Spring Solvang Double Century 2024 – Number 35

My first double century of the year, and number 35, is Solvang Spring Double. This time, my friend Bryan is doing it for the first time. Also David is joining us, and this will be his second one. Bryan and I drove down Friday, and it was a glorious drive down. In fact, there were all blue skies, so it sounded like it could be a promising day. There was forecast for rain in the morning (till ~ 7 am), and then again at 5 pm. We had our normal pre-DC dinner the night before, trading stories of our previous DC escapades. That’s actually one of my favorite parts of doing these rides … hearing all the tales and stories of our adventures.

It started out with rain at the start (5 am). Deb, the ride organizer, urged everyone, that if they felt too cold and wet, to not hesitate to turn back. It would be challenging, since there was minimal staff to support the ride this year. With that said, I’d have to say the support was fabulous. You wouldn’t have thought they were low on staff this year.

Just 1.5 miles out on the road, Steve Meichtry, who has over 190 doubles under his belt (so very experienced), hit a pothole, which then had him flying off into a ditch. He was ok, but they needed to pull him out of the ditch along with his bike. His bike was ok, evidence by the fact that he caught up to me in the second half of the ride.

With this in mind, I wasn’t in a real hurry, even though there is a descent into Solvang. I kept my speed pretty low, just so I can keep the rubber side down. It only rained constantly for the first 5 miles, so when I got to the first climb at Foxen Canyon, it wasn’t really bad. Roads were wet, but any precipitation we had was a light sprinkle or drizzle. I rode the beginning with David, but soon, I was passed up. I did hook up with a group of riders, where we traded leads pretty often, so we worked well as a group.

By the time we got to the first rest stop, I saw David, and my friend Joyce there. We then proceeded to continue the ride together … that is until I got dropped. Joyce is a strong rider, and David egged her on to keep on the wheel … well that’s what she did, then David tells me he doesn’t know how long he can keep up at this pace. At that point, I dropped back, and lost contact with the group. That’s fine … I always said I won’t ride with a group, but just go at my own pace. However, en route to the next rest stop, we are battling headwinds, so it is by no means an easy way.

I got to the second rest stop at ~ 11 am, where I got reunited with David, Joyce, and a whole bunch of my fellow DC friends. By the time I got there, Joyce was ready to go, so she went on. There, we saw Bryan there, and he caught up to us, who started at 5:30 am (instead of 5 am).

The next 20 miles is a loop, that goes to out to Cuesta College before looping back to rest stop 3, which is basically the same place. We found Dzung, who had just gotten there as rest stop 2, so he was 20 miles behind us. After chowing down, and trying to limit our time, it’s time to keep going. It was hard to decide if I should keep the rain jacket on, or put it away. I took it off during the 20 mile loop, before getting sprinkled upon again, half way through the loop. So I decided to keep it on for the duration of the ride.

We’re making pretty good time here, as we left the lunch stop ~ 1 pm. We head over to Pismo Beach area, and the views are amazing. Pictures won’t do it justice.

We head inland, and do this climb up Ormonde, which is about 5-6%, and then we turn onto Noyce Rd, which kicks up to 16% at some stretches. That gets your heart pumping. Then we get another kicker at 10% up Mesa Valley Road, before we head into Guadalupe for our next stop. Steve caught up to me, and it was good to see him with me, so that I have someone to ride with on the way to Los Alamos.

Heading out of Guadalupe, we feel the wind shifting. It looks like we are finally getting a tailwind in our favor. Steve and I took a fairly relaxed pace going into the next stop, keeping the pace between 15 – 17 mph (with a tail wind). The Adobe Velo Las Vegas train would pass us, and I had no intention of hopping onto that train. I wanted to have enough in the tank to climb Alisos Canyon after the last rest stop.

When we get to the last rest stop, I see David there (I thought he had long gone by this time). However, I think he burned too many matches in the beginning of the ride, and his legs probably got the best of him at this point. We get to the stop, and Steve and I wanted to make it a quick stop … down or gulp cup o noodles, then get on our way.

Next up is the climb back up, up Alisos Canyon, which intersects with Foxen Canyon. We would actually have two climbs up Foxen Canyon, the second one which the old Solvang Century would call “the wall”. By the time I get to Foxen Canyon, it is dark, and by the time I get to the wall, it is pitch black. Suddenly I’m all alone by myself, so it’s just me and the sound of rubber, rolling on wet pavement.

Once I descend off of the wall, I have to cross a highway, and then into Ballard Canyon. Just as soon as I cross the highway, and then start climbing Ballard, it starts raining, and hard. In fact, I recall I was looking down towards my wheel, and all I see is a constant stream of water pouring down. I was tempted to stop by a tree, where it’s not raining, but I wanted to complete this. I continue on, in the rain. I’m already wet, so what’s the difference? The descent on Ballard is rough, and with it being completely pitch black, and the constant rain coming down, it makes for a treacherous descent. I was definitely taking my time coming down this road. It’s a good thing I save my 1400 lumen light for this part of the ride. The guy in front of me was thanking me for my light.

Some of these roads, that we ride during the daylight, seem a hell of a lot longer when riding in the dark, and probably due to the rain too. Finally, we get to Hwy 236, and a right turn back to the start. If I hurry, I could get my meal ticket, and get a burger at The Habit, but first thing was to get myself out of wet clothes, and then take a nice hot shower.

This was my 35th double, and I would have to say this is tougher than it looks on paper. Maybe it’s because I’m getting a little older, and part of it is the rains too. No matter what the conditions, I always love doing this ride. It’s so scenic, and the reunions with all my DC friends is priceless. It’s like family, a tightly close knit bond.

