One Big River 300k Brevet

In past years I've been able to boast that my brevets have had very good luck with the weather. Little did I know the weather gods are jealous gods and they know how to hold a grudge. This year the rain has been biblical. If there's one thing harder than a 200k brevet in the rain, it's a 300k brevet in the rain (please don't think about the obvious corollary to that maxim). Yesterday, I hosted the Five rivers 300k brevet. The day before was nice. The day after was nice. The day of the event was not nice.

Twenty seven brave souls started in light to moderate rain at 6am in Corona. I was concerned that, because the route uses so many riverside bike trails, we might see closures and lost and frustrated riders. I was made aware of one trail closure due to a damaged storm drain in Newport Beach so had to make last minute arrangements to accommodate this. Other than that, I was aware of no issues with the route. Of course, with such heavy rain, on top of all the other rain we've had lately, the situation was fluid (pun intended). All I could do was cross my fingers and trust my riders.

After the riders had left I drove over to the trail closure and saw it was only partially closed so I hadn't needed to alter the route after all. I decided not to confuse the riders by telling them to ignore the detour.

Backbay from the trail closure

Judging from the receipt times, riders made good progress to the first control in Seal Beach despite the rain. Times were also good at the second control in Duarte but I was saddened to hear the pizza place has moved. Still -most riders rode so fast they got to Duarte before pizza was open and were forced to scavenge at the 7-11.

Two weeks ago the Rio Hondo trail was closed but last week I rode through without a problem. I knew if the Rio Hondo rose much there would be problems through this section but I think the riders got through here quickly enough to avoid any flooding. The usual headwind back to Long Beach was as strong as I've ever known. The unusual SW wind combined with the normal onshore flow created a double whammy - I hope every one was able to ride this stretch with some friends.

The last 100 km saw riders slow down significantly. I think the extra effort of riding in the rain started to show. Riders started getting lost more often although I don't think the route gets any more complex through this section. Instead of relaxing by an illuminated fountain at the last control, they were looking for hot food and shelter.

There's a section of bike trail in Peter's Canyon going under the 5 freeway that floods easily. By the time most of the riders reached it (in the dark) there was significant water on the trail and it was getting worse by the hour. Some riders who knew the area rode around but most rode through it. I had a detour worked out and available to anyone that called, but no-one seemed to need it. I'm glad you were all experienced enough to handle it well.

Greg and Stacy Kline were standing by in case anyone DNFed and needed a ride back, but fortunately their services were not needed. The last riders got back with nine minutes to spare. Round of applause, please!

I tried something new on this event that I will definitely do again. In addition to the ever popular pizza, I ordered coffee, hot chocolate, cookies, brownies, juice, and bagels from Panera. They delivered it at the specified time, just before I expected the first riders back. They threw in some chocolate chip marshmallows and mini bagels for free. I had more than enough food for everyone as they returned. You deserved it.

I tried to take photographs of everyone when they got back. If I missed you I apologize. Note how reflective you all are when I was using the flash. That's great.

I have already submitted the event results to RUSA. For those of you heading to France later this year, that's one more ride in the bag.

Undetectable e-bikes

I recently came across an ad for a Story Bicycle road bike that is almost indistinguishable from a regular road bike. Replace the handlebars with drops and you would be hard-pressed to know this isn't a regular road bike. It has pedal assist, so you won't see a throttle grip and the battery is concealed in the frame.

Story Electric Road Bike

It comes with a 36V, 7Ah battery in the down tube and a motor in the rear hub capable of generating up to 350W of power. The battery weighs about 2kg and the motor and crank sensors probably weigh another 3kg. So how much help would this be on a 200k brevet? Does the extra weight offset the power assistance?

Let's do the math using data from http://www.ftexploring.com/energy.

Thirty-six volts times 7 amp-hours = 252 Wh = 907,200 Joules of energy in the battery (252 x 3600). It takes 10 Joules to raise 1kg by 1 meter so this battery can raise 1kg by 90,720 meters or it can raise the extra 5kg of the battery, motor, etc by 18,144 meters or nearly 60,000 feet. That's far more climbing than most brevets have so a significant portion of the battery's charge is available to propel the rider forward.

So on a ride with 15,000' of climbing, 25% of the battery is used to raise the battery, etc over the climbs, and 75% of the battery would be available to aid the rider.

So I've established that the energy in an e-bike like this far exceeds the cost of the extra weight. While they may be fun to ride, they're banned from all randonneuring events due to article 2 of the rules below (my emphasis).

Article 2

These brevets are open to any amateur cyclist regardless of his or her cycling affiliations. Any rider under the age of 18 must have consent of his or her parent or legal guardian. Any form of human-powered vehicle is acceptable. The only stipulation is that the vehicle must be powered solely by the rider.

As event organizers, how do we spot riders trying to cheat with bikes like this? The one thing all e-bikes have in common today is the over-sized front or rear hubs. Even though the manufacturers can hide the battery, they still cannot hide the motor in the hubs.

Five Rivers Route Conditions

I've had eyeballs on the Five Rivers 300k route since the series of storms that came through SoCal last month. There isn't any damage to the bike trails or roads on this route.

At this time (Sunday Feb 24th) there is some sand and dry mud on the trail in some underpasses and on the north end of the Rio Hondo trail (see video). These hazards can be ridden with 28mm tires by a rider with average bike handling skills (me). Parks and Recreation has done a good job of cleaning up the mud and debris from the storms.

