Road Ride Report Amtrak Century 2008

Well STR was pretty well represented in this year Amtrak Century even though we had a few drop out.

You could not of asked for better conditions, the sun stayed out of way for the whole morning and the breeze come up at he right time.

Though I didn't catch everyone from STR who was there byt here is a partial list of of who I saw.

JamR
Pugz
Duke77
Wrecker
Painfreak
Reedster
Blueman
Chris (I didn't catch his screen name)
and of course Doris who led the charge of us slackers.

If I missed anyone I talked to it was probably due to the train ride home (see the photos below).

Pugz, Duke77, JamR, Doris before the start



Rest stop #1 Pugz getting some refreshments



On to the 5 Freeway after rest stop # 2



Duke77 is ready for some lunch (with pickles)



The pickles must of worked he was the first of our group to get to the top of the hill (Doris was right behind)



Pugz at the top of the hill was ready for his Popsicle



We made it and enjoyed a semi-cold refreshment at the end. :beer:



Torrey Pines Hill doesn't look that bad from the train



A little bit of bit of stretching the back on the train



Some do it for free and some for money :lol:



So next year make sure you get up early enough to enjoy the party on the way back.

 

Nice,

You must have been in the last car where all the noise was coming from. I kept looking for everyone just before the train loaded up, but did not see anyone.

I took a quick break in San Juan at a coffee shop for a scone, then pretty much rode the rest of the ride non-stop except for a quick stop to refil my camelback in Oceanside.

Went to the 24hr fitness in SD for a nice long shower, then took in a lunch downtown.

I guess there were a couple of spills this year. One guy on pch was pretty cut up on the side of his face.

Anyway....nice to put some faces to names, and I'm glad everyone came through unscathed.

One of these days we should get an overnighter trip planned. About four times per year I ride from SJC down to SD, stay overnight, then ride back on Sunday. Roughly 70 miles each way.

Fun ride yesterday!:clap:

 

Nice pics! Thanks for posting.

I read on another site that there were a couple of very bad crashes. Sorry to hear. I hope those folks are okay.

 

Hey Adam, let me know if you'd like company next time you ride down there. I love that route.

This was my 7th time doing Amtrak and it just keeps getting more better. We originally had a group of over 20 and by the time we took off we were down to around 10. Our tandom couple wanted to punch it out and they did. They finished in 4:37. Talk about hauling arse! They took one other of our riders along with them. We weren't going for time and had another tandom that had a rider who had never done more then a 40 mile ride. They did really well though.
My ride time was 5:25, but I wasn't trying to kill it and at one point I even got both legs seized up and had to wait for them to relax. We came out of lunch and got going right off the bat. We were doing 23 mph or more for 45 minutes, we were passing groups all the time one after the other. Then we almost ran into the back of a driver who couldn't make up her mind where she wanted to do. I guess the sudden tension caused me to seize. I couldn't get off the damn bike. My bud came to the rescue and helped me off. Jason (Pugz) came along and we talked briefly as he passed by. We waited another 1/2 hour and our tandom riders hadn't shown so we figured they must have got by us. So coming to this conclussion we took off and went out to catch them. I motored along over 27 and was taking no prisoners (ha Ha). I got to the bottom of Torrey Pines and was raring to go. I hit the hill with fairly fresh legs and went up in the big ring. I dropped all my buds as I could now smell the ice cream and I was yelling at people to get out of my way. I wanted my ice cream dammit and these folks were in my way.I flew up Torrey Pines and never got out of the big ring or did I get passed on the way up. I picked up over 10 minutes from my next closest riding bud and had already downed one ice cream. I told him he took to long and the one I was eating now was his. He went and got another one anyways, the cad! Going up fast I figured I'd catch our slow tandom but they were no where in sight. So we sat there for 1/2 hour longer and they finally showed. My friends wife who was on the tandom started crying. She was so spent but she said she was going to make it no matter what and she did. I still get a lump in my throat when I remember this. She is legally blind but she still has some vision and I don't think there were to many people gave the effort she did. A true inspiration to say the least.

And just let me say Pugz is a moving roadie, that boy can flat out ride.

It was great seeing all the STRers out there too. Can't wait till next year!

I was in a group that had three idiots riding fixed. They made it but two of them really suffered and I doubt they'll do it like that again. Adam did it on a singlespeed though and he could really get some speed going with it. I think next year we should get a big STR contingent going, that would be a blast. Our train car was really rockin too. We even got flashed!

Today was a recovery day ride of 50 miles and I had a blast today too. No stiffness in the legs. I caught the fast group and even led them for a while.

 

I'll probably make that run in early October.....I'm pretty booked for September already. Going over to Sedona for five days later this week, then have some trail projects to get completed by the end of the month.

