spingineer

This was kind of the June BF NorCal ride, which made this ride pretty cool. We met at 6:30 am, and there were a good number of BF members here from both NorCal and SoCal. Tiffanie came up from Huntington Beach, NYGirl777 (Asia) brought along her husband Travis, and friend Lara from Las Vegas to come along with the ride (although Tiffanie left a little later than us)

We rolled at around 6:50 am (who are we kidding, leave by 6:30 am???)


Blastingradius ... one of the few times I'm able to see him on this ride




The 100 miler actually did the same route as the 100k, except doing one extra loop going up 84 down to Pescadero then back up Tunitas. Here's a shot going up 84:


There was a rest stop at mile 10, mostly for metric century riders, so I stopped by for a potty stop. But I didn't know everyone was continuing on, so I had to play catch up. I was powering up 84, and finally did meet up with Asia and Lara. We continued to ride on together down 84 to Pescadero. No big issues here.

After the rest stop in Pescadero, the route is supposed to go on 84, then turn a right at Hwy 1. However, most of the locals, including us, wanted to continue on Stage Road, which intersects with Hwy 1, then hang a right. I had to convince Asia and Lara that the reason we are doing this is it's scenic, and we get away for traffic for a little bit.


They were still whining at me ... is it because of the climbing we are doing? However, I did tell them the real climb is coming up ... a long sustained climb ... so I have this documented here!!!

Good thing I was riding with Asia and Lara, because they almost followed a couple of other riders who were not on the Giro, and were doing their own training route. I had to yell out hang a right at Tunitas ... they would have been on their way to Oregon!

I went up at my usual slow pokey pace. Asia and Lara went up ahead of me. No matter how many times I do Tunitas, it always gets the best of me. I did nothing different today. About 3 miles from the top, I see Asia and Lara waiting on the left side ... thanks ladies. They were wondering what happened to me ... I guess they never heard me say "I love hills, I just can't climb them ..." Then Asia says "How long is this friggin' hill" ... I tried convincing them the hard part of the climb is over, but somehow, she didn't believe me. So another guy comes up in some euro accent and says the same thing. Now she believes it. I guess I need to start speaking in a euro accent to obtain credibility? Ahpook, another BF'er, comes along side with us to continue the climb.

We made it over, then we were treated to a nice screaming downhill over Kings Mountain road, with plenty of switchbacks. Very nice. That's why we climb Tunitas, to be treated with Kings Mountain going down. Ahpook needed to get back earlier, so he went back and made it a 70 miler instead. Asia, Lara and I continued on the 100 miler.

We got to the firestation rest stop, and Asia wanted to wait for Tiffanie.


So Lara and I went on ahead. Travis, who was already at mile 80, had already done what we were going to do. He says to us "there ain't nothing pretty up there" ... assuming he meant the climbs are So we prepared for the worst. My knee was also feeling a bit of a twinge ... felt like a needle was stuck in my knee, so I made sure I wasn't pushing it too much. The climb up Page Mill was not that bad. Maybe because I was taking it really easy climbing ... again, Lara was up ahead of me. She is strong!

We were warned that someone went down on the descent on Altimont. They went over the guard railing, assuming they went too fast. We took this warning, and proceeded down with caution. No issues here ...

We proceeded to the next rest stop, and decided to wait for Asia and Tiffanie. We waited there for a good 30 minutes, but there was a no show. So we continued on. As we good back to the race track parking lot, we see everybody there ... including Asia. Tracy was worried, and was going to ride back to find us. Well, looks like Asia had a flat, and just continued on. She text messaged Lara, but she didn't have her cell phone on. Oh well.

As I am typing this, my legs are stiff, walking funny ... the usual thing with long hard rides. I think my rides this month are catching up with me. Hard double century last weekend, hard century this weekend.

I did hear that there were 9 riders who were taken in an ambulance. I really hope they aren't too serious, and hope they recover well.

Total mileage: 100.69 miles
Elevation Gain: 7633 feet
Riding Time: 7:58 ... ugh

spingineer

Few more pics

Up Hwy 84:


Lara



Asia

SesameCrunch

I left at 6:40 with a friend. We thought we were cruising pretty fast until this bike stud on a red bike with matching red kit catches up with us on Tunitas. We got to talking and turns out he's NYGirl's husband. He used to be a pro. What a stud - had a body like Jerry Rice. He stayed with me for 10 minutes and then cruised up the hill, burning rubber on the way. Coool.

spingineer

Alan,
Did you do the full 100 miler? Just curious.

SesameCrunch

No. I met some friends from my regular riding group at the Portola Fire Station rest stop. I just rode in with them and skipped Page Mill, Los Altos. Got 75 miles in total.

ifox

spingineer, nice pics!

genejockey 

I live 1 1/2 miles from Bay Meadows, so I rolled on over at about 6:10, and hit the road at about 6:20. I'd never done a century, so I was afraid of being the last rider on the course, and finding all the rest stops closed. Silly me! At each stop, about 5 minutes after I arrived, a bunch more people pulled in!

