Oooh... there's a bungee option? Wow! Maybe I could actually do this ride, if not for my schedule!! :)
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Oooh... there's a bungee option? Wow! Maybe I could actually do this ride, if not for my schedule!! :)
More merrier! Hurry Slinkedog- this is a popular ride and it will fill up early! Can you rearrange your schedule per chance?????????
Sorry you won't be with us V, but I totally understand the expense bit. Organized rides are getting very expensive these days if you want to do lots of them! I think it's partially cost of food, registration fees, permit costs, rest stop costs that are partially to blame. (Santa Rosa Club explains this on their site.)
I'm starting to obsess about whether I'm ready for this so I decided to look to see who might be there to share my pain
Checking the Bikejournal site, we have:
cindysue
jobob
live2bike
maillotpois
SadieKate
WrenchBoy (aka Bubba)
From piecing together this conversation,
Snapdragen
Kjay
Bike Goddess
Mr LeeBob
Mr. MaillotPois
VIVV (Very Important Venerable Volunteer)
Deanna
Anyone have a course elevation profile? MP has provided the 200k course map and lots of patient words of wisdom. Now, I'm realizing I really don't know how gnarly the climbs at the beginning are. And how early crack of stupid has to be for the drive over. And . . . :o :p
I don't know that I've seen an "official" elevation profile, but I can help you piece together the route using the elevation profiles for the area, found at
http://www.srcc.com/cgi_bin/profiles.pl
The early climbs are (in route order) Graton Rd, Coleman Valley (only if you're doing the 200K), Mays Canyon and Green Valley. The last climb is Chalk Hill, which isn't all that bad, but it is at the very end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by maillotpois
I'm in awe of anybody who makes it to the top of Pine Flat. I usually go only to the second pumping station at the end of the flats, and the more standard club route ends at the start of the flats. Levi Leipheimer trains up this climb, and he does repeats!
Is the Geysers on this route?
Thanks, Deanna. As long as Geysers isn't on the route it looks like it is the cumulative climbs which make it tough but that there aren't any really nasty ones. Or is that just wishful thinking?
MP said part of the route may be washed out and need a reroute. Do you know anything?
no. no. no.Quote:
Originally Posted by SadieKate
This is a case where thread drift is a bad thing. Mention of the Geysers caused a momentary disturbance in the postive force thing I've got going right now.
Yellow's behind the scenes telling me I can do it; MP is back there coaching. I'm trying to keep the PMA vibes going.
Let's not talk about the Geysers in this thread, shall we? :D I'm willing to try riding the Geysers but just not on my first double metric with no hills under my legs. OK?
Deanna - I meant the 128 bridge in Geyserville - is it still closed?
NO the Geysers is not on this route. The re-route is pretty minor and it is because of the Geyserville Bridge being washed out on 128(they don't expect to fix it until the end of the year). If anything, it will make the route shorter by about 2 miles.
There really aren't any nasty climbs, the toughest on the 200K will be Coleman Valley, but the views when you get to the top will be more than worth it. I hear there are some major potholes on that road now--I plan on riding it this weekend so I can confirm if it's anything to watch for on the downhill.
Wonderful. I look forward to the report.
In about 1988 (or 1989?) hubby and I rode the metric on our new tandem. Suffice it to say that I've never gone back because of the potholes. So where have our tax dollars gone in all these years?
parts of the route were on my 600k route Sunday. potholes fairly consistent at Westside/Dry Creek w/some new ones on River. the Coleman climb is so much better the direction wcc will do it (as opposed to the Mt. Tam double) - and the view is amazing.
I'm getting up at 4:30 am so I can get ready, get coffee, and meet my friendly carpool so we arrive by 7am. I'm not in great shape but I am still very much looking forward to it!Quote:
Originally Posted by SadieKate
Is that the right term?
Anyway, need to drive from Davis, be checked and on my bike at 6 am. Not feeling sorry for you, Miss CindySue.:p
It's discouraging to hear there are pot holes, but I should know better than to think there wouldn't be any. Our roads are not in very good shape. I was going to get a new road bike for this ride, but now I'll just ride my old hybrid even if it takes me all day to finish. I signed up for the metric century, but may back up to the 35er. As the time draws nearer, I get wimpier. :(
I'll be with you in spirit. I wish I could be there in body! That would be a great way to spend my birthday weekend! My friend Rod (you know HIM) says that this is the purtiest ride he's ever done (the double metric version). You have to get up there and take a picture for me!Quote:
Originally Posted by SadieKate
Yes, ma'am! Is HotRod going to be there?
you go girl!Quote:
Originally Posted by SadieKate
from merriam-webster (so, it's not Oxford)Quote:
Originally Posted by SadieKate
"one-upmanship"
Pronunciation: "w&n-'&p-m&n-"ship
Variant(s): also one-ups·man·ship /-'&ps-m&n-/
Function: noun
: the art or practice of outdoing or keeping one jump ahead of a friend or competitor <engaged in a round of verbal one-upmanship>
So, you can spell better than I can. Niener-niener.:p
CindySue - Tsk Tsk Tsk! Looking things up in the dictionary may LOOK like thesis work to the casual observer, but it does not fool us! Back to work, young lady! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by cindysue
BikerZ - good one!
