March 09 - Santa Cruz 200K

Santa Cruz 200K Ride Report:
Map of Course

Steve LaChaine and Louise Comar ride the 200 K Brevet in Santa Cruz on March 1, 2009.

Louise's comments:
First, I never SAID any bad words about Steve(see below)...riding for 3 hours plus to cover 25 miles did give me plenty of time for contemplation, however....I am sure that even Bickel could have run the 25 miles faster than I rode them...Luckily I didn't have any flats or mechanical problems other than pilot error in trying to mount my handlebar light...and riding uphill on roads that are designated a "Tsunami Evacuation Route" was certainly reassuring, particularly given the raging storm...many thanks to Steve for his company and support and I am hereby changing his moniker from La Rainmachine to La Sunmachine in the hopes that it will bring better weather for the 300K!


Steve's comments:
LaMachine and Louise completed the Santa Cruz 200K on March 1st in what could possibly be the worst rainy windy 200k ever imagined in the history of SC200k rides or any 200k rides. Riders were getting blown off there bikes.
It rained from the start to the end. We were about 10 minutes late starting the ride at 7:40am and the first 25 miles we only passed 2 of the 20+ other riders, Louise was having trouble with the grime getting in her contacts (from the rooster tail spray) and Steve forged on pulling in the rain with slight tailwind (this would become a gale force headwind on the way back). Turning onto the inland rolling mountain roads for a while was better than Hwy 1 but still really wet. Finally lots of other riders at the Pescadero Creek Rd check point but they were leaving as we were just getting there. Then we were off to the hills on Stage Road. Half of the climbing seemed to be on this road and was pretty fun and scenic and only about 6 to 8% grades, mostly standing for me with the 39x23 easiest gear. Back to Hwy 1 North with a great tail wind to Moss Beach at mile 58. We fuel up, then now it gets nasty, 15+ miles of 20+ headwind all the way to the left turn back onto Stage Road. I think we averaged 12 mph with me pulling, a few miles on Stage Road then Left on Hwy 84 to La Honda, nice road, just rolling, I'm pulling 2 strangers now and Louise is on her own from here to the end of the ride. Wanting to finish by 5:00pm was the main reason for my leaving Louise behind (I had no lights for the dark). After La Honda check Point I rode mostly alone for the remaining 44 miles, first 20 miles of hills, only 1 big one about the size of Cuesta Grade, mostly standing again and finally realizing I should have a 25 cog for the ride. It took a long time to go those 20 miles due to the wind and then when I got to Hwy 1 I noticed the worst possible situation to get back to Santa Cruz. 25 miles of massive headwind and gusts of 30+mph that would push my speed down to 8 mph on flat road on the drops. I started thinking of Louise now, like I knew she was going to be in trouble with this wind, she later reported 5 mph on the flats sometimes and also using my name as a bad word with other bad words attached to it since I was not there to help her. I managed the 25 miles of headwind in a little over 2 hours and got to the finish in Santa Cruz at 5:12pm, total time 9:42 official time. Only I guy finished in under 9 hours and he was a 508 veteran on a recumbent. I was the third regular bike to finish. Then I crossed my fingers for Louise. She finished about middle of the group in 11:00 hours official time and had plenty of bad words. She spent alot of time on the road also trying to put lights on the bike that didn't want to go on. We didn't get any flat tires but we saw alot of riders getting flats. We decided that this was harder than the Coast ride 200k from 12 days before based on the wind was worst than any amount of hills you can add to a ride. For me since I like wind the ride was probably 10% easier than the epic Coast ride. For Louise I think it was 10% harder. Also I don't think we were completely recovered from the Coast ride yet from an endurance standpoint. Only 20 days until the SC300k. Cheers,
LaMachine.