Last Saturday ranked as one of my happiest days of summer.  Everything about it was ideal.  When I started spending more time on my bike this spring, I had the goal of riding to Pescadero and back before the end of summer.  Last Saturday was the day I achieved my goal!  This may not seem like much of a goal (especially when I used to do it nearly every weekend when I was single), but after four years of very limited exercise, it was a long road back.   

 My awesome friend Jenn joined me on my ride.  We drove to Palo Alto and then headed over the hill to Pescadero.  We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.  As we were curving through the trees on Pescadero Creek road and feeling strong, I was overcome with joy.  The ride to Pescadero is my favorite ride in the Bay Area and it felt so wonderful to finally be doing it again.  We made the traditional stop at Harley Farms for goat cheese and on our way out we bumped into one of my favorite families - the Wilsons.  It made the day all the sweeter!   With goat cheese in hand we stopped at Arcangeli Market for drinks and artichoke bread.  The bread was HOT out of the oven and full of artichokes.  We rolled out back to the picnic tables to enjoy the warm sunshine and the live music from Pescadero's "Fun Fest" that happened to be going on that day.    It was truly perfect!

With full and very content bellies we rode back to Palo Alto.  I was surprised that despite the 5,300 feet of climbing my legs still felt pretty good!  Progress is satisfying isn't it?  We rewarded ourselves with a few scoops of ice cream from Lee and my favorite place in PA, Tin Pot, before we headed home.    The day was as good as it gets and I was grateful for Jenn's ironman training that inspired me to get stronger on my bike again!

(I also tested out the GoPro adapter and captured all sorts of descending!  One day we'll turn it in an abbreviated video....)