Mt Diablo with the mothball fleet from the North |
Fear is a great motivator and years ago real easy to stop eating and go slam up Mt. Diablo every time while quaking about thinking about my first Death Ride. Of course that was to get my weight down from 155 to 150. That's the trouble with goals, you meet them and they get lower.
Well, I was scared about one thing on Devil Mountain--the road to Roubaix, aka the road leading into Mt. Diablo State Park that we'd do before sunrise which had toilet bowl sized potholes. For once the State of California got its head out of its butt (the same state that couldn't figure out the proper property tax deduction until April 15th--when taxes are due) and in less than one week repaved the @ 1/4 mile of road.
My bike is about 17 1/2 lbs, which would have been awesome 20 years ago--and now is a tad on the heavy side compared to the new minimal carbon models. But it doesn't really matter--if I have good legs and good cardio on DMD I'll do fine, if I start falling apart a 12lb bike with 12-34 mountain gearing wouldn't help.
Personal weight and bike weight are just a part of the total weight anyway (a team car riding along would solve lots of problems). Besides the helmet/ clothes/shoes one wears (and I wear a ridiculously large amount in cold weather) for my last few self supported rides
Handlebar bar w/ sandwich, 6 energy bars and drink mix......1129 grams
Bottle with 3 scoops of Cliff Electrolytes.................................806 grams
Bottle with 7 scoops of Perpetuem/ Hammergel......................773 grams (??)
Exposure Light......................................................................278 grams
Saddle bag, 2 tubes, lock, tyre levers, 2 CO2, wallet...... .......736 grams
Shoes (w/cleats), Helmet........................................................1089 grams
Gloves, Shorts, Jersey, Socks, Glasses, Headband.................497 grams
Tee Shirt, Sock Liner, Glove Liners........................................144 grams
Knee Warmers, Arm Warmers, Toe Warmers........................213 grams
Vest, Jacket...........................................................................207 grams
So one could easily carry 5872 extra grams of stuff on a cool self supported ride. An organized ride can save 1129 grams. A warm weather ride can save 564 grams.
Century #11 Solano County Backwards Ramble, w double bonus miles 115 miles, 16.9 mph. 7' climbing (Club web site says 3000' climbing--I must have missed it.) Diablo Cyclist bonus mile ride of 93' miles w/ Ward, Dr. Dave, Christine, Jack, Stephen, Andy, Norm
Don't know if I should have gone a climbing ride in prep for Devil Mountain Double--Cisco Dave went off to do Diablo a few times. But should start to taper--if not ready for DMD at this point then it's too late. Hell, Dave was already checking the 10 day forecast for DMD weather--a 10 days forecast is like a long range economic forecast which may be right...or may be wrong. Club ride scheduled for relatively flat Solano County, so it is always popular. Our running joke is our average speed is usually 15.4 mph as if it is higher than that we add a few more hills--the average speed today should make us feel good about ourselves.
Mother nature decided to throw in a monkey wrench which I enjoyed, but most others did not. Out of nowhere highs in the upper 90's were predicted. GREAT--NO VEST, NO GLOVE LINERS, NO TEE SHIRTS..... I felt so fn loose, like I could ride in the drops forever. But always hard to acclimate on the first hot days of the year, push too hard and energy quickly zapped. Likewise climb too much and overheat--can't do much to lower core temperature on climbs. So a pancake flat ride was what the doctor ordered.
Already nice and warm when drove into Solano Community College to start the ride. Rumor has it that Dr. Dave was already running his a/c at 30 degrees. (Just 70 degrees) Usual building at the college with bathrooms was locked up--which would portend how the rest of the day would go.
Solano Ramble Video--Don't Worry MF Bike Music Free--(Pumpkincycle Cinematography and Ward Moto 2 Video)
We started doing the ride in reverse of usual--all the roads were familiar to me but I was always disjointed re what came next. Luckily Stephen gave everyone route sheets and plastic bags to prevent sweat from melting the route sheets away--double lucky that Stephen gave himself one as late in the ride he was the only one checking it.
We started on Wooden Valley Road that was either flat or a series of baby rollers. Nice vineyards off to the side with some funky art that they probably wouldn't allow (sniff) near Napa vineyards. Nice route though marred by many people towing boats hell bent to get to the water. Apart from the bonus group we had 4 more riders including Don on a fixed gear and Brian on a recumbent. On Wooden Valley we kept together well as a group, with Ward and I getting in each others way when he was taking stills and I was taking movies with a real scenic vineyard behind our group. Half the riders had Lion of Flanders Socks or Some Honeybadger-Gnome of Flanders Socks that looked similar except under the electron microscope.
