Northern California - I'm nervous!

So, this guy who finished 2nd in the two-man team in this year's RAAM (Race Across America) invited me to join him and his friends this Sat. on a ride from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz and back. Many of them are ultra-distance kind of crazies :eek:!

I'm thrilled at the chance to ride with this gang, but scared to death I'll get chewed up and spit out like a jalapeno pepper at a baby food tasting contest! http://deephousepage.com/smilies/squish.gif

If I survive the ride, I'll let you know how it went :D. Why do I do these things to myself :(?

Oh, and if anyone wants to join me, PM me and I'll work something out!

Are you guys riding to New York? If not you should be ok....not everyone liked to hammer all the time.....if you do get hammered make sure you schedual your next ride with him a week after next years RAAM....

You're not going to get lost on that route. If they drop you on the way to Santa Cruz and you don't want to continue, just turn around and maybe they'll catch up to you on the way back.

Are you guys riding to New York? If not you should be ok....not everyone liked to hammer all the time.....if you do get hammered make sure you schedual your next ride with him a week after next years RAAM....

This particular guy rides this 100 mile route in 4:25 on a recumbent. And yes, he does hammer all the time. I'm just hoping the others guys are more "normal" :).

4:25 on a recumbent is to be expected... I think.
From the times we've ridden together, I think you'll be able to hang with them even if they push the pace a bit.

4:25 on a recumbent is to be expected... I think.
From the times we've ridden together, I think you'll be able to hang with them even if they push the pace a bit.

+1 ... Alan, you will have no problem hanging with them. Just think of the long distance as just extra time in the saddle ... just keep thinking this, and you'll be fine.

Hey Alan!
Good luck on your ride (I'm sure luck will not be a factor here), enjoy it and share your experience.

BTW, there''s some rain on the forecast for this weekend. Hope you have a fun, dry and safe ride!

:beer:

Angel.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys! I'm looking forward to the ride. What a great chance to ride with some serious atheletes.

I'll let you all know how it turns out.

*as he prays for rain on Saturday*

Thanks for the encouragement, guys! I'm looking forward to the ride. What a great chance to ride with some serious atheletes.

I'll let you all know how it turns out.

*as he prays for rain on Saturday*

One word Gary, and listen verry verrrry closely...in fact come closer to your monitor....

closer.... closer.........................





SPINACH!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck! :)
Pete

Alan, as long as you wear your BF kit, you'll be fine :D Where and what time are you guys starting?

-gas

Thanks for the encouragement, guys! I'm looking forward to the ride. What a great chance to ride with some serious atheletes.

I'll let you all know how it turns out.

*as he prays for rain on Saturday*

What are we? Chop Liver?!:mad:





;)

What are we? Chop Liver?!:mad:





;)

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to offend :o.

However, the guy did ride his bike from LA to Atlantic City in 7 days and 3 hours. Just sayin'.... :-)

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to offend :o.

However, the guy did ride his bike from LA to Atlantic City in 7 days and 3 hours. Just sayin'.... :-)


That's totally crazy!

Oops, sorry, didn't mean to offend :o.

However, the guy did ride his bike from LA to Atlantic City in 7 days and 3 hours. Just sayin'.... :-)

As a member of the chop-liver association I accept your apology.:D

Have fun on your ride.

BTW, are you guys taking the same route we took for the Coastal Century?

I'm in (unless I wake up late, or something lame ;) )

I'm going to skip the Low Key H.C. up Sierra, and do this instead.

I'm chopped liver.

me too!

<-- Sandbagging

As a member of the chop-liver association I accept your apology.:D

Have fun on your ride.

BTW, are you guys taking the same route we took for the Coastal Century?

I think you've started something - The Chopped Liver Association! I think we could sign up many members to this Club :D:D:D! Sounds like Sweetnsourbkr wants to be a charter member...

The route is Hwy1 down and up. Notice we're riding Southbound first and riding up against the wind :eek:!

Ouch, I hope for you guys sake that there's not much head wind on your return trip. Maybe get Smooth & Sassy involved for some major drafting.;)

Marco can pull the way back if there's a headwind. He's strong like that. :)

Marco can pull the way back if there's a headwind. He's strong like that. :)

WTF Henry!?

Don't give them ideas like that.

But you're a self-proclaimed sandbagger ;)

Marco can pull the way back if there's a headwind. He's strong like that. :)

As long as there's no climb for him to shred his legs on. ;)

There is one climb that you hit in each direction

So it's apx 1.2 miles @ 7% (x2)

Other than that it's rolling.

