June is the driest month of the year in southern Utah, at least it is supposed to be.  This year however has been an anomaly with cooler and stormy weather being quite frequent so far.  Saturday morning at the start of the Bryce Canyon 200k the weather looked quite threatening as 9 Color Country riders set out for the day.  The forecast looked pretty grim but everyone tried to stay optimistic, after all even weathermen are wrong sometimes! The forecast winds hadn’t appeared yet and good progress was made towards the first control in Tropic, a little town just outside Bryce Canyon National Park. The climb up the bike path through Red Canyon was lined with flowers and along with the deep reds of the hoodoos on each side it was quite spectacular. Once on top of the plateau we could see for miles. There were many rain squalls in the area and it looked to be only a matter of time before we got wet.  But hey, if you don’t ride in the rain then you don’t really ride do you!

We descended to Tropic on wet roads but it was not raining on us.  The squall must have just passed by and we missed it.  The control in Tropic is at a country store and has about everything you need. We filled up on typical brevet food like donuts and V8's.  With the paperwork done we started back up the hill we had just descended.  This was a short out and back leg to the control and then at the top of the climb the route would turn north into John’s Valley. A strong tailwind powered the riders along this section before dropping down into Black Canyon and on to Antimony.  Antimony Mercantile is not a control but it is a must stop since there are so few services in this area.  It is a good spot to grab a sandwich and they have great pie too!  The randonneur must fight such temptations or he might not finish his ride.

Continuing the loop along the Sevier River winds became less favorable with the exception of the short leg out to the next control at the town Junction.  From here you headed south again and straight into a headwind.  Storm cells still hovered in the area and it was hit or miss if you got rained on.  Everybody got the wind however and it seemed a little unfair that the headwinds played no favorites.

 

Carlton and Mike were the first 2 riders in and only had rain for about 5 miles. Harold was next in followed by Dion and Doug who had mixed rain and hail for 20 miles.  The Young family finished in their ride near Antimony and got picked up by family.

In summary, the dire forecast did not live up to the hype and I think the riders enjoyed the unsettled weather on the backdrop of this spectacular route.  As for the wind what can you say; it played its usual part both helping and hindering at times during the day.

The Start:
4:30 am:  One by one my riders arrived at the start line in Hurricane Utah; 6 riders total.  They did not know it but I gave them each a bike inspection as they arrived. Only one rider failed my test for lack of a reflective vest, but I always have a spare and soon he was properly equipped.  I had mostly a veteran group with one rando newbie, Bryan McConnell from AZ.  He said taht he had done this distance before but he looked a little under-equipped for a 400k to me.  I just figured that he knew what he needed and left it at that; I’m no-one’s nanny.  The ride starts immediately with a 1200 foot climb up to Apple Valley and then cruises through Colorado City and onto the Arizona Strip on mostly flat road. This is the location of Short Creek, home of Big Love, Warren Jeffs and polygamy. Yes it’s for real and is also the location for the story in John Krakauer’s book, Under the Banner of Heaven.  All of my riders pass through without picking up any new wives.


Michael Bratkowski at Control #2

To Pipe Springs and beyond:
Pipe Springs is a National Historical Monument from the days of the early pioneers.  It was also a stop for travelling padres Dominguez and Escalante on their 1776 expedition from Santa Fe. Weary travelers for many years have stopped here for rest as they pass through the area.  My riders of the range stop here for much the same reasons; for food, water and a little rest.  Mike Enfield is the first rider in, covering the 41.4 miles in just over 2 hours including the climb! The others trickle in one or two at a time.  Everyone looks good as they depart.  The towns of Fredonia and Kanab are next up before riders start the first real climb of the day. Outside Kanab the rocks are red and the sand is pink as riders climb out of Kanab Creek Canyon and over the top by Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. The sun is out and temps are in the low 70’s; it’s a picture perfect day as they drop into the next control at Mt. Carmel junction.

