Waves to Wine 2008 MS ride recap

The Waves to Wine ride was last weekend, and it was great. I'd like to give a few statistics and then share some stories.

The ride was a success for the MS Society. They had over 2000 riders, and, as of the evening of September 13, had raised 1.325M towards their 1.5M goal; they are sure that they will reach their goal, especially as they had raised 1.41M as I write this on September 21. I've reached my fundraising goal of $12K, especially once Adobe matching funds come through. Thank you all for your support.

I rode 178.6 miles over the two days. The first day was more challenging than past years, as they added a real century (Pt. Reyes Station to Petaluma, and then back on Marshall Petaluma Road). It was a beautiful day, cool (never over 80) with a light breeze. It was a overcast until around 11:00 each day, which cut down on scenic pictures but made the day easier also. I took the trip easier than I normally do, as I only had pitching my tent awaiting me at the end of the day. I did later learn that there was Fat Tire beer and Dry Creek Zinfandel awaiting me also; If I had known this I would probably have lingered less at the rest stops.

A key metric for the first day is that I reached the second rest stop at 2 hours and 20 minutes - 14 minutes faster than I did last year. I take this as a health metric and was quite happy with this. I felt good for the rest of the ride, although, as people at Adobe can tell you, I was a bit sore for a few days afterwards.

The second day was equally wonderful. It was an easy riding day with no significant hills, cool weather, and a grape harvest in progress to add a perfumed scent to the air.

I've placed a photo album of various shots from both days of the trip up on my website.

I'll send out a printed newsletter when all the results are in a month from now. But I did want to give you an early synopsis of the weekend and to thank you again for your support.