Thanks for sharing pics and stories everyone... great job! B, looking forward to your ride report.... be sure not to take a week to get it posted, k? :p The place you guys stayed at looks beeeee-yoo-ti-ful!

My friend, Stan, and me
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p27/merider/Solvang%20Double/pic30.jpg

I recognize Stan! I came across him on the first bump on Foxen. He was in another group but hung onto me and my friend and another guy that was with us for a while. The 4 of us rode together for a while but we lost him somewhere near the top of Foxen. I continued to see him all throughout the day; he usually left each rest stop a little before me and then I would pass him after a while :p, until the next stop. Tell him "hi" for me.

Thanks for sharing pics and stories everyone... great job! B, looking forward to your ride report.... be sure not to take a week to get it posted, k? :p The place you guys stayed at looks beeeee-yoo-ti-ful!


Tiff the place was so homey. It didn't feel like we were staying at someone's house it felt like our home for 3 days. and bTW, BRANDY KICKED ASS!!!! I am so proud of her. She whined and complained and then didn't talk to me for hours but I knew if I pushed her she would thank me later. She seems to always look back at her times and say "damn if I hadn't.... I would have finished earlier." So I pushed her and sometimes literally.

Congrats all on the double. Extra kudos for the first timers.

you people are crazy.

for dinner (at the Little Mermaid – skip it)

And how were the flødeboller?

The more I hear about Solvang, the more I imagine it's this bizarre little piece of Denmark in the US. Like a big Tivoli Gardens. Only with hills and nice weather.

Lovely photos.

And how were the flødeboller?

The more I hear about Solvang, the more I imagine it's this bizarre little piece of Denmark in the US. Like a big Tivoli Gardens. Only with hills and nice weather.

Lovely photos.

Solvang isn't like Tivoli. It has no amusement rides, but it is a cheesy little piece of Denmark. No flodebollers or what was the other thing? Bird heads? :p But it's quaint. Come ride in the states and you can experience it first hand - and bring me some flodebollers while you're at it. ;)

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p27/merider/Solvang%20Double/pic25.jpg

Eat the food, Tina. EAT THE FOOD!

Uber gorgeous. I wanna visit Solvang...and eat a danish.

great pics. thanks. Great to see Calif. it's special. Friend of ours did the 200. Was looking for them in the crowd. One problem, It'd have to do only the 100. I would stop and spend too much time at our favorite vintner near Santa Maria.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p27/merider/Solvang%20Double/pic25.jpg

Eat the food, Tina. EAT THE FOOD!
:lol: you make me laugh, mo. :p

Good job guys, 'specially to you first timers.
We did a Mulholland preview ride Saturday, came down Deer Creek into a DENSE fog along the coast and
we all thought about you guys riding the central coast and how damp you'd be after 200.
Pix look like it turned out to be fine day.

Congratulations to the first timers as well! I've ridden with you guys on many occassions so I knew this would be no sweat...:p :beer:

Good job everyone!! Especially the first timers...!
And BRANDY...dang girl...you kick ass! WOW!! YOu have only been riding as long as I have (a year!)
And you have come SOOOOO far. That is great!
A double metric is in my future...but that is it as far as doubles go!

A bit of a ride report... Boring stuff, actually, I wouldn't read it. :)

On Saturday I woke up at 3:45 to have my breakfast so I could give it a little time to digest before the ride. I’ve found that for me I do best if I eat essentially what I normally eat, but instead of my usual bagel this morning I had three slices of a wonderful blueberry bread I got at Trader Joes, and for protein I had a hard boiled egg.

I walked out the door about 20 minutes before I was going to leave to check the weather, and OMG was it cold. It wasn’t no 50 degree cold, like the forecast had lied; this was at least the low 40s, if not lower. It’s supposed to get into the low 70s, so it will warm up and I’ll be stuck carrying whatever I bring with me, so I decide to bring arm warmers, knee warmers, and a new Louis Garneau jacket and fingerless gloves. I may have opted for full fingered gloves and a base layer, however like a MORON I didn’t bring them. I DID have 4 jerseys to pick from, however, they all were light weight and not made for warmth.

A few minutes before I’m about to leave I decide to change to a larger saddle bag and bring along two spare tail lights, something later on that proved to have been quite a good idea. I’m also wearing a Camelbak which I do whenever I’m unsure if I’m going to be ok with hydration. Since I’m running my Moab for my main lighting, I’m one bottle short – the battery from the Moab is taking up one cage – and I don’t really find having more space for carrying crap anyway.