2023 Dead of Winter

The last double century of the year is Dead of Winter, held first weekend of December. This will be my third consecutive year doing this event, so you might say I like it. This year, we are celebrating Dzung’s 63rd birthday, with this being his birthday double. For this occasion, we stayed at an AirBnB, which is actually about 5 miles away. Four of us carpooled over to the start, which means we will wait for the last person to finish, before we head back to the AirBnb.

We all started at 4 am, and the temps were a little cool (around 46 F), and bundled up in 3 layers (some bundled up with 4 layers). Since I was fine with 3 layers on my 6 am morning commutes earlier in the week, this would suit me fine.

The first 40 miles was flat, and that typically means it is a hammerfest. Paul, Daniel, and I were pulling the group (3 on the left), which quickly became our own little separation group. On the first actual climb, a Daniel passed me and then I was in chase mode. I soon was passed by my friend Rob Mann (who was riding on a fixie). I did whatever I could to keep up (for about 10 minutes) before I was dropped. There was another rider who was riding with him, Roxanne, who was riding her first double, but she was strong and fast. She ended up finishing in 12 hours. Damn!

I then got swallowed by a group of 10 Adobo Velo riders, and then the speed picked up. By the time we finished the first 40 mile loop, the average speed was 15.5 mph! The first rest stop was actually back at the hotel, which also meant we can actually enjoy a continental breakfast there. I made quick work of grabbing scrambled eggs and biscuit, then ready to go. But then I saw Maitram, Lam, and a few others from our original group. Lam was stating how he wanted to work on reducing down time, so we figured he would be ready to go. I went back inside, and what do I see? He’s taking his time eating breakfast … so much for the short downtime.

We went on ahead, and Lam would catch up with us later. Meanwhile, Maitram and I pretty much rode together on the double. We then caught up with our friend Ken Mathis, who would ride with us for the next 20 miles or so before he got a flat, but would catch up with us later.

Maitram and Lam had set up a cool feature on the Garmin, to track where they are on the ride (basically to see how far behind the other rider is). I should look into that on do that on future rides (perhaps on the next double, Solvang).

I have to tell you that Maitram and Lam had finished PBP (Paris-Brest-Paris) earlier in the year, so endurance riding is not an issue. However, both mention they hadn’t done much distance riding recently … about 20 miles was the longest, so this would be interesting. Well, I couldn’t see any effect of lack of riding. I did notice when we were climbing, they were a little behind, but not too bad.

It was mostly flat up until the lunch stop at mile 105. For some reason, I always struggle after the lunch stop, no matter what type of double, or even single century. I did have a couple of helping of rice porridge, but I refuse to blame it on that. I did have a couple of PBJ’s, but it finally kicked in by the time we started climbing. Perhaps I should have eaten the last sticky rice bun I had instead of PBJ.

When we got to downtown Ojai, we then went up to Dennison Grade, and an out and back. This is not my favorite part of the ride, but I did see that I got a PR out of this, compared to last year, and by a wide margin too. I guess I was feeling a lot better this year than last year.

It was still light out by the time we descended back into Ojai, but not for long. By the time we started climbing Casitas Pass, it was time to hit the lights, and when we got to the summit, it was already dark. Oh well, so much for not descending in the dark. I would have had to pull in a 12 hour double for that.

Maitram didn’t have a real powerful light, so we descended down the hill a bit slower than we usually do. I had two powerful lights (one was 1000 lumen, the other 1400 lumen) … I figure that should be bright enough for cars to see me. Once we got down to Rincon, and then the 30 mile ride down the coast, it was smooth sailing.

We did encounter one snafu, where we make a right turn, and one group ahead of us had a guy fall, and it was pitch black dark. It looks like he made a wide turn, and wound up on the other side of the street, and tried come back to the right side, and didn’t realize there was a lip on the road, and then he fell. I don’t know if it was a matter of them going really fast around a corner, or if they didn’t have bright enough lights. It immediately made us calm our roll … best to get back in one piece, with rubber side up.

We got back around 8:45 pm, with an elapsed time of 16:33, and more importantly, no flats, no injuries, and it was fun to ride with Maitram. For someone who had only done 20 mile rides up to now, this was a great accomplishment. Yeah, I know, the long climb on Casitas may have been tough, especially if you haven’t ridden long grinding hills like that, but she did great! She had her sprinting legs in the last 10 miles, as I had to go into time trial mode, to catch and hunt her down. At least I’ve still got it, even with 180 miles already in my legs.

As this double century was originally designed as a barebones event, we really appreciate all the volunteers and SAG drivers that were out there. And thanks to Kermit and Ira for setting this economical event, and an even bigger surprise, by giving us a $10 Starbucks gift card. So suddenly this ride was a $40 registration … far cry from the $130 to $150 event registrations.

2023 Bass Lake Powerhouse

Yea, I’m knocking out another double and it would be my sixth of the year. But more importantly, it is Kayla’s third, and this will be her triple crown double. All those hard knarly steep climb distance rides, all come to this. All along, I know that those training rides are much harder than any of the hills encountered on this ride, but at least we would be prepared for it.

Once again, I roomed with Memo, who would head home immediately after the ride (so I’d have to crash AT&T someone’s room … Paul and Dzung agreed to let me sleep there. Thanks guys).

