Beachgrad05

https://app.strava.com/activities/40471422

The picture of the start area taken by JSigone in the other Tour de PS thread? That is where I got dropped by TH, Vest & the Mrs, JSigone. I was not by myself tho. I figured my pace would be less than the pace those riders can do. That was cool. I was thankful that AHultin was riding the tandem with his daughter and that his son was riding his single. I was able to stick with them pretty well. If we got split up a tad, we met back up at the pit stops and started back out on the course together. I really appreciated having people I knew to hang with.

Me arriving at the start area and getting set up:

Met up with the gang thanks to a heads up phone call from AHultin on where. Cruised over to the start point and waited to be released. The day was beautiful but COLD and especially at the beginning was EXTREMELY WINDY. That first 10 miles near the wind towers (not sure what their actual name is) was a AWFUL. Here you can see the CLEAR skies and snow on the mountains in the distance thanks to a storm that rolled thru the area on Friday.


Right before reaching the 10 fwy the Century route took a left right into the NASTY head wind...then we took a right to cross the 10 and head up a long uphill grade with the NASTY head wind now an EXTREME side wind. Nearly blew me off the road a few times.

It was as we climbed this and we were still not yet to 12 miles into the 103 mile ride. I SERIOUSLY thought hard about calling my Uncle to come get me at the pit stop. I was scared that the entire ride would be that bad and I could not envision myself pedaling for 103 miles in that...and the time it would take....

Once we turned onto Pierson Blvd...things eased up incredibly and we had a downhill and a tailwind. I was able to recover a bit and collect the marbles in my head that had become scattered. I felt by the pit stop that I could do the ride after all and so I chose to soldier on.

Taking pictures took a backseat to STAYING ON THE ROAD and UPRIGHT until much later when I finally got the camera out again at Pit Stop 3.

AHultin was nice enough to snap a photo of me:


I was even HOPEFUL at a certain point that we might actually finish before it got dark. Oops.

Going thru a palm tree farm?


Palm tree's lining the side of the road...and AHultin's son ahead of me:


My hope of finishing in the daylight is dying here :


My Uncle was meeting me at the area I thought was the finish (thought it was at same spot as start...). He got there early and walked down to the actual finish area and was there to see me cross thru the finish line balloon arch. He took my photo with my t-shirt:


And tho I was feeling pretty miserable by the end...I could still manage to smile. Now I have a time to "beat" next year.

goldfinch

Those first miles sure must have been daunting. Congratulations again to you and the other C/As who did this ride.

I really like your jacket. Who makes it?

Beachgrad05

https://www.louisgarneau.com/us-en/pr...ACKET_2#second

Dad 2 3

Bad Arse!!! Way to go Beachgrad, you finished, times and speeds be danged!

TrojanHorse

Here's my ride ... https://app.strava.com/activities/40379403 (I forgot to start my garmin until about a mile in)

Hot diggety it was cold. I know a lot of you ride in colder weather but for us SoCal chickens, 38 degrees is *@&#$ cold. The trick part is that you have to dress in thin layers so you can shed them later in the day. I was planning on being cold at the start (and I was) but about an hour and a half in the temps warmed up enough and the sun hit us enough that all was well.

I had vague visions of finishing in less than 6 hours but I quickly ran into the head wind from h..e... double hockeysticks and figured finishing was a good deal, particularly since I hadn't ridden much in January.

It took an hour and a bit to get to the top of the first set of "hills" and it was pretty lousy with wind. Going 7-10 mph in the drops is funny though, and not funny ha ha. The next 2 and a half hours were mostly bliss... the roads were in PRISTINE shape and it was largely downhill and of course, that nasty head wind was behind us. I got up to 46 mph at one point and I didn't even pedal. Being a clyde has a few advantages so I had to take advantage. The most interesting things go through my mind when descending like that - is my fork going to asplode, am I going to have a blowout, etc.

