Smith River 600k: Pas de merde, pas de merde du tout

When I signed up for the Humboldt Randos 1000k earlier this year, I started looking around for 600k brevets somewhat near the date of the 1000k to serve as training rides. I knew I would be riding the Pinnacles 600k, but that was 3 months away from the 1000k, which seemed long. I quickly found the Willamette Randos Smith River 600k was scheduled for mid June, only a month away from the 1000k. The route seemed based in Eugene, a stop on the Amtrak Coast Starlight route, and I found an interesting lodging option in the International Hostel of Eugene!

I contacted the ride organizer, not really knowing the vibe of the group but feeling pretty sure it would be nothing like my home club of San Francisco. SFR is one of the biggest, or the biggest depending on your chosen metric, clubs in RUSA. It’s not unusual to get 100 riders or more on our popular rides. If I remember correctly, the first brevet I ever did, the Point Reyes Light House 200k, had a rider limit of 175, and that limit was reached! I had a sense that the Willamette Randos did not have that kind of volume, so I emailed Michal Young, the RBA for the Willamette region, to ask some open ended questions about signing up. He was very nice and thoughtfully answered all my questions about riding the Smith River 600k, so I went ahead with my plans to do the ride. When I arrived in Eugene the afternoon before the ride, he stopped by the hostel on his way home from work to say hi.

Eugene Hostel

The Bloom Room

lovely front porch

front porch decorative item

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Day 1

The ride start was at a little restaurant with a large patio and picnic tables outside. I checked in, paying the $10 ride fee in cash. There was a wide range of bike types among the riders: level tubers (level top tube) with fenders like myself and sporty carboners alike. Everyone was really nice and before long, the RBA began his pre ride talk.

Bon matin tout le monde!

Pre ride talk. Oath is implied

A 300k was being run on the same day with the same route as the 600k up to about 250k, and there were ten riders in all. Michal was not riding either one, but generously rode out with us to make sure we all made the turns correctly to get to the beautiful bike path along the river.

Tip of the spear!

I loved this traffic sign…

Bicycles merging!

The river path was very pretty, a perfect way to start a long ride.

wheeee

le peloton

The path afforded us plenty of space to chat, and I met Peter, originally from Vermont, now from Corvallis. He had just that morning received a notice from his landlord of nonrenewal of lease, he thought because of his use of his grand piano…being a concert pianist as he is. Peter had initially signed up for the 600k but changed to the 300 to go home and deal with the problem of finding a new place. Yikes! Nevertheless we found commonality in hailing from cheese and milk producing regions of the US. Anyway, before long we got to the end of the riverfront path and moved through the industrial outskirts of Eugene. The roads were wide and unoccupied an this Saturday morning, making for good chatting among us. Considering that I needed to make my return train at 5:15 pm the next day, I was not wasting any time and the group’s pace was perfect. I rode along with Julien, who when we introduced ourselves, said, “Your name will be easy for me to remember!” Ha. After riding behind me for a moment or so though, he felt the need to comment on my safety triangle. For a few years now, my partner John has been hand cutting safety triangles out of the giant orange reflective roadwork signs that blow away and become m.o.o.p. (matter out of place) on the road.

matter in place

He delights in cutting stencils into them. Logos have been a common theme, such as the Rough Stuff Fellowship logo, the Rivendell logo, the Hands on Wheels logo. He’s delved into messages too…

so much fear

…and lately he’s been enjoying displaying his scant familiarity with French slang.

isn’t it!

…the most recent being these…

oh crap

I thought they were hilarious, but unfortunately my nouveau ami Lyonnais and fraternal name-twin was not amused. “Wait a minute… do you speak French??”, he asked. “Do you know what that means? … is that like saying, ‘If you can read this, you are too close?'” Ha. But really, I thought in French, ‘merde’ spoken emphatically was an ironic version of Bon Courage. Hmmmm. Regardless, we all continued on, passing from the outskirts of Eugene into the hilly, rural forests. The road was gorgeous, twisting and weaving through farms, then thick forest, then along a river.

PNW feels

I was feeling pretty great until I got that sagging feeling in my back wheel that said nothing other than… your tire is flat… merde! I pulled off into an adjacent driveway and waved everyone on. This was the second flat of the day, in fact, after having awakened to a front flat due to a failed valve seam. Luckily I had awakened early enough to give me plenty of time to fix it before rolling out, but it meant that I was down one spare tube. Having only one spare tube on a 600k is a little unnerving, especially when you have just gotten a second flat! So I patched the faulty tube… those unending roadside patch jobs! sigh. It was only 30 km into the ride so far.

As I took care of the business at hand, I got to wave at wave after wave (only 2 waves tho) of riders I had not noticed had separated from the front group while I was having so much fun chatting. In particular I spied SFR colors! When I got underway again, I found this individual riding with Peter, and we three coasted along for a while. Linus, the SFR rider, dropped back but before he did so, I found out he was one of three of us doing the 600k, as he needed it for a PBP qualifier. Peter later told me that Linus had explained to him why he started riding long distance rides: to honor his son who was killed on his motorcycle while standing at a stop light when someone drove into him. Wow. Linus seemed to be struggling a bit so Peter decided he would sacrifice his own ride to guide Linus through the first 250k of his 600k. What a nice thing to do! Unfortunately my return train trip timing prevented me the luxury of being so generous. So I wished them both Bonne Route and went on my way.

Decorative bridge doohickeys at every river crossing

more cool bridge features

Florence was the first town with any real services after the start, at about 125k. I was definitely feeling the need for some solid food at that point but still needed to make up time after my flat fiasco, so I just stopped at a 7-eleven and moved on.

PNW 7-eleven woodpile naturally

The next segment took us along the coast on the Pacific Coast Bike Route, where there were a lot of sand dunes and parks for dune buggy-ing.

sand along the hiway

There was an info control halfway between Florence and Reedsport, the next control, and I finally caught up with the main group there. They were so nice– as soon as they saw me, they held at the control until I caught up with them.

ocean views out of control

We rode along the coast highway with wide shoulders and a lot of short climbs and descents.

In Reedsport, we all took lunch together at a Safeway/Subway. Julien bought my sandwich out of sympathy for my flat tire misfortunes and to congratulate me for catching up. And I got to ask him about the use of ‘merde’ again, which had him completely perplexed about why anyone would want to place that word anywhere on one’s bike. I told him about how my French teacher in high school loved using this term to cheer on a sports team or wish someone good luck. Don’t people use it that way? he replied, “Ohhh, yes. When you want to wish someone good luck, it’s considered bad luck to wish them good luck, so you wish them–merde. But it’s never written down, it would only be something you say.” Alright then! Native French dude advises against le merde. I still left the triangle on my bike though for now… We chomped down our food and back on our bikes were we, to ride the next section along the Smith River, the brevet’s well-earned namesake. This road was truly lovely!

that ol’ good sign

Humming along

tree canopy along the river

What a treat. Our group had whittled down to five, with one person riding a gorgeous Fitz Cyclez rando machine. Most of the way was fairly flat, then a little bit of climbing after a small country store. Finally we started our major climb which was pretty steep though short. Getting toward the top felt a little like being in the Sierras… though not as much work to get there!

wildflowers and climbs

Nevertheless, I was getting pretty tired and wanted to stop for a breather, but Julien encouraged me to keep going since he knew we were almost at the top. And he was right! Just one more corner, and I saw Michal’s white van at the summit control.

woo hoo!

This control was fantastic! Michal had gotten some tasty bites lentil soup and had a jet boil, so within minutes had hot lentil soup for us! I love to eat these while camping, and I’m a huge fan of all kinds of beans and rice generally, so I knew this was going to give me plenty of energy for the 100k or so I had left in the day. And! Michal had gotten word from someone in the peloton about my being out one spare tube, so he picked up 2 extras for me! Extreme kindness award! I felt a little embarrassed at having this much attention showered on me, but it sure was appreciated.

At this point there was a steep, twisty descent followed by a few dips and berms, then the splitting off point for the 300k riders and the 600k riders. There were only 2 of us left now on the 600k, myself and Linus. So I was looking at the next 350k solo. I would definitely miss the companionship of my new found friends who had been such fun to ride with. But I had committed to this journey, so I fondly waved goodbye at the turnoff.

some more uppy-downie

After I parted with them, I still had a little more climbing, then some fun descending and a lot of flat riding to get to the overnight back in Eugene. The countryside was still gorgeous, and I was treated to a cool network of bike paths around Cottage Grove. Julien had advised me that in Cottage Grove there was a good sit-down Italian restaurant. Although I was hungry, I was more concerned about getting enough sleep at the overnight. I decided to stop at a convenience store and get some chips and soda and the ubiquitous bag of gummies. The cashier, a young guy, noticed my bike clothes (I guess?) and asked me how to be healthy. Hmm… I bashfully looked down at my purchases, solidly in the not healthy category, and nervously laughed. “Ride bikes?”, he asked? “Sure!” I brightened. He smiled. I left to go refill my bottles and inhale the unhealthy food…

There was a younger woman outside the store, apparently waiting for someone in a parked car nearby. While she was looking down at her phone, the car suddenly pulled out of the space and sped off! She looked up and shouted after the car. She frantically screamed, “WAIT!”, but the car was gone. She started to look like she was going to burst into tears and looked down at her phone again, as if she wanted to call someone for help, but didn’t know exactly who. I was only 8 feet away from her as all this was happening. Just on total impulse, I looked her squarely in the face, getting her attention, and firmly said, “They’re not worth it.” She exhaled, said thanks, and walked off in the opposite direction from where the car went. Then I quit that crazy scene too! The rest of my ride to the overnight was flat and uneventful save for a dramatic, red flaming sunset.

nice lil park with a tool stand, picnic table, and porta pot

I got back to the Eugene hostel at about 10 pm. I had left myself plenty of food in the fridge for that night’s dinner and the following morning’s breakfast. Lots of great food options close to the hostel, grocery stores and restaurants alike. I’ve never done a ride that was set up like this, with loops out of a central start location, but it did make things easier, probably both for me as a rider and for the ride organizer.

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Day 2

I left the next day at 3:30 am or so, with about 250 flat k’s to go. I wanted to try to get back to Eugene a couple hours before my train left so I could go back to the hostel for my bag and wash up a little before the 14 hour train ride. Most of my 600s have been in the 36 hour range so this would be a lot faster than my usual.

We (my bike and I) left under cover of darkness, quickly finding what I’m sure is a very scenic road in the daytime. In the night it was very quiet, with some residential areas at the beginning but then thick forest. Something I found amusing about road signs in Oregon was that they were frequently only one word, all caps. Here there were several I passed that simply said, “ROCKS”. I wish I had gotten a picture of one! Because, as I thought, “This route ROCKS”. Ha. There was another sign I often saw that just said TRUCKS. Keepin it simple!

Anyway, there was a bit of a climb through this area, and when the forest opened up to some meadow lands, it started to rain! Fortunately I had checked the weather forecast before leaving Oakland, and had brought my rain jacket. I had read that there might be thunderstorms in the afternoon! I was pretty stoked about that actually. As a child in Wisconsin, summer thunderstorms were beautiful things to behold. Well, at this point in the day, the sun wasn’t up yet, it was overcast, dreary, and freezing cold! What on earth was I doing out there?!

