My first ever Festive 500 ride! Maybe one day I’ll be able to do the whole thing. The forecast last night said it would be wet and cold all day and I thought for sure this ride was going to be p/b Gore Shakedry. By this morning the rain was delayed until midafternoon. It's later than when they said now and it still hasn't rained. Other than a few sprinkles here and there it was pretty dry. Also felt overdressed at the start but then I got sweaty and temperature-wise I was about right. It was nice to see Alice at the start, back for the holidays. The pace around Paradise Loop was slightly higher than I've been used to riding lately but manageable. The roads in Marin are surprisingly crappy! When we rolled into San Rafael, I really wanted to go to Sol Food instead of Johnny's Doughnuts. I'm not a fan of the bready donuts. Even the old fashioned I got was a little bready and I got it specifically hoping it would be more traditional. We did China Camp after and the pace was supposed to be slower but it wasn't Rachel got dropped on the climb before the park entrance. I looked back to see how far back she was but couldn't see her (found out later that she turned around) and when I turned back, I was dropped. I tried pretty hard to catch back on but couldn't thanks to the headwind and climbs. We decided not to go to Gestalt Haus because we figured we'd get rained on on the way back if we went. That was fine by me since I was trying to think where I'd go instead. I was pretty surprised not to be hungry when all I had eaten was a donut. Before leaving Corte Madera, Jennifer got a flat. After fixing it, about a mile later, it was flat again so Raymond and Jennifer told everyone to keep rolling instead of waiting for them. The mist got stronger once we were back in Mill Valley. I stopped at the beginning of the bike path to put on my jacket. I didn't think I would ever see the group again but caught back on before downtown Sausalito. Then we caught back up to Rachel on the climb out of Sausalito. I rode the rest of the way back with her. The bridge was a bit annoying with pedestrians that clearly couldn't hear my bell and I had to yell at them. One guy started walking across the sidewalk into my path while he was looking up. He didn't hear me yell at him the first time either. Thankfully we all made it back safe and dry.