We arrived just in time to see Dave Nosrati, an occasionail ACTC guest rider, depart for his first of two laps around the DDC course. It was 4:25 pm. They hoped to be finished by 4:30 am so they would be ready to start again around 5:00 am. We wished them luck, and said to ourselves, "I'm glad that's not me!".
The ACTC gang gathered at Strings for a serious carbo-loading feast. We saw lots of cyclists with the same idea . Karl Schilling was nice enough to share his special delivered birthday cake with us all so that was a little extra special treat. The dinner and birthday celebration just weren't the same because Don Axtell was not there! He decided not to do Davis this year. His company and Peanut Butter and Jelly antics were greatly missed.
After dinner and cake, we gathered outside to talk strategy and start time. Our strategy, as always, is to finish. No sense in going fast if you can't finish. We decided to meet at 5:15 am at the "T" intersection at the start of the ride. We bid each other fairwell and went our separate ways to try and get some sleep.
The alarm went off at 3:45! Today is the day we're going to ride 200 MILES! Eat some breakfast, drink some liquid, try not to get too excited. Went outside for a weather check. It was cold and windy! The wind did not die down in the night. I thought briefly about those guys who rode all through the night. The sky was cloudy too - couldn't see any stars or the moon. So the outfit of choice for the day was long sleeve jersey, leg warmers, booties, long finger gloves. We packed the raingear, jackets and pants. It's a fair amount of weight, but it can provide a whole lot of comfort if the weather goes bad!
We hopped in the truck and over to the High School we went. Parked, fixed up the bike, and we were off to meet the rest of the group. On the way to the start we saw "Double-Double" Dave. We talked with them for a minute. They said it was freezing and the wind blew all night! They looked and sounded ok. We hooked up with our gang just as the Double-Double bunch took off for lap number two. They went out at 5:10 am, we launched 2 minutes later.
The very first time I rode the DDC, I rode with Frank Harrison. He said the most important thing about Davis is the first hour. He called it the "Golden Hour". He said to make sure you get a good warm up, ride your own pace, and don't get caught up in any of the blazing pacelines. This is a rule to live by if you ever try this ride! It is good sound advise. The pacelines that go by are pretty amazing. They're usually led by a couple of tandems followed by a good convention of leeches. This year we saw a blasting pace line led by a triplet followed by some tandems, then a large group of wheel leeches.
About 10 miles out, we caught the Double-Double gang. We cheered them on and wished them luck. There is a reststop 25 miles into the ride, it's not one you really want to stop at. Most of the people there are pretty cooked from hanging on to the blazing pacelines, and the atomosphere is usally not too good. People are realizing that they started too fast and that the rest of the day is going to be spent just trying to survive until the end.
Did I mention that it's freezing cold and the wind is blowing! Right in our faces the wind is blowing. We see Roy Sueda whom we haven't seen in a long, long time. We slow up a bit to visit with him for a few. He's tucked in behind a two-tandem train and invites us to join in. We talk to him and he snivels about how fast we're all going. We take a couple of pulls out front, bid our friend Roy a good ride, and then depart on up the road.
We're about a mile out of the reststop and I see this guy in my mirror straining to catch us. He positions himself right behind us like the leech that he is. I watch this for about 30 seconds and tell Judy we're stopping. She asks whats the matter and I say nothing, I'm just stopping! Leechboy slows and realizes we're stopping. He reluctantly passes us. Judy again asks what's the matter and I tell her that I didn't want to tow Leechboy all the way to the next reststop! We didn't even know the guy.
Working our way Northwest, this is some of my favorite parts of the ride. Not too fun today, though - the wind is hammering us. The scenery is very nice. El Nino has done wonders for the wild flowers this year, treated us to spectacular fields of many varities.
The Middletown reststop is at mile 95 and here we are! They have boiled red potatoes at this stop. They sound terrible, but these little spuds are a real treat! They're usually still a little warm so that makes them extra special good. We load up good here knowing the Big Canyon climb to the highest point on the ride is coming. LeRoy Rodriguez, and Jimmy Baker are here too. Jimmy is having some kind of rear wheel problem resolved.
Fueled up and watered down, off we go. The road quality is pretty poor in Lake County and this next section is in very bad shape. Bumpy, Lumpy, Pot holed mess. With a sky darkening overhead, we work our way toward Big Canyon. At last The Hill. There is a reststop a little ways up from the bottom, we don't stop. Last year they were out on the road hosing you down with water to stay cool. Not this year! It sprinkles off and on on the way up. Mike and Ted "Launch" on this climb. We see them off and on steadily fading into the distance. There it is, the Top of the Davis Double, 2250 feet or so. The sky looks pretty ominous now, and I am real glad we have the rain gear. The rain holds off just long enoungh for us to get most of the descent out of the way. We stop to put on the Goretex to the astonished stares of others. It rains pretty hard for a while. Then lightens for a while.
We pull into the lunch stop at mile 113 to a little drizzle, find ourselves a dry place to sit and grab some chow. Scott Campbell Says "You guys look like you are ready for the snow!". I said "we are!". We ate a couple of sandwiches and split a cup-of-noodles, warm and tasty. It rains off and on while we are at lunch and looks bad to the north, which of course, is the way we have to go! Readying ourselves for departure, we make a quick potty stop and there is Double-Double Dave, pulling in for his second lunch here. We chat for a minute or two. He said his eyes were bothering him and that his brain was kind of floating around. Other than that he felt okay. We gave him a few words of encouragement and then headed off ourselves.
