mulholland challenge

[caligurl]

tprevost... this is for you! (and bikerchick may be interested in some parts of this report too!)

well..... i did finish... i didn't break any speed records.. but i didn't intend to! my goal is to finish..... not to finish first... second... etc! i'm a tortoise.. slow and steady!

let me start with the whining (excuses i call them! lol!) thursday night i had 4 hours sleep.... friday night i had 4 hours sleep.... this week at work was the busiest week i can remember in EONS! so i can use that as an excuse (not really.. but it sounds good!)

we got up at 12:40 a.m. to head to calabasas... thought we were gonna be late cuz we hit construction twice on the 10 but still go there... phew.... i headed out hoping the whole time to make the cut-offs.... OH.... i had my cell phone turned off... cuz for whatever reason.... my battery decided it was time to die.... i had charged it fully... and it was on stand by.. by the time we stopped for breakfast my bar was red again already! i charged it the rest of the way and turned it off to preserve the battery in case i needed it....

it was an interesting ride... i was cold.. but you gotta remember... i'm used to riding in a LOT hotter weather! i always love riding PCH.... it was pretty even with the cloudes! headed up topanga.. "entertained" myself counting how many people passed me.... i stopped counting at 144ish! i tried to be speedy at stops 1 and two.. knowing i had cut offs.... was happy to get some downhill after stop 2... til i realized if i didn't slow down... i'd be going down! the roads were ROUGH... the cliffs to the side were steep... and they were twisty! that ticked me off cuz i couldn't even make up time on the downhills *pout* of course... i thought that first part was bad enough... i saw the firetruck and rider on the side of the road... i did a quick look to make sure it wasn't hubby! i continue.. and i think it's deer creek? that was a nice downhill.. but whoa.... it was steep! i had to apply my breaks practically the whole way down! my arms, shoulders and hands were SORE when i got to the check point! i even thought to myself as descending and not seeing any crashers there.... that i was glad my daredevil hubby must have taken this descent slowly..... so i stop to get my sticker and they sticker guy says "your husband wanted me to tell you he crashed but he's ok. he wants you to finish the ride...." i kind of looked at him like "you talking to me?" i think i even asked him if he had the right person... and he said "he said you had #95 and were riding a specialized.." uhm... yep... that's me.... so i turned on the phone and called him.... yep... it was him! he told me he was OK... a little banged up... i asked about the bike (as any good/dutiful cyclist would) and he sadly said "it's cracked"... SO... here i am on the ride... with him and the sticker guy telling me he's OK.... so i believe them and that means now i can be mad at him for going to fast and crashing a $5000 bike! GRRRRRR so i continue on...

and what should happen... but my first flat ever on an organized century! UGH! i had worried that this would happen on THIS ride of all rides.. with their time limits... happily.. after my initial stomping of my foot... i changed it... not speedy... about 13 minutes (no laughing! but i haven't had that many flats... and the majority of them have been with hubby.. and since he's quicker.. if he's with me... he changes them! although i did get some practice when i first got the ruby... seems like for a few days... i was changing it every day! but i digress!) i get back on the bike and then it's time for decker road! ohmigosh! i had flashbacks of the recent redland's savage hill climb ride i did a few weeks ago! EGADS! however... i have to say that the 2nd climb in redlands was a lot worse than decker.. but decker was bad! on the way out of that stop.... someone said "hi!" and and i said "hi" and he said "i thought i knew you"... but i didn't recognize him... well.. he caught up with me and asked if i was caligurl... yeppers! it was a bikeforums.net guy!! he rode with me a while.. he's very nice! but then he decided to wait for his friends... so i went on ahead... knowing i'd slow down on the next hill (of course not prepared for stunt road!) by the time i left checkpoint number four... i was getting done.. maybe the lack of sleep was catching up with me? who knows? i called hubby to remind him i had money in my purse if he wanted to go get something to eat.... stunt road was grueling.... i didn't think it would ever end! the two ladies were so nice at the time... you had to perform and stunt to get homemade cookie! lol! i took a bit too long at that stop... dreading the freezing cold of the descent! by the time i climbed the piuma climb... i decide i'd better plug my edge into my battery pack.... dumb move... i wasted about 15 minuted trying to get the darned thing back on! GRRRRRR so between my flat and my edge... i wasted at least 1/2 hour of time! (on top of rest stop time taken)

