2012 Overview: Another fun year of cycling

2012 started out as usual...feeling out of shape...although I don’t think I was out of shape from a normal persons perspective. For me, I was feeling fat after the holidays and just felt slow and sluggish on the bike. My idea of feeling out of shape.

JANUARY

Mount Soledad in San Diego

  

I did my usual. I started to bring up the base miles. I have never really trained scientifically through all my years of riding. Maybe if I did I would do much better. I just do what feels right for me. January miles for me....680 miles, mostly just shorter rides with some longer rides mixed in. The two most memorable rides were a ride with friends up Hwy 39 to East Fork then up to Mount Baldy Village via Glendora Mountain road and Glendora Ridge road.

 The other ride was a short one down in San Diego with my daughter Nicole. She gave me a bike tour of Pacific Beach, Mount Soledad and La Jolla. It was great. I have to go down an ride there more.

FEBRUARY

 I pumped up the mileage a little to 890 miles. I did base miles and capped off the month with the first double century event of the season, The Camino Real Double.

Early in the month I did a nice ride with my brother in law, Vince, out to Acton for a wine party he was attending. I rode out with him and he got a ride home with my sister in law Mardjie after the party. I partook in the munchies and a couple of sips of the vino and I rode home. 92 miles. 

Vince heading up Soledad Canyon into Acton

On the 18^th of the month Vince and I worked support crew on the Camino Real Double. We worked the rest stop in San Onofre and then we drove the course to offer assistance to anyone in need. 

Left to right: John, Lynn with her potatoes, Vince and Ron at San Onofre.

On the 25^th Vince and I did the Camino Real Double as a staff ride. Vince is getting back into doing the ultra events with me. He was my tandem stoker on many of my early doubles and prior to The Triple Crown events. Camino real:

  My friend John Clare came out and met us in San Onofre. He then did the rest of the ride with us. A 140 mile training ride for him on.....can you believe it...his new mountain bike!! 

John on his mountain bike in Camp Pendleton.

John got this great shot of Vince and I in Fallbrook, Ca.

MARCH

Slowly bringing the mileage up to 1,057 I had some great training rides and a monthly cap off with the next double century event. Plus this was the month that the “Strava” climbing challenge started. 47 days to see if you can climb a little over 105,000 vertical feet. Climbing is my weakness so I thought I would give it a go.

I had a great training ride out to visit my sister Denise and brother in law John in Burbank. After having some coffee and something to eat, John and I rode around Griffith Park past the Greek Theater and up to the observatory. Then we returned on a paved fire road down the other side to Travel Town. I can’t believe I had never been up there before on a bike. I have to do it again!

 I had another great ride with my friends Chris and Saralie up on Latigo canyon and beyond in the Santa Monica’s. Saralie was starting her training for the Furnace Creek 508, “the toughest 48 hours in sport”.

Chris and Sarlie

 I capped off the month on the 24^th by doing the Solvang Double Century. I did it again on the tandem with Vince. Solvang: http://app.strava.com/activities/5685607

Vince and I heading into Los Osos on the Solvang Spring Double Century

 APRIL

Mileage stayed about the same for April.

Circle X Ranch in the Santa Monica's with Saralie, Terri and Julie

On the 7^thI went out to meet up with friends who were doing The Mulholland Double Century staff ride. I did 140 miles of it and almost 12,000 feet of elevation gain. It was great fun! My friend Chris was driving SAG support for the small group which was composed of Saralie, Teri and Julie.

Vince and I did the Hemet Double Century on the tandem. It was cold and windy. This used to be one of our favorites on the tandem. We really felt like we were getting back to in the groove on the tandem.

Hemet: http://app.strava.com/activities/6763229
 

On the 29^th we did a real hard trainer on the tandem in preparation for the Borrego Double which has allot of climbing. We did the Hwy 39 climb, East Fork, Glendora mountain road, Glendora ridge road to Baldy village. We then did the Mount Baldy Ski Lifts climb. That was tough on the tandem although we had done tougher in the past since we did climb’s like that on the tandem during a double century. On this day we would do almost 12,000 vertical fee of climbing in 93 miles. Epic day on the tandem.
Map: http://app.strava.com/activities/7603868

Vince and I climbing the Mount Baldy Ski Lift climb. Thanks for the pic Karen!!

 My friend Karen came up to ride with us. We started real early with lights and we met her on East Fork Road near Camp Williams.

Karen at the top....whew...a tough climb!

 This also capped off the “Strava” climbing challenge. For the 47 days I finished 261^st out of 10,706 participants. My total elevation accumulation was 117,969 vertical feet.

I also dropped quite a bit of weight during this period getting down to just over 160 lbs from about 175.  I don’t think I have ever been that weight before.

MAY

In May my mileage went down as I just stayed in maintenance mode due to the two very tough double centuries this month.

I did The Central Coast Double Century on the 12^th up on the beautiful central coastal area of the state. I did this one on my single bike. I somehow contracted some sort of intestinal bug and was very sick to my stomach for the second half of the ride. I got through it but was sick for days after.

My friend Helge climbing away from the foggy central coast.

Central Coast Double: http://app.strava.com/activities/8425508

Then Vince and I did the very tough Borrego Double down in Borrego Springs on the 26^th . It was cold and rainy at the start and then downright cold at the finish.

Heading up Montezuma Grade out of Borrego Springs. Into the freezing rain we go.

Total monthly mileage 846 miles.

JUNE

A very easy maintenance month with about the same mileage as May. There were a couple of epic and tough rides this month though. A nice climb up to Dawson Saddle on Angeles Crest with friends and The LA Wheelmen Quad event.

Teresa (Tiger) and Les at Dawson Saddle

 I met up with friends who were riding to Wrightwood and back from Duarte, Ca. We had a great time climbing up to over 7,000 feet and then bombing back down the hill.

On the 16^th Vince and I did the ride we were most excited about all year. I wanted to reenact our 1993 Grand Tour Quad for my 60^th birthday. I asked Vince and he did not even hesitate before saying yes. We asked the Grand Tour Staff if we could do it the week before the event as a staff ride since we were staffing on it the following week. They said no problem; we put a crew together for support comprised of my Daughter Cherisse, her husband Chris and Vince’s wife, my sister in law Mardjie. We had an awesome time and finished in 23hrs 55 minutes just barely. We figure we lost 30 minutes or more waiting for stoplights along the course. Not as easy as back in 1993 when there were not as many lights but not many were the multi arrow turn lane type. (those keep you waiting forever)

Hwy 101...heading into Gaviota, Ca...almost 200 miles into the event and feeling great!

JULY
I turned 60!! Wow.  I started easing back a bit and rode only 694 miles. Other than rides in my local area I did one nice ride up on Angeles Crest Hwy from La Canada.

I would call this a maintenance month.

AUGUST

This month I did some real epic rides but my overall distance was not that much, only 760 miles.

The first ride was one of my favorites. My niece was having a baby shower up at my sister’s house on the North Shore of Big Bear Lake. Ginny and Cherisse were going up for it so what a better opportunity for a training ride to.....you guessed it....Big Bear.

I left a 4am in the morning and did a solo ride from home. Fully loaded with a back pack and heavy on supplies and water. The climb from Redlands to Onyx summit at over 8,000 feet is almost 40 miles. One of my favorites. My total ride stats: 140.4 miles. 10,000 vertical feet of elevation gain from home in about 10 hours. Then I got lots of food and a ride home. Couldn’t be any better!!
http://app.strava.com/activities/16596535

On the 11^th I invited some friends out and we did “The climb/heat-fest in Steve’s back yard”. I invited many but only a few came. We had terrible heat so we cut it down to about 72 miles instead of 100. The temps were over 107 and heat measurements on the tarmac were off the charts. We had some readings on our computers of 120 degrees on the bike. http://app.strava.com/activities/17955275

The final memorable ride of the month was to the top of Mount Wilson from home and back. 107.5 miles round trip with about 6,800 feet of climbing. I had never been up to Mount Wilson before so I could not pass it up. We had a great time. My friend Shai did it on his fixed gear bike....amazing to watch.

Shai on his Fixed gear bike heading toward Red Box....the turn to the Mount Wilson climb.

http://app.strava.com/activities/19720501

SEPTEMBER

Easy 617 miles for the month.

At the beginning of the month I did a great ride organized by my friends Ken and Teresa. “Ken and Teresa’s Monster Mountain Ride”. Epic ride with many friends old and new. 119 miles with 11,800 feet of climbing. We started at Encanto Park in Duarte then rode out to Sunland before taking the Big Tujunga route up to Angeles Crest Hwy. We then rode to Hwy 39 above Crystal Lake. We bombed down to East Fork Road where some of the riders headed back to the park. About 5 of us continued up East Fork Road to Camp Williams and Glendora Mountain Road. It was a holiday weekend so this road was closed to cars. We climbed up to the ridge then descended back down into the San Gabriel Valley before heading west back to the park.
 http://app.strava.com/activities/20541716

Looking at Hwy 39 from Angeles Crest. A very long descent!!

Hawaii Ultra-man Veteran Suzy Degazon. I met Suzy on the double century circuit but hadn't seen her in years.

During the middle of the month I had joined Chris and Saralie again for an impromptu crew meeting/ride up in the Santa Monica’s:

OCTOBER

This was a real easy month with a couple of tough rides thrown in. 599 miles total.

I started off the month helping out on the crew for my friend Saralie. She did the Furnace Creek 508 in the women’s solo division.

