Somewhere around late July to early August I had an epiphany - based on the impressive performance of my new wheel system, I should be able to do much longer rides without mechanical issues or flats. I'd also talked to a guy a few years older than I am who rode the Victor Valley Bike Tour last year with his nephew, and loved the shared experience - that or the 117 degree heat riding the last of those 50 miles home baked my brain. :)
I was intrigued though. Then my old riding partner took up a challenge from his daughter to ride the bike leg of a 1/2 Tri, and I wanted to lead by example and make sure my advice/coaching was sound. Also, the city of Victorville completed two excellent segments of a bike trail called the Mojave River Walk (thus setting up perpetual tension as to whose trail it is, peds or bikes), which is ~ 10 very flat miles on perfect concrete if done as an O+B, so easy to tack 10-12 miles onto the end of a ride. There's another segment on the Apple Valley side that adds another 5 miles of O+B. You can bet the Strava Heros made quick use of those segments!
In the end, for a variety of reasons, I decided to push up my mileage and see if I was up to the challenge, as I was pretty sure my bike was.
I found I had a lot of fatigue on rides longer than 50mi, sometimes, and sometimes not. I had been experimenting with putting Emergen-C in my Gatorade, and that had always helped, as vitamin C is a very powerful anti-oxidant. I added one package to each 25oz bottle. It made a big difference, and in recovery time as well, so I made it a rule to ALWAYS use Emercen-C while on the bike. I thought I might OD on the stuff, but that's not been the case.
Encouraged, I looked into what Hammer was putting in Perpetuum, and found I could buy L-Carnosine and L-Carnosite (as well as Pterostilbene, which is almost identical to Resveratrol, but absorbed 4x better) from Amazon. I started supplementing with L-Carnosine because I'd been hearing good things about it from friends for 10+ yrs, and now you can find good research on it on the web, so it seemed an acceptable risk. At this point, my best RX goes to L-Carnosine and Pterostilbene as they've had the biggest impact and few if any side-effects.
The VVBT isn't a real Century, it's "only" 70 miles, but at 2,760ft, it's pretty climbly as Centuries go, so I started pushing my rides from 50 miles (the 1/2 Tri route is 56 miles) to 65 miles, doing a few Metric Centuries after a lot of route finding on RWGPS. This valley is only about 18mi long, so you have to be creative to get a 100km route done in this valley. I soon found 65mi was as easy as 100km, so my last two were 65mi rides. I was working on a 67mi (the goal was something very close to 70mi) when I ran over what must have been the piece of glass from hell, which shredded my rear tire. I had to settle for 27 miles, but liked the new route I was trying out.
At the last minute I got the final route for the VVBT, and it had ~ 2x the climbing as the routes I'd been doing, building on a very flat 1/2 Tri, instead of training for the VVBT as I should have been. Mental error. I have to admit, it was with a deep breath and a twinge of fear that I decided to go for it anyway.
I over-tapered a bit, but felt that was the better side to error on. Still, on the day my legs felt a bit heavy and slow. I knew from experience though that my early ride would be slower, but I would ride my way into the event, and finish strong, probably. There's
always the unexpected. (I couldn't help but think of this hilarious line in "Bridge Over River Kwai". If you know the context you'll get it!)
I was late, 12 minutes, but I missed the start, which was photographed, and apparently, everything else that was photographed. I hurried as best I could, but was determined to be thorough and not leave something critical behind. Mission accomplished! Deb dropped me off so I could ride home after if I wanted to. We waved good-bye and I was off - almost.
It was cold at the start, but it was going to get into the 80s by the time I finished, so I wore a vest and long-fingered gloves, and dealt with the discomfort for the first few miles, until the climbing started. Just before pushing off I started my Garmin and set up LiveTrack so Deb could follow along. She's my rescue when things go bad wrong, and ride organizers don't always show up, so a good fail-safe.
Climbing up the back side of Corwin Rd I made it a point to stay well within myself and vent any heat buildup. Going down the back side I didn't want to be soaking wet. As I rolled down Corwin, coasting, I zipped up nice and tight, catching my breath for the climb to the top of Tao at Kamana. These routes are bread & butter segments I do all the time riding around here, so no big deal.
I'd been working on riding the awesome rollers "backwards", for me that is, from north to south, so I took them in stride and set a new PB, is spite of staying well within myself.
Rolling down over the Yucca Loma Bridge I suddenly wasn't sure how I was going to be routed through Spring Valley Lake. I had the route uploaded into my Garmin Edge 520+ (awesome feature!), but less than 2 weeks earlier Victorville put in an access point at the bottom of the bridge to access the MRW and it's very nice under-bridge crossing as there is NO left-hand turn into SVL at Fortuna. I guess a lot of people were having trouble there, because a bike rider showed up to guide me, which was nice. Guessing there was some question whether Victorville was going to get that access point installed in time, or it would have been on the route.
