Northern California - Tour of the Unknown Coast ride report

Wow, what a ride! Spectacular scenery.

OK, from the beginning - I pulled into Ferndale on Friday evening just in time to hook up with my friends for dinner at La Petite Maison (www.lapetiteferndale.com) - great food, and they added some extra pasta dishes to the menu for us cyclists. I don't know if I'd drive 5 hours for the food, but it was pretty darn good!

Anyway, got up at 6, quick breakfast (the Best Western had a surprisingly decent spread) and off to the start. 8 of us rolled right after 7am (the mass start was at 7, but we were with a few that didn't want to go out very fast so we decided to just stay out of the way). A little brisk, but a very nice morning. We rolled along some mostly flat and gently rolling countryside to the Avenue of the Giants - very very nice! The trees were pretty darn big, too.

Part of the Avenue of the Giants was washed out, so we ended up riding twice on parts of 101. I think we got to do a bonus hill as a result:) We didn't bother with the first couple of SAG stops (although a couple of riders in our group weren't feeling up to the longer ride and turned around at the 2nd one to do the 50 mile route), but stopped and fueled up at the stop before climbing Panther Gap. Some peanut butter smeared on a bagel and a banana to go with refills of water and Heed, and we were set to go.

Panther Gap is a longish climb - not terribly steep, but probably a bit steeper on average than, say, Mt. Diablo. It goes up more than 2,000 feet in about 6-7 miles. Someone I passed part way up had a bike making a horrible creaking sound every time he pedalled. I asked him if something was wrong, and he said, "No, it's sounded like that since it was new.":rolleyes: At that point I gave up trying to give him advice and just pedaled on. I didn't go much faster than him, though, so I got to hear "creak creak creak" all the way up the rest of that hill.

The descent off of Panther Gap was a fun, but the road was a bit bombed out. In fact, overall this ride was over the roughest roads I've ever ridden a long ride over. Kind of like 70 miles worth of Morgan Territory, with smoother rides over the rest of it. After the descent (and crossing a wooden-plank bridge), the lunch stop was in 9 miles or so. Good food - not gourmet, basic but good. Turkey, ham, roast beef or tuna sandwiches, minestrone, bagels, peanut butter - just what the doctor ordered. All the SAG stops had HEED and Perpetuem as well.

After lunch was some steepish rollers to the ocean (still over roads with terrible quality). The final descent to the ocean is fun! Long and fairly straight, and steep enough to show almost 50 mph on my computer. We had a headwind, but not too serious, as we rode towards the infamous wall. After rounding a headland, there it was. It's steep - very steep. Intimidating, in fact. There's a SAG stop at the bottom - we sat there for 15 minutes, watching a bunch of riders work their way up. Some went straight up, some weaved back and forth - but almost everyone made it.

Emboldened (and with a break in the bike traffic - climbing that in a crowd didn't look like fun) we headed up. I went pretty slow - at one point I saw 2mph on my computer! Any slower and I would have been trackstanding. The organizers say it's 18% for a mile. I can't positively confirm that, but it's steep - it does feel about like the top of Mt. Diablo. And it is long for such a steep climb. However, we made it and moved on the stair-step section that gets to the summit. After that is a steep, technical and potholed descent to the base of the Endless Hill.

For me, this was the worst. The bottom of it (maybe the first 2 miles) were pretty steep, with a couple of switchbacks verging on very steep. Maybe it's because I was pretty tired at this point, but that hill does seem endless. It goes on for maybe 8 miles, and goes up about 2,000 feet, so the average grade isn't that steep, but it wears on you mentally. After that is the final, very bumpy descent.

A great ride. I had just under 100 miles, in 8 hours 55 minutes of riding time (10 hours 17 minutes out on the course). My altimeter showed 9,645 feet of climbing.

