Central Coast Double Century

The Central Coast Double was my 3rd double of 1999! Being the 2nd (and supposedly the least “extremely difficult”) ride of the CA Triple Crown Stage Race, I felt it would be the best indicator of whether I’d be able to finish the Terrible Two Double later in the year under its proscribed 16.5 hour time limit. If I could do this ride in 16.5 hours, I thought, I just might have a chance in the TT…

Anyhow, so the night before my friend Dave and I headed down south together; he for mountain biking in Morro Bay and I for the double century. New equipment for this ride included new Diadora Trivex cycling shoes; my first new pair of cycling shoes since I got a slightly-too-large pair of Performance shoes in ’94. Yes, I had been wearing somewhat ill-fitting shoes for 5 years! The Diadoras would prove to be very airy, stiff, lightweight, snug-fitting, and comfortable! I can’t quantify how much faster (if at all) they made me, but at least I am running out of excuses for any poor performances…

The Ride!

The First Half

Riding over from the motel Dave and I were staying in to the start of the ride, I check in way before the mass start of 5:00a. No anxiety today, however, as I calmly munch on a donut provided at the start. After being successful on the Devil Mountain Double, I had few misgivings for this ride, with the sole exception of a strictly enforced time limit: riders had to be at the Mile 178 rest stop by 9:30, or 16.5 hours into the ride. If my time splits would mimic that of the Devil Mountain Double, I would barely make it by then!

I decide to take it slow and easy at the beginning as I had not ridden much in the two weeks prior to the ride while a wonderful friend was visiting from Florida (hi, Adrienne! =)) Consequently, I am dropped by the majority of the riders at the start, although during the initial climbs I was making up some time.

As described on the official Central Coast Double Home Page, the ride starts out with some of the most spectacular scenery in CA! Luscious green tree-lined hillsides led to the Pacific Coast, all the way to the halfway mark of the ride. I was what I would describe as a meditative zone, not too aware of what was going on. Time flew by while I was wholy at peace with myself.

Reality would hit at a rest stop around Mile 87, however, when I would overhear some of the hosts discussing how many more people would be coming into the rest stop after I. “There’s only 7 more people on the course as 12 people dropped out already,” I heard. I was quicked shocked… there were more than 100 riders on this ride, and I was at the very tail of them! I really didn’t think I was going all that slow.

But as I was still on pace for making the Mile 178 rest stop on time, I wasn’t all too disturbed. And after the rest stop, there would be some significant climbs in which I was beginning to catch and drop people. Still feeling good while enjoying the view of the soul-stirring waves of the Pacific! The effective pacing early on was paying dividends like they had on the Devil Mountain Double!

The Second Half

Now for the real test! At approximately Mile 110 came a climb in which I had no idea how long it would be, but it looked plenty steep. Again, though, I was feeling good due to early energy conservation, and hence was passing everyone at the beginning. The heat was starting to bear upon us, however, and the climb seemed to last forever! An hour passes, and I wonder when we’ll finally be descending. At last, the top is in sight… we made it!

Now for a nice long descent! I wasn’t exactly wasted after the effort, but definitely sleepy… and several of the riders who I had passed on the hill caught up on the descent while I was dozing off. Memories of falling asleep during the ’97 Davis Double came to mind… but I hung on.

After the hill until Mile 150 or so would be plagued by a rather strong headwind (although less vicious as that during the Solvang Double earlier this year), and the rest of the ride, up until Mile 180, would be a blur and as I write this (in June 1999!) I don’t remember too much of it, ‘cept that I was making good enough time to definitely finish by the Mile 178 time deadline, and even could have possibly finished in 16 hours! All I had to do was ride the last 30 miles in 2 hours, which I could have easily done esp. with an awesome tail wind we had on the way back, ‘cept for a certain problem explained in an email I wrote to a friend below:

Actually, though, I could have likely finished in under 16 hours, were it not for my #(*%ing lights!!! All I had to do was ride the last 30 miles in 2 hours, which I could have _easily_ done, esp. since we had this an tailwind, but then it got dark. Now, usually this wouldn’t have been a major issue (I’ve done many rides at night), but 1) the roads were unlighted in Boonieland, 2) the moon was not out, 3) there were no reflectors on the road, 4) there were no stripes on the road!, and 5) I rode alone and hence could not take advantage of other riders’ higher-powered lights. Soooo, I had to rely on my $15 2watt headlamp (compared to the other riders’ $150 20-watt lights), which was totally inadequate! I could hardly see a thing and, to add insult to injury, the batteries went dead and it took over 10minutes to swap in 4 new ones (since I had to do it in pitch blackness), and then they went dead again in like 30 minutes? I actually rode Miles 200-207 in absolute darkness, and was practically _braking_ the entire way, until I was “rescued” by some other riders with functional lights who finally caught up to me. A lil’ too late to salvage any of my lost time, but ah, well. I have now resolved to invest in some decent lights!

And so that’s how the ride ended. Looking back at the ride, however, it gave me added confidence that I could ride the Terrible Two Double within the allotted time limit, if just barely so, as I finished this longer ride (208 miles vs. 206 for the TT) in not much over that time while feeling very fresh at the end due to going so slowly for the last 30 miles due to not being able to see! Bring on the TT!

Ride Data

• 208 mi.
• 5:00a start, 9:45 p finish –> 16:45 hours!
• Average Speed: 13.2 mph moving, 12.4 mph overall
• Max Speed: 40+ mph
• Total Climbing: 13,500 ft

Rating

(1=ho hum; 5=best)

• Scenery: 4 Seemed more green than normal
• Support/Organization: 3
• Food: 3
• Weather: 3 Cold at the beginning; a lil’ too warm in the middle
• Relative Difficulty: 4
• Overall Rating: 4 A beautiful ride that’s about a notch below in difficulty to the Devil Mountain Double.