Mt Carmel Junction:
At almost 80 miles into the ride, the Mt. Carmel Junction control is a welcome stop for most riders. It sits in a scenic narrow valley along the Virgin River and is a busy tourist stop.  It is at the turnoff for the East entrance to Zion National Park and offers the only self bailout option on this ride.  From here you are only about 40 miles from the start location in Hurricane and it is an easy bailout.  I have never had a rider take it until today.  Bryan McConnell of AZ had had enough and turned off here.  He was a little under-equipped for a ride of this distance and bailed out before he got into trouble.  It was probably a wise decision as we would find out later. The weather had been perfect until now but some clouds had begun to form.  It was still warm but it was looking like mountain storms were going to develop. The route would climb up to about 7000 feet and mountain weather is unpredictable. It can get cold and wet very quickly in the mountains.

Panguitch:
Most riders made it into Panguitch without getting wet but a couple got rained on pretty good for a short time.  At 128 miles into the ride, Panguitch makes a good lunch stop and has great services.  Richard, who had been riding with Bryan before he bailed had now hooked up with Mike Enfield for the ride into Panguitch.  Larry Nelson was not far behind them and Dion and Michael were about an hour back.  The sky was completely cloudy now with many small storms cells in the area. Temps had dropped to the low 60’s and the winds were very shifty. One minute they were in your face and the next they were behind you or a crosswind.

Richard and Mike at Control #5

Parowan Truck Stop:
It’s a pretty long stretch from Panguitch to Parowan, about 50 miles. The only services along the way are at a highway rest stop which has vending machines and restrooms.  The route is mostly along rural highways with a 15 mile stretch on I-15.  The interstate has a good shoulder, the pavement is fresh and the traffic wasn’t too bad either.  At the control I met Richard and Mike.  Richard was in good spirits as usual but Mike was starting to look a little green.  Maybe the strong pace he had kept earlier in the ride was starting to take its toll. They were eating Taco Bell burritos when I pulled up, classic brevet food! 

Cedar City:
The first riders, Richard and Mike pulled into Cedar City well after dark. Richard was still riding well but Mike was about done. He was being plagued by stomach problems and couldn’t keep any food down.  Although they were only 50 mostly easy miles from the end Mike threw in the towel and begged a ride.  I know the stomach thing well and if you can’t eat, you can’t ride!  This was the second rider that dropped today after riding with Richard, hmmmm.  Larry pulled in a short time later and then departed with Richard.  Someone should have told him about the DNF rate for Richards riding partners today!  Dion and Michael were well back at this point and I had to get to the finish so there would be no more checks on them.

Back in Hurricane:

Waiting at the end of a brevet must be the hardest part of the event.  You know that you must be there to see the riders in but it has been a long day and some rest would be nice too.  Shortly after midnight my first two arrived, Richard and Larry.  It seems that Larry had broken the curse and survived his ride in with Richard.  After a little small talk Larry went to find his bed. I however had 2 riders out still, so I waited.  Richard had no room to retire to and decided to nap a while before driving home. He ended up staying until the last 2 riders arrived just before 5 am.  Dion and Michael made it in but they were done!  They stayed together for mutual support for most of the ride and stuck with that plan until the end.  The two who resembled zombies, tried to recount their ride to me with grunts and other odd sounds. I’m not sure but I think they enjoyed the ride and were proud that they finished. It was Michael’s longest event to date.

 

Complete results can be found on the SUBrevet website under the results link. www.subrevet.org

Here was a fun Portland event that we did.  Our oldest son Justin and I rode this one together along with about 3000 other riders.  Justin has been riding for a while but this was his first 100 miler. I had my Surly Cross Bike and Justin rides a classic 1992 Bridgestone RB-1. His bike is a work in progress and although it rides good, he is working on getting it back to a mostly original top notch retro rider.

The weather was beautiful and we set out among the long line of departing riders. You pretty much saw every kind of bike here, from spiffy racers to mountain bikes and every type in between. There was even a group of unicycles doing the full 100 mile distance. We took our time on the ride and hit most of the rest stops and missing a few. We didn’t miss much food though and ate pretty well for the day. It is a nice course but there is an odd thing about the event. The farther you get into the ride the more crowded it becomes. This is because other groups of riders doing different distances on the event kept joining the route. The last 20 miles was quite congested. You had to watch out for those who were riding the shortest distances as they wobbled a lot more. We had no serious incidents ourselves just a close call or two. The last 10 miles was into a strong headwind. There were lots of riders but they were slow and no help to us in facing the wind. We finished in just over 6 hours for the full 100.

