grand tour century challenge ride report!
for you tracy... my biggest fan! http://www.smileycons.com/img/emotions/199.gif
i got up at 12 midnight to get to malibu for the start of this ride... i wanted to arrive at 5 and leave at 5:30..... since hubby hurt his neck earlier in the week and was not riding (and i'd already paid for both of us!) i decided he could drive along and take pics and carry my stuff i didn't need! also... since it was going to be unseasonably hot even for the desert... we brough brie rather than leave her outside in the desert heat all day!
we got there just after 5.... i guess i screwed aruond getting ready.... cuz i started out later than i planned... left at 5:45 the parking lot was PACKED! it was warmer than i expected (and warmer than last year!) i left with just my leg warmers, regular gloves and optik jacket! as soon as i started climbing latigo... my jacket was sticking to me cuz of the humidity!
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i had to laugh... somehow hubby missed the turn up latigo! lol! i kept expecting to see my official photographer around the next turn to take pics... no hubby! i was getting madder and madder! i think that helped me ride harder! finally i had signal and called him... he had missed the turn! he is just TOO dependent on the lady in the dash telling him "next right or left turn"! ugh! finally he got back on track and was taking some pics of me (plus he had my sunglasses cuz i started out with my cheapo amber lense glasses! and the sun had come out full force!) but i digress!
somewhere along the way.... hubby same across these cute little goats!
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i started passing double (and triple?) riders sometime before my first rest stop (their route takes them the opposite way).... i smiled and waved at all of them! most waved back (hmmmm except the women... they didn't wave? what'supwiththat????) recognized my friend richard and called out to him!!!! continued on... it seemed like it got cold after the 1st stop... overcast... marine layer... gloomy... whatever you want to call it! it was downright chilly! i got passed on the potrero hill by a few braver descenders! (also passed a LOT of double riders ascending portero!)
when i saw the camarillo sign i said "hey bigK and BC68!" (didja hear me?????)
JUST before the 2nd rest stop... lunch for me... i took of my jacket off while at the redlight... got to the lunch stop and richard was there! he wife was also there taking pics! and he introduced me to someone who... now lets see if i remember this correctly... was doing is 111th double? i may have that wrong.. the number may actually be HIGHER! he asked if he looked that crazy.. i said "YES!"
this was the stop with the sandwich nazi! (reference to seinfeld and the soup nazi!) anyways... i went over to the roped off "century lunch" side and tried to get a sandwich and this lady said it was only for century riders... i told her "i AM a century rider"... and she informed me that i had the wrong color wrist band on... well.. sorry... that's what they gave me... she finally begrudgingly gave me a 1/2 a sandwich.. all the time complaining that they only had exactly enough sandwiches at that stop for century riders... UGH!
i continued on.... it was a bit warmer... a little bit of climbing....... then the flat run on not so pleasant valley rd! i had a headwind.. but surprisingly... i was able to keep my speed up... for me that is! (bcipam.... i made a point of watching my speeds on various areas cuz of all the talk lately about averages! for the most part on pleasant valley... which is flat.. with the headwind... i really surprised myself cuz i was keeping it mostly at 16... with some 17's and 18's in there!)
rolled into the final rest stop.... had some yummy strawberries! declined the offer of a carbonated soda! then headed back out! i was flying til i hit nava-whatever it's called! thanx to a nice tailwind! (over 20 mph!) caught a flat (glass) on PCH.... i always enjoy the gorgeous ocean views!
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some guy came up behind me... asked how far i was going... i noticed he didn't have an orange wristband.. so explained about malibu... latigo canyon.. moorpark, etc... 122 miles total... then proceeded to tell him about the others riding 200 and even the "freaks" that were attempting 300 or 400! he laughed and said he's one of those freaks.. as he's an ultracyclist! oops.... foot in mouth! he rode with me for a few minutes.. chatting out the weather (i wanted to know where the heck the heat wave was cuz i was downright COLD!) then he took off!
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more ocean views
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me somewhere along PCH (with shorts rolled up to avoid the low on leg biker tanlines!)
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i continued on... enjoying the coast... not liking when any climbs came up by then! lol! one thing i noticed on this ride... i got more hoots and hollars than i've EVER gotten on a ride! including the two other times i've done this route! even some motorcycle guy was harassing me! (he pulled over and signaled for me to pull over... tried to say something to me as i went by... bu i couldn't hear what he said!) something in the water saturday? http://www.smileycons.com/img/emotions/147.gif
finally i saw the latigo canyon turn off and knew i have about 4 miles to go! YAY! however... i had forgotten that i got to do DOWNhill on my way out in the a.m.... and had one last hill to climb to get back! http://www.smileycons.com/img/emotions/216.gif
i finally got back.... climbing my way up to the church/check-in!
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enjoyed some yummy barBQ! another century challenge in the history books! we headed home (made a stop at performance first... i had some returns...! the traffic on PCH... although bad.. wasn't as bad as i thought! however once we got on the 10... it was slow going pretty much all the way to the 60! and even on the 60... several slow down points!
oh... we had brie with us... since it was going to get so horribly hot in the desert... she was pooped out from her adventure:
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you'd think SHE rode on a bike for 122 miles!!!!!! (and the blanket didn't help keep the white fur off my black interior!)
sunday i had the alarm set for 4 to get up for my recovery ride... since it was supposed to be bloody hot in the desert again.... kept pressing the snooze alarm.... knew i was gonna be sorry... however i was pleasantly surprised that it was overcast (so muggy)... but nice for riding! the sun didn't peak out til i was about 1/2 mile from my house!
122 miles.... 14.3 mph average (.3 faster than last year!) 8089 ft of elevation
hope this works.... motionbased page of the ride!
