March Solvang Century 2011

GPS stats:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72706862

Shannon and I got out of town early on Friday to avoid the traffic and made good time getting up to Lompoc.  On the way up though, we took Hwy 1 to get to Lompoc and it was mad windy.  It actually stayed windy throughout even around the area of our hotel, and we were nervous.  We thought if the winds stayed like that for the ride today, we would be in for a long day.  Fortunately, we got out early enough and made it back before noon where the winds weren't too much of a factor.

James got to the registration before us since we didn't think there was a need to get there early.  When Shannon and I got there though after kicking it at the hotel for a while, the line was going around the building and it hadn't even opened yet!  Thanks to James (and Angela), they hooked us up with a line cut and we got our packets early enough for our pasta dinner.

We decided to meet around 6 a.m. to setup for the ride on a street just off where the host hotel was.  James made it out there, but we never got to see Page.  Page did call us the night before but we never seemed to sync up.  Even after the ride, I didn't hear his call due to the music at the luncheon.  We did, however, see him as we were driving home.

Just before 6:30 a.m, we made our way to the hotel.  I took a quick bio break just before the ride, and when I came out, James and Shannon were already lined up.  A wave had already been released before them.  I got on my bike quickly, and once they were let go, I was able to get in and join them.  For the record, we were expecting thousands of people to be around, but that definitely was not the case.

Shannon, James, and I rode out in the beginning at a fairly decent pace, but nothing crazy.  After we got on Ave of the Flags, however, we started to kick it up taking turns and keeping the pace up.  I remember one guy jumping on, but a few minutes later, I looked back and he was gone.

The 3 of us kept working together for a bit and we were passing all sorts of people.  I was a little worried we were pushing too hard in the beginning, but I didn't share this concern with the others.  We saw a peloton ahead and reeled them in, although it took a while to do so.  When we got behind them, we rode in their draft for just a little bit.  Then, Shannon decided it was just not fast enough, and off we went.

We started to stretch out the gap but on one of the downhills, we dropped James since he couldn't spin up fast enough on his compact cranks.  Shannon and I were alone...but not too long.  The peloton eventually caught up to us with James in tow, and I started the pull with the train behind me after Shannon had just finished a pull.  As we started to go up one of the hills, a guy with a hydration pack with a triangle reflector decided he wanted to bust it and passed me.  Shannon and I immediately answered that by chasing him down and passing him after the crest.

We rode more but every time we climbed some hills, the peloton would drop where at one point, Shannon and I were alone again.  We did some climbs and a downhill, on one of the subsequent climbs, the peloton reeled us in again.  When they passed, the lead guy riding on tubulars (based on the 2 spare tires he had in his pack) said caught you again.  After I told him "cool," I started to accelerate again and ended up gapping them pretty good.  I looked back and Shannon wasn't there, but it turned out he dropped a bar that he went back to pick up.  Despite this, he was still able to get in front of the group pull them to reel me in again.

We ended up going through Lompoc and picked up a couple other riders  as we rode through the neighborhood.  Once we got to one of the hills, Shannon and I started to gap the others again, but 4 remained not too far behind after a while.  I stayed with Shannon for a while, but once we got on a downhill, he tucked in and started to gap me...even without pedaling!  I actually got a little blown out trying to catch him, so the 3-4 behind me caught me at the bottom, which included tubular dude.  I jumped in their pace for a little bit and when it turned uphill, I again accelerated and dropped them again.  Shannon was still in sight, and I was able to close a little but I was thankful that he hit the next SAG (around 40 miles in).  I came in right behind him, followed by the 3 and James.

Before the ride, Shannon said we need to get our money's worth at the SAGs, but I've heard this before.  Sure enough, 5 minutes later, he was all ready to go and all we did was top off our first bottle with water.  So much for getting our money's worth.  The 3 that came in behind us started to roll out too, but I think they wanted to because we were going while Shannon didn't want them to go without us.  Ironic? In any case, James had decided to drop a deuce and although we called out to him to come on, he later said he couldn't wipe fast enough where by the time he got out, we were gone.  In his words, the protein he had earlier had too much fiber.  In our defense, we didn't try to ditch James as we did roll with the 3 who left with us for awhile hoping he can catch back up.   Unfortunately, we didn't see him anymore until the end.

