Fifty Plus (50+) - More Double Centuries, 1 good, 1 DNF

It's been a month or more since my last update, so here's the most recent news:

On the good side of the board, I rode the Solvang Double Century on March 29th, on a mostly beautiful day in the Santa Ynez valley and beyond (North to Morro Bay), and felt strong all day. No problems, the bike and the body worked well all day . . . 13 Hours and daylight finish.

On the bad side (or at least, not so good . . . ) I entered the Mulholland Double on April 12th and ended up with a DNF (Did Not Finish) at mile 161. This was my 2nd DNF in 31 double attempts since I moved to CA.

Early Morning Start for Mulholland was 5:00 AM, so still quite dark and kinda cold (38 deg.F) at the start, but down from Calabasas to Pacific Coast Highway (mostly a descent), then warmer along PCH and cold again as we started climbing Topanga Canyon.

All the morning climbs were no problem, and the morning total in the Santa Monica mountains was approx. 6,000 feet of altitude gain. We hit PCH again at mile 62 (100 KM) and rode directly into a hot dry wind all the way to Ventura. This was the beginning of the end for me. Simply put: I wasn't drinking enough for the conditions and became dehydrated.

I had a 70 oz. Camelback and a large (28 oz.) water bottle, but it wasn't enough. The next big climb was Protrero (some 20%), and while I can climb Protrero, this time I had to get off and walk (yeah, even with my 30t x 27t triple crank!). That was followed by several more climbs and fortunately a water stop by a fire station.

I filled up there, and by the time I got to lunch (90 miles, 8,000 feet of climbing) was feeling a bit better.

After lunch I was okay for the first 20 miles, but suffered on the Grimes Canyon climb (long, totally exposed and into a headwind), so was pretty darn cooked by the time I reached the next checkpoint at about 3:30 PM. The temp was up to the mid 90's by this time, so I packed my Camelback with ice, then filled with Sustained Energy and water. The bottle got ice, then pure water, but the next checkpoint was 40 miles away!

By this time my speed was down, but I still had to climb Balcom Canyon (part of the Tour de CA), which was very long and super steep (104 deg.F here), so yes . . . I had to walk part of that one too. The descent was good, and finally a bit of a tail wind, back through Ventura, onto PCH, and then the climb up Decker Canyon starting at mile 157. This is the one that did me in. Decker off PCH is very steep, a brutal climb really, and I was in my 30t x 27t all the way up. Going slow too, 3.5 mph on my computer!

When I reached the Decker Fire Station Checkpoint at mile 161 I was done. No power in my legs, very little power in my brain (early evening by now). I arrived at 7:10 and the official "cut-off" was 7:00 so I was officially "out" anyway. But even if I was allowed to continue, it was beyond me. I accepted a ride back to the motel from a friend of mine who had been working the ride (much appreciated, that!).

Back at the motel someone asked me "How'd you like Protrero today?" I couldn't even remember Protrero! The name sounded familiar . . . but that's about all. So yeah, my brain was cooked. I was relaxing on the bed for over an hour before I could get up and take a shower.

In the end, the Mulholland Double was too tough for me (or I wasn't tough enough for it), and in retrospect, i.e. with 20-20 hindsight, I shouldn't have tried it. Still, there's a part of me that's glad I at least tried it. That's probably the same part that found the Butterfield and Solvang doubles so easy, and was looking for more of a challenge.

Lots more challenges still to come in the 2008 cycling season. I'll let you know if it gets better or worse from here!

Rick / OCRR

Rick,
I'm glad to see someone in our age group trying and completing doubles. It's one of those things that is setting in the back of my brain. Maybe your example will bring it to the forefront.

Rick,
Great that you tried it and still put in an impressive performance. One of the guys in our club went off the road on one of the steep down hills around mile 54. I guess he went over the far side of a turn. Sheered the fork on his beautiful CF Orbea Orca right off at the top of the crown. Thankfully, he walked (albeit painfully) away from it.

