Davis... cooler?

[maillotpois]

Looked on the weather and it looks like there is a cooler front coming in. Temps may be as much as 10 degrees cooler than they have been for the Davis rides this weekend!

Yay!!

[SadieKate]

The Delta Breeze was back last night. Even used a quilt. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

[jobob]

Excellent

[SadieKate]

If the Delta breezes stay up we could get a nice tail wind home but I'm not counting on it here in the land of 360 degree headwinds.

However, if fortune smiles upon us (the Dam Corners group) it means the Davis Double riders will have head- or crosswinds for the last 65 miles or so. One group or the other will have a lot of fun. I've heard MP likes pacelines in a headwind.

Everyone I know who rides the DD tells stories about their fun in the pacelines home.

I'll deal with whatever comes if it just stays below a furnace blast.

[maillotpois]

Yup. The last 60 miles or so of the DD really are tough without allegiances and teamwork. We fell in with a great group at about 65 miles out last year, which was very lucky. Our speed didn't drop below 22 - 23 mph the last 40 miles . (Dead flat, mind you.) I took equal pulls til 3 miles from the end when my hamstring seized up and I had to pedal one legged the rest of the way. (The group let me sit on at that point... )

The first flat bit is also good to get in with a group - though it is hard for me not to be tempted to go out too fast, so I have to watch that.

But that last bit - if the wind is bad, you will want friends. My experience has been that most of the folks who do doubles are pretty solid in pacelines. They're not skittery racer types who don't hold a line (generally). They're usually older and crustier (in a good way).

Hoping for cooler weather....

[maillotpois]

Hmm. The route change (due to road conditions) for Davis Double adds 4 miles and a HUGE climb to the course. Like 10 more miles of climbing, an extra 800 feet.

Guess we won't be beating our time from last year.

[SadieKate]

Do you have the route in a file you can send me? I only have the one from 2001 and can barely read it. It's probably off Felix Wong's site.

[maillotpois]

Do you have the route in a file you can send me? I only have the one from 2001 and can barely read it. It's probably off Felix Wong's site.

Let me go look in my big stack of folded, wrkinled, grubby ride maps. If I have it, I can't scan it to you til Thursday because I am not going into the office til then. I could talk you through it, though.

[maillotpois]

Found the DD map in my filing system (folded with a bunch of other folded maps ranging from Death Ride 2002 to 15 TNT rides, etc. in the HUGE purple bag that I was mocked for this weekend. Ahem.).

It is in relatively good shape. Just a few (blood?) stains and some places where the writing rubbed off in the creases. There's also a nice MAP, which most of these silly rides don't give you. I really like knowing where I AM, and a route sheet doesn't tell you that. Knoxville did give you the map on a bandanna, which was great.

I can scan that and email it to you Thursday (and probably V will also want it - though there is a change, but they gave us a little map of that).

[Veronica]

That would be great! Does it list cut offs?

V.

[SadieKate]

Cool.

blah, blah, blah. Why can't I post just a one word reply.

[maillotpois]

That would be great! Does it list cut offs?

V.

It has the hours rest stops are open. And - I can't resist this - here's an excerpt... what kind of place has directions like this:

179.4 L Road 25
179.8 R Road 87
180.8 L Road 26
181.8 R Road 88
182.8 L Road 27
183.8 X Road 89
184.8 X Hwy 505
190.1 R Road 31
197.1 X Road 98

Seriously - that is the sequence. 20 miles of roads just called "Road ___". Wow.

[SadieKate]

What, you just can't understand the whole farmtown rural thing? Rural Routes?

You big city snob.

[maillotpois]

What, you just can't understand the whole farmtown rural thing? Rural Routes?

You big city snob.

I'll have you know I grew up on "Rural Route 1, Box 26" in Central Hicksville (Paso Robles), CA!! I just hoped folks were more imaginative these days.

[Veronica]

So how fast/slow do they expect you to be going for the rest stops?

V.