The last time I did the Chico Wildflower Century was in 1993 right after I moved down to the bay area from Oregon. I didn't have the fitness that year and, as a result, did not finish the century. I got about 40 miles into it and gave up. This year I hope to do way better
I drove to Chico on Saturday afternoon and took both bikes because I didn't know what the weather was suppose to be like - actually I did, every weather forecast said it was an 80% chance of rain... not showers but rain! Most likely, I'd ride my Specialized so that I could keep my Madone out of the road grime that comes with wet riding.
When I got to Chico, I picked up my daughter Megan from the dorms and we drove a few errands around town. She showed me the apartments that she would be renting next year for school - they were really nice and the apt itself, looked like a 2 story condo. Megan is really excited and introduced me to her two roomates she would be living with next year. The whole time we are driving around, it is pouring down rain. Tomorrow looks like it is going to be wet :-) We picked up my college roommate, Ric Olsen, who works as a pharmacist at the Chico Hospital. He has been living in Chico for a 15 years now and really likes it (except the heat of summer :-) Megan, Ric and Diane (Ric's SO) and I went out to dinner at Frankie's - it is a very good Italian restaurant in town. As I sat in inside and ate, I was watching it rain buckets out the window. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. We dropped Megan off at the dorms and I spent the night at Ric's house.
The next morning it was still sprinkling but not too bad and I thought this was OK to start the Chico century but I'm make sure I took a raincoat just in case. I ate breakfast, said thank you and good bye to Ric and took off for the fairgrounds. Once there I dawned my bike gear, loaded up my back pockets with food slipped on my raincoat, got my Specialized Tarmac down off the car, set the computer and took off for the start of the ride.
I rolled out around 7:50am Sunday morning.
more coming soon.....
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