On Saturday, October 26th, I managed to get out of the house shortly after 8am and rode to the Presidio Sports Basement in time to do a bit of stretching, fill my bottle with Powerade, and hear the required safety speech. There were definitely more people there than I’d ever ridden in a group with before (50?), and though I’ve done the Paradise Loop several times before, this was supposedly the Advanced ride so I was a little nervous of what to expect. I calmed myself with the thought that I’ve done the ride before and would be perfectly happy riding on my own.

I rode out near the end of the pack and was feeling really good. After passing what I believed to be most of the riders, by Corte Madera I found a group whose pace was similar and I started to feel like I was getting a good workout. However as soon as we hit the first hill on Paradise Drive I found my legs wanted more, jumped to the head of the group by the top, and soon was on my own. I set a great pace to Belvedere and was feeling thrilled. It was a beautiful, clear, warm morning. There was the usual crowd at Cafe Acri, but not knowing anyone I filled up my bottle from the water fountain and headed for home.

Leaving Belvedere I forgot to restart my bike computer. I always do that when I stop. I should really just let the auto-pause do it’s work and not manually stop the timer.

Along the way out and back I saw several cyclists getting tickets from local police. On the way out we passed a team in training who had all apperently received $150 fines for riding out of the bike lane! As a cautious rider I didn’t feel like I was at risk but after seeing these incidents I followed my understanding of the law to a T.

The climb out of Sausalito was the easiest it’s ever been for me. I guess a Summer climbing Tam paid off!

I arrived back at the Sport Basement at 11:30; 2.5 hours was exactly what I estimated the ride would take. I would have headed straight home from the GG bridge, but the event organizers wanted us to sign in so they could tell who might still be out on the route in need of help. There were two shaded tables; one on either side of the parking lot entrance, and as I rolled up to the one on the right the volunteer asked if I was there to participate in the ride. I could see a group of riders stretching in a circle and guessed that this was the beginner group warming up before their ride. I was proud to say that I had just finished the Advanced ride and needed to sign in. When he handed me the clip-board I found it blank, and filled in my name at the top!

It could be that there were other sign-in forms completed and I just got the first slot on an empty page, and there was the other table, and of course I didn’t stop for long in Belvedere either, but it made me feel good to think that I might have made it back first. I don’t kid myself that I’m a strong rider (how many times have I struggled to keep up with a group of 50-somethings over Tam and back?) but these small accomplishments, evidence of improvement, provide inspiration and courage which I can draw on for other challenges in my life.