Davis Double Century
I didn’t enjoy doing the Davis Double this year. Part of the reason was because I rode this 200-miler for the third year in a row, so the scenery was nothing new. However, there were other factors. This is what I wrote to a friend in an email the following day:
Ugh, the ride did not go so well. It was so cold, rainy, and windy! To top that off, I hurt my right ankle again, pretty early in the ride. The only good thing about that was that my leg muscles were really fresh during the entire ride because I was hardly applying any power whatsoever with them because my ankle hurt so much.
I started at 5:10 and got back at 9:00… so that’s about 16 hours. Slower than my ’96 double and almost as slow as last year. With the wind and all, it was pretty hopeless. To exemplify, after the first 25 miles my average speed was 20.0 mph… by the 100 mile mark, it was down to 13.5! Meaning that for miles 25-100 I averaged 11 mph and for the last 100 miles I was not averaging much higher than that.
So hence it was not the greatest ride… not very fun. I am not that much of a masochist! I have reconsidered my cycling plans for the year and have decided that I won’t be going for that second Triple Crown after all, even though I only have to do one more double this year. Six doubles in the last 2 years is enough.
At least I got to visit Ken and Pin-pin on Friday night. They are friends from high school who are studying at UC Davis. We also hung out with Pin-pin’s roommate, who had Frank Sinatra music playing because Ol’ Blue Eyes passed away that day (May 14th).
After biking experience, never did I think I would be doing the event for a fourth year in a row, nor that I would immensely enjoy it. But I did do it again in 1999.
Ride Summary
- 197 mi, through Solano and Napa Counties
- 13.5 mph, moving average
- 15.8 hours overall; 5:10-21:00. This was 1:20 more than my 1996 time but 1:00 less than my 1997 time.
- max speed: 43.5 mph
- food tally: tons of water, granola bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and cookies!
- favorite treat: chicken noodle soup (as always in Davis), 35 mi from the finish
Rating
(5=best)
- Scenery: 1+. It’s boring except for in the
hills. - Support/Organization: 4-
- Food: 4. Generally good, especially the chicken noodle soup!.
- Relative difficulty: 3+ Cold, wet, and *windy*!
- Overall rating: 2
