Because today was one of my ride days, Susan said I could borrow her bike until I got mine fixed. I was just about ready to get it set up when she co-opted me to slice cantaloupe. By the time I was finished getting fruit ready, it was too late to start riding. No problem. I wasn’t all that thrilled on riding someone else’s bike, any bike for that matter, 103 flat miles through a desert oven.
Spokane Bob and Winchester John Approaching the Final Sag
It turned out Martha and I were needed for other duties anyway – shuttling back and forth between rest stops getting ice to suffering riders. Normally, Pactour sets up rest stops every 25 – 30 miles. Today it was every 10 – 15 miles. I saw several riders near the front of the group – Spokane Bob, Winchester John, SD Charlie were riding strong at the front.
Doug preps the Bullet Bike for the descent from Julian. Yesterday he got stopped by cops looking for a motor in this rig.
I expected the second day to be easy: 88 miles, a long winding descent from Julian, then a brief roll across a nameless desert into the Imperial Valley and El Centro. Wrong. Rough road surface jarred the riders until their hands were numb. Temperatures climbed past 100 degrees and the dry hot air sucked precious water and salt from their cores.
I drove the lunch rig down the twisting hill, and the crew set up and served lunch under a tree by a lake. Hot dogs, cucumber salad, pickles, chips and soda. Water, salt and sugar.
First rider to arrive was SD Charlie. I figured he must be doing great after riding off the front all day. “How ya doin’, Charlie?”
“Bad. Heat is getting to me.”
He sat on a bench, slumped with his head down for ten minutes before touching the ice water I gave him.
Riders continued to arrive in small groups over the next three hours. Most but not all looked wasted. Spokane Bob, Big John from Kennett Square dripped sweat but looked strong.
Other riders slumped on benches, with ice socks draped over their necks. Ma Nancy had to force the smile that had come naturally the day before. She rode off shepherding two other dudes – MI Broh and one other guy.
A rider to remain nameless shared a story unlike any I’ve heard before. Feeling wasted, he stopped and sat against the shady side of a telephone pole. Then he felt the irrepressible urge to relieve himself. Number Two. He dropped his shorts, squatted behind a rock, started feeling dizzy and fell over sideways.
Intrepids
Three intrepid riders were last to leave the lunch stop. Xenia Brent, Albuquerque Karen and Alamo Ted. I was impressed with their character. They may have been the slowest riders this particular day, but they never whined or whimpered. After chatting amiably while recovering at lunch, they rode the final stretch to El Centro together. That’s what I call style!
Group departed San Diego at 6:30 AM and climbed 77 miles, 8000 feet to Julian, an old gold mining town turned tourist trap in the mountains east of San Diego. Shortly after the miners arrived in the 19th century, some dude planted apple trees and they thrived. Now Julian is famous for apple pies. I didn’t try any. There was a long line of people waiting outside Mom’s Apple Pie Shop, and I would have been surprised to find them as tasty as Martha’s creations.
Bike Tech
Stripped Threads
My experiment riding platform pedals was a failure, not because they were inefficient to ride, but rather because the right pedal came loose from the crank arm, stripped the threads and ruined my crank arm. Upon arriving at Julian, we pulled the crank from the bottom bracket. Now I’m looking for a replacement.
Tomorrow is our day to work. I get to drive the lunch truck, and Martha, Debbie and I get to make lunch. Susan told me I’m cooking hot dogs. Guess that’s the man job.
I want to write more stories about the other riders in the group, and I’m pondering how to do that while preserving their privacy in this age of electronic trolls and goblins.
Old friends, new friends arriving from all over the U.S., and other continents. Some people I recognize immediately. Others, we stare at each other for maybe 15 seconds. “I know you.”
“Yeah – was it the 2012 Northern?”
“No, I wasn’t on that one”. Then we figure it was something like the 2008 Ridge Ride. Some people I haven’t seen for over ten years rekindle fond memories. Pactour people generally never keep in touch. We just show up for these events, then pick up from where we left off.
I can’t help but notice some physiques. Two types in particular stand out. Riders with broad chests and shoulders, muscular arms are the triathletes. Perhaps they did a couple iron man competitions this year. The skinny ones bordering on the brink of emaciation are the climbers. I sort of looked like that last year.
Lots of stories to share – events of the past year, injuries and more. Broken pelvis, ruptured achilles, broken ribs from falling off a trainer. Other transcontinental rides from years I missed.
This morning at 6:15 am, a group of maybe 15 early arrivals left for a short warmup ride to Dog Beach on Pacific Ocean, where some of the newbies dipped their rear wheel in the surf.
