It was a cold and late start for Derek's birthday ride. We waited 20 extra minutes for his friend Gavin to show up before rolling without him. He caught up to us at Stevens Canyon and Mt. Eden where we stopped for a snack. I got to catch up with Suzanne and hear Zoe's crazy Mt. Lemon proposal/engagement story. There were 15 people on the ride but more than half the group split off, including Gavin, to go home when we got to Saratoga Gap. That left 7 of us to do the full ride. I did a much better job with clothing today than last weekend and much better with fueling than Thanksgiving. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to get it right. The start was cold but it was supposed to be warm in Boulder Creek. I wasn't sure if it was going to truly feel warm or if there was going to be windchill factoring in. It ended up being very warm. From Boulder Creek until we got to Castle Rock was the only time all the layers came off, even the base layer had to go. It was cold along Skyline though and all the layers went back on at the stop. On the climb out of Big Basin to Little Basin, we were talking about lunch I think. I don't remember how this came up but something about a possible scenario where Kira would eat her sandwich as she was riding. I said that wouldn't be possible for me. Chewing a bar and breathing just isn't possible for me. She told me I should keep the sandwich in my mouth, in the side pouch, and let it slowly dissolve until I could swallow it. That to me was more gross than the squirrel we'd seen earlier with long "worms" (intestines) coming out of it. When we got to Boulder Creek, Derek suggested Jenna Sue's Cafe, which I'd never been to before. Kira got a sandwich from Wild Roots Market. I checked out the menu at Jenna Sue's and nothing really sounded interesting to me so I ended getting a burrito from Taqueria Los Gallos. So glad it was nice out and we were able to eat outside on one of the benches. I guess I was avoiding the extra part of the tortilla that wraps over itself and over time, it was developing into a "skin flap". :) Eventually it got too messy to eat. On the way out of Boulder Creek, we stopped at Junction Park for water. There was a guy pouring piles of Smartfood popcorn on the tops of the columns. I'm assuming to feed the animals? I was telling Kira she should grab some while it was fresh but she was worried, "What if it's bad?" I assumed she meant like poisoned for the animals which isn't something I would expect from people in Boulder Creek. And when we rolled out, we ran into Natalie and Noah at the cafe on the corner. I was not expecting that. Earlier she had sent me a photo of some angel boners. Much later, I joked to Kira, "Natalie sent me some d*ck pics." Silence. I thought maybe she didn't hear me but then she cautiously said, "Go on." Then I told her about the angel boner pic. :) Other than nearly getting sideswiped by an idiot, Christmas tree gathering, driver at the top of Page Mill, the descent was a lot of fun. Kira was running late and stressing about it. She had started the descent ahead of us knowing we'd catch her. Only we didn't. Derek's route had us going down Moody but Derek told us to take Altamont. And it just so happens that we caught up to the idiot driver right at Moody so I wasn't checking the route anyway. We got to the bottom and I was a little worried that we never caught Kira but it turns out she took Moody and headed straight back to her car. We also lost Jean-Luc as he was behind switching out a battery and missed us at Castle Rock. He also took the wrong way down Page Mill and ended up descending the whole thing. He got back to the car not too long after I did so it was all good. There were a lot more cars than usual on the roads which wasn't pleasant but it was a fun day!