We rode with the 3 for awhile taking turns with tubular guy.  However, at one point, Shannon's pulls were just too much for them where once again, we were alone.  In fact, that was the case for the rest of the ride...and we were only 50-60 miles in!  We saw no one else ahead of us, not even at a distance, and no one behind.  The only other riders we saw subsequently were those who were on a 50 mile route.

Shannon and I were still taking turns, of course with his being longer than mine as expected, for a while.  When we came upon the SAG near the 60, we had been working pretty hard and I thought, hmmm...maybe he'll want to stop at this one and get our money's worth like he said.  I asked him if he wanted to, and I thought he said "okay."  It turned out he said "he was okay," and although I had already unclipped to start to turn in, he kept going forward and passed the entrance to the SAG.  I guess this one was not going to that SAG either.

We had another climb, and a little downhill and I started going into survival mode.  I REALLY could have used that last SAG, but I didn't want to disappoint my buddy.  Unfortunately, all I could do for the most part was just stay on Shannon's wheel.  This was tough as after 70, it was an 1100 ft climb.  What's worse was that the road was just full of potholes!  Shannon would get a way here and there, but I'd do my best to sprint to catch up when I could.   I was starting to lose steam at mile 80 as I had a hard time reaching down to get water from the bottle on my seat tube.  I also didn't eat when I should had so all I was doing was taking shot bloks whenever a cramp would hint.  Shannon got away from me on one last part of the hill where I thought this must be what they refer to as the wall.  However, after cresting,  I charged back down and was able to come in just behind him at the 85 mile SAG.   I'm sure he must have waited.

At the SAG, I thought, here is where we'll for sure get our money's worth.  After topping off our bottles with water and eating a couple things we brought (yes, what we brought), we were off again probably within 5 minutes from when we arrived.

Shannon had told me that after  85, the rest should be downhill and I thought "cool!"  Then we hit this one turn and I look up thinking, what the hell is this?!?  It was another 200 ft vertical climb that was pretty steep.  As I hadn't expected it, I was a little spent charging the prior downhills.  It was especially tiring given how jarring the rough roads were.  I tried to stay with Shannon, but it was just going to happen for me.   Fortunately, he didn't crest too far ahead of me, and it wasn't long after that we were again riding together. 

We climb Foxen together and when 2 Miatas passed us on it, Shannon said we can take those things uphills.  I thought he was either delirious at that point or serious.  Ballard Canyon was fun because of the turns and the road conditions weren't too bad.  We were jamming through there taking turns, but I thought we would we would turn right at one point like the last Solvang route.  However, there was yet another hill at the end and Shannon took off up this as well.  Later in the day, he stated he was feeling pains toward the end, but I just couldn't tell when and where.  It sure didn't look like it up this hill.

The rest of the ride was uneventful.  We just rolled through the town and through the sections until we got back to the host hotel.  By the time we arrived, there were some people around but only from the 50 mile route it seemed.  I'm pretty sure we finished first, unless someone (or some group) somehow nailed it without being visible miles away.

My Garmin shows our move time was just at 5 hrs 19 seconds with a 5 hr 13 minute elapsed time.  Not bad for just the 2 of us riding most of the route alone...and with 4600 ft of elevation.

We had a beer fest by the car after and were joined by Shannon's parents and James and Angela.  Thanks to Shannon for supplying the Peroni.  What a great way to finish an incident-free day.  I heard Todd got out to ride (Santiago + 7 sisters) but he said his after party was just not the same.   He was right.  Next week's Bulldog should be a good one.

Thank you guys for coming out!

A couple post ride pics:

BRCM robotics at it's finest

Already changing (and eating) when impromptu pic taken.