We started out at 3:15 am, and it wasn’t too cold, so we didn’t need leggings (just base layer, arm warmers, and jacket). Everything started out smoothly, but then something happened … I must have overate or had food poisoning or something. I had stomach issues to the point where I had to stop. I was feeling light headed, and a bit dizzy. Then suddenly, I felt I had to puke. Ugh … this took a lot out of me. Poor Kayla … she saw me at my worst. She helped be work it off, and we made it to the first rest stop, but then, bent over, I vomited some more. Damn! This was not the way I envisioned this double would start. I was able to compose myself, then on we went.

I definitely was not at full strength so instead of holding Kayla back, she went on ahead and I would catch up with her later on, after I built my strength back up.

I got to the 2nd rest stop, which was at Bass Lake, but I couldn’t find Kayla there. We didn’t say exactly where we would re-group, and I started worrying is she ahead or behind me. So I asked everyone there who knows us, but they haven’t seen her, so she must be up ahead. I tried asking one of the workers, but they only had numbers and I didn’t remember what her number is. Well, the only thing is to move forward. I must have lost 25-30 minutes here.

We had a long screaming descent off of Bass Lake onto Powerhouse before climbing back up. I think the sickness wore off at this point and I was back to what I love to do … climb. The climb itself was not bad which averaged about 5% for 1150 fr, but it was good enough to work myself over. On my way towards the 3rd rest stop, I got a message from Memo that she is at the 3rd rest stop, so I should just continue on. I felt if I hurried, I might be able to catch her at the rest stop, but by the time I got there, she had just left. Rats! I’ll have to make this a really quick stop, then continue on.

Somewhere along the way after this rest stop, I must have past Kayla, as I got to the lunch stop first. That’s strange. I even made a pit stop along the way. The most important fact is we got reunited again.

We left the lunch stop with a nice group of 5. The next 20 miles or so had some headwinds and frankly, junk miles, or scenery that is a bit boring.

More flat miles until we get to MR 5 before the Pine Flat Lake climb, and more of an opportunity to pull the group. Then I saw Dee and I had to catch on her draft. It was a good stretch, but then saw the rest of my group wasn’t staying in touch so I had to back off when we had to cross the highway. Boy that was fun while it lasted. It’s a good thing I stopped, as I needed to save energy for the climb coming up.

I saw Kant Ng at the next rest stop, and he had already done the out and back ( 17 miles up, and 17 miles back). He started at 5 am and he’s already here? He’s going to finish in daylight. We got to this rest stop around 4:30 pm!

So much fun, but time to get up hill. The climb itself is not too bad, with 5-8% grades, and nothing too terribly difficult. I think the harder part is the outbound direction. At 140+ miles in, we still gotta maintain a little left in the reserve for the inbound climb.

It’s funny that every year, no matter how early or whatever mishap occurs during this ride I always end up at the turnaround point at the same time, which means I always return in the dark. Good thing I save my 1400 lumen light for the end (and I didn’t even have it on the highest setting).

We got back to the rest stop before 8 pm. We still saw people heading up towards the lake as late as 7:30 pm. They’re going to be arriving really late, maybe 1:30 am? Definitely not us.

No matter how many times I do this, the last 20 miles always seem longer, even though it is mostly downhill, and no headwind (maybe even a tailwind). Most of the time we descend in a group, and that’s what we did tonight. I was going strong, but mostly so I can keep the cadence up with Kayla. We wanted to maintain a good pace, so that the caffeine in her system would get her through the ride (she was starting to get sleepy).

We made it through at 10:31 pm. Amazing … Kayla made it, her third double century in What an amazing accomplishment, especially since starting cycling only in March. Three double centuries in about a month, and a triple crown winner! This was my 33rd and this was also Jackson’s third, who came sprinting up and passed us on the final stretch.

Recovery food awaited us and it was oh so good, and to celebrate with our fellow double century finishers. It’s a double century party!

Knoxville Strava

Check out my ride on Strava.
https://strava.app.link/bofyAjeNIDb

Knoxville Double – With the New Route, it is Fabulous

It’s been awhile since I last completed Knoxville Double … no, it’s not Knoxville, TN. Back on the original route, one of the major climbs was Knoxville Road, that kept going on and on forever, till it got to Lower Lake. However, due to all the rains, and the bad road conditions, the DC had to be re-routed, and I’d have to say I like the new route. Of course, this year it wasn’t has scorching hot as it was in previous years.

I rode with my friends Kayla, Dave, and Tam. Kayla had just finished Carmel Valley Double, and for Dave and Tam, this would be their first one.

Leading into this year’s route, I suffered a stiff hamstring, which made my mobility limited. I spend the day and night before, icing my leg, in an effort to get it to a healthy state. I had to walk gingerly, but luckily it didn’t affect my cycling … or at least it made it so that I could ride.

When we started, it was raining. I checked all the weather forecast, and it predicted some rain, but not until the late afternoon, and not in the wee hours of the morning. We managed through that, as it stopped about an hour or two into the ride. Since I was dealing with a hamstring issue, I wasn’t about to go sprinting up the hills with wet pavement.

Our big long climb is Deer Park. Deer Park is a 6+ mile grind, 2000 feet up, but the grade was nothing crazy … it was manageable … it was just long. I kinda remember this from when I last did the ride, ~ 9 years ago. Back then, it too was in the beginning of the ride, so at least we could do it with fresh legs. If we didn’t have fresh legs, how would we be able to take pictures?

Deer Park was the longest climb, but it was by no means easy the rest of the way. We still had a number of rollies, and then before lunch, we were greeted with some nasty 15% grades. Since we are not doing Loch Lomond (from the original route), I guess they needed to throw in some equivalent steep climb (Spruce Grove Rd). They were short, but when you are thinking about food, and wanting make it a quick stop, these punchy steep climbs really feels like you are being punched in the gut.

The lunch stop was at the same usual picnic stop in Lower Lake (they actually use the same stop at Davis Double as well … no wonder this place looked so familiar).

We were probably spending a little too much time at the lunch stop. Being his first double, he was concerned about not being able to meet the cutoff. He was wanting us to get a move on. His pace was well beyond my normal double pace, even if I didn’t have the stiff hamstring issue.

Oh, hamstring update … at this point, I wasn’t feeling the hamstring tightness any more, but I think all the stress went to my kneecaps. I definitely was feeling there a bit more than usual, but I kept it low key. I’ve ridden through rides with this before, so it’s all good.

Being in a group, that hasn’t had a lot of doubles, even teaches the wily old veteran a few things. Since the pace was a bit higher than I normally go at, I was floundering with that old problem, of not eating enough. Oh, I was not bonking, but I was getting behind and struggling to keep pace. Even I am humble enough to admit, I don’t know everything there is to riding these (even though I’ve done 31 of them).

One of the landmarks going through Pope Valley is the Hub Cap King (at least I think it’s a landmark). He must have had over 100 hub caps strung up by his fence on his property. It’s not something you would normally see.

We head east and ride south on Knoxville Road, and ride parallel to Lake Berryessa. The original route actually went the opposite direction, north, so that’s where the route differed greatly. I then start fatiguing, and because we were going at some a fast pace, I didn’t have time to grab my bars (which were not easily accessible, buried in my handlebar bag, or was in my saddle bag). As if that wasn’t bad enough, it starts raining. It wasn’t a downpour, but it was a constant rain, so I decided not to push, and go at a pace that was within my range. I figure eventually we would re-group somewhere, but I couldn’t push any harder, as we still had at least 70 more miles left in the double.

About 30 minutes later, the rain stopped, and I see David and Kayla stopping for a break. Perfect, now I can reach for my food, and rearrange things in my bags.

We get to rest stop 5, and Tim Bartoe had a nice set of dry socks for us, after going through that dumping of rain. More importantly, these are Quacksyclist socks. That’s good, because my old socks are just that .. old, and I needed a new pair. However, my shoes aired itself out, and I didn’t feel the need to change socks, so I just kept it for future use.

Ok, 50 more miles to go, but it’s not quite all downhill. I think you’d have to expect that on a ride like this.

Daylight became an issue after this rest stop, so we had to get our lights ready. By the time we got to the next rest stop, it was completely dark. At some point, we started getting separated, and that was due to lack of powerful light. We decided to ride as a group, because the last thing you want to do is get stranded, in complete darkness. It’s safer that way anyways.

We finally rolled in a little after 10 pm (which is just past what we targeted), but was still okay.

Giving Back … Mentoring a First Time Double Century Rider

I’ve been doing double centuries for quite a long time (since 2007), with 30 double centuries under my belt. When my friend Kayla, mentions she is doing Carmel Valley Double, and asked if I could train and ride with her, of course I would jump on that opportunity. It’s time to give back, and mentor an up and coming DC rider, and thinking back to how it was for me on my first DC, way back in 2007.

It’s always fun to do Carmel Valley Double, as it’s our club event. Whenever we get together, it’s like a tight knit family. Plus, hanging out with some of the double rider participants is always fun. My good friend Steve Meichtry, is going for his 192nd Double Century, and with this being Kayla’s first, she had the honor of having bib #1. Yup, Kayla’s number 1!

We were the first two to head out on the road. ACTC President Tony Le was there to usher us on our journey, and Dzung, the ride organizer, was there to take a picture of us, as we head off. The temperatures weren’t the issue, but as we were riding along Metz, we heard thunder and lightning strikes. Sorry, no pictures of the lightning strikes, as we were concentrating on just making progress on the road. We had a few drops, but that’s about it. I heard that it was pouring back at home base in King City, so I guess we lucked out there.

The first 30+ miles were a series of rolling hills, before we got to our first climb, Carmel Valley Road. For a first time double century rider, riding in pitch black roads, Kayla took it all in stride, and had the confidence of a veteran double riders, and I was impressed. I wanted to make sure Kayla didn’t burn out early, but she kept a nice steady pace going up. So far no one passed us, so far so good.

As we approached Calhoun Summit, we got this awesome view of sunrise over the valley.

Over the summit, and down the hill about a mile down, we get to the rest stop, manned by ACTC.

Onwards, and now time for a long descent. Remember, this long descent is the same climb that we would do on the return. On this descent, we started to get passed by some of the faster riders, including my friends Stefan Moiceanu, Peggy and Jeff. The next climb we would encounter is Robinson Canyon, which is a beast of a climb. It’s one of those where you start feeling good, then in the mid-section, you feel you gotta work harder, and then it just keeps getting steeper the higher you go. It was sunlight by the time we climbed this, and by now, at least half of the riders are passing us on the hill.

We got to the top, and boy what a view, and boy, that was a tough brutal climb. As I was climbing, I kept thinking bathroom stop at the top. But then I remembered, oh yeah, this is just a water stop. There wasn’t much room up there for a full rest stop. Oh well.

This is an out and back, so down the hill we go. As we descend, we see some of the other riders who started much later, like 4:30 am or 5 am. I’m not sure how many there were for the stage race … they were probably some that passed us on the climb up Robinson Canyon. On the way down, we saw a friend of mine, with a few other fast riders, as they were waiting for one of their riders to come down the hill.

Ok, continuing down the hill, and onto the next rest stop at Carmel Bike Shop. At this point, we felt pretty good about ourselves. We tackled the brutally tough morning climb, and we seem to be in the middle of the pack of riders. I caught up with my friend Kirsten, who is doing who 150th Double Century. Wow, between Kristen and Steve, we have some major firepower here … 342 DC’s? And I have a mere 30. Wow!

We rode off together, on the way to Big Sur. The rolling hills continued as we headed down Hwy 1, and it was just a matter of time before we would fall behind the pack, but that’s okay. You just go at your own pace. There was no fog to speak of, so when we got to Bixby Bridge, it was actually quite nice.

The lunch stop is in Big Sur at the Big Sur Taphouse. The rest stop is scheduled to close at 2 pm, so I wanted to get us there by 1 pm. As we got closer to Big Sur, I kept seeing others coming the other way, and those were the fast riders. Just before getting to the Taphouse, we had to climb this 7% hill … ugh, why did the lunch stop have to be after climbing a hill. We saw Peggy and Kirsten descend down, and called out our name from across the street. How cool is that? We did get to the lunch stop by 1 pm, so it’s a good thing we got there with food available. They had sandwiches there, but I didn’t want to eat too much, so I got a pair of soft tacos. I figure that should be sufficient.

On the return back, we would be greeted with headwinds. This is typical, but we didn’t realize how strong the winds were, and they were fierce. I would say they were about 25 mph. One thing that I failed to do … as a mentor, I’m supposed to pull .. but I pulled too hard, and I failed to look in my mirror. Next thing I realize, Kayla is far behind. Damn, I decided to pull over .. good excuse to grab some food to munch on. Sorry Kayla. We also caught up with my DC friend Dr. Lam Do, so the three of us rode together the rest of the way. I think my pull may have took a little more out of me, as I was noticing I was now trailing everyone, including Kayla. I guess it serves me right. Once again, I fall into the trap of riding strong in the first half, then struggle after the mid-point. You’d figure after 30 DC’s, I’d figure that out, but I still haven’t.

On our return inland, Dr. Lam Do decides he is going to take a Power Nap. While he’s doing that, Kayla and I continue on, as we need to get to that next hill … but it’s another 11 miles away. Those 11 miles seemed like an eternity, only because we wanted to get the hill out of the way before it gets dark. It is kinda strange that no one is passing us on our way to Cachagua, which is the next climb. Are we the last ones to come through?

Finally, near the turn, photographer extraordinaire, David, rides along, and decides to do the climb with us … on fresh legs, and not with 150 miles in the legs. Now is that fair? Whatever. Cachagua is a nasty, brutal #$%## climb at the 150 mile mark! The good thing is we are climbing this with sunlight still, but will get dark soon.

We get to the top, and I am greeted by my buddies (aka brothers) from Adobe Velo Las Vegas chapter, Kant and Robert! We’ll be seeing them in October at Bass Lake DC.

Now we get a good descent, followed by … yup, you guessed it … more rolling hills. This continues until will make a left turn on Tassajara, which would eventually meet up with Carmel Valley Road, where we get to climb the same hill that we did a fast descent on earlier in the morning. Once again, my legs are tiring, and I am in the back. It’s not a terribly steep climb, but it continues for about 7 miles. I guess that’s where the Zayante training comes in handy.

About 1 mile from the next rest stop, Lam Do and Kayla was getting sleepy, so they pull over, and I ask what’s going on. They need a Power Nap, but I’m still feeling alright, but I didn’t want to leave them, so I waited there about 10 minutes. Robert and Kant pull up to us, and I as them if the next rest stop is open. They doubt that it is, but they will check. A few minutes later, I see them come back, and to my pleasant surprise, they are still open, and are serving soup. Oh, I am there … and that’s also what perks Kayla and Dr. Lam Do up.

Yes, soup is there, with chicken, noodles, but somehow something appears to be missing. Oh yeah …. soup mix. Um … I think they forgot something, as we were just having hot water in the noodles, but we are not complaining … just get something in our system. As late as it was, there was no caffeine drinks left, which is what my partners Dr. Do and Kayla needed.

Now we descend down Carmel Valley Road to Arroyo Seco. This road has lots of turns, and there are no lights, and it is pitch black. That’s where my handy dandy 1400 lumen light comes in handy, so I can light up the road. Fortunate for us, no one is on the road, except for us cyclists. However, on the descent, Kayla was mentioning that she is having a hard time keeping her eyes open. We get to the bottom of the hill, and decide what to do next, becuase Dr. Do and Kayla are tired, to the point where they need another power nap. I’m doing okay, so they agree to take a nap, and I continue the rest of my ride back to the start. I didn’t want to leave, but considering Kayla is in good hands with Dr. Do, I felt better about going on ahead, and this is what our plan was.

The good thing is most of the rest of the road is either flat, or descending, with a few hills here and there. As I got closer to the end, it almost seemed like someone was pulling the earth just to make my journey just that much longer. I think that’s just a sign of being fatigued, but I made it back. Kayla and Dr. Do came along a little later. I finished my 31st double, and Kayla finished her first. Wow, what an accomplishment.

Oh BTW, I forgot to tell you, she has been into cycling only since late Feburary, early March. Talk about an accelerated program. You go girl! I am so proud of Kayla, and so relieved that she came through and finished it … I kinda felt it was my responsibility to bring her all the way home. That was a load off of my shoulders.

