Knoxville Double Century

200 miles, 12600 feet total elevation
17 hours (14 hours 30 minutes on the bicycle)

I am now a California Triple Crown winner!

My third double century of the year will likely be my final organized cycling event for 2008. After completing the Mt Tam Double, I needed to pick a third double century to complete my triple crown. There are several of them remaining this year, but Knoxville is the only one in the Bay Area, so this was the most convenient for me to participate in.

The route profile is more difficult than the Davis Double, but easier than the Mt Tam Double. Of course, the overall difficulty can be changed by the weather and by my own conditioning. Because of the travel we have been doing recently, my training has not been as regular as earlier.

My friend Ravi made the trip with me, since he was going to be a ride support volunteer. We left work a little early Friday, drove 3 hours through thick traffic, and I checked in for the ride. We had a quick dinner and retired early in our motel room.

Click for an interactive map.
The rest stops are marked with pins and ordered alphabetically (the start/finish is "I").
The route is a figure "8". The bottom loop is done clockwise, and the top counter-clockwise.

As usual, I woke up at 3:00am, got my bicycle and gear ready, drove to the start (5 miles from the motel), and got underway at 4:30am. The morning air was cool (lower 50's), but not nearly as cold as I had expected.

4:30am, 0 miles, 0 feet elevation

I tried to stay near other cyclists for the two hours of riding in the pre-dawn darkness. Climbing uphill and then descending into Napa Valley, I could tell that I was missing some lovely scenery in the absence of daylight. As I had hoped, the morning descent into the valley was not too cold, so my decision to leave my jacket behind was not imprudent.

6:55am, 36 miles, 1500 feet elevation

The sun rose about 30 minutes before I reached the first rest stop. I arrived at this stop ahead of the main group, so there was no restroom line. There was a significant line by the time I left because a large group arrived after me. I briefly chatted with Ravi was working at this stop. I quickly ate and left, keeping a fairly strong pace.

The route took us further through Napa Valley before climbing out over another hill. I have only come to this area at "tourist" times, so this was the quietest that I have seen these roads.

9:31am, 70 miles, 4000 feet elevation

Again, I was still in the early group of riders, and this streamlined my stay at the second rest stop due to no restroom line. And again, I ate quickly and left soon. However, I was unknowingly miscalculating my energy requirements, and this would be the route segment where that would become apparent.

The next stretch was on the remote Knoxville Road — the namesake of the ride. There is absolutely no development on it. It is actually impassable during the winter (our rainy season) because the road goes through stream beds instead of bridging over them.

The road is a steady uphill, with some steep sections near the top. I actually saw Ravi a second time as he passed me in the car on the way to his next stop. He set up close to the summit and took pictures of all the riders as the passed by, so here I saw him for the third time on the ride.

The beautiful view from the top of Knoxville Road.

After a very brief break at the mini-stop at the summit for a water refill and some minimal snacks, I headed on the mostly downhill route towards the next stop which would be the lunch stop. Here is where my miscalculations bit me.

This ride has one fewer rest stop than the other doubles I did. This means they are spaced further apart. The greater distance coupled with the fact that I was keeping an aggressive pace meant that I had greater energy needs than I usually do. About 20 miles before lunch, I was hit by a gnawing hunger. And about 10 miles before it, I crashed (metabolically). I felt dizzy and sleepy I actually felt like I was riding drunk.

Because I was very close to the lunch stop, I decided to just push onward to it instead of making an unscheduled stop and losing time. I had an emergency energy bar with me, but I did not want stop and wait for it to digest. If I had only drunk a high-sugar soft drink at the mini-stop, I may have avoided all this. What I really should have done is carried extra food from the rest stops and eaten while riding.

12:43pm, 105 miles, 8000 feet elevation

I crawled into the lunch stop and headed straight for the food. I started off with a couple mini-candy bars to jump start the sugar intake. Even though it was warm, I was having chills so I needed to sit in the sun while I ate. After eating, I found a spot in the grass where I could lay down. Twice I dozed off and woke the the sound of my own snoring.

