Northern California - BF NorCal North Bay Ride 10-28 - Post Ride Report

Looks like I'm the first. Here are some pics from the ride:

Beautiful, idyllic downtown Vacaville. It's not just for cows anymore...
http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/1.jpg

Here's how you get to the clock tower.
http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/2.jpg

Letting the group pace me for a second while I prepare for my attack.
http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_09.24.42.jpg

"Dropeing" the hammer and blasting by the main group... They had no idea what hit them ;)
http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_09.37.38.jpg


http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_09.37.49.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_09.37.53.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.02.15.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.02.23.jpg

This guy kept sucking my wheel all day. I let him know how EPO separates the men from the boys.
http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.15.14.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.25.36.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.27.00.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.33.51.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.43.08.jpg

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.48.57.jpg

Oops. The camera must have slipped on this one.
http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.49.01.jpg

The mare completely in awe of my amazing form...
http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.49.38.jpg

Action Movie (don't know if it will play for you or not):

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/PICT0051.avi

Great ride. It was nice to meet the Central Valley / East Bay contingent.

Sure, drope the hamer when I'm riding sweep;) I had this view all day.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c399/WillworkforWag/bf3.jpg

The camera didn't slip in the picture of that Specialized, it was a beautiful paint job.:D
You should have gotten a shot of Bigbossman's frame with matching bottles, very OCP.

Great photos. Looks like a good turnout. Any way you can caption the photos with names or BF names?

Here's a few more!
http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang1.jpg
http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang2.jpg
http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang4.jpg
http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang5.jpg

By the way, it was a great ride. So good there should be commemorative shirts made.
Great weather. Great roads, and what a good bunch of people to ride with.

And what a blast sitting in behind a flying tandem! I averaged about 4 mph faster than I usually ride. Amazing.

http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang1.jpg
I'm terrible with names,but as best as I can do, from left to right:
Red Rider,Sassy,Smooth,Tricia,cccorlew,cgallagh,1/2 of the Amstel Gold tandem team(sorry,my lousy memory, again),Bigbossman, overthere, 4 members of the Monticello Cycling Club( ?,?,Paul,?), ?wearing the CCCP jersey?, scottmorrison99, Monticello Cycling Club member Jo, kb5gl

If I couldn't remember your name, please add it. I enjoyed riding and socializing with everyone. Curtis, that was a nice Orbea at Precision Bike Shop, wasn't it?;)

And this fella heard cgallagh used to be a bullrider;)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c399/WillworkforWag/bfgang5.jpg

Humph...not the Specialized paint job either. He's exposing my fredette ways... fine! Yes!! I'm wearing a camelback okay?!?

or: kb5ql was pointing the camera, but missed, because I was really 'overthere' lol!

Awesome ride today. I now know the joys of the tandem draft, and I can never go back :D Thanks Red Rider and cgallagh for organizing today!

EDIT: THREE tandem teams!!! WOW!!! :) :) :)

http://www.zaftig.net/images/articles/bikepics-20071028/10.28.2007_10.33.51.jpg

http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang2.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/paceline-1.jpg

Looks like a pretty good turnout. Considering all of the people dropping out at the last moment (and that one guy who couldn't find the starting point until it was too late :rolleyes:), I figured there were only a few people left.

I missed out again, it seems. Oh well. Next time for sure! :) When's the next one of these kinds of rides?

There were 3 tandem teams!! I should know...:p

You should have gotten a shot of Bigbossman's frame with matching bottles, very OCP.

What..... that old thing? That's my beater bike...... :D

I'm so glad I made the effort to rack out early and drive up. This ride was a lot of fun - perfect weather, perfect company, just perfect all around. Fast, though - jeez. In the middle stretch Scott and I were doing 21mph and still couldn't catch the tandems. Garmin showed me with an average speed of 16.8mph over the 36 miles, with a tad over 1,000' of climbing. At the mid-point (somewhere around mile 28 or so) before the turn back and the commencement of the rollers, my average was close to 18. Those are big numbers, for me.

A big Thank You to the people responsible for this one..... :beer:


Here's a few from my camera:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/paceline-4.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/paceline-1.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/orchard.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/leaders.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/group.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/group-1.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/climb.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Vacaville%20102807/paceline.jpg

What a fun, satisfying ride we had today!

We met Mike, John, Diane, Nancy & Steve (whom we met last week), Curtis & Tricia, as well as our club members. We took the pre-ride pics and then headed out, through town and into the country

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Photo_102807_005.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Photo_102807_004.jpg

The weather was so great, the roads so quiet, I wish we'd charged $$ for this ride. These folks would have paid! The colors were stunning and brilliant.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Photo_102707_002.jpg

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w76/cgallagh/Photo_102707_001.jpg

After the ride (others have posted great pics) we had scones, sandwiches, and muffins; BigBossMan(John) and Curtis had us in stitches most of the time. Scottie, Gordon & Michelle, Steve & Nancy (the 3rd tandem), Diane and Chris (cgallagh) had plenty of stories to keep the energy alive. After we ate we all split up to shop or ride, depending on our moods.