I head out a couple minutes before 5 into the frigid night, start up the Garmin, and head next door to wait for Mary, Joel, and Bill. Within a few minutes, I see them all popping out of their rooms. Mary is saying something about no knowing if her Garmin is turned on, Joel is responding I see they’re already going at it; it should be a fun day!

We ride to the hotel, pop in to see if we have to check in, apparently we don’t since we checked in the night before and we aren’t being timed since we’re all slow pokes, so we’re off. Damn, it’s really, really cold out here!

As we’re heading by the Chumash Casino I start to think that it’s probably warm in there and I bet they have coffee. Mmmm, warm coffee, I’d love me some warm coffee! I’d love to just stick my hands in it! My fingers are now colder than I can remember them being, and are unbelievably painful, but I’m sure that they’ll get better soon as I expect they’ll be numb. I ask Joel if the temperature needs to be lower than freezing to get frostbite.

Cruising along, about 30 minutes into the ride, I hit some nice bumps and my first tail light makes a break for freedom. I pick up the pieces, put it into the Bento Box (which I HATE having, I hit it every time I stand and it’s altering my position) and click on my little Fizik blinkie; it’s not bright but I hope it will be enough.

We make a turn, all 15 or so riders, and end up at someone’s driveway. Hmmm, maybe I should start paying closer attention to the route slip. We backtrack to the turn, correct the mistake, and continue on.

Halfway to the first stop I really have to use the bathroom, so I start to ride ahead of Bill, Mary, and Joel, figuring I’ll find a bush or fence or something, but no matter how bad I have to go I don’t find a nice place to stop. Actually, I was going to go behind the wall for the entrance to the Zaca Lake Retreat, but I was disturbed by a truck coming down the driveway and never go to business.

I’m making great time on the way to the first stop, so I figure I’ll just wait until then to use the bathroom. When I arrive I see there are only 3 porta potties and a long line. I wonder if anyone’s ever peed themselves on one of these rides? I’ve had no caffeine, very little to drink, and I feel like I’m drank a pot of coffee. While standing in line, Joel, Mary, and Bill arrive. I finally get to go.

While waiting for the rest to leave, I notice that I’m really getting cold. This jacket is like a portable sauna and is holding in all my perspiration, and now that I’m not riding I’m starting to get chilled. Once we start riding, I’m cold enough that I’m starting to shake, but I’m not going to push up my tempo as I want to conserve my energy. Since I’m never done a double, I think my longest ride was about 105 miles, I don’t know how well I’m going to do, and after the pain of the second half of the Death Valley Century I don’t want to risk bonking at 80 miles, which I came close to doing during the DV Century.

About 5 miles from the first CP, I really have to go to the bathroom again! I’m not sure what it is that’s causing this, but it’s been a problem the last three rides. At the Mardi Gras Century I had a Venti Black eye before the ride, before the DV Century I had a caffeinated GU shot, but I had nothing before this one except breakfast. Anyway, we roll by a hazardous waste facility and I head behind the sign, but I get gun-shy and can’t go. Finally, I start to go and now I don’t know if I can stop.

Off we go again. Oh, look llamas. Mary has to stop and pet one, I hope it doesn’t spit on her, I hear they can have a nasty disposition, but apparently they like Mary and are happy to let her pet them. A CHP passes us, then an ambulance, we hope it’s not one of out riders that they’re rushing to.

At CP two, a park, there’s a line for the men’s restroom and none for the women’s. I’m not sure what the breakdown is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the male to female ratio was 20 to 1. Strip off the arm warmers and jacket, refill feed bottle (I started with Carbo Pro, but I’m switching to concentrated Gatorade, I had some issues at DV that may have been from the Hammer stuff, and I drank a couple bottles of Gatorade on the Mt Gleason ride without any issues, so I’m going to try using that for the rest of this ride). I also refill my gel flask.

Within a few short miles it’s cold again. Oh well, I can make it to the halfway point, and then I’ll put my jacket back on. We’re riding along a highway, not sure which one as I’m not paying attention to the route slip, and a big rig flies by and I almost get sucked into the highway, I swerve all over the place. I better start riding closer to the shoulder. We pass the men’s prison and I think about making a crack to Mary about getting a date, but decide against it, besides I’m sure Joel will say something about it! Farther down the highway, which sort of sucks riding BTW as we have to cross over the exit and entrances and traffic is flying by, we pass Main Street, and I look back and see the riders behind us getting off and waving to us. Looks like we missed the turn again! The next exit is only a little way away, we get off, back track, and get back on the ride. It’s looking like we’ll make a full 200 the way we’re going!