Nice reporting Rick! The heat was definitely the major contributing factor why there were many DNF's on this ride, otherwise you would have finished this ride like any other doubles you've done in the past.
Still, 161 miles on The Mullholland Challenge in near 100 degree temps is amazing for a ride that's very difficult to begin with even under perfect riding conditions. Great job, Rick.

Interesting, thanks for keeping us posted!

Thanks for the report. Having signed up for my first double your story makes me worry a bunch. But what the heck, you lived, go a ride back and will ride again. So maybe I'm not as worried.

Still, sounds like you were in a world of hurt. I'll try to learn from your experience.

All the doubles in this part of the country are more than I could handle. Way too much climbing. I'm shot just riding from Hemet to Mt. Center.

Thanks for the report. Having signed up for my first double your story makes me worry a bunch. But what the heck, you lived, go a ride back and will ride again. So maybe I'm not as worried.

Still, sounds like you were in a world of hurt. I'll try to learn from your experience.

Which double are going to try cccorlew?

Good luck, and please remember to drink enough to stay hydrated! It's okay to be worried, because it makes you more likely to pay attention to all the little details that really matter.

Yes, I was in the proverbial "World of Hurt" but it wasn't so much pain as a lack of power on the steep climbs. Unfortunately, that meant my equally proverbial "Suitcase of Courage" was empty by mile 161 as well! Still, yes, as you say I did live and will try again!

Which means I'm either very determined or not very smart (or both! :eek:)

Rick / OCRR

I used to do that 100 mile offroad most years and in 10 attempts- Have failed 3 times. Each time was down to bad preparation before the ride. I may have been fit enough but the body just did not find the final bit to get me through the ride.

I know you Eat correctly but I let myself down on one ride by not building up enough carbs before the ride. Another and I did not eat enough on the ride and the final time- mentally I did not feel right.

Funny thing was the time I did not eat right before the ride. I did eat on the ride but could tell that I was running out of the body resources too soon- but I never felt thirsty so did not drink enough. After that ride I got a camelback and the Back up crew on the next ride were stopping me each time they saw me and Made me drink water. That was beside the litre of water I was drinking every hour. I think I sloshed my way to the finish on that ride.

I'm signed up for the Davis Double. I've been told it's an "easy" one, as if there is such a thing.
I've got a tune up Saturday: the Tierra Bella Century in Gilroy, and then the Wildflower in Chico next weekend.
We did 87 through Marin last weekend with no problems, so I think I'm on track.
My basic plan is to eat and drink my way through it all. Heavy on water and Hammer HEED with a little Hammer Sustained Energy tossed in. That, and eat at the rest stops.
I may die, but I won't run out of fuel.

How long did it take you before you felt "normal" after your DNF?

Great inspirational story. Your detail on the tribulations of the Mulholland Double indicate you shouldn't worry about your brain.

I've been successful 5 times in double METRIC centuries, although all were relatively flat. Maybe if I
retire and have more time, I'll "Cowboy Up" with more training.

I'm signed up for the Davis Double. I've been told it's an "easy" one, as if there is such a thing.
How long did it take you before you felt "normal" after your DNF?

Hi cccorlew,

Yes, Davis is a good one! There are no "easy" doubles, but yes, Davis is one of the best ones as a first double. Davis was my first CA double in 2003, so you've picked a good one!

There are lots of checkpoints on Davis (I think they're called "Rest Stops" but whatever), so you should be able to re-fuel and refill bottles often enough. As I recall, Cob Mountain is the really tough climb, but if you gear down and don't try to hammer it, you'll be fine.

Regarding feeling "normal" with regard to catching up on sleep and basic energy levels, 2-3 days. With regard to climbing ability . . . I'll find out tomorrow. Our club is doing GMR (Glendora Mountain Road) which is 44 miles and 5,000 feet minimum (i.e. before adding the "bonus" climbs).

