good point. :o

Bringing your camera?

Bringing your camera?
Yes, of course I'm bringing my camera. Why do you ask...you just breathless to get shots of the flat, urban desert? :D

Yes, of course I'm bringing my camera. Why do you ask...you just breathless to get shots of the flat, urban desert? :D

I wanna know if all the tract homes look the same!

I wanna know if all the tract homes look the same!

I think I was going around in circles, all I saw was KB Home signs.

I think I was going around in circles, all I saw was KB Home signs.

I wonder if they're still building as many homes out there? Last time I drove through there it was mainly farm land and a few tracts.

Reading your threads, it makes me wanna come down for Hemet too. But, it is a long drive from San Jose to Hemet. Maybe I should move back to Southern California.

Hills are my nemesis too ... and living here in Northern Cal, that's all we have. I'm still not a hill climber ... I guess practice makes perfect.

I'm definitely not doing Mulholland, but I have a few crazy friends here, who climb cat 1 hills without a heartbeat.

Yeah, if I can get my climbing up to snuff, I may go for more ambitious doubles next year (may being the operative word here). In the meantime, I'm sticking to the "easier" doubles for now - sort of "cutting my teeth." I respect those going for Mulholland as I didn't even entertain the thought of riding the century on that one.

Yeah, if I can get my climbing up to snuff, I may go for more ambitious doubles next year (may being the operative word here). In the meantime, I'm sticking to the "easier" doubles for now - sort of "cutting my teeth." I respect those going for Mulholland as I didn't even entertain the thought of riding the century on that one.


+1

I'd love to do the Mulholland Century - since those are my old stomping grounds. But the double? Yikes - I need a helluva lot more climbing to get to that point.

I'd love to do the Mulholland Century - since those are my old stomping grounds. But the double? Yikes - I need a helluva lot more climbing to get to that point.
You could do the double.

I'd love to do the Mulholland Century - since those are my old stomping grounds. But the double? Yikes - I need a helluva lot more climbing to get to that point.

Then come do it Joel!!!

Then come do it Joel!!!
He's riding Hemet with me on 4/14...:o Right, Joel? Right! :D

Yeah, that --

if it weren't for Hemet, I'd be up for the Mulholland Century. Sorry Karen!

Solvang Spring Double--

Stan Motzkin and I headed out to Solvang on the 30th to do our second Solvang Double in 6 months. The spring version has only 7200 feet of climbing compared to 10,500 in the fall and is a super fast double course. In fact, in two of the previous four years the 193 mile course has been completed in 8hr 33m or so. I found out at sign in that in both of the cases there were two tandems that led the way in those scorching times. At check in I also learned that Graham Pollock and Craig Robertson would be riding a tandem during the double and that Graham was on one of the tandems that finished in 8hr 33m. I was already concerned that the pace might be too fast for my abilities and the tandem merely heightened my concerns. For those that don't know, a tandem can flat out beat a single rider bicycle on flats and destroy them on a downhill. Their only weakness is climbing and the only decent climb on the whole course is at mile 177. I figured that a hammerfest was in order and that we might cover the course in under 9hr.

