The (Re)Unified Svihura Website

The Terrible Two was going to be my last double. (That meant that I would never ride another double century in my life.) Upon finishing it, I would achieve my goal of riding three doubles in a single year, and get my California Triple Crown, entitling me, gladly of course, to purchase expensive Triple Crown merchandise.It had been about six weeks since I completed the Davis Double, but with that and the Devil Mountain Double under my belt, I was feeling pretty confident that I would be able to complete the Terrible Two. I had studied the route of the Terrible Two during the days before the ride, carefully calculating how much effort I would need to expend at various points of the ride. The two main climbs of the Geysers and Skagg Springs looked pretty formidable due in great part to their steepness. Moreover, this ride has a reputation of being hot. Extremely Hot, especially on Skagg Springs, where temperatures had reportedly hit over 110 degrees in 2003. Also, for the 30th anniversary edition, the ride organizers had restored the route to the one that was last used in 1994, adding an extra 11 miles to the day. With the extra mileage and the possibility of hot weather, the Terrible Two would certainly test my endurance. However, as the weekend approached, the forecast was calling for the coastal fog to push inland and stick around for most of the day, and that would keep temperatures cool for most of the day, perhaps even making Skagg Springs more endurable.

My ride plan was to take it easy for the first 70 or so miles, which didn’t have a lot of climbing. There would be a long mostly flat stretch up the Silverado Trail to Calistoga, and I wanted to get onto a pace line that would allow me to reach the bottom of the Geysers in reasonably fresh condition. Then I could pace myself up the climbs and reach the coast where I would hope to have a tailwind drive me south until I reached the Fort Ross climb, which was the last nasty little climb of the day. That was the plan at any rate, and to jump ahead a little, it turned out that the beginning part went pretty much according to plan. Another part of my plan was to keep my bike in one piece. I had lost a headlight on the Devil Mountain Double and my taillight on the Davis Double, plus I had twisted my handlebars down while hitting a pothole, requiring me to get a new stem. Needless to say I wanted no more equipment issues on my last ever double. Of course, there was no way to ensure beforehand that I wouldn’t suffer any mechanicals, other than giving my bike a general checkup and cleaning the drive train.

I drove up to Santa Rosa on Friday to stay at one of the two Motel 6’s that were practically within throwing distance each other. There was a NASCAR event in town so the motel was pretty full, but apart from that, the NASCAR fans were basically unnoticeable. Although given that my room was right next to the freeway, I don’t think I would have hear anything over the noise of the traffic whizzing by at 70 mph.

For supper, I went out to the Union Hotel pasta restaurant and had spaghetti with fairly large meatballs, which made for a very substantial meal. I did notice some other possible Terrible Two riders come in after I did, since one of the diners in one group was wearing a Terrible Two t-shirt. There was no-one in that group that I recognized, so I kept to myself and finished my tasty pasta dinner. After dinner I talked to Tina, who was in Anaheim attending a veterinary conference. With this weekend apart, and then an upcoming trip for me to Montreal just after I got back from the Terrible Two, we were going to be spending quite a bit of time apart in the upcoming week. However, we were looking forward to our trip to the Tour de France at the beginning of July, and spending lots of time together in the Alps riding legendary Tour climbs, including L’Alpe D’Huez and the Col du Galibier.

I tried to get to bed early after dinner, but it was hard to go to sleep given that 8:30 was not my normal bedtime. I eventually nodded off, but 3:30 rolled around much too early for my taste. My usual trick of keeping some milk cold in the ice bucket wrapped in towels worked well, and I enjoyed some muesli for breakfast, which is the perfect meal before a long ride. I donned my riding attire, wearing my Devil Mountain Double (DMD) jersey, since that wouldn’t be bragging too much since the Terrible Two was pretty much the same difficulty as the DMD.

Riding the Peloton

I arrived at the Willowside School for the start and called Tina. She was still asleep, but was happy to hear that I was feeling good and ready to roll. I picked up my number and route sheet, and by 5:20, the ride organizers gave us instructions. The start would be “neutralized”, which meant that we would have to follow a pace truck that no one was allowed to pass until we got outside Santa Rosa. Since it was such a large group of riders, this would keep the pace at a more mellow level and the pace truck would also trigger the approximately 20 traffic lights we would encounter in town. At 5:30 we got under way. The sky was lightening up nicely, but it was overcast, a condition that would persist through most of the day. We made good time through Santa Rosa and didn’t hit too many red lights, even though the peleton would just keep going through those, checking for any cross traffic. During this time I saw a few other fellow Western Wheelerswho were making their attempt on this ride. I stuck with Ken Holloway for most of this part of the ride. Ken is an experienced doubles rider who had just finished his 50th double century as well as doing many long brevets and finishing Paris-Brest-Paris, a long 750 mile ride through the north of France. He is always good to ride with, as he has tons of entertaining stories about rides he’s done over the years.

The neutralized section gave way to the first climbs of the day, leading to Trinity Grade, and then Oakville Grade. This was the easiest climb of the day, rising to only about 1800 feet and having a pretty reasonable gradient. The peleton broke apart pretty quickly as the stronger climbers surged to the front and then off into the distance. I stuck with a small group that included Ken. Ken and I had ridden a couple of training rides the weekend before, and based on those rides I knew that I could keep up to him on the hills so hopefully we could do most of the ride together if we didn’t part ways at one of the rest stops.

We soon reach the top of Trinity Grade and then the top of Oakville Grade. The descent of Oakville grade is supposed to be quick and fun, but with a line of riders in front of me, I didn’t reach the top speeds that I was expecting. No worries though as we all made it down safely, although one person in front of me suffered a flat tire on the downhill. He managed to brake smoothly and get to the side of the road safely so no problems there.

With the first hills out of the way, it was time to grab onto a paceline and ride it into Calistoga, a distance of approximately twenty miles. Nothing melts the miles away like a well functioning paceline, and this one functioned pretty well. The front rider would do his pull for a little while, and then move to the side and let the next person in line do a turn. With this kind of cooperation, we kept the average speed up to over 20mph for the entire run into the first rest stop. One fellow had a blowout but made it to the side safely, but other than that it was a very uneventful portion of the ride. I stayed at the first rest stop for only a brief few minutes, getting water, some fruit snacks, and a quick bathroom break. Even with this short stop, the members of my paceline group, including Ken, had departed before me, and I was on my own for the next part of the ride. I attempted to catch up to a group in front of me, but it was no use, and I slowed down my pace once I realized I wasn’t going to catch them. Soon enough I was caught from behind by another smaller group, and I latched onto the back of them and enjoyed the free ride to the bottom of the Geysers.

Into the Mist

The Geysers is a triple summit climb, but the downhill sections between the summits are pretty short. The gradient is pretty tough, with most of it in the 10% range with sections approaching 15%. Our small group broke apart when we hit the climb, and I stayed out in front for a while with another fellow, but I wasn’t felling particularly strong on this climb, so he started to pull away slowly, leaving me to my own thoughts. As we climbed, we ascended into the fog, and soon my erstwhile riding companion literally disappeared into the mist, as I could no longer see more than 100 feet in front of me. With the still, foggy air around me, it was almost an otherworldly experience, and it felt like I was the only person on the planet. After a long interval of climbing, I started to ascend above the fog, and my reverie was broken by the sound of another bike behind me, as a rider from the paceline group was slowly catching up to me. I quickened my pace slightly and we rode together. On reaching the second summit, I could see the top of the third summit of the Geysers directly ahead, with the rest stop vehicles glinting in the now clear sunny day. The road leading up to the top was cut into the side of the mountain rising above me, and the fog that I had just climbed through filled the valley beside me.

We continued climbing, and now in contrast to the lonely silence of the foggy part of the Geysers, we started to catch and pass several riders on our way to the summit. The last part of the Geysers was very pleasant, and soon I reached the second rest stop. It was only 10:30 and I was already 80 miles into the ride, with first of the two tough middle climbs finished. I stayed about 10 minutes at this rest stop, getting refreshed with some V-8 and some PB&J sandwich bites.

The top part of the descent was quick and easy, as the road surface was excellent. Soon, the descent leveled off and turned left onto a rougher road. Most of the road surface was paved, although there were a few gravel sections. I came upon the first of these rather quickly and without much warning, except for the word “Whoa” spray-painted on the road just before the road dipped into the gravel. I was going pretty quickly, but managed to keep upright as the gravel slowed me down to a more reasonable speed. As I departed the gravel section, I thought, just like the cobbled sections Paris-Roubaix. Of course, the cobbles are probably much worse than a short section of gravel, but I was slightly relieved that the gravel sections weren’t any longer and harder. I kept a reasonable pace as I continued to descend towards Cloverdale, until a tandem-led group passed me. I hesitated for a moment and had to work hard to catch on the tail end of the group. We made good time and soon we crossed Highway 101 and turned towards Lake Sonoma and lunch.