2023 Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge

I’ve got to say, aside from Double Century events, my favorite Century event is Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge. I look forward to it every year for multiple reasons. First, it’s fairly local, although I usually want to start it at 6 am, which means my sleep schedule is more like a double century sleep schedule. I would have to wake up by 4 am, to get on the road by 5 am, to get to the start at 6 am. Second, it has climbing, and lots of it. It’s relentless, and good training for the double century events for the rest of the year. Third, the support is fabulous. The food spread is great (more than just energy bars, but actual real food, like strawberries, cantaloupe, potatoes). I love the photo opportunity at the end, where you can have your picture taken in front of the event banner, where you hold a sign showing what you accomplished.

I got to the parking area, and met a bunch of my friends (some who I rode with, some who I didn’t. I even saw Terri Boykins, who drove up from LA.

I rode with Ken, Marshall, and Amanda on the whole ride, so it was good to have a group to ride with.

As a warmup, the route took us on some punchy hills to start off with. Before we got to the first rest stop (~ 25 mile in), we already accumulated 2000 ft climbing. In past years, we climbed through fog, but this year, it was different .. no fog, but it was still brisk in the morning. That meant it would be cold/cool on flat and descents, and hot when we climbed. We had the dilemma of do we take our jacket/vest off, or do we keep it on.

Everyone follows the same route up to the first rest stop, where the double metric riders go off an do extra loop up Alba. We would continue up Zayante, all the way up until we get to Summit Road. It’s a long 10 mile climb, with 1663 ft climbing. That sounds daunting, but it’s not really bad until you get to a few pitches near the end of the climb (some at 20%). I’ve done this climb many times before, so I know when I’ll get dropped like a rock (and I did). At this point, it was getting quite warm, but I had to continue on, and did not want to stop. Got up to the top and we re-grouped, and continued on to the next rest stop.

After a few short climbs, we get to the rest stop, and then we descend down Old Santa Cruz Highway. We basically descent down back into Santa Cruz where we have lunch. This was a bit strange, as we had just had a rest stop, and we just descent down and scarf down a lunch. We probably didn’t need a full lunch, but I’ll take it anyways. I should have just done with strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a drink .. at least it didn’t upset my stomach.

Lunch was also across the street from our cars, so it gave us an opportunity to drop off some stuff in the car. I had a vest with me, so I just dropped that off, but kept my white cool sleeves on. We would be riding parallel to the ocean for awhile, so we would have a nice ocean breeze for a good part of the next 20 miles. It’s a good thing I still had my cool sleeves on.

Things were going so well, but then I may have pinched my tire running over a small pebble. My ride felt a bit squishy, and I kinda felt the road more. I stopped, then felt my tire was low, and yeah, I had a flat. Unfortunately, this was after 2 SAG wagons just passed me. D’oh! I texted Amanda, and they turned back for me … thanks guys!

Strange thing, is when I finished the ride, my battery in my Garmin was down to 7%. I don’t know if this was because I flipped my bike upside down, with the Garmin still mounted (the Garmin was full of dirt). I remember charging it the night before .. Oh well, I digress.

If the flat wasn’t bad enough, I try to pump up the tire with CO2, and I noticed it didn’t fill it up all the way. Prior to that, I noticed the stem wasn’t that long, and I think what happened is I didn’t have the valve all the way in the chuck of my CO2. I proceeded to use my pump, and hand pumped it to my liking. I guess it’s a good thing I had a hand pump as a backup. You never know what could happen.

Ok, now that the flat is all taken care of, now we get to climb Mt. Madonna. Oh joy! I have never climbed Mt. Madonna from this side (I did climb it once through gravel, from the east side), so I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a 3 mile climb, with 1300 ft climbing. That doesn’t sound that bad, but there were some steep pitches in there. Luckily there was some shade to take advantage of. There was a definite breeze while climbing in the shade, and then it got hot again when out of the shade. I saw some people stop to take a rest, but I just had to continue forward … no stopping! I eventually got into my lowest gear possible, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t push the pedal .. I just wish it were just over with.

Finally, up at the top, Marshal and Ken are waiting in the shade, and we now wait for Amanda (who was having issues with her foot falling asleep). That gave me time to just sit and have a breather in the shade. The rest stop was actually < 1 mile away, but we weren’t aware of that.

We are at 8000 ft total climbing at this point, and some think we’re done with climbing … but then someone said there was more like 9000 ft climbing. Yup, there’s still a bit more climbing to do. Damn! I think the cumulative climbing was weakening my endurance, as I was continually behind for the rest of the ride (which was only 25 miles). The route took us back almost on the same route that we took going up Mt. Madonna, but we made a left at a fork instead to go up Hazel Del. The climbing was gradual, with only 1000 ft climbing, but it was taking a bit out of me. The route then takes us on Eureka Canyon … damn, we gotta climb that??? Then I look … oh, it’s a rest stop, where we make a U-turn after about 0.3 miles. Whew!

At the last rest stop, we hooked up with Randy Clark (really strong rider), so we are now 5 riders. The punchy climbs continued on, and I was fading in the back. Randy went back to ride with me .. thanks Randy! Apparently, everyone else was kicking it up another gear, while I was slowing it up :). The only thing that was on my mind is to make sure I finish before 6 pm (as that is when they stop serving food). That’s also a big reason why I didn’t do the double metric, and do the century.

Grand Tour DC #30

I wasn’t totally committed to doing Grand Tour this year, but when my friend Nancy Russell emailed me asking if I was going to do it, that pushed my over the fence to go ahead and do it. I only decided to do it about two weeks before the event. I’ve always liked this event, and it was a good opportunity to catch up with some old friends, so why not. Room is already booked, and I’d be able to carpool down, so it’s a win win.