I'll let you know!

Rick / OCRR

As they say over in the Road Forum, without pics, it didn't happen.

But if it DID happen, I am really, really impressed.

Amazing effort! After about 100 mi, I usually have my fill of riding. Our club used to sponsor a double in NJ, but we haven't had enough interest to run it the last couple of years. The randonneur crowd really gets into this stuff, but not me. A couple of our club members (one 50+) did the Paris Brest Paris ride last year. The 50+ guy finished, the younger guy DNF'd.

Keep doing what you love, and keep challenging yourself. Great stuff.

I appreciate the report. One of my goals is to do a double (I'll likely start with the Davis Double, too, but probably not this year). Drink before you're thirsty. Eat before you're hungry. Thanks for the reminder.

There were a lot of DNFs on the Mulholland century, (like 175), and a bunch on the double, too. The first real hot day, combined with all that climbing took it's toll. Good job getting to mile 161, Rick, under those conditions.

Sounds like a tough ride!

I used to live in Los Angeles, and always tried to avoid riding *north* on PCH to avoid the headwinds. Brutal grind.

Also, while I have *descended* Portrero, I never tried to ride up the direction I think you were moving. That's a lot of climbing in those canyons, which really get hot when they're hot. Like ovens.

161 is a lot of miles in those conditions...congrats for making it that far.

As they say over in the Road Forum, without pics, it didn't happen.
But if it DID happen, I am really, really impressed.

Yes Kerlenbach,

It really happened but I sure wasn't carrying a camera and it wasn't a big enough ride, I'd guess, to have one of those "Paid to be there" photographers.

Thanks for all the positive notes from everyone else :). It was quite the humbling experience for me. Today (one week later), I rode Glendora Mountain Road (5,000 feet in 44 miles), but took it fairly easy, riding with Tiffany from SoCal bikeforums.net. My legs felt okay, but not wonderful.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm riding a training ride on the Breathless Agony course, including Oak Glenn, which is a pretty brutal climb, then Damnation Alley and probably all the way to Angeles Oaks. So that will be the real test to see if I've recovered. Will report back on Sun. evening!

Rick / OCRR

Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm riding a training ride on the Breathless Agony course, including Oak Glenn, which is a pretty brutal climb, then Damnation Alley and probably all the way to Angeles Oaks. So that will be the real test to see if I've recovered. Will report back on Sun. evening!

Rick / OCRR

You do know there's a perfectly nice, flat bike path along the ocean, don't you....

Rick great report, don’t feel bad about the DNF. It happened to me at the same point, but I didn’t get a ride back to the finish, lucky, I had to ride my bike back. The main thing is you attempted it and learned from it. Someday I will attempt it again, I just don’t know when. The day I tried it turned cold and started to rain, I wasn’t dressed for it and was having a hard time keeping warm. I sometimes think certain rides are for the kids. Anyway what’s your next double? Mine is CCD, then Eastern Sierra, Grand Tour Highland Triple, ToTF and Bass Lake. Hope to see at one or more of them.

Thanks Dante,

Yeah, I know DNF's happen, but I really hate it when they do. Today I rode Oak Glenn, Damnation Alley and all the way to Angeles Oaks, 55 mi. and 6,072 feet of climbing. I felt pretty good actually. Well, except that it was foggy, mid-30 degrees with a cold wind on top of Oak Glenn!

Good ride though, all in all, and esp. after 5,000 feet on Glendora Mountain Road yesterday.

Regarding my next double, I don't know. Suffering motivation loss at the moment. I'm doing Ride Around the Bear instead of Eastern Sierra (on the same day this year). Riding the Wildflower Century instead of Devil Mountain. Will do Grand Tour Highland Double and hopefully Knoxville, but I need one more to continue my Gold Thousand Mile Club.

Oh, I know, the staff ride for Hemet. Should be doing that with Lynn Katano and Dave Evans, so that will be fun (randoneur style, of course), when Lynn gets back from Tour de Georgia.

