bonnie & jason

Davis Livestrong Century

Eric and I rode our first century, a Livestrong event up in Davis. I had been trying to increase my mileage slowly over the last couple months with little success given some knee pain and a bunch of family activities. Then Eric sends me the link to this ride 10 days in advance and we decide to go for it. After all, we had been talking about doing a century for at least a couple years. It was a pretty flat course, so I figured I could muddle my way through it. Anyway, after feeling pretty good after both a 20 mile and 40 mile training ride, the day was suddenly upon us.

The ride started at 7:30 AM so in order to get up there in time to register, get ready, etc, we had to leave at 4:15. Here’s the bike in the pre-dawn darkness while I wait for Eric:

By the time we get registered and lined up (and fix the flat Eric discovered while loading up) the sun is up and we are raring to go after a nice little pep talk by Lance Armstrong himself:

Soon thereafter, we and the other 1500 or so riders were off and riding. Before too long, we’re into the hilly part of the course and Eric is nice enough to beat me up the mountain by more minutes than I care to admit and take a few pics of my struggles.

As it turns out, I got a flat myself after about 3/4 of this first climb. I was able to re-inflate enough to ride to the next rest stop though and have the techs fix me up with a new tube.

Before too long, after a PB&J, we were back on the road again:

As you may have noticed by now, Eric was riding comfortably throughout the day given he’s in so much better shape than I am. So much so that he was able to take a few scenic shots along the way. Here’s the Lake Berryessa Dam:

Unfortunately for me, they changed the course on us and we ended up having to do quite a bit more climbing than I had originally bargained for. Even worse, I didn’t know until after we had completed all the climbing that was on the original course. So after preparing to go downhill for the last 40 miles, I had to switch gears (mentally and literally) and grind it out. Looking back, it wasn’t that big a deal, but in the moment, I was cursing the event organizers.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful with one exception. After 100 miles and 5 miles to go, I got too close to Eric’s rear wheel and ended up taking a header into the ditch on the side of the road. Dinged up my right side pretty good but got up and finished the ride. The medical tent folks patched me up:

Unfortunately, my helmet didn’t make it out alive:

You can’t tell from the picture, but it’s cracked in about four places. It did it’s job though as my head was none the worse for wear. My arm on the other hand…

Not pretty. Still healing up now, 11 days later but it’ll be fine. All in all, a great experience and another bucket list item to mark done!

A Few Random Photos – School + Dresses

We picked up Alissa with the babies in tow yesterday and took a few pictures before recess ended.

Amanda and Ashley will love preschool:

Gabe on the trike:

Nicholas keeping up:

Also, here are a few pictures of the girls in some dresses Bonnie made:

San Francisco Zoo – Taking advantage of another free day

We took advantage of the free first Wednesday of the month feature at the SF Zoo again today. As is often the case in the Sunset in the summer, it was overcast and a bit chilly. Nothing a bit of bundling up couldn’t take care of.

Ashley thinking something critical about the penguins:

This hippo was huge and kept showing off how big it could open it’s mouth. I wasn’t in position to capture it unfortunately.

Hanging out with grandma:

Kinda depressing chimp:

But super cute koalas:

And prarie dogs:

And meerkats:

Surprisingly, the kids were not scared to pet the animals in the Children’s Zoo:

I always like to watch the gorillas:

Ashley isn’t super impressed: