Sunny South Bay Ride with the Velo Girls

The Velo Girls that made it to the inaugural Sunny South Bay Ride were Sheri, Leisa, me and Deb (pictured from left above). I tell ya, we had a good ride.

The day started out very cold...very...cold. Once we got going and in the sun on Santa Teresa, it started to become bearable. We made it to our first climb - Bernal - and rode all the way up to the Upper Gate. On the way, we noticed the trees along the bike lane were trimmed back and met the man that actually volunteers to do it. You heard right, nobody asks him to do this, he just does it because he's a good samaritan. His name is John and this is what he looks like ---->

He's been doing it for the last 5 years and as we rode off we thanked him for keeping our bike lane clear. while we were screaming downhill. I topped out at 37 mph and sure that the other girls were around there too. Leisa cross-chained at the top of the hill, but got it sorted out and also had a very satisfying downhill.

We then rode out to Bailey Ave and went up and over while Sheri had to take a phone call from work. Work has a way of getting in the middle of fun sometimes. We re-grouped and headed out towards Buffalo Hill.....up and over that one too...do you see a trend here? We rode out to Oak Glen for the turnaround, at which point we were at 20 miles.

Once on Uvas Road, we climbed back over Buffalo Hill into some fierce headwinds. They are really strong in that area of the south bay. But a challenging course is what makes you a better rider, right? That's what I am telling myself anyway:)

At the Los Alamitos Creek Trail, we parted ways with Deb because she wanted to stay on road and get back to the starting point to get some things done for the day. As for the rest of us, we continued on the bike path for a perfect nice-and-easy end to a really great ride. 32 miles of sunshine, hills, new friends and fun. What could be better?

Be on the lookout for future Sunny South Bay Rides. The plan is to get a bi-weekly schedule going, but it may be a bit sketchy until after the holidays. I know how important it is to work off all of the holiday food we'll be stuffing in our faces. So if you're up for it, so am I! We'll change up the course for each ride as there are plenty of routes to choose from down here in the Sunny South Bay;)