THEN... to add insult to injury... i wasn't paying attention at agoura road.. and turned LEFT! i finally realized i went the wrong way.... (thus adding even more time to my already slow time! lol!) i turned around and FINALLY made it back!

that's when i realized hubby lied to me... he wasn't ok... the poor guy could hardly walk! i told him he should have told me... i would have come back! but he inisisted he wanted me to finish the ride!

i've attached some pics of his road rash and his bike (RIP!) the crack one and deraillier are blurry... i need to try to retake them! but you get the idea! i think it was on cotherin road that he crashed.. best i can tell from the route slip/miles...... it was at a turn.. then another quick turn... there was a "wall" and gravel in the road... and he went head on into the wall... (that split second.. do i go straight? do i go down and slide on the road? his read wheel kept sliding and he (and the bike) slammed into the canyon wall (his words).... he also had cuts and scrapes on his legs/ankle....

so there you have it... my (our) adventure at mulholland! (and i couldn't even sleep in late yesterday morning cuz i had to be up early and at work... overtime.... for our VIP visitor!) at least today it's all calm!

[maillotpois]

Wow - great report. Good job on the ride. I hope your hubby recovers well. Sometimes after a crash there'll be some aches and pains that don't show up for a day or so. Sorry about the bike.

You should be proud of yourself for finishing strong - that sounds like a tough ride!

[bikerchick68]

oh man... I cannot believe he crashed! I cannot believe he cracked his brand new bike!!! what a total drag... especially with all the difficulty getting it in the first place. Kahuna's new bike is all CF too... all the way down to the shifters...

did he end up going to the doc to get checked or is it mostly road rash? Ouch, ouch, ouch...

good for you on completing that one! Mulholland is a tough ride... I've been back on the bike but still not back to where I was yet... I've been doing a lot on my yard trying to finish it... and yesterday it rained all day... again. not even sure I'm gonna ride Cruisin the Conejo now... we'll see where my head is at that point... and my training.

[tprevost]

Hey Cali!

Good job on the ride! I'm so sorry about DH's crash and bike tragedy... such a bummer. I had a bunch of road rash from when I broke my arm and that was almost worse than the arm It sounds like it was a pretty tough ride though and YOU DID IT!!! Great job! Now onto Alpine

You should post that pic of DH's bike so everyone can see what it started out like! I'm really so sorry about that but very happy that DH got only road rash, sounds like it could've been a lot worse.

BC68 - I'm doing the 68 miler at Cruizin the Conejo if you want to do a shorter route w/someone (I'm still VERY slow though!)

Thanks for the great report CG! I've been checking for it since we got home last night! How was yesterday?

Trac'

[caligurl]

yesterday was fun! yes... really! since i got to be outside until the last minute... i got to see all the workings going on there... unlike poor hubby who was a "captive" inside from 8:30 on! when i got there while he parked... i ran to the head of the line (we were running a tad bit late and they were just letting staff back in)... and got through security and the mag.... went up front and put my purse and coat in the third row on the left (he was first row right... so we were like 8 feet from him.... i won't complain about his lack of fashion sense! or maybe i will! lol!)

anyways.... then i got back outside to start checking people through security.... once the initial line was down... i got to observe and chit chat with the WH press lady and a couple of the SS guys.... nice insight! OH! i did ask is mountain bike one flew on AF one! lol! they SS agent said "the bike probably gets treated better then i do! lol! they answered questions about the vehicles... etc... at one point i asked about some bulbous thing on top of one of the vehicles and he hesitated before answering.. guess he had to remember if he could tell me! lol!

there were CHP's (cars and about 8-10 motorcycles) they were riding around practicing i think.... cuz although he was walking form the helo to us... he was being driven to stop 2..... my favorite part.. the sniper guys! they were just too cool! i REALLY wanted to stay outside and see the helo land.. but we all had to be inside in our seats.... not fair! *pout* oh well....

anyways.. it was just WAY cool to see ALL the work that went into that short little visit! lol! it's really quite amazing how it all comes together!

ok... i lied! the man needs a fashion consultant! grey slacks... BROWN shoes and socks and then the grey jacket was a different color... not the same shade! UGH! a bluish purpleish color shirt.. .eh.... the main thing was WHAT was he thinking with the BROWN shoes??????????????????????????????? ok.... i'm done critiquing!

i can post a pic of hubby's bike later... i'm going home now! it's quittin' time! YAY!