Team Micro-Raptor

Saralie flying through the blazing hot Mojave desert heading toward Randsburg and Trona.

 This was one of the most life changing experiences for me. I have always wanted to do this race but it scared me. 508 miles through the California desert, 35,000 feet of elevation gain and a 48 hour time limit. Wow!!  Now after seeing the course first hand and what is required to do it, I am not so fearful of it. Now I think I will give it a go!!

I had two memorable rides for this month. The LA Wheelmen 5 Counties Century and the Deer Creek Challenge. Both ride were great fun and very challenging.

Heading out of Frazier park toward Pine Mountain Club. 5 Counties Century

 5 Counties Century: http://app.strava.com/activities/2560806

Deer Creek: http://app.strava.com/activities/26246642

NOVEMBER

This was a very easy month with only 497 miles. Holiday time with too much food and not enough riding equals you know what!

DECEMBER

This month I started pumping up the volume again with some great rides and one new “Strava Challenge”.

Besides my regular rides I did the climb up to The LA County Fire Suppression Camp 9 twice. Once by myself and then the following week to show it to my friend Stefan who had never been up there before. We had a great time.  http://app.strava.com/activities/31509879

I also did part of The Black Canyon Century with friends. I met up with Stefan and a few others and over 80 miles of it with them. None of them had ever done Black Canyon before. It is one of the steepest climbs in the area and just brutal. 3-4 sections over 20% grade taking you from Simi Valley to the San Fernando Valley over the Santa Susana’s.

http://app.strava.com/activities/33527237

Heading up the lower section of Black Cyn with Simi Valley in the rear.

For the final week of the month, the week between Christmas and New Year, I did the “Strava Festive 500 Challenge”. The challenge is to try and ride 500 kilometers during the period. I ended up finishing the challenge in 5 days doing rides of 30.3, 70.4, 164.4, 26.3, 43.2  and 33.9 miles . The long, one day, ride was to Santa Barbara and back. A beautiful day for a ride too. This is the link to the map for that one:   http://app.strava.com/activities/34281419

I finished up the challenge with one more ride on New Years Eave for a grand total of 368 miles for the week and a 980 mile month.

My overall yearly mileage was:  9,515 miles and over 600,000 vertical feet of elevation gain for this non-climber.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Los Angeles Wheelmen Quad 2012....400 miles....24 hours.

For my 108th Triple Crown Double I decided to do it twice. Crazy huh?

We left the Valley at about 2:15 am for Malibu and the start location near Pepperdine University. We were doing the ride this year a week earlier than the actual event, as a staff ride. We were staffing one of the rest stops on event day. I guess you could call this a recon of the entire lowland course.

The temperature was perfect for our scheduled 3am start. In the low 60’s and overcast. Just a slight wind out of the west.

We left into the darkness a little after 3 am on the famous Pacific Coast Highway.

Ready to roll....photos courtesy of Cherisse Sherman

Off we go!!

Segment One:   Malibu to Ojai.    

I really love riding early like this. Once you get past the lack of sleep and getting out of bed at an un-godly time it really is wonderful. All by yourself with no traffic. Just you, the road and the elements of nature.

We cruised through Malibu on the few rolling hills leading to Zuma Beach and Leo Carrillo State Beach where many of the old beach blanket and surf movies were filmed in the 60’s. I have surfed there many times. It was really peaceful. All we could hear is the sound of the crashing waves and periodic hoots and hollers from our support crew.

 My oldest daughter Cherisse was our crew chief and my sister in law, Vince’s significant other, Mardjie, was helping Cherisse. Cherisse’s husband Chris joined us for the final 100 miles and was great to have along to keep the girls safe.

The girls were handling our nutrition amongst other things.. We didn’t want to get behind on the fuel issue. That can get real nasty when that happens.

For our main food source we each concocted a 3 hour bottle of “Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem”. For my body weight it was a four scoop bottle giving me about 540 calories in a shake like consistency. Vince had a 3 scoop bottle for the 3 hours since he is lighter than me. (Orange-Vanilla Flavor)

We supplemented that with occasional gel blocks and some sandwiches. They did an awesome job.

Cherisse kept track of our time on the bike and when we should be finishing the bottle and switching to the next one. The fueling plan worked out great and there were only a couple of times where we got a little stomach upset and that is because we took on too much too soon.

Our goal for the ride was just pace ourselves.

We did “The Quad” back in 1993 near the beginning of “The California Triple Crown” and at that time our goal was to do all the Triple Crown events and then cap the year off with The Grand Tour Quad. Wow....the Triple Crown has really grown with many more rides now.

We pushed pretty hard and did great that year.

Vince and I back in 1993 flying past Camarillo Airport.

This year we wanted to just keep a good even pace throughout the ride. We were not going to try and hammer it and over cook ourselves. I will, as I write this, be 60 in about a week and Vince is in his mid 50’s although he looks like he is 30.