Alan,

Sorry I missed the ride.

Baby crying kept me up much of last night (no not mine!).

I went to the GFs house for dinner and to help watch her sisters kids (23 mo. and the other (IIRC) is like 3-4 months), so that her sister and hubby could go out.

Sister and hubby, maximized this opportunity and got home at like 4 AM.

So after getting like 4 hours of sleep, I realized a few things:

1) I am not going to ride 100 miles with a high finishing RAAM guy (woke up a little too late).

2) 23 month old kids are EASY

3) 3-4 month old baby w/out Mom = Loud.

4) I am not having kids for a while ;)

I opted for a fast Woodside and back ride from my house in San Mateo starting at 3 PM (haha).

Alameda, Crystal Springs, 35/92, Cañada and back.

30 miles
avg 19.5 mph

Alan,



Alameda, Crystal Springs, 35/92, Cañada and back.

30 miles
avg 19.5 mph

Maybe I'm getting too old but that avg. seems ridiculously fast? Isn't Crystal Springs a pretty slow climb. What did you have for Breakfast? Baby Food...and what kind?! please!;)
Pete

I knew my ride would be short since I started late, so I hammered a bit.

Crystal Springs I take at around 12 mph or so, but it's only like 1 mile.

Avg speed was high because I was hammering on Cañada. I would venture to say I averaged like 23+ on the way back (North). Also I hit 40 (or close to it) on a couple occasions (descending Crystal Sp, Skyline towards Cañada and Alameda de las Pulgas (those descents will almost cancel out the slower climbing).

Food, I ate a Lara Bar, a banana, and some baguette with olive oil before riding (not right before, of course).

I knew my ride would be short since I started late, so I hammered a bit.

Crystal Springs I take at around 12 mph or so, but it's only like 1 mile.

Avg speed was high because I was hammering on Cañada. I would venture to say I averaged like 23+ on the way back (North). Also I hit 40 (or close to it) on a couple occasions (descending Crystal Sp, Skyline towards Cañada and Alameda de las Pulgas (those descents will almost cancel out the slower climbing).

Food, I ate a Lara Bar, a banana, and some baguette with olive oil before riding (not right before, of course).

Well, if you do the post Turkey day ride (Morgan Territory) I know which wheel to hop on :D
Pete

I rode with a group like that in SoCal once. Stayed with them for half the ride until the second big climb. Staying with them even that long felt great. If the person who invited you is nice he will stay with you if the rest of the group disappears.

By the way the guy did not cross the country in 7 days and 3 hours, the Team did. only Michael Secrest has gone coast to coast in under 8 days.

So, I made it back! What a treat today was.

The first indication that this was not going to be a business-as-usual ride was the type of vehicles this group drove to the meeting point. Usually, when I meet friends for a ride, we show in our cars with bike racks. When I rode up to the meeting point this morning, it was all vans/trucks full of bike gear and parts. One guy even had a large size trailer that he pulls around for all his bike stuff. I'm thinking my tools and spare parts fit in my saddle bag - they've got trailers full of parts :eek:! These guys are serious bike people!

Turns out people had come from all over Northern California to join my friend's ride. I guess the ultra-distance community is a very small and close-knit one. The folks there had done just about every ultra ride you can name - RAAM, Paris-Brest-Paris, Furnace Creek 508, 24 hours of Sebring, Race Across Oregon, etc. Double centuries are warm up rides for this group. Oh, and we had a SAG guy, of course. His credentials, you ask? He's only crewed on 21 RAAM rides over the years - think he's qualified? His van was loaded with gear and could handle 6 bikes on top. He had flashing lights, external speakers and a personalized license plate that said "BikeVan". Did I mention these guys are SERIOUS?

OK, there were 11 of us, 4 on recumbents. Mean looking recumbents. We took off shortly after 8:30 in the fog. The warm up pace was about 22, 23 mph. After a few polite miles of hanging with the group, the recumbents took off. A couple of us upright riders tagged along for a few miles, but by mile 10, I knew it would not be smart to keep up that pace for 100 miles, so I dropped back. The other upright rider was faster than me, so I let him go as well. Now I was stuck behind the fast group and in front of the rest of the pack. So, it stayed this way for the whole ride down. I ended up with a nice solo ride down to Santa Cruz with a 17.4mph average all the way down.

