2011 Los Angeles Wheelmen Grand Tour

What a better ride to celebrate my 100th Triple Crown Double Century than The Grand Tour.

It was my first Double back in the late 80's. I have done different versions of the ride. The lowland Double, The Highland Double, The Lowland Triple, The Highland Triple and the Lowland Quad. I did this event many times on my tandem with Brother in Law Vince including the Quad with him in 1993 where we got to ride with six time Race Across America winner, Seana Hogan for a while. Before she just flew away from us on the hills.


I did it with my oldest Daughter Cherisse on the tandem in 1997 while she was a junior in high school. (under 12 hours on her first and only double)

I took it real easy on the bike the couple of weeks before the event as I had just done three very difficult double centuries for three weekends straight. It has been over three years since I did a double on my tandem so I wanted to be fully recovered so it would not be too much of a suffer fest on the hills. Especially Portrero Road in the morning.

Vince and I went to the ride start on Friday evening for a early check-in so we would not have to do it in the morning. I wanted to be fully ready in the morning with no last minute things to do. The start is only 15 or so miles from home. I then went to my nephew Brett's graduation party in Burbank for awhile before heading home to lala land.

Team RoHo

We got to the start early at 4:15 am and hung around for a while. I saw my friend Roland with his team RoHo start the Quad at almost 4:30. Wow...that is just awesome. I wish I were doing it again. I almost was going to but changed my mind.


Slowly some friends started showing up and we got a small group together to start the ride. Friends Ken Mathis and Ron Ng started out a little ahead of us. I saw Lynn Katano who was doing the lowland double, on a tandem also, with friend Craig.
Our small group started around 5am. Terri Bokins, Kitty Goursolle, Julie Stokes, Vince and I started together along with a few others I didn't know. This Grand Tour was Terri's 50th....wow...now a Hall of Famer!

Left to right...Kitty, me, Vince, Terri and Julie

  We headed out of the start, passed Pepperdine University before turning onto PCH and heading toward Oxnard. The weather was nice and cool, not cold, and a little overcast. Perfect for climbing up Portrero Road which was to come at mile 44.4.
Along the way as it got light I got this video of Terri, Julie and Kitty along PCH:

We caught up to Ken and Ron somewhere along here and we rode together, mostly, the rest of the day.
We turned off of PCH at Pacific Missile Test Center Point Mugu for a stroll around the base before turning toward the first check point in Point Hueneme at the community center. We got food, water and fixed Julie's flat tire before heading out toward the beast which is Portrero. We called my wife Ginny and kids Cherisse and Nicole to let them know our eta to Moorpark. The plan was to meet them there and then they were going drive SAG along with us and to offer support to any other riders that wanted it. Cherisse and Nicole were bringing their bikes and were planning on riding some of the event with us.

We rolled for a while through the farmland on Pleasant Valley Road and Laguna Road before reaching Portrero. The road started off flat for a while then just after passing the back side of Cal State Channel Islands it starts to kick up with a small climb then a forgiving gradual section before it gets real steep. My friend Ron took this video of the climb with his helmet cam:

 

Too bad you cant hear him panting it would really add to the drama of it.

The climb was epic this day. It actually almost seemed easy on the tandem this time. I had been stressing about it because it has been so long since I did it on tandem with Vince. I think it was because together, Vince and I are 20 pounds lighter than the last time we rode tandem. We just down shifted and spun the peddles up the hill. We did not stop even at the top and then sprinted over the summit. Still cant believe I did that. I had a harder time on the Highland Triple last year on my single bike.

Julie, Ken and Jeff just before the steep part

You can see the start of the steep section to the left above. 20% in a couple spots

Vince and Ken at Check Point 2

Over we went. We had a nice descent before climbing another section and dropping into beautiful Hidden Valley. Along the way we hit check point 2 for fuel and refreshments.

Train rolling through Hidden Valley with Ken in the lead

Through Hidden Valley we rode and then we had a wonderful ride around Lake Sherwood before heading into Westlake Village. We turned left on Westlake Blvd. then headed North toward into Thousand Oaks.

