OC PCH 600k - The Big One 4/2/2011

Bikes waiting for the Triathlon to end.

Oswaldo and I had just finished a five star bicycle breakfast.  I had a T-street (T-street is a local surf break) omlette, hash browns, and toast.  We split a short stack and had many rounds of coffee.  Fifty miles into a 375 mile brevet we were eating like kings.  At the southern boundary of San Clemente we had encountered the complete and absolute closure of the bike trail system that goes between San Clemente and Oceanside because of a triathalon.  After exploring a couple of options and understanding that the trail would likely be closed until noon, we decided the best solution would be to kill a few hours and have a nice big breakfast.  I think of it as "the civilized way" to handle the situation.  Just before 1100 we headed back over to the trail closure site to watch the race.  They were just opening the trail to public use again so we jumped on and started heading south.  Oswaldo had called Willie (the ride master) to let him know we were delayed by a nominal three hours in case we ran into time problems later.  We reached the control in Oceanside by 1200 easily beating control cutoff of 1248.

I had planned to finish the first leg of the 600k by 2300 to 0100, a nominal 18 hour 380k.  I would clean up, eat, and head out without sleeping with my plan being to catch a first nap at the entrance to Carbon Canyon and nap as needed through the remainder of the day on Sunday.  Of course the closure completely broke that plan.

After a short trip down the San Luis Rey bike trail we connected to Sleeping Indian, the first bit of challenging road.  I've never ridden up Sleeping Indian but have enjoyed many descents down it.  I felt fine and the climb passed without incident.  We worked our way up hill to Fallbrook where we had a quick lunch at the slowest Taco Bell on earth.  Knowing that the real work was coming up shortly we moved right along and got into Sandia Creek Rd.  Once again I really enjoyed riding through that area.  I felt pretty thoroughly worked by the time we got to Rancho California Rd.  Once at Rancho California, I realized that a howling south wind was blowing and would become a tailwind for our trip north to Loma Linda.  We made quick time on this north bound leg, not working hard at all yet enjoying a high cruising speed.  On the rare occasions that we had to turn cross wind or even slightly into the wind it made me very happy to be headed north.  One of the nicest sections of road we were on in this north bound leg was Leon Rd.  It was dirt, there was little traffic and the landscape was austere and beautiful.  We continued making good time through lake Lakeview and on past Lake Perris.

Leon Rd.  You can see the grass being blown down by the howling wind.

At the Vallero just before the Ramona Expressway,  we saw the Sato's tandem and Matt O'Neill.  They found us at the control in Moreno Valley.  On the 400k I had found that the burrito I ate there didn't agree with me.  I stuck with Frapuchino, chocolate milk and Gatorade cocktail that has worked for a long time.  The grade up Redlands Blvd was much shorter than last time and the downhill run to the Loma Linda control was fantastic fun.

We had some food at Quiznos where Matt O'Niell and the Sato's encountered us again.  After a brief meal and rest Oswaldo and I departed finding Ed Shepard a short distance from the SART entrance.  Ed was looking good and riding strong.  We found expected headwinds on the trail and just hunkered down and pedaled.  Upper SART at night is much easier for me to take and the time on the trail passed quickly.  We encountered the Klines just before the dirt section of upper SART.  The four of us navigated the little Norco section of the route together and met again at the Corona control.  I had the Frapuchino, chocolate milk, and Gatorade cocktail along with some tasty potato chips.

Back on the SART we began encountering stronger headwinds and it was starting to wear on me.  I knew we hadn't far to go and just sucked it up till we reached Tustin Ave.  At this point, I should have identified that I was under-fueled but I didn't and instead of grabbing some more to eat at a convenience store I kept riding.  The distance from SART to the info control in Santiago Canyon seemed much, much further than it was in reality.

At the info control I chugged some H2O, and ate an energy bar that Willie had cached there.  That proved to be insufficient and the last few miles up Santiago Canyon were tough.  We were traveling in the direction that I normally  ride the canyon but I was too impatient.  I kept looking for the welcome to Lake Forest sign that marks the summit of the last climb and the beginning of a nice downhill resting section.  By the third false summit I had made up my mind to quit and decided to ride directly to my car, get in and drive home.  I also planned on how I could sell my Rando Stampede entry, get rid of the Waterford, and buy a nice comfy smoking jacket.

