Frankly, I was nervous about this ... not because of the ride, but due to the fundraising. However, it turned out not as bad as I thought. I had the Tour de Cure signature on my postings, but I only started to get donations after meeting some of the great BF members in person.
Anyways, regarding the ride. I was originally turned onto Tour de Cure through my company's HR department. We put together a team at work, so this ride would be a group ride with various employees.
Right off the bat, one of our guys had a broken spoke. Bad news to start a ride. We moved on, while he took care of this. It turned out he rode home, and used his other bike to ride the course.
One of the guys just bought his bike yesterday, and today is the first ride on that bike. Talk about persistance ... I've heard of riders going on a long tough ride after an injury, but this is the first ride on a bike ... and he hadn't ridden a bike in about 10 years! :eek:
The ride basically went up King's Mountain Road, then headed south on Skyline, to 84, then over to Pescadero Road, onto the coast. The return came north on Stage, then back on Tunitas Creek.
When we finally hit the road, the pace was fast! Since this was with a bunch of riders who haven't ridden together before, this is not too unusual ... but was worried about keeping at this pace through out the entire 120k of the ride.
Eventually, the pace evened out by the time we got to Portola Valley. However, I did realize what the pace of the rest of the group was ... brisk! Although I was not the last to get up the hill, and was not the first.
We got to Pescadero without too much problems, but it was pretty cold. It was a little foggy, and as a result, temps dropped. It was definitely jacket weather.
The climb on Tunitas ... well, what do you think? 55 miles into the ride, we have to climb Tunitas Creek. Fatigue started to creep in, and ability to turn the crank suddenly became a chore. I soon found my speed go as slow as 3.5 mph ... come on legs, turn that crank! Relief set in as soon as the grade flattened out, and I got my second wind.
The rest of the ride went without incident, but it was just a matter of waiting at the rest stops for everyone to regroup (typical of when riding with a large group). By the time we got to the finish, most of the food was gone. All that was left was PBJ, steamed potatoes, and bananas. However, in defense of the support staff, lot of their food was eaten by family members of the riders. They did arrange to get substantial food later (hot pasta), but by the time they had it, it was time for me to leave.
Pics to come a little later.
Distance: 78.02 miles
Elevation Gain: 7557 feet
Average Speed: 12.6 mph
Ride Time: 6:10:49
Total Time: Over 7 hours
spingineer
06-10-07, 10:09 PM
Start of Ride:
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6090018.jpg
Regroup at Portola Valley
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6090019.jpg
Group shot at Pescadero
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6090041.jpg
spingineer
06-10-07, 10:14 PM
Beginning of Tunitas
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100043.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100045.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100046.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100048.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100049.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100052.jpg
Cool antiques at top of Tunitas
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100053.jpg
Smiling faces at top
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100054.jpg
Ah, finished at last ... especially after the first ride on a new bike!
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6100055.jpg
BlastRadius
06-10-07, 10:32 PM
Awesome report, great photos. Kings mountain then Tunitas... punishing.
Hats off to your friend with a new bike!
dauphin
06-10-07, 10:54 PM
I've been on that road!...Great report Ron...I look forward to riding with you again.
t4mv
06-10-07, 11:00 PM
Nice report, spingineer; seems like this ended up being more of a corporate challenge than individual fund raising...Juniper, Palm, J&J, Xilinx...:p
spingineer
06-10-07, 11:03 PM
Nice report, spingineer; seems like this ended up being more of a corporate challenge than individual fund raising...Juniper, Palm, J&J, Xilinx...:p
Yea, but in the end, being a Juniper team was furthest from my mind ... it was like being on another weekend ride. Couldn't care less the fact that we were showing our identity. I was out there just having fun on the ride, and punishing my body (favorite weekend pasttime).
briank
06-11-07, 06:09 AM
Great report & pics, Congrats Ron, another great accomplishment!!!
merider1
06-11-07, 08:14 AM
:beer: Great job, Ron! :) I've been there where you head out hard and then you're barely cranking at sub 4mph on a later climb, but that's what proves to you what you're made of. ;) Sounds like a tough but rewarding day and you did just great on the fundraising. Congrats! Oh, and I love the pics!
SesameCrunch
06-11-07, 08:16 AM
:beer: Great job, Ron! :) I've been there where you head out hard and then you're barely cranking at sub 4mph on a later climb, but that's what proves to you what you're made of. ;) Sounds like a tough but rewarding day and you did just great on the fundraising. Congrats! Oh, and I love the pics!
