Northern California - MT Tam Double Reports

These Doubles dont seem to get any easier.

I left the house at 3:30am and got there in time to register and get to the 5am start line with 5 minutes to spare (A bit Close). I looked around but didnt see Marco and Ruth or anyone else I recognised. My plan for the day was to try to support my Team Mate Bill who was up for winning the Stage race overall.

The double started fast, really fast. I worked really hard up the first climb and took my life in my own hands descending down the other side in the pitch black and fog with the leaders. I managed to stay with the leading group of about 10 riders until half way up the Mount TAM climb where I got shelled out. I was pretty winded after trying so hard and was unable to get back on. I paid for my efforts for the rest of the Day and by 100 miles my LT band was pretty sore.

Most of the Double was dominated by fog, strong winds and climbing. I cant believe how much climbing there was, especially the nasty loop from Bodega Bay where I had my customary bad patch. I pretty much gave up on racing the double after the Bodega Loop but I got my second wind in Petaluma and put in an effort to try to get under 13 hours.

Time (Including Rest Stops) :13H 01m...DOH
Distance : 198.6
Climb : 16,213ft !!!

Tough ride, endless rollers. NY Chris and I started late, we had to go back to the motel room to pick up an important item. 5:24am roll out time. I had the arm and knee warmers on the bulk of the day. We took a right instead of straight on dillon beach road which lead to Petaluma-tomales where we were to be later in the day. I knew the cut off was 2:30 from lunch so it was full blown attack mode to get back to HW 1 and go straight (the white 'new' arrow was not present which lead to much confusion). Ended up with 210.1 miles. Don't think I will do this one again, not the same experience as the Terrible Two or Devil Mountain Double. Congrats to Chris and Chris as well as Marco & Ruth for completing. This was my third for the year so the bear jersey is in the future.

Congrats to all. You 200 milers amaze me.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_6DQj7sK5vY8/SnVRUBwBoBI/AAAAAAAACCw/WvPpIWRTeFU/s800/Picture%2016.png

Hard.

I'm too big for rollers all day long. This was like doing the first 200ft. vert ascent of Montebello 80 times. I had a flat which required, between the me and the sag mechanic, taking the rear wheel off the bike, and the tire off the rim, 5 times. I had 13:4x ride time, and 1:40 "rest" time. Of the rest time, 40 minutes was messing with the tire. I rode 60 miles on a boot, and 80 miles with my left shoe as loose as I could get it while still keeping my foot in.

Not really a fun day. 1 more for me before I get the Bear.

Nice job guys!

That was a tough ride indeed. I saw ygduf at the start and then Marco/Ruth on the tandem just after the mass start. I pushed pretty hard all day. In fact, I found myself in the lead group of 25 or so. I was off the back when the first big climb began but found some good pacelines for a big chunk of the morning. I was feeling sluggish just before lunch and ate too many burritos once I got there. I was dying for solid food. It took me a while to get back to form... probably by the time I crested the Coleman climb.

I rolled in with a few friends just shy of 7pm. My first double completion in daylight. Not sure on ride time, etc... haven't uploaded the Garmin yet. I'll have nightmares of steep rollers tonight....

I was just thinking.....
That course must have been horrendous on a tandem.

I feel for you guys. Last year the winds were blowing so hard that we had to descend at around 5 miles an hour around Pt. Reyes. It sounds like the guide markers were better this year (they actually pointed in the wrong direction completely in a few key turns last year). This was the first ride I ever road where I thought, gee, this wasn't fun or worth it. I commend all of you that finished (due to getting a little lost, I only did 150 miles in last year's).

Congrats to everyone, impressive efforts and impressive times.

Great job everyone!

I was just thinking.....
That course must have been horrendous on a tandem.

Uhh.... YES! :lol:

Yep.. this one was pretty hard, and just not all that fun. I honestly though DMD was fun, and can't wait to do that one again.

Probably skipping this one next year, and doing Terrible Two instead.

