Northern California - Primavera In Three Weeks

Only three more weeks until the Primavera Century on April 11th. We tried to pick a weekend without other centuries. Apologies to those that like double century weekends.
http://www.ffbc.org/primavera/

The Primavera is the first organized century that I did in the Bay Area. It is still one of my favorites. The routes are very scenic with little traffic.

Thanks for the reminder. I have very fond memories of the Primavera. Am tempted to do this one.

Anyone else going?

I'm doing it with a couple of guys from work. Hope to get a faster time than last year; my first century ride. Loved the route, so I'm in again.

nevermind, links are working now

I remember wanting to do this last year, i may be interested this year... Nothing like a last-minute century :D

I'm doing the metric

Looks good!

A friend and I will be doing the metric as well. I look forward to "the wall"

Crap. Storm forcast for this Sunday. Time to get the rain gear ready.

2009 Wine Country Redux? Oh well.

LOL! This time I'm keeping my fenders attached to the bike. I'm still debating about the rain jacket. Even though I was soaking wet in last years Wine Century the cold wasn't that bad.

I am in for the metric as well, hopefully the weather won't crap out - it's been so perfect this week.

2009 Wine Country Redux? Oh well.

Definitely thinking this is likely. Looks like I'll be getting my entire WCC uniform back out again tomorrow. Have fun everyone.

On Hamilton it was COLD and WINDY today. Caps for emphasis. Good luck tomorrow!

Thanks Chris.

Thanks to FFBC - a great ride again this year.

It was pretty clear from the get-go that the weather kept a lot of folks at home - one of my party of 3 bailed (as he's not on BF, he doesn't know how to HTFU), so me and a work colleague headed out just before 7. It was windy from the very start, and that definitely kept speeds down, my plan was to try to conserve through at least the half way point, as I figured that the worst of the wind would be out by Altamont and if we could make it past there without being blown off the road or drowned (what with the stormaggedon we'd been hearing about for the last few days) it'd be a victory.

We were stoked to make it up and over Altamont in good time, and it was nice to chit-chat with Britpower again at the lunch stop. (Damn, if that wasn't the best soup and sandwich ever.) At this point, my riding companion and I made the stoopid, STOOPID move of finally uttering what we'd been thinking for the last 50-60miles. "Wow, we've been lucky with the weather". Well it was windy, that was a given, but as early as Calaveras Rd we'd seen some truly gnarly looking storm clouds gathering and had both been thinking to ourselves that we'd be overrun and drenched by them at any moment. Naturally, that was pretty much what happened over the last 30miles. A few spots of rain ended up in a pretty relentless downpour. On the Dublin grade there were rivers of water running down the road. Also my friend ran into some leg pain (ITB?) and my fingers were gradually going numb, while we were both sloshing around in our shoes by the last rest stop at mile 87. My hands didn't improve much thereafter, by the time we were back on Alvarado-Niles I couldn't shift to my 50T without moving my hand onto the lever and pushing with my palm, but my legs felt good through to the end. When I got to the car, I got a pretty good case of the shivers - that took a fresh set of clothes, some food and a good 30mins to get calmed down.

Very happy to get the first century of the year in the bag, and also glad for the extra training from mother nature.

Next stop Wine Country Double metric; couldn't rain there two years running, right?

Great job Richard. I thought about you guys while watching a couple water polo games at Davis. It was a constant rain and the drive back home was a really pain. Certainly not a good day to be riding.

Great job Richard. I thought about you guys while watching a couple water polo games at Davis. It was a constant rain and the drive back home was a really pain. Certainly not a good day to be riding.
Second the congratulations to everyone completing the Primavera ride. Our club put on the Cinderella the previous day, so today was our afternoon swap meet and I led the usual short club ride in the morning. Our ride went over Palomares in the opposite direction so we saw many of the early Primavera riders heading up the north side and stopped to chat with some of the Freewheelers at their Palo Verde rest stop. We were pretty lucky with the weather and didn't get any serious rain until the descent into Dublin - and then we could dry off and warm up at the swap meet. But looking out at how it was pouring a little later I had some sympathy for the century riders who were still out on the road.