I woke up to start early at 6:40 with Stan to get warmed up for my 7:30 start. Any riders wishing to be timed have to start at 7:30 on this ride, since there are over 500 riders taking part. The weather was cool and I guessed it was low to mid 40's, although the forecast called for low 50's. I only had arm warmers, as I expected the temperature to be higher. My plan was to roll out around 3-5 miles and turn around back to the start for a 6-10 mile warm-up. As soon as we rolled and headed downhill, the thermometer plunged and my computer said it was 36 degrees and I dare say I was freezing my frickin ass off with only arm warmers on. I turned around after 3 1/2 miles, chattered my teeth back to the start, went into the check-in room, and bellowed to Deborah Bowling that it was freezing outside. She replied " It's always cold here in the morning", so I sulked back to my room and I put on a long sleeve undershirt. 42 riders started in the 7:30 group and some of my new friends were there. Marc Patton from Tour of Two Forests and Butterfield, Keith Laird from Death Valley Spring, Matt Turgeon from Butterfield, and Matt's buddy from Death Valley. The ride started out fast, and I might add considerably warmer, as we headed out to Foxen Canyon at mile 16. The tandem and I led the way much of the way to Foxen Canyon, as I was determined not to let it out of my sight and get dropped. I figured the tandem was my ticket to a fast finish and I absolutely did not want to lose sight of the tandem before we crested Foxen Canyon. Foxen Canyon consists of two climbs, a short somewhat steep 1/2 mile section with a downhill, followed by a 3-4 mile fast 540 foot climb and a 20 mile super fast descent. Tandems have been known to descend Foxen at 35mph plus and if you don't grab on, you will never see them again. As we started up Foxen I intended on staying with the tandem so it wouldn't blow by me on the descent, but several riders took off up the hill and I followed them just in case. I flew to the front on the downhill and kept an eye out for the tandem as we started the 540 foot climb. I stayed back a little and kept the 3 guys about 30-50 feet in front of me and as we neared the end of the climb I pulled up with the leaders. About 10 of us were grouped on the downhill and we rotated through the pulls. We reached the 1st rest stop at mile 38 and around 6 of us continued without stopping. Much to my surprise we had yet to see the tandem, but I kept an eye out for them. Near the end of the long Foxen Canyon run, the tandem finally appeared and flew past, I sprinted and caught on to the train. It didn' t last long as we started the easy 3-mile climb up to Hwy 166. After Hwy 166, the road is essentially flat for some time and then rolls up and down for around 20 miles until the 2nd rest stop at mile 83. The tandem fell back again on the climb as we pulled away again and I believe we were six strong (Marc Patton, Keith Laird, Michael Head, Lasse Bjerga, some other guy, and yours truly) after the climb.

We were starting to pass large packs of riders from earlier start times, usually led by some assorted tandem team, and many riders were climbing on and falling off of the long paceline. The six of us had to fight to maintain our position near the front of our paceline so as to not lose the other riders during any climbs or accelerations. Around mile 73 we passed a long group of riders that included Stan and David Jones, David said hello and Stan cussed me out for catching him so fast. Graham's tandem caught us again around this point, took the lead, and I had to sprint again to get on his wheel. It was total cycling bedlam at this point as my group of 6, Graham's huge paceline, and Stan's huge group came together at once and I nor anyone else could any longer tell who was from the 7:30 group and who started early. Everyone was jostling for position and I couldn't be sure who, other than Graham's tandem and my group, were also 7:30 starters; so I started asking and found out there were quite a few 7:30 starters. My group of 6 pulled away again on the rollers with a couple of extra stragglers and no tandem and hammered to the 2nd rest stop. The tandem caught us for the 3rd time just before the rest stop. Laird, Patton, Bjerga, and I all agreed to stop for water and food, so we did. Everyone else stopped as well. I didn't know that Lasse was Lasse, as I had not met him previously, but I knew of him. A couple of years ago Lasse was a top, if not the top, double rider around and he even won the California Triple Crown Stage Race in 2005. The CTCSR is a timed event consisting of 3 of the hardest doubles in California each year. The person with the lowest overall combined time for all 3 events is the winner. Marc pointed him out as a really good climber from Utah to watch out for, but he didn't tell me his name until much later in the ride. We covered the 1st 83 miles at 22.7 mph in 3hr 40m.