This was surely the ride of mishaps for the BF crew.

Here were ours:

- In the early part we were sticking with the main front group, loosing them on the first climb, but catching back up on the downhills. Then our Go-Pro camera just snapped right off the handlebars :mad: at 40+ on a descent that we were catching back up to tall Chris. So we had to make a dangerous u-turn and go back up the hill, and find our camera in the bushes. Another 10+ minutes there, and a broken camera mount...

- 4 missed turns, that were luckily quickly rectified. Probably cost us 15+ minutes.

- Snapped our chain on Joy road where a steep descent suddenly became a steep climb (hmmm. an on going theme for this ride). I messed up the shift, and tried to go to the granny a bit too late, and then put the power down before the shift was completed... then SNAP! Luckily the chain breaker on my new multi-tool worked flawlessly, and I threw on a SRAM powerlink, and were were good to go again. Another 10 minutes there.

- Then there was my stomach. I felt really sick (I even had the chills), the entire road to the Cheese Factory after HWY 1, the entire road to Marshall, and on the Marshall wall. It was lingering throughout the entire Bodega roller section to the lunch stop.. so that was pretty miserable. I felt better after lunch (mile 115). This cost an unknown amount of time, but probably A LOT, since I was going painfully slow on that Bodega loop.

We actually felt good on the Coleman Valley climb, it may have been steep, but it wasn't rollers. We had a good rhythm going.

Our total time including all stops and mishaps was apx 17 hours and 18 minutes. Ouch.

BUT.... This was double #3 for Ruthie & I. The Triple Crown 2009 is in the bag for both of us!

The tip of my right index finger is sore today.

I must have shifted, three or four thousand times yesterday? I would believe 20x/mile, given that I have a 10 speed and routinely went from 50/11 to 43/22, 25, 28, only to then upshift to 50/11 at the crest.

The elevation plot does not accurately represent how hilly this course was. For every peak on the plot, there were 2 rollers (climbers, really) to get there.

I just wanted to thank you guys for reminding me why I keep wimping out on double centuries. It hurts me just to read about them!!!

Holy Crap! You guys really earned those jerseys!

oh boy, Marco - do you guys ever have an uneventful ride? I guess it would seem somehow boring?











Marco, I'm starting to wonder if -

We took a right instead of straight on dillon beach road which lead to Petaluma-tomales where we were to be later in the day.

We made a bad turn for the same reason just a bit further along. We turned right onto Middle Road from Dillon Beach Road where there was definitely a white and green arrow. Maybe it was an old painted arrow - up until then we thought the painted arrows designated the same route as the paper arrows. The fact that the new/wrong road (Middle Road) has pained markings along it in the old oval green and white lulled us into thinking we'd taken the correct turn. Once the route joined the correct route at Fallon I struck up a conversation with a 200Km rider about his ride we and we both realized I'd skipped the whole Coleman loop. On our way back to the course we picked up another rider (#20) so I doubt we were the only people to make that wrong turn. Mentioned it to Frank but I don't know if he'll remember it for next year.

Well, I finished the ride with an hour to spare. The first 100 went gloriously. I loved the scenery, the climbs, the people I talked to (Hi Bill & Jennifer). The weather was perfect for a long ride (except for relentless headwinds in the north part of the course.) The descent off of Pan Toll and Panoramic was my favorite of the day.

For the rest of the day... Worst Roads Ever. What a mess. Especially the Coleman Valley / Joy road descents. Totally sapped the joy of descending. Getting lost around Dillon Beach and turning off onto Middle Road totally messed with my head and added too much stress. By the last 50 back from Valley Ford I just wanted it to be over. I do have to say I enjoyed the very last descent back on Lucas Valley.

In all it was a very hard ride. It didn't crush me as mentally as the Death Ride however. Also while they said it was the same or slightly less elevation gain as the old route we measured 1600+ feet and so did everyone else I talked to. So good job all of you that finished.