Morro Bay is fogged in, chilly, and we stop to get the sticker so we can get credit for completing the ride, if we complete the ride. My legs are bothering me a bit and my knees are having some issues, I’m hoping I can finish. We ride a little further, and it looks like Mary’s sticker has fallen off. She’s going to go back and get another one, Bill and Joel are going to the restroom, and I for once don’t need to go, so I opt to put back on my jacket and warmers.

keep going man! people are going to think you stopped there!!!!!

DanteB as he flys on by!
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p27/merider/Solvang%20Double/pic33.jpg

Wonder what they're trying to say? :p
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p27/merider/Solvang%20Double/pic38.jpg

Mary and the Three Amigos (Bill, John and Joel). I’ve never had a better double century weekend, thanks for the invite for dinner Friday and Saturday nights. Mary great pics and stories and John it was 39 degrees when I left Solvang at 6:30 and a couple of places it was down to 36, it had to be colder for you. Dinner both nights was great, not the food, but the company. How was breakfast Sunday at Paula’s? Congratulations to the Three Amigos, virgins, on your first double (Mary you took care of them and nursed them through it)! I hope to see you on more rides, you made the weekend :rolleyes: interesting!

I hope to see you on more rides, you made the weekend :rolleyes: interesting!
You fit right in, Dan...right on in there with us crazy folk..:D

We pass the men’s prison and I think about making a crack to Mary about getting a date, but decide against it, besides I’m sure Joel will say something about it!I had your back.

I had your back.
Yes, well...if you had read one of my previous posts, I've already said I got no action this weekend (I got nothin' - hello?). So, in lieu of taking my pic, smarty pants, why didn't you shove me off that exit toward the Mens Colony! Because if I can't get action there, Lord help me. :p

Yes, well...if you had read one of my previous posts, I've already said I got no action this weekend (I got nothin' - hello?). So, in lieu of taking my pic, smarty pants, why didn't you shove me off that exit toward the Mens Colony! Because if I can't get action there, Lord help me. :p


I'm sure we all could've found a date there whether we wanted it, or not.

I'm sure we all could've found a date there whether we wanted it, or not.


all too true.....

Yes, well...if you had read one of my previous posts, I've already said I got no action this weekend (I got nothin' - hello?). So, in lieu of taking my pic, smarty pants, why didn't you shove me off that exit toward the Mens Colony! Because if I can't get action there, Lord help me. :p

You know they have a conjugal visit section, did you miss that exit?

You know they have a conjugal visit section, did you miss that exit?
:rolleyes: Yes, that exit and the five following it. I got conjugal nothin'. :p

maybe thats why we missed the exit in morro bay....

maybe thats why we missed the exit in morro bay....
I didn't see the arrow and sign that read "conjugal visit." :p

so you WERE looking!??!?!?!?!?!?

so you WERE looking!??!?!?!?!?!?
:rolleyes: What? I'm ALWAYS looking...:p

my bad.....

I didn't see the arrow and sign that read "conjugal visit." :p

You were just trying to get us to 200, right?

Mary and the Three Amigos (Bill, John and Joel). I’ve never had a better double century weekend, thanks for the invite for dinner Friday and Saturday nights. Mary great pics and stories and John it was 39 degrees when I left Solvang at 6:30 and a couple of places it was down to 36, it had to be colder for you. Dinner both nights was great, not the food, but the company. How was breakfast Sunday at Paula’s? Congratulations to the Three Amigos, virgins, on your first double (Mary you took care of them and nursed them through it)! I hope to see you on more rides, you made the weekend :rolleyes: interesting!


great meeting you dan, woulda been even better if you could have joined us for breakfast(it rocked!). cant wait to see you out on the road some more!

great meeting you dan, woulda been even better if you could have joined us for breakfast(it rocked!). cant wait to see you out on the road some more!

I hit the place at 7AM and had a great breakfast! :D I had to leave early to get home my help my wife or I would have been there. What's your next ride? Did Mary talk you into doing Hemet?

not yet...doing 100 with them this weekend as well as the weekend of the 28th....might be pushing my luck at home doing hemet, plus id have to go up the morning of and that might be kinda rough.....all that being said, i may do hemet....

