Ride Across Britain - Day 1

It's always hard to sleep the night before a big ride, and being in a tent didn't help. The alarm call (supposedly motivating loud music) was at 5:30am but I was already awake. Ride time was between 7am and 8am and, of course, everyone wanted to get an early start. That wasn't really possible, however, as riders were only let go in groups. So you were either first in line or you got to wait your turn. I found it pretty hard every day to eat breakfast, pack up the gear, haul it to the UPS trucks for transport to the next base camp, get ready to ride, etc., in the 90 minute window. I think I rode out at about 7:30 but I had plenty of company. Breakfast was a bit of a zoo; the porridge (oatmeal), one of my favorite pre-ride foods, was in short supply, but there was a full English cooked breakfast available, various other cereals, toast etc. I eventually stabilized on porridge and the cooked breakfast as my daily fare, but often had to wait for the porridge pot to get refilled.

The weather was good but fairly quickly we entered the mist; very reminiscent of San Francisco fog! The road was up and down, quite bumpy, wet from the mist and there were a lot of riders, so concentration was important. I fairly quickly found a group that seemed to be my pace when I noticed a rattling noise coming from the bike. I'm always expecting something to come loose after I've assembled the bike but was shocked to see the headset bolt rattling around! So I quickly pulled over and tightened it up and checked everything else before setting off again, which proved tricky as the stream of bikes coming down was seemingly endless. Eventually I rode off on the right hand side of the road and just merged in with the stream. Remembering to ride on the left side of the road was one of the my challenges!

It was not long before we entered Penzance, which is the local "big town" with rail connections to London, then we were off into the country with the weather still misty. I wasn't consciously riding in a group but at this stage the riders hadn't separated much so there were always others close by. Shortly we entered the first of the crazy narrow Cornish roads, more accurately "green lanes", basically a single track road with either grass or mud down the center, and a riding lane of about 3 feet. Tall hedges so you can't see what's coming around a bend and really not wide enough for bike and a car to pass side by side. Of course there are occasional passing places for two cars, which requires backing up, but the locals seem to drive on the assumption that they have the road to themselves. Needless to say, putting 500 hundred bikes on such roads caused a few problems!

The entrance to the first green lane was, unusually it must be said, also horribly pot-holed, and a couple riders in front of me collided trying to avoid them and went down. Fortunately, no serious injuries, but a warning that group riding in such conditions was a bit risky so I vowed to keep my distance from other riders.

After many ups and downs, both slow due to the nature of the road, I arrived at the first rest stop at about 37 miles. RAB had two rest stops splitting the day into three segments that were on the long side for a century but typical for the double centuries and brevets that I usually ride. I was a bit concerned about this first stop as it being the first day, everyone had left base camp in a tight time window and the distance wasn't enough to really break up the pack. And indeed, I arrived to see a very, very long line. Since I wasn't out of either drink or food, I elected to go to "rando" mode and continue on, hoping to come across a store in the near future. Given RAB's route through the back lanes this was actually a bit iffy but as luck would have it we soon skirted a town and to avoid a busy road crossing, went down to a roundabout where there was a garage with a mini-mart, where I was able to stock up.

By this time the mist had cleared and the day was warming up, so I'd removed the arm and leg warmers. The ride continued in much the same style to the second rest stop which was much better, being in a large open space, and much less busy. The rest stop food was basically pre-packaged, sandwiches, Cadbury's chocolate, bananas, energy bars and, yes, pork pies, a classic British delicacy. My dad loved them but not my taste even when hungry on the bike.

The ride, which had been hilly enough already, got more so as we skirted Bodmin moor and then started a steady but undulating climb to the destination at Okehampton which was at 1000'. The last 10 miles was an endless sequence of big rollers, each one climbing a bit higher than the last, but always descending first before regaining the higher summit. Finally we descended into the town and then, after a long delay at traffic lights, climbed up to the base camp at the local college. Jenny and her sister, Anna, partner Jim, son Sam and old friends Mike and Margaret, who had traveled a couple of hundred miles down from Sheffield, were there to cheer me in.

Racking the bike at the end of the day

I was pretty happy with my ride time given the amount of climbing and slow roads, but my left shoulder was bugging me quite a bit and I was looking forward to my massage which, although only 15 minutes, was being provided every other day by a group of volunteer physical therapy students from Birmingham University.

