Northern California - Century Preview Ride Report

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JoelS
03-29-09, 10:22 PM
Holy Cow, the wind! That dang blasted, in your face wind. Wow. Epic describes today. I swear at one point Curtis had his bike leaned over about 30 degrees into the wind and still holding a straight line! Then those gusts into the face. Riding down a hill at 25 and then the gust slows me down to 14. We were fighting just to hold 10mph at some points. I took my new CF bike too. It worked out great.

Thanks to a wrong turn with about a 6 mile detour, we ended up at 104.92 miles. Remove those 6 and another 2 since the start location is different, and we're looking at a 96 mile ride.

MapMyRide really miscalculated the climbing. I think we came in at around 6000 feet. My Garmin shut itself off again about half way and the data vanished. I'm taking it back to REI tomorrow for an exchange. Curtis will have the numbers when he checks in later.

The scenery in the 2nd half of the ride is outstanding. Well worth it.

There is a short version. I think the ride can be cut to about 50 miles for those interested in a shorter option.

Here are a few pictures:
http://www.jspublications.net/images/bikes/ridephotos/09-03-29/1.jpg

http://www.jspublications.net/images/bikes/ridephotos/09-03-29/2.jpg

http://www.jspublications.net/images/bikes/ridephotos/09-03-29/3.jpg

cccorlew
03-29-09, 11:55 PM
At the start, Rancho Cordova
Today's high wind:
47.5mph Gusts
55.3mph

It was crazy. At one point I'm coming down an 8% grade and hitting 15. Then a gust almost stopped me in my tracks.
We saw a tree that blew down into the road. Palms were doing crazy dances. Large metal signs were swinging madly. There were debris blowing across the roads like scurrying insects.

But it was oddly and inexplicably fun. Maybe just that we lived through it makes it good.
It was pretty!

Garmin, with smoothing in Ascent say 6024 climbing. I wish it recorded wind.
x136
03-30-09, 12:29 AM
At one point I'm coming down an 8% grade and hitting 15.Ouch, that's just disheartening. Spend all of that time and effort climbing, only to not be able to enjoy the descent.

Congratulations to you both for persevering, in any case. :beer:

taxi777
03-30-09, 12:31 AM
At the start, Rancho Cordova
Today's high wind:
47.5mph Gusts
55.3mph

It was crazy. At one point I'm coming down an 8% grade and hitting 15. Then a gust almost stopped me in my tracks.
We saw a tree that blew down into the road. Palms were doing crazy dances. Large metal signs were swinging madly. There were debris blowing across the roads like scurrying insects.

But it was oddly and inexplicably fun. Maybe just that we lived through it makes it good.
It was pretty!

Garmin, with smoothing in Ascent say 6024 climbing. I wish it recorded wind.

OK, OK,!!!You Win!!!

You guys are the Stud Kings of the weekend...Curtis if you're not ready for the Davis now...Jeeshh:eek:
silentben
03-30-09, 12:56 PM
Sounds like a wild ride :thumb: Did you at least have tailwinds on part of it?
cccorlew
03-30-09, 01:02 PM
Tailwinds? Not much. Mostly cross winds.
Though there was a 2 mile section with a full on huge tailwind where I was cruising at 29.
We also had just a bit on the way home.
but it was amazing how little help we got. Mostly just knocked about.

On my blog I have links to a large map and the elevation profile.
http://ccorlew.blogspot.com
nachomc
03-30-09, 01:02 PM
We were glad to not be road riding yesterday ;)
JoelS
03-30-09, 01:07 PM
I'm back from REI. They replaced my a little over 2 year old Garmin 305 (which I had previously taken apart and put back together) with no questions. I even got a small refund as the price had come down. Very cool.

So I'm thinking that I'll ride it again next month, just to make sure I have a handle on all the twists and turns.
SesameCrunch
03-31-09, 09:17 AM
I'm back from REI. They replaced my a little over 2 year old Garmin 305 (which I had previously taken apart and put back together) with no questions. I even got a small refund as the price had come down. Very cool.


That is a stunningly good return policy! Wow, I can't even believe that!
silentben
03-31-09, 12:06 PM
Yeah REI is awesome. My girlfriend bought hiking boots there that never fit very well. After trying various combinations of socks and insoles over a 2 year period she returned the boots and the superfeet insoles and got full refund on both! She ended up getting brand new boots plus like $60 back.