We didn't even get a half mile and it started to pour! Big heavy drops smacking us in the head, right through the helmet vents! With rain off and on we work our way towards Resurrection, another one of the aptly named climbs on the ride. It kind of Rocks and Rolls then gives you a steady climb to the reststop, which by the way is not the top. Before we get to the top, though, it starts to hail!!!!!!! I tell Judy its Hailing and she tells me I fried my brain! I said look at the ground! Sure enough, little hail BB's bouncing around. Lucky for us there was only a few minutes of this.
We pull into the reststop and the sun is out and the road is steaming! The humidity level has gone through the roof! The wind is still being a pain, so the temperature flucuation is quite drastic. We grab some food and hit the road. Mike and Ted said they would see us at the top, but they're no where to be found.
Up and down a little more and then we start the big ride downhill. At least the pavement is dry, but the wind is gusting heavily on the descent, taking the fun right out of it. Nice wide smooth shoulder, too bad it's so windy because you can really fly on this hill. We get to Highway 16, turn and here are Mike and Ted! We pull off the rest of the rain gear, access the wind situation and take off. The tailwind we had hoped for in the morning doesn't materialize, more like a cross wind. Pretty heavy too! The wind does get behind us a couple of times and we really get motoring.
We're beginning to push the time envelope for the next reststop. If you don't get there before a certian time, they hold all traffic to let an Indian gaming Casino let out, causing a 45 minute delay! We don't want to get caught in that, but it's going to be close. We arrive at 5:30 and start asking around what time they close the road. 5:45. So we have 10 minutes with a 5 minute safety window. We would like to stay longer but that will only delay the inevitable. Gotta go! Onward.
We're way behind schedule from years past but who cares, were still moving and it's still light! The miles get pretty monotinious by this point. The road flattens out, the wind blasts a little more, and you're ready to be done. We still have 30 miles to go!
Reststop #10 is at 177 miles. Some very nice people let the organizers use their front yard for this stop. They have all kinds of goodies here, more cup-o-noodles, Cliff bars, Cliff shots, and best of all - comfortable chairs to rest our tender behinds! We're trying to get motivated and Double-Double Dave goes wizzing by! Doesn't even stop! We give him a cheer and thats all the motivation we need to get going. Only 22 miles to go ! We can do this!
The zig zag effect is going to really suck. Go south like bandits, turn east, go like snails! Sure enough, southbound 22-24 mph, eastbound 12-14 mph! We blaze and crawl as best we can, making the miles go by. A nice long southbound run interupted by an equally long easterly turn and we have 3 turns and 9 miles to go!
There is a reststop 9 miles from the end. We don't stop, but we see Double-Double Dave there, shout some encouragement to him, and forge on towards the finish. A southern turn and a tailwind again bring us into the outskirts of town. Finish-ities starts to set in, but there is not a whole lot left in the tank, so we steadily roll on. You turn off the main road so you can come in a different way than when you departed in the morning. One more turn and there it is - the finish line crowd, cheering and clapping!
We can't be more relieved knowing that after this stop we don't have to get back on and ride some more. We're peeling off our stuff and in rolls Double-Double Dave, looking good and also very relieved not to have to get back on the bike. We congratulate him and he does the same to us, also thanking us for the encouragement through out the day. We thanked Mike and Ted for the company and entertainment. Thanked each other for another good tandem ride.
We checked in gathered up our t-shirts and patches. They have the best soup in the world waiting for you at the end of this ride. I would highly recommend a bowl when you finish.
This year took us longer than normal, mainly because of the poor weather and wind. It took 14:30 total time and 12:08 ride time. With the exception of the short 3 miles we spent with the other two tandems, we got no help from anyone else. So we're proud of what we accomplished.
So with a 50 degree temperature variation from last year to this year, you never know what you're going to get from one year to the next. But you can count on a good ride with great support and great people! If you decide you want to give the Davis Double a try, remember "The Golden Hour", ride to have fun, and have a great time!
When I made the left turn just before the summit at the top of the DC, I looked to the left and saw rain at the rest stop. I made the mistake of trying to get over the top and beating the rain going down the other side without putting on my garbage bag. I got caught, soaked, and wind chilled. At the lunch stop we were told it was 45 degrees. I saw Jim Zorn. I think he may have continued.
The weather looked like it would remain bad so I went humbly and shaking to find the sag. The sag vehicle was a big tour bus. Tony and Miguel left their tandem and also took the sag. Fifty of us rode it down to Napa and back to Davis where it looked sunny and warm. I was still wearing wet clothes so I took a 45 min. hot shower before putting back on the wet clothes. I found Bill Bartlow, who had not felt well during the week and did not ride. He had my dry clothes. My bike arrived about 8:00.
I got home at 10:30 and started to feel warm again. I did miss the ice cream at the end of the ride.
When the temperature dropped to 45 degrees and the wind and rain made it even less pleasant, we sagged in on a luxurious bus. The driver, Bill, even lent his jacket to a woman who was chilled. He was a quite a gentleman.
Davis supports their double beyond any expectations I have. Kudos to the Davis Bike Club.