Northern California - San Jose Livestrong 2009 rollcall

hey all, I am just wanted to start a thread about this ride to see who else is doing it this July 12th.

I am in, I am doing the century. I am pretty excited about doing this ride as it seems like it will be a great time for an even greater cause.

So, who else is in?

Not this year... last year - best ride ever!

Now where's my report...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=441242

That's me in the gray jersey; wow, I'm a (little bit) skinnier now! ...and ride a road bike sometimes now.

Have fun!

And, BE SURE to check out what's coming in Metcalfe Rd climb! Carry a pair of list slippers, flip flops, etc., unless you either have the gearing and/or the moxie to ride all the way up!!

Thanks for the link! Took a look through it and the pics are awesome. I actually know a couple of the people in the pics (at the finish line, people in pink). I was actually going to be on their team this year, but I decided to go it alone.

As for Metcalf, I am far too stubborn to let myself walk up it, no matter how many times I have to stop and rest on the way up. I have been training a lot, just for that climb. Oh, how it will hurt.

I was at this event last year as well, great turn out, great time.

I'm passing this year as personal scheduling is just not allowing me to get out much. Hopefully next year will work out.

I'm in and registered.. Newbie rider since last year just trying
to get in shape. Ride looks like fun. I signed up for my first
century. :eek: Longest ride so far is about 55 miles so it should
be interesting. I'm planning on taking my time and having a great
time.

Just out of curiousity, what should I plan on bringing with me to
an event like this?

Thanks!

Well, from what they say on the website, they will have all the food and water and supplement drinks that you will need. I think they also have mechanics at a few stations.

I am going to bring my pump, tires, and my multi tool, cause I do not want to get stuck in the middle of one of these rest stops with a flat tire. I might also bring a couple cliff bars, but that is because I like them.

As for the ride itself, be prepared. If you know Metcalf, you know it is a horrible hill. And it is about 70 miles into the ride. The average grade for the climb is something like 11-13% for about a mile and a half. Be prepared. I would suggest finding your local hill and session it and get more miles under you before the Livestrong challenge.

I'm going to be riding, but I wimped out and signed up for the 50. Metcalf kinda scares me. My first ever benefit ride was the Tour de Cure ride up in Yountville last month (I did the 50). I've done a few rides up Mt. Diablo as far as the ranger station, but I don't think I could handle that 70 miles into my first century.

I'm signed up for the 100 mile loop.
See you all there. I'll be in an SJBC kit with a few other club members (I think). I heard reports of people melting shoes on Metcalf. You all are starting to freek me out a little. :eek::lol:

I guess it could melt the shoes, but it would have to be pretty hot for that. Call it an incentive for staying on the bike the whole way up. :thumb:

I think last year was quite hot though.

I think you guys are psyching yourself out a bit too much concerning Metcalf, yes it's hard but it's nice and short. The best part is that it gets easier as you get to the top. The only thing to worry about is the sun can really beat down on the hill, if it's hot that day...well.

The hill itself I do not fear. It is the fact that it is 70 miles into the ride and it will likely be hot. I guess it doesn't help that it is steep.

Yep, might be psyching myself out a bit, but it is helping me to potentially over prepare.

I'm in. First time ever. As the date gets closer, I get more and more excited too. I only recently started riding again so this has given me incentive to ride several times a week.

Bump.

So how is everyone doing on getting ready?

Sounds like a cool event- I had not heard of it before. I would be interested except that I don't want to pay/donate $300 for a one-day event. That is pretty steep (although I think Lance's organization is a good cause).

What's interesting is that they've come up with a 65-mile course with only 2000 feet of climbing. And the century only climbs 3652 feet. How is that possible? Do they stick mostly to city streets or is the San Jose riding really that flat?

I believe the 3652 to be fairly inaccurate. I think that it is closer to 4500 feet or so, according to one of the Garmins with the barometric altimeter. I can't blame them too much for not having a huge amount of climbing because they need to cater to many skill levels of riders. Besides, they still have Metcalf Road for the 65 and 100 mile distances. That is not going to be fun after 70 miles of riding.

