After a week of cold & wet
(basically nasty) weather, things finally got a bit better on
Saturday and, by Sunday, we had a near-perfect day for the
Primavera Century, one of the better-run 100 mile events in the
East Bay. The Fremont Freewheels put on a great show!
A bit cold at the start (51 degrees) but warmed up to a perfect
mid-60s soon after.
Some people talk about personal service, we
deliver! This is Dick Kiser from our Redwood City store,
helping out a new 5200 customer (Helena) with Sunscreen.
It's all about the food, isn't it? Fremont
Freewheelers put on a great spread, with all manner of different
breads, cookies, bagels, fruit and drinks. It seemed like
you were never far from a rest stop, either.
That's Brian from our Redwood City store with
Natasha, another one of our customers. They (our
customers) were everywhere!
The ride begins with flat (boring) stuff through
Fremont & Niles, and then hits the interesting stuff.
Steep? Yeah. But not so bad in the morning.
Calaveras Road is twisty, scenic and fun!
Rolling into the second rest stop.
The first half of the ride was awesome in terms
of roads & scenery. The second half? Quite a bit
of congested streets in the Sunol-Walnut Creek area. Not
here, though!
Why show a picture of Lori, a customer in our Los
Altos store? Because we rode a fair amount with her and she
asked if Brian Krause and I were twins. That was
interesting. Brian's in his early-30s, I'm 45...
Beautiful, mid-length climbs in the
hills of the East Bay skyline. On the right we find Lori,
the Cofidis rider, shedding her jersey as the climb went on. I
warned her that she might get fined by Cofidis team management for
not wearing her jersey when she crossed the finishing line...
Why lay your bike on the ground? If you're
riding with a friend, just prop them up against each other, front
to back. Works great! Nobody else was doing this until
they saw our bikes. Maybe we started something?
Last but absolutely, certainly, positively not
least is the climb up Palomares Canyon. OUCH! Earlier in the
ride it probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but it was pretty
slow going around mile 80.
And the famous feast at the end. Great food, great
support, lots of sag wagons, and they even arranged for great
weather (also, great support from local HAM radio operators). I'd give the Fremont Freewheelers a 9 out of 10 for
this event. The only thing that would have made it better would be
less congested roads in some parts. --Mike--
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