I know, I know. I need to shut myself in a room with no internet to distract me ...........Quote:
Originally Posted by bikerz
We'll (the Benicia Bike Club) probably get there around 6:30ish. Some of us will be wearing argyle socks (red and yellow) so you can't miss us. That is, of course, if it's cold that morning. So if you see those socks be sure to say something! Most of us will be doing the double metric. I'll see how I feel at the lunch break as to whether I'll do the last loop off the century to get those extra miles in!
Looking forward to this ride. :) :) :) :)
Is it some plan hatched during happy hour?
Registration has closed. OK. Some reason why all the links to ride day info have been removed? Fortunately, I printed off some of the stuff but not the map to the Luther Burbank Center. So, now I have to go off and google this. Not a big deal, but I hope there isn't some other tidbit of info I'm missing.
I've emailed our webmaster and hope to have a link or the info back up soon. Let me know if you need info, I may have it in my head.
Deanna? MP?
Do I have the right place?
DELETING MY LINK SO I DON'T CONFOOZE ANYONE.
Stuff I printed out says check-in 6-7 am. Wish I could check in the night before but the Wonder Poodle hates being abandoned all night.
Thanks, Deana. I understand removing all links to registration but not to the info.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SadieKate
No!! I'm not even sure what that is. At first I thought it was Luther Burbank's home, but no. It's now called the Wells Fargo Performing Arts Center (change last month) and it's MUCH easier to get to:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...+Rosa,+CA&om=1
If my link doesn't work, the address is 50 Mark West Springs Rd.
Mark Springs Road is pretty easy to find. Also, there will be lots of bikes on cars to follow! The trick is to go all the way around the lot to the back. Less walk later on!
The center will be on your right not far from 101 if I remember correctly.
Thanks, Deanna.
Thanks, Nancy, but I'm not going to depend on being able to follow bikes on cars at 5:30 am. I'm going to be lucky if I'm able to follow anything.:o
I'm a sometimes rider (a frequent spinner, tho) and am wondering if you think it's okay to ride a new road bike in the Wine Country metric. I will have had the bike for about six days prior. Do you think that's enough time to get used to a new bike? I would ride it about 2 hours a day prior to the Santa Rosa ride. Thanks in advance.
What kind of bike have you been riding before this? Are you going, say, from an upright hybrid to a road bike?
How fit are you? Have you ever ridden a metric century before? What distance are you comfortable riding right now?
Do you have every reason to believe that this bike is going to fit you reasonably well from the onset, so that only minimal adjustments will be necessary to dial in the fit? Did you have someone who really knows what they are doing set up your bike for you? Do you know your body well enough to know what kind of adjustments you will need to make it work for you over a 62 mile distance? Have you ever ridden on the saddle that is coming with this new bike?
In a word, there's no simple answer.
A lot of it hinges on how well the bike fits you, how comfortable the saddle is for you, and how comfortable you are with riding and handling the bike. If all those factors are OK, then you probably could do the metric just fine on the new bike.
Jobob, I must say you have simplified my decision-making process, and I thank you! One read-through of your questions and comments confirmed my hunch that I had better ride my current upright hybrid. The most I've ridden is 40 miles, and I currently am comfortable with 20. You have helped me so much, and I thank you for your thoughtful response. I will now concentrate on getting the 'perfect' bike in time for a week-long ride in early August (CANDISC). I LOVE this board!
No prob. When I first got my road bike after riding a hybrid, it took me a while to get used to it - the brakes weren't where I was used to having them, the shifting was completely different, and the position felt very odd and insecure to me at first.
I was recounting today on our ride on the Alameda Creek trail about how I was so unsteady when I first started riding a road bike that one time I was riding along that trail and got too close to the edge of the pavement, froze up, and rolled down the side of the levee, and there was nothing I could do about it besides let out an ear-piercing shreek. Luckily I didn't run into anything and I managed to slow down before crashing into a fence. Back then I was terrified and sooo embarassed, but it's pretty funny now.
Hopefully you're not as klutzy as I am, but still, it might take you a bit to get used to handling the bike, and in a large ride like the Wine Country you'll need good control.
You'll get the hang of it, I promise. Probably quicker than I did. :D
sheesh. I'm still feeling beat up after the little adveture we had Saturday. A good kind of beat up, but beat up none the less! I'm seriously thinking I'm only going to do the 35 mile option. Baby steps.....:rolleyes:
OK, I've got my cheering section going. Let's start one for snap. Take it easy this week. Rest up them legs and go for it. You've done some longer rides than 35 this year, right? Slow and easy and scenic. From the description, the climbing on the 65 route sounds about like the Cindy but far prettier.
And drink a ton of water. It is finally starting to get warm, so give your legs and bod some water to hydrate from your ride this weekend.
Good news about WCC is all the routes seem like they're pretty and you may well be able to start the metric and then do a bail out and make a shorter route - probably Deanna would know better, since she's "connected" and I don't know the 35/metric routes too well. But Iknow the 200k can easily be cut shorter, so I imagine the same is true for the others.
Go for it!! We finally have NICE weather so you will want to take advantage of it!!!
quick note to let y'all know that I will end up doing the metric instead of the full century. No time on the bike in the last couple weeks due to double thesis duty and my only riding day spent trying to recover my files (my computer crashed and burned and is no longer useable - what timing, huh?)
see ya saturday!