Southern California - Your Best Rosarito/Ensenada Ride?

For thos e of you that have done it! Mine was back in 1998'ish. My buds and I used to compete bigtime against one another. We'd climb Baldy Rd and Grand Av./Carbon Cyn countless times. My buds used to dishout major ***whippins on me most of the time. I was 220, these guys were 190 and 155. Thought I'd never beat them on a ride with climbs. That was about the time I figure I need to work on climbing so I did when they weren't around. What they don't know won't hurt them:D I ended up dropping weight and improved my cycling bigtime. When we did trianig rides, I could have dropped them easily but didn't. I considered them bad sports and if they thought there was a chance that I might beat them on the Roasarita ride, they wouldn't go for some reason that happend to suddenly arise. I didn't want them to back out cause I wanted to return the favor and spank their ***es for once!Bwahahaha!

Well we met another rider that was very strong. He and I trained together. He wasn't much into my current friends cause he saw the poor sprotsmanship that they had displayed on the rides. I trained with this guy cause he could easily drop my ***. I figured if I could build up some strength to keep up with the guy, I'd easily put away my friends. I continued to train on the hills besides riding with this guy on the trail.

Friends and I all had a goal to see who the first would be to break 2:30 on the Rosarita ride. One had come close with a 2:40. This was anything goes rules, drafting, pacelining, whatever it took. These guys even talked about getting a trophy and passing it to eachother after every Rosarita ride depending on who won out of our little group.

Day of the ride and personal race came. There was about 7 of us in the competition. We all started off fast. After about 10 miles, all our friends dropped off. It was only my partner and me ahead of our buds. We hit the hill and for some reason my partner got very cocky and started racing against some superfast racer dude that went by. I kept telling him to slow down as I knew he was outdoing himself. He said he was fine. I let them go and continued my best pace. I caught back up at the top. I was surprised as I thought he was long gone but he looked tired. I aske dif he was ok, he said he was fine. We continued on at a good pace but when we hit the next hill, he bonked bigtime. I was softpedalling but he kept falling back. I talked him up the hill cause at this point, he wanted to quit. He told me to go on but I refused thinking that we would work as a team and fly along the last strip on the coast. He was superstrong on the flats so I thought it might pay off to wait for him. At this point I ws worried that the other guys might catch us as they had always been better climbers than I was.

We finally hit the coast and I thought this is it, we're flying home BABY! WRONG! my partner had burned out so bad that he didn't have much left at all. I looked at my clock and noticed we were at about a 2:30 finishing pace. He told me to leave him and go for it, but I again refused to leave him as we had trained together and made a deal to ride together on the ride. I figured I'd take the lead the rest of the way and kick some *** as we still a chnce of breaking the goal time.

I got in front and kicked it up to about 23 with the slight descent and tailwind. I look back and he's dropping. So I slow and take it down to 21, still dropping. Finall I end up holding 17 on a stretch where I had easily held 22 on previous years in lesser riding form. We cruised in but didn't make the time. We finished with a 2:34 time. Uhhhgg! Missed it by that much! I think of what might have been!

I've since then wanted to return to break the time, but too much hassle with all that has happened in this world. Well needless to say, after lashing their ***es on the ride, none of the competition returned for the race between us friends. Hey, where's my trophy?:D

I've since then wanted to return to break the time, but too much hassle with all that has happened in this world lately. I think I could have easliy done it about 3 years ago but heck no I aint crossing the border. A Mexican dude that doesn't speak Spanish? I'm in trouble if they close the borders or if I lose my ID, or forget my Border Patrol shirt!:D

Any stories? Post 'em now while the forum is slow!:p

Well...long story short:

April 06 I rented a condo south of Ensenada for a few families to share. One guy I work with basically invited himself and a friend. I thought, "The more, the merrier!"

On the day of the ride, my coworker's friend is riding a mtn bike and my coworker was riding an old 25lb bike. My buddy and I are in really good shape and we want to haul ass, so I figured we'd have to all meet up at the end.

Coworker has bike problems just before the first big climb (el tigre). HIS friend kept on rolling, and my friend and I stop to help. This happens TWO TIMES. I got to the top of the climb all alone. I felt guilty, so I wait at one of those huge rest stops. My friend comes along and informs me that the other two guys have decided they are caught up in the spirit of competition and are racing to the finish (somehow I missed them while I waited at the stop).

I was so pissed because I had wanted to ride it for time, but had to play mr. mechanic. My friend and I stopped at the bar midway, had a couple of beers, then sprinted to the end.

It's been kind of bugging me ever since. A year later, co-worker invites me mountain biking two weeks after my vasectomy, but I go anyhow and get dropped.

Just last week, co-worker invites himself along on a 60 miler I mistakenly mentioned. I dropped him so many times, I might as well have gone alone! Revenge is sweet.

I guess this should've been labeled "LONG story LONG!"

