Ever have a mediocre-bad ride? I did.
A bunch of guys organized a ride in West Sonoma county. Starting in Monte Rio, on to Cazadero, up King Ridge, down Skaggs, south on Highway 1, up Ft. Ross, down Meyers Grade, then back to Monte Rio on River Road. 72 miles, 6,200 feet of climbing, most of the climbing in two hills -- King Ridge and Ft. Ross. Both are steep. King Ridge is longer, Ft. Ross is steeper. Rain in the forecast starting at 1:00 p.m.
Brian, David, Howie, and I came up to ride together. Mike G came up with Jules and Marius, a 20-something French whippet-like ex-racer. There were 28 other cyclists there -- 27 men, one woman, all looking serious and fit.
The ride was to start at 8:30, but in spite of e-mailed promises and threats it wasn't starting at 8:30. The four of us were circling the parking lot anxiously, ready to get going and to minimize our time in the rain. Finally, after a few inconsequential announcements by chief ride organizer Theoren, aka "Buck Johnson," we started riding at 8:45 under gray skies in temperatures in high 30s. Somehow, Brian and I found ourselves at the front, riding into the wind west on River Road toward Austin Creek. We realized that we'd been pulling for eight minutes, agreed that we weren't so interested in pulling 31 riders and retreated into the shelter of the peloton (guffaw!). Soon, we all turned onto Austin Creek Road, a badly surfaced, quiet road that parallels an eponymous creek. A few drops fell, as we optimistically agreed that they were from redwood trees that are known for collecting moisture, except there were no trees overhead. Well, even raindrops were OK, we were well prepared. I was wearing two wool base layers -- a short and a long-sleeved, a long-sleeved jersey, a rain jacket, wool knee warmers, thick wool socks, and toe warmers.
Austin Creek took us onto Cazadero Highway, on which we rode through Cazadero and began climbing King Ridge and I discovered I wasn't climbing so well. Quickly I found myself in my bottom gear -- an intentionally and embarrassingly low 30x29. I was making progress, but had no energy to spin. I was pushing it and, though only Marius, two guys I don't know and Brian and Mike were ahead of me, traveling lousy 5-6 miles an hour I was harboring no illusions about my climbing strength. We had perfect climbing weather -- it was still and cool, so it was very frustrating that my legs weren't working. Perhaps this was because I was sick a week ago and hadn't recovered completely. Maybe it was because I've been riding very easy at nearly no intensity. I could have been just having a lousy day. Hell, I was having a lousy day, but it was just too early to be riding so weakly. The tendon on top of the ankle was bugging me too and there I was, riding weakly. Now that I think about it, no one was passing me, so maybe it was the road making me suffer, and I was suffering along with everyone else. Mike and Brian were in view, they waited and when the grade eased, I picked up the pace and caught up with them. A few more drops fell in King Ridge. The road was damp, but not soaking, so descents were reasonably safe.
The road crested, but these roads never seem to crest, there were quite a few rollers of varying length and grade. Brian took the rollers aggressively, jumping at the bottom, usually making it to the top. I took the tortoise approach, catching up just after each hill topped out. After a few of these, we came to the intersection with Tin Barn Road. There was a Honda Element with water and food. We refilled, David and Howie rolled in, we remounted and took the high road to the Temple of Doom, a copper-domed Buddhist temple in the middle of nowhere, Sonoma County. More climbing and descending ensued. It seemed there was more climbing. Soon after passing the temple, we found ourselves at the top of Rancheria Wall, the infamous Terrible Two climb, but we got there from the easier south side. We turned left on Skaggs Springs Road, descended and climbed and descended to the coast at Stewart's Point.
We regrouped at Stewart's Point Store and rain started in earnest. It wasn't heavy, but it was steady. We weren't making rooster tails, but we were getting pelted. Sonoma coastline is full of hills and little canyons with creeks that drain into the ocean. Therefore, Highway 1 constantly turns, dips, swoops, and climbs. These are short, big-ring climbs. Today it was a little harder because the road was wet and we warily slowed down before hitting the turns, so climbing was harder because we carried less speed into the ascent. Somewhere in Salt Point, we went through one of these dippy turns and stood up to jam up the hill. As I stood up, I glanced ahead and saw Brian just ahead of me, his rear wheel about three inches from my front wheel, riding in one o'clock direction just as I was riding in eleven o'clock direction. Oops. My front wheel hit his rear from the right. Instead of bouncing off and going to the right, I did what almost every cyclist does and pushed back against Brian's wheel with predictable results. Lucky thing we were climbing, so I just fell on my left side, bounced back up and, happy that the front wheel was pointing forward, jumped back on the bike. I think all that delayed us only 30 seconds and I recon proudly this was the fastest post-crash remount.
