PhotoJoe 

Yah, for me, that's 6 days, 30 hours!

Mr. Beanz

......Good one!

PhotoJoe 

Beanz - ss long as you've poked your nose in, can we put you down for a 6:30 departure with us?

Mr. Beanz

I'm so out of shape I couldn't even do a century right now.

I'd finish the next day.

PhotoJoe 

That's still 5 days faster than my planned time!

Beachgrad05

Odd...I can't view THIS thread with the app. When I click on this thread the app closes. I can view other threads all over bike forums. Weird.

Back on topic....I hope to do ride in 7:30 moving time. My previous best was 7:47

Pamestique 

Geez! That's really fast! I think my fastest century (I don't record "rolling time" but instead total) was Amtrak at just under 8 but I really,really trained for that one and its way flatter than Cool Breeze.

Several years ago I did a training clinic for newbie century riders. We trained specifically for Cool Breeze. I figure oh maybe 9 - 9.5 hrs ok maybe 10 (again total time). The group took almost 12 hours!!! That is a long friggin time to be out on a bike. riding time wasn't bad but when they hit the rest stops they would just lollie gag and sit down and chat... good grief, like herding cats! I was constantly yelling "get a pretzel, go pee, let's go!!!" Didn't work.

TrojanHorse

That's pretty good... if you figure you spend at LEAST an hour at rest stops (I seem to average 1.5 hours of non-moving time on a century, I'm always shocked, but that includes all stop light time etc) then you're right in the ball park with the rest of us.

Pamestique 

But that was many years ago when I trained... Now I would be surprised if I could do 9 hrs maybe 10... not so much into training nowadays...

Beachgrad05

No backing out now. Registered!

My total time on Palm Springs was 10:47:34 and on Tour de Cure 9:40:40
My time on PS was 8:36:00 and TDC 7:44:38

Think it is reasonable with distance and elevation profile to hope for 7:30:00 rolling time and hopefully not more than 8:30:00 overall...and a 13.6 mph avg

Here is my data from PS and TDC side by side

Pamestique 

When I do a century to average mileage I include my sag stops. For instance... if I roll 8 hrs. and rest 2 hrs. that's 10 hrs or 10 mph. It gives me incentive to not spend alot of time at sags... generally 5 minutes is all I need. If I have to rest, I just slow down on the bike and roll easier... doesn't take long to grab pretzels, some fruit, chew and go... the worse is when I have to p and the line is long... I hate that!

Beachgrad05

That works for you. I use what works for me.

PhotoJoe 

I think the longest break we took on TdC was the sag stop with the subway sandwiches. The first 20 minutes was TrojanHorse and eja-bottechia talking each other into going into the bar for a beer (or 4). The next half hour was them talking themselves OUT of it. Then another 15 debating whether they had made the right decision. It was fun to watch and gave me a much needed rest!

tunavic

If only an entire tray of grapefruit would take more than a minute or two to eat, I would have taken longer breaks (I can't believe I'm jealous of Subway sandwiches)

I still remember the fish taco TH got at the end. We coined a new slogan for Rubio's, "Where's the fish"?

PhotoJoe 

I'm willing to take a few extra minutes at the last sag stop to enjoy the last Popsicle. I just hope Volosong is ahead of me!

TrojanHorse

And we STILL made the wrong decision!

Ya, that was an amusing rest stop. I went right by it and Eja had to holler at me to come back. It wasn't particularly obvious. The rest stops for cool breeze are *much* better stocked. (really, it's the same two twice, and then the lunch stop way out in Goleta.)

TrojanHorse

Alright, I'm getting up early and riding to the beach and back - it's about 53 miles or so. I won't be in a huge rush but if I can get that done without any agony then CB should be a go.

Man, it wasn't that long ago that 50 miles was a no special plans required type ride. *sigh*. Here I am laying out clothes, snacks, water bottles and stuff.

jsigone

you wearing the air brace w/ riding?

volosong

Come on guys! Stop rubbing it in.

