Southern California - Heartbreak Hundred

It was good to see or meet everyone yesterday. My usual KOM partner decided not to do this ride so I rode alone most of the day.

Yesterday was my first extended ride on Continental 4000s. There was a noticable improvement on the descents over Gatorskins.

The weather on Friday and the TV Weather Station reports had me a little worried but then I remembered that I ride to Palomar in the winter so I dressed close to what I wear there - a l/s Underarmor type compression shirt, jersey, arm and knee warmers, Optik jacket (for about 1/2 the ride), and uninsulated full fingered gloves. That was fine for me; at times I was both sweating or cold but not shivering. It was still pretty nice to change and put on my hooded sweatshirt at the end.

Long drive home but I made it back in 3 hours including a quick stop in Anaheim for dinner.

Nice job GP... two years in a row! How did everyone else do?

Ian in SD

Congratulations Frank!! :beer:

I'm a real wuss, so I rode in long-sleeved jersey, vest, light fleece-lined jacket, and a windbreaker all day. Long fleece tights, of course, and never took off the full-fingered gloves. Took off the fleece headband after about 20 miles.

Rick tells me it was 28° at Apache Saddle, and I believe it. (Didn't check, myself). I was measuring in the mid 40s most of the day, with one brief fling up to 61° when the sun came out.

Doing Hearbreak Hill into that cold 20-25 mph headwind was quite a workout. And I got dirt in my cleats at the Heartbreak Hill stop. Rode to the top unclipped on the Speedplays, whereupon one of them clipped in place. The other clipped in about 18 miles later. Made for some real careful riding to avoid a career with the Vienna Boys Choir.

That was not an easy ride, exacerbated by the severe cold wind and overall chill.

Art

I camped out overnight in the truck stop parking lot. I got concerned when I got up at 6 and the mountain right above town had snow on it. My Polar recorded a low of 43 degrees but I have no idea where that was. I got a little cold in a few places but it wasn't bad.

The wind made it a tough ride. I didn't mind the wind on the heartbreak climb but the headwind on the flat part in the valley sucked. I rode some of it with a group, some bridging up to a different group, which then got caught again. I got away on the heartbeak climb. The winner went by us on the last bit of the first descent, in full TT kit, going 10 mph faster! He wound up being the overall KOM winner. I think his Heartbreak time was 5:15.

I finished in a little under 6 hours, which is about what I did last year, even though last year I stopped more and was slow for a while because I hadn't been eating or drinking enough in the heat. At the last stop someone asked if I liked the weather and I told them that I preferred last years weather.

I think that I ended up 4th for the under 50s. The top three guys are in a completely different league.

Congratuations Frank and Art, you guys are tough! :beer: Art, I'll explain later what does "wuss" mean. Actually, you saw one today at the club ride. :D Judging from your ride reports - this is my best DNS ever. :D

Nice job GP... two years in a row! How did everyone else do?

Ian in SD
Where were you?

Caligurl got 3rd in the Womens. I saw DScott and Rick@OCRR at the finish but then I left so I could get home.

Mel and I slogged through. We missed a turn (don't ask how), and as a result added 20 miles to the route.

Mel and I slogged through. We missed a turn (don't ask how), and as a result added 20 miles to the route.

I'll bet you missed the turn onto Hwy 33 after the rollers on 166. I have been doing that loop since the late 80s and that is the one people miss.

Where were you?

Caligurl got 3rd in the Womens. I saw DScott and Rick@OCRR at the finish but then I left so I could get home.

Ah... Heartbreak Hundred just wasn't in the cards this year. Now, I need to figure out what other hilly centuries I can do for the rest of year.

Ian in SD

Ah... Heartbreak Hundred just wasn't in the cards this year. Now, I need to figure out what other hilly centuries I can do for the rest of year.

Ian in SD

Get together with Indolent and come up to Frazier Park next Saturday. PM me if you're interested.

All, well done, all.

Get together with Indolent and come up to Frazier Park next Saturday. PM me if you're interested.

Would like to, however I will be performing month-end processes that Saturday,too bad it wasn't next weekend.

Ian in SD

This ride was just a whole lot tougher than Breathless Agony, at least for me. At the start I saw Lee (scvroadie) and Frank (Grumpy Pig), and in fact I saw Frank several times throughout the day. Also saw Chris (SirLanceImNot) at the start, but didn't see Caligurl until lunch. Saw Arthur Shapiro, Linda Adams, Keith Christensen and Elise and Paul Haussler (those last, all Rebels) at the start too.

The first 12 miles were easy for me, since we had a decent tail-wind. I was conserving, knowing we had a long way to go, but feeling good. Frank (Grumpy Pig) passed me just before we made the turn into Pine Mountain area, and he said a Bobcat had run across the road behind me, and in front of him . . . I didn't see it.

Fun descents after that, sun still out, not too much wind. Saw a bunch of friends at the first checkpoint, including Chuck Chen (who was on the double) and Andrew May (also on the 100). I was cold pretty much all day, but I kind of got used to it (like I had a choice?), so honestly, it wasn't too bad. Just annoying cold, not freezing-what-about-hypothermia cold.

Boring bit into the lunch stop, but saw Bobbi Fisher working that checkpoint (I'd worked with her on the Hemet double), so that was fun. Saw Caligurl who complained about being too cold, so I gave her a big hug to warm her up. At least for that moment. Frank introduced me to Dave (DScott), plus I had a couple of peanut butter w/jelly sandwiches and a Coke or two.