Scenes along Wooden valley Road that we missed in the morning when riding in a paceline--these were taken on bonus miles later in the day |
(above) Captain Jack ready to pull a practical joke. Jeanna and Christine planning a Club membership drive--see the movie (Ward-O-Photo) |
Regroup at the corner with the long communist sounding "M" word--with no stores open. (top) I'm happy its hot (bottom) Stephen and Ward (Christine-o-vision) |
OK--I'm cheating--taken the next day of Brian with his Hell's Angels mirrors |
The Gang by another closed store at Lake Solano |
From here the 60 milers headed back and the bonus mile group headed along Putah Creek Road towards Davis. Towards as in, when I said lets go to Davis I was quickly outvoted 100000-1. But we were going to Winters, the quiet town about 20 miles from Davis with a nice little business area complete with a bike shop. But I remembered the Spanish Grocery store across the street from the bike shop where I could score Hammer Mexican Fruit Bars (may not have sucrose, frutose and mootrose--who knows, I can't read Spanish.)
Hammer Nutrition Una Fiesta Para Su Paladar Bars |
Andy and Dr. Dave trying to get into the painting--I think Andy is doing a track stand |
(top) Andy in paceline cycling around Davis (middle) I'm about to go to sleep (bottom) Dr. Dave and Christine see wildlife (Ward-o-photos) |
You never know what you are going to find in the front yard |
Paceline down Pleasant Valley Road where we soon hit some short/ steep rollers and Dr. Dave and I started riding shotgun to help bring Andy back if need be. I might have been the only person NOT complaining about the weather on the ride back but I was downing bottles as fast as we could fill them--and we stopped at a big Safeway we passed dozens of times for Gatorade-Water-Bananas.
I think we came down Gordon Valley Road--it was nice but lots of traffic. We eventually merged on Wooden Valley Road and much less traffic. I knew we'd have about 93 miles coming in and I was feeling good so I threw out if anyone wanted to do another 3.5 out and back to get 100. No one was game and Ward reminded me that "the ride is the ride," and what I was proposing was akin to riding circles in the parking lot in the old days to get to 20 miles. (Yippie) He was right. So I decided that I would go back on Wooden Valley Road which we had been on this morning, and go out to the Wooden Valley School, the area where Ward and I were taking group photos in the morning.
So I did a uturn in front of Solano Community College and started up Wooden Valley Road--keeping my eyes open for photo ops--and there were a few good ones. Road generally had a nice shoulder and was just tilted up gently, with farm stands, huge homes, and wineries off to the side. Later the road would go up a little more but then be in full shade so heat wasn't a problem. The nice thing about this ride was that the return would be nice and fast.
One problem--almost out of water and just had one shot of Hammergel left. The Wooden Valley School best have a water fountain. Passed another CHP officer giving someone a ticket--lots of CHP/ Sheriff's out today trying to control the speeding boaters. Finally got to the Wooden Valley School but BIG FENCE in front of it--O crap. Looks like I'll have to go to a winery, but they don't appear until half way back But fence was there only to keep out cars and ended 20' away--no water fountain but another spigot in the back. Luckily still had remnants of the good NUNN fizzy that Dr. Dave gave me earlier (now why wasn't I carrying any?) Nice fast going back--some return boaters were now even slowing and not crowding me when passing. Seems like I was back to the college in now time so took a side trip to see the Mother Earth statue on Earth Day Eve.
Bonus miles to the Wooden Valley School and Mother Earth |
True to form i don't have much of an appetite when it is hot out (which sometimes kills me on long rides) and dinner was a protein shake and another frozen fruit bar. Next day was at 141--lowest weight of the year. Hell, I may come in where I want to for DMD.
Next day was a real lazy club ride--everyone drained from the day before. Except for Craig who raced across the parking lot before my car was stopped to tell me about the DMD staff ride which he helped support. Still nice and hot. We rode out to Crockett which meant the (painful today) Muur de Crockett. Mrs. Pumpkincycle on a trip so coming back I took the long/ hilly route to Mt. Diablo southgate, saw a copy giving a cyclist a ticket for running a stop sign with no traffic out (how about cops giving motorists a ticket for passing on a blind turn) and had a nice hot run up to the Junction from the easy side. Loads of pumpkin flowers were in bloom.
2 comments:
So, you are all DMD ready. The weather forecast keeps moving, but right now it looks really good, 75 high in Livermore.
This is my first DMD and I an scared shI%&^%less. You on the other hand look ready to rock.
Looks like a little warmer than last year with much less wind--heat of the day will be when we do Mt Hammy, full out in the sun.
I'm always surprised on these rides--either I fall apart very suddenly, or while waiting for the "other shoe to drop" I'm suddenly steaming for the finish with only 1/2 mile left. I'm a lousy predictor of how my ride will go, so whatever happens happens. Good luck to you and hope we have fun out there as that is what it's all about.
Now have to get back to the 'New Testament' for inspiration--Paris Roubaix 2002 video.
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