"Epic" Ride Attempt this Saturday
 

Well, epic for me. My wife is out of town so our two entries to Foxy's Fall Century (/100K) are going unused. I've concluded that the 5 hr R/T just isn't worth it since I would be rushing to get back at a reasonable time to feed horses. There is a nice club ride, 54 miles/5000' of climbing or so, but the average pace seems to imply a bit of waiting around. So I've mapped out what I think will be the toughest 100K I've ever done, not having done many long rides on a single. Wish me luck!
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1818602/elevation_profile

These roads at least have some traffic so if you go down someone might come along to collect the remains. This ride is on the east side of our valley; there is fabulous riding in the west side hills, but I don't have enough familiarity to map out a solo effort. In 3 weeks or so my son will be sufficiently recovered from his post-crash surgery to start riding and will do some exploring in that area at what I'm hoping will be a reasonable pace.

Best of luck... kinda nice that the big climbing is on the front end. Looks a great combination of efforts. Have fun!

Yes, good luck. That's more climbing than I like doing these days, but it sounds as if its something you really enjoy. So, have fun too.

Looks like 2,000ft in about 6 miles near the start so hopefully the grade isn't too step in too short a distance. And hope the weather will be fine.

Forecast for the area is mid 70's... weather won't be an issue here in sunny California (but sometimes I do wish we had 4 real seasons).

Any ride that front loads the climbing seems like a well planned ride to me. Good luck!

Nice route. Good the the big hill is front loaded. Enjoy your ride. We expect a post-ride report ... and a few pictures.

Epic is all in who is doing it. That sounds like a good ride. Funny thing about horses. They like to eat each and every day.

Yep. Epic for my current conditioning and age, but my bucket list includes a DC: don't know if I'll make it. In contrast my son's climbing gear is 39-28 and this ride would be a walk in the park.

I'm doing this on Saturday.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...-4counties.png

It's a big, diverse state. You can find almost any season you want somewhere in the state on any given day. What other state has a ski resort regularly open for downhill skiing on July 4 (Mammoth), a warm ocean for surfing on New Year's Day (SoCal), a desert (Mojave) and a rainforest (Humboldt, Del Norte)?

In fact, we're having our fifth season right now - Indian summer. I think it's going to hit mid-80's. Enough I say. BTW, appreciate the pre-strokes for my ride:) I know it's a shameless thing to do, but whatever. In fact we've done the big hill on our tandem - doing that on my single will be a piece of cake. My biggest challenge will be comfort as I'm in a frantic search for a new saddle for both single and tandem.

Agreed, but note that you have to drive 100's of miles to experience it all... being greedy I suppose, but I wish it would snow here (south bay) once in a while... I do like that the rain forest zone is just a short bike ride away.

Done. Beautiful weather, no cramps, but my legs are dead. The second climb is 1.4 miles, average grade 10.9% and no respite. I actually saw the Garmin show 9.5% one time, but basically the entire climb is between 10 and 15%. The first climb is bigger, but there is some respite. I'm climbing in a 34-32 and could have used a bit lower to keep my cadence up. I'll add a few pics tonight.
http://app.strava.com/activities/25596537

Silicon Valley is down there someplacehttp://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=279888

Henry Coe State Park looking into the back country. Very rugged terrainhttp://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=279889

Looks like you did well!
Rod