Ride Report
Next week is the Borrego Double, which will be the final double of the 2012 California Triple Crown Stage Race. According to my calculations, I'm sitting in 4th place- 50 minutes behind 3rd and 23 minutes ahead of 5th. That means I don't have much of a chance to move up a spot, but moving down is a real possibility. It's going to be a stressful ride, but the good news is that it starts out with an 11-mile climb, so I should be in my element early on.
This week's route was sort of a miniature version of the Borrego Double's profile. My main goals for the day were to go hard on the first and last climbs. I felt pretty good out there and I hope I can put in a good ride next week.
After a difficult day of riding at the Central Coast Double on May 12th, I headed towards San Francisco to watch the pros put me to shame. Stage 1 began in Santa Rosa, and my plan for the day was to hang out by the team buses, watch the riders leave, and then drive to the final KOM of the day at Coleman Valley Road.
The team bus area is a great place to (a) get an up-close look at bikes and (b) catch a glimpse of your favorite riders. My main goal for 2012 was to see Tom Boonen, who I hadn't seen in person before. As luck would have it, when the Omega Pharma-QuickStep bus rolled in, Bonnen was sitting right in the front seat.
Tom Boonen at the front of the bus.
I love going to races and I have such a large amount of respect for how fast these guys are, how skilled they are, and how much hard work they put in. As a rider myself, I feel my own small connection with the pros. After all, I love to ride my bike just like they do. At the same time, I try to be realistic and keep a healthy distance. I'll never ride as fast as them and I have no idea what it's like to feel the pressure they must feel from their teams and their fans. I don't know what it's like to have some flag-waving moron run uncomfortably close beside me while I'm riding at my limit up Mont Ventoux. I don't know what it's like to finish a sprint and immediately be surrounded by a group of reporters who want me to explain why I didn't win. I don't know what it's like to show up for a long, hard race and not be able to take one step out of the bus before the media and the fans all want a piece of me.
When I'm out by the buses, part of me feels a bit uncomfortable. Can't I just let these guys do their jobs? This, along with my own version of social phobia or whatever you may call it, is why I can't ask riders for an autograph or ask them to take a picture with me. It just feels weird. After all, these guys are people just like me and what can I really do with a picture or an autograph, anyway? As a result, I just sort of stand at a distance and observe. But how much better is that, really? I'm just sort of standing there silent like a weirdo watching these guys get ready for work. There's nothing normal about that, either. The pros shouldn't be made to feel like animals at a zoo.
I'm not sure what is the proper thing to do in the team bus area, so I mostly do what humans do best- judge. I try to get a feel for how the riders are as people. I know it's unfair and impossible to do from 5 minutes of 1 day of 1 year of an entire life, but that's what I do. Here are the things that have stood out to me from my limited experience.
Tom Boonen- Boonen took time to sign autographs and take pictures. He always had a smile on his face and the fact that he was sitting at the front of the bus says something to me. He knew what was coming and he wasn't going to hide from it. I was impressed with how nice he is considering how huge of a star he is.
Levi Leipheimer- Leipheimer played a big part in getting the race to Santa Rosa, so he had a lot of supporters outside the bus. He genuinely seemed to appreciate that. He comes across very well in interviews and in person I haven't seen any evidence that all of that is fake.
Jens Voigt- Very nice and also funny. Last year in Tahoe I saw him try to show a little girl a picture of his own daughter on his phone. He signed quite a few autographs and seemed to make everyone laugh as he was doing it.
Dave Zabriskie- I think Dave is uncomfortable with the attention. I don't say that to put him down because I know I would feel the same way. Both this year and last year it seemed like he was staying on the bus as long as possible. This year his kids were outside the bus and he had a nice interaction with them before he left to start the stage.
Tom Danielson- One of the nicest riders I've seen. He doesn't just sign an autograph and move to the next one; he tries to make conversation with each person as he does it. I almost felt comfortable saying hi to him. He's that good.
Jonathan Vaughters- He's not as popular with the fans as I would have thought. He seems like a nice guy, but people give him his space for whatever reason.
Bob Roll- He gets as much attention as any rider. He takes a ton of pictures and makes a lot of people smile.
Chris Horner- He took a picture with my wife, so he'll always be a good guy in my book. I've seen a ton of interviews with him on the internet (which are great, obviously), but haven't seen much of him in person.
That's it for my limited experience. There are a couple guys I would say mostly negative things about, but I'm not sure that's fair and nobody likes an anonymous internet hater.
On to the race itself...
Stage 1
Start Line in Santa Rosa
This should be the team car.
Tom Boonen's bike with special California bar tape.
Tom Danielson signing with a smile.
The beach welcomes the Tour of California.
The start in Santa Rosa.
Lap 2 in Santa Rosa.
The breakaway.
The peloton.
Stage 2
Stage 2 was my first in-person feed zone experience. Here's what my wife and I came away with:
We got 3 feed sacks (mine had a gel and some Shot Bloks left in it) and a total of 15 bottles (7 different teams). I got a lot of Omega Pharma-QuickStep bottles and I'd like to believe one belonged to Tom Boonen, but I'll never know for sure. One of the breakaway riders threw his feed sack right at my feet and an Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider threw a bottle in my direction. We found most of the bottles from searching the area after the peloton was gone. Most of the stuff we saw was the same kind of stuff you or I might eat on a ride: Clif Bars, gels, and Fig Newtons. We also found a Nutella and banana sandwich wrapped in foil, which I ended up eating. There was also a caffeine pill in my Colombia Coldeportes bag.
In the end it was a fun time. I think a perfect race-viewing experience would be to see the team bus area, a climb, and the feed zone. We were able to see all 3 in just 2 days. I'm hoping my schedule will allow me to see some action later this year in Utah and Colorado.
From Nacimiento-Ferguson: A cloud of fog hugs the coast.
Ride Report
This was the Central Coast Double, which is the second double in the California Triple Crown Stage Race this year. (The Mulholland Double was the first, which was Week 15 here.) Official results haven't been posted yet, but I finished somewhere around 13:15. On-bike time was 12:41. I'll add an update at the bottom of this page when results come in.
I started the ride near the front and found myself with a smaller group of very strong guys along the coast. I tend to lose time on flat roads and in headwinds, so I was glad to see those guys there. I had to ride at my limit to stay with them, but I would have lost a lot of time there if I rode solo at my own pace. I worried that I might pay for this effort later on, but towards the end of the ride I didn't feel any worse than I normally do at the 175+ mile mark. I felt good on the Nacimiento-Ferguson climb and rode my own steady pace for the second half of the ride. At one point I felt like I was going to break the 13-hour mark and that was my motivation to keep riding hard. I ended up falling well short of that goal, but it was fun while it lasted.
After the ride the real fun began when I headed towards San Francisco to watch Stages 1 & 2 of the Amgen Tour of California.
Mt. Rose, Kingsbury, Spooner, and Mt. Rose back side
Weather
Another windy day.
Picture
Lake Tahoe
Ride Report
I did the Mt. Rose ascent for the first time this year. According to Strava, the Mt. Rose East Side climb is 16.6 miles with4,262 feet of gain for an average of 4.9%. It's not a steep climb, but the length makes things difficult. The scenery is nice and there are a few switchbacks to keep your mind occupied, so the ride goes by pretty quickly if your legs are feeling good. The descent is fun in the summer, but gets very cold in the spring and the fall. Being a bit of a weather wimp, I tend to avoid Mt. Rose unless it's nice and warm outside. It wasn't all that warm today, but I was itching to do Mt. Rose, so I dealt with the cold descent and was glad I did.
...plus this. For some reason the elevation profile is messed up on 50 near Spooner Summit. Just imagine the profile smoothed out without those ups and downs near the top.
Weather
A nice day without much wind.
Picture
Spooner Summit. Lake Tahoe is straight ahead.
Ride Report
I planned on doing a 6 Mile Canyon loop with a little Lake Tahoe thrown in at the end, but it turns out that 6 Mile Canyon was closed for a dirt bike event, so I had to turn around and ride a lot more flat miles than I had hoped for. I added on a ride down to Carson City to climb up to Spooner Summit, which is a simple route for anyone who is visiting the area. You just take 395 to US 50 West and head towards Lake Tahoe. It's a busy car route, but there is plenty of shoulder on the way up and you don't have to worry about the traffic. The descent can be a little tricky because there are some pretty nasty storm drains that you don't want to run over, and there are times when you have to get very close to the white line to dodge them. They're not a big deal if you're prepared, but they could cause problems if you didn't know they were coming.
The Central Coast Double is only 2 weeks away, so I hope to get in more climbing next week.
