Scoping out the Five Rivers 300k brevet

I rode 40 miles on the upper SART again with Sherry on Saturday and spent Sunday scoping out part of the new Five Rivers 300k brevet that I am hosting in February 2015 with Amber.


We started in Azusa at the north end of the San Gabriel bike path. The control in Duarte is perfect and there are no issues accessing it so it stays on the route untouched. Then we followed the route on the San Gabriel, Rio Hondo, and Los Angeles river trails. We had one mile of road and 40 miles of bike path. For some reason we had a slight tailwind and made excellent time to Shoreline village in Long Beach which is the next control on the route.


I had originally planned on using a 7-11 four miles further along as the control but ridewithgps.com pointed out that there is a potential shortcut. Amber and I ate at the Yardhouse which was really nice. I even drank half a pint of Murphy's Stout which is very unusual for me. After our meal we wandered around Shoreline village and saw many good options for food so I decided to move the control here instead. I think the riders will like it. La Copa Empanadas looked really good and we plan on eating there during a ride at the first opportunity.

Shoreline Village

After Shoreline village we rode along the beach path to the San Gabriel bike trail and rode all the way up it to the end for a total of 84 miles which included maybe four miles of road.

I've submitted my application for the Five Rivers 300k brevet and hope to get it approved soon.

Fantastic Weekend

As Tuesday was a holiday I decided to take Monday off too and make it a four day weekend.

I started with a 30 mile ride on my exercise bike on Friday night, then rode 40 miles with my wife on the upper SART on Saturday. On Sunday I rode the 56 mile Backbay loop with Amber, eating at the wonderful Champagne Bakery for the first time in too long.

On Monday I rode with a lovely couple from Kansas - Mike and Nancy Myers. They've ridden 12,000 sanctioned km so far this year. That's more than two years worth of riding for me!

Mike and Nancy Myers

They had chosen my Lucky Greek 100k permanent populaire to get their California brevet. They have ridden brevets in about 30 states now. After this ride, they were driving up to Las Vegas to do a Nevada ride tomorrow.

We met at the Panera at 6am which meant I had to get up at 5:00am :-( We got started at 6:18 under heavy cloud cover but with no wind and no chance of rain. We reversed the course because I was worried about rush-hour traffic, what with it being a week day. The upper SART was lovely and the recent storms meant there was actually water in the river. I joked with them and told them the river only flowed three days a year, but in California that still counts as a river.

They (especially Nancy) told me about the seven trans-continental rides they had done, and the different bikes they had used trying to settle on one that addressed all their different medical issues. They currently have a stretch limo of a recumbent tandem. Their license plate is [TANDUMB].

Before we knew it we were at the end of the SART and the traffic on Arlington was unpleasantly heavy. We got off after half a mile and onto River road through Norco which was nice and quiet. Traffic on Rincon, Smith and Railroad was heavier than usual, probably because it was a week day.

We got to the Lucky Greek and I decided to make the brevet an out and back to avoid traffic. We got pretty much the same number of miles either way. A gyro and fries later and we headed back. We talked a lot more about the people we had met and the kinds of things that randos like to talk about - how eventually every road reminds you of another road - how 300k rides always seems so hard. We talked about family and how lucky I was to be able to ride with my wife and both daughters in the same weekend.

I learned about slugburgers (seriously) and discussed how lucky we SoCal randos are with so many RBAs putting on so many rides for us.

About ten miles from the end the sun started to come out but it remained a pleasantly cool 65-70F.

It was a very special ride and I am honored to be part of Mike and Nancy's epic adventure.

I finished up my long weekend with a 23 mile ride on the upper SART with my youngest daughter and my wife. In the evening I virtually rode the first 43 miles of a new Utah 200k brevet that I am validating as part of my new duties for RUSA.

Against the Wind

I've been doing a lot of cycling lately, but nothing terribly interesting. The greatest challenge has been to avoid sunstroke.

Yesterday a decent storm blew through the Southland so I decided that would be the perfect day to ride my monthly R12 200k permanent.

It was a dark and stormy night. Seriously it rained and blew all night and even hailed a bit. I got a later than expected start because it was still stormy when I got up so I thought I'd wait a bit, but it didn't subside so I drove to the start and hoped it would clear up a bit.