I ended up riding alone most of the way, which i didn't mind - I could ride at my own pace. One place I did kinda cheat - that headwind on Canada was just too much, so I got on the tail of 4 riders from the Benicia Bicycling Club, and drafted them through the worst part. Bad manners, I know, but I was toasted. Thank you Benicia Bicycling Club!

Overall, it was easier riding 100 miles than I expected it to be. Of course, now I'm living on Advil, and groaning like an old man every time I stand, or sit....

Kudos to the folks who supplied and staffed the rest stops! The food was just what I needed - my favorites were the rice krispy squares and the potatoes, though the watermelon was pretty good, too!

Rincewind8

We didn't meet anyone we know at the fire station, but did the same. Though I think it is more like 80 miles total.
Here is a picture of us at the last rest stop:

Ty.S

Glad to see everybody had a good time on the ride. I was enjoying the 100k until I missed a turn and added about 6mi. onto my distance. The wind on Canada was a nice way to burn me out near the end. I have been debating getting some deep dish rims but after the way I was blown around on the Giro, I may go ahead and forgo that idea.

Although, I was on a pair of new continental tires which stood up pretty well when I rode right over a broken bottle.. NO PUNCTURES! not even a tear! Maybe I was lucky, but my old bontragers would have died on the spot for sure.

I did see 1 rider get clipped by a car, that was unfortunate, but it was a light tap and the driver stopped. No damage to either party. I definetly don't envy you 100mi. people, it looked cold and foggy in those hills.

See you guys on the road.

ConstantRider

When I was descending Altimont, the rider in front of me locked up his brakes and briefly slid for a few yards before regaining control. He said he thought he was either going to go down or over the guardrail -- luckily, he managed to come out of it with just a momentary elevated heartrate.

All in all, though, it was a great day. Pescadero wasn't as cool and foggy as last year, and the inland portions of the ride weren't as hot. Descending 84, I hit a new personal speed record of 47.1 MPH. Descending Kings Mountain Road, on the other hand, I was pretty much riding the brakes the whole way down. Those are some tight turns.

ahpook

Hey I saw you guys several times, I didnt realize you were BFers or woulda said hello. There was a funny moment leaving the first stop where your stoker was kicked back, riding no-hands and eating -- I pointed it out to BR and travis like "Where do I sign up for that ride??"

spingineer

I think we passed by you, or you passed me. I recognize the stoker's jersey. I was wearing a jersey that commemorate Lance 6x jersey.

CaptainCool

At the second fire station stop, I heard there were two 911 calls: one rider went over a guardrail, and another was hit by an old lady. For the second one, there was a doctor and a surgeon on site immediately - other bikers. They also estimated 990 riders for the day, not sure how that was split up between the routes.

I thought I'd be far slower than you guys, but I ended up averaging 12.7mph. I fell in love with my gear range yesterday. My bottom gear is below 1:1, which took me up Tunitas at 5mph at 70rpm.

It was a very pretty ride. The reservoir soon after the start:


Giant garden somewhere along Portola or Alpine:


Why is waffleimages banned here?

spingineer

That's actually pretty respectable ... heck, it might have been even better than me.

ahpook

C'mon other folks have to have taken pics! I saw lots of cameras out.

SesameCrunch

This is where getting the NorCal jersey will make our rides more fun. I remember seeing them on the way also, but of course, didn't say hello.

uspspro

It was a fun ride, and my first century!

I got:
100.75 miles
16.6 mph
6:04 ride time

I rode with Ivan from the 84/Stage rest stop all the way until the end, it was cool riding with all of you.

-Marco

genejockey 

7600 feet of climbing? Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle! Suddenly I feel retroactively tired!!

Seriously, how accurate is the 7600 feet? I've shied away from some Centuries with 7000 feet of climbing. If this one had that much, I've been a wimp!!

SV Commuter

Braggart
It was great seeing everyone and meeting a few new folks!

I rode with Jeremy (LostInSanJose). It was his first century also, and he did well on the climbs for being from the east coast. Second century for me, this was much nicer than the 94° termperatures in the Central Valley for my first. Sorry, no pictures for this one!

Like lots of folks, we did Stage Road rather than going to Hwy. 1 but then added the distance back by deciding to skip the rest stop at St. William church but not realizing right away that the route made a U-turn and doubled back
100.09mi
7:06
14.0mph ave
91.9mph max (my comuputer has been doubling my max speed lately..., should be 45.9?)

spingineer

Hey that's pretty good .. you must have been burning rubber!

CaptainCool

The website claimed 7000 feet. The climb up 84 was around 1000 feet, and Tunitas was 2000. I think there were two climbs around Altamont/Alpine/Portola that were 500 each.

Rincewind8

She rides sitting up, no-hands most of the time. Part of why we got a tandem is that she has tendonitis in both arms and cannot hold on to the handlebar for a long time. She still does her share of pedaling, sometimes more!

ahpook

I won't re-post it, but here's my overly verbose ride report:

https://ahpook.vox.com/library/post/g...de-report.html

spingineer

Great report. I wouldn't say it's overly verbose ... not much more than mine I definitely was spent at the second half, so you were not alone ... I figured if I was to pay for a ride, I better get in a full century!

BigSean

Great report. Sorry I was late and missed most of you.