jsigone

Got a call from a team mate I ride with often, said he has an "epic" ride I need to do. He got the invite to a pretty exclusive "race" and said yes and paid for the event ahead of time. Told them he'll assemble a team. Idea is 6 persons team, ride the entire route together, only as fast as the slowest guy 3min intervals on the starting grid. Course starts in Pasadena...can you say Angel's Crest Hwy oooh boy maybe to Palmdale and back some loop thru Soledad or Big Tujunga. Iduno how else to make a good 100 mile loop from there. Touching Crystal Lake- > GMR or Baldy will make it extremely EPIC and return might be pitiful but still in range. Won't know til day of the event...Nov 9th I'm thinking it's gonna be either a 90-100 miles and 8-9k ft of vertical or something stupid like 140ish miles and 13k ft of vertical. From looking at other events, they are NOT shy using fire roads.

I didn't tell my wife I signed up for this event

mkadam68

Sucker!!

jsigone

most likely but good thing I have enough long rides under my belt. But not toooooo many of those long climbs.

Erwin8r

Ouch!!! Sounds great, JSig--we can continue to live vicariously through your exploits! Lol!

mkadam68

Yeah, distance isn't a bother. But climbing like that? I did the KOM Series in 2008. Two words: never again!

Homeyba

Sounds like a lot of fun. I did something like that once and we covered 118 miles in 4:45. You can really scoot in a group like that (even on the climbs). We didn't have the climbing you're talking about but those climbs aren't bad. Just long. I've been over them a bunch of times. Why not tell your wife? I tell my wife that kind of stuff and she just rolls her eyes.

Do they have rules for the minimum number of riders finishing the race together or does everyone have to finish together. If everyone has to finish together that could make for a long day if someone gets sick, has an off day or just didn't train...

jsigone

yah I'm not worried on the distance, I do that almost every other saturday anyways, half of which is club ride paced. Last Sunday we did Wolhford, Palomar, Cole grade home after the century ride the day before (57mi/6800ft vert). Climbing I can deal with, climbing faster then I'm comfy with over 2hrs might be a different story if we head up AC.

6 of 6 has to finish or the team DNFs. Time is taken on last person to cross the line. But moral is to stay together and play each other strengths along the course. I don't know the other 4 riders yet, gonna find out more info on tomorrow's club ride thru the foot hills. With 2wks left, there is no time to train. Just ride and climb some more IMO.

Call came in before lunch, just haven't told wife yet. I'll tell her some time over the weekend as I gather more info.

haha glad I can entertain someone with my crazy ideas

Homeyba

They probably picked you because they (or someone) thought you'd fit in well with your group. I was picked for my group because I can throw it in my 60/11 gear and crank for long distances at relatively high speeds plus I'm big and give a really good draft. Don't know if you'll do this but the stronger climbers on our team would help us slower climbers with a "hand" on the climbs then us slower climbers would pull the climbers in the flats to let them recover. The key is to not let yourself or any of your teammates blow up. It's all about teamwork.
You are right, no time to train in two weeks but doesn't sound like you need to.

jsigone

So i know one other on the team and he's one of the fastest on the club. Good all around climber but sprinter as well. Sick MTB skills so he should be fine on the gravel roads. As well rounded as they come. I'm trying to twist the arm of another buddy who is very similar and has enough training/ skills to pull this off. Team leader and myself might be the weaker leaks at this point.

Speaking of gravel roads.... group email said "healthy dose of gravel" looking at other events they put on, it can be 50-60% gravel or dirt roads. Plan is to run as many tubeless tire wheel sets we can with fresh stans sealant + spare tubes which I hope we won't need. My stans 400 20/24h wheelset will go to a lighter rider, I'll get to borrow a 28/28h stans 400 on DT hubs, my buddy should be on a 28/32 stans400 w/ CK hubs. No sweeper vehicle before 56 miles...I assume that where the xhitty roads ends or tappers down.

TrojanHorse

Alright, make sure you post the route ahead of time... I need a laugh.

I can think of all kinds of hard riding starting in Pasadena... Good luck!

Sassonian

Holy Cow!!!

