Team Oakland represents at 40th Cinderella Ride
The Cinderella Ride, a women’s only ride sponsored by the Valley Spokeman’s Cycling Club is almost a rite of passage for any female rider in the Bay Area. “Prince Charmings” support 2500 riders with lavish food offerings, comfy sag support, if needed, and a scenic and fairly easy going route through the Tri-Valley region. Recently, the organizers have added a “Challenge” route which adds 20 miles and 2K of elevation gain that includes a climb up Patterson Pass.
I’d never ridden Patterson Pass and even though I’m not a huge fan of riding with thousands of, some not-so-experienced, riders dressed in tutus and pink boas that fly off the back of hybrid bikes, I do enjoy a good route with good food. So I said yes when my mom’s group asked me to join them on the ride late April. 
The ride sometimes has cold, rainy April weather, but we had a gorgeous sunny spring day with almost no wind. We left the Alameda County Fairgrounds and wound south through Pleasanton down Foothill Blvd. Soon into the ride there was a huge pile-up of riders trying to make an uphill left turn onto Pleasanton-Sunol Rd. Luckily everyone stayed upright as we held up traffic to move hundreds of riders through the intersection. After winding through some neighborhoods, the route headed through the flat Livermore Wine Country where I was able to open it up a bit and get away from the crowds. I thought I had a few moms on my wheel but when I looked back, I was alone. But not for long, I turned into the first rest stop at Concannon Winery and was greeted by a drone flying overhead capturing all the riders arriving through the grand estate entrance. Quite a spread of food, but we decided to eat quickly and get going out on to the Challenge route. My friend Hilary and I said goodbye to the rest of the moms hoping to meet them at the lunch stop. We headed out east on Tesla Road turning onto a gradual uphill climb on Cross Road. The right turn onto Patterson Pass quickly turned into a steep, long climb. The blue sunny skies surrounded me as I made my way up passing a few riders. It felt great to ride some new roads and I was feeling strong. As we climbed up I realized that the huge giant windmills were completely still; there really was no wind. We arrived at the top of the pass and the view was breathtaking. You could see for miles and miles. 
The downhill on the backside went on FOREVER and was a blast twisting and turning and fast. At some point I thought I had missed a turn and was all the way to Tracy, but within minutes, I saw the turn that brought us back to civilization.
The next part of the course ran through the Wente Road Race course. I ran into my old racing coach from Velo Girls, Lorri Lee Lown ,and rode with her reminiscing of our racing days together and racing that course. The climb and descent down Flynn Road was exhilarating with hardly anyone out there, cars or riders. Scored myself a 2015 QOM on strava! We road into lunch where we had just missed our friends but enjoyed quite a meal. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, sans the Lemon Drop man who passes out lemon drops on the climb on Highland Road, always a nice treat.
I wish they would change the last 20 miles as it’s a bit boring through residential neighborhoods in Dublin with a barrage of stop lights. But at the end of the day, the Cinderella Ride is a classic. Inspiring, gratifying, and enjoyable for so many women and girls riding and having fun. Good times for sure.
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