Fifty Plus (50+) - Anyone doing this ride w just one stop sign?

This ride is in somebody's neighborhood........


2008 Winter Stagecoach Century
Date: Saturday January 12, 2008

Location: Ocotillo, CA

Type of Event: Touring

Kick off your New Year with a Wild West cycling adventure along the historic Great Southern Overland Stage Route of 1849. The ride travels through the pristine deserts on County Route S2 in east San Diego and Imperial Counties. Enjoy stunning vista views from four desert passes along the route. Total of 7 fully stocked rest stops. Here’s your chance to enjoy a hassle-free 100-mile ride with just one lonely stop sign and at the ideal time of year for desert cycling! The out-and-back course is fully adjustable for your own mileage preference. Elevation rises gradually from 373 feet above sea level to over 2,600 feet at its peak before returning to the Start/Finish area in Ocotillo. There are four gradual climbs of about ½ to 2 miles in length at about 7-8% grades. Winds are “generally” neutral in the morning and almost always at your back on the downhill return, producing a fast ride back to the finish. We rate the ride as moderately difficult. Be advised weather conditions can vary widely at this time of year and can include sun, heat, cold, wind, rain, or any combination. We’ll provide tips to be prepared.

A bunch of the SoCal BFers did it last year and most of them were miserable all day. It never got over about 40 degrees and there were bad headwinds. They also complained about the course, but I hear that part may be fixed. I also heard several people were taken to hospitals with hypothermia.
Surprisingly, some of them are going again. Not for me, thanks.

I'm chuckling! My regular long ride (out and back) west of town in the summer is around 80 miles with one stop sign. My intermediate ride is 54 with one stop sign and my normal ride is 32 miles with one stop sign. :D One way rides (if you start way early in the morning in the summer you can even mostly avoid the wind): South of town one can ride all the way to Fort Collins CO (65 miles) with one stop light. North of town one can ride nearly 80 miles to the first stop sign and northwest of town 120 miles to the first stop sign. West of town 80 miles (with about 4000 ft of climbing); Southwest 110 miles. If you are really into wide open spaces, you can ride one way from Laramie to Casper WY which is just under 150 miles with one stop sign. None of the riding is on interstates and for the most part (except to Ft Collins) there is little traffic.

I'm chuckling! My regular long ride (out and back) west of town in the summer is around 80 miles with one stop sign. My intermediate ride is 54 with one stop sign and my normal ride is 32 miles with one stop sign. :D One way rides (if you start way early in the morning in the summer you can even mostly avoid the wind): South of town one can ride all the way to Fort Collins CO (65 miles) with one stop light. North of town one can ride nearly 80 miles to the first stop sign and northwest of town 120 miles to the first stop sign. West of town 80 miles (with about 4000 ft of climbing); Southwest 110 miles. If you are really into wide open spaces, you can ride one way from Laramie to Casper WY which is just under 150 miles with one stop sign. None of the riding is on interstates and for the most part (except to Ft Collins) there is little traffic.:D And I'm chuckling and betting you don't do that in JANUARY.:D

:D And I'm chuckling and betting you don't do that in JANUARY.:D
......or December, or February and most years not even in March. The only month I have never seen it snow in town is July, but my father has! That's why my five year old trainer has 5000 miles on it. :eek:

Several of my friends have done this ride, and all of them have warned me: Don't do it! The cold and the wind are just brutal. Or at least, have been in the past!

Rick / OCRR

The web site says TWO stop signs:

http://www.shadowtour.com/Century_Rides/Winter_Stagecoach.htm

The web site says TWO stop signs:

http://www.shadowtour.com/Century_Rides/Winter_Stagecoach.htm
Oh oh; a stop signage challenge in the making.

Oh oh; a stop signage challenge in the making.

"Here’s your chance to enjoy a hassle-free 100-mile ride with just two lonely stop signs and at the ideal time of year for desert cycling!"

Pshaw - I do long rides all the time without any stop signs, no traffic lights. I do have to watch out for cows, chickens, iquanas, coatis and monkeys though.

I don't worry about weather either.

The web site says TWO stop signs:


That eliminates me.

That eliminates me.

I was thinking along the same lines. And, besides, it is out and back, which essentially means 4 stop signs. Too many for me.

I used to do a lot of camping as a kid near Ocotillo and Agua Caliente. Later, when we were married, my wife and I and the kids would take the tent camper to Agua Caliente campground, which has a nice hot springs pool, plus there is(was?) a sort of covered facility for "older" folks (that certainly isn't me) to bathe in the mineral water for their rheumatism. They stayed for long period of times in their campers.

It can be miserably cold in the winter.

But, it sounds like this would be a good Century for Digital Gee.