After rolling along Westlake for a while I heard cow bells coming from the rear. To my surprise my cousin Eric came cruising up along side us on his mountain bike. He had just ridden from home to see if he could find us. I had sent him the route the week before and they were monitoring FaceBook posts of my where a bouts in the morning. (oh that social media). My family was monitoring FB and phoning my rear engine Vince to find out where we were so they would know where we were.We then saw my cousin Trisha, Eric's wife,  up ahead taking pics of us. Wow this was great!!. I think Eric rode about 10 miles with us before we turned on to Erbes Road in Thousand Oaks.

Another climb on Erbes, then a turn on Olson road would bring us into Simi Valley before turning toward Moorpark and check point 3. Peach Hill Park.
We rolled into check point #3 at mile marker 78 to find this!! My friend John standing under this sign with this great hat!

 They made a big poster for people to sign. I was soooo touched by this!!

Terri should be a part of this too since this was her 50th Triple Crown Double. She will now be inducted into the "Hall of Fame" at the Triple Crown Awards Breakfast.

Terri Boykins, John Long and I

Left to right: Hall of famer Kerin Huber, Rene, John and a couple more crew members who I dont know. Thanks to all.

Thank you so much to everyone who took part in this surprise at Peach Hill. I really wish I could have stayed longer and talked to all of you more. John you are always so much fun!!
My "tandem train" members were pushing to get going so we headed out for Grimes Canyon.

We now had a good train going as we rolled up Spring Street through old Moorpark to Grimes Canyon. It was clearing up now and starting to get warm as we started the slog up Grimes Canyon.

We all kept together on the climb but the heat slowed us down some.

Train in full flight with wheel sucker fish still attached well

As we got toward the top our family showed up and cheered us on over the top.

Right to left: Nicole, Cherisse, Ginny and Vince's wife, my sister in law Mardjie

Over the top we went for a blazing descent down toward Filmore and the orange groves of the Santa Clara River Valley. Now we had a nice flat area with light headwinds on our way to Santa Paula.

Rolling down Bardsdale toward Santa Paula

We were all rolling along just feeling great when I notice a guy coming up behind us real fast. Just flying. He was wearing a black and white cycling jersey and his pedaling style looked real familiar to me.
It turned out to be non other than my friend Kevin Walsh. Kevin was camping down in Ventura and decided he wanted to ride some of the course and see if he could find us somewhere along the route. He was not doing the event, just out for a spin. He could not believe that he was able to find us. He continued with us, ended up doing about 100 miles and stopped when we passed his campground on our way to the final check point.

Kevin Walsh

 We all stopped for a second so Cherisse and Nicole could saddle up and ride with us. We stopped for a natural break and to get some water from the girls while they took off to warm up ahead of us. We figured we would catch them on Dennison Grade.

Hey...what is my stoker and that other person doing out there in the bushes? Hmmm...Just noticed that...funny!

Cherisse and Nicole getting ready to roll.

After talking for a while we took off and were soon in Santa Paula. Through town we went quickly and then started the climb up Dennison. This climb is always hot!! Its never cool on this event. It was 97 degrees on the way up. We saw Cherisse and Nicole about 3/4 of the way up. They were stopped and waiting wondering what was taking us so long.....ha ha....they just started, are way younger and don't have 100 miles and Portrero Road in their legs...ha.
We all rode together through Upper Ojai Valley. Then we had the great descent down into Ojai for lunch.

Cherisse crank'n along with Ken Mathis to the rear.

We stopped at the top so Vince could take a personal break in the bushes when Cherisse rolled up. We started down the curvy descent together and then got stuck behind a bunch of cars. Cherisse was lucky enough to get ahead of them. Nothing worse than being on a tandem on a descent and having to brake the whole way down behind slow cars. If I was on my single bike I would have passed them and left them in the dust. Too curvy for the tandem to do that but I was tempted.

Into lunch we rolled. We saw my friend Lynn Katano who was doing the lowland double on tandem. She took these great pictures of Cherisse, Nicky and I.

Vince and I coming into lunch with Cherisse

My two babies.....thanks Lynn for these great pics!!

 We sat down for a sandwich, a soda, fruit, etc, etc and had a great lunch. We stayed at least 30 minutes to fuel up for the push over Casitas Pass.

Cherisse and Nicky rode in the car and took pics along the way as we made our way out of Ojai and up to Hwy 150 for our jaunt over the pass to Carpenteria. It was nice going over the pass but kind of hot in places.

Following are few pics of all of us going around Lake Casitas.

Hey Vince....what are you doing back there?...you are supposed to be pedaling!