Now....back to the actual ride.

Once we got past the Ventura County Line we just put it in cruise mode, I got into my aero bars and it was off to Point Mugu. Still in the darkness and with an average speed close to 20mph we flew past the Pacific Missile Test Center and into Port Hueneme.

Past check point #1 we went and through town as fast as we could. Next stop....Check point 2 in Moorpark.

Flying up Pleasant Valley road after leaving town we headed into the next section of urban sprawl which was Camarillo. We whizzed passed Camarillo Airport and headed up Santa Rosa road for a nice gradual climb up through the Santa Rosa Valley into Moorpark. It was on this road at about mile marker 50 that we made our first stop to use the facilities......a nice big tree....near Maravilla Gardens where Cherisse got married.

Stopping for our first fuel exchange in Moorpark on Moorpark Road.

Into Moorpark we went. We stopped for our first food bottle replacement at Moorpark Road. We reached check point #2 at around 60 miles a little after 6am. A left turn on Hwy 118 and before we knew it we were flying through the strawberry fields into Somis for a left turn back to Camarillo again.

We meandered a little bit through the North part of Camarillo.

Vince and I felt a little squeamish as we rode by the site of his terrible crash on their tandem on the Grand Tour Double Century years back in 2001. This was the last time they had done it until Vince did it with me last year. They got a front flat tire at over 40 mph on the descent near the country club then hit some slimy moss in the gutter which made the front wheel turn 90 degrees pitching Mardjie over Vince before he went down himself. She was unconscious for awhile and had a broken collar bone, chipped elbow plus facial and head injuries. Vince had some of the worst road rash I had ever seen. (I was riding just ahead of them)

 After leaving Camarillo we made a quick ride through the old part of Ventura before starting the climb up into Ojai. This is a nice, gradual climb and on a normal year would be getting real hot at this point. We were lucky this year. The clouds cleared but it was nice and cool.

Heading up Creek Road into Ojai

We reached Ojai, mile marker 107, at about 8:45am and just flew through there fast. Good thing we had a cell phone operator in the rear seat. We went through there so fast that they didn’t catch up to us until we were already on our way down the hill back to Ventura. They had stopped to put together our next meal and were catching up.

We stopped for a few minutes to pick up our next bottles then dropped down to the coast.

Heading back to Ventura on Casitas Vista Road

 Segment 2: Ojai to Gaviota through Ventura, Carpinteria, Santa Barbara and Goleta

I like to break a long event or training ride up into segments in my head so that it does not become monotonous which can be so unnerving. This way you can just focus on each segment so you don’t think about how many miles you have to go. On this day I was focusing on about 100 mile segments, plus or minus a few miles. One segment done and in the bag and off to start over on the next.

Heading up Rincon Parkway

Now we were on the Rincon Parkway. This was the old Hwy before the freeway was put in. It is a great road with allot of campers and the smells of campfires along the way. At one point we have to get up onto Hwy 101 for a few miles to Rincon point in Carpentaria. This is one of my favorite sections when there is not much wind but also when there is wind.

Let me explain: When we have a head wind here, we usually have a blazing tail wind the whole way back to Malibu on the return trip. If there is no head wind it is just a nice cruise both ways.

On this day we only had a very slight headwind which didn’t really slow us down much on the tandem.

We cruised into Carpentaria feeling great at mile 139.

Pulling into Carpinteria

Now for my least favorite part of the ride when you’re trying to get somewhere fast on a bike. Santa Barbara and Goleta on the way out.... and the return.

We kept a real modest pace and were ahead of schedule until we hit Santa Barbara, a town I really love, but so does everyone else because there was so much traffic, people doing crazy things while running, riding bikes...etc., that it just killed us.

We had to stop at about every traffic signal on the coastal part of town. We didn’t get any relief until we finally made the climb up to Hope Ranch which is always really beautiful and nice.

Riding on Hollister in Goleta was even worse. IT TOOK US FOREVER TO GET THROUGH THERE!!

I....for some unknown reason... started to develop turrets syndrome here as my daughter can attest.

Finally......we made it to Hwy 101 for a beautiful 18 mile cruise to Gaviota. Nice wide shoulder...not much traffic and only an occasional semi truck to give us a little drafting help.

Gaviota here we come!!

Beautiful

We made it to the Gaviota turn around at around 190 miles in 10 hrs 50 minutes. We were still doing real well on our schedule considering all the lights. After all the stops we had I could only imagine what our time would be if we were out in the country just riding with no stop signs or lights. That would have been sweet.

Segment 3:   Gaviota to Malibu

Southbound....at last!!

We only had a mild tail wind on the return to Goleta so we did not have much help on the tandem which is much heavier.

