I asked how many people were doing the Ascent and how many were doing the Challenge when I signed in. They told me a total of 150 people had signed up, but they did not have a breakdown of how many were doing the Challenge and how many were doing the Ascent. Note that this is a different number than Don heard, so who knows? I did happen to see several women along the ride and at the top of Mt. Hamilton, so perhaps we're just later risers than Don!
We headed out of Sunnyvale, making it over the bridge just as it was being closed. After Alum Rock Park (where I got paged - darn that work thing!) we started our climb. I had done a similar ride three years ago, when I was in better shape, with nothing lower than a 23 cog. This year, I was worried that it would be too difficult with a "mere" 28 on the back. In pure disgust with myself, I shifted into my 24 and vowed to go no lower, as long as possible. LeRoy, in complete sympathy, stayed in the middle chainring of his triple.
We were having fun passing people and being passed. At one point we passed a slower rider who then sped up and hung tenaciously onto our wheels. After a few minutes it looked like he was there to stay, so we introduced ourselves and started a conversation. Martin was on a six-month work assignment in the Bay Area, visiting from Dallas. He was out for a weekend ride on his new Trek 5500 and saw everyone heading in this direction and decided to follow. He had no idea what he was in for! (By the way, they don't have hills in Dallas, and his lowest gear was a 39/25.) We told him he was in for a treat, and invited him to join us all the way to the top. He decided to go for it.
The climb was beautiful and the weather was perfect! Everything went smoothly until we got to the last few switchbacks, two or three miles from the top. That's when I ran out of steam and had pull over for a quick snack. I was so close to my lunch bag I could almost smell it, but there was still a bit of road to cover before reaching the top. I also had to shift down to my 28, but I felt I'd done well to stay in my 24 for so long. Martin continued on and I didn't think we'd catch up to him again, but we did. He didn't look so good. We passed him and kept on ridin'. At one point we turned a switchback and were right above him, looking down on him. We called out to him, but he barely acknowledged us. Then we finally made it to the top! I think it was somewhere between 11:30 and noon.
Lunch never tasted so good. We had packed a large assortment of treats, so we could eat what appealed to us at the time. We gave our extra food to Martin, who had persevered and finally made it. Boy, will he have a story to tell his friends back home! We also saw LeRoy's roommate, Mark, at the top, and a few other ACTC members. Mark had paced himself well on the climb, and was ready to leave. I knew the time wasn't looking too good for us, but I'm used to being one of the last finishers on these long rides. We must have been among the last Challengers to leave the rest stop, because only a small number passed us on or after the descent. We heard several sirens as we were leaving, and could see some commotion on the road back down the front side. We found out later that a woman had crashed and was eventually airlifted out.
LeRoy had the idea that we should not try to descend together, I guess he wanted the road to himself! So I set off first, on my own. I took the descent cautiously, because I was not familiar with the road, and I was still getting used to the handling of my new Kinesis Carbon3 fork. (I must say, the fork did a superb job of absorbing road shock!) After a while, I wondered why LeRoy had not passed me. I must be descending faster than I thought! A little while later, he passed me by, teasing, "Taking it easy?", and I eventually lost sight of him again. But foremost in my mind was reaching the bottom and finding a bush! Approaching Isabel Creek, I saw LeRoy pull over after the bridge - perfect, that's just what I was thinking!
But when I got there, he had a strange request - "Umm, could you wash me off?" He pointed to a large patch of road rash on his right arm, and as I looked, I noticed more and more on his arm, shoulder, hip, and knuckles. But the arm was the worst. Fortunately it was easy to get all the sand and dirt out of it, and LeRoy had his trusty first-aid kit with him, so we bandaged it up and were ready to go. It seems that near the top of the descent, he was rounding a left-hand corner when his rear wheel hit an invisible bump in the road and caught some air. It came down on sand and it went right out from under him. He rolled when he hit, and took most of the impact on his camelbak! His bike came out of it little worse for wear, and his helmet was unscathed. I thought he wanted to be all over the road, but I didn't expect him to leave some of himself there!
The rest of the ride to the second rest stop was beautiful scenery and some unexpected climbing, but we made pretty good time, I thought. We seemed all alone in the desolate country, except for leapfrogging the knee-draggers (motorcyclists) and the occasional bird watching groups. Finally we reached the rest stop, just as the last person was leaving it, five minutes before it was scheduled to close. We ate our food, and they refilled our bottles with water from a nearby cattle trough - no kidding! It tasted like the cows had bathed in it, and I couldn't take more than a sip of it. Of course I didn't find this out until we had hit the road again. Fortunately, I had not topped off my camelbak at that stop, so I still had some good water.
We enjoyed more beautiful scenery for the next 17 miles or so of Mines road. As luck would have it, just when I was thinking about looking for another bush, we saw the rest stop fellow towing a porta-potty pulled off the road ahead. He was checking up on us. So I asked him if I could use the porta-potty he was towing. He opened it up for me, and I found relief. What timing! I told him about the terrible water, and he gave me some Gatorade to replace it - bonus! Then we were on our way again, heading for the third rest stop. I had decided that SAGging in from the third rest stop sounded like a good idea to me, so I was really looking forward to getting there. We had to make several turns on this part of the course, and it seemed like we were always in a headwind or a crosswind. I tried to take shelter behind or beside LeRoy as the winds dictated.
LeRoy was holding upwell, and didn't seem to be bleeding anywhere. His ribs were sore, but he said it only hurt when he took a deep breath. We missed the turn onto Vallecitos Road and put in a couple of extra miles, but eventually we neared the rest stop. About two miles before it, the SAG wagon caught up to us and they had our food in the back of the van. It was about 5:30, and no one was left at the rest stop. LeRoy chowed down, while I loaded my bike into the back. In a few minutes he was on his way to the finish, racing the sun to get in before dark. I was hoping to stay in the SAG wagon and cheer him on, but they were worried they would have to pick up too many people to have room for me, so I got a ride back to the finish with the porta-potty car. That was an experience in itself!
LeRoy pushed through the headwinds and over Calaveras with a mission. He passed about eight other riders, and managed to find the finish just after 8pm (somewhere along the way, he lost his map). He still looked strong, even at the finish! I guess with me as his built in pacer he didn't deplete his energy reserves, I'm sure he would have finished hours earlier without my "help".
All in all, it was a great, fun day, and I was very happy with my ride of about 97 miles and 6950 feet of climbing. LeRoy got to see some beautiful new territory, and complete the Challenge - whoo-hoo!
Jenn Corliss