Yen

Anyone going to the Lighthouse Century this Saturday? It's our first time, I'm doing the metric (72-miles).

rdtompki

Wife and I are doing the metric on our daVinci. Should be nicer than the previous inland route.Weather looks to be very good.

Homeyba

I'll be there riding my single this year. I'll be doing the full century though. I may not do the little trip down 46. That doesn't do anything for me. I'll probably head back to the coast after Old Creek (probably via Santa Rosa Creeek) and ride up to Ragged Point to get my hundred+ in.

BigBlueToe

My son and I will be doing the 70 mile course. We are local. It should be interesting this year. The Lighthouse has been known as a good first century for people, because it was very flat. The new course is definitely not flat. I'd never ridden up 46 before, so two weeks ago on my training ride (to get ready for the Lighthouse) I turned up 46 off of Highway 1 to try it out. It's steep! I'm guessing some people won't be happy. In defense of the SLOBC, they had no choice - the authorities wouldn't let them use the traditional course this time (after how many years?!!!)

Yen

I can't wait. We're going with about a dozen members of our bike group and we hang out on Friday/Saturday nights to eat and celebrate together. I've read the food is great (the site says "world class food in abundance"). After not riding all last year, this is my first big event this year and I'm stoked!

BigBlueToe: Anyone who's surprised and not happy with the grade of that climb didn't do their homework. The site has a map, and I wrote to the group for confirmation of the grade (18% in spots). My husband looked on Google earth and calculated 10% for a long way. The tools are out there and anyone planning to do a century should know what they're getting into so they know how to train, like you did.

Homeyba

Hwy 46 doesn't exceed 6% anywhere. It is a nine mile long climb from the coast but it isn't horrible. The "15% in spots" that the club is talking about is Old Creek Road. That's on the 94 mile section. Old Creek Rd averages 9% for five miles. That must have been what your husband was looking at.

rdtompki

As far as the traditional 100K is concern I'm actually glad to get rid of the inland section - I don't find it all that exciting and a few years ago it was brutally hot those last several miles. I'm kind of anxious to try the new ride.

Yen

Homeyba: That's ride, I meant Old Creek Rd. Thank you.

I've read they provide great food in abundance at all the stops, so I'm planning to carry some Gu gels for when I need them (like in the last 20 miles).

rdtompki

Yen, the last rest stop is about 20 miles (Shamel Park) from the finish so the Gu might not be a bad idea, but there is potential to really stuff oneself on this ride. That last rest stop provides a very nice lunch so you won't be hungry in that last bit and we should have a tailwind(

Yen

Thanks Rick -- looking forward to it. The biggest challenge might be refraining from eating too much. I'll try to remember to get a pie picture.

Red Rider

Wish we'd planned for this; it would be a fun ride on the tandem.

We rode Hwy. 1 (mostly) when we did our tandem trip from San Francisco --> Santa Barbara. We rode from Big Sur to Cambria, Cambria to Pismo Beach, Pismo Beach to Lompoc, and although we missed the hilly roads, we were routed mostly around SLO.

Having lived in Lompoc for 12 yrs. and taking multiple trips to Hearst Castle we know the roads well. The coast riding is beautiful. I hope you all enjoy it.

Have fun, keep the helmet side up, post pics & reports!

big john

does not compute

Yen

This is our first time on this ride and I've heard/read about the food in abundance, Linn's pies, on and on. Even off the bike if I eat too much (a big meal, like a typical Thanksgiving load), it will come back up. That would not be good.

big john

They used to have hot olalaberry pie at lunch and the end. They even had a chocolate fondue at the last rest stop.

Yen

They don't anymore?

Smogsteve

I will be there tomorrow and will now most likely ride the metric. My cardiologist said to keep my heart rate under 190. The pie is wonderful, but i'm not sure I can stuff down a sandwich along with it. In 6 yeas of doing this ride I have seen fog and headwinds, lots of heat and one year where lights were needed. Still a great ride, SLOBC does a great job, and are some of the nicest people around.

Yen

I'm taking a ziploc baggie to carry away food I can't eat, just in case I can and want to.

Oh Lord, please, not headwinds!!

big john

Oh, I don't know. It's been a few years since I did the ride.

Maybe I should give it another try?

rdtompki

Looks like a very gentle tailwind on the way back. Temps in Cambria don't look bad at all. We're fortunate this year not to have the inland finish. Two years ago with a similar weather pattern those last 10+ miles were brutal.

For those who might be using a Gamin I did build a corrected route on RidewithGPS. For some reason the link from the SLOBC website had a turnaround 2 miles beyond the usual point. The correct route distance agrees with the official 100K distance.

BigBlueToe

My son and I did the 72-mile course yesterday. It was wonderful! The headwind got pretty tough going northbound. We did a mini-paceline with some random guy - thank you whomever you were - and took turns pulling, which made it easier and more fun. Of course, that meant once we turned around we had a glorious tailwind. The weather turned out to be ideal - cloudy and cool, but with good visibility of the spectacular scenery. I liked the new course. I don't know if I'd like the 100, with the climb up 46, but the shorter route was excellent. Good job, SLOBC!

Yen

What a great ride! In all, rode 82 miles (the metric, and then some) including the ride from/to our hotel and a detour on the way back around the harbor. A perfect combination of spectacular scenery, incredible selection of food, friendly plentiful support, and lovely cool temperatures -- did I mention THE FOOD?!!?! -- the SLOBC really knows how to put together a great ride.