rumbutter

These Doubles dont seem to get any easier.

I left the house at 3:30am and got there in time to register and get to the 5am start line with 5 minutes to spare (A bit Close). I looked around but didnt see Marco and Ruth or anyone else I recognised. My plan for the day was to try to support my Team Mate Bill who was up for winning the Stage race overall.

The double started fast, really fast. I worked really hard up the first climb and took my life in my own hands descending down the other side in the pitch black and fog with the leaders. I managed to stay with the leading group of about 10 riders until half way up the Mount TAM climb where I got shelled out. I was pretty winded after trying so hard and was unable to get back on. I paid for my efforts for the rest of the Day and by 100 miles my LT band was pretty sore.

Most of the Double was dominated by fog, strong winds and climbing. I cant believe how much climbing there was, especially the nasty loop from Bodega Bay where I had my customary bad patch. I pretty much gave up on racing the double after the Bodega Loop but I got my second wind in Petaluma and put in an effort to try to get under 13 hours.

Time (Including Rest Stops) :13H 01m...DOH
Distance : 198.6
Climb : 16,213ft !!!

Bostic

Tough ride, endless rollers. NY Chris and I started late, we had to go back to the motel room to pick up an important item. 5:24am roll out time. I had the arm and knee warmers on the bulk of the day. We took a right instead of straight on dillon beach road which lead to Petaluma-tomales where we were to be later in the day. I knew the cut off was 2:30 from lunch so it was full blown attack mode to get back to HW 1 and go straight (the white 'new' arrow was not present which lead to much confusion). Ended up with 210.1 miles. Don't think I will do this one again, not the same experience as the Terrible Two or Devil Mountain Double. Congrats to Chris and Chris as well as Marco & Ruth for completing. This was my third for the year so the bear jersey is in the future.

dl33

Congrats to all. You 200 milers amaze me.

Ygduf

Hard.

I'm too big for rollers all day long. This was like doing the first 200ft. vert ascent of Montebello 80 times. I had a flat which required, between the me and the sag mechanic, taking the rear wheel off the bike, and the tire off the rim, 5 times. I had 13:4x ride time, and 1:40 "rest" time. Of the rest time, 40 minutes was messing with the tire. I rode 60 miles on a boot, and 80 miles with my left shoe as loose as I could get it while still keeping my foot in.

Not really a fun day. 1 more for me before I get the Bear.

rydaddy

Nice job guys!

That was a tough ride indeed. I saw ygduf at the start and then Marco/Ruth on the tandem just after the mass start. I pushed pretty hard all day. In fact, I found myself in the lead group of 25 or so. I was off the back when the first big climb began but found some good pacelines for a big chunk of the morning. I was feeling sluggish just before lunch and ate too many burritos once I got there. I was dying for solid food. It took me a while to get back to form... probably by the time I crested the Coleman climb.

I rolled in with a few friends just shy of 7pm. My first double completion in daylight. Not sure on ride time, etc... haven't uploaded the Garmin yet. I'll have nightmares of steep rollers tonight....

rumbutter

I was just thinking.....
That course must have been horrendous on a tandem.

DG Going Uphill

I feel for you guys. Last year the winds were blowing so hard that we had to descend at around 5 miles an hour around Pt. Reyes. It sounds like the guide markers were better this year (they actually pointed in the wrong direction completely in a few key turns last year). This was the first ride I ever road where I thought, gee, this wasn't fun or worth it. I commend all of you that finished (due to getting a little lost, I only did 150 miles in last year's).

Beaker

Congrats to everyone, impressive efforts and impressive times.

DanteB

Great job everyone!

uspspro

Uhh.... YES!

uspspro

Yep.. this one was pretty hard, and just not all that fun. I honestly though DMD was fun, and can't wait to do that one again.

Probably skipping this one next year, and doing Terrible Two instead.

This was surely the ride of mishaps for the BF crew.

Here were ours:

- In the early part we were sticking with the main front group, loosing them on the first climb, but catching back up on the downhills. Then our Go-Pro camera just snapped right off the handlebars at 40+ on a descent that we were catching back up to tall Chris. So we had to make a dangerous u-turn and go back up the hill, and find our camera in the bushes. Another 10+ minutes there, and a broken camera mount...

- 4 missed turns, that were luckily quickly rectified. Probably cost us 15+ minutes.

- Snapped our chain on Joy road where a steep descent suddenly became a steep climb (hmmm. an on going theme for this ride). I messed up the shift, and tried to go to the granny a bit too late, and then put the power down before the shift was completed... then SNAP! Luckily the chain breaker on my new multi-tool worked flawlessly, and I threw on a SRAM powerlink, and were were good to go again. Another 10 minutes there.

