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Fort Bragg 600K
This was to be my longest ride. Three hundred and seventy three miles. I had completed several 200K's, one 300K and two 400K's. This would complete a Super Randonneur Award. It would not be easy. Several approaches were considered in riding this 600K. One was to get a room in a hotel somewhere. It was suggested that Cloverdale would be the best location. That way you are close enough to finish after a few hours sleep. The other option was to ride through. The 400K's I did gave me some experience with long rides and the Fleche gave me experience with sleep deprecation. I felt pretty well armed to battle a long ride and staying up for a long period of time. Without giving myself an out, a hotel room to sleep at, was risky. I chose to take that risk. I emailed the SFR google list to get some idea of what I could do. I had several helpful responses. Sleeping at Indian Creek Camp, sleeping at Safeway, sleeping on the road somewhere. A space blanket was suggested and I purchased one just in case. I felt pretty well prepared.
Next, I secured a parking space. There were a few remaining spaces at Sport's Basement. I let Eric know I was interested in one of them and gave him information on my car and the deal was done.
I woke up at 3:30am. That would give me an hour to get ready and an hour to drive up there. Shower, breakfast, the usual. I headed out with my bike on my car at 4:30am. An hour drive. I had some idea where the Sports Basement was but seemed a bit confusing. I arrived at Exit 439 and exited and pulled down Lincoln Avenue. I went past McDowell, turned around, then headed down McDowell. Now, to find Sports Basement. I drove for quite a while until things didn't feel right. Oooo. I turned around and carefully looked for the address, 610 Old Mason. There it was. I had wasted some time. It was already 5:45 am. I was late. I hurriedly got my bike ready. I saw Eric Larsen pull up in his BMW. I greeted him and noted the lateness. He said we still had 10 minutes. I took off to the toll plaza and was indeed late! I pulled up and grabbed my brevet card as my bike was checked out. The group had left during this time. I was considering trying to keep up with Max. This plans feel away with the lateness. Still, I remained calm. It would be a long ride. I fully intended to do it all solo if I had to.
I caught up with Metin soon. He was on a fixed gear one speed. I will never understand that as I love my gears too much. Am I soft because of this? Well, my lowest gear is a 42 X 28. That has to count for something. We chatted a while as we went through Sausalito. Soon I was on Sir Francis Drake. And before too long I had caught up with Jonathan and Emma Dixon. The awesome tandem! I would be seeing a lot of them on this journey. I had been with them on the Davis 400K also. Great riders and quite strong. I hung with them to the first control: Pt. Reyes. I saw Patrick, Megan, Jason, Rob and some others and Rob said, "there's Roy!". Rob had a very strong ride and was always ahead of me. I went in the market and bought some rewetting solution for my eyes (contacts) as I had forgot this if I needed to sleep. I was prepared to remove said contacts if I were needing to sleep. The rewetting solution would help throughout the ride as my eyes would dry out periodically.
I come out of the store and gone was the group. That's OK. I would leisurely take a bathroom break then continue on familiar roads. Highway 1, Point Reyes Petaluma Road to Petaluma Safeway. Solo all the way. Passed a few fellow 600K riders. Safeway, bought a sandwich and a drink. I had caught up to the same group but they also were gone by the time I finished my purchases. I was fully committed to a solo ride. I chatted a bit with Jonathan. My water bottle still had some Hammer product from the 400K in Davis the week before. And it tasted a bit rank. I poured more water in but found that as I rode the stuff was still there. Switch bottles and get more water later. I left Jonathan. Maybe a poor choice since I could have had a tandem pull. As it was, I was pretty familiar with the route from a previous brevet. This was a bit different though. I passed a rider on S McDowell. Soon riding on Old Redwood Hwy N. I hadn't looked at what the next turn would be. Of course I missed Main Street which turned into Petaluma Hill Road. I asked for directions in town and backtracked and found Petaluma Hill Road finally with some fits and starts.
Petaluma HIll Road went on a while. I was riding pretty well but soon hit fierce headwinds. The wind had started to rear its ugly head. This was a portent that would become a full blown and brutal theme throughout the ride to Fort Bragg. It was pretty stiff at this point. I gutted through. I had a few doubts that I was on course but I soon passed a SFR rider and started to relax.