The tandem was taking a while so the six of us, plus some others, started out again towards Morro Bay. The second rest stop is as far as I made it last year as it had rained for 50 straight miles and I quit. The road to Morro Bay was new for me and it rolled up and down most of the way to Morro Bay. We completed the 1st century in 4:32 total time, 4:28 bike time, at 22.4 mph. The six of us stayed together and shared the pulls all the way to the 3rd rest stop in San Luis Obispo at mile 114. The last 5 miles or so was a super hammerfest as Lasse, Marc, and Keith L were seemingly trying to break up the group and drop some of us. We arrived at the stop, agreed to stop, and I was pretty much exhausted. Marc, Michael, and I got water, food, and pills, worked our way back to our bikes, and looked for Keith L and Lasse so we could leave. Plot twist time. While the 3 of us got food and water, Keith and Lasse took off down the road without letting us know, not very gentlemanly I might add. I made a mental note to myself to not let this happen again, Keith and Lasse cannot be trusted. We wasted at least a couple extra minutes looking around for Keith and Lasse while they were wheeling down the road. Marc, Michael and I took off together on the chase. The chase didn't last long as Michael was repeatedly falling behind and was out of gas. Around mile 125 there begins in Oceano a steepish one mile climb, followed by a series of tough rollers. This is usually my forte, but I was lacking strength and either dehydrating or bonking. I told Marc of my situation and said we either had to slow down or he should go on without me. Marc is not big on riding alone and he decided to stay with me and keep doing most of the pulling. I will point out; however, that he did not slow down and I struggled to hang on to his wheel. Since I go faster downhill, everytime there was a downhill, Marc pulled aside and let me take the lead. We rolled into Guadalupe at mile 143 and still had an average of 22.4 mph. We agreed beforehand to stop for at least 10 minutes so I/we could get our strength back. As we rolled in, Keith L and Lasse we ready to roll out. It looks like we might have actually ridden the last section faster than they did. If Marc and I felt any better we probably would have grabbed water and food and went out with them, but we didn't, so we didn't. We stayed for about 15 minutes, Micheal rolled in at some point and we agreed to start out together again.

It's 33 miles to Los Alimos and the next rest stop and there is very little uphill with no real climbing. To top it off we had a nice cross wind in Guadalupe which turns into a great tailwind as you turn towards Los Alimos. You may have noticed at this point that the aforementioned tandem with Graham and Craig has not appeared in our story for quite a while. Well that would be because they never reappeared until after we finished the double. I'm as surprised as you are, I certainly expected to see them again after the 2nd rest stop. Michael was just barely hanging on to us at this point and part of the reason why is because his pulls are out of this world. On the Death Valley Spring ride during the 1st 45 miles, he pulled out to the front again and again and pulled forever. He even pulled away from all of us on occasion, he just doesn't climb all that well. Even though he has trouble hanging on the back, when he got to the front he did some long strong pulls. When he dropped off, Marc and I slowed up a bit so he could stay attached to us. Los Alimos appeared at mile 173 and we stopped one last time. (173 mile- 22.4mph- 6000 feet of climbing). There was an early rider there who said he rode with Keith L and Lasse from the previous rest stop and he was wasted and relaxing. We gave them at least a 15 minute lead at the last rest stop and again it appears we rode faster from stop to stop. It was obvious we would not catch them so we took our time at the stop and agreed to climb Drum Canyon ( a 3.4 mile -800 foot climb)together so we could ride the fast 15 miles to the finish together. I felt like we were limping up Drum, but we were going 9-11 mph at the minimum. The road is poor, potholed, rough, and gravel strewn; which makes for a crummy downhill. I put on an under seat triathalon double bottle holder for this ride, so I wouldn't run out of water. My strategy was to empty those bottles before Drum Canyon to lighten my load for the climb. What I didn't know is that these bottle holders are affectionately called bottle launchers in the bicycle trade, which I found out first hand as both of the bottles in the holder flew out one at a time on the Drum descent. A SAG vehicle returned one bottle to me approximately 30 seconds before the second one launched. At this point, I was the strongest remaining rider in our group, but I saw no point in trying to make a break. After all, Marc nursed me along at breakneck speed when I was suffering, so I owed it to him not to try and get away. We each took long, fast pulls and reached Solvang in no time. Michael did fall back on the short climbs, but we waited for him. We rolled into Solvang at 4:50 and checked in tied for 3rd with a total time of 9hr 20m. My bike time was 8hr 48m and average speed was 22.2 mph with 7100 feet of climbing. Keith Laird finished 1st in 9hr 08m and Lasse was 2nd in 9hr 10m. Keith said that Lasse bonked just before Drum Canyon and he never saw him again. The tandem and assorted followers arrived at 5:05 with a time of 9hr 35m. All in all not a bad day, but a moments inattention cost a chance for 1st place. I assume that if the four of us ( Keith, Lasse, Marc, and I) had stayed together, perhaps Lasse and I might not have bonked and maybe we would have broken 9hrs. Who knows?

