Just did this nice 116 mile ride today. I was able to finish in 7:45, which comes out to an overall average of a 15mph. My moving average, according to my bike computer, was 16.9mph. I kept the stops short and as infrequent as I could manage.
This was my longest ride to date, and since I only had 8 hours available in which to complete it, I had to push myself pretty hard to finish it in time. Was glad I was able to do it with 15 minutes to spare… but man am I gonna be sore tomorrow! LOL
I love these long rides, you see so many more things and have such different experiences when covering ground by bike than by just about anything else I’ve ever experienced.
I started off at 8:01am sharp, and pointed the front wheel directly towards Mountain Road. Since I had limited time, I ended up doing the route in reverse from what’s indicated on the Bikely map, because I wanted to get the worst of the climbing done while I was fresh. Turns out Mother Nature hooked up a 15 knot headwind for me later, but we’ll get to that soon enough.
There were a ton of runners up on Mountain, I guess it was a running club or something. It was a little ridiculous because they were both solo and in groups of 2-3 (or more) and they were not consistent at all with which side of the road they ran on. It started to remind me of a video game, like Spy Hunter or something except with a lot less machine guns and crashes.
Anyways, once I got to Cold Springs the runners petered out and I got some nice quiet miles in. Dropped down at San Ysidro and had a very good run along East Valley, down Toro Canyon to Foothill. I was feeling good and pushing fairly hard, but trying to keep something in reserve because I knew I had a long, long way to go before I’d be done.
Getting to the 150 (the road up to Ojai), I turned towards the ocean and headed over to Bates Road. I’d ridden Bates years ago by motorcycle but hadn’t done it by bike. Very pretty, if short, little descent down to the Rincon Point parking area.
Now was the first significant challenge of the day, riding on highway 101. There’s no way to avoid it, you simply have to hop on the freeway and deal with it if you want to go south. It’s only a few miles till you get to the Seacliff turnoff, but regardless, having semitrucks and other traffic whizzing by at 75-85mph just four or five feet away was a new and not particularly welcome experience.
On the upside, right by La Conchita I slotted in behind two other cyclists. Randonneuring rules prohibit slipstreaming behind other riders who aren’t doing these same brevet as you, so if this had been a brevet, I would have been cheating. Since it wasn’t, and since three cyclists are a lot more visible than one, and since I didn’t feel like trying a pass with all the traffic, I went ahead and slowed down to their pace. They gave me a nice 19mph tow to the Seacliff exit and I thanked them as I passed.
Now I was on the Rincon Parkway, and the first mile or so (right by Hobson Beach Park) are rougher than shit. I remember thinking earlier that my 25mm wide tires were just fine, but as I rattled and jolted along I decided maybe 32s would be more appropriate… LOL!
I made good time down the Rincon Parkway, having some excitement with yet another group of runners (apparently the Ventura Road Runners, based on what their bright yellow jerseys said). The RVs were fun, too… lots of strolling tourists not paying any attention, and some gigantic EscaBurbaUrsion thing start trying to back out in front of me (with no spotter of course). Their bacon and pancakes sure smelled good, though!
At Emma Wood State Beach I was stoked to see I could hop on a bike path for the final few miles into Ventura. That was, until I dropped into the thing and found it was about six feet wide, with tall mustard grass lining each side and full of more walkers, joggers and etc. This is starting to sound like a wank-fest, and really I wasn’t bothered that much, it was just more Dodge-Em to add to the pile I’d done so far.
I saw the “Welcome to Ventura” sign right at 10:00am on the dot. Not bad at all! By the time I got to Surfrider Point (aka C-Street) I’d done 37 miles in just over 2 hours. Smokin’, at least by my standards and in consideration of the climbing I’d done at the start.
At Ventura, 10:00am
I took a quick “bio break”, ate a couple granola bars, snapped a picture update for Facebook (I documented the trip in real time just for the hell of it), and headed back out. Right away I noticed part of the reason the trip down had been so easy… the west wind was starting to pick up, and I was going to be enjoying a steadily increasing headwind for the rest of the way to Refugio, my next turnaround point. Oh joy.
Back to the bikepath, then the Rincon Parkway (this time on the opposite side of the road, so less Dodge-Em) and just kept on truckin’. You’re able to stay off the highway till nearly La Conchita when going northbound, which was really nice. I just got it over with and then enjoyed a nice, quiet climb back up Bates Road. I got passed and dropped by a much fitter roadie in Fastrack kit on the way up, but was pleased to see him pull off and take a little breather at the top while I just kept going.
A few miles on, going through Carpinteria, my attitude was starting to flag a little bit. The headwind was taking its toll and I could tell it was going to be pretty strong by the time I got up to Refugio. I was having serious doubts about my ability to finish, and was considering a Plan B bailout at Ellwood / Winchester Canyon. I hated the idea of giving up, but I had to finish by 4:00pm… you gotta do what you gotta do.
After crossing 101 from Carp Ave., I stopped at the 7-11 at Santa Monica Road. They had Clif Bars… my favorite! I had a couple as well as some green Gatorade and started to feel better before I’d even crossed through the first stop sign. Yay For Sugar!! In all seriousness, it was an important lesson – I had been pushing myself hard enough that I was starting to see the first indications of a bonk (bad attitude, pessimism about finishing, atypical saddle soreness, etc) and all it took to turn that frown upside down was some sugar, protein and complex carbs. Lesson learned.