The event finished at the Pelican Pub in Pacific City. They had a huge tent set up for the post ride meal and a beer garden.  You have to love Oregon events, every one that I have done ends at a pub! I think that knowing that a fine brew awaited us at the finish help give Justin the motivation to complete the ride!

You know how sometimes when you start a ride and everything just seems perfect.  The ride follows a beautiful route, you are riding with friends, the weather is great and you feel good. You just know that today everything will be wonderful.  Well this was not going to be one of those days.

My riding partner Joe and I lined up along with 200 others in Paso Robles California for the start of the 2009 Central Coast Double Century, one of my favorite doubles. The 5:40 am start of the ride gave all of the clues of a great day ahead and everything was going well, until about 3 miles in. My double century bike, a Pegoretti Palo Santo started to feel a little funny, like something was loose in the rear.  I stopped to check it over and found the rear wheel was quite loose even though the skewer was tight. I seemed like the bearing adjustment had come undone. After 15 minutes of trying to repair it I came to the conclusion that it was a major failure inside the hub. It appeared that my ride was over!  A support vehicle stopped and asked if we were okay but I told them of my situation and that we were headed back to town.  We were coasting back into town when another support vehicle came along, this one piloted by super SAG guy Lee Mitchell.  He stopped to assist and I told him that unless he had a Campy 10 speed wheel, I was done.  Well, Lee carries a little of everything in his red van including spare wheels and he quickly offered me a Campy rear. It mounted up nicely and it looked like my ride was saved! There was only one problem now; Joe and I were back at the start and an hour behind the ride. We weren’t sure if we could catch up before the rest stops closed. We decided to give it a try figuring that we could turn it in to an out and back brevet if we missed the support.

The first leg of the ride starts with rollers and finishes with a short but vicious climb. At the top of this mean little hill is the first rest stop.  We were happy to see that the stop was still there when we arrived.  The staff cheered us in which was kind but annoying. They had no idea of our earlier setback and just thought we were slow. We resupplied and set off again pretty quickly. We still had some hope of catching back up to the event.

The second leg of the ride begins immediately with a steep and rough descent. You must stay on the brakes hard to safely negotiate the steep and twisty descent. Lower down the grade eases but the road remains rough.  It isn’t until about 10 miles later when you come into Cambria that the road surface gets better.  From here we went north up the coast with Joe doing most of the pulling into a stiff headwind. We were moving good now and when we pulled into the second rest stop there were still some riders there. We were hopeful for a minute that we were back in the ride until we realized that none of these riders would be finishers.

Rest stop #3 overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The next section continued up the coast, dipping and rolling into side canyons along the way. We still had some wind but got some relief from it in the terrain. We were still pushing hard but Joe started to falter some here.  Knee pain was beginning to slow him down so we backed off the pace a little. At the third rest stop there were several riders. We made as short a stop as we could but they were all gone when we left.  This is where the big climb starts, straight up the coast range and over the top. It is steep at the bottom and the top and a little less in between. I was wishing for the cassette I had on my other wheel which had a 28 tooth cog. With the loaner wheel I was stuck with a 23 which made the climb that much tougher. Once you hit the summit you get a good run the rest of the way into lunch. The lunch stop this year was at the beautiful San Antonio Mission on Fort Hunter-Ligget military base. It was a little hard to find but once we did find it we had a big surprise. There were 20 or so people still there. We hadn’t seen people all day! We chatted with a few friends before sitting down to lunch.  Being away from the coast a bit it was warm by now but we enjoyed a great lunch in the shade. By the time we got ready to go most everyone had already left. We were the lantern rouge again.

With the exception of a few hills and occasional headwinds the next section went pretty well for me. By now Joe’s knee was starting to get serious so he tucked in behind me to get some relief. We covered 20 miles pretty quickly to the base of the next climb. The heat of the day had peaked by now and we started to get some shade on the hill. Not too steep and not too long we crested the top and made the quick descent to the next rest at Lockwood. I might note with the exception of lunch the rest stops were a little thin and we did not really find anything we craved. We ate what we could and continued.

