Sierra-Calaveras-Palomares Ride Report and Pics
 

Here it is ... a separate ride report and pics thread ... to separate it from the announcement thread ... :lol:

Brrr ... it was friggin' cold out there! Before I headed out for today's epic Sierra-Calaveras-Palomares ride (hey, that rhymes), I checked out weatherunderground, to try to check out weather conditions. Couldn't find a weather station near Sierra, but at home, in Santa Clara, it was registering 31 F. Dang, my thought was I'm going to freeze out there. Maybe this should have been the Pesky Penguin ride, but I don't want to mix venues with that theme.

With the cold, chilly weather awaiting me, I had to re-think my wardrobe for the ride. I decided on my semi-goretex jacket, arm warmers, leg warmers (I originally was going to use knee warmers, but it's cold enough to warrant a full leg warmer outfit), wind resistant gloves, full shoe cover (not just toe covers), and skull cap.

We had a full crew of Gladiators to come ... Ramon, Ben (Silentben), Michael (mellum76), Donald (dl33), Jack (superunleaded), Marco (who rode all the way from San Mateo), and Chris, aka ygduf (who rode all the way from Mountain View). Marco is the crazy one ... he was riding today with shorts, and toe covers with a big hole in it. Ruth, I think you know what you have to do.

Sierra came at 3 miles in ... should I have planned for more flat miles before hitting that climb? It is, after all, a TofC Category 1 climb. Oh well. Marco immediately charged up the front, and he was climbing the first ramp of the climb like it was an all out sprint. All I know is I'm taking my sweet time.

I wound up in the back, joined by Jack. We pretty much rode the majority of Sierra together, trading leads. It was refreshing chatting with him on such an epic climb ... I usually climb huge hills like that on my own. We both are in the same boat ... love climbing, but don't climb with speed. We both know where the problem is ... it's not the riding, it's the food intake ... we just love food way too much.

The group was graciously waiting for us at the top of the climb. It was such a gorgeous view, and pictures just don't do it justice. We descended down through Felter ... one thing about Sierra/Felter ... the view of the road ahead and the drop off is amazing. It's almost surreal, how the road continues on, and has the illusion of the road being the edge of the earth. Several times, I just want to stop, and just take in the view, but I was far behind everyone, I didn't dare do that.

Made my right on Calaveras, and there was no one in my party to be found. I figured I was so far behind, but hope it wasn't a matter of 10-20 minutes. I eventually caught up with Chris, who had stopped off the side of the road, about 2 miles from the false summit. He wasn't too familiar with the route, and thought maybe he was on the wrong road. Seeing me approach must have been a relief to him, and we continued to meet up with the rest of the gang.

We continued on through Sunol, and that's where we had to decide which way to go. I mentioned that the straight stretch back on Niles Canyon is not too bad, but some of the gang was leery of that road. I was outvoted, much to Michael's dismay, and we continued to do an extra 20 mile loop around Dublin Canyon and Palomares. Palomares also added an extra 800 feet climbing.

We stopped off for a potty stop, and then Jack started getting cramps. I heard a loud yell ... that was Jack yelling in pain. And we still had Palomares to climb ... bad time for a cramp. Eventually, he decided to move on, and do Palomares with us.

I must have gotten my second wind, as I was able to keep in a paceline with Donald, Ramon, Marco, and Ben. That felt particular good, as it carried over to when I climbed Palomares.

We finished the ride around 4:10 pm ... good thing I started the ride at 9 am ... Marco and Chris still had to ride home. I'm pretty sure they would get caught in the dark ... a few of us offered to give both a lift home, but they wanted to get in that century. Hope the ride home was good guys.

Stats ... 68.64 miles, 6018 feet climbing (if you want to believe motionbased). Wind??? It really wasn't a factor at all ... the biggest factor was the temps. Even though the sun came out, I could not take my jacket off at all ... thermal gloves stayed on, and the shoe covers stayed on too. I didn't have to worry about stuffing jackets or extra stuff in my pockets ... I had to wear them. This had to be one of the coldest rides I've done in a long time ... and we didn't even see any frost!

