az_cyclist

You guys are strong riders, Rick@OCRR and Biker395!

Rogus

Does it have to be an organized century or can I add the 101 mile solo ride I did Saturday with 10,299' of climbing?

big john

That counts. What part of the world?

Red Rider

I've learned in my 60 years on this globe to never say never, and to remain curious.

So...maybe.

Rick@OCRR

"Maybe" is an important first step! Signing up for the ride is an important step too. Once that's done your training can begin!

Knoxville Double Century 2014

Rick / OCRR

Biker395 

I SO want to do Knoxville this year.

az_cyclist

I had several friends (yes they are Bulls) ride Knoxville last year. I am still thinking my 5th double this year will be fall Solvang

Rick@OCRR

I would for sure recommend Knoxville; my favorite double of the year for the last 12 years! I have ridden Fall Solvang, and it's an okay double, but nothing compared to Knoxville.

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

Hemet is next. Rick@OCRR, are you riding Hemet again this year? There are going to be quite a few Bulls over there helping out at the sags. I will be at the Temecula feed store ( I think, need to check the spreadsheet again). We will do a staff ride on Friday

Rick@OCRR

Yes Dwight, I will be riding the Hemet Double, probably starting at about 4:30 AM. Will look for you at the feed store when I get there (2nd 100).

Good to hear the staff ride is so soon, actually before the double. One year I worked Hemet and they didn't have the staff ride until Dec. 13th (cold and raining, 8 hours of riding in the dark!).

Rick / OCRR

Rogus

California

Biker395 

Well, it was closer to 93 miles, but I thought I'd post up some video of our climbfest last weekend.

I think this is my favorite route in all of the San Gabriel Mountains up here. It mostly free of traffic, and has great pavement. On top of that, it has 3 of the most important things:

1. 3 great climbs.
2. 3 great descents.
3. 3 great mountain cafes.

Here is the route:

San Gabriel Triple - A bike ride in Duarte, CA

It would be perfect if it came out to 100 miles, but we only did 90. Rick did the full Monty ... with the 2000 foot STEEP climb to the ski lifts and back, so he made it to 100 miles and about 13,000 feet of climbing.

The route starts at a park, and heads up Highway 39. This section is pretty busy traffic wise, and can get windy too. But after the Forest Service kiosk, you're facing a 14 mile climb to Crystal Lake. The reward up there is a nice little cafe. I fueled up with a hot dog. Here are Willy and I at the cafe parking lot.



From there, you have an incredible descent. OMG, this is a half an hour of fun.

At the intersection, you turn to Camp Williams, and after 5-10 miles or so, you can fuel up there, before starting the climb up to Glendora Ridge. Here is Pixie ... making us all look bad.



And you might have seen the Glendora Ridge on one of the recent Tour of Californias ... great views of Mt. Baldy the whole way.

We all stopped at the Mt. Baldy Lodge for some food. They were really busy, and service was slow, so any though of adding the ski lifts to the ride were quashed. But we had a good meal.

After that, there is a short uphill,



then downhill along Glendora Ridge Road and a really sweet downhill down Glendora Mountain Road ... one of my favorite descents anywhere.

Here we are at the bottom. That's me, Rick, Pixie, Steve, and Willy. I forgot the guy on the far right's name.



I have to say, I spent most of the day feeling pretty damn grateful. Grateful for being healthy enough to do this kind of thing and enjoy it, and grateful for the terrific company. It seems in life, your companions matter more than just about anything.

This video takes in only part of the ride. It includes the descent from Crystal Lake, a little of Camp Williams, the ascent up East Fork ... the Mt. Baldy Lodge (craking jokes with other patrons, while the waitresses filled our bottles), and some of the descent down Glendora Ridge Road.

Rick@OCRR

Great photos and video as usual Vic. Here's my Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/279998858

I had an order of fries and a couple of Pepsi's at Crystal Lake Cafe, a Coke and a PayDay bar at Camp Wiliams, another Coke at Mt. Baldy Village but (since I know their service is slow) I ate some JPF (jersey pocket food): a couple of Stinger waffles and a Hammer Gel, while I drank my Coke.

With that time savings and that fuei, the Ski Lift climb was do-able (brutal, as usual, but still . . . ). I know Jeff Nickoll and one other rider did the Ski-Lift climb since they were ahead of me.

