SART 200k with friends

Several weeks ago I received an email from Julie Hua Ni, a rando from SFR, asking to ride my 200k SART permanent on Tuesday. As I still needed to ride my November 200k I decided to take the day off and ride with her (like I need an excuse to take a day off!). I posted an open invitation on the PCHRandos website and Mike Bratkowski took me up on it.

Tuesday came around with a slightly ominous weather forecast that indicated rain in the evening but hopefully we would be able to arrive at the end of the ride before the storm did. We started slightly after 8am as Mike moved his car to a spot less likely to earn him a ticket.

L-R Mike, Terry, Julie at the start

I was trying out a new navigation setup. I have been struggling to find a way to use the ridewithgps app on my smart phone in a way that protects the phone while letting me read the display. I had not been successful. Even moderately bumpy roads had the phone jolting violently and me wondering about the quality of the single bolt that stood between my $600 smartphone and a brutal death on the pavement. I've been looking at a $100 bluetooth Wahoo RFLKT that sits on the handebars and shows upcoming turns, but the reviews haven't been that great and I was still worried about readability in direct sunlight (of which we have a lot here in SoCal).

So I have some bluetooth earpieces from Best Buy that I use at work to listen to music for which I paid $40. The RideWithGPS app has voice cues (it just reads from the cue sheet at the appropriate distances). So for this ride I kept the phone in the case and put it in my Carradice bag, running the RideWithGPS app but with the screen turned off. The earpieces are supposed to have a seven hour run time but they were still going at the end of a nine hour ride. I spent 15 minutes on RideWithGPS editing the cue sheet, mainly removing unnecessary cues.

As I rode I heard vocal cues as clear as a bell and it even warned me when I deliberately went off course and directed me back on. For longer brevets power will be an issue but I can power the phone from my dynamo hub and I have an external battery that would probably work with the earpieces. As it was we rode a 9 hour 200k and both the phone and the earpieces lasted the entire trip. This setup solves all the readability, battery life, and phone safety issues I've been having. I never even have to take my eyes off the road to navigate. Of course I will still have a cuesheet for backup because the battery never dies!

The three of us rode well together and we made good time until we hit a headwind about 25 miles from the beach - much earlier than usual.

Nice day for a ride

The headwind slowed us down a little but it was for less that a couple of hours and I was looking forward to a commensurate tailwind on the way back. There's a new deli at the Newport Corner Market and it was taco Tuesday so Mike and Julie grabbed the taco deal but I fancied a steak burrito. All good.

Awww so cute and so friendly

Heading back we immediately picked up a tailwind that just got stronger as we headed through the Corona gap and was still blowing strongly when we got to the Lucky Greek in Corona for our last stop. Fries and Coke (Mike had a shake which looked delicious) - Julie snacked on grapes and nuts. I don't know how she rides so strong while eating so little.

The tailwind stayed with us for a while longer only petering out in the last ten mile stretch. It finally got dark enough for my Luxos to turn on about fifteen minutes from the end of the ride and we finished at 5:18pm for a 9:08 ride time. According to my RideWithGPS we had a 7:27 ride time for a moving average of about 17 mph and an overall average of 14 mph.

Happy at the end

Unfortunately Julie's husband was stuck in traffic somewhere on the 60 near Rosemead so we all went to a nearby Jack-in-the-Box to wait for him. Finally he got to San Bernardino around seven and we were able to deliver Julie safely to him.