It turned out that the storm was sitting over the mountain and once I got to the start of the ride it wasn't raining anymore. I started at 9am and, although it was cold and windy, it wasn't actually raining. But I could tell there had been heavy rain because the bike path was covered in mud and dirt and was flooded in quite a few places.

I was very glad I had recently replaced my tires with new Gatorskin 28mm tires that are flat resistant and track really well in mud. We all know that we get more flats during and after rain, but I got none.

After about 13 miles of riding it started to rain - a lot. I tried to shelter under a single-span bridge but the wind blew the rain right through the arch and I couldn't get any relief so I decided to just keep riding.

Q. When is a headwind a blessing?
A. When you are riding in a storm.

I had every reason to assume that I was in a localized storm cell. I could see blue skies ahead and the rain had come on very quickly. Fortunately I had a headwind which meant that I was headed South while the storm was being blown North. Six miles later I was out of the rain. Unfortunately I was soaked through after only a mile of rain. But with the temps in the 60s I never really got cold. I was wearing long lycra pants, a long-sleeved jersey, and a Pearl-Izumi convertible jacket. I also had a thermal layer in my Carradice bag that I didn't ever need, even when the sun went down.

Special effects from sweaty lens

Rincon was closed with gates across it. I assumed it was flooded so I went around the gates to see how bad it was. It didn't look impassable so I gave it a shot. The water was about 6" deep so I got my shoes wet again, but nothing else.

Water across the road at Rincon. It takes more than closed gates to stop a cyclist

By the time I got to the In-n-Out burger at mile 31 I was dry again (almost). But I was already stinky which meant I would be horrible by the end of the ride. I had a double-double and headed out 20 minutes later (they were slow for some reason). You'd think the smell would have given me priority!

It warmed up towards Newport beach and the headwind got fresher - even a bit violent at times. I got to the turnaround at 13:20. During the day there is a wonderful deli run by some Koreans so I had a turkey and ham on toasted ciabatta. Delicious.

Turning North I picked up a wonderful tailwind - a bit gusty but very nice. I just rolled along at 15-16mph having the best time. It was really a wonderful time to be out riding. I had to make an emergency detour to the Amtrak station in Anaheim to attend to the call of nature. Even Green River hill didn't bother me much. The tailwind didn't get me up any faster, but it was easier.

I got to the Lucky Greek at about mile 100 with the sun getting low behind me so I made it as short a stop as possible by ordering fries and soda. I should probably have eaten a little more but I wanted to get onto the last section of bike path before sunset.

The gates were still closed on Rincon but the water was much lower, only about 2" deep at the center of the road. Some asshole had taken the time to push a supermarket trolley around the gates and smash a bunch of bottles all over the road. I managed to thread around them all without getting a flat, but I fantasized about sneaking up to him while he was smashing the bottles and nailing him with my shock baton. That would have been fun!

I got onto the bike path a few minutes before the sun set and rolled along, still with a tailwind, enjoying a stunning sunset. About 5 miles from the end I started to bonk and ate some Belvita cookies I had brought along in my top tube bag. They really did the trick and I felt strong again in just ten minutes. I finished with a total distance of 130 miles in 9:57.

So this was a challenging ride in many ways. There was mud, debris, and flooding. It was cold, windy, and wet. This was my kind of epic!

Salinas - Oxnard 600k brevet

This weekend I supported the PCHRandos Salinas to Oxnard 600k brevet ride. This ride had been organized by Matt O'Neil but when he was killed on the C3R ride Willie, Vickie and I undertook to run it in his name. The ride is a one-way from Salinas down the coast to Oxnard. Most riders left cars at the Oxnard Amtrak station and took the train or got a ride up to Salinas. I transported Kerin and Mike while Willie transported a couple more in his tricked out truck.

We had about 25 riders start at the Howard Johnson in Salinas at 4am Saturday morning. They rode a loop southeast along G17 and G16 and then turned right up Carmel Valley road to the first control at 55 miles and 2400' where I met them with food and water and encouragement. The Salinas valley was cold and foggy that early which caused Elaine some difficulty, but she and Lisa made it up to my control where they inhaled some greek yoghurt and recovered a little.

Then the riders had a lovely downhill most of the way to Carmel at mile 80 where it actually started to get a little warm. So far the ride had mostly been on hilly, but quiet country roads. They turned left onto PCH and rode down one of the most spectacular portions of PCH with amazing views of the Pacific coast. Other that the unusually heavy traffic, the cycling was fantastic. The temperature stayed around 65 and there was a pretty solid tailwind.

