Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.10702.0244.eml
From: Lisa Susan McPhate <mcphate(AT)sbcglobal.net>
Subject: [T(AT)H] Ride report: 300K underwater Brevet (long)
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:11:39 -0800 (PST)

Warning:  This ride report is about a ride I didn't like and is,  
therefore, full of complaints.  Nothing really bad happened.  I did  
not for example: get something thrown at me, get chased by a dog,  
bonk, get lost , and crash as a friend of mine did on the Terrible  
Two last year.  However, I can't say that I really enjoyed myself.

SF 300K Ride Report:

Ride route details:
This ride is reported to be 188 miles long.  It starts in San  
Francisco just on the south side of the bridge, goes over the bridge,  
follows the bike route through the little Marin towns (Sausilito,  
Corte Madera, Larkspur, Kent, etc) and then up through Petaluma and  
Santa Rosa to Healdsburg.  After Healdsburg, the route heads west and  
goes to the coast via Westview and River road.  At the coast, the  
ride takes Highway one south back to Marshall, through Nicasio and  
then we follow the bike route to the Golden Gate bridge.  It has  
about 7200 feet of climbing, so is relatively flat, and goes through  
spectacularly beautiful countryside.  We rode our tandem.

Silly Brevet Rules:
I was going to write a little about what brevets are and their rules,  
but that could take a while.  So, if you are actually interested you  
can read about them here: http://pages.prodigy.net/scrandonneurs/ 
whatis.html
These rides have mandatory rest stops called controls, which are  
often stores.  You are required to buy something and keep the receipt  
to prove you actually did the ride.  Now the last control on this  
ride is the Marshall store at mile 145, which closes at 6pm.  Now by  
my reckoning, Jason I should be going through Marshall around 6pm or  
so, so this will be a little close.  But not to fear, Todd, the ride  
administrator, states in his emails that he will enclose a postcard  
with everyone's brevet cards.  If you get to the store too late, you  
just put the time on the postcard (addressed to Todd) and put it in  
the mailbox across the street.

Complaints:
The ride starts in SF at 6 am, which means Jason and I get up a 3am.   
I kid you not: 3 am.  There is a rider meeting with Todd at 5:45,  
where he discusses rules etc and informs us that not everyone had  
received a postcard.  Apparently Todd only puts postcards in with  
your brevet card if he thinks you are slow enough to need it.  Fast  
people did not get postcards.  Jason and I both get postcards.

The bathrooms at the Golden Gate bridge open at 6am and the ride  
starts at 6 am, so we started the ride about 5 minutes off the back,  
which was fine.   My knee started hurting about two hours into the  
ride and I become slightly worried about finishing the ride, but I am  
having a good time and I hope my knee will get better.  We started  
getting rained on around 1030; I forget all about my knee.  The rain  
really isn't that bad.  We stop, put on raingear in Santa Rosa and we  
catch up with a bunch of other cyclist, including Jim and Willy, and  
ride with them for a while.  Riding in a group in the rain is really  
nice, especially in a city.  Cars have a hard time seeing bikes in  
the rain, but a whole bunch of cyclists definitely get seen.  It is  
amazing how quickly you get soaked in the rain.  I am wet, a little  
cold but it has taken my mind off my knee entirely.

We all stop for lunch at control#3 at mile 82.  I want to use the  
bathroom, buy food, eat and then leave as quickly as possible.  Jason  
doesn't do hurry and this complete lack of hustle stresses me out  
some, since I want to hit the road already.  Jason did insist that we  
put plastic bags on our feet, which probably saved both of us later  
in the ride.  By the time we leave, I am shivering rather  
uncontrollably.  Willy suggests that we find a laundry mat and dry  
our clothes, since I look so bad.  For the rest of the ride, fellow  
randonneurs ask me if I am warm enough, since I looked so cold at  
mile 82.  So far we have gone 82 miles in 6 hours.  We have 60 miles  
left until the Marshall store control and 6 hours until the store  
closes.  We all figure we can probably make that time.

The next part of the ride along Westview and River roads was  
beautiful and easy.  We had a tailwind and it was raining  
intermittently and only softly when it did rain.  We had our second  
flat in this section, but even that went well.

The story line changes as we got closer to the coast and then turned  
down HWY1.  That section was just terrible.  Very difficult  
headwinds.  43 miles of very difficult headwinds before we will get  
to Marshall and we are clearly not going to make the Marshall store  
by 6.  And my saddle sores hurt and my knee was bothering me.  Jason  
kept saying that as soon as we left the coast, we would be more  
sheltered and the wind would die down.  (Later Jason informed me that  
he did not actually think any of the above, he was just hoping  
outloud) We stop at the Valley Ford store, where we bought supplies  
and I consumed the best tasting Ho-Hos I have ever eaten.  I also  
discover the secrets to benzocain for numbing saddle sores: 1) let it  
sit on your skin for a while before riding again and 2) use a lot of  
it- no even more than that- no, I mean a lot.  The rest of my ride  
was blissfully butt-pain free,  which, let me concentrate on my knee  
pain and how wet I was.