I had a pretty smooth ride yesterday. Actual finishing time was 6:07. Don't know what the riding time was (probably lost around 15 minutes with the stop in SJC for breakfast and then water in Oceanside).

I definitely need to put a bigger gear on the ss though. It felt really good out of the saddle on the climbs and Torrey Pines was pretty relaxed. I just did not like spinning on the flats and watching the road groups creeping slowly away from me.

The entire ride was a series of watching the groups creep away on the flats, then reeling them back in on the the climbs.

I'm going to move it up to a 46/16 or 48/16 this week to see how that improves the spin on the flats.

I'll throw a post up when I figure out which weekend I'm doing the SD out and back run.

Nice seeing everyone yesterday.

ps..that's pretty inspiring about your tandem buddies.....and Pugz definitely kicks out on the bike.

Your fixie friends are nuts!!! I love the SS, but there's a lot to be said for being able to coast out on the DH runs.

I also liked running the cyclocross tires on the SS. They made for a very stable and shock-absorbing ride....especially on the fast descents.

 

I saw a bunch of the century guys yesterday. I don't know if I passed any of you guys.

 

This was my first century and first ride ever over 40 miles......my riding buddies all trained for this ride....I did not......they rode about 50-60 miles every week for the last 5-6 weeks........I'm happy I still managed to finish only 1/2 hour behind them....and that was after taking a wrong turn and dropping my GPS and riding back to go get it.

At one point I hit this rough patch and bunny-hopped this huge rut and one of the roadies behind me said "Nice.....you must be mountain biker":bang:

















After 80 miles I was still able to maintain a 20 mph pace and started the Torrey Pines climb on my biggest ring and started to pass people.......but I had no idea how long this climb was........just when I turned the corner and thought I was done I looked up and the climb just kept going and going.......so I finally shifted to my small ring and just got behind this guy and just tried not to bonk.

I felt like getting off and walking but was amazed that NOBODY was walking this hill after 80 miles so I just toughened up and kept going and finally made it to the top.

Just after La Jolla i was following a group of cyclists and the guy in front started fiddling with his GPS and weaving all of the place so I decided to pass him......so I say "On you left" and as I go by he moves to his left we both made contact but somehow we both manage to stay upright.

Overall I enjoyed the ride but disliked riding on the 5 freeway 8 feet away from tractor-trailers going 60 mph. Other than that it was a good ride with lots of support, well-organized, lots of good food, and the ride back to Irvine was a blast!

 

I ended up hooking up with the OC Velo's, those guys really put the hurt down on me around mile 90. Even drafting behind them, I couldn't hold the pace with all that wind. But, I ended up passing them when they got their 5th flat (yep, while I was with them we went through 4 tubes).

The ride was a blast and the support was super! I didn't realize we got ice cream at the top of Torrey Pines until we hit the lunch stop, and that kept me motivated all the way up! This was such a great century ride, great support, great riders, and great fun! Good meeting some of you, and seeing the rest. Reedster, hope you had a happy bday!!!

We made it back and tried to get an earlier train; which didn't work out. The Amtrack guy was a total bastid, wouldn't sell anyone with a bike tickets on the earlier trains, wouldn't guarantee that they could transport the bike, even made an announcement when he saw 5 of us walk in with bikes that we would have to wait a very very long time.

I ended up not even being able to get a ticket because I had just changed my name with the DMV the week before (they punched my driver's license), but it worked out great, as my sister and her hubby met us at the Field for Guiness and Bailey's Cheesecake-- I may have gained a few pounds on that century ride

If I do that ride again, I'll only do it if I have train tickets and I don't think I will ever take the train otherwise.

 

Sorry to hear about the headache with getting the train home, as I posted earlier it really is worth it to see the craziness those Arizonians put you through.

I agree the headwind around Seaworld was a pain, though when I turned around I noticed a pack of about 20 people drafting on Doris and I (why didn't I think of that?).

It was great seeing you and John, other than the one stoplight and lunch we didn't get to see much of you (next time you can ride with the fun crowd). JamR was asking about you at the start but we never saw him again after the hill on Bake.

Hope your birthday went the way you wanted it to.

Steve

 

Looks like I missed a flying time. I'll get it together next year and have some fun with you guys.
I never sold my ticket and basically ate the 58 bucks.
Some of you know this route so here's a quick description.
I hooked up with a good friend at my house near Marina Del Rey at 7:30 Saturday morning and we headed up PCH into Malibu, up Latigo, a 9 mile climb with one short downhill, turned on Mulholland and took that all the way back to PCH where we then turned right and took PCH to the rock. Awful head wind going there but a free ride back on PCH heading south.
By the time we got back to my house I had 100.44 miles and 4800 ft. of climbing. I sure missed having free food at rest stops but at least I got in my 100. A cheese plate at Starbucks got me home from Malibu as I'd finished off 5 Gu's and a Powerbar.
next year I hope to more centuries.
Solvang, Wildflower, Cool Breeze, Mulholland Challenge and Amtrak. Wanna join me? :wave:

 

Tour de Poway is Oct 5th.

