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Had a goal of breaking the top 30 today and my plan was to try to ride near the front of the pack to Cambria so I could catch a fast train to the base of Nacamiento. The pace was quick out of town and there at one of the early turns a guy crashed hard right in front of me when he missed a left and tried at the last second to make the turn. He flew over his bars and was pretty shaken up, but did not appear to be injured. I was averaging about 18-19 MPH for the first hour that had about 1800 feet of climbing so the pace was pretty hard. The Santa Rosa hill is pretty challenging, but pretty similar to Redwood Gulch and I made quick work of it. I loaded up quickly at the first rest stop and started the descent into Cambria. My cruddy descending was about to hurt my plan as I got passed about 1/2 way down with what looked like a great coastal train. I figured I was a lock to keep up with them, but they were really flying and I realized I was falling behind and as hard as I tried I could not catch them. I road solo from Cambria for at least an hour until I was finally passed. It was beautiful riding to the base of Nacamiento as I fought a minor head wind. Nacamiento starts out hard with some 10% ramps, but eases up into a consistent 7-8%. It was pretty hot on a few exposed sections which surprised me for being so close to the coast. The climb took about 45 minutes and I lost time on the descent to the group I was with as I could not handle the speed on the sketchy road like my comrades. That meant that I had to solo it into lunch which seemed to go pretty quick. CCD is not known for its lunch, and luckily I was in top 25% of the ride as the lunch meat and bread was not being rationed yet. I made it out of there quickly and noticed it was 90 degrees according to the Hunter Liggett temperature gauge. Luckily I hooked up with 2 other riders and we shared pulls up Jolon road. It was miserable riding and I knew a nice descent was coming which made the pain easier to take. The descent finally came and there was a nasty cross wind making the fast descent a bit less fun that it should have been. The guy I was riding with had deep dish Zipp rimms and he looked really sketchy on the descent. We hung a ride on San Lucas road and got a great tail wind. I ran out of water at this point and was starting to panic as there was no way I could make it into Lockwood. Luckily there was an ad hoc water stop under Hwy 101 which saved my ride. I loaded up here and pushed into the Lockwood aid station. We had a great tail wind for maybe 6 miles and then started the climb up Interlake road. Its not a hard climb, but my computer was reading 106 in the direct sun and I was suffering on the last turn. I chatted with a guy I did the Hoodoo 500 with Josh Talley who was having a rough day out there but gutting it out to the end. We descended into Bradley and fought a nasty head wind into the Aid station. Nothing beats Hot Dogs at mile 185 and I made it a double dog and took off pretty quickly. I road with Josh and Ernesto a guy I met on the DMD a few weeks ago. The climb up Hare Canyon is the highlight of the second half as the wind died down, it was gorgeous up there, and the heat was dying down. Another great thing about Hare Canyon is once you summit, your done with the hard part of the CCD and can expect 25 miles of fast riding to the end. I love that Google has done the Street View feature for really remote roads like Hare Canyon with absolutely nothing on them but deserted farms and ranches. I would have liked to have been the guy who got to drive these deserted roads for this feature!
The tangle of roads into the end was a blur, but I enjoyed every minute of it averaging over 20 MPH for the last hour. I attacked the hills like it was mile 10 knowing I wanted to finish before dark and there was no time to waste. I made it to the end right before dark. Like all doubles, I had highs and lows, but luckily more highs and never went too deep in the pain cave.
Distance: 219.5
Ride Time: 13:42:21
Total Time: 14:31
Total Climbing 13792
Time off Bike: 46:09
Average Speed: 16.01
Average Heart Rate: 139
Max Speed: 39
Temp Min: 43
Temp Max: 106
Altitude: 367 Min 3054 Max
Inclination: -12% Min 16 % Max
Calories Burned: 10302
Place: 22/175
Had a goal of breaking the top 30 today and my plan was to try to ride near the front of the pack to Cambria so I could catch a fast train to the base of Nacamiento. The pace was quick out of town and there at one of the early turns a guy crashed hard right in front of me when he missed a left and tried at the last second to make the turn. He flew over his bars and was pretty shaken up, but did not appear to be injured. I was averaging about 18-19 MPH for the first hour that had about 1800 feet of climbing so the pace was pretty hard. The Santa Rosa hill is pretty challenging, but pretty similar to Redwood Gulch and I made quick work of it. I loaded up quickly at the first rest stop and started the descent into Cambria. My cruddy descending was about to hurt my plan as I got passed about 1/2 way down with what looked like a great coastal train. I figured I was a lock to keep up with them, but they were really flying and I realized I was falling behind and as hard as I tried I could not catch them. I road solo from Cambria for at least an hour until I was finally passed. It was beautiful riding to the base of Nacamiento as I fought a minor head wind. Nacamiento starts out hard with some 10% ramps, but eases up into a consistent 7-8%. It was pretty hot on a few exposed sections which surprised me for being so close to the coast. The climb took about 45 minutes and I lost time on the descent to the group I was with as I could not handle the speed on the sketchy road like my comrades. That meant that I had to solo it into lunch which seemed to go pretty quick. CCD is not known for its lunch, and luckily I was in top 25% of the ride as the lunch meat and bread was not being rationed yet. I made it out of there quickly and noticed it was 90 degrees according to the Hunter Liggett temperature gauge. Luckily I hooked up with 2 other riders and we shared pulls up Jolon road. It was miserable riding and I knew a nice descent was coming which made the pain easier to take. The descent finally came and there was a nasty cross wind making the fast descent a bit less fun that it should have been. The guy I was riding with had deep dish Zipp rimms and he looked really sketchy on the descent. We hung a ride on San Lucas road and got a great tail wind. I ran out of water at this point and was starting to panic as there was no way I could make it into Lockwood. Luckily there was an ad hoc water stop under Hwy 101 which saved my ride. I loaded up here and pushed into the Lockwood aid station. We had a great tail wind for maybe 6 miles and then started the climb up Interlake road. Its not a hard climb, but my computer was reading 106 in the direct sun and I was suffering on the last turn. I chatted with a guy I did the Hoodoo 500 with Josh Talley who was having a rough day out there but gutting it out to the end. We descended into Bradley and fought a nasty head wind into the Aid station. Nothing beats Hot Dogs at mile 185 and I made it a double dog and took off pretty quickly. I road with Josh and Ernesto a guy I met on the DMD a few weeks ago. The climb up Hare Canyon is the highlight of the second half as the wind died down, it was gorgeous up there, and the heat was dying down. Another great thing about Hare Canyon is once you summit, your done with the hard part of the CCD and can expect 25 miles of fast riding to the end. I love that Google has done the Street View feature for really remote roads like Hare Canyon with absolutely nothing on them but deserted farms and ranches. I would have liked to have been the guy who got to drive these deserted roads for this feature!
The tangle of roads into the end was a blur, but I enjoyed every minute of it averaging over 20 MPH for the last hour. I attacked the hills like it was mile 10 knowing I wanted to finish before dark and there was no time to waste. I made it to the end right before dark. Like all doubles, I had highs and lows, but luckily more highs and never went too deep in the pain cave.
Distance: 219.5
Ride Time: 13:42:21
Total Time: 14:31
Total Climbing 13792
Time off Bike: 46:09
Average Speed: 16.01
Average Heart Rate: 139
Max Speed: 39
Temp Min: 43
Temp Max: 106
Altitude: 367 Min 3054 Max
Inclination: -12% Min 16 % Max
Calories Burned: 10302
Place: 22/175
Comments
I suffered mightily with foot issues, and had a couple of mechanical issues that nearly drove me nuts. But we finished... And only 2:20 behind last years' time!
BTW, I wasn't terribly impressed with the ride support this time around (couldn't lunch be on a paved road?). But the extra water stops were nice!
Are you doing the Alta Alpina? Thinking of doing that rather than the Terrible Two to change things up....
I did an easy century on Saturday. First one for me. Just over 4,000 ft climbing. 20.6 mph avg (4 hr 49 min). Managed to hang on to the pack until about mile 55. Was doing good until about mile 90 when my seat started to get uncomfortable. I was ready to be done and drinking beer at that point!