Oh yeah! Stan was trying for 12hrs or less and finished in 11hr 50m for his fastest double time ever. Congratulations.


Keith "Fatboy" Brodsky

Thanks for sharing, John. I always enjoy Keith's ride reports - he puts you right there on the ride and what those guys must go through pushing that hard (the etiquette, the strategy, etc). I had dinner with Bob tonight and we commented on Stan being out there. He did great time as well. :)

I think we need a page on Bikeforums dedicated for ride reports. These ride reports are awesome!

I'm having a hard time comprehending some of those numbers. Good report!

Solvang 2007 Pictures (http://redbikephoto.com/2007solvangDC.htm)


http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o229/thomson900/solvang.jpg

Solvang 2007 Pictures (http://redbikephoto.com/2007solvangDC.htm)



Nice shot of you Jim! Thanks for sharing link. :)

Nice shot of you Jim! Thanks for sharing link. :)


Hey ME! I found you, Joel & Scootcore!!!! :D

Hey ME! I found you, Joel & Scootcore!!!! :D

Trac post them...all of the pictures came out really nice.........they look like glamour shots.

Hey ME! I found you, Joel & Scootcore!!!! :DShe looks pretty serious in that picture.

She looks pretty serious in that picture.
I look like a major porker in that picture - probably why I'm so serious. :p

I look like a major porker in that picture - probably why I'm so serious. :p

oh HUSH!!!! :mad:

you are silly!!!!! :D

Brandy... I can't find you and George.... :eek: I looked twice!!!!!

oh HUSH!!!! :mad:

you are silly!!!!! :D
Oh, come on. I love the pics Cole took, and thought I looked fine (you heard no whining out of me). Sometimes, I can be caught in unflattering photos. I'm okay with it...:p

Oh, come on. I love the pics Cole took, and thought I looked fine (you heard no whining out of me). Sometimes, I can be caught in unflattering photos. I'm okay with it...:p

oh okay missy.... I hate most of my pictures so I guess I'm gonna have to let it go :p

Everyone has a problem with seeing themselves in a picture. I was up, smiling, waving to Eric ... but I'll let all the women comment on that one ... :)

I have this innate instinct to smile when the camera's around.

I look like a major porker in that picture - probably why I'm so serious. :p:rolleyes: Remind me to smack you the next time I see you.

I look like a major porker in that picture - probably why I'm so serious. :p


Girl, you look awesome. And if you're a "porker", so I am. :p

Everyone has a problem with seeing themselves in a picture. I was up, smiling, waving to Eric ... but I'll let all the women comment on that one ... :)

Well post the flick and we will decide ;)

:rolleyes: Remind me to smack you the next time I see you.

but you know she'll like it Joel ;)

Well post the flick and we will decide ;)
I don't know who's more daring ... me for posting it, or you from viewing it ...
http://homepage.mac.com/ronng/.Pictures/Cycling/r268.jpg

I don't know who's more daring ... me for posting it, or you from viewing it ...
http://homepage.mac.com/ronng/.Pictures/Cycling/r268.jpg

That is really a nice picture....wow impressive...but what the heck do you have in that backpack? Did you bring all of your wordly possessions on the ride :p
And you were more daring :D

That is really a nice picture:p

+1, that's a great picture...love the smile! :D

That is really a nice picture....wow impressive...but what the heck do you have in that backpack? Did you bring all of your wordly possessions on the ride :p
And you were more daring :D

LOL ... I was afraid I would not be able to fit everything in my jersey ... extra gloves, leg warmers, arm warmers, jacket, food, plus a 100 oz bladder ... hmmm ... maybe that's why I kept having so many nature breaks! ... :eek:

I know Eric, the photographer, and I knew he was out on the road taking pictures, so I was just hamming it up.