I next made contact with the riders at Gorda which boasts the most expensive gasoline in the continental US at $6.00 a gallon. Thank goodness I drive a Prius and only needed two gallons. They also have $13.95 quesadillas which would cost $6 anywhere else. I met an Englishman called Jamie who is currently running from Vancouver, CA to Argentina at the rate of about 30km a day. He's raising money for several charities. He's pushing all his supplies in a regular baby stroller made by Thule. I wish him the best of luck.

I stuck around at Gorda until Pete, Lisa, and Elaine came through - all looking pretty strong. Then Nicole, who was also helping, told me her minivan wouldn't start. Her battery was dead and we couldn't find jumper cables. Gorda is in the middle of nowhere - they don't even have power lines or cell phone coverage. Everyone there was so nice - they called people and hunted around and eventually Terry found some jumper cables for us. My Prius manual says I can't jump other cars but we found some German tourists who helped and we got Nicole's minivan running again.

At this point I realized my cell phone had stopped working. I could take photographs and receive text messages but the screen didn't work and I couldn't make any outgoing calls or reply to the texts. I had to drive to SLO to Vickie's house so I could go online to find out how to reset the phone. Fortunately when I did that everything started working again.

For the rest of the evening I shuttled back and forth from SLO to the last rider and accompanied Elaine and Lisa into SLO about 3am. The control closed at 4am. At this point I had been awake for 24 hours straight, but so had many of the riders. Pete DNFed at SLO after riding 220 tough miles, with severe butt and knee problems. I know there's a 600k in him somewhere.

I drove straight to Oxnard and grabbed the room at the Best Western at about 8am, showered, and grabbed an hour of sleep before the first rider - Gary - arrived at 9:20 for a 29:20 total time. This was his first 600k but by no means his first long ride. Other riders came in slowly over the next few hours. By 5pm there was still about half the pack out on the road with three hours left. Nicole was providing SAG while I did the paperwork at the end control.

I've always thought that experienced randonneurs aim to have about an hour to spare on a multi-day ride. This maximizes their sleep time while leaving a good buffer for issues. This group seems to agree because the bulk of them finished around 5pm although Jorge came in with only 15 minutes to spare because of a flat tire only a few miles from the end. Everyone who left SLO finished the ride inside the allotted time and got credit.

Mel Cutler got his Ultra Randonneur award -  he did 10 Super Rando awards in only five years. Way to go Mel. Several riders completed their first 600k. Eric found it easy and Hal found it difficult but everyone gets credit for completing a challenging 600k brevet this weekend.

Anaheim to Oceanside - back by Amtrak

Roughly once a month Amber and I ride from Anaheim Amtrak station to Oceanside and then take the trail back. I feel it's our way of thanking Amtrak for letting us use their parking lot every week to start our ride from. We started at 8am to try to get the climb up Santiago Canyon finished before it gets too warm. Also they stop serving breakfast at Cook's Corner at 11am.

I had decided to ride my Trek 520 cro-moly touring bike. It's quite a bit heavier than the Serotta and has a partially broken in Brooks on it. If I'm going to tour Colorado on it next year, I need to get more miles on it.

The SART is all messed up right now so rather than keep being forced off it we decided to exit at the first construction zone and ride along Riverview all the way. That was a bad idea - it's busy and has no bike lane much of the way. Next time we'll use as much of the bike path as possible. My butt was sending out alarm signals around mile 20. I read Amazon reviews that say Brooks saddles can be ridden without discomfort right out of the box - bullshit. It takes about 1000 miles before you can ride a comfortable century on one in my opinion.

Santiago canyon was busy in a good way - there were huge numbers of cyclists using it. Some we passed, most we didn't. We got to Cook's Corner around 10:30 at mile 29 with most of the day's climbing already done. It' definitely more work riding the Trek what with the extra weigh and fat tires. I ate my whole breakfast burrito which I normally cannot do. Amber had the usual french toast. Lot's of cyclists eating here today.

Pressing on we had a wonderful 20 mile downhill to the coast. Amber wanted to ride the insanely steep Salt Creek trail but I begged off considering the extra effort of climbing on the Trek. Maybe next time. Turning south with the Pacific ocean on our right, the view is sweet.

