Cinderella metric century (65 miles)

On Saturday I completed the Cinderella metric century for the third time in as many years. This is a great women-only event sponsored by the Valley Spokesmen bicycle club of Dublin (California, not Ireland). They’ve been putting on this annual ride through Pleasanton and the Livermore Valley for more than 30 years and people really get into the spirit of it. Lots of the cyclists dress up in tutus and tiaras or other costumes. One woman who was riding around my pace the whole day was wearing a Wonder Woman outfit. Good times.

The event begins and ends in Pleasanton, and follows a counter-clockwise loop through the Livermore valley wine country and along the southern foothills of the Diablo/Morgan territory area. It’s a relatively easy route, with only two sections where you have to work: a gradual climb up Cross Road and then a 10 mile stretch of gusty headwinds. But after that section, the final 20 miles are more or less downhill.

The weather in the morning was on the cool side with overcast skies, but I felt good right out of the gates, and only stopped briefly at the first rest stop (at mile 17) to top off my water bottles. I had an early lunch at the main rest stop (mile 30, at 10:40am) and only stopped at the final rest stop for about 5 minutes, so I was able to complete the course rather quickly.

Because the route is pretty easy, I wanted to challenge myself by trying to improve my ride time from last year, which was about 5 hours (actual time in the saddle). I pushed myself a bit on the Cross Road climb and on the headwind section, and figured I was going faster than 75% of the riders on the course without going all out. I clocked my total time in motion at 4 hours and 38 minutes, so I was able to improve on last year’s time quite a bit.


Event begin and end: 8:10am – 1:40pm

Total Distance: 65 miles
Elevation gain: about 1700 feet
Time in the Saddle: 4 hours 38 minutes
Route map (on bikely.com): Cinderella route