This past weekend was the 600k I needed to qualify to ride PBP in August. I have finished an entire series (200k, 300k, 400k & 600k) the past three years and all of my 600k's were out of Santa Rosa on the same course. So I was excited to try a different course and this one was an odd duck as it started at 8:00 pm Friday night. Most start early Saturday morning so you ride all day, ride all night, then finish around noon or early afternoon. I get a bit tired just before the sun comes up on a typical 600k but once the sun is up I get a second wind and do not have any problems staying awake to the finish. But being that this will start at 8 pm I am sure it will require me to ride into a second night for a substantial amount of riding. I figure I will have 75-100 miles to go at sunset.
The 600k started out like a race. I believe there were about 130 riders and being a Davis brevet the average speed will be ramped up a bit. The first 30ish miles are flat and it seemed like we had favorable winds no matter how we weaved out of town. There were 4 tandems pulling up front and after the first mile thru a residential area we were flying along at 20-25 MPH heading toward Cardiac Hill. Being that it is completely flat until the hill you had to make a decision to hang on and potentially get worked or drop off and end up WAY back. Come the hill everything will break up but beforehand you had 30 miles of flat.
After 10 miles of flat out flying I decided I would drop off as it dawned on me I had 365 miles to go. A second group of about 7 came by about 10 minutes latter and I jumped in as we hauled butt out to the hill. Once at the hill everyone rode at their own pace and the first control was shortly after the decent of the other side at a school.
At the first control I had some warm food and decided I should bundle up as it was getting cold fast. The volunteers were fantastic which I am not used to. Most of the non-Davis brevets are receipt controls where you hit a Safeway for something to eat and save the receipt to prove you were there. Being a manned control I probably hung around too long and after adding layer of clothes the fast riders I had come in with were gone. I was just about to head out alone when it dawned on me that I should see if anyone else was ready to go. This is where I met and rode with John from The Sunset on his Ti Independent Fabrication.
From the school we rode toward Calistoga and Control 2. It was about 35 uneventful miles except John being much bigger than me would get away from me on every downhill then I would track him down on the uphills.
We pulled in then took off out of Calistoga, Control 2, still together headed the 70+ miles toward Ukiah and Control 3. Again being dark and fairly flat it was uneventful until we got near Hwy 101 south of Cloverdale. We had about 7-10 miles of blustery headwind that got our attention. We pulled into Cloverdale (mile 110) and found a nice minimart open with hot coffee at about 4 am. From here we were off toward Hopland but not before hitting the three mile hill up Hwy 128. On any Santa Rosa brevet we would take the flat Hwy 101 route but this morning we were headed up Hwy 128 toward Mountain House. I have found that the only road name I dislike more than anything with "Mountain" in it is anything with "Grade" in it. "Hill" is OK, "Mountain" is still OK, but I have yet to meet a road with "Grade" in it that I look forward to at 4am. Well we manage to make it up Hwy 128 and as John and I are decending Mountain House the sun comes up and starts to warm us up. I had on a LS "wolly" type undershirt, a LS jersey, a LS thicker jersey and a windbreaker and was comfortably cold. If I had been missing any of the four items I would have been very uncomfortable during the early morning riding.
As we hit the flat section with about 15 miles to go I lost John behind me. Since the sun had been up for a while I continued on and figured I would see him shortly after I arrived.
At the beginning of the ride you could leave a "Drop Bag" and the organizers would take it out to what I thought was the turn around point at mile 189. But it was waiting for me at the hotel in Ukiah at mile 144. I didn't have much in there but thought I could get rid of things if it had been warm at night. But being that we still had about 45 miles until the turn around it was a big benefit to be able to leave a bunch of your gear at this hotel and ride out and back the 90 miles that much lighter. So I stripped everything I did not need off the bike and took off for Boonville and the 21 miles beyond. I am now riding alone similar to most of my brevets this year. I used to not like riding alone but now it does no bother me at all. In order to get to Boonville you have to climb the toughest climb of the day. It was getting hot and the climb was 4 miles with very little let up and the "Truck on Cheese" sings showed *% and 10% grades for the entire 4 miles. At the top you ride 3 miles of flat before decending 7 miles back down to Hwy 128 again. On many of the roads we are riding there are mile markers. I like to make a point of remembering the mile marker of noteworthy points along the way. The mile maker at the top of the 4 mile hill was marker 10 and it was marker 7 just as you headed down the other side. This way I would know where I was on the way home in relation to the top of the return hills.
