Northern California - Wine Country Century

Dang, I was going to go on active.com to sign up for this, but it is closed. Bummer! I wasn't expecting it to fill up so fast. It's a great century, and the 200k would have been perfect for preparation for Davis Double. Someone must have been stuffing the ballots.

Well I guess Grizzly Peak is not a bad alternative to WCC. I've signed up for that. Anyone else doing GPC?

Hello Ron. Yes, my brother and I will be doing the GPC. We both ride Specialized Roubaix Elites. He's coming up from Fresno...

I'm signed up for the Grizzly Century too. I did it last year, my first organized century. Nice route, great food. Even with riding 111 miles and doing 9000 feet of climbing or so, I think I gained weight that day.

I think the challenge here is the lunch stop ... the awesome food there. Everytime I go there, I stop, and eat, and eat, and eat ... the original goal was the full century ... but somehow, all that food plays tricks on your mind. I'm going to try to resist this time.

It seemed like a lot of people were electing not to do the post-lunch loop last year. There were long stretches where I saw very few riders.

But as for the eat, eat, eat part -- I was thinking there's potential for a new variety of duathlon. Winner is the one who posts the best combination of finishing time plus calories consumed. My strength would be the calories consumed part...

It seemed like a lot of people were electing not to do the post-lunch loop last year. There were long stretches where I saw very few riders.
I think the reason for this was probably the same reason why I didn't do it the last time ... when you have so much good food there, why get on the road? It's only an extra 30 or so more miles. It becomes a mental thing at that point! :)

What time is everyone starting? I'm going to try to make it to registration before 7 am, so I can get on the road no later than 7:30.

I am in the club that puts on the WCC. Seriously, no stuffing. We do not need to. We have to limit the crowd. People who seriously want to do the ride start checking early on for the day registration opens. An absolute hoot this year was that one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's staffers contacted us asking for people who had registered but were not riding and were willing to sell their places. The staffer said he (?) was calling on behalf of some people training for a multi-day charity ride who wanted to do our ride for training. If anyone out there is doing the WCC look for me at the Help desk near the front door.

Ok, well after seeing what happened at Creston Wildflower (registration opened at midnight, and was full by 9 am), the only thing that popped in my mind was ballot stuffing. I guess I just didn't realize how quickly it would fill up. I would rather do WCC, but GPC is a nice alternative.

I'm doing the Grizzly, but only the metric. The guys I'm riding with quailed at the idea of the amount of climb in the full century, but that's OK with me. I'm not a fan of having a route with lunch at the starting point. Too annoying psychologically to head out again after you've eaten lunch and are already 'there'.

WCC registration was closed very early last month. I tried to get in on the 9th and it was a no-go. I'll be there - it starts around the corner from my house - offering mobile support for a friend of mine. I'll be the guy in the RateBeer shirt (maybe under a jersey when it's cold) on the red Cervelo. They aren't common in these parts it seems.

Ken, did Pelosi get any registrations?

I'll be doing the WCC. I signed up for the 200K, but I'm just getting over a head cold that lasted a couple of weeks & my stamina is the pitts. So I plan to follow the 200K route over Coleman Valley and up Highway 1 and onto 116. But once I get to Guernville, I'm going to get off the 200K route and take a more-or-less direct route back to the Wells Fargo Center. :p

I'll be doing the WCC. I signed up for the 200K, but I'm just getting over a head cold that lasted a couple of weeks & my stamina is the pitts. So I plan to follow the 200K route over Coleman Valley and up Highway 1 and onto 116. But once I get to Guernville, I'm going to get off the 200K route and take a more-or-less direct route back to the Wells Fargo Center. :p

Seems that cold is going around quite a bit. I had the exact same thing, I think. It mostly petered out at the two-week mark (last Saturday, for me - 2 weeks), but I still can't say I'm 100%. It knocked me off the bike for quite awhile. I think I prolonged it by trying to ride each time I felt a bit better; each time I did this, it got worse. I'm going for the century on Saturday. Good luck to you (and me)!

I think I prolonged it by trying to ride each time I felt a bit better; each time I did this, it got worse. Yep, same here. :rolleyes:
Best wishes to you as well !