Dave, Gordon & Michelle and Chris & I rode back up Pleasant's Valley Rode, then rode over Cantelow. I was sucking wind so bad I failed to take pics. Dave, Gordon & Michelle did a repeater and we passed -- we were spent -- and met them 'way down the east side of Cantelow. We had a delicious grilled food meal, drank a toast to our friend Steve who passed last year, and called it a night.

Thanks to all who showed up to this ride, and I hope you all enjoyed it. We surely did, and will gladly host it again.

[QUOhTE=bigbossman;5537615]What..... that old thing? That's my beater bike...... :D
A big Thank You to the people responsible for this one..... :beer:

We thoroughly enjoyed our ride today, and we're happy you, did, too. I am sorry I didn't hear all your snarky asides, but maybe that's for the best. You're a funny guy -- come ride with us anytime!

Looks like fun!

We thoroughly enjoyed our ride today, and we're happy you, did, too. I am sorry I didn't hear all your snarky asides, but maybe that's for the best. You're a funny guy -- come ride with us anytime!

A) I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.....
B) I didn't figure the cowboy for a snitch.

:D

Seriously - great fun, and careful with your invites..... I just might take you up on it!! :)

Snarky asides? Not from bigbossman. He doesn't do asides - he's snarky right to your face.:D

I'm sorry I had to miss the ride, but at least I found some time to ride the wild jungles of deepest, darkest Montecito whilst in the Santa Barbara area this weekend. Those are some great roads out that way. Glad everyone had a good time.

Looks like I missed a good one! CRAP!!! What time did you guys finish?

I took a short ride in the Larkspur/Paradise Loop/Tiburon area since I couldn't make it up to the Vaca ride.

Did you guys get to practice the paceline?

Did you guys get to practice the paceline?


Yes, yes we did.

Assuming, by "practice", you mean sit behind tandems all day long and take it easy..... :D

A) I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.....
B) I didn't figure the cowboy for a snitch.

:D

Seriously - great fun, and careful with your invites..... I just might take you up on it!! :)

I said nothing. Even though she subjected me to cruel and unusual torture:eek::eek: I swear I said nothing.;)

We had more fun on this ride than we have had in a group ride in a long time. There was actual conversation, no one really got dropped, and we got to meet a lot of really fun people.

Now I'm real jealous that I was out of town. :( That's it...there must be another Davis/Dixon/Vacaville/Winters area ride so I can come join!

Paceline stuff:
As Bigbossman says, we sat in behind the tandems a lot. Now I know all about wind resistance and the tiny crucial differences it makes in big money races.
But holy smokes....
I usually cruise around 15. On our first leg my average (that includes a slow through town warmup) was over 18.
And an extended portion was well above 20. I was working pretty hard, but the bursts we did were amazing to me.
Small difference? Heck no, giant difference.

Ya know, maybe those TDF guys aren't so tough after all. maybe it's just that they're in a big pack. Yeah... That's it... Big pack. They're no different than us. They just have tighter lycra and sponsored bikes.

That's it...there must be another Davis/Dixon/Vacaville/Winters area ride so I can come join!

Sorry - we all got together afterward and decided that this one was so good we were going to close the book and never repeat it. We felt it would just cheapen the memory of a truly special ride.

http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang1.jpg
From the left, we have me, Michelle (Sassy), Gordon (Smooooth), Tricia & Curtis (cccorlew), Chris (cgallag), Steve (Monticello Cycling Club), John (Bigbossman), Diane (overthere), Dave (MCC),Carlos (MCC), Paul (MCC), Randy (MCC), Nancy (in red helmet; MCC & stoker to Steve), Scott (scottmorrison99), Jo (MCC), Mike (kb5ql).

The Geek Squad compares iPhones:
http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang4.jpg

A Jacob's sheep. There is a small herd of these woolies in the area:
http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang5.jpg

I hope that helps!

http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang5.jpg

After much googling and research Tricia and I are pretty sure this is and angora goat.
Yes, we are geeks and spent about 20 minutes searching and debating.
Horns out, not curled like a sheep. Goat..... We think......

Was great to meet and ride with everyone. We had a fantastic time exploring the Vacaville country side with the group.

The after ride dinner and wine was epic :D

See you guys next time...

Sorry - we all got together afterward and decided that this one was so good we were going to close the book and never repeat it. We felt it would just cheapen the memory of a truly special ride.Well fine. We'll start our own ride. With blackjack! And hookers!

Well fine. We'll start our own ride. With blackjack! And hookers!

I'm in for the hookers. This has to do with climbing right?;)

Well fine. We'll start our own ride. With blackjack! And hookers!

Yeah!:p

http://curtis.corlew.com/hosting/bfgang5.jpg

After much googling and research Tricia and I are pretty sure this is and angora goat.
Yes, we are geeks and spent about 20 minutes searching and debating.
Horns out, not curled like a sheep. Goat..... We think......

Okay, then, now you know why I'm not a goat-roper or a sheep-herder -- can't even tell 'em apart. :o

Thanks for gettin' your geek on and checking this out.

Maybe he's a Jamaican Angora Goat. He's got the dreadlock thing going on.

Looks like you guys had a great time, too bad I had to work :(

Well fine. We'll start our own ride. With blackjack! And hookers!

..and a slurpee machine with our hookers!!

If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in a hooker house, doo do do. TRallalalla.