Finally, Santa Rosa Road. Santa Rosa city limit sign clued my in a while back. This is sort of a Santa Rosa wiggle: short segments and keep your eyes open for the next turn. I got them all and soon I was rewarded? with a headwind ride on Mendocino Avenue. The wind was pretty strong. Pace-lining would be ideal on this stretch. Not an option. No rider or group in sight. I passed a few but they were on shorter junkets. I was on me todd. And, there are a lot of lights on Mendocino Avenue. But, ride I did. And soon I was on Old Redwood Highway (again?). On this road I saw several older cars quite nicely fixed up. I decided there must be some sort of car show somewhere and that excited me a bit. My 1964 Plymouth Valiant would have felt in place there. Some cars were modified. Looked like a group of Chevrolet Impalas, different years, nice paint jobs and modified. Pretty cool. Nice to have some eye candy as you are fighting monstrous wind like this.
On I rode. This segment took quite a while. I caught up with a rider and I planned on passing like so many (I had places to go!) but the rider stayed with me. He asked where I was going. I always love this part. I told him Fort Bragg. He was impressed and we talked about distance riding and biking. He was familiar with randoneuring and was a Santa Rosa resident. He was biking to meet a friend for coffee in Healdsburg. Good company. The street changed to Healdsburg Avenue. This distressed me a bit because it was supposed to remain Old Redwood Highway. He assured me I was still headed to the correct place. He pulled in front and I gladly tucked in behind him. Soon we were at the slightly confusing Mill St. turn. He led me to the Safeway and wished me luck and was on his way as my thank you trailed off to him as he faded away.
Hey look! I had again caught up with Patrick, Megan, Rob and the others. I thought for sure they would be long gone. Not too bad. I purchased even more food this time and water. I took my time and ate outside after a long wait in the line. As I was eating with others from SFR Metin pulls up on his fixed gear bike. We greet each other and eat together for a while. Soon I am off.
This next segment would be a long one. Wind definitely played a factor. Not too far to Geyserville Ave. This was a chore. Seven miles of wind, then 3 more. I usually do not stand when I ride. I was standing now. It was a strong headwind. My legs had started aching at Headsburg. I thought, "not already!" But you can't really think about these things. Finally I see the road turned to Asti and not too long later I was turning on Theresa Drive, then Dutcher Creek Road. Soon I would be in Cloverdale. Metin had mentioned to me to pick up some water and food in Cloverdale because it was a long haul to Indian Creek Camp. I rode on, saw another randonneur and waved to her. I continued on (it was good advice, Metin).
The climb all the way up was a bit of a struggle on 128. I had done this before. Familiarity does help in these matters. Ah, there. Mountain House Road. I was soon on the downhill. Then, I hear something like, "on your left" and it is the Dixon Tandem! Hurray! I soon latched on and it wasn't easy to stick with them on the downhills. I really had to push. We rode on and saw and passed a briefly picked up a couple of riders. One being Eric Larsen. I was surprised that he wasn't able to keep up! I didn't realize at the time that he was also riding a fixie. That must be lonely and hard work. Mentally taxing. I am amazed still when I think of the fixies on this ride.
I stuck with the tandem all the way to Indian Creek Camp. It was a struggle but I hung in there. That tandem is fast going downhill. I was gapped a couple of times but managed to hang in there.
Indian Creek Camp was amazing. They had simply thought of everything. Various bars, Cliff Blocks and other biker food you can imagine, a wide variety of food. We noted that they would have soup and chili at night. I knew that would come in handy. It was very tough to pull away. Soon we had to. I had to to go the bathroom but in light of the tandem leaving, I put it off. This would turn out to be a mistake.
Highway 128 at this point was fast. We must have had a tail wind as we were zooming along. And the area is so beautiful. All green and trees, so nice. The road seemed to be rolling if anything. So much nicer than the headwind before. It was 3 of us, the tandem and another who had joined from Indian Creek Camp. He had used the rest room. All this time I had progressively had to relieve myself more and more. It was becoming quite painful. I carried on, stubborn as I am.
