Northern California - Lighthouse Century Report

I hardly ever start threads but here's my attempt for a great ride with some of the Norcal fellow and gals. Bossman and I drove up on Friday, registered, and then hooked up with some of our Norcal members and some of the Socal members. We headed over to a Hofbrau over in Morro Bay where we were treated to some great chow. Loved that place. The next morning, met up with Marko and his wife along with their tandem, Marko Polo, Jodie, Mike from Walnut Creek, and another member (I'm bad with names). Weather was pretty overcast and a little on the misty side but other than that not a bad start. After a few miles we reached Old Creek road which was the climb of the day. Bossman and I came down this road on the way to Morro Bay on Friday and thought it would be a a decent climb. It turned out to be a great climb and after awhile the sun came out and the weather was just perfect. Met up with Spingineer, Marko and his wife, Mike, and a couple of other Norcal members at the first rest stop and took off as a group. The climb was great and then we were treated to a nice 5 mile descent down to Highway 1. From there is was on the way to Cambria for the lunch stop. Lots of good food there and we definitely got our bellies full. The weather at the beach was still overcast and it stayed that way for almost the entire way back down Highway 1 to Cuesta College. All in all I thought it was a great ride even though I didn't get any good pictures of the beach. The only down side was the after ride meal which I thought could of been a little better. Here are some pics:

Spingineer posing for some of the local news reporters and some guy in a USA jersey flexing for the camera
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/IMG_3237.jpg

Rest of the Gang
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/IMG_3238.jpg

The climb up Old Crook Road
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/IMG_3239.jpg

View of the lake at the first rest stop
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/IMG_3263.jpg

Local Studs
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/IMG_3260.jpg

View from the downhill on Highway 46
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/IMG_3251.jpg

Beach View at the Linch Stop
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/IMG_3254.jpg


Thanks guys for a great time.

The best view the whole day was coming down 46 and seeing the fog layered up against the hills. The rest of the ride was way too foggy. I didn't see sunshine until I was about 15 miles from the finish.

The best view the whole day was coming down 46 and seeing the fog layered up against the hills. The rest of the ride was way too foggy. I didn't see sunshine until I was about 15 miles from the finish.

Yeah the descent down 46 (on the 100 hilly route) had awesome views, but we were going way to fast for Ruth to take any pics. :twitchy:

PS to Mike - It's Marco, and Ruth is my fiancee (wedding in June 09) ;)

Nice riding with everyone, we'll have pics up soon (we just got back).

My favorite parts of the ride were:
- Descending 46
- Reeling in every rider in site on the biggest climb of the ride (except for Ramon). The tandem is known to be fast on the flats and DH, but to do so well on the climb in the middle of a 100 mile ride feels very good.

Dang it, I went ahead and created a new post for this ... I guess I'll move it over here

Back from the Central Coast (at least that's what many call the San Luis Obispo - San Simeon area). This ride was a blast. It was the first time we got NorCal and SoCal BF groups to come together (even if it was a little more informal). I was kinda the tie between the two groups. It was a lot of fun.

Bostic and I drove down on Friday, and met up with herbm (from SoCal). We were all staying at the same hotel. Later, Jonathanb715, and friend, Jody, came along, and we hooked up with Bigbossman and Mhendricks. Met Cassave (also from SoCal). We didn't end up going to a different restaurant than originally planned (it was expensive, with bad live band, and we didn't want to wait till 7:30 PM for dinner). This time, we didn't have to threaten to get our food by Italian mobsters ... but just in case, we had Bigbossman and Mhendricks to lay the hurt ...

Bostic and I registered the night before, so we decided to ride from the hotel, and meet Marco and Ruth along the route on Hwy 1.

It was damp, foggy, and misty ... hmmm, felt like being in SF ... but without the GG bridge. It was so damp, I had to eventually take my glasses off. At the first rest stop, we waited for our party to arrive. We reunited with our friends from SoCal, then met up with Scootcore, Indolent, and also met up with Slabby and MarkoPolo.

Ok, after hamming it up awhile (we hung out at the rest stop for 30 min), onwards to the climb. It was a nice climb, with Marco and Ruth hammering it up, followed closely by Bostic. I could not keep up at that pace, and rode with Slabby and Mhendricks for a while. After climbing for about 10 min, the sun broke out ... woohoo. The climb from the rest stop was about 4 miles, followed by a nice descent before approaching the next rest stop at Hwy 46.

