County Line Jamboree

Sun Setting
Originally uploaded by babageik

This weekend marked an interesting couple of anniversaries for me-my second County LIne SS race/ride and (because it fell on the same date as Jamboree last year-2/14) the (almost) anniversary of Cari letting me know she was officially done.

So what better way to celebrate than to suffer like a dog while taking in incredible beauty, spending time with great friends and generally acknowledging that life has (and always will) go on.

My friend Peter and I headed down to CVC Friday night, hooked up with Johnoss and then moseyed to his cabin in Aptos. Got there and proceeded to head out and do a little (too much it seems) drinking.

Got back from some stellar dive bars in Sea Cliff (The Mediterranean and The Windjammer) around 2:30 in the morning---to prep for the 1PM start saturday.

The County Line is a Single Speed adventure, in it's 10th year, put on my Rick Hunter. It's PAINFUL. 36 or so miles long. The ride starts at the northern end of Santa Cruz and Goes to Watsonville.

The kicker?
Well you're on a single speed for one.
10 miles are on road-HWY 1 to be exact.
The next 13 or so miles are on RR Tracks and the gravel alongside.
The final 13 or so miles are all on the beach/sand.

I'm not too strong and the night drinking did no better to me.
Neither did the stop at one of the "rest-stops" for a tecate.
Neither did a 30 minute or so stop at Seabright Brewery to meet an friend I hadn't seen in 10 years-for a beer.

I knew I was screwed (but the stop was not only necessary, but worth it). I saw no other riders from that point on. Pretty sure I was last. Tried calling everyone I was with to let them know I was quitting. No answers, so I kept riding.

Mile 30, I was really close to cooked. Sun was almost down. Curtis egged me on, so I pushed through last 6 or so miles.

My friends were kind enough to wait (up to 2 hours I heard) for me to finish-of course not without a shit-load of good-natured grief.

Headed back to Rick's old shop for some BBQ and conversation. Good times.

Then back to Aptos for some Thai food and then hit the road for the 2.5 hour drive home.

Long day kept my thoughts scrambled enough to see the beauty in EVERYTHING.

Anyway, here's to bikes, friends and 2009 and beyond...