I made a right turn, heading for Spring Valley Parkway, but the Garmin was complaining and showing a black band with "Off Course" on it, so I did a U-Turn on Driftwood to get back on course. I ended up at the same place, the intersection of Driftwood & Spring Valley Parkway, before climbing up SVP to Pebble Beach at Ridgecrest Rd.
There's a real lack of bike infrastructure along Bear Valley Rd, and usually we have to ride on the sidewalk on the north side of the railroad bridge, but they had the right-most lane blocked off with orange cones and crime tape, so it was a thrill to go blasting across the bridge - for a change. The surface was terrible, but the Conti 5000TLs made it a pretty nice ride anyway.
I refused to ride on Industrial Blvd and Silica (terrible surface, no shoulder, no bike lane, tons of traffic, WTF Victorville?), so I turned onto Jasmine, crossed Hesperia Rd there, and headed for 3rd Ave via Denham, the Garmin warning me 55 meters (RWGPS lets you configure this if you get the Basic Package, which I did) before each turn. This familiarization process with the Garmin Edge was comforting, because this was my 1st time using it (last minute decision) so I needed to see how it worked while still on familiar segments.
Third street took me to Nisqualli Rd, where I headed for the freeway overpass, and parts unknown. I thought going over a freeway with 3 lanes of traffic PLUS turn lanes on both sides would be uncomfortable. It was, but heading west, not too bad. The first SAG stop was less than a mile ahead.
I was carrying 3 25oz bottles, two with spiked Gatorade and one with pure water. I topped up the water, and looked around for Gatorade. They had none. They did have a god-awful concoction by Hammer that was supposed to have some electrolyte in it, which I spiked with Orange Emergen-C. OMG that tasted horrible. I ate half a Powerbar and an Espresso Love GU, drank some water, and put the last bottle of Gatorade from home on the downtube. With a little luck I'd never have to drink that Hammer crap.
Most of the 70mi group were young strong riders, and they were starting to come past the 20/32 mile SAG station as I was pushing off. One guy with a nice aero bike crossed the street in the middle of traffic. They didn't seem to have much in the SAG bag, but hoping he finished his ride.
The big 12mi box that followed was all unfamiliar to me, but El Evado Rd was downhill, as was Hopland, so the fist 5 miles, and the wind was at my back, so I was having fun! Suddenly my legs felt better and my cadence picked up and I was rolling! The far end of the box at Hopland & Cobalt was so far out in the sticks there was no traffic at all, in fact, Hopland ends 150 yards later, just past a school. I was alone.
Starting late can be unnerving, but it can also be a blessing. When riding with stronger riders at the start of a long ride you tend to go too hard and blow yourself up. I knew this from past experience, and think it a definite advantage. The thing is, you have to train alone to be comfortable alone on a strange route. I settled in, turned into the wind, and reached for the aerobars. Everything was working well, and I was in good shape. Just doin work, as Kobe would say.
The turn back east onto Hook took me by surprise, as I remembered the box as being square, but I trusted my Garmin, and had checked the route sheet at the 20mi SAG stop, so I just followed my ques and kept pushing my way back to the SAG station. It was much closer to the freeway than I remembered as I passed it by, heading east and over the I-15 freeway again.
This time the freeway really sucked. The bike lane would disappear as two exits, one to a frontage road and one onto I-15 south left me in no-mans-land most of the time. I started directing traffic and doing exaggerated head turns to keep everyone on the same page as much as possible, but when to huge semis rolled along side me with a 3ft shoulder of choppy asphalt to ride on the pucker factor got pretty high.
As has been my experience with WalMart drivers out by the Apple Valley Airport, these professional drivers are great drivers, and are trying very hard to keep everyone safe. I was acutely aware though that any tire blow-out, sand, or surface-induced control or balance issue and I'd be road-kill. THIS was the exact reason I spend so much time and money transitioning to a tubeless wheel system!
Since I'm writing this alive and well you can correctly deduce that my fears were for naught, but it was quite a pucker-factor for a half mile or so to 7th Ave, which was a good choice as it goes all the way from Nisqualli to Ranchero Rd in Hesperia, crossing Bear Valley Rd, and Main St in Hesperia on the way. I have to say though, while parts of 7th are wonderful, much of it heading south is horrible. I would much rather have taken Sycamore or Eucalyptus to Cottonwood as it is great surface.
I rounded the corner at 7th Ave into a dedicated turn lane with perfect surface. Nice. After a mile or so the road started to narrow to 2 lanes with no shoulder, so I picked a driveway just before the pinch point to stop, hydrate and eat some Powerbar. My right calf was threatening to cramp, so I hit the Gatorade hard. As I clipped my helmet strap closed, and clipped my right foot in the pedal, the dog next door started barking again, the wind started blowing as though on cue, and I hadn't seen another rider in half an hour. The ride suddenly seemed hostile.