I'm in! The only thing I fear is Metcalf; my friend actually lives near there, when he found out I was going to bike it he told me it was an insane climb (though he is very much a beginner). In any case, I will bring some extra flip flops, I think I'll be walking most of the way up :D

The greater San Jose area is pretty flat, but we'll be riding in the foot hills around San Jose.
Here is the ride map:
http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/atf/cf/{d1308cbf-efd6-4efe-8fa1-66fa00e28177**/SANJOSE%20100m%20map.pdf (http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/atf/cf/%7bd1308cbf-efd6-4efe-8fa1-66fa00e28177%7d/SANJOSE%20100m%20map.pdf)

I climbed most of Metcalf as a warm up for a very short prolog/time trial. It is steep, but not too bad. I have not done the climb after riding 70 miles. :) I was worried about the heat, but the weather has been very mild this week.
Someone asked what we’re doing to get ready. I have my normal 100-150 miles a week, but I also did a ride around Lake Tahoe last week. It was only 72 miles, but I felt pretty good and my legs were still fresh at the end, so I expect to be ok on this ride. It will be my longest ride to date.
I decided to wear my SIDI mtn bike shoes, so I can walk around and be comfortable off the bike. I’m not racing, so I’m not too concerned with the performance of the shoes.

$300 for one event....it's a fund raiser, not a fund saver. :D
Here is the link to our team site (just in case you want to give to the LiveStrong.org):
http://sanjose09.livestrong.org/sjbc

I forget if I said which ride I am doing, but I am doing the 100. I can't wait.

Name is Kyle (duh). Will be wearing black shorts and a plain red jersey with a grey, vertical stripe. Bike is a 2005 Raleigh Competition: blue and black (like in the pic below). Got a red/white helmet. Look for me on the ride and say hi.

http://outside.away.com/images/outside/buyersguide2005/bikes/raleigh-competition.jpg

Also, just picked up my packet. I am # 1227.

#1600 here, see you guys out there!

edit: where the heck am I supposed to put this helmet sticker lol

I'm in! See you all tomorrow.

Thoughts on the event?

My friend and I had a lot of fun, but we only rode the 10 mile course because 50 was too scary for our lack of experience. We were specifically told we couldn't ride the course twice (some people did though). We decided next year we're riding 50 and taking our time.

Thoughts on the event?

My friend and I had a lot of fun, but we only rode the 10 mile course because 50 was too scary for our lack of experience. We were specifically told we couldn't ride the course twice (some people did though). We decided next year we're riding 50 and taking our time.

The event was awesome. This was the first group ride I've ever done, and the longest ride I've ever done (50 mile).

Thought it could be a bit bigger, in terms of "event/fair" like but it was still great.

I had a great time on the ride yesterday. This was also my first large scale group ride, as the other was a club ride that happened to have about 50 people in it, all spread out.

I got to the staging of the ride a bit early, so I was one of the first in line for the start. Since I did the 100 mile route, we got to go first and get paced by a cop for the first 12 miles or so. That was really nice. We were cruising at about 20-23 mph all the way from downtown San Jose to Saratoga up to the top of Fruitvale. That was an amazingly easy and fast 10 miles. There had to be 100-150 people up near the front all drafting each other.

So we made it all the way to highway 9 and I was riding by myself until I saw my personal cheering section. I stopped, thanked them, took a couple pics, and went on. I went up Shannon without much excitement, then back down onto Camden and to my first breakpoint. At that time, I hitched on with a few other riders and started to pace-line with them all the way up to the first reservoir behind Almaden Valley. I couldn't keep up with them, let alone do a single pull with them, so I dropped back and went on my own until I caught up with a guy on the downhill side of Buffalo hill. Since it was going downhill, I was doing great and flying down. I pulled a guy for a bit until the next hill, then he went past and joined another group. I had some me time all the way till the next rest stop.

After that rest stop, I made sure to get back on my bike around when some others were so I could get in a pace line. This went really well all the way till Morgan hill. We were cruising easily around 22-24 mph. Eventually, I fell into the back group when the paceline split. I wanted to go faster, so I jumped up past that group to try and catch up with the other group. Bad idea. For the next mile and a half or so, I was pushing hard, but making up little ground. Eventually, I caught up, but was quite tired. I formed a group with about 4 others and we paced each other for the next few miles. This was great because I met a good guy by the name of Andrew that orchestrated all off the pacing and tried to make so sure not to lost anyone.

We made our way up into the hills again, the back down Willow Springs Rd and made it through the windy part of Santa Teresa. By the way, I hate wind when it is going against you. This is when I started to feel a cramping in my right hamstring. I tried to stretch it out while riding and started to drink a lot more water. Didn't much help. I nursed it all the way to the bottom of Metcalf, where I proceeded to massage it and stretch it out as much as possible.

