Debbie Wade and I had 23 people to start this ride, covering the full range of paces and route options. here is a list of the riders and what I have down for each of them. 1703 rider-miles total.
A-route, 33 miles, Swanton 1 Linda Correia 2 Stu Goodgold A+ route, 48 miles, Swanton 3 Alfred Gong 4 Marco Cuyan B-route, 66 miles to Pescadero, Swanton 5 Pam Downs 6 Debbie Wade - coleader 7 Miguel Aznar 8 Lynn Repetski 9 Doug Gillison 10 David Cederbaum 11 Jackie Cederbaum C-route, 80 miles to San Gregorio, Swanton, Stage 12 Guy Neenan 13 Scott Johnson 14 Jonathan Crockett 15 Pete Klein 16 Karl Schilling C+ route, 82 miles to San Gregorio, Swanton, Stage 17 Ken Koach 18 Bob Kane D-route, 103 miles to Half Moon Bay, Swanton, Stage, Higgins-Purisima 19 Dennis Uyeno 20 Stuart Wallace 21 Frank Correia 22 Deborah Lefferts 23 Don Axtell - coleaderI started out last and then slowly bridged up through the group. At the top of Swanton, some of us stopped long enough to enjoy Debbie Wade's freshly home-baked cookies. The faster riders were already gone ahead by this time, so they missed out.
Coming into Pescadero, Pam bet me that Deborah Lefferts would already be gone on ahead, while I was betting that she would be there waiting for me. I lost the bet, so I now owe Pam 2 dozen home-baked oatmeal-raisin cookies.
I left Debbie and Pam there in Pescadero and headed on up and over Stage Rd, still hoping/planning to meet Deborah at least in San Gregorio for lunch. No such luck. I pulled in at the store and found Scott, Guy, and Jonathon, getting ready to leave and head back down the coast. They informed me that Deborah went off with the other riders, heading towards Half Moon Bay. Scott said they had a 5 minute lead. Without stopping to eat, I took off up that 3rd and last hill on Stage Road, hoping to cut into their lead time.
Luckily for me I managed to eat a PBJ sandwich at the top of Swanton, so this got me by when I skipped both Pescadero and San Gregorio food stops. I again quickly ate a half sandwich at the top of Stage, then headed north on Hwy 1 towards Half Moon Bay.
The Higgins-Purisima billygoat was scheduled before Half Moon Bay, so I was sure that I should be able to catch up by then, hoping that they had actually gone that way and not cut the billygoat out. Finally, on Verde Road, leading towards the start of Higgins-Purisima, I managed to catch a glimpse of some riders far ahead. I finally had the lead group in site. Once on Higgins-Purisima, I finally caught up with Deborah.
Since we had carpooled over to the start, I assumed that we would ride at least part of the ride together. We had been planning to do the 80-mile option. Then Deborah had been talked into doing the 100-mile option, so it was good that I managed to catch Scott and Guy back in San Gregorio. Otherwise I would have been chasing Deb south on Hwy 1 while she would have still been going north.
But, now that I had finally caught up, I could rest a little bit. It turns out that they didn't hardly stop either, and that Deb had only eatten about as much as I had. So we were all ready for a full reststop in Half Moon Bay. We stopped in at the regular Deli and had a good leisurely lunch. It was 1:00 PM when we arrived, having done 56 miles in just 4 hours. We still had 47 miles to go, but they would all be headwind miles. Not much to look forward to.
We were on the road again at 1:45. I took the lead to start with, and we were all pace-lining together at about 17 mph, with me on my aero-bars. So, this thing was do-able, this headwind wasn't so bad after all. A few miles later, though, and I was getting tired, as was everyone else. Our speed dropped down to 15 mph and we all started to break up into little groups. I hung with Deborah, as that was my intention.
Instead of worrying about the full 40+ miles of headwind, I was just happy to slowly tick off each of the checkpoints along the way. The Verde Roads were passed by, then Stage Road and San Gregario Road. We were now back on Option C, with just 38 miles to go. Then we passed by Pescadero Road and Bean Hollow Road. We were now on Option B, with just 30 miles to go.
