The Tiburon (aka Paradise) Loop - FINALLY!

Today I finally rode the Tiburon or Paradise Loop as it is sometimes known. It is similar to the official ALC kick-off training ride I did in late October. Except that ride was 20 miles. Today's was 37 and a good bit hillier! My friend Liz was my companion and guide today and we parked at the Presidio Sports Basement. We rode up some hills (right off the bat, dammit), across the Golden Gate Bridge, down through Sausalito, just a smidge through Mill Valley then a gorgeous loop up and around Tiburon, then back through Mill Valley, doubling back all the way through Sausalito, across the bridge and back to the car.

The loop was a challenge. The hills in and around Tiburon are no joke. But I got a second wind somewhere there and kicked it into high gear and took the rolling hills in a higher gear and basically put on my racing mindset and I kicked some major ass. I felt so good when my wind ran out I found myself yelling at the top of my lungs. I think mostly out of disbelief that I'm on this journey at all.

I began my fundraising efforts in earnest yesterday by emailing everyone in my new firm, requesting donations and citing that if they want an additional last-minute deduction from their 2007 income, to go ahead and donate before 12/31/07. I sent out a short note and also included my rider recap from my roadie experience in 2007 on ALC6. Re-reading my letter brought those familiar goosebumps to my skin and I felt awash in the beauty that I took from that experience. And today, I wore my parking cone orange ALC windbreaker (it was freaking COLD) and when we stopped for coffee before climbing back out of Sausalito, I met some guys who were on the ride last year. It's always nice to meet kindred ALC spirits. :)

At this point I'm rambling and my legs are pretty damned tired. But the hills out of Saus are tough. There are sort of 2 natural resting spots in the midst of 3 "portions" of the climb to the bridge. The first time I did this route, I stopped at each of those spots to regroup before climbing higher. But today - I didn't stop once. I took the entire ride in stride. And no, it wasn't fun. It actually was quite a bitch. And my legs HURT. But I did it. My body and my mind continually surprise me in pleasant ways by showing just how it responds no matter how far I push it.

And something really cool - I maxed out at 29.0 mph on some down-straights. When you're on a bike, that's pretty damned fast and both exhilarating and scary at the same time.

Here's the gist of the route we took. It's really wind-y (as in curvey not lots of wind) and covers too much terrain to get in really close, but it's directionally correct. The squigglies in the upper right corner afforded some ridiculous views.



Day - Saturday, 12/1
Ride Type - On-Road Training
Ride Distance - 37.0 miles
Ride Length - 2:55:29
Avg Speed - 12.7 mph
Avg Cadence - 81
Avg Heart Rate - 148
Time in zone - 01:44:11
Time above zone - 1:00:15
Calories burned - 2512
Total Training Distance To-Date: 352.6 miles