 

brrrr

I learned later that this was where Linus ended up DNF’ing because he hadn’t brought a rain jacket, and he got too cold. No wonder, I was wearing every stitch I brought, and hammering to keep warm! But before long, I got to an area where there were breaks in the clouds. Lovely rays of sunlight broke through, shining on the golden fields and shapely hills.

oops mitten in the corner… hard to take photos with mittens on!

In Lebanon I decided to break for some solid food at a Starsucks there. It being father’s day, I put in a quick call to my dad, who gave me some helpful words of encouragement, and I pressed on. At this point it felt like I was really flying, and I didn’t think to notice that I had a strong tailwind. I didn’t think to notice, because there had been so much talk in the merry bunch yesterday about the luscious tailwinds I would have at the turnaround going back to Eugene. So I had a tailwind on the outbound leg which seemed odd. I decided not to think about it too much, and just enjoyed riding through farmers’ fields and the nature preserve/marsh, all wonderful, before the turnaround town of Independence.

It’s so fun to be able to make good time, and I saw another TRUCKS sign in the swamp which had sank down so that the word was barely visible above the cattails. Giggles!

I got to Independence a little early, and didn’t really see any appealing food options so just used the facilities at a park on the north end of town, ate some food in my bag, filled my water and was off again. The previously mentioned tailwind never materialized except as what you might call a reverse tailwind? Although it was a lot of work over that last 100k, it never really bothered me. As they say, “If you can’t go on, just keep on going!” So I just kept going, and as I did so, evidence mounted that I would make my train.  Really that whole 100k I was pushing against the wind, but at least it wasn’t raining on me!

yes.

And the light was unreal. I love seeing bright sunlight through dark rain clouds, and it was even more interesting because of all the different crops in the fields along the way. Alfalfa is kind of this interesting blue-green color that is so fascinating to see, and rye is a gentle mauve-y pinkish color.

alfalfalfa

I listened to an album by a punchy Romany brass ensemble that I love, and was able to just eat energy bars and drink malto, and not make any more food stops. What wacky luck that I had a massive headwind here when the prevailing winds are -always- out of the north, but oh well. When you have a route with a lot of climbing, you usually get a sweet sweet descent down the other side, but sometimes a headwind can go on for hours and hours without letting up!

Reaching the Eugene city limit sure felt triumphant, since it looked like I would be able to make my train!

town of TRUCKS

almost there!

A few blocks after passing back into Eugene, I crossed over the Willamette River for the sixth and final time, and RBA Michal was sitting in a lawn chair on the other side of the bridge to congratulate me at the finish! I had texted him at various points to let him know my progress since he had said he wanted to meet me at the finish.

He had his van right there and gave me a ride back to the hostel to get my bag, and then we repaired to Cold Fire Brewing for a pint and I also got some delicious handmade taiwanese noodles from a food truck by the brew pub. The guy working the noodle truck had an Oakland Raiders hat so we got to talk about the sad Oakland sports scene for a bit.

So, I did make my train, but only to have one of the engines break down before we even got to the first stop away from Eugene, then be delayed for. eight. hours. I can only look back and laugh, honestly. Amtrak gave us all travel vouchers for our delay, and it was kind of nice to be forced to just rest my bones for an extended time. I had brought 2 gourmet cup o noodles and tons of other food with me so I was actually kinda good.

In the end, did I have good luck on this ride, or chance de merde? In the merde column: waking up in the morning with a flat tire, getting another one 30 km into the ride, freakish headwind where I should have had a tail wind, and then the whole Amtrak thing… or is that just normal Amtrak? Ha.

But then I think of all the great luck I had, like the RBA was so nice and helpful throughout my whole experience. I felt super lucky to fall in so easily with the other riders from the area too. I was lucky I brought a rain jacket! I guess some of that was making good choices. Though, I wrote Julien later to tell him I thought I would stop riding with my merde triangle, and he immediately wrote back to say, “Bonne idée!”

Wildflower Tourists: Pinnacles Traveler 600k

Text thread with a bike camping friend: Him: “…it looked like you crushed your 600k. xx mph is crazy! (pause) Did you have fun?” Me: “Hell yeah I had fun!!” It was true: no randonnesia necessary! This is a great route; it was also fun when I did it in 2019, when Vickie B was RBA. For this year’s running there were some tweaks to the route, for example the start had been closer to central San Jose, but this time it was further south, at the edge of peninsula urban sprawl.

Late afternoon Caltrain with another new safety triangle!

Late afternoon Caltrain with another new safety triangle!
I had enjoyed the other start location because it was close enough to a bookbinding friend’s place that I was able to stay with her, and we had a fun dinner and sleepover the night before. The new location was fine too. I split a room at the start hotel with a friend who had split overnight lodging with me on the Humboldt 600k last year.
The morning was not too chilly as we assembled for the pre ride talk. I had been a little anxious about the road closure on Indian Valley Road. I was looking forward to riding it, especially without cars, but I couldn’t tell if Grant, the new RBA, would allow us to ride it since it was formally closed I guess? The other option was a detour on 101, which I had ridden before in that area a long time ago on a tour. It kind of sucked! Well, it turned out that there were no controls on Indian Valley nor on the suggested detour, so it was left up to us! Yay!
We all set out under cover of darkness, our bright lights bouncing off each others’ reflecto vests, ankle bands, bikes, and bags. All this was pretty bright and the tempo was bright too.

Break of day

 

Local flavor

JinUk and RBA Grant

A large bunch of us stayed together until Tres Pinos at about 70 kms. This is an oft-traveled little hamlet for cyclists. The Fresno-Monterey-Fresno 600k came through here, as did my team’s fleche route for many years. Unfortunately I had to miss the fleche this year due to a bad ear infection… Even though my invitation to invite myself on the chillest team ever was accepted! Sigh… maybe next year.
At Tres Pinos, the group I was riding with dispersed and I set off solo after chugging a cucumber Gatorade. The next section was beautiful Airline Highway to Pinnacles State Park. I rode this way over ten years ago on a tour with John, though on that ride, we turned off from Airline Hwy to La Gloria road. No Gloria today but still such a pleasure to ride along this wide open road in the warm sunshine! Finally some warm, sunny weather for a change. It felt good.

Lone oak on airline highway

Wildflower outbreak!

Bright morning eastern light on airline highway

At the turnoff for Pinnacles, there was a volunteer with water for us. She had actually been on the waiting list for the ride, but couldn’t get on the roster. I felt bad for those who were not able to experience the beauty and joy of this ride… but I will say I was the early hawk to sign up for this one. After 2019, I stayed on the SLOrando mailing list for years just waiting for them to run this 600k again!

Oh yeah!

My favorite thing about this route is the long part in the middle with no controls and even no towns. Basically from Tres Pinos at 70k to Paso Robles at 240 km, there are not too many signs of human intervention other than Pinnacles state park, and the road itself. 160 km with only one control and no stoplights, stores, or suburban sprawl is a real treat for me, and I did not take it for granted! On Indian Valley and Peachtree roads, I kept replaying in my mind the song Heaven by the Talking Heads… for hours. Sometimes (pretty often) it happens that I get a song stuck in my head on a long ride and the song is so fitting that it doesn’t bother me that it keeps replaying. The part I was thinking of was
Heaven—Heaven is a place—A place where nothing—Nothing ever happens
It’s hard to imagine—That nothing ever—Could be so exciting—Could be this much fun

Oh hell yeah

Indian Valley Road

Just a couple bends in the road

Water coursing through the landscape

Just a gorgeous day on a wide open country road, riding for hours with a tailwind, no pesky camping equipment to carry. Riding without interruption except for the kindly volunteer Grant’s wife Carla providing us with water and snacks and hanging out with her adorable dogs. Oh and then, wildflowers! All the rain this year, and the fires of recent memory, have been crazy with the blooms pushing up everywhere. I loved seeing wide swaths of them on faraway hillsides and seeing tiny bursts of them in the ditches next to the road.

Purple sky lupine twinkling in the morning

state flower

Goldfields point the way

Eventually the heavenly riding had to end, and end it does with a sharp, short climb to the SLO county line. A whole new take on rough pavement ensues that was not forgotten when I did this ride in 2019.

SLO County signals the heavenly riding drawing to a gentle close

It is kind of a long way (or it feels long!) from there to the Paso Robles control. I was just starting to feel the hunger of not having any solid food for 160k and phasing back into that urban phenomenon of private motorized vehicles and freeway overpasses. When I finally arrived at the grocery store in Paso, there were several other riders there. Oh yeah, there are other people on this ride! Other than the Peachtree control, I hadn’t seen any other riders for a long time. It was nice to see them! I set out a little after they did though, to tackle the climb up the nasty Caltrans highway with the soul-sucking, forever-lasting grind. Sigh.

downdowndown to Cambria

There was a long smoothy descent down to Cambria though which, I had to grudgingly admit, made up for it.

When I got to Cambria, I saw Takahiro, whose mudflaps I had admired on Estero Americano last year and who rode with me to the start from the car share parking lot just a month ago on the SFR400k. Mike was also there, and some members of The Team rolled in as well! So we were a jolly bunch, sitting in front of a convenience store/gas station like you do, eating microwave burritos and whatever else can be found that suits. I loved seeing Naveen’s brand new purple bike which was super spiffy! I guess this was the point when Tak and I started riding together, which we did for the entire duration of the ride. That was at roughly 288 km. It was so nice to ride with him, our paces seemed to naturally fall in together and we had plenty to talk about. We seemed to want to take breaks at the same time, and I’m really glad he suggested we stop in Solvang the next day with the delicious bakery items. It has been years since I have ridden that long of a ride with anyone, so this was a pleasant surprise. Tak and I also rode with Mike H. from Cambria to the overnight, and we really killed that stretch, arriving hours earlier to the overnight stop than the last time I did this ride. I calculated I might be able to get at least 5 hours of sleep precious sleep! Tak and I agreed to roll at a civilized 7 am the next morning, Mike wanted to leave a little earlier but I didn’t see any reason to rush.
Day two was not the same orgy of heavenly bike-perfect roads as day one but it was not too shabby either. The first section on Foxen Canyon Road was a little bittersweet for me as I remembered riding it in a group with Metin in 2019. He rode his fixed gear. I also thought of Matthew O’Neill, a relatively young rider I had never met who had been killed on this road on the Central Coast 1000k years before. The road was beautiful in the morning, misty, mysterious, and quiet, enveloping and holding my memories and thoughts; and eventually letting them dissipate in the slowly emerging sunlight. Arvi and Alex rode by as the road pitched up, as did Greg J.

Foxen Canyon road is ok

Greg J leads the way

I started to see more ghost pines, my favorite tree of the Diablo Range.

Ghost pine/Pinus sabiniana will never be found in cultivated city spaces since the pine cones are a hazard

Ghost pine/Pinus sabiniana will never be found in cultivated city spaces since the pine cones are a hazard
I love the feathery, soft, extra long needles of these trees and the humongous, head-sized pine cones. These trees are a major feature of Del Puerto Canyon Road and I never fail to appreciate their unique nature as I ride by. Another great feature I notice when riding southward is magpies! I had started seeing them on Indian Valley Road, and there were even more on Foxen Canyon.

Foxen Cyn descent

After the super swoopy descent on Foxen Canyon, we stopped for water, and I noticed something strange in the map case of Tak’s handlebar bag: a printed cue sheet!