I did the ride for the first time in April 2006 at my heavist weight ever on an old Centurion trying to beat a buddy of mine's time. At the time I thought I was doing it at a pretty good average speed of 15mph which I can laugh at now. I was able to climb most of the hills and even passed a few guys with much better bikes that my old Centurion which inspried me to push on. My only downfall during the entire ride was that I started cramping during the second largest climb of the ride and had to get off the bike to stretch my legs. I finished the ride a few minutes after my buddy's best time however I felt good finishing that ride at the time because before that ride I've never climbed a hill that large. I'm planning on doing it again in September much lighter and on a better bike that my old Centurion just to prove to myself that that I can climb that hill.

Here is my ride report
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=233493&highlight=rosarito

Oh Wildone, I refuse to ride with riders that aren't prepared or riding a well maintained bike. We did a century with some good riders that invited some unprepaired unexperienced riders. Gina drove my truck as support. They actually wanted her to carry two very old broken down bikes for extra parts, tires, rims etc cause they weren't sure what was going to happend to their unmaintained 20 y/o Centurions. Uhhh, no! Good thing nothing happened that day. These guys actually didnt know they were supposed to shift gears. One thing if you have bad luck but another if you don't at least know how to put air in your tires!:D

And yes, revenge is sweet!:p

The only think I remember about our last Rosarito ride back in 1995 was the 2 hour wait at the border crossing. :D

I did the ride for the first time in April 2006 at my heavist weight ever on an old Centurion trying to beat a buddy of mine's time. At the time I thought I was doing it at a pretty good average speed of 15mph which I can laugh at now. I was able to climb most of the hills and even passed a few guys with much better bikes that my old Centurion which inspried me to push on. My only downfall during the entire ride was that I started cramping during the second largest climb of the ride and had to get off the bike to stretch my legs. I finished the ride a few minutes after my buddy's best time however I felt good finishing that ride at the time because before that ride I've never climbed a hill that large. I'm planning on doing it again in September much lighter and on a better bike that my old Centurion just to prove to myself that that I can climb that hill.

Funny the things we do as newbies!:D

The only think I remember about our last Rosarito ride back in 1995 was the 2 hour wait at the border crossing. :D

We went as a group of 3 guys one of the last times we were there. We waited the 2 hours then they pulled us over to the side for a search. All that time to find nothing more than a duffle bag full of sweaty smelly socks!:D

We went as a group of 3 guys one of the last times we were there. We waited the 2 hours then they pulled us over to the side for a search. All that time to find nothing more than a duffle bag full of sweaty smelly socks!:D


If I ever do that ride again (and I'd like to sometime actually), I'll go down a couple days early and head back on Tuesday or Wednesday. That traffic coming back on Sunday was maddening, and we were up and out of Ensenada by 8am. I can't imagine how bad it was later in the day. Ugh.

I did the ride for the first time in April 2006 at my heavist weight ever on an old Centurion trying to beat a buddy of mine's time. At the time I thought I was doing it at a pretty good average speed of 15mph which I can laugh at now. I was able to climb most of the hills and even passed a few guys with much better bikes that my old Centurion which inspried me to push on. My only downfall during the entire ride was that I started cramping during the second largest climb of the ride and had to get off the bike to stretch my legs. I finished the ride a few minutes after my buddy's best time however I felt good finishing that ride at the time because before that ride I've never climbed a hill that large. I'm planning on doing it again in September much lighter and on a better bike that my old Centurion just to prove to myself that that I can climb that hill.

I did the ride back in 2000, little did I know what I was in for. I was going to a spin class 2-3 times a week, and some people in the class had talked be into doing the ride. So I got out my Centurion IronMan bike (red & white) that probably had about 250 miles on it since I had purchased it in 1986. Rode a couple of 12-15 mile rides on the bike trail, and one longer ride of about 22 miles on a day when the temps were in the low 100's. (what a dufus I was)

Stayed in Ensenada with friends, by the time we got to Rosarita on the shuttle, we were at the back of the line. I think it took us about 30 minutes to get across the start line or at least it seemed like it. Saw all the kids and the candy in the beginning. Enjoyed the rollers, passed lots of people on their beach cruisers and mtbs. Then we turned inland, and there it was El Tigre, I knew about it, but had no concept of it. All I saw was the mass of humanity snaking up the road. Started climbing it, HR was getting higher, got as high as 185. Saw all the people on the right walking their bikes up the hill. All I knew was that no matter what I wasn't going to get off my bike, and I rode all the way to the top. Pulled over & stretched out my back, by that time my feet were totally numb. Then there was another smaller hill, but still steep enough that I was thinking they didn't tell me about that one. Crawled up that second hill. Enjoyed the downhill and the ride into Ensenada. I think total time was around 4 hours with stops, I have no idea what ride time was.

Now 7 years later, I realize what I did and why my feet and back hurt. The bike that I had purchased in the 80's had a 7 - speed cassette on the back. I had climbed El Tigre with a 39-21 gear combination. As an out of shape clyde at the time, I had no idea about how difficult and 8% grade for 2 miles would be with that gear combination. Its no wonder it took a week for the back pain to go away, and almost a month before I got all the feeling back in my feet.

But boy did we have fun and party after the ride.

A 23? Ouch!:d