After finding my tent I went off to experience the portable showers, of which there were 14 in all. The line was surprisingly short and, even though we were requested to keep the shower to 4 minutes (500 riders, do the math), it was enough to wash off the sweat of the day. Time was rather tight as I wanted to meet up with Jenny and friends in the pub later, but I wanted some food asap as I was starving. I had scheduled the massage for 6:15 hoping to get food immediately the service opened at 6:00. On this day (only), they were late starting, but I just managed to scarf it down in time for the massage. Later I had a second dinner in pub!

My foray to the pub meant that I missed the "mandatory" daily briefing, and I struggled back up the hill to a very quiet camp and settled down for the night.

Elevation and Distance

Ride Across Britain - Arrival Day

Getting Ready

Jenny and I arrived in the UK early Friday morning, a week before the ride, picked up a rental car and headed for Northampton, where Jenny grew up and her family still mostly live. Doing RAB on jet lag would be no fun, hence the week to acclimatize and do some family visiting. One big event was our 30th wedding anniversary party on the Sunday at a nice pub on the Grand Union Canal, with most of the family present. Time flew by and Wednesday saw us heading down to Devon via a night at the Pudding Club in the Cotswolds. The plan was for me to pick up one of the coach transfers arranged by RAB from Exeter Airport to Lands End on the Friday, while Jenny stayed with her sister who lives nearby. They were then going to do some traveling, meeting up with me at a couple of the base camps.

The weather during this first week was outstanding, but I knew it couldn't last and rain was forecast for the middle of the RAB week. One item I had failed to find at home was my RainLegs, which are a really cool design by a Dutch company. I tried without much success to locate a dealer with some stock and amazingly the only one I could find was actually really close to Exeter. So we picked those up on the way. I realized I also needed some straps to attach the sleeping bag to my rucksack and stopped off in Newton Abbott for those, collecting a parking ticket as a bonus.

After final packing my (too small) rucksack, we departed on Friday morning for Exeter Airport, where I picked up the coach.

As you can see we had our own branded coach!

After months of website interaction, it was fun to finally meet some fellow RABers in the flesh. Everyone was a bit apprehensive as we chatted about our experiences and expectations. It's interesting that during the ride I seemed to regularly run into a lot of the people I met on on the bus - I guess we were together long enough to recognize each other quickly - Richard and Vicky in particular. Richard managed to write a real-time blog each day, which was way more than I could manage.

Finally after several more pick up stops, we arrived at Lands End. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Evidently in previous years this has not been the case and I was happy that I would be able to assemble the bike in such nice conditions. After getting my tent number (a daily ritual), my roll-up air mattress and my Powerade bottles, I found my tent and dumped my bag.

Part of the tent city

Now it was time to assemble the bike.

The bike in it's suitcase - is it really all there?

Several people were amazed that a real bike could fit in the regulation sized S+S suitcase, including Hugh Webb who stopped by early in the assembly. It was good to finally meet Hugh who like me, had been quite active on the RAB web site (known as the rider hub). As always it took me longer than I would like to put the bike together. I also made a couple of mistakes, one of which required installing a new front derailleur cable because I hadn't paid attention to the cable routing when installing the fork. I hate adjusting front derailleurs, so made good use of the Halfords support team to do this and adjust it properly. I also realized that I had put the fender stays on the wrong wheels (they are slightly different lengths), but decided to live with this (for a while at least) as the clock was ticking and I had to get my photo taken at the infamous signpost, and then eat.

At the signpost, without bike unfortunately. Note the clear blue sky!

Catering was in a huge marquee, although not quite huge enough. It was a tight fit to get everyone in, especially for the daily briefing. The food, however, was outstanding, something that would be true each and every day. After dinner we had the briefing, starting with some inspirational words from "Mack", one of the founders of the organizers, Threshold Sports, and a big driver behind the RAB idea, who was riding the whole ride for the first time. This day we also had some spiel from Deloitte, the main sponsors, and then a lot of logistical information, finishing with a weather forecast and words from the route designer, Andy Cook, about tomorrow's route. The medical team were very focused on getting us to use the hand sanitizers which were everywhere around the camp as, evidently, they had a terrible "tummy bug" outbreak in the first year that spread like wildfire. Then it was off to bed. Returning to the tent, wearing the all important headlamp, I was amazed how quickly the dew had formed making the grass soaking wet.

Ride Across Britain Prelude

The Ride Across Britain is only 10 days away and tomorrow I will do my last, easy, ride on the trainer and then pack the bike into its S+S case. This will be the fourth time; I wonder if it will be easier than last time, which was on the return from Paris-Brest-Paris. Probably not, as I'm sure I've forgotten all the tricks needed to get it safely packed into such a small space. The most annoying thing is having to remove the fork as my custom frame with its long headset won't fit in the case otherwise.

