Kamal is a Liar

Saturday 4/22 – Kamal is a liar. Or a great omitter. At his urging of it being a "fantastic ride," I signed up several weeks ago to ride the “Top Hat Classic” – a 75 mile ride in the East Bay in support of the MS Society. I was psyched to do this, because of course I thought I’d be on my new bike (still not in....so back onto old Tom the Purple Bike I went). My grandma had MS for 50 years before she died in 2004, so I was also glad to do it in support of the cause (I’ll add I had to donate $100 to do this, too). Unfortunately to be in Pleasanton between 6:30 and 7 am, you have to leave the house at FIVE THIRTY AM. This is not ok. The paper has not been delivered, all of the street lights are still flashing, etc etc. However, trusty Starbucks was open.

Victoria picked me up, we loaded the car, got coffee, and headed over to Pleasanton. I was looking forward to a casual day of riding, figuring that at 15 mph it would take us five hours to complete. Alas…this was my first mistake. (Actually the first mistake was not reading about the course when I signed up!). We ran into Kamal in the parking lot, where he casually mentioned that the course covered 6100 feet of climbing. Um, excuse me? (as comparison, Ironman Canada covers 4,300 feet over 112 miles, and Ironman USA covers - I have no idea but need to find out because it's a lot - feet over 112 miles.) 6,100 feet is a lot no matter the distance, but it’s a tremendous amount over the shortened miles, and being on the stupid (heavy!!) old bike did not help matters.

We were already geared up, and there, so there was nothing left to do but ride. We set out at 7:30, me still clinging to the hope we’d be done in 5 hours so I could go home and attend to packing and whatever else I need to do for my move. Ahhh. Yeah, no.

We climbed every hill there is to climb in the East Bay, sans Mount Diablo. Happy Valley, Three Bears, Pig Farm – all of them. We climbed many more whose names I don’t even know. We rode through every freaking town in the East Bay - Pleasanton all the way up to Martinez and back (if you don't know what this means, look on a map. It is a LONG WAY!!!!)

Victoria and I hung together all day, which was awesome - it was great to have someone to talk with, and it made the time pass much more quickly. Near the end, we rode right past her parents' home, so her mom and dad and doggy came down to say hello. The aid stations were plentiful - every 10-13 miles, which seemed somewhat excessive, but nice to have, particularly since for some reason I'd only brought enough Perpetuem for four hours (1000 cal). The "lunch" station had some scary grey-meat sandwiches, but also had Ruffles, woo, so I ate some scary sandwich and chips to get the calories up, and felt better.

We finished about 2 (total ride time, 5:50, total lollygagging, 1:10). Supposed to then run for 30 minutes, but we both decided to put on flip flops and get some food. Kamal cruised in a few minutes later and chided us both for not running, but neither of us budged.

Home 11 hours after I left - 4 p.m. No energy for packing, or painting. Oops.

Sunday 4/23
Supposed to swim 30 minutes in open water, then run 75 minutes. Despite my best intentions, I didn't do either. I did prime, then paint, my new bedroom (Gallery Taupe worked out after all, yeah), and packed a few boxes. There were many hiccups along the way, and two fairly hysterical/tearful calls to my mom, but I'll spare you!