http://www.pobox.com/~bushnell/ride_stories/marin.century.2004.08.07
August 7, 2004
Ron Bobb, Randall Hull, and I rode the Metric Double, starting at the more
civilized hour of 730. Along with several hundred other cyclists, we
began with a short hill (Las Gallinas) through north San Rafael and then
began the westward trek on Lucas Valley Rd. I was still wearing my
long-sleeves by the time I got to The Rock at the top and was starting to
sweat beads. But the descent into Nicasio proved to be rather cooler than
the weather forecast had led us to believe: thick, dense fog that obscured
the vision of anyone wearing glasses. (I moved mine down over my mouth so
that I could see.) We exited the fog somewhere on the climb over the ridge
between Nicasio Reservoir and Hicks Valley and stopped for about 15
minutes at the Lincoln School rest stop for a stretch break.
We rode together past the Photocrazy trap,
http://www.photocrazy.com/2004/0807MRC/Mrc6/MRC60059.html
http://www.photocrazy.com/2004/0807MRC/Mrc6/MRC60060.html
http://www.photocrazy.com/2004/0807MRC/Mrc6/MRC60061.html
http://www.photocrazy.com/2004/0807MRC/Mrc6/MRC60062.html
but became separated on Marshall-Petaluma Rd. as Ron and I tried to
stay away from the squirrelly pace-lines. The climb over the ridge to
Marshall went relatively quickly; the max speed on the descent to CA1
peaked at 51.3 mph.
A cyclist stopped at the intersection called out, asking if I was wearing
anything "under there". "Sometimes", was the reply. The next several
miles I pressed on by myself trying to stay clear of pacelines, but found
myself passed by them on the rises only to pass them again on the
descents. Somewhere along here I passed Randall who had gotten ahead of
me on the climb over the "Marshall Wall". The road leveled out as it
reached Tomales, and I was able to maintain a good pace with the tailwind.
Between Tomales and Valley Ford, the road was still thick with cyclists,
and I "enjoyed" the same push-me, push-you effect.
We reached the rest stop at Valley Ford and lingered until about 1120. I
saw Peter Borenstadt and Randy Gillette each riding a "Gillette"
carbon-fiber high-racer and low-racer, respectively. They had started
earlier than we and were riding 100 miles, so they were preparing to
return to the start.
We continued north on CA1 exchanging the crowds of cyclists for the heavy
auto traffic making its way to Bodega Bay and the Sonoma Coast beaches to
the north. The turn off to Bay Hill Rd. came not too soon.
We climbed moderate grades through eucalyptus groves, reminding me of some
of the roads between Aromas and San Juan. Unfortunately, all this
climbing came undone on the very bumpy and at times pot-holed descent
back to CA1. The ride north on CA1 was along the coast at this point.
The air was even a touch cold. When we turned off onto Coleman Valley Rd.
a few miles to the north the air felt hot and still.
Coleman Valley Rd. climbs steeply and hotly for about a mile and a half
before reaching the top of Irish Hill, where it continues a rolling climb
to a summit of about 1100 feet--I was beginning to wonder why this road
was named for a valley and not a ridge--before dropping quickly into
Coleman Valley itself. (Coleman Valley Rd. reminded me of the local road,
Lobitos Creek Rd., which tops out along Irish Ridge.),
After another short climb the road climbs briefly to a T intersection with
Joy Rd. Oh joy! Randall was waiting here chatting with one of the other
cyclists on the ride, and a short time later, Ron rode up. While we were
eating and resting the first group of cyclists on the 200-mile course came
through. We saw them come in later at Valley Ford, but I don't remember
passing them. They must have stopped somewhere or got off course somehow.
On Joy Rd. we still had some climbing to do, but not much. After getting
caught behind a long line of cars that turned off a half-mile later, we
began the fast and bumpy descent back toward Valley Ford. Somewhere along
here I bested my previous maximum speed and convinced myself that Marin
and Sonoma Counties must maintain their secondary roads to lower standards
than the other bay area counties. We continued at a more moderate pace
back to the Valley Ford rest stop, arriving around 1400.
We lingered for a while eating, drinking, and chatting before pushing off
on the remainder of the course where we expected a significantly flatter
profile. Middle Rd. had one short, steep climb, but the rest of the ride
into Petaluma was quite pleasant with a strong tailwind that became
warmer--about 20 degrees F--as we got further from the coast. We rode
together over much of this course, but at one point Randall stopped to
check his cleat, I stopped further down the road, and Ron kept going. As
I tried to start up I stalled when my cleat wouldn't release and did what
Randall described as the slowest topple he'd ever seen.
After I righted myself we both pressed on and tried to catch up to Ron,
but he was too far ahead. I am certain that Ron rides faster when he's in
front of us than when he's behind us.
Randall and I snagged about 1 bonus mile when I found myself on auto-pilot
on the road into Petaluma. We headed for the park where the rest stop had
been located previously on D Street and found ourselves amidst a farmer's
market.
We lingered at the Petaluma rest stop for nearly 45 minutes while snacking
and otherwise cooling our heels and toes. We ran into Ken Holloway here.
My guess is that he came in just behind us but didn't do the bonus mile we
did as I doubt we would have been overtaking him at our more relaxed pace.
The ride out of Petaluma involved a couple of moderate hills, one on I
street and another on Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Rd. Along this section we passed
many blackberry patches whose sweet scent was pungent in the warm
afternoon air.
The remainder of the ride went without incident through Novato and back
into San Rafael. We arrived around 1900 and enjoyed a feast of a dinner.
Overall it was a well-supported ride on a beautiful course.
Stats:
distance: 134.3 miles
climbing: 8700 feet
total time: 11:24:11
riding time: 8:38:54
average speed: 14.4 mph
maximum speed: 51.5 mph
average HR: 98 bpm
average power: 150 watts
maximum power: 471 watts
total energy: 4678 Joules
All averages exclude stopped time.
--
Bill Bushnell