Northern California - The Lost Boys: Roseville Tour De Cure

Wow! What a ride today. Met up with Ryan (rydaddy) a little after 6am. Mrs. Redpsoke dropped me off at the start and the plan was to p/u around 3pm. It's the first ride I've ever been on where there was an official START! Rydaddy and I led the entire ride for the first, well I don't know because stupid me forgot to turn on my new Garmin but I would guess it was 8-10 miles. The course was very poorly marked with adhesive arrows that were already showing wear from the previous night's rain. Well. rode with the lead pack for several miles and managed to only miss a couple of turns. It was human lemmings. The first half of the ride was dry and downright nice. A sprinkle here and there and the terrain was scenic. :thumb:

Then it really starts raining pretty good. I was on rydaddy's tail most of the day so now I'm now really familiar with how wet Gatorskins taste. :eek: It was a lot of rolling hills between 1/4-3/4 of the ride. The high point of the ride was about 900' according to my Garmin that I finally remembered to turn on. Well. We made it to the fire station rest stop and were hanging with the majority of the century riders. We took off from there and hit an awesome descent that moved into rollers that were tending more downhill. We entered civilization and realized we took the metric century markers (the colors were gone by now) at that fire station stop. Hmm. Finish the metric and call it a day? If it were just for me I probably would have just finished it at that point due to the unending rain, but no can do. We both raised quite a bit of money and owe it to everyone involved to complete a century. So we head back up 193 to find the route. Wow! I had heard 193 is pretty sketchy and my Gawwwd! Once you get out of Lincoln there is zero shoulder and a lot of the brush comes out onto the roadway. We ended up retracing most of our mishap and ended up back at that fire station after a good climb. We decided to do the century loop backwards and u-turn once we recognized some of the folks we were with when we got lost.
Did a u-turn and headed back the same damn road again to Lincoln. We only got lost one more time and it was only about 1/4 of a mile this time. By the time we were back in valley we really got soaked. Water was filling up in our shoes and there was a pretty good headwind most of the way back. By the time we got back to the finish we were at almost 101 miles with a ride time of about 6:15... :thumb: Fair enough! It definitely would have been slower for me if I had gone solo. Rydaddy has got some legs on him. Kept me on my toes.
I ended up at a Starbucks for about 2 hours with a venti drip waiting for Mrs. Redspoke to finish taking the children to a birthday party. I feel pretty good all things considered. Feels good to be dry.

Awesome - nicely done. Heading out to the coast in Sonoma was pretty wild today. We had the same thing with WCC arrows getting washed out/faded - debris on the roads didn't help either.

The Lost Boys... yes, good title :o

Redspoke summarized it pretty well. Missed turns and a fatal wrong way at mile 50 changed everything. That was totally my fault :o. I saw the arrows at the 4-way intersection and assumed those were the ones to follow. What I didn't realize is we were supposed to do a 22 mile loop from there, only in the other direction. :mad:

When we made it into Lincoln I knew something was wrong. We stopped and looked at our maps, which were nearly down to a pulp. We decided to head 10 miles back and rejoin the the century riders, while trying to act like we were never lost in the first place :innocent: Of course, we could have cut the ride short and still get a metric in. But we were determined that our sponsors would get their money's worth.

We made it back to the rest stop where our wrong turn was made. We needed about 5 more miles to make it a century so made a quick out-and-back from there and turned around once we saw some familiar century ride faces. Back at the rest stop, we slipped into the crowd and went undetected. "Yes, we are riding the century" we told the volunteers. Nobody was onto us. :roflmao2:

The final 25 miles weren't bad at all, considering my shoes were filled to the top with water. The only thing keeping this ride tolerable was the temperature. If it were cold it would another story. Of course, the ride wouldn't be complete without a few other missed turns along the way. It was ridiculous.