At this time, I told Andrew, don't worry about waiting for me, it is going to take a bit for me to get up. He went up ahead of me and I trudged my way up. The problem with climbing this now is that if I pulled up with my right leg leg, I was feel a nasty charley horse. I was lumbering up at a steady 3.5 mph or so in 34x27. It took me about 33 or so minutes to make it up, stopping once under a small tree to rest a minute and the other time a really bad charley horse forced me to dismount from my bike to stretch it out. I met back up with Andrew at the next rest stop, replinished, restretched, and went on to the rest of the ride.

The rest of the ride was without incident except I was now dreading every uphill due to the cramping I could not get rid of. This is when my pace dropped a lot and took it easy the rest of the way. In fact, the cramping got quite a bit worse about 10 miles from the end, but I knew the terrain well and knew there was no more hills to have!

This was a great ride and am quite happy that I did it. I met quite a few people, all of which had a great story and were also enjoying themselves. There was an immense amount of people there, something like 3600 people showed up. The weather could not have been better. Specifically with riding, I learned quite a bit from the ride. Don't push yourself too hard for too long when you know you have to do a certain milage without bailing. Pace lining is awesome and very effective when done properly (first time ever doing it). These rides are great ways to meet new people.

I also have to mention all the people on the sidelines cheering everyone on. It was actually really weird. I have never been in any situation close to this before, but it was awesome. It kept me motivated to keep pushing.

Total milage for Challenge: 95 miles
riding time: ~5:45
total time taken: 6:37

My goal was to make it to the finish by 2:30 and I got in just after 2. By the time we got to the bottom of Metcalf, I was averaging just under 19mph while riding, but it dropped down to 16.7 because of cramping, tiring... and Metcalf.


Picture time:

Sunrise as shot from my car while driving down 101
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2448/3719187389_615a380e45_o.jpg


The endless sea of cyclists (this wasn't even all of them)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3517/3719187369_efca92dde1_o.jpg


Carly Fiorina sending us off (black shirt)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/3720001272_904d253732_o.jpg


Kid drawing in the all too familiar yellow chalk
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2458/3720001172_f310836e2e_o.jpg


That's right, it was a really nice day (Uvas Reservoir)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2662/3720001300_37451ed68e_o.jpg


Some people I rode with. Andrew on the right closer to me. This is how I saw him most of the time as he was doing quite a bit of pulling.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/3720001134_42fa23012a_o.jpg

The paradoxical devil. He did too much good to be dressed as he was. I saw him at the top of Shannon, midway up Metcalf pouring cool water on people's heads and giving us a push (man that was nice), and at the end being the biggest cheerleader in all places.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2623/3719187285_6229468f17_o.jpg

That is it from my long entry for now. More pics to come as I collect them from friends.

^^^haha, devil guy was quite the character!

I really enjoyed the ride; I've only done a couple of charity rides, so I don't have that much to compare to, but this one was so well organized, very impressive.

Up until mile 40 everything was great, I was joining pacelines and making decent time, but for some reason I cramped up really bad (normally I can go 70 miles and never cramp). So that was the story for the rest of the ride, any time the road turned up a little the cramps hit. Thanks to the guy who gave me some Tums, it helped!

I couldn't handle Metcalf, I had to walk the bike up (even cramped up a little just walking the damn thing!).

Riding time: 6:20

Thoughts on the event?

My friend and I had a lot of fun, but we only rode the 10 mile course because 50 was too scary for our lack of experience. We were specifically told we couldn't ride the course twice (some people did though). We decided next year we're riding 50 and taking our time.

Is your name Michelle? I think I remember your posts on the Livestrong site concerning riding it twice.

Is your name Michelle? I think I remember your posts on the Livestrong site concerning riding it twice.

Yeah, that's me.

Probably would have went ahead and rode it twice anyhow if I'd known my way around San Jose and was able to find my way back to the outbound route in the correct direction, but honestly I had no idea where I was.

The next ride I'm doing is timed instead of based on distance so we can just ride for up to 4 hours doing loops. Will be nice. However, planning for 50 miles next year also gives me incentive to get into better shape (and get a new bike).

Yeah, that's me.

Probably would have went ahead and rode it twice anyhow if I'd known my way around San Jose and was able to find my way back to the outbound route in the correct direction, but honestly I had no idea where I was.