We had a little easier time with the lights going back through Goleta and Santa Barbara but it still really took a lot out of our time. Back 20 years ago there were some lights on Hollister but they were just 2-way signals and stop signs. Now there was a light at every cross street and they were all 3-ways with arrows so the waits were horrendously long.

From this point we retraced our course all the way to Ventura then headed straight down the coast all the way back to Malibu to finish the first 300 miles. The clouds had cleared and it was a beautiful spin back down the coast.  It took us a little over 6 hours to get back down the coast including all the light and food stops along the way in those 110 miles.

Stopping for a sandwich on Rincon Parkway on the return

Heading past Mugu Rock

Flying!!!

Heading out of Point Mugu State Park

Point Mugu in the distance

 We made Malibu a little before 8:30 pm, just less than 17.5 hours. Faster than Vince and I did the Borrego Double Century a couple of weeks before. 300 miles in less time than a mountainous 200 miler. (again I was thinking about what could have been had we not been forced to stop so much at traffic signals)

Don’t get me wrong. I love this ride. The urban sprawl just gets to me.

Final Segment: 100 mile Ventura area loop and back to Malibu

Now....one of the toughest things about “The Quad”.

You are at the finish....you are very tired....and you have to go out and ride another “100” miles out and back. You can’t stop too long, if at all, or you won’t get back out there.

I did another quad attempt a few years back on my single bike and actually finished the 300 before dark. My back was really sore for the last 20 miles so I decided to just stick with the triple century. I really regretted it because after a little while rest and driving home, I was really feeling quite good still. I easily could have done it if I had just stretched a little and took a short break. I had plenty of time.

Off we went on the final part. The first part of this was the toughest for me. It seemed like every mansion along PCH was having a huge party because there was so much traffic heading back northbound.

In 4 or 5 locations along the highway until we got close to Ventura county line there were cars parked everywhere with valet parking attendants all over. It was dangerous!!

I was so tired and the lights were getting to me. I had to be very careful and slow way down. There was no shoulder in many places due to all the cars parked. At one point near Paridise Cove, I had to negotiate around some cars on a hilly section when my chain came off while I was in the middle of the busy lane. You never saw a tandem team go into action jumping off a bike and getting out of the road so fast in your life!!!

We saw a tow truck up ahead with flashing lights. In the lights we saw the silhouettes of two people running toward us in the darkness. It was our crew. Just as they got to us, Vince got the chain back on.....Wheeww!!

Now we had to wait for a break in traffic to get back on because there was no room to spare.

We did it and were on our way.

It was real nice once we got past Zuma Beach and Leo Carrillo again. No more traffic. It seems everyone was in Malibu for the evening.

As we headed back through Point Mugu State Park and Mugu Rock, we were a little bit slower than when we started in the morning. I guess that is understandable.

We circled around to Port Hueneme Check point again where we got another bottle and I had an awesome turkey, ham and cheese sandwich that Mardjie made. Yum....hit the spot. I could hardly stomach the very dense liquid fuel at this point. I just took very small sips now at smaller intervals.

From Port Hueneme we headed out for a loop around the strawberry fields of Ventura area. Channel Islands Blvd. to Harbor Blvd., Olivas park Drive, Victoria Ave, North on Gonzales road, (hit almost every light through Oxnard here), southwest on Rice taking us back into Port Hueneme on Pleasant Valley. All the time you could taste the strawberries in the air.

Now back at the same check point for the fourth time it was a mere 35 or so miles to the finish....wooohoooo!!

Now in the wee hours of the morning, the traffic was nil and it was glorious.

We rolled into NAS Point Mugu one more time. We rolled past the missile park and the crew stopped to make one of their many Facebook posts. We told them we would need water when we got to PCH again in a few miles.

Where were they? What had happened to them?

We were almost to the Mugu Rock when they finally came up behind us.

Get this.....the Base cameras must have seen them sitting there and thought they looked suspicious. Because the Military Police pulled up asking questions and searched the vehicle wondering what they were doing out there in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Cherisse explained about our event and that they were our support crew. Then they saw all the bike wheels and gear in the back...haha....and actually made a couple jokes about the whole thing.

We got our water and the crew headed up the road for another leap-frog.

Then it happened again.

We were approaching Deer Creek and I was talking to Vince and suggesting maybe that we take a detour and go up Deer Creek for a little more masochistic mirth when we saw bright headlights on our side of the road ahead. At first we thought it was an ambulance coming our way but as we got closer we could see that it was a Sheriff car and it was parked on our side of the road facing Cherisse in the van.

Again it was the same thing. He was already parked there, and when they pulled over and stopped, he came over to ask if everything was ok and questioned them about being parked at that beach at around 2am.