Add caption

 Now we got the real reward. A blazing descent to the coast with 10 degree cool temps. Nice!!! I took it way easy on all the downhill sections with curves this day because I was somewhat skittish after it being so long. I was also trying some new tires so I did not know what to expect out of them either. More braking than usual for me.
 We rolled into the Rincon Point check point a little after 3pm and we all were feeling great. I think we kept a good but not too hard of pace all day to this point. Now it is all flat to the next check point in Port Hueneme.

Getting ready to leave Rincon for Port Hueneme

 We hopped on to Hwy 101 for a short while along the coast before getting off in Sea Cliff for a nice flat ride along Rincon Parkway to Ventura . This was really enjoyable riding together and talking as a group we had a great time knowing that we were on the home stretch. The following video is courtesy of my friend Ron Ng

Cherisse flying down the coast

Nicky riding up in front of the pack

Kevin with Julie and Jeff in tow

Chatting with Kevin along the way

The train rolling though Faria State Beach

 After pulling off into Ventura we cruised up through Ventura, Oxnard, Channel Islands before hitting the final Check Point in Port Hueneme. Mile marker 163. Only a little over 30 miles to go.

Ron and I at the final stop

Off we went for the final push down the coast to Malibu. It was great rolling down PCH. One of my favorite places to ride. We had a nice tail wind the whole way back with cool temps. Just beautiful.

The train keeps growing

My Babes along PCH

Point Mugu

 Right past Point Mugu at the State Park I got a flat. As a group it was to be only the second flat. Not bad. Just not the thing you want in the home stretch. With help we got it changed real quick, (little over 5 minutes), and were on our way.

Just about done fixing the rear flat.

 We made our way past Sicamore Cove, County Line, Zuma Beach before hitting quite a bit of traffic between there and the finish. No cares at this point because we were almost done. We pulled into the finish a little before 8pm with plenty of light left. Just as we were coming up the hill in the parking lot we went over a speed bump and I almost tossed Vince when my pedal or bottom bracket hit the bump. Scared the hell out of me. If we did crash, at least it was at the finish.

Coming up the finish hill into the parking lot. Ron filming with his helmet cam to my left

  Here is another great video taken by Ron of the finish.

When we pulled up to the finish, my wife and kids were there along with my sister Denise, her Fiance John, sister in law Mardjie, my cousin Trisha and her husband Eric. They were holding a big sign and balloons. What an epic day. We went in to check in then came back out and talked for a while before I had to go in and get some food.

 Under 15 hours for a leisurely climbing double century was nice.
 Saddle time: 12:33
 Elevation gain: 8,600 ft

Thanks to all the volunteers and the staff at "The Grand Tour" for the awesome support.
 Thanks to everyone who helped with pictures. Ron, Ken,  Julie, Lynn, Vince, Cherisse, Nicole, Ginny and Mardjie. I think Julie had my camera half the time while in the train. Great shots!
 Thanks John Long for your thoughtfulness at Peach Hill Park

You can see all the pictures at: www.stephenpaul.shutterfly.com/cycling

The 2011 Tour of Two Forests Double Century

On this day I completed my 99^th California Triple Crown Double Century. It took much more effort this year on my part to reach my goal by the Grand Tour at the end of June.

Mother Nature just made it difficult from the beginning. Most of the rides had weather challenges.

I have done 8 doubles in 2011. One of them I did not complete. The Death Valley Double was a wind nightmare. The Solvang Double was rainy and cold. We had heat come out of nowhere on Hemet. Heartbreak was a wind fest. Eastern Sierra was epically beautiful but was a real wind challenge at the end.

The rides since the end of April, the last month and a half or so, have involved a large amount of climbing. I calculated that, between the events and training, (and I didn’t train that much between), I have accumulated just under 100,000 vertical feet of elevation gained on the bike.

I am not built like a climber but I sure love it! The most beautiful of the rides involve climbing. On this event I definitely felt all the climbing I had put in my legs the two previous weekends!!

On June 11 I did one of my favorite rides. The Tour of Two Forests.

This is one of my favorites. The first time I did this event was back in the late 80’s when it started in Palmdale California. The start has since been changed to Santa Clarita, not far from home.

The event was done this year “Brevet Style”. Since there were not that many people doing the ride we just had one leap frogging support vehicle. Our support crew Jon and his sister Jennifer carried our drop bags and other goodies for us to eat and drink.