The route this year offered a detour to the next rest at Bradley due to some other detours on the route.  Because of our earlier setback we took it.  It was a good part of the ride. Quartering tailwinds and rolling terrain allowed us to cover the next 25 miles in about an hour. With Joe tucked in behind me to give his knee a rest we flew through this part. About 10 miles out of Bradley we had to turn our lights on and it was full dark when we pulled in the stop.

When we arrived there were many riders still here and now finally 180 miles into the ride we had caught back up to the event.  We took a longer stop here than we should have, in part because they had good food but also because Joe needed some time off the bike.  We rested and regrouped before setting off on the last leg which included the 6 mile climb up Hare Canyon and the long rollers back into Paso Robles. On the climb Joe’s knee went critical and if there had been a bailout for him I’m sure he would have taken it. Without that option we continued.  After miles of rollers with a couple of short and steep pitches just to aggravate things we finally began to see the lights of Paso. The route detoured again to avoid some road construction and then finally we arrived back at the start, the park in downtown Paso Robles. We checked in at midnight some 18 hours and 20 minutes after the ride began.

It was my longest time ever to finish the CCD and with the challenges we faced it would be easy to call this one an “Epic Ride” but I don’t think I will. Sure, we had some difficulties which we overcame and some physical challenges which we dealt with but on the  Lonnie “Epic” Wolff scale of rides this one was just hard, that’s all.

Definition of a Fleche: 
A direct translation of “fleche” from the French origins is an “arrow”. In randonneuring terms it is defined as a 24-hour team cycling event held on or around Easter weekend with a minimum of 360 kilometers being covered during the event. Each team must converge on a single destination at a specified time from a variety of different starting points. Each team shall consist of between 3 to 5 bicycles, singles or tandems. The ride must be proven by checking in at a number of control points along the way and obtaining proof of passage at these controls.


A spectacular day on the Central coast of California!

Fellowship of the Chain-Rings.
We began our quest in the little town of San Miguel which is north of Paso Robles in central California. We wanted to start in Paso Robles but couldn’t get the required mileage so we moved the start a bit north to work it out.  We had kind of a late start for a ride pf this distance and began riding at 8 am. The weather for the day was expected to be great for which was something that we were not used to. We cruised easily to Paso Robles and then up and over the coast range on Hwy 46 where we were treated to spectacular views up and down the coast. What could be better, it was a beautiful day, we were on our bikes on the California coast and now we were headed downhill. It was a breeze! Soon we rolled into our first control in Cambria after being sidetracked briefly at a local car show. This was going to be a great ride! We ate and took care of our business at the control and headed off down the coast with tailwinds and sunshine. In no time at all we cruised into our second control at Baywood Park where we took some time to eat. We were 110 km into the ride and feeling good. The next control in Guadalupe was a pretty quick stop and before we knew it we arrived at control #4 in Los Alamos. The shadows were starting to get a little long but we took our time here; we had been out for almost 12 hours and had covered about 210 kilometers.  It was time to regroup a little.


Who wouldn't stop at a local car show on a bike ride through Cambria?

The Two Towering climbs.
Okay, we had already done one big climb this morning but now we had to contend with two more. The first was Drum Canyon which we had to tackle immediately. The other would come a little later. Drum Canyon is really not that hard of a climb but coming late in the day as it does adds a little drama to the experience. We topped it just at dusk and didn’t get very far down the backside before turning on our lights. We finished the run into Buellton and our next control in full darkness. We took some extra time here as well to get a little rest before our long push through the night. We departed again sometime after midnight. The town of Solvang is a ghost town at that time of night but they leave the streetlights on. Here is where we encountered one of our first problems. Joe’s shifter started acting up and we had to stop under a light and attempt a repair. We were not successful and Joe was stuck in his little chainring for now. Not to worry, we were just about to begin our last big climb of the night. It was probably a beautiful route, but in the darkness all we saw was the tunnel of light cast by our headlights.  Some perspective is lost in these conditions but being in the small chaniring pretty much convinced us that we were climbing. On and on in the darkness the road twisted. There were no lights to be seen anywhere, no street lights, no houses, no cars, just the tunnel. Finally we broke out into a clearing and we could see lights from cars on the highway. We were drawn to the lights like insects but the lights also happened to be our route. Now on Hwy 101 we continued climbing, up and over, and then down. The down part was fast, very fast. This is where we had our second problem. We were descending very fast down Hwy 101 in the dark. The shoulder was good but something caught Joe’s wheel and sent him towards the side of the road at 40+ mph. He was right behind me, and then suddenly he was not. It scared the $#!+ out of him and it took him a while to recover. We checked out the bike and it looked good so we continued.