Once down the 7 mile hill it was west toward Boonville a mile away then an additional 21 miles toward the Mendocino coast. Most of this route seemed like it was slightly downhill but there was a headwind to slow us down. Just after Boonville I passed another rider then slowed down to see if he wanted to sit in behind me. I was headed that way anyways and it is no more work to ride solo than it is to help out another rider. I introduced myself to Marty and we wondered down the road. Whenever I introduce myself it is always "Willy from Pacifica" and I always ask where others are from. Well Marty from Oakland and I worked our way west but somehow I got ahead of Marty only to be sucked up by him and a couple others about a mile from the turnaround. We again hang around the control too long and when I turn around Marty and the others have taken off. No biggie as I get on my bike and head back east. The last 3-5 miles before this turnaround it was slightly downhill so now I am heading slightly uphill back to Boonville. But with the wind at my back I am making much better time then the way out there. I see Marty and his group ahead of me but rather than chase him I decide to stop and put on my MP3 player and enjoy some tunes. This 20 mile section goes by very fast and the next thing I know I am back in Boonville getting ready for the 7 mile climb. I grab a coke at the store and am bummed as I pass all the people enjoying themselves at the Beer Festival. Man would I love to have a nice cold beer right then but I am sure one would knock me out.
Although it may seem like a 7 mile hill is worse than a 4 mile hill it is actually much easier since it is less steep since it gets you up to the same height. I make my way up the hill and am counting down the mile markers looking to find mile maker 7 again. Then it is flat to Mile marker 10 then a great 4 mile decent and a flat 5-6 miles back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel I grab all my stuff and put it back on the bike. I hit Safeway for a Mocha Frappichino in the Mega size and have them throw in a couple extra shots. After the initial brain freeze I down that and then find Marty is ready to go so we head out together. I am very familiar with this section as I was on these exact road the week before on the Santa Rosa 400k. It is about 35 miles to the next control in Cloverdale and the first 20 are flat and thru vineyards. It is about 4 pm and as Marty and I are riding along we are trying to determine if we should find a place to take a nap. We decided we didn’t want to take a nap before Mountain House road as it would be no fun to wake up and have to tackle a 8 mile rolling climb so we pass on the nap. But if we had to nap the only place we saw was between row in the vineyards. It looked very comfy and beat the pokey weeds on the side of the road.
One note. If you see a snake on the road ahead of you be sure to speed up. As I passed the sunning snake it woke up and took a stab at Marty. Luckily it was slow and small and since he was stretched out across the middle of the road I am sure he would soon be dead.
We pulled into Cloverdale about 6 pm and since the hotel room beds were empty we decided we should take a nap. I was thinking 90-120 minutes but Marty was going for 45 minutes. Well the 45 minutes flew by and we were soon rolling out of the control after a couple bowls of fantastic stew. We got about 3 miles and hit the Starbucks. I grabed a mega gigantic Mocha Latee with an extra shot and threw in a bit of ice to cool it down. Let me tell you if you guzzle a 30 oz latee it will hit you right there. About a mile down the road I thought I would throw up but was able to hang in there. While at Starbucks I grabbed a Double Shot can of Expresso for the road. At Starbucks we picked up Lee from Winters and Art from the South Bay and I led them thru this section toward Calistoga again. Again uneventful except we also picked up Ken and Reid along the way. Before Calistoga I was having a hard time staying awake. I have never had to ride into a second night and it was catching up to me. If we were climbing a hill I had something to concentrate on but we were just sort of meandering along and I could not keep my eyes open. If I was driving a car there is no doubt I would have pulled over a long time ago. Ken was having the same problem so we all stopped and I laid down for 15 minutes with my eyes closed. Sometimes you are not as tired as you think but it is just your eyelids are hard to keep open. After 15 minutes and downing my can of Expresso we continued on. We hit a decent hill right after Lake Hennesey so I took off like a bat out of hell to get to the top so I could lay down for a while and wait for the crew. I have to tell you out there you can see millions of stars. All of my 600k's have been out in this area and I am always amazed at how clear it is and how many stars you can see out in the middle of nowhere.