I am envious of you guys..and gals...enjoy these times...you will look back on them with fondness!

keep going man! people are going to think you stopped there!!!!!

I finished the ride? Oh yeah, here's the rest, again it's pretty boring...



On the ride down to the lunch stop it was pretty uneventful. The Morro Bay area was pretty, the weather was a bit cold for part or it, and then it warmed up once we turned onto Los Osos Valley Rd. I was at the back of the group heading up the only real hill on Los Osos when I tossed a chain and had to stop to dig it out. No one noticed, but I didn’t mind, I figured I’d catch up to them at the lunch CP. After coming off the hill, with a nice tail wind I got it up to 34 and was flying along when I caught up to the group, and thankfully the road was clear at the moment so I just kept on riding. A short while later, however, I thought better of it, I still had a long way to go, haven’t ridden this far before, and would really like to finish, so I lowered my effort and dropped my heart rate back down. A couple minutes later DanteB went flying on by. We chatted for a bit, but I was getting some hard bumps on the inside part of the road so I dropped back, took his wheel, and sped to the lunch break.

Lunch was Subway, which works fine for me, a little rest on the grass, and a V8. Man, I loves me some V8, and thanks Mary for suggesting it, I had completely forgot that Planet Ultra would have some. My Garmin was recharging in the Box, bottle was refilled with concentrated Gatorade (the Planet Ultra volunteer told me not to get sick on him), refilled my gel flask, and off we went.

For me, the stretch from lunch to Guadalupe was the worst. After this nice, steep hill on PCH (somewhere in the 9% range), we hit a series of rollers, which I really don’t care for, and had a headwind or crosswind all the way into Guadalupe. For a while I was riding ahead of the group, but once we got on the flats I pulled over and filed in behind Mary. At the time, I was thinking I was a bit dehydrated having cut back on my fluid intake due to having to pee continuously from the start to checkpoint 2, so I started upping my fluid intake. Also, the winds were getting me a bit down and I was going through a bit of the doldrums. Not being able to see the Garmin, though, was probably a good thing as I couldn’t dwell on my low speed or how much riding remained.

We pulled into the park at Guadalupe; I refilled my feed bottle with concentrated Gatorade, filled my camelbak and gel flask, ate a few pretzels, popped a couple Endurolytes, used the bathroom, and sat for a spell. We were at 143 or so miles and down to the last 50. Good, I was probably going to finish.

After leaving the park after a prolonged break, my legs were pretty cramped up, so I started off slowly. Thankfully, everyone else was going slowly, as well, it looked like all the riders were feeling the same thing. After making the turn onto Highway 166 we picked up a nice tail wind, our legs were back, and we started to move pretty good again. Just before we got to the Black Rd turn, by distance alert went off for 150 miles, and time alert went off for 12 hours. Awesome! I was feeling pretty good again, the rest, fluids, and food was hitting the system (oh, and a couple Tylenol didn’t hurt, either) and I knew I was going to finish at this point, if only through sheer determination. Truthfully, though, I felt good, better than I had at the end of the Death Valley Century, and I had ridden 50% farther than the DV Century at this point.

We made the turn on Black, I was ahead a little ways, and Joel yelled for me to stop someplace to get water. Huh? Ok, not sure what he said, but stop someplace to get water, and at that moment I saw a market coming up on the left. We pulled in; I dismounted, and went to find out what was up. Mary had apparently left her bottles at the last checkpoint. I suggested she could ride back and get them, and Bill let her know that we’d wait here for her, but she decided to take Joel up on his offer for him to get a couple Propels and giver her one of his bottles. While Joel was in the market, lots of riders passed up by. Thankfully, this wasn’t a race and we weren’t timed, so no big deal.

After the market, we continued on Black for a short ways, turned onto Hwy 1 again, and started climbing ever so slightly. I was out in front, kind of complaining to myself about the gradient, even though it wasn’t that bad. I noticed, though, that I was accelerating, and I felt pretty good, and some cheesy dance music was playing on my iPod, so I just continued riding at my current pace. Pretty soon I was passing all the riders that had passed us at the market. Cool, I’ve ridden 160 miles and I feel like I’m on my first 30!