YES I STILL USE A PRINTED CUE SHEET

After I had just been told a few months ago that I was the last rando on Earth to use one. I think printed cue sheets are helpful for the same reason I like printed books: you can look ahead and look back a lot more easily. You can quickly see how far it is to the next control. What can I say… I’m no Luddite, but after all I am a bookbinder.

Giant sequoia of the junior variety? Plus Pelican

Lilacs plus Tak’s bike

From there we rode along the coast for a while, then began a long stretch on the coast highway. There is a big shoulder here, and a rumble strip to separate you from 70 mph traffic, but it is always jarring ride along traffic like that, and there were a lot of relatively short but grinding climbs.

HWY101010101010101 goes on and on… and so do we

We climbed Gaviota Pass too, then enjoyed our screaming descent down the other side, and rolled into Santa Barbara. Grant had changed this part of the route to include a lot of little backyard bike paths around UCSB. That was fun and relaxing for me, I feel like the second day of a 600k is a perfect time for a lot of chill bike paths.

Bike paths around Santa Barbara

I enjoyed observing all the beach cruisers parked around the university here and indulged in some fantasizing about what it’s like to just do a short ride to the beach. I mean, like, 6 kilometers round trip. What is that like??
We were close to the Santa Barbara control, and I had distinct memories of excellent tacos nearby from the last time I did this ride. I knew the taco place was slightly off route though, and I didn’t feel like hunting around for it. I mentioned tacos to Tak and he was quite enthusiastic about that! He spied a Mexican restaurant in a little strip mall across the street… it took a bit of stoplight wrangling to get there, but it was ohso worth it.

Hella good Mexican Fooooood

Arvi and Alex happened by so we had a nice little group of us enjoying a midday meal. I also got a bathtub-sized cup of jamaica which hit the spot rather thoroughly. There was so much food and I really wanted to get back on the road, but it was all so delicious! By this time I was deep within some very relaxed SoCal vibes. We knew we would finish within the time limit, the weather was still perfect, no reason to rush so let’s just enjoy the ride. After refueling, we made our way to the oceanfront bikepath.

mmmmmoceanskape

pelican wheeeee

The bike path was… well I just learned the French phrase “avoir la peche” or I guess English speakers would say peachy. Ocean breezes were mostly pleasant, the pace was relaxed, and not only that, there were pelicans! We found Alex and Arvi again just before turning inland toward the finish in Oxnard.
There at the finish we found Grant and Carla, plenty of snacks and beverages, and shortly after, The Team rolled in! It was great chatting with them, and while doing so I found out that Venki, like me, had been born in Wisconsin, and Shriram had lived there while going to school in Madison. Small world! Wisconsin has a way of bringing up long distance cyclists for sure.

who da cheeseheads??

This 600k reinforced for me why I love this distance—as long as I can manage it! I mean, if you like to ride, why wouldn’t you want to just keep going? Yes, we do get tired. But on this particular ride, partly owing to a luscious tailwind, we were able to get plenty of sleep. Now that I have done some number of 600k rides, I do miss them in years (such as through covid) when they’re not offered or I’m not in shape. Day 2 of a 600k is always an interesting feeling. Lots of different feelings actually. Disbelief, relief, fatigue, inexplicable surges of energy against all sense. With this one, it was especially nice to find some great people to ride with. And thank you to all the volunteers who helped out with this ride. Grant and Carla of course, but also Vickie at the overnight control, Kirsten at the water stop, and others. It’s amazing to me that these rides are possible with no paid staff, and I feel that is one of the reasons why rando has a special character to it. Thank you volunteers, and to those who rode with me, see you again down the road!

streetscape Bakersfield for my trainchange

 

Hopland 400k: Old Routes, Deep Roots, New Shoots

Late March is approaching, it must be time for the Hopland 400k! Time for me to emerge from my solo-perm shell and ride with (eek!) Other Randos! Covid has shaken up so many things in all our lives, and the local rando scene has not been exempt from this situation. Some familiar faces have disappeared, while many new and friendly ones have stepped or pedaled in. It’s nice to sit by and be witness to the churn though sometimes it makes me wonder why I am still here. I guess I must like it or something!

For this running of the Hopland 400k, my eighth, I was not able to stay the night before at my boyfriend’s and be pampered by him because he had a very bad cold for at least a week before. It’s nice to stay with him because of the pampering, but also because he lives only a short bike ride from the start! Failing that, I decided to do a car share from my apartment in Oakland. I’ve taken the overnight owl bus from Oakland to SF in the past, but the bike racks on the front of the bus can be a little terror-inducing for my Pelican at times. Sometimes we can brave it, but this time I decided to pass the pampering along to my bike and pack it inside a vehicle only occupied by the two of us.

Unsure of where to park the car share in SF, I supplicated my transit expert friend Greg, who assured me that the designated parking lots would not be filled with the cars of late night drunken tourists, and he was right. What I didn’t expect was another car-sharer pulling in right next to me in the lot, right after I turned the car off! I saw a bike on the roof and knew it must be a rando. Turns out it was Tak, full-coverage fender rider from the rainy 200k in December! We unpacked our bikes and rode to the start together. I had planned what I thought was the precisely correct amount of time to arrive, but we barely squeaked by for the formal rollout, even missing the SFR oath.

The start control was mobbed! I have never seen this many people on a 400k. In the chaos of checking in, I missed a greeting from Noah S, who has been creating some amazing new perms! It’s a subject very dear to my heart so I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about at some future time. But at the start I am just keeping my head down, trying to stay out of the fray. I ride with Eric L for a little bit. He tells me about a plan to ride the fleche a day early since his partner has a concert on Easter, but I am already on Bill G and Gary P’s amalgamated teams.

The group starts to fan out on White’s Hill as I am still warming up. I see Rob, Brian, and Michael on Red Hill, and all of a sudden I remember that in the cacophony of the start control, I never started my ride logging thingamabob! Whoawhatttttt!? Of course, I am at a point where I am just tipping the summit and there is no shoulder here, I’m about to start a fastish descent and so it’s all a little alarming. Eventually I manage to start the recording and just hope I can cobble together some credit for this ride in the end. Thank goodness I did actually check in with a volunteer at the start, otherwise it’s a pretty long fun-ride. Honestly it was just important to me to complete a 400k in order to be properly prepared for the fleche and 600k coming up. I guess covid shutdowns are still impacting my behavior in that I don’t actually care whether I get credit for rides anymore! If you don’t get randobucks, you still might get a great bike ride. The converse of this is: if I’m not anticipating a great bike ride, I don’t want the randobucks! Ha. Which is why you will probably never see me on the SFR 300k anymore. I don’t need the credit for anything, and I don’t like the route, so why ride it? However, the Hopland 400k is a route I do enjoy. Something about it strikes a very strong chord with me. My Pelicans are designed to carry a front load, and I am designed for front-loaded routes, in terms of climbing. The Hopland 400k has most of its climbing in the first half, then has a sweet gradual descent for the third quarter or so (briefly interrupted by Chalk Hill Road), then familiar mini-climbs for the home stretch.

In the past I’ve ridden this brevet with friends, different people each time but usually with at least one other person. My first experience of it was with my partner John P. We hadn’t planned on riding it together as I’m attracted to the allure of allure libre riding: riding at your own pace or riding with groups as the situation warrants, as opposed to audax style: committing to stay with one group at all times. However, in the Marin wiggle, I beat him to the city limit sign for Ross, and something in my sprint suggested to him to propose that we ride together (that’s what he told me later, anyway). I was really lucky he did that, because that was the windy year and I got to ride with someone who longago raced on bike teams and understands working together! Yay us! It’s only been in the last few years of watching pro bike racing that I’ve come to appreciate how silly it is for me (or anyone) to ride alone alla time. And yet… the Pelican’s Soul still can select her Own Society. The past couple years I’ve ridden it mostly alone, and although it’s tough in spots, it’s fun enough to keep me coming back.

This year, I rode it mostly alone. I briefly encountered Tom V and his riding partner on 128 out of Cloverdale, I saw Ioannis and his riding partner in Hopland… I didn’t really see too many other randos for the whole second half of the ride until I reached Fairfax, where I ran into (not literally) Arvi S! That was great, we pleasantly chatted and kept each other awake all the way to the finish. Arvi had the fine idea of asking me about pets, which was very effective in keeping us alert. Thanks Arvi!

Here are some snapshots of the ride. As you can see, we couldn’t have asked for better weather. There was still wind in the spots where it’s always windy (Dutcher Creek and that whole valley), but we had a mercifully rain-free day, unlike many times on this route and time of year. Despite this, there seemed to be a vast number of riders who had to abandon this time around. Hope everybody made it home okay and has another shot at a 400k if they need it for something.

Top of Wilson Hill

Stoked on oaks on Chileno Valley

Chileno Valley lagoon like glass

Farmland is soaked from past rain… messes up the SFR color sequence! Green, blue, green, white, blue… what’re you trying to do to me?!

just past Korbel

Russian River looks very different this year!

Have you seen the pictures of soil flowing into the ocean from California’s rivers this year? You can really see that here. In a normal year, you can usually see the bottom of the river from here.

Vineyards + Mt St Helena

Muddy Russian River

I have to admit it’s a beautiful day even though I’m all alone against the headwinds here

allowing myself to be distracted from the headwind by clouds

lines and rows

Mountain House moss goes on and on

Top of Mountain House. A little while ago I learned that trees often flourish when they grow near or on large rocks, since the rocks retain moisture

Hopland Valero windmill classic view

Bucolic vineyards and farms in Hopland

Petaluma Denny’s is finally open again!!! Now with a bright new facelift. If you look at the stone wall inside the restaurant you can see PETALUMA spelled out in lightbulbs. They are really happy to be open again! I didn’t stop there this time in spite of how deeply I mourned its loss the past few years.

As the distances get longer, they get harder to accomplish completely solo. I almost can’t imagine what it would feel like to do this route as a perm. I really appreciated seeing the volunteers at the finish control, and in fact one of them is the course record holder on my Mount Tam to Marshall perm! I think I’m finally, gradually, getting back into the groove of the whole in-person thing and it feels really good. Thank you volunteers for supporting this ride.

New (to me) Perm Day!

Sure has been cold and rainy around here! Some have called it incessant. Seems like whenever I have a break in my schedule to ride, mother nature suggests staying indoors. At least, all of this indoor time has enabled me to submit a couple of old perms for conversion to the new RUSA system. There are still several archival ones I’m working on and one new one as well. All of the recent slipouts on my favorite back roads have got me thinking that more options are needed when involved with attempting an R-12. And as far as mixed terrain perms… this year, I’m feeling ok about letting the trails dry out a bit before I visit them too much. So, holding off on SadBoiz and no Mount Tam to Moscow. As far as anything near the Santa Cruz mountains, seems like it’s pretty much off limits? Rainfall has been even crazier there than up by me, and with such catastrophic fires it’s survived… it feels like the land, and the roads that rest on it, are so fragile. No Bonny Doom. With the Pajaro River flooding its banks, Watsonville is now completely underwater, with the Monterey peninsula nearing island status. I think back to John’s and my old fleche route through Watsonville and San Juan Bautista with a wisp of longing. Global warming and consequent extreme weather are wreaking major havoc on peoples’ lives. Being prevented from riding various perm routes is not a big deal, but the cause of this situation feels pretty heavy.

