caffeine).
Considering that I did a century both this weekend and the previous one, and also considering that I rode the Death Ride course 3 weeks ago, I feel like I am fully prepared. This week will now just be rest for me.
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