Anyway, I made a quick dash today from Ventura to Carpinteria, (and back), and want to report on the road conditions through the 101 freeway part where we mix it up with cars, trucks, and semi trailers.

I has changed a lot since just a month ago. Going northbound, it is as always. Nothing really new there. A nice wide shoulder upon which to ride. Only thing somewhat new is that they have put up barricades near where cars turn off into La Conchita. There is no bike lane at those turn lanes, (off into La Conchita, and back onto the northbound freeway. We have to ride within the turn lanes for that very short stretch. Not really a problem as very few people get off the freeway at that point. Today, there was one car waiting to merge onto the freeway, but it waited for me to pass before getting into the "on-ramp" lane. (Maybe it was because of my front strobe?)

Southbound was way different. The worst part is right at the beginning where we merge onto the freeway. Not that little stretch from the last Carpinteria on-ramp where we cross the bridge over the railroad tracks and have to get off right away, (where the popsicle stop is). Right after that when we get back onto the freeway is the absolutely worst. For about five-ten minutes, (I didn't track the mileage), we are in the old, original bike lane, but they took away about twelve inches of it and gave it to the freeway lane. This is because there is a whole lot of center divider construction right now and the freeway at that point is two lanes north and two lanes south.

This part is really, really scary! Big semi trucks almost within an arm's reach. Before, it was possible to ride side-by-side in the old bike lane, (but probably a stupid thing to do). Now? Don't even think about it. That part is strictly single-file. At least the wind is with us, (from the prevailing on-shore afternoon breeze and being pulled along by the trucks and semis.) I was able to easily maintain 25-27 mph through there and even set a new Strava PR today. (Maybe I was just too scared and wanted to get through there 'post haste'.)

After that part, the new bike lane wanders back and forth between the original lane and a new lane moved due to bridge construction. That part isn't so bad, but that first part...

I sure hope they "fix" the bike lane before Cool Breeze. Otherwise, I fear something terrible and tragic is going to happen. There are a lot of stupid people who ride the metric century and imperial century. Lots of 'goofing off'. Can't do any of that on that stretch. One has to be dead serious . . . or else they will be just plain dead.

(Sorry, forgot to take the camera along today, so no pictures.)

PhotoJoe 

Thanks for the report. In your estimation, how much distance is involved in the worst section?

iTrek

Glad I had not signed up yet, after reading Volosong's report I'm out.

TrojanHorse

Volosong - it really wasn't an awesome part of the route last year either. Keep in mind there is "breakdown lane" to the right of the bike lane (or there was last year) so if your dentures can handle it you can ride over there. The pavement there is decidedly not good though. Actually, from the popsicles until the bike path (about mile 86 to 90 was the freeway, which was not pleasant, and then mile 90 to 97 or so was the beach access road... bad pavement but no traffic really) was just unpleasant. I was in "get me out of here" mode.

OK, I went out for a little test spin to test the gams today and hit 50 miles. It was slower than I'm used to but it wasn't bad. I did start cramping pretty good right at the very last hill I rode up so I need to find my K and Mg supplements and get taking those again. I don't think I'll be able to get enough miles in my legs by Aug 17 to consider myself "trained" but I don't care! I'm in!

volosong

Sorry for not responding sooner. My lady friend had hip replacement surgery a couple weeks ago and she was getting a bad case of "cabin fever". So, I packed her up and made a run up to Mammoth for the night. Boy! I've never seen so many mountain bikes in my life! There are only two seasons up here . . . ski season and mtb season. We drove up this morning and hit Devil's Postpile and a couple other places this afternoon, then a reggae festival this evening. Pretty awful reggae, so we came back to our room after a nice sushi dinner.

Anyway, I would estimate the worst of the worst to only be a mile, maybe a mile and a half. The adrenaline is pumping pretty fast, so you can get through in about five minutes or so. It seems longer when you are in the middle of it, but most likely only a few minutes. Dead flat and a helping wind, so easy to get through quickly.

TrojanHorse

Alright, I just registered, so I'm official. Naturally, I chose the wimp route.

PhotoJoe 

So you're doing the "wimpy" century instead of the double metric?