It was just before noon, and I had already finished 106 miles. I got a PB&J sandwich and some V-8 and called Tina and left a message to let her know where I was. The lunch stop was the longest rest I took all day, but even so I was finished and on my bike in less than 15 minutes.

Stomach Problems on Skaggs

Skagg Springs is step climb, with steep sections punctuated by more shallow grades or even slight downhills. This isn’t my favorite kind of climbing, as I like to get into a rhythm and peddle at a constant pace. However, it was a relief that it was still overcast and the temperatures were very reasonable, as the road was very exposed to the sun. There were views of Lake Sonoma, although the Army Corps of Engineers had built the road so that it wouldn’t be visible from the lake, so the glimpses were fleeting. The road was wide and the shoulders were generous. The most common feature of the road was the guardrails, presumably to keep the boat-hauling trucks from plunging down the hillside. The hills rolled off into the distance, and I spent some time wondering where the coast was and what hills I would climb over to reach it. Eventually the sun came out, and the temperatures started to rise, although they were still bearable. Eventually I reached the first summit and a water stop, where I quickly replenished my bottles. The rest stop crew was extremely helpful and kept offering me different items, but my lower intestines were bothering me a little, so the thought of food made me slightly queasy. I declined the food and continued on my way.

The road tilted downwards and I tucked down and enjoyed the quick descent on the smooth roads. However, on this road, what goes down must go up again and soon I reached a bridge crossing a deep gorge and started the climb up to Las Lomas. As I started the climb, the road narrowed and the guardrails disappeared, and the trees lining the road offered welcome shade and protection from the sun. I made good time on this section and passed a few riders, including a tandem. At this point of the ride, I was surprised to see tandems, as they don’t perform on steep hills as well as us single lightweight climbers. However they were holding their own and climbing well enough to be able to catch up on the downhills and the flatter sections between the climbs. Soon enough I passed the water stop at the summit but I continued on through, knowing that the Camp Gualala was close, with mostly downhill riding to go before reaching it. The top part of the descent was technical but not steep, and then it leveled out. Another rider caught up and we rode together for a while, and were soon joined by the tandem I passed on the climb. We jumped on the end of that line, and enjoyed riding along the Gualala River coursing its way though a narrow canyon until we reached the rest stop.

At this point, my lower intestines were grumbling a lot. Moreover, my right leg was starting to bother me more. I had been riding with mild but constant pain in it for quite some time now. I had tried to rest it on the downhill sections but it was not recovering enough to be 100% effective. So I grabbed a couple of Advil and washed it down with some 7-Up, and then hit the porta-potties to try to solve the intestinal issues. Suffice to say, that did the trick and I was quickly on my bike and heading towards the Annapolis bridge. Unfortunately, my bathroom break had been long enough that the tandem had already gone ahead, so I was on my own. Another rider passed me, and mentioned that he wanted to try to catch the tandem before reaching the coast so that he would get a good pull down the coast. I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to catch the tandem, and didn’t want to burn too much energy in the attempt. However, the other fellow wasn’t going all that much faster than me, so I was able to keep up pretty well. We passed a couple of riders on the hill following the Annapolis Bridge, but still no sign of the tandem as we hit the first downhill section before the next short climb.

At this point, the combined action of the Avdil and the bathroom break was starting to work, and I began to feel much better. My legs didn’t feel as blocked and I was starting to get a nice rhythm on the climbs. As a bonus, we soon reached and passed the tandem. With that mission accomplished, I kept up my pace and I looked around to comment to the tandem-chaser rider I was with and he was gone. I didn’t look around too much to see where he was and kept turning the pedals in order to get to the coast before the tandem. My plan at this point was to ride at my own pace as long as possible before the tandem caught me, as I don’t enjoy riding in a paceline for extended periods of time. While I definitely enjoy being able to conserve my energy and make up good time while in a paceline, I have to concentrate more when I’m following closely behind someone else, and the changes in pace as the speed varies under someone else’s control are not as enjoyable as when the speed is totally under my control.

With that in mind, I kept a good rhythm and soon I was passing other riders. I felt pretty strong, but I wasn’t riding beyond my abilities. I was enjoying this section of the ride, with hills gently rolling into the distance. Still no sign of the ocean, but soon enough I was on the downhill so it wouldn’t be long before I saw it. With one small hill climbed, I could finally see the water and there was still no sign of the tandem catching me. I turned onto Highway 1 and started southwards towards Fort Ross.

Down the Coast

I didn’t know how far Fort Ross was, but I put the front gear into the big dog and started churning the miles away. In the distance in front of me I saw some other riders, and wondered if I could catch them. Behind me there was still no sign of the tandem, so I keep my head down and tried to catch the group in front. I never could track my progress towards that goal very well as the twisty rolling nature of the highway along the coast meant that I couldn’t see very far up the road for the most part.

I soon passed the turn off at Stewarts Point that the regular Terrible Two route took. That was a good milestone knowing that I was back on the regular route, and that the extra 11 miles added to this year’s route had passed. I was getting a good idea of my mileage along the coast by watching the mile markers along the road side. Eventually I passed the ten mile mark and still no sign of the tandem. I started to wonder if I would be able to beat it to Fort Ross, and thought that would be a nice little feat. I could catch occasional glimpse of the small group in front of me, and I was definitely catching up to them, and I would probably catch them before Fort Ross. I took a look behind me and finally caught sight of the tandem group. It was about 8 miles to Fort Ross and even though I was making good time, it was only a matter of time before they caught me. Up ahead I noticed that the group in front of me was being led by a tandem, but I sat up and waited for my pursuers to pass me. It had been a good effort but I decided to hitch a free ride the rest of the way down the coast.

Our tandem pulled nicely the rest of the way, and we crept slowly towards the tandem group in front of us. However, with the rolling nature of the road, we would lose a little time on the downhills and our progress was more yo-yo like than steady. Eventually we reached the town of Fort Ross, and soon we would reach the next rest stop and the turnoff back towards Santa Rosa. On one of the uphill rollers, other rider attacked with the goal of catching the tandem group in front. I decided to join him and stepped up my pace and started catching up. Soon we were both on the end of the front tandem group, but next rest stop was just ahead, so that new tandem-led paceline quickly disbanded as we slowed to turn off the main road.

Ken Holloway was already at this rest stop, and didn’t look like he was going anywhere soon, socializing with the rest stop crew as he knew most of them from his many double centuries. I quickly grabbed some soda, potatoes and fruit, and refilled my water bottles. After only a few minutes I was ready to go, and joined Ken as he was ready as well. It would be good to have a familiar face with which to finish the ride. However we had one more big obstacle to go, and that was the Fort Ross climb.

Fort Ross and Finish

The Fort Ross Climb starts nasty and stays nasty, and not for a short duration either. It would average about 10% for just over two miles, winding its way through a nicely forested area. It was good to climb with Ken, as I knew that I could keep his pace, but would still have to work hard enough to keep up. I can always tell he’s working hard on a climb as his breathing gets louder and we are no longer talking. After a mile of this, we passed a man and his daughter on the side of the road who were cheering passing riders. They offered some encouraging words and said it was only a mile until the top. That was good news, but a mile of 10% is still a mile of 10%, so it didn’t get any easier. Soon the sounds of Ken’s breathing started falling further and further behind. I was setting a good pace, but I didn’t feel like I was going fast enough to drop him. However, after recovering at Camp Gualala I was still feeling pretty strong, and I suppose that riding 170 miles was taking its toll on Ken, although he was still making good time not far behind me.

Soon enough the climbing ended and I hit the downhill section towards the last climb up Black Mountain. I made good time on the technical section at the top of the downhill, but decided to wait for Ken, as I wasn’t assure of where the next turn was going to be and didn’t want to get lost. Even though the road was very well marked, sometimes it’s easy to miss a turn, so having a veteran to help lead the way was welcome. Soon enough Ken caught up and we hit the last climb together. He warned me that it would go up hill for a ways, and I grunted an acknowledgement. This section started to get just as mean as the Fort Ross climb, and my legs started to cramp. I tried to push through it, and grabbed my Powerbar bottle and started to quaff it in great gulps. Within a minute or two, it started to work and I felt the cramps subside. It was like a miracle, that Powerbar stuff, and soon I was relatively pain free. We reached the summit and started the downhill towards Monte Rio and the last rest stop of the day. The descent was technical and featured a few rollers before it flattened out and turned onto a main road. Ken got into his aero position on his aerobars and we made good time, reaching the rest stop in no time.

We stopped for only a minute or two, and I downed a soda to give me some quick energy for the push to the finish. There was only one more gradual climb to Occidental, and then it would be mostly downhill to the finish. We mounted our bikes and continued on our way. Soon after we left I heard bikes behind me and sure enough it was a tandem-led group. This was the tandem that I was trying to catch all the way down the coast and a small group of other riders were with them. However, they let Ken pull up the hill for while before passing us and taking their preferred position at the front.