Before the event, a few of us decided we were going to start a little early and just enjoy the ride. We did not want to make it hard on the support guys by going too slow so we started early hoping that the fast people would catch us on the climb up to Pine Mountain somewhere and we would pretty much stay together from then on.

My friends Vic, Saralie, Terri and Ken started with me at around 4:30am from the hotel on The Old Road in Santa Clarita.

Left to right: Me, Terri, Saralie, Vic and Ken

Ken motivating down Hwy 126 at first light

We headed out of town and down the Santa Clara River Valley on Hwy 126 before turning on

Torrey Road

for a nice ride to Santa Paula through the orange orchards.

We just cruised through this first leg and enjoyed the view and good conversation. We passed Balcom Canyon on the way and joked about taking a detour up this very difficult climb which we do on the Mulholland Double. Terri almost made the turn but we talked her out of it....ha ha.....didn't need those 20% grades on this day!

Nooooo....Terri!!

Once we got to Santa Paula the climbing began. We started the climb up Dennison Grade to upper Ojai Valley.

Along the way a few miles up the road we stopped for the first check point at Steckle Park. We ate, and got water from friends Jon and Jennifer who did an awesome job supporting us.

                                          This video is us toward the top of Dennison Grade.

Upper Ojai Valley

Off we went up the climb to Upper Ojai Valley. We stopped and re-grouped at the top before rolling through the valley and then descending to Ojai down below.

Down, down we went into Ojai, a great little town just north of Ventura. A beautiful place to live!

We made a right turn on Hwy 33.

Terri up ahead starting the 30 mile climb to Pine Mountain Summit

Now the climbing really begins.

Wheeler Gorge and the climb to the summit of Pine Mountain are as epic as it gets. 30 plus miles of climbing with some of the most wonderful views. The grade averages about 4-6% so it is not too bad....just long!

This year the Sweet Broom plants where in full bloom and the whole climb smelled of their fragrance.

I stopped at the bottom to strip out of my leg warmers, vest and warmer gloves in anticipation of the long climb.

And oh what a fantastic climb it was!!

We started the climb with overcast skies, climbed into and through the clouds, popped out of the clouds for a spectacular view of the road we came up. One of my favorite.....OH....I think I already mentioned that.....it was awesome.

Jon got this pic of us talking at the Ranger Station





Along the way we regrouped at the Wheeler Ranger Station. This is where the later starters caught us. Most of us started up and stayed pretty much together all the way up to the first summit. Did I say that it was an awesome and beautiful climb? Drive this route sometime. You won’t regret it!!

Friends Rick and Tony riding with Vic in the middle

Rene', Julie and Colin climbing in the mist



The climb below...from the first summit....Matillaha...I think?  Looking toward the Channel Islands and the Pacific



I broke out of the clouds about 2/3 of the way up then went over the first summit by myself for a nice descent into the Sespe Wilderness area.

I had a nice flat to gradual climb through this area before reaching the next check point before the final climb to Pine Mountain Summit.

I relaxed at the check point for awhile, ate, had something to drink and waited for my friends to come in. They arrived and did the same. We were about 85 miles into the ride at this point. It seemed longer due to all the climbing thus far.

Pine Mountain in the distance

Off we went for about a 6 mile climb to the summit of Pine Mountain. Terri, Ken and a few others left early and were going to wait for us at the Ozena Fire Station before our next turn.

I waited at the top for Vic and Saralie, taking pics of everyone as they passed by.

Vic crank'n to the summit

Saralie cresting Pine Mountain

Bombing down off of Pine Mountain

Once they got to the top we blasted down off the mountain to meet up with the rest and the turn onto

Lockwood Valley Road

Tony on Lockwood Valley Road

Now we joined the course of the Heartbreak Double Century which I did just a couple of weeks before. We stay on the same course as that event until we almost reach Palmdale, then the course changes.

When we made our turn on Lockwood Valley road, the temps really elevated. It was now in the 90’s and there was hardly any wind to cool us.

As we slowly climbed Lockwood toward Heartbreak Hill it got hotter and hotter and steeper and steeper capping out at the summit of Heartbreak.

The temp got to about 95 with a slight tail wind that only made it feel hotter. I started to bonk some about 1/3 of the way up so I slowed up, downed lots more food, then picked up the pace some until I started feeling better. I was melting by the time I crested Heartbreak. I was not the only one!