At the overnight control I was glad to be there.  As we walked in I recall Ruth asking me if I was going to ride straight through.  My answer was something to the effect that I couldn't ride on because my brain wasn't working correctly.  I ate, cleaned up, changed into my 2nd day riding gear and found a spot to sleep.  I slept for about 1:40 and woke up just before 0500.  After a few moments of getting my head into the game I had a quick breakfast suited up and jumped on the bike.  The terrain was familiar and downhill all the way to Newport Beach.  I had left the overnight control riding solo as Oswaldo had made plans to leave much later in the day.  My plan was to find some other riders out on the road to pass the day.  In Newport I saw Rita Garcia and Ruth Cabre.  I soft pedal for miles on SART waiting for them to catch up.  They never did.  I stopped at a picnic table to eat a Cutie and call a dinner request in at home (rib-eye, baked potato, and something else).  Eventually, Rita and and fellow who's name I didn't catch came by.  I packed up shortly after that and took off.  I flatted just shy of Carbon Canyon and was stopped to replace the tire when the two of them passed me again!  I finally found them near the summit of Carbon Canyon and maintained contact to the Chino Hills control.

The ride from Chino Hills to Irwindale was surprising to me.  I had looked at that area on maps thinking about linking Carbon Canyon and Turnbull Canyon as part of a permanent.  I hadn't because I thought it would be an urban hell of stoplights and bad roads.  That couldn't be further from the reality.  Grand is modern roadway with minimal stoplights.  It was a good route across town. 

 After a quick stop in Irwindale, Rita and I headed out to the SGRT.  The trail entrance crosses the Sante Fe Dam.  I'd never been on the Santa Fe Dam and I was surprised by the size of the structure.  It would appear that the San Gabriel River has a lot of potential based on the size of the dam.

Working the horses along the SGRT

The toughest part of the ride was coming up.  30 miles of flat San Gabriel River Trail into a howling onshore wind.  To say it was tough just about covers it.  Rita and I rode on and on and on watching the stupid mileage countdown painted on the trail reminding us of just how long it was taking to cover a 1/4 mile.  All along the trail there were little equestrian homes.  Everyone seemed to be out working with their horses.  It makes for a constantly changing backdrop to the trail and helped to have something to watch.  Finally Seal Beach started to come into sight and we reeled in the River's End Cafe.  I had a terrific plate of fish tacos, beans and rice along with coffee and water.  Out on the trail I had become sleepy on a couple of occasions and hoped to stave off sleep with the coffee until I could get home that evening.

Heading south out of Seal Beach we caught a much needed tailwind.  It made the ride down to Newport Beach easy running at a point where we really appreciated it.  The Chevron control in Newport was empty when we arrived but since we had three hours before the last control closed and 15  or 20 miles to ride we were taking our time.  Slowly other groups started to arrive, the Klines, Oswaldo, Ruth and Peter, the Satos and Matt O'Neill.  We ate a bunch of Hagen Das ice cream bars and headed for the finish.

Distance: 603 km
Riding Speed Average: 22.2 km/h
Ascent: 4596 m
Time: 39:00

Orange County 300k

The start.  About 20 riders.

Everyone comes into a brevet with a different set of expectations and goals.  I always try to keep those two things lined up with my current level of fitness, rest and course difficulty.  For this 300k, I was still sticking to my early season training.  That meant keeping my HR well below my lactate threshold and not even thinking about my finishing time or even setting a goal for finishing time.  Planning to take it easy and actually doing it are sometimes two different things.  When we bombed down the San Diego Creek Trail to Newport Back Bay I've found the combination of the slight downhill grade and the early morning lack of an on-shore breeze can make for some nice high speed runs to the coast.  This day I resisted and cruised along at around 30 km/h.  Later on the route heading up the Santa Ana River Trail a scraggly looking paceline of randonneurs passed me and I again resisted the temptation to jump on.  Some people might call it sandbagging, I think of it as pacing myself.