What sort of speeds?

jsigone

I'm thinking it will be some dirt way UP the side of Angels Crest or some dirt road UP to Palmdale area. Maybe head up to Henninger Flats Campground then some forest road after that up Big Tujunga to Wilson? Iduno..it's a big Mt range from West to East

Finally team roster is pretty much set, pretty happy with the team since I ride w/ them all the time. 3 all arounders and 3 power guys.

Homeyba

We averaged 24.8mph for 118 miles, we were going pretty fast...

ChuckD6421 

In my 20's I raced, including a couple years of Cat. 2 (and here I am now in the Clydesdales' group...sigh, oh well).
On a couple occasions I participated in 100k TTT's. Of all the 10, 20 and 40k ITT's, centuries, double centuries, epic hundred+ mile winter rides in the Catskills, 12 and 24 hour relays, nothing drained me and left me as broken as the TTT's. I'm talking fetal-position-under-blankets-on-an-80-degree-day broken.
Basically it's a couple hours of uninterrupted intensive interval training with five other guys hanging on your every pull.

Try to remember you'll come out a better man in the end. Try anyway.

jsigone

this was my last "training" ride for this weekend's event https://www.strava.com/activities/92823345
Goal was to keep my heart rate under 70% and keep things light tempo w/o any surging. Plan is to keep things light this week and have fun saturday on the bike

TrojanHorse

Your idea of easy is clearly different from mine.

Good luck Saturday.

jsigone

Thanks!!

I need to make some adjustments to the bike this week. Right now I have the stem slammed all the way w/ about about 12mm of spacers on top. Because of the steep/loose decents, I'll move the stem up with 10mm of spacers under. Riding position should be less prone to ass over tea kettle if it points down steeper then 10+% grades. Should give better feed back on decending and not as twitchy.

IBOHUNT

Sounds like a hoot of a time. Wish I was doing it.
Keep us posted.

CommuteCommando

Dude! You're an animal I say. An animal!

jsigone

small hint came through the wire....101 miles and crosses the Pacific Crest Trail

Last min LBS run needed, purple SwissStop BXP brake pads, 10spd power link, 2 more tubes, and spare road shifter cable

TrojanHorse

You guys should definitely divvy up the spares and between you bring a few more tools than you would normally. Sounds almost like you're going to head up 39 past Crystal Lake and them maybe return via ACH, but that's only 90 miles or so and 13k feet, so clearly they have another 10 miles of punishment in store for you.

If you head up GMR and take Lil GMR back down through camp Williams that gets you to 100 miles and 15k feet.

Been nice knowing you.

jsigone

your route has too much pavement

Homeyba

What bike/bikes are you taking. It's something like 60% fire roads? Are you going to ride a proper road bike the whole time or are you taking a cross bike for the dirt and switching to a proper road bike for the paved parts? When you're on the pavement, have you discussed what kind of paceline strategy you're going to use?

TrojanHorse

Go get some gatorskins and put tuffy liners in them too... depending on the nature of the fire roads your skinny road tires might be a real handicap. Can you go with 28s?

jsigone

I don't know the official course til Thrusday, I can just speculate of what I'd route in that mt from that start location and taking a guessing which of those forest roads are rideable. My route has 50 miles of climbing on the dirt before popping out on Angles Crest Rd.

Regular roadies, no switches, all 6 person team has to check in together and finish together, this isn't a relay style race. Climb as fast as the slowest guy or gearing allows. I'm taking my super6, teammates will be on 2 Focus Izalco, Cervelo Rseries, Look carbon lugged(iduno the model), CAAD9. I'm not worried about pace line with these guys, we ride w/ each other almost every saturday so we know the drill...who ever is feeling good will work near the front. But things will change after being in the mt all day. Best case where we pop out will be a sub 20 mile flat paved roads to the finish.



I'm running tubeless tires, have spesh roubaix 25c tires. I'll inject a fresh 1oz of stans sealant this week. Frame can handle 28c rear but only 25c front fork clearance. Might be able to squeeze a 28 in there but there will be no room for rocks and debris of the trails before it digs into the fork.

They also make it very very clear that tires/tubes are best fat then skinny for this ride. They recommend a hardshell gatorskin25c as the min. I hope I don't have to use any tubes at all running tubeless, will do my best to protect side wall punctures. We will be in the mt so remote that I don't want to chance things too much. I'm taking my MTB multi tool that has a chain breaker on it, mini fake leatherman style pliers.