Carlos Almendárez Jr

As I get older I’ve been thinking a lot about firsts and bucket lists. On that bucket list was a century ride. For those of you not familiar with the term it is a 100 mile bike ride. I’ve been biking on and off for the last ten years and had never had a chance or ability to finish a 100 mile ride without injury or some sort of complication.

For my first century I chose the Marin Century. It was close enough where I could train for it and I have covered portions of the course at some point. While I had never done the whole course at once I had done about 75% of it in bits and pieces.


Caption (above): Figured I had to have a picture with “Big Rock”. Between the cows and big rocks that pretty much sums up Marin icons. And the Prius.


Caption (above): The Marin century was very popular. Met some very friendly people out on the ride and it was a great riding community.


Caption (above): The descents on the Marin century were awesome. Not to steep and rather long so they were fun. Not a fan of incredibly technical descents.


Caption (above): Marin County is BEAUTIFUL


Caption (above): I couldn’t have done my first century without the help of Mr. Hendrix. He helped me with nutrition and advice. He also helped to pace me so I went way faster than I normally would have. It would have taken me another hour had he not helped me.


Caption (above): Nutrition was key for this race. In the past I have not had much to eat and always ended up cramping. I stuffed my face and hydrated well during the Marin century and my body felt great. The next day I felt like nothing happened. Lesson learned: nutrition is definitely key.




Caption (above): Mr Hendrix and I at the finish. 8.5 hours later we finished the ride.


Caption (above): Race photo




Caption (above): Cool downhill shots. Too bad it has a watermark and I’m too cheap to pay $50 for a photo. Don’t really get why they are so expensive. If they were like $10-$20 I’d actually consider buying one.


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The Bay Area has so many options for weekend excursions. We went to Hog Island oyster company to say goodbye to our good friend Megan.


Caption (above): BBQ time!


Caption (above): Group photo.


Caption (above): Sofia shucks oysters for the first time


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While I love San Francisco I LOVE the sun and we took an opportunity to head down to San Diego to visit Sofia’s college friends.


Caption (above): San Diego!


Caption (above): The ladies at the entrance to the Polo match.


Caption (above): Wasn't sure what to wear for the Polo match so I dressed in caricature of what I thought people wore to polo matches. Linen pants and baby blue shirt


Caption (above): Game was actually fun to watch. Lke soccer/football except the horse does all the hard work


Caption (above): Hotel Del Coronado


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