Overall a beautiful day on the mountain, great cyclists to ride with, a very friendly non-compeitive vibe throughout the day. I did a few bonus miles on the SGRT to get over 100.

Rick / OCRR

Rick@OCRR

Century #13 for 2015 is finished; actually a double century in Hemet, CA. Started with my wife and a friend at 3:30 AM, rode with them until the 2nd checkpoint, then joined a couple of my friends and rode to the finish at 7:15 PM, just before it got dark. Hemet was my thrid double for 2015 so far. Legs felt good all day, no flats or mechanicals, the ride was practically perfect in every way.

Here it is on Starva: https://www.strava.com/activities/284189922

Can't get Garmin Connect to work at the moment, will try to post Garmin later.

Rick / OCRR

OldsCOOL

Impressive and inspiring.

az_cyclist

Good job Rick. it was good to see you. BTW, I dont recall seeing your wife come thru sag 4

Rick@OCRR

No Dwight, My wife bailed after the first loop; just wasn't feeling good enough to continue. Her friend made it to mile 136 (was that where your stop was?) before SAG-ing back.

I finished at 7:15 so it was still light when I rolled in but got dark shortly thereafter.

Talked with Jim for awhile after I finished and I have to congratulate someone at the Bull-Shifters for the names you've given your three ride-level groups. For those that don't know:

Fast Riders: Canni-Bulls
Medium Riders: Capa-Bulls
Slow Ridres: Social-Bulls

It was great to see all the Bull-Shifters at the Hemet Double checkpoints on Saturday!

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

136 miles sounds about right for the Feed Store sag in Temecula. There was an Arlene (I think that was her name) that sagged in from there, Kermit picked her up at about the time we were loading things into the truck.

Rick@OCRR

Yes Dwight, that was her! Arlene was trying to ride her first double . . . didn't quite make it this time. Good to hear that Kermit sagged her back.
She will try again at Grand Tour.

Rick / OCRR

az_cyclist

To piggyback off Rick, we did a staff ride for the Hemet Double on Friday. We started at 4 (one group of 3 from San Diego started at 3, and a group of Canni Bulls) started at 6. It was chilly but no fog. The staff ride was a bit different as there were no sags. in the first loop we got separated into 3 groups. One guy had a flat not far from the Lakeshore Dr split. Since we were strong riders the others went ahead, soft pedaling. We came upon 3 others at Lakeshore Dr changing a flat. We all eventually regrouped at lunch back in Hemet, then headed out for loop 2. We held the pace down some to keep the group together. Everyone finished , but 2 flats in the final 10 miles added more time that we would have liked.

Working a sag stop the next day was new to me, but fun none the less.
Hopefully the Davis Double is next

Rick@OCRR

Good to see you and the other Bulls out there on Saturday! Sounds like you and the other Bull-Shofters had an excellent staff ride. I've worked SAG checkpoints and driven SAG on the road for various doubles and yes, it is fun, plus you're making a real contribution to the double-century community.

I'm undecided on Davis at this point; may do it if someone here is riding it and I can car-pool up there. Devil Mountain is next for me (yikes !) so lots of climbing and quite the challenge but still looking forward to it.

Maybe see you at Davis!

Rick / OCRR

jppe

An East Coast century. 108 miles with 6000' of climbing in the Piedmont area of NC. A touch muggy but very nice otherwise. All but a few miles were solo. Not very fast but never struggled all day. Grabbed a fried apple pie at a country store at 70 miles. Just a touch heavy on the tummy but it went down very easily.

az_cyclist

I registered for Davis last week.

jwalther

Well, I had hoped to ride my first century of the season this morning. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate; rain and temps around 50. I HATE riding in the rain, so I took a pass. Yeah, I know. . .HTFU.

The good news? I'm riding the Three Mountain Challenge next week, and the forecast for Chattanooga is sunny and 78 .

jppe

Enjoy 3 MM! I'd love to do it in nice weather. The times I've ridden it the weather was horrendous. The last time I rode they delayed the start for at least an hour due to lightning at the stadium. I'm sure the views up top are terrific but all I've had was fog. Hopefully you can stay on one of the Hincapie's wheels.