Marshall store:  Yeah!! got there at 5:45!  Now all we have is  
another 43 miles and we'll be done. We see a bunch of people we  
know.  Jim and Willy are just leaving as we arrive.  Michael and  
Agnes are there about the same time.  The store closed at 6 and off  
we all were again.

So, this was when the ride got really bad.  It is now pouring.  Rain  
is running down zippers, finding little gaps, soaking our already  
soaked bodies with fresh colder water and in general making us  
miserable.  Jason for some reason has forgotten how to shift.  I  
can't see anything.  The countryside is pitch black with no  
streetlamps.  Every-time a car passes, Jason is blinded by the  
headlamps.  He takes his clear glasses off, in order to see better,  
but then the rain just stings his eyes.  The rain is just so much  
worse than before and stings our faces as we ride along.

At one point as we are biking up a hill on HWY 1, a little hybrid  
passes us and then stops right in front of us, cutting us off.  We  
don't know what she is doing and do not want to pass on her on the  
right.  Maybe she's parking, what is she doing?  She calls out and  
talks to us. She says that she wants to offer us words of  
encouragement and asks us if we are riding all the way to San  
Francisco.  At this point, I am not altogetherr sure where we are  
going and I certainly do not want to discuss it with a stranger  
sitting in a heated car as we pedal along in the dark and rain 160  
miles into a 188 mile ride.  I tell her that we are very tired and to  
please leave.  She acted quite offended and drove off.

I am completely wet. If we stop, I will start shivering and become  
hypothermic.  Jason and I both separately think of ways we can get  
James to come and pick us up, but we have no where to stop and keep  
warm.  If we could have bailed at this point, I would have.  I tell  
myself to remember how bad I feel.  You tend to get a sort of amnesia  
after long rides.  You are now the person who has done a long ride,  
you are no longer the person doing the ride.  I tell myself to  
remember that the person doing the ride was miserable and not to do  
any more of these silly things in the rain and wind.

On Platform Bridge road, we catch Michael.  I feel great on this  
road.  There is a large shoulder (no shoulder on HWY 1), the rain has  
lessened, and we seem to be climbing quite well.  Michael informs us  
that this is all bad.  We are apparently being pushed up by a tail  
wind and the weather going to be getting much worse.

Well, he was quite right.  We turned right onto Nicasio Valley road  
to be hit by horrible cross winds- much is worse then before. Jason  
is at this point quite tired and having a hard time controlling the  
bike.  We struggle through the worsening weather until we hit the  
first of the little Marin towns, which are well lit by street lights  
and are somewhat sheltered from the wind.  We finally get to the  
Sausalito bike path, which has the worst winds yet and the rain is  
even more painful as it stings our faces.

Oh, but wait, it does get worse- The final climb to the bridge was  
horrid.  The winds were just amazing.  You can hear them coming  
through the trees and then they just hit you like a ram.  Terrible.

The Golden Gate:
We finally get to the Golden Gate.  Quite a bit before the first  
stanchion, we are forced to stop by the wind and can no longer ride.   
I get off the bike, but Jason is unable to unclip his right foot,  
because the wind is too strong.  He can't let go of the brake levers  
or move his feet.  He is just stuck there.  Later Willy told us that  
he was also unable to unclip on the bridge and ended up laying the  
bike down and getting unclipped that way.  Jason finally gets  
unclipped and we start walking very slowly towards the first  
stanchion.  I used the hand rail and pulled myself hand over hand  
towards the stanchion.  Walkable shoes would have been better.  The  
rain blowing into our faces felt like hail.  At the stanchion, the  
wind picked up the back of the tandem and hit Jason in the butt with  
it.  Later one fellow randonneur reported that as he walked his bike  
on the bridge " the gusts picked up my carbon Orca and flung it up in  
the air behind me like I was waving a flag! If I lose my grasp - it's  
over the railing and into the SF Bay!"  Beyond the first stanchion,  
the wind wasn't as bad.  It was still too strong for us to bike and  
we were still having a hard time walking, but we now knew we were  
going to make it and I became decidedly happy.

In fact, everyone was decidedly ecstatic at the end sign-in.  We all  
all we amazed at how bad the bridge was.  Everyone agreed that the  
wind on the bridge was worse than any other wind on the bridge ever  
before and we were all beaming from ear to ear with smiles.  But  
really really cold.  and quite wet.  and very very cold. but happy.

Stats;
190 miles (according to our computers)
miles that I enjoyed: 105
total time: 16 hour 27 minutes
ave total time of all riders 16 hr 5 min
elevation gain:7200'
ave ride speed: 14.2 mph
riders: 87
DNFs: 10
flat tires: 2
flat tires in rain or headwind: 0   :)
Miles with rain: 110
Miles with headwinds: 80

Lisa-Susan McPhate
Oakland CA