RE: [SFRandon] 2012 600 report – not quite my life story but pretty close.

[Megan Arnold]

but... no couch?!
 
wonderful story. thank you so much for sharing!

- Megan
 

> Date: Mon, 14 May 2012 19:24:00 -0700
> Subject: [SFRandon] 2012 600 report – not quite my life story but pretty close.
> From: jjp...@gmail.com
> To: sfra...@googlegroups.com
>
> The starting group for each successive randonnee is always reduced as
> the mileage increases and the 2012 edition of the traditional SFR 600k
> was no different. A tough 400k three weeks earlier and conflicts with
> the California triple crown and mother’s day helped to keep the crowd
> thin as well.
>
> My usual riding buddies Carlos and Gabe had conflicts with the date of
> the ride, Todd Teachout (2nd club member to earn Ultra Randonneur
> status!) was doing a triple crown ride, and Willy Nevin (1st club
> member to earn Ultra Randonneur status!) presumably was going to
> celebrate Mother’s Day appropriately.
>
> I too had considered not riding this edition because of the hour
> earlier start caused by a professional bicycle race that shared a
> portion of our course and required a road closure. Getting up an hour
> earlier is a dangerous amount of beauty sleep to lose for me, but I
> throw vanity to the wind and show up for the start.
>
> At the start I found myself talking to nearly everyone and spoke to a
> stranger from the north, Chris from Olympia. I pointed out to Chris
> all of the people whom I consider to be normal and a good riding
> partner and warned him of others who are peculiar and are good riding
> partners. Locally famous people Lois Springsteen and her husband Bill
> Bryant were pointed out as notables as well as course record holder
> Aaron Mason. Chris was saved from my attentions by the arrival of
> Bryan Clarkson who has planned to ride with me.
>
> I convinced Bryan to ride with me by sending him my entire ride
> strategy sketch which consisted of quick stops on the way out, beer in
> Boonville, a longish half-hour stop in Dimmick, a ride through the
> night without sleeping and breakfast at Liverpool Lil’s at the finish.
> As I offered to buy the beer Bryan was in.
>
> Basic milestones for the ride other than getting beer were returning
> to Dimmick at dusk and reaching Occidental at daybreak.
>
> Being a small group of starters we strung out very quickly into ones
> and twos, and from what I saw riders only were occasionally in groups
> of four or more. More than once Bryan and I were joined by Tom
> Haggerty and Chris from Olympia. In Point Reyes Station we stopped at
> the Bovine for a cup of coffee and a day-old something. When I asked
> for a receipt the owner remarked that I was one of those people going
> to Fort Bragg and back. I confirmed her suspicion and thanked her for
> her kind treatment of my cousin Russ Fairles last year. She said ‘Oh!
> That poor fella slept in the post office for an hour before coming
> here!’ I explained that post offices are warm, clean, always open and
> usually have a hose bib on the side for water and so they are perfect
> hotels for long distance cyclists. She guffawed and wished me luck. I
> left by saying ‘See you tomorrow!’
>
> Tom and Chris joined Bryan and I from Hicks Mountain through Petaluma
> to Cotati, but I could not hold Tom’s pace so Bryan stayed with me and
> let them go. While I was with Tom and Chris I was able to confirm (to
> my everlasting joy) that Jan Heine’s last name is pronounced ‘hiney’
> as in ‘hiney-ho!’ I can’t say hiney without giggling – I will have to
> be careful if I ever meet Mr. Hiney. Oops.
>
> The hour earlier start had the huge benefit of reduced traffic on the
> 101 corridor from Petaluma to Healdsburg – not a single monster truck!
> There was some other fun ride occurring on our route with the
> participants of that ride coming our way who all had the strange habit
> of smiling and waving to us. We were definitely not in Marin County.
> One other benefit to our route and start time is that we get to
> Healdsburg before noon and it does not heat up to 90 degree
> temperatures until we get to Yorkville. The climb out of Cloverdale
> was simply hot and not burning hot. Bonus!
>
> Boonville, with a beerfest underway was too crowded for a beer stop so
