I had a fantastic day.

I rode all day with Willy Nevin, who basically pulled me along for
190 miles and helped me with a flat that I had on the return before
Nicasio. I am very grateful. We has a significant headwind heading
north and then along River road, but the flowers were gorgeous, the
hills were luscious, and the vineyards beautiful. It was an
absolutely beautiful ride.

Throughout the ride, we kept being passed and then passing Carlos,
Bruce, Rob et al, who were clearly faster but taking longer breaks.
I started the ride with Jason Pierce and Aaron Brownlee, two friends
from the Oakland Yellowjackets, but ended up passing them on Camino
Alto, when Jason yelled out to Aaron to back off and conserve energy
for the ride. I was pleased that they were going to back off early,
since this was their first brevet. I had not realized that Saturday
was Jason Pierce's only second ride ever over 80 miles. His first
being a flatish 120 miler last September. By all accounts he
finished feeling well and I am really impressed, though I do think
that he is a tad nuts.

The ride down the coast on HWY1 was a slice of heaven. Highway one
had beautiful green hills, birds flying overhead, crashing waves,
cows, sheep, frolicking lambs and the hand of god pushing you down
the coast. My face hurt from smiling.

I was bonking a little as we rode into Marshall. I had miscalculated
how long the leg from the second control to the Marshall store was
and we should have probably stopped before Marshall. That stretch
was the longest stretch I have ever done without a proper stop and I
was a bit tired when we got to Marshall, but I felt much better after
some juice and a snickers.

The tailwind made the ride back to the bridge much easier than I
remember it from my last brevets. We were caught by Phil, the 200k
latern rouge and then we caught up with Alan during the roll thought
the little towns, which made for a nice group to finish with. Phil
did not have 5 flats and a broken chain and managed to complete the
300k in a time about an hour longer than his 200k.

I felt tired but ok until the very finish. At the statue, I stated
feeling quite unwell, nauseated and faint, but I felt much better
after some food and water. Joanne, Mark, and Alfie were at the end,
congratulating everyone and Jason (my husband, not Jason Pierce) was
waiting with warm clothes for me. Saturday's ride was my longest on
my single bike (ie not on a tandem), though I have done a couple of
long rides on the tandem. I want to thank all the volunteers and Rob
Hawks for putting on a great ride and I want to especially thank
Willy for being such a good riding partner.

LisaMc