I'll be doing the WCC. I signed up for the 200K, but I'm just getting over a head cold that lasted a couple of weeks & my stamina is the pitts. So I plan to follow the 200K route over Coleman Valley and up Highway 1 and onto 116. But once I get to Guernville, I'm going to get off the 200K route and take a more-or-less direct route back to the Wells Fargo Center. :p
Good luck. I am envious of you. I love the 200k route ... just to be able to do that route that climbs up, goes to the coast, then down into Russian River valley is worth the extra effort ... but I was too late. Have fun1 Try taking some pictures, for those of us that weren't able to register on time.

I will be riding the GPC with a friend. I rode it the last couple of years, it's great. Concerning the food I was thinking about making the lunch stop a regular break this year. The last 2 years I ate a full meal and had trouble restarting for the afternoon loop. Yet the food is so good that it's hard to resist.

WCC was the first century I ever did. I was living on Treasure Island at the time and this ride motivated me to move to Santa Rosa a few months later.

It was 1985, they did the Geyserville loop first, returned to Cardinal Newman for lunch, then did the Monte Rio loop after. Instead of a patch, they gave out pink cycling caps - I still have mine.

I was listening to Alice, and the night DJ was mentioning her husband completed the double metric at WCC ... they're just rubbing it in!

What a great ride that was yesterday. Perfect weather, great support. Tailwind for the last 30 miles. I had not done the WCC before, but will be sure to do it again next year. We did the 100m this year, and will be sure to do the 200k next year. Great job by SR Cycling club. They ran a great event and could not have asked for a better day.

Try taking some pictures, for those of us that weren't able to register on time.

O-tay.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/WCC-05May2007/IMG_0032.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/WCC-05May2007/IMG_0034.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/WCC-05May2007/IMG_0053.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/WCC-05May2007/IMG_0055.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/WCC-05May2007/IMG_0061.jpg

Thanks for the pics, Jobob. Just as gorgeous as I remember it to be. Definitely more scenic than Grizzly Peak, although that wasn't bad either. It was hot out there today.

O-tay.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/WCC-05May2007/IMG_0032.jpg

this is clearly a ride I'm gonna try to do next year! Wow, beautiful :D

this is clearly a ride I'm gonna try to do next year! Wow, beautiful :D
That's why I was bummed when I tried to register for it, and it was full. Of all the centuries I've done, this is still one of my favorites, along with Solvang.

WCC registration was closed very early last month. I tried to get in on the 9th and it was a no-go. I'll be there - it starts around the corner from my house - offering mobile support for a friend of mine. I'll be the guy in the RateBeer shirt (maybe under a jersey when it's cold) on the red Cervelo. They aren't common in these parts it seems.

Ken, did Pelosi get any registrations?

Yes, the Pelosi request was taken care of as one of our veteran members put it.

this is clearly a ride I'm gonna try to do next year! Wow, beautiful :D

Tracy, we had such a blast!! We had a fun dinner afterwards at a Mexican restaurant which happens to be staggering distance from the HI Express, so maybe we can go there before or (better yet) after Healdsburg.

They had a Cinco de Mayo celebration going on so we got lots of Cuervo swag with our lots of margaritas :D and we were even serenaded by a Mariachi band. T'was a hoot. If you have access to bikejournal, you can see the incriminating photos in the "Calling all Amici Veloci" thread.

Ooops spingineer, avert your eyes, I don't want you to think us No Cal'ers are not "serious" :rolleyes: :p

Tracy, we had such a blast!! We had a fun dinner afterwards at a Mexican restaurant which happens to be staggering distance from the HI Express, so maybe we can go there before or (better yet) after Healdsburg.

They had a Cinco de Mayo celebration going on so we got lots of Cuervo swag with our lots of margaritas :D and we were even serenaded by a Mariachi band. T'was a hoot. If you have access to bikejournal, you can see the incriminating photos in the "Calling all Amici Veloci" thread.

Ooops spingineer, avert your eyes, I don't want you to think us No Cal'ers are not "serious" :rolleyes: :p

okay! I'm gonna go over to BJ and check it out! Sounds like you had a blast!!!!! :D