I'm looking forward to the ride; it's been a long, long buildup, and I'll finally get to meet some of the people I have been corresponding with on the rider hub website. To the best of my knowledge there are only four US riders participating, none of whom I have met, unlike PBP where I knew lots of US riders. To be honest, I'm not feeling quite at my best having had a bunch of minor physical problems with the body this year, but I'm confident I'll be ok if I take it easy and pace myself. My diet of 200/300K brevets and the recent Mt Tam double century should make the average 100 miles a day seem relatively easy. By comparison, I know some UK riders who have only just completed their first century. Certainly the fear that I had before PBP isn't there this year. Nine days in a row, however, will be a new experience, and I know that minor niggles can become serious as the days mount up. Also sleeping in a tent might make for some early morning stiffness! I'm prepared for rain and will be sporting fenders and carrying my RUSA Showers Pass jacket, Rain Legs and shoe covers. Of course, I am hoping for a long stretch of dry sunny California-style weather! Growing up in the UK I've experienced vacations with two weeks of sun and also two weeks of rain, so you never can tell what will happen. Because of the almost certainty of rain, the bike will be set up in "brevet" mode, with the rear bag I used on PBP. However, no need to carry food or a change of kit on the bike as that is taken care of by the organizers.

I've got a GoPro HD video camera on the bike, and plan to get as much footage as I can fit on the 500GB portable hard drive I'm taking with me. That's about 5000 minutes of HD video which should be plenty!

I also hope to be posting my progress on Facebook, and will follow up with a ride report on return.

Mt Tam Double 2012

This is one of my favourite double centuries, probably because the terrain reminds me so much of the UK where I grew up. Being so close to the cold Pacific it's also rarely hot, and certainly not this year with temperatures struggling to make it out of the 50s; the sun made a very brief appearance on Mt Tam, but that was it for the day.

I've done this ride every year since I started riding doubles in 2009; unfortunately I've been getting slower every year. This year I arrested the slide, being 15 minutes faster on the bike, with the same overall ride time due to a knarly flat early on that took a while to deal with.

Often this is the final leg of the California Triple Crown Stage Race, which always guarantees a big turn out. This year the Stage Race was an all Southern California affair, but still the turn out was decent, well over one hundred riders were lined up at the mass start at 5am.

It's a deceptively difficult ride. There are only two true climbs, Mt Tam early on at 2500', and Coleman Valley at mile 130 with its sustained 15% grade for half a mile, but the rest of the ride is a series of endless rollers and short climbs, many of which are well into double digit grades. There can't be more than 20 miles of flat riding out of 200, and the official total climbing is 15,500'. In my experience rollers sap your strength more than steady climbs because the recovery time is short and there is a tendency to push harder that you would on a sustained climb.

The knarly flat was on a short descent on the Mt Tam climb, caused by the bits of wire that are in modern vehicle tires. It took a lot of work to get the wires out and I had to resort to using my teeth at one point. Fortunately just as I was about to inflate the tire, "Fuzzy" Lee rolled up in his SAG wagon and pumped the tire with the floor pump and gave me a replacement tube as well. Fuzzy has a habit of this; exactly the same thing happened on the Death Valley Double a couple of years back.

The day was relentlessly cloudy. I finally removed the leg and arm warmers on the way back inland to Petaluma as it looked as if the sun was going to make an appearance, but it proved to be a false sign and it quickly closed in again. Hard to believe it was August rolling through the scenic but chilly Chileno Valley, except for the parched brown hills a reminder that it hasn't actually rained for three months.

The Coleman Valley climb is part of a 30 mile loop that starts and returns to main lunch rest stop at Valley Ford. It has a lot of climbing; four huge rollers to start, then the Bay Hill climb to bypass Bodega Bay and finally Coleman Valley. This starts at sea level and goes to about 1000' and is where I get my strongest reminders of Britain. After the very steep initial pitch it flattens to about 6% and looks almost exactly like the moorland in Britain, especially when the mist is blowing across the road as it was yesterday. I even passed a flock of sheep wandering down the road at one point.

The road surface on the way back to main rest stop at Valley Ford leaves a lot to be desired, especially "Joy" road which has a steep grade with a surface that lulls you into a sense of security only to suddenly exhibit a patch of completely broken up pavement that seems like it will shake the bike to bits.

The final 50 miles from Valley Ford is relatively easy. Still plenty more rollers along Hwy 1 by the coast and then a grind up the Marshall Wall, which was again socked in with low cloud. Great rest stop at Marshall Ranch and then a fast run in back to the start and a great post-ride meal with time to reminisce with other riders.

