Rick@OCRR

Sounds like an excellent ride h2oxtc!

I have a route like that in the mountains above Los Angeles and I know that with all that climbing it makes a long day of it (at least for me). We are also fortunate to have a couple (or three) burger and fries places in the mountains here (Newcomb's on Hwy 2, Crystal Lake Cafe on Hwy 39 and Camp Williams on East Fork) one which always makes a good lunch for me!

Keep on doing rides like this and before long a double-century won't seem like a lofty goal either!

Rick / OCRR

Rick@OCRR

Lifetime? I have no idea. I started serious road cycling at 18 and never let up so probably over a hundred thousand miles I would think. Detailed yearly records only started when I got my Garmin, three years ago (though I remember I had 13,000 miles in '85). Last year I had a bit over 10,000 miles with 750,000 ft. of climbing.

When I lived in MO I rode a total of 14 double centuries (first one in '82) in MO and IL and since I've moved to CA (in '95) I've ridden 71 doubles. I ride a lot of centuries because they are good training for doubles! Plus, I ride to work three days a week, do club training rides 2 days a week and try to work in a recovery ride on Sundays after riding in the mountains on Saturdays.

I get around 250 mi. a week, though obviously more if there's a double-century in that week. 5 doubles so far in 2015, three more on the schedule.

Fortunately we have an excellent double-century organization here in CA, so that helps a lot. The Official California Triple Crown Web Site

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

Rick tells the truth. the California Triple Crown organization is great, and, you will meet the nicest riders on those doubles. Fall Solvang will be my next

Rick@OCRR

My next three doubles are Knoxville, Bass Lake and Dead of Winter. Hopefully the Bull-Shifters will do one of the checkpoints for The Dead of Winter Double again. All the other checkpoints were kind of weak but the Bull-Shifters really rocked .

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

Thanks Rick
I am pretty sure Jim is organizing a check point, as well as a staff ride. It was fun to work the check point at Hemet. That was my first experience at it.

dicktill

Still pretty impressive. I thought I was doing pretty good with 15,405 miles since 1999, including 23 centuries (one of them a double, er actually 250 miles), and one 5,000 mile year; toughest day was a hot, humid 160 miles with 7,000 feet of climbing. And a couple more centuries way back in high school / college (when I didn't know there was such a thing as a century), and I'm possibly pushing 18-20k lifetime. But pales in comparison with yours. I think I'm going to stop reading your posts.

Regards, Dick

Rick@OCRR

Glad to hear that Dwight!

Say "Hi!" to Jim for me since I don't think he's on this forum. Good seeing you at the Hemet Double too! My friend Arlene DNF'd at your checkpoint but thankfully completed the Grand Tour for her first double in June, plus she's signed up for Bass Lake too. Looking forward to seeing Jim @ Dead of Winter!

I do alright dicktill, but there are lot of guys (and women!) who are much faster and do many more miles than I do. On doubles I'm usually barely in the upper half of finishing times, occasionally (on a good day!) the upper third. Still having fun riding though!

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

I will tell Jim you said Hi. as for your speed, Rick.. you and Biker395 are always way ahead of me on the doubles. I consider you a strong doubles rider.

Rick@OCRR

I know for sure that Victor Cooper (Biker395) is faster than I am. The only reason I finish sooner (sometimes) is that he's spending more time at the checkpoints (he's very friendly and an excellent speaker) and/or he's riding in a large group which always takes longer since any slight delay by one rider is a delay for the whole group. I know that was an issue on the Eastern Sierra Double this year, for example.

That said, I'm faster than some, slower than others but usually only ride with one other person (Peg Miller) who does not dally (quick in/out!) at checkpoints.

Rick / OCRR

rodentcloister

With the recent turn this thread has taken, I'm not sure I should post this, but here I go anyway.

I completed my first century today. 101.2 miles, 6293 feet of climbing.

I know a lot of you can do that (and probably more) before you have your morning coffee, but I ain't there yet.

tigat

Congrats. What you have done is no small thing, and it is out of reach 99% plus of folks our age. As for the thread, there's always going to be faster, longer, but your first is your first. Nobody can take that away.

jeichelberg87

Lorie's Lakeside Century. 104.8 miles on 9/19/15. NW > NE winds averaging over 20 MPH with gusts to 40 MPH. Made the ride fun with a capital F! LOL!
13MPH average.
https://www.strava.com/activities/395746283

jppe

I did another 100 miler from the house last weekend. Had thoughts of doing 80 miles but stretched it out a bit. Just trying to get back in shape for longer rides.....need to lose more of the vacation weight. Perfect morning to ride but I finished later in the afternoon and the temperatures had warmed up considerably. Great weather for golf but not quite as good for cycling!

Rick@OCRR

And you usually throw in several thousand feet of climbing on your centuries too!

Not bad for flat-land riding but those higher temps can really make long climbs miserable, at least for me. Been getting 100+ on my Garmin for centuries in the mountains lately, i.e. not so much fun, even though the descents have a cooling effect.