Southbound with a tailwind on Highway 1.

The Return of the Kings!
Riding through the night is funny; it’s like a time warp or a dream or something. We cruised along the coast with no sense of time or distance. Our unit of measure was hunger and fatigue. Regardless of either we kept riding and kept these issues at bay as best we could. We had stops at controls in Goleta and Carpinteria but we did not use them to measure our progress in units like kilometers or hours, we calculated our progress with a chocolate milk or some other
snack. The clicks didn’t matter so much, we wanted food! So eventually, a couple thousand calories later we were approaching Ventura. Somewhere between the chocolate milk and the egg McMuffin the sun had come up. We had hardly noticed since we probably had been eating at the time. Eventually somewhere near 8am we did roll into Ventura and the final control. Most of the teams were already there but we made as grand an entrance as the 3 of us could.

There were a number of other issues during the ride that hindered or helped but the only one worth mentioning was the spectacular weather. We had 75 degrees and consistent tailwinds for the entire ride. It truly was a magnificent day in Middle California!

Color Country Club members (front to back) Dave, Al, Mark and Larry departing Newcastle.

There is nothing like an unseasonably cool day to sort out the real randonneurs from the fair weather riders. A blustery spring day in St. George provided just that kind of test for our event. Even though it was only 40 degrees at the start, the forecast called for temps in the low 60’s with plenty of sun. That may be pretty cool for April in southern Utah but I believe it is a forecast that people in many other parts of the country would find pretty acceptable right now! Spring is a great time to ride in Zion. The leaves are coming out, the streams are full of water and the skies are clear.  Local conditions allow us to get in a fair amount of riding by this time of year but this is still early season for most riders.

Catherine Shenk, self portrait at Sand Hollow Reservoir.

We had 7 club members from 4 states turn out for the ride. Joe and Sue on their tandem, and Richard, Rose, Kevin, Bob and Catherine had single bikes. One rider (whom I shall spare any further embarrassment) was confused either by jet lag, time zones or daylight savings schedules and made a late start, but persevered and eventually caught back up to the ride. Even though it was cool to start, most riders enjoyed the ride out to Zion.  It was only after reaching the end of the canyon at the Temple of Sinawava and beginning the run back down canyon that they realized they had been enjoying a bit of a tailwind. The wind was now in their face and seemed to be picking up a bit for the ride back. Canyon winds are shifty creatures however and even though there were some tough sections, there were also some sections where riders got a little relief from the wind. Finally after a few miles of descent and one last climb through Toquerville the course turned south and promised a tailwind for the remainder of the day. The final control on course at the Leeds Market saw riders cheering up again after they had a few miles of downhill with tailwinds under their belt!


Kevin, Bob and Rose (l to r) coming down the canyon.

Seven riders started and seven riders finished, proving once again that the best riders showed up to ride and weren’t put off by a less than perfect weather forecast. The difference between a randonneur and another rider is that others will check the weather to decide if they will ride, where a randonneur will check the weather and decide what to wear.

Results for the days ride are at the Southern Utah Brevet website at www.subrevet.org

I ride many different types of cycling events from red carpet tours to totally unsupported epics. But when an organizer charges an entry fee to enter a fully supported cycling event then I personally begin to have expectations. Different groups often produce varying results in the quality of support they provide with club supported events often doing the best job. It can range from a veritable buffet to bare bones and soggy Subway sandwiches for lunch. The highlight of todays ride, the Tour de St. George was the consistent choice of PBJ's and banana's. It seemed to me that little care was given to the riders needs or wants and it showed with the support. One rest stop which although was not too busy did not have any PBJ's prepared and riders had to wait for their half sandwich to be made. Water jugs were near empty and the tables were otherwise bare. I only did a shorter version of the event and could have gone with no support whatsoever but if I were doing the full 100 miles I would have been very dissapointed.

I must cut the organizers a little slack though. They recently had an event director bail on them so the new director may not have been up to speed, but if you cannot get up to speed quickly then the event will suffer. I even heard that one of the water stops did not show up in time for quite a few riders. That is inexcusable! I know of events that were killed as a result of a single bad year. There were a number of complaints among the riders I talked to with the common theme being that they wondered what they had paid for! There is no point of putting on an event if you do not plan on doing it well. I believe that many people were probably dissapointed today in the level of support that they were provided during todays event. If it hadn't been for the fine weather then this event might have been a total bust for many.

I dont often give ratings to events but I might start. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give today's ride a 5, with at least 2 points of that being for the weather. I guess people will always come to ride St. George in springtime because of the likelihood of good weather but they may not be willing to pay for full support only to receive much less than that.

The start, 8 am at Cornelius Pass Roadhouse outside Portland Oregon. Rain just starting.

Friday the 13th of March was a beautiful day in the Portland area, sunny and cool with light winds. It would have been a great day for a bike ride. The ride I had on my schedule however was for Saturday the 14th and the weather forecast was much less optimistic.

We gathered at 7 am at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse which was our designated starting location. There were 38 riders who were ready to ride with about half of them looking more like racers than randos and seemed to be travelling pretty light. The rest were on fully fendered bikes and looking pretty prepared otherwise. The weatherman was predicting rain so it was probably just going to be a matter of time until we got wet. Almost on cue during the pre-ride meeting it started to sprinkle and a few minutes later at 8 am as we got started riding it began to come down more seriously. By the time we were 5 miles into the ride the roads were saturated and the spray was coming up from the other riders tires as heavily as the rain was coming down.

I myself felt pretty prepared for a wet day having come with wool clothing, raingear and booties. I even had a spare pair of dry gloves in my bag. I may have underestimated the cold a little however as the temperature at the start was 41 degrees. My Portland bike is a Surly Cross Bike, fully fendered and with front and rear bags. It is a little on the heavy side but it is comfortable, rugged and goes good. This would be my first real rain ride with it.

We cruised out of the Beaverton area into farm country, zig-zagging our way through farm fields and pastures. Our first control was in what once was a town called Mountaindale. These days it appeared to be little more than a soggy crossroad but this is where the rain really started to come down. The control had a canopy to protect the volunteers but offered little protection for the riders. Not that it mattered much, we had already been exposed pretty thoroughly to the elements by that time. I left my Surly leaning on a Suburban and went to check in. Paperwork done, I grabbed a quick snack and took care of other neccesities. It is amazing how quickly you will cool after you have stopping for a break. The temp was still in the low 40's and I needed to get moving so I did not linger.

It had been a little bit of a climb to get here so it was going to be a cooling descent once I got going again. I decided to crank it up a bit on the return to get the heater going again. That worked okay but it is amazing where spray off your tires can end up in swirling crosswinds! This next section manuvered through a very pleasant farm country on a circuitious course. There
were many picturesque farms and buildings along the way. We passed through the town of Banks and on to the next control which was the far point of the loop. After a quick stop the route turned more south and into a headwind as the rain continued. There was a secret control thrown in just for fun but it didnt really seem neccessary.

        
Return from Mountaindale                             Forest Grove Control

The terrain and the countryside reminded me a little bit of riding in France. Green pastures and constantly rolling terrain, and even some roundabouts thrown in for good measure. After bucking the headwinds for a while I rolled into the town of Forest Grove and the next control at a coffee shop called "Maggies Buns". This was a great stop and I enjoyed soup and coffee and a seat out of the rain. There were a number of shivering riders here but I was not that cold. I'll refrain from singing the praises of wool clothing once again but it really works. Here is where I pulled out my secret weapon, a spare pair of dry gloves! They werent that neccessary but were a fine luxury that I enjoyed.

