2012 Veteran's Victory Velo Century

After I met the enthusiastic young ladies at the Junction last month passing out flyers for this ride, I knew I had to do it.  Sentinels of Freedom helps wounded veterans re-integrate into society, gets them training, and helps them find jobs.

The route looked pretty cool - a nice replacement for the defunct Diablo Century.  Starts in San Ramon, goes up the Easy Side, around back to Morgan Territory - and then 55 miles of mostly flat.

MayMyRide really needs better axis formatting.

Put the word out to the health club team and we fielded twelve riders - me and Bob were the only ones who did the full 100.  Bob's a strong, steady rider - perfect for centuries.  I tend to get a little too excited when a pack of fast guys comes by and burn matches that I should be keeping in reserve.  We stayed together sometimes, and split up sometimes, and re-grouped at the rest stops.

Bob

Team Wells Fargo/Kovaris led us out.

I prepared a Ride Management Plan that was a little on the optimistic side:

Mass start after some speech making and flag waving - got going about 15 minutes late.  Finished about 40 minutes later than my "Early Finish" time but mostly kept on track until a sore on my foot started to hurt and the leg cramps started to get bad.  The sore turned out to be a tiny sliver that got irritated from all the commotion.

I thought I had a pretty good plan for electrolytes too, but maybe my cramps have other causes that  electrolytes don't help.  Anyway, GuBrew Electrolyte and Cytomax in the bottles, E-Gel for calories, and three Endurolyte E-Caps at every rest stop.  But by mile 70 I knew it was coming, by mile 80 it was hurting, and by mile 90 I had to stop a couple times in serious pain and shake it off.

Tarantula Tally:  One.

Roadkill Report:  THREE skunks... rather recently separated from their lives and scented oils.  Also, one opossum and one racoon.

Almost all the riders only did the 60 mile route, so by 3 o'clock when I finished most of the after-ride activities and schwag tents were closing down.  Did get a cold veggie burger and a warm beer though!

My Contour GPS camera has a 16GB micro SD card and it lasted for 5 hour of video at the lowest resolution.  I packed four batteries and only used three, so I think a 32GB card 5 batteries is the order to make sure I get a whole century recorded.... I don't like my videos to be too long though so it's a lot of editing, but if a bear runs in front of me I want it on camera.

Friday night I did a general clean up and safety check and determined that my rear tire was worn but still had at least another 100 miles in it so I didn't change it.  When I got home I checked again - wow... I don't think I had 101 miles in it.

I don't know why I can't toss a tire that isn't completely toast.  I've had the spares ready for at least six months waiting for this.

How long should a century video be?  I promise never to be longer than two songs in the soundtrack.  Click below for the helmet cam experience.

2012 Veteran's Victory Velo Century from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.