Primavera 2006- Sunday April 23

[Adventure Girl]

Metric
Kim
Biker Gal
Adventure Girl

Is that me? Sorry. I have other riding plans. I have not even been involved in this discussion. I don't know how I got on this list.

[Bike Goddess]

No Adventure Girl there anymore! Must have gotten AG and BG mixed up! Oh well, you can ride in spirit with us!

Snap- you'll be missed, humor and all! But memorials are important too!

[Bike Goddess]

The century ride was quite nice if you eliminate all the traffic we had to deal with coming, in the middle, and going back!

Veronica was right! The Calveras wall wasn't that difficult especially since it came in the first 15 miles of the ride. As we rode past Sierra Rd (sign said it was closed 5.5 miles ahead)I thought of the Tour and how lucky they were to have done it before the road caved in.

The tour around the Calveras reservoir was quite beautiful as it is very green right now. Since it was cloudy, the colors were somewhat muted. No wildflowers yet, but soon I would imagine.

The 2nd big climb over the Altamount Pass was pretty interesting. When we started at the bottom, one of our riders mentioned that we would be going over the freeway above (it looked pretty high!)and then on over the old pass. After a long not so steep hill we made it over the freeway and then eventually over the pass (that was a bit steeper). It was interesting to hear the windmills cranking away in the wind. Of course we knew that active windmills meant strong westerly winds going back to the start and indeed that's what happened!

Au contraire the hardest hill (at 90 miles) was getting out of Palomares Canyon. (I think my top speed towards the top was 4.2MPH and I managed to pass a few other riders who were also suffering!) To reach the canyon we had to go due west over the Dublin grade (parallel to HWY 580). The headwind was pretty strong so it took a bit of work to get over that grade. Fortunately we had a reststop just before going through Palomares. A guitar player serenaded us as we stocked up for our final climb of the day.

I recommend this ride. The food was great, there weren't thousands of riders so we never really saw a lot of pacelines and such, and the volunteers were most helpful. The only downside regarding the route was at times it was difficult to follow. Fortunately, I was with my club guys. 2 of them had done the ride before so they were our guides when a route question came up.

I managed to make a wrong turn at the end of the ride which resulted in a 5 mile detour, but that was my fault not the ride directions!

So Kim and Biker Gal - how did you do? I looked for you, but we started late (around 7:15). Maybe you saw us! We were best identified as the ones with the argyle socks (our latest trademark)!

[bikergal]

DH and had both been sick towards the end of last week and I was feeling pretty run down during the entire ride. We live about a mile or two from the wall and I was so tempted to just ride home and forget the whole thing but I talked myself out of it. DH made it up the wall and then came down to find me and went up again! I'm not a great climber yet so I made it up part of the way and then had to walk the rest. Riding along the resevoir was beautiful. Had a near collision on the way down when the two cyclist in front of me decided to slam on their brakes without warning while we were going around 23mph.
When we got to the second rest stop I was really beat. We bailed and took the 70K route which was only 10miles to the end. Riding along 84 was slightly scary with all the big SUV's who think they own the road but we made it!

[aka_kim]

I did the 100k route, and started around 7:15 also. I did see a few of the high argyle socks, but didn't associate them with the Benicia club.

Although I personally had a good ride, I saw the worst thing I ever want to see while riding. A rider went down on the Palomares downhill, and I was among some of the first cyclists to find him. He was sprawled ackwardly across the road, face down, unconscious and bleeding from the head. Someone was trying to staunch the bleeding, and someone else had gotten a cell signal to call 911. The rest of us stood around feeling impotent and horror stricken, as more cyclists came to a stop as they rounded the corner to the accident sight.

Suddenly the guy trying to stop the bleeding frantically rolled the man over and began administering CPR. Two other cyclists with some emergency medical training began helping. They'd get a pulse, stop the CPR, and within a minute need to resume. Someone had a jacket to help keep the man, whose name was Richard, warm. Passing motorists looked at the site with odd looks, like wtf are those stupid cyclists doing blocking the road. Meanwhile, the good samaritans knelt in Richard's blood, alternately calling to him and doing CPR.

I finally left just before the paramedics arrived. I could do nothing to help, and suddenly had this overwhelming fear that the man would not survive. I was alternating between near sobbing and wanting to vomit.

I haven't heard anything about what happened, whether Richard lived or not.

[bikergal]

Wow Kim, that must have been so scary. Can you email the organizers and ask them if he's ok?

[Bike Goddess]

Oh my. I overheard that something had happened on Palomares after we got back but didn't know for sure. Hopefully we can find out more and let you all know.

[E2theD]

I'm part of the velogirls list and a few members knew the guy you are talking about. A few messages circulated today. His name was Richard Fitzpatrick and he passed away yesterday at Eden Hospital.

So very sad. Keep his family in your prayers.

Erin

[Veronica]

Oh that is so sad. My heart goes out to everyone involved.

Veronica

[miffy'sFuji]

Here is a news story about the accident:

http://www.chicoer.com/news/bayarea/ci_3749288

[bikerz]

Oh that is so very sad - and frightening. I really feel for his family and friends, as well as the good samaritans.

[aka_kim]

Thanks for the link, I've been trying to find some news.

I don't think he collided with anyone, though, as the story says. No one else was down, and I think if there had been a collision the other cyclist would at least have hung around. He did go down, or at least came to a stop, at a curve - but the downhill wasn't that steep and the curve wasn't that tight, and there didn't seem to be any debris in the road. I didn't notice any type of catastrophic bike/tire failure. Maybe he was just going too fast? Or had a heart attack or stroke, or something, while still on the bike?

Very scary, and unnerving. People often say how they'd rather die doing something they love than slowly waste away in a home - I'm one who says that too - but you know, there's nothing good about dying in the f*ing road.

[SadieKate]

Kim, I couldn't agree with you more on every point. I hope witnessing the aftermath is not causing you problems. Are you OK?

[aka_kim]

Umm, yeah. Just a little post-traumatic stress disorder. We all know the risks of the sport.

[SadieKate]

Knowing and witnessing are two different things. Think postive OK?

I've got one last weekend for some hills. I'm thinking a metric distance. You want to plan something?