After the cool decent we manage to make it to the final control back at the school. There are bodies everywhere and eventually I just laid down with a jersey for my pillow. I am awakened about 45 minutes later by Marty saying he was heading out with some others. Well I need more sleep so wish him luck and pull the newfound covers over my eyes. Lee also decides to stay so now I know I have a partner for the final 35 miles. And since he is "Lee from Winters" I know I will not have to pay attention to the route sheet either. We only stay for about 30 more minutes then head out just after 5am now on a Sunday. We have about 4 miles to warm up before hitting the final noteworthy hill which is this side of Cardiac. I have been up this hill about half dozen times and if I remember correctly this is the easier side. Once up we get the nice smooth ride down and head toward Winters. But not before seeing a very large tree on fire. And it was not really on fire but looked like it was buring from within. It was actually kind of cool and a few minutes later the fired trucks flew by us.
Once in Winters we start the maze back to Davis. The Davis area is very flat and has lots of farmland. The only way to get anywhere is to ride 3 miles down one road then turn for another 3 miles then turn for another 3 miles as you zigzag thru the area. Luckily it seemed like we either had a tailwind or a sidewind and the wind was blowing quite hard. With about 12 miles to go we hit the final control which was a minimart. Once we left there we finally had to pay for all the wind benefits and hit a couple section of brutal headwind. Being that we only had a few miles to go I couldn't get to upset or bummed out. Rather I put my head down and pushed thru to the final turn on Mace Rd. We still had about 3-4 miles on Mace road and being completely flat you could see the mace Rd overpass that got us over Hwy 80 and the finish just on the other side. Well you could see it for 15 minutes and it finally got closer to me. Up the final hill and we rolled into the park and ride at about 37 hours.
37 hours is much slower than my slowest 600k but I probably slept for 3 of those hours and since I rode thru two nights it was about right for me. Riding at night is a bit slower than riding in daylight as you cannot see as far ahead and I need to check my route sheet more often. This year I planned to slow down a bit and try to make my rides more controlled rather than to see how fast I can go. This is my last chance to work out any bugs before PBP.
This was the first 600k of the four I have done where I did not have any stomach issues from either eating too much or not enough. I am trying out a new seat and I am happy to report it is a huge improvement over my Brooks. My butt was still a little sore but not as bad as on previous rides. Plus, I think some of the discomfort was due to riding a 400k a week earlier. The new seat is the Sella An Atomica which to look at it looks like a Brooks with a slice cut along the top. One thing I would have to say is in comparison to the brooks it is like sitting on a couch whereas the Brooks is like sitting on a park bench. So even thou my butt was a bit sore it was much easer to sit back down on the comfy seat after standing and I could sit longer once down. I have a 600k planned for the end of the month so that should really fill in the blanks.
Willy in Pacifica
The 600k started out like a race. I believe there were about 130 riders and being a Davis brevet the average speed will be ramped up a bit. The first 30ish miles are flat and it seemed like we had favorable winds no matter how we weaved out of town. There were 4 tandems pulling up front and after the first mile thru a residential area we were flying along at 20-25 MPH heading toward Cardiac Hill. Being that it is completely flat until the hill you had to make a decision to hang on and potentially get worked or drop off and end up WAY back. Come the hill everything will break up but beforehand you had 30 miles of flat.
After 10 miles of flat out flying I decided I would drop off as it dawned on me I had 365 miles to go. A second group of about 7 came by about 10 minutes latter and I jumped in as we hauled butt out to the hill. Once at the hill everyone rode at their own pace and the first control was shortly after the decent of the other side at a school.
At the first control I had some warm food and decided I should bundle up as it was getting cold fast. The volunteers were fantastic which I am not used to. Most of the non-Davis brevets are receipt controls where you hit a Safeway for something to eat and save the receipt to prove you were there. Being a manned control I probably hung around too long and after adding layer of clothes the fast riders I had come in with were gone. I was just about to head out alone when it dawned on me that I should see if anyone else was ready to go. This is where I met and rode with John from The Sunset on his Ti Independent Fabrication.
From the school we rode toward Calistoga and Control 2. It was about 35 uneventful miles except John being much bigger than me would get away from me on every downhill then I would track him down on the uphills.