Total ride time 16:11, on bike time 14:52.

Slow/Fast Riding

This past weekend I went on a two day club ride with the San Franscisco Randonneurs. It was essentially an out and back 2x200K from the Golden Gate Bridge to Cloverdale, with a 300K option on day one for the hard cases.

On day one I rode my own pace, stopped a bit more than usual and was never in an organized paceline. The temperatures ranged from the usual 12-14C at the coast in the morning to 28-30C in the afternoon (actually cool for the time of year). On bike time was 9:30 with a total ride time of 11:30. At the end of the day I felt fine and not really fatigued at all.

On day two, the whole club rode as a peloton for the first two hours, averaging 18mph. I then rode in a small paceline of four riders for the next three hours. The average speed dropped as the rollers picked up and some fatigue set in, but we still were averaging above 15mph after five hours. I eventually rode away from the group on the coastal rollers, some of which are 12%, and rode the final four hours alone. On bike time was 8:07 hours with a total ride time of 9:03. I did the century in 6:55 mostly thanks to the fast start. However, at the end I was really quite fatigued and at times on the bike it was a struggle, especially the last three hours as I had spent most of my remaining chips in the first hour of solo riding. It's possible that I would have gone faster overall if I had been in a paceline group for the whole ride, owing to the forcing effect of a paceline.

However, this morning it would be hard to get on the bike for another long ride and that is one of the the lessons of this story. Riding 10% faster takes more than 10% out of your body. So if you are riding a tour or a long brevet, you had better manage your pace for the long haul. On the other hand pacelines can definitely get you there faster but you have to be careful about being pulled into going beyond you comfort zone, which is all too easy.

Climbing Month

My next scheduled ride was the Eastern Sierra Double Century on June 2nd but this was cancelled due to road works (there aren't a lot of reroute options in that area). So I decided to do the Sequoia Century which is put on by my local club, the Western Wheelers. I chose the 200K option which had about 10000' of climbing and a few steep pitches, none more so than Redwood Gulch where, if you aren't careful, you can easily lose traction on the front wheel. The ride went pretty well and I met a bunch of people I knew on the way. The only bad thing was queues at the rest stops. It's been a while since I went on an organized ride with that many participants and I confess I have got used to fast in and out given the small number of riders that participate in the California Triple Crown rides.

The body seemed to handle the climbing pretty well and there is no question that climbing is an excellent way to get into good riding shape. On the flat you can always coast and you have to force yourself to work hard. I find that much easier on the trainer with the Spinervals coach in my ear! But when you climb you just have to work hard otherwise you'll never get up the hill, especially the ones around here. So I decided to dedicated the month to climbing rides. In the end I did seven, including one set of three days in a row, when I had originally been signed up for the SFR 1000K. I decided that was too many miles per day but figured I'd ride a century each day instead. I finished with a really hard climbing ride; most of my Peninsula Death Ride, with 111 miles and 13000'.

Overall, about 750 miles for the month of June and about 70000' of climbing. Now a week off to let my body absorb and process the hard work before the SFR 200/200 Cloverdale weekend on July 14/15th.

SFR 600K

Next up and then final component of a Super Randonneur Brevet series is the 600K. The San Francisco 600K is considered one of the toughest. I've done it twice before in 2010 and 2011.

The 2010 ride was a tour de force, which I never blogged about. I rode it on my ancient Dawes Galaxy because at the time it was the only bike I had that could accommodate the amount of gear I needed to carry. Based on my fast 400K that year and advice from more experienced randonneurs, I booked a shared hotel room in Cloverdale at mile 260, hoping I'd get there about 1-2am. Ha! As it turned out I didn't arrive until 5:15am, with the sun coming up, after a very cold and dark ride through the Anderson Valley. So I decided to keep riding. I did ok until the final run in from Point Reyes, where, as the temperature rose, I found even the smallest hill a major struggle, requiring rests at the bottom and top. Still I finished in 34 hours without any sleep. Never again though!

In 2011, where Paris-Brest-Paris qualification was on the line, I booked a hotel room in the Anderson Valley at about mile 225. Not easy as there are very limited options, but I got lucky. Arrived about 1:30am and got a few hours sleep. The Sunday ride was, by comparison with 2010, much more pleasant.