Soooo with work and stuff, and bad weather, and February being a short month as well, ahhh… I missed doing my 200k. Yes, dear readers, the R-12 is dead. At least, last year’s version. Bummer? I don’t know, actually. As much as I prefer to ride, sometimes one must tend to grownup issues. Adulting facilitates long rides in the long run, and as a randonneur, I’m all about the long run. And not catching pneumonia from riding in the freezing wet weather is a good thing. I did that once, years ago–and attempted again on the final day of February but bailed on because I couldn’t feel my hands after less than an hour of riding. Now I find myself wondering how I did six consecutive R-12s!

Because I missed my February 200k, I felt like I needed a big comeback! One route from the old perm system I always had my eye on but never tried was Skip-two-mile-ou. 200k and close to 3400m of climbing sounded like fun… Actually I do enjoy routes with a lot of climbing.  I submitted Skip-two-mile-ou 200k for conversion to the new perms system, but wasn’t able to quite get it through for my February ride, so I decided to do it as early in March as possible. Finally there was a day I could ride that wasn’t supposed to be pouring rain, and I snatched the opportunity.

It’s a pretty simple route. All roads on it are open anyway! I’ve been thinking about the old days of rando, with the season opener always heading out to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. How fun that was! I don’t remember the last time I rode out to the Point Reyes Light House, but I know it’s been several years. There were so. many. people. on those SFR season openers. Shout out to anyone reading this who rode in those days!

Skip-two-mile-ou is quite a different route than the old SFR Light House brevet, since it starts in Fairfax and has a lot more climbing. It starts by going up to Alpine Dam, then up a little more on Ridgecrest to Pan Toll. Then down, up, down, up, and down to Stinson Beach, and up just a little to the town of Bolinas. After Bolinas, there are a couple nice back roads that parallel CA-1 that reminded me of riding up near Eureka on the Humboldt 600k last year. Then CA-1 to Point Reyes for resupply, SFD to Inverness for one last chance for water, then you visit both the light house on the south end of Point Reyes, and to Pierce Point ranch at the far north end. There is no water, potable or otherwise, along this 80 km section of the route, so you have to be prepared. Eric Larsen, the original route designer, has a magical way of sharing routes that feel remote even though Point Reyes is so close to home.

Since the route starts in Fairfax, I get a 2 hour warmup ride. I wanted to start the clock no later than 7 am, so leaving at 5 meant it was chilly outside! The moon was full that day, and it set quite a mood as I made my way over the RSR bridge.

Mmmmoon

When I got to Fairfax, it was still pretty cold so I stopped for a hot tea before starting the trip recording. After a couple-few months of riding in the cold and wet, I was not going to fool around with my outerwear choices, the most important one being gloves/mittens. This time, I wore both right from the start! John loaned me a pair of his verrrrry old lobster claw mittens, and my hands were toasty warm.

Riding up BoFax was still cold, and the air, the road, the trees–everything–was damp. Lots of fog hung over the lake at Alpine Dam, giving the ride an air of excitement and mystery right from the beginning. I usually try to avoid taking lots of pictures at the beginning of a ride because I think it jinxes me, but I broke my habit here and I’m glad I did. I think this new-to-me camera is interesting–I never try for realism, and I like it when the camera seems to have a mind of its own. It definitely captured the mood, even if things didn’t look precisely this way:

The light was amazing

Ferns

Had to keep a close eye out for little landslides

Just amazing light

Fog over the dam

Looking down at up

There was no one out at this time, at least until I got to the turnoff to Ridgecrest, where a roadie surprised me with a friendly greeting. I proceeded up the rest of Ridgecrest. I had been dreading this, since it had been years since I rode this section in this direction, but I was feeling good and the light continued to transform me. On this day in between storms, the sky had a lot to say! It was amazing to be out riding on such a day.

Heading up Ridgecrest

Clouds all had strong personalities on this day

Teeny weeny SF in the distance

I saw just a few other riders out–one who was wearing shorts! Brr, I was still pretty freezing and really glad for the mitten loan. When it came time to descend, the air was absolutely frigid. The dampness in Muir Beach made it feel even colder. I didn’t start to warm up until just before Bolinas. I had never been there before, and the roads around it are very nice!  Lovely small farms with little meadows tucked in under tree canopies… there is a small public park in Bolinas that has a restroom, a bubbler with spout for water bottles, and a one eyed cat that is very affectionate. It was warm and sunny in the park, so I was able to dry out the inside of my jacket which had gotten sweaty, and eat a rice ball and some home made energy bars I’d tested out. I think that was my longest break the whole day, which I permitted myself since I got through the biggest climb of the ride.

After that, the route goes along CA-1 to Point Reyes Station where another free restroom and water bottle filler awaited me; Sir Francis Drake to Inverness…

Jamais

and then out to the lighthouse. There were lots of spots along the route where the road was down to one lane, so I got to chat with road crews waiting for them to open my side. Mostly trees down and being removed. The road crews were all really nice to me, and the workers on the climb to Inverness ridge even wished me a fun downhill on the other side.

It was a pretty fun downhill, in fact! The ride to the light house was so beautiful. I rode past all the ranches: Historic E Ranch, Historic F Ranch, Historic AF Ranch…

Historic AF Ranch

…haha of course there is no Historic AF Ranch! Lots of cows all around though, just like I remember them from the old SFR Lighthouse days. The beaches looked the same, too. So did the rocky summit on the last approach to the Lighthouse.

In the far distance, the rocky summit

Getting to the Lighthouse was such a triumphant feeling, just like the old days as well!

We made it (Pelican and I)!

And just like the old days, there was that slight feeling of deflation on the way back… like “Holy crap, how much longer is left???” On this day however, I had a tail wind most of the way to Pierce Point. I still am in a phase where I can’t accurately estimate how long it will take me to get anywhere though, so I was hammering pretty hard, not totally convinced I would finish within the time limit. The riding was so lovely, I was still enjoying myself, enjoying the rarified feeling of the sun on my face, enjoying the beautiful fields full of yellow flowers and even a few tule elk here and there.

small group of tule elk

large expanse of yellow flowers

I saw a larger group of tule elk closer to Pierce Point, maybe 12? They trotted across the road about 50 feet in front of me. Then I descended to the ranch, had a very quick snack, and bolted out of there, riding past another group of tule elk on the climb out!

PIerce Point, Same as it ever was

Elk butts, too shy for my spiffy camera. They were right by the water drum though!

Closer to Sir Francis Drake, I heard a pack of coyotes barking and howling, and saw a coyote running along the road as I passed by. I love listening to coyotes barking together when I camp. Usually I hear them at the tail end of twilight, and it signals bedtime. This time, it was more like a sign it’s time to finish this ride.

At this point I was smelling the barn in a big way. I really wanted to get to the finish within the time limit… and I did! Thus begins another R-12? Well if I can keep it up this time, you’ll surely hear about it here on mmmmbike!

 

R8 (but who’s counting)

“Look what I found,” commented my Most Frequent Riding Partner as he stepped across my threshold recently. “In a free box on Fourth Street in Berkeley.” Held out for my appraisal was a black digital Olympus camera. TOUGH, it read on the side. Hm! A new camera for bike rides! Maybe that would get me out on my bike, I thought… Since the rainy December 200k, somehow I hadn’t found the motivation to ride too much. I had planned to ride my Mount Tam to Moscow 300k route in late December, but that was before alltherain came. During and even after alltherain, MFRP and I delighted in clinking our glasses full of craft brews while watching other people ride bikes–namely, Fem Van Empel, Puck Pieterse, Shirin Van Androoij, Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado, and so many others, on northern Europe’s cyclocross courses. Puck Pieterse has been posting fun videos on her youtube channel of herself pre-riding the various courses with her friends. The amazing thing to me has been that so many of the races have been up for grabs! They are all excellent riders, so the races are exciting to watch. I loved seeing Fem Van Empel pause at the finish line of the first race she won with her new kit, as a newly-signed member of the Jumbo Visma team. I hope she goes on to ride the Tour De France Femme this year for Jumbo Visma, next to veteran teammate Marianne Vos!

Okay, well, back on Planet Rando… January days off started to run low when I finally got myself out of bed on the 25th to ride one of my favorite routes and my first perm of my own: Mount Tam to Marshall. One might suggest that I could start looking for new routes to ride, since I had already ridden it twice last year, but this route is a nice reset for me. And a reset was exactly what I needed after doing such a hard ride in December. Another small problem was that most of my favorite routes were unavailable due to washed-out roads from all the storms. Redwood Road’s epic landslide negates a few, and Mines Road’s closure negates a few more. Strangely enough, although Bo-Fax is usually prone to major washouts, that road is open this year, probably due to all the work done on it last year. MTTM200k is also a great route to try out a new or different camera! It’s naturally photogenic, given that you’re on Old Railroad Grade at dawn, Ridgecrest Boulevard in the early morning hours before anyone else is out, Marin County farm roads in the early afternoon, and Tomales Bay later in the day. Bringing any camera sometimes slows me down on a ride, and bringing a film camera slows me down even more, but I don’t usually have to worry about the time limit on this route. So, why not lean into the symbiotic nature of my two favorite pursuits? I rode this route back in September of last year, and brought along fellow rando Mike G’s Minolta CL film camera outfitted with lovely 7 Artisans lens. Here are some of the pictures I shot on that day, all on Ilford FP4+, and home developed and scanned. Following are the pictures I shot in January on the Olympus TOUGH camera. Enjoy!

September 2022

Pelican is bartable… apparently too early to focus properly

I always look forward to Old Railroad Grade in the early morning

Misty dawn moods on ORRG

Tool shed, where I found the owners’ dog on the trail when I rode this in January, and brought the dog back inside its gate

Mount Diablo from Mount Tam

Top of Tam, and Diablo in the distance: two classic local profiles

From Ridgecrest Boulevard… skies went on and on

Still bumpy after top of Tam

subtle

Marshall-Petaluma

Top of Marshall-Petaluma

January 2023

mysterious collection

Pelican’s favorite tree

mmmmorning

new camera works!

common sight–and sound–on Tam

More ORRG

Cross Marin Trail is adequately drained these days

Cross Marin Trail in December 2019 by comparison

Nicasio Reservoir is spillin

serene and filled to the gills

farmland is flooded

amen!

Headed back home on the Cross Marin Trail

Richardson Bay, where the bike path had been under at least 6″ of water a few weeks ago

Finish location at Woods Tavern on Polk. I just missed getting a picture of a bike commuter playing some cool toonz and carrying a cute dog in his backpack

Estero Americano 200k

There is no bad weather, only bad life choices.
-anon.

As mentioned in my previous post, I had a debilitating attack of laziness on the morning of the Del Puerto 200k, preventing me from attending that ride. Wellll it had been a hard week at work. Perhaps because I did not disclose the cause of my DNS, Rob offered to carry my brevet registration fee to the next brevet which would be the Estero Americano 200k. EA200 offered the possibility of some significant advantages to me. It was scheduled for the third day of December, allowing me to get my December R-12 installment out of the way before holiday/end of year scheduling got complicated. It’s got an east bay start location that I could ride to rather easily in the morning, and I was familiar with the start location and the way to, from, and over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. I hadn’t ridden the farm roads in Marin county in a while, so revisiting them–with a few new twists and turns–was appealing. And finally, it’s a refreshing new route for SFR!