The route from Carp to Santa Barbara is well known to me, so I just did what I knew best and kept going, trying to keep my speed around 19mph or more whenever possible. Going through Montecito on Coast Village Road I caught up to Ed France, maestro of Bici Centro, the local bike co-op. I had a nice chat with him along Cabrillo Boulevard, told him how much I was enjoying riding, my goal for Paris Brest Paris in 2011, and how I’d lost 45lbs in the past year. I said bye to him as he peeled off to go over to Bici, then continued along Cabrillo to the Mesa.
Like many people, I spend a good part of the easier parts of the ride worrying about the harder parts coming up. My route took me along Shoreline Drive, then across Cliff to Hendrys Beach and Hope Ranch. I’d ridden through Hope Ranch a few times, but always from the other direction, and was therefore worrying about the small climb up from Hendrys and then whatever lay in store further on. In the positive column, I knew that once I finished those climbs, the rest of the way out through Goleta and Ellwood was going to be pretty flat.
I proactively took a few slugs of Gatorade as I approached the climb up from Hendrys and I think it helped. You can’t just keep getting sugar boosts forever, but it worked and I just geared down to “easy” and ground it out. It was much shorter and flatter than I’d feared and I had no trouble. The rest of Hope Ranch was fine as well, but I realized I was starting to need some more food, and Clif Bars and Gatorade alone wouldn’t cut it.
I decided to stop at Javastation on Hollister (at the foot of Modoc) and give it a try. The staff were very friendly, and the barista made me a delicious mocha “with fat” by request. Had a piece of pumpkin bread, too, and another bio break. After a total stop of about 15 minutes I was back on the road and feeling much improved. That mocha and bread turned out to be a real deal-maker for me, had I tried to just do Clif Bars alone I still might’ve given up at Ellwood.
Javastation Mocha, a lifesaver…
The wind was now directly at my head as I traversed Hollister towards my second date with the 101. This time I’d be heading northbound, and I knew from driving the route many times to surf at El Cap and Refugio that there were some rolling hills. I also knew the wind would be stronger once I got out on the open highway.
When I got to the overpass at the end of Hollister, I was feeling good and just told myself it was time to be a man (sorry for the sexist language) and just get this thing done. I had plenty of time left, even with the headwind, and calculated I should be able to make it in time or be just slightly late. And I knew I’d really regret not finishing. So it was on.
Even with the headwind, which I estimated at around 15 knots with some higher gusts based on how the various flags along the route were standing out, I was able to keep a pretty decent average of around 16-19mph going. According to my computer, my moving average was still around 17mph, so that was good. I could kick back a little bit and just tough it out and then reap the benefits of a sweet tailwind to push me home.
By this point I was feeling tired but very determined. I realized I was more tired at roughly 85 miles into the ride than I had been on the Solvang Century I did two weeks ago, and that overall the combination of my pace, the headwind, the warmer temperatures, and the complete lack of people to draft behind would make this a tougher ride than Solvang, even with a bit less climbing. Good thing I’m made from fairly tough stuff and am young and dumb enough to do something about it!
Flags were pretty straight out from the wind.
I passed Dos Pueblos ranch and knew I was getting close. I thought I saw the turnout to El Capitan Canyon, got really excited, and then realized it was a “Highway Adopted by So-and-So” sign. Had to just keep going. The traffic seemed to help break up the headwind a little bit, but I still found myself having to work pretty hard to keep my speed up. I passed a guy, I guess homeless by the looks of him, inching along in the bike lane, on crutches… lord knows where he was going or how he got there. I felt bad for him, but there was nothing to be done.
One extra somewhat frightening factor with the turnouts along the way was that you had to really watch behind and make sure no one was speeding off the offramp before crossing. This added to the general stress of riding along the highway and while I had no close calls or anything, it was an extra burden at a time when I was already pretty tired. Would just have to HTFU and deal with it. There was truly no alternative.
When I finally made the last rolling climb to the turnout at Refugio, I was amazed I’d been able to do this. A few hours earlier I’d been in Ventura (a novelty in itself) and now here I was at Refugio, the opposite end of the South Coast spectrum. I’ve surfed both spots many times, and now here I was in lycra, doing something I’ve never imagined myself doing, cycling between them. Feelings of accomplishment were coupled with a weird sensation that this was something I never thought I’d enjoy so much. Overall, a good and new experience.
Success! Refugio underpass never looked so good.
Loved this view more than ever!
I relaxed at Refugio for a few minutes, had some more Gatorade, and then got back on the bike after snapping a few pictures. The ride back down 101 southbound was much easier, the tailwind allowing me to easily maintain 22mph+ on the flats and 17-19mph on the smaller uphill sections. Great! It was finally easy for a change… nice.
When I got back to the Winchester Canyon exit, I was elated. It was 3:00pm on the dot and I had an hour to cover the 13-14 miles back home. I could definitely do this. I took the Foothill Route and enjoyed the tailwind, didn’t have too much trouble with the last “serious” climb at Tucker’s Grove, and just rode the rollers (rather slowly) all the way back to Alamar and then downtown. I pulled into the driveway at exactly 3:46pm, precisely 7 hours and 45 minutes after departing. I had made it! I am still pretty amazed by the whole thing as I write this.
Home at last in exactly 7 hours, 45 minutes, for an overall average of 15mph along my 116 mile route.
At my friend Ezra’s suggestion, I made myself a glass of chocolate milk as a recovery drink, and then took a much needed shower (I smelled like an animal!). Great day, great sense of accomplishment, great premonition that I’m going to be sore tomorrow… all in all a winner of a day!