SUMMARY
Terrible Two Santa Rosa Double Century
200 miles
16,800 feet vertical climbing
Weather: 50 to 100, mild fog to bright sun
Ride time: 13:33; Total elapsed time 14:35 (official)
Ave speed: 14.8 mph
Ave power: 135 Watts
Ave heart rate: not working
Finish: 66th
In scanning the weather report continuously for the month after the Central Coast, I was gaging my suitability for attempting the aptly named Terrible Two. As shade temperature can reach over 100-degrees, which equates to 110+ on the bike, I understood the reality this suggested for me. Having learned through rough experiences earlier in my cycling adventure (trips to the hospital included) that heat was not my friend, I wanted a good (perfect?) weather forecast before I would commit. Once the long range guestimate turned into a short range forecast, I submitted my entry only a week before the start.
Feeling that my peak season conditioning was during May (although it never felt peakish), I would be attempting to ride solely on my base conditioning from earlier in the year without much focused hill training.
Unlike Central Coast or Solvang, a large group of riders (seemed like way more than 250) left Sebastopol in mass at 5:30 am under cover of light fog. After an easy tempo through Santa Rosa, the lead neutral car pulled over, the chit chat ceased, and the ride (race) was on.
I paced myself over the first smaller Bennett Valley category 3 incline and decent before hitting Trinity Grade (3 miles at 9% average grade) which started steep. Here I decided to just set my own tempo and not worry about anyone else. The sweeping decent was fast with good pavement, reaching a speed of 50 mph on our way to Oakville. It was here that I joined a group of riders to form a paceline to share the work pulling the ‘train.’ Heading north on the Silverado Trail, I met two minor misfortunes, first feeling hamstring cramping at mile 50, and second, smacking a rut squarely enough to hear the hiss of a rear wheel tire puncture. Two group trains passed as I fixed the wheel and began the day’s incredible consumption of Electrolyte salt tabs, Calcium, and Magnesium. I caught on the back of a third group and continued the paceline efforts up the valley.
Vernon from San Francisco, one of my compatriots from Central Coast was in this group and we chatted a bit before the day’s longest climb up, a 9 mile double peaked beast up the Geysers on poor uneven pavement. It was here that it dawned on me that I should have a 28 toothed rear cog and not just a 26. While I’d used the 26 on all the other doubles and the death ride, my pure power output is lacking in general for the year. A 28 would have helped a lot to maintain a more even tempo throughout the event. Vernon and I summited the climb together and began the bone jarring decent on wickedly bumpy and potholed with graveled unpaved sections down making it more worrisome than fun.
At the lunch stop at 110 miles we had completed well less than half the climbing and while the rest of my body felt fine, my legs were stiff, tight and thighs crampy. As we began the ascent up Skaggs Springs Road, my Garmin’s temperature gage began heading towards 100 degrees. Occasionally we would feel a breeze that would cool the sweat, but mostly it was hot, steep and relentless. I left Vernon (for the time being) and pedal at a consistent rate with power in the 160 watt range. While ascending the second Skaggs peak, the cramping worsened forcing me to stop, stretch and take copious amounts of capsules. This went on for the next 50 miles by riding 5 to 10 miles, cramping, stopping, stretching, more capsules, more riding, more cramping, and on and on.
Reaching the coast, I was actually chilled (60ish degrees) but savored the scenery and the weather. At the Fort Ross rest stop, Vernon caught me once again and we paced one another up the last true steep climb. Near the top a rider was waiting for his friend and asked if I wanted to race to the summit. Already spent from the ride and the cramping I said “sure” as I watched him jump and stomp to the summit. When I, at my unwavering tempo pace, reach him I asked “so how old are your legs?” He looked at me oldly and asked me to repeat. “How old are your legs.” “17” was the reply. “I never had the patience to ride 200 miles at 17! Great job!” Afterwards I told Vernon: “I’m probably older than his father!”
The ride from Cazadero to Monte Rio to Occidential was beautiful and brought back memories of elementary and junior high camp at Alliance Redwoods and Mount Gilead. While still tight and cramping, we managed to up our pace to 20 miles per hour before and after the 500’ ‘minor’ climb to Occidential.
We were happy to see the finish and welcome home. It was nice to finish before my main goal (finish before dark). I saw and said hello to an number of riders from White Mountain and Central Coast whom were part of the journey. After riding over 15 hours with Vernon over the course of the last two double and finishing together on both, I know little more than his name, occupation, place of work, home town, and current town… He probably knows about the same about me. But we both did the same three doubles this year, the misery cold and sopping wet of Solvang; the power, tempo, and isolation of Central Coast, and the hard, hot, crampy, and thrill of the Terrible Two. Maybe his experience was the same, but I doubt it.
I’m learning that for me riding long is more an internal mind game, an escape, a release, and an awareness, a gain of a new perspective that transcends the ride itself…and life.
