The next portion of the Los Angeles Wheelmen Grand Tour is through some very nice, very affluent neighborhoods. Gated driveways, walled off property, driveways as long as runways. Must be nice!
At this point, I've pretty much designated myself as the map guru/GPS. Ironic as I consider myself the king of bonus miles. But our 2 pack leaders, Mike and Mr. Goodwrench are blind as bats and the rest of the crew are just trying to hang on so I do my due diligence and call out the turns as them come. Great.
The one guy without a computer on his bike who has a penchant for wrong turns is now dictating the route. We hit the final out/back which is a sketchy section of Hwy 1. We actually have to cross the highway too.
We rush across and before I know it, we're in a blistering paceline. My legs are going numb just trying to keep up. Steady 21mph paceline into a headwind. Mr. Goodwrench pulls for an eternity. Then it's my turn. Shit. I can barely hold on. My cadence and heart rate are already through the roof. But I try and do my part. Just as I'm about to pop, Mike pulls around me and yells "Time to rest!". Thank God.
5 miles on Hwy 1 and then we hook onto....another Hwy? This time 101. And it's even sketchier. Trucks roaring by at 70 mph and nothing but gravel, rumble strips and glass on the shoulder. I lose Mike and Gill. Headwinds are nasty. I'm tired.
We reach the turn off and I guffaw my way up the off ramp. I can see the rest stop. I stop, look around and realize that we've lost Breden, Nicole and Rick again. I top my bottles off, drink 2 Mountain Dews, a V8 and wolf down a Cup O Noodles. Nicole and Breden arrive. Nicole is tired and Breden looks......pissed off. Shit.
I ask him how he's doing. "Back and shoulder hurt" he says as we walks by me, no eye contact. Yup. He's mad. He starts fiddling with him stem and saddle and I check on Nicole. "Whew, those headwinds took a toll on me." I tell them both that we're all gonna try and roll back as a group. Breden rolls his eyes and says "That ain't gonna happen." I try and do my best to assure them that we'd stick together as a group.
Rick rolls in and informs us that he's going to roll the last leg with the wife. She's been on the sidelines since a cycling injury put her out of action. They're not quite sure what happened, but she woke up in the hospital missing multiple teeth and needing surgery to repair a fractured orbital bone. Ended have a titanium plate attached to her skull. Yowsa! But she was back in action and all smiles too!
We're officially on the return leg. 60 miles to go! The 5 of us roll out and Breden, having recovered, pulls for the next 5 miles. Hwy 101, Hwy 1, Bike trail and pretty much surface streets all the way back to rest stop 1.
We're greeted inside with homemade chicken soup. This is officially one of the best staffed rides I've ever been on—right on par with DMD, where my friends Alfie and Lisa were serving up Miso soup at the last rest stop. Inside, Breden notices that our drop bags are still here. We decide to take everything back with us. Good thing too, as we'd definitely be needing our arm and knee warmers for the final coastal stretch.
As I'm ingesting the soupy goodness, I notice a fellow in a GPC kit. I'd seen him several times earlier in the day and finally decide to as his name. "Mark Abrahams." he tells me. I'd a feeling I'd met him before as he rolls with a lot of people I know. He asks my name and I tell him. "I've seen your name on a lot of ride rosters." he informs me. I wish him a great rest of rest of ride and we saddle up for the last leg.
We're pretty much backtracking at this point and we know the last 25 miles of coastal rollers aren't far off. We make our way to the freeway on ramp and we're off like a bullet. Mr. Goodwrench decides to make full use of his 54 ring again and we're flying along at 21 mph. Egads! Crazy legs again. But if that weren't fast enough, Nicole decides it's time for a 2nd wind. She takes the lead and kicks things up to 22/23 mph. Crazy legs just got crazier.
I wonder how Mike is handling this cadence with a 65 gear inch. Breden starts falling off the back. Just as the group starts to fracture, Nicole pulls off. Back to a sane pace. I check on Breden. He's hurting. I tell him we're almost there. Nicole falls back next to us and exclaims "Only 16 miles to go!" Then she speeds up and falls back in line. I turn to Breden and say "I really wish she wouldn't tell us that. I was really content thinking there were only 6 left."
The group starts to fracture a bit as the rollers get longer. I try and hang back with Breden but find that I'm doing my legs more harm than good trying to ride a slower pace. The rollers are pretty taxing and the only way to make it through them comfortably is by way of inertia and centrifugal crank force. I also want to get the lead out a bit too. I break away, throw the hammer down and plow the last 10 miles, making sure nothing is left in the tank.
I catch up to Gil and Mike and we pull over at the last turn and wait for Nicole and Breden. They're only about 5 minutes back. And we're 5 minutes from being done with this ride. Breden pulls over and I hold out my fist for some "bones" and exclaim "You did it!" He cocks his fist back like he wants to punch me. He eventually gives me knuckles and says "Fucking fixed gear double....I hate you." He'll get over it. And he'll feel better about the ride in the morning.
We all roll in together. Check in time 8:15pm. We beat sundown. Total ride time was 15 hours and 35 minutes. A long day in the saddle to be sure, but a satisfying one. It was a marquee moment for all of us.
I completed fixie double #2 of 3 and hit my 5th Triple Crown double of the year to make the 1000 mile club (I almost did it before the solstice!), my friend Breden rode his first fixie double and completed his first Cal Triple Crown, and my friend Nicole rode her first double EVER! Oh, and our new pal Mike completed his 3rd fixed gear double this year. I still can't believe he's in his mid 50s, has 1 knee with nearly no cartilage, completed 3 fixie doubles, Alta Alpina, is going for the Stage Race and has only been riding for 2 ½ years.
We all chow down on some post ride chili and commiserate. What a ride. We exchange info and then decide it's time to head back to the motel. Nicole is now running on nearly 40 hours without sleep. What a trooper. We get back, clean up and she's out before her head hits the pillow. Breden and I aren't far behind.
The next morning, we pack things up and head to Canter's deli for a celebratory breakfast. I switch co-pilots as we drop Breden off at the train station for his return trip to New Mexico. The drive back isn't any quicker. We leave LA at around noonish, make a 90 minute stop in SLO to visit some old friends and don't pull into Oakland until 11:00pm.
Definitely feeling the aftermath today. Tired, sore but satisfied.
Stay tuned for the next fixed gear double century: Adventures in Death Valley!