We rolled out a couple of minutes after 0600.  I had been busy in the convenience store that shares space in the Ralphs parking so I didn't have a chance for the usual pre-ride talk with friends.  As we climbed out over Glenn Ranch, Saddleback Ranch, and then Santiago Canyon I started to warm up.  With the early departure we didn't get to see much of the sunrise from the Canyon.  The fishermen were up and out in force on the Irvine Lake and the vapor over the lake made me a feel a chill.  I've spent many, many chilly mornings at trout streams watching the vapor rise as the sun rise begins warming the day.  This day I'd left my fishing gear at home and kept on peddling.  Willie Hunt met us at the top of the last grade on Santiago Canyon to sign our brevets so we could pass on the convenience store control just a mile down the road if we didn't need anything.  The ride west to Newport and then north to Santa Ana River Trail (SART) was pleasant and uneventful.

As I started inland on SART I hoped I'd find the beauty of the river trail.  It is sort of a bicycle freeway from the beach to the mountains.  It's not the esthetics of the trail I find uninteresting.  I just find the riding a bit monotonous, which is saying something when you consider that as a native of Illinois, I have ridden all over that great flat state and enjoyed it.  This day I amused myself by biker watching.  There was a steady stream of coast bound riders to keep my attention.  The detour on SART just inland of Gypsum Canyon was very nice.   I do hope they decide to leave the trail as detoured running next to the golf course rather than close, within 20 yards for quite a ways, to the 91 as it was originally paved.

At the fourth control I found the paceline that had rolled by on SART departing and another group trickled in as I left.  Molly and Jerry Cook were part of the group.  It wouldn't be the last time that we'd run into one another through the day.  The route through Corona was new to me and I found it entirely pleasant to be up in residential areas on nice wide empty streets rather than hugging the freeway below.  After a brief wrong turn adding a couple of kilometers to my day I ran into Molly and Jerry again.  Navigating according to the route sheet we were eventually dumped out onto Temescal Canyon for the hop down to Lake Elsinore.  Two things really caught my attention on Temescal Canyon.  The first was an enormous dog that had been hit and was still laying in the road.  The second was "Skull Canyon Eco-Experience."  I wondered if the pioneers who settled the area actually named it Skull Canyon or if this was a commercial enterprise's vision of the best marketable name.

As I rode south, paralleling the 15 at some distance, I stopped at a Circle K to top up my bottles and buy some food.  We were heading to Clinton Kieth Road and following it east across the Santa Rosa Plateau into territory with few services.  At the Circle K, Molly and Jerry arrived moments after me and then to my surprise Kelly DeBore, Jaime Gurolla, and a fellow I've not met pulled in to fuel up.  Kelly, Jaime and crew were out riding the Toughrider 200k permanent.  I was surprised to see Kelly and Jaime because, according to my navigational devices, we were located approximately 15 miles due west of the middle of nowhere.

Clinton Keith Road was a good warm up for the coming terrain.  After about 6 or 8 km of steady climbing at 6 to 8% the grades came down to a more gentle 2-3%.  The climb, although shorter, reminded me a good bit of San Julian Road out of Lompoc.

The Santa Rosa Plateau is a unique ecosystem.  Primarily a basalt formation from volcanic eruptions eons ago the Plateau's grass lands and Scrub Oak are quite striking after the dirt and rock landscape of the 15 corridor.  At 2000 feet elevation it must be much cooler in the summer than the Temecula Valley below.  On this day the temps were perfect which makes hard work much easier.  After crossing the plateau a sign sets the tone for the next 10 or 12 miles.

It says "GRADE" not "GRADES".  The grades were innumerable.

Dropping off the plateau on a bombing run that drops 700 or so feet at 20%+ grades is spectacular.  This was one of the few descents where I've drug my brakes for almost it's entirety.  The terrain that followed was almost surreal.  I would not have been surprised to find a Rolls Royce Cabriolet full of cabbages or a clocks dripping from trees.  To prepare for paving hills sides are usually cut and hill tops chopped off to reduce the grade.  Not here.  These roads have been layered on top of the terrain as is and where is.  I can only imagine the task involved in paving this type of terrain and the vision required to hike or fly across the hills and picture paved roads in place of game trails and farm roads.  Riding through here was sublime.  The roads were terrible, cracked and potholed, and the grades were impossible.  To describe the roads as rolling is to understate their nature.  To me rolling hills implies that a rhythm of give a take can be found with the terrain.  Riding in Missouri is like that.  This terrain is mostly take, with occasional downhills that will make your eyes water.  The pitches are so steep that no rhythm can be found.  You are not in control here.  The surfaces; they were rough farm road paving jobs.  There's hardly any point in striving for perfect surfaces in a place like this.  If I saw 10 vehicles after from Avocado Mesa Road  to DeLuz road at Fallbrook I'd be surprised.  You have to ride these roads and pay attention.  This was some of the best, most enjoyable riding I've had since leaving the midwest in '96.  To see the terrain we crossed I've attached a google map link in terrain mode.  You can clearly see where the route climbs up to the plateau and then drops off heading south to Fallbrook.

The last bit of wild terrain is south of Fallbrook.  We rode Olive Hill to Burma and Sleeping Indian out to N. River Road.  I was reminded of the last time I had been on Sleeping Indian:

As I climbed up the last little grade before the big descent to the river I could see a rider up ahead at the side of the road.  As I approached she asked if there were any more hills up ahead.  I could see another rider stopped at the top of the hill.  I had to tell the truth:  it's all hills in that area.  I don't know what they decided to do.

I got to Oceanside just before dark and started north towards Rancho Santa Margarita (RSM).  Riding the 5 always has a traffic generated tailwind.  At Las Pulgas road it was dark, dark, dark.  All the way through to San Onofre I had the only mobile light.  At Christianitos Road, Molly and Jerry caught me as I was scanning the route sheet.  I wanted to see where the last 20 miles of the route lay.  From Dana Point we turned well inland and headed to and up Margarite Parkway.  I can't recall ever riding Margarite all the way up to RSM.  There are some pretty decent grades on that road.  I started getting that "I'm not having any fun" feeling which means I need to eat.  I popped a gel as Molly and Jerry passed and I started feeling better almost immediately.  The ride started to be fun again.

I want to thank Willie Hunt for putting together a fantastic route.  It was challenging but I never felt cheated which is quite an achievement.  I also want to thank Patricia for cooking tortellini and spaghetti with a choice of marinara and basil dressing.  It was delicious.

OC 300k Ride Stats:
Distance: 312 km
Riding Speed Average: 23.0 km/h
Ascent 2910 m
Time 15:20 hh:mm

One Flat Three Times, Then Another: San Diego Randonneurs Rainbow 200k

Rainbow 200k rider's meeting

I had just come off a 77 km/h down hill that was interrupted by a stoplight.  A half mile later I started feeling the familiar squirm of a soft tire.  I was someplace in the San Marcos area and I wanted to find a nice grassy spot to pull over and take care of the tire.  The flat wouldn't wait so I stopped on a grassy hillside next to a freeway interchange.

Flat repair #1

It was plenty safe but noisy.  I pulled the wheel, stripped off the tire and began a search around the tire for the cause of the flat.  Strangely I couldn't find anything stuck in the tire.  Knowing full well these things, tubes, don't generally let the air out of themselves I looked again.  No luck.  I inflated the tube but I couldn't hear or feel the leak.  Humph.  I decided to swap in a virgin tube that would at least get me to a quiet area so I could work.  Back on the road, I made it another mile and as the rear end of the bike went squishy again I pulled off at on a equestrian trail and went back to work.  I still couldn't find anything in the tire but I found and patched the hole in the tube.  I always put my tires on with the label aligned with the valve stem so I have a reference for tire repair.