So, with a light heart I looked forward to December 3. As it got closer to the event, I checked the weather report, and noticed that things looked grim. Refreshing my browser every few hours, or changing weather forecasting models or websites, did not change anything about that. Friends seemed to be dropping from the roster. Sigh. It looked like we were all in for a little rain training… it never occurred to me not to ride. That could have been a good thing to consider I suppose, but in the end (the end being located the next day in full sun with a nice warm bowl of won ton soup in my belly and a cat on my lap), I’m glad I rode. It was definitely a character builder, and much harder than the November 200k I did that had 3700+ meters of climbing. I had many moments of questioning my life choices while riding in high 30s-low 40s temps and steady rain for several hours. But, as I have discovered again and again as I have revisited the R-12 after a break of 4-ish years, there is something in each ride I’ve done that encapsulates why I still enjoy randonneuring, and this ride was no exception.

The start location is one I’ve passed by countless times since the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge opened a lane for bikes in November of 2019. So I was perfectly comfortable doing the 40 minute ride to the start, although it was definitely raining already at that time, about 7 am when I left home.

From the bike path near the Richmond Marina

I arrived at the Marina parking lot early enough to hear Rob’s pre ride talk and carry out the all important oath not to do stupid stuff. But wait, how does it work when just leaving the parking lot is probably stupid? Never mind, just ride and don’t think about it!

right mitten or other right mitten

Once the oath was over, everyone was still. Having already gotten soaked on my ride-to-a-ride, I wanted to get going, so I was the first one out of the parking lot. I said hi to Jasmine, who I met on Gold Rush this year and was one of a very few fellow women on that ride as on this ride also.

It was novel and exciting to experience that brevet-start energy on the RSR bridge instead of the Golden Gate Bridge! Vive la difference! I’ve ridden that bridge a lot, but mostly to casual rides on Mount Tam or elsewhere and mostly alone. The vibe was also a little eerie though since the mist was so heavy.

Rando RSR… thank you Tak for your full fender coverage (and I mean FULL)

Bridge to nowhere?

After the bridge, we followed some familiar-to-me pathways through San Rafael and ended up riding through China Camp. I got to catch up with Bryan K and hear about his new job. At a certain point, I peeled away from the group to visit the site of the first info control. I had decided to use a brevet card backup as it seemed likely with so much wetness around that electronics would not survive… it turned out fine though. Anyway, China Camp was very nice in what was only light rain/mist at this point.

Point San Pedro Road… no one else is out so I am apparently weaving a bit

still feeling comfy and warm despite being wet

Right before I broke off from the group, I (finally?) noticed that my apparel was slightly different than most other peoples’. It felt odd picking out clothing for this ride, since it’s been so long since we’ve had seriously rainy weather combined with very low temps. This season has been c o l d though, prompting me to find a couple new-to-me merino wool base layers and jackets. My rainy day clothing isn’t too different than my cold weather clothing except for the rain jacket on top. I noticed everyone else was wearing shoe covers. I had a worn-out old pair at home, but I stopped wearing them some time ago when it seemed like they would just get waterlogged and heavy. I guess they keep dirt and sand out. I had to clean plenty of that out of my shoes when I got home! Well anyway, thick wool socks are the ticket for me on cold and/or rainy rides. They keep me warm, no matter how wet they get. This works for mittens too. Knitting socks and mittens is one of my favorite hobbies, so I always have plenty of them around. I used to work at a job where I had several hours of commute time on a train each day, and I would crank out pair after pair of wool socks and mittens. I gave them to family and friends, and I still had tons of them for myself. I continue to knit them now, in addition to darning the ones with holes.

I was head to toe covered in wool that day, with a rain jacket and high viz vest on top of it all. I stayed as snug as a bug in a rug! That is, until the sun was finally down for the day and the temps started to get absurdly low. So, in case you’re wondering how this rando survived temps in the 30s and steady rain becoming heavy rain, this is just what worked for me. No shade on whatever else that works for you if it’s different, goodness knows we all just do whatever we can to stay warm on a day like that. Please leave a comment if you have any special tips!

Anyway, back to the ride. After China Camp, the route weaves through suburban east Marin county, past lovely, scenic strip malls near highway 101 haha. Well, at least there are bike lanes throughout, and drivers were nice. It was a great day to be riding through this area, since the rain kept most people at home instead of doing their Christmas shopping or whatnot. I’m not sure I’d want to do this ride on a sunny day, but I did enjoy that it’s just something different for SFR–a different way to get to Petaluma, along with the different start location and so on. There are a couple sections of interesting bike paths, one of which goes through Olompali Wildnerness.

Olompali

Big wide bike path

But basically we are riding parallel to a big highway until arriving at San Antonio Road. I love this road because it is so close to suburbia yet so rural! All of a sudden you are in farm territory. I passed a mail carrier who waved at me. I’m sure she thought, like most people that day, that I was crazy to be out riding in weather like this, but I was enjoying myself. Somewhat like riding at night, riding in the rain can be peaceful. There was one driver who passed me when I was riding up a little hill to a freeway overpass, and lowered his passenger side window to yell, “You’re tough!” Haha. Later on, as the weather conditions worsened, I would remember that, and wonder, “Am I tough? Or am I crazy??” All of the above?

Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night shall stay these couriers or randos from their appointed rounds

After San Antonio Road is I street, which seems to get even deeper into hillbilly territory even though you’re creeping closer to downtown Petaluma. The pavement quality is poor in this section, which is not always a negative for me. Neglected roads are often more interesting to me; they have unique features and either less or slower traffic.

I stands for Improvisational pavement

I was relieved to reach the Petaluma City Limit sign. The 7-Eleven hot chocolate machine had been softly whispering my name throughout San Antonio Road and I Street. Of course, the machine wasn’t working and I got something pinkish, overly sweet, and minty-chocolatey-tasting, but it was liquid and it was very hot. I also wolfed down a banana and tried to leave as soon as possible.

Rain or Shine Cycles indeed

I stopped at the stoplight at Washington Street with another rando who had a speaker playing some kind of music… It reminded me of a Neko Case album I had listened to earlier in the week, so the song Stinging Velvet provided the soundtrack for my next seventy-odd kilometers: “cold and shiver and cold and shiver and cold and shiver–and warm” I liked how the end of the line’s emphasis is on WARM! And that Bakersfield sound plays well in rural Marin County, exactly where I was headed.

The road from Petaluma to Valley Ford is smoothly-paved with fast traffic, but with wide shoulders throughout: a perfect way to tick down some mileage. I arrived at the Valley Ford Market hungry for my only real food of the day. They have some great rando options there, and today I utilized the much appreciated indoor dining option for the first time ever! The time displayed on their gigantic, cheesy 1950s style wall clock (original?) made me shudder a little… time to ride, not tarry. I gulped everything down and jumped back on my Pelican, amidst friendly well wishes from the cashier and deli counter lady, to dive into the second half of the ride.

The beginning of this section was deeply restorative for me. I love riding through west Marin farmland, especially in the rain. The fog and mist are moody in just the way I like, leading me to heavy thought lines like, “Who will win the women’s elite cyclocross race in Boom Belgium tomorrow?? Blanka Vas? Denise Betsema? Shirin Van Anrooj? Or would it be former champion Lucinda Brand?” I have been glued to the screen lately, watching these crazy-tough UCI racers. Rain? Check. Mud? Check-check! Freezing cold temperatures? Check! Yes, with all the rain and muddy farm roads, I was surely feeling the ‘cross vibes, though those races only last about 45 minutes and then it’s time to hit the hot showers! Again prompting me to wonder: Am I nuts? Or rather, how nuts am I? Why am I still out riding so many hours in? Better not to think about it. “Cold and shiver and cold and shiver and cold and shiver and WARM…”

mud-adjacent

Anyway, the landscape was the real star of the day to me. There were patches of swamp grasses that were astonishingly red! That totally surprised me. Once again I longed for my film camera, and planned to somehow make it back there the next day to take pictures [nope! didn’t happen]

Red!

more red among the estuaries: Valley Ford Franklin School Road bridge

The ride is named for the tidal estuary between Valley Ford and Bodega Bay. Some of it is used for cattle ranching, and the Sonoma Land Trust also owns a 127-acre preserve that borders the estuary. Otherwise it is inaccessible to the public, being one of the last estuaries in the whole state to remain undeveloped. I feel fortunate to ride there since being in a landscape that is relatively unchanged by human development feels very regenerative for me. I enjoy it a lot.

Estero de San Antonio

typically narrow, muddy road

As you can see from these pictures, there wasn’t a ton of light throughout the day. The clouds and mist made the land truly overcast. Once I made it to the turn onto Chileno Valley Road, the skies noticeably darkened. As little warmth and light that the sun had imparted that day, it was now beginning to sink in the sky. The heavy mist that had lingered throughout the afternoon was now turning into bigger droplets. I pulled off to chug some gel for energy, so I could enjoy Chileno Valley Road a bit more. So many times had I ridden this road in all kinds of weather! The Hopland 400k comes to mind–rain, sleet, extreme wind, heat. This was where I took my last photos of the day.

Lago Chileno… or Laguna Lake–no matter the name, you’d hardly recognize it

tree canopy in the last section before Wilson Hill

It didn’t get totally dark for me until I reached Lucas Valley, just before the San Rafael city limit. However, the woods between Nicasio and Lucas Valley Road were cold enough that I started to notice limits on my manual dexterity… Uh oh… This was the point where I started to seriously question the ol’ life choices. I postulated that if I got a flat tire, I might not be able to fix it, and then where would I be?? After the descent from Big Rock, the speed of traffic on the road increased along with my anxiety about still being there. I tried to ride a little faster, but the day had just taken so much out of me. Luckily I was very familiar with the route back to the bridge, so at least I wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost. I was still worried about flats, since I had had so many on recent rides, and it seemed impossible not to get a flat tire riding through San Rafael… didn’t happen though. What did happen was I bonked hard on the RSR bridge, and had to stop riding to down some gel and malto since I couldn’t squeeze either bottle anymore with just one hand. Life choices! Maybe the heavier mittens next time. I had actually brought another pair of full finger gloves with me, but I had waited too long to put them on, and I couldn’t move my fingers enough to put them on now. Well, only about 20 minutes and I would be at the finish! But of course, then I would have to ride home! Haha, …yeah.

Luckily, it was much warmer on the Richmond side of the bridge, and even more luckily, … VOLUNTEERS!!! They had a tent set up at the Richmond Marina with hot tea and hot cup o noodles. Just miraculous. It completely brought me back to life! I could move my fingers again too, which was nice. Volunteer Greg was there with his amazing pastries, Volunteer Jeff was there too, and another Volunteer I didn’t get to know. Wow. Lots of good humored banter all around, among riders and volunteers, and then thank goodness Greg and I rode most of the way home together. I had been seriously dreading the ride home! But riding along with Greg was fun, the temps were much warmer, and I finally relaxed. I saved Greg’s pastries for the next morning since I just wanted a beer and hot shower and sleep.

next morning yum!