Martha just told me I’m riding tomorrow – most of the crew doesn’t want to do the climb. I’m planning to give it a whirl in my Keene sandals and platform pedals – 77 miles, 8000 feet. We’ll see how that works out…
After spending the summer on Bainbridge Island, WA, Martha and I arrived here at our Arizona home Wednesday afternoon. It feels more like a motel. In three hours we depart for San Diego to begin a new Adventure. Pac Tour Southern 2017, 28 days, 2900 odd miles, bike tour San Diego to Savannah. We’re working crew, which means I get to ride alternate days. I’m nowhere near fit enough to ride every inch every day, having spent much of the summer hunched over a computer writing C# to create data maps of lightning strikes.
Last year I rode 300+ mile weeks to prepare for the Pac Tour Northern, riding from Seattle to Boston. Most weeks this past summer I was riding less then 100. Right now I’m at least 5 pounds heavier than when I started the Northern. Probably more. What would be the point of hopping on the scale anyway? I anticipate feeling weird seeing my old PacTour buddies in top form when I’m soft and flabby. So be it, we sow, we reap, we weep.
Martha and I are both looking forward to the journey – rolling out of motel beds in the wee hours each morning to help with breakfast, discovering new places together, preparing and serving lunch to old friends and new ones. I’m hoping to “ride into” the trip, hopefully being in reasonable shape by the time we hit the Talamena Parkway in Arkansas. We’ll see how well that works…
Here are some activities I would like to do in 2017, along with training goals that will provide me the fitness to enjoy the experience. God willing, I’ll be able to write a post for each.
Activities I would like to do
March – Crew for three weeks of Pactour Desert Camp.
As a crew member, I’ll work half the days, ride my bike the other days, while enjoying the companionship of old and new cycling friends.
April – Ride the White Rim Road in Moab, Utah. The 100 mile loop, mostly dirt, winds along a plateau with scenic vistas of the Colorado and Green Rivers.
May – Ride the Chino Grinder, 104 miles of gravel and asphalt, with a bunch of climbing, from Prescott to Williams, AZ, and back.
September – Crew for the Pactour Southern Transcontinental, from San Diego to Savannah. As crew I’ll work half the days, and ride on alternate days. Working crew requires a much lower level of fitness than was needed for last year’s Northern. Nevertheless, I’ll enjoy the ride more if I’m in good shape.
TBD – Ride a bike tour with my son Mike in Maryland. I’ll let him make the plans for this adventure
Training Goals
Weight – Currently I weigh 150 lbs. Not terrible, but I’ve picked up a few pounds since returning from Boston last summer. To improve my power to weight ratio, I’d like to get my weight below 145, while adding a bit of muscle mass to my legs. That means trimming my waistline.
Miles – Like last year, I’m setting monthly goals. These include some fast miles, hopefully many slow miles, but nothing more specific. Strava will log my results.
One popular feature of Strava tells you when you ride a particular segment of a route faster than ever before. It also reports time compared to other riders who have ridden that segment. I’ve admonished friends who seem to be addicted to these stats. The PR quest is guaranteed to be a losing game. Eventually your age will catch up to your ability to keep going faster.
Humboldt
Late yesterday afternoon I set a new PR climbing Humboldt Mountain. Not by accident, I was going full bore. I warmed up riding to the base of the climb, hit my LT and stayed there from bottom to top. Not only did I set a PR, my time was shorter than several cycling buddies, all strong riders.
Actually, anyone who rides up Humboldt is strong. The grade steepens from 7% to 11% after the first half mile. The asphalt pavement has eroded and broken over years of neglect, leaving deep potholes with abrupt ridges and several stretches of dirt and gravel. The road ascends 1600 feet in 3 1/2 miles.
About the PR thing, I still think it’s stupid. Like playing in Vegas: keep playing long enough and lose.
About beating my buddies, also stupid. Makes no sense, but it’s in our genes. Or maybe it’s not stupid. Much better to enjoy healthy competitions and laugh about them instead of killing each other over desires for money or sex.
Better still, enjoy riding your bike slowly, stop and check out the geology, maybe take pictures.
According to the internet, a gravel bike is a cross cross bike – a cross between a cylo-cross bike and a road bike. I’m not sure exactly what that means. Read the internet.