I pull into the last checkpoint, swap lenses, filled the feed bottle, topped off the camelbak, ate some pretzels, and waited for the rest to arrive. Planet Ultra had hot cup o’noodles, hot chocolate, and coffee and I really wanted some, but since I haven’t experimented with any of them on a ride, yet, I opted to wait for another time. I did fill my gel flask with Espresso, though; I figured at this point caffeine would be good. Besides, I had been recommended that once I started doing caffeine not to stop for the rest of the ride, and I wasn’t worried now about getting too much of it, either.

This last stop ended up being 30 minutes long, but I was fine with that, we weren’t in a rush, and I was in great spirits, everyone in our group was, actually. We switched on the lights and headed out. Man, my legs were cramped after that long break, but we were going to be heading up Drum soon, so I figured they’d work themselves out one way or another.

The road up Drum was pretty rough, but I wasn’t going to fast. Still, after shearing off the Moab mount a couple weeks earlier, I was concerned about doing it again. Not that that slowed me down, however. Looking off down the right I noticed more than one washing machine; I wondered why people would go though the trouble of driving out here just to dump it? Oh well, people is dumb.

At the top of Drum I rode over the cattle guard that marked the top, and boy was that one painful. After a few minutes, Joel, Bill, and Mary joined me, and we were off down the back side. The rode was quite rough, darkness was pretty much fully upon us, but we were almost finished and in good spirits. I started feeling a bit of a vibration in the rear and asked Bill to look at my wheel, but it looked fine to him. Next thing we know, my bike is making a lot of racket like something has shaken loose. Crap, I thought it felt funny. After a second, I figured out the battery for the Moab had shaken loose, again, no big deal. Bill looked at my wheel again and it looked fine, so off we went with Bill in the lead. We were flying down the last bit of Drum up to 246, but I could’ve sworn that my rear was vibrating, and not in a good way, and it felt like I was fishtailing somewhat. Right before we hit 246, I could feel my rear end swerving quite a bit and now it sounded like I had flatted. Hey, I haven’t flatted in quite a while, and none of our group had any issues except for some quirkiness with the derailleurs, so it wasn’t too big a deal, except that it was dark and that did make it more entertaining.

Mary said that she was fast at fixing flats, and at first I thought she was joking, but once I could tell she was serious I had no problem with having her fix it. I’ve done it a couple times, but I’m kind of slow, and at that moment I really, really wanted to finish, so I took Mary up on her offer. She fixed it pretty quick, faster than I would have – I’ve been pretty lucky while riding so far having only flatted three times in the last 8 months – and Bill had experience with my inflator, so I asked him if he’d inflate it for me. We noticed that the bead was off in one place, but after a quick fix Bill finished inflating it, remounted the tire, and we were off. Oops, I lost my Fizik blinkie, thankfully I had another one, and hopefully the third tail light would make it back to the finish.

I felt like I could do another hundred miles at that point, and the ride into Buellton went quickly. Santa Claus pulled over and yelled something at us, which Joel later told me that he said I needed to replace the battery in my blinkie. I was glad he didn’t DNF me, something I think their website says they will do if they don’t approve of your lights.

As we hit Solvang, we hit a small hill, but pretty quickly I could tell that my legs had had it. Yeah, I could’ve done another hundred miles, if it was downhill with a tailwind, but I doubted I could do another 200 feet of climbing. I did notice at the top of Drum that my knees were sore, too. If I’m to do the Heartbreak, I better do some more hills!

We went in, happy as clams, and all got marked as completed and that this was our first, well Joel, Bill, and myself. I also found out I had a t-shirt waiting that I had purchased and forgot about. I didn’t pre-order a jersey, I was afraid I’d DNF and if I did there was NO WAY I’d wear it. Unfortunately, I had no checks and no cash and Solvang blows for ATMs, so I couldn’t get one while they still had some.

Back to the room, a quick call to my wife letting her know I had finished (she said she knew I’d make it), I got cleaned up, found out that the exposure to the elements and sun all day had left me overly sensitive to cold (my air conditioner was on and I had to put on the clothes that were close to the bathroom in order to be able to get to the air conditioner and turn the heat on with minimal shivering), and off to the other hotel to get the others. Their room, in contrast to mine, rocked! Real beds, good sheets, flat screen TV, fireplace, the works, and the price was about the same as my crappy normal Best Western room. Once I got home I had my wife change her reservations – she’s going to Solvang this upcoming weekend with a girlfriend of hers – to this hotel.

