We went back to the house and played Pictionary with Dan and Cherie. The teams were boys vs. girls, and we totally crushed them! After the family funtime, we watched Kenny. We all thought it was quite a hoot. I recommend it highly, and consider it to be the Citizen Kane of portable sanitation unit worker movies. We called it a night climbed into bed.

On Saturday morning, Heather and I rode our bikes down to Avila Beach via Foothill, Los Osos Valley Road, Higuera, Ontario, and the Bob Jones Trail. The weather was perfect and we didn’t get any flats, which I consider a huge success. We met up with mom, dad, and Brittney at the beach for a picnic. On the way back, we stopped at the doggie spa to get Brittney’s nails trimmed. She was a little angel on the table. It’s worth every penny. Mom and dad cooked up a fantastic early dinner; tri-tip and homegrown beets and carrots. It was tremendous. We finished that off with a perfect nectarine cobbler made with some absolutely perfect fruit.

Heather and I get spiffed up for the reunion, which was held at Native Lounge on Chorro near the mission. It’s a nice venue. It makes a better bar than a restaurant. It was Sebastian’s in 1989. We got our name tags and mingled around, by which I mean that we got some drinks and staked out a comfortable couch. It was nice to see familiar faces and get caught up with people that I literally hadn’t spoken with in 20 years. I was somewhat surprised at who wasn’t there. It was also interesting to experience the event sober — I actually remember what happened. The conversations I had with people were often amazing, mostly because the places that I would have predicted some people ending up are the complete opposite of reality. Then again, some people didn’t surprise me at all.

Shortly after the joint opened up the ropes for the general public, Heather and I went back to pick up Brittney and drive home. She had to be at work at the spa at 0830 hrs on Sunday morning. I slept all day. It was too hot to work. It’s still flaming hot in my office. I’ve missed stage 14 and 15 of the Tour being away, so I’ll have to catch up on the rest day. It would be nice if Versus.com didn’t suck so hard.

I regret not saying hello to everyone I should have, however I have that feeling after every event I go to; it’s a feeling with which I’m quite familiar. I also feel like if anybody really cared to know what was going on in my life, it would be pretty damned easy with all my blogs, tweets, and snarky comments on social networking sites. See? Aren’t you glad that I didn’t say hello? Heh.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was represented by at least three officers riding in the group on police bikes. I don’t know if they were on duty, or there in solidarity (or both). In any case, I think VCSD does a tremendous job. Of course, they don’t issue citations to all the people I would, but I’m a grumpy old man. Heh.

As usual, there were a couple of jackasses in attendance. I don’t know why so many fixed gear, big city bicycle messenger wannabes find it necessary to violate all the traffic laws and seek out confrontations with motor vehicle drivers. They had the stench of Critical Mass. For the most part, however, the event was conducted lawfully and with courtesy.

The CVC club site will have pictures from the event in the photo gallery. The local paper, Ventura County Star, reported about the event the previous day: Ride to Honor Killed, Injured Bicyclists. I imagine there will be another story to follow; I saw two news photographers there.

Last weekend I rode the Wildflower Century in northeast San Luis Obispo County. It was hot and windy at times, but quite beautiful. There weren’t any shenanigans played by local residents, like hiding the road markers are tipping over the porta-potties. At registration I bought a jersey for my collection. The woman at the counter insisted that I try it on first. I assured her that the size was just fine. “Everybody else has been trying them on,” she explained. The situation devolved into a scene that reminded me of trying on new school clothes at a department store while my mother waited outside the dressing room.

We drove up on Friday to register, arriving at 1715 to stand in line. The line was HUGE, but they processed the riders quickly. Olie stayed at Camp Lamoree; we had a room at the Mission Inn of Pismo Beach, which is a very nice place at a bargain of a price. We drove to Solvang at 0630 for a 0730 start. After the ride, we checked into the Royal Scandinavian Inn, which is the host hotel for the event. It’s okay, but one stay is plenty. It was very nice to not drive home immediately afterwards though. That night, I went out and bought cakes, pies, and muffins for a celebratory snack. They were good. ;)

This is a staged photo of mock exhaustion taken by some fellow cyclists at the event parking. Next year, I’m going to try my luck at the full century again.

Here’s a picture that is actually a composite of two individual photos. Photoshop rocks so hard.

The next two photos were taken by PhotoCrazy.com and sponsored by RoadID.

And for some reason, we really like taking a rest on this wall in Hidden Valley.

At the first stop, I was feeling fantastic. Between the start line and the rest stop, I had two GU Energy Gels and 24 ounces of CytoSport CytoMax. From the food table, I grabbed a cookie and slice of pineapple (yum!). Onward.

Shortly after leaving Lompoc, there was a gnarly headwind. It was brutal. I towed more than one rider up the road, and I paid for it later. The wind also whisked away my sweat so it was deceiving how much water I was loosing. By the second stop, I drank another 24 ounces of CytoMax, and the same amount of water. I had a couple more GU gels on the course.

The stretch between Vandenberg and Santa Maria was tough — not because there was any climbing to speak of, but because the wind was wearing me down. My energy was low and my lower back was starting to cramp up. I should have brought more electrolyte products and some NSAIDs. The GU gels were not enough to keep me going. At the third stop, I had a bit of bagel and some peanuts. I hoped the salt on the peanuts would help a little. Besides, they tasted great. :)

Shortly after the third stop, I was really thrashed. I was drinking as much water as I could, probably 10 ounces every 15 minutes. It just didn’t feel like it was getting into my system. I’m sure CytoMax would have been a huge help right then. My speeds dropped considerably and I was spinning a low gear to prevent fatigue.

I reached the fourth stop in Sisquoc and tried to relax my back by lying on the ground with my feet and knees up. It didn’t help much. Any time I moved, it would start cramping up. After 15 minutes of ineffective resting, I picked up a bit more food and filled my bottles again. Before leaving the stop, I poured water over my head and down my jersey in an attempt to cool off. It felt great for a few minutes, and then it was gone.

Until the 85 mile mark on the course, there really aren’t any climbs worth mentioning. And the last couple climbs of the Solvang Century on any other day would be a piece of cake. However, by the time I got there, I was completely cracked. I pulled out my Kool Kovers and pushed my bike up the hill. Even this minimal amount of work was leaving me breathless. Eventually I made it over and rode with reckless abandon down the other side.

The last stop at the Firestone Winery was starting to pack up their gear. It was nearly 1700 hours, and the sun had already slipped below the mountains. The CHP wanted everybody off the road on the north side of the 154. There was only one climb, and it would have been practically nothing on any other day. But I had to trudge up it again on foot. Looking at my GPS, I could see that I was walking at 2-3 MPH. Even that was slow. It did use some fresher muscles though, and gave me a chance to suck down more water. The descent down Foxen Canyon was awesome. At 40 MPH, I would reach the 154 in just minutes.

I didn’t realize that there was a crazy set of switchbacks on Ballard Canyon between Los Olivos and Solvang though. That sucked ass. However, I recovered enough on the descent down Foxen Canyon that I had enough power to pedal up the hill. This is the same road that the Amgen Tour of California TT was on, and the names of the professional riders were still fresh on the road. It was practically dark by the time I made it back to Solvang. But I made it. I didn’t climb into the pink house shame wagon, even though the offer was made a couple times.

So, what went wrong? I didn’t get enough sports drink and Advil? I took my heavier and less aerodynamic touring bike? Six GU gels wasn’t enough? I didn’t have enough base miles in before the event? Four hours wasn’t enough sleep the night before? The 90 minute drive to the event was pushing it? I don’t know. This was my worst performance in a century ride ever. I’ve done several century rides, a double metric century, and a double century. Those rides were actually enjoyable. On the upside, it didn’t rain. :)

My folks were waiting at the finish line for me. I told them I’d probably finish by 1400 or 1500 hours. So, for several hours, they waited and watched the thousands of other riders roll past. When I finally did arrive, I turned into the parking lot, rather than crossing the formal finish line. This is the second group ride that I’ve bypassed the finish line, and left my fans (both of them) wondering. I must remember to cross that line next time. After I put my gear in the truck and threw on some street clothes, we had a nice dinner at the Royal Scandinavian Inn.

The map below links to the Google Earth KMZ file for the course.

The Breakaway from Cancer ride took place this morning.It rained all night and looked dreary early this morning. As we waited in line to be sent onto the course in waves, the skies clear enough to give us hope that we would stay dry. Bobke was in the first wave of riders to leave the start line. What a character. :)

At the expo area they had an adorable kids rodeo set up, complete with functional stoplights and street markers. Several little cuties were on their miniature bicycles with training wheels riding next to moms and dads. I don’t know what it is about training wheels that inspires such sighs of endearment.

Included with the $75 registration fee was a pretty nice Hincapie jersey that the riders are encouraged to wear during the event. I haven’t seen any stats on the amount of money raised yet, but including the event on Friday night, and Amgen matching contributions, it should be somewhere between $100,000 – $200,000. Notable sponsors for the event were Amgen obviously, Agoura Cycles, Giant Bicycles, Great Harvest Bread Company, and Starbucks, among others. Sorry, I don’t have a complete list.

The picture attached to this blog post is of me ridding through Hidden Valley towards the end of the ride. A pretty nice day after all.

I am, however, registered for the Solvang Century on 10 March 2007. If you’re participating in this one too, let me know. I’m sure there will be lots of folks from the CVC club going.