Again, we re-grouped with everyone there, and it started getting toasty while waiting at that rest stop. So off goes another layer, hopefully not to worry about layering again for the rest of the day ... but we wouldn't be so lucky ... but that comes later on in our story. There was a short climb up Hwy 46 before getting the fast descent back to Hwy 1. Last year, the descent was tough, because we had stiff cross winds, which made steering and maneuvering very tough. We lucked out this year, as there was hardly any cross winds at all .... yippee! This meant having the luxury of getting down into a tuck. Slabby and I traded passing each other, and catching onto other packs.

Met up with Marco and Ruth, Bostic at the next rest stop. This is where we split off from the metric option riders. We continued on northbound, passing San Simeon and onto Piedras Blancas Lighthouse. We got there, but then where was the friggin' lighthouse? One rider was mentioning it had been under construction, and it wasn't very pretty anyways. I asked if the smoke stacks at Morro Bay were prettier, and they said yes, and there are 3 of those ... Oh well ... this is the turnaround point, and onwards to lunch. On the way there, the sun disappeared, and what took its place??? You guessed it, more fog. Time to put arm warmers back on.

Lunch had a pretty nice spread, with pie too! They had hot chocolate ... mmmm ... didn't have to twist my arm ... hot chocolate it is. Wow, that felt good. I think SLOBC knew we might not be able to see the Lighthouse, so they put mini-lighthouses on the picnic table, just to keep with the motif. That was a nice touch.

Ok, now onto the rest of the ride. After that big lunch, we are greeted with a slight hill. Now that is pure evil ... but at least it was too long of a climb. I had Bostic in sight, but not for long. I think I had him in my sight for about 5 minutes ... then, over the ridge he went, and that was the last of them until the next rest stop.

Great ride, great people, and great opportunity to ride with our friends in SoCal. We should do that again. It's a lot of fun.

Oh, and since Bostic and I rode along the route, we continued to ride back to the start. That meant we had to ride back on the first 8 miles that we skipped in the beginning. True to form, on our way back, we saw a steep straight road that we couldn't resist ... we climbed that to give us an extra few 100 feet of climbing. That's tough, especially after having 90+ miles in your legs.

Stats:
Distance: 98.25 miles
Elevation Gain: 4857 feet.
Elevation Profile (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/chart/get.mb?xy.domain=totalDistance&xy.ranges=elevation&xy.histogram=false&xy.legendVisible=false&xy.primaryRangeAxisVisible=true&xy.secondaryRangeAxisVisible=true&xy.rangeTitlesVisible=true&xy.domainAxisVisible=true&xy.plotForegroundOpacity=0.75&episodePk.pkValue=6868810&xy.plotForegroundOpacity=0.75&xy.autoFit=true&xy.width=1000&xy.height=450)

Rolling out in the fog
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260001.jpg

Bigbossman ... proudly showing off one of his many bikes ... the Pinarello
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260002.jpg

Yours truly, at Whale rock
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260003.jpg

Herbm and Spingineer ... proudly wearing respective BF jerseys ... with ... ahem ... some extras
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260004.jpg

NorCal contingent ... uspspro, ruth, bostic, marko polo, mhendricks, slabby
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260006.jpg

Marko Polo, Jonathanb715, Bostic
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260007.jpg

Bigbossman, Slabby, Marko Polo, Jonthanb715
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260008.jpg

Mhendricks plowing through the fog
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260009.jpg

Jody
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260010.jpg

Climbing Old Creek Road
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260013.jpg

[QUOTE=uspspro;7564719]Yeah the descent down 46 (on the 100 hilly route) had awesome views, but we were going way to fast for Ruth to take any pics. :twitchy:

PS to Mike - It's Marco, and Ruth is my fiancee (wedding in June 09) ;)QUOTE]

Marco,
Thanks for correcting me and congratulations to you and Ruth. Ramon and Bostic sorry I left you guys out. I have memory lapses. Old Age:D

Slabby and Mhendricks climbing Old Creek Road
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260012.jpg

The descent
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260015.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260016.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260017.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260018.jpg

Scootcore (Bill) refueling
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260019.jpg