JB

And some pics:

The Wall - pictures just don't do it justice.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0449.jpg

Entering Avenue of the Giants:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0446.jpg

My friend Rick, with the steepest part of the wall behind us (notice the little yellow tent - that was our SAG stop less than a mile before):
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0451.jpg

And here's someone grinding his way up the last really steep part:
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/IMG_0452.jpg

JB

Nice pics - I think that bonus hill on 101 put us damn near 10,000 ft. That plank bridge was sketchy...a million opportunities for disaster within 100 short feet! The little store in Honeydew was perfectly positioned for a beer stop too!

Whew, that Wall pic looks pretty intimidating. Great report. Those roads do look pretty rough in the pics (and those don't even show potholes).

Terrain sure looks like gladiator material to me ... :p

Terrain sure looks like gladiator material to me ... :p

It would be a great place for a group ride.... if it wasn't 5 hours away from the Bay Area. The nice thing about the century was that there was free camping right at the start/finish, and just a short way from town. The cost of the century was cheaper than most, too ($38? if I remember correctly).

JB

Whew, that Wall pic looks pretty intimidating. Great report. Those roads do look pretty rough in the pics (and those don't even show potholes).

Man, you all must enjoy nice tarmac down there in the bay...this is all we know up here - I thought the roads were pretty good.:o

The wall, though definitely the most intimidating and steepest climb, was by a long shot the easiest one of the afternoon simply due to the brutal length of the other ones...
My friend who bonked @ mile 70 proposed that we ride the brutal 70 miles of the route every Sunday till he's on his game - bicycle Jedi training!

Man, you all must enjoy nice tarmac down there in the bay...this is all we know up here - I thought the roads were pretty good.:o

The wall, though definitely the most intimidating and steepest climb, was by a long shot the easiest one of the afternoon simply due to the brutal length of the other ones...
My friend who bonked @ mile 70 proposed that we ride the brutal 70 miles of the route every Sunday till he's on his game - bicycle Jedi training!

Gotta agree - those pics were of the SMOOTH roads!

As for climbs, maybe it's because I go up Mt. Diablo once or twice a week, but I'm used to long, relatively gradual (6 - 8 % grade) climbs. What I'm not used to is a steep climb as long as the wall. Panther Gap didn't bother me very much, and the Endless Hill was just late in the ride - put it where Panther Gap was and it probably wouldn't have been too bad, either.

After doing the wall, we've officially re-named the Nicassio Wall to the Nicassio Speed Bump.

JB

Did you see Bigfoot while you were out there, supposedly he's known to make appearances now and again:

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_county_reports.asp?state=ca&county=Humboldt

Did you see Bigfoot while you were out there, supposedly he's known to make appearances now and again:

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_county_reports.asp?state=ca&county=Humboldt

Yup!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee39/jonathanb715/bigfoot.jpg

JB

I made it out to the ride from the Bay Area as well, and this was probably the most fun I had in a long while. I chatted with lots of local riders during the ride and they all had helpful tips and info about the climbs and descents. The rest stops had some decent food, and the staff was always willing to offer encouragement and drinks which was quite nice near the end.

The Good:
Some very scenic roads among the redwoods and along the coast. The climbs were challenging, especially doing the wall and endless hills after mile 80. It was nice to have a mass start/race atmosphere, while still everyone seemed friendly and helpful. I guess us folks aiming to finish in under 8 hours weren't taking ourselves too seriously, maybe the folks in the lead pack did less chatting and more attacking?? For folks in the Bay Area, we drove up in under 5 hours and made a fun weekend out of it with Camping and checking out Humboldt State Park.

The Rough:
Let's just say the roads aren't quite what I am used to. Since my descending is maybe okay at best, I took my time going down through the steep switchbacks, loose gravel, and the never ending potholes. There were plenty of lost bottles on the road and other dropped items which just added to the excitement going down hill. This leads to the next point... sure this might be a race to some, but it's still no excuse to toss your garbage on the ground. There were more than enough empty gel packets, bar wrappers, and other crap that made me embarrassed about my fellow bike riders. There is no reason why you can't stuff your trash in a jersey pocket, you're washing it after the ride anyway, right??!!
If you're thinking of doing this ride next year, stay alert and go a bit slower on those descents. I nearly overshot a couple turns and I'm pretty cautious.