> I announced a beer purchase in Philo. On the way there the
> temperatures almost approached those of the 400, but there was always
> a cooling breeze to save us. Nearing Philo two motorcyclists passed
> us, one on its rear wheel.
>
> The beer purchase at Philo was almost consumed on the front porch but
> I had stupidly asked for permission to drink the beer when I bought
> it. The cashier said she would check. I almost had the opener on the
> cap when she poked her head out the door and said ‘you can’t drink
> here’.
>
> Damn.
>
> We split the beers between our handlebar bags and as we left Tom,
> Chris and Joe Monahan joined us with a promise of beers in the
> redwoods. The redwoods proved to be pretty far and we stopped at the
> first good spot despite it being in full view of passing traffic.
> Moments after stopping a fire truck with its siren blaring shoots past
> and then an ambulance follows. Bryan sets his beers out on the ground
> and goes behind a tree. I am just about to reach for one of the beers
> to open it and a state trooper pulls off next to us siren blaring and
> lights flashing. How did they know!
>
> I quickly distance myself from the beers that are in plain view and
> offer my assistance to the officers who have hopped out of their car.
> I am careful to make sure that that the beer is not directly behind me
> and start gesticulating to catch their eyes while mentally using my
> gedi knight trick of ‘there is no beer here, this is not the beer you
> want’. The officer says ‘everyone ok here?’ I am quick to affirm our
> health and they say something about biker crash hop back in and speed
> off.
>
> Man. That was a close one. I hate to lose beer.
>
> We drink our slightly warmed up but still cool beers and speculate on
> who could have been hurt and needed assistance. We each decide that it
> just could not be someone from our club and hope we are right. Beers
> consumed we get 500 feet down the road to the crash site and it turns
> out it was the motorcyclists that passed us before Philo that crashed.
> Cops should know that bikers are people on Harleys with no muffler and
> that cyclists are people on bicycles. Knowing this would save them
> some troubles.
>
> At Dimmick I present Roland and Heath with the two unconsumed beers
> and leave Chris and Tom behind to enjoy some hospitality. Joe quickly
> catches up with us to enjoy the cooler temperatures of the coast.
>
> The coast is enveloped in a dense wall of misting rain but there is a
> tailwind to push us on to Fort Bragg. The coast also is the place
> where we get to see the other riders returning from Fort Bragg. We
> hoot on Aaron Mason at the big swooping switchback just north of
> Albion – the only other rider I have seen this far south is Peter
> Morrisey whom I met on the first bridge north of 128 which is another
> mile south. Peter’s training ride resulted in a 28 hour finish and
> Aaron as it turned out did the same time. Other swift riders we see
> along the way are Tim, Bob, Joan and Brian.
>
> My greatest accomplishment of the whole ride was beating Bryan in the
> sprint for the Mendocino city limit sign. We both launch at the same
> time and my single bike length advantage is only reduced by half! He
> complains of being in the wrong gear just as I am thinking ‘cramp!’
> but I hold him off! I have absolutely no energy after that effort, but
> luckily Bryan and Joe are caught by a traffic light and I can close
> the 200 foot gap that developed after my momentous and costly victory.
>
> We enjoy a fairly quick stop at the Safeway where Bryan hogs the
> bathroom applying new shorts and cosmetics or something that takes
> forever. I skip the line of people hopping and holding it and wash my
> face and hands at the sink in the employee break room. Our purchases
> consist of more beer to carry to Dimmick and some cookies.
>
> The return is highlighted with greetings to our Randonneuring friends
> heading toward Fort Bragg and glimpses of bright blue sky just beyond
> the fog and mist. We enjoy sights of the seaside cliffs on the way
> back that we never see with the later start, so yet one more advantage
> to the 5am start that I grudgingly have to admit to.