As soon as Cherisse explained, we flew by them at about 20mph, and no more questions asked. Cherisse said he was pretty interested and impressed by what we were doing and asked a lot of questions. I  wonder if he thought we were nuts as we made a hoot and holler while passing!! We smelled the barn big time. Only a few more climbs.

The next hills are not bad on a single bike but on a tandem at the end of 400 miles they felt like mountains. We went over the one at Ventura County Line beach with no problem. Then the hill at Leo Carrillo was something else. My front derailleur cable got gummed up somehow and I could not get it to shift into the middle chain ring. We climbed that hill like we were on a fixed gear in our 54-34....easy....yeah right!

We climbed the next few small hills that way then we stopped just before dropping into Zuma Beach and checked it out. Looks like the liquid fuel had just gummed up the cable where it came from the bottom of the bike frame up into the derailleur below the bottle cage. Fixed and we were on our way.

We grunted up the next hill up on to Point Dume then blazed down the hill for the great momentum push to get over the hill at Latigo Canyon. When I down shifted into the middle chain ring, the chain came off again in full flight and we almost went down halfway up the climb. We flew off the bike again and fixed it. Now we had to grunt up the rest of the way but we were almost home. One more hill!

Down into Coral Beach we went and sprinted up the final hill to Pepperdine University.

Arrival at last

Wheww......we did it!

We finished almost exactly at 3am. Don’t know how we did it but it all worked out. Even with all the lights, stops and bike problems.

I also found out when I got home that I had a broken spoke on the rear wheel and it was rubbing on the brake so bad I could hardly move the wheel. Checked it in Port Hueneme and it was fine so it must have happened in the final miles.

Thanks to our fantastic crew, Cherisse, Mardjie and Chris on the final 100 as security chief. Without there help, we would not have succeeded.

Left to right.....Mardjie and Cherisse

Thanks must be given to the Los Angeles Wheelmen, especially Kermit and Pam for allowing us to do this "Recon staff ride" in the week prior to the actual event. We did find a few things that will make a difference on the ride such as a road that is going to be closed on that weekend. (We saw a sign warning traffic of the closure). Told them about it and they are checking.

All the pictures can be viewed at:  http://stephenpaul.shutterfly.com/cycling

The map of the course can be viewed at:   http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1336778
Ride results from actual event day and our results from the LA Wheelmen Page.  http://www.lawheelmen.org/gtfinish12byroute.htm

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2012 Borrego Double Ordeal

For my 107th and Vince's 35th Triple Crown Event we were really anticipating and excited about doing this ride on the tandem. I have always wanted to try it tandem even knowing how tough it is.

We did many events in the 90’s that were this tough and even tougher on the tandem which included the infamous 93 Tour of Two Forests (new Heartbreak Course due to the giant land slide on the highway from Ojai over Pine mountain), where 26 of us finished out of around 300.

This one would turn out pretty tough.

The day before the event we found out that there was a fire in Julian so we were worried about whether the ride would be canceled or not. We also heard about some high wind warnings issued for Borrego Springs.

We found out at the very last moment that the ride would continue but the much anticipated climb from Santa Isabel to Julian and the awesome decent down Banner Grade to the finish would be cut out of the ride. We instead were going to return on Hwy 79 North and make our way back up the way we came out of Borrego Springs in the morning.

I was kind of disappointed but I thought that it would be cool going down Montezuma in the other direction for a change. (I changed my mind drastically on that later as you will read).

I really love that return on Banner grade and thought it would be real nice on the tandem because it is not too steep but long. Perfect for a tandem.

We arrived in Borrego Springs late in the afternoon on Friday and got a camping spot in the State Park. Real nice, clean camping place. We loved it.

We went out to dinner, checked in for the ride the following morning and retired for the night in the van.

It was a beautiful, star filled and windy night and we didn’t get much sleep. It got kind of cold too so I was a little worried about the morning because the forecast earlier in the week was for it to be cool but not that cold.

We had a little toast of wine after dinner for good luck.

We got up and had coffee at 3am, ate our hard boiled eggs and cookies that the ride organizer Anny gave everyone for breakfast and then we got ready.

We started the ride at around 4:20am in cool breezy conditions.

Right out of the start we come across our first climb. Montezuma Grade. The grade is about 11 miles long and I would say somewhere about 6-8% grade.

Lower section of Montezuma from Google Earth

The climb up Montezuma Grade was spectacular as always and extra challenging this year. Not only because we were doing it on a tandem but mother nature had something in store for us that none of us expected but we were worried about because of the forecast. WINTER WEATHER in May!!

Now, as many of my friends know, I actually like riding in cold weather to a certain extent. I loved last November’s cold Borrego event although I was kind of cold at times and did very well. I have trouble in hot weather. Must be my Swiss heritage.

Wind is what I hate.

