Inagural Orange County 200k

In spite of having the San Diego Randonneurs' Rainbow 200k on my calendar for next weekend I just had to ride the OC 200k.  Sanctioned by the PCH Randonneurs, Willie Hunt put together the first Orange County based brevet.  The approximate course is shown here.  This is very familiar terrain for me.  The brevet traversed a couple of areas in the opposite direction of my normal travel and that made it more interesting.

Since this ride was a completely local to me, meaning I saved the horrible drive to the Moorpark area, or a only slightly better drive to someplace in the San Diego desert, I decided to ride to the ride.  That is generally my preference when it's doable and with a mere 20 miles between my home and the start it was very doable.  Up at 0410 and on the road by 0430, I rolled out of Dana Point headed for RSM (Rancho Santa Margarita).  I love riding early in the morning well before sun up.  There are few if any cars on the road and the winds are usually neutral.  I don't recall the temperature exactly but it was certainly in the mid 40s.  The hour and a half ride to RSM was easy and I held my pace down watching the Polar to make sure I never exceeded 151 BPM (<88% of my LT, lactate threshold).  My goal for the ride was to keep it easy and never push hard, except on the occasional climb.

I got to RSM at about 0605, found the ride start and an open coffee shop.  After collecting my brevet and route sheet I went to find a cup of coffee and a muffin to fuel the next twenty or thirty miles.  I was surprised by the turnout for this 200k.    I've heard there were about thirty riders at the start.  I had the good fortune to see a few people I know and catch up for a few minutes.  We rolled out at about 0634 and I must have selected the most direct route from the parking lot to the route as I didn't see any headlights behind me for five or ten minutes.  Slowly, as I hopped over the first two climbs riders began to catch up.  Santiago Canyon was beautiful as the sun came up over Santiago Peak.  There was still little traffic and riding northbound in the canyon is generally a downhill run to Jamboree Road and the first control.  I breezed the first control, finding Willie the ride master still there, and just had him sign my card so I could get right back on the road.  The downhill run continued from the first control all the way to Newport Beach and made for easy cruising at 30 km/h.  A few miles from the control the route merged onto the San Diego Creek bike trail.

One of many pelotons on the road.

On weekends this is a bicycle freeway with all kinds of riders rolling along the trail.  It is a surprisingly courteous scene with almost everyone paying attention.

One of the things that I always enjoy about the Newport Back Bay portion of the trail are the signs.  It's one of the few places in Southern California where as a bicyclist we can enjoy an exclusive privilege.


At the control in Newport I gulped down a chocolate milk and refilled my bottles with Gatoraide.  It was easy cruising along the California Riviera through Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach and Dana Point.  I started feeling a little hungry so I stopped at the 7-11 on the north end of San Clemente for another chocolate milk and a banana.  Right were the south bound grade heading up El Camino Real started, I encountered another rider.  We rode together for the rest of the day making the time pass easily.  The rider's name was Eric and he was out on his first brevet and his first 200k.  He had certainly picked a nice place to start his randonneuring endeavor.  We made the turn around at the McDonald's at the south end of Camp Pendelton at about 1150.  We had a quick lunch and got back on the road heading north.  We had a head wind north bound.  We also had a head wind southbound.  Sigh.  At least it wasn't all uphill too.

At Trails State Park we ran into Isabelle Drake and the three of us finished the ride together.  As we neared the finish it started getting quite chilly and damp, almost feeling like rain.  The mountains had clouds stuck on their tops.  The finish, at Willie's house was super.  Willie's wife, Patricia, had prepared lasagna and garlic bread.  I loved the lasagna but the surprise was sushi.  Yeah, I had lasagna and sushi on the same plate with garlic bread and a couple of Cokes.  It was sublime.  I felt like I was having a favorite food dinner.  After any randonneuring distance ride you should just eat whatever you want; my Polar claims I burned 10,000 some odd calories.  Even if the Polar is off 50% that's still a ticket for a heck of meal.

I jumped back on the bike for the downhill bomb on El Toro Rd. back to the coast.  The temperature warmed slightly as I got closer to the ocean.  I put Estelle back in the garage right at 1800 and headed in for a warm shower and some food.  It was a good day.

Next Saturday I'm still planning to ride the Rainbow 200k.  I do love that route and it is pretty challenging with about 6000 ft of climbing.  Unfortunately, I'll be driving there.

Days statistics:
Distance 263 km
Ascent 2110 m
Average Speed 23.6 km/hr
Elapsed Time 9:26 hr:mm