Fortunately for us, the return trip to the start was largely through the city and there was enough foliage & buildings to keep the wind manageable. I really enjoyed the fact that there were so many cyclists on the course - there was ALWAYS somebody in front so i never had to worry about getting lost, and there was always a wheel to suck too. We actually latched on to a trio of riders for a long time after lunch... they were just keeping a nice consistent pace and although it's possible to have gone faster through that stretch I was again thinking that the main goal was to finish.

I learned a little lesson from my last century too - i made sure to drink plenty. It's always hard in the morning when it's cold but I forced myself, to the point that I changed my mind about wanting to stop at the first rest stop (18 miles in) because they had porta potties. Unfortunately, there were 500 people in line, so we soldiered on to the second stop at mile 28.

I really don't think I ate enough (again). Had a banana and clif bar for breakfast and over the course of the 100 miles, I ate 2 more bananas, two more clif bars, one gel, a little cup of chex mix, a little cup of peanug M+Ms, a really thin turkey sandwich (two pieces of bread, one slice of turkey, one slice of cheese) and I ate the mustard for it (3 little packs) like a gel (chef isaac says it helps with cramps, apparently not!). I didn't feel like I ran out of energy though, and at the last rest stop I didn't eat anything so maybe it worked. I also drank some gatorade and cytomax so there were some calories there.

As usual, I got all excited on the home stretch and went into full blast mode for the last 10 miles or so. We started running into larger packs of people (presumably from the 55 mile ride) and they were a little squirrely on the road. I saw some very interesting costumes too, no time to take pics though. I found a couple wearing 53x11 jerseys and latched on to the woman's wheel and lordy was she flying. She had a very pretty Kuota time trial bike and left me in the dust when she got onto her TT bars, but I largely kept up and was thankful for the occasional stop sign.

I asked at registration and they had 8,000 cyclists registered and they expected 11,000 on the day of the ride, most of whom were doing the 55 or 103 mile routes. My wife and son had a great time doing the 25 mile route and were clamoring for more so i guess we're in for next year too.

I really didn't expect to like this century as much as I did - the route was fun, the roads were fantastic except for about half a mile, tons of people, it was great seeing some of the SoCal Clyde gang & of course, the Vesteroids made the dive down from Reno so it was great meeting them too.

On the matter of cramps - I didn't get full on cramps (thankfully) but I had twinges in both calves and my left quad. I was pretty miserable from about hour 4 to hour 5... my pre-cramps were bothering me, my left foot developed a hot spot and my shoulders were killing me. I found the M+Ms at the rest stop and we actually stayed there longer than I thought (almost 30 min) and that seemed to do the trick. I felt great for the remainder of the ride. jsigone caught back up to us at the 4th rest stop and although I tried my hardest, he eventually dropped the vests and I. I think Mrs Vest probably could have kept up with him but she stuck by her man pretty good. Keep in mind jsigone had ONLY ONE FREAKING GEAR! Impressive stuff. And of course, he got no sleep the night before, so there's that.

vesteroid

You crack me up...th wasn't hurting, never heard him complain, and he darn sure didn't slow down. I was the weak link....thank god for stop lights. They could have dropped me at any given time, but were nice enough to slow down and let me catch up every so often.

the last 25 had me hurting pretty bad. The last overpass caused me to cramp up in my left hammy and that was fun. On the 9 hour drive home today my left glut kept cramping...darn hard to drive while stretching your left leg out the window and screaming like a girl

TrojanHorse

We require the video.

jsigone

Well I'm not the best at planning for long rides. Baby let me sleep at 11pm, woke up at 2:15am, out of the garage w/ coffee in hand at 2:30. Luckly the Fj was packed earlier. I got to PS a bit after 4am drove around a bit to find something open but no luck so went to the Marriot's parking lot and napped for an hour. Woke up at 6 and got prepped for the ride. Thought I was in good shape until I opened the door...holy freaking BURRR. Vest and warmers wasn't going to cut it so threw on my PI wind jacket over. Good call cuz that outter shell stayed on til about 10. TH and Aaron's famiy rolled up to the Fj as I was pumping air and getting the final things fitted in my pockets. We met w/ BG and Vesteroid and wife at the Hilton a block away.







