2010 WNR 01

I'll have six more months of this weather please!

Mark H was coming but late, so I soloed to Junction. Passed em-passed me ratio was zero to a bunch. Felt good though, no cramp remnants and HCT seems back to normal.

Bugs were pretty bad at Junction - a couple even flew up my nose.

Found Mark coming up so I turned around and re-Junctioned with him.

2010 Santa Rosa Wine Country Century

This is the 25th anniversary of my very first century...which of course was the Wine Country Century of 1985. That year they gave out these cool pink cycling hats instead of a patch, I still have mine and wore it to check in. That's where I met Keith, a SRCC volunteer at the "E through H" table and he had his on too.

Keith took me over to the "T through Z" table where I met the woman who designed the artwork for the hats... (grape leaves and rolling hills). That was a fun connection.

Last weekend, the forecast for this weekend was rain, and I was ready for it, but by mid-week they had revised the forecast to sunny and ZERO percent chance of precip... a welcome modification. I started off with knee warmers, arm warmers, and an undershirt and was pretty comfortable.



The first 20 miles were really packed with riders... I found a decent group and settled in.

• The plunge down to Monte Rio is always fun, but the road was pretty rough and my handlebar bell fell out. I didn't realize what the noise was at first and when I figured it out I didn't want to go back for it.

• After Monte Rio came Mays Canyon Road, and then Green Valley Road - last year Rick and I missed the turn to Green Valley Road and I didn't realize how much climbing we avoided until today - it was pretty steep in there. Then.... da DA DAAA! Leg cramps. Oh crap, mile 40 and my hams are seizing. Managed to make it all the way through but then I had to stop and shake them off at the top. I'd been popping the E-caps too but they didn't help today.

• If you've never had leg cramps, they feel like your muscles want to contract and extend at the same time, but if you let your knee bend it'll hurt like hell so you have to straighten your legs out, which also hurts like hell but you won't fall on your face. Then once you manage to make the cramp go away, your muscles feel tired and sore and on the verge of cramping again at any minute.



• At Rest Stop #2 they had drop bags for us to put in warmies we didn't need anymore and that was a really nice offer so I doffed the T-shirt and arm and leg warmers and was comfortable for the rest of the ride.

Klein Krown goes to this red and yellow Waterloo beauty.

Romeo and Olive - the official rest stop greeters.

Between rest stop 2 at Wohler Bridge, and rest stop 3 at Warm Springs Dam, there was a pretty constant headwind... not terrible but kind of a nuisance. After the RS#3 though we were going the opposite direction so that was great fun.

Photo Credit: MilesJohn.com

• On the ride up to the dam, I got passed by some emergency vehicles and ambulances with lights and sirens on, hoped it wasn't a rider (thinking of last week's death on the DMD). The vehicles kept going past the rest stop though so must have been unrelated. Blog reader Pumpkincycle got in a bad crash though and DNFed on a gurney. LINK
  

• RS#4 was only 15 miles more which was a little early, but 30 miles to the finish probably would have been too far. And Chalk Hill was coming up so I stopped for some salty snacks and a HammerGel and lots of leg rubbing and stretching.

Managed again to finish the climbing before the cramps manifested but right afterwards I had to stop and walk around on the side of the road for a while... damn, that was painful.

But now there were only a few miles left and I polished them off pretty quickly. But just to make things interesting, I got a puncture with only two blocks to go! It was one of those PSSST PSSST PSSST PSSST punctures that tell you there's no way you can keep rolling. If you were on the ride, it was at that Chevron station just before the turn into the parking lot access. So I fixed the flat and rode like 500 meters to my truck and called it a ride.

The drop bags.

Home is that way.

Click here for my fun ride video (8 minutes):

2010 Wine Country Century from Diablo Scott on Vimeo.

Summit

JB's been sick and told me yesterday he wouldnt' be coming, so I got a real early start to see more of the Devil Mountain Double riders.

These route arrows are for the Diablo Century tomorrow... only the second year for that one, hope they get a good turnout.

