scvroadie

Let us know how your ride on Saturday was and what you thought of those winds? Did they help on the way back?

By the way I am a Colorado native, I spent my first 20 years of life living there. I think I remember you stated that you came from there to California. We will have to compare notes.

big john

Extort put his ride report in the Long Distance forum. I wrote a little in the Should the SM be avoided thread.
How about a report from the support person point of view?

chimivee

It's a great ride report:

https://www.bikeforums.net/long-distance-competition-ultracycling-randonneuring-endurance-cycling/230379-next-5-weekends.html

Extort

While the winds helped a bit on the way back I think that I was too late to get the full effect as I believe that the winds had died down a little bit...

I want to hear from OC Roadie about the Everest Challenge!

big john

I signed up about 7 months ago to ride a double century called the Tour of Two Forests. It is a ride that is supposed to go from Santa Clarita to Santa Paula to Ojai and up 33 all the way to Frazier Park up the Heartbreak Climb. From there you ride down to Gorman and through Pine Canyon, Elizabeth Lake and Leona Valley until you descend Bouquet Canyon and ride back to the start point. It is supposed to be 200 miles with 13,500 feet of climbing through two beautiful forests in some of the nicest out of the way places in Southern California. I trained long and hard for this ride and even trained on portions of the course. My plan was to know every hill and descent so that I could try to finish first on the ride. I was trained, I was ready, and then the Day fire grew. It grew to encompass an area of 200 square miles right dead center on the Tour of Two Forests course. As a result 3 days before the ride was to occur, the route was changed from one of the most beautiful courses in Southern California to an out and back ride to the Mojave Desert, California City, and a remote turn around spot 15 miles out in the middle of nowhere. For those of you who are familiar, this ride is the first 100 miles of the Furnace 508 and then back to the ride start. The forecast for the day, low 80's in the desert and wind with gusts up to 40 mph. 200 miles with about 9500 feet of climbing and potential for headwinds and crosswinds for up to 150 miles.

Some of you may be aware of the troubles I have had with the weather this year on my double attempts. I tried the Butterfield Double and quit at mile 163 due to rain, cold, and severe shoulder pain. I tried the Solvang Double and quit at mile 93 due to 2.5 hours of rain. Many who do these doubles, like my friends Mario Ramirez and Eric Zetterbaum, don't mind the weather and keep going. I don't like to ride in the rain, cold, or wind for a long time, I just don't enjoy it much. As a result I greeted the news of a double with lots of strong winds as a curse rather than a blessing. I was determined; however, not to quit again for the 3rd time this year.

The ride started Saturday September 23, 2006 at 6:15AM. I knew some names of riders who usually finish at the top of the standings who were riding this double ( Eric Wilson, Graham Pollock, Mark Patton, Janet Christiansen), but I only knew Mark Patton by sight. My plan was the same for this ride as it was for the original. Hang with lead group as long as possible and then settle in and go as fast as I can sustain. The concession for the wind would be to wait if I got separated and try to ride with others as much as possible. The hope was for 19mph on the bike and about 11:30 total time.

We started down the Old Road over to Rye Canyon which is mostly downhill at about 23 mph. I have a lot of trouble starting right off at this speed and I already had flashbacks to Butterfield. I put a front and back light on my bike just in case I wasn't back by dark since Planet Ultra promises disqualification if you don't have them. At approximately mile 3 my brand new cheap front light that attached to the stem fell of while I was in the peloton, never to be seen again. I quickly surmised that I now had to finish before dark or I wouldn't be allowed to finish at all. I had turned my rear light on at the start and it was still working fine. We turned onto Rye Canyon Rd which becomes Copper Hill and goes up a few short steep hills. By the time we reached San Franciquito Canyon at mile 10, we were down to 8 riders in the lead group. Just after the turn, Marc Patton turned his bike around for no apparent reason. I noticed it was getting light out and I knew we would be climbing for a while since the canyon is 19 mile long, so I decided to turn my rear light off as we descended down the start of the canyon. There are those that say never use anything new on a long or important ride and I should have listened to that advice. The light I bought for the back has about 14 LED's on it as well as 2 on and off buttons with about five modes each. You have to press each button several times to go through all of the modes and then it turns off. I put my hand on the light and repeatedly pushed each button to find the off mode. I could not get either one to turn off. I looked up periodically and saw I was falling behind and pedaled to catch up. After what seemed like 3 or 4 minutes I could not get the lights to turn off. But would I do what any sane person would do and quit trying to turn off the lights, no! I got upset and turned all my attention to the light and keep pushing and pushing the buttons until I finally got the light to turn off. One small problem, I looked up and saw my paceline about 200 yards ahead of me and we were going uphill now with some rollers. I figured I could catch them so I put down the hammer and redlined at 175 bpm for a few minutes and got within about 50 feet of them at one point, but my legs blew up because that was when the wind started and didn' t let up until the halfway point 88 miles away.

