I think I can: Skyline 200k Permanent (4/5/09)

For several months I had followed the practice of scheduling a permanent the weekend before a longer "official" ride. This served two goals: it made sure I had at least some miles on my legs before the bigger event and it also (usually) allowed me to check off another month on my way to the R-12 award in case I failed to finish the longer ride.
I was one week away from riding my first 400k, which would be the longest distance I had attempted so far. I therefore had scheduled a hard permanent, but one of my favorite courses: the SCR Skyline 200k. This ride features 8000 - 9000 ft. of climbing of the sort I like, where you work hard to gain your elevation and get rewarded with spectacular views and awesomely long downhills. However the extended climbing in the first half makes it a challenge to get to the second control before the cutoff time. I was hoping my legs were up to the challenge.
I headed south from Santa Cruz towards the first control in Freedom, once again annoyed by all the traffic lights which insisted on turning red just as I was approaching them and trying to keep my speed up so that I had a bigger time cushion for later when the climbing started. This wall muralis on Soquel Avenue on the last stretch past Aptos and is always a good marker for getting out of town (or coming back into it).
I made it to the mini-mart in Freedom in pretty good time and then headed inland towards Eureka Canyon Road, which would begin the climbing up to the ridgeline of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The lower part of Eureka Canyon is gorgeous, with lots of redwoods shading the road, and some of my favorite ferns.
I noticed after I took this picture that my camera battery icon was blinking and the "Low Battery" message came up. Whooops - maybe I should have charged it?
Sure enough, on the next attempt at taking a picture the camera indignantly shut down. Grrrr....back to the cell phone for pictures. I resolved to add the camera to the list of things which needed charging the day (or night) before a ride. For now I was doomed to carry it another 95 miles.
I continued up Eureka Canyon, enjoying the views. There was a brief break from the climbing as I went over the ridge separating Corralitos Creek from Soquel Creek and got onto Highland Way. The creeks and streams were flowing well and this little waterfall was too cute to pass by without another picture.
The views had opened up by this point. The sky was not really this hazy; it's just cell phone camera quality.
I was now in the stretch which always seems to take a long time; I've done enough climbing that I keep expecting the top any moment, but instead the road seems to keep going up. Finally Highland Way topped out near the 2000 foot mark and the downhill run to the Summit Store started.
Now I know that the key to finishing this ride successfully is to minimize the stops between controls 1 and 2, because that includes most of the climbing (as in, slow slow slow). However business is business and I hunted for food and drink and made use of the porta-potty in the parking lot before heading out again. Still the stop probably took no more than 10 minutes, and the weather was still good; nice and cool.
I started the long pull of mostly climbing; this would take me over 3000 feet in elevation, with several short but steep sections and lots of longer not-so-steep pulls. The terrain was ever-changing, with houses, fields, redwoods, vistas of the valley, christmas tree farms, and a llama ranch showing up in succession. Finally I had the long pull past Castle Rock State Park up past the highest point of the climb, and felt a bit more relaxed on the descent to the Highway 9 junction, as I was still doing okay timewise.
The next section was basically rolling, with short to medium length descents interspersed with short to medium length climbs. I knew the general trend was downwards, but it still seemed like the climbs went on longer than they should have. After a brief pause for a picture of Silicon Valley
I soon reached the final downhill run to Skylonda and lunch!
As the weather was so nice all the fast cars and motorcycles were out having lunch.
I had a nice stop, with my legs feeling rather tired and sore, but knowing that most of the trip from here on was easier.
After a quick downhill run towards the coast I turned onto Stage Road, which parallels (sort of) Highway One but features a few hills to make it interesting. At least I got a view of the coast every now and then.
Some amount of grunting and groaning later I cruised through Pescadero, then took Cloverdale Road and Gazos Creek Road back to Highway One.
This was almost the home stretch - there was still the painful detour on Swanton Road (with a nasty climb) to do...but it was nice to ride along the coast in good weather, after all the rainy/foggy trips earlier in the year.
Surprisingly the Swanton Road climb, while tough, didn't seem as long as I remembered, and soon I zoomed down the hill and stopped at the fire station to answer the question on my brevet card for the penultimate control.
Now I was really in the home stretch. The end of Swanton Road runs practically into Davenport, and from there it's only 10 short miles (with the usual tailwind) back to Santa Cruz. Another beautiful sunset helped to wrap up a difficult but very nice ride.
I felt fairly ready for the 400k the following weekend, and resolved to charge my camera battery immediately.