Heading up 7th was a big false flat into a 5-10mph wind, so down in the aerobars and low gears, until the road got nice right next to the Hesperia City Hall, which was the site of the 3rd SAG stop at ~ 38 miles. I really didn't want to drink that horrible Hammer concoction, so I stopped to see if they had Gatorade.
YEA! Gatorade and water! I dumped the Hammer crap down the drain, filled the bottle with Gatorade, spiked it with Emergen-C, swallowed some L-Carnosine, Pterostilbene, and CoQ-10, and ate half a Powerbar and an orange GU I'd gotten at SAG 20. I felt good, and wanted to keep it that way. I was just finishing off another Espresso Love Gu when the wind started picking up.
There was another rider there, Chris IIRC. She was pretty chatty, but I had some steep climbs coming up, so decided to ask if we could ride together. She agreed, so after a quick bathroom break and a last sip of water we pushed off together.
The next 3 miles were all uphill with the wind in our faces. She seemed to be keeping up just fine, and even took up the lead for a short time, but should have drafted me, as I had the aerobars and she had a huge handlebar bag to push into the wind.
That left turn from 7th onto Ranchero is always interesting, but much smoother if you depart from the left-hand turn lane. I think that was new for her, but standard practice for me. It was fun flying downhill on Ranchero, down into the arroyo that is the very end of the Antelope Valley.
Climbing up the other side is work, but much easier headed east than west. I hit the 4-way stop at Ranchero + Danbury just right, and was able to ride through it without stopping by waving facing traffic through ahead of me.
I rode slowly, watching my mirror to make sure Chris got through the intersection OK and then slowly pushed the speed up. She dropped back quite a lot, so I stopped 1000 yards from the bottom at Arrowhead Lake Rd for a drink and another Espresso Love. I wanted time to digest some food before doing the "Big Climb".
She rolled up and we had a little chat about the Garmin, and about that time one of the mobile SAG motorcycles rolled up and asked if we were OK. We'd seen a few people with flats on Ranchero, so nice of him to stop. Chris took a bottle of water, as did I, and he took off. After 8 minutes we rolled down the hill and turned onto Arrowhead Lake Rd, heading for Ranchero and the steepest, longest climb of the day.
It's a CAT 4 climb with an average climb of ~ 2%, but the bottom is 4%, and there's one 8% pitch that I used the granny on my triple crank for. Unfortunately, Chris didn't have a triple, and struggle a bit, and though the strain from the low cadence didn't show up till later, it took a toll.
It was the hottest part of the day, and what wind we had was at our backs, so almost no relative wind. I could tell I was sweating quite a lot, but there was nothing to be done about it. We did take a little 3 minute break at the top of the hill to hydrate, before heading down, and then up, up, up Ranchero Rd to SantaFe, named for the railroad tracks that border it all the way to Main St and past. The spiked Gatorade when down s-m-o-o-t-h.
Chris wasn't familiar with SantaFe, at least AFAICT, so I assured her she'd love it as it was going to be downhill with the wind at our backs the whole way. I also told her I knew a "short cut" (same distance, just faster) of staying on SantaFe so that we'd pass right under Main without having to stop for lights or worry about traffic. With that pep talk, off we went.
I was pretty happy with how the climb up Ranchero to SantaFe went. My legs, which had been cramping a bit when going the other direction, felt fine now, and I was looking forward to the romp down SantaFe, the BIG climb behind us, the only one left was up Rock Springs Road to Kiowa 10 miles ahead. My legs were feeling fine.
SantaFe was a blast. With the wind at my back I hammered the first 3/4 mile or so, which is a shallow climb, and then slowly ramped up the power. When my HR got up to 135 I reined myself in a bit - I still had Rock Springs Rd ahead, and Chris was lagging behind again.
There were a couple of riders pulled over on the side of the road, so I slowed to offer help. They were just finishing up fixing a flat, so waved me on as Christ caught up briefly. I was going almost 28mph as I passed Sultana, but then had to slow and circle back to make sure Chris saw me before I passed under Main St and took the bend around to Spruce.
I made the turn onto Spruce, then C Ave, then a half-block to E Ave and saw the last SAG stop almost immediately. Chris showed up a minute later, and 2 minutes after that the couple with the flat went past the SAG stop. Staying on SantaFe to get under Main is a time-saver!
At the SAG stop they had 5 different kinds of Gatorade and cool water, as well as electrolytes and cut fruit, Cliff Bars and a bunch of other stuff they wanted to get rid of. I tried to hurry as I mixed up another batch of spiked Gatorade and nibble on a few things before heading off to the Porta-Potty. The couple that flatted didn't stop, adding to the sense it was getting late.