Here I was at about mile 12 or 13 with a 17 mile climb ahead of me, my legs blown already, and 188 miles to go. Way to stick to the game plan Keith. The bottom 12-13 miles of San Franciquito Canyon are a shallow grade of about 2-3 percent and I should be able to ride about 16-18 mph. With the swirling wind and gusts and my sore quads I was able to manage between about 8-10 mph all the way to the steep part of the climb. I had the extra joy of watching the remaining five riders in the lead group get further and further away at each turn until I could see them no longer. The sixth rider in the peloton was a woman named Carola Berger and she dropped off and pulled to the side of the road a few minutes after I fell back. I could see she didn't have a flat, so I rode on, but that was not the last I saw of her that day. On the way up the canyon I occasionally passed some of the 5:45 AM starters and as I neared the top I noticed some riders coming up from behind me. A guy named Chris Grube caught up to me first, he told me this was his first double, and he was working very hard. I stayed with him to the top of the hill and Marc Patton caught both of us just before the top, he was moving fast. A short downhill to the first rest stop at mile 27.5 and Chris and I stopped, but Marc looked at me like I was nuts and kept on going. I knew I needed water since it was 35 miles to the next rest stop. I filled quickly and jumped back on the bike for the downhill to the desert. The desert floor goes on forever, in reality about 25 miles, and the wind was strong east to west, the opposite of the usual easterly wind. I was able to maintain only about 17-19 mph even though it was flat terrain. My heart rate was only 135bpm most of the time but I couldn't go any faster. I was all alone except the occasional 5:45 rider I would pass. As I approached the windmill climb on the other side of the valley along came Chris again churning away at 21 mph. I don't know how he did it, but I wasn't too proud to hop on his wheel for awhile. Turns out he worked really hard to catch me so he could get a break, so as soon as he caught me he wanted to get on my wheel and rest. We made a non-verbal compromise to switch off the lead up the windmill climb. The windmill climb is an easy 13 mile climb up about 1800 feet to a bunch of windmills on a hill. As I'm sure you are all aware, they only put big bunches of windmills in places where it is very windy 365 days a year. This climb was a strong headwind with a strong crosswind right to left. When I was behind Chris I escheloned to his left to get the maximum draft. He seemed inexperienced at paceline riding and he would not pull off on his own, so as he slowed down I had to keep passing him. We reached rest stop #2 at mile 62 and stopped for water. Planet Ultra is notorious amongst my fellow riders for their lack of food selection on these rides, so I carried all my own food. I brought one tuna sandwich(my trademark), 3 sweet and salty bars(thanks Mark Reden), 14 fig newtons(thanks
Deb Moss), 10 e-gel, 3 Gu, and some goldfish. About 3500 calories in all. I filled up with water and ate some pretzels.

Just before we were ready to leave, Carola pedaled up looking tired and salty. She was already all salt stained after 65 miles. We invited her to ride with us and she agreed, so we waited a minute or two for her to eat. We rode off with 38 miles to go to the lunch break. Since we had changed course by 90 degrees we hoped for a break in the winds, but what happened next was 38 miles of the worst winds I have ever ridden. The 3 of us stayed together pacelining for about 10 miles. When Chris would pull he would stay out too long and then Carola or I would have to pass him as he would inevitably slow down. I told him to keep the pulls to 1-2 minutes, but he wouldn't listen. Carola is a small woman about 5'5" tall with short brown hair and big legs. She is one helluva strong rider. Most times in a paceline situation the female riders choose not to pull, but she insisted on taking her turns and she was working hard. Unfortunately for both Chris and Carola they were working too hard and on one of my pulls Chris disappeared and then a little later Carola. At mile 75, with a howling headwind, gusts, and unpredictable crosswinds, I finally hit my stride and recovered from my blow out in the morning. At the second rest stop, the volunteers said that the lead ride group was at least a half hour ahead of me and that I had no chance of catching them. I figured that I was in seventh place and would probably stay there all day. Anyway, I buckled down and pounded out as steady a 18-20 mph pace into the wind that I could manage. At each turn the wind seemed stronger. I wanted to quit at mile 13 and virtually every mile from 75-100, but I made a deal with myself. Get to the halfway point and if its still a headwind on the way back, then you can consider quitting. The last turn before the lunch stop was in California City and it was 11.8 miles to the break. A slight downhill and a hellacious headwind. I pushed it up to 20-21 mph in hopes of getting my average up to 16.7 by the break. I was getting worried that if the wind continued, I wouldn't make it back before dark. After a while, I realized that I would see the leaders coming back the other way so I could determine how many miles and minutes I was behind. I pedaled and looked at the odometer, telling myself get another 1/2 mile before you see them, get another mile before you see them. If finally happened at mile 97, I saw one rider coming the other way. He was 6 mile ahead of me. Then at mile 97.5 a group of three riders, with a fourth, Marc Patton, about 30 seconds behind. They were 5 miles ahead of me. I didn't see the sixth guy.There was a shallow incline up to the lunch stop and I could see the canopy for miles, it took forever to get there, but I did. (5:58 ride time, 6:08 total time, 16.7mph, 5240 feet climbing) To put it in perspective, I did a training ride two weeks ago that was 100 miles with 9500 feet of climbing at 16.7 mph and 5:58. So the wind was equal to 4300 extra feet of climbing.

