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04-07-08, 08:02 AM
I did the Hemet Double Saturday. It was my third double this year with Butterfield in Feb. and Solvang last weekend. I started at 5:15 in the morning and was riding by myself for the first 60 miles. I would hate to count the number of stop lights and stop signs are on the course. Hey there’s an idea, have a contest for the correct number of stop lights and signs. All the stops start wearing on you.
The first loop had been changed some from the previous years. It took out some of the rough roads but in the change some of the mileages weren’t right and that made it confusing figuring where the turns were. Someplace around Lake Elsinore a tandem caught me and the 2 guys on it and I started talking. Talking with the tandem made the miles go by faster. Oh, did I mention we had headwinds. Of course we had headwinds, it wouldn’t be Hemet without wind.
After lunch I took off before the tandem and got the privilege of doing Sage first. Sage is a nice long quad busting climb with some pitches to 16%. At the first rest stop on the second loop the tandem caught me. I left the stop first and at a very confusing intersection they caught me again. Let’s see, the directions said to make a left turn at Pechanga Parkway a t-intersection. Wait, there is a big sign that says NO LEFT TURN. Pechanga Parkway is a 55 mph road that is packed with traffic. As I was asking a sag driver if I was going the right way the tandem made it across the road and off they went. It took me almost five minutes to get across the road, I felt like the frog in Frogger. Oh well, I’ll never see the tandem again.
We went through a little town, Pala. It’s about as big as a postage stamp, oh it had one big draw an Indian Casino. We got to ride the next 6.7 miles out of Pala on Hwy 76 which is the main road in and out of the place. The direction we were riding was with all the traffic that was leaving the casino after gambling and drinking. The road is very narrow with the line on the side of the road painted in the dirt. It was packed with cars and trucks, oh and there was a nice hillside on the right with brush on it. The vehicle didn’t like the bicycles on the road and a couple of times I hit the brush, ouch. Finally Rice Road, right turn and off of Hwy 76. There was a group of rides stopped along side of the road and I stopped also. It seemed like a good time stop and calm my nerves.
I had heard about Rice Road from the tandem, they hadn’t gone up Rice but had come down it and said it was a fast decent. It was 5 miles to the top and a very good climb. I was finally at the top and looking for the rest stop. Hey, at the stop there was the tandem and they waited for me to rewater, grab some food and my lights. I kept the bag my lights were in because I had left my vest at stop #3 and was going to need it under my jersey later when the sun went down. From this stop to the end was filled with rollers, wind (sometimes a headwind, sometimes a tailwind) and traffic. Finally we were on the last stretch to the end, Domenigoni Parkway. It was a fast sprint to the finish, finally done. I was wiped out at the end and it took a while before I could eat some dinner. I finished the day with a bike time of 12:58, an overall time of 15:30, 206.9 miles and 7,800’ of climbing (it was advertised as 5,800’).
If you like urban assault riding, headwinds, cold weather after dark and a few good climbs this is the ride for you.
The first loop had been changed some from the previous years. It took out some of the rough roads but in the change some of the mileages weren’t right and that made it confusing figuring where the turns were. Someplace around Lake Elsinore a tandem caught me and the 2 guys on it and I started talking. Talking with the tandem made the miles go by faster. Oh, did I mention we had headwinds. Of course we had headwinds, it wouldn’t be Hemet without wind.
After lunch I took off before the tandem and got the privilege of doing Sage first. Sage is a nice long quad busting climb with some pitches to 16%. At the first rest stop on the second loop the tandem caught me. I left the stop first and at a very confusing intersection they caught me again. Let’s see, the directions said to make a left turn at Pechanga Parkway a t-intersection. Wait, there is a big sign that says NO LEFT TURN. Pechanga Parkway is a 55 mph road that is packed with traffic. As I was asking a sag driver if I was going the right way the tandem made it across the road and off they went. It took me almost five minutes to get across the road, I felt like the frog in Frogger. Oh well, I’ll never see the tandem again.
We went through a little town, Pala. It’s about as big as a postage stamp, oh it had one big draw an Indian Casino. We got to ride the next 6.7 miles out of Pala on Hwy 76 which is the main road in and out of the place. The direction we were riding was with all the traffic that was leaving the casino after gambling and drinking. The road is very narrow with the line on the side of the road painted in the dirt. It was packed with cars and trucks, oh and there was a nice hillside on the right with brush on it. The vehicle didn’t like the bicycles on the road and a couple of times I hit the brush, ouch. Finally Rice Road, right turn and off of Hwy 76. There was a group of rides stopped along side of the road and I stopped also. It seemed like a good time stop and calm my nerves.
I had heard about Rice Road from the tandem, they hadn’t gone up Rice but had come down it and said it was a fast decent. It was 5 miles to the top and a very good climb. I was finally at the top and looking for the rest stop. Hey, at the stop there was the tandem and they waited for me to rewater, grab some food and my lights. I kept the bag my lights were in because I had left my vest at stop #3 and was going to need it under my jersey later when the sun went down. From this stop to the end was filled with rollers, wind (sometimes a headwind, sometimes a tailwind) and traffic. Finally we were on the last stretch to the end, Domenigoni Parkway. It was a fast sprint to the finish, finally done. I was wiped out at the end and it took a while before I could eat some dinner. I finished the day with a bike time of 12:58, an overall time of 15:30, 206.9 miles and 7,800’ of climbing (it was advertised as 5,800’).
If you like urban assault riding, headwinds, cold weather after dark and a few good climbs this is the ride for you.