Davis to Calistoga and back

[Veronica]

There's nothing like riding north for 63 miles into a storm heading in from the north. It was cold and dreary right from the start and the cold made me sleepy. I kept thinking about my warm bed and how good it would feel. More than once I wondered what on earth was I doing out there. Still I made pretty good time to my first planned stop at mile 32, even with the climb over Cardiac. This is a two mile climb with an average grade of 6%. After my stop, I was really cold for a few miles. My legs and arms were shivering.

I didn't see any other cyclists until I was heading down Sage Canyon to Lake Hennessey, about 45 miles from my starting point. On a less dreary day, this would be a gorgeous ride. It passes two lakes, at least two creeks and more vineyards than you can shake a stick at. The harvest is over but the vines were still beautiful turning shades of yellow and orange.

I saw more riders heading south on Silverado Trail as I continued north. By the time I got to the turnaround at mile 63.6 in Calistoga, my legs were pretty fried. I had been riding into a headwind for nearly 5 hours. I had a goal of finishing this ride in under ten hours. That meant I had to get to the turnaround in under five hours, so I had been pushing pretty hard and the headwind didn't help.

Amazingly the return trip was a bit more pleasant. That is until it began to actually rain. It had sprinkled off and on throughout the morning, but this was a real rain. It rained for about an hour and stopped as I was heading up the back side of Cardiac Hill. I'm climbing along when suddenly I see... HTFU painted on the asphalt. I laughed out loud. Gee, I wonder who put that there?

I usually descend pretty fast off Cardiac, but the roads were still damp, so I was a bit more cautious. Usually I will hit a top speed in the 40s on this descent, not today only 37.4 mph.

I called Thom when I had 16 miles to go. I had been trying off and on since mile 32, but there is no cell coverage for big chunks of this ride. It made me think about getting a SPOT. Those 16 miles flew by with an average speed of 17.3 mph. Yes, that tailwind helped, but when the road turned about 7 miles from the end, it became more of a cross wind. The start/finish is about an hour from our house , so I got there before him.

I felt much better at the end of this ride than some of my recent 200Ks. I really wanted to finish this one with a sub ten hour total time and I did: 9:54.

Only 3 more 200Ks to go.


Veronica

[Mr. Bloom]

I really wanted to finish this one with a sub ten hour total time and I did: 9:54.

Outstanding! (silver is saying it too!)

[maillotpois]

That's great! You're so close to the R12!

The description reminds me so much of the 400k I did last year that you did the return leg with me - on the same roads I'm sure. The whole way out was riding into a headwind (with rain), and so we got a negative split on the return leg, which just so rarely happens!

[Veronica]

Funny, I was thinking about that ride on the return yesterday. I was wondering if I would end up wishing for a garbage bag. It wasn't much of a negative split for me - 5 hours out, 4:54 back.

Veronica

[maillotpois]

Funny, I was thinking about that ride on the return yesterday. I was wondering if I would end up wishing for a garbage bag. It wasn't much of a negative split for me - 5 hours out, 4:54 back.

Veronica

They're all the rage in Paris this year.

[RolliePollie]

Wow, I'm very impressed! And I'd be impressed even if you had a good weather day. But the fact that you rode into that storm is very impressive. When the rain got here last night, it poured and blew pretty good too. I didn't really like Cardiac Hill when I did Foxy's a few weeks ago and it was sunny and not windy. I can't imagine doing both sides in nasty weather. You rock!

[jobob]

Way to go, P Zip!

I called Thom when I had 16 miles to go. I had been trying off and on since mile 32, but there is no cell coverage for big chunks of this ride. It made me think about getting a SPOT.

Yeah, now that it's getting dark so much earlier, and there are going to be fewer cyclists out on the road, I'm thinking it's not so wise for me to go off on long rides on my own. So I posted a "companions wanted" email to the SF Randos email list, to see if any "velocity challenged" riders might like to join me on some perms this winter.

Not that I don't love riding with you, V! It's just that you're so darned strong there's no way I can keep up with you - and I feel bad & get streesed out when people have to wait up for me.

[Veronica]

Thanks Jo, but who was waiting for whom on the Winters 200K?

But I understand. I feel the same way... don't like to hold people up.

This is a lovely 200K though. My Polar showed 4700 feet of elevation gain. The route owner lists it as 5200.

Veronica

[jobob]

Better they over-estimate than under-estimate the climbing.

It does sound like a great route - let's go do it someday. Assuming you still want to ride any permanents after you get your R12