The only hazard I need to bring your attention is an unavoidable hole next to a telephone pole on the dirt section as we approach the Rio Hondo trail head at about mile 97. Please take extra care on this dirt stretch.

Last week there were several inconveniently closed gates across the San Diego creek trail, but they were not difficult to circumvent and I don't expect them to be closed on the 2nd.

Long time no Ride

A series of storms have been lining up to hit Southern California ever since the middle of January, making even leaving my driveway a challenge. Fortunately an hour of snow shoveling followed by a two hour stationary workout has helped keep my fitness level up.

We had a slight break last Saturday so Amber and I rode the last 100k of the Five Rivers 300k. Stacy, Greg, and Martins rode my Four Rivers permanent which covers the first 200k of the Five Rivers. Between us we managed to put eyeballs on almost all the bike paths used by the Five Rivers.

At this time, two weeks before the event date, there are quite a lot of problems to deal with.

1. SART is flooded as it passes under Orangewood but it's easy to cross over the street.

SART under Orangewood

2. The top of the San Gabriel bike trail has flooding over a spillway.

Top of the SGRT

3. The Rio Hondo is gated and closed, the reason is unknown. I will need to investigate further.

Rio Hondo

4. There is some residual mud in underpasses on the San Diego Creek bike path and there are some unnecessarily closed gates. The mud is rideable with 28mm tires and the gates can be easily circumvented.

The long term weather forecast shows about nine days of clear weather before the Five Rivers 300k which means all these issues will be resolved and I fully expect the entire route to be open. I was most concerned about long-term damage to the trails, but this doesn't seem to have happened.

For the Five Rivers 300k, we're currently expecting normal temps and wind with the chance of rain later in the day.

2019 SART 200k brevet

I had 38 riders reserve places on my 2019 SART 200k brevet and even though the weather looked quite sketchy I was pleasantly surprised to see 33 of them set off this morning. I'd like to thank you all for being so well prepared. I managed to get all 33 riders registered in about 40 minutes.

The pavement was wet, the sky was overcast, but it wasn't raining and the wind was calm. Just as the sun came up at 7:00 am (theoretically -- we couldn't actually see it) they rode straight from the motel parking lot onto the upper Santa Ana River Trail.

Although it was not raining when they started, the riders had to deal with flooding on Rincon and a heavy rainstorm in Anaheim as well as the flats that are common when it rains.

Flooding on Rincon - credit Stacy Kline

About three pm I drove over to Starbucks and bought two traveler packs of coffee - one decaf and one not. I figured the riders would appreciate a hot cup of joe after their ordeal. The first riders arrived shortly after four so I ordered some pizza to go with the coffee.

Riders continued to arrive in various states of hypothermia and hunger until it became obvious I needed another round of pizza. The last riders all showed up about 7:30. I only had one DNF. Considering how vile the weather was, that's impressive.

Last but not least

Stacy Kline posted more photographs here https://photos.app.goo.gl/vkNAgFcyRW1EdGJ29

Air bag for cyclists?

I came across this video article about an air-bag for cyclists that was shown at the CES tech expo in Las Vegas.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-46790235/crash-testing-the-air-bag-for-cyclists

It's a high visibility vest that contains a large CO2 bottle. Sensors detect an immanent impact and inflate the vest. Motorcyclists have had this kind of technology for a while, but the vests are heavy and tend to work by detecting when the rider and bike separate - rather annoying if you forget to disconnect it before stepping off. Apparently equestrians can adopt this kind of protection too.

There's a better video link at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1oeYIeRYQ that gives more detail. There's a link to the Helite B'Safe website here https://cyclist.helite.com/

You attach a sensor to the seat post that detects high G-force events and triggers the vest remotely. In the video, the rider falls off the bike rather sedately so I'm surprised the vest triggered. The device only works if the vest's zipper is closed, which is inconvenient when it's 100 degrees outside.

After being triggered, the vest can be re-used by replacing the CO2 cartridge. It looks like the same 16 gm cartridge that brewers use, but they don't actually specify the size on their website. The product is French so who knows if you can get the CO2 in the States.

I have to say that, overall, this is a very interesting product.

New Year - first ride and a flat

Last year (2018) I amassed a total of 10,415 miles - fewer than last year but still meeting my target. But that's all past history now, the counter returned to zero on 1/1/2019 and I hope I can meet my target of 10,000 miles again in 2019.

Today Amber, her boyfriend Glen, and I rode The Crema. The sky was overcast, the wind was blowing the wrong way, and the waves were huge. All sure signs there's a storm coming in. We were thrilled to see the beach trail through Huntington has been completely repaved and it is lovely.

We were very lucky to get straight into The Crema and loved the food as usual. On the way back I got a rear tire flat - I have no idea what caused it. I felt nothing in the tire but the replacement tube held air. I searched back through my blog and I think this is my first flat in 18 months - probably about 7500 miles.

We felt a couple of drops of rain on the way back so we were relieved to get back to the cars without being drenched. Getting straight into The Crema and a five minute flat change probably helped.

I found this story on bbc.com about a 90 year old competitive cyclist who was stripped of his title for failing a drug test. And no, it wasn't Geritol. That's inspirational and sad at the same time.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/46768802

There's an interesting and thought-provoking update to this story in the Guardian newspaper here https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/09/carl-grove-90-year-old-cycling-failed-drug-test-world-record.

Next week is my SART 200k ride. I have 27 riders signed up for it already and I expect to have over 30 on the day. The weather forecast looks OK right now although some of the slower riders might get rained on.