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!

SFR 400K

As noted in my previous post, I knew I was looking at a ride time of 20+ hours for this event, probably in the 22+ hour range. Since my longest ride since the layoff was only 75 miles, this was going to be a big jump. Only the fact that I had done it and longer rides before, and so felt comfortable mentally, made it possible to consider doing it. There was going to be pain and suffering though, no question.

Late April, but the weather forecast was for a hot weekend, with temperatures climbing into the 90s in the area we were riding into. Not auspicious as I don't handle heat very well, having grown up in the temperate, mostly cool climate of England. One bonus however, was the glorious start crossing the Golden Gate bridge, normally a cold and foggy place, but this day clear and warm with great views of the sun starting to ride over Angel Island and the East Bay.

I'm quickly dropped by the fast riders and settle into my new role of being in the slow group. It's quite cold as usual in the Nicasio Valley but warms up as we head towards the first control at Bodega, a mere 63 miles away. I'm happy I have the CamelBak. The views heading out into the Marin countryside are absolutely wonderful and it just a great day to be on the bike. Somewhat to my surprise I actually catch up with one of my cycling buddies, Alex Plumb, and he takes my picture for Facebook! I know this area pretty well and the road through Chileno Valley is one of my favorites, especially in Spring. I firmly believe that Marin and Sonoma counties have the best variety of riding in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have the money to maintain the roads.

There are still a few people at the store in Bodega including famous female randonneur Kitty Goursolle who is sporting her Paris-Brest-Paris jersey. I still haven't worn mine yet and realize, as Kitty points out, that this would have been a good debut as it mostly white and so good in the heat that is yet to come. The store has some great "home made" pastries, one of which I indulge in along with a chocolate milk. One of the great things about endurance riding is that you can eat almost anything

Next up is a very steep climb up Joy ("joyless") road. Half way up I have an "equipment" problem in that my saddle bag has somehow slipped in its mount on my saddle. It turns out that the bracket has bent but I manage to get it tight enough to hold up for the rest of the ride. No doubt the bumpy roads have something to do with this. I had no problems on PBP with more weight, but the French roads were much better. I count myself lucky it could have come loose in a worst situation.

After the next control at the Safeway in the Russian River town of Guerneville, it starts to heat up noticeably. One nice thing is that Westside Road has been resurfaced, apart from one short but still awful section. I'm wondering of this has anything to do with the Tour of California coming to these parts in May. By the time I get to the turn off for Dutcher Creek en route to Cloverdale I've been hydrating so well I've actually drained my Camelbak and my one Perpetuem bottle is almost empty (and warm). Of course, there are no stores when you need one, just lots of wineries. I finally decide to visit one to cadge some water As I cross the road another rider comes in the other direction and I mention my situation and he offers me his half full water bottle as he is just about to finish. Ordinarily I wouldn't do that for health reasons that but I'm desperate so I gratefully accept. Cloverdale is one more climb over the ridge, where I fall into the air conditioned Starbucks for some much needed refreshment.

Now comes the hard part. The climb on 128 over the ridge to get to the Mountain House Road that will take us to the turn around at Hopland. The temperature is well into the 90's by now. Fortunately there is some shade on the climb at this point in the afternoon and this time of year. The climb has two false summits, the last of which is, thankfully, after the Mountain House turnoff. There is a gravel section early on Mountain House to watch out for. There are several similar too this on the Terrible Two route and I'm puzzled why they are not paved - they don't look anything special, just like they forgot to pave them. If they were really unstable I would expect the gravel surface to be a lot, well, less flat. It is after this that I get one of my bad moments on the bike because my mental memory of the road does not match reality. I though this was a straight descent to Hopland whereas in fact it descends to a valley and then climbs again before descending. It's hellish hot with no shade and I have to keep stopping. It's beautiful country, I just wish it wasn't so hot! Eventually the real descent begins and close to the bottom, on an short uphill stretch, I come across an SFR rider who is walking his bike. Turns out he has stomach issues and can't keep anything down. He seems ok to walk/cruise it into Hopland and sure enough he arrives not long after me and phones his wife to arrange a pick up. She has a long way to come from San Jose!