The fog never lifted and was actually quite heavy to whole way down. My glasses were completely fogged up and I just took them off and rode half blind down the coast. What the heck, I couldn't see the scenery for the fog anyway. My socks were wet from the fog and my toes were frozen the whole way down.

We had lunch at a Pizzeria called Upper Crust Pizza (all time great name for a Pizza Joint). The racing recumbents were ready to leave as I arrived, having gotten there about 30 minutes before. I didn't feel too bad since I was the second upright to arrive. Lunch gave me an opportunity to chat with the gang and listen to some of their war stories. About riding 30 hours non-stop. About how 24 Hours of Sebring was not a big deal. About getting pulled over by cops while riding in the middle of the night. You know, everyday stuff :p.

The wind kicked up for the ride home, so I stayed with a pack of 4 riders. What a drag knowing that we had 50 miles of this headwind and the FOG - Ugh!. But, we moved along well and it gave me a chance to talk with some of them. At mile 70, I hit a big pothole in the road and both tires flatted! I had one spare tube and patched the second one. My front wheel was a little whacked out, but rideable. We went along for a few more miles and I got another flat - the patch hadn't held up. At this point, I didn't want to slow down the group, so I told them to go ahead and I waited for the SAG van. When he pulled up, I was cold and it was getting late, so I ended up SAG-ing back. I didn't feel too bad about it. I had done 75 miles, kept up pretty well with the group.

Had a nice conversation with the SAG guy. Great guy. Used to ride himself, but now just crews for teams. Like I said, 21 years of RAAM. He's quite a legend in that community.

I'm still buzzing over the day. What a treat it was to hang out with that group! Even though I hadn't finished the whole ride, I was feeling really strong and was glad to know that I held up for the 75 miles. Of course, the measly 100 miles we did today was just a warmup for this group, but I can tell my grandkids about how I rode with a bunch of ultra-riders and held my own - yeah, right! :D:D

Great day today....

Hey! I actually watched you on the Versus/OLN channel today! The helicopter shots were great, I really liked your interview with Phil Ligget and Bob Roll!!!! Ha Ha! sounds like an awsome experience, I'm jealous:(
Congrats Man!
nice report
Pete

Turns out people had come from all over Northern California to join my friend's ride. I guess the ultra-distance community is a very small and close-knit one. The folks there had done just about every ultra ride you can name - RAAM, Paris-Brest-Paris, Furnace Creek 508, 24 hours of Sebring, Race Across Oregon, etc. Double centuries are warm up rides for this group. Oh, and we had a SAG guy, of course. His credentials, you ask? He's only crewed on 21 RAAM rides over the years - think he's qualified? His van was loaded with gear and could handle 6 bikes on top. He had flashing lights, external speakers and a personalized license plate that said "BikeVan". Did I mention these guys are SERIOUS?


Yea, that's what I noticed when I was doing my double centuries this year. Long distance riders always hang out together, and everyone knows everyone else. IMHO, double century riders are definitely tighter group than century riders ...

Alan,

Sorry I missed the ride.



Marco:

I'm sorry you missed it, too. I know you would have really enjoyed it. You would have hung in there with the 'bents better than I was able to.

Hey, since you're now experienced with watching toddlers, you want to come over and watch my 4 year old for me? :D

Marco:

I'm sorry you missed it, too. I know you would have really enjoyed it. You would have hung in there with the 'bents better than I was able to.

Hey, since you're now experienced with watching toddlers, you want to come over and watch my 4 year old for me? :D

LOL...

Does strapping him into a bike trailer count as watching ;)

I kid, I kid

Great job Allen!! Didn't we average 18 + to Santa Cruz on our ride :rolleyes: ?

What a great experience.

Speaking of Bob Roll, I had dinner with him last Saturday at a fund raiser for the Northern California Highschool Mountain bike league. He is a kick :D

Me and Bobki.

Great job Allen!! Didn't we average 18 + to Santa Cruz on our ride :rolleyes: ?

What a great experience.


Yeah. I remember we did 18.9 on the way up. But that was with you and Sassy pulling!! You two are like a steam engine! This time I had to do it alone.

Must have been fun with Bob Roll. I didn't know he got a beard now.

It was great fun!! He is not allowed the facial hair on Versus for broadcasting. Off to do Mt. Diablo, to the top on the tandem this morning :D

Sassy and I will try a double century next year on the tandem. Purely a warm up, as you point out, for the RAAM riders :eek:

Have a fantastic day!!