Inna-gadda-da-something

A tale of many hills, and some trail mix, and a ride well equipped with medical staff posing as riders. Or something like that.

Saturday was an impromptu 'Low Hills' ride. Which means not too much total altitude, lots o' pain. It also had some unplanned excitement. I will elaborate.

The ride featured a number of short but steep hills, of which the first was Altamont. Altamont has both steepness and climbing right before it, which adds to the challenge. It was also a lot prettier last year, when it was lined with huge eucalyptus trees. They seem to have cut them all done. Safety, I guess, but it does look so sad now. Also, unlike last week, I lost my bike computer a total of zero times. This is a decided improvement.

Anyhow, at the top of Altamont, one of the riders, Adrienne, was feeling pretty bad, and it turned that we had both a retired cardiologist and a cardiology nurse on the ride. The whole group accumulated at the top of Altamont while discussion went on. A borrowed heart rate monitor showed that her heart rate was very high - 220 for a brief time! The group stayed at the top of the hill for some time trying to figure out what to do, and after it was clear that her heartrate wasn't going right back to normal it was decided that she needed to go get checked out at a hospital. Mark, another rider, volunteered to go back to get his car and drive her to the hospital. Meanwhile she felt better enough to stand up and give out some Clif Shot Blocks.
Finally Mark arrived and they went off to the hospital, or so we thought, and the group continued.

The group en-masse quietly skipped the optional climb up Golden Oak (aw) opting to leave that pain for another day, I guess, and shortly after we regrouped at Alpine and Portola, a truck pulled up, and out came Mark with his bike. Apparently Adrienne was going to drive herself to the hospital, which seems a little unusual, but whatever.

After that we climbed Westridge from the Portola side (not nearly as bad as from Alpine, I can say) and I actually (dare I say this?) felt - strong. Which is kinda nice. The pics I took show a bunch of riders in front of me, but I stood up after that and spun past them. Just to see if I could. 'Twas nice. Westridge got the group strung out enough that by the time I went down Portola, I had no real certainty that I was actually with them anymore. No one in front, no one behind. By sheer luck and guesswork (not enough route sheets, so I didn't know the route) I made my way to the Woodside General Store, and there found the regroup point.

Later we were going up Canada, and noticed a motorcycle cop appear across the road and flash his lights to pull over a cyclist going the other way. Apparently the periodic stop of cyclist running across the top of the T with Jefferson was going on. I stayed with the small subgroup who turned off to climb Godetia, and at the top a very nice :) young lady who was driving by stopped to warn us about the cop below who was stopping cyclists. Proof that not all the Woodside motorists are hostile.

Anyhow, rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, and the Lakeside climb was rewarded with a nice view.

Oh, and on my way to the ride start In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was playing (no idea when I've heard that last) so it was going through my head the whole time.

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