Due to our extended
winter, this was the latest that I've ridden my first century in
quite some time... and, in fact, it didn't actually qualify in the
end, due to circumstances that conspired to make my day's efforts a
mere 99 miles, instead of the official 103 miles. Why, you ask? Why
indeed! This was to be the first century for Josh, one of our
employees in Redwood City, who we've recently brought over to the
dark side (he's a long-time mountain biker).
So I somehow convince him that this is going to be a fun thing to do
(he doesn't know me that well; he's only been with us for maybe 4 or
5 years?), and the rest is...
The usual start to a
Century; you get in whatever "train" you can and get through those
first miles.
But trains don't do
much good on the Calaveras "Wall", although Josh is doing pretty
well on his own.
The first rest stop on
Calaveras, where we see quite a few customers and employees!
What makes
climbing the Calaveras wall worthwhile? Is it the views of the
reservoir? The beautiful twisty little road on the far side?
Watching people zig-zag their way up it? Or the fact that it does,
in fact, end?
Heading
towards Sunol we run into Burt, from our Redwood City store. In the
middle photo, that's Burt front-left, and Josh front-right.
Josh and I have it
pretty easy with a pair of Trek Madones between us.
There
seemed to be a Hawaiian theme going at the Sunol rest stop, although
we didn't see Pinapple until the last stop of the day.
Just a pleasant country road crossing the tracks.
Hard to
believe that tiny little dog is pulling that big guy with the
scooter thingee.
No riders
in this photo... most notably, no Josh. Somehow, Josh vanished on
me. Into thin air. Not to be seen again until I got back to the
start of the ride. Where did he go?
I hung out
for 45 minutes at the Altamont rest stop waiting for Josh, but he
never showed. But I did see Anne and Annie (who's still quite happy
with the Trek 5500 she bought from us 5 years ago).
Josh's absence was quite puzzling; I had been leading a train for
quite a few miles, and had thought he was there because there was in
line with a white jersey, which I thought was Josh... but when we
pulled up to a stoplight, I discovered our group of 10 or so was now
down to 5, with no Josh. I stopped for a bit (on Isabel), figuring
maybe he made a wrong turn at a prior intersection (which turned out
to be the case), but thought he'd eventually find his way and make
it to the next rest stop. Of course, he didn't. What did happen was
that he came across some guys returning from the 100k loop, and
headed back with them, eventually completing a 68 mile ride.
Me? I decided it would be best to back-track the route to the point
where he might have taken the wrong turn, which (back-tracking)
really isn't so easy to do... the arrows are on the other side of
the road, and the route through Livermore is pretty convoluted.
Fortunately I was feeling pretty strong, even into the headwinds, so
doing a good chunk of mileage entirely on my own wasn't too
difficult. By the way, I did try to call Josh on his cell phone,
only to find out later that he'd left it back in the car, claiming
he didn't have room to carry it. At the last rest stop he came
across Roger, another one of our employees (doing the 100k ride) who
had a phone with him, so about two hours into my search I finally
had a message saying he was OK.
Moral to the story? If you've got a cell phone, bring it! And if
you're being blown off the back of a group because the pace is too
fast, try to hang in long enough to tell the person you're supposed
to be riding with. Because, in all seriousness, it appeared that
Josh has simply vanished into thin air. Not a comforting feeling!
The gradual, headwind
climb up Crow's Canyon, the worst part of the Century.
The final rest stop
certainly has character, including a guy on the porch playing
guitar.
Quite a few Chain
Reaction bikes on this ride, including this couple on one of our
tandems.
I beat
Dick, our Redwood City sales manager, into the final rest stop, but
only because I missed the hilly loop when back-tracking to find
Josh.
Chickens.
And Rabbits. Together at last. As I said, that last rest stop had
character.
The final
climb of the day, up Palomares. An easy climb if it were earlier in
the ride, but at 90 miles or so, it has a bit of a kick!
Back at the start,
where I finally found Josh. It was a pretty good ride for me, as I
got to haul quite a few people along the flats, which traditionally
haven't been my strong point. Still, would have been nice to
complete the "real" route. Next year!
Chain Reaction sells bicycles & accessories
from Trek, Gary Fisher, BikeFriday,Shimano, Pearl Izumi, Continental, Descente,
Sidi, Giro, Blackburn, Speedplay, Oakley, Saris, NiteRider, Bontrager,
Torelli, Look, DeFeet, Rock N Roll, Hammer, Cytomax,
Powerbar, Fox, Clif
Bar, CamelBak, Chris King, Profile Design, Craft, X-Lab and many more!
Select & join email lists