The lunch stop was the best of the day. There was a little girl there who took my bike, a guy who took my bottles and filled them with water, and another who asked what else I needed or wanted to eat. I got some electrolyte pills, took 2 ibuprofen and drank two Mountain Dew. By the way, the sixth place rider was getting his wheel worked on at the lunch stop, he got a flat and wrenched his rim on the railroad tracks a couple miles back. His name was Adam Bickett, he won the Mulholland Double in April and he pulled out about 6 minutes ahead of me. Just as I was getting on my bike, Carola rolled in and I congratulated her. I figured that the lead rider, including my lunch stop was about 9 miles ahead of me and the others 8, with Adam about 2 miles ahead. I assumed I was about 30 minutes behind the leader, 27 behind the next 4 guys, and 6 behind Adam.

I started out of the rest stop and across the street for the next 100 when I heard someone yell from my left, "Go gettum Keith, you're in 7th", it was Chris. I can tell you it was encouraging. As I rode back on the 11.8 mile road to California City, my spirits were rising. I saw more and more riders as I went, and occasionally some would tell me I was in seventh place. I was looking intently to find Mario, but I never did see him. I did notice something strange, there was no headwind or crosswind, and I was going an easy 23 mph uphill, by golly I actually had a tailwind. The tailwind held all the way to rest stop #4, 38 miles away, mostly uphill. To keep my speed up I would occasionally stand and let the wind push me up the road while I was pedalling. After a while I began wondering if I could catch the Adam and take over sixth place. I finally saw him about 8 miles from the rest stop off in the distance and gradually overtook him about 3 miles from the rest stop. It was on an uphill grade of about 3-4% and I was going about 20mph with the wind and Adam looked wiped, he was covered in salt, and was going about 10-12 mph. I flew into the rest stop at mile 138, covering the 38 miles of uphill in about 1:58.

Sitting in a chair relaxing at the rest stop was my soon to be new best friend, Marc Patton. I asked him why he was there and he said that he never quite caught the other guys and they left just as he arrived at the stop. He was upset that these guys that he "pulls all the time" didn't wait 2 minutes for him and that he was "waiting for the calvary" so he didn't have to ride alone any more. I told him Adam was coming up the road, but that he was wasted. I introduced myself, as I only knew of him as the guy who won Butterfield earlier this year. He said he turned around at the start because he had a flat. Adam arrived and I was ready to go. Marc asked Adam if he wanted to go with us and he said yes so we were the calvary.

We had a short uphill and then the long downhill away from the windmills with a great tailwind. We pacelined at about 30-33mph for 10-12 miles and then the crosswinds, left to right, hit with a vengeance. We switched to an eschelon and our bikes were overlapped by half due to the 25+mph crosswinds. Somewhere along the way a huge gust hit that blasted us with sand and almost knocked us over like dominoes. From then on when we saw dust, we spread out a little. After a while Adam couldn't pull anymore and just Marc and I rotated through. Eventually, around mile 160 Adam drifted off the back and we slowed down, but he never caught up. Marc said he was wasted, so we cruised at around 16-18 until the hill out of the desert. The hill is about 5% and 4 miles long. We took it slow and reached the final rest stop, Mile 172. Only one small climb left to the top of San Francisquito and then mostly downhill 26 miles to the finish. Marc and I agreed to stay together to the top of the canyon, but he offered to let me go earlier since I was stronger at this point. I stuck with our plan and stayed with him to the top of the canyon. From mile 162 to 172 while we slowed down, I talked to Marc for a while and he told me how he used to work at Edwards Air Force Base and that when he was "young" and "really fast" he would ride from Woodland Hills to Edwards and back frequently.