Kudos to Frank and the Marin Cycling Club for a great event.

This was #3 for me - my first triple crown. Knoxville and Death Valley next.

The tip of my right index finger is sore today.

I must have shifted, three or four thousand times yesterday? I would believe 20x/mile, given that I have a 10 speed and routinely went from 50/11 to 43/22, 25, 28, only to then upshift to 50/11 at the crest.

The elevation plot does not accurately represent how hilly this course was. For every peak on the plot, there were 2 rollers (climbers, really) to get there.

I was trying to figure out why my thumbs were so sore today. It was the constant gear changing on the Campy shifters. I dont think I have ever changed gear so often on a ride.

Maybe it was luck that I had to be on-call this weekend ... but after reading these reports, it must have been fate. Still, I think I'd prefer the physical suffrage rather than the mental anguish this weekend :p

rumbutter - how did your friend Bill do? Looks like he had a slim lead heading into this one. And that's an impressive time considering you're not fully healed!

We were happy to see Kathleen at the finish yesterday. We rode with her for parts of Devil Mountain and she had about a 1 hour lead in the stage race heading into Mt. Tam. Turns out she was the fastest female. Great job for her!

I'm just now looking at my numbers for yesterday. Total time was about 13:53 with a ride time of 12:14 (16.2mph average). My average heartrate was 148 bpm, which is about 10 higher than my previous 3 doubles. That goes to show that I didn't hold back for this one. I definitely felt stronger yesterday than my previous doubles. I attribute a lot of it to the cooler weather.

We made a bad turn for the same reason just a bit further along. We turned right onto Middle Road from Dillon Beach Road where there was definitely a white and green arrow.

This is exactly what we did only we didn't turn back right away and got all the way over to Tomales Petaluma after the left turn from Alexander road. I mapped out the extra on bikely and it came to 13.2 miles from wrong turn back to HW 1.

This is exactly what we did only we didn't turn back right away and got all the way over to Tomales Petaluma after the left turn from Alexander road. I mapped out the extra on bikely and it came to 13.2 miles from wrong turn back to HW 1.

Ouch. I remember this turn. My buddy took it and I called him back. There was a guy ahead of us (going straight) and I knew it was not his first time riding the course. Lucky us.

Wow you guys! Thanks fo rteh report. i was thinking of doing this, but chickened out. Looks like i made a good call for myself. That thing had twice the climbing of Davis! YIKES!
You all ROCK!!

rumbutter - how did your friend Bill do? Looks like he had a slim lead heading into this one. And that's an impressive time considering you're not fully healed!

We were happy to see Kathleen at the finish yesterday. We rode with her for parts of Devil Mountain and she had about a 1 hour lead in the stage race heading into Mt. Tam. Turns out she was the fastest female. Great job for her!

I'm just now looking at my numbers for yesterday. Total time was about 13:53 with a ride time of 12:14 (16.2mph average). My average heartrate was 148 bpm, which is about 10 higher than my previous 3 doubles. That goes to show that I didn't hold back for this one. I definitely felt stronger yesterday than my previous doubles. I attribute a lot of it to the cooler weather.

My average was 14.6. Color me impressed with 16.2. A few pacelines would have helped, but my pace seems to put me in the middle of nowhere by myself a lot of the time.

My average was 14.6. Color me impressed with 16.2. A few pacelines would have helped, but my pace seems to put me in the middle of nowhere by myself a lot of the time.

Dang, I can't even average 14.6 on a flat century!

Congrats everyone. No pictures this time?

Congrats everyone. No pictures this time?

I thought you were riding it? :p

rumbutter - how did your friend Bill do? Looks like he had a slim lead heading into this one. And that's an impressive time considering you're not fully healed!

We were happy to see Kathleen at the finish yesterday. We rode with her for parts of Devil Mountain and she had about a 1 hour lead in the stage race heading into Mt. Tam. Turns out she was the fastest female. Great job for her!