>
> We attain my goal of reaching Dimmick in daylight with a bit to spare
> and enjoy around 45 minutes of pampering and conversation from Jeff
> Brittle, Heath and Roland. They all were so kind to us stinky
> fellows.
>
> Bryan and I are joined by Joe again as we leave Dimmick and he stays
> with us until the Yorkville Post Office where he sleeps. We continue
> on into the endless nearly undifferentiated bumpy climby totally
> silent star filled darkness to Cloverdale.
>
> In Cloverdale we are joined by Masa, Richard, and Joan. Masa heads to
> his hotel, and possibly Richard too, Joan needed a bit more time
> having just arrived so we leave them all again.
>
> We head off into the darkness to the info control on the other side of
> Healdsburg. Then it is West Side Road down to Guerneville. This was
> one of the tougher parts of the ride for me because we seemed to be in
> a purgatory of endless bumpy climby twisty broken concrete without a
> single landmark to judge our progress. I would have called on the
> assistance of the Anima Sola to save me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Anima_Sola ) but alas I left my wallet card at home and I probably
> would have been dq’ed if anyone ever found out I received assistance
> from an outside source.
>
> After a quick stop at the Guerneville Safeway we were approaching the
> bohemian highway where the road would be closed for the bicycle race
> later. Had I known a Slovak was going to win I might have laid down on
> the side of the road to see them pass by in a blur nine hours later so
> I could yell ‘Yakshemash’ at him, but you cannot do everything.
>
> The sun rises to an overcast sky just north of Valley Ford slightly
> surpassing my goal of sunrise in Occidental and raises a headwind for
> the rest of the way back to the bridge. In Point Reyes Station I am
> able to once again greet the owner a mere 25 hours later and she
> offers to heat up my day old chocolate croissant – she was so nice.
> The Holstein Hundred Century is taking place now so the roads are
> filled with cyclists and the roadside is punctuated with attractive
> girls with flat tires and rest stops with attractive girls ready to
> offer refreshments. Focus! Focus, John you are almost home. I do know
> I am in Marin County now as the passing cyclists do not waive and
> rarely smile.
>
> Carlos hoots hello to us in Sausalito as he heads off to scout some
> new La Routa trails and is followed by a challenging golden gate
> bridge crossing and a maneuver through the detour that one can
> actually ride a bike on. We arrive at the finish to greet Juliayn and
> Mrs. Walker at 1120am.
>
> Willy Nevin is there to chat as well and Bill Bryant shows up with the
> drop bags from Dimmick. After about an hour of lingering Bryan and I
> head off to enjoy a breakfast and a beer at Liverpool Lil’s and join
> the natives out celebrating Mother’s Day. As we eat the sun comes out
> and quickly starts to burn me and I feel sorry for those still out on
> the road that have yet one more challenge offered to them before the
> finish.
>
> This ride I successfully experimented with a Mavic vision reflective
> windvest and a poly jersey. I have not ridden a randonee in a poly
> jersey ever and to have a thin jersey for the Anderson Valley heat was
> very helpful . For the night hours I substituted a short sleeve wool
> tshirt for the poly and along with arm warmers and toe covers I was
> very comfortable.
>
> The other experiment was an abject failure. An ancienne once mentioned
> that Preparation H saved him at PBP so I thought maybe it would save
> me as well. I think perhaps Preparation H (I called it sometimes
> ‘magic elixir’ and sometimes ‘Preparation Haggerty’ at various moments
> during the ride) should only be used after pain is felt and not as a
> preventative. Bag Balm will have me right as rain soon. I hope.
>
> Thanks once again Club! The challenge of doing the distance and doing
> it comfortably and graciously keeps me coming back. I hope I make our
> rides better for having participated and represented. I just need to
> find the right magic elixir, although so far beer is pretty hard to
> beat.
>
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