By 7:30, the best riders were long gone, but anybody who can do this ride is absolutely awesome. Two hundred of the hardest miles in NorCal... some won't finish until 11pm. They had good weather today though.

Wildlife Encounter: big group of turkeys... must be rutting season because these guys were strutting around and posing for the females. Not too bright doing it in the road though.

So all that DMD awesomeness rubbed off a little bit and I went on to the Summit... I wouldn't have made the first time cut though if I were on the real ride.

SPY CAM BLUE OAK:

Rick and I have decided to watch the Tour of California come over Bonny Doon this year. Should be lots of TV cameras in there; it's the fourth KoM of the stage, and only about 20 miles from the finish so we're hoping for some good aggressive riding. We're going up from the back side though... pretty steep.

Gate - Blackhawk

I thought I saw a Devil Mountain Double sign at the Church but I'm pretty sure that's next week.

One week post blood donation (double reds) and I felt fine on the way out but when I got to the Bump I went totally anaerobic and it took me a long time to recover. It was humbling to be panting like a dog as everybody and their grandpa passed me. Two weeks until Wine Country Century... I hope I'm recovered by then.



Great weather, first ride of the year without a jacket - base layer, jersey and arm warmers up top, tights on the bottom.


Some kind of pink walkathon in Walnut Creek so we took a different ride home.

Wednesday Night Rides should start this week!

Gate - Junction - Juniper - Gate

JB was a little late and I started up in a cold hazy morning.


OK, you don't actually have to get all the way into the other lane at the Upper Washout, but you shouldn't get too close to the edge either... there's some significant undercutting.

JB caught up near Son of Chainbuster. There was a huge platoon of Team in Training riders and support vehicles coming up from the South.

JB went back home, I went to Juniper first. I was feeling stiff after a night of leg cramps. I probably need to get serous about stretching more.

Treat Overpass Update - looks like they're going to fill the trays up with styrofoam under the concrete; I've seen them do that on freeways but not on bridges... interesting.

Gate - Junction - Juniper - Hole

There was a rock on the post but I think it was from last week. Waited around for JB but he didn't come.

Mark H called and said he'd be coming with Rhys and Derrick though so I told him to call me when they got to Junction and I'd come down to meet them.

Near Moss Landing they painted over the double yellow don't pass lines... can't imagine what prompted this.

Made it to Juniper before Mark called. Summit Road was really cold.

Found a Pearl Izumi beanie someone lost... needs a washing but will be nice in cold weather. I'll be happy to return it if someone knows who dropped it.

Derrick is Rhys's son, senior in HS. They said he dusted them before the Junction but he has no endurance so they wanted to teach him a lesson and we went down to Danville.

They were right - Derrick was dragging and whining by the time we got to Walnut Creek.

Here's a shot I took of my commute bike rack at work - One U-lock with a combo, one U-lock with a flat key, and a 9/16" cable closed by a mini U-lock with a cylinder key. I leave the locks in the garage since I do this almost every day.

And tomorrow is THE TOUR OF FLANDERS and merits a very special brew for viewing enjoyment (delayed TV coverage in the afternoon, not the 5am live internet version.)

Devil's Elbow

Celebrity Spotting on the Mountain from Diablo Scott on
Vimeo.

A very special guest graced us with his presence today.

Gate - Junction - Kiosk - Toyon - Junction - Gate

Met JB at the Gate, no Peter

I've been really tired all week, not sure why... JB quoted a Geritol line about "iron poor blood".

Roadkill Observation: A bunny... fresh and gory; vultures hadn't found it yet.

Absolutely beautiful weather, warming up fast. We were surprised there weren't many riders.

At the Junction a lot of people rode in... they just like to start a little later I guess.

JB went home and I went down SGR to the Kiosk and back up.

Then I started up Summit Road and got to Toyon when JB called me and said a couple friends were on their way up so I turned down to meet them at Junction.

By now there were dozens of cyclists gathering.

Somebody left an innertube on a signpost at the bottom of The Bump so I picked it up - it was a Slime tube and didn't seem to have any damage so I brought it home for a commute tire.