Pedal Pushers

Foxy's Fall Century is a popular one-day bike event that I'd never done, and this year my chief biking buddy and I signed up. Rides like these are great opportunities to see parts of California that we would otherwise likely not visit.

Davis is renowned as a big biking town, and we saw plenty of university students (and others) on the streets and trails.

We headed for the university's arboretum to stretch our legs after our long drive. Blooms are scarce this time of year, though we did pass some common yarrow and California fuschia. Nature's Gallery Court, with its colorful tiles featuring native plants and pollinators, was a lovely consolation.

The arboretum's waterway was dry (under renovation), much to the disappointment of my biking buddy, who was especially looking forward to seeing the lake.

A red flag warning (for gusty, dry winds) had been scheduled to expire on Friday night, but then was extended into Saturday evening. On the drive up we'd seen a grass fire from the freeway, to the east; that smoke wouldn't be a factor, but I did smell smoke (faintly) when we started biking on Saturday morning. That fire was closer, I learned, but contained.

Our route followed mostly rural roads, with very little traffic, past orchards and vast agricultural fields. The middle third of the ride brought us closer to some hills, with a welcome lunch stop at Lake Sonoma. Like many of our fellow riders, we perched on the curb with our sandwiches to enjoy the view.

The winds (headwinds, with occasional gusts) picked up as the day wore on. Despite that, I averaged 14 mph over the course's 62.6 miles. I'm pretty sure that's my fastest pace over such a distance (thanks to very little elevation gain—less than 1,200 feet).

Of course, several pacelines passed me like I was standing still ... but that's to be expected. Unlike so many rides these days, I wasn't passed by a single ebike—I saw only one, all day. What a joy it was to pedal with so many like-minded cyclists!