Several other randos, notable Alex Plumb and Roland Bevan are already in the gas station market, which actually has seating, but are getting ready to leave. I take a decent rest and even indulge in a slice of Pepperoni Pizza. I sort of remember the way out of Hopland, but it's been two years and the road I am pretty sure I should take does not have the same name as that on the cue sheet. So I call the day of event contact to check. My intuition was right but not before I had explored the other alternative for a mile or so. The route back basically links up with Hwy 101 and there is an eight mile section of it to negotiate. It's mostly downhill, and with a wide shoulder separated by a rumble strip from the speeding cars. The trick is not to lose focus and drift into the rumble strip as that can be a real shock to the system. Eventually 101 becomes a freeway again and we branch off onto another side road and head back into Cloverdale. I wasn't planning to stop, but it's a long way to Santa Rosa, and still in the 80's at 7:30pm, so I visit the gas station market again and load up my Camelbak with more water. I know the first section to Geyserville really well and it's mostly flat with just a few rollers around Asti. There's an Uck! moment as the light fails and I get covered with small insects. Important to ride with the mouth firmly closed for a while! At Geyserville we turn off the direct route to Santa Rosa and head towards the hills and then track the edge of the valley heading south. It's dark now, so I'm on the dynamo and helmet headlight. I can't help remembering that two years ago I made it all the way to Santa Rosa in daylight. Unlike the direct route, this variant climbs Chalk Hill before dropping back into Windsor. The route actually bypasses Santa Rosa center to the West by taking Fulton off the Old Redwood Highway. Much to my surprise the temperature is dropping like a rock, down into the 50s from the 80s at Cloverdale, and I actually have to stop to put on the arm and leg warmers and the jacket.

It's a long, mostly flat, run into Petaluma, but I'm getting very tired and all the usual suspects, neck, shoulders, hands and butt are getting sore. Several times I tell myself I am never again going to ride more than 200K in a day. Finally I arrive at the Safeway in Petaluma, where I run into the same group who were at Cloverdale, including the guy who was planning to quit. It turned out that he started to feel a lot better and since his wife was going to take a long time to get there, he decided to keep riding and, once the temperature cooled off, felt much better. I'm not sure how he got past me, though. It's in the upper 40's now and I am so glad I made the decision to stay a few hours in the hotel which, conveniently, is right across the street from Safeway. The idea of another 3-4 hours into San Francisco, which faces the other riders, does not appeal at all.

The hotel shower is incredibly rejuvenating and I try to eat some food before settling down for what will only be about 4 hours rest as I figure I need to leave at 5am to be sure of making the finish by the cutoff at 9am. It's, of course, event slightly colder at 5am, but I don't feel it as much thanks to the rest. There are three climbs out of Petaluma before the turnoff to Nicasio. It stays dark pretty much until descend the second hill into Hicks Valley. There is something special about the early morning light, and today there is patchy low-lying fog to add to the mystique. I'm making good time and, knowing this section so well, figure an 8:30 arrival. It's a pleasant ride all the way to Sausalito where, suddenly, I enter that special place where the wind blows hard and the fog is thick, quite unlike the calm of yesterday morning. It's truly a battle to fight the wind up to the Golden Gate and the bridge crossing is super windy. Fortunately the bridge is missing its usual plethora of tourists on foot and on bike. The diehard volunteers at the finish control, including my friend Brian Kilgore are, I'm sure pleased to see me so that they can wrap up and go home. I am most definitely the last finisher.

I'm nowhere near as tired as I would be had I not slept, but I'm evidently not at my best. I manage to get distracted talking to a rider who pulls into the parking lot next to me and forget that I haven't put my front wheel in the car, and then proceed to drive over it. Fortunately it's not completely trashed, particularly the dynamo hub, but it's definitely well bent. So a bittersweet end to what has been a pretty successful adventure.

The Layoff

When I got back from PBP I was truly exhausted and the urge to ride my bike had been pushed into a small corner of my mind. However, after a few days I thought I should at least get back on the trainer before the legs completely seized up. The first spin went fine but subsequently I started getting a pain on the inside of my right knee. Now, I had partial meniscotomies on both knees a few years back from years of soccer and running, but never had any trouble at all on the bike. Browsing the web I discovered that delayed onset pain is not an uncommon consequence of a ride like PBP. It didn't go away in a hurry, and mindful of the time and care that it took to get over my bout of peroneal tendinitis, I decided to cancel my upcoming rides, in particular the Knoxville double, and work on recovery. Well, it took longer than I expected and I ended up cancelling all my organized ride plans in the fall.