We pulled in then took off out of Calistoga, Control 2, still together headed the 70+ miles toward Ukiah and Control 3. Again being dark and fairly flat it was uneventful until we got near Hwy 101 south of Cloverdale. We had about 7-10 miles of blustery headwind that got our attention. We pulled into Cloverdale (mile 110) and found a nice minimart open with hot coffee at about 4 am. From here we were off toward Hopland but not before hitting the three mile hill up Hwy 128. On any Santa Rosa brevet we would take the flat Hwy 101 route but this morning we were headed up Hwy 128 toward Mountain House. I have found that the only road name I dislike more than anything with "Mountain" in it is anything with "Grade" in it. "Hill" is OK, "Mountain" is still OK, but I have yet to meet a road with "Grade" in it that I look forward to at 4am. Well we manage to make it up Hwy 128 and as John and I are decending Mountain House the sun comes up and starts to warm us up. I had on a LS "wolly" type undershirt, a LS jersey, a LS thicker jersey and a windbreaker and was comfortably cold. If I had been missing any of the four items I would have been very uncomfortable during the early morning riding.
As we hit the flat section with about 15 miles to go I lost John behind me. Since the sun had been up for a while I continued on and figured I would see him shortly after I arrived.
At the beginning of the ride you could leave a "Drop Bag" and the organizers would take it out to what I thought was the turn around point at mile 189. But it was waiting for me at the hotel in Ukiah at mile 144. I didn't have much in there but thought I could get rid of things if it had been warm at night. But being that we still had about 45 miles until the turn around it was a big benefit to be able to leave a bunch of your gear at this hotel and ride out and back the 90 miles that much lighter. So I stripped everything I did not need off the bike and took off for Boonville and the 21 miles beyond. I am now riding alone similar to most of my brevets this year. I used to not like riding alone but now it does no bother me at all. In order to get to Boonville you have to climb the toughest climb of the day. It was getting hot and the climb was 4 miles with very little let up and the "Truck on Cheese" sings showed *% and 10% grades for the entire 4 miles. At the top you ride 3 miles of flat before decending 7 miles back down to Hwy 128 again. On many of the roads we are riding there are mile markers. I like to make a point of remembering the mile marker of noteworthy points along the way. The mile maker at the top of the 4 mile hill was marker 10 and it was marker 7 just as you headed down the other side. This way I would know where I was on the way home in relation to the top of the return hills.
Once down the 7 mile hill it was west toward Boonville a mile away then an additional 21 miles toward the Mendocino coast. Most of this route seemed like it was slightly downhill but there was a headwind to slow us down. Just after Boonville I passed another rider then slowed down to see if he wanted to sit in behind me. I was headed that way anyways and it is no more work to ride solo than it is to help out another rider. I introduced myself to Marty and we wondered down the road. Whenever I introduce myself it is always "Willy from Pacifica" and I always ask where others are from. Well Marty from Oakland and I worked our way west but somehow I got ahead of Marty only to be sucked up by him and a couple others about a mile from the turnaround. We again hang around the control too long and when I turn around Marty and the others have taken off. No biggie as I get on my bike and head back east. The last 3-5 miles before this turnaround it was slightly downhill so now I am heading slightly uphill back to Boonville. But with the wind at my back I am making much better time then the way out there. I see Marty and his group ahead of me but rather than chase him I decide to stop and put on my MP3 player and enjoy some tunes. This 20 mile section goes by very fast and the next thing I know I am back in Boonville getting ready for the 7 mile climb. I grab a coke at the store and am bummed as I pass all the people enjoying themselves at the Beer Festival. Man would I love to have a nice cold beer right then but I am sure one would knock me out.
Although it may seem like a 7 mile hill is worse than a 4 mile hill it is actually much easier since it is less steep since it gets you up to the same height. I make my way up the hill and am counting down the mile markers looking to find mile maker 7 again. Then it is flat to Mile marker 10 then a great 4 mile decent and a flat 5-6 miles back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel I grab all my stuff and put it back on the bike. I hit Safeway for a Mocha Frappichino in the Mega size and have them throw in a couple extra shots. After the initial brain freeze I down that and then find Marty is ready to go so we head out together. I am very familiar with this section as I was on these exact road the week before on the Santa Rosa 400k. It is about 35 miles to the next control in Cloverdale and the first 20 are flat and thru vineyards. It is about 4 pm and as Marty and I are riding along we are trying to determine if we should find a place to take a nap. We decided we didn’t want to take a nap before Mountain House road as it would be no fun to wake up and have to tackle a 8 mile rolling climb so we pass on the nap. But if we had to nap the only place we saw was between row in the vineyards. It looked very comfy and beat the pokey weeds on the side of the road.
One note. If you see a snake on the road ahead of you be sure to speed up. As I passed the sunning snake it woke up and took a stab at Marty. Luckily it was slow and small and since he was stretched out across the middle of the road I am sure he would soon be dead.