At rest stop #5 Bobbi Fischer, a volunteer, told me she knew a couple who went down San Fran recently on a tandem and hit 62mph, I was impressed until I went down the steep part of the canyon. I hit 62.5mph, my fastest on a bike ever, and I had to hit the brakes to not go faster. Marc and I stayed together until the first roller down the canyon and I stood up,let the wind hit my back, stayed in my 53x12, and blasted 35 mph over the roller. I hit my high point for the day as I flew like a banshee down the canyon and over the rollers. I realized that I had a shot at 11:00 for an overall time and I didn't let up. I flew out of the canyon, careened down Copper Hill and Rye Canyon, including safely blowing a few red lights. I stopped and waited patiently to turn onto The Old Road and then stood and cranked up all the inclines at 20+ until the next light I missed about 3/4 mile from the finish. I saw another rider at the light, but didn't recognize him. I asked him if he turned around and he said no. I asked him if he started early and he said no. I asked him if he was with the lead group and he said yes he was for a while, but he bonked. I had caught the fourth place guy. I sprinted to the motel, checked in, and verified that I was indeed the fourth place finisher.
(10:37 ride time, 11:08 total time, 18.9 mph, 9820 feet of climbing)

I finished fourth overall, but I rode the second 100 the fastest of all. I picked up 9 minutes on the Graham Pollock the winner, 17 minutes on Eric Wilson and Andrew Zelhof, 28 minutes on David Fischer, 35 minutes on Marc Patton, and about 90 minutes on Adam Bickett.

I was pleased to finish, shocked to finish fourth, and exhilarated to see that I picked up ground on the way back.
The first 100 miles was the hardest I have ever ridden and the second 100 was the easiest and fastest I have ever ridden.


100-mile splits

mile bike total avg feet
0-100 5:58 6:15 16.7 5240
100-200 4:39 11:08 21.5 4480


50-mile splits

mile bike avg feet
0-50 3:00 16.65 3300
50-100 2.58 16.75 2000
100-150 2:29 20.10 2400
150-200 2:10 23.04 2120

P.S. Carola Berger finished 7th in 12:01 and Chris Grube finished 8th in 12:12. Adam Bickett finished 10th in 12:46.
I saw Adam come in at around 6:00, but he looked like a Zombie, I think he forgot to check in because he didn't check in until 7:00 pm. He should have been seventh.
Mario finished his third double of the year and completed his triple crown.

Thanks for all your support.

Keith Brodsky

caligurl

JOHN! the whole time i was reading this.... i thought it was YOUR ride report! lol!

even so..... great report!

chimivee

WOW. This was like reading about a Mt Everest summit attempt. Awesome.

big john

I should have prefaced it by saying it was not me. It was such a great report that I wanted to share it with the BF gang.

roadfix

Awesome report John! Thanks for sharing. Like Cali, I thought I was reading your report until you mentioned Keith, but nontheless I pretended to read the report and imagined that it was you riding and placing 4th!..
Great reporting!

caligurl

i know what you mean! i was reading and saw the "nice way to go, keith" (can't find the exact words now).... but thought john was talking "to" keith there.... then i saw it "signed" by keith! lol!

Extort

That was truly an epic ride and I enjoyed reading every minute of this report! Now I understand how the fast guys do it, they just do not stop!

big john

Yeah, like 31 minutes off the bike in 11 hours! I couldn't do that. I like a long lunch and several relaxing breaks on a century. This guy is a training animal. The word obsessed comes to mind.

valleygirl

John , you beat me to it. Posting Keith's story that is. The most amazing thing about the ride, to me, was going 62.5. I'd like to know where that was. Not that I would go even that fast!

Extort

San Francisquito Canyon was a 19.2 mile climb in the morning and a great descent in the afternoon (or night in my case). That is where the 62.5 MPH was reached.

scvroadie

Having a nice tailwind really helps, usually when I descend San Francisquito, there is no wind or the prevailing wind is a headwind. The fastest I've ever gone down the steeper sections is 44.7 in an aero position and not touching the brakes. Plus those of you that know me, I also have weight on my side when descending. The wind does make a big difference though, with the right wind combinations I've seen speeds on the road increase anywhere from 5-10 mph with a good tailwind. Just like it slows you down that amount when you have a headwind. Occasionally we all get a ride where we have a tailwind out and then the wind changes and we have a tailwind on the return. .