Santa Cruz 400k

This weekend Amber and I drove up to Santa Cruz to ride their 400k. I rode it two years ago and had good memories of it, but this year turned out to be a complicated ride and threw just about everything it could at us.

We stayed at the Mission Inn which is 1.5 miles from the start and 1/4 mile from the end. The ride itself started at a lighthouse and sign in went smoothly. Lois and Bryan know how to organize a brevet. We headed north up PCH to Moss Beach in a big group. We managed to stay with the group for a while which was good because as soon as the sun came up we were riding into a headwind.

It's fifty miles before the first control at Moss Beach. Two years ago this caused me a problem but this year I was more prepared for it. Fifteen minutes later we were headed back south with a nice tailwind but soon we turned inland towards LaHonda for some climbing. The next control at LaHonda is a small country store but there are no rest-rooms. Fortunately the bar across the street 'Apple Jacks' was kind enough to let us use theirs.

After LaHonda we hit Haskills Hill - the hardest climb on the ride that takes you up 500' in less than two miles. While grunting up the hill we were passed by a semi-pro team with 'Mission' on their jerseys. They cruised past me while effortlessly holding a conversation. One of them saw the Pooh Bear on my Carradice bag and told me a joke. 'Why did piglet look in the toilet?' 'He was looking for Pooh'. Aha - I wish I had a sense of humor while climbing a 10% grade.

Near the top of the climb was a disaster. There were hundreds of glass bottles broken all across the road with hundreds more in the ditch to the side. Either someone deliberatly brought a truck load of bottles up this quiet country road and smashed them or they were being transported and fell off the truck. Either way the Mission team was all over the side of the road fixing flats. We saw the glass and avoided it because we were only moving at 4mph. There are advantages to being slow.

Los Gazos creek road must be one of the most beautiful roads I've ever ridden. It's smooth, narrow, winding, with rolling hills and overshadowed by trees. It is idyllic. We were back onto PCH again too soon but at least we had that tailwind again and returned to Santa Cruz in good time. We ate at the Safeway opposite our motel even though there's no official control here. What a fantastic loop!

I knew the eight miles from Santa Cruz to Aptos on Soquel Road was ugly so we rode through that as quickly as we could. Heavy traffic, parked cars, cross streets, lights - I get enough of that where I normally ride. Once past Aptos we get more country roads but they must be maintained by a different department because the road quality is noticeably worse. We had a constant headwind all the way to Marina where the fog set in and we started getting cold. I liked the bike path as you enter Marina.

We decided we wanted real food in Marina so we ate at the Taco Bell. I ate a personal pizza in ten bites and the staleness of the breadsticks didn't bother me at all. I was full for the first time today. I put Mountain Dew in my water bottles and meant to water it down but forgot. Leaving the Taco Bell it was cold so we put more layers on. My thermometer said 50F but the fog just sucked the heat right out of me.

Heading out of Marina we had a tailwind along River Road and Gonzales River Road. Now I remember these road were rough two years ago but they were dreadful this year. River Road was so rough it snapped Amber's mirror mount. This was a four month old Mirrcle mirror. I seriously considered taking my expensive light off and putting it in my bag to protect it. In the end I decided not to so that I would have the best lighting to allow me to avoid the worst of the potholls. I still don't have full grip strength in my left hand.

We got to Gonzales just before 9pm, in time to use the Chevron. My stomach was bugging me so I just got water. A couple of Tums helped for a while but I think the problem was too much sugar from the Mountain Dew. This control requires us to mail a postcard at the post office because Gonzales pretty much closes at 9pm except for the bars. Martins Zinbergs joined us at Gonzales which was much appreciated. We turned around back into the headwind and braved the wind, the rough road, and the sprinklers blowing water (I hope it was just water) across the road. The good news is that this entire stretch had taken us away from the fog of Marina.

Back in Marina (and the fog) we stopped at the 7-11 and pretty much camped out in the store while we ate and drank. All I wanted was an apple pie and a red bull. We left the 7-11 and turned right onto the bike path and with a tailwind. That's more like it. There was fog all the way now - not heavy but definitely cold. Soquel road seems better in this direction. Perhaps it was the lack of traffic. There's a couple of nasty little hills near the end of the ride and then we turned onto King St - more superb craftmanship from CalTrans. It's like riding on recently cooled lava flow. We finished the ride at 3am in 21 hours which was fine with me. Two years ago was more like 24 hours.

If I did this ride again I think I would switch to a mountain bike with aerobars for the second loop. It wouldn't have to be full suspension but those fat tires would be great on River Road and the aerobars would be better than bar-ends for dealing with the wind.

We were woken up at 8am by the screaming of a retarded girl in the next room. She kept it up, on and off, until the family left at 11am. Thanks Mission Inn!