As we got about 1/3 of the way up the grade we started getting blasted by nasty 20-30 mph head/cross winds and they continued all the way to the summit. I was glad I was on a tandem because our extra weight really helped us and it did not slow us down too much. It was just hard to keep the bike in a straight line. We heard later that some of the single riders actually got blown off the road!

As it started getting light we noticed that it was real clear to our east but we had some clouds blowing over the top of the mountain ridge which we were climbing up to. The clouds were just motivating over the ridge at high speed in the wind and then dissipating as the moisture was just sucked out of them by the desert air. It made for a spectacular sunrise.

Just about to see the sunrise and a tiny break from the wind as we head more east on the climb.

There it is! Feeling some moisture in the wind. Where is it coming from?

I am so happy I had the insulated glasses on this ride. My eyes did not give me a problem all day. The cold wind actually froze my, facial nerve damaged, un-blinking left eye on the previous event in November. If it had been windy that day I would not have finished.

Plowing into the wind, we went, as we got closer to the summit. We saw our friend Kermit who was driving one of the sag support vehicles drive up to us and he told us it was about 3 miles to the summit.

We then noticed that, even though it was clear, we were feeling raindrops. Strange....Hmmm!

Then as we got closer we notice that there were real dark clouds beyond the summit and not long after that a beautiful rainbow appeared that went all the way across the sky from ground to ground on both sides. We took a picture but could only get some of it in.

The summit in the distance to the left and we are getting rain!

The closer we got to the top the wetter we started getting. Then we crested the top and arrived at the first check point in Ranchita. We got food, put on our rain jackets, full fingered gloves and leg warmers on and started the awesome decent down to Hwy 79. It was 40 degrees at the top and we got sleeted on for awhile on the way down, then it just turned to rain. It was not too bad though. It was the cold on our hands that was somewhat unpleasant.

We turned left on Hwy 79 with Chuck Bramwell, (The Triple Crown Guy) and rode with him until we reached Mesa Grande, our next climb.

Mesa Grande rises above Lake Henshaw to the South of the lake and is a short but fairly steep climb with spectacular views of the lake to the North. Then once the summit of the mesa is reached it is just rolling hills until the decent back to Hwy 79 again. The Mesa Grande section is about 11.8 miles then 1.9 miles to the second check point, Santa Isabel and the best apple pie on earth!!

We had a great time climbing the mesa. We rode for about half of it with Chuck although he crept up ahead of us since we were slow climbing on the tandem.

Just before we reached the section of the downhill after going over some cattle guards, (and there were a lot of cattle up there), we noticed the front tire was getting squishy. I was just thinking at that time that the last couple of climbs seemed harder than normal. We had a flat tire.

We took a while fixing it and just relaxed a little then headed back down the road. We saw some friends go by while we were fixing it and said hi.

We were about the 17^th bike to reach CP2. We were still cold but feeling pretty good. The weather was clearing up nicely. We had some apple pie, filled up our bottles with fuel, sat down for some time and then took off for the next section.

The next section on Old Julian Hwy was really nice and fast. We were just smoking fast on this section. I think we passed about 6 people on this section before dropping down to the Escondido area and Elfin Forest. (I never realized there was a place like this and a town in the area with that name. They even have their own fire department.) Beautiful ride down the Elfin Forest decent.

Elfin Forest

We then came into the town of San Marcos for check point 3. This was a great stop. The volunteers manning the rest stop were all dressed up like they were out of the 1960’s.

A great stop. We hung out for way too long again but these guys were great to talk to and we had a great time there.

Check Point 3, San Marcos. These are some real studs in this picture!!!  Photo courtesy of Robert Choi with the lead group of racers!

Onward we went into the Palomar area. For most of the section from check point 3 to the lunch stop in Oceanside, we rode along with two of the owners of “Volagi Bicycles”. Really nice people. That bike is now on my wish list! (That is one with Robert Choi in the above picture. Notice it has dual disk breaks!)

 We stayed together on the flats and descents but we really had to work to catch them after we hit some lights and some hills. (the hills really slowed us down)

Past Lego Land we went and down to the coast in Carlsbad. We had a real nice, hammer-fast spin on PCH then hit lunch in Oceanside.

Lunch was fantastic!! Made to order sandwiches on all natural breads from a local bakery. It was great and again we sat around too long but were glad we did. That was the best sandwich I have had in years on a ride!

Vince and I left lunch feeling full, maybe too full, and satisfied.

In less than a half mile we were on the San Luis Rey River Bike path. We were on the path for about 7 miles and we averaged around 20 mph for that section. The food started kicking in!

We now were on the course I had done so many times on this ride as well as the Camino Real Double. The only difference on this one is that we ride directly east on West Lilac and Lilac roads into the Valley Center area instead of coming back to the coast through Fallbrook. When its really hot, this is where the ride really begins! Mostly climbing and real warm in this area. Beautiful area though.