Rolled up to the line about 7am but they wouldn't let us roll through, the police traffic wasn't ready for us yet. Finally got to roll out and got colder as the sun wasn't high enough over the building yet. We lost BH and Aarron at the start as we folded into the streets


Cleared the city and started heading down, oh look the windmills and the snow capped mts look cool

About 1 mile later we made a left onto some side road w/o a painted ctr line and right smack into 30+mph head winds. In the drops at 7-6mph and we were passing people!!!! JEZZZZ!!! I was up front, BF group in tow as we leaped frog from group to group finding small pockets of shelter but each was going to slow. I rounded a larger group of 20 or so after watching some shaky lines. Then went to grab a smaller gear and there wasn't anything there and the Sram paddle kept going going gone.....well at least it didn't fall out like I seen from others. Roll a bit more and told TJ I was going to stop and fix my bike. Think he thought I was tired LOL...not yet. We determined the cable didn't break otherwise the rear D would have snapped to the 11t of the cassette. Luckly I was in the 23t of my 11-23 I loaded on that wheel. Vesteroid asked if I was gonna turn around....nah I'll keep going with my 2 gears 34x23 and 50x23, think we're about 8-9 miles in to it. The first of that option worked out great for the next 20mins or so as we climbing leaned sideways due to the crosswind.


Turned the corner and I was spinning the 50x23t w/o resistance in tail winds....crap this sucks!! Caught TH and the Vests' miles later before we rolled into the 1st sag which we stayed at for few minutes. Few rollers leaving that sag so i was able to hang with them until we got to the next longer decent...tapped out at 30mph coasting...they're gone again. Then got to a flattish grade as we headed to the 2nd Sag, I was able to catch them on that uphill stretch motoring in my 50x23. Sag2 I had 2 bananas, 2 orange halfs, and downed a water bottle before filling the half empty one I had. Found Vesteroid and wife then rolled out again. Got to the top of the lil hill then I see for MILES, and miles, dowh hill rollers. Crap this is gonna suck.


The BF group was gone after the 2nd roller, after I bit of 2nd doubting if I should have continued since I can only got at 14mph. I stopped to adjust the barrel on the rear D, I got one more gear and took a pic at the mile 55 split.

jsigone

Now I can spin 16ish mph normal and 20mph under 130rpm...still mean nothing when pointed 1-2% downhill with a tail wind....ever so frustrating. Some fellow filipino caught me after the 48mph decent and said I can suck there wheel. Wow I wish i could and told them I can't spinf more then 20mph, we chatted for a bit as he was a local, he said the next sag (3) few miles away will have a mechanic there. Sweet I find the BF group and hope to get the bike looked at. Got to the sag, now 47 miles from the start, spot Vest wife and threw the bike down on the grass patch I found, got a turkey sandwich, m&ms (awesome), fig nuwtons and 2 water bottles. Saw a long line at the mech tent. Told TH and Vests to go on and I hope to see them again at next sag. I had to wait through 5 bike repairs before I present my problem. He threw in hands in the air and said he can't fix the shifter, I told him I expect that but can you adjust the rear D cable to give me 4 gears down putting my down in on the 15t. He made the quick adjustment, I threw a 5 in the tip jar and got back on the road. YES pedal resistance!!! Felt like my ride was just starting and I'm half way into this thing LOL

Got into my happy zone cruising at 20mph at around 70-80rpm. Passed a crap load of people some attempted to grab my wheel, one succeed. Then the adobo club rolled past but not too fast only 22-23mph, I can handle this rpm. About 15 in their train so I jumped in. what a shaky group. I love my filipino brothers but come on, learn to freaking corner. I hear carbon braking going on at mid corner then some got pushed out into the side of the road. I jumped to 6th wheel and witness horrible paceline. The guy in front of me let the 4 in front of him do all the rotating, leaving gaps at each pull and caused yo yoing at the front of the pack. Can't image how the back felt. Witnessed one more corner at speed, right hander and someone cut my line pushed me out past the ctr line, car was about 100ft away lucky it stopped. F this BS, I am not getting taken out this far in no mans land of palm street farms. I dropped the hammer out of that corner and dropping the F bomb..peace out my filipino brothers thanks for a couple mile tow. I got back in my groove and sustained my 20mph ave all the way to the next sag. My solo group swelled to about 15. I got some high five for my pull as we arrived to the SAG 4. Told them my shifter broke and out here singlespeeding it and their jaws dropped some LOL. I found TH , Vest and wife with SAG food in hand. Now 75 miles into it.






