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.

Good day sunshine - Chualar 200k Permanent: 3/15/09

This was my preparation ride for the SCR 300k, which was the following weekend. I woke up to a misty wet morning up in the mountains, but was happy to see that down in Santa Cruz where the ride started it was still dry. I headed south and east out of town, but started noticing more ominous creaking noises from my seat. After the destruction of my seat pivot bolt and quick release in the SCR 200k I had received and installed new parts from Rans Bicycles, but it was apparent that there was still a problem going on.
I snapped a couple of pictures of the farm scenery off of San Andreas Road while stopping every now and then to fiddle with the seat. First was some kind of flower or herb farm.

Shortly afterward marked the beginning of the descent to the Pajaro Valley, featuring the latest edition of Strawberry Fields Forever.

With more seat creaking and adjustment I got to the final downhill at the end of San Andreas Road.At this point I had figured out what the problem was. The original hardware for my seat had a bolt which the seat pivoted around (for angle adjustment) and a quick release to clamp it in place at the chosen angle. The new hardware now enclosed the pivot bolt inside a sleeve and the sleeve was slightly longer than the distance it spanned between the seat brackets. This meant that when I tightened the nut on the seat pivot bolt it was compressing the sleeve instead of clamping the seat brackets against the seat post, hence lots of ominous creaking noises and a high chance of shearing through the sleeve and the bolt. I knew there was a hardware store in Buena Vista (my first control) and made a conscious effort to take it easy on the seat until then. Luckily the weather was fairly nice for March in the Monterey Bay, and I was happy to have a ride where my main concern was not how long I would stay dry.
I finished working my way onto Highway 1 and cruised through Moss Landing, checking out the Elkhorn Slough on one side...
and the harbor on the other.
After a bit of zigzagging on roads mostly used to access farms (including artichokes)
I got onto River Road, which heads south along the west side of the Salinas Valley.
A couple of miles later I reached the Buena Vista control and restocked at the food mart, then popped in to the Ace Hardware next door. With some help from one of the salespeople I picked up a couple of different sizes of washers. The largest washer fit over the sleeve and allowed the nut to now compress my seat brackets against the seat post. Hurray! We are eternally grateful! (Random movie reference there...)
From Buena Vista it was a short 10 miles or so to the approximate halfway point in the little town of Chualar, where I only had to mail a postcard. While I was filling in my arrival time on the postcard I noticed that the fire station just down the street seemed to be having some kind of fire truck driving practice.
The fire truck would head down the street and turn right, then apparently make a U-turn, come barreling back along the side street, make a left turn and end up between the cones as shown above, then make another U-turn and repeat the whole thing.
I didn't stay to watch long, as the Salinas Valley is notorious for a predictable northwest wind which can easily hit 20 mph in the afternoon, and as I was now heading back north I would have to fight it for some miles before I climbed out of the valley. At least the spring flowers were out to help distract me.
At the north-east end of the valley I started climbing up Old San Juan Grade (towards the town of San Juan Bautista).
The temperature climbed 20 degrees F during the first 10 minutes or so, from the 60s into the 80s. Spring was definitely around the corner. Near the top I took a farewell shot of the Salinas Valley
and a few minutes later snapped a welcome shot of San Juan Bautista.
I was ready for some tacos at this point, and after a typically bumpy and twisty descent (this is far from the smoothest road in the world) I reached the Windmill Market which was the control for San Juan Bautista.
Three yummy tacos later I headed out for the climb into Aromas, passing by several examples of one of my favorite roadside flowers
and heading through a grove of Eucalyptus trees near the top of the Carr/Anzar road climb.
Along the way between Aromas and Watsonville I came across a sheep farm which featured several lambs, including this brand new one trying to figure out how to get some milk from mommy (the lamb is all black just to the left of the mommy sheep in the foreground).
A few more short climbs made the way back into Santa Cruz interesting, but fairly uneventful and in due time I was back at the car.
Between the general lack of other training rides and the fiddling with my seat during the first half it hadn't been as fast as I had hoped for, but I had finished withing the time limits which is all a randonneur can ask for. Hopefully I would do the same next weekend at the SCR 300k.

