Holstein 100 2007

[aka_kim]

Dinner plans sound good to me, so no whining will there be.

[smilingcat]

Meow?

I just printed out a direction from Pointe Reye and its only 20 miles (half an hour drive). If I get to my B&B in time, I will try to come to the dinner. I also worry about the bike in my car...

As for the ride itself, sad to say my poor back is still acting up. I think I can do the metric but I worry about the 8 hour drive home on Sunday. I'm still undecided whether to go for the metric or go really easy and do the 30miler Just over a month ago, I did a 34 miler fun ride (again due to my poor back). It was like oh its over already?? And my back was really un-happy the following week.

I'll be taking the scenic route up to Pointe Reye. Maybe the scenery will convince me to do the metric. It seems like an easy metric. The Marshall wall doesn't look too bad or is it?

smilingcat

[smilingcat]

Oh in case if I don't show up for the dinner, I will be riding my blue Orbea Dama Race bike with white Jett130 seat. No saddlebag. Jersey is purplish/maroonish color with a picture of dragon fly riding a bike. Blue helmet with red bandana underneath in lieu of skull cap, blue glove and blue short.

And I will be riding really easy to enjoy the scenery.

smilingcat

[jobob]

I'll pull together a report with pics in a bit. I rode the century route with Ellen (PABager) and her friend Amie, and their friend John.

It was the first century for the three of them, booyah!

This was a challenging ride, made more so by the wicked afternoon head & side winds we encountered for the last 25 miles or so.

aka_kim and TrekHawk rode the metric with LeeBob, and I'll leave it to them to tell their tales. They finished early in the afternoon and they hung out with Lee and waited for us to finish - and they had a LONG wait.

That was so incredibly sweet of them to wait for us, I can't tell you how happy I was to see them !

Here's the route profile from my computer, which showed about 6500 ft of climbing (the last climb into a wicked headwind, I might add! ) Ellen, just curious, what was the amt climb from your Edge?



Pics and more to follow.

[jobob]

Annoyingly strong Amie climbing Coleman Valley Road



John & Ellen followed very soon thereafter. I'll leave it to Ellen to say what she was chanting



The First Century Gang with some Holsteins (of course)



Me mit cows



Mooo



View from the top of Marshall-Petaluma Road



And a few more pics here:
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ein_18Aug2007/

[DrBadger]

WARNING LONG!

So, as Jo already said, we did the Holstein 100 century route yesterday along with my roommate Amie and her friend John. It was a great day, with amazing scenery and great company!

The weather was great, except for the crazy wind that whipped up in the afternoon (it actually blew me over late in the day and I have the chain ring bite to prove it).

Amie, John, and I met up with Jobob, Leebob, Trekhawk and AKAKim at the Tomales high school around 7 am, got riding by 7:30 or so and quickly the sane people doing the metric spit off from us crazy century folks. The morning was great.... the views up Coleman Valley road were inspiring, the cows were on the road, and I made sure that Jobob knew what I thought of the climb (I was telling her that "Coleman Valley $ucks!" in the photo... my language got progessively worse throught the afternoon ) We then had a great decent after the first rest stop followed by lots of rollers (some a bit larger than rollers).

I started feeling pretty crummy around mile 60 or so, stomach feeling off all that fun stuff. We got to the top of a small climb and I asked for a break.... that is when Jo made me eat some clif blocks... wow, what an amazing food! I felt better within 5 minutes and was good for the rest of the ride (with additional food at the upcoming rest stops). Thanks Jo for making me eat! I have to say, it is really great to do your first century with someone who is experienced to help through all the little things like recognizing when you need to eat something when your body is telling you that you don't want to eat.

