600k staff ride

My daughter, Amber, and I rode the 600k staff ride over the weekend. We noticed several things that will be useful for other riders to know.

 

 

We started from the Motel6 at 5am and immediately picked up the pre-dawn offshore flow which was so strong we were flying along at 20-25mph. I was so happy that I overshot the turn onto Atlantic and we had to backtrack 100 yards.Traffic through Huntington beach was light and we made excellent time to the first control at 21.7 miles. Note the Starbucks is actually inside the Pavilions, but you can use anywhere in this shopping center. As we turned onto the San Gabriel bike path at mile 22.4 we were surprised by the number of early risers jogging and cycling on the path. We picked up a strong headwind (the same one that was so wonderful at the start of the ride) but it died down quicky after sunrise and became a light tailwind. The turn onto San Gabriel is a bit confusing and Amber tried to continue on Durfee instead of turning left onto San Gabriel. Now we've made one mistake each. They won't be the last. The line at McDonalds at mile 44.8 was out the door (weird) so we went to the Jack in the Box next door. Heading back on the Rio Hondo trail we had a light headwind which got stronger as we got closer to the beach. At Long Beach Marina we just kept the water on our right. You can't go wrong if you do that. At mile 74.7 I noticed the older routesheet turns the wrong way - make sure yours says to turn Left over the bridge to stay on Marina Dr. I think the newer routesheets are correct. We got back to the Motel6 at noon - right on schedule.

 

 

Loop two heads inland and has the first real hill of the ride - up to Green River road - Ugh! We had a roaring tailwind which got even stronger through the Corona pass. As we were slightly ahead of schedule we elected to eat at the Lucky Greek which is about 200yds past the Chevron. Feel free to do the same. There are also an IHOP and a In-n-Out burger nearby. Eating real food every now and again makes the ride so much more enjoyable. The gyro and fries are amazing and they have a Coke machine with 106 different flavors. I filled my water bottles up with diluted raspberry flavored coke. Then we rode through Norco and along the upper SART (now paved all the way!) with a moderate tailwind to the Shell gas station at mile 150.8. The guy who runs it knows me by sight and automatically prints out a receipt for all cyclists :-) Now the climbing starts. It's mainly 2% grade but Walnut and Overcrest are much steeper - up to 10% for short sections. It's a good idea to have a time buffer for this section because a lot of riders will have a hard time holding a 9.5mph average to the next control. We still had a light tailwind all the way to Yuciapa - that's 70 miles of tailwind, if you're counting. It looks like parts of Brookside have been repaved recently - possibly the road work that had it closed last year. We got to the Stater Bros. on Beamont and Oak Valley at 7pm - on schedule again. Turkey salad on croissant sandwiches with a Red Bull. Yummy. We left heading towards the last light of the setting sun. Last year I had four riders that continued south on Beamont. Please don't do that. You have to leave this control headed West - hence the reference to the setting sun. We had a mild headwind for the first 5-6 miles of San Timeteo Canyon but it died down around Fisherman's Retreat. Shortly after we heard barking to our left and a golden retriever came out of the dark. It wasn't aggressive but it was stupid and kept running in front of me and slowing down. We rode cautiously until it started lagging and then we kicked it up. Just be aware. We picked up the night tail wind about half way down San Timeteo which stayed with us most of the way back to the end of the second loop. The control at mile 204.6 is hosted by Ruth Cabre-Chacon and her family. Riders who are feeling sleepy can catch a few winks here but sleeping at the end of the second loop will get you more sleep. Please be considerate of her neighbors and be quiet while outside. Continuing on we had a mild tailwind down Victoria Ave. This used to be a jewel in Riverside's crown but lack of maintenance has made this a rough ride. There's a bike path and a bike lane but they're both rough. Even the main road is in poor condition. The control at mile 227 is an Arco but there's an In-n-Out burger just before it which is an acceptable alternative. We were surprised to see it was still open. It was tempting but we opted for the Arco this time. The last stretch is mainly flat or slightly downhill and we still had a light tailwind so we were able to hold 17-18 mph to get to the end of the second loop by 1am - right on schedule again. The second loop is designed so that if you can get to the Beamont control by sunset (about 7pm) you will have a tailwind in both directions. Plus there's only about 1000' of climbing in the 75 miles from Beaumont back to the Motel6.

 

 

We left the Motel6 around 8:00am Sunday which gave us time to shower, change, get 6 hours sleep, and eat. There's really no point in pushing hard on the last 200k. There's a fair amount of climbing to the next control (lots of ups and downs) but we got there around 10:45. I fancied eating at Roy's Fish Market but they weren't open so we just ate at the liquor store instead. Continuing South along PCH we had a strong tailwind. Climbing through San Clemente on the bike route was nice. The route is a bit fiddly but it's well marked. At Christianitos Rd we saw signs stating an Ironman is being run next week (30th) and the whole area would be shut down. You'd be amazed how hard it is to schedule a 600k without someone scheduling a marathon, 10k run, or triathlon along the same roads and closing them down. We got to Oceanside and decided to try Angelo's Burgers. I tried to eat a breakfast burrito half the size of my head - I wasn't man enough for the job and had to leave half of it. The service is fast, the portions are huge, the food is good and the prices are low. I'm making this the recommended control although you're welcome to use anywhere beyond Neptune Way as before. We turned around and rode through Camp Pendleton into a headwind. I prefer to avoid Interstate 5. For northbound cyclists there is a mandatory detour starting just after the security gate. It adds another mile. Although it's clearly marked you should be aware that at the end of the detour you need to continue straight. I don't know how I screwed up but I went right instead. We rode an extra 7 miles as a result of that mistake. So we deliberately added 3 miles through Camp Pendleton, then the detour added one more, and my mistake added seven more for a total of 11 bonus miles. What with the headwind, we barely got to the Carls' Junior control by the cutoff time. Continuing into the headwind we passed through San Clement on PCH. To be honest there are so many lights on this stretch of PCH I think taking the bike route back would have been faster. It adds about a mile, so I certainly have no problems if someone wants to do that. Finally we got to Dana Point where we headed inland and that headwind turned into a tailwind.

 

 

Now for some good news. The barriers on the San Juan bike trail have been removed and the trail continues uninterrupted. This removes two turns and a stop light but it doesn't change the climbing or distance at all. I have updated the routeslip and the gps file for the 3rd loop. As we turned more north the headwind came back and we started to have terrible luck with the lights. They were all red or turned red as we got to them. I started to get worried that we wouldn't get to the 350 mile control in time. Amber was stronger than me so I sent her on ahead to make sure she got credit even if I didn't and I noticed that she was making all the lights and they were all turning red for me. I felt so special. As it turned out I got to the control in time so there was no need to worry. Apparantly there are two Albertsons on this road within a couple of miles of each other. I don't really care which one you use. Almost home now. Be careful on Alton - the on ramp for the I5 is tricky.It's worth stopping and making sure you have a safe gap in traffic before you cross it. We had a tailwind again on the bike path which is very fast because cuts out ten or so stop lights. We exit onto Main (the second exit after the footbridge) and for some reason all the lights on Main are green and we have a tailwind. Before we know it we're on the SART. There were quite a few riders and runners and hardly any of them had lights. It would have sucked to be taken out by one of them just a few miles from the end. We finished at 8:33pm. That's our slowest 200k ever (12.5 hours).

 

 

Congratulations to Amber for completing her first 600k ever.