The next ride I'm doing is timed instead of based on distance so we can just ride for up to 4 hours doing loops. Will be nice. However, planning for 50 miles next year also gives me incentive to get into better shape (and get a new bike).

Awesome! Well, get some skinny tires for the mountain bike in the meantime. The lower rolling resistance will do wonders.

Awesome! Well, get some skinny tires for the mountain bike in the meantime. The lower rolling resistance will do wonders.

My bike has disc breaks, can I do that?

I don't see why not. You could get tires along the lines of this: http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1070099_-1_36000_20000_36004

Very awesome ride. First century, first group, ride, first charity ride.

I was very unsure about Metcalf, but charged up that thing a lot faster then I expected. Yea, that Devil Guy was real cool, and I'd say all the encouragement going up Metcalf from not only people but other riders made the climb more enjoyable and gratifying.

Do plan to do it next year for sure. And hope that my brother will be able to complete it next year (flat and broken chain).

I was out there as a riding course marshal for the 50 milers. There were a lot of people cramping up for some reason. I was surprised since it wasn't that hot. I had brought plenty of tools, tubes, patches, and other stuff for mechanical issues, but nothing for cramps. Next year I'll stash some electolyte tabs in my bag of tricks.

I was out there as a riding course marshal for the 50 milers. There were a lot of people cramping up for some reason. I was surprised since it wasn't that hot. I had brought plenty of tools, tubes, patches, and other stuff for mechanical issues, but nothing for cramps. Next year I'll stash some electolyte tabs in my bag of tricks.

My friend and I want to try the 50 mile course next time around. Do you know if it's generally the same each year (even though this was only the second in San Jose)? And what's it really like, climbing wise? We don't have any real hills here so it's hard to do hill training.

This was my first century and my first real fundraising event, so I had no yardstick. The start made me a bit nervous with some people being almost militant with their signals and changes of pace. I had a hard time in one of the pace-lines because one of the riders was breaking instead of soft peddling. There was one scary left with sand on the shoulder of Hicks road, which is funny because I ride that corner weekly, but I’ve never blown the stop sign at 20mph! That was hard to get used to.
I road with two Cat 3 guys from the SJBC. The three of us pace lined for most of the first 70 miles. The lead rider in our pace line is 6’9” and is accustomed to pulling, because when little guys get in front of him it does almost not good for him. The guy behind him measured 310 watts while we were pace lining with a tail wind. I was clinging on for dear life on the flats. I tried to pull for a bit, but I slowed the pace, sent my heart rate through the roof and, didn’t really help the other two. Each time we passed a rider or a group, the lead rider would give some encouragement and invite them to join the pace line. My heart rate was pretty much pinned at race pace up to Metcalf and I was pushing too hard on the climbs.

I knew how steep Metcalf would be, so in my not too wise judgment, I didn’t stop at the bottom to give me more time to the top. I needed the time to stay with the other SJBC riders, but I probably needed a rest too. Let the cramping begin! lol My right calf started to get tight at about the half way point. I forgot to switch my rear cog the night before, so my lowest gear was a 39 front-25rear. I was very slow on the climb and that was the only time I’ve been thankful for the devil. Ahahha
I rode the last 20 miles mostly by myself and the cramping got worse. With about three miles to go each overpass hurt more. At one point my right leg locked up and I had to stop peddling.
It turns out that I had lost 7 pounds, so I was not drinking nearly enough water. I thought I was ok, but I learned my lesson.
Over all I had a great time.

My friend and I want to try the 50 mile course next time around. Do you know if it's generally the same each year (even though this was only the second in San Jose)? And what's it really like, climbing wise? We don't have any real hills here so it's hard to do hill training.

I believe the course was pretty much the same as the previous year. There are a couple of climbs for a total of 1200' over the course. Shannon Rd. in Los Gatos isn't too bad, especially since it's towards the beginning of the ride. Silver Creek is tougher (I heard 11% towards the top), but it's not that long, so worst case you hike-a-bike for a bit. No shame in that. You can do it, just train for the distance if you can't train for the hills.

[COLOR=#204063][FONT=Helvetica]I rode the last 20 miles mostly by myself and the cramping got worse. With about three miles to go each overpass hurt more. At one point my right leg locked up and I had to stop peddling.
It turns out that I had lost 7 pounds, so I was not drinking nearly enough water. I thought I was ok, but I learned my lesson.
Over all I had a great time.


Ouch Pete. Good job on staying up with those guys, despite the suffering.