Old Creek Reststop
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260020.jpg

Jody arrives at rest stop
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260021.jpg

Continuing on Hwy 46
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260024.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260025.jpg

Descending hwy 46
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260027.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260029.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9260031.jpg

Look ... we're near the beach!
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9270032.jpg

Heading towards lunch
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9270035.jpg

Hearst Castle somewhere at the top of the hill
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9270036.jpg

Ruth ... what's that behind your head ... a Lighthouse?
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9270038.jpg

Ramon hiding behind the lighthouse
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9270040.jpg

Jonathanb715 showing his fondness of lighthouses
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/P9270041.jpg

Bigbossman ... proudly showing off one of his many steel bikes ... the Pinarello

That Pinarello is the only aluminum bike I own.


A few pics of mine:

Beginning the climb:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2008%20rides/Lighthouse%20Century/climb-1.jpg

Further up - if you look closely, you can see the road gap on the right edge of the far peak:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2008%20rides/Lighthouse%20Century/climb-7.jpg

5.5 mile "ballroom" decent back to the coast:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2008%20rides/Lighthouse%20Century/descent-1.jpg

Yeah the descent down 46 (on the 100 hilly route) had awesome views, but we were going way to fast for Ruth to take any pics. :twitchy:

PS to Mike - It's Marco, and Ruth is my fiancee (wedding in June 09) ;)

Nice riding with everyone, we'll have pics up soon (we just got back).

My favorite parts of the ride were:
- Descending 46
- Reeling in every rider in site on the biggest climb of the ride (except for Ramon). The tandem is known to be fast on the flats and DH, but to do so well on the climb in the middle of a 100 mile ride feels very good.

Is that your white tandem in the photos?

I was absolutely amazed at the number of tandems I saw yesterday. Unfortunately every time I saw one it was going the wrong direction :mad:

I also want to mention that I was impressed with the "community service" cars and the CHP support we had. I commented to another rider about the CHP, "It must be a hard job driving around watching all these bikers" :p

Is that your white tandem in the photos?


Yep. That's ours.

great meeting everyone: jonathan, john, jody, mikeh, mark, ron, ramon, marco & ruth. special thanks to jonathan for calling out "hey, norcal bikeforums!" as i was rolling around the parking lot at the start.

agree the best part was climbing Old Creek and descending to the 2nd rest stop, then descending 46 down to the coast. (several years ago, i had taken the 46 to cut over from the 1 to the 5, and it was so gorgeous i had to pull over for a panoramic shot of the coastal fog weaving through the mountains. would've never imagined i'd be riding my bike on the same stretch of road years later.)

i was bummed by the fog once we approached cambria. my riding lately has been on-and-off and i had originally signed up for the flat metric. but on a sliding scale, i'd decided that if the weather was good and wind was bearable i'd do the full century. alas, rather than an extra 2 hours in the mist, i decided to turn around at the cambria stop. (but seeing ron's pics, now i see that the sun did peak out at san simeon! ... next year!)

on the way back near cayucos, i rode with a h.s. student from nearby atascadero. he was so hyped to be riding in his first organized event and riding in a group with other cyclists. he was in "the zone" and nothing was gonna break up his stride. i loved it.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/373/slorockqp1.jpg
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/9629/mikehroned6.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/9058/ronnh7.jpg

Thanks for the report.... 4800 ft in 98 miles; sorry I missed it. At my friend's 40th b-day party was fun.

Photocrazy shot ...
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Lighthouse%2008/lh08.jpg

Nice. The guy didn't holler at you to sit down?

I was busy trying to maneuver around the riders in front of me so that the camera would get a clear shot of me. :D

Here's mine (blue and white in front):

Here's mine (blue and white in front):Can't slow! Guy in clown jersey will eat me! Can't slow! Guy in clown jersey will eat me!

http://www.bosticman.com/bostic/cycling/boslight.jpg

I found my pics on the Photocrazy website, but cannot find my free download code. :(

I found my pics on the Photocrazy website, but cannot find my free download code. :(

I'm in the same boat, but the photo made me look fat - it IS the camera's fault, right? ;) - so I don't want it anyway!

Great to see and ride with all the NorCal BF folks.

I'm in the same boat, but the photo made me look fat - it IS the camera's fault, right? ;) - so I don't want it anyway!