We rolled out of the parking lot and I started ramping up the power. E Ave has a great bike lane and usually, not much traffic. It was clear sailing all the way to the turn east at Lemon. I was flying.
I kept looking back in my mirror for Chris, but didn't see her after turning onto Lemon. I hammered pretty hard to the turn onto Peach, which headed back south into the wind. If you're fighting wind, rollers are the best terrain. They let you hide on the backsides and the rolling terrain breaks up the force of the wind. These roller climb though, so challenging. I got to the end of Peach feeling a little guilty about not sticking closer to Chris, but it was getting late.
I waited for over 5 minutes at Peach and Main, hydrating and eating the last of my Espresso GUs for the upcoming climb out of the river bottom on Rock Springs Rd. She never showed up, so I assumed she'd had a flat. I hoped she remembered she had the number for SAG on her route sheet, and pushed off.
With the wind at my back, going down Main was a blast. I almost missed the turn, crossing over 4 lanes onto RSR, shadowing a pickup through the turn at full speed. It was a very fast ride down to the river bottom. I was surprised the wind was still at my back.
The RSR bridge is normally dry, but floods when the Mojave runs high, so to keep vehicles from being swept away it's heavily grooved, AND, had a rumble strip embedded in the concrete. It was a rough ride over the rumble strip until I figured out what it was in very flat light. I moved over and hoped there wasn't any hidden glass in those grooves. As it was, I flew across the bridge, and hit the light at Deep Creek on green, so jammed right to the base of the climb and started shifting gears.
My triple's granny gear had worked so well on the Ranchero Rd climb I decided to use it again. I had lots of gears to choose from with a 12-28 (traded the 11T for a 16T on the cassette; yeah, you can do that) in back, so again, the climb turned out to be easily manageable.
I got to the top of RSR and made the turn onto Kiowa, again waving facing traffic across so I could make the L-hand turn without stopping. The disadvantage of being slow, and therefore late, on 7th Ave and Peach, had now turned into a big advantage as the wind had continued to pick up. I flew down Kiowa, and made the turn onto Tussing Ranch, whose smooth surface was even faster. I was really looking forward to the 8mi stretch of Navajo after a left turn.
My legs were getting tired riding down Navajo, so I was surprised when I got home that I set 2 personal best times on Navajo, 1 on Kiowa and 2 from Peach to Kiowa. If I had any doubts my legs were getting tired, I found out crossing Bear Valley Rd on a yellow light. I tried to hammer and my entire upper right leg knotted up as one. Uuugh.
Fortunately, as soon as I pulled the power my leg stopped cramping and everything returned to normal. It was time to start thinking about that last segment on Thunderbird INTO the wind. I collected myself, trying not to focus on my sore neck while down in the aerobars. I tried sitting up a bit, but right about then the tailwind morphed into a perfect crosswind, so I compromised and rode on the bottom of the drops. HR was good. Right calf OK. Hammie was sore, but not threatening. Just like a pilot's T-Scan. Checking in to see what condition my condition was in.
I passed a couple of riders on Navajo just before the turn onto Thunderbird. They didn't seem to care, and then one on Thunderbird, down flat on the aerobars, stretched out as far as possible to duck the wind. He made a valiant effort (think it was the guy from the couple that had flatted on SantaFe) to stay ahead of me, but it was no use. In those circumstances aerobars are a decisive advantage, and as I passed him he blew up, not showing up at the finish for over 5 minutes after I rolled in.
I was a little disappointed that after my personal triumph, they were rolling up the place by the time I got there, so no BBQ ribs, Gatorade or food. I had a little left, so no problem, and they did have ice cold water left they offered generously, but still, everyone should have the same ride experience, no matter when they finish.
I did get to meet some of the organizers, which was great, and I felt really good over-all, but with the wind so strong, and in my face all the way home, I decided to call Deb for a ride. If my life had depended on it I could have ridden home I think, but it didn't, and my butt was sore, my hands were sore, and I felt like I'd pushed my luck as far as I should on any given day.
I've spent a lot of time looking at metrics on Strava and RWGPS, and have to say, it was nearly a perfect ride, in some cases, in spite of, but in most cases, because of my efforts. I started slow, rode alone when I had to, got a boost from riding with Chris as long as that lasted, and made a good decision to move on when she didn't show up, and only let myself fly when I was sure I'd make it to the finish line.
The RWGPS route estimated 4:25 to complete. My riding time was 4:39, good considering the wind. Climbing into the wind means it hurts you for much longer than it helps you. Total time was 6:01. There are a few Centuries coming up early next year. I'm thinking it over.
PS:
Chris was at the finish when I rolled up and had just gotten there by SAG a few minutes earlier, which surprised her. I told her I'd waited up but assumed she'd flatted or had a mechanical, which she did. Her brand new Gatorskins flatted on her, so I gave her a quick summary of tubeless tire systems, thanked her for riding along, and headed for the ice water.