It ended up being a one hour stop — about twice as long as I had hoped to do. I had lost time and was no longer with the lead group, since they had left while I was sleeping. As I left, I saw Ravi again for the third and final time. He had finished all his support work and was getting prepared to do a ride around Clear Lake. It was coincidence that I bumped into him again.

The route then began an overlap with the Davis Double route, though in the reverse direction. I headed up Cobb Mountain from the steeper side today. Thankfully, the obscene temperatures from the Davis Double were not an issue. In fact, we were blessed with unseasonably mild temperatures during the day. My exhaustion would have been undoubtedly worse if we had had the typical heat.

Even though I had recovered from the exhaustion, I was not back to 100%. I no longer kept an aggressive pace, but I was able to keep a moderate, typical pace. The summit marked the last long climb of the route, and was followed by a long downhill, which was greatly appreciated.

3:49pm, 120 miles, 10000 feet elevation

By the time I reached the forth rest stop, I was basically recovered and at the typical energy level I would expect at this point. I could afford to keep the stop short.

Pope Valley, with hills on both sides. Bright blue sky.

5:41pm, 156 miles, 11000 feet elevation

The fifth rest stop would be the last stop I would see in full daylight. I put on the night gear and cold weather gear that I had removed at the first rest stop. Feeling good, I handled the remaining shorter climbs without trouble.

8:11pm, 187 miles, 12300 feet elevation

The last rest stop was practically a formality since the final 13 miles contains no hills. Everyone who makes it this far should be able to finish. It was a quiet road with very little traffic, and the stars were visible in the night sky.

9:23pm, 201 miles, 12600 feet elevation

I arrived to the finish and checked in. I asked the volunteer manning the checklist how many riders were still on the course, and found out there were still over 100, out of around 250 who started. So I actually kept a very good pace overall, considering I started in the lead group and finished in the middle.

For now my Triple Crown is "unofficial" because the finishers list for this ride needs to be officially compiled. Soon after that, my name will be published online as a 2008 winner. I have to say I am very proud of this achievement since this was nowhere on my radar screen at the beginning of the year.

The year 2008 has been an extraordinary bicycling year for me.

Photo by Ravi.

[Update: 01 Oct 2008]: I am now officially an Cal Triple Crown winner.

Mt Tam Double Century

200 miles, 15500 feet total elevation gain
17 hours 30 minutes total (15 hours on the bicycle)

I had not mentioned it in my reports, but my post-Death Ride goal was to do another double century. I had only given it a little thought before the Death Ride, but decided to do it immediately afterwards. I chose this one because it is relatively nearby and it was the next organized ride scheduled after the Death Ride.

I did not need to do any specific training since there was only a three week gap between events. I just did my usual training to keep my conditioning at the same level. I knew it would be difficult for me because I had done the total elevation before (Death Ride) and the total distance before (Davis Double Century), but never this much elevation and total distance.

Click for an interactive map. The start/finish is point K, the route is clockwise, and the rest stops are marked by letters in order.

I booked a motel room in San Rafael (near the start) for Friday night and drove there after leaving work early. I checked in for the event and went to sleep early (around 8:30pm). I woke up at 3:15am, got ready, packed up, drove to the start, and got under way at 4:20am.

4:20am, 0 miles, 0 feet

The "official" mass start was scheduled for 5:00am, but many people decided to leave even earlier to give themselves extra time, and I was among them. I found a group that was going the speed I wanted, so I hung with them. In the predawn darkness, it was nice the have the combined light of five bicycles illuminating the road. I increased my pace slightly after daybreak and left the group. After a short rest stop for some food, the route took us to the top of Mount Tamalpais, which is the one of the major peaks of the Bay Area, the namesake of the event.

Looking down from Mt Tamalpais, downtown San Francisco and the Bay Bridge poke through a hole in the fog layer.

7:55am, 38 miles, 5000 feet

There was a checkpoint at the top of Mt Tam where the event officials recorded all the rider numbers. This would be used to ensure that riders properly adhered to the route and there were several other checkpoints on the course. From here, the route left the sunny mountain peaks and plunged through the fog layer to the ocean coast below. We rode north on Highway 1, up and down along the cliffs above the Pacific in the cold mist. There was no food at the checkpoint but there was a proper rest stop at the bottom of the descent. Again, I kept my stay there brief, eating quickly and leaving.

We continued north on Highway 1 for a long stretch before turning back inland and climbing some smaller hills to the third rest stop. I took a few pictures and videos, but not as much as usual. The roads were either winding and rough, requiring both hands on the handlebars, or they were narrow and had significant traffic, requiring full attention.

11:12am, 85 miles, 6500 feet

The third rest stop was a bigger one. I was tempted to stay longer, but I did not have that luxury. The difficulty of this route is not just the length and hills, but the strict time limits. Most of the other rides I have done also had time limits, but those were much more generous. For this event, I had to keep a strong pace and minimize my rests to have any hope of finishing within the given time window. To this point, I was keeping good time and it looked like I had a comfortable cushion.

After this stop, the route crossed a significant hill (nicknamed the "Marshall Wall") to head back towards the coast and to Highway 1 again. This is where we first encountered the wildcard that would be the biggest challenge of the ride — a vicious headwind. The next 40 miles of the route were predominantly towards the northwest, and directly into the wind. At times it was a crosswind, and we had to lean our bicycles into the wind just to ride in a straight line and avoid being blown across the lane.

1:46pm, 114 miles, 9000 feet

I reached the next rest stop exhausted from the constant wind. This was the lunch stop so I ate more and rested more (30 minutes) than I had previously. I left the stop at 2:15, which was significant because riders needed to leave by 2:30 to be permitted to continue with the full 200 mile course. Whereas earlier I was comfortable with my time, now I was getting concerned. I was slowed tremendously by the headwind. The next challenge would be the steepest road of the route — Coleman Valley Road. Fortunately, this would be the last challenging climb. I paused for two minutes when I approached it to let my energy level rebuild. I was able to muscle my way up the incline with slow but steady pace, not requiring me to stand and pedal.

There was another official checkpoint at the top. I asked the volunteer how many people had passed by before me and he said roughly 60%. I was not as far behind the pack as I thought. From here the the route turns back south and the wind becomes a tailwind. Unfortunately, the help provided by the tailwind is never as much as the penalty inflicted by the headwind, still the extra push was appreciated.

I was now feeling more encouraged since the steepest hills were finished and now the route was heading back south with the wind. The next cutoff is the required finish time by 10:00pm, after which the support crew requires riders to accept rides back to the end point. There was still a lot of time left, but there were still many miles to cover.

5:20pm, 143 miles, 11000 feet

The route returned to the same spot of the previous rest stop. This time I again tried to minimize my rest time. Shortly after continuing, I was hit by a wave of sleepiness. This was a new experience because it was not a symptom of exhaustion, because my energy level had not dropped. I was overcome by the strong urge to stop and take a short nap. But there were two problems with this — I was in the middle of farmland with no parks or similar places to stop and rest, plus I just did not have the time to spare. Now my mood again swung negative. I felt like there was no way for me to finish on time. (It is not unusual for endurance athletes to experience wide mood swings as the toll of physical and mental exertion cause moods to fluctuate.)

The 30 miles to the next rest stop were long and lonely. The miles/hours so far had taken their toll and I was keeping a slower pace than I expected. I had to resist the urge to continuously look at my odometer and clock and calculate my pace. I finally forced myself to not look at any of the instruments (and thus be disappointed at my slow progress) and just keep looking at the scenery.

7:10pm, 170 miles, 13000 feet

I reached the next rest stop with a sense of urgency. By my calculations, I still had a realistic shot at making the final cutoff of 10:00pm, but I had no margin for error. I made a quick call to Vaishali to coordinate our plans. She was to meet me at the finish and drive us back home. I left a voicemail telling her to be there at 10:00, and that I would do my damnedest to be there by then too. I ate food as quickly as I could, skipped the bathroom break (which I had taken at all previous stops), and headed out. There was one more rest stop and 30 miles between me and the finish.

Nicasio Reservoir

The stretch to the next rest stop might have been the hardest. It definitely was the loneliest. I saw no other riders for the whole stretch. The sun finally fully set about 5 miles before the stop.

8:46pm, 186 miles, 15000 feet

I pulled into the last rest stop and no other riders were there, just the volunteers manning the station. Many people would have already finished by now. I wondered about the people who were still at the previous rest stop when I left — their chances did not seem to good if I was cutting it this close. I felt like I needed more energy for a final push so took some food and ate quickly. While I was stopped, about 4 other rides passed by without stopping. They were in the same mad rush as me and were cutting every corner they could. Now I had only 12 miles to the finish and 1 hour left to do it. Normally this would be a given, but there was one final hill to climb and I was pretty tired from the long day, so it would be a challenge to make that pace.

I was surprised by the pace I was able to keep. After some time, I passed the group of riders who had skipped the stop. I was being fueled by the caffeine (I drank a cola at each stop) and adrenaline. I had to be sure to make no wrong turns in the dark because the resulting lost time could not be recovered. I climbed the hill without problems, but had to descend it relatively slowly because my headlight was illuminating only a short stretch of road ahead of me. When I reached the last turn for the final two mile stretch to the finish, I saw the time was 9:30. This was easily enough time for me to make it, and I yelled out loud, "Alright"!

9:40pm, 200 miles, 15500 feet

When I reached the finish, most of the parked cars were gone and only a small crowd was still there. All of the strong riders were done hours earlier. Vaishali was waiting for me. I checked in at the finish, packed away the bicycle and most of my gear, changed to clean clothes, and ate some of the dinner there. A few people trickled in after me, cutting it even closer than I did. Vaishali drove the 1.5 hours home, and I slept most of that time

It was a long day and quite an ordeal. On all my big rides this year, there was always a different, major obstacle caused by the weather. On the Davis Double, it was the 100°F+ heat. On the Death Ride it was a sudden hail storm. Today it was unusually strong winds. This was quite a sense of accomplishment, knowing that I pushed myself to the limit of my capabilities and still succeeded. I can say that this was the most difficult bicycling event I have done to date.

Addendum

I did take a few videos on this ride. I did not feel any really added much to the report (or were really very good) so I did not embed any. I thought I would just include links to them so anyone curious can see them.

• [video] Other riders climbing the "seven sisters" towards the summit of Mt. Tam.
• [video] Looking down at the coast while climbing Mt. Tam.
• [video] Me along Highway 1.
• [video] Riding past Nicasio Reservoir.
  
• [video] Me happy after finishing Coleman Valley Road.
  

Davis Double Century

39th Annual Davis Double Century
200 Miles, 8000 Feet Elevation,
17 hours 30 minutes total (13 hours on the bicycle)

Distance, elevation, heat — these are the three factors that make a bicycle ride difficult. The Davis Double is considered one of the "easier" double centuries because the total elevation is not really that much. But this year, an unusual heat wave took place, so the distance and heat combined to make it challenging. Even though it took me much longer than expected (due the the 4.5 hours total rest time) I was happy to finish successfully.

After a week of rest, the adventure started with the drive to Davis on Friday. The usual two hour drive took four hours because of a traffic jam caused by an accident in San Jose. As a result, I did not get to sleep quite as early as I had hoped to. I wanted to turn in by 8:00pm, but I only made it by 9:00, which was not too bad.

I had set my alarm for 3:00am, but woke up on my own at 2:30. It took me a little longer to get ready than I expected.

Click for the interactive map.
The route is the clockwise loop. The markers show each of the rest stops.
The start/finish is marked as L.

Start, 4:30am, 0 miles

I drove to the start and got rolling by 4:30. There were already many people starting at this time or even earlier, but the majority would be starting between 5:00 and 5:30. I fell in with a group of three other riders and we immediately got off course. We missed one of the early turns. But since the rural roads outside Davis all form a grid, we just took the next turn and quickly rejoined the route.

I left this group and joined a different one which was riding faster. My legs felt strong, so I thought I would keep a fast pace on this early part of the route, since the first 30 miles are all flat. We formed a paceline that kept a 21 mph speed. I saw the sunrise while pedaling.

Rest Stop 1, 5:50am, 23 miles

Many people decided to skip the first rest stop, which is understandable since the early part of the route is not difficult. But my plan was to stop at every rest stop. Since this was my first double century and since it was going to be a hot day, I wanted to rest, stretch, and consume more calories.

I lost my paceline after the stop. I did not encounter any other ones going my speed, so I was riding alone.

Early morning riding through the flat farmlands outside Davis.

Rest Stop 2, 7:15am, 46 miles

Oddly, I somehow had a bloody nose just as I reached the rest stop. It was perfect timing because I got a napkin there and stopped the bleeding. I kept an extra napkin with me in case it happened again, but it did not.

The section after this rest stop had the first significant climb of the day — Cardiac Hill. For some reason, there was a large swarm of butterflies on the road. We all pedaled uphill through this colorful cloud. The grade was not too steep, and the day was not yet hot, so no one struggled. After the summit, the downhill section was very wide and smooth, with little traffic. Here, I managed to set a new personal speed record on the bicycle — over 44 mph (my previous high had been 38). And I am a cautious descender. Many people reached speeds over 50.

Rest Stop 3, 8:40am, 64 miles

Again, many people skipped this rest stop. I ended up staying here longer than planned because there was a long line for the restrooms (well, the Port-a-Potties). I felt pretty good to this point. I had kept a fast pace and still had energy.

Up until this point, I had been passing many more people than the number who were passing me. This is because the slower riders started even earlier in the morning, and I was passing many of them. The stronger riders started later, and around this time is when many of them started passing me.

Rest Stop 4, 9:39am, 76 miles

This is the stop were the heat started to become apparent, even though it was still relatively early in the day. I had not really noticed the heat until I came to a stop. After this checkpoint, it was a factor, though not a problem. I started sweating a lot at this time, so it was good that I had been drinking two bottles of water between each of the stops so far.

Rest Stop 5, 11:17am, 95 miles

By the time people reached this stop, the sun was oppressive. I and many others took a longer break here. The next stretch contained the longest climb of the route, so we needed to be relatively rested and cooled.

This friendly volunteer cooled me off by spraying me with water.

The ride up Cobb Mountain started off easy and then increased to a long stretch that varied between an 8% - 10% grade. While this is not "easy", it is not as steep as the hills I usually do, so I did not expect it to be too difficult. Well, combining the grade, the brutal sun, the lack of shade, the lack of any breeze, plus the fact that I had already pedaled 100 miles / 7 hours, it was difficult.

I was not the only person having a hard time. Wherever there was any shade by the side of the road, people were stopped and catching their breath. Many people quit pedaling and walked their bikes up the hill.

I wanted to make it to the top without stopping, but could not do it. I was getting heat exhaustion, so found a shaded spot on the shoulder, set my bicycle down, and laid down on my back. Since I was facing up, I would see the other riders pass me, either slowly pedaling or just walking. After five minutes, my dizziness went away so I remounted and continued on. I had to stop a second time, but this time just stood for two minutes to recover.

Rest Stop 6, 1:29pm, 105 miles

I was happy to finally reach the rest stop at the top. There was a grassy area with some shade, and there were cyclists laying down in most of that area. I joined them.

Another rider rider gets sprayed with cool water.

After taking a long break, the stretch to the next stop was not too difficult and was mostly downhill.

Lunch Stop, 2:24pm, 117 miles

This was the stop at which most people took a long break. I was there close to an hour. After eating, I laid down for a long time. I had developed a strong headache, so I took some tylenol for it.

Besides to recover from the last climb, the other reason to rest fully at this stop was to prepare for the upcoming second climb — Resurrection Hill. Although it is neither as steep nor as long as the previous one, it could be difficult for people who were weakened by the last one. My long rest had re-energized me, so I did not expect to have any problems.

Except, I mistakenly refilled only one of my two water bottles. When I discovered this, I was annoyed that I would have to ration my water intake, rather than just drinking liberally like I had been. Fortunately, I saw a support vehicle parked by the side of the road. I held up my water bottle and shook it, indicating that I needed water. The driver saw that and waved me over. He filled my bottles, and I was happy that I did not have to limit my intake. Again, I saw people stopped and resting in the few places where there was shade, but in smaller numbers than on Cobb Mountain.

There were many support vehicles like this on the course. They were making sure that everyone and their bikes were okay. Most of them were in action on Cobb Mountain and Resurection Hill.

Rest Stop 7, 4:55pm, 140 miles

This was a milestone rest stop since all the big climbs were done at this point. I heard that the high temperature this day was 102°F. Apparently one rider actually had a thermometer on his bicycle and it registered a reading of 110°F in the sun. I also heard that many riders were forced to quit by the heat. There were several support vehicles accumulated here. They had filled up with riders and bicycles that they were going to take back to the finish.

The scenic view from the stop on Resurection Hill.

Again, the downhill section was wide, smooth, and conducive to high speeds. I was approaching the high speeds that I reached earlier, but this time I started experiencing cross-winds that started pushing me around the lane, so I slowed down.

Now it was just a matter of just spinning the pedals and getting to the finish. There were no more big hills on the course.

Rest Stop 8, 6:40pm, 163 miles

Although it was mostly downhill to get to this rest stop, I was pretty tired. I rested longer than I thought I would need to. Clearly I would not have enough time to reach the finish by sunset like I had hoped. So I had no problem with lingering a little. Also, by this time, my butt had gotten pretty sore and appreciated being out of the saddle.

Rest Stop 9, 8:31pm, 181 miles

This stop was the same location as the first one. I reached it just after sunset, but it still had not gotten fully dark. Knowing that the last 20 miles would be fully flat, I stayed here only briefly before heading for the finish. It quickly became fully dark.

I was alone much of the time, but did join a couple different pacelines for a while. There was almost no traffic, and the area filled with the sounds of insects and frogs. There were so many flying insects in the air that I could not keep my mouth open and remain a vegetarian.

Although the route contained many turns, they were clearly marked with flashing yellow lights at the intersections so we did not need to look at the map or see the street signs. Plus we could see the taillights of other cyclists ahead of us, and the headlights of those behind.

Finish, 10:00pm, 200 miles

I finally made it back to the finish. There was a group of school children and some adults cheering each of the finishers. I walked into the building and officially checked in. They had dinner for everyone, but I had no appetite.

I had originally thought I could try to drive back home after the ride, perhaps after a short nap, but this was clearly not feasible. At this point my mind was slow and my thoughts were cloudy. Even if I napped, I would not feel safe doing the two hour drive back home. Instead, I returned to the motel where I stayed the previous night. I went to bed at 11:00, so it was a long day.

My primary goal was simply to finish, and I felt a sense of accomplishment to do so without any serious problems. At several times I felt like the finish could not come soon enough, but at no point did I feel like quitting.

This was good training for the Death Ride. I was able to show that I could handle spending the full day on the bike. The Death Ride is much less distance, but much more elevation, so I will be keeping a lower average speed. It should not take as much time (neither overall nor on the bike) as this did, but I have proven that I could handle this much if I need to.