Then the rain started. It was now 3:00 PM at mile 75, with 28 miles still to go. I stopped to put my fannypack inside a plastic bag and to put plastic over my cyclometer. I was now ready for the rain. I was glad that it had held off for this long. All the people from the shorter options should be either done or just about done by this time.
We started off again, now only going about 13 mph with the addition of the rain onto the headwind. There was nothing to be done except to grind out the miles and get this thing over with. I asked Deb a few times if she was hungry, but she said No. I, however, was starting to feel the end of my energy level, so twice I managed to eat a half PBJ while we were riding along. It helped keep me going.
At one point, the wind got so strong and gusty that Deb even had to stop and walk her bike, afraid that she would get blown off the road. Luckily she was able to get riding again after a bit. We still had 18 miles to go so it would have been a long way in walking.
I now put Deb in front of me, as I guarded the rear. The wind was such that pacelining didn't help that much now anyway. We were now holding a steady 11 mph, slower on the uphills, but not much better on the downhills. The only important thing now was to just get in safely. Time no longer mattered.
We passed by Davenport at 4:30, without stopping. Now under 10 miles to go. A few miles later and the rollers were finally behind us. The last miles would be fairly flat into Santa Cruz. I again look over the lead. I kept checking for Deb in my mirror, always glad when I could see her right on my tail. I was able to pick up the pace a bit and still keep Deb on. Finally, at 5:28 we pulled up to the car. We had both had enough to finish, but we had also had enough of the rain.
Once done, Deborah confided to me that she had not been happy with the rain and wind these last 28 miles. But not once did she complain or whine about it during the ride. Deb knew that it wouldn't have done any good, and so we both did what needed to be done, we just kept riding.
I had told Deb earlier in the ride that this would be a "character-building" ride, and that it was. Thank you Deb. Don Axtell
Ken Koach & I did the 80 mile loop on Saturday. Total mileage came out to 81.8 due to us missing the turn at Gazos Creek.
Thanks,
Bob Kane
Bob Kane and I completed the 80 mile to San Gregorio (with Stage) part of the ride. We got back just before the rain started. Head winds pretty tough at times. Noticed your car was still there - did you guys do the 103 miles? Did you get soaked?
Take Care
Ken
Linda told me that you and Deborah called at the end of yesterday's ride. Thanks for your concern. I made it very wet, but ok. About a block away from the van I felt the front wheel run over something small and wondered about the possibility of getting a flat. The thought of fixing a flat out there in that weather had haunted me all of the way back. Well I was about ten feet away from the van when I felt that "flat tire wiggle" motion from the front wheel. Sure enough it had just gone flat. I drew a heavy sigh pulled together all of my remaining strength and managed to make it the rest of the way on foot. HA HA. What luck huh?
I don't know how you track everyone's stats on a complicated ride like yesterdays, but here is one that you may not be aware of. Marco Cuyan rode to and from the ride site and did Swanton. He logged up 48 miles. He is new to the club and is excited about improving his cycling.
Thanks a bunch,
Frank Correia
We ran into Pam and Deb just before Davenport and got some cookies there, so we didn't miss out. Otherwise, didn't see anyone after Pescadero (Dave and Jackie).
Thanks for the ride. It was a nice change.
Pete
Pam and I got back to her car before 3:00, so missed the rain. She got a flat tire about 10 miles north of Davenport. After inflating the new tube, the tip of the stem came off, but she was able to screw it back on and re-inflate it. Karl and Pete passed us while we were changing the tire and we saw them again at Davenport. We also saw Jonathan and Guy back at the car. So at least those faster riders got cookies.
Thanks for taking care of all the details for the ride.
Debbie
I don't mind sharing the ride-leader stats, as I get too many anyway, much more than the #2 leader. I want to spread this out a little more. If all you were to do was show up, then that would have been enough for me. Your share of saturday's ride is 11.5 riders and 851 rider-miles.
The 100-mile riders also all got cookies. I gave them out at lunch in Half Moon Bay.
Glad you all made it in. Frank was the last rider in. We left before he got back. He got a flat just 100 yards away from his car, so that was good. Everyone finished.
-Donny