Santa Cruz Tour d'Organics 8/26

[msincredible]

I just signed up for the Tour d'Organics (http://www.tourdorganics.com/) 65-mile ride, anyone else going?

Paula

[BlastRadius]

Which day?

[msincredible]

Sunday 8/26 in Santa Cruz.

[ericm979]

Make sure you bring a lot of food and water. Last year they were incredibly stingy with both... they seemed to think that cyclists can ride on a couple pieces of fruit.

[msincredible]

Good to know, thanks for the heads up.

[Steve MacK]

My wife and I will probably do the 35 mile. I'll be wearing a brand-new NorCal jersey. :-)

Steve

[platypus]

Make sure you bring a lot of food and water. Last year they were incredibly stingy with both... they seemed to think that cyclists can ride on a couple pieces of fruit.

yeah looking at the photo on thier site of the "rest stop" made me immediately think "wow, is that all they put out?"

[SesameCrunch]

Make sure you bring a lot of food and water. Last year they were incredibly stingy with both... they seemed to think that cyclists can ride on a couple pieces of fruit.

Yeah, but it's organic fruit :p . You should be able to go for ever :D..

[taxi777]

Yeah, but it's organic fruit :p . You should be able to go for ever :D..
Go forever as in being regular? :) That's always a good thing

I might opt for the northern, Santa cruz date is tough :(

[Ty.S]

Looks like it might be interesting, I generally don't use the rest stops, so the stingyness wouldn't bother me. Although I'm not an "organic" kind of a guy, I prefer better living through chemicals!!

I will be in Downieville getting my MTB legs back under me that weekend, so I may opt for the Sebastapol ride instead, we'll see how Downieville treats me.

[kster]

I did this ride last year. Not very appealing food at the rest stops and they ran out of the post-ride meal for those who didn't finish early. I'm not doing another ride with them.

[msincredible]

The Santa Cruz Tour d'Organics ride yesterday was a good one, definitely easier than the Tour de Max I did a couple of weeks ago. I did the 60-mile route (5300' of climbing) which took me 4.5 hours riding time, but actually afterwards I thought I might have been able to make it on the 100-mile one, although it would certainly have been a challenge. There was also a 40-mile option, and the 100 mile route was just the 40 and 60 mile routes put together.

Here's the bikely route:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/2007-Tour-d-Organics-Santa-Cruz

The first half of the ride was great, nice roads, good hills. The biggest climb of the day was Felton Empire Rd, which was about halfway through the 60-mile ride. I have to say I got a kick out seeing people's expressions as I passed them climbing and they realized I wasn't on a road bike. I may have some more converts to hybrids yet! ;)

While waiting at the mini-rest stop at the top for my group, a woman driving the other way stopped and started berating us for the cyclists who had gone on ahead riding in the car lane (how dare they!). :rolleyes: One guy started arguing with her but it was futile. I just smiled and waved and called out "Thanks" to her. After she passed, I did give her a different kind of salute, although I don't think she saw me. :p Riding on ahead, I had to laugh, as not only was there not a bike lane, there wasn't even a shoulder! And it was major downhills so everyone was going 30-40 mph anyway. Pine Flat Rd and Bonny Doon were a blast, the curves were so open and sweeping, no brakes needed. :D

After getting off of highway 1, it was mostly flat and a bit of rollers the rest of the way. The second half of the ride was not nearly as nice, as it was either along busy bike paths or busy roads (except for the detour through UCSC for the last rest stop). There was one place where I had to portage my bike across raised railway tracks. There was a lot of dodging of dog walkers and surfers on the paths, and clueless out-of-town drivers on the streets.

At one point while riding on easy flats by the water, my cell phone rang and I answered it, thinking it might have been the rest of my group wondering where I was as I had ridden on ahead. It turned out to be someone else, who I chatted to for a couple of miles. I've never talked on a phone while biking before, it was kind of funny but somehow felt really wrong.

The rest stops were very well stocked, lots of fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts, peanut butter-banana sandwiches, potatoes and veggies with hummus and pesto, and Clif energy bars, gels, and electrolyte powder, plus a lunch at one of them. They could have had more water handy though, and one of the rest stops had their porta potty mis-delivered so it was about a mile away from the stop. The stops were at organic farms, although I missed one of them, on highway 1, as the signs weren't that great, apparently I wasn't the only one who missed it.

The post-ride meal was not as plentiful as the rest stops, but perhaps that was because my group was among the later crowd. Still, I'm not going to complain, since I'm vegan this was far more food than I would get at a typical ride.

Here's a few photos:

Love Apple Farm (the first rest stop):
http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/06-Love-Apple-Farm.jpg

Paula (me) and friend Albert at Love Apple Farm:
http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/08-Paula-Albert.jpg

Julie, Paula and Kwan at the top of Felton Empire Rd:
http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/12-Julie-Paula-Kwan.jpg

Ice Cream Grade - no ice cream, but even better, 5.5 miles of sustained twisty 10% downhills ahead (Ice Cream Grade to Pine Flat Rd to Bonny Doon Rd):
http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/14-Ice-Cream-Grade.jpg

Here's a familiar face - this is Barry, Tom (I think) and Tina at the post-ride meal. Tom is our "Bob Roll look-alike" from the Tour de Max. Last time he was on a mountain bike, this time he bought himself a road bike and did the 100-mile ride.
http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/17-Barry-Tom-Tina.jpg

[ROJA]

Cool report, thanks. Sounds like a great ride in fantastic country!

[qpliu]

While waiting at the mini-rest stop at the top for my group, a woman driving the other way stopped and started berating us for the cyclists who had gone on ahead riding in the car lane (how dare they!). :rolleyes: One guy started arguing with her but it was futile. I just smiled and waved and called out "Thanks" to her. After she passed, I did give her a different kind of salute, although I don't think she saw me. :p

You should have pointed her to this sign at the top of Felton-Empire:
http://bp1.blogger.com/_tSP-m6DKhqI/RtC1ZSMy8vI/AAAAAAAAAIA/zR4JhvagvAM/s320/2771702213_ORIG.jpeg
I was on a club ride up Felton-Empire and down Bonny Doon Rd on Saturday and was wondering what those orange arrows were for. So that's answered now.

[damnpoor]

On my ride today I almost got ran off the road by some hick in a gigantic diesel truck. I had just passed a "Share the road" sign and thought what a great picture it would make if my flattened bike were laying in the road next to it.

[spingineer]

Cool report Paula. The Labor Day ride should be a piece o cake for you now.

[sweetnsourbkr]

http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/06-Love-Apple-Farm.jpg

Love the pig!!! :D

[BlastRadius]

... After she passed, I did give her a different kind of salute, although I don't think she saw me. :p ...

HAHA, I knew there was a good reason I liked you right off the bat.