Great to see and ride with all the NorCal BF folks.

Well it's not fair to compare to Bostic ...

blue steel.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/1975/meslobc2yd7.jpg

the flash got my arm warmers all shiny.

Here are our pics...

First the photocrazy ones

First one = climbing earlier in the day
Second one =Flying on Hwy 1 (43 mph when they took the picture)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3105/2900687521_c55620fbfc_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3176/2900687477_4607a418ba_o.jpg

Here's more:

Start of the ride... fog
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/2901531320_2b84a0d16f_o.jpg

First rest stop... Ron in the fog
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/2901531258_2a7eb3bbe0_o.jpg

Ramon... same fog
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2901531182_16681c51b5_o.jpg

Heading to the climb... here comes the sun ... almost
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3197/2900687121_91bf87318a_o.jpg

More...

There's the sun... views
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3277/2900687059_9f85c9dd68_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2901530954_6595a18db0_o.jpg

Rest stop after the climb, before 46.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/2900686921_5cebf5c729_o.jpg

Checking out Ramon's new levers on the Fuso.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/2900686835_6b619d0fac_o.jpg

Ramon
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/2901530744_3be281fcc3_o.jpg

More views (still sunny)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3054/2901530626_933600dd68_o.jpg

Hit Hwy 1 again... back to the fog

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3067/2900686579_b0fd04921c_o.jpg

Another Hwy 1 rest stop.... we ended up dueling with those Cal Poly dudes later on he ride.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/2901530370_49251e3b21_o.jpg

Back in the sun... beach shot

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3141/2900686335_277f5c8c7d_o.jpg

Bringing it home

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/2900686263_8b866e61fa_o.jpg

It was a nice ride, but the fog was a bummer. It was good to ride with everyone (or at least see them at the rest stops when I caught up). I was definitely paying the price after hardly riding at all since the end of July!

JB

It was a nice ride, but the fog was a bummer. It was good to ride with everyone (or at least see them at the rest stops when I caught up). I was definitely paying the price after hardly riding at all since the end of July!

JB

Jonathan,
You did really well. Being off the bike for so long, and then doing a century (even though you had that small little climb, called the Death Ride), is tough. Many kudos to you. I really enjoyed hooking up both regions together. That's what made the ride special.

Maybe we can do the same thing in April, for the Wildflower century???

Ramon
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/2901530744_3be281fcc3_o.jpgAh, so the Secret Of How He Does It is finally revealed! If you look carefully, this picture faintly reveals the heavenly beam of light pushing him along...

Letting the Orbea Loose!

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/mixtemike/Lighthouse%20Century/LighthouseDescent.jpg

Hey NorCal Lighthouse Riders:

Thanks for including me in the group and in all the great pics. It was fun getting to meet and ride with all you guys. I've now registered on this website and hope to start participating in NorCal Saturday rides. So, when's the next ride.

Lighthouse was century no. 5 for me, so I'm on pace for a 100 miler every two months. Anyone have a suggestion for Nov or Dec?

Jody, aka Pedal Pusher :giver:

Lighthouse was century no. 5 for me, so I'm on pace for a 100 miler every two months. Anyone have a suggestion for Nov or Dec?

November and December are historically pretty slim months for organized rides. The only that are relatively close are the Giro De Vino metric in Stockton and the Solvang ride. Not sure about the Solvang one, but the Giro usually sells out. Plus, it is flat and boring. I'll be there, anyway. :)

Giro De Vino:
http://www.deltavelo.com/

Solvang:
http://www.planetultra.com/SolFinest/index.htm

That Pinarello is the only aluminum bike I own.


A few pics of mine:

Beginning the climb:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2008%20rides/Lighthouse%20Century/climb-1.jpg

Further up - if you look closely, you can see the road gap on the right edge of the far peak:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2008%20rides/Lighthouse%20Century/climb-7.jpg

5.5 mile "ballroom" decent back to the coast:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2008%20rides/Lighthouse%20Century/descent-1.jpg

hey bigbossman: what camera did you shoot these with?

hey bigbossman: what camera did you shoot these with?

A three year old Olympus Stylus 600, 6.0MP point 'n shoot, minimally processed with Picasa.

It does a decent job, although I wish it would wear out so I could upgrade. :)