We pulled into Cloverdale about 6 pm and since the hotel room beds were empty we decided we should take a nap. I was thinking 90-120 minutes but Marty was going for 45 minutes. Well the 45 minutes flew by and we were soon rolling out of the control after a couple bowls of fantastic stew. We got about 3 miles and hit the Starbucks. I grabed a mega gigantic Mocha Latee with an extra shot and threw in a bit of ice to cool it down. Let me tell you if you guzzle a 30 oz latee it will hit you right there. About a mile down the road I thought I would throw up but was able to hang in there. While at Starbucks I grabbed a Double Shot can of Expresso for the road. At Starbucks we picked up Lee from Winters and Art from the South Bay and I led them thru this section toward Calistoga again. Again uneventful except we also picked up Ken and Reid along the way. Before Calistoga I was having a hard time staying awake. I have never had to ride into a second night and it was catching up to me. If we were climbing a hill I had something to concentrate on but we were just sort of meandering along and I could not keep my eyes open. If I was driving a car there is no doubt I would have pulled over a long time ago. Ken was having the same problem so we all stopped and I laid down for 15 minutes with my eyes closed. Sometimes you are not as tired as you think but it is just your eyelids are hard to keep open. After 15 minutes and downing my can of Expresso we continued on. We hit a decent hill right after Lake Hennesey so I took off like a bat out of hell to get to the top so I could lay down for a while and wait for the crew. I have to tell you out there you can see millions of stars. All of my 600k's have been out in this area and I am always amazed at how clear it is and how many stars you can see out in the middle of nowhere.
After the cool decent we manage to make it to the final control back at the school. There are bodies everywhere and eventually I just laid down with a jersey for my pillow. I am awakened about 45 minutes later by Marty saying he was heading out with some others. Well I need more sleep so wish him luck and pull the newfound covers over my eyes. Lee also decides to stay so now I know I have a partner for the final 35 miles. And since he is "Lee from Winters" I know I will not have to pay attention to the route sheet either. We only stay for about 30 more minutes then head out just after 5am now on a Sunday. We have about 4 miles to warm up before hitting the final noteworthy hill which is this side of Cardiac. I have been up this hill about half dozen times and if I remember correctly this is the easier side. Once up we get the nice smooth ride down and head toward Winters. But not before seeing a very large tree on fire. And it was not really on fire but looked like it was buring from within. It was actually kind of cool and a few minutes later the fired trucks flew by us.
Once in Winters we start the maze back to Davis. The Davis area is very flat and has lots of farmland. The only way to get anywhere is to ride 3 miles down one road then turn for another 3 miles then turn for another 3 miles as you zigzag thru the area. Luckily it seemed like we either had a tailwind or a sidewind and the wind was blowing quite hard. With about 12 miles to go we hit the final control which was a minimart. Once we left there we finally had to pay for all the wind benefits and hit a couple section of brutal headwind. Being that we only had a few miles to go I couldn't get to upset or bummed out. Rather I put my head down and pushed thru to the final turn on Mace Rd. We still had about 3-4 miles on Mace road and being completely flat you could see the mace Rd overpass that got us over Hwy 80 and the finish just on the other side. Well you could see it for 15 minutes and it finally got closer to me. Up the final hill and we rolled into the park and ride at about 37 hours.
37 hours is much slower than my slowest 600k but I probably slept for 3 of those hours and since I rode thru two nights it was about right for me. Riding at night is a bit slower than riding in daylight as you cannot see as far ahead and I need to check my route sheet more often. This year I planned to slow down a bit and try to make my rides more controlled rather than to see how fast I can go. This is my last chance to work out any bugs before PBP.
This was the first 600k of the four I have done where I did not have any stomach issues from either eating too much or not enough. I am trying out a new seat and I am happy to report it is a huge improvement over my Brooks. My butt was still a little sore but not as bad as on previous rides. Plus, I think some of the discomfort was due to riding a 400k a week earlier. The new seat is the Sella An Atomica which to look at it looks like a Brooks with a slice cut along the top. One thing I would have to say is in comparison to the brooks it is like sitting on a couch whereas the Brooks is like sitting on a park bench. So even thou my butt was a bit sore it was much easer to sit back down on the comfy seat after standing and I could sit longer once down. I have a 600k planned for the end of the month so that should really fill in the blanks.
Willy in Pacifica