Who won Boom? You’ll have to watch it. Just fracking amazing talent there on the part of those tough women riders! As for me… well, we know in rando there is no podium, but I feel triumphant for just surviving that ride! That took a lot out of me, and was the most demanding ride I’ve completed this year. One could argue (as I did in my head in the waning couple hours of the ride) whether it’s worthwhile to do such rides–isn’t it foolish or even irresponsible to ride in such terrible weather? Perhaps… but there is still a lot to be gained from it, even beyond the valuable gear testing that happens on such a ride. Sometimes it’s good, even necessary, for you to go beyond your comfort zone. Sometimes pushing yourself is a part of so-called self care. The past year has been tough for me in a lot of ways, and I feel like these last few installments in my R-12 attempt are helping me restore my confidence. It’s good to know I made it through such a difficult ride in adverse conditions. Will I be able to follow through all the way to next May to complete this R-12? You just might read about it right here on mmmmbike!

Hamilton Del Puerto

Due to an extremely severe case of momentary laziness, I missed SFR’s Del Puerto Canyon ride this November, forcing me to choose a permanent route for my November r-12 installment. DPC is one of SFR’s most popular routes, often the most popular. Del Puerto Canyon Road follows Del Puerto Creek which cuts through the canyon of the same name, and is just one of those very unique places in the bay area’s distant environs. I guess it is in the Diablo Range? Not sure. There aren’t too many peaks in this canyon with significant elevation, but as you ride through you can see the layers of rock emerging sideways through layers of vegetation, having been pushed around through millenia. Most of Del Puerto Canyon Road follows a wide, rocky riverbed along the road that sometimes even has water in it. And yes, there is Adobe Spring, a natural spring between mile markers 18 and 19. Someone spray painted arrows on the cliff wall opposite the spring to make it easier to find. Was it the same person who installed the spigot and water lines to draw water there? Unknown. This time I visited, the wooden bulletin board with info about the spring was missing. Huh!

Another interesting thing to me about Del P. is its proximity to Henry Coe State Park. Coe is one of California’s largest state parks, and least well known–a great combination, in my opinion! Cars are only allowed in certain campsites near the headquarters, and because of the rugged terrain, it self selects as a park for only the most tolerant adventurer. It features tough climbs, technical single track, no filtered water, and a minimum of human built structures encroaching into the environment. So much so that whenever I see trail markers, I’m surprised for a moment. Oh yeah, this is a state park! Occasionally we’ll run across a ranger who is hiking or biking through the park, and they are always the most curious individuals who are so knowledgeable about this fascinating place. If I’m reeeally good in this life, maybe I’ll be reincarnated as a Coe ranger! Large sections of Coe burned in the SCU Lightning Complex fire of 2020, along with long sections of the Hamilton Del Puerto 200k route. I remember seeing a video from the Hamilton observatory of what was most likely the start of that fire, a lightning strike at night. You could actually see in the extremely grainy night time video the lightning striking, and a smallish explosion setting off a slim smoky plume skyward. Yikes.

Anyway…back to that 200k route. I have been eyeing it for a few months as an interesting option for a weekday 200k. No junk miles at all, and minimal traffic, since no one’s driving up to the top of Mount Hamilton for their job. The only people working up there are the astronomers who live at the observatory! That also makes the cue sheet very simple, which is a nice bonus when it can happen. I think there are only 5 turns in the whole route. Another key bonus for me is that the start/finish control is positioned really close to a BART station!

The only hesitation I had about the route is the amount of climbing. To climb up the west side of Mount Hamilton and have to come back and climb up the east side too, and cover 200k in all, is a bit cray cray… maybe my kind of cray cray though? My other favorite perm is Sad Boiz which has 3500m of climbing and 12% dirt. This perm has just over 3700m of climbing but no dirt so it should be easy peasy! Haha so yeah I was a bit uncertain whether I would be able to finish within the time limit, but with such a great route, I didn’t think I would mind converting it into a fun ride on the fly if necessary.

Since I biffed on SFR Del Puerto which is always held the day before the hours change to Daylight Saving, and in any case getting pretty close to winter solstice, there would not be a lot of daylight. I tried to start as early as possible based on the BART schedule, and I guess it was fine.

starting out at the break of day

I would have liked to catch more daylight descending the west side in the evening, but now that I have a new headlight (the “Light Bazooka” as John calls it) it was fine. Weather conditions were chilly, especially bookending the day, but that’s a big asset when doing such a long, tough climb. Wind was light, also a positive as there have been many times on Del Puerto Canyon for me when the wind just whips through the canyon, making it a tough, long slog. I did not want to take a ton of pictures, as even digital cameras do divide my attention, and I wanted to focus fully on riding well, eating enough along the way, not slipping out on the crazy descent down the east side of the mountain…

The climbing starts out easy, then gets steeper as you get closer to the top.

no cars

looking back toward San Jose over the easy part

At a certain point, you round a corner and have a full view of the biggest telescope.

telescope!

But there’s still a little ways left before the top. You have to climb still more if you want to use the bubbler or bathrooms at the observatory, and I opted to roll through and get my water at the spring, where the water tastes much better and can even cure or prevent a sore rando stomach. The summit is only 33 kms into the route. Agh, so much further to go!

I started descending the steep, twisty east side down, observing all the blackened trees. I wondered if cavity-dwelling animals would want to come back to roost in charred wood. I did see a lot of prairie dogs throughout the day, but not too many other animals. Not even other bicyclists or motorists on this Monday before Thanksgiving. There were a few farmers and rangers who all waved back at me when I waved at them. But the road was almost unsettlingly deserted. I kind of expect nowadays that road rides will have crappy, unfriendly or downright dangerous drivers, and I surprise myself sometimes by how accustomed I have become to aggressive drivers, anticipating them and compensating for them. But the past few road rides I have done have been mercifully peaceful.

bike is bursting out of bounds

Once you get most of the way down the hill, you cross a bridge, which is the sign it’s time to start climbing again. There is really no respite from climbing on this route. I started to feel despondent about my ability to finish within the time limit, but the bright sunlight was so beautiful on San Antonio Road and I was just loving the experience, so I kept riding on toward the spring. I would need to go there anyway, as I wouldn’t be able to make it back up the mountain without more water. Riding downhill from the Junction is a treat! So many times I have crawled up that climb, it’s nice to see the road from the other direction. When I got to the spring, there was a nice couple filling up what seemed like more carboys than their vehicle could possibly carry. They immediately asked if I would like to get some water for myself, and I assented. I looked at my watch and realized I would probably have enough time to do the whole route! I’m so bad at rando math sometimes… I do have an agreement with myself to never bail on a ride between controls. Though the spring is not a control on this route, I was able to get some food and water in me and think a little more clearly.

I rode on, leaving the couple to fill up their water-carboy-clown-car… and enjoyed still more quiet, peaceful mileage on Del Puerto Canyon Road.

When I got to Patterson, I looked around for the place where I usually go to eat. Distracted by a sign for a sushi restaurant that ended up being closed, a cyclist who had passed me on DPC waved me down. I rode over to him and we talked about where we were riding. He was packing his bike into his car. He said he remembered seeing me ride out there before, and said he remembered “this” and tapped the top of my handlebar bag with Mark E’s Souffle sticker in it. Ha! I am surprised how long I have been carrying around that sticker!

crossing back from the Patterson control over the Governor Jerry Brown Aqueduct…so named because its aura smiles and never frowns, obviously

Being a good shepherd of my time, I left right when I planned to so I would have plenty of time for the hard climb back. I didn’t want to feel rushed on the final descent off the western side of Mount Hamilton, since it goes through a lot of park land and would probably have lots of animals jumping out in front of my bike in the dark…

The ride back through Del Puerto Canyon was still really peaceful, and when I turned onto San Antonio Valley Road, it was getting toward the golden hour. I lamented not having a good camera with me and resolved to come back again with one. Golden grasses, golden oak leaves, golden cows, golden road, golden prairie dogs. Everything had turned to gold for just a few hours. I was racing through this section, again to leave myself plenty of time for the climb ahead. At this point, I was starting to wonder if Putin had pushed the nuclear button or something, because I hadn’t seen any evidence of human activity for hours.

no cars and still more no cars

ummmm where is everybody??

I passed over the bridge signaling it was time to start the big climb. I think there are only 7 miles left to the top at that point. Throughout Del Puerto Canyon Road, nearby Mines Road, and San Antonio Road are giant mile markers painted on the road, in my case showing how many miles till you reach the summit. I slowly counted them out, just finding that cadence that would be sustainable and holding onto it as much as I could.

post sunset on the climb

When I turned that final corner and saw the telescopes for the second time that day, it was just at last light.

telescopes just starting their day

I saw the telescopes silhouetted against the deep red sunset, and as I rode past them, I heard them starting up. A lift door slowly slid open as I passed. I had never witnessed that before! Pretty cool… I just stopped for long enough to put on my mittens, any spare additional layers I could find, and take a picture of my bike at the top.

I figured I had enough time to descend carefully, even with the additional climbing within the descent (!). I did see a little gray fox prancing across the road and heard something furiously rustling in the bushes at some point, but no real hazards. And I finished in the time limit! I will definitely be doing this route again. Hopefully when it’s still cool out!

end of the bart line

Rambling Ride Report

Crikey! It’s been a long time since my last post. I just noticed that I have put in 8800 km this year in recorded rides, so I guess I have been outside riding a lot–and not inside writing a lot. Generating material for my blog! Haha. 8800k seems like a lot for me, since the past few years have only yielded about 5500k in recorded rides. I don’t usually record my commutes or grocery runs, but do record any touring, brevets, or local riding on my rando or mtb bikes. Unfortunately I did not get it together to do Errandonnee or Coffeeneuring this year, so that’s not in there.

So where have I been riding? Well, I resolved to resume my long abandoned practice of doing R12s. I am about a third of the way through a new one and I’m so thrilled about it! I stopped R-12ing back in 2018 when my back went out for some unknown reason, and that kept me off any bikes at all for 2 months. Then that terrible lawsuit shut down the RUSA perms program. It is still a loss that I feel since so many old perms are still not entered into the new program. And I for one enjoyed interacting with other perm owners to register and file results. Registering for a perm online is easy, but there is no one there to tell you that a control location, for example a cafe or restaurant, has closed, or an entire section of the perm is off limits due to past wildfire damage. Yes, both of those things happened to me on 3 different perms! I guess we are truly on our own to do advance research on our routes now.

All I can say now is that I’m deeply stoked that the perm program is back at all, since readers of this blog know how much I love RUSA’s permanents program.

The most recent perm I did was one of my own contributions, Delta Double Crosser. Like most of my perms it is loosely based on a route that John P created. Although he and I met through rando, he has hung up his RUSA number for good and now focuses solely on unquantifiable riding (yes… silly, I know). It’s kind of unfortunate since he came up with some of my favorite fleche and dart routes! Oh well. I was able to convert one of those routes to a perm, thus we have the Delta Double Crosser #3505. This is a deceptively difficult route. It has very little climbing and in fair winds should be easy, but complications like the status of the Caltrans ferries and wind direction have led many an intrepid randonneur to DNF this route or at least find themselves within just a few minutes of the time limit at the end. It was originally designed as a route for the Davis Dart, to allow for maximum goofing off time among a team of rando pals. As always with John’s routes, low traffic roads have the priority, but as always in rando, some high traffic roads are required to make connections between those beautiful, serene, low traffic roads.