As I left Forest Grove it was raining hard but it soon started to taper off and a few miles later it was hardly raining at all. The wind was still up but it became a crosswind for the rest of the ride which was not too bad. It wasnt too long before I pulled into the final control at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse which is a fine McMinamens Brew Pub. I do think that the Oregon Randonneurs know how to finsih a ride with food and other refreshments.

The Surly rode well all day. It has 28c tires and is fully fendered. Bar end shifters, Detour bags, and a Rock Shox road post complete the accessories. It is a low/mid range Shimano group and does not go like my normal Campy stuff but it is very acceptable for these shorter events. The biggest event that I am likely to do on it will be Seattle to Portland later this year. Yes, I am signed up for that! Stay tuned for more on that.

It was a dark and stormy night………. Actually it was a dark and stormy morning at the Best Western hotel in Ventura, the start location for the PCH 300 km Brevet on February 7. Some 32 riders ignored the grim weather forecast for the day and lined up for the start. Observing the equipment and gear that different riders were sporting it appeared that many were either optimistic about the weather, or being from So Cal probably didn’t have much foul weather gear to wear. Myself, being experienced in bad weather events (lucky me), I had plenty of gear to choose from. I was fendered, bootied, helmet covered and otherwise protected from the impending weather.

The event started out with a mild pace as riders were getting settled in for a wet day.  Navigation was also easy for quite a while as this was familiar terrain for the local riders and someone always knew the way.  Later, after the second control as riders were more spread out you had to check your cue sheet a bit more often.  After the control at Lake Casitas we had a bit of climbing up to Casitas Pass but it was not too bad. The rain continued on and off all morning but as we descended to the third control in Montecito it really started to pick up again. In that stretch I encountered some unique conditions, something I had not really experienced before.  It was raining hard and water was sheeting on the ground as well as pooling in low spots.  There were so many pools that oncoming traffic frequently splashed us with their spray.  They were not aiming for us but it was unavoidable. We had water from above, water shooting at us from the side and water spraying up at us from our own tires. There was nowhere to hide and all you could do was to steel yourself for the onslaught.  Even though I was well prepared I became thoroughly soaked and just resigned myself to that fact. My wool clothing served me well however and I stayed warm in spite of the wetness.  I would just like to say that coffee and pastries are great brevet food on a wet day, perhaps contrary to conventional wisdom.

Richard and I at lunch, Shoreline Park, Santa Barbara

Past Santa Barbara the rain tapered and I began to air-dry, eventually removing my raingear altogether. That would prove to be the last of the rain for the day but later on cold would prove to be the problem. At the El Capitan control I enjoyed the hospitality of the event staff and after a brief stay I departed with fellow Utahn Richard for our return.  The route allowed us to stop in at our hotel to change clothes, and some dry gear was a nice change.

Port Hueneme was our next control and we made just a brief stop there. We hooked up here with Jim, a local rider who would accompany us for much of the rest of the route. I had been riding with my lights on for most of the day for visibility reasons but now darkness descended and that lighting became mandatory. This was a new lighting system for me, a combination of a SON 20 R dyno-hub powering an Edelux led headlight. The system proved to be a flamethrower at night and I was very pleased with it. Even at the slower speeds while climbing up Grimes Canyon Road it was great and on the descent its illumination was equal to that of a motor vehicle. It was perfect for the very twisty (and debris strewn) descent in the dark. We had another control in Santa Paula before the final run in on Telephone Rd. As we neared Ventura there were dozens of traffic lights and we hit more than a few of them but the road surface was good and we had a good run in.

Overall Richard and I were the 5^th and 6^th riders in and finished in 16 hours and 14 minutes with an on bike time of 13 hours 18 minutes.  With 9 required controls and an urban route having many traffic lights this is not one of the fastest 300k’s I have done but it is a good route. I hope to ride in this area again on the Fleche in April. That’s assuming that I can put together a team by then!