I’ve always done the highland route (8000 ft climbing vs. 5000 ft climbing), so it was a no brainer … highland, which would be different than my last double (DMD) which was a whopping 18,000 ft climbing. Little did I know that out of ~ 130 riders, only 15 were committed to the highland. This was odd, so maybe they all know something that I don’t know? I guess I’m a climber?

I asked Peggy what time they’d be starting, and she says 4 am. So good enough for me … I’m starting at 4 am. Being that early, you’d figure only a few would start that early, but it was a handful. I guess we’re all a bit insane.

Temps at 4 am was ~ 57 F, so pretty comfortable … shorts weather. So I just had arm warmers, jacket, and short fingered gloves … basically summer weather, although it’s only supposed to get to 72 F in Ojai, typically the hottest part of the route.

Only Nancy and I would be doing the highland, but at least the first 40 miles is a loop that we would all do together. Memo would be doing a quad (300 mile, plus 100 mile loop), so obviously he would be doing the lowland. I think there were more people doing the quad than there was doing the highland.

After doing the first 40 miles together with a good sized group, we then split off to do the highland. It was weird to ride with a big group of 40-50, then suddenly just have 2 ride together. Later, I found Gary, who I had ridden with before, would also be doing highland.

Potrero would be the first big climb we would do, which is my kind of climb. It’s about 3+ miles, with pitches ranging from 3% to 19%, but averaging 6% … that’s a wide range. I ended up summitting first, so I waited for Nancy at the rest stop at the top. After re-grouping, we continued on. However, doing the next climb, I distanced myself from both Gary and Nancy, and I slowed down a bit, looking for them in my mirror. However, I needed to do my own pace, so I just continued on, despite riding solo.

At the next rest stop, I see my friend Daniel, who I haven’t seen in a long time, and Duong, who actually comes up to the Bay Area often, but it’s good to see another pair of familiar faces.

My next climb would be Grimes Canyon, which isn’t too bad … short climb, but the descent was fun. It’s a short descent, with a bunch of twisty hairpins, which is a fun cruise down. The route then goes towards Ojai, but before that, I’m greeted with headwinds, on a road with little to no shoulder, so I’d just have to take up the lane. For the most part, cars were patient with me, but at least it wasn’t a lot of cars.

The climb up Ojai is not steep, but it is a bit long … ~ 8 miles and 1200 feet, so not bad at all. However, I did get a couple of riders pass me as if I was standing still. Yeah, that was a bit demoralizing, but I’m in it to finish it, and it’s not a race.

I get to lunch ~ 2 pm, and to my pleasant surprise, there is a lot of people there. Whew, that means I’m going at a legitimate pace. I didn’t find anyone I recognize from the morning loop, so they must have been way ahead of me. I ended up leaving lunch with about 40 riders. I wasn’t sure if they would also be going up Casitas Pass, but they are going in the same direction I would be going.

Suddenly, I see them all make a left turn, but my Garmin says to keep going straight. I then look at the route slip, and I see a warning “Don’t follow the lowland riders” … I had to laugh when I read this. It’s as if they anticipated this would happen … single highland rider with a bunch of lowland riders.

So onward I go, up the hill through Casitas Pass. I did get passed by one of the guys that passed me on Ojai, so at least I saw someone familiar. When I got down to the bottom of the hill, at Rincon, I was surprised to see Memo and Dennis, who are doing the quad. I guess I’m not as far back as I thought I was.

The route does a 6 mile out and back, and just to prove we made it to this point, the route slip tells us to take a selfie at Tinkers. At first, I thought we were supposed to check in at Tinkers. One guy, thought I was looking for someone inside, and wanted to watch my bike for me. Uh, no, I just gotta figure out what I’m supposed to do.

Ok, now back all the way to the start. It pretty much hugs the coastline, to Ventura. One thing I noticed … there is still a lot of light left (not like in past years, where I’m riding as sun sets). I guess it’s because we started at 4 am. Or is it because my fitness is improved? Who knows.

By the time I get into Port Hueneme, it’s only 7 pm. Wow, I think this is the earliest I got back from a double. Oh how sweet it is!

Total time was 15:08, with a moving time of 13:37 … I guess I was still grazing quite a bit. Oh well … That wasn’t a priority on this trip. This was more to have fun, hang out with my fellow DC riders, and to catch up with old friends. Mission accomplished!

Making the Best out of being On Call

Being in customer service, or should I say Technical Support, it’s not a position that can easily take a day off. The organization does not take a weekend off, or in the case of a holiday, take a day off. I guess I’m pretty lucky that in my department, there is one guy who always wants to work the holiday, or work the weekends (because he needs the money). There are those times, where the on call rotation does go to me. Having the weekend off is definitely something a lot of us take for granted.

This weekend was my turn. The general rule is when I get a call, I need to be within a 30-45 minute buffer zone, so that I can work with a customer … that means a networked PC that is VPN’d into work. The dilemma … how do I continue to ride my bike while I am on call? Well, I do have a mobile wi-fi (aka mi-fi), so that I can connect from my laptop, to the mi-fi, and work the call. With that in mind, I’d take my laptop and mi-fi with me, and stick it in the trunk of my car. There are a couple of rides where it is a climb, and I figure if I get a call, I can just descend down the hill, fire up the laptop, with my mi-fi, and I’ll be as if I was on my networked PC at home via the VPN.

I am really fortunate that there is not a high volume of calls over the weekend for my product. This does allow me to stretch the 30-45 min radius. So far, this plan has worked out great! This has allowed me to climb Montebello (a 5.1 mile, 2000+ ft climb), or Page Mill, which is roughly the same distance and climbing. I can then do repeats … since all I have to do is come down the hill, why not just repeat the climb? So that’s what I did, and it seemed to work out pretty well. With this strategy, I was able to get in ~ 6700 ft climbing over the weekend, in about 45 miles. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than 0 miles and 0 ft climbing.

