Northern California - Holstein 100 8/18/07

Anyone else doing the Holstein (http://www.wmss.org/holstein/) this Saturday?

I'll be riding the century.

I'm riding it. I signed up for century but I think I'll probably be doing the metric instead, as I'm too slow to finish the century before the course closes. :o

I've been wondering about this ride. Does it go up Coleman Valley Road? Are there any roads on it that were not on the various Marin Century routes? The general route description on the website makes it sound as if it's pretty similar -- maybe even identical -- to the northern portion of the Marin routes...

Is there day of registration usually on this ride? I wont know what my weekend is like so I might do it last second..
BTW, JoeBob never told you yesterday but your new Cycle Jersy was pretty cool!
Later Pete

I've been wondering about this ride. Does it go up Coleman Valley Road? Are there any roads on it that were not on the various Marin Century routes? The general route description on the website makes it sound as if it's pretty similar -- maybe even identical -- to the northern portion of the Marin routes...

I've got a map and the route sheet (really bad route sheet) from a few years ago on my blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/2000_06_01_diabloscott_archive.html

No on Coleman Valley, yes on a lot of the same roads as Marin, although some of them are in the opposite direction.

Thanks, DiabloScott!

Thanks, DiabloScott!

You're welcome! I'm glad all that scanning is useful to somebody.

When I first posted those you could click on an image and get a bigger version but now that doesn't seem to work on all of them. I've got higher res jpegs if you need them - shoot me an e-mail.

When I first posted those you could click on an image and get a bigger version but now that doesn't seem to work on all of them. I've got higher res jpegs if you need them - shoot me an e-mail.

The version on the page works for me. It's a little small, but I just pulled out my Marin cycling map, and looking at the two together, I can pretty much see what the route is.

Is there day of registration usually on this ride? I wont know what my weekend is like so I might do it last second..


Online registration ends Wednesday, August 15. The website says they'll take day-of entries if the ride doesn't reach its maximum of 750 riders. I'm still going back and forth on this and may end up waiting til the day of the event myself.

On a related note, I read that even though the Marin Century organizers had announced that it was sold out in advance and that there would be no day-of registrations, anyone who showed up and wanted to ride was allowed to sign up.

On a related note, I read that even though the Marin Century organizers had announced that it was sold out in advance and that there would be no day-of registrations, anyone who showed up and wanted to ride was allowed to sign up.
Yea, I heard that too, and I'm pissed about it. I really wanted to do it.

I signed up for the century route today. So I'll be doing back to backs this weekend -- the Holstein on Saturday and the Tour De Napa on Sunday.

I've been wondering about this ride. Does it go up Coleman Valley Road? Are there any roads on it that were not on the various Marin Century routes? The general route description on the website makes it sound as if it's pretty similar -- maybe even identical -- to the northern portion of the Marin routes...

In 2005, the 100 mile route did go up Coleman Valley Rd. at about mile 30 of the ride.

Come to find out, the century route went up Coleman Valley last year as well.

So I assume I'll be dodging the free-range cows this weekend. :D

Moo.

moo!

Moo back at 'yas.

I mapped out last year's 100 mile route on Bikely if anyone's interested.
Bikely shows about 6000 ft of climbing, for whatever that's worth.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Holstein-100-2006

I mapped out last year's 100 mile route on Bikely if anyone's interested.
Bikely shows about 6000 ft of climbing, for whatever that's worth.

Looks like there's a few more climbs than I was thinking there was going to be. Good to know in advance -- thanks for posting!

Rode the metric century route for the Holstein 100 today. This was much harder than I expected. Total 65 miles. Website said it would be 3500 ft climbing. The actual climbing per my Garmin was a little over 5000. (Garmin MotionBased, which always exaggerates, gave 7000+ feet of climbing). If this what the metric climbed, then I wonder what the 100 miles climbing was.

I expected the Marshall wall climb (I've done that before), but there was another steep climb on Wilson Hill Road about 8 miles before the Marshall climb, well the first one wiped me out for the Marshall climb.

Weather was clear and warm, but there was a terribly strong headwind for much of the ride, especially on the climb to Marshall.

My total saddle time was 5 1/2 hours (remember I'm slow). Spent 2 hours at rest stops, plus stopping to rest on those steep climbs.

