On Saturday I realized that I had forgotten water bottles and my headlight mount! I was thinking about doing a shorter route this year and thought I may not have a choice if I couldn't work out the light situation. Luckily, I was able to grab a few computer mounts from the Cambria Bike Kitchen and one of them sorta fit. I had to mount it on the stem instead of the bars, but it looked like it would work. That done, and using a couple bottles of Vitamin Water, I committed to the heroic route.
I rode from our VRBO to the start (with hills at least as steep as anything on the route!), and it's a good thing I did. Embarrassing as it is to admit, I had literally only sat on the Davidson up to the morning of the ride, not actually ridden it. I've had other rides lined up and very limited time, so when I've had a chance to get out it's been on my Landshark that I use for those longer rides. Right off the bat my headlight slipped out of the ghetto rigged mount and my rear wheel slipped in the dropouts on the first steep hill. But other than a slight seatpost slippage later in the day, those were the only bike-related issues I had.
I left with a group of about 8 at 5:20 or so. Even with my compromised headlight mount, it was the best available light in the group so I pulled all the way to the pier in Cayucos. I was checking the light every 5 seconds to be sure I didn't drop it, then stashed it in a pocket as soon as I could get away with it. The fog limited visibility and was thick enough that it would bead up and drip off my helmet. Leaving Cayucos, I stayed pretty much in the vicinity of the same group of riders the whole time, none of which were BF'ers as far as I know. The climbs were brutal, as usual, and got progressively harder through the day.
- Santa Rita was hard but manageable.
- Kiler was super hard but not as bad as I remember it being last year. I stopped for a breather once before riding the rest of the way up...the hardest part was getting going again.
- And Cypress was a monster that just never seemed to end. I stopped for a breather on it, too, and had to walk a little bit to get to a spot where I could get started on the bike again. The Cypress descent was pretty hairy. My brakes did an admirable job as long as I could squeeze hard enough, which meant super fatigued hands and tingling fingers by the time I got to the bottom. No was was I going to bomb down that one.
The only mishap I had was missing a left turn that wasn't marked. I went straight, wondering if it was the right way, onto a pretty awful road full of deep pot holes and big hills, which made think I was definitely on the right track
. Then I ended up on private vineyard land with no tire tracks in the dirt, so I pulled out the cue sheet, rode back up and down the couple hills, and corrected course.
The bike was great. I hadn't ridden clips and straps or used DT friction shifters since Eroica last year, so it took a little time to adjust but it was fine. I ride SMP saddles, not Brooks, so doing a 100+ on any Brooks is never great, but I can't bring myself to swap to an SMP for this ride. The Swift and I got along reasonably well, I think. I wore a pair of 1980's vintage Avocet cross shoes that were surprisingly comfortable. They started the ride fully intact but by the and about 75% of the soles on both shoes had peeled clean off.
All in all, a really nice weekend. Fantastic weather for the ride, great people, and vintage eye candy all over!
