Amtrak Century Anyone?

[tangentgirl]

I'm signed up! Woohoo! Anyone else?

[carinapir]

This is the one from OC to SD right? I'm "being trained" for this right now but I haven't registered yet. We'll see how my training goes first.

[tangentgirl]

Yes, OC to SD. It sold out in 1/2 an hour when registration opened up this year, but I think that you can still get transfers up until next week.

[carinapir]

The guy I'm training with is a former OCW prez and he says he can just slip me in. But this weekend I decided that I didn't have enough long rides under my belt so I'm not going. I'm disappointed but I will be well prepared for next year and hopefully have been able to upgrade my bike by then.

They've made some changes to the route this year that hopefully people with like and after the pre-ride next weekend they are planning to put up a Garmin map and photos of tricky sections of the route. Have fun!

[freemonink]

I'm signed up! Woohoo! Anyone else?

I am going. My co-worker is unable to go so I am going solo. I am looking for someone or a group to ride with. I'm an intermediate rider. Riding about 140 miles a week right now. Training heavy on the weekends to get my rear used to the saddle. I'm going no matter what even if I have to do it alone. This is a goal I must accomplish for some crazy reason. Just love riding and making goals and achieving them. Hope to see you there

[tangentgirl]

freemonink, i'd say ride with me, but i'm slooooow. and haven't been the best trainer. i'll finish tho, and it will be fun!

[freemonink]

I'm slow too. I will ride long but can't ride hard and long. I may train a lot of miles but I try to pace myself. I'm a big girl but have muscle under my layers. LOL. I rode 80 miles on Saturday and pulled a muscle in my back. It's feeling better today. I'm going to ride and finish too. Are you riding back on the train/

[tangentgirl]

This was a great ride! Freemonink joined me after all, and it was fun riding together. Thanks, Freemonink!

Good parts about this ride:
- Fast, flat route
- Only two hills
- Good stops
- Friendly riders
- Parts of the ride are by the ocean, always a plus!

Stuff that could be better:
- They didn't plan around a giant festival that was going on in a park that the route went through. Ended up with riders squeezing betweeen parked cars and slow traffic - dangerous & scary!
- No signage - we had to rely on route slips. Boo.

I didn't take the train back, so I can't comment on that. Overall, it was a good time and I felt great at the end.

[carinapir]

Congrats, ladies! I'm so excited and proud of you both! I wish I'd been able to manage it myself but hearing about your success makes me smile!

Were there really only two hills? How was Bake and Torry Pines?

[tangentgirl]

Next year, Carinapir!

Two hills of note, I should say. There were a few small rollers peppered in there, and some sections that looked flatter than they were. I did spend some recent training time in the hills in Palos Verdes, so it wasn't so bad.

Bake was refreshingly short.

Torrey Pines was evil, but I survived. Ice cream at the top made for great recovery.

[carinapir]

That's great! Chapeau to you both! I will definitely be there next year. I did 51 miles myself the weekend before the century and it kicked my butt. It was the furthest ride yet but it did include Santiago Canyon.

[freemonink]

It was a blast. Thanks so much tangentgirl for letting me join you. i lied when I said that the only hill left after Bake was Torrey Pines. You were very kind after we did 10 miles of up and down hills on Marguerite and the little steep hills of San Clemente. There were a couple hills at mile 95 in San Diego we didn't know about.

Carinapir you could totally do it! If you can do 51 one miles you can slowly add 10 miles a weekend like I did and get up to 80 or 90 before the ride. I took 500 mg of Tylenol and 400 mg of ibuprofin at mile 50 and it helped my aching butt bones. Santiago Canyon rocks. Did it last week. Thanks for your support and cheering us on. Maybe we can all hook up next year.

I can't believe we did it tangentgirl can you? I'm still beaming and happy from our accomplishment. The ride on the train was crazy! Congo lines of people with mardi gras beads and a line of belly dancers with scarves with coins on their booties. They were very entertaining.

I'll be riding the MS bike ride on Oct 16 & 17. 50 miles each day. I know it sounds easy after riding 100 but it's for charity and a good cause and I don't know if it will be easy so soon after the century. It took 2 weeks for my quads to get back to normal.