The Great Change: Turning Cathy into a Lawyer

Well, the moment finally came that I'd been dreading - the two Huey Lewis and the News concerts scheduled for this past weekend. Were they going to be the social train wreck the last ones were? Was I going to end up in tears again?

Actually, it was fine. Well, at Friday's show I melted down a little bit when I got there because I was overwhelmed with anxiety from not knowing how it would be, but as the evening went on I felt better. It was a good show, I had great seats, and I generally felt comfortable there.

But just in case it was going to be a self-esteem crushing vortex again, I had come up with some insurance for the Saturday show: I decided I would bike there. Then, no matter what happened or how people treated me, I would still have something to say for myself - a tangible accomplishment I could hold onto.

So let's take a moment to talk about all the things that could go wrong with this plan:

• It was far. Farther than I'd ever biked before, and almost more miles than I've biked the last three years combined.
• It was on roads I'd never been on before with hills I'd never seen, much less climbed.
• I had stayed out too late the night before, and hadn't eaten well either.
• My bike needs a cleaning and tuning, and I can barely change a flat.

But this was my plan, dammit, and I was sticking to it. To be fair, I wasn't entirely unprepared. I had plenty of maps, plenty of Gatorade and water, lots of peanut butter sandwiches and carrots and other snacks. I also had planned my route and come up with a workable plan for getting home after the show. So off I went.

And almost immediately encountered enormous hills, the labyrinth and cryptic under-labeled streets of San Francisco, more hills, still more hills, and then an irritating downhill that lost lots of the altitude that I'd worked so hard to attain. And that was only in the first 20 miles...

There were some nice spots though, like the trails along the reservoirs in the San Andreas fault. Shimmering waters, deer munching leaves by the trailside... As I rode past I thought to myself, "I earned this." Of course, I still had 30 more miles to earn...

Eventually (eventually...) the trails gave way to the traffic of Cupertino, which wasn't really such a great trade. And then I was on the final climb, which I kind of bonked on. I've made it up before, but not after 62 miles. In fact, I've never ridden anywhere close to 62 miles before. So I walked about .2 of a mile of the 62.8 total. But then there I was, at the top, with only the private drive up to the venue ahead of me. Which cyclists are prohibited from. So I did something I've never done before: I hitchhiked. Normally, of course, that's not something I'd do. But this was a one lane road that only had one destination - it hardly seemed likely that some passing lunatic who just happened to be going to a Huey Lewis concert would pick me up.

I didn't bother sticking my thumb out when the sedans drove past, but it was interesting that none of the gigantic SUV drivers were interested in having a stranger invade their automotive bubble. The pick-up drivers, on the other hand, seemed to delight in the fact that they could be helpful, and so I got a ride up with one of them. Which was very nice, albeit a little awkward when a sheriff's officer directing traffic at the top demanded to know how long I'd been riding in the back like that...

But all in all, my plan was a success. I made it all the way, had enough energy left to dance with (which helped keep me from getting stiff), and generally had a nice time. Plus I saved the $10 parking fee...