Thanks to FFBC - a great ride again this year.

It was pretty clear from the get-go that the weather kept a lot of folks at home - one of my party of 3 bailed (as he's not on BF, he doesn't know how to HTFU), so me and a work colleague headed out just before 7. It was windy from the very start, and that definitely kept speeds down, my plan was to try to conserve through at least the half way point, as I figured that the worst of the wind would be out by Altamont and if we could make it past there without being blown off the road or drowned (what with the stormaggedon we'd been hearing about for the last few days) it'd be a victory.

We were stoked to make it up and over Altamont in good time, and it was nice to chit-chat with Britpower again at the lunch stop. (Damn, if that wasn't the best soup and sandwich ever.) At this point, my riding companion and I made the stoopid, STOOPID move of finally uttering what we'd been thinking for the last 50-60miles. "Wow, we've been lucky with the weather". Well it was windy, that was a given, but as early as Calaveras Rd we'd seen some truly gnarly looking storm clouds gathering and had both been thinking to ourselves that we'd be overrun and drenched by them at any moment. Naturally, that was pretty much what happened over the last 30miles. A few spots of rain ended up in a pretty relentless downpour. On the Dublin grade there were rivers of water running down the road. Also my friend ran into some leg pain (ITB?) and my fingers were gradually going numb, while we were both sloshing around in our shoes by the last rest stop at mile 87. My hands didn't improve much thereafter, by the time we were back on Alvarado-Niles I couldn't shift to my 50T without moving my hand onto the lever and pushing with my palm, but my legs felt good through to the end. When I got to the car, I got a pretty good case of the shivers - that took a fresh set of clothes, some food and a good 30mins to get calmed down.

Very happy to get the first century of the year in the bag, and also glad for the extra training from mother nature.

Next stop Wine Country Double metric; couldn't rain there two years running, right?

After I closed the Water Stop, I went to the Lunch Stop. Just as they were breaking it down, the wind came in howling. I was looking around for a funnel cloud. After that it never stopped. It got so bad that the guy with his daughter on the tandem had us take them back to the start.

Which riders were you?

After I closed the Water Stop, I went to the Lunch Stop. Just as they were breaking it down, the wind came in howling. I was looking around for a funnel cloud. After that it never stopped. It got so bad that the guy with his daughter on the tandem had us take them back to the start.

Which riders were you?

Hmm maybe we were chit-chatting for a while: I was riding a black Roubaix, wearing a yellow rain jacket, white helmet and cycling cap, my friend was in a purple jacket and silver helmet. We're both Brits if that provides some aural prompt.

We're both Brits if that provides some aural prompt.

You, actually, might have felt right at home. Todays weather was very British too.

Kudos, Richard, for finishing. Tell Curtis that you don't need the HTFU on your jersey collar.

I turned my Primavera Metric into a Primavera 70K because of the brutal wind. It seemed to blow in my face both going south on Mission and north on Calaveras (how does that work?). Just as a I got back to my car at noon the deluge started.

BTW, coming back on Niles Canyon Road (84) was scary - no shoulder and lots of traffic. I'll never do that road again.

Lord-a-mercy, I forgot that Primavera was Sunday. :eek:

My TNT DR team rode Diablo/Morgan Territory on Saturday, our route overlapped a bit with the Cinderella course on Highland & Camino Tassajara. All we had to deal with was freezing cold, fog at the Diablo summit, some wind and a bit of rain. It would have really sucked if we had done that ride on Sunday.

Kudos to all of you who braved the elements! :thumb:

Yeah, Niles Canyon was something we already heard about. We have club rides that go through there. The problem is, it's about the only way to get out to Livermore/Pleasanton without making it an out and back. I don't think there's a way to get back to Union City from the Dublin Grade without going through a lot of city streets, plus, I think people like the climbing.