 

just may have to do this next year.......may want to get rid of my 23.5lb road bike before that....but it works great for the Bike MS ride....way to go all Amtrak riders, looked like fun!

 

Ah, I'll be in glorious France riding tiny little roads and eating more chocolate than should be allowed by law!:beer:

 

next year

If you got the $$$ by all means get a new road bike...but if it was me, I would buy another mountain bike instead......I rode this century with MTB shoes, shimano SPDs, a camelbak and a 24 lb Bianchi with down-tube shifters:bang: Hats off to the one dude I saw riding this on a full-squish with slicks!

 

I had a pretty good time, but I grew to hate all the stoplights and didn't enjoy riding on I5 next to all the fast traffic. I think my ride time was about 5:45, but we definitely spent some time at the rest stops refueling and using the facilities.

It was nice to meet Wrecker and to run into Pugz again. Wrecker, I had a great birthday. Hope you did too. I didn't do a very good job of introducing myself to the other STR folks. Sorry, I think I was focused on the ride, but it's still a little lame. Oops.

We were an all mountain bike group and had 8 folks total, all from the Riverside area. Glad everyone had a good time.

~R

 

First off - :clap: Fantastic! Good for you to finish your first century and so strong. Even though I'm a newbie to mtn bkng, I know already that it makes you much stronger when riding slicks. (oh, and nice pics )

As for Torrey, that climb is deceiving. I've ridden it many times (my first being when riding the MS150 in 2005). It can kick your butt!

As for the 5 - I'm in total agreement. There is a "long" cut through Camp Pendelton that allows you to skip that portion of the 5, but because it's a bit longer (and there may be regulations on the base that won't allow many riders at once), some rides don't use it. I always choose Pendelton over the 5 when I can.

Anyway, pat yourself on the back for finishing your first century. :beer:

 

The pro photographer pics are up.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=4988

 

This was the second time I'd ridden to San Diego, the first was a couple weeks ago with Neil and the rest of his merry band of men. The ride was a lot of fun and it was great to see some folks i hadn't seen in a while. In the end I cut a lot of time off my previous ride and met some pretty cool people. It's also gotten me thinking I should try to ride a century a month but that could still be the adrenaline from actually finishing this one.

 

I rode this with Oz and it also was my first 100. The part that OZ didn't tell you was that he was riding an old touring bike, which is every bit of 25 lbs. The only bike I saw older than his was mine, but mine is an old racing bike so it's a lot lighter/faster (20±). Oz is the man!! It was nice to meet a couple of STR peps. I agree, the 5 sucked but was better than I thought it would be, and I must say it's pretty cool riding with all that good air from the passing cars/trucks; we were going 25 to 28 with little effort. I thought riding through the traffic in San Diego was a lot hairy. But all in all this was really fun, although I enjoy meteric centuries a lttle more because I can push pace with the shorter distance.

 

Glad to hear lots of people had lots of fun!

I got off early 6:02AM, and it was soooo dark. I quickly hooked up with someone from LA who had great lights and we made great time. I usually ride thru Pendelton, so riding the 5 was an experience, but not a bad one. The pavement was smooth and clean, the lane was also wide. Fortunately there was little bike traffic and with a good tailwind, I made good time.

I got to the lunch stop at 10:00 and there were few people there. After pigging out on the chow, I took a nap. Big mistake! When I woke up and left, I was at the back of the bulk of riders, and the rest of lthe route was such that passing was more difficult than the first half due to the many riders and the many cars.

Climbing Torrey Pines was manageable, but again passing at the slow speeds we were riding and on the somewhat narrow bike lane was dicey. One young lady in front of me was wimpering as her hubby couched her on, but when she wanted to stop and he started YELLING at her to go another 100 yards, she lost it and started WAILING!!!! Having never been on that road, I saw the summit from the bottom and knew it would be a climb but manageable, and then when I got to what I thought was the top, I was only half way there!!!!! Knowing popsicles were there with my name on them kept me going. When I saw a woman making a good pace up ahead, and then I noticed she had only one leg, really made me buck up as my suffering could not compare. She was my motivation!! Whoever she is, thanks.

Quetion: If one rides the route and takes the train back (at some time other than the scheduled century ride), how do you get your bike back? Do they throw it in the luggage car, or are there specific places to stow a bike?
I plan on doing this ride from Dana Point to Solana or SD.
:beer: