Holywood

Hi everyone!

I was hoping to get input from you on what cycling events in 2008 you plan to participate in. Last year I had a great time at the Tour De Max and plan on doing this event again, August 10th 2008.

Anyone have a favorite cycling event that I can place on my 2008 calendar? I am primarily interested in NorCal events but if you have an epic ride event I am interested in hearing about it.

Thanks,
Holywood

spingineer

Well, this year, not sure about my plans, but here are the key events that are recognized on my calendar:

Solvang Double - end of March
Tierra Bella - Mid- April
Wildflower - end April ...there are two ... one in Chico, and one in Reston. Depends if you want to travel north or south.
Wine Country Century - beginning May
Grizzly Peak Century - beginning May
Giro di Peninsula - end June
Auburn Century - September (thanks to Dauphin for recommending this ... awesome ride)

ken cummings

If you like the Wine Country Century then you'll love the Terrible Two. About twice as long and 3-4 times the climbing. Even if you only do it in a car consider taking two days with a layover in Cloverdale.

spingineer

Only thing I don't like about Terrible Two is there is the same amount of climbing in the first 100 miles as the 2nd 100 miles. Ok, I'm a wimp.

UmneyDurak

If nothing goes wrong like last year, Everest Challenge.

cantdrv55

Tour de Cure - Napa
Marin Century
Bike Around The Buttes
Wildflower
Solvang
Foxy's Fall
and I'm going to conquer Diablo

Not necessarily in this order too.

Red Rider

Here's our tentative schedule, as we're a tandem team:
Feb: Palm Springs? Or local self-supported
March: Solvang
April: Chico wildflower
May: Monticello (right out our back door!)
June: ?
July: ?
August: Marin (best food EVer)
Sept: ?
Oct: Foxy's Fall
Nov: ?
Dec: ?

Frankly, there isn't a bad century up here, as far as I'm concerned. In fact, you could probably do two or three a month if you wanted to.

Let us know which ones you ride; we can save a spot on our wheel for you.

taxi777

1.Primavera - anyone else from the BF group doing this one? I'd like to ride un-solo this year. : (
2.Mt.Hamilton Challenge (?)
3.Wine Ride 200K
4.Davis Dble - Maybe with some fellow BF'rs.....?
5.Marin Century
6.Tour de Max

Maybe a couple more in between those. Maybe some good long Bf rides.

jonathanb715

1. Tour of the Unknown Coast
2. Death Ride (I intend to ride a bit more than 7 miles in it this year!)
3...?

Other events will be last minute decisions as it gets close - too many family obligations to plan out too far (I'll be coaching soccer again in the fall, I'm a stroke and turn judge for swimming in the spring and summer, family vacations, etc. etc. etc.). Last year I managed to squeeze in the Tour of Napa Valley, The Grizzly Century and el Tour de Tucson in addition to the very abbreviated Death Ride.

JB

PrincessZippy

1. Solvang Spring Double
2. Devil Mountain Double
3. Central Coast Double
4. Mt Tam Double
5. Knoxville Double

The San Francisco Randonneurs 200 and 300 K Brevets.

That's it so far.

Veronica

spingineer

Dang, that's a hardcore list. I guess that's your 1000 mile schedule?

I did forget one ... Eastern Sierra. I think I'll shoot for that one. I also heard Bass Lake Double is a very good one too, but not sure if I can handle that one.

cccorlew

I'm thinking, right now....

• Tierra Bella -- Possible
• Wildflower-- Likely
• Davis Double -- Trying to talk myself into it. I'm doing a pretty good job so far.
• Seattle to Portland if Tricia is up for it.
• I'd like to find some sorta supported tour down the Oregon coast.

PrincessZippy

Yep, I'm aiming for the 1,000 mile Gold Club this year. DMD is a big stretch for me. If I DNF on it, I'll be adding in Bass Lake or maybe Eastern Sierra again. The scenery on ES is amazing, but that 20 mile stretch of expansion joints was icky!

Veronica

ericm979

Everest Challenge will be my big "A" race again this year. I also intend to do more regular road races too. I'll probably do the Death Ride for fun and training. I'm on the fence about the SoCal KOM series- they're great rides but it's a lot of driving to go down there. If there's any local centuries that fit in after all that I'll probably do them too.

cantdrv55

I guess I'm the lightweight in this bunch since I'm planning to do mainly metric centuries.

PrincessZippy

All that matters is you enjoy the ride. I only do doubles so I can eat whatever I want.

Veronica

spingineer

That is the best advise ... my goal in 2007 was to complete my triple crown. I did that, and then I felt I had to keep it up by doing centuries every month. I realized that I wasn't having as much fun, so I stopped doing centuries in November. I guess I suffered burnout. I'll be back at it in January, though.

jobob

I'd like to do a 200K brevet every month, for a RUSA R-12 award.

And perhaps the Mt. Hamilton Challenge (which is the same day as DMD; I'll wave at Pricess Zippy as we pass each other heading in opposite directions ) and the Davis Double.

But, we'll see what happens, I'm going to take it one month at a time.

spingineer

Dang ... oops, I guess it's not that much more than the Century a Month I was doing.

Alphamoose

I'm shooting for Solvang, Tierra Bella (or the Primavera, but not both), then the Wine Country 200k, and the Marin 200k in August. 200 miles seems like too much of a good thing to me. (This year).

jobob

Heck, it's only another 25 miles ! she says blithely

ricebowl

Just one for me, waves to wine.

'nother

Rides: I'll probably do the Mt. Hamilton Challenge as recon for the Road Race later in the season. Maybe some others like Sequoia and the Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge. Others to be evaluated as they come up.

But I'm focusing more on racing this year than distance, so that will be: a few more Cyclocross races, a few of the Early Bird crits, Menlo Park GP, Cat's Hill Crit, Sea Otter Road and Circuit races, Wente RR, Mt. Hamilton RR, maybe the Memorial Day crit too just for good measure and see how that goes. They're all early-mid season. I may end up just peaking early and chill for the latter portion of the season while I gear up for another season of 'cross...

BigSean

This is also my plan. More racing, ride harder when I am on the bike, and maybe a century or two. Last year I did the Sequoia Century, awesome ride by the way. Bring your climbing legs. Ive been wanting to do the Santa Cruz Mt Challenge, but its the same weekend as Marin, ahhhh choices.

Your early season schedule is a bit busy for me. Im going to wing it a bit. Probably stay away from the big climbing races, maybe not. Im kinda big. Are you racing with a team this year?

'nother

Yeah, I am with AV. This is my second year racing, though last year was barely a warm-up. More like "testing the waters". Got my Cat 4 upgrade but not much else to speak of. So this year my goal is to just get out more. It's busy, sure, but they're not all "A" races. Some will be more for spectacle (Sea Otter) than for trying to do anything big.


I've done Sequoia a couple of times. Maybe 3. I forgot. I usually do the 200k. Always fun. The Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge is fun, too...hits a lot of tucked-away climbs that we valley-ites don't normally hit.