I have known about a local cycling group, Fremont Freewheelers for a while. I have read up on them and even talked with a few people that are members. Introducing myself, BY myself, to an established group of cyclists was not something I was dying to do. But, I prepared myself to do just that, this morning. The Tuesday morning group ride meets at 9:00 a.m., less than a mile from my house. I checked the schedule last night to make sure the ride was still on their schedule, and it was. There is nothing saying "rain or threat of rain cancels" for this particular ride. Some say this and some rides say "rain or shine". We had rain here during the night but when I woke up at 7:30, the sky was clear and it was no longer raining.
So, I get ready and ride over to the parking lot, arriving at 8:52. This is what I see:
No cars. No people. Just the smell of KFC cooking across the street. I'm early though, so I do a couple of circles and then pick a curb to stop against. I coast on over to the curb and FORGET I'M CLIPPED IN TO MY PEDALS!! You guessed it - down I went! Tip over #2 for me. F&#*! Right down onto the wet pavement. Alright, it's at this particular moment, I am absolutely thrilled there were no cars and no people. GAH! I waited until 9:08 before heading out by myself. After a couple of miles, I turned around and went back to the parking lot, just to see if maybe they were very late. Nope. Still nobody there.That's okay. I hit the road for a 25 mile ride, solo. When I got home I sent an email to the president of the cycling group to find out what happened. By the way, it's still not raining as I type this,
Yesterday was a much happier day. When I woke up, I knew I wanted to go for a run. I gathered up my ever so faithful running companion, Boomer and headed to the Alameda Creek Trail for a 60 minute run. I wanted to park at the beginning of the trail this time, just for a change of scenery. As I was driving up Mission I thought, wonder how Garin is today? Even though I had my road running shoes on, I figured what the heck! I kept driving up Mission to the Garin parking lot. Oh, I was so happy to be running there. THIS is "how Garin was" yesterday.
I stayed on a main road that was mostly gravel and turned around when it got too muddy for the road shoes to handle. I got three miles in instead of the 5.5 I was originally thinking. Just being able to run there, with the hills so green, the air so cool and the creek flowing by. It did so much for my soul. I couldn't stop smiling and feeling so grateful for this gem of a park so close to my house. Until later.............
18 comments:
so did you ever find out why they didn't show up? is there an email list you can join? that sucks.
most of my riding is done alone because my work schedule is different than most.
Good job on getting the ride in even though you were alone...and that sounds like an amazing run!
Hope you get a response back from the club pres to find out what happened and that you can ride with them! Sucks that you fell!! Glad you didn't get hurt!
Oh JoLynn, those pics of Garin bring back such great memories, I can almost smell the freshness!!! Ahhhhh!
...at least you and Ellen showed up. wow, the photos are beautiful!
Hey you brought the game and no one showed? It' your rep arriving before you!
Although it could be argued that it was a good thing no one was there if you're gonna fall over and stuff!
Bummer on the cycling group! Hopefully you'll catch up with them soon.
Thanks for ll the cool pics too! If I lived in your areas I would be taking up trail running for sure!
I can't believe the group organizer didn't even show up!!! I hope you get a response!
So sorry you fell! I am so afraid of clips that I haven't tried them!
Awesome running day - so jealous! We need to make a Saturday date and go together :)
The other local bike riding group is the Tricity Triathlon club, but they quit sending out notices recently. Either that or they purged me from the email distribution!
Did you hear back from the president of the group? Why weren't they there? I love a good cliff hanger!
Those pictures are beautiful! Nice that you have all the green!! I am jealous. It's all white all the time here! Okay, it will eventually melt.
Hi-I just popped in from Mel's 2nd chances blog. You have fantastic pictures! That trail looks quite inviting.
i cant get enough of the bright green hills this time of year - they are just soooo beautiful!!
i hope that group thing was just a fluke!
I hope that the "no show" doesn't discourage you from trying again...if these rides are anything like any of the group rides that I have done with our local clubs and with the Western Wheelman in the SF Peninsula, you will have a great time. You may want to call the ride leader the day or two beforehand to confirm the ride and also check to see what avg speed(s) the group(s) ride(s) at (that's of course if it's not already be listed on the schedule). Sorry you weren't able to meet and run the Woodside event...on the other hand, it's probably better that you didn't because of the rain and MUD...can't believe they had 100 50k finishers!! Hope to see you sometime at one of these, Ann
I could read your blog, just for the pictures. I wish i could "see" like you do and then take pictures of it.
your posts are like a mini vacay for me. I love your photo's, thanks!
But like Judi, did you find out why no one was there?
Bummer!
In spite of everything (no running club peeps & falling) it looks like you went through some gorgeous areas! The pictures are breathtaking.
Way to suck it up and go for the solo ride. The pictures were great too! I'm dreaming of a place with no snow.
I had a no show week last week I arrived for a 930am ride, only to find out it was a 9:00 ride...I still did a long ride....
I saw a good quote the other day....If you organise a "twitter ride" and nobody shows...is it still a twitter ride?
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