After a few years of attempting to break 1 hr on the long way home, we finally did it today with 59:01. It was one of the most painful things I have done in a while. We took off from work and quickly hit 24-25 MPH on the flats up to Foothill road. We climbed up Sand Hill at 16-17 or so hitting 280 in under 20 minutes. The small climb after 280 was painful, and we dropped down into Portola Road and managed to climb over the next hill before Old La Honda. By this point I was completely wrecked and had to let John pull all the way to Alpine minus 30 seconds or so. I felt bad but never apologized about not pulling as I could barely speak. John held 18 MPH the whole way which was not scorching, but was solid enough to give us a shot at the record. We dropped down Alpine at 30+ and attacked Arastradero as good as we could at maybe 16 MPH, but nothing insanely fast. The descent was fast as usual and the last small hill up Arastradero before 280 was painful. At this point we both knew we would have to get lucky to make it and never go less than 25 MPH. We cranked at 26-28 all the way down to El Camino luckily making the light at Foothill. We hit Red at El Camino and I could tell we had it in the bag at this point as long as we kept the pedal on the gas. We spun back up to 27 MPH or so to Middlefield and hit the tape at 59:01 for 21 miles. With 1000 feet of climbing and quite a few lights, it was a very painful but rewarding ride. Nice to knock one of my life goals off the list ;)
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