more bike stuff

saturday i rode in a bike race that went from dolores park in san francisco to the north american handmade bicycle show in downtown san jose (about 50 miles).

72 people, most of them on fixed-gears, showed up for the race, and after the usual confusion at the start, we took off, only about 20 minutes late.

the format of the race was such that you could pick your own route to the finish, as long as you hit 3 checkpoints in between. i had agreed to ride with a group of friends, one of whom had figured out a super-sneaky, flat, and above all, fast, route out of the city.

it worked. there were only 4 guys ahead of us once we got out of the city, and they stayed there too steadily building their lead throughout the race.

our group was too widely varied in strength and experience to mount any kind of challenge to the leaders, so we concentrated on making sure that no one got ahead of us, and managed to pull that off. with about five miles to go, a group of us pulled away, hoping to avoid a messy sprint at the finish.

we avoided it all right, by getting lost, and riding an extra couple of miles, so instead of coming in 5, 6, 7, 8, we came in 8, 9, 10, 11, in a little over 3 hours.

j. also did the race (geared) got lost part of the way there, and ended up riding an extra 20 miles or so, but still finished, albeit starving and a little sore.

after stretching out our cramping quads we rode over to the bike show (the entry fee for the race also got us into the show) to drool at all the bicycles. while i was there i put down a deposit for one of these, which i should have in about 4 years, barring a huge spurt in production.

after the prizes for the race were handed out (8th was good enough for pedals, shoes, and a fleece hat that's my new favorite) we took caltrain back to the city, ordered takeout, stuffed our faces and passed out.