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June 2003
06/10/03 - Remembering the Sierra Century
By Elizabeth Caraker
Here's my ride report:
125 miles, 10K feet of climbing. Not much memory after mile 110!
06/11/03 - Sierra Century Report
By Suenago (by default)
Here's my ride report:
Fog. Why can't I ever get out of the fog? Riding on the Monterey Peninsula, I am used to the cold, drizzly rides of summer. But, I expect so much more when I travel to the foothills of the Sierra for a beautiful, warm sunny century. Starting out at 6:00 a.m. in a ground fog was the start of a day full of surprises. I was joined by two fellow Bellas: Dana Lookadoo and Eliz-a-"beast" Caraker (You will see why I have nick named her "beast" by the end of this ride report) and honary VB Fellas: Scott, Martin, Gordon, Ed and Don. The ride offers wonderful rollies, lots of open road with low traffic and wildflowers still fragrant in the breeze. I do have to say that we three gals got plenty of compliments on our great looking kit and how good we all looked in them. Yep, who loves short shorts? VB's love short shorts.
The happy group actually stayed together, with only a mild threat to Scott and Martin to reign in their testosterone! Ed had a small, minor technical of a broken spoke which kept him under control, and Gordon chose to ride 10,000 ft of climbing in a 25. Silly guy! So, we all rolled to the base of the "real" climb of the day....Slug Gulch....in tact. Now, this climb doesn't have this name for nothing. Slug Gulch is a slow, hot, ascent to the top of the highest ridge. It is not the hardest or longest climb you can do in the Sierras....but it comes at mile 70ish, and it will "suck the last ounce of life out of you." This is where Elizabeast gets her name. She climbed that sucker in a 26 and didn't even look winded. I had my trusty 29 and loved ever minute of it. Dana was dancing back and forth on her pedals. I was too dazed to look down to see if she was in her 29 or not, but probably not! I suffered on the climb because I had "forgotten" to eat very much during the ride (not a good idea). There was a well deserved rest stop at the top of the climb with a baby pool filled with cold water. I did see Dana with her feet in the pool (could she get her whole body in the pool?) cooling off. I decided that food was probably a good idea since we still had 30-40 miles to go with more climbing. I sucked down a Hammer Gel and prayed.
Rolling out of the last rest stop, my tummy didn't feel all that spiffy. My friends always know when I have put myself into "difficulty," because I shut up. Well, I was pretty darn quiet for the next 10 miles. I did recover enough to get to the last rest stop and face the last two short, tough climbs. Elizabeast was dazed enough to realize she had climbed them in her BIG CHAIN RING when I could barely get over them in my 29. See what I mean about the name? Dana got over them both with ease and a smile on her face. Now, we were heading home!
When we got back, a quick shower revived us all. Watch out ice-ream...here I come! Another successful century on the books.
06/13/03 Addendum #1
by Suenago
And now the rest of the story...
I reported on the wonderful time had by all at the 2003 Sierra Century. Well, come to find out, my Velo Bella Fella, Gordon, neglected to change the cog set on my Colnago. Now, I don't know if he just forgot....or because he really thought it would be a better work out for me to do the 123 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing in a 26 instead of a 29. Thank goodness I didn't know I only had a 26 on. I would have FREAKED OUT.
The moral of this story is: "Always check your equipment prior to leaving your house."
P.S. My VBF, Gordon, didn't get the last laugh either. He thought he had a 25 on and he really had a 23. Jokes on him!!
-Suenago
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