DanteB arrived, Mary and Joel FINALLY finished getting ready, and we were off to the Casino for dinner. Apparently, the Casino is the only form of entertainment at this hour and the huge parking garage was packed with people that have apparently never been in a parking garage before. If you decide to go, use the valet, it’s worth it.

We head to the Café, where apparently they’ve never considered that people might be in groups larger than four, but finally we succumb to the dinky table we’re offered, otherwise we’d have to wait God knows how long. The food was filling, cheap, but unmemorable. The service, however, was impeccable. Impeccable means we were virtually ignored the entire time, got no refills of our water or tasty beverages, and once they painfully brought Joel a slice of birthday cake proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to “Dear Guest,” how crappy is that?

Anyway, Joel won some money, we were full, and it was midnight, so back to the hotels, goodbye to Dante B (as Mary said earlier, he fits right in with us – sorry Dante!) and we made plans for breakfast at Paula’s Pancakes.

The next morning we net earlier than planned at Paula’s, but we were all in a great mood, even though it was quite crowded. We had a great breakfast, although I would’ve eaten anything, and said our goodbyes, and headed home.

Before I went home I dropped off my bike to have it looked over since the shifting issue returned, and I was worried that I might have banged up the wheel somewhat when I rode on it while it was flat. When I went back to pick it up, I found out my crank had been installed on my other bike, the systemSix, so I decided to take it for a spin that night up to Chantry Flats. Big mistake. First, the seat on it is a bit harder and my butt was a bit tender. Next, my legs were gone, so once I started the climb I knew it would’ve be too long before I wised up and turned around. At about an elevation of 1200 feet, I knew it was time to turn back or risk not making up Grandview on the way home.

I’m not going to ride for a couple days, which is a good idea as my legs are sore today. I did finish my first double, however, and feel pretty good about it, now it’s time to get ready for the Alta Sierra Challenge!

brandy, does this mean you're gonna school me on our palomar ride? i've ridden plenty of centuries, but never with any considerable amount of climbing and never at a mental weight of 300lbs.

dog hair will not be doing any ass kicking. after yesterday, it's been decided that dog hair will only be surviving.

Great ride report John!

dog hair, if Brandy secures a bag of Cheetos Puffs to the back of her saddle it seems that may help get you up the mountain faster! :p :D

Hey B... where the hell is your ride report?! Yes, I'm impatient.

great job and awesome report! although, i still think you guys are all nucking futs for doing stuff like this.

After descending Drum Canyon I felt great! My spirits were high, I turned on my iPod, grabbed George's wheel and we took off. The closer that we got to the finish, the more riders we passed. I had gotten a second wind and George was now counting down the miles for me. 7 miles! 4 miles! <~~~that was the best, four miles. Anyone can ride four miles...and I was going to do it...and do it fast! The road was familiar again, I knew exactly where I was and how far I had to go. As we came up the final hill into Solvang, I asked George what time it was...6:38 p.m. I told him that I was so close to finishing sub 12:00. It wasn't a goal of mine, as a matter of fact, I would have never dreamed of having a time anywhere close to that considering I did Butterfield in 14:25 and was very happy with that time. Suddenly at that moment, it became the goal and I was so close, but even the sprint to the finish couldn't seal the deal. I came in at 6:41 p.m. which gave me a total time of 12:01.

The second that I got off of the bike, all of the pain, all of the suffering I had endured...it all went away and was replaced by smiles, hugs, sheer joy and pride. George was right, he pushed me and though I wouldn't have said it until that very moment, I was thankful for that. I tested my limits like they had never been tested before and I never would have known that I had that in me, had he not pushed me to achieve it.


I knew you could do it. Everyone will suffer in a double century if they are trying to discover new limits in themselves. I like to challenge myself and I believe you like to do the same.

At the second to last stop you could see the pain and suffering in all of the riders. In particular, the tandems we had been following were stretching and moaning and groaning about how the ached all over. But in that suffering, you learn something about yourself. You will find your limit and when you push past that you achieve even greater things than you thought you could.

The riders that do sub-12 sub 11 hour doubles are suffering just as much if not more than the 13-16 hour people they just push themselves through the pain. Pain and suffering is all relative and proportional.