Brandy... I can't find you and George.... :eek: I looked twice!!!!!

They were riding so fast the camera couldnt get them!

They were riding so fast the camera couldnt get them!

I kept zeroing in on the pics close to the tandem pics... but no luck!

LOL ... I was afraid I would not be able to fit everything in my jersey ... extra gloves, leg warmers, arm warmers, jacket, food, plus a 100 oz bladder ... hmmm ... maybe that's why I kept having so many nature breaks! ... :eek:

I know Eric, the photographer, and I knew he was out on the road taking pictures, so I was just hamming it up.

Tell Eric he takes amazing pictures...these have to be the best I have seen so far....and we all know my experience is VAST.............not :o But you are definitely photogenic....
Did you fill the entire 100oz? just curious :)

Tell Eric he takes amazing pictures...these have to be the best I have seen so far....and we all know my experience is VAST.............not :o But you are definitely photogenic....
Did you fill the entire 100oz? just curious :)

Thanks. Eric takes pictures at a variety of cycling events, including some races (like the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix). Oh, on the water ... I probably filled it ~ 80%

Thanks. Eric takes pictures at a variety of cycling events, including some races (like the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix). Oh, on the water ... I probably filled it ~ 80%

Wow you were rollin camel style for real :) That bag had to be heavy.......I'm afraid if I bought a camel back the exact same thing would occur -- okay I would have even more stuff. This one guy that came on a ride out here with me had this in his camelback:
1. Water
2. Sneakers in the event he had to walk :)
3. A big GPS in case he got lost ( keep in mind it was an out and back ride :)
4. Food
5. Jacket
6. His wifes jacket
7. Both of their arm warmers and knee warmers
8. And I think I saw him pull out a bible....ok just kidding on the bible.

Wow you were rollin camel style for real :) That bag had to be heavy.......I'm afraid if I bought a camel back the exact same thing would occur -- okay I would have even more stuff. This one guy that came on a ride out here with me had this in his camelback:
1. Water
2. Sneakers in the event he had to walk :)
3. A big GPS in case he got lost ( keep in mind it was an out and back ride :)
4. Food
5. Jacket
6. His wifes jacket
7. Both of their arm warmers and knee warmers
8. And I think I saw him pull out a bible....ok just kidding on the bible.

Dang, now that is a bit much. I guess I carried it preparing for the worst type of weather. Carrying sneakers and his wife's jacket? Maybe next time I'll carry a bike rack, and just bungy everything to the rack.

+1, that's a great picture...love the smile! :D
+2 - Ron, you've got to post that in the FOO thread...:D

+2 - Ron, you've got to post that in the FOO thread...:D

I take that as a big complement. I'll try not letting that get to my head.

Wow. After reading these past ten pages all I have to say is ya'll are studs. How can I think of myself a rugged after pedaling a measly century?

I don't know who's more daring ... me for posting it, or you from viewing it ...

Seeing your picture I realized that I had taken a random picture of you at a rest stop. I can't tell if its just the camera angle or if you are really short.

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/354.jpg

Seeing your picture I realized that I had taken a random picture of you at a rest stop. I can't tell if its just the camera angle or if you are really short.

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/354.jpg
I was probably the picture angle. But more than that, I looked like I was gasping for air or oxygen. And am I really that fat? What a porker!!! I'm surprised I can go 200 feet with that figure. And the last time I checked, I don't have a motor on my Seven!

I was probably the picture angle. But more than that, I looked like I was gasping for air or oxygen. And am I really that fat? What a porker!!! I'm surprised I can go 200 feet with that figure. And the last time I checked, I don't have a motor on my Seven!


Oh God not another porker comment :mad: give me a break. When you start hanging out at Outback 3 times a week talk to me :p

Oh God not another porker comment :mad: give me a break. When you start hanging out at Outback 3 times a week talk to me :p
Outback? Try Claim Jumper!