Tis the Season…oh apparently it’s nearly Christmas too!
Anyhoo, after much pencil chewing it looks like this is the 2017 Schedule. Obviously this is dove-tailing into Becca’s plans and we are off to Wisconsin in the fall for some IronMoo as well as another trip to Northern California for the new Ironman Santa Rosa 70.3 and a trip to Boston for the Marathon in the Spring!
Dec 29 - Jan 1; Four Days to Fitness - 4 days, 65miles+ per day with plenty of elevation
I am also dipping my toe into the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) Year Rounder Challenge; 12 Centuries or more in 10 months!
As you can see it’s a schedule of mxed surfaces but the gravel and road compliment each other pretty well. I am a believer in having A, B and C events and the list above breaksdown as follows;
A, this a race so it’s all about results, balls to the wall;
Belgian Waffle Ride
HooDoo500
B; looking to dial in and race test things for A events, it’s a “training race” to monitor my performace
Rock Cobbler 4.0
Redlands Strada Rosso IV
Mullholland Challenge
C; basically a training day
Four Days to Fitness (obvioulsy!)
BWR Camp (again obviously!)
L’etape
Mike Nosco
Definitely no grass growing between our toes this coming year! As usual there are plenty of horizons coming my way…
So yesterday I had the pleasure of joining 750 or so other cyclists at the 8th Annual Mike Nosco Memorial Ride. This is my second year of attending the event. The ride has a joint mission of celebrating Mike’s life and raising money for selected recipients who are in need. It’s a very popular ride and is very well supported by the local community including, riders, sponsors and bike shops. There was also smattering of Pro’s with Phil Gaimon, Ted King and Neil Shirley rubbing shoulders with the rest of us! It’s easy to tell how popular this ride is with all of this happening on a Thursday!
The route, as best I can tell, hasn’t changed each year so it would come as no surprise to regular riders. There are three main climbs which are timed for a KOM/QOM award. For those people who feel that it’s a bit too much there is a shorter route with less elevation.
Even though I haven’t done any major climbing since my HRS attempt in the summer I had no qualms about signing up for the 80 mile ride. The joy of a deep base and a big range of gears!
As, pretty much always, the weather was sunny and unlike last year’s chilly wind it was a warm start that would become a hot ride by the time we were in the canyons! A lot of folks were having a rough time by the end but let’s not get too far ahead!
The start is a low key but organized affair. The ride down Potrero is at best a bit hairy and with 749 other people it’s something that is taken gingerly. Nobody want to crash and even more so not going downhill within the first 5 miles of the ride.
To that end it’s a neutralized rollout with cars front and rear controlling the speed down until you reach the farm fields at the bottom. From here there is a couple of miles to the remembrance site where some words were said by his brother Jack and we paid our respects.
From here on out the riders split up into various groups over the flat terrain heading for the first climb at various speeds. As before I was reminded how much quicker a group of riders can cover the ground vs. a solo rider as I barreled along mid pack in the late teens, early twenties per hour!
A few miles ahead of the left turn into Deer Creek I passed the group as I didn’t want to get stuck in a bunch that ground to a halt on the sharp climb.
The first couple of hundred meters usually has people up and out of the saddle and there is crunch of gears sliding across the cassette! I sat in and stood occasionally. The climb has a couple of nasty false summits and as you round the corner you see you’re not quite there!
At the top was the first Aid Station. I rode through it and stopped the other side. I didn’t need any supplies. I scoffed a bar and headed out. To get to the descent there are a couple of nasty rollers which take you by surprise if you’re not familiar with the climb. The decent down Yerba Buena was uneventful. The road is pretty rough but despite that I was able to pass some folks, testament to an overall improvement in my handling skills from this year.
Turning left onto PCH at the bottom there was a one mile break until the next climb; Mullholland Highway. Needless to say having Everested on this hill I was very familiar with it. Before really noticing it I was halfway up. I ended up with my third fastest ever ascent, by comparison to Deer Creek it’s an easy climb and it gives you a couple of stretches to recover. The trick here is to not back pedal but to keep the foot on the gas. As before there was an Aid Station at the top and here I made a point of refilling my bottles and grabbing a soda. Along with the elevation gain the temperature was rising and I was glad I remembered to apply the sunscreen!
An easy decent to PCH down Encinal and I was back on the coast. Some rolling hills and a cool ocean breeze lulled me away from thinking about the climb up Latigo. I have ridden this many times now. It’s best described as remorseless; 9.2 miles and nearly 2000’ of gain. There were plenty of people struggling on the lower sections with some already walking. In the middle there is a false flat which lets you catch your breath before the last 2 miles which are followed by a quick descent and the final mile of climbing. With the last three miles to go I dug in deep and picked up the pace. I made the mistake of misjudging it and kicked it up too soon, by the time I got to the top my HR was well into the red and I had to stop to cool down. I grabbed several handfuls of ice and stashed them down my jersey will pouring coke down my throat! After a couple of minutes my HR had dropped and I headed back out.
With the three main climbs completed it was basically 20 miles of rolling terrain left to get you back to the Start/Finish where there was plenty of recovery food and even a beer tent! Alas as it was a school night…well day, I couldn’t loiter and had to collect the kids from school!
So despite my lack of climbing this year I felt I rode it pretty well, I was pretty close to my best times on the first two climbs but nearly 20 minutes behind on the third, obvioulsy put down to going all in too soon! Overall I was 2 minutes slower and half a mile longer than last year!
