Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/47798232
I think Strava needs another classification for its suffer score rating. I suggest "Ridiculous" as it would fit this ride perfectly. As I go into the details of the ride, you'll understand why.
Noah caught wind of the ride and opted to share it with all of us only to have Shannon, myself and Todd follow suit. Unfortunately, Todd couldn't make it out due to health reasons, but Noah's buddies, Kevin and Brad, came along and took part in this sufferfest that was advertised as a 130 mile, 12K feet of climbing and with on- and off-road terrain. Actually, the draw for us was the Belgian waffles before the ride and the Belgian beer after. Okay, so maybe it was just the beer.
The organization of the race was definitely different than others we participated in previously. They were only in the 2nd year of holding the event, so I suppose it was understandable. They didn't really have any pre-rider instructions as to what to expect other than they had an expo the day before that continued on the day of the race at 6:30 a.m. They also indicated there were two waves to join in: the CAT Pro/1/2 leaves at 8:30 and everyone else leaves 10 minutes after. Other than that, it was a daily e-mail of hype and more hype.
The breakfast beforehand, which Shannon and I skipped just because we didn't want to upset our stomachs, was with waffles and eggs. Based on Noah's culinary assessment, it wasn't really worth it as the eggs seemed like they were made from powder. As to the beer and food after the ride, both were also a miss given that they ran out of the beer that we wanted to try and there was no food as well (clams and fries...umm...yeah). They did have a food truck there that sold sausage sandwiches, but personally I think the organizers should have picked up the cost of those given they ran out of food.
Unlike a lot of rides, this one definitely brought out a lot of good riders, both men and women alike, making for a seemingly legit race-type ride. I don't think it was a really big ride in terms of number of people, so those who made it out seemed more serious. And from some of the things we saw while we were on the course, it was definitely a day of awe and humility.
When we staged for our wave to go out, Noah, Shannon and I represented the BRCM white kit and we were among a lot of riders in full kits as well. In typical Noah fashion, he made fun of two riders in Matchbox kits saying we can take them. There were a lot of Spy sponsored riders, including those from Swamis, so we knew this was going to be good. We even saw a couple Descenders, but no one we recognized.
The first 22 miles of the ride was escorted by CHP and at a moderate pace intended to keep everyone together. We did hit a couple short but steep climbs along the way, so to have HR be so low during the flat section and spike up for those hills was actually more tiring than I expected. Maybe that was the plan.
The escort finally ended at the opening to a bike trail, and this was where I ended up losing everyone. I was with Shannon and Noah beforehand, although we'd get separated on occasion given the numbers of riders, but I totally lost them given we had to line up pretty much single file to get on the bike trail. By the time I had gotten on, I knew I was behind everyone so I tried making my way around people just to close the gap and hopefully be able to ride with the others. Nope...they were gone!
After the bike trail, we hit a section where we had to get off our bikes and carry it down a soft dirt ravine to a dirt trail that was flat but with a lot of loose gravel. Riding through that section was very unnerving on slicks, and the bike was pretty much all over the place. There were some real soft sections as well where I kept thinking I'm going to lose my front, so a lot of the time on that section I spent on my small chain ring just so I can pedal through when I had to. Ridiculous.
At one point, we hit another section where we had to dismount again and carry our bikes up a soft ravine that led up to another bike trail. I don't think my speedplays were made for that, and I was really afraid I wouldn't be able to clip in at the top. It did take some work to do so, but I got them in and was pedaling to catch up again. I think we hit even one more dirt section that actually was not just flat, but also had some big rocks, ruts, downhills and uphills and was something that was more suitable for a cross or mountain bike. All I kept thinking was that I hope my wheels, tires, and actually my whole bike holds up to the beating. Ridiculous.
It was nice to finally be back on the road again, but I can tell that my bike wasn't running as smooth as it was originally. However, everything still worked and pedaling had me moving forward, so on I went. At this point, I was pretty much on my own but I had gotten in with some groups here and there. Sometimes I would break from one group and jump to another, but it was hard to find a group that seemed to want to push at the pace I was wanting to go. When I would take the front, I often did gapping the others behind me. I'd check up when I would, but this happened more often than not leading to some inefficient riding. After a while, I just relegated myself to be in the pack just so I can have others to ride with rather than being on my own.
