jonathanb715

Solvang's spring century was fantastic! A little windy (15mph with gusts up into the 30's all day long, we had strong winds right from sunrise). In addition to all the TnT folks we were riding with, I got to catch up with some old friends and riding buddies, including LanceOldStrong (whose wife was on our team). Dan not only did the century, he then rode the route backwards to finish the ride with Julie, accumulating 130 or so miles in the process. I think he's ready for the Double.

The temps were nice - high 40's in the morning, getting up into the 60's in the afternoon. A little chilly for some people, these were ideal riding conditions for me (well, except for the wind. Did I mention that it was windy?). We started at 6, just before sunrise, to ensure we would finish with the sun still well up in the sky (I was coaching the slowest group from our TnT team). This century is the flattest I've done in California, with only 5k or so of climbing. There are a couple of challenging climbs towards the end, but they're not super steep (my computer said 8% max.) or really all that long. If you ride around here, this is a century that you can do no problem.

We finished in 10 hours 45 minutes - which really surprised me (in a good way). I was figuring we'd be out there 11 hours if conditions were good (really not bad when you consider that no one in my group had even ridden a bike in more than 10 years back in November). Considering that we were fighting those winds all day, the time is really impressive. Lots of other riders that thought they'd do a sub-8 hour ride were out there more than 10 hours. Even better was that my group listened about minimal stopped time - our rolling time was 9 hours 32 minutes, so not much more than an hour for SAG stops, regroups and a couple of unscheduled potty breaks.

We stayed together in a good paceline all day, and at one point had about 20 riders tagging along as we worked into a strong headwind. Wonder what they would have thought if they'd known they were wheelsucking the slowest TnT ride group? The big race teams (Colavita was the group I really remember - about 30 strong riders pushing hard) would take up an entire lane, but they left plenty of room when they passed and we even heard a few "Go Team!"s as they went by.

Support was good, with well-placed SAG stops and phenomenal police support (most intersections had an officer directing traffic and waving us through stops signs and red lights). The food wasn't anything special (pbj's and bagels, along with lots of fruit and cookies) but fine for a ride.

Ok, the pics - absolutely stunning scenery!











JB

jonathanb715

and more pics:

jonathanb715

and a few more:

jonathanb715

final ones:







It wouldn't be a Solvang ride report without a cheesy photo of a cheesy windmill!

JB

ahmose

Congrats. 15mph wind is no fun for sure.
The pictures are stunning.

cccorlew

Nice photos. Sounds like fun, even in the wind. I'm praying that the double doesn't throw too much of that at me.

jonathanb715

Me too. Most people figured the wind added between 1 -2 hours to the ride, although the really fast groups were *disappointed* with their 4 1/2 hour ride times

I'll be at the double, starting out as early as they'll let us. I'm starting out with a group of experienced doubles riders (several triple crowns in the group) who intend to ride conservatively but to minimize time in the rest stops. Don't know if I'll be able to hang with them all day, but I'm going to try. Dan said you guys might be interested in hooking up with us - I'll look for you at the start.

JB

cccorlew

Shoot me a cell number PM. Dan and i plan to start in the first wave, not kill ourselves and spend minimal time at rest stops and do a lot of eating on the bikes. So, yes, your group sounds ideal. At least on paper. Ones man's conservative is another man's insane pace.

gpelpel

I am in as well for the early start. Yours plan perfectly fit mine; very early start, short rest stops (5 minutes, max), and conservative pace.

Lanceoldstrong

Who is this "Dan" guy? He sounds like a real stud

DiabloScott

Congrats to Coach JB.

What manner of helmet deelyboppers be those?

jonathanb715

They were cable cars - after riding with what felt like a 3 pound toy sealion on my helmet a few years back, we were looking for something light and simple! One of our riders found them in bulk in Chinatown.

JB

bikingshearer 

Yeah, but you can't believe everything you hear.

BlastRadius

Curtis, you be sandbaggin'. You were out in front for a lot of the Marin ride on Saturday.

umd

The goal was 4 hours. I was more disappointed that I couldn't hold onto the group past 60 miles than the ~4:31 total time. But I feel better knowing that 4 of the 6 riders from my group that finished ahead of me are/were pros.

Data from the ride:

Garmin connect link
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/27103576

Teammate's ride report
https://marcofanelli.blogspot.com/201...-raceride.html

And some pictures
https://www.photoscene.com/kimandstev...ntury-pictures

Ygduf

UMD, your 211w average is eye opening. You're 140ish lbs, right?

umd

I am. The average was 220w for the first 4 hours, the last half hour was mostly downhill (760 ascent, 1800 descent) with a tailwind (finally) and only averaged 162 bringing down the total average power.

BlastRadius

But Normalized Power is 238!

Explanation of NP.
https://home.trainingpeaks.com/articl...ess-score.aspx

jonathanb715

Actually, there was a guy still at the finish saying pretty much the same thing. Impressive stats - my fastest century is still just under 6 hours, so there's no way I could hang with a group like yours! That's a fun ride report - makes me wish I could hang with some of the fast groups!

JB

Ygduf

I've never finished a century in under 6 hours. 6:11 in the first half of Knoxville double last year, with like 8k climbing, and last weekend at 6:17 with 7k climbing. I'm too slow for this sport.

umd

I had only done under 5 hours a few times and those were riding time, not total. I just generally ride that distance at a more casual pace. But I knew from doing 60-80 mile races at 23-25mph it shouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Throw in the right mix of engines, an agreement not to stop, and a more cooperative situation than a race, it makes for a hard but fast day. Unfortunately the wind spoiled it, although we did to the first 23 miles straight into the headwind in an hour. It was the crosswinds into Vandenberg that really shattered the group because it's harder to draft, then a smaller group makes for less load sharing. I just ended up doing too much work and didn't have the energy to close a gap in a crosswind before it was too late. Oh well, always next year.