Even with the poor markings and limited rest-stop food, it was still a great ride for a great cause. Other than making the mistake at mile 50, I wouldn't change anything else. We were rewarded for our efforts with a fat Chipotle burrito at the finish, so that made up for something. :)

A few notes:

-I barely ate a thing. Usually I pig out on these rides.
-Rest stops (and map checks) took less than 40 minutes total.
-This was my first soaking wet century, and it was fun.
-I will always use my rear fender when rain is in the forcast and I am riding in a group (sorry again, Redspoke)
-I still had fun. :thumb:

Last but not least.. Posion oak on arm + warmers + sweat + rain = :mad: poison oak

I rode in that first group out at 6.30am, too - me and my buddy Mike. I was in the blue & yellow Astana jersey, on the Trek 5200. Great fun riding for the first 60 miles, despite getting two flats within 1/2 mile of eachother. Up in the clouds in Auburn, though, it was miserable and cold - I had no waterproof, and got soaked through. Then I got a third flat, and I was out of spares and CO2, but luckily a very kind rider I'd been riding with stopped and gave me his only spare, then we hit up a bike shop in Auburn to inflate it - we rode the remaining 40 miles together through the heavier and heavier rain and wind. Real endurance ride, that one!

If it hadn't been for the three punctures and the bike shop detour, we probably would have made it back in very decent time. In the end, we took a little over 6.5 hrs. Great experience.

I rode in that first group out at 6.30am, too - me and my buddy Mike. I was in the blue & yellow Astana jersey, on the Trek 5200.

We were riding with you for quite a ways. I was on the 5200 with the highlighter yellow jacket on. :thumb:

I was on the ride with you, too. I was on an orange Cannondale wearing a death ride jersy, riding with a couple guys including one on his first century with cages and big fat tires. I saw cravenmonkey a couple of times in the Astana jersey (short sleeves and shorts only!) and kept thinking of the picture on the top of http://www.icebike.org (except it wasn't quite that cold). It too was my first long ride in the rain, and fortunately the moderate temperature made it tolerable. Since the route was basically the same as last year we weren't thrown off by the fact that the rain had trashed many of the course markings -- the course organizers had placed lots of road arrows and posters on Friday, but the overnight rain and high winds destroyed many of them. The food along the ride was a little sparse, but the massive quantities of Chipotle burritos at the end made up for it. I was never to happy to put on a dry shirt at the end of the ride!

There were alot of lost and wet people on that ride. At the first rest stop, I heard rumors of some folks winding up in Wheatland. With the rain, things got pretty slick. I got a little too friendly with the brakes and gave myself a few "pucker" moments on that long downhill from the Fire Station. Fortunately, I only saw 1 accident all day. Some poor girl dumped it in that neighborhood near the start/finish. Looks like she banged herself up pretty good...sure hope she was ok. :(

Tom

I saw cravenmonkey a couple of times in the Astana jersey (short sleeves and shorts only!) and kept thinking of the picture on the top of http://www.icebike.org (except it wasn't quite that cold).

Haha, no, not quite that cold, but the long descent down to that road which follows I-80 was miserable - all that moisture in my shirt, and the wind whipping through as I went downhill. At the bottom, my teeth were chattering. That was right before my third flat, too. Not my favourite stretch of the race! My riding buddy, Mike (in the Garmin Chipotle shirt, riding the Trek 1000) had a high-speed crash just after the fire station - he's okay, but he pulled out there.

Anyone hear about an attempted kidnapping on a female rider during the race?

I remember seeing the Astana, Garmin, and Death Ride jereseys at the 1st stop. Through the first set of hills, Cravenmonket passed me near the top of a short climb. I passed again at the next hill and never saw you again. I was wearing the Auburn Century jersey and rode a blue, stickerless aluminum bike. You must have flatted around that time because I was expecting to see you up the road. 3 flats would have driven me insane! I bought new tires just before the ride. They worked well, thankfully.

Where did your friend crash? Was it after doing the loop through Auburn? There was a sweeping right turn on a steeper section (after the fire station) that I was sure would bring some crashes. I rode the brakes hard through that section and almost lost it. Hopefully he's ok.

I didn't hear about a kidnap attempt. :wtf:

There was one more accident that I forgot to mention. As the sag bus was making its final trip from the fire station to HP, in the town of Lincoln a driver blew through a stop sign and plowed right into the side of the bus. Some tour riders may have encountered the little detour around the accident scene as we approached hwy 193. I friend who was on the bus at the time said the bus took a pretty good hit, but everybody was doing fine.

I remember seeing that crash - looked liked three vehicles were involved. The driver of a black car hit the bus, but there was another car, too. As I passed, I saw a cyclist talking to a cop, and I overheard something like: "...this sort of thing happens ALL THE TIME! What you see here is assault with a deadly weapon. That man tried to KILL ME!" He was pretty upset. The driver of the black car was smirking as a cop talked to him. Hope no one was injured.

Yeah, my friend met the road on that long sweeping descent after the first set of climbs that followed the firestation rest stop. I am rather ashamed to admit that I was far enough ahead at that point, I didn't know he had crashed. I waited up the road several more times, but he never materialized. I figured he had pulled out, or was just having a tough time in the weather. Anyway, he got bruised and road rash, but he's doing fine.

I remember the blue stickerless aluminum bike - good climber! I'd love to get out there and ride with some of you guys again.

Incidentally, I just joined this MB, and I can't figure out how to post new topics. Do I need special privileges to do that?

Incidentally, I just joined this MB, and I can't figure out how to post new topics. Do I need special privileges to do that?

It's under "Forum Tools" -> new thread.

It takes me 5 minutes to find it each month or 2 when I want to start a thread...

Sweet Jeezus! Looks like we missed everything. I thought to myself several times how for the weather being so bad there weren't any bad happenings. I thought Rydaddy and myself were going to be statistics for those 100-200 yards on 193 where the bushes made you have to ride in the already shoulderless road.
Of everything I saw that day I can't get that Time Team bike with the Carbon Zipps out of my head... It was like bringing a Ferrari Enzo to the Paris-Dakar Rally. That and he was really suffering in that headwind. You could hear the whooshing a mile away.
Well, that and how much water drained out of Rydaddy's frame. Imagine an old guy taking a wee after downing a pitcher of Meister Brau.

Well, that and how much water drained out of Rydaddy's frame. Imagine an old guy taking a wee after downing a pitcher of Meister Brau.


Haha, me too - I love my 5200, but it fills up like a bathtub every time it rains!

Did anyone else get chased by those crazy black dogs around mile 55? I was out on my own, coming around a corner when suddenly these massive black dogs burst out of the hedge and chased me for 1/4 mile up the road, teeth bared and snarling! I jumped out of my skin. I have never accelerated that fast in my life.

Yeah, high pressure spray was coming out my frame when I tilted the bike. We also got chased by a dog, but it was on our way back to the fire station. It was a golden retriever, but a mean one. Redspoke and I started sprinting (uphill) but he was gaining on us. We also had an oncoming car fast approaching. I fell back and boxed him to the side of the road while getting ready to kick if he nipped at me. The dog stopped chasing us right as the car passed. That got my blood flowing again!

So, is there any truth to that attempted kidnapping? With so many riders out, it seems unlikely....but ya never know.

Yeah! I googled it and got nothin'... Hmm.

So, is there any truth to that attempted kidnapping? With so many riders out, it seems unlikely....but ya never know.

Can't find any information on it, either. Basically, the reason I asked is because when I got back to the fire station the second time, after the extra loop, the ladies there specifically asked us about this one woman who had been riding alone. They said they were worried about her. Then when I got back to HP, the guy I was riding with talked to a friend of his who had stayed at HP all day, and he mentioned that a woman had almost been kidnapped. That's all I know.

A woman on her own, in that weather - she could have stopped to rest on an isolated stretch of the route, someone could have pulled over to "see if she needed help", then tried to kidnap her. That's how it played out in my head, anyway. Hope she's okay, whoever she is!

Did anyone else get chased by those crazy black dogs around mile 55? I was out on my own, coming around a corner when suddenly these massive black dogs burst out of the hedge and chased me for 1/4 mile up the road, teeth bared and snarling! I jumped out of my skin. I have never accelerated that fast in my life.

Yup, same thing. They came barking and snarling out of nowhere. Luckily there were several bikers behind me that drew their attention away from me. Actually that is about the time that you passed me, cravenmonket, so you probably were the distraction. Thanks!

Seems like every ride this weekend had its share of drama.


It's under "Forum Tools" -> new thread.

It takes me 5 minutes to find it each month or 2 when I want to start a thread...

An easier option is to go to the forum or sub forum home page and there in the top left there's a "Start a New Thread" text underlined in red font. Click on that and off you go.

I'll ask my buddy, the photographer dude, and Mark Orgeron about it tomorrow. Hopefully, it's just a rumor.

According to the Tour coordinator, there was no kidnapping. It's just a rumor about a situation that was blown way out of proportion.

Tom