Day 4: Livermore to Fairfield; 83 miles, give or take a few
 On the Road - Taken while riding on the road just outside of Livermore, on the way to Fairfield. Day 4 is definitely the hump day of the tour, with a long, mostly flat and grinding ride, with very little visual interest. The huge patch of road rash on my right hip didn't help matters. OK, today was a struggle. First, it was quite hot. Second, whether I can really pin it down, I am quite likely feeling some residual effects from my crash yesterday, tho' I don't feel like it's affecting my riding that much. I am tired, but still feel as if I'm riding well, tho maybe a bit slower. In fact, the riding has been perhaps the most enjoyable part of the trip. I think there are just fewer things to worry about. I know I'm stressing over some things ' like getting up early and having everything ready because we have to vacate a church yard by 7 a.m. or whatever - far more than I need to or should. I know at the least, I'll enjoy next year's tour a bit more, if only because I'll know what to expect and will plan accordingly. So, about the ride. It was actually kinda boring. We "jets" didn't ride Mt. Diablo today, tho a small group of other riders did. There was an event/press conference at the small apricot farm in Brentwood owned and operated by tour rider Dick Vermeer. Dick is a great guy. He uses a large, wheeled trash can for his luggage. The first night more than one person used it for its more normal purpose. I'm sure this happens a bit more than he'd like it to. Anyway, we missed the press conference. Roberto, Ken, Peter and I were riding together and simply forgot about the turn and had gone several miles past before we realized what had happened. Hence the "give or take a few miles" reference. My guess is that the day was closer to 88 or 90 miles. This is the flattest route of the week, but usually includes a stiff northerly headwind for its entirety. I say normally because this year we were spared. There was still a breeze, but it rarely seemed more than 10 mph, and often was welcome, given the heat. There weren't too many highlights to the first half of the day. After getting dropped by Ken and Pete after the Antioch bridge, Roberto, Ricco (Rick) Polito and I worked a pretty strong paceline to the lunch stop in Rio Vista. About the only interesting thing that happened was me losing a sprint to the Solano County Line to Roberto, who essentially hung back on my wheel then went out when I had nothing left in my legs. A quick note: apparently (and I learned this from riding with my friend Mitch back in K.C., to whom I always lost the sprints), it's a tradition, or at least a common practice during training rides to race for "points" at city or county limits signs. This obviously took a few days to kick in, but it added a bit of interest to an o therwise boring day in the saddle. Unfortunately, Ricco and I lost Ken, Pete, Roberto and Henry not long after the lunch stop. So we did our own little pace line - more like a pace hyphen - and worked as best we could, especially the last 20 miles. I thumped Ricco in the sprint for the Suison City city limits sign because he was in a bit of difficulty. But we made a pit stop shortly thereafter and he felt better. We then had a nice little sprint to the Fairfield city limits sign, which I won by about half a bike length. But mostly I just felt drained today once the ride was over. The shower afterward kinda sucked because the water kills my road rash, especially the huge patch on my right hip. I'm applying dressings as well as possible. And I spent another $50 on medical supplies at Long's this evening. That should be enough to, uh, keep me covered for the rest of the tour. But now it's time for me to crash. Sorry for the sporadic nature of these entries. Phone lines aren't too easily accessible, so I'm not sure when you'll get this. Keep checking www.greenbelt.org for daily tour photos tho'. And look for Giovanni Pantani, Il Pirate Grande, summiting Mt. Hamilton. Ciao! Go to Day 5: Fairfield to Santa Rosa; 64 miles 
Return to Notes |