To recap the Davis Double in numbers:
Miles ridden = 201.41 miles
Riding time = 12:10:53
Total time = 14:47:45
Elevation gain = 8578 feet
Moving speed = 16.8 mph
It's ironic that the moving speed was the same as my speed in the bike portion of Wildflower. Anyways, so I somehow convinced Dan to do the double, and we were joined by Leonard, my former manager's neighbor who also rode Solvang Double with us and is in the hunt for the Triple Crown this year too.
Miles 0-94, 17.1 mph average speed
The first 94 miles were mostly flat with a climb up to Lake Berryessa at 1000 ft. From then on there were many rollers that varied between 500 and 1000 feet.
The year the weather was a lot more manageable than in the past - average was somewhere in the 80s. We rolled at 5:38 am and it was already light enough to almost not need light. This also made me almost forget not to spray sunscreen on, luckily I remembered just before I went to meet Dan and Leonard. I still managed to miss the back part of my shoulders and the sunburn is proof. However, since 6am is about the coolest time of day, it was chilly enough to require arm warmers and knee warmers. And my toes were still frozen for the first 50 or so miles, if not more.
Headed out and within the first mile or so managed to form a huge paceline being pulled by a tandem. That continued almost all the way to the first rest stop. Somewhere between this stop and the next stop after the climb around Lake Berryessa, Dan managed to ride into a ditch. He survived unscratched (right?) and we continued on. In this period of riding we also came across two Davis Double veterans, who had been doing the ride since before I was born in the early 80s. Crazy!
I was a bit worried at this point as my legs weren't responding. I was going forward but it felt like it was taking way too much energy. And my right knee and IT band were starting to bother me. I spent the rest stop at mile 76 trying to knead my IT band and loosen it up. I guess it worked, after this it felt okay.
Miles 94-137, 13.9 mph average speed
This was where all the climbing and big descending happened. For the record, I remembered to get into the drops for all the descents.
Cobb Mountain (yes there's a sign that says "Mountain")
Mile 100 (or thereabouts) was Cobb Mountain. An approximately 6 mile long climb that went from 1300 ft to just over 3000 ft. This climb turned out to not be as bad as I expected, I am certain the mild temperatures helped a lot. On the way up a man in a jersey from a club that is based around here started talking to me. Surprisingly he recognized me from work... that was a bit strange. He was also laughing at me (I think) since I only have a standard crank on my bike. For Cobb, it probably would have helped to have a compact since at times it was getting tough to spin up the hill.
Looking down at Resurrection
Lunch was 114, before Resurrection. In between Cobb and Resurrection there a bunch of rollers such that I was confused on which hill was actually "the" hill. Resurrection Hill was the second (and last) notable climb of the ride. It went from about 1000 feet to almost 2000 feet over 7 miles or so. Definitely not as bad as Cobb, but I think around this time I was starting to become unmotivated so I was moving slower and not putting in much effort. On the ground as we approached the hill though someone had written "And the dead shall arise." If I hadn't been going uphill, I would have stopped and gotten a picture of it. The descent out of Resurrection sort of freaked me out a bit, there was one point where you could pick up a lot of speed and then there was a turn.
Looking towards the top of Resurrection
Miles 137-201, 17.9 mph average speed
At this point the climbing part was over. It was a downhill/flat ride back into Davis. This did bring some wind though.
We regrouped at the rest stop at Resurrection, but as usual I was dropped on the descent. This meant a lot of riding solo during the mentally hard part of the ride, around mile 150. This is when I start asking myself why I am out here. I am riding along, passing most people I come across. Eventually, the father who is riding with his 13-year old son who at the Resurrection rest stop recognized me from riding around Lake Natoma, caught up to me. Although I was doing the pulling, it was nice to have some company. Somewhere in the 150s, a trio of 2 men and the woman I had talked to at the lunch rest stop caught up to me. I sprinted and was able to hop on the back and the 2 guys pulled us to the next rest stop. That probably saved me, since around mile 150 I was wondering if I would make it to 200.
I found Dan and Leonard at the rest stop, and we took off ourselves passing pretty much everyone on the road. We began a rotating paceline and eventually at one point Dan looked back and realized we were pulling quite a bunch of riders. Assisted by the slight downhill, we were able to average something like 18-20 mph. We stopped at the second to last rest stop where they had Cup Noodles, which I am beginning to realize is a standard at doubles. The last rest stop actually had grilled cheese.
Almost 15 hours after we started, we pulled back into the Veteran's Memorial Center in Davis, all in one piece. Compared to the first double I rode, this was quite an uneventful ride. One left to go in the hunt for the Triple Crown!
Next up... watching the Tour of California and how I now want to be a cyclist.
No comments:
Post a Comment