With a tandem pulling our paceline, we made good time towards Santa Rosa, and the last few rolling hills weren’t even a problem at this point. Soon enough, we turned onto the Guerneville road and then onto Willowbrook, and the final mile before the school. At this point I pulled off and rode along side the rest of the group, preferring to set my own pace in the finishing straight. We turned left and to the applause of the support volunteers we were finished. The official time at the finish was 7:08 pm and the ride had taken 13:38.

Ken and I congratulated each other and we went over to get our “I Did It” t-shirts. I also decided to buy a jersey as a memento of my last ever double century. I called Tina and let her know I was finished and we were both pretty happy about that, although we would have enjoyed it better if we were together. I grabbed a quick shower, and then some food, as I was starting to get hungry then. I chatted with Ken and all the strong riders that he knew who had finished before us, and then waited my friends from the Western Wheelers to finish. As it got dark, they rolled in one-by-one, until Jeff and Lyresa came in just a bit after 10pm. It was too bad for them, as that was the official cut off time for getting a free t-shirt, but finishing the ride in the dark was more of an accomplishment that I was willing to attempt.

I had finally finished my goal of completing my quest for a Triple Crown, and now that it was over, I pondered it a little. As far as the Terrible Two was concerned, I was surprised at all the time I spent in a paceline. There was certainly more of that than during the Devil Mountain Double, but the climbs were certainly challenging enough. I felt my finish time could have been better if there was more climbing and less pacelining, as my climbing is stronger than my flats riding. And I definitely prefer to set my own pace on a climb than riding behind someone for 20 or 30 miles. So in order of satisfaction, I would definitely put the Terrible Two just behind Devil Mountain Double. For sure, I enjoyed the Terrible Two, but in terms of accomplishment, the Devil Mountain Double was more of a challenge, not only in terms of the climbing, but it was the very first double that I had ever attempted and not only did I finish it, but I greatly exceeded my expectations by finishing it before dark. I fully expected to finish the Terrible Two before dark, so my expectations for it were definitely different. Like a first love, I guess you’ll always remember your first double century.

Tina and I climbed Mt. Diablo on May 28 with the Western Wheelers. Bill Bushnell took a picture of me near the top at Devil’s Elbow. I started late so I rode a nice pace up with Steve Prothero and Miguel Guterres after I caught up to them at about the halfway point.

The top is at 3850ft, for a total elevation gain of about 3300 ft. This picture was taken at about 3460ft, near the top. It was a cold day at the top. I had a vest on, but when I descended, I needed to stuff my plastic baggie full of energy drink powder under my jersey to keep warm. Brrrr….

Tina and I have just returned from the Sierra Century. Tina’s training was perfect, and she made it up Slug Gulch without any problems. In fact, she managed to pass plenty of people off their bikes on the side of the road, trying to recover in the shade. These were people who had passed her earlier in the ride, but were now reduced to quivering husks of sorry humanity by the nasty grades and the heat. Other than a finicky front derailer and a bit of discomfort in the, um, nether regions (what do you expect after a 100 miles in the saddle?), the ride went better than expected for her, and she was very happy to receive her Slug Gulch pin at the top of the climb.

As for me, I enjoyed my 122 miles on the road. I rode with Tina until the first rest stop in Ione, and then I went on ahead while Tina finished at her own pace. I enjoy starting early so that I can enjoy the food at the rest stops while it’s still fresh and not picked over as much. While Tina was having shifting problems, I was having my own chain problems. I had replaced my chain before the ride and it wasn’t behaving properly… It was shifting okay, but it would skip when I tried to put more power into my pedaling. I got some lube at the rest stop in Volcano, but it still wasn’t perfect. However I managed to get it to settle down for most of the ride, even though the chain jumped off on the back completely when I started up Slug Gulch. I figure I need to get the gunk they pack the chains in off of it completely, and then give it a good lube for the problem to disappear. At least the bike was rideable.

I managed to see some fellow Western Wheelers at the end of the ride, namely Sue Keyser and Greg Wong. They are both strong riders, but they started later so I never saw them on the road. It was a pretty fun ride, and the rest stops, SAG and everything else was perfectly organized. With the abundance of lupin covering the fields on either side of the road for much of the ride, the scenery was the best it’s ever been, and with Tina finishing the 100 mile version for the first time, the ride was perfect all the way around.

The “Flat” Double

After successfully completing the Devil Mountain Double (DMD) three weeks ago, I was ready for an “easy” double century. Not that there’s anything easy about doing 200 miles in a day, but the Davis Double certainly isn’t as arduous, and indeed, it’s the one that most experienced double-riders recommend doing for a first double century. By completing Davis, you gain valuable experience and confidence, which enables you to graduate to the harder doubles. Doing a double century is as much about mental endurance as it is physical endurance, plus it takes experience in knowing how to manage time spent at the rest stops, the amount of food to eat, and making sure to stay hydrated. This is also important on shorter rides such as centuries, but mistakes made on a double century tend to compound over the course of the long day. Doing Davis allows you to work out all of these issues on a relatively easy course, where the chance of success is much higher.

I felt I had gained plenty of experience and confidence on DMD, and that I would try to enjoy the ride more and not hammer for the entire day. With up to 1000 participants, the Davis Double is certainly one of the biggest double centuries, if not the biggest. Thus, it was certain that there would be people of far more differing abilities than on DMD. My plan before the ride was to hook onto reasonable pacelines during the ride, in order to conserve as much energy as possible before hitting the hills. The route is basically flat for the first 35-40 miles, and then flat again for the last 40 miles, so being in a group of equally strong riders allows one to conserve energy by not having to be in the wind all the time. I didn’t know much about the hills, or the roads in the middle. I had read some ride reports from people who had done the ride in previous years and they all seemed to say that the middle section had a lot of rollers, and that the hills weren’t really difficult, in terms of steepness or length. With this information in hand, I felt pretty comfortable about knowing what to expect. Since I didn’t expect any steep climbs, I had switched to a 25 cogset in the back, so that I could get a 12-tooth gear as my smallest cog. I figured this would help me keep up on the down hill sections leading back to Davis.

The weather during the week leading up to the ride looked dubious. Some rain had moved in on Wednesday and was abating slowly. We’ve had one of the wettest winters that I can remember, in terms of the length of it, with rain lasting well into May. However, the rain clouds started dissipating late Thursday and on Friday the skies cleared completely. Saturday was looking very good indeed. I drove to Davis Friday afternoon, which took a while due to the fact that I didn’t get started until after 3pm and the roads were full of people trying to get home early, or get an early start getting to the mountains. However, I was driving my new Prius, which made the patches of stop-and-go pass more enjoyably. I watched my gas mileage soar, as the Prius loves to run mostly on the battery when going slowly. I figured I got about 50 mpg during the trip, although at times it felt like I could have got there more quickly on my bike than in a car.

I was staying at the Hallmark, which was an okay hotel, but more importantly, it was right next to the restaurant where the ride registration was taking place. Davis is a nice little town that for years was mostly a college town, having a University of California campus. Tina went there for veterinary school, and she says that it’s grown quite a lot since she graduated, as it’s become a bit of a bedroom community for Sacramento, and even the Bay Area.

There was a pasta dinner at the registration, and even though I had brought my own pasta, I stayed for a while to chat with Ken Holloway, Mike Mysza, and Mike Harding, who are fellow members of the Western Wheelers bike club. Ken Holloway is an amiable fellow and a very experience double rider, having completed over fifty doubles. He regaled us with tales of his experiences doing double centuries and what to expect during the ride. From his description, I didn’t expect too much trouble, confirming my pre-ride scouting of ride reports. He was doing the ride on a tandem with a friend, and was meeting a group of people at about 5:15am. I asked where they were starting and we agreed to meet there and roll out when it was light enough.

After leaving the registration, Ken and I went to hunt down breakfast supplies. I needed some milk and orange juice for the morning. I had brought Muesli with me for my breakfast, and my original plan was to see if my hotel room had a fridge and use it if so. My room didn’t have such an appliance, but I figured that I could put the milk and OJ on ice since I had an ice bucket, and that it would stay cool until the morning. After purchasing my goods, I said good night to Ken and went to my hotel room and chowed down on my pasta dinner, pinned my number to my jersey, and was in bed by about 9pm.

Mike’s Bike Nearly Falls Apart

I didn’t sleep too badly, being in a strange bed and all, but 3:45am rolled around way too soon for my liking. However, I had my first success of the day as the ice bucket had kept my milk and OJ nice and cool. It helped that I had wrapped the bucket in several towels for insulation. Having a breakfast of Muesli felt good, and soon I was ready to go.