Overall:
I gotta say this will be one of the more memorable rides I have done. With good reason, the ride seems like a pretty big deal in the local community, and it's hard not to get excited riding out with several hundred riders over the first few miles with a pace car out front. The local riders also are some wonderful hosts, and I felt welcome to be in their backyard. I look forward to many more future TUCs. Make no mistake, this is a challenging ride with 10k in climbing, make sure you bring your climbing gears! Everyone talks about the 18% grade wall, but that first part of the Endless Hills was no joke too, maybe like 12%+.

I made it out to the ride from the Bay Area as well, and this was probably the most fun I had in a long while. I chatted with lots of local riders during the ride and they all had helpful tips and info about the climbs and descents. The rest stops had some decent food, and the staff was always willing to offer encouragement and drinks which was quite nice near the end.

The Good:
Some very scenic roads among the redwoods and along the coast. The climbs were challenging, especially doing the wall and endless hills after mile 80. It was nice to have a mass start/race atmosphere, while still everyone seemed friendly and helpful. I guess us folks aiming to finish in under 8 hours weren't taking ourselves too seriously, maybe the folks in the lead pack did less chatting and more attacking?? For folks in the Bay Area, we drove up in under 5 hours and made a fun weekend out of it with Camping and checking out Humboldt State Park.

The Rough:
Let's just say the roads aren't quite what I am used to. Since my descending is maybe okay at best, I took my time going down through the steep switchbacks, loose gravel, and the never ending potholes. There were plenty of lost bottles on the road and other dropped items which just added to the excitement going down hill. This leads to the next point... sure this might be a race to some, but it's still no excuse to toss your garbage on the ground. There were more than enough empty gel packets, bar wrappers, and other crap that made me embarrassed about my fellow bike riders. There is no reason why you can't stuff your trash in a jersey pocket, you're washing it after the ride anyway, right??!!
If you're thinking of doing this ride next year, stay alert and go a bit slower on those descents. I nearly overshot a couple turns and I'm pretty cautious.

Overall:
I gotta say this will be one of the more memorable rides I have done. With good reason, the ride seems like a pretty big deal in the local community, and it's hard not to get excited riding out with several hundred riders over the first few miles with a pace car out front. The local riders also are some wonderful hosts, and I felt welcome to be in their backyard. I look forward to many more future TUCs. Make no mistake, this is a challenging ride with 10k in climbing, make sure you bring your climbing gears! Everyone talks about the 18% grade wall, but that first part of the Endless Hills was no joke too, maybe like 12%+.

Since my descending is maybe okay at best, I took my time going down through the steep switchbacks, loose gravel, and the never ending potholes. ....
If you're thinking of doing this ride next year, stay alert and go a bit slower on those descents. I nearly overshot a couple turns and I'm pretty cautious.
.

Here's a tip for descending safely on roads you don't know with lousy pavement - brake a lot setting up for the turn, and turn in late. You might feel like you are slowing down a lot, but the modified line is safer if you are not sure of the road. This will let you see much more of the turn before you commit to a line, and will give you much more margin of error if you need to change your line. Since you're going downhill, it's easy to accelerate through the turn and get right back up to speed. You'll also start accelerating earlier in the corner than people who turn in early, so you won't lose as much time as you'd think. It's not the fastest way down (people who really know the road will be faster), but it's the fastest safe way down on an unfamiliar, poor quality road.

this was how they taught us to corner on an unfamiliar racetrack when I was in auto racing school (God, was it really 20 years ago:eek:) - as you learn the corner you can turn in earlier and earlier on subsequent laps until you start running out of track at the trackout (ie, the end of the corner) - then you know when you've got the corner nailed. Turning in too early is just a recipe for disaster.