Tony got this pic of me melting just passed the steep part of Heartbreak



Then he got me again almost to the summit

Jennifer, Vic, Rick and I chowing down

We all regrouped at the top and had a nice meal. It was about mile 100 of the ride. We still had allot of climbing to do before we were finished but it looked like we were going to have a nice tail wind most of the way back.

We left the check point for the next two climbs before dropping to Frazier Park.

The next two climbs were real nice and not too hot. Through the pines we went before our first descent into the Lockwood Valley.



First climb after Heartbreak.....Lockwood Valley here we come



Lockwood Valley with Mount Pinos in the distance

Vic and I rolled through the valley together until we reached the foot of our next climb....Owls Barn Summit. We waited for Terri, Ken and Saralie there.

They rolled in not far after us and we continued to Owls Barn. The easiest of the days climbs so far.

Over the summit we went and down to Lake of the Woods before bombing down into Lebec via Frazier Park. We now had a nice tail wind.

Ken, Vic and I turned right on Peace Valley road for the climb to Tejon summit in Gorman.

We stopped at a convenience store there for refreshment. I had a mountain dew and Vic had two plus a hamburger. I had a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

When the rest arrived we relaxed for a while then headed south-east toward Palmdale.

Ken and I chasing Saralie down on Gorman post road

Saralie and Mr. Merlin flying up the old ridge route

Vic on the old ridge route



Terri crank'n up the ridge route



Ken coming up with Quail Lake behind

We had a nice tailwind down Gorman Post road to the 138 hwy and Quail Lake area where we turned on the old ridge route.

Up....up....up we went again to our turn on

Pine Canyon Road

.

Pine canyon is one of the most beautiful roads to ride! Pines and oaks mixed, no cars, spectacular views....just epic! We all loved it and it took our minds off the grunt climbs that were along the way.

Looking back at Pine Canyon Road

After dropping down to Three Points we started a couple tough little climbs to get to Lake Hughes. On shorter rides these don’t seem bad, but at mile marker 146 or so of a double century, it hurts.

The last one was about 11% toward the top. Vic and I waited there at the top for the rest of the group. Vic just powered up that climb like a man possessed!!

Saralie did not even stop and just rolled over the summit for the bomb of a descent down to Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth. We all followed and had a nice mild tail wind to the next check point in Lake Elizabeth.

Vic captured this pic of the swarms we had to deal with.....wow

Getting hit by B-29 sized bugs on the way down and along the lakes we made it to the check point.

There were gigantic swarms of mosquitoes everywhere and they were not biting. Just swarming. Weird! Vic got a great shot of the possessed bugs.

We got all our lights set up, put on our cold weather gear and headed out for the last climb. Bouquet Canyon.

We were flying with a tailwind toward Palmdale before we got to our turn. We made the turn with still some light left and started the climb. We could see fog coming over the mountains and thought we were going to be damp and cold on the way back down to Santa Clarita.

Up we went and then we heard them.....coyotes...coyotes!! Were they stalking us? Could they smell our sweat and all the carbs we had been eating all day?  Were we to be there dinner?

We were joking with Saralie about it and howling ourselves when she thought she might have a flat tire. It was making a funny sound. It was a flat and just part of doing one of these events. It happens and you can’t get upset about it. Just fix it and move on.

Saralie and I working on the tire while Vic and Ken hold the coyotes at bay

She took her bad tube out and began checking the tire for foreign objects. I checked it and didn’t feel anything with my gloves. I thought I would snag it if there was something in there. She checked one last time before putting a new tube in and good thin she did.

She found a small piece of wire. So small that you could hardly feel it. We could not get it out. It became kind of frustrating until Ken found a pair of tweezers. Ken saved the day. We got it out, pumped up the tire and were on our way.

After the summit we had a long descent back to Santa Clarita and

Copper Hill Road. In the dark it just seemed to take forever.

We made the turn at the bottom, had a couple more climbs before reaching the

Old Road near Magic Mountain. Left we turned for a long gradual climb past Magic Mountain and the finish.

An epic day to say the least. We finished late but never really pushed ourselves to our limits. We just had a great time. All of us.

A great thank you goes out to Vic, Saralie, Ken and Terri. I had a great time and loved sharing this event with them.

All pictures can be seen at http://www.stephenpaul.shutterfly.com/cycling