Way above and crossing over Interstate 15 on Lilac Road. Looking South toward San Diego

 We rode mainly by ourselves all through the rolling hills of the Valley Center area before dropping down Cole Grade to Check Point 5 in Pauma Valley. That was an insane decent on the tandem!! 9% and I was on the brakes most of the time. There are pot holes in some hidden places and I didn't want another flat, especially while going 40+mph on a bike.

I had a soda, some chips, some fruit, finished off and replenished my protein enriched Perpetuem Energy Drink, sat around a little then we hit the road for what I think is the toughest climb of the ride.

Mount Palomar in the distance. 10% grade.

The 5 mile climb up to the foot of Mount Palomar. This one killed us. It is always hot on this one but this year it wasn't too bad. It is just an unrelenting 8-10% for the first 3 miles or so. Doing it tandem just made it tougher 3/4 of the way into a double century event. We stopped 5 times on the way up!! I guess the fueling was not enough at the last stop. 

At the top we put our cool weather cloths back on and started the great rolling section to Lake Henshaw, this time approaching from the West.

Although we were not doing too well on the climb to get to this point, we were really smoking this part. In the three other years I did this event, I don't ever remember even getting close to getting to Lake Henshaw this fast. We were just flying on the rolling hills. TANDEM COUNTRY!!

Lake Henshaw...looking North toward Warner Springs

That is when it happened. I started to BONK!! 

I started to get a little dizzy, then my stomach felt weird and then my head felt weird.....I just felt weird....I am weird! I know the signs too well. The brain starts going first

We got off the bike for about 10 minutes. I finished the rest of my Perpetuem, ate a bunch of Cliff Blocks and the last half of a Peanut Butter and Honey sandwich then we rolled.

We were real slow on the next 3-4 mile climb over a small summit before we bombed down to Santa Isabel again for the final check point. (which was the same as the 2nd check point)

I was shivering now and had to put my rain jacket over the top of everything else. It was getting cold.

I had a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup and the chills stopped. Then one of the volunteers made me a hot Mocha Coffee. WOW did that taste and feel good going down. Now I felt great! I think the food from the BONK stop near Lake Henshaw was now kicking in.

 We watered up and hit the road for the final 34 miles or so. 

Now we retraced the course on Hwy 79 to the roads we traveled over Montezuma Grade in the morning.

This section on Hwy 79 was very stressful for me and not fun at all. There is no shoulder and there was a lot of holiday traffic, plus, it was dark now. I was having quite a bit of difficulty with torque steer on the tandem trying to keep it straight on the narrow shoulder. Scary with the traffic. I never used to have that problem with Vince on the back and I don't have it with Ginny, my wife, on the back. We used to train much more on the tandem in years past. I think his legs have just gotten so strong that he is really cranking down on the pedals and not spinning as much as he used to. It is the only thing I can think of. The "Very Stiff" Cannondale frame just wants to turn with his every stroke.

On our way up 79 we saw the only other tandem on the ride. Team "RoHo-Tiger". Roland Hoffman and Teresa Beck. Two close ultra friends. Teresa did her screaming growl as they passed going the other way. They started later than us and we heard when at the check points that they were trying to catch us. They most likely would have if they didn't have bike problems.

We finally got to the turn up the hill toward Montezuma. We had a 11 mile climb to the summit then about an 11 mile decent into town for the finish in Borrego.  This section was great. We had a tail wind, it was nice and cool, the stars were awesome and there was a nice large road shoulder. We climbed this section real fast and were slowly catching some of the single riders way up ahead. We made it to the top and caught about 3 people just about at the summit.

The last section is arguably the toughest decent I have had to do on the tandem. As we reached the top, it was so cold that the steam from my breath looked like a fog bank forming in front of us as the wind carried it ahead of us. Strange!

We hadn't realized how strong the winds were since they were behind us the whole way up. On the decent, I was heavy on the brakes and half expected for my wheels to melt under the braking load. Good thing it was cold out!!

It was so dark that I had to be real careful even with my great lights. It was mainly because of the cross winds. Each corner was scary as hell. I don't know if we just hit it at a bad time, or what, but the winds seemed worse than in the morning. We came around one corner and were doing close to 30 mph. The wind almost stopped us in our tracks....ON A TANDEM! I had to downshift into a lower get and we stood into it before the next hairpin.

To make a long story short, I almost had to pry my hands off the brake levers at the bottom because they were just cramped into the lock down position.

We made the right turn at the bottom of the hill and we were done.

Wheeww...That was....an Ordeal!

Start time: 4:20 am

Finish time: 10:45 pm

 My computer battery ran out about 16 miles short of the finish so the elevation gain is close but we ended up with about 15,600 feet of gain on the day for the altered course.

A very large Kudos go out to Anny Beck as well as all the volunteers for doing such a great job of taking care of us on this very challenging day.