The AV gang does a brevet
... and lives to tell the tale :)
The Santa Rosa Cycling Club's 200K brevet was this past Saturday, and a bunch of us had signed up for it. Many of us had neither ridden a brevet before nor ridden 200K (~124 miles) so this was going to be a day of firsts.
We chose this brevet in part because it didn't have a lot of climbing; although 3000-ish feet sounds like a lot, it's not very much when it's spred out over a long distance. It seemed like a good choice for a first brevet.
After all the crummy weather we'd been experiencing recently I think all of us were constantly checking the weather reports to see how this Saturday was shaping up. Well, luckily for us, the weather gods were in a very generous mood!
We showed up bright & early at the parking lot of the Headsburg City Hall. Here we all are just before the 7 am rollout. It was just around sunrise and I neglected to turn off my flash before handing my camera off to Cyndi's friend Don, so the flash went off in the dim light and the reflective trim on my & Lee's handlebar bags made their presence known. oops.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...0200K/gang.jpg
L to R: jobob, LeeBob, Bubba, MP, Cyndi, SK, and Trekhawk
The route was more-or-less and out and back, starting from Healdsburg and meandering through Sonoma and Napa counties, with a large part of the ride along the Silverado Trail.
Did I mention the weather was nice? It was freakin' gorgeous out! It started out chilly and by late morning it warmed up but it stayed very pleasant and never got hot. The sun was shining and there wasn't much wind, the hills were a lovely green from the recent rains, the cherry and almond and other flowering trees were at their showiest, and the fields and vineyards were blanketed with pretty yellow mustard flowers.
I took lots of photos with a little lightweight pen-cam I carried with me. Some of them came out OK, but the images didn't really capture the glorious colors of the fields and the sky. You'll just have to take my word for it.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...K/scenery5.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...K/scenery2.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...K/scenery1.jpg
Since most of the brevet participants took off like a shot right from the getgo - including MP, Bubba and Sadie "gee I'm gonna start out slowly" Kate :rolleyes: :p , within a mile or two Trekhawk, Leebob, SK's friend Cyndi and I were well at the back of the back, and a few miles later we couldn't even see anyone ahead fo us anymore. Since none of us had ever ridden 200K, we figured we would start out easy and not burn ourselves out. We pretty much assumed we were dead last, but then a small group passed us when we had briefly stopped at the first Information Control. Every now and then we'd pass a couple of riders along the route fixing a flat, but sooner or later they'd pass us by.
As we approached the turnaround point, groups of riders started to pass us on their return trip. One group passed us heading back when were about 14 miles to the control, at just about 11 am. Jo Math Whiz figured that they covered 28 miles more than us in 4 hours, so they were averaging about 7 mph faster than us. We were doing a pretty decent clip (by my standards), at about 14 mph, so those folks must have been averaging about 21 mph or thereabouts. gahhhh.
We finally reached the checkpoint at a local campground, where we found SK, Bubba and MP patiently waiting for us. We yelled out the Amici Veloci greeting and got our brevet cards signed by the nice folks manning the checkpoint. They had a nice spred of snacks and soda for us - I wasn't expecting much so this was a nice suprise. I wolfed down a pb & j sandwich and some cookies and a Pepsi. Hit the spot!
Our fast friends left soon after we arrived, and the four of us relaxed a little bit before heading off again. We were surprised t see a few people reach the checkpoint as we were heading off, we were under the impression that we were bringing up the rear, but evidently that wasn't the case.
Soon after we left the checkpoint we saw a man lying on his back under a tree by the side of the road, his bike propped up on the side of the tree. We rode up to him and asked if he was OK and he said he had a very upset stomach. He had left the checkpoint sometime before us he already had to stop & rest again. Poor guy ! We asked him if we could do anything and he said no, he was just resting a bit and was going to resume the ride when he felt better.
We went on for a few more miles and then Lee had a flat. Just before he discovered the flat, Upset Stomach Guy (I don't remember his name so from now on he'll be USG) had caught up with us, but he seemed more than happy to pull over with us and lay on the grass again while Lee & I attended to the flat.
We started out again, and USG stayed with us for a large part of the ride. Over time he seemed to be getting a bit better, and he enjoyed hanging and talking with us. Trekhawk and I figured that the company took his mind off his discomfort somewhat.
At one point along the Silverado Trail USG and I started to pick up the pace and I noticed that Lee & TH and Cyndi were falling a bit behind. I figured I would cruise with USG for a bit, and then at the next turnoff about 20 miles ahead I would stop and wait for my companions. I had so much fun, and I was really thrilled about how good I was feeling. As it turned out USG ran out of gas a bit before the turnoff and needed to stop again, so he had a brief rest and my gang soon appeared and we continued on.
We reached Calistoga which was about the only place along the route with any convenience stores, so we stopped and bought water and chocolate milk and other assorted goodies and made pit stops. USG was feeling a lot better by then and wolfed down a banana. That perked him up considerably, and when we started out again he thanked us profusely for our company and support, and then took off at more of his normal pace, meaning he was out of sight within a mile or two :D
So, it was back to the four of us. We were all feeling pretty good, and finished without incident. Cyndi had a burst of energy about 5 miles or so from the end and took off like a shot - perhaps she was looking forward to seeing her boyfriend at the brewpub ? ;) and Lee, Trekhawk and I followed at a more sedate pace.
After overshooting the turnoff for the brew pub (my beer radar was malfunctioning, I guess) we doubled back and walked our bikes to the back patio of the pub where many of the earlier finishers were already enjoying their well-earned brews and burgers. I soon had my beer in hand, and all was well with my world. :)
We had a really fun time at the pub, hanging out with our friends and talking with other randonneurs.
What a great day it was ! I'm really thrilled about how good I felt when I finished. It took us about 10 1/2 hours to do the course, and we possibly could have done it quicker if we kept our stops shorter, but we finished before sunset, which was great. (We were all grousing that we didn't need to bring our lights after all, but we just knew if we didn't, we probably would have had a slew of flat tires that would have kept us out past sunset).
Talking with the RBA, he told me that registration was still open for the 300K on the 31st of March. hmmmmmmm. :cool:
