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Hey all,
I can't stand that the California thread is so quiet...
Who's doing Wine Country next weekend?
I'm up there doing the 100k with some friends and making it a long weekend (which I'm feeling like I NEED all of a sudden).
Hopefully, it won't be like last year.. brrrrr....
I'm doing the Grizzly Peak Century instead, it's a bit closer to home for me.
200k for me - I agree last year was rotten. I actually flipped a coin in Guerneville to decide whether to continue or just go back to the start with some friends who were bagging out because of the rain. I lost and had to finish with my husband and another of our coaches. :rolleyes:
I am! It'll be my first one, so here's hoping for a beautiful day!
Lori which route are you doing?
100k! Anything I should know ahead of time?
mp - you riding the peg?
tofu - hmm.. please pray for a nice spring day.. not too hot, not too wet..
yeah.. last year was kind of a slog. the hot cocoa was THE BOMB whomever decided to pick that up and do that.. many blessings upon that person!
people were asking me if it was truly a beautiful ride.. and i told i'm "i dunno.. all i can remember is grey, being wet, cold and counting down the miles."
glad i finished though. felt good to finish. had to ride the extra 2 miles back to the hotel to take a HOT SHOWER and change and then go back for food.
I did the 100k at Wine Country last year (in the rain). It's a nice course, with very little climbing, so it's a good first 100k.
I'm trying to decide if I should go out the night before, or day of. Hmmmmm.....
tofu, you're welcome to ride with us but.. uh.. we're not exactly pace setters. :)
i think we average about 12-14.. maybe? if you're interested let me know and i'll let you know details of meet times and such.
we usually try to roll by no later than 8am since 2 of us are heat adverse. :rolleyes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by roguedog
Yup! We did 90 up Mt. Hamilton and back Saturday so I think it's ready for a 200k. :)
The 100 miler and 100k are both pretty flat courses and as Kim noted good first centuries or metrics. In fact the only real climb in the whole thing is Coleman Valley on the 200k route. Of course that gets you the best views around, so you get something for your trouble.
This is an amazingly well supported ride. Please do be careful out there, as part of the price you pay for riding on low traffic routes is that the pavement is NOT the best and downright bad in places. Relax and go over the smaller bumps and holes using your arms and legs as shock absorbers, and you will be fine.
I love it when MP goes into Coach mode... :D :cool:
Whatever you do, don't copy my Wine Country experience. I overslept and missed the entire ride...:o
Sometimes I can't help myself. :o But it's a safety thing - my big priority, coaching or not. I had a friend take a pretty bad fall because of pavement on that ride.Quote:
Originally Posted by snapdragen
ah but I think the whole "Wine Country" aspect of the experience made up for that... right? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by snapdragen
Is anyone going to be around the night before? I booked a room at a local hotspot (Motel 6) and am thinking dinner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by roguedog
Quote:
Originally Posted by maillotpois
And you should have seen how people drooled over it when she had it parked at rest stops. :cool:
Thanks, coach mp.
That's why I love my "2x everyone else's weight and 2x everyone else's tire width", Riv Atlantis. I love that it's a solid, old trusty steed.
Even if those weight weeny folks think it looks like an old nag :cool: Unfortunately, it's not the bike that's slow, it's the nag that's riding that's slow. heh.
Oh well, just burning more calories and building more character.
Hey Jobob, I'm sure you get lots of attention with your Lynskey too (I think I remembered that correctly) :) Hope you're doing well. I hadn't really kept up with your goings on after your recovery and stuff.
jobob is studly....in a girly sort of way. :D
Nope - getting there that morning since it is practically in my neighborhood. sorry.Quote:
Originally Posted by tofu
:pQuote:
Originally Posted by jobob
Tofu,
When we've done this ride, we've left Benicia about 6:00- arriving in Sta Rosa about 6:45-7:00 ish. We go Hwy 37 to the cutoff (forget the name of the road- but it's after the signal light at Sears Point on the right). Doing that route you will save about 10 min as it gets you into Petaluma and then Hwy 101. If you go early you get a better place to park. We've always parked on the east side of the building away from the freeway and close to the registration and food. :)
JoBob- You are definitely the studly one on Saturday. Hmmm- McEwen, Wildcat Canyon Rd, Grizzly Peak... Good for you! :)
Thanks Nancy! I've decided to go out Friday night, and meet some people for dinner. Being a little social now and than wouldn't kill me. THANKS for the parking advice- being close to food is where I love to be :).
PS- There's a rumor that I *might* make full time at work soon, which would allow me some scheduling freedom- more rides with friends!
I hope you all are having a great ride today!
Ahhh, I got to sleep in late this morning, nice. :cool:
My ride (the Grizzly Peak Century) is tomorrow.
I think I'll be heading out for a nice relaxed ride with LeeBob today, I'll be thinking of you all.
Thanks for the well-wishes, roguedog & BG. I'm 99% recovered from the crash (yay!) and my training is going pretty well. I've been writing up tales from my training in my blog (linked in my sig line below).
Good luck, Jobob! I'm home REALLY early.....WCC is my first DNF. I didn't sleep worth a nut last night, and two weeks of stress caught up with me. I was in Carrow's Restaurant at 5am, talking to a 91 year old man who rides 480 miles a month and drinking coffee. I hit the road, and 5 miles in knew it wasn't a good day to ride; I just felt.....fuzzy. Missed my friends trying to get an early start (raincheck, roguedog?) and at the first rest stop called it quits; I was just afraid if I kept going, I was going to get injured. Something just didn't feel right. We'll try again next year.
Bummer, sorry about that, Tofu! Sometimes you just have to listen to your body. Sure hope you're not coming down with something -- have a nice relaxing rest of the day.
Jo's right - sometimes you do have to listen to your body and this was one of those times. Sorry Tofu! :(
JO - GOOD LUCK TOMORROW!!! :D:D
I had a lovely ride with 3 friends - a great day! (Although we could have done without that heinous headwind, but it was a nice tailwind on the way back!)
Go Jobob! Have a great time out there. Glad to hear you are well.
Tofu - no worries. But hey, it was a great day to wander around the wine country!
Rogue - did you have a good ride? I know the metric intersected at on stretch but I wasn't sure if you guys were at lunch as well at Lake Sonoma - I frankly couldn't figure out how they would get you up there and back in 62 miles. I should have looked at your map. :rolleyes:
Roguedog, glad you had a good time. I'm pretty crushed that I missed it. I think I was just suffering from exhaustion- I'd had a couple stressful weeks, and hadn't been taking care of my self very well. While I rode, I kept waiting for the fog to lift, and by the time I made it to the first rest stop, I just felt like it would it have been irresponsible to keep going. I went home, and slept most of the day. I'll try it again next year. I did meet a fascinating man at Carrow's Restaurant at 5am- he's 91 years old, and rides 480 miles per month- AWESOME!
mp, it was an great day. thanks for asking.
hung out with friends and caught up. had some laughs and cheered each other up chalk hill. beautiful countryside.. that i could actually see this year! i wasn't fast and wished i coulda done chalk hill better n faster.. but hey.. you really can't ask for a better day overall. well, friend of mine that was doing the 200k crashed somewhere in the last 20 mile. he's a little beat up w/ scrapes but is ok. coulda done without that.
thought about you at lunch but there's no way to find ya (or your bike) in that sea of bikes. besides i'd figured you probably were already there and gone by the time we got there! ha.
shoulda been a gorgeous day to be out there for you 200k folks. bet it was lovely riding towards the ocean.
how was your ride, mp?
tofu - more important to take care of yourself so you can ride another day :) dunno what your take is but i ride for enjoyment. i may not be fast. i'm slower than molasses in feb going up any hill but i enjoy myself. if you're not enjoying yourself or you're worried about your well being, i think it was wiser to wait for another day. plenty of lovely riding days left in the year. heck sign up for the healdsburg harvest ride in july.. similar route in some parts.
jobob - well? did you roast out there on the grizzly? how was it?
Hey Rogue - I had a super ride, thanks for asking. I planned to ride w/2 women friends, 1 of whom is perfectly matched to me and the other is her double century partner this year. We were joined by another woman friend who I used to ride with 10 years ago and haven't ridden with in ages. so that was super fun.
Yeah the lunch stop was a little crazy. I think we got in there around 1, so I don't know if you were there or not. That headwind was so awful before lunch and I felt so crummy I really was considering cutting off the extra Dutcher loop. But a little rest and the thought of a tailwind after Dutcher and I sucked it up. It turned out that we all felt awful before lunch, but we just didn't say anything. :rolleyes:
Hope your friend who crashed is ok. Glad you had fun. :)