We have decided to add a coffee stop to the route. We like the Kaylani coffee shop as it's right on the route and they have a great sea salt and caramel iced coffee. It only scores 3-4 stars on different review sites but it works for us.

Now we have cooled down a little and picked up a few calories we continued south along the San Clemente bike route and jump onto more bike path to Camp Pendleton. Big signs saying it will be closed to cyclists next Saturday so we timed our ride well. After Camp Pendleton we were in Ocean side and stopped at Angelo's. I wasn't hungry as we approached but as soon as I got off my bike I got really hungry and ordered a club combo. We had a lot of time to kill so we just hung out there for an hour and then rode a mile to the station where we hung out another hour. 

Great ride but I probably burned off an extra 10% calories on the Trek.

On Romney Marsh

Some Fogs can stop time. Not the weak, pusillanimous mists that retreat as you advance - I'm talking about honest to God fogs that push up close to you and breath in your face like a drunken bully; the ones that can hide a house or a precipice.

I was cycling along a narrow road on Romney Marsh in the south of England late one night when a thick fog rolled in off the sea. One moment I could see the lights of St Mary's Bay in the near distance and my lights lit up the road far ahead. The next moment I was surrounded by a wall of thick fog and my lights only lit up more fog.

I was at a scenic turnout so I rode in carefully, guided by a weak light over a public restroom. I sat on a low wall with no idea if there was a two foot or two thousand foot drop on the far side. The weak light cast my shadow onto the fog. You shouldn't be able to cast a shadow onto air - it's not natural.

I had a cheese and onion bap in my saddle bag which I took out. For those of you who aren't familiar, a bap is a soft roll. A cheese and onion bap is a bap with butter, a slice of sharp cheddar, and a thin slice of onion. It's not grilled or fried onion - it's as raw as the day it was dug up. "Pungent" describes it well. I had chosen it because it was the absolutely cheapest sandwich they had in the store.

Once the unwrapping stopped, I heard a dismal groan coming from the marsh. It sounded like a trapped animal, crying in pain; or perhaps a lost soul warning against wandering the marsh in the fog. It was a herring gull, resting on top of the restroom. It had probably been attracted by the light and was waiting impatiently for the fog to lift. Perhaps I had startled it, or perhaps it smelled my bap.

The fog was swirling through the air and made patterns around the light. The restroom walls were covered in water drops that ran down, leaving streaks. The fog was condensing on the cold metal frame of my bicycle and dripping onto the ground. It was soaking into the leather and terry-cloth of my gloves and the lycra of my shorts. I was wearing a waterproof vest but the waterlogged air just crept underneath and soaked my cycling jersey.

The water condensing on my helmet dripped down my neck. Everything was cold and wet. It was not pleasant.

So there I sat; bap in hand, onion on breath, cold and wet, illuminated by a fog-haloed light, sharing a moment with a seagull. I have no idea how long we were there. Fog can do that.

Hot, hot, hot

It's September and Southern California is experiencing a heatwave. It was 105F in San Bernardino today. Amber and I waited until 6pm to ride from Anaheim Stadium. We rode a modified Back Bay route because I'm planning a new 300k route next year and wanted to scout an unfamiliar section.

We ate at the Flame Broiler in the Westpark Plaza in Irvine. They have everything there (Flame broiler, Pizza Hut, Kabob, Chipotle, Subway, and more) and it's right off the San Diego Creek bike path so it's the perfect place to put a control. I'm a big fan of rice bowls on bike rides. They're warm, filling, salty, and have lots of carbs but not too much fat or protein. I've also read that rice is a better source of carbs because it causes less gas. I felt quite frisky for the second half of the ride.

The other nice surprise was a new three mile stretch of class A bike path called the West Irvine trail that goes from Bryan Ave to Pioneer Ave. This cuts out two awkward left turns and a mile or more of Portola. We will be altering our Back Bay route to include this in future and it will certainly be on the 300k.

Amber and I agree we should add this new 50 mile route to our night ride repertoire.

On the down side I see they've dug up even more of the bike path so the five miles from Katella to Lakeview now has two major detours. CalTrans outdid themselves on the drive back by shutting down two of the three lanes of the 215 North and many of the on and off ramps in the area. All the stop lights were on flash mode and police were everywhere, mainly trying to stop irate motorists from attacking CalTrans workers. Incompetent Bastards.