The wind really picked up in the afternoon, did a bit of drafting which helped a lot, but not with the crazy cross winds that would totally blow your bike around. Got the the last rest stop just before the Marshal Wall (at around mile 90 ) and they told us that if we kept going there wouldn't be any food at the end and we should just SAG in. My response was at mile 90 NO WAY was I giving up. Well, we started up towards the Wall thinking that like the other hills it would block the wind a bit.... OR NOT! The wind was whipping straight down and across the hill. Amie and Jo take off up the hill, I got part way up, stopped to rest my legs a bit, and when I went to start again the combination of the steepness and the crazy wind blew me right over. I extracted my self from my bike, noticed a really great chain ring bite on my right shin and that I was going to have a mother of a bruise on my left hip. I ended up walking the next steep section of the hill as there was no way I was going to risk getting blown over again. Got to a less steep section, and was able to climb the rest of the way up.

At that point Jo took off towards the finish (Leebob had been waiting for us at the finish after doing the metric). Amie, John and I took off down the long decent and then took the turn onto HWY 1 along Tomales Bay... by this point I was cursing up a storm as this section had a ton of small hills, but bigger than rollers. I was down in my granny gear on pretty much every hill and was cursing the race organizers at every turn. When I made the final turn towards the finish line I knew I had done it and sped up. When I rolled into the High School Parking lot, Amie, Jobob, Leebob, Trekhawk and AKAkim where there cheering me on! John came rolling in a bit after me, and then one final guy who was out on the course behind us, so I wasn't last!

After getting cleaned up a bit Amie, John, the Bobs and I went for dinner in Petaluma...mmmmmm.... Milkshakes! and then drove home and crashed!

So, the stats for my first century (from my new Garmin Edge):
Distance: 103.81 miles
Ride Time: 8:12:39
Avg. Speed: 12.6 MPH
Total Ascent: 8447 ft. (I think that this is a bit over.... I would say an average between Jobob's profile and mine is probably correct, so somewhere around 7000 ft.)

It was a ton of fun seeing everyone at dinner, and meeting Trekhawk! Thanks so much Jo for riding with us, I think that it made a huge difference for me to be able to do the full century, so THANKS! And Leebob, Trekhawk, and AKAkim, thanks for hanging out until we finished! That was a long wait!

Here is a link to some of Amie's photos (I will get John's soon): http://picasaweb.google.com/ellen.ma...olsteinHundred

[jobob]

Close Encounters of the Bovine Kind
MP, you weren't kidding about the cows on Coleman Valley. We were a ways up the climb and we turned a corner and lo & behold, there's a cow standing partway into the road munching on some roadside grass. I tried to get a photo but it was getting steep at that point (getting, har har) and it behooved me to have full control as I was passing the cow's backside in case I needed to take Cow Evasive Manuevers.

Then, a little ways farther up, more cows along the road! One particularly large cow (a Guernsey, I do believe) stared me down as I was zooming up the road (zooming, har har) and as I approached she started walking out onto the road directly in front of me. "After you, ma'am" says I as I come to a rather abrupt halt and let her pass - I didn't want to entitle my ride report "Cow 1, Me 0"

The Rest Stop at Walker Ranch
The folks there were a hoot. Probably comes from hanging out there for about 8 hours. Walker Ranch at the base of the last climb up Marshal (at mile 90) was the last rest stop on the route. We were the ninth thru the sixth last riders remaining on the course, and as the riders trickled in the volunteers gave us a very loud cheer (as much out of relief that they'd be leaving soon as much as anything). They were really fun to talk to.

"Amici Veloci my Azz !"
The absolute funniest moment of the ride for me happened in the last mile or so. I'm plodding along Hiway 1, wondering where the hell is the turnoff for Tomales already(!), when a small white car suddenly toots it horn as it approaches me from behind.

I'm thinking to myself "Oh #$%!, I'm as far over as I can be, so shaddup already!", when the car pulls up next to me and the guy driving yells out "Amici Veloci my Azz!" Yes, it was Hot Rod !!!!!

So I grin and naturally, give him the Amici Veloci Sekret Hand Signal. We chatted for a little and he took off heading up Hiway 1 (with an attractive blonde in the passenger seat) and I reached my turnoff for Tomales High School. So I had a good chuckle to carry me for the half-mile or so remaining.