Cool Cycling Club

2007 Downieville Classic Race Report

John Vieira-McEldowney — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:32:48 GMT

I've added this entry on behalf of Kent Ridgley. I thought he provided a very nice race report. Well all, we have a Downieville Classic Expert class champion and it sure wasn't me. Renee took the gold in the Expert class, topping a field of 11 riders. Her race was a mass start including men and women Pros and Experts. It all started with an 8 mile climb, having no rest flats, producing 3,108 feet of elevation gain before cresting the mountain and heading 18 miles down to the town of Downieville. Renee improved her clime time by 14 minutes over last year and increased her downhill by 6 minutes even with a crash while trying to pass a slower rider and getting a chunk of a stump jammed in her rear wheel and chain from an edge of coarse excursion. She crossed the line in 2:38 with a very dirty and dusty face, sporting a big white toothed smile. The multiple creek crossings and dusty trail conditions made for a very dirty pack of riders. I raced the Sport Downhill class this year and had a great time even though I had mediocre results. The downhill started riders every minute at the top of Sunrise, a new trail opened last fall and headed 16.3 miles down to Downieville. I was having a great ride on Sunrise as well as Butcher ranch and had caught 2 riders by the time we hit Poly Creek. On Poly I had one step off and a punctured tubeless tire that hissed for about a mile and then sealed itself at around 20psi. I stopped to inflate it with my co2 before we hit the fast downhill section after the bridge clime and the cartridge did not seal to the air chuck and just blew out in the atmosphere. I tried my second cartridge as most of the riders I had past and some new ones past by and thank goodness it worked, so off I went to the finish. At the time we decided to leave they had only posted the top 10 finishers for our reported 32 rider class and I was not included so I packed up my toys and went home. If you have ever contemplated racing Downieville or just going up to enjoy the race atmosphere I highly recommend it. They close the roads in town and all the venders set up including such sponsors as Chris King, Santa Cruz, WTB, SRAM, Shimano and more. They setup a jump on the boat ramp into the river and have a nightly jump contest and so much more is offered. The whole town is fun, friendly and embraces the mountain bikers, making for a very nice environment. Kent Ridgley

MTB Geocaching

John Vieira-McEldowney — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 21:38:00 GMT

Rich Elmore and I spent a couple hours in the Olmstead area looking for some new geocaches. Although we started off on "the loop" the quest quickly took us off on trails that I had never ridden before.
We had four caches in mind for the day. The first was a brand new cache, just placed by someone on Nov 2. In the geocaching community being the FTF (first to find) is always a goal, but we struck out. The second cache took us to an old homestead and an easy find. Then it got tough. The next cache was somewhere beside a large pond but we were again skunked except for a "surprise" that I stumbled upon. Leaving here, we had to pass through several deep puddles due to the recent rain before rejoining the classic loop and descending to Salt Creek. By the time we made it to the fourth cache I was out of time and a quick search wasn't enough to yield a find.
All in all it was fine day to ride, explore some areas I had never seen, and get a good workout climbing up out of Salt Creek. Man, that stretch just seems to get longer and longer every time I ride it.

Grouse Ridge ride report - by Temoc Rios

Cool Cycling Club — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 09:29:42 GMT

This past Sunday my brother and I explored the Grouse ridge area

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/documents/rec/grousemap.pdf

Here is my play by play...
Grouse Ridge To Spaulding Lake Trail DH

Started the ride at 7500' on the saddle of grouse ridge below the peak of 7700' . What a rim of the world view of the Sierras!

We headed south down the Grouse Ridge Trail. The next 1.5 to 2 miles was an A-line of breathtaking views and about 1100' feet of vertical drop until the intersection of blue lake trail. Although the trail was technical, the rock gardens were punctuated with smooth sections that I could see the line through and make it to the next turn. We only had a few dismounts and slide outs from the very loose gravel turns.

From the intersection with Blue lake trail the trail followed a contour through granite slabs, creek fords and finally the crossing of granite creek. the views were still breathtaking , but the going was slower and more methodical.