- Then there was my stomach. I felt really sick (I even had the chills), the entire road to the Cheese Factory after HWY 1, the entire road to Marshall, and on the Marshall wall. It was lingering throughout the entire Bodega roller section to the lunch stop.. so that was pretty miserable. I felt better after lunch (mile 115). This cost an unknown amount of time, but probably A LOT, since I was going painfully slow on that Bodega loop.

We actually felt good on the Coleman Valley climb, it may have been steep, but it wasn't rollers. We had a good rhythm going.

Our total time including all stops and mishaps was apx 17 hours and 18 minutes. Ouch.

BUT.... This was double #3 for Ruthie & I. The Triple Crown 2009 is in the bag for both of us!

Ygduf

The tip of my right index finger is sore today.

I must have shifted, three or four thousand times yesterday? I would believe 20x/mile, given that I have a 10 speed and routinely went from 50/11 to 43/22, 25, 28, only to then upshift to 50/11 at the crest.

The elevation plot does not accurately represent how hilly this course was. For every peak on the plot, there were 2 rollers (climbers, really) to get there.

SesameCrunch

I just wanted to thank you guys for reminding me why I keep wimping out on double centuries. It hurts me just to read about them!!!

taxi777

Holy Crap! You guys really earned those jerseys!

Beaker

oh boy, Marco - do you guys ever have an uneventful ride? I guess it would seem somehow boring?











Marco, I'm starting to wonder if -

kjfitz

We made a bad turn for the same reason just a bit further along. We turned right onto Middle Road from Dillon Beach Road where there was definitely a white and green arrow. Maybe it was an old painted arrow - up until then we thought the painted arrows designated the same route as the paper arrows. The fact that the new/wrong road (Middle Road) has pained markings along it in the old oval green and white lulled us into thinking we'd taken the correct turn. Once the route joined the correct route at Fallon I struck up a conversation with a 200Km rider about his ride we and we both realized I'd skipped the whole Coleman loop. On our way back to the course we picked up another rider (#20) so I doubt we were the only people to make that wrong turn. Mentioned it to Frank but I don't know if he'll remember it for next year.

kjfitz

Well, I finished the ride with an hour to spare. The first 100 went gloriously. I loved the scenery, the climbs, the people I talked to (Hi Bill & Jennifer). The weather was perfect for a long ride (except for relentless headwinds in the north part of the course.) The descent off of Pan Toll and Panoramic was my favorite of the day.

For the rest of the day... Worst Roads Ever. What a mess. Especially the Coleman Valley / Joy road descents. Totally sapped the joy of descending. Getting lost around Dillon Beach and turning off onto Middle Road totally messed with my head and added too much stress. By the last 50 back from Valley Ford I just wanted it to be over. I do have to say I enjoyed the very last descent back on Lucas Valley.

In all it was a very hard ride. It didn't crush me as mentally as the Death Ride however. Also while they said it was the same or slightly less elevation gain as the old route we measured 1600+ feet and so did everyone else I talked to. So good job all of you that finished.

Kudos to Frank and the Marin Cycling Club for a great event.

This was #3 for me - my first triple crown. Knoxville and Death Valley next.

rumbutter

I was trying to figure out why my thumbs were so sore today. It was the constant gear changing on the Campy shifters. I dont think I have ever changed gear so often on a ride.

spingineer

Maybe it was luck that I had to be on-call this weekend ... but after reading these reports, it must have been fate. Still, I think I'd prefer the physical suffrage rather than the mental anguish this weekend

rydaddy

rumbutter - how did your friend Bill do? Looks like he had a slim lead heading into this one. And that's an impressive time considering you're not fully healed!

We were happy to see Kathleen at the finish yesterday. We rode with her for parts of Devil Mountain and she had about a 1 hour lead in the stage race heading into Mt. Tam. Turns out she was the fastest female. Great job for her!

I'm just now looking at my numbers for yesterday. Total time was about 13:53 with a ride time of 12:14 (16.2mph average). My average heartrate was 148 bpm, which is about 10 higher than my previous 3 doubles. That goes to show that I didn't hold back for this one. I definitely felt stronger yesterday than my previous doubles. I attribute a lot of it to the cooler weather.

Bostic

This is exactly what we did only we didn't turn back right away and got all the way over to Tomales Petaluma after the left turn from Alexander road. I mapped out the extra on bikely and it came to 13.2 miles from wrong turn back to HW 1.

rydaddy

Ouch. I remember this turn. My buddy took it and I called him back. There was a guy ahead of us (going straight) and I knew it was not his first time riding the course. Lucky us.

cccorlew

Wow you guys! Thanks fo rteh report. i was thinking of doing this, but chickened out. Looks like i made a good call for myself. That thing had twice the climbing of Davis! YIKES!
You all ROCK!!

Ygduf

My average was 14.6. Color me impressed with 16.2. A few pacelines would have helped, but my pace seems to put me in the middle of nowhere by myself a lot of the time.

spingineer

Dang, I can't even average 14.6 on a flat century!