Part of me wishes I get 1 call … a single call, so that my sacrifice would be worth it. But as long as I can get some good quality miles over the weekend, I can’t complain about that.

Giving Back and Providing Support on Rides

It’s time to give back to the sport that we love, and for the past two weekends, I have spent time supporting others, who are participating in these epic events. Without the support staff, you won’t have these rides.

Tierra Bella was on 4/22/2023, and is done by my club Almaden Cycle Touring Club (ACTC). This is a huge event for the club, offering multiple rides up to a full century. My part was supporting the rest stop at Gilroy Hot Springs. Well, actually it wasn’t actually at Gilroy Hot Springs, but was at fire station 21, which was about 1/4 mile from Gilroy Hot Springs. However, when I look at my assignment, the location pointed me to Hunting Hollow Entrance. I think what confused me was in years passed, that was the rest stop. What I didn’t know was that it was supposed to be at the fire station. Oops … I felt something was wrong, and after a couple hours, I decided to head back down (because I had no cell reception up there).

I head down the hill, and then I see the fire station … ah … there’s where everyone is. Boy, I really feel like shit on my face. So embarrassing … so I timidly walk up and tell the captain that I goofed, and I’m supposed to be working this rest stop. Oh well … I guess I can help by making sure the food is not disturbed by flies, ants, etc … just make sure health inspectors don’t see any violations. But hey, I did get to take pictures of some of my friends participating in the event.

At least I assisted in helping to tear down the rest stop, and leave it like it was before we took over the place. It’s the least I could do. They were all so gracious, but I guess every little bit does help. I then turned around and helped store all of our equipment back into storage. That was a lot of work, lots of upper body workouts, and lifting, but it was all fun.

Then, this past weekend, on 4/29/2023, I was volunteering for supporting Devil Mountain Double (DMD), which I had done two weekends ago on the worker’s ride. That was tough, and now I get to support all that will endure the same tough course I survived. Just like me, many had started at 3 am. The nice part about this, is that the first loop is 46 miles, and they return back to the start. I could then come by at a more civilized hour of 8 am, to greet some of the riders, and then do Sierra Road with some of the participants.

I got there just in time to greet my friends Memo, Peggy, and Kirsten, all extremely tough, strong riders.

I then rode up Sierra Road, which is part of the highland route (when I did it, I did the lowland route, which bypassed this). A lot of riders opted for lowland, but as I was climbing, I did get passed by a couple of riders. Later on, I found one that was 3rd to the last to make it up to the Mines Road turnaround point, where I was stationed at, Control #9.

My assignment wasn’t until 5 pm at the Mines Road U-turn, at the 151 mile point. I was supposed to meet the Livermore Ham Operators at Control #8 at 4:30 pm, to install a tracker, so they can see where I am (since I am the designated SAG from Mines Road to Sunol). That was the plan, at least. When I got to Control #8, there were already a few riders there, and even one rider that already went up to the top, and came back. Holy crap, I’m supposed to be up there, 8 miles up, and I’m still here getting the tracker installed. Then, I also discovered, like an idiot, I forgot to bring a pump. What good is a SAG without a pump? Luckily, one of the Ham operators had a pump, so I borrowed that.

One of the motorcycle support riders went up to the spot where the turnaround point should be. So then we set up at that point. However, it turns out based on the route, it should still be a quarter mile up the road. The ham operator who was supposed to be at my stop was up there, and was worried that I didn’t show up. A little later, he went down the hill, and saw us. This was confusing, as some said the turnaround point was at the 10 mile marker (that’s painted on the road), but the GPS showed it was still quarter mile up. Since we had already set up by the 10 mile marker, we decided that this would be the turnaround point (although some wanted to complete it, based on what the route says). It still counted, no matter if you were at the 10 mile marker, or the turnaround up ahead.

The rest stop was supposed to close at 8 pm, but we were still getting riders past 8 pm. We looked at how many were still left, and there were still at least 6 more to go. Eventually, at 9:30 pm, all but 1 was accounted for. Since I was the sweep for the last rider, I had to wait for the last one. Eventually, that rider came at 10:22 pm. I then followed behind him, all the way to Sunol (another 30 miles or so). It wasn’t bad until we got into town, where I had to keep pulling over to let faster cars go by.

Sweeping a rider is a lot more difficult and tiring than one would think (because you are holding up traffic, trying to keep the rider safe). The actual rider was getting fatigued, as he was weaving a little bit, and he would pedal, then coast, then pedal and coast. I pulled up along side of him asking if he was okay, if he needed anything, but he acknowledged he was fine. Only later on, when we finally got to Sunol, we found he was not able to digest anything. In retrospect, I probably should have insisted to SAG him, as soon as he got to the Mines Road turnaround point.

Lesson learned … enforce a cutoff, before allowing them to attempt the out and back. As it stood, I didn’t get to the Sunol rest stop, until after midnight, and they still had 30 more miles to go, with some Rollies. We ended up SAG’ing him back to the start.

One thing I learned here is how difficult sweeping the last rider is. I now have a much greater appreciation for SAG drivers. I want to thank all the other workers on this ride, and give major kudos to everyone who completed this ride. This was one tough ride, and a tough one to support.

This was the first time our group, XDV, took over support of this ride, and we had many lessons to learn from this. The biggest part was underestimating when the rider would get to a certain part of the course. Second was enforcing a cut-off point. It’s there for the rider’s safety, as well as sanity for the workers.