So to 2012. This time I decided to stay in Ft Bragg, which is the half way point of the ride and, therefore, the rational place to stop on what is essentially a two day ride. Plenty of accommodation and food options. The problem is that the rules for randonneuring are not rational. Even though the Cloverdale control had been made an "info" control, thus having no associated time limit, the next control was timed and I concluded that I would need to get up and start riding at 2am to make the control. The decision to start the ride an hour earlier to minimize a clash with the Tour de California which was racing on part of the route on Sunday didn't help matters. Essentially, the timing for a 600K makes no provision for a sleep stop; the clock ticks at the same rate as a 200K and the total time allowed is just 3 times the 200K time. Make of that what you will but I think it's a serious safety issue.

The heat index was lower than it had been for the 400K but it was still plenty warm by the time I got to Cloverdale. I was riding pretty well and enjoying it. Boonville was a lively scene as they were holding their annual beer festival. Given that, I was surprised to see that the Andersen Valley Inn, where I had stayed last year, was advertising a vacancy. I actually went in and checked the rate, but it was their biggest room and at $180 for what would be at most a few hours, I decided against. The endless rollers on 128 were getting to me, but I was still in good shape by the time I reached the campground near the coast where SFR has a staffed rest stop with food and drink, and access to a drop bag. Incredibly after being so warm, the temperature dived within a couple of miles after leaving the campground and I had to stop and put on the leg and arm warmers. It got steadily worse and the coast was completely fogged in, making for a cold and rather miserable ride up to Fort Bragg. With about 180 miles on my legs I was ready for a rest and it was very nice knowing that I was heading to my hotel whereas the other riders at the Safeway control faced a cold and damp ride back to the campground and possibly beyond. Some riders stay at the campground but as it has no running water or proper restrooms I don't find the idea at all appealing. Others crash in the Post Office at Boonville and yet more push on to Cloverdale as I had attempted in 2010. Ok if you are a fast rider.

It was great getting a shower at the hotel and then having a nice meal at the on site restaurant. In truth I have decided I am more of a tour style rider than a true randonneur. Still I rose at 4am and was on the road at 5am because my goal was to finish within the time limit even if I missed the internal controls. It was still cold and drizzly. Several miles up the road I realized that I had not turned on my rear light, not that it mattered as I hadn't see a car yet. So I pulled over and, amazingly spot a large set of keys, by the side of the road. They have no identification, but I take them anyway with some notion that I can reconnect them with their owner.

By the time I reach the campground again I am really quite cold and it's great to be able to warm up by the fire and get some hot food. As "luck" would have it I felt my front tire going squishy on the run in and sure enough I have a slow puncture, and with help from Roland Bevan I replace the tube. I'm annoyed to find that one of my spare tubes is for a 650 wheel (for our tandem) but thankfully they have a spare to lend me. I'm surprised to see Gabrielle Frieldly and Peg Miller, who arrived just before me. It turns out that they also stayed in Ft. Bragg at the same hotel as me, having got there quite late and being very cold, couldn't face turning round and riding back in the dark. They decide to quit as, like me, there is no way they can make the time cutoff at the Guerneville control.

The weather improves as I leave the coast further behind but my front tire flats again about five miles out. Good thing I borrowed the spare tube. It turns out that a redwood seed got trapped inside the tire while changing the tube and the little sharp point at the end eventually made its mark. After replacing the tube I patch the failed one in case I get another flat, something I've never had to do before. All this adds time and, as usual on this stretch, I'm only making the minimum average speed of 10mph. There are lots of hung over beer festival attendees going home which makes the ride less enjoyable than usual as the road has no shoulder and it quite twisty as well as up and down.

By the time I reach Cloverdale, and hit the Starbucks for some refreshment, I calculate that I almost certainly can't make the finish time following the official route. That extra hour which got me into Ft Bragg at 8pm instead of the usual 9pm had me staying there too long. Since I want to pick up my drop bag I decide to do a straight shot through Petaluma rather than the official coast route via Point Reyes. It all goes to plan and I arrive at the Golden Gate 15 minutes inside the finish time at 8:45pm. Unfortunately, the volunteers have all left already. My fault as I failed to communicate properly that, despite a technical DNF, I would be finishing the ride.

I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't ride the whole course, but at 580km for two days I felt I achieved my training objective. However, based on this experience I have decided to drop out of the SFR 1000K in June as three days of this kind of mileage is just too much at the moment, and more than I need, since this year's main goal is the Ride Across Britain, which is nine days with average daily distance of 105 miles.

A postscript on the keys. It took me a week to get my drop bag back, where I had stashed the keys at the campground. I was able to track the owners through a library card on the keyring. They had left the keys on the roof of their car in downtown Ft Bragg and then drove off (presumably using another set). Amazing how far they got before they fell off!