Who'll stop the rain? - Moss Beach Permanent: 2/15/2009

I scheduled this permanent a week before the SFR Russian River 300k to get some miles on my legs before going for the longer distance. It turns out I had picked the absolute worst day to ride on. Sunday Feb. 15 was forecast for rain and strong gusty winds. The night before I made sure I had all my rain gear and decided I would probably start the ride and turn around if things got too bad.

The morning was gray and windy, with a few sprinkles but no real rain yet. I drove down to the start and got everything on the bike before the rain really started, but the wind was definitely blowing "backwards", from the south. As I headed up Highway 1 I had a good boost from the wind, but I was worried about having to fight it on the way back. The wind was gusting and pushing me around quite a bit, and it seemed like it was blowing even harder higher up because every grove of eucalyptus trees I passed was roaring and bucking, and debris from the trees was all over the pavement. Some distance north of Davenport I heard the telltale "crack!" I had been listening for and quickly scanned around to try and locate the tree limb which had just succumbed to the wind's fury. Luckily it was in a field well away from the road. But this made me extra nervous and I kept an eye out every time I passed by another grove of trees.

The rain had been coming down for a while, but I was still pretty dry with my gloves, booties, tights, and rain jacket holding most everything out. I passed Waddell Beach and entered San Mateo County, still thinking I might have an okay day after all. A couple of miles later I heard a "clunk!", as if my chain had just settled onto a different cog, except I didn't feel anything slip in the drivetrain. I rode on for a couple of minutes thinking over possible causes in my head and wondering why my rear wheel suddenly seemed to be brushing the fender until suddenly the thought hit me: maybe that was a spoke popping. Sure enough I had broken a spoke on the rear, and I didn't have any spare spokes with me. I was about 25 miles in at that point...hmmm...perhaps this was another sign I should turn around. But the wheel was not too far out of true, and I have a disc brake on the rear so it was not affected. I just had to put up with the tire rubbing the fender slightly once every revolution. Might as well keep going.

I turned up Gazos Creek Road and got some shelter from the wind, but the debris on the pavement was even worse here. Luckily with no traffic I could use any part of the road I wanted, and I did. Well, until I saw the wires being pulled down to the ground by a fallen tree limb. The wires had not broken; they had just been stretched between poles by the weight of the tree limb. I couldn't tell if they were electrical or not, or if the power was on, so I gave them a very wide berth. A few minutes later I spied a ranger truck heading the other way and flagged him down to give him the news. He looked pretty wet in the truck (probably from getting out to check things every now and then), and he probably wondered what in the world I was doing out there on a bike.

Now the rain was really pelting down as I made my way along Cloverdale Road. My gloves were starting to siphon up water and I felt a spot or two on my feet where the water was soaking in also. I turned onto Butano Cutoff and really felt the wind now, even though I wasn't heading directly into it. As I turned up Pescadero Creek Road I switched from thinking about if I was going to turn around and started deciding where to turn around. The traffic was very light and consisted almost entirely of CHP cars, PG&E trucks and various maintenance vehicles. At least if I got in trouble help wouldn't be too far away. I decided to try and make it to La Honda. That would get me a fair amount of distance and climbing in preparation for the SFR 300k.

My shoes were now definitely soaked; I noticed I could tilt my feet up or down and feel the coldness move as the water shifted around. My hands were in a similar state, and I started a mental countdown: if I reached the summit of Haskins Hill before mile 40 on my bike computer then I would keep going. My computer clicked to 40, but I knew I was close so then it became reaching the summit before the 40 became a 41. I passed two more CHP cars apparently chatting, then finally the summit came in view. With a mental cheer I swooped carefully down the other side to Highway 84, then sloshed up to La Honda.