When I was about 40-50 miles in and on one of their bigger climbs, I saw a familiar white jersey ahead of me. It was Noah, with Kevin just ahead of him. Noah had been having stomach issues, but opted to do the ride anyway being the Ironman stud that he is. I kept my tempo on the hill though because I think breaking it could actually tire me out even more, so I ended up pushing ahead and trying to mix it up with others on the climb. The mixing up part just gives me something to shoot for so I can finish the climb sooner than later.
I ended up in a group again and as we hit the 2nd SAG, I was going to keep going but somehow managed to drop my chain just upon arriving. Staying on my bike and bending down to fix it, my lower abdominal ended up cramping and I had to stand for a bit until it subsided. Might as well go pee in the bushes while I'm here. Another lady, also was looking for a place to pee since they didn't have porta potties at the SAGS (ridiculous), so she peed in the bushes nearby.
Upon hitting the SAG at the 60, I did a self evaluation and thought to myself, there's no way I can keep going at the pace I've been considering there was still more than half the ride left. However, I saw Shannon there where I just opted to refill my bottles and take off again without getting too much rest. I did start to eat on the bike after we both took off, but Shannon started to gap me pretty good where I just told him to go. Shannon took off for a little bit, but I think checked up to let me catch up and ride together with him. When he tired near the end, I reciprocated just like what team members do.
From the 60 mile mark, we still had several climbs to do along with even more dirt riding and even a small stream crossing. The dirt riding was even more rocky and difficult to maneuver through on the road bike, and it was a blessing that none of us had any mechanicals or flats for that matter. It must have been weird to the onlookers seeing a bunch of us on road bikes riding the trails. During the stream crossing, I did contemplating carrying my bike over but opted to go ahead and ride through. Some mountain bikers on the other side who were watching gave me kudos after, to which I replied with "f#@* that shiz!" I'm also thankful none of us biffed it but there were some people you'd see with some rash, some broken spokes, etc. The good thing was at the end of the dirt road, there was a SAG so the Coke and the granola bars were very much needed at that point. I guess the 3 waffles, 4 gels and 2 Shotbloks I brought were just not enough for the day.
After almost 100 miles in, they had one big hill to climb called double peaks, and it was a grind making it to the top. Thankfully, the training up the 7 sisters and Baldy during the prior weeks gave me perspective to make it seem less horrific than it was. I just kept pedaling and passing people on the way up. Near the top, a lady was handing out towels soaked in cold water, which she hands you as you have 200m left to finish the climb. It was perfect. At the top, there is another SAG and another Coke and some bonk busters would help get us back.
The rest of the ride was a lot of downhills, but there were still some climbs here and there. Shannon, who was wanting to break away from groups earlier on, was finally content to staying with the pack that we had grouped up with for the rest of the way. I tried to convince him earlier but we ended up riding alone for 20 miles believing we would gap others only to be caught subsequently. I tried to help bring up the pace on occasion toward the end but no one would ever really follow or keep the pace, so I stayed and just finished the rest of the ride with others towing us for the rest of the way.
True to its ad, it was pretty much 130 miles for the whole route. Shannon thought they probably overshot the estimate as we would experience in other rides, but not this time. 8 hours on the saddle for this event, so everything from the legs, taint, arms (from all the vibration of the dirt trails) and lower back were just done by the end. We had a couple beers by Shannon's truck with everyone, but I was pretty much ready for bed. I think I had passed out at one point during the drive home, and Shannon being the trooper let me sleep.
We'll definitely be checking this one off the bucket list, and I'm not too sure I ever want to do that again. Actually, I'm pretty sure I don't. I think everyone else was of the same opinion. Good job to all of those who made it out and thanks to Shannon for all the support. Now I'm going back to sleep....
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