We came out on Highway 1 and soon we were on the rollers. WIth the rollers came the headwind. It was gusty, seemed to want to push us off the bikes. The other cyclist (sorry, I didn't catch his name) was taking turns getting in front of the tandem for a pull. I hadn't done this at all because I am very poor at this. I must get better. Eventually I did get out in front for a pull and keeping in front and not too far in front was very difficult. The tandem kept having to reel me in. I did a bit better by staying closer and to the left with the tandem in view on the right and slightly back. Still, really difficult. I hope I was able to help because we were all having to put in a gigantic effort. Plus, having to urinate was becoming very alarming.
Finally, and I do mean finally, we were able to pull into the Fort Bragg Safeway. I made a bee-line to the bathroom. I think I broke something down there and it took a while to un-break it. That was stupid not using the rest room and gutting it out. Way too long and really bad for me. It took a while but I was finally close to normal again. I bought stuff at Safeway then I asked a cashier where I might find a burger. She mentioned Jenny's Giant Burger. I had to have a burger. Sit down, not too long, but definitely sit down food. I ordered a burger and fries. It wasn't the best of burgers but it was good to eat.
That was way into down on Main Street. I rode back. I had seen Patrick before I left for the burger. On the way back I decided to check to see if anyone else I knew was at the Safeway now. I saw Patrick and Megan. They were arranging items on their bikes and preparing for the ride back. I chatted for a while and then took off, solo. I had put my night gear on preparing for the cold. It wasn't that cold yet though and on the ride back on Highway 1, I actually was a bit warm. It was somewhat dark but I could still see the ocean down below. It was a nice feeling. It was still early enough that the wind was giving me a nice push. I felt strong and not in too much pain on the legs.
I made the turn and soon I was on Highway 128 again. The ride was quite amazing. Traffic on Highway 1 was pretty incessant and I was glad to get onto Highway 128 and be able to relax. The moon was out and there was a good feeling about putting away miles solo. Relieved also. Street signs, mileages, anything is always welcome when you are on a long ride, especially when you are riding 9 or 14 mile stretches like the ride back to Navarro and then Philo which I knew was where Indian Creek Camp was. I was thinking about that a lot. Chili would really be good. As I was riding along some house, someone yelled something at me. I don't know what it was but I felt pretty vulnerable at that point. You never know about what a person could do for no apparent reason. I continued on.
Soon I was pulling into Indian Creek Campground. First thing I did was use the rest room. Maybe I might get it right from now on. Certain things are top priority. I rested my bike against a redwood and the volunteers were asking what I needed. I mentioned something about the chili and soon I had a bowl of just that. I also had some nice warm tea. And the fire was raging! I sat down comfortably warming myself up and eating and relaxing. This was good. Patrick and Megan and Emma and Jonathan of the tandem were there. Eric Walstad who I had met a while ago and a fellow randonneur was happy to get me what I needed. It was so good to relax and just sit.
But everything must come to an end. Jonathan and Emma were leaving and I decided to follow them for company. More of Highway 128 and we were anticipating the climb. It came soon enough. It was gradual at first. The first bit wasn't too bad at all. There were some good long downhills and I stayed with the tandem as long as I could but soon I just let them go. Too fast and I was OK solo again. They were planning on sleeping in Cloverdale anyway so it was just as well. I past Mountain House Road and after that was the steepest bit of the climb and it was a grind. My legs were starting to hurt with every climb. It took a while and an effort to get up the last section and it was pretty consistent. But then I saw the right which was Cloverdale Blvd. Downhill I went. I had to stop as I was starting to get tired and nod.
I came across a Quickie Mart with its doors wide open beckoning me. It had got pretty cold and I figured they had exactly what I needed. Hot chocolate and some sort of stimulant. I asked the cashier if he had hot chocolate. I was in luck! And only 99 cents. I filled up and took a stroll around the store. I told him about my adventures and he was pretty impressed. He mentioned that I should have a red bull after I mentioned a bit o fatigue. I demurred hoping for something in pill form. Ah, there it was. A small box of caffeine pills. As I was purchasing them he warned me not to take all 6. Good advice since I never drink coffee. I try to stay away from stimulants but this was necessary. I took one pill.
I continued on and soon I was back on Geyserville Avenue. A totally different experience. Not much wind so it went much quicker. I was soon riding down Grove St and then Vine St. Then the right on Mill St and it turned into Westside Road and remained for a while. I stopped at the arch to record the informational Control and carried on down Westside Rd. Wine country at night. No one on the road. Peaceful. All alone. It lasted a while these miles. Eleven miles was a long haul. I was patient with it and soon I was rewarded with a continuation on River Road. Not too long after that the Safeway was in view.
I pulled in to Control #7, the Gurneville Safeway. There I bought a chicken wrap with caesar dressing. It was good to eat. I also bought some chocolate milk. I relaxed again allowing myself. My legs hurt pretty much. At times I pedaled softer and wondered how I would continue with that much pain. But soon I would find a rhythm and continue. There is no stopping. You have to get back. No bail-outs. Just continue. As I was eating I saw another bike. Turns out it wasn't a randonneur, it was another guy that was riding at that late hour (or early, shortly before dawn). He asked me about my journey and he told me that he rode everywhere and put in something like 3,000 miles lat year. Good to talk to like-minds.
I pulled out of Safeway and it was cold. It took a bit of time but I was warm enough and pedaling and took the turn to Bohemian Highway, a 10 mile stretch. I looked ahead and the 22 mile stretch on Highway 1 scared me. I was in pretty good pain. My knees where pretty bad. A lot of miles to be pushing the tall gears. I think I might have pushed it too much. Still, it was peaceful, it was getting close to dawn and it was what I did and was doing.
The roads started becoming real familiar. Freestone, then Highway 1. Soon I was on the 22 miler to Pt. Reyes. It was good because at that point I would be close. Less than 40 miles. That was good. It looked like I would make it in good time. I had hoped for better but considering it was my first, not too bad. Rollers. I took them and pushed as well as I could. I would feel great pain and then I would just ride and not feel it.
I got into Point Reyes and went directly to Bovine Bakery. A breakfasty roll-like thing was exactly what I wanted. I got that and a small chocolate milk. I sat on the curb and started consuming my food. I really didn't have any problem staying away ever since I took that caffeine pill. Only one! Good to have a low tolerance. And, good I only took one. I started talking to an older bike rider and told him where I was coming from. He said I was hard-core. I suppose I was.
I looked at where I should go. I had thought it might be Olema, then Sir Francis Drake but it looks like I was to go back up CA-1 and return view Nicasio Valley Road. I was a bit horrified at first but, really, this was a pretty easy way back. No big hills until near Sir Francis Drake. I noted that everyone was just starting their rides! It was warm also. I had to ditch my jacket. The ride up the Nicasio hill was a struggle but not too difficult. I was soon flying down and then continuing on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. The climb came and went. It was OK. Then the fabulous downhill stretch into Fairfax and the wiggle. I hoped I wouldn't have too much difficulty following the maze of streets to Camino Alta. I was in luck. I followed another rider who was going the same way. Good. I didn't have to think.
Soon I was flying to E. Blithedale. And soon, the bike path. On I rode. Every hill hurt but every hill done was a bit closer to the finish. Ride on and through Saucilito and dodging morning traffic, car doors and ignoring those that passed me. I was content to safely ride. I was close. Soon the bridge. I took it easy as there is always a fear of crashing on the bridge with all experience of rider.
I pulled into the toll plaza and was greeted by a generous staff of volunteers. My legs hurt bad. It seems I could not put them in any comfortable position. But it was good to be done. I chatted with Carlos and the others. I am getting to know more of this great and giant family with every ride. Maybe gaining some respect for my efforts. So good to finish. So. VERY. GOOOOOOD.
Roy.
Page Views: | 658 |
Departed: | May 10, 2014, 5:51 am |
Starts in: | San Francisco, CA, US |
Distance: | 378.7 mi |
Selected distance: | 378.7 mi |
Elevation: | + 18568 / - 18349 ft |
Max Grade: | |
Avg Grade | |
Cat | |
FIETS | |
VAM | |
Ascent time | |
Descent time | |
Total Duration: | 30:05:08 |
Selection Duration: | 108308 |
Moving Time: | 24:00:26 |
Selection Moving Time: | 24:00:26 |
Stopped Time: | 06:04:42 |
Max Speed: | 40.0 mph |
Avg Speed: | 15.8 mph |
Pace: | 00:04:45 |
Moving Pace: | 00:03:48 |
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