We push on for the last leg and somewhere to the the SAG my legs got too much into the 19-20mph groove and dropped the BF group...sorry
around mile 90 for me as we bend back towards the snow

and I can still smile, actually feeling pretty good


I stop at the last SAG, got a banana and more powerful M&Ms waitng for the BF group to catch up.

jsigone

Next 10 miles was pretty un eventful. Though we witnessed a crash about 150ft in front of us about 5 miles to go. The lady on the MTB crossed wheels and highsided herself into the street. Lucky there wasn't a car around. They both seemed OK as we passed and asked if they were OK. We finally made it back to downtown Palm Springs to throw this ride into the memory banks. Overall I felt good about the ride though my bike had some shifting problems. The new PBO wheelset from Spinergy were awesome on some of those rougher roads. The supersix fit was great, never felt uncomfortable or soreness on any part of the ride. My body felt like it could have kept going, by dinner time any leg soreness was gone





my near 20mph pace on the back 50 miles

https://app.strava.com/activities/40385185

PhotoJoe 

Only guy I know who ONLY complains when it's too EASY to pedal!

Wish I could have been there with you all. Hopefully next year...or the next event....or both! Sounds like everyone had a blast!

jsigone

haha I must have a problem

VegasVic

I would love to do this ride one year, but freezing my butt off for the first few hours is just too big of a turnoff.

vesteroid

oddly enough with tights, a wind breaker, and a long sleeve jersey, I was never cold. I really thought I would be, but I dont remember being cold once. A little warm in the last 25 miles, wish I had shorts on then, but never sweaty, and nasty hot, just wish I had shorts.

iTrek

I wore shorts and short sleeve jersey, the only time I was cold was at the first SAG. That wind was chilly, standing in line.

jsigone

more bike carnage. Going to the LBS tomorrow and see what they do about the warranty. If it's going to take longer then a week, I'll put on the shimano 105 stuff that came w/ the bike so I can ride on the weekend.

Homeyba

I didn't freeze at all. In fact it was quite comfortable when I left for the century. I just waited to start until 10:00 am. Plus it was pretty quite at the start as well. No big crowds at all.

jsigone

I want to start at 10am next time!!!!

TrojanHorse

What are you complaining about, you got a SOLID two hours sleep!

hamster

Photocrazy.com photos are up. I see jsigone and TrojanHorse at 7:54:00 and myself at 7:36:29. (But seriously, $25 per photo? Are they going to sell many at that price?)

TrojanHorse

Looks like we finished at 14.50.38. Wasn't there another photo point somewhere out on the course? I wasn't really paying attention to be honest.

I doubt he'll sell a lot, and because it's a dumb trigger, the framing usually sucks on his photos. I might have to buy that one because I'm clearly beating jsigone at that point in the "race". I might even have to turn it into a jersey for next year.

jsigone

Exactly why i had a monster and powdered donuts for breakfast then wanted m&ms. Maybe less sugar next time? Lol

hamster

Yes, there was another a couple of miles before the 55 mile turnoff. I see Jeff @ 9:37:33. You should be near there somewhere but I don't see you. Maybe the camera simply didn't catch you. All I see of myself at that photo point is my rear wheel and my taillight.

jsigone

they were LONG gone at the 55 mile turn off, maybe 10min ahead of me at that point from leaving SAG#2

TrojanHorse

I can't find me anywhere... I'm pretty sure we went through before Jeff (he was spinning out on those downhills... heck, I was too but I had a much more favorable gear to spin out in) and I know I went through in a huge clump of people, and I don't even see any huge clumps, so it probably didn't make it. I don't see Vest or Mrs Vest either and they would have been there about the same time as me.

Of course, it's hard as heck to find anything on that POS website and he's so proud of his system too. What a pity.