We made a right turn down to the connector trail that would take us to the Spaulding lake trail. At first it it seemed a little technical with longer rocky sections and gravelly courses through drainages...but we were digging the challenge. At that point the trail turned to a switchbacked boulder course and it was literally like riding through a streambed....extremely technical and on the verge of undrideable...we pushed on through many impossible sections and many close calls. This section really took the energy out of me and i was tiring quickly. After about a mile the trail finally let up and turned to more of a granite slabbed and sand pit turns. Some sections were fast and others a bit slower but all really fun after the boulder course we had just somehow survived.

We reached Fordyce falls and took a dip in the cold creek.

The next sections were forested and cool and perfect XC fare....but we were tired and on 40lb freeride rigs so we plodded and coasted until spaulding lake wher we promptly dipped again. The final climb to Fuller lake was easy but slow rounding out a grueling but action packed 10 mile ride through many different types of terrain. We reached the lake about 3.5 hours and 2000 vertical feet later!

If I were to do it again I might take the first right onto blue Lake trail and see how that one is.

Grand Tour Double Century - ride report

John Vieira-McEldowney — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:02:29 GMT

June 24, 2006
Malibu, California

When my wife informed me that she would have to work on the 25th of June I quickly went to my calendar to see what cycling possibilities might present themselves for that weekend. I still needed a third double century this year to qualify for the California Triple Crown and as luck would have it, there was a double century ride that weekend.

It wouldn't have been my first choice. It starts in Malibu, where I knew it would be difficult to get decent accomodations at a reasonable price. Its a long, long drive down there and back. The route goes through areas that I, accustomed to a rural lifestyle, would consider to be congested and dangerous.   But it promised to be a relatively easy ride. The constant pressure of knowing that I still needed another ride weighed heavily on me, and if I could finish this one then I could relax for the rest of the year, having accomplished my goal. So I signed up.

I was right - its a long drive, and decent, reasonably priced accomodations did not come my way. I have to take some blame for that because I hate having to drive to the start of a double. I like to stay either at the host hotel or one near enough that I can ride to and from the start. So I paid a premium for a hotel right on the Pacific Coast Highway, less than 2 miles from the start. I could have gotten a cheaper place along Hwy 101, on the other side of Topanga canyon.

Unlike the other two doubles I've completed thus far, which were run by Planet Ultra, this ride is sponsored by a bike club, the Los Angeles Wheelmen. This is the 48th year for this ride. They even have a 300 mile and 400 mile option! I hate to be too critical of ride volunteers - they have a long, boring day that isn't much fun - but you could tell the difference. Planet Ultra volunteers are trading their volunteer stint for a free ride later on.  They are by and large engaged, helpful, and enthusiastic.   I found many of the LAW rest stop volunteers seemed distracted, bored, or more interested in bantering with each other without paying much attention to the riders. Not all of them of course, but quite a few. I wonder if trying to run 5 different courses (125 miles, 200 mile highland route, 200 mile lowland route, 300 miles and 400 miles) isn't just asking a little too much of the support crew. I never personally interacted with any of the SAG crew but they were very active along the course and apparently never far away.

I leave the start near the campus of Pepperdine University at 4:30 AM, moving northward along the four lane Pacific Coast Highway. It is initially unpleasant. The sea spray builds up on my glasses which plays havoc with my vision because of the glare from oncoming lights of cars. I am used to early morning riding on empty roads but that's not the case here on the PCH. Unlike Planet Ultra which emphasizes safety, I encountered several riders riding with no headlights, and one with neither head nor tail light. Incredibly stupid, on so many levels.

I ride for a distance with Lydia Foster, who is doing her 40-something-th double century, working on a goal of 50 lifetime doubles. I'll be happy with 3.

The first stop is in Port Hueneme ("wye-NEE-mee") at a school. After this the first climbs start along Potrero road, and they are a doozy.   They are not long though, and before too long we are cruising through tony neighborhoods on our way to and through Thousand Oaks. As I suspected its a lot of urban riding but up to this point the shoulders are wide or bike lanes are used. After the second rest stop we go up Grimes Canyon along a busy, narrow, ugly road. An exciting descent follows, then more miles along suburban streets. I have no idea where I am, I am just following orange arrows.