Will see you out there sometime, I'm sure!

Rick / OCRR

You do know there's a perfectly nice, flat bike path along the ocean, don't you....

Oh yeah BengeBoy,

You funny :D. I like the ocean and all, but "perfectly nice" and "flat" don't work in the same sentence for me. I'd rather ride the rollers along PCH and take my chances with the traffic than ride anything flat.

But that's just me. Your elevation may vary (or not)!

Rick / OCRR

Thanks Dante,

Yeah, I know DNF's happen, but I really hate it when they do. Today I rode Oak Glenn, Damnation Alley and all the way to Angeles Oaks, 55 mi. and 6,072 feet of climbing. I felt pretty good actually. Well, except that it was foggy, mid-30 degrees with a cold wind on top of Oak Glenn!

Good ride though, all in all, and esp. after 5,000 feet on Glendora Mountain Road yesterday.

Regarding my next double, I don't know. Suffering motivation loss at the moment. I'm doing Ride Around the Bear instead of Eastern Sierra (on the same day this year). Riding the Wildflower Century instead of Devil Mountain. Will do Grand Tour Highland Double and hopefully Knoxville, but I need one more to continue my Gold Thousand Mile Club.

Oh, I know, the staff ride for Hemet. Should be doing that with Lynn Katano and Dave Evans, so that will be fun (randoneur style, of course), when Lynn gets back from Tour de Georgia.

Will see you out there sometime, I'm sure!

Rick / OCRR

I'll see you at the Wildflower this weekend.

Okay Dante, good!
I'll see you on Wildflower, so you're not doing Devil Mountain either.

That's a Quack Cyclist ride I have yet to try. I've heard it's tough, but the Quacks do take good care of riders (as I've learned after four years on the Knoxville Double).

So maybe next year. Still looking at Heartbreak for this year, but can't decide whether to do the double or the single (KOM) century.

Rick / OCRR

As a mostly utilitarian-type cyclist, I'm just floored by the rides that you do, Rick. Terrific! :)

I think what you did was very impressive. Good job!

As a mostly utilitarian-type cyclist, I'm just floored by the rides that you do, Rick. Terrific! :)

Thanks Alice and Yen,

You could do it too! I'm certainly no gifted rider, far from it. Mulholland was just beyond me, yet in retrospect, if I'd kept myself properly hydrated during the morning climbs, the afternoon wouldn't have hit me so hard.

There are plenty of 50+ doubles riders, men and women, so if there's a doubles event close to you, and you're willing to train for it, and if you ride smarter than me (hydrate!), you'll be fine.

I rode the Wildflower Century last weekend,, 6,500 ft. of climbing and 107 miles. Absolutely no problem, since I drank a lot (mostly Gatorade); finished feeling strong and nothing hurt :).

Rick / OCRR

You funny :D. I like the ocean and all, but "perfectly nice" and "flat" don't work in the same sentence for me. I'd rather ride the rollers along PCH and take my chances with the traffic than ride anything flat.

Your ride report makes me "homesick" for the two years I lived in LA. One little story -- about 3 weeks after I moved to LA, I was riding on Mulholland Drive and I met two guys moving about my speed and they ended up being my riding buddies for the time I lived there. One of them was a film editor -- which meant he was unemployed 45 weeks a year (it seems). He used his spare time to plan cool riding routes; every Friday at work he'd call to tell me where we were riding on Saturday and I'd meet him in some parking lot somewhere in SoCal and off we'd go. We did lots of rides all over the Santa Monica Mountains, a little in the San Gabriels, and some really nice rides down around Julian / Mt. Palomar.

So my Saturdays were usually tough.

Sunday mornings, though, I'd typically wake up early and head to the beach bike path (I lived in Westwood), and ride the flats down to Manhattan or Redondo to get breakfast. Then back home. It was always a nice "recovery ride," if you hit the paths before the roller bladers/joggers/crazy people came out.