Flat repair #2

I couldn't find anything stuck in the tire.  I had also forgotten which way the tube was oriented in the tire, you've got two choices you know, so I wasn't sure which position on the tire, about 60 degrees away from the valve stem, held the hidden object that was causing the flat.  I suspected it was a tire wire, one of those fine steel wires from a steel belted radial blowout.  Those will go through any bike tire and can be devilishly hard to find.  I put the tube back in hoping the patch being thicker than a tube would hold off the tire wire and put a boot in the position on the opposite side of the valve stem.   Back on the road and riding with the sensitivity of the princess in the Princess and the Pea I found the tire slowly flatting as I rolled into control #3.  It was good there.  Jaime had brought a tire pump along and I made use of it and found and repaired another small hole.  I still couldn't find anything stuck in the tire.  At this point it occurred to me that I might actually DNF a 200k because I'd either run out of tubes or patches which I found a little funny.  I also strained a quadriceps kicking myself in the ass for not carrying a spare tire along.  Did I mention that I had noticed that the rear tire was corded in a couple places?  That gave me some pause and I considered swapping it to the front to conserve it for the remainder of the ride and to make future repairs more appealing.  Front tires have glacial wear rates, however wear at the rear is easily discernible, particularly if you are doing a lot of climbing.  I decided to let things be and moved on.  From the control I headed over to the AM/PM where I ran directly into on of those aggregate concrete waste receptacles because I'd forgotten to close the quick release on my rear brake after installing the wheel.  If you've seen me on the road recently, you'll know that I'm riding a beautiful Waterford that is pretty new.  I ride my bikes pretty hard so I knew Estelle (the Waterford) would begin to show some wear.

I think that'll buff out.

I just wasn't expecting the "wear" to happen so soon in such an inauspicious manner: a collision with trash can in broad daylight, completely sober!  I recovered and after mentally letting out one of Jerry Stiller's "serenity NOW!" screams I went in to the AM/PM, got my Gatorade, filled my bottles, and took off.

The climbs up Old Castle, Lilac, Crouser, and Rice were enjoyable and uneventful: the tire held through it all.   I really enjoyed bombing down the backside of Crouser.  The water in the road was no sweat, it just added to my enjoyment of a technical descent.  Really.

At control four Tom and Tina  Reynolds where there with soup and homemade bread.  A few other riders were milling around as was my buddy John Hillard who had somehow wandered into the area but wasn't riding the 200k that day.

John, Jesus of the Control.

The soup was a treat that I enjoyed but I had been thinking about a tuna salad sandwich on the flat road into Rainbow so I satisfied that urge and gulped a chocolate milk and a V8 while I was at it.  The tire was still holding, two patches and a boot so I didn't mess with it and rolled out. 

As I rolled down Live Oak Park Rd.  I began noticing that squishy tire feeling and pulled off into a nice wide driveway to make repairs.  Upon disassembling the tire I located another small hole in the tube and patched it.  It was real close to the others but far enough away that I suspect this was a completely new flat.  Once again a search of the tire had revealed nothing!  I had noted the proper orientation of the tube relative to the tire so I knew with certainty where to place the boot.

Flat repair #4

I did meet the owner of the driveway who was coming out to enjoy the day and have a nice relaxing session of weed whacking.  He was quite generous but was fresh out of 700x28 Vittoria Rubino Pro Tech tires so I moved on.

I made a stop at the 7-11 at Vandegrift and N. River Rd which is somewhat of a tradition with me.  Once a couple of years ago I bonked on the bike trail headed towards Oceanside.  That was a much harder faster ride then than the Rainbow 200k yesterday but it was a lesson learned.  Since that time I almost always stop there to fuel up after emerging from the back country.

The ride down the coast from Oceanside was better than usual.  There was the prevailing tailwind and I ran into Dion Dyer just south of Carlsbad.  Dion was in more of a hurry than I and he eventually pulled ahead.  I always enjoy these last few miles of a brevet and try not to hurry though them.  It's a time when I can savour the end of the ride.  I went up the outside at Torrey Pines (per the route sheet), which I hadn't done in many trips south.  Traffic was light and the grade seemed a bit flat after riding the inside for so long.   The tire made it to the end and when I looked this afternoon was still holding air.

I met my goal for this ride which was to take it easy and to make what is a pretty challenging route a piece of cake.  Holding my heart rate under 151 except for the rarest of occasions was the center piece of that plan.  My scale up for this season is off to a fine start.  A couple of 300k brevets are coming right up and I am really looking forward to them.

Rainbow 200 Ride Stats:
Distance: 195 km
Riding Speed Average: 21.9 km/h
Ascent 2210 m
Time 10:59 hh:mm

Ride Volunteers: Thank you!
Start line - Robert Leone, Dennis Stryker

San Elijo/Elfin Forest - Osvaldo Colavin

Deer Springs Road Control - Jaime Gurrola

Rainbow Control - Tom & Tina Reynolds

SAG - Guy Laronche

Finish Line - Tim Sullivan, Dennis Stryker

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