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04-18-09, 09:36 PM
It seems the universe did not want us to even go on this ride, nor finish it. However, despite all odds we overcame many of obstacles, but in the end it was not meant to be today :(
Let me explain...
Yesterday
1) This was supposed to be our day of bike preparations and making sure everything was ready. However, unexpected family stuff pushed it to the evening.
2) I bought a new saddle during the day since the old one bothered me on the last two 100+ mile training rides. However when I went to install it later on it didn't fit on my seatpost since the head of the post was too large to fit.... However we had another seatpost that worked... Problem Solved
3) After fixing up the bike, we noticed the rear tire was shredded bad, no way it would go 200 mi... OK so I said I will install one of my new Pro3 race 700x23 on the front and move the front tire to the rear. Well I pinched 2 tubes trying to get that damn Pro3 on the wider tandem rim, but it was not happening.... So what to do.... I said F' it let's use the wheel from my solo (20 bladed spoke 1-cross aero wheel)... Not ideal, but... Problem Solved
4) Had to readjust the brakes to the skinnier front rim.
5) After all that I we got to bed much too late, and only got 3.5 hours of sleep :rolleyes:
This Morning
1) Despite the lack of sleep, we woke up OK and left on-time.. so far so good :thumb:
2) We get to the 880/238/580 interchange and the ramps are closed! Then I got lost in San Leandro and was running late now :( However we found the 580 and made it there just in time to register and get ready for the meeting. :thumb:
The Ride
We were VERY happy with how things were going. I had a different wheel, but it was working great, got through the crap last night, made it there on time despite the ramp closure. Now we were on the ride and pushing a very nice pace. We made it to the top of Diablo pretty quick, and the bike descended fine. We felt great! It was really awesome. Then came Morgan Terr. We pushed a nice pace up through there and even caught up to Ramon at the rest stop at the top of Morgan! We were only running around 15 mins behind him :eek:
Then came the plunge, which should have been one of the best parts of this ride. We are flying down, and suddenly the bike feels squirrely. I am like WTF, then I feel the steering and it is barely moving, almost stuck. Turns out the headset that we tightened last week, was totally jacked. I could barely move the bars :eek: WTF!
So we decided we would keep going through livermore, but it got worse. I was literally busting my ass and focusing a ton on concentration just to go in a straight line. So we stopped and called sag to bring tools. A SAG person came, but no suitable wrenches. We pressed on, despite the fact this was killing me, it was very hard to keep the bike straight. So we spotted a mechanic shop as we passed through and intersection. I asked it we could borrow wrenches, and they let us. I loosened the headset to what seemed to be better, and we pressed on. But... it just got worse again. I fought it al the way over Altamont Pass, and then at the start of Patterson Pass it was just unbearable. I could barely drink water, because if I took one hand off the bar, the bike would almost fall over! So we called sag again... This time the guy was smart, and had wrenches. We loosened it up quite a bit, basically determining the headset was already trash, we just need to loose enough to steer and finish the ride. We wanted to finish so bad, and we both felt strong today, so we were determined.
We thought it would be OK.... wrong!!! The headset got stiff again... it just totally sucked. My hands and arms ached, I was worried about falling the whole time... At that point i was no longer motivated.... I told Ruth we would push up the pass to the water stop at mile 80 and we had no choice but to SAG it in :(
We were very disappointed, to say the least.
Then the SAG guy said, why don't you guys work the aide station at Sunol, and ask to ride the staff ride with us next weekend. He said we would still get credit for it since it was the full DMD. We went to Sunol, but they were overstaffed. We will see if they will still let us join next week.
If they don't let us, we will probably join some of you folks on Davis.
I'm pissed my mind is tired from all this crap... but my LEGS feel great, NOT even worn out! Damn...
We ended up with 80 miles with 8000 feet of climbing.
Let me explain...
Yesterday
1) This was supposed to be our day of bike preparations and making sure everything was ready. However, unexpected family stuff pushed it to the evening.
2) I bought a new saddle during the day since the old one bothered me on the last two 100+ mile training rides. However when I went to install it later on it didn't fit on my seatpost since the head of the post was too large to fit.... However we had another seatpost that worked... Problem Solved
3) After fixing up the bike, we noticed the rear tire was shredded bad, no way it would go 200 mi... OK so I said I will install one of my new Pro3 race 700x23 on the front and move the front tire to the rear. Well I pinched 2 tubes trying to get that damn Pro3 on the wider tandem rim, but it was not happening.... So what to do.... I said F' it let's use the wheel from my solo (20 bladed spoke 1-cross aero wheel)... Not ideal, but... Problem Solved
4) Had to readjust the brakes to the skinnier front rim.
5) After all that I we got to bed much too late, and only got 3.5 hours of sleep :rolleyes:
This Morning
1) Despite the lack of sleep, we woke up OK and left on-time.. so far so good :thumb:
2) We get to the 880/238/580 interchange and the ramps are closed! Then I got lost in San Leandro and was running late now :( However we found the 580 and made it there just in time to register and get ready for the meeting. :thumb:
The Ride
We were VERY happy with how things were going. I had a different wheel, but it was working great, got through the crap last night, made it there on time despite the ramp closure. Now we were on the ride and pushing a very nice pace. We made it to the top of Diablo pretty quick, and the bike descended fine. We felt great! It was really awesome. Then came Morgan Terr. We pushed a nice pace up through there and even caught up to Ramon at the rest stop at the top of Morgan! We were only running around 15 mins behind him :eek:
Then came the plunge, which should have been one of the best parts of this ride. We are flying down, and suddenly the bike feels squirrely. I am like WTF, then I feel the steering and it is barely moving, almost stuck. Turns out the headset that we tightened last week, was totally jacked. I could barely move the bars :eek: WTF!
So we decided we would keep going through livermore, but it got worse. I was literally busting my ass and focusing a ton on concentration just to go in a straight line. So we stopped and called sag to bring tools. A SAG person came, but no suitable wrenches. We pressed on, despite the fact this was killing me, it was very hard to keep the bike straight. So we spotted a mechanic shop as we passed through and intersection. I asked it we could borrow wrenches, and they let us. I loosened the headset to what seemed to be better, and we pressed on. But... it just got worse again. I fought it al the way over Altamont Pass, and then at the start of Patterson Pass it was just unbearable. I could barely drink water, because if I took one hand off the bar, the bike would almost fall over! So we called sag again... This time the guy was smart, and had wrenches. We loosened it up quite a bit, basically determining the headset was already trash, we just need to loose enough to steer and finish the ride. We wanted to finish so bad, and we both felt strong today, so we were determined.
We thought it would be OK.... wrong!!! The headset got stiff again... it just totally sucked. My hands and arms ached, I was worried about falling the whole time... At that point i was no longer motivated.... I told Ruth we would push up the pass to the water stop at mile 80 and we had no choice but to SAG it in :(
We were very disappointed, to say the least.
Then the SAG guy said, why don't you guys work the aide station at Sunol, and ask to ride the staff ride with us next weekend. He said we would still get credit for it since it was the full DMD. We went to Sunol, but they were overstaffed. We will see if they will still let us join next week.
If they don't let us, we will probably join some of you folks on Davis.
I'm pissed my mind is tired from all this crap... but my LEGS feel great, NOT even worn out! Damn...
We ended up with 80 miles with 8000 feet of climbing.