Great report Ron...Like being there. I've just got to make it to that ride next time...maybe I'll camp out at the start next time! LIke the end of the earth discription...Sorry I missed the ride :(

Pics

Ramon's new ride
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190014.JPG

Ramon, Jack, and Michael
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190015.JPG

Superunleaded, followed closely by Silentben
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190020.JPG

Ramon, and his Flashdance 80's leggings .. :lol:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190021.JPG

Silentben
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190022.JPG

Michael, Marco, Donald, and Chris
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190023.JPG

Marco, Donald, and Chris
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190024.JPG

One of the few times I was able to catch up with Donald
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190025.JPG

Start of the climb up Sierra. That's Marco in front, trying to pull away
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...2/PC190027.JPG

View from halfway up Sierra
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190030.JPG

Moooooo!!!!!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190031.JPG

Kings of the Mountain ... top of Sierra
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190032.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190033.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC190034.JPG

Flat!
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pxY28OCdAfg/SU...0/PC200036.JPG

We did finally make it to Mountain View. Marco graciously let me drive him home, it was the least I could do after twisting his arm to babysit me home. I clocked in at 100.5 miles, so I'll round up to 101. My first ever century, and 27 miles longer than my previous best. The trip home was brutal, I've never been so crushed by each and every overpass. I had to practically get down to the 34/28 to keep moving.

I'm just happy to be home.

Thanks everybody. I was pretty bonky today and I appreciate you all waiting for me slow ass!

Congrats Chris ... all that counts is that you made that magical 100 barrier. You'll take this as experience to gage your endurance on your next century. Doesn't matter how you did it ... you simply did it! :thumb:

BTW, you are not that slow ... just need to know how to pace yourself.

Good job guys! And, great report, Ron. That was a good read.

Today I was. I'm attributing it to getting over the cold/not riding in 2 weeks. Normally though, I'm middle of the pack. I'm fine with that, after all it's only been like 6 months of riding.

LOL! As much as I b!tched about adding the extra miles, to the loop, I'm glad that you guys helped pull me through. There was no sweeter sight, yesterday, than seeing my car in the parking lot. Until next time! :D

This coming from someone who zips past me in the last mile of the ride .. :lol: You gladiator you ... :D

Glad you could make it through our latest suffer-fest.

Great job guys. Looked like fun.
Marco, I'm praying for your knees. :) Take care of them when you're young.

Henry,
Too bad you couldn't be out here with us. It was a great ride. I definitely like it better getting Sierra out of the way in the beginning, while we are all fresh. Surprisingly, I'm not feeling as sore as I thought I would be.

Here's an elevation profile:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/c...&xy.height=227

Hey Ron next time start at Freemont bart for a better warm up and accessibility.

You guys had too much fun!

Hi everyone! I bit the bullet and made an account.

Looked like a great ride, wish I was there and jealous of the sunny pictures. The snow is coming down hard in Vancouver at the moment.

P.S. Marco's socks have just as many holes as his toe covers.

Ruth

WTF,

That's not true. I had holes in one pair, and I sewed them ;)

BTW, I had Ron take that flat repair picture for you :lol:

Miss you, and see you tonight :love:

Good shot, Ron. Sad I missed another Marco flat ;).

:roflmao2: hehehe ... good one! :thumb:

Just glad I can contribute. :D

Hey Marco! that bachelors party was awsome last night...Where'd you find those crazy strippers anyway...Sorry to walk in on you...When's Ruth out of town again?

:lol:

hahaha nice.

Well Ruth's flight got cancelled due to snow.

So we have one more night to party!!:bday:

Just kidding. I miss you sweetie hope you get the flight out tomorrow. :love:

yep that's what you told "Trixie"!:love:

Hey, we're out of whip cream!

Hi Ruth,

Welcome to the board! Glad you finally signed on. BTW we have a hidden women's forum if you are interested in joining us there too. :)

Paula

So that's where all the women went!

Yeah, you should see all the crazy stuff that goes on in there!

Umm... so I hear.

*cough*