I can see why it's called the Holstein 100. Lots of dairy ranches, plus I saw goats and sheep. So lots of farming sights and sounds, but especially smells. Watch out for slippery roads, especially when a truck drops a small load of cowsh*t out the rear as it's passing in the opposite lane.

Pretty well organized ride, good ride directions and maps, rest stops were pretty well stocked, and very friendly volunteers.

Rode the metric century route for the Holstein 100 today. This was much harder than I expected. Total 65 miles. Website said it would be 3500 ft climbing. The actual climbing per my Garmin was a little over 5000. (Garmin MotionBased, which always exaggerates, gave 7000+ feet of climbing). If this what the metric climbed, then I wonder what the 100 miles climbing was.

I did the 100 mile, I'll post a report in a bit. Yep, the winds were a bear, especially heading up Marshall. :p

My computer shows about 6500 ft of climb for the 100 mile, but it tends to underestimate climbs a bit. A friend I was riding with had an Edge 305, I'm curious to find out the elevation gain from that.

Here's the elevation profile & other stats from my computer. No worries, backinthesaddle, I'm a pretty slow climber too. :o



http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/Holstein_18Aug2007/180807.jpg

Rode the metric century route for the Holstein 100 today. This was much harder than I expected. Total 65 miles. Website said it would be 3500 ft climbing. The actual climbing per my Garmin was a little over 5000. (Garmin MotionBased, which always exaggerates, gave 7000+ feet of climbing).

I just checked with my husband, who did the metric route. He has the same computer as I, a CicloSport CM436 M. His computer showed about 3800 ft elevation gain for the metric route.

Shows to go you, elevation gain readings can vary widely from one computer to another. :p

He says he agrees with your 5000 feet. :D

I did the 100 mile, I'll post a report in a bit. Yep, the winds were a bear, especially heading up Marshall. :p

My computer shows about 6500 ft of climb for the 100 mile, but it tends to underestimate climbs a bit. A friend I was riding with had an Edge 305, I'm curious to find out the elevation gain from that.

Here's the elevation profile & other stats from my computer. No worries, backinthesaddle, I'm a pretty slow climber too. :o

Looking at that profile, I'm really glad I missed the Coleman Hill climb, that looks even worse than the 2 I did (though I guess the wind would be at your back). Looks like you did a good ride! I'm curious is 8hr 20 min saddle time, or total time??

Yeah, there's lots of variation between computers. What's also weird is how much variation there is with one computer. My Garmin tracked about 4800 feet on the unit itself, the Garmin Training Center software converted that to about 5100 feet, the Garmin MotionBased website converted that to about 7100 feet. I believe the 4800 - 5100 feet range. Looks like you have a computer that underestimates, bad for bragging rights. :rolleyes:

I'm curious is 8hr 20 min saddle time, or total time?? Saddle time, alas. :o Total time was more like ten hours. We had someone in our group that was a bit under-prepared for this ride so we needed to stop a lot. Still, he and the other two I was riding with (all three of whom were doing their very first centuries, I might add!) were really fun to ride with so I had no desire to take off ahead of them.


Looks like you have a computer that underestimates, bad for bragging rights. :rolleyes: Eh, it's all relative.

Wow, you guys weren't kidding about the cows. The two previous times I've done Coleman Valley, the cattle guards were readily apparent, the cattle less so. Maybe I saw a cow or two but don't really remember it. On Saturday, though, they were out in force. At the beginning of the climb, just where it starts getting steep, a calf was slowly crossing the road as its mother -- or at least another fiercely maternal member of the herd -- stood guard at the side of the pavement, looking as ominous as I've seen a cow look...

The Holstein Hundred seems like it flies under the radar compared to other local centuries, and by design is much smaller. (I believe they were capping entries at 750.) But I was pleasantly surprised by the event. Good route, good support, great commemorative t-shirts.

It was a sunny day right from the start, and there was pretty much zero fog, even out on Highway One as we were headed north toward Bodega Bay. The Marshall Wall was incredibly windy. It was bad climbing up it and maybe even worse going down it; I was getting blown all over the place on the descent.

Only took one photo early on in the ride -- lots and lots of these rollers all day:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/1183815921_01b3691207.jpg