jeff^d

Cool, thanks for the info RE: food. Fortunately my body is not very picky, I'll just eat whatever I can find and should be good to go.

My favorite ride food was all the PB&J sandwiches at Solvang. Pretty sure I ended that day with a caloric surplus because I ate so many...

WhiteCarbonDude

There is an extra water stop at the top of Potrero the other 5 stops are Check Points and this is a very urban double so you can stop just about anywhere and buy something if you need it.

tj90

Well I did the highland double. My first - very happy and Im hooked. Seriously considering trying for the triple crown this year. Weather was perfect and roads werre excellent. A little more traffic than I would have expected, but regardless 150 as it climbs from Casitas to over the hills to the coast was my favorite section. I loved the terrain. Portrero was definitely the hardest and as the previous poster commented - 39-26 was not enough gear to prevent leg strain. I already have a 13-28 on order for the next double. The nutrition was good, except for the last stop. I think jamming that much food into my system caught up to me and I was hurting at the end with cramps. I think it was the donut and coke that threw me over the top. I was not getting any stomach cramps with the hammer stuff.

In addition to the cassette, Im going to buy a flask and lights for this fall. I really want to finish 2010 with 3 of these things under my belt! Finally a cycling goal that Im really pumped about in years!!!

DanteB

tj, congratulations on your first double. Isn't Portrero fun! The weather was outstanding this year, it sure made for a great ride. Then it's hot it makes for a much longer day.

tj90

Dante: your righ the weather was perfect. Didnt you do the triple? How did it go? I saw a dude doing the triple on a fixed gear. Hard enough with gears!

Rick@OCRR

I had a great Grand Tour Highland! Plus, now I love Potrero . . . now that I have my 34t x 32t SRAM set up.

True, absolutely perfect weather, even the headwind through the orange groves after Grimes wasn't bad this year. Plus (bonus!) I got to ride Grimes with the Very Famous Isabelle Drake! Doesn't get much better than that!

Also rode a lot with the Bull-Shifters (from Phoenix, AZ), plus got a killer pull from Port Hueneme into Malibu behind the Santiago Team tandem!

All good, plus great support from the L.A. Wheelmen SAG and Checkpoint teams on the Grand Tour! Started just before 5:00AM, finished at ~ 7:30PM.

Rick / OCRR

DanteB

I saw you flying by behind that tandem, wheelsucker.

DanteB

I did the Highland Double this year. I just kicked back, took life easy, visited with riders and workers, it was great not having to kill myself.

jeff^d

Good times out there. I did the Highland Double as well. Portrero was over so quick, almost didn't even remember it later in the day. Support was awesome, thanks to the LA Wheelmen for a great course and aid stations that were obviously put together by people who ride.

Rick@OCRR

Yes Dante,

Guilty as charged and lovin' every minute of it!

Rick / OCRR

DanteB

You guys went by so fast I didn't have a chance to hop on.

Curbendo

The Highland was my first double. What a day! I was exhausted and slow, but it's a great route, and the weather was perfect. Potrero is a beast. I would have made it without stopping except, maybe a hundred feet from the top, I was so torched that I somehow didn't see some rocks on the ground directly in front of me. I spun out, lost my balance, and had to stop so I wouldn't just fall over, but I managed to get going again. Started the day with a partial lunar eclipse and ended with an orange moon over the water. I'm already looking forward to next year.

deitman

Good times, good route, good weather, good bar in Ojai to watch the game (George's Pizza right at the corner of Park).

No wheel sucking for me this year, left at 5:15am and busted a$$ since I figured I'd need to leave at 5:00am to get to George's Pizza in Ojai for the kickoff of the game...turns out I was right and missed the first 10 minutes. Blew through the Orange groves after Grimes with a little headwind, but still managed to bust almost 20 mph in a three-person paceline for those 9 miles.

Re-starting after the end of the game at 2:00pm took me until the climb really started after the first few rollers to re-engage the muscles. Glad I resisted the temptation to knock back a few pints...that could have made the rest of the ride really tough. I recognized quite a few people that I'd passed much earlier in the day that looked like they were "enjoying" themselves up Casitas Pass.

The "tailwind" back to Malibu was a little lighter than last year, and more of a south-westerly than a westerly breeze. But the cooler weather and late-clearing clouds meant the beach traffic was low for the last 65+ miles from Rincon all the way back to Malibu.

Time on bike this year was 45 minutes faster than last year...figure next year I'll break 11 hours in total time. 13 hours and change this year including that 2 1/2 hour break in the middle for the game. Maybe its time to try the triple if I can get my wife to drop me off/pick me up.

umd

Kind of bummed I missed it this year.

Oh, and you can say ass.

Rick@OCRR

True Dante,

We went by lots of riders, including a whole pack of Bull-Shifters, and while a few riders did try to sprint and catch on to the draft, no one (well, except me) actually made it.

Rick / OCRR

deitman

That must have been the paceline blowing by Pt. Magu around 5pm...thought I'd dropped the world by pulling a 30+ mph run on Hueneme Rd. and this group of 7-8 comes up and passes just as I get onto Naval Air Road maintaining that speed and rotating nicely.

So much for the power of the BMC USA jersey.

robertkat

Thread resurrection!

I know it's more than a month away, but is anyone planning on the Grand Tour this year? I missed it last year due to emergency surgery, so I hope to make it this year and see about besting my time on the highland double route. Plus, I have a new bike that's made for this sort of thing. I'd be very interested if anyone in the SD area is going that might have room for me and my bike to get up there and back. I can offer help with gas, food, or share a room possibly.

Rick@OCRR

Hi Robert,

Yes, I'll be out there, it's always a fun double so I don't want to miss it. Will you be riding fixed this year? Lou Ann rode the Highland last year, so this year we're trying to talk a bunch of OCRR double-newbee's into riding it. Should be fun!

Rick / OCRR

Al Bundy

Old thread!
having asked on Pg1 if it was open to non LAW, I did the double metric last year.
Great ride; enthusiastic support well stocked and some beautiful roads.
Hoping to get out again this year.
cheers