After lunch I took off with a bunch of Rock N Road riders, pretty much sucked wheel, but at that speed (12-14 mph) it wasn't good for much except the tempo aspect. I was still feeling good here, even though the wind was annoying, the skys were still grey, and it looked like it might rain.

A few patches of water on the road (with sand!) through here, so I took it slow and coasted across; don't do anything stupid, after all. Went up Heartbreak slow and easy, and the climb wouldn't have been bad if not for the wind. Brutal headwind pretty much all the way to the Checkpoint. There I saw Frank (Garfield) Neal, and Chris (don't know her last name). So that was fun too.

Put on my last jacket (in my pocket to this point) for the descent off Heartbreak and kept it on for the duration. It sure wasn't getting any warmer! The climb to Owl's Nest was more difficult than it should have been, and I was getting tired by this time. Then there was another climb (don't know the name), which I was pretty much willing my way up, about 20 miles from the end.

Finally, I started down the long (final!) descent and I must not have been going along too fast because I hear from behind "Bramwell Towing Service, coming by!" Yes, it was Chuck Bramwell (the CA Triple Crown Guy), so I jumped on his wheel and follwed him pretty much all the way in. I took a couple of turns at the front to give him a rest, but honestly, he did most of the work.

I think I finished a bit after 4:00 (I think it was 8:21 total time), but don't quote me on that; I'll edit when I see the results page.

So overall, quite cold and I couldn't wait to get into my car and turn the heater on!

Wore: Shorts and Jersey, wool base layer (long sleeve), arm warmers, leg warmers, wool balaclava, skullcap, thin polypro socks with wool socks on top, Lake cycling shoes and my CA Triple Crown Jacket. Under the jacket, I had my "Gizmo Cycling" sweatshirt, which was not meant to be worn while riding, but I put in on in desperation (for an extra layer), and I'm glad I did!

Lovely course, great people to ride with, very good people at all the checkpoints, and enough food if you're not too picky, which I'm not. Survived mostly on Sustained Energy and Hammer Gel, plus sandwiches at lunch at Peanut M&M's at Heartbreak checkpoint.

This ride was much more difficult for me than Breathless Agony, but maybe that was due to the wind and the cold. Yeah, I know there's more climbing on BA, but for me, the climbing is easy without the cold and wind.

Bike time: 7:39:51
Average Speed 13.1
Max: 46.7
Total Miles 100.4
Total Time: 8:21

I'll vouch for Frank, there was something fast and large the crossed the road just a few feet/yards in front of him.

Bob

I'll bet you missed the turn onto Hwy 33 after the rollers on 166. I have been doing that loop since the late 80s and that is the one people miss.

Exactly. We went about 9.5 miles past that turn before we realized it. Ouch.

And I got dirt in my cleats at the Heartbreak Hill stop. Rode to the top unclipped on the Speedplays, whereupon one of them clipped in place. The other clipped in about 18 miles later. Made for some real careful riding to avoid a career with the Vienna Boys Choir.

Art


One of the main reasons why I don't ride Speedplays.

One of the main reasons why I don't ride Speedplays.

I don't know if that's really a fair judgment. My riding partner had started up the mountain, expecting me to be immediately behind. It took me a minute or two to realize that I really couldn't clip in and thus had a problem, by which time she was well ahead of (and above!) me. I was faced with stopping for a another minute to clear the jam, getting further dropped, or pushing to catch her, and I chose the latter. Caught her about a half mile over the top. Had I insisted on a stop at that point, I'm sure it would have been granted. Speedplays are usually pretty easy to clean, not having the rather complicated mechanism of some other brands. I just had to weigh the tradeoff between stopping and carefully pushing onward. I made my choice. In retrospect, considering how quickly I corrected the problem at the end, it was probably not the optimal decision.

Art

Speedplays are usually pretty easy to clean, not having the rather complicated mechanism of some other brands.

Art

I ride Look Keo's. They are not complicated, do not need lubing, can be ridden hours upon hours or days upon days in the rain, and just a quick kick against a rock and the dirt/mud is out of the cleat. I have ridden Speedplays and I personally don't like them for the reasons stated above. I have also had screws fall out on long training rides. As a bike fitter, I have seen people come in with the heads of the screws ground down so much I can't even change their cleats for them--that is if they have all four screws.

One of the main reasons why I don't ride Speedplays.

I completely agree. I ride Shimano SPD-L's and no amount of plodding about in the mud (at least so far) has prevented me from clicking back in without difficulty. The design of Speedplays seem to invite such problems.

Rick / OCRR

I completely agree. I ride Shimano SPD-L's and no amount of plodding about in the mud (at least so far) has prevented me from clicking back in without difficulty.
Rick / OCRR

I'll take your word for it, Rick. A little off topic here, but so what? One of my more interesting crashes was when my riding partner got some mud in her Shimano cleats and found out the hard way at a traffic signal that she couldn't get out of the pedals. She slowly came to a stop, and went down with the ship. Unfortunately, the nice soft object next to her, which did an excellent job of cushioning the blow, was yours truly. Just call me bottom rung on the domino chain. Owie, that hurt!

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I think it would be physically impossible to get stuck in Speedplays. I'd rather not clip in than not be able to release.

Art

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I think it would be physically impossible to get stuck in Speedplays. I'd rather not clip in than not be able to release.

Art

My reference of riding in the rain is exactly to the point of not being able to release from a Speedplay Zero cleat. A few years back, the year of Butterflood, I did a lot of training in the rain (because that was the weather we had to deal with) and I had a heck of a time getting out of them and had to lube them every few days. I'm sure riders with less skill would have gone down for sure.