Good times, but it would have scarred me for life if I tried some of the rides you're doing!

Thanks Alice and Yen,

You could do it too! I'm certainly no gifted rider, far from it. Mulholland was just beyond me, yet in retrospect, if I'd kept myself properly hydrated during the morning climbs, the afternoon wouldn't have hit me so hard.

There are plenty of 50+ doubles riders, men and women, so if there's a doubles event close to you, and you're willing to train for it, and if you ride smarter than me (hydrate!), you'll be fine.

I rode the Wildflower Century last weekend,, 6,500 ft. of climbing and 107 miles. Absolutely no problem, since I drank a lot (mostly Gatorade); finished feeling strong and nothing hurt :).

Rick / OCRR

Rick, good job on the Wildflower! At about mile 45 I just felt spent, I don't know what happened. My legs felt like 2 lead weights and my head just wasn't into the ride. i took the La Panza turn and ended up with 64 miles for the day. i got the Central Coast Double May 9th, hope I feel better by then.

Rick, good job on the Wildflower! At about mile 45 I just felt spent, I don't know what happened. My legs felt like 2 lead weights and my head just wasn't into the ride. i took the La Panza turn and ended up with 64 miles for the day. i got the Central Coast Double May 9th, hope I feel better by then.

Wow Dante,

I'm surprised. When we saw you at the 1st Checkpoint, you looked great, full of energy and ready to attack the hills. I stayed with Maria all day, so rode (pretty much) at Maria's speed. She was having some stomach problems (don't remember if she shared that . . . ) but she'd recovered nicely by Shell Road, or whatever that flat stretch is before lunch.

I was constantly (well, pretty much) reminding her to drink, which reminded me to drink, so we stayed well hydrated throughout the ride. Plus we spent about an hour at lunch, which I wouldn't have done myself, but she did some Yoga after we'd eaten and that made her feel better.

I would have liked to have ridden with you, but Maria's just so much more attractive :). Plus, I really like her accent! So overall we had a great day, even though our finishing time was nothing to brag about (it was long about 4:30PM as I recall). Still, as sick as she was, it was an amazing effort and recovery on her part. But then, she did escape communist Poland when she was 18, so even a tough century is piece of cake for her!

She didn't want to eat the after-ride BBQ (whereas I kinda did . . .) but she said she'd buy me dinner in San Luis Obispo if we'd just forget about the SLOBC BBQ. We hooked up with Mike and Teresa (also O.C. Rebels) for dinner at a (kinda pricey) Mediterranean place in downtown SLO. Great food; glad I wasn't paying!

Rick / OCRR

Your ride report makes me "homesick" for the two years I lived in LA. We did lots of rides all over the Santa Monica Mountains, a little in the San Gabriels, and some really nice rides down around Julian / Mt. Palomar. So my Saturdays were usually tough.

Sunday mornings, though, I'd typically wake up early and head to the beach bike path (I lived in Westwood), and ride the flats down to Manhattan or Redondo to get breakfast. Then back home. It was always a nice "recovery ride," if you hit the paths before the roller bladers/joggers/crazy people came out.


Funny you should say that BengeBoy (Parallel Universe time),

During my "first" life in CA ('77 - early '81) I would ride with a strong Jewish girl . . . Meryl; don't remember her last name. But she came up with the "Canyon a Weekend" program. We'd ride the canyons in the Santa Monica mountains since we both had Sundays off. It was a different canyon every weekend, though I know we did Latigo several times.

Post divorce I move back to CA in '96 (which started my 2nd and current life in CA), married a wonderful woman I met in the bike club, and am in the process of living happily ever after (yeah, she rides doubles too!). We've ridden STP thee times together and she'd ridden it at least twice before we hooked up. So you have some excellent doubles and brevets in your area too.

You can still do it; it's not too late!

Rick / OCRR