Wine Country Century Ride Report

So last Saturday was a local Century ride and it was a blast They have a 35 mile, 100k, 100M, & a 200k route.  I had never ridden it as a customer.  They actually run the event twice.  The first week is for all of the customers/entrants, and the second week they put it on again for everyone that volunteered.  It's a pretty sweet deal for the volunteers, because they fully support and stock the ride and it's free to anyone that volunteered.  The only thing missing is the occasional intersection presence of highway patrol to make sure there are no problems with traffic.  All that means is that you may have to wait a little bit to cross some of the potenitally busy intersections.  There isn't much riding on Major roads, it's mostly scenic backroads, but you do have to cross a couple busy roads.  I'll be volunteering again next year.

The day was absolutely beautiful, there was a little stretch of headwinds between the second rest stop and the lunch stop, but it wasn't too terrible.  Then after lunch the winds moved around a bit, some times headwinds, some times tail winds.  I started the ride with a compression shirt, bib shorts, arm and leg warmers and my jersey, and fingerless gloves.  By the time we hit the first rest stop, the arm warmers were gone, the second rest stop saw the leg warmers go away and at lunch I lost the compression shirt.  It was wonderful that they had drop bags at each stop, just put anything you want into the bag, put your name on it and they would have it waiting for you at the finish.

This ride is so well supported, and supplied, that I actually weighed more when I finishe the 100 miles than I did when I started.  All real foods too, not just packets of G.U. and Gatorade.
The standard supplies consisted of Gatorade, Water, Coffee, Chips, pretzels, cookies, bananas, oranges, strawberries, potatoes, hot tortillas, PB&J sammies, nuts, and M&M's

The lunch stop had all of that plus a choice of Turkey, Roast Beef or Veggie Sandwiches,
Their water and fluid distribution was awesome, they had a multi dispencer for water, there was never a line, they could fill 20+ people at a time, and there were plenty of Gatorage or Perpetuem jugs available.  The only backup was at the last stop where people were wanting Ice and cold cola before the last 15 miles and the last hill.

There was a bike mechanic at each stop from a variety of the local bike stores.  The Sag wagons also had a supply of bike repair equipment, food, and minor medical supplies.

I really only have 2 complaints about the ride, the morons *****fuse to ride in single file even after being told that there was a car behind them and seeing warning signs posted asking them to ride single file.  The club put out signs on all the really narrow sections asking to please ride single file and be courteous.  I saw a couple occasions where people were 2-3 wide with one rider almost on the center line and he refused to move over for the cars behind.  That kind of **** causes road rage.  The other complaint I have is focused towards those people who ride thier brakes on the downhill.  You bust your ass climbing a 16% hill expecting to at least get to enjoy the downhill only to get stuck behind someone who is essentially blocking your path and is riding their breaks.  Where I could I would pass, but some of the roads are small and winding, I didn't like the idea being that close to oncoming traffic on a blind corner, so I had to ride it out.

I wanted to try and catch up with Danni on the ride, because I knew she was there also, but I couldn't find her cell phone number.  The ride for me kicked off at 7, and I figured there would be plenty of time to catch her at one of the other stops or perhaps she would call me.  We finally ran into each other at the end of the ride.  Apparently we had been out on the course together most of the day or at least pretty close.  I finished a few minutes before her and was eating the post ride meal when I found her phone number.  She was standing in line waiting to get her meal, so we were probably within shouting distance of each other all day long and didn't realize it.  It was great to get to meet her and chat over dinner.

Here are a few of the pictures from the ride
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8282527@N08/sets/72157626546754 163/

Here is the Garmin info for the ride
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/402764
My average speed for the ride was a little over 15 mph, which seems to be my average speed for most rides around here.  The hills just kill me.  On the flats i'm up in the 20's but as soon as you start adding the climbing in, it feels like someone has attached a sled to the back of my bike.
The ride data say 8000 feet of climbing, I think it is actually more like 4-6 thousand.

Anyhow it was a great day, I highly recommend that anyone who would like riding in Wine country come check out this ride.  It travels through Redwood forrest, over Rivers, through several different wine growing regions.

Scott

What a great way to spend a day!  Sounds beautiful, fun and active!

this sounds like an awesome event.  i'm impressed with the rest stops, they looked way better than any century i've ever ridden in.  great job on the ride!  i need to start upping my miles soon in prep for RAIN, my first century of the year will probably be in early to mid june.

 that sounds worthy of making it a destination event for me next year.  Love the wine country.  Enjoyed your report as always!

Well if you decide to, you need to sign up early it will sell out in 1-2 days.

I could be convinced to ride it again as a customer.  I'll just volunteer earlier for ride prep or something.

Scott

It was a wonderfully awesome ride, and it was so incredibly cool to have post-ride BBQ with you Scott!!

My friends and I had a great time, and though we dawdled a bit at the rest stops, we ended the day with at 15.7mph avg and that's pretty good for me!

The volunteers, the weather and the vineyards were positively wonderful. I can't wait to do it again next year!!

Good luck on your big upcoming ride.
I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

Scott

Thanks! And let me say, the ride I did the day after WCC was so incredibly rough. We did 90miles with over 5500ft of climbing and I was dragging! I had a 13.5mph avg cuz I was more tired than I realized...ugg!

This Sat. is my first 200k...so I'm off the bike all week to rest up!

You will do great, it's only 20 more miles.
1 more hour give or take a little.

Scott

Man those pics were awesome! I wish we had scenery like that here. But hey, you don't get to se armadillos!!! Sweet ride dude...