What did you guys think of the route markings? We found out the hard way that they had resurfaced a road that we painted the arrows on.
Do you think the arrows are big enough? Far enough ahead of the turns?
What about the drinks we offer. We have Gatorade, as do all of the rides I've been on. Would an energy drink be good, or are there too many to find one that the majority of people would like?
There was a suggestion to laminate the route sheet, but wouldn't that be a large hard sheet of plastic to carry?
Everyone on the forum, please feel free to comment.

I thought the arrows were pretty good - at least I could follow them pretty well, but then again I had ridden the course last year and am somewhat familiar with the area.

Re- rest stops I normally just use water and bring powdered HEED or perpetuem in a flask - so obviously pre-made HEED would be nice, but everyone's got their favorite, right?

Laminated route sheets would only make sense if you could reduce it to say a double sided sheet that could fit in a jersey pocket. That'd be neat, but not sure if it makes economical sense. I just folded it up and put it in a ziploc, not as elegant, but just as functional although I didn't really need to consult it.

Wow. I am flippin' impressed!
I was on I5 driving back from a journalism conference in LA. The highway wind was a nightmare. I can't imagine how you all roe through that mess. If anyone ever says HTFU to you, just laugh.

Wow. I am flippin' impressed!
I was on I5 driving back from a journalism conference in LA. The highway wind was a nightmare. I can't imagine how you all roe through that mess. If anyone ever says HTFU to you, just laugh.

+1. I was driving up from LA Sunday ... left at noon, to try to beat the rain. Well, when it wasn't raining, the wind was gusting harder than I can remember ... lucky I wasn't driving a truck.

My buddy and I finished the 100k in pouring rain. The winds were strong but not that bad because it was mainly either a straight head wind or a tail wind. There was only one section of the course, can't remember where, where the wind was a heavy crosswind during a steep, short downhill. That was the only time I felt worried about getting blown over.

Climbing up and descending Palomares was a love hate experience. The route from the first rest stop to the second and third was great because of the tail wind. But as soon as we made our left to Palomares and start the climb, HEADWIND all the way to the top. Thats also when the heavy rain started to come down. Palomares was as difficult and steep as I remember from 2 years ago.

As we descended the same wind and heavy rain made for an interesting and exciting descent. We bombed down that hill and was able to catch up and pass some other riders that left us on the climbs. It was great!

Dchiefransom, I thought the way the course was marked was excellent. Not once did we feel lost. The arrows on the pavement were clear and those huge arrows showing the turns are clear and concise. The food and refreshment at the rest stops were plenty and good. Those PB&J sandwiches really hit the spot. And coffee. Mmmmmm, coffee. :D

Gatorade should be enough at the rest stops, IMO. The problem with energy drinks is that some people does not have the tolerance for them. Last thing you want are people complaining about stomach problems because of what was offered at the rest stops. My 2 cents.;)

A complete circle with a headwind all the way, nice.

I was going to let the weather decide if I did 100k or 70k. Weather wasn't really too bad but the wind was a real "drag." However my freshly built up bike intervened, my handlebars kept coming loose - kinda sucked. I kept hitting them before a descent and just as I was about to go down into Sunol, down they went. So I packed it in and by the time I was hitting the highway the rain was really starting to come down. Then I went to the bike shop and explained my problem. I am riding Tierra Bella (supposed to be 75!) and will be nervous about the handlebars until it never happens again. Carbon stem, carbon bars.

^carbon assembly paste?

A complete circle with a headwind all the way, nice.

I was going to let the weather decide if I did 100k or 70k. Weather wasn't really too bad but the wind was a real "drag." However my freshly built up bike intervened, my handlebars kept coming loose - kinda sucked. I kept hitting them before a descent and just as I was about to go down into Sunol, down they went. So I packed it in and by the time I was hitting the highway the rain was really starting to come down. Then I went to the bike shop and explained my problem. I am riding Tierra Bella (supposed to be 75!) and will be nervous about the handlebars until it never happens again. Carbon stem, carbon bars.

Is there any room in there at all? If you can find a really thin sheet of rubber gasket material, I'd try making a shim of that. There's a reason that use the rubber shims on light mounts and computer mounts.