As we pulled out of the "not so secret control point" in Morro Bay, we saw M.E., Joel, John and Bill who appeared to be on a restroom stop. We waved hello and were on our way. This is where my competitive beast reared it's ugly little head, I'm woman enough to admit this much. I was thrilled to have passed them, knowing that they had started before me, in the dark. As hard as I was pushing and struggling, seeing them gave me a boost, assurance that my hard work was paying off and that I was on my way to finishing my second double century with a decent time.

Yes, and I'm woman enough to admit on here that I'm appalled you'd even mention or write the above in any context. Where is the Brandy I met at Joshua Tree?! The sweet, lovely, fun woman... :eek:

Otherwise, nice report, Brandy. I'm thrilled for you that you worked through nausea, etc. and that Vireo pushed and excited you in immeasurable ways. I hope you continue. I'm not one on here for competition (certainly not to the degree of mentioning passing fellow BFers and being thrilled about it) and am never satisfied to "pass" people on rides unless it is stop, say hi and take a picture of them (or ask them if they need anything). Generally, I'm thrilled to see them for camaraderie and support. No one out there on Saturday was a Pro that I'm aware of and we're all just amateur cyclists. Many of the folks on here I now consider my friends as well as fellow riders - ones I hope who will eventually ride their own double centuries (if they haven't already) and have their own amazing experiences that come with these epic rides. Therefore, I'm genuinely excited to see them on rides of any length. But that's just me and I realize that I ride these miles for the experiences (and the company - of which I had the best on both this ride and Butterfield) and very clearly not for the time or thrill of passing others. On the next double, I'll remember your competitive edge, Brandy, and just nod my head at you as you fly by on Vireo's wheel.

Congratulations to all the first timers -- and to all the old timers :lol: You are all so inspirational. You all make it seem doable for the rest of us schleps....:p Great pictures and ride reports.....my daughter loves the llama picture :eek: . Mary you never look like you've ridden 200 miles. You look like you're ready for the cover of some magazine. Brandy same thing....you girls are gorgeous and well the guys always appear like they're out on a leisurely stroll in the photos and in reality they are cruising at speeds I can only imagine. Keep on doing what you do guys. :D :) :D and continue to look great while you're doing it.

Congratulations to all the first timers -- and to all the old timers :lol: You are all so inspirational. You all make it seem doable for the rest of us schleps....:p Great pictures and ride reports.....my daughter loves the llama picture :eek: . Mary you never look like you've ridden 200 miles. You look like your ready for the cover of some magazine. Brandy same thing....you girls are gorgeous and well the guys always appear like they're out on a leisurely stroll in the photos and in reality they are cruising at speeds I can only imagine. Keep on doing what you do guys. :D :) :D and continue to look great while you're doing it.

So when are you gonna join us?

So when are you gonna join us?
+1 and I'm glad the picture of "Tina" appealed to your daughter. That llamma was a love bug and let me pet her (him/it). :D Oh, and thanks for the compliment. Trust me, woman, I LOOKED like I rode 200 and more importantly, I SMELLED like it too! :p

I think CJBRUIN displayed my sentiments in another thread:


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Nice report Brandy! We were wondering when you'd come by on Vireo's wheel, but somehow I didn't notice you two when you passed us, maybe I was too busy fiddling with my jacket? I thought we'd see you at CP2.

Did you time it yourself? I didn't see any names on the results that looked like you in the timed category.

+1 and I'm glad the picture of "Tina" appealed to your daughter. That llamma was a love bug and let me pet her (him/it). :D Oh, and thanks for the compliment. Trust me, woman, I LOOKED like I rode 200 and more importantly, I SMELLED like it too! :p

Tina awwwwwwwwww how cute you named her/him :) I can't imagine riding 200 and wearing friggin lipstick :p

+1 and I'm glad the picture of "Tina" appealed to your daughter. That llamma was a love bug and let me pet her (him/it). :D Oh, and thanks for the compliment. Trust me, woman, I LOOKED like I rode 200 and more importantly, I SMELLED like it too! :pWhat are the llamas for? Are they pets? Work animals? Boots?

Trust me, woman, I LOOKED like I rode 200 and more importantly, I SMELLED like it too! :p

That's why we rode in front of you from Los Alamos!

Truthfully, no one in our group (I'm not sure about me, however) looked that bad, and if you/we smelled I couldn't tell, but I did have a nose full of pollen by that point.

Meowww!

Hissssss!

Raaaaaaawr!

WHAM!

BONK!

KADOW!