Fueled by crash-induced adrenaline rush, I was feeling good and riding strongly. After riding for close to an hour we came to our turn-off, Fort Ross Road. Fort Ross is the last major climb on the Terrible Two -- two miles averaging 12%. I was glad I had a 29-tooth cog. Almost immediately, I was in my 29, pushing and shoving pedals around. No smooth, graceful circles for me -- colloquialism for good riding is pedaling circles and for poor riding is pedaling squares -- I was pedaling triangles. I was not glad that when Merlin built my Spectrum they put the rear brake bridge about half a centimeter too low. I run 25mm tires and there's just 2-3mm of clearance between the rear tire and the brake. When my tire picks up road junk it can get stuck in the brake and rub against the tire. When roads are wet and road junk is wet, the junk is more prone to adhere to the tire and get stuck in the brake. Fort Ross was a wet and messy road and stuff kept getting stuck in my brake. Normally, I hear a piece of junk rubbing against the tire, but I don't feel. On this ride, I learned that I feel it when I am riding four miles an hour. Every time I heard something rubbing, I reached down and tried to rub the brake-tire juncture to de-junk it. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't. Eventually, whatever it was came off, inevitably replaced by another redwood twiglet, a piece of gravel, a leaf. Let me tell you, it's not easy to ride a 12% hill one-handed while repeatedly reaching behind your, fishing for the brake. Crampy twinges began as I approached the top, but the top was close enough that I managed to ward them off long enough to reach the top.
The SAG Element was at the top of Fort Ross. It felt good to get off the bike. We refilled and remounted again, proceeding southwest on Seaview, a lovely road with predictable views of the Pacific. Before the road becomes Meyers Grade and descends to the coast there are a few minor rollers. I was feeling strong and fresh, standing in the big ring up the first roller. The second roller was a bit longer and steeper and, wisely, I shifted into the small ring. As I spun ahead, crampy feelings in both quads returned. I tried to change my pedaling style, focusing on spinning, using my hip flexors and hamstrings more, and immediately spinning myself into a severe right hamstring cramp, which required immediate action.
Immediate action consisted of screaming in pain, unclipping left foot, putting it down and trying -- with mixed results -- to straighten my right leg. As I did this, most of my weight was on my left leg and my left quad was twitching threateningly. Fortunately, I brought a licensed massage therapist -- Howie. Howie grabbed my hamstring and squeezed. This helped a lot, but I wasn't ready to ride yet, so I walked. (Two years ago, I saw another rider walk up Rancheria Wall, explaining that walking is actually a good cramping remedy.) I walked up the hill, escorted vigilantly by slow riding David and Howie. I remounted at the top. As we started, the rain intensified and the headwind picked up. It was cold and I was getting pelted in the face by stinging rain. Meyers Grade descent is 18%, it was wet and I felt my brakes almost bottoming out. I focused on braking early and often to dry out the rims repeatedly, and to keep my speed down, so I wouldn't have to brake super-hard. I made it to bottom uneventfully. Brian and Jules waited for us at the Highway 1 intersection. I explained and apologized for the delay and we set off on the last and easiest leg of the ride: south on 1, then west on River. Highway 1 continued to dip and climb a bit. Wary of more cramping, I took it really easy on the climbs. Howie was feeling sympathetic and wanted to provide me with company and massage therapy, or emphathetic to the point of near-cramping, and he rode with me. If it's the former, I'm grateful for the sentiment. If it's the latter, I am just glad we were there for each other.
We rode into the wind and the rain, occasionally catching glimpses of David, Brian, and Jules in the distance. After we turned onto River, it seemed they slowed down and I started pushing the pace. We were probably within 50 yards of them, when we decided to back off a bit. We sat up, they rode ahead. Then we bore down again for a while and got almost within shouting distance, but backed off. We kept making 3/4-hearted efforts, would get closer to them, then back off again. Then I rode up next to Howie and said something to the effect that if we ride 17 mph than 20 we'd feel much better and arrive one minute later, so what's the point? We backed off, but the whole smell-the-barn mentality kept re-rearing its head and we'd speed up, then slow down, then do it again and again. We arrived soon enough; the River Road leg took about 25 minutes.
Just Brian, Mike, and Marius were in the parking lot. I guess we were among the leading finishers of this non-race. David and I got in the car as quickly as we could (the two us drove up together) and the rain really started coming down. Glad we missed the dump.
In sum: two and a half hours in the rain, road rash, cramps, a nasty case of tendon pain, and unhappiness with my legs. Then we got stuck in traffic in the rain in Petaluma. We drove nearly four hours round-trip for a five-hour ride, and when I got home my formerly cramped legs were stiff as hell and my tendon ached so much I could barely walk, hence the title of this post.
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