It didn’t take too long to get to the meeting point. I unpacked my bike, and got everything ready while watching lots of riders go by my parking spot, getting an early start what was sure to be a long day. It wasn’t too long before Ken and his tandem partner showed up. They were loaded for bear, with six water bottles full of food energy drinks. As for myself, I use Perpetuem as my food drink and Powerbar drink as my electrolyte drink. I had packed plenty of electrolyte drink to ensure that I didn’t get depleted of salts or dehydrated, especially during the hot parts of the day. After waiting for more people to show up, including a couple of more tandems, we were off.

Almost immediately, I knew that I probably wasn’t going to be able to stick with this group. With three tandems driving the paceline, the pace was very quick, and my heart rate jumped into the 150s almost immediately. I stuck with the group for maybe about 5 miles, and then I hit a pothole that no one in front of me had called out. I dropped back to assess the damage. My wheels seemed okay, and I didn’t flat, but my handlebars had twisted downward from the force with which I had hit the pothole. My bike was still rideable, but that my time on that paceline was pretty much finished, and I resumed riding at my own pace. I soon caught up to another group and I hung on the back of that for a while, and started chatting with some folks in the group. Soon enough, I hit another pothole, and my rear light popped off. I turned my head and watched as it separated into at least three pieces. I sighed and wondered how much longer it would be before my bike literally fell to pieces. I had lost my headlight in the first half-hour of the Devil Mountain Double, and now I had lost my rear light in the first half-hour of the Davis Double. I figured that I shouldn’t bother with lights on my next double if I was going to keep losing them.

I checked over my bike again and nothing else seemed to be broken, other than my funky handlebars from the first pothole, I quickly got back on the group, and being a small world I recognized Joe Bartoe, another rider I knew from Western Wheelers. I hadn’t seen him on a WW ride since last year, so we chatted some, and in no time we arrived at the first rest stop at about 23 miles.

Into the Hills

I didn’t need any fluids or food at the first rest stop, but I certainly got the SAG people to help me fix my handlebars. With a quick adjustment, I was soon on the road again, although the group I was with had dispersed. I hunkered down into my aerodynamic position and started racking up some miles on the flats averaging about 23 mph for the next 10 miles. After a bit, I reached Winters just as I got onto the tail end of another group. I thought I might get a free ride at the back of this group, but they fell apart as we turned west towards Lake Berryessa. I decided not to wait for the group to reassemble and made my own pace towards the hills. I soon reached a nice rolling section of road that goes alongside Putah Creek. A few pickups pulling boats going to the lake passed me occasionally, and there were a few early morning fishermen on the side of the road getting ready to try their luck, but otherwise it was a very pleasant ride along the road. Another paceline passed me, and I hooked up to them for a while until the road kicked up a little and the group fell apart. This was the first real climb of the day, so I settled into a nice rhythm and soon I reached the second rest stop at Monticello Dam. It was about 7:40am and I had been on the road for only 2 1/2 hours, but had already covered about 45 miles.

Chiles and Pope Valley

I quickly filled my water bottles with Powerade and Perpetuem and browsed at the food table for a few minutes. I don’t eat a lot at rest stops, but prefer to graze, making sure that I don’t overeat. Even though I can burn up to 8000 calories on a ride like this, the best I can do is process about 300 calories a hour from food that I eat during the ride. Obviously there is a calorie deficit, so what I don’t get for eating has to come from glycogen and fat stores that I’ve built up before the ride. Proper training helps as well. By doing long endurance training rides at a medium tempo, I’ve hopefully trained my body to use fat efficiently as a fuel source. And by eating lots of complex carbohydrates in the days before the ride, my glycogen stores are as topped up as I can get them to be.

I was quickly on the road again, and soon I reached a climb known as “Cardiac” Hill. It wasn’t a very difficult hill so it made me wonder where the name came from. Perhaps if you’re used to the flats around Davis, any hill becomes a challenge. Regardless, I dropped into the 25 and spun up it fairly quickly, passing lots of other riders in the process. The hill was only about two miles so the fun ended quickly and I descended onto Chiles/Pope Valley Road. This is a lovely road, rolling along a pleasant valley, with hills on both sides.

After a bit I soon caught up to other rider and we chatted for a while. He commented on my Canadian jersey, and mentioned his family was originally from Canada, near the Hamilton area, although he was born in America after they moved to the Bay Area. He was a cousin of Sheila Copps, the former deputy Prime Minister for a while in the 90s, which I thought was pretty cool. He was also a good source of information about the riding in the area and as we passed several side roads, he would comment about how the ride was on it.

As always, having a conversation on a bike is a good way to pass time, and before we knew it we were at the next rest stop at 76 miles. He wanted to wait for his friend there, so I topped up my bottles and was soon ready to depart, but not before he noticed that there seemed to be a slight crack in my stem. It was a very minute crack, and only at the surface, so my bike was still rideable, but I would have to keep an eye on it to make sure it didn’t get any worse. I figured that I got the crack when I hit the first pothole that adjusted my handlebars. The torque that caused by that jolt must have also been enough to stress the stem. I sighed at my back luck but I figured at least I’d be able to finish the double.

The next part of the ride was pretty much the same as the last part, rolling along the pleasant valley and enjoying the wild flowers and the rural atmosphere. Along the way I passed a few other riders, but they were fewer in numbers than during the first 50 miles. I passed one fellow on a fixed gear bike, which is a bike with only one gear ring on the front and on the wheel. I figured this was the right ride to do on such a contraption, as more gears wouldn’t be as necessary since the climbing wasn’t too bad. I continued on my way after passing him and soon I reached a short and easy climb up Butts Canyon Road, and then another climb up towards Detert Reservoir before I reached the Middletown rest stop at mile 96. It was not even 11 am yet, and I was almost halfway finished. I took a little longer at this rest stop, enjoying the food, and eagerly downing the little V-8 juice cans that were available.

The Climbs

I left the rest stop and turned onto Big Canyon Road. This would be a long gradual climb though the canyon along Big Canyon Creek. Even though there were trees and other brush alongside the road, there was very little tree canopy cover, so the climb was exposed to the sun. Fortunately the temperature was below 80, so I wasn’t feeling too hot, and dousing myself with water from my bottle occasionally was keeping me plenty cool. I had plenty of water, and the gradient always stayed below 7 to 8 percent, even on the steepest sections, so I soon passed on a water stop near the top of the climb. An encouraging rest stop volunteer called out that it was only “1 or 2 more miles” to the top. That kind of approximation wasn’t all that helpful, as a mile is a lot on a hill. It didn’t bother me too much though as I was feeling pretty good, and passing a lot of other riders as I steadily climbed to the summit. On this climb, I reached the Photocrazy point, where there was a photographer out on the road taking pictures of all the riders. Actually he wasn’t really taking pictures, as his cameras were all automated, and all he was really doing was telling people to line up on the right in order to trigger the cameras properly.

At the summit, I passed some writing on the road that said “Top of the DC,” meaning that that was the highest point of the day, at about 2175 feet. The road dropped down quickly, and soon I was at the lunch stop at 115 miles, and it wasn’t even noon yet. I made a PB&J sandwich and a soda and sat down to enjoy a leisurely lunch. At this point I was pretty confident of finishing before 6pm, so I decided to relax a little more at the remaining rest stops. I didn’t feel too fatigued yet. Given that there was only one more climb up Resurrection, the only challenge was the mental fatigue of the last 30 or so miles on the flats. As I was finishing lunch, Harvey Wong, another Western Wheelers member that I did a lot of riding with, joined me. He’s about as strong as me, and also pretty pleasant company to have on a ride, so I waited for him to finish his lunch so that we could ride together.

I reapplied some sunscreen, and soon we were both ready to go. Harvey had done the Death Valley Double in the spring and in two weeks, he would finish his California Triple Crown by riding the Eastern Sierra Double. Like myself, he was squeezing the easier Davis Double in between two harder doubles. My last double, however, is the Terrible Two at the end of June, so I’ll have plenty of time to get ready for it. Nonetheless, the Eastern Sierra sounds like an excellent ride, cycling through the majestic mountains around Bishop, Mammoth Lakes and Mono Lake.

As usual, chatting makes the miles pass away quickly, and soon we reached the bottom of the Resurrection climb, after a short little uphill just after the town of Clear Lake. Unlike Big Canyon, Resurrection is on an exposed highway with lots of traffic, so the riding was not as fun, but the shoulder was sufficient so that we didn’t have to mix with the cars and trucks pulling boats. Soon after we hit the climb we were passing other riders. I kept a good pace, and it didn’t feel too strenuous, but soon I had dropped Harvey, although not very quickly. I knew there was another rest stop up ahead, so I decided to keep at it until I got there. The grade was very gradual so I was able to keep a good cadence and my heart rate stayed out of the red zone. The rest stop was near the top of the climb, and I quickly reached it without much further effort. I filled up my bottles and popped a couple of Endurolytes to keep my salt levels topped up. Soon enough Harvey pulled in and I waited while he filled up his bottles and then we were off.

We reached the top of Resurrection, and got some good speeds on the downhill. I think I topped out at 47 mph before we came to a short little climb, the last one of the day. It was no problem at all and we were up and over it in about 5 minutes.

With all the major climbs behind us, we bombed downhill to Highway 16. This highway goes along Bear Creek through a lovely canyon. Bear Creek eventually joins up with Cache Creek before opening up into the Capay Valley. The water level in the river was still quite high from the winter rains, and the scenery along it was lovely, and occasionally we would climb a small roller and rise above the river and get an excellent view of the water below. At this point, there were very few bikes on the road, although a tandem did pass us at one point. The Davis Double is made for tandems, as the climbs are not difficult, and the weight of the tandem really allows them go fast on the downhill sections, and two riders allows them to go pretty fast on the flats as well. We were making good time ourselves, and soon I realized that I was doing all the pulling. I think we had a couple of other riders join our line, but I didn’t really look around to see. I didn’t mind too much, as I was enjoying the ride and the miles were melting away. I enjoyed the nice canyon views and riverside scenery, and with not much else to think about, the Giro podium song was on a loop in my head. I had been watching the live Internet stream of the Giro d’Italia on OLNTV and they would play the same song over and over during the podium presentations following each stage. I was definitely not having any profound thoughts at this point of the ride. It wasn’t too long before we reached the Guinda rest stop at mile 160. Everyone on the paceline was relieved to get a break, especially myself. I had pulled for about 20 miles at an average speed of over 22 mph, and everyone in the group was grateful for that. We rested for about 10 minutes or so, enjoying some fine rest stop food and refilling our water bottles, and soon we were back on the road.

The Home Stretch

I decided I wasn’t going to pull for the rest of the way, so some of the other people in our group pulled for a little bit. Eventually we passed the Cache Creek Casino in Brooks, which is run by Native Americans. It definitely sticks out like a sore thumb in the lovely Capay Valley, a mostly bucolic region with gently rolling hills on both sides. I noticed a banner on the side of the main building advertising an upcoming appearance by Tom Jones. Good to know he’s still working, I thought to myself, but no Tom Jones song appeared in my head to dislodge the Giro song. Although I’m not a big fan of casinos, I figured this kind was good way for the Natives Americans to get some money back from the whites.

As we passed the casino, I decided to take the lead again so that we could make good time through this area. There were a fair number of vehicles on the road coming from the casino, so to keep us in a single file I did all the pulling until we reached Capay where the road widened a little. We quickly turned off the highway onto the side roads that would take us back to Davis on the flats.

Soon we reached Rest Stop #9 and I had to stop to get more repairs on my bike, as my water bottle cage had come loose. Fortunately, they had the right tools for the repair, and after a bit of fiddling, we were back on the road. Some of the people who had been with us for the last 40 miles went on ahead as I was making the repairs, so it was just Harvey and I until the end.

At this point I was feeling a little tired from all the pulling. The riding hadn’t been too difficult since Resurrection, but there wasn’t any tailwind at all, and often it seemed like there was always a bit of a head wind. At this point my pace wasn’t as high as previously, plus the long stretches of road made for some pretty dull riding. We were pretty quiet for most of this, but made decent time, and soon passed the last rest stop, which we skipped because it was only 7 miles from the finish. We made the last turn towards Davis, and another fellow who had managed to get onto the back of our group pulled for a little bit. Eventually, I could see a line of trees in the distance, and I figured that must surely be Davis. I moved back to the front, and encouraged by the end being in sight, I found my final reserves of energy and pulled us past the Davis City Limits sign and onto the city streets. After a short ride though Davis we reached the finish. It was about 5:30pm, and I even though I had only 197 miles on my odometer, I wasn’t going around the block a few times to roll it over to 200. At least my cycle computer worked for the entire ride, unlike during the Devil Mountain Double.

Finis

We enjoyed a little post ride food and found Ken Holloway hanging around at one of the tables. He had been finished since about 2:45, just about 3 hours less than us, and had even managed to shower and change into clean clothes. They were actually the first riders in, so I didn’t feel so bad about being that far behind them, as this course is tailor made for tandems, especially when both riders are very strong. They didn’t even stop once until mile 70, and apparently they reached the Resurrection rest stop before it was even open, so they were definitely ahead of the curve on this ride. I think I could have probably could have cut off 45 minutes from my time by spending less time at the rest stops, especially after lunch. However, I think I met my objectives for the ride (finish in the light and enjoy the nice sections in the middle), and still managed to relax and enjoy the excellent food at the rest stops. This ride is very well supported, and all the volunteers were helpful and made the day go by that much more pleasantly. With the sheer numbers of riders and the number of rest stops that need to be managed, the Davis Bike club did an outstanding job.

Overall, I would say that the ride was a little more difficult than I expected, especially due to all the pulling I did in the last 50 miles. Thus, I felt I had to work hard enough to earn my second double. Now that I have two of them under my belt, I have a good stretch of time before the Terrible Two, so all is on track for my Triple Crown quest.

Tina and I did the Strawberry Fields century on Sunday May 15th. The support was good, and getting strawberries and chocolate at the end was worth riding 100 miles.

The weather was excellent and more importantly, this was Tina’s first century of the year. She did great, and looks really good in this post ride photo, almost as though she hadn’t broken a sweat all day.

Her next challenge is the Sierra Century on June 4th. She’s in great shape now, so she’ll do very well on that ride, especially tackling the infamous Slug Gulch.

The Devil Mountain Double results have been posted here. When I finished at 7:30, I was about the 16th cyclist who had arrived. However, there were about 9 or so cyclists from the 6:00 am start who arrived after me, but still had a lower cumulative time. So I ended up in 26th place overall, out of 126 finishers and about 150 starters. There were more people riding this year than last, and I would have finished 14th last year if I had the same time. However, I’m pretty happy with my effort and the results of my first double century. To finish while there was still daylight was more than I expected, so that was the real victory for me.

Tina and I have the Strawberry Fields Forever ride on Sunday. We’re worried about the weather a little for this one, as the long range forecast is for possible rain, although it’s probably more likely that it will be dry. We’re hoping for a good day for Tina’s first century of the year. She’s ready for it, and it’s a great ride, with excellent support, so we’ll be very happy if the weather cooperates.

The Idea

I’m not sure when the idea of riding a double century (200 miles) first originated. I was pretty sure it was before I ordered my custom Titus bike last August. I had worked with Titus Bikes on making sure the ride would be comfortable over the long haul, a quality that my previous Trek 2300 lacked to some degree. Not that there was anything wrong with the Trek. It had served me well as my first performance road bike when I bought it at the beginning of 2002, and I had successfully ridden it on my first century (100 miles) and first double metric century (200 km, or approx. 125 miles).Before I had even considered upgrading my bike, I was pretty sure that I didn’t want to tackle a double century. I wasn’t so much the distance involved, although doing 200 miles is no easy task, but the fact that the time to ride 200 miles would likely mean riding in the dark. I’m not much of a fan of riding in the dark. I prefer enjoying my surroundings while I’m on the bike. That’s a big part of the reason why I like ride: being able to enjoy the outdoors, riding up a shaded hillside through redwood trees, through meadows filled with spring wildflowers in dazzling arrays of colors, reaching lookouts at the tops of climbs and being able to see hills rolling into the distance, and riding along the ocean while waves crash into the rocky coast on one side or the other. Also, it’s dangerous to ride in the dark on narrow, twisty country roads, especially when going downhill. I had talked to several people in the Western Wheelers bike club, of which I was a member, and it seemed that people who were about equal to me in strength were finishing double centuries in the dark, especially in the harder doubles.
Something about doing a double began to intrigue me now I was armed with the latest bike technology and ready to seek new challenges. Indeed, after I took possession of the Titus in December, I could tell that this bike enjoys going uphill, and its ride is plush and comfortable, and so I felt I was ready to face the next task in my cycling evolution by tackling a double century. The idea of riding in the dark bothered me less and less and to resolve that issue I would purchase a light and be very careful on the descents.

The Goals

Now that I had decided to tackle a double century, other decisions needed to be made, namely which one to do and then how many to do. I had heard of the California Triple Crown, where the winners of that distinction are cyclists who have finished three double centuries in one year. There are several members of the Western Wheelers who had Triple Crown jerseys so it seemed there was a reward for being able to complete three doubles in a year, namely having the opportunity to purchase more cycling apparel.

I checked out the Triple Crown website, and there they freely admit that doing a double is very hard, and that you should try one of the easier ones in your first year to work out all the kinks, and then come back the next year to attempt doing three doubles. However, given that I’m not much of a fan of night riding, I made a decision that I would do the three in my first year, get my California Triple Crown, and then promptly retire from riding doubles. Of course, I could have picked three of the easiest doubles to do, but somehow that didn’t feel right. Instead I picked the Devil Mountain Double (DMD) and Terrible Two (TT) as two of the doubles that I was going to try to ride. These are listed on the Triple Crown website as being the two with the most elevation gain, and the difficulty of each is graded as “Radically High.” My third double would be the Davis Double, perhaps the most popular double, and rated at “Moderate” difficulty.

The Training

With the doubles that I was doing picked, I was ready to train. The DMD is at the end of April, so I started ramping up my training in January, which meant riding in the cold and rain, or if it was raining too hard, spending time indoors on the trainer. With the Titus being my main bike, the Trek became my “rain” bike, and there were several times when I got pretty wet, as it was one of the wettest years on record. (In fact it’s still raining, even as I write this in May.) I even got caught in the rain once or twice on the Titus, so I was constantly having to clean the grime and grit off both of my bikes.

To further help my training, I bought a Powertap power meter. I had always trained with a heart rate monitor (HRM), and the Polar HRM I used had an option to allow power measurement, which I had been using on my Trek until it broke. Even though I got it fixed, I wasn’t going to try to put that on the Titus since it was not particularly accurate, was difficult to install, and looked clunky, marring the aesthetics of my new bike, so I opted for the Powertap. It measures power on the rear hub, so it needs a custom wheel built around it. I would use it only for training and then switch to my Mavic Ksyrium SL wheels for the double, since they were lighter and would make it easier to do all the climbs.

The Powertap was very easy to install, but my Polar speed and cadence sensors interfered with it. It took a while to figure that out, and even necessitated a call to the Powertap support line. However, once I got it up and running, it was very beneficial for my training. While the HRM is very useful training tool, it doesn’t measure changes in effort as immediately as the power meter. Also, I noticed if I pushed my HR to above my threshold that the additional power I produced wasn’t as high as I had expected, so it was beneficial in identifying the best zone for training around my threshold. Moreover, I was able to see points on a climb that were easier where the power went down, so I could make sure that I didn’t slack off too much. All of this information was useful in improving my endurance and my power levels at threshold, both of which I would need if I wanted to finish these doubles, or at least finish them in as reasonable amount of time as possible, so that the ride organizers didn’t need to send out a search party for me.

The Date Approaches

As the date of the Devil Mountain approached, I ramped up my training, and I successfully finished the Tierra Bella double metric century (132 miles) in early April. I also continued to do the long distance training (LDT) rides with Western Wheelers. I kept an eye on the weather, given that there had been showers earlier in the week. By late in the week, the forecast was for mostly sunny, but there was the possibility of a weak front moving in later in the day, and cool temperatures. Since the DMD goes up two of the highest peaks in the Bay Area, it would likely be cold descending the mountains, but nothing I hadn’t seen already in training. In fact, I had ascended one the mountains, Mt. Hamilton, on New Year’s Day, where it was cold enough to be snowing at the top. No danger of snow for this ride, but it would be cool enough so that overheating wasn’t going to be a problem.

The night before the ride, I prepped in my usual way, preparing Powerbar energy drink and Perpetuem food drink in baggies to mix with water at the rest stops, except that I needed more than for my usual long distance rides. Tina made me a delicious pasta dinner to help me load up on carbs. (No low carb diets for us cyclists; the more carbs the better.) She also made up some potatoes and recovery drink for after the ride, and then drove me to the ride start at the Marriott hotel in San Ramon. Her support was great, and made a big difference in my believing that I could do this ride.

The Ride

We arrived at the Marriott while it was still dark. Check it was quick and efficient, a quality that the Quackcyclists, who were running this event, excelled at throughout the day. After assembling my bike and checking that everything was working, I was set to go. I had a 29 cog on the back, and a granny triple on the front. My middle ring was a 39, so that would be good enough for everything except for the really steep stuff during the second half of the ride, in which case the granny would suffice. I rolled up to the start with the rest of 5:00 am starters. (The faster group would start at 6:00 am and pass us later in the ride.) I met fellow Western Wheeler Rob Schmidt there, and he’s an experienced doubles rider, doing DMD the year before, and did quite well, finishing in about fifteen and a half hours. If I did that well, then I figured I could finish before it got too dark. With the organizers giving out last minute instructions, we were set to go, and we promptly departed at 5:00 am. With the number of starters, we were a big peloton rolling down the rode, which was a new experience for me. I made sure to be careful not to clip a wheel and end my ride real quick. It was still dark and would be until we were on the slopes of Mt. Diablo, and my light seemed to be working fine, although it was not a high powered unit. However, my satisfaction was short-lived, and as I hit a few bumps the light came flying off. I circled back and managed to find it, but it was broken and I chucked it off the road so no other cyclists following me would hit it. I quickly got on the back of a line of passing riders and pondered my options without any lighting system at all. I quickly decided once it started getting dark near the end of the ride that I would join any rider who had strong lights and I figured that would probably get me back to the Marriott safely. As for the morning it was getting lighter as the sun was rising so I wasn’t too worried except for a brief bumpy downhill before reaching the gates to Mt. Diablo State Park. My bike and I rattled through that section without any problems, and soon I was past the gates and climbing.

Climbing Mt. Diablo Mt. Diablo goes up to 3850 feet, gaining about 3300 feet in 11 miles. The grades are not particularly tough, so I made sure I stayed within myself and not expend too much energy at the start of the day. I had my Polar HRM on to help me pace myself, and I stayed in the 140-150 range for the entire climb, which was just tempo pace for me. Soon I hooked up with a couple of riders, and then we managed to catch a larger group further up the mountain. The climb was uneventful, but pretty as we ascended through some fog and then above it to watch the sun rising above it as well. The views on Diablo are excellent and this morning was no exception as the fog draped the valleys below. After some pleasant conversation, we soon reached the top, just as the lead riders were coming down. The pace had been such that even the short 18% grades for the last 200 yards or so at the top weren’t too tough. The temperatures on the summit were mid-to-low forties, so I donned my gloves for the descent. I also mixed up some Perpetuem energy food drink and got back to riding. The downhill was definitely bone chilling, and my fingers and toes started to get a little numb. Also, I started shivering, which doesn’t make for a fast downhill, as I needed to slow down more than normal so I didn’t lose control in a corner. I passed several riders on the way down, and it seemed like I was in front half of the 5:00 am group based on the number that I passed. Given the cold and having other riders on the road, I made sure to concentrate on my descent, however chilly it might be. Soon enough I reached the bottom where the temperatures were warmer and I quickly recovered the feeling in my fingers.

After skirting around the northeast side of Mt. Diablo on suburban roads, I joined up with Rob again, and then we caught some of the same riders I had ridden up Diablo with, as they had left the summit before me, while I was putting my gloves on. Soon we were in Clayton, where the locals were setting up a street fair on the main street, and we had to weave our way through tents and people setting up their booths for the day. The game of Dodge-the-Local ended quickly and then it was onto the back roads again, and up Morgan Territory Road. It wasn’t a particularly hard climb, ascending about 1300 feet over nine miles. The road was amiable, passing ranches, and then into a narrow tree-shrouded canyon along a pleasant creek. A section of the road had recently washed out partly from the recent rains, and was closed to through traffic, although the ride organizers had secured passage for us and made sure we all checked in at the bottom and then at the top, I suppose to ensure that no one fell into the creek. The washed-out section was not in really bad shape, with plenty of room for bicycles, and even for cars. (Or pickup trucks, which is what I’m sure all the locals drive.) Even so, closing the road will probably keep the local traffic, as light as it is, from damaging the road any more and causing it to disappear entirely into the creek.

Rest Stop #2 Soon we reached Rest Stop #2. It was only about 8:40 am and I had just finished about 52 miles and was still feeling good. I filled up my bottles with more energy drink and Perpetuem, and enjoyed some of the food. I tend to graze on a long ride, trying not to put too much food in my stomach, and use the Perpetuem in my water bottle while on the road to keep topped up. The rest of the group I was with on Morgan Territory Road departed as I applied some sunscreen to my face. I knew that the next part of the ride would offer little shade, and the day was long, so I didn’t want to end up looking like a cooked lobster. Soon I was ready to go and was looking forward to the next section, where the road plunges steeply down with few sharp bends that allowed me to get up to 45-50mph. I don’t know for sure, because my bike computer locked up after the plunge. I was cursing silently at my lousy luck with equipment so far on the ride, and was hoping it wasn’t a sign of worse things to come. Fortunately, the Titus was performing flawlessly and before long I reached the flats outside of Livermore and started turning my gears in the big-ring to make up some time.

Soon I was in Livermore, and after a brief annoying section of suburbia, I turned on Altamont Pass Road and began to catch up to two riders. It was Rob again, with another rider, and we traded off pulls while ascending the gentle grade. The wooded slopes had given away to grasslands, and we started to pass the wind generators perched on the hillsides. Where there are windmills, there tends to be wind and the Altamont pass is famous for being windy, not a good thing to be facing while on a bike. However, today was relatively calm, and with three of us to trade pulls we were making good time. Soon we had almost reached the Central Valley, before turning back south, and then west towards the hills and Patterson Pass.

I have ridden most of the roads on this ride, but I’ve never been on Patterson Pass Road before. It cuts through grassy hills, and then eventually reaches a hillside known as “Oh-My-God.” Pictures don’t do it justice, but from the point of view of a bicycle seat, the road is like a finger up the side of the hill. (This picture from the website of a DMD finisher might give you an idea of what it looks like.) I managed to drop both my companions before the top even though I was not pushing myself hard. I passed a checkpoint at the top and then plunged down again and skirted the south side of Livermore. I took advantage of this relatively flat section to apply more sunscreen while on the bike as the sun was starting to climb high into the sky. Soon enough I reached Mines Road and turned south and the next rest stop.

Rest Stop #3 Rest Stop #3 was at about the 91 mile mark, and it was barely 11:00 am. I scarfed a PB&J sandwich, and filled up my bottles. I then pulled the battery from my cycle-computer, put it back in, and then reset it, and it started to work again. I wasn’t going to be able to track the entire ride on it after that, but at least I could get my speed and some mileage information for the remainder. After a quick bathroom break and applying some sunscreen to my legs, I was ready to go. At this point, the 6:00 am starters blew into the rest stop, taking 91 miles to make up the hour difference. I left them behind and continued on my way, but they would soon pass me on Mines Road.

Mines Road is another lovely back road that climbs gently through hillsides covered in shrubby brush, eventually rising above the valley to give some superb views. I eventually caught up to another 5:00 am starter who had experienced some cramps earlier in the ride, and was slow to leave the rest stop with the rest of the front-runners, due to needing to replenish his fluids. We chatted for a while, and I found out that he was nearly 60 years old, with his 60th birthday less than one week away. I commented that he was doing quite well for almost 60, despite his earlier cramping. He was relieved to have me pull for a while, although he had me confused with a 6:00 am starter. He might have been a little disappointed to discover I started the same time as him, as he was feeling quite good about being able to keep up to me at that point. It was a pleasant journey nonetheless, and we made good time towards the next rest stop. Along the way, other riders started to pass us going in the opposite direction, who were part of the Mt. Hamilton Challenge.

I rode the Mt. Hamilton Challenge the previous year, and it is a 125-mile ride over Mt. Hamilton, and then along Mines Road to the north towards Livermore, and then along the Calaveras Reservoir back towards Santa Clara, where the ride had started. I recalled watching DMD riders passing me by last year, not realizing that I would be one of those riders one year later. I saw plenty of my riding buddies from Western Wheelers at this point, and we managed to get a few quick greetings off before flying past each other.

The Junction Lunch Stop The miles wore on, as it was 25 miles of gradual uphill until dropping down to the Junction Café and Rest Stop #4. It was about 12:45 pm and I had covered 115 miles in less than 8 hours. It had been a long hard haul from the Mines Road rest stop, and I was definitely feeling the miles in my legs. Not any cramping though, as the Powerbar energy drink was taking care of my electrolyte needs quite nicely, just general fatigue. I grabbed a turkey sandwich and topped off my bottles and enjoyed a few minutes more rest, spending more time here than at the other rest stops. It was lunch after all, and the Junction Café was basically in the middle of nowhere, at least 25 miles from the nearest civilization, and was frequented mostly by motorcyclists who are like to ride the empty roads away any traffic that gets in the way of their need for speed. I think they enjoyed sharing the café with us though, as I’m sure they don’t see such a large group of bicyclists that far away from everything.

I finish my lunch and left soon after seeing Rob pull in. I said hi, and was on my way again. The road split here and I turned onto San Antonio Valley Road, knowing that my next major challenge of the day was less than 20 miles ahead, which was the backside of Mt. Hamilton. This was a brute of a climb, ascending about 2000 feet in less than 5 miles, to reach an altitude of about 4200 feet, the highest point in the Bay Area. I had plenty of time to ponder this climb after lunch, but the valley was covered in wildflowers, seeming to quilt the landscape with vibrant yellows, oranges, blues and purples. There were a number of people on the side of the road with cameras taking pictures of this marvelous display, and I could detect a faint scent of flowery aroma in the air. It helped make the next few miles pass by more pleasantly.

Ascending Hamilton I was starting to get pretty sore by now. My butt was sore, my feet were sore, and my hands were sore. I kept the legs moving and ticked away the miles and soon I turned west and headed over two small hills before crossing the bridge that marks the backside of Hamilton. I dropped into my granny gear for the first time, and started to spin my way slowly up the hillside.

I felt okay as the road kicked up a notch or two, and I quickly passed the number 5 written large on the road, meaning there was 5 miles to go until the top. I thought to myself that the countdown of the numbers was going to be a really long one and tried not to keep wondering when I’d see the next number. Soon I passed two riders, including the near 60-year-old rider I had rode with on Mines Road. The other rider was in a Furnace Creek 508 jersey, and I had last seen him on Morgan Territory, many hours back. He was climbing with Powercranks, and not going too fast. Powercranks are special cranks for the bike where the crank arms are independent from each other, so the leg muscles have to pull up on the up-stroke in order to get the crank over the top. This is a great workout from what I understand about them, helping to develop a more efficient pedal stroke, but they’re really hard to learn to use, and you suffer badly when you first start using them. He was training for the RAAM (Race Across America), which is considerably longer than the measly 200 or so miles that we were doing this day. I wished him good luck and soon left him behind and never saw him again. Another rider passed me soon after starting the climb, but I managed to stick with him for the rest of the way up. Later on I saw a rider in a Webcor kit lying on the side of the road, apparently sleeping. I figured he must have bonked pretty badly to need a nap at this point of the ride. The more I thought about it, though, the more I agreed that a nap wasn’t such a bad idea.

Sometime during the climb, I started doing some mental calculations about my progress. It wasn’t even 2:30 yet, and I figured that if I could make it to the top of Hamilton by then, I stood a good chance of reaching the bottom of Sierra Road by 4:00. That would give me about 4 hours to reach San Ramon before it got dark. Of course, on the climb it didn’t seem like I was making great progress, but slowly I was catching up with some other riders in front, and then I was at the summit of Hamilton. Normally I like to spend time at the observatory up there, but not today. It was cold, and high clouds had been moving into the area all during the climb. The wind also was picking up a little, so I tucked down and started the long descent without wasting any time to look around at the top.

Down Mt. Hamilton The next rest stop was 10 miles away, albeit 10 miles of mostly downhill. One guy in black was just in front of me, and he was descending a little faster than me. I passed one other rider, and then rounded the corner to see the rider in black getting back on his bike at the side of the road. I asked if he was okay, and he said he was and that he had misjudged the corner a little and gone off the side there. Fortunately, he only had a few scrapes on his leg and he was quickly behind me but not trying to go faster than before his crash. The descent was plenty cold, but not as cold as the morning’s downhill on Mt. Diablo. I was looking forward to warming up at the rest stop. Soon enough we reached Joseph Grant park, and turned into the rest stop area.

It was now about 3:10 and we had gone 144 miles. However, I was cold and shivering, but they had little cups of noodle soup, which was exactly what I needed: lots of salt to replenish what I had sweated away and lots of carbs from the noodles. I also enjoyed a couple of small cans of V-8, downed some Advil with some Endurolytes, which are electrolyte replacement tablets. I stayed about 15 minutes at this rest stop, longer than any of the others, but I definitely needed the time to recover before finishing the descent. Soon I was ready to leave and I looked down at my bike computer and saw that it was completely dead. The battery must have given out on the descent, so I wasn’t going to get any more information for the rest of the ride. I shrugged to myself at this and got on my bike. Just then, the Webcor rider who had been asleep at the side of the road was coming in. He said that he had lost his lunch on the ascent, and indeed he looked a little worse for wear. I wished him well and went on my way. The rest of the descent was great, as I had warmed up considerably and was able to take on the twisty road at full speed.

When I reached the bottom, I phoned Tina on my cell to update her on my progress. She had returned home after dropping me off at the start and grabbed some more shut-eye, and then had gone out and done a ride herself and was just finishing. I told her that I might be done by 8:00 pm and she said that she would be at the Marriott by then, with some tasty snacks for the drive back home. After chatting on the phone, I downed my Extran energy drink, a nice dense bundle of quick-acting sugary carbs, which I was saving for the moment where I thought I would need it the most. Tackling Sierra Road after 155 miles was one such moment.

Soon I made the right hand turn onto Sierra and the road kicked up immediately. It was 4:05 pm, and I had made good time, almost where I hoped I be when I did my figuring on the backside of Hamilton. Of course, I had to still had to get up this brute of a road, which climbs about 1800 feet in just over 3 miles. I put it in the granny and kept a steady pace for a climb I knew was going to take a while. Soon I was catching up to two riders and passed both although very slowly. The clouds in the sky muted the views, which are usually very nice, featuring rolling grassy hills overlooking the urban landscape sprawling across the Santa Clara valley to the Santa Cruz Mountains in the distance.

I didn’t find this climb as hard as the backside of Mt. Hamilton, even with more miles in my legs. I think the reason for that was that the approach to the back of Mt. Hamilton was more of a grind over rolling terrain, whereas I had reached Sierra Road after having rested descending Mt. Hamilton and riding easily on the flats. Still, I was thankful to see the top and knowing that the hard climbs of the day were behind me.

Pet the Goat I rolled into checkpoint at the top of Sierra, and quickly filled my bottles and quickly grabbed some tasty strawberries. This checkpoint is also known as the “Pet the Goat” stop, because someone (one of the volunteers working at the rest stop, presumably) had brought a goat and there was a sign encouraging the riders to pet him. This reminded me of the “Sprockets” skit on Saturday Night Live, where Dieter would encourage his guests to “touch his monkey.” The sight of a goat hanging out at a double century rest stop was a tad surreal, but he was just hanging around, enjoying his straw, oblivious to the suffering of those of us who took the time to come over and see him. He was quite friendly as I approached and I, of course, had to pet him.

Ken Holloway, who I’ve seen occasionally on Western Wheelers rides, was working at this rest stop, and I chatted briefly with him. He’s done 50 double centuries, and I thought about the contrast between that and me not even finished my first. Hearing that there was about three hours more riding left to San Ramon was good news, as that meant, barring any mechanical breakdowns, or rider meltdowns, that I would reach San Ramon with some daylight left. After losing my headlight, I was worried about doing the descent down Palomares in the dark, but now that worry was fading away. However, I didn’t dawdle and soon I was back on the road, and enjoying the nice descent down to Calaveras.

Calaveras starts out with a short “wall” of a climb, then levels out to a gently rolling road that skirts the west side of the Calaveras Reservoir, winding its way through wooded gullies and exposed hillsides. There was nothing really difficult about this road, but soon I passed another rider whom I had last ridden with on Morgan Territory that morning. He didn’t have much left in his legs, even finding the gentle ups and downs of this road difficult going, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering that we were about 170 miles into the ride. I kept my pace up, and soon I was descending down towards Sunol, and the last rest stop of the day at mile 180. It was only 6:00 pm, although the light was gloomier because of the cloudy skies.

Push to the Finish I grabbed some more water and food in the form of seasoned potatoes. The man in black who had gone off the side of Mt. Hamilton was there along with another rider. He had left the Joseph Grant rest stop earlier than me, which was normal for my day, as I seemed to spend slightly more time at rest stops than most of the other people I spent time riding with that day. After the ride, I checked the log on my HRM and it turns out I spent just less than an hour total off the bike at the rest stops, which is not a lot of time off the bike. Basically, I would let riders get ahead of me that way, and then I would make up time on the climbs, especially the tougher climbs like Mt. Hamilton and Sierra Road. However, this time the three of us rolled out together down Niles Road, and we efficiently traded pulls, getting us down the road quickly. This was good since there was lots of traffic on this road, and we wanted to spend as little time as possible on it. Soon we turned right onto Palomeras, and started the uphill through a deep canyon alongside water cascading down over a rocky creek bed. The hills rose high above us, and one of the other riders wondered if we had to make for the summit of one of them, a very daunting task at this point of the ride. I’ve been on this road before, and I assured him that it was a pretty reasonable 5-mile ride to the summit, gaining only 1000 feet over that distance. I always enjoy this kind of backcountry road that are common in the Bay Area, trafficked by few cars, with varied landscapes and views, hidden only a few miles away from the suburban sprawl on the other side of the hills. The deep canyon opened slightly to a wooded valley and we passed some very small wineries that appeared to have very few vines, making us wonder just how many bottles of wine one could expect to get from the resulting grape crop each year. Maybe a bottle or two?

This quandary was forgotten as we reached the top, and began our 7-mile descent to Castro Valley. Once again we traded pulls, and soon we returned to the suburban streets and turned right onto Crow Canyon Road. From here, it was about 700 feet of climbing left in the ride, most of it on a gentle grade until we reached Norris Canyon, and the final push uphill push towards the finish. As we turned onto Norris, we caught sight of another rider ahead of us. We pushed a little to try to catch him on the up and down rollers before the final sustained climb, and soon we were a group of four. However, the effort had taken the last of my reserves, and I started to tail off the back. Soon there was 10 yards, then 20, then 30, as I tried hard not to lose any more time on them. I didn’t have anything left, so I decided not to push too hard and keep my own pace, since the ride finish was less than 5 miles away. After a little while at my own pace I began to feel better and started making my way back to the group ahead. However, the summit came too soon, and they darted down the hill before I could reach them. As I reached the streets of San Ramon, I could see them not too far ahead, but a traffic light denied me the opportunity to rejoin them before the end. It was no matter as I quickly reached the Marriott and the end of the ride. I had finished at about 7:32 pm on my watch, and it was at least half an hour before sunset. I was very happy about this and even though no one was around to see it, I raised my arms in the air briefly as I road into the parking lot. Tina soon arrived and I had some recovery drink and some salty chips, and a glass of bubbly cider in lieu of champagne. Soon we were heading home, both of us happy at the achievements of the day.

Conclusion

Looking back, I was surprised at how good I felt at the end, although I was not interested in going out and doing another ride for a day or two. I’m not downplaying the difficulty of this ride, as this double is extremely tough, and I was lucky not to suffer any mechanical difficulties such as a flat tire that would have likely delayed me enough that I might not have made it back before dark. However, I felt that my training prepared me well, especially when I felt strong at the end of the Tierra Bella, giving me confidence about being able to finish the DMD. Also, the Titus performed flawlessly, allowing me to chew up the miles in relative comfort. Finally, the support on this ride was flawless. Fortunately, I didn’t need any mechanical help, but the rest stop crews were enthusiastic and very helpful. I didn’t need to pack my Perpetuem as they had plenty at the stops, so I’ll probably not take any with me if I know it will available along the way. I would even consider volunteering for a future DMD, just because I appreciated the support so much that I would like to return the favor. However, even though I finished strongly and enjoyed the ride, I’m not entertaining any thoughts of doing it again, at least not until after my goal of completing the Triple Crown is completed. However I gained some confidence from this ride, and now my next goal is the Davis Double in three weeks.

The T-Mobile cycling road race was run in San Francisco on September 12th, 2004. I managed to get some pictures of the race from the top of Taylor street. Taylor is not a steep as Fillmore, but they had to go up it more times.

Woman’s Race

The sun had barely risen before the woman started their race at 7am. The local bicycle racing clubs were well represented, with teams from Velo Bella, Webcor, Los Gatos Bicycle Club, and Palo Alto Bicycles. Also racing was the strong T-Mobile team. (Being the T-Mobile race, it would
stand to reason that the T-Mobile team would be racing. That logic didn’t hold for the men’s race however, with nary a T-Mobile rider showing up for that race.)

Despite the fog, the race was exciting, with Lyne Bessette of Canada gobbling up the Master the Mountain points on Taylor street. Although not as long as the men’s race, it was tough enough to make a good selection, leaving only the top
riders at the front. On the final climb up Taylor, Nicole Cooke launched a blistering attack and put time into her rivals. She held on for the run to the finish to win the race, making it two years in a row.

Click here for photos

Men’s Race

The men also started under foggy skies, although it cleared up about halfway through the race. Lance Armstrong didn’t start the race, due to tendinitis in his knee. Who could blame him for not wanting to face the Filmore climb 9 times, and
the Taylor street climb 14 times. Almost immediately, Health Net put five riders into a break. Doug Ollerenshaw from Jelly Belly was in the break and gobbled up most of the early Master the Mountains points.

On the last big lap, Jason McCartney broke away and put time between himself and the break. At one point he had over four minutes on the main peloton. With five small laps left, surely that would be enough. However, the main group begain to
drive hard, led by U.S. Postal and Chris Horner and the Webcor team. It was hard to believe but on the last climb up Taylor, Charles Dionne launched off the front and blew past McCartney, followed by Fred Rodriguez. However Fast Freddie
was suffering from an earlier crash, after which he had to change his bike, get his seat adjusted on the fly, and then waste energy chasing back to the group. That left Dionne to take the solo win, followed by Freddie, trailing in after
him by 8 seconds. George Hincapie sprinted out in the remaining group to come in third.

It was a brave solo effort, but even though McCartney came up short, he still won the Master the Mountains competition, just hanging on the last climb up Taylor to break the tie between himself and Ollerenshaw.

Click here for photos