Zach
February 16th 05, 11:43 PM
This writeup is a month late but I've been very busy and finally have
time to write this.
Every year around the time of the winter solstice in December Craig
Robertson of a loosely knit San Francisco penninsula bike club called
Bikeaholics puts on the Winter Solstice Double Century and Century.
Since 2001 I've been doing the century version. This year the WSDC was
postponed to 8 January and due to a massive storm that weekend it was
once again pushed up to 15 January. I decided to do the full double
century version this year because I'm literally sick of doing double
centuries in hot weather so here was my chance to do a double century
without worrying about heat, hydration and electrolyte loss.
Ken Holloway graciously hosts the start and finish of the WSDC at his
home in San Jose. From San Jose it goes through Los Gatos to Gilroy
where it picks up the century riders, then goes out to Pinacles, back
to Gilroy via a different route and then back to San Jose.
As has become my tradition for double centuries that start in
relatively distant places I stayed at the starting area the night
before in my van. This was my first time driving in three weeks. My
alarm went off at the unreasonable hour of 4:15 but that was just on
time for the double century which started at 5:00. Here is a photo
taken of me signing in at Ken's house, looking like I just woke up and
don't want to be up both of which were the case:
http://www.campyonly.com/images/ride_photos/2005/1-15-05_wsdc/img_0043.jpg
Also here I am with another rider who looks to be in the same
situation:
http://www.campyonly.com/images/ride_photos/2005/1-15-05_wsdc/img_0042.jpg
At 5:00 I joined 14 other men for the mass start in front of Ken's
house. I expected to see Nicole Honda there who I had crewed for on the
Furnace Creek 508 last year but it turned out the later date conflicted
with her holiday so there weren't any women on the double. As I got
onto my Bacchetta Aero and started my Polar heart rate
monitor/altimeter I realised I wasn't wearing my HRM transmitter. It
wasn't in the Radical Solo seat bag where I keep it so this was going
to be just one more of many doubles done without a HRM. That was really
no big deal as I wasn't planning on going hard this early in the year,
it just would have been nice to know what my average heart rate was.
Here is a photo taken at the start, I'm standing on the right of the
photo with my Aero:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15315-q1-480x360.html
Most of the riders were familiar from double centuries and brevets.
There was one other recumbent rider, Tim Woudenberg, riding a Barcroft
Virginia with fogged up Mueller front fairing. A couple guys were on
fixed gear bikes, true masochists I guess. The temperature was freezing
with frost on the roofs and lawns. We initially rode as a group as
there were lots of turns on residential streets.
I kept up with the group going up the first major climb but on the next
major climb I let many of the group and Tim gradually drift ahead and
out of sight as they are stronger riders (Tim road a Lightning on Team
RAAM last year) and I didn't want to go too hard this early in the
year.
I rode by myself on the rolling hills south of Los Gatos enjoying the
scenery of frost covered fields. Despite wearing liner gloves with
outer gloves, plastic bags over wool socks and shoe covers I developed
numb fingers and toes on this stretch of road. The numbness would come
and go but nothing else was too cold. After about an hour it was time
to eat the first Clif Bar. That is when I discovered the bag of eight
Clif Bars was missing from my seat bag. I saw SAG driver Tom Lawrence
pulled over at one of the turns and asked if he had any food. He didn't
but said he'd try to get some. Down the road he pulled over and gave me
several cookie like things that were in clear plastic bags. I later
found out these were experimental pumpkin based energy bars produced by
one of the men on the ride and his physician wife. They were excellent
and much easier to chew than Clif Bars. I ended up having many more of
these throughout the ride. I believe they are test marketing these and
might be going into production but forgot the names.
After 72 kilometres I pulled into the first rest stop at Christmas Hill
Park in Gilroy. The riders who were ahead of me were still there.
Craig's wife Lorna Toyota had food and coffee on the folding table
where riders were signing in. Normally I don't drink coffee but given
the temperature and the fact I hadn't had my green tea that morning I
drank a cup of coffee. I wasn't the only one with numb fingers as I
heard Tim say he wished he could dip his fingers in the coffee to thaw
them out and he had the benefit of a front fairing. I noted the post I
leaned my Aero up against had a covering of ice on the top and the
grass in the park was covered with frost.
Here is a photo of the Aero and myself at the Gilroy rest stop:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15323-q1-480x360.html
I saw Ed Wesley of the Grizzly Peak Cyclists in Gilroy starting the
century version of the ride. He had arrived in Gilroy with his road
bike not knowing he would end up captaining a tandem on the century for
a spunky woman named Annie who apparently approached him at the start
and invited him to ride her tandem.
The ride from Gilroy to Pinnacles was uneventful and it gradually
warmed up though I ended up wearing my shoe covers and sock bags for
the entire ride. I rode solo the whole way to Pinnacles getting passed
by just one rider on the climb and later passing him on another part of
the climb. At the top of the climb to Pinnacles I saw Tim repairing a
puncture. I would have stopped to help him out but I felt a bit of a
time crunch as I wanted to minimise night riding so I could do the
whole ride on one Light & Motion lithium-ion battery pack without
having to plug in my spare battery. These batteries run the ARC
headlight 3.5 hours. I also figured being faster Tim would catch up to
me later on.
For lunch at the Pinnacles stop I ate numerous sweet rice balls. They
are sweet and salty and go down and digest easily. The last time I had
these was the year before on the Winter Solstice Century. I wish more
rides had these at the rest stops. The only problem with them is they
leave a sticky mess on the hands.
While refilling my Platypus 2-litre hydration bladder I discovered the
tube had rubbed against the rear tyre at some point and had a small
hole in it. One of the SAG drivers named Graham gave me some duct tape
to patch this up.
Tim pulled in to the lunch stop just as I was pulling out. It turns out
he had a rear puncture and had also bonked from going too hard. I told
him he'd see me down the road but he didn't seem so sure.
Coming down the descent from Pinnacles I could see the other riders who
were still heading out to Pinnacles. Ed on the tandem cheered me on. I
rode back to Gilroy solo only encountering one other rider going my
direction, the same guy who I had encountered climbing the hill and at
Gilroy I found out he was doing the century version.
On the ride back to Gilroy I started to have some knee tendon pain
inboard of my right patella and behind my left knee. Nothing about the
bike adjustment had changed and I had done three hilly double centuries
on this bike the year before so I attributed the pain to a combination
of the first long ride in a while and the cold temperatures. I was
wearing fairly thick tights but not my thickest ones as those were
damaged in a tricycle accident in December.
I again indulged in the rice balls, this time handling them with a
plastic bag so as to keep the residue off my hands. The nice thing
about riding in cooler weather is you don't have to be so worried about
hydration. I topped off my hydration bladder but only to half full thus
saving weight. At this rest stop Tom Lawrence noticed the Rotor Cranks
on my Aero. He is an engineer and had never seen these before. He was
fascinated with them moving the cranks around trying to figure out how
they worked. After some discussion about the Rotors I grabbed some more
energy bars and was on my way.
Some where near Los Gatos the sun started setting and I watched the low
pressure sodium vapour street lights start to strike red neon arcs in
their arc tubes as they warmed up and gradually shifted to yellow. Low
pressure sodium vapour lamps are more efficient than the high pressure
sodium lamps common in North America and also put out less glare as
they have much longer arc tubes, more like fluorescent. I guess they
aren't so common in the US because their light output is monochromatic
yellow with zero colour rendition unlike the HPS lamps which put out a
more amber light that has some colour rendition though still not much.
In the southern part of the Silicon Valley almost all the street lights
are LPS due to Lick Observatory being atop neary Mt. Hamilton. It is
easier for them to filter out one wavelength of yellow on their
telescope. It was a nice treat to see all these LPS street lights in
action. Around this time I pulled into the carpark of a chain
restaurant for a brief break and fired up my own discharge lamp, the
Light & Motion ARC metal halide light on the front of my Aero. Its beam
looked more blue then ever in contrast to the monochromatic yellow
street lights.
There were a bunch of turns near the end and Tom waited in his car for
me at each turn to show me where to go. There was a potluck party and
showers available at Ken's house at the finish. The fast riders had
been in for a while but plenty of riders came in well after me so I was
probably some where in the middle. Tim Woudenberg came in 35 minutes
after me. I was feeling good but pretty tired from inadequate sleep. I
told Ken I'd stay out in the van and leave the next morning. He invited
me to stay in the house but I prefer staying in my own bed so I stayed
out in the van. The next morning I discovered my HRM transmitter
sitting on the edge of the road. It had been there over 24 hours and
must have fallen out of my seat bag when I was getting ready for the
ride the previous morning.
If anyone in Northern California wants to do a double century that
isn't in the heat of the summer I highly recommend the Winter Solstice
Double. The rest stops are far apart but it is well supported and the
scenery once you get out of the suburban area is nice. Thanks to all
the volunteers who helped support this ride.
Ride statistics:
320.61 km (199.2178179 miles)
Average rolling speed 26.1 km/h (16.2177881 mph)
Maximum speed: 72.6 km/h (45.1115486 mph)
Total climbing: 2370 metres (7,775.5905512 feet)
Maximum altitude: 450 metres (1,476.3779528 feet)
Total time including stops: 13:57
Rolling time (12:16:40)
Here is the link to the page of photos taken by fixie rider Eric
Norris:
http://www.campyonly.com/mypages/wsdc_2005.html
Here is the link to the page of photos taken by Tom Lawrence on the
WSDC: http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/
Here are the links to photos my Aero and I are in:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15344-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15345-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15346-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15366-q1-480x360.html
Here are links to photos of Tim Woudenberg and his Barcroft Dakota:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15327-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15337-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15338-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15362-q1-480x360.html
Here are links to photos of Ed Wesley captaining with Annie stoking:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15354-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15355-q1-480x360.html
--------------------------------------------
Zach Kaplan Cycles
Alameda, Northern California, North America
510-522-BENT (2368)
zakaplan-at-earthlink-dot-net
time to write this.
Every year around the time of the winter solstice in December Craig
Robertson of a loosely knit San Francisco penninsula bike club called
Bikeaholics puts on the Winter Solstice Double Century and Century.
Since 2001 I've been doing the century version. This year the WSDC was
postponed to 8 January and due to a massive storm that weekend it was
once again pushed up to 15 January. I decided to do the full double
century version this year because I'm literally sick of doing double
centuries in hot weather so here was my chance to do a double century
without worrying about heat, hydration and electrolyte loss.
Ken Holloway graciously hosts the start and finish of the WSDC at his
home in San Jose. From San Jose it goes through Los Gatos to Gilroy
where it picks up the century riders, then goes out to Pinacles, back
to Gilroy via a different route and then back to San Jose.
As has become my tradition for double centuries that start in
relatively distant places I stayed at the starting area the night
before in my van. This was my first time driving in three weeks. My
alarm went off at the unreasonable hour of 4:15 but that was just on
time for the double century which started at 5:00. Here is a photo
taken of me signing in at Ken's house, looking like I just woke up and
don't want to be up both of which were the case:
http://www.campyonly.com/images/ride_photos/2005/1-15-05_wsdc/img_0043.jpg
Also here I am with another rider who looks to be in the same
situation:
http://www.campyonly.com/images/ride_photos/2005/1-15-05_wsdc/img_0042.jpg
At 5:00 I joined 14 other men for the mass start in front of Ken's
house. I expected to see Nicole Honda there who I had crewed for on the
Furnace Creek 508 last year but it turned out the later date conflicted
with her holiday so there weren't any women on the double. As I got
onto my Bacchetta Aero and started my Polar heart rate
monitor/altimeter I realised I wasn't wearing my HRM transmitter. It
wasn't in the Radical Solo seat bag where I keep it so this was going
to be just one more of many doubles done without a HRM. That was really
no big deal as I wasn't planning on going hard this early in the year,
it just would have been nice to know what my average heart rate was.
Here is a photo taken at the start, I'm standing on the right of the
photo with my Aero:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15315-q1-480x360.html
Most of the riders were familiar from double centuries and brevets.
There was one other recumbent rider, Tim Woudenberg, riding a Barcroft
Virginia with fogged up Mueller front fairing. A couple guys were on
fixed gear bikes, true masochists I guess. The temperature was freezing
with frost on the roofs and lawns. We initially rode as a group as
there were lots of turns on residential streets.
I kept up with the group going up the first major climb but on the next
major climb I let many of the group and Tim gradually drift ahead and
out of sight as they are stronger riders (Tim road a Lightning on Team
RAAM last year) and I didn't want to go too hard this early in the
year.
I rode by myself on the rolling hills south of Los Gatos enjoying the
scenery of frost covered fields. Despite wearing liner gloves with
outer gloves, plastic bags over wool socks and shoe covers I developed
numb fingers and toes on this stretch of road. The numbness would come
and go but nothing else was too cold. After about an hour it was time
to eat the first Clif Bar. That is when I discovered the bag of eight
Clif Bars was missing from my seat bag. I saw SAG driver Tom Lawrence
pulled over at one of the turns and asked if he had any food. He didn't
but said he'd try to get some. Down the road he pulled over and gave me
several cookie like things that were in clear plastic bags. I later
found out these were experimental pumpkin based energy bars produced by
one of the men on the ride and his physician wife. They were excellent
and much easier to chew than Clif Bars. I ended up having many more of
these throughout the ride. I believe they are test marketing these and
might be going into production but forgot the names.
After 72 kilometres I pulled into the first rest stop at Christmas Hill
Park in Gilroy. The riders who were ahead of me were still there.
Craig's wife Lorna Toyota had food and coffee on the folding table
where riders were signing in. Normally I don't drink coffee but given
the temperature and the fact I hadn't had my green tea that morning I
drank a cup of coffee. I wasn't the only one with numb fingers as I
heard Tim say he wished he could dip his fingers in the coffee to thaw
them out and he had the benefit of a front fairing. I noted the post I
leaned my Aero up against had a covering of ice on the top and the
grass in the park was covered with frost.
Here is a photo of the Aero and myself at the Gilroy rest stop:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15323-q1-480x360.html
I saw Ed Wesley of the Grizzly Peak Cyclists in Gilroy starting the
century version of the ride. He had arrived in Gilroy with his road
bike not knowing he would end up captaining a tandem on the century for
a spunky woman named Annie who apparently approached him at the start
and invited him to ride her tandem.
The ride from Gilroy to Pinnacles was uneventful and it gradually
warmed up though I ended up wearing my shoe covers and sock bags for
the entire ride. I rode solo the whole way to Pinnacles getting passed
by just one rider on the climb and later passing him on another part of
the climb. At the top of the climb to Pinnacles I saw Tim repairing a
puncture. I would have stopped to help him out but I felt a bit of a
time crunch as I wanted to minimise night riding so I could do the
whole ride on one Light & Motion lithium-ion battery pack without
having to plug in my spare battery. These batteries run the ARC
headlight 3.5 hours. I also figured being faster Tim would catch up to
me later on.
For lunch at the Pinnacles stop I ate numerous sweet rice balls. They
are sweet and salty and go down and digest easily. The last time I had
these was the year before on the Winter Solstice Century. I wish more
rides had these at the rest stops. The only problem with them is they
leave a sticky mess on the hands.
While refilling my Platypus 2-litre hydration bladder I discovered the
tube had rubbed against the rear tyre at some point and had a small
hole in it. One of the SAG drivers named Graham gave me some duct tape
to patch this up.
Tim pulled in to the lunch stop just as I was pulling out. It turns out
he had a rear puncture and had also bonked from going too hard. I told
him he'd see me down the road but he didn't seem so sure.
Coming down the descent from Pinnacles I could see the other riders who
were still heading out to Pinnacles. Ed on the tandem cheered me on. I
rode back to Gilroy solo only encountering one other rider going my
direction, the same guy who I had encountered climbing the hill and at
Gilroy I found out he was doing the century version.
On the ride back to Gilroy I started to have some knee tendon pain
inboard of my right patella and behind my left knee. Nothing about the
bike adjustment had changed and I had done three hilly double centuries
on this bike the year before so I attributed the pain to a combination
of the first long ride in a while and the cold temperatures. I was
wearing fairly thick tights but not my thickest ones as those were
damaged in a tricycle accident in December.
I again indulged in the rice balls, this time handling them with a
plastic bag so as to keep the residue off my hands. The nice thing
about riding in cooler weather is you don't have to be so worried about
hydration. I topped off my hydration bladder but only to half full thus
saving weight. At this rest stop Tom Lawrence noticed the Rotor Cranks
on my Aero. He is an engineer and had never seen these before. He was
fascinated with them moving the cranks around trying to figure out how
they worked. After some discussion about the Rotors I grabbed some more
energy bars and was on my way.
Some where near Los Gatos the sun started setting and I watched the low
pressure sodium vapour street lights start to strike red neon arcs in
their arc tubes as they warmed up and gradually shifted to yellow. Low
pressure sodium vapour lamps are more efficient than the high pressure
sodium lamps common in North America and also put out less glare as
they have much longer arc tubes, more like fluorescent. I guess they
aren't so common in the US because their light output is monochromatic
yellow with zero colour rendition unlike the HPS lamps which put out a
more amber light that has some colour rendition though still not much.
In the southern part of the Silicon Valley almost all the street lights
are LPS due to Lick Observatory being atop neary Mt. Hamilton. It is
easier for them to filter out one wavelength of yellow on their
telescope. It was a nice treat to see all these LPS street lights in
action. Around this time I pulled into the carpark of a chain
restaurant for a brief break and fired up my own discharge lamp, the
Light & Motion ARC metal halide light on the front of my Aero. Its beam
looked more blue then ever in contrast to the monochromatic yellow
street lights.
There were a bunch of turns near the end and Tom waited in his car for
me at each turn to show me where to go. There was a potluck party and
showers available at Ken's house at the finish. The fast riders had
been in for a while but plenty of riders came in well after me so I was
probably some where in the middle. Tim Woudenberg came in 35 minutes
after me. I was feeling good but pretty tired from inadequate sleep. I
told Ken I'd stay out in the van and leave the next morning. He invited
me to stay in the house but I prefer staying in my own bed so I stayed
out in the van. The next morning I discovered my HRM transmitter
sitting on the edge of the road. It had been there over 24 hours and
must have fallen out of my seat bag when I was getting ready for the
ride the previous morning.
If anyone in Northern California wants to do a double century that
isn't in the heat of the summer I highly recommend the Winter Solstice
Double. The rest stops are far apart but it is well supported and the
scenery once you get out of the suburban area is nice. Thanks to all
the volunteers who helped support this ride.
Ride statistics:
320.61 km (199.2178179 miles)
Average rolling speed 26.1 km/h (16.2177881 mph)
Maximum speed: 72.6 km/h (45.1115486 mph)
Total climbing: 2370 metres (7,775.5905512 feet)
Maximum altitude: 450 metres (1,476.3779528 feet)
Total time including stops: 13:57
Rolling time (12:16:40)
Here is the link to the page of photos taken by fixie rider Eric
Norris:
http://www.campyonly.com/mypages/wsdc_2005.html
Here is the link to the page of photos taken by Tom Lawrence on the
WSDC: http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/
Here are the links to photos my Aero and I are in:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15344-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15345-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15346-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15366-q1-480x360.html
Here are links to photos of Tim Woudenberg and his Barcroft Dakota:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15327-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15337-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15338-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15362-q1-480x360.html
Here are links to photos of Ed Wesley captaining with Annie stoking:
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15354-q1-480x360.html
http://daddylonglegs.bikeaholics.org/2005-TomLawrenceWSDC/html/T_15355-q1-480x360.html
--------------------------------------------
Zach Kaplan Cycles
Alameda, Northern California, North America
510-522-BENT (2368)
zakaplan-at-earthlink-dot-net