Most of the ride is like this. Not particularly interesting, lots of traffic but I have to say no ugly incidents with motorists.   The only thing that really angered me off this day was a rider. Along a certain stretch on the way to Ojai there are a series of washouts on the road. Across these washouts the road has been reduced to one lane for a a hundred feet or so with stop lights on either end that cycle through a 2 minute cycle.   The remaining roadbed is narrow with a canyon wall on one side and concrete barriers against the washed out side. I was stopped at one, waiting for green, with no cars coming down the single lane yet.  A rider approached from the rear, a guy I'd seen who was riding a single speed.  As he passed me and headed into the single lane ahead, he said "I can't stop, I've only got one gear".

I yelled after him that it didn't make any difference, its still a red light, but he didn't hear me. Sure enough a few yards into the narrow single lane he encountered the oncoming traffic. He had to stop and hug the concrete barriers to avoid getting hit head-on.

I never could catch the guy because he apparently continued doing the same thing through several other similarly metered one-way washouts. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

You have to ride your own ride however, and I can't be policing all the riders. The lunch stop at Ojai is at a little over 110 miles. They have the usual cold cuts, but also pasta salads that sit better with me than eating meat at this point. There is still a long way to ride.

After Ojai you go around Lake Casitas on a long but gradual climb. At this point at about 3:30 or 4PM the thermometer is at 95 (we are still inland). A grizzled old rider that I pass informs me that the pass I see ahead is the top of the climb and over that point the sea breezes return. He does not lie. After cresting the pass we descend to the Rincon rest stop on the Pacific Coast Highway. Within 20 minutes the temperature has dropped into the low 80s. What a relief.

A quick refueling here and I am back on the road again. Its flat along the coast, downwind, cool, and I'm getting my second wind. Passing quickly through Ventura, the last rest stop is at Port Hueneme, the same place as the first stop.

My lights are here, so I remount them to the bike. Its still 35 miles and I won't make it back before dark. Its become cloudy and I am slightly chilled with the damp clothes I've been in for the last 14 hours. However I am so close to finishing my goal that I find some reserves of energy and hightail it down the PCH, heading for home. It seems endless. I intentionally ignore my odometer and just pedal pedal pedal, trying to ignore the incessant noisy traffic on one of the busiest highways in the state. After what seems like an eternity I check the odometer and I've still got 16 miles to go!

There are 7 or 8 hills to go up and down as I close in on Malibu, but none of them will stop me now. At 9 PM I roll in to the start point and breathe a big sigh of relief. I've reached my goal of 3 double centuries this year.

They have tri-tip BBQ here, and I take some but find that there are no plastic knives and its too tough to cut with a plastic fork. No napkins either. Typical of the support I've found on this tour. I am too chilled to take a soda so I remount for the last 2 miles back to the hotel and a good night's sleep.

For us here in northern California I couldn't give this ride more than 1 star out of 5. Too far away, not particularly scenic, lots of traffic. Lots of people reported getting lost (including me, twice) due to confusing markings on the pavement. One week after the event there is still no finishers list update on their website. You'd think after 48 years they'd have this all figured out.

Eastern Sierra Double - ride report

John Vieira-McEldowney — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:21:50 GMT

June 3 2006
Bishop, CA

It's 5 AM and just barely enough sunlight escapes from behind the White Mountains east of Bishop to light the way for the mass start of over 200 riders. Although most of the ride lies north of Bishop, this morning we are heading south and east out of town through the alfalfa fields of the Owens Valley. Its a nice way to warm up.

I am a bit more nervous than normal for one of these rides. After having been beaten by the long climbs of the Central Coast Double my confidence is shaken a bit. I managed one long training ride before this, a local century (with good company, Glenn and Tanya and Maggie) with about the same amount of climbing as I will encounter today over 200 miles.

Although the coast is always an interesting place to ride, my adventurous heart really feels at home in the Great Basin. Something about the smell of the sage, the wide open vistas, and the crispness of the air makes me feel very much at home. It helps to drive away the anxiety.

Eventually the route circles around to the north, passes the edge of Bishop and begins the northward journey to Lee Vining and beyond. Those of you familiar with Hwy 395 may know the long long grade on Hwy 395 north of Bishop. Fortunately we avoid that, taking a parallel road along quiet roads through small communities tucked between the highway and the eastern scarp of the Sierra Nevada. Climbing is steady but not particularly difficult.

At some point we do have to join the main highway but not for long. The route enters the town of Mammoth for a short distance, then takes a road unknown to me, a scenic route northeast of town, providing more climbing up to altitudes approaching 8000'. So far the day has not been too hot.

After circling the June Lake loop the route returns to Hwy 395, passes through Lee Vining and goes north past Mono Lake to a very pleasant park and lunch stop under the cottonwood trees at Mono Lake County Park. Planet Ultra seems to like having Subway subs for lunch.

Back on the road again we retrace our route back through Lee Vining, then turn left to take the incredible route 120 toward Benton. Ahead lies something like 40 miles of Great Basin backcountry road, no traffic, views of Mono Craters to the south, Mono Lake to the north, the Sierra Nevada behind and ahead the White Mountain range, anchored on its north end by the highest point in Nevada, Boundary Peak. I feel pretty good. I know this road, having travelled it several times by car and also once by bicycle on the High Sierra Fall Century in 2001. I'm confident of completing the ride at this point. Its a long climb in the afternoon heat to Sagehen summit, but once there I anticipate the rest of the trip to be mosty downhill and downwind.

And I am not disappointed. By this time the riders are pretty well spread out so I will be riding alone with my thoughts for the rest of the day. Out in the middle of nowhere I pass two lazy wild burros, scraggly but otherwise pretty healthy looking. The only problem with this stretch of road is the road surface. Every 20 feet or so there is a large crack in the pavement, usually an inch or two in width, all the way across the road. Although some have been filled with tar, they still shake and jar the bike sufficiently to cause a lot of discomfort. Its thump thump thump for many miles. My hands hurt from the banging. The steady vibration and shock have caused my rear light to gradually loosen and fall off its mount. It gets caught up in my rear wheel spokes and self-destructs. Fortunately, I will be back before dark. At last the road surface improves and a screaming descent into Benton leads to the last rest stop.

Its close to 6:00 and I know that this time I will make it with ease. There is a strong north wind blowing and its all southbound to Bishop! Hwy 6 is wide shouldered, well paved, lightly travelled. The north wind pushes me along at 20+ mph for the next 35 miles, sweeping me into Bishop at 7:47 PM.

This is not an easy double, but for me it is my favorite just because of the location. The organizers say it has 10200 feet of elevation gain.

A more moderate ride that is just about the same is the High Sierra Fall Century. It starts north of Bishop, goes up past Mammoth and takes the same Hwy 120 route across the high desert. Before reaching Benton it turns south then southwest to return to the start in only 95 miles. I highly recommend either the century or double century.

Night Riding is Fun! A Little Scary, But Fun!

Cool Cycling Club — Thu, 25 May 2006 10:11:28 GMT

Anyone up for a night ride? Well, if you haven't thought of it before, reconsider. It is alot of fun! John and I hit the trails last week for an epic night ride in the canyon. We started out a little late at 11pm, but I figured it would be better to ride late than not at all. We started out at the Starbucks off Lincoln Way, and took off towards the stagecoach trailhead.

A few cars passed us on the way to the trail, with bikes on top so we knew there could be other riders. All we saw though was a skunk, possums and a few "noises" that are still unidentified. I'll tel you it is a bit creepy when you hear the bushes move, and don't see anything but darkness. It makes you pedal real fast!

We completed about 16 miles, and finished the stagecoach loop and cleminite trail in just about 90 minutes. Beautiful weather, and no flat tires. It was an excellent way to spend the evening.

If you don't have lights, we might have a few extras. So next time you hear the phone ring after 9pm...it could be an invitation to ride!

-Jim B.

Central Coast Double - ride report

John Vieira-McEldowney — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:03:20 GMT

May 13 2006
Central Coast Double, Paso Robles, CA
209 miles, 13,200 feet climbing (145 miles completed)
by John Paul Vieira-McEldowney

There it is in all its glory - Nacimiento-Ferguson road, the jewel of the Central Coast Double. In this view looking east from a point out over the Pacific, the road rises from the Pacific Coast Highway almost 3000 feet in 8 miles. There was about 30 degrees difference in air temperature from the bottom to the top.

On Saturday May 13 I attempted to ride my third double century, the Central Coast Double. Advertised at 13,200 feet of elevation gain over 209 miles, I knew it would be a challenge for me.

And it beat me - at 145 miles I calculated that I would not reach the rest stop where my lights were before dark. I was tired and hot.  Earlier in the day, in the heat of the afternoon on a flat stretch of road I actually started to fall asleep on the bike. I decided to bag it and ride the sag in.

But it was not all bad. We started at 5:40 from downtown Paso Robles and headed west toward the coast.
The California Triple Crown organizers have a stage race competition where three of the timed doubles are identified as stages and the really hard-core riders compete for bragging rights. The field this morning is full of riders with Triple Crown jerseys, whereas hardly anybody at the Solvang Spring Double sported them. This should have been my first clue that I was more than a little outclassed.

Mass starts are kind of a sobering experience for me because it quickly becomes obvious where I sit on the bell curve of rider abilities - somewhere on the descending slope, not quite at the bottom but certainly not at the peak. That's fine, let them all disappear into the distance. The morning is cool, the roads are quiet, rolling, and the countryside is just absolutely gorgeous.   The first rest stop comes at the top of a hill that has us all sweating, followed by a hazardous descent into the coastal fog as we make our way to Cambria and the Pacific Coast Highway.

North along the highway a fellow rider points out where Hearst Castle is but we can't see it because of the low clouds. Its not windy yet and the day is overcast and cool. At this point the road is wide and flat and not very curvy - excellent conditions to tag onto a fast-moving paceline and make some good time. Eventually though the road starts to look more like the Highway 1 that I know north of San Francisco. It climbs and descends, curving and descending inland with each lateral drainage and then climbing again to steep hillsides high above the surf. I lose the paceline and return to my normal slower speed.

The third rest stop comes at mile 86, just before the climb of Nascimiento-Ferguson Road.   The organizers are checking each rider in and their times and here I learn that the lead riders (out of some 160 starters) passed here about an hour ago, and there are maybe two to three dozen still behind. Not bad, I think.

Already at this point we have about 5000 feet of climbing under our wheels, and ahead lies a 2800 foot, 8 mile climb. The temperature down here at sea level is less then 60, by the time I get to the top in two hours it will be pushing 90. When I get tired I tend to start climbing in spurts. I go until I just can't bear to pedal anymore and then stop at the next shady spot and let the heart rate descend. This is I know a pretty inefficient way to do it, yet I have never been able to break myself of the habit. Its great for stopping and taking in the views however.

Lunch is on the Hunter Ligget army base at a pleasant park. The usual ride foods are here, turkey and other cold cut sandwiches, soft drinks and energy drinks, cookies and fruit. After lunch it really got difficult. The route turned northward into the inland valley winds. All the major climbs were behind us, yet still there had to be another 5000 feet of climbing out there somewhere. I began to get psychologically defeated, constantly checking the cycle computer, wondering when the next sag wagon would show up.

Being an engineer I sometimes occupy myself on long rides doing mental calculations (I know, nerd).   During the 2 and a half hours it took to get to the next rest stop I concluded that I could not reach, before dark, the rest stop where my lights had been taken. This was a blessing actually as it gave me a legitimate reason to ask for a sag ride back, which I did at the next rest stop, at about 6:30 in the evening, at mile 145.

One other rider joined me, a gentleman who was wearing a Paris-Brest-Paris jersey. On the way in we passed a guy who was lying by the side of the road on a piece of plastic. He had been unable to keep anything down since lunch and needed a ride. He also wore a Triple Crown Jersey. Before getting back to Paso Robles we picked up a fourth rider, another Triple Crown winner who had finished Devil Mountain Double a few weekends ago.  There was some serious amateur cycling talent in that van with me, so I didn't feel too bad.

This was a serious ride for serious cyclers. It showed in the nature of the support. The rest stops were not infrequent but they tended to be simple in their offerings. The sag support was extensive. If you ever want to try this one, do a lot of climbing and training because you will need it!

Planet Ultra Solvang Spring Double Century

John Vieira-McEldowney — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:10:47 GMT

25 March 2006
Solvang to Morro Bay and back
191 miles, about 7500 feet elevation gain.

by John Vieira-McEldowney

This double century is put on by Planet Ultra http://www.planetultra.com. Planet Ultra is a for-profit operation that organizes several centuries, double centuries and other special events in California. This double century is considered to be one of the easier doubles in the area. Easy is of course a relative term.

I started the ride at 5:00 AM, before sunrise, with my bike and I decked out in reflectors and lights. Planet Ultra is serious about rider safety and absolutely requires front and rear lights and ankle bands when riding at night. I am a morning person and I enjoy being outside to watch the arrival of the day. This morning we are riding east toward a waning moon that appears fuzzy from behind the light cloud cover that the weather service says will bring us rain later today.

Riding a group ride in the dark is fun because you look down the road and see little blinking red lights disappearing into the distance.  I have heard that there is some evidence that a drunk or stoned driver will sometimes actually steer toward blinking taillights. I also understand that Calfornia law allows only emergency and police vehicles to display blinking red lights. My lights are on solid but as I leave sleepy Solvang none of this seems to make any difference.   Other than the sag wagons there is no traffic.

The first rest stop is in Sisquoc, and is poorly placed too close to the road.   Planet Ultra volunteers are constantly exhorting people to not loiter in the road. The rest stops on double centuries are typically spaced 30 to 40 miles apart and this ride is no exception. Here they have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, salty snacks, sweet snacks (Rice Krispie Treats - mmmm!), bananas, muffins, Gatorade and some other kind of energy drink powder.

The route continues on, skirting Santa Maria and heading to San Luis Obispo. One downside about riding for 13 and a half hours is you tend to forget a lot about what you saw and where you went during the day.   This stretch must have been particularly forgettable.   The route is pleasant, roads are good, minimal traffic, but nothing really made an impression on me.

At about 8:30 the rain starts to fall. This is particularly annoying as we are entering more congested areas and the traffic is picking up. I turned my rear lights back on and put on my bright yellow jacket again both to keep dry (didn't work) and to be more visible in the poor atmospheric conditions.

It continued to rain until I got to Morro Bay, around noon. The final stretch to the bay had to be the low point of the trip. I had a strong headwind, the shoulder was wide but the traffic was heavy and noisy on the Pacific Coast Hiway, and rain rain rain. I occupied myself trying to remember the words and tunes to songs about rain. There's always of course "Rain Drops Keep Fallin' On My Head" but the rhythm of the song just doesn't fit a cycling cadence. I finally settled into the Beatles' "Rain", got down on the drops, pushed into the wind and tried to eat the miles away.

At Morro Bay the route turns around and starts heading back to Solvang. Now we are hugging the coast rather than the inland route of the morning.   The sky is clearing up, the wind is at my back, and I'm still feeling strong. While passing through Pismo Beach a grey SUV passed me with an Auburn Lake Trails license place frame. Small world!

At the lunch stop they offered Subway sandwiches. I couldn't think of anything more likely to slow me down than a lump of bread and cold-cuts sitting in my stomach so I passed on the subs and went for the hi-energy and salty snacks. I find in my long rides that early in the day I go for sweet stuff, but as the day wears on I start to crave salty things.   And I eat a banana at every opportunity.

You can leave your lights and other night riding equipment with the staff when you check in and they deliver it to the next-to-last rest stop in Guadalupe. I had a stronger headlight delivered here but it looks like I won't be needing it if I can just keep up the 16.5 mph average pace I've been keeping. The flat terrain and tailwinds make this easy. Nevertheless I must pick up the light and the battery pack that weighs a ton and carry it the final 50 miles back to Solvang.

Finally I arrive at the last rest stop, in Los Alamos. Here they offer a hot Cup-O-Noodles in addition to the usual stuff. Even though I've dried out and the day has warmed up, taking in a hot drink or food at this point of a long ride seems to really do a body good. Its tremendously energizing.

There's one last climb up and down Drum Canyon, and then finally the home stretch down the highway back to Solvang. It is 6:30 when I get in so I beat the sunset by just a few minutes.

I thought Planet Ultra's support was very very good. The sag wagons were passing all day long even though they must have been busy with a high number of riders dropping out due to the rain.   The food was good and quantities more than adequate (there were a lot of riders who didn't even start, so maybe there was a lot of extra food).

They must have marked the course in chalk because after the rain I never saw a single fresh route marker in the road. There are so many group rides taking place in the Solvang area each year that the approach to practically every intersection is littered with fading and cryptic route markers painted on the pavement.

I would recommend this ride for anyone wanting to try a double century. The climbing is minimal, the support is good, the area is scenic, and its actually just a little shy of 200 miles. Everything works in your favor. The early season guarantees moderate temperatures but higher possibility of rain. There is no post-ride meal - the organizers encourage you to patronize local merchants.   One down side for us up here of course is the long drive to Solvang.

Mud

John Vieira-McEldowney — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 15:19:00 GMT

I had to take all my Cool MTB clothes outside and hose them down, and then wash them twice to get all the mud out. I don't think I have ever been that muddy.

Want to buy

John Vieira-McEldowney — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:10:00 GMT

List items you'd like to buy. Please date them and clean up after yourself.

Items for sale

John Vieira-McEldowney — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:09:00 GMT

List your items you'd like to sell here. Please date them, and clean up after yourself when the items is sold.

Cool Mountain Bike Race 2006

John Vieira-McEldowney — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:09:23 GMT

Pictures from the 14th Annual Cool Mountain Bike Race. More to come!

Tony Mikacich

Tony Mikacich

Rich Elmore

Rich Elmore

McLane-Pacific Foothills Century, Merced

John Vieira-McEldowney — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 16:47:32 GMT

On Saturday March 4 I rode a century hosted by the organizers of the McLane-Pacific Cycling Classic in Merced. After the better part of a week of rain, and a forecast for more the following week, we were blessed with a break in the weather. The day was never warm, but at least it was dry.
At the registration desk a gentleman who looked to be about my age asked me how fast I normally ride.   His two sons (Kyle Gritters of Health-Net and Brandon, an Elite 2 rider) were racing that afternoon in the downtown criterium and he wanted to get back quickly.   I told him I also wanted to get back in time to watch so I would try to keep up with him and help pull from time to time.
We left precisely at 7:00 AM and set a fast pace for the first two hours, arriving at the second and third rest stops while they were still setting up. The route works its way northward and slightly west from Merced, following the largely rectangular grid of roads in the area that course through seemingly endless almond orchards. The almond trees are in bloom, and many of the white petals have already fallen, leaving blankets of white under the trees and along the ditches that looked like snow.
Eventually the flat orchards gave way to rolling hills of vineyards as we turned east to Turlock Lake and then north toward Don Pedro reservoir. We crossed Don Pedro dam in rising winds, finally arriving at Merced Falls road where we turned south to begin the return to Merced.
Merced Falls Road is a lovely rolling low traffic foothills road, much like the ones we are used to here. Between the fast pace of the morning and the headwinds we both slowed considerably but it was still all I could do to keep up with Greg on his carbon fiber Fuji. We were still on track to get back in time so he stayed with me though.
At the little town of Snelling and the final rest stop the 100 mile and 100k routes rejoin. After a morning of the two of us riding alone we were suddenly mixed in with dozens of 100k riders.  Greg hooked up with a fast moving 100k rider and disappeared over the hills. Dropped again.
I finished the century in 6 and a half hours and stuck around to watch the races.  Riders from Toyota-United and Health-Net were there, fresh off the 6 day Tour of California, as well as many other teams.
I'd have to give this century ride 3 stars (out of 5).  According to them you will encounter 3500 feet of elevation gain on the century route, most of which is in the last 50 miles. The route through the orchards I found kind of monotonous, and the road surfaces there are poor. This early in the season there is a good chance that the ride will be a wet one. The support was typical in terms of food, though I have to give them kudos for having those little Mother's pink and white iced animal cookies at the rest stops. Gatorade, water and sodas were the liquids they offered.  The after-ride meal is a meal ticket for the Firehouse Brew Pub and Restaurant concession stand set up in the park for the McLane-Pacific Cycling Classic.  They offered cheeseburgers or Cajun chicken but no vegetarian offerings.
One nice thing about the ride is that if you get back quickly enough you can watch the Elite and Pro racers battle it out in downtown Merced.