It's windy on the California coast, and Saturday was typical for the Santa Cruz Randonneurs 300k brevet. The brevet started at 6AM north from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay. As the sun came up the winds kicked up. I was working pretty hard to keep a 20kph average for that first 83km. Fortunately it was an out and back, so the next 80k or so was practically restful at a 30kph average. I don't know what that means the wind-speed was. Back in Santa Cruz, the course then went south- east to Marina and then due East into the outskirts of Salinas. As everyone that has toured the Pacific Coast knows, through that section bikes aren't allowed on PCH, so it's a meandering zigzag through the artichoke farms. The wind was quite strong and blowing out of the West. The sections where I was riding straight into the wind were pretty strenuous in the 15kph range. The crosswind sections made me grateful I had the farm-road to myself, because I was using most of it. The tailwind sections felt like slight downhills. That section being another out and back, it was a mixed bag going out and a mixed bag coming back, but the larger fraction of suffering into the wind was on the way back.
I had targeted 15 hours total for my first ever 300k. The course ended up being 322k, and my finishing time was 8:58PM, so 14 hours 58 minutes. The longest ride of my life. The Hilsen was flawless. I ran Soma New Express tires and they were perfect, especially in the rough farm roads south of Santa Cruz. I had put the R14 rack on the back, but when the weather report was looking balmy I managed to stuff everything I needed into the handlebar bag and quickly took off the rear rack in the hotel room. No fenders either. In the 66 rider field I didn't see any other Rivendells, which was a little odd. I didn't see anyone else running 650B's either. Feeling pretty good after 300k, I think 400k is within reach. A 600k still seems a ways off. The thought of getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep after a 300k and then doing ANOTHER 300k seems a bit, um, out there for me at the moment. Maybe next year. On Apr 4, 7:58 am, PATRICK MOORE <bertin...@gmail.com> wrote: > Yes, the wind and dust were as bad as during the ABQ Bobride 3 years ago, > tho' I didn't encounter any car-sized tumbleweed clusters. I just hope that > no fires break out closer to home as I am literally just a stone's throw > from the bosque. > > I think I'll stay off the bike today: thought I'd ride a 20-22 mile out and > back but at 830 am MT the winds are already blustery from the north and my > right knee has been twinging for the last few days -- not due to wind > induced stress, though: on the bike it feels fine. > > Yesterday would have been a great day to ride Tramway (7 miles of climbing, > eastward, winds gusting west to 54) again in the 75" gofast! > > > > On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 8:43 AM, pcooley <pcoo...@cybermesa.com> wrote: > > Looking south towards Albuquerque from Santa Fe yesterday, it looked > > like you guys were lost in a cloud of dust Patrick. I couldn't see > > anything past the Ortiz mountains. > > > Funny, half my ride yesterday was fine. I was riding much stronger > > than usual. The wind didn't really pick up until I turned around and > > headed home. > > > Paul Cooley > > Santa Fe, NM > >http://carfreefamily.blogspot.com > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- > Patrick Moore > Albuquerque, NM > For professional resumes, contact > Patrick Moore, ACRW at patrickmo...@resumespecialties.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