I'm just now looking at my numbers for yesterday. Total time was about 13:53 with a ride time of 12:14 (16.2mph average). My average heartrate was 148 bpm, which is about 10 higher than my previous 3 doubles. That goes to show that I didn't hold back for this one. I definitely felt stronger yesterday than my previous doubles. I attribute a lot of it to the cooler weather.

Bill was first home in a time of 11h30m !!!!

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_6DQj7sK5vY8/SnVRUBwBoBI/AAAAAAAACCw/WvPpIWRTeFU/s800/Picture%2016.png

Hard.

I'm too big for rollers all day long. This was like doing the first 200ft. vert ascent of Montebello 80 times. I had a flat which required, between the me and the sag mechanic, taking the rear wheel off the bike, and the tire off the rim, 5 times. I had 13:4x ride time, and 1:40 "rest" time. Of the rest time, 40 minutes was messing with the tire. I rode 60 miles on a boot, and 80 miles with my left shoe as loose as I could get it while still keeping my foot in.

Not really a fun day. 1 more for me before I get the Bear.

Stupid question time - how'd you capture this image from Garmin Connect?

@ygduf 15,000 calories? that's a lot of pizza! congrats to you and the rest of the hearty souls that took on this. i think this is the first time i'm hearing unanimous consent that a double century is not worthwhile.

My stats from the Polar HRM

5:24am start time
134 av HR, 174 max HR
In Zone 3 9:52:49, above 18:44, below 3:46:09
7512 calories
210.1 miles
15 mph avg, 41 mph max
78 avg Cadence, 111 max
13:57:17 ride time

@ygduf 15,000 calories? that's a lot of pizza! congrats to you and the rest of the hearty souls that took on this. i think this is the first time i'm hearing unanimous consent that a double century is not worthwhile.

The garmin calorie thing is probably 100% too high. In my head I count about 600 calories/hour.

I think you're hearing that this double century was just tough. They are worth doing, just because you're so happy when you finish!

Stupid question time - how'd you capture this image from Garmin Connect?

Oh, I just screenshot it, crop in Iphoto and export to picasaweb.

I want to guess our ride time was around 15:15 (around 2 hours of stopped time).

Here is the only decent picture I got with the go-pro, since it snapped off pretty early in the ride.

In the peloton early in the ride, sea of blinkies...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2533/3783035911_5748be529b_o.jpg

Yep.. this one was pretty hard, and just not all that fun. I honestly though DMD was fun, and can't wait to do that one again.

Probably skipping this one next year, and doing Terrible Two instead.

This was surely the ride of mishaps for the BF crew.

Here were ours:

- In the early part we were sticking with the main front group, loosing them on the first climb, but catching back up on the downhills. Then our Go-Pro camera just snapped right off the handlebars :mad: at 40+ on a descent that we were catching back up to tall Chris. So we had to make a dangerous u-turn and go back up the hill, and find our camera in the bushes. Another 10+ minutes there, and a broken camera mount...

- 4 missed turns, that were luckily quickly rectified. Probably cost us 15+ minutes.

- Snapped our chain on Joy road where a steep descent suddenly became a steep climb (hmmm. an on going theme for this ride). I messed up the shift, and tried to go to the granny a bit too late, and then put the power down before the shift was completed... then SNAP! Luckily the chain breaker on my new multi-tool worked flawlessly, and I threw on a SRAM powerlink, and were were good to go again. Another 10 minutes there.

- Then there was my stomach. I felt really sick (I even had the chills), the entire road to the Cheese Factory after HWY 1, the entire road to Marshall, and on the Marshall wall. It was lingering throughout the entire Bodega roller section to the lunch stop.. so that was pretty miserable. I felt better after lunch (mile 115). This cost an unknown amount of time, but probably A LOT, since I was going painfully slow on that Bodega loop.

We actually felt good on the Coleman Valley climb, it may have been steep, but it wasn't rollers. We had a good rhythm going.

