The Auburn Century take 2, plus a 5k

Due to my tendency to move around a lot, and not be in one place for more than a year at a time, there are very few events I have the opportunity to do twice. However I have now lived in Northern California for almost a year and a half, meaning this year I get to repeat some of my favorite events from last year.

I did the Auburn Century 110 mile version last September. It was a weird weather day, fairly cool in the 70s and gray skies. The high point that day was at Robinson's Flat near Soda Springs (think Oregon Trail!) at 6700 feet. On the descent out of there it rained. Perhaps due to a chance for better weather, or maybe to attract more people, they moved the ride to June this year. Which was fine for me, although my two riding mates from last year had other commitments and were unable to participate this time. Not to fear though, I still ended up with two great riding mates this year! Dan came all the way up from East Bay to ride and a guy from work (also named Daniel) who had recently started riding with the Sunday group came to join.

Despite the crazy climbing, this ride remains my favorite century. The scenery is fantastic up in the foothills, and they changed the route this year so that we went up to Dutch Flat (~3200 ft) and China Wall (5000 ft) instead for the 110 mile route, meaning I still got to see some new places! Good thing we didn't have to try to ride up to Robinson's Flat though, since according to the volunteers 12 miles past China Wall there was a wall of snow. I assume that would have been somewhere between 6000 and 6500 feet. The nice thing about riding in June also, particularly with a rainy winter and spring, was that everything was so nice and green!

This year we totaled just over 11000 feet of climbing. The route rolled pretty much out to Dutch Flat and back to Colfax. Once we went east/southeast of Colfax towards Iowa Hill the climbing started. The infamous Iowa Hill is 1.75 miles long with an elevation gain of 1500 feet. Sadly I think my time was slower this year on a road bike than last year on my tri bike (yes last year I did this on a TT bike, the only thing differing between it and my road bike is the geometry - gearing is the same). Then after the climb up Iowa Hill we had lots more climbing to do out to the "lunch" stop at the Sugar Pine boat ramp. Between there and China Wall though the climbing wasn't as grueling. The stop at China Wall even had yummy cobbler! And from there until Foresthill it was all downhill. The two Dans were clocking well over 30mph downhill, as I was doing 26 mph myself and they quickly disappeared from sigh. Once in Foresthill, there was one more crazy steep hill for a kicker on Spring Garden. This time, I wanted to puke. Once out of there, the route continues down Foreshill Road back into Auburn. The wind was definitely strong on that road and I was starting to bonk around mile 100. Luckily I still had a packet of Clif Blocks with me and had 4 to prevent me from falling over.

At the China Wall stop, 5000 feet above sea level!

If I still am in California next year, I can say I will try to do this ride again! The volunteers are great, the food is great (Paydays and Reese's!), and the route is challenging but fun. 

To complete my big weekend, I participated in a 5k run sponsored where I work. It was free but definitely well-organized! The local timing company that times pretty much all the runs around here came out to run it. I was super impressed with that. And, to top it off, I managed to get 2nd woman overall which won me a gift card to the local outlet mall! The course was an out-and-back from work and led by my friends who are part of Team Will. Not that you could really get lost on the course but it was nice to hear them heckle me as I ran towards the turnaround. On the way out, it was a slight downhill and I could hear my legs complaining. Oh well, push it out. There weren't that many people in front of me, and only 3 women. Reached the turn around and now it was slightly uphill. Passed 2 of the women, some of the men, and ended up 12th overall with a time of 21:43. That meant a 7 min per mile pace! I don't think I've ever run that fast for that long a distance. The woman winner was the wife of a former manager and the male winner was the neighbor of one of the Team Will guys. Small world! 

Now time to begin taper... well try anyways. 2 weeks to go!