At the post office I removed my gloves and glove liners, then squeezed a fair amount of water out of the glove liners. I used some newspaper in the post office to dry my hands off so I wouldn't smudge the postcard too badly, then worked on my pen for a while until I could fill out my card. I dropped it in the mail , then went over to the market to use the bathroom and pick up some water.

In the bathroom I went through quite a few paper towels trying to get my glove liners as dry as I could; I couldn't do much with the gloves themselves, however, and decided that this was a good reason to consider bringing two sets of gloves & liners for days like this. Of course I couldn't do much about my feet. At least I could still feel 4 of my toes. As a final touch to help ward off the chill I pulled my Marmot Windshirt out of my rack bag (which was surprisingly still pretty dry inside - I guess I don't need to bother with the rain cover for it) and put that on between my wet jersey and my wet jacket, then headed back out into the storm.

Even though I had decided to turn back early, I hadn't made up my mind where yet. I initially turned onto Pescadero Road to go back over Haskins Hill, then changed my mind and went back to Highway 84 and down towards San Gregorio. As I approached San Gregorio I briefly toyed with the idea of continuing on instead of turning back. After all, it wasn't that much farther to Moss Beach. But no, I was already cold and wet enough, and then there was that headwind to consider. So I turned left onto Stage Road, but then changed my mind and turned around and headed back towards Highway 84, then decided to stop being stupid and turned around again for good. After all, I had broken a spoke and seen enough tree debris, downed wires, and slides already. And there was that wind.

Oh yes, the wind. Now that I was foolishly trying to head south I was being pushed and knocked around by it. I got some shelter when the road ducked down, but each time it climbed over a hill I would hear the freight train sound of the nearest trees and eye them nervously as I crept high enough to feel the full force of the wind. At one point I was knocked around enough to just stop and wait for 30 seconds before the gusts subsided a bit. Luckily I was still getting quite a bit of shelter from the wind by the hills. I didn't bother stopping in Pescadero; I was just ready to get back home at this point.

Cloverdale Road was another long grind of howling winds, but the rain had let up quite a bit so I convinced myself it wasn't so bad. Gazos Creek Road was a nice break with the winds pretty well blocked, and even the stretched wires were back up, with the cut-up remains of the tree limb nearby. But as I turned south onto Highway 1 I was hit in the face by the wind and rain big time. 25 miles of this was not going to be fun. Luckily after about 10 miles the wind let up quite a bit and I was able to make pretty good time. I don't know if it was a lull in the storm or if the main force had pushed further north. Once again my mind started telling me I should have gone on to Moss Beach, but I countered by realizing there was no guarantee that the wind was lessened further north, and anyway, there was still the little matter of my numb 6 toes. I finally pulled back into Santa Cruz and loaded up the bike, threw gloves, helmet, and booties over to the right side, and cranked the heater up to 80+. I made a mental note of another good thing to do next time: have dry shoes and socks in the car. Oh well, I had done about 93 miles in terrible conditions. I guess I could survive a bit longer in a car with a heater until I got home.

I found out later that it rained over 5 inches that day in Ben Lomond (where I live). My rain gear held up for about 4 hours before leaking, and nothing in my bike bags was completely dry, but the rack bag held up surprisingly well; things inside were just slightly damp. My food bag was a little more damp and the tool bag was fairly wet, but almost everything in those was either wrapped or uncaring about being wet. My lights and bike computer were perfectly fine, except my helmet light, which I discovered a couple of days later when it started turning itself on spontaneously. I opened it up and took out the batteries and after a couple of hours drying in the sun it was okay again.

I think for next winter I'll invest in a pair of winter riding shoes. Either that or the plastic bags that everyone seems to end up wearing. I would prefer shoes that hold out the water, however, instead of having dry feet inside wet shoes. Perhaps shoes with built-in bilge pumps. Given the amount of time I spend on a bike I could certainly come up with all sorts of useful inventions for inclement weather.
Some of them might even work.