Our total time including all stops and mishaps was apx 17 hours and 18 minutes. Ouch.

BUT.... This was double #3 for Ruthie & I. The Triple Crown 2009 is in the bag for both of us!

HA! I know who you guys are ... I'm the guy that was fixing a flat where you lost your camera!

I started the ride at 5AM too, and wasn't too far off the front (at least I didn't think so). Just before the spot where your light snapped off, I hit something on the road so hard it knocked my hands off the handlebars! Neither I nor the guy I was chatting with saw it, and at that point, it was more than light enough to see. I have no idea what it was.

So I'm congratulating myself on not losing control of the bike and start down the grade. I think I got going something like 25-30 MPH when my back tire flatted. Took a while to get the bike back under control (and I did so in the median). I lost enough time there to convince me to just pace the rest.

The double itself? Yea, it was all rollers. Quick rollers, long rollers, steep rollers, gentle rollers. I expected that. What I got tired of was that bloody wind. It must have been swirling around, cuz with only a couple of exceptions, it always seemed to be in my face.

The support was good and friendly, with one exception. Through some snafu my light (and many others) were not in Petaluma. Since we were more than early enough to get in before dark (and because I carry a Princeton Tec EOS as a backup anyway) it was no biggie for me. For others, maybe less so. I waited at the finish until after 10:30 for the light to arrive from Petaluma.

What a disaster that was. I was forced to munch pizza and cookies. And someone darn near forced me to slobber down an ice cream cone.

But the scenery was beautiful. Granted, it would have been better without the mists and winds, but it was still memorable. I'd do it again, but then again, I'm a glutton for punishment. :thumb:

Oh. I usually take skads of pix, but my camera crapped out about an our after the start. I might have a couple, tho. I'll see about posting 'em.

I took some pictures. Will post when I'm not tired/sick of this ride. :P

Terri and I got started a few minutes after 4:00 AM, and as the reports above indicate, lots of climbing (16,700 doesn't surprise me), lots of wind, and the brutal slog up Coleman Valley road.

Great job by the Marin Club under the circumstances, lots of checkpoints, lots of number-checks, but lots of food too, so no worries. Rode with Vic Cooper in the middle of the morning, then caught up to Killy Garsolle just before the Petaluma checkpoint and Terri and I rode the rest of the way in with her.

Overall a very tough ride, but we finished at 9:45 PM, so 45 minute cushion on the time cut. Terri and I were both tired on the drive back to LA on Sunday, then I slept from 4:00 Sun. afternoon until 5:00 Mon. morning . . . and I'm still tired!

So yes, very challenging, but a very good feeling to have finished. No mechanicals for either Terri or myself (thankfully). I didn't hydrate well enough at the beginning of the ride, but felt better once I realized my mistake and turned into a heavy drinker.

After that all good, esp. the tail wind into Petaluma!

I took some photos too, but too tired to post them now; hopefully later.

Rick / OCRR

A lot of people have reported elevation gains on this new alternate route of between 16,500 and 16,700. I measured 16,520 on mine.

Based on the Triple Crown web site that would move this alternate route ahead of Terrible Two based on alt gain alone. I know TT is hotter and (I hear) steeper but... damn.

1 20,300 Alta Alpina 8 Pass Challenge 198 Radically High
2 18,600 Devil Mountain Double 207 Radically High
3 16,480 Terrible Two 200 Radically High
4 16,470 Mulholland Double 202 Radically High
5 15,300 Heartbreak Double 202 Radically High
6 14,900 Borrego Double Ordeal 198 Extremely High
7 14,500 Mt. Tam Double 197 Extremely High

http://www.caltriplecrown.com/schedule.htm

Terri and I got started a few minutes after 4:00 AM....Overall a very tough ride, but we finished at 9:45 PM.

I started at the same time you did and finished just 15 minutes earlier. I talked to Terri quite a few times as we passed each other. I wearing a Davis Double jersey (#94) and riding a green Trek 520.