JB

Here's a tip for descending safely on roads you don't know with lousy pavement - brake a lot setting up for the turn, and turn in late. You might feel like you are slowing down a lot, but the modified line is safer if you are not sure of the road. This will let you see much more of the turn before you commit to a line, and will give you much more margin of error if you need to change your line. Since you're going downhill, it's easy to accelerate through the turn and get right back up to speed. You'll also start accelerating earlier in the corner than people who turn in early, so you won't lose as much time as you'd think. It's not the fastest way down (people who really know the road will be faster), but it's the fastest safe way down on an unfamiliar, poor quality road.

+1, excellent advice on delayed apexing

I did this ride too with my brother Aaron. It was my first century of the year and his first century ever. As I mentioned in the other thread we headed up on Tuesday and camped in the Sinkyone Wilderness for three days before the ride and then camped at the fairgrounds the night before the ride.

It was really nice camping right at the start of the ride and not having to drive anywhere in the morning. I liked being in the fairgrounds the evening before and seeing all the other people and bikes too.

Anyway we got a slightly late start on the ride (7:07am) and totally missed the big group start. Aaron's water bottles both fell out about 5 miles in on one of the first bumpy downhill stretches. Then his seat post needed to be tightened a couple miles after that. It felt like we were getting off to a pretty slow start but it was okay with me since I had come down with a cold the weekend before and was still not feeling 100%

We took it pretty easy for the first half of the ride which was mostly nice and flat. Then came the Panther Gap climb. I didn't attack this hill at all and felt okay but I really started worrying about the climbing in the last 20 miles of the ride. The descent into Honeydew was very steep with lots of tight hairpin turns to keep things exciting. At the bottom was the wooden planked one lane bridge leading into town. The guy in front of me seemed to get his front wheel stuck between the boards and he did a slow crash. I doubt his tumble was an isolated incident and it seemed like a warning sign would have been appropriate.

We stopped in Honeydew for "free gatorade at the atv" and then continued on to the lunch stop. I think we lingered there too long because the next stretch from A. W. Way park through Petrolia and to the coast was by far the toughest for me. So in addition to stopping for lunch too long and maybe eating too much, we also somehow got isolated from other riders on this stretch. Every once in a while we could see a bike way ahead on the road before it would disappear around a curve. Also an overcast layer had blown in from the ocean and temperatures had dropped a few degrees and a slight headwind had developed. The terrain was rolling hills and I kept thinking the ocean *had* to be over the next one only to see more rollers ahead. Finally reaching the ocean was a huge mental boost for me and really where I caught my second wind.

I had overheard people who had done the ride before talking about 20mph headwinds out near the coast but luckily it was more like 5mph when we got out there. Finally with the straight flat road we could see other riders ahead. There were also lots of loudly mooing cows to keep us company. We stopped briefly at the rest stop immediately before "the wall" in order to top off water bottles and then up we went. At 80 miles into the ride I felt stronger on this climb than any time in the ride up to that point.

Another steep, bumpy, intense descent before immediately starting up the "endless hill". I still felt really good on this climb especially compared to some of the other poor cyclists I saw who looked on the verge of expiring in the saddle. There was a guy dressed up like an Arab and ringing a cowbell encouraging folks to keep going.

One of the coolest parts of the ride was after the descent back into Ferndale to see folks out on the street in lawn chairs cheering and applauding everyone finishing the ride.