My Gravel Bike
I spent a day shopping at five local shops, and selected a bike with a frame that fit me correctly, could be modified with clearance to mount 40mm tires, and a shop wrench who was competent to make the modifications. One of the shop guys spent an hour doing a complimentary bike fit, which set up the bike with a good starting configuration. Later, I raised the saddle to where it was supposed to be, flipped the stem so it felt more like a road bike, and switched to WTB Nano tubeless tires.
As of this writing, the bike fits me almost as well as my Davidson. It has a longer wheelbase, meaning it lumbers through turns, but has better stability on rough road. The tubeless tires running at 35 psi provide a softer ride over washboard and rocks.
Gravelventure
I’m pretty sure OED hasn’t added this word to their tome of true words yet, because I just made it up. Gravelventure means taking your gravel bike somewhere you’ve never been before. Ideally, but not necessarily, a gravelventure includes some unpaved road. It’s okay to check out your route on Strava, rideWithGPS, or Google Earth, but not okay to drive it beforehand in your FWD. Sag support on a gravelventure is out of the question. Riding from home is a plus.
My First GravelventureS
FR 17 to New River Mesa
I began exploring the local forest service roads near my house. Road conditions range from sandy smooth, to bumpy washboard, to rocky to impassible.
I rode with my buddy Brett Blanc (BB) from Tonto Hills, out the Seven Springs Road (AKA Arizona FR 24) to the 51 Ranch, which I never before knew existed. A week later, I rode Lone Ranger style out FR24, hooked a left on FR41, then another left onto FR17. When FR17 became unrideable, I carried my gravel bike half mile over a boulder field to the top of New River Mesa.
Humboldt Supersoon
A week later BB and I climbed Humboldt Mountain under the light of a super moon. Although I had ridden that route several times before, this was my first and possibly only climb under a super moon.
Overnight Gravelventure
Pretty obvious – ride your gravel bike somewhere, stay overnight. That means you have to carry some extra stuff. While camping out provides the ultimate freedom to stop anywhere, staying in a motel means you carry less stuff, get a shower, and don’t wake up the next morning with aches and pains from rocks rubbing your ribs.
My First Overnight Gravelventure
Road to Superstitions
I rode from our home in Tonto Hills, AZ, south and east to the Superstition Wilderness, a mountainous region created by a resurgent volcano 25 million years ago. After riding the requisite 50 miles to escape the city, straight road became winding road. Office buildings gave way to towering spires, buttes and rock walls. Massive faces of dacite and welded tuff glowed in the golden afternoon sunlight, and most of the traffic vanished. Eventually the asphalt pavement turned to dirt and washboard, as I descended two miles into a box canyon formed by Fish Creek.
Box CanyonApache LakeAmber Bock
Ninety miles from the start I reached Apache Lake Resort, special only because it was there, a king size bed and restaurant in the middle of the wildness. The motel room was basic and I was the only customer eating in a spacious restaurant where the waitress served me draft amber bock in a plastic cup.
The following morning I found to be most enjoyable, foregoing coffee and breakfast to climb a couple thousand feet through the crisp morning air and riding fifteen miles before having breakfast in the saloon at Tortilla Flat.
Joshua Tree plant was named by the Mormons because it reminded them of the outstretched hands of Joshua when he entered the promised land.
I made a plan and created a route on Strava to ride 52 miles and climb 4000 feet riding through Joshua Tree National Park, which sits on the edge of the Mohave Desert in southern California. I started a slow climb from the north entrance. Before riding three miles, I had to slow down, get off my bike and just look. The Joshua Trees were doing Tai Chi.
Monzogranite is a particular composition of feldspar, quartz, and biotite Mica. The band in the middle of this rock is a sill that intruded a crack created by erosion. Block faulting created the tilt.
Within another couple miles my rock nerd engaged. Stopping at the exhibits, I learned there are two basic types of rock in the park: Pinto Gneiss, a metamorphic rocked formed 1600 million years ago; and Monzogranite, an igneous rock that intruded on the gneiss 85 million years ago. Most of the gneiss has eroded, leaving a cornucopia of contacts that create a backdrop for the Joshua Trees.
So rode a mere 40, miles but touched the soul of the the place I was visiting. That’s bike touring.
Mount Mazama erupted violently 7700 years ago and formed a caldera. In the years that followed, 1900 feet of accumulated rainwater formed Crater Lake. I rate the 34 mile ride along the rim somewhere on my top ten list.
Cinder Cone in Crater Lake
The road winds along the rim, up and down through forests of pine or hemlock, past unstable walls of andesite and dacite, and meadows of dry grass or granulated pumice.
Garmin reports total elevation gain was 3400 feet with a high point of 7800 feet on the east side of the lake.