I wish there was a way to know who the BF regulars were while on a ride like this. We need those little oval international country code stickers with a BF on them for the bacls of our helmets.

http://images5.cafepress.com/product/63899215v4_350x350_Front.jpg

The Terrible Two was much harder than this ride and that was with the relatively mild temperatures for that area in June. Mt. Tam had a ton of climbing but ultimately the bulk of the elevation was from rollers. The extended steep pitches of the TT made it worse than the DMD and the most difficult ride physically and mentally to date. Coleman Valley was darn tough but I was never at the point of sheer exhaustion like I was during the wall after the Camp Gualala and the Fort Ross climb on the TT. Lowest gear on my triple of 32x26, stand for 5 seconds, sit for 5 seconds, sit and weave for 5 seconds at 4 mph over and over again.

I wish there was a way to know who the BF regulars were while on a ride like this. We need those little oval international country code stickers with a BF on them for the bacls of our helmets.

http://images5.cafepress.com/product/63899215v4_350x350_Front.jpg

I would wear some sort of BF.net sticker, but it should have the URL to recruit new riders. And make it small enough to fit along the bottom rim of the helmet or something.

^ I'd put on on my toptube. <G>

All the doubles have their charms. Heat, cold, wind, bad roads, steep climbs ... and just how you feel that day can make a huge difference in how you feel when it's all over. The Solvang Double was a chilly wet sufferfest a few years ago. And the hardest double I ever finished was the Death Valley Double several years ago. Something about 110 degree weather, no humidity and me being too stupid to take endurolytes or drink anything but water. It all depends on the weather. And how you feel.

The TT has some insanely steep climbs and some long ones. And it gets incredibly hot. Oh, and then there's that aggressive cutoff time. But on the upside, it has extended sections where you can paceline to your heart's content.

The DMD has a lot of climbing, but except for Sierra Road, none of it is terribly steep. Even Sierra is terraced, so you get a breather now and again. Good luck if you're ascending Mines into a headwind on a hot day, though. And Patterson in the wind? Yikes.

The Central Coast looks easy on paper, but it's often hot, the wind howls, and the a lot of the roads suck. Sucky roads take their toll.

Mulholland's tough too ... something about ascending Decker at mile 170, then the endless ups and downs on Mulholland to boot. Portero always kicks my arse. I feel like stroking out at the top.

So yea, each has its own charm. For me, Mt. Tam will be remembered for it's wind and it's rollers. And the Muir Woods, which were beautiful.

I finished pretty successfully so I am happy. Terrible Two was my first double and I plan on doing the Knoxville Double for my Triple Crown Jersey. The wind was pretty tough but cool temps and overcast skies are helpful when out on the road for 15 hours. Double Centuries are not as hard as I would think. Doing it on your own would be tough, but having the fuel stops every 25 to 30 miles or so breaks it down into very manageable chunks. And, of course, I've had relatively ideal weather for my two ventures.

Chris (ygduf) Ramon and I crashed in the same Motel 6 room, arising at 3:30 or some god-awful time. Chris sheparded Ruth and Marco's tandem to the start (they did not stay in our room) and Ramon and I drove off together. Ramon and I would ride pretty much the whole route together, joined by misfortune. After stopping at the Starbucks for some quick mass caloric intake, we arrived at 4:45 to find my wheels magically missing from the car. Not good. Poor Ramon had to drive me back to retrieve them. Mentally, it's a tough way to start an epic day, but Ramon kept very cool through it all. We got rolling out of the parking lot around 5:23 am. By then we were probably over 7 miles behind a large number of riders that we would never see. We would just would have to work for all the miles today. And then some, about 14 extra. This was the other unfortunate thing that happened (so they don't always happen in threes) turning off of Dillon Beach onto Middle Rd. and heading towards Chileno Valley. Ramon really busted it to get us back on track and we did get to the Coleman Valley cutoff 20 minutes before it closed. But we did need some time at the stop to fuel up.

I enjoyed the stretches of Rt. 1 from Muir Beach to Pt. Reyes. Some really nice wetlands with great shorebirds. We even saw a seal in them waters. Lots of free range cows living the good life.

One personal highlight was on the Coleman climb. After watching the Mt. Ventoux stage and the attacks by the Schlecks, I thought, "I have to try that." Not attack, of course, but just sprint up a steep climb that I've been climbing for awhile. I really put in a burst and after about 10 seconds my heart was about to burst. I just dialed it down to sustainable and then was able to attain a much faster pace than previously. It is like the shock of that burst ameliorated the lesser shock of going faster. And I just felt like I was sailing along.

All in all, a good day. I don't have my stats handy, except that it was 214 miles total. We started 5:25 about. We hit 100 miles right around 12:15 so seem. We rolled into the finish at 9:00 pm exactly.

I feel stupid about the wheels but other than that, it was a good day. Here are a few photos:

The Element - good for tandems
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a002-3.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a005-3.jpg

Lots of Cattle
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a006-3.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a009-7.jpg

And many Vultures
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a013-7.jpg

What are these?
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a014-4.jpg

The Central Coast looks easy on paper, but it's often hot, the wind howls, and the a lot of the roads suck. Sucky roads take their toll.

^This coupled with 9 additional "detour" miles (218 total) made the CCD my toughest double to date.

I came across a good (and lengthy) ride report from this weekend's double. I rode with Jay for a good portion of the morning. Nice guy, and good climber. At one point he called me "Fabian Cancellara" (:lol:) because of my work at the front of the paceline. We hooked up from about mile 36, on and off to mile 86. He notes my efforts through the flats in his report :D

http://pumpkincycle2008.blogspot.com/2009/08/mt-tam-double-2009.html

^ Oh yea. Those too. I forgot about those!

BTW, remember the photocrazy pix that was taken? Apparently Marin paid for those, and inadvertently took the certificates you need to download a hi-res version away a little prematurely. I sent a message to the marin century e-mail address, and they were graciously able to give me a download code.

If anyone is interested, you might want to do the same.

Now, the only question is whether the picture will make my arse look big. :eek:

I wish there was a way to know who the BF regulars were while on a ride like this. We need those little oval international country code stickers with a BF on them for the bacls of our helmets.
http://images5.cafepress.com/product/63899215v4_350x350_Front.jpg

Sounds like a good idea to me! Maybe: bikeforums.net and then your name on the forum, as in:

bikeforums.net Rick@OCRR

or, in your case: bikeforums.net kjfitz

Side of helmet would be best since on many helmets the back is all vent exits and sharp points!

Rick / OCRR

Wow you guys! Thanks for the report. I was thinking of doing this, but chickened out. Looks like i made a good call for myself. That thing had twice the climbing of Davis! YIKES!
You all ROCK!!

We missed you on this ride Curtis!

Yeah, I know it was a tough ride, but so was Davis and you finished that! Hope to see you on Eastern Sierra and Mt. Tam next year . . .

Rick / OCRR

Results are up.

There were 45 DNFs (not including DNS)!

Also, Ruthie and I still finished better than a whole bunch of people that started at 4AM. So now, I don't feel so bad ;)

Results are up.

There were 45 DNFs (not including DNS)!

Also, Ruthie and I still finished better than a whole bunch of people that started at 4AM. So now, I don't feel so bad ;)

I took 130th place! Yay!

Without tire problems I would have finished 103rd. Approximately.

I took 130th place! Yay!.

I found the results by bib number here: http://www.marincyclists.com/Default.aspx?pageId=183525

But no "placing" list. Ygduf, could you pls. advise the link for the placing list? I'm guessing I'm like . . .304th place :lol:. But hey, whatever, I finished under the time limit!

Oh, and what does "SR" after the time indicate?

Rick / OCRR