So overall it was easier than either Aaron or I had anticipated. I think "the wall" seemed easier than the Auburn Century's Iowa Hill climb I did last summer. I think our total riding time was about 8 hours and time out on the course was 9 1/2 hours or so. Will try and post pictures soon.

http://scurvy.net/~bweir/2008-05-10-tuc/IMG_5837.jpg
Crossing a bridge between Rio Dell and Scotia


http://scurvy.net/~bweir/2008-05-10-tuc/IMG_5850.jpg
One lane bridge near Honeydew

http://scurvy.net/~bweir/2008-05-10-tuc/IMG_5855.jpg
At last, the ocean!

http://scurvy.net/%7Ebweir/2008-05-10-tuc/IMG_5863.jpg
Cruising out by the coast

http://scurvy.net/~bweir/2008-05-10-tuc/IMG_5865.jpg
The wall

http://scurvy.net/~bweir/2008-05-10-tuc/IMG_5867.jpg
About 2/3 of the way up the wall

http://scurvy.net/~bweir/2008-05-10-tuc/IMG_5871.jpg
Parked for a water stop on the endless hill about 85 miles into the ride

Cool - it sounds like you were either just in front of us the whole way, or passed us somewhere along the way because we left at about the same time. Most of us were wearing TnT jerseys, so we were pretty easy to pick out. I was the really slow climber.

JB

Cool - it sounds like you were either just in front of us the whole way, or passed us somewhere along the way because we left at about the same time. Most of us were wearing TnT jerseys, so we were pretty easy to pick out. I was the really slow climber.

JB

Hey, I thought I was the really slow climber..... 30x34 on the Hakkalugi (not to mention what's around the waist) and I was able to ride straight up the wall !!! (at about 3.5 mph !!!). I love this ride !!! :D

Good reports and pictures guys. I was there too and have to agree that the road conditions were brutal in spots. Lots of spots. It probably didn't help that I had sprained my thumb in a minor crash about a week before and felt every bump.

Did anyone else notice the the guy doing the ride on a fixie? He was grinding it out standing the whole way on every climb. (And making pretty decent time - he was on a sub 8 hour total time pace).

-gw_12

I didn't notice anyone on a fixie. Did you see the gal in the purple tutu?

A. W. Way park through Petrolia and to the coast was by far the toughest for me. So in addition to stopping for lunch too long and maybe eating too much, we also somehow got isolated from other riders on this stretch. Every once in a while we could see a bike way ahead on the road before it would disappear around a curve. Also an overcast layer had blown in from the ocean and temperatures had dropped a few degrees and a slight headwind had developed. The terrain was rolling hills and I kept thinking the ocean *had* to be over the next one only to see more rollers ahead. Finally reaching the ocean was a huge mental boost for me and really where I caught my second wind.

Similar experience for me on this stretch as well, we were some of the last to get to lunch due to our late start and 3 tube changes, but I finally caught a lot of the pack along the coast and made up lots of time on the last 20 miles since we started out so painfully slow. Though I did see 4 mph at one point on the wall!



Did anyone else notice the the guy doing the ride on a fixie? He was grinding it out standing the whole way on every climb. (And making pretty decent time - he was on a sub 8 hour total time pace).

-gw_12

Yeah, that guy lives here in Arcata, only rides single speed and fixed. Saw him at the bottom of the wall mashing bananas getting psyched for the last 20.

Best part of the ride: Definitely the descent from Panther Gap to Honeydew. Riding down the side we climbed is even more fun and you can carry a lot more speed - makes a nice quick ride starting @ 101, charging Panther as hard as you want and flying back down the front side. I also got some sort of great sadistic enjoyment out of endless hills.

TUC 2008 results have been posted on their website:

http://www.tuccycle.org/TUCtimes08.xls

TUC 2008 results have been posted on their website:

http://www.tuccycle.org/TUCtimes08.xls

They timed us?!!:eek:

Oh, they just listed the numbers - what a relief.

JB

I didn't know that they were timing until the end. If I knew beforehand, I wonder if I would have still stopped and helped that guy with the flat. :o

I was bib number 324.

If I was female, I'd have been in the top 10! :):):)

gw_12, impressive performance :)

My brother and I were bibs 322 and 323 and took about 2 hours longer than you (uh, long lunch break, yeah that's it)