I also had some unfinished business with my right elbow. I had been diagnosed with a slight tear in a tendon on the outside of the elbow caused by improper lifting back in the spring and had delayed dealing with it because it didn't affect riding (in fact it actually recovered on a bike ride) and I was advised that the typical rehab time was 3 months, during which time riding would be off limits. So I decided to schedule the surgery for early November, hoping to be ready for the 2012 season. Since I'd had some less critical but chronic issues with the inside of the elbow, I decided to have that taken care of as well. This involved moving the ulnar nerve from its usual position under the bone to relieve stress. The surgery was on Nov 10th and evidently went well. I had a cast for 10 days and then had to wear a wrist brace for 6 weeks.

Knowing that I wouldn't be able to ride a regular bike for a while even on a trainer I borrowed an unloved Baccehtta recumbent from a friend and was able to ride that pretty much from the outset. This helped keep my leg strength and aerobic fitness up. I got to like the relaxed position on the recumbent, which was definitely easy on the upper back, which is one of my pain points on a standard road bike, essentially due to a disk bulge in my C7 vertebrae.

It was hard to tell quite how the rehab was going until after I could take the brace off in early January, as I wasn't allowed to do anything that could stress it. However, it's impossible to not use your arm unless you are in a cast, so I got some feedback and, honestly, it wasn't very encouraging. When I went back to see the surgeon on January 2nd I was off the brace but the elbow still felt pretty sore especially the side with the nerve transposition. I also seemed to have picked up wrist pain (that I didn't have before) likely due to stiffness from the brace - which was really a wrist brace to prevent me stretching the muscles leading to the repaired elbow tendons. He said it would take six months before I was really back to business and the nerve might take a year or more to fully settle down. Now I'm wondering why didn't I ask more question before the surgery! I schedule the next visit for six weeks out. The next two weeks are really bad. I'm having physical therapy, doing some light stretching, no resistance work allowed yet, but I have a lot of pain, even when doing nothing, which I never had before the brace came off. Lots of heat and cold help to get me through it but not before I schedule an early return to the surgeon because I'm really concerned that it's not right. Just making the appointment does the trick as there is significant improvement in the few days before the I see him. So there's not a lot to say other than to be patient and time will heal.

Trouble is it's been three months and the riding season is starting up. I cancel the 200K I had scheduled in January, then the one in February, feeling gloomy. However, progress is steady but slow. When I go back to the surgeon on the last day of February, my wrist pain has mostly gone and the outside of the elbow seems recovered, although the muscle will spontaneously hurt in an low key way for no apparent reason. But the inside of the elbow is still very painful. I can tell the surgeon is a bit concerned about this but, again, time is the healer he says. I ask a lot more questions this time - better late than never perhaps.

I pulled out of the SFR 300K in March as I was still not ready. That ride has memories since it was my first ankle-pain-free ride in 2011 after I got my orthotics. Fortunately, by the end of the month I'm ready to start some riding and do a 40 mile flat spin on the Portola Valley loop on April 1st. The following weekend I went on a Western Wheelers club ride that involved climbing Kings Mountain Road and Alpine Rd, two fairly tough climbs. I was the lantern rouge on the descent of Tunitas Creek, feeling decidedly dodgy on the very technical descent. A nice lunch in the neat coastal town of Pescadero where I met several old friends also out on rides, which was great. Then the climb back over Haskins Ridge and up Alpine Road. I suffer on this climb, not in the aerobic sense, but my legs and glutes are toast by the end. A long descent on Page Mill and back home for a 60 mile ride and just shy of 7000' of climbing. A bit too much of an increment really.

Continuing that theme, the next ride in the Brevet series is the SFR 400K on April 21! I did this ride at the top of my game in 2010 in 18:15 thanks in part to a fast paceline on one flat 40 mile section. In 2011 I took 20:00 to do the much easier (less hilly) SCR 400K. So, I know I'm looking at no better than that and likely worse. I decide to crash for a few hours in Petaluma in a hotel and then ride in the next morning, taking almost all the allowed 27 hours for the ride. That will still have me riding 205 miles on day 1 however.