The route starts in Berkeley. The first control used to be at a Starsucks but luckily due to new policies around EPP results, we don’t have to get receipts anymore–I say luckily, since said Starsucks has vacated this location. Anyway, the route immediately starts up a very gentle climb over the Berkeley hills through Wildcat Canyon park. It’s been chilly and damp in the mornings lately, and the fog was low at the start. Once I summited over Wildcat Canyon, things cleared up considerably, though they never got very warm that day.

fog down low

The route then takes a common track for local road cyclists, descending Wildcat Canyon Road, crossing San Pablo Dam Road, and climbing Bear Creek Road. It’s a bit of work, but not too bad. Then instead of heading back toward Berkeley, the route continues on Alhambra Valley Road over the pig farm climb. Then a bit of lovely coasting through tree-canopied winding pavement, and you’re at the first control, Martinez. Originally, the control was at States Coffee in Martinez, but on this Sunday morning, there was a line out the door, wrapping around the building. I opted instead for a liquor store on the edge of town, just getting some water and chips. I brought a lot of bike food with me and was hoping to avoid spending too much time at any of the controls.

After Martinez, the route heads over the Benicia Bridge, which has a dedicated bike/ped path. It also has a rail bridge right next to the hiway, which I would be riding on during my train trip back home at the end of the day. Did I mention that this is a point to point route that finishes at the Davis Amtrak station? Ok then.

Not sure what the machinery and cables are all about

Next up is the lovely section along the sloughs and waterways of Suisun and Cordelia! I like that this route offers Goodyear road as an alternative to the more common Lopes Road.

Fine example of hand lettering in the wild

Back on Lopes, open sky, open road

Chronic problem of housing developments taking over open space. In the 10 years since I first rando’ed out here, the amount of new development is pretty disappointing

After some more pleasant, quiet miles on Cordelia Road, I roll into Suisun City. There are no real services between there and Rio Vista, the next control, so I take care of a bio break, removing my early morning layers, put on some sunscreen, and eat a couple bars. There is a nice public bathroom by the boardwalk, so I don’t have to buy anything. There are people fishing off the boardwalk in the bright sunlight.

Serene Suisun

After Suisun City is probably the worst part of the ride. I felt like I had arrived in Suisun City relatively early though, and was making decent time. I was ready to ride the blasted shoulder of highway 12 and get it over with. Turns out, there was relatively little traffic that day.

Caltrans, what are you thinking

I left Suisun and things seemed to be going fine, until my front tire started to feel soft. Dagnabbit. The shoulder on this particular highway is not the best for fixing flats, but I happened to be really close to Nurse Slough road, not an open road but at least there was a big pullout before the gate. The previous weekend, I got 3 flats on a ride and came to discover my once lovely Grand Bois Cerfs gifted from John were not going to make it through the ride I had planned. I was getting really efficient at roadside patching, but the sidewalls were too dried out and threadbare. This time, I was starting out fresh with a new set of Panaracer Paselas (also gifted from John…hmmmm), which I used a lot in my early rando experience and thought they were pretty bombproof. Humpf! All the flats I had gotten were in natural areas and they were all from thorns, so… maybe a seasonal thing. Anyway, I had a pretty pleasant experience fixing my tire and patching the tube actually.

Always wanted to poach this

Wheel back on, I continued down the highway, turning off on Dumbarton Road for a brief respite. Indeed it is pretty there, but apparently I am just a huge thorn magnet these days, because I got another flat, just before turning back onto 12.

Not complaining about the flat fixing scenery

A large jackrabbit showed itself to me while I waited for the patch glue to set, then hopped off into the distance. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the animals I see on rides. I don’t really see that many but when I do, I usually feel lucky. On another ride recently I saw a big old brown bear, and I felt lucky that it was just a glimpse.

There is a short climb after Dumbarton Road on 12, then you’re off it entirely. 12 is a direct route to Rio Vista, but what a relief not to take the short route. Instead this route takes Shiloh Road to Birds Landing and the classic Shirley’s Tavern, then Montezuma Hills Road to Rio Vista. There are a ton of levee roads out on the slough that I’d like to check out sometime… Dinkel Spiel Road is really a road apparently! I think these are all roads for duck hunters and there is some club which grants you keys to the gates out there. I guess this is probably duck hunting season, so not the best time. Sometime though.

For now, it is plenty for me to enjoy the sweet pleasure of Shiloh Road and Birds Landing. I wasn’t expecting Shirley’s to be open, and was starting to feel pressed on time due to the double flat fiasco, but the Budweiser light in the window was on and a $1 soda sounded like a good idea. I tentatively brought my bike up to rest on the porch railing, now painted bluish gray instead of the pink it was the last time I was there. Someone came to the screen door from the inside and opened it for me, welcoming me in. I stepped through it and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. There were four people inside, none of them Shirley, but that wasn’t too surprising since Shirley was in her 90s the last time I was there. Instead there were two women behind the bar and a nice older couple sitting in the comfy chairs by the window. The man of the couple was really interested in talking about bikes. It took the women a long time to come to grips with my having ridden from Oakland, but they were nice about it. I was super proud of myself for having several singles in cash to pay for the two beverages I wanted: a Jumex peach juice and a ginger ale. When I inquired about Shirley, the women explained that Shirley had died the previous August, and the family was still deciding what to do with the bar. One asked the other how many people came in on her shift on Friday, and she said she sold 2 beers her whole shift. It had always seemed like that kind of place to me, but they said that when there were crews out building the wind turbines that heavily dominate the landscape of the Montezuma Hills, the bar was very busy. Just when I was thinking I had spent too much time there, I suddenly thought I should pick up some water, so I got one from the refrigerator and said my fond goodbyes to them, hoping it wouldn’t be my last visit.

Shirley’s Tavern

Next up, Montezuma Hills!!!!! Five exclamation points because it had been so long since the last time, and because of all the good memories of riding out there with so many different people. The nice couple at Shirley’s eventually passed me in their car and politely tooted their horn and waved. Not too many others out that day.

Farmer driving his tractor

I got one of these mirrors for the Humboldt 600k… not sure if it’s really that effective but I guess it’s nice to have.

Sheeples and baby sheeples… One time on this road, the farmers were driving their flocks of sheep up the road, completely filling the road with sheep.

At the end of Montezuma Hills Road is the town of Rio Vista. It’s the first town you go through that is truly on the delta. There is a big fishing store in the middle of town that is sometimes the only store that is open. This time, I was feeling pretty hungry–my strategy of not stopping for a meal was sort of falling down so I checked into the Mexican restaurant for a bite to eat. I’ve pretty much given up on rando math at this point in my rando career, and I decided that even if the two flats and Shirley’s Tavern got me really far behind I would probably catch up on the flat levee roads? Or something. Anyway it was definitely my stomach doing the talking when I decided to stop, and when the waitress asked, “would you like the burrito wet?” I was like, “Yeahuh!!” Ooooo that was a good burrito! It was big which is normally a problem for me on brevets since I have never been a fast eater, but this one went down fast and I was out of there and back on the road pretty quick.

When I was in the restaurant, there was a dropped ceiling with those foam panels… you know. Some of the panels were replaced with paintings of local stuff. The one above my table was confusing though–I couldn’t tell what it was. About an hour later when I was on the Real McCoy II ferry, I realized it was exactly this view:

I’ve written before in this blog about how much I love riding on the delta and how the ferry forces you to slow down and appreciate a different pace of life, so I won’t go into it here. I’ll just say I’m glad the ferry was in service that day! Detours around the ferry kind of suck, especially if you’re on a bike.

Delta livin

The ferry does take what feels like hours to traverse that wide waterway, and when I got to the other side, I was feeling the need to burn up some mileage. Not really the vibe of the delta, but I was still able to enjoy riding there. Really no cars to speak of until I got to Clarksburg, a distance of about 40 kms. And if you add Shiloh and Montezuma Hills Road, it becomes more like 75 kms. With. no. cars!

The sign you see after exiting the ferry

Lots of agriculture out here, more often grapes. Also lots of birds (not pictured)

Water crossing

Beautiful light and shadow on the levee roads

Just before Clarksburg, the road leaves the water and straightens out

In Clarksburg, I just needed to stop for water, so I stopped in the little convenience store before Husik’s.After Husik’s the route has to use 160 to connect to a bike path, which was probably more unpleasant than highway 12 actually. It is a narrow, winding road with no shoulder and pretty high median speed… Most drivers were courteous but it’s annoying that Caltrans is still doing repaving projects on roads like this with absolutely no shoulder.

The rest of the route is mostly relaxing bike paths throughout to West Sacramento and then the Yolo Wildlife Sanctuary Bypass to Davis.

However, there is a pretty dangerous overpass with high speed on- and offramps in West Sac that needs to be removed from the route. It is a new overpass since the last time I rode here. It made me feel really glad that I have so little trust in civil engineers that design these types of things, because even the sidewalk makes it impossible to avoid cars coming off the freeway. If I had the safety expectations of any normal person (as opposed to myself, knowing that just because there’s a sidewalk doesn’t mean it leads anywhere you want to be) I definitely would have been squashed.

Still firmly not doing rando math, I did have my sights set on the 7:10 train from Davis back to Oakland. I had put the hustle on throughout the delta but especially from Clarksburg. I had a smokin’ Stereolab loop stuck firmly in my head, and it was forcibly propelling me forward. And the whole West Sac thing I just wanted to be over as quickly as possible. Soooo I did end up making the train, just by a hare’s breath!

It was Halloween weekend, so everyone on the train was smashed. It was really crowded too! I had forgotten my courtesy lock to lock up my bike to the train’s bike rack, so I just stood downstairs near my bike for most of the ride. I remembered when I was at Shirley’s, the woman of the couple sitting next to the window had asked me, “If you make the train from Davis, do the conductors wake you up when you get to your stop?” At the time I thought it was a silly question, but when I was leaning against the windows in the lower level, feeling the gentle rocking back and forth of the train car, I did feel a bit snoozy. It had been a full day with a lot of chapters… which is why I still like doing these long rides. They still feel like an adventure, since something different and unexpected happens each time. I hope I can keep up my R-12 streak though it seems like I’ve just been squeaking by, riding each one at almost the last day of the month (or the very last day in some cases!) If I do, you’ll only hear about it here on mmmmbike!

Dusting Off the Cobwebs

San Francisco Randonneurs Del Puerto Canyon 200k **November 2021 edition**

 

Amongst the tumbleweeds blowing around on my RUSA member results page there have been few rides logged over the past couple years. A single 200k perm in 2020; a fleche and the beloved Old Caz 300k this year. Still plenty of riding has been enjoyed, just not in a RUSA sanctioned way. Yet I do long for that brevet card with torn, stained, and soggy receipts inside; that tattered, stubbornly unchanging printed cue sheet; that rainbow of my comrades’ reflecto. Absence has made my heart grow fonder for those days, so I jumped at the chance to sign up for one of my favorite SFR routes: Del Puerto Canyon 200k. Come to receive the voluminous pre-ride mailings, and there are surprisingly few names on the roster! Later in the week, the roster grew to nearly pre-pandemic size, and we had well over 100 starters for this classic route.

It’s a new randoday… fraught with possibility!

It was nice to see some familiar faces when I got off my BART train to transfer to the Dublin-Pleasanton line. I had not seen Michael T in a couple years, and it was great to catch up with him about what we’ve both been doing in the absence of rando. Lots of new faces too yay! Irving had some doughnuts on offer at check-in where some of us loosely congregated, and Michael C was working the start, getting us signed in. I left with a small group that slipped away without taking the classic SFR oath. Stupid stuff, readysetgo!