Good job Ron! I nominate you as the king of ride reports.
Boy, you're really getting the miles in! You're going to be tough to keep up with pretty soon!
spingineer
06-11-07, 08:21 AM
:beer: Great job, Ron! :) I've been there where you head out hard and then you're barely cranking at sub 4mph on a later climb, but that's what proves to you what you're made of. ;) Sounds like a tough but rewarding day and you did just great on the fundraising. Congrats! Oh, and I love the pics!
Thanks, ME. :beer: I had to beat my body up this past weekend, because I won't be able to get out next weekend ... but then, that's probably a good thing, seeing that the Grand Tour is the weekend after next.
spingineer
06-11-07, 08:24 AM
Good job Ron! I nominate you as the king of ride reports.
Boy, you're really getting the miles in! You're going to be tough to keep up with pretty soon!
Thanks, Alan. I'm just trying to get myself in shape .. :) It's interesting, a friend of mine was commenting on my reports, and thought I was a journalist or something ... but I hated writing in college...
Oh, I just got in a few miles. The real mileage is in two weeks ... Grand Tour Double Century.
jonathanb715
06-11-07, 08:48 AM
Nice pictures - that is a tough ride for a charity event. The only Tour de Cure event I've done was in Westchester County, NY, and didn't have any climbs to speak of.
JB
spingineer
06-11-07, 09:02 AM
Nice pictures - that is a tough ride for a charity event. The only Tour de Cure event I've done was in Westchester County, NY, and didn't have any climbs to speak of.
JB
There is the MS150 in SoCal, and I've heard that is pretty tough, as it goes through Casitas Pass, and in the heat of summer!
Red Rider
06-11-07, 10:37 AM
Sounds like a fun time -- your report makes me feel like I was there. Love the pics. Thanks for sharing!
I rode the Tour de Cure in Napa last year. What a great ride! I'm doing other fundraising this year so I took off -- but next year, maybe so.
:roflmao: re your sig line: I believe it! Healdsburg has some of the best food ever. Sometimes the ride is "meh" and the food is "right on-!" H-burg is like that.
SV Commuter
06-11-07, 10:57 AM
Good ride report, and for a good charity. BTW, who is this handsome fellow, I remember he was on our group ride on Woodside Loop?
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Tour%20de%20Cure/P6090031.jpg
spingineer
06-11-07, 11:52 AM
Good ride report, and for a good charity. BTW, who is this handsome fellow, I remember he was on our group ride on Woodside Loop?
That's John Keen. I invited him on the ride because I knew we would be doing a similar loop on the Tour de Cure. He isn't on BF, but a cool guy. He kinda spearheaded the team Juniper venture.
spingineer
06-11-07, 11:54 AM
Sounds like a fun time -- your report makes me feel like I was there. Love the pics. Thanks for sharing!
RedRider, if the report makes you feel like you were there, then my mission has been accomplished. I'm glad to hear you got as much enjoyment out of the report as I did doing the ride.
nesdog
06-11-07, 12:22 PM
Nice going Ron! Some of those locales look pretty familiar! Uggg. Just looking at the pix of Tunitas brings back the memories of that climb! Great that you raised money for a good cause.
Sheldon
spingineer
06-11-07, 01:00 PM
Nice going Ron! Some of those locales look pretty familiar! Uggg. Just looking at the pix of Tunitas brings back the memories of that climb! Great that you raised money for a good cause.
Sheldon
Sheldon, notice I have a bunch of pictures going up Tunitas. Well, there's a very good reason for that. Fatigue set in, and just had to stop. Perfect time to take some pictures ... :D
WagonRX
06-11-07, 05:39 PM
Nice report. I think it was blast for me since I hadn't riden the route before. We should form a NorCal BF team next year.
Ty.S
06-26-07, 11:41 PM
Nice report.. :) But you forgot to mention 1 thing.
The GOODIE bag was awesome!! They had all kinds of cool stuff in there. I was on this ride too although I was in the 50k with a bunch of people from my dad and brother in laws company. We had a couple people out on the 120, but the majority of us were on the 50k pleasure ride.
The fundraising for this event is kind of a drag at times, but very attainable and its a good cause. I'll be out there again next year for sure, doing the 120k though.
ahpook
06-26-07, 11:52 PM
I'll send you a PM spin, I have a couple friends at JNPR, wonder if you know 'em. Nice report, and nice lookin' jerseys!