Rick / OCRR

hoodat

Born in 1932. just in time for the great depression. Had a triple bypass three years ago and went into a three week coma but I'm still on my feet. Came out of it with atrial fibrillation so I'm always a bit short winded. That pretty much limits me to an Etrike but I pump as much as I can to build up my endurance.
I'm getting my legs built up pretty good but I'm still working on the lungs and heart. Hey I'm still on top of the ground instead of under it so I'm ahead of the game.
In my part of San Diego I can't go anywhere without going up and down hills. They are short but sometimes steep. I'm getting the hang of pumping as much as I can and using the motor for a boost where I have more hill than either I or the motor can handle alone. When I want a fun ride the Bayside bike path is handy so I can make a run to Coronado or National City depending on which way I go. They keep most of it well maintained and it gets lots of use. It also doubles as a jogging path.
If I get in good enough shape I'll dust off the kayak and start working on the upper body.

az_cyclist

Training ride tomorrow around Sedona AZ. 90+ miles, with 8,000 ft of climbing. It is out last training ride before the Fall Solvang Double.

Biker395 

Nice! I've not done the Fall Double ... I've heard it's a nice route.

az_cyclist

It looks interesting... kind of like 3 loops. look to be about 3000 ft more climbing than the spring route. My garmin had 7800 on the spring route this year. ridiwithgps is showing 11600 for the fall route.

Rick@OCRR

Hi Dwight,

I've only ridden the Fall Solvang once and that year wind was much more of a factor than the climbing. Hopefully the wind will be kind to you this year!

Since Knoxville got cancelled because of the fire I'm thinking about riding the Oceanside Double to make for it (kind of). Have fun on Solvang!

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

thanks Rick. Bass Lake and Oceanside both look interesting. We have other plans the weekend of Oceanside.

GravelMN

Headwaters 100 in Park Rapids, MN is tomorrow. Trees are starting to change colors and forecast is for 60s and 70s with sunshine and moderate winds. Lots of hills and trees to break up the wind so it should be a great day. This is a very well organized ride for anyone in the area who has the day off and is interested.

Rick@OCRR

To avoid the excessive heat in the Los Angeles area we started our century at altitude at 7:00 AM; a place known as Red Box on CA Hwy 2 aka: Angeles Crest. From there it was up and down but mostly up to a National Forest Park/Campground known as Grassy Hollow. Since they can't sell drinks there, they offer cold bottled water with a .50 donation to the Forest Service. Hey, works for me!

Victor (Biker395) took this photo of Linda and myself at the start, Red Box parking lot. zero miles into our century.

We got water at Grassy Hollow, ate some JPF (jersey pocket food) and headed back to Red Box. I had hit something (rock or pot-hole) while descending from Dawson Saddle at speed and promptly flatted both tires from impact punctures. One of the tubes in my bag didn't have a long enough valve stem but fortunately Linda had one so were good to go.

Linda had a similar flat on the way back (fortunately only one tire!) so we were pretty much out of tubes for the last third of the ride. No worries though!

We found our cut-out-tree couch at Dawson Saddle had another chair added!

That gave us 80 miles but since Red Box is also the base of the Mt. Wilson climb, I rode up to the Observatory and back down twice (about a 5 mi. climb) to get in my century. I saw Victor and Stefan climbing Wilson (their 2nd time that day) as I was descending the first time. When I got to the parking lot, I still needed miles to get my century . . . so decided to simply climb Mt. Wilson again (about a 4.5 mile climb).

Linda, having no real need of the century miles, made do with 90 and was well on her way home by the time I finished my 2nd descent of Wilson.

Descending from Dawson Saddle to Vincent Gap we came upon a partially cleared landslide area. Fortunately it was ride-able.

Here it is on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/400944931

Sunset and Moonrise taken on my final descent of Mt. Wilson.

Overall a lovely and varied day on the bike. Finished with 101 miles and 10,784 feet of climbing.

Rick / OCRR

Rudy40

Next weekend will be the Baton Rouge Cycling Club's annual 'Fall in the Feliciana's' Century held in Clinton, LA. I just finished a metric last weekend in Hammond but can't make the Clinton ride this year. Nor am I fit enough for the attempt. I think having a goal of a true 100 mile ride next October at age 63 is doable. We'll see...

Biker395 

Great to see you out there, Rick ... even if only for a short while.

I was really surprised how many people were willing to go all the way down to Wrightwood and take that long climb back ... but the pizza was worth it!

Pretty tiring ... the group I was riding with was going at a good pace.

I forgot to reset my VDO from the 508, so I only have RidewithGPS for estimates (108 mi and 13K)

Red Box to Wrightwood and Back - Arcadia, CA

Loren and Daniel heading up Mt. Wilson in the AM

az_cyclist

We didnt make a century on Saturday,only 88. We did get some quality climinbing as we had 6873 of elevation gain. We started at about 4200 ft, descended for 20 miles, then climbed to 6800 ft, the top of Mingus Mtn. It got warm after lunch, but was a nice finish thru Oak Creek Village and into Sedona. A good quality training ride for Fall Solvang