The Crew

I’m sure pretty close to 100% of us were all using electronic proof of passage, and you can see Tom in the above photo carefully setting his phone. No forgetting to start your logging device on this ride! I had tried using Strava a couple times for my proof of passage in the past, but it kept stopping. The timestamped photo app I had been using as backup to Strava appeared to be interfering with my Strava recording! It’s pretty disturbing to notice mid-ride that your proof of passage medium is failing you.  I’m going with RidewithGPS solely now, and no whacky timestamp photo apps. When I rode Old Caz this year, I used my film camera with time stamping as a backup. This was fun, and I do love that camera, but it was hard to remember to follow up and take photos at each control throughout that ride. I think that route has ten or twelve info controls. I have been using brevet cards for close to ten years now, so the transition to Electronic Proof of Passage has been a bit rocky. I chose to print out a brevet card and use that for my backup proof of passage for Del Puerto, but the final info control question required a timestamped photo of your bike, which still necessitated the timestamped photo app which seems to interfere with my primary method for proof of passage. I think it would be good going forward if there was a backup method available that did not involve using a smart phone, since sometimes they run out of battery too, even if all the apps behave as desired.

Sorry if it seems I’m belaboring this topic, but I’ve always felt and said that paperwork is a critical component of randonneuring. To Americans, the procedures involved may seem tedious, nit-picky, or even draconian. I interpret bureaucracy as a bedrock of French culture and society that was intended to ensure fair treatment for all citizens, and this extends to our sport. As applied to randonneuring, it is the great leveler, and reflects the necessity for self sufficiency–all riders must complete their own paperwork. No one does it for you, in the same way we don’t have aid stations or sag vehicles. Filing our own results is a common thread we all share as randonneurs, and I see it as a way to ensure fairness to all.

Anyway, on to the ride! The weather was perfect this November day. There had been some intense rains in the weeks previous. This gave a sense of deep relief to me, other riders, and the whole region including the land itself. This is supposed to be the beginning of the rainy season for us, and it has been a series of several years of ever worsening droughts. So the fact that there were recent intense rains made the ride feel sweet.

I brought my fully automatic film camera, loaned/gifted by fellow film shooter and rando Mike Teng G. It has been a fun camera to use on long rides where I need to shoot from the saddle–no time to stop and set aperture or shutter speed. Shooting film on bike rides is a source of great joy and frustration both. Sometimes you hit the jackpot, sometimes you waste a heckuva lot of film… But the good shots make it worthwhile. And they look good in a way that only film can.  After I posted a couple of my bike photos on Instagram, I got several comments that “filters are fun, aren’t they?” Haha… Yes, I’m aware Instagram offers filters to make digital pictures look analog. It’s amusing to me that someone created what they thought would be an automatic way to imitate something that is completely random. And does it also make you suffer through all the heartache of losing most of a roll due to improper metering, forgetting to set the correct film speed, lack of focus, wrong camera or lens for the situation, insufficient agitation in processing, too much dust on your negs, just plain missing the shot, etc etc etc? Like randonneuring, film photography is deeply character building and must be approached without expectations. In that frame of mind, though, every good or even decent photo is a triumph. And with that understanding, I’ve come to learn about all the automated post processing that happens when all of us take pictures with our cell phones.

The first climb up Tesla Road wasn’t too bad; the weather was beautiful if slightly chilly, the sun was out, and there was excellent company. I met someone riding a nice Jack Taylor up at the top of the climb, then we all savored the swooping descent down to Corral Hollow. Most of the big pickups carrying OHVs to Carnegie  gave us a wide berth at that hour of the day. Sadly I missed the sign indicating the Livermore bomb testing site that I always want to photograph because I was trying to catch up to Steve and Tom who had sped off the front. I encountered them at good old Jimmy’s One Stop, surprised to see me as they thought I was the one off the front. We all left together for Patterson.

Uneventful flat miles ensued until our lunch break in Patterson, where Bryan C retrieved his voicemails to hear one from his wife, whose back suddenly went out. He decided that the fastest way to get home to help her out would just be to ride the rest of the course, so he took off immediately. The rest of us leisurely finished our lunches and set off for the namesake road of this route, Del Puerto Canyon Road. I was feeling pretty amped for this!

The absolute joy and wonder of Del Puerto Canyon, of course, must come to an end eventually, but shortly before it does, one is treated to the life-giving waters of Adobe Springs. This is a natural spring that someone has made fixtures to enable one to pour water out like a faucet (actually, there is a faucet). It really does make my stomach feel better after a long day of energy shakes and pseudo-junk food.

After Adobe Springs, we all just set it in high gear and were back at the start before we knew it. I vowed at that time to reinstate my practice of doing R-12s, but unfortunately was not able to follow through. I’ve still kept riding 200+kms per month, just not for RUSA credit. This was a great ride to get those tumbleweeds out of my RUSA results page, though, and really fun to see and ride with old friends.

Virtually randonneuring: SFR Virtual Rando

Coronavirus has changed so much of the way we live now. Riding bikes has emerged as a relatively safe way to maintain one’s health and sanity, but massed start group rides like brevets are not a good idea now. I do miss brevets, and after almost 10 years of riding them, the things I love about rando are not even possible to quantify. So I’m glad that the San Francisco Randonneurs came up with the concept of Virtual Rando this year to provide a substitute for our usual Point Reyes Populaire. But something I’ve discovered over the past year is the beauty and richness of life after rando. After it, surrounding it, over it and under it. My bicycling personality is so defined by my adventurous randonneur heart that I will never be able to separate myself from the Spirit of Randonneuring. Even if I have to stop riding bikes for whatever reason, I will always be a randonneur. But there have definitely been some upsides to this year without brevets.

One interesting development has been to go on some long distance bike camping trips. When I started rando, I assumed that the longer rides such as 600k, 1000k, and 1200k would all be just as self supported as the shorter ones. Hotels and drop bags, not to mention support vehicles, never occurred to me. Maybe it was done this way in France in the old days, or maybe not, but I always wanted to do it that way. I’ve been inspired by Darryl Skrabak’s Milly for many years, and now I can finally envision how I might make that happen. I’m pretty stoked on doing more remote riding combining overnight stops with a light camping load.

I have not missed routes like the SFR 300k that include white-knuckle sections like highway 116 with no shoulder, nor have I missed the constant stream of Safeway controls on that route… Maybe when brevets come back the 300k will finally get a long-deserved reboot.

Another benefit of the lack of brevets is spending more time with my sweetheart who quit rando! Although rando will always figure into John’s riding personality, he quit rando a few years ago to ride mostly offroad.

But because neither of us drives a car, we both ride to any trailhead we would visit. This, I have discovered, is a big difference between us and a lot of mountain bikers! It is a more holistic way to be a mountain biker. We ride to trails on multi-use paths that have small children, dogs, and the elderly. We have to coexist with them in a harmonious way. And we enjoy it. I feel so grateful, in fact, to live in a place where so many people enjoy the benefits of being outdoors. Way before covid, people here have known the value of investing public resources in trail and wilderness area upkeep. These local trails are so valuable now during covid, providing a safe space for us to visit as an alternative to the restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and arts venues that are closed.

One small side benefit to no brevets is that I now have the energy for film photography on rides. Most of the time I just use a little sport camera like the Fuji DL Minizoom or Canon Sureshot or the cool old Olympus rangefinder I just got. This started before covid, but now that the control close clock is no longer ticking in my ears, I’ve been shooting film a lot more and really enjoying the results.

Me taking a picture of Mike Gao taking a picture of Metin descending Morgan Territory in the beforetimes

more fun with film at point pinole

Point Pinole’s hardest working ranger

San Francisco Bay from the bike path in Albany

Now we come to the final benefit of no brevets: virtual rando! I knew that this would be a good thing for me when I read in the announcement, “Rules: Nope”. It just so happened that Dan and I were both free and eager to ride the weekend of virtual rando, so we made a plan to visit some of our favorite spots: Briones, Black Diamonds, Sherman Island, and the Montezuma Hills. Returning from Fairfield via the old standby Lopes Road, Carquinez Bridge and Briones or something from Martinez would keep things simple.

Riding with Dan was great, it felt just like old randotimes. We both wore our Carlos-designed SFR jerseys to show the Spirit of Randonneuring flowing through us. Unlike a normal January SFR Pop, the weather was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. It had rained a few times in the previous weeks, but the trails in Briones and Black Diamonds had drained well. In fact, this was one of the best rides I’ve had in Black Diamonds in terms of trail conditions!

Riding on the delta was delta-lightful as usual and Dan and I tried a new lunch spot that had tons of fresh fruit, a big bonus for me on any bike ride.

Levee road on Sherman Island used serpentine gravel, judging by the color

It was sad to see that the little market in Rio Vista had brown kraft paper covering its big glass windows, but the bait shop was open and had drinking water for us to buy.

The really sweet spot of this ride was the Montezuma Hills. I think we had a gentle tailwind, and the giant wind turbines were moving in ultra slo mo, like a turntable on 16 rpm. Some of them moved so slowly that it took a moment to tell if they were indeed moving. Others moved at varying speeds. There were no cars, or even any other cyclists, for what felt like a small slice of eternity. The whole landscape, and us within it, was utterly at peace. No distractions other than the populations of sheep and lambs going about their business in the endless rolling pastures. I exhaled steadily in the bright sunlight, appreciating all the moments leading up to this deeply cherished one right here and now.

Getting back to civilization is always jarring after an experience like that, but Friend Dan made it much easier by discussing the potential Amtrak departures from Suisun, the nearest town. We had talked about the possibility of bailing mid-ride earlier in the day. Not having done a proper 200k in at least a year, we weren’t sure how the day would go. We both felt fine actually, but there was a Filipino restaurant right there that looked open, and the rest of the route is just junk miles anyway right? Yum! We had the perfect amount of time to eat our Filipino take-away at a bench facing the beautiful marsh of Grizzly Island as the sun sank slowly below the horizon. Dan got us beers for the train and thus we wrapped up another perfect pseudo-rando.

In April 2019, most of Dan’s and my fleche team bailed within the 12 hours prior to the ride, and we rode anyway. We knew we wouldn’t get credit because it was just two randos left standing… or pedaling, as the case happened to be. But we had an amazingly good time. We definitely had the best route of any team, of that I am certain, and the fact that there were only two of us and yet we rode anyway gave us a sense of prevailing over undeniable obstacles. I think that ride was also the capper on a set of three rides Dan and I rode together which totaled almost 2000k for the month! Yes, Dan and I have ridden a lot together, and I think I’ve crashed my bike more while riding with him than anyone too.

On either of these rides, did we rando? No receipts were collected, no brevet cards or waivers were signed. Did we transcend rando? Play hooky from rando? I’d like to think we enjoyed all the best things about rando: spending the day focusing on riding in a remote place, using bike-friendly roads, paths, and dirt trails; and riding with good friends. Virtual rando felt a lot like the fleche Dan and I rode, knowing there were insurmountable obstacles to getting credit, yet riding in a randonneur tradition anyway.

Covid has forced so many of us into difficult positions this year. The number of people who have already died is tragic. It is up to us to do whatever we can to prevent the spread of this virus which has taken lives and livelihoods. I’m grateful that we can find ways of adapting and at the same time feel that sense of camraderie that is so important to maintaining the sport we love.

How have your randonneuring habits changed? Feel free to leave me a comment.