Santa Barbara Easy 200k

PCHRandos hosted the flat Santa Barbara 200k brevet this weekend so Amber and I signed up to get our SR series started. There were 29 riders which is a good turnout considering all the changes we've gone through in the past few months.

Photos by Stacy and Greg Kline.

We started at Mountain Meadows Park in Moorpark just at dawn in cool weather but with perfect day promised. At least it was dry.

At the start with Stacy

When we got near the coast there was some considerable fog. Being experienced randos, most of us had daylight flashing tail lights which probably helped drivers see us a little sooner. The fog misted up my glasses, and others' too. The biggest problem is it got into Amber and my bike computers and stopped them from working for a while. Amber's didn't recover for the entire ride. Probably need to take the battery out to restart it.

Early morning fog

About 25 miles into the ride my rear tube decided to split along the seam. I had made the number one(ish) rando mistake. I had not taken the time to get all my gear into top shape before the start of the rando season. New tires and tubes, new spares, new chain, and some TLC for the bike.

One of the problems with Gatorskin tires is you don't get flats. That doesn't sound like a problem, but eventually your tubes will die of old age and so will your patch kit. I should make a habit of replacing my tires, tubes and flat kit and checking the spare at the start of the year. Perhaps it should be my New Year's Resolution.

Fixing an unnecessary flat

It turns out an insta-patch on my spare had failed (also with age) so the tire went down again ten minutes later. Fortunately Amber had a spare too so I used that. It held air for several hours but I had to pump it up later.

I can't fault the weather on this ride, nor the route itself. It doesn't get much better than this. The vest and legwarmers came off, the sun came out, and the birds started singing just for us (maybe not). We were feeling so good I tried to ride all the way to the turnaround without eating, but after 55 miles I just had to eat half a pro-bar. Still - 64 miles on 200 calories is pretty good.

Headed along the beach in Santa Barbara

Lunch at Sushi a Go Go on Santa Barbara pier

We returned the way we came out except for some minor deviations like this short bike path.

Santa Barbara bike path

I love this new section of bike path just East of Carpinteria.

At the base of the Santa Rosa climb we stopped to use the restroom and grab a few calories.

I have no idea what I was so animated about. I had just chugged a Monster so it could have been anything.

The climb up Santa Rosa was not as arduous as normal, I wish I knew why. We got to the end at Greg's house about 10:05 after we started - not bad for two flats and a group that wasn't in a hurry.

Hamming it up at the end.

We ate well at the end - pizza, cream cake, and more.

Thank you Greg and Lisa