As like last year the event is a very well organized, because it’s a fund raiser you donation is your entry fee and depending on your donation you could get a Tshirt, jersey or full kit. This year I opted for the Tshirt as last year I went for the full kit but I haven’t worn it! Things average out I am sure. The event is very well organized and as mentioned well supported so there are no concerns about things running out.
If you’re looking for a good cause and a good challenge consider signing up for next year.
Well the week kinda got away from me. I had planned for another 200 mile week but it wasn’t happening, that said only 2 rides resulted in 140 miles, nearly 15 hours and over 15,000’ of gain!
So on Tuesday I took the day off work to join 400 or so other likeminded individuals and ride the Mike Nosco Memorial Ride. This was never on my radar as I had planned for my Everesting ride to have been on October 23 but with Becca’s mishap resulting in me pushing it out five weeks this seemed like a great opportunity to get some mid-week miles and test out the final pieces of gear that I had assembled for the event. In addition to this I was able to support a great cause and pay my respects. You can read more about Mike on the event’s website.
The weather had been pretty crappy the prior couple of days and it had even rained some but the morning was bright and clear. There was also a chill in the air. I figured I would skip a vest or arm-warmers and go with just my usual jersey and undershirt. That proved out the best decision although it was super windy and as a result got a bit cold at the end of the day, but that was really an incentive to HTFU.
I drove out to the start which was only a 20 minute drive, parked up and then rolled to the start. A few words were said and without much ado we were off. I placed myself firmly at the back; risk mitigation. I wasn’t worried about being “last”, it wasn’t a race and I expected to catch a few folks on the climbs..
The route was one I was very familiar with, there was one climb, Deer Creek, which I had never ridden but the second climb will be my Everesting Segment and the third I have ridden only twice before but both rides were in the last 4 weeks. The one real concern was the first descent which is a twisty steep drop from the Conejo Valley down towards the farmland of Camarilo.
To ensure there were no disasters the organizers had slowed everyone down until the bottom had been reached.
From here we rode out to the actual Memorial site where more words were said. The entire peloton then bunched up and broke apart in the space of 2 miles. Sometimes I have glimmer of what riding fast could be like then I see what others can do and I crawl back in my shell. So with that said and having been caught at a set of lights and stopping to pee I was pretty close to being the Lanterne Rouge. Well apart from the 20+ flat tires in the first 10 miles (people look after your gear!) I caught up with a group of ladies and just as I was in the just in the draft zone we got to the first climb. Oh well.
Deer creek wasn’t too long it was more a short sharp climb, 2.2 miles with an 11% grade. At the top it leveled off and then there were a few ups and downs before the descent.
As this was new to me I used my on board Virb and filmed the entire thing, it’s below at 600X. It’s hard to tell but the descent was very rough, the road could certainly need a new surface. I was happy with my climbing and the way the bike handled things, I passed a lot of people and no one passed me…well on the climb at least.
At the bottom it’s a left turn onto PCH and it was a 2 mile stretch to the left turn into Mullholland. This was the KOM segment for the ride and obviously a stretch of road I was very familiar with. I rode it hard. Passed many people and even sprinted for the last 50 yards or so against someone. I bested my Strava time by 18 seconds down to 38:17, the winner oh he cruised in in 25:35!
Some rollers at the top and it was another decent back to PCH where we turned left again for a 6 mile stretch to the last climb Latigo. This was the third time of riding this in the last month or in fact ever. With that in mind I sat in and rode up, passing people and rolling through the Aid Station at the top. I eased off the gas vs the Mullholland climb but had in mind a target of an hour to the top; 9.2 miles 1982’ of gain and average of 4%. Mission accomplished.
Let’s talk quickly about Aid Stations. All the local bike shops were out in support for this ride. AS were placed strategically at the top of each climb. There was at least one maybe two guys on mopeds checking in with riders on the road. A couple of other motorcyclists were providing roving support. Mavic had a car and a motorcycle too and then there were a few repair stops that also had light provisions and water. There was also plenty of support from the local Police and Fire departments with crossings and turnings mostly covered. All in all the support was great and you never felt out of touch or abandoned. That said I was entirely self-supported throughout this ride, I had 5 Lara Bars and two bottles of Skratch. The weather was not hot, not even close, the average temp for the ride was 67f with a low of 55f and as I wasn’t sweating (you know what I mean) I drank only one bottle…yes one in 6 hours. I’ll say now don’t do as I do! Finally there were a multitude of photographers out and about, here’s a couple of great shots of me…if I say so myself. One was free and the other I am waiting for the download link.
Ok back to the ride. At the top of Latigo, you’re not actually at the top. There are a few more ups and downs to get to the start of the decent which is, by comparison to the climb, short at 0.8 of a mile! Right turn on Kanan, left turn on Mullholland, right turn and back down Decker. Here I dropped my last Lara bar so I stopped to pick it up and grabbed a couple of bars from the AS/Repair stop just in case.
At the bottom of Decker that last stretch home was through Hidden Valley and the wind was blowing a gale. Mostly a headwind which was better than a side wind. One final climb out of the valley and it was a nice decent back into Newbury Park and to the start finish. Here’s the overall breakdown of time/elevation;
At the finish there was hot food, a silent auction (I missed out on the Road Bike Magazine jacket) and Beer! I was cold and so I ate, waited for the auction to end and then headed home.
All in all it was a great day, a challenging ride and 80 solid miles in the bank. The website stated 11,000’ of gain but I only managed 8300’ even so it was the largest gain on a ride…so far! It was also a great day to test out my final gear check for the Everesting ride in three